Creating a good impression online begins with your domain name. If it is well thought-out, short, easy to remember, and very descriptive on what you offer, you can be assured that it will leave a mark on your potential clients’ minds that can lead to frequent visits to your website.

1. Make it keyword-rich. You would want to attract search engine traffic to your website, right? One of the best ways to do that is make your domain name keyword-rich so it will show up on related searches.

2. Consider using adjectives on your domain names. If you are selling shoes, you can be assured that shoes dot com is already taken. However, there is no need to fret as you can use alternate names by just inserting adjectives. You can use cheapshoes dot com, qualityshoes dot com, fashionableshoes dot com, etc.

3. Choose your suffix wisely. While .com is considered the best suffix today as it communicates professionalism and credibility, it shouldn’t be your automatic choice especially if you are only targeting certain geographic locations. If you are building a website just for UK residents, for example, you can use .UK to can generate targeted, quality traffic.

4. Avoid using hyphens. Online users are not used to nor trained in typing hyphens when they search for particular websites online. If your domain name contains some, you are risking losing your potential clients to your competitors should they forget to type in the hyphens on their browsers.

5. Acronyms are not always the best. Some marketers who are aiming at getting short domain names resort to acronyms which are okay if they make sense to your potential clients. But if your business name is Cyberzone Business Global Solutions, you wouldn’t want to go with CBGS dot com, right?

Sean Mize is an Internet marketing mentor who teaches people to generate over $15,000 per month online via automated systems and product funnels. To learn more, download his free guide, How to Generate $15,000 Per Month Online.

You can make a lot of money as an affiliate marketing other people’s products. Or… you can be left wondering why, despite all your efforts, no one has purchased through your links. Here are 10 things you need to have right.

First, Identify Your Target Audience

Start by identifying potential customers before actually promoting your affiliate product. FIguring out beforehand who you need and who are likeliest to buy the product you are promoting will save you a lot of wasted time and effort.

Construct Your Website for the Target Audience

You must have a website. Don’t just try to direct traffic to the merchant’s product website. But don’t invest in constructing a website and then try to figure out how to get your audience to visit it. Know your audience well and then construct the site to be attractive to them. Much of your competition will be lazy and will use the exact same sales pages as all the other affiliates. Be different.

Buzz Your Website

Become interested in what is “in.” Then rather than setting up a website about your favorite hobby, which might not have broad appeal, cultivate your interest in those things that are hot and happening and find related products to promote. Become a specialist in what’s hot then create websites with automatic buzz!

Think Positive, Be Realistic and Stay Focused

Think positive but don’t get caught up in the online hype, expecting to become super-rich very quickly. Remain focused on one thing at a time. Being positive is good, but setting realistic goals is vital.

Get Your Knowledge Base Right

You can cripple your business by not expanding your knowledge. Become an expert in both the product you are promoting and the problem it’s designed to solve.

Use AdWords Cautiously

Set your budget cautiously and don’t overspend. But this powerful marketing tool can be used wisely both to earn more in commissions than its PPC costs and to work out what keywords will get you traffic and what is just too competitive.

Be Your Own Author

If possible, write your own ads, articles and reviews rather than using the ones supplied by the publishers’ affiliate programs. This way, you will set yourself apart from the other affiliates and will come across as genuine.

Match Affiliate Programs

Do not under any circumstances cross-promote unrelated material. If you want to promote a new affiliate program on dog training, don’t do it on your photography website. Some of your photographer subscribers might want to train their dogs, but for most it will simply destroy your credibility.

Build Your List

Capture your visitor’s details before passing them on to the affiliate merchant’s sales page. Give away content, such as a subscription to a newsletter. Follow up. Keep them involved. Their long term value to you will be huge.

Targeted Traffic

Imagine yourself as the person who has the problem this product is designed to solve. This will give you insight into how your prospects will look for the solution. Then do the things to you need to do to ensure that you are the one they find.

Phil Lancaster is recognized as one of the leading experts on getting new websites indexed and ranked quickly and then driving free, targeted traffic to them. He is the author of Traffic Floodgate which helps you learn everything there is to know about getting an unstoppable flood of traffic to your website.

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a simple format that can be used either to receive updated content or to send content from one’s website or blog. It’s simple to use, and various free resources are available on the Net. Simply put, RSS is just like newspapers receiving content from news agencies like AP, Reuters, UNI, etc. If you have an RSS feed on your webpage, you continue to get the latest content automatically, provided it is updated by the provider or source.

To use RSS feeds, you must use a feed reader or aggregator. One free and easy to use resource is RSS-to-JavaScript. The following steps need to be followed:

1. Select the RSS feed you want to place on your webpage. You can simply type “RSS [subject]” in any search box like Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. In place of “[subject]” enter the the topic you want. Let us say, you typed “rss news”. The search engine will display results for this keyword phrase. Select any result and look for the “red” button with the words “RSS” or “xml”. Click on any red button of your choice. A page in “xml” script will open up. Do not bother with the page — simply copy the page’s URL. That is the RSS feed. EF NOTE: Simply look for links to RSS and XML feeds; sometimes they’re red buttons as described here, or some other colored buttons, or even plain text links.
   
2. The RSS feed has to be “read.” Go to RSS-to-JavaScript or some other feed reader and paste the feed’s URL in the appropriate place. Set you font setting preferences, etc., or choose default settings. The feed reader will generate JavaScript code.
   
3. Copy and paste the JavaScript code where you want it to appear on your site (it’s your site, so the assumption is that you know how to do this).
   
4. View your site and verify the feed’s content and appearance, etc.

Some more tips:

You may want to consider setting the “Link Target” specification to ”_blank” so that when the visitor clicks on any RSS feed link, the destination appears in new window.

Before using any free feed reader, ensure that the feed isn’t just for a limited period, otherwise, the feed will eventually terminate (unless you pay for continued service).

One main disadvantage of JavaScript-based feed readers is that search engine spiders or crawlers won’t read the RSS content on your pages. So, it is essential you use this feature merely as an information supplement and service to your visitors. Do not tamper with the JavaScript code.

If you have a blog on Blogger, there is usually a sidebar you can use for RSS feeds. Here are the steps for incorporating RSS feeds there:

1. Go to: Posting > Create > Edit Html
2. Paste the JavaScript code into the main body.
3. Enter a suitable title in the “Title” box.
4. Add any content, if you wish.
5. Click on “Publish Post”.
6. View your blog and modify settings, if you like.

CAUTION: Please do not include RSS feeds (other than those provided by the webhost) on free Web hosting pages like GeoCities, etc., since it violates the terms of service.

Mohan Potukuchi is a chemical engineer who writes on a diverse range of subjects. He helps newbies by recommending free resources for website development. Check out his As It Strikes Me blog.

By Jerry West

This article covers the rising rate of fraud in the industries of selling expired and used domains.

I recently purchased some good and seemingly well-established domains (they had good PageRanks) from a broker. However, when I “got them home” so to speak, they were far from what I thought I had purchased. In my investigation into this, it was clear the domains I had purchased — and many of the domains being sold today from brokers (especially on eBay) — are littered with fraud.

Domain names are investments, and any investment should be researched. Never make the assumption that the domain broker has done this research for you. Chances are, he hasn’t.

Just as there is fraud in PPC, there is fraud in domain purchasing. Just because the Google Toolbar states a PageRank 5 doesn’t mean it is.

First, let’s discuss the process and how the con artist works. Most SEOs and knowledgeable webmasters know the value of a high PageRank site. And how it can take months, even a year to get a solid PageRank 5 site. So, many SEOs and webmasters turn to domains being sold to get a jumpstart on the process. Their thinking is, “If I spend a few thousand on this site, it will shave months off my work schedule.”

The thinking is sound, but unfortunately, the bad guys know you are thinking this and they take advantage of a “loophole” in the system that isn’t known to most SEOs.

The Google Toolbar

Google really didn’t know they were starting “addictive behavior” when they first introduced their toolbar back in 2002. Now, millions of webmasters all have “Green Bar Addiction” and they watch their PageRank values often as closely as investors do the stock market.

The Loophole

In order to protect their algorithm from their competition (Yahoo! and Microsoft) and “black hat” marketers, Google publicly shows “delayed” PageRank. Much like the free stock quoting tools online are 15 minute delayed, the Google Toolbar is delayed too. Only, it isn’t just a few minutes, but 3-5 months.

So, the PageRank you see displayed is actually the PageRank the page had some time in the past few weeks or months. I am sure you know where this is going now.

Google updates their toolbar about once every three months. So, the con artist usually does one of two things. The first is that they will hijack the PageRank on another domain. I won’t go into how this is done, so amateur thieves can’t replicate it. The second way they do this is that they will buy or beg for temporary links from other sites or networks, drive up the PageRank to a 5 or 6, and when the Toolbar updates, they cancel all the bought links, lowering the real PageRank to zero. You see, even though Google “delays” the showing of the PageRank by a couple of months, they use the current values in their ranking process.

So, even though the site can “verify” it is a PageRank 5, the actual value (what Google currently counts) is 0. You basically bought a “vapor domain.” Here is a systematic way to check to ensure what you are being sold is genuine. This is your “gotta make sure this Rolex is really a Rolex” cheat sheet:

1. The first thing to do is to just go to the site directly and see if the PageRank is the same as advertised. Sometimes the con artist gets lazy and doesn’t realize a toolbar update happened and their “PR5″ site is actually displaying “PR0.”

2. While you are there, look at the site. Is the domain online? Is the site still live or is there a “placeholder” page? If it is a placeholder, the domain is probably dead.

3. Next, you want to look at the site’s history. When was the domain registered? To whom? Where is it hosted? Is it on its own IP or is it sharing with hundreds or thousands of other domains? What was the site before?

A great place to start your research is DomainTools.com There you can find key information: when the domain was registered, where it is hosted, and if the domain has its own IP address or not. If it is sharing an IP address, you can access the Reverse IP Tool, and often you can uncover networks of sites. This does require at least a Silver Membership which currently runs $15 a month. It will also tell you if the domain is on any email black lists.

To find out what the site was before, you can use the Wayback Machine. The reason you want to do this is if the domain you want to acquire was a child porn site five years ago, you’ll know. You’ll want to pass for obvious reasons.

4. Is the site listed in the Google index? Just because it has PageRank doesn’t mean it is still listed, so check. The best way to do this is to check the Google Cache. Do a query in Google for cache:domain.com (home page check) or cache:domain.com/subpage.html (subpage check). Please note that if there are no results that come up, the Google couldn’t cache the site. If that is the case, use the site: command instead. I like using the “cache” command first as that allows me to see the most recently indexed page and what it looked like. If it is different than what is currently displayed, that could be a red flag.

5. Verify the PageRank is legit. In the domain buying space, PageRank is often faked — especially on eBay or other auctions. I have been a victim of this in the past.

So, how can you protect yourself? Easy. You can use the free PageRank Detection SEO tool over at SEO Logs. Just type in the domain and it will check. If it comes back and verifies that it is valid, are you safe? Not quite. One more check.

Use the Google PageRank Prediction tool at iWebTool. It will give you a prediction based on current link counts from MSN. You should also check Yahoo!’s Site Explorer. These are two great resources because they update their links on a weekly basis, whereas Google updates theirs about once a quarter.

That was a lot to digest, I know, but this is how I make sure that I never get taken when buying domains. Getting ripped off is never something that is pleasant — and domain fraud is a killer as your ability to recoup your loss is slim to none.

Now you have the knowledge that you need in order to verify what is being presented to you is real.

Jerry West is an SEO Analyst for Web Marketing Now, an SEO Testing and Research agency. He is the author of the SEO Revolution, a paid membership site for webmasters and SEOs to get access to his testing information from over 500 domains and he is faculty member of StomperNet, the leading eCommerce online instructional community.

You may have found that starting an affiliate marketing business is easy at first because you are excited and working hard. Eventually you begin to have days where the sales do not come in and you are not reaching your goal of creating a full time income.

The tips listed here may be of help to you.

1. Providing good content on your affiliate website is very important. If you can create good content through articles and product reviews, you will give people a reason to trust you. If you can earn the trust of the people looking at the products on your page, you have a much better chance of them purchasing that product.

2. If you do not already have one, you need to create a website. Websites provide you with a place to sell and market your affiliate products. As an affiliate, you may be selling and promoting someone else’s products, but you can use that to market your own product. As an affiliate marketer, you’re not just promoting products but selling your own business as well.

3. You need to brand your business. You need to have something that no other business has. By having your own personality and style on the Web, you give yourself a unique business that people will be intrigued by. Establishing a personal relationship with your subscribers is also important. If you continually communicate with your subscribers, they will feel like they are wanted and will maintain their subscription.

4. The most important thing that you can do is to act. If you think you should do something, get out and do it. People sit around and wait for things to happen and then wonder why they do not make any money. As soon as you start your business you need to get out and market your business, put content onto your website, and get subscribers to your site. When you don’t wait, good things start to happen.

Many people fail as affiliate marketers because they are unable to get continuous sales. They all start out really good, but as the months or even just weeks begin to roll by, they are unable to continue he sales momentum. With these four affiliate marketing tips, you’ll certainly be equipped to build a long-term successful business.

William Hutchinson publishes Hutches Affiliate Marketing Website where he’ll show you how to make money with affiliate programs.

There have always been do-it-yourselfers succeeding at Web promotion and search engine optimization. In fact, many of the established businesses offering Web services today came from humble beginnings, perhaps nothing more than a college student with a laptop, an Internet connection, and too much free time. The Web evolves as the result of the innovation and experimentation of individuals. The sharing of knowledge. The do-it-yourself attitude.

As text link brokers and mass link networking decrease in value and use in social media increases, it becomes more important for companies to have an internal approach and awareness of search engine marketing. Don’t get me wrong; outsourcing to SEO firms is still a smart option. That said, making the most out of Web 2.0 usually requires some level of cooperation between SEO firm and site owner. You don’t need to be an expert to know the basics of good SEO practices, and that added knowledge will be a great advantage whether you’re working along side an SEO team, or promoting your own site in your spare time.

So if you’re on a “need to know” basis with SEO, the following points should illustrate what an overall plan should include:

1. Create Search Engine-Friendly Content

Unique Web content is your most valuable asset, and ensuring search engines can read it is crucial. Text embedded in images or Flash cannot be read, so make sure you use important keywords, headings, and hyperlinks in plain text form. Instead of using images as navigation links, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) makes it easy to format those links to look more like ‘buttons,’ thus creating powerful anchor text as well as making it visually appealing. Use heading tags properly and don’t try to hide keywords or text by making it the same color as the page background or shrinking it so it can’t be seen. Make sure the keywords you wish to rank high for are used frequently in the page copy but within reason.

Now that you’ve created good content, is it actually being crawled? Copy and paste a page’s URL into a search engine to see if it has been indexed. If you’ve just created the page, it may take a few days to show up. Aside from age, many factors can lead to webpages not being indexed by search engines, such as duplicate content (i.e., a printer-friendly version of a page might be indexed and the normal version not, or vice-versa); links generated by JavaScript instead of HTML; poor site architecture (i.e., using too many subdirectories); lengthy, dynamically generated URLs using special characters; and orphaned pages.

2. Choose Your Keywords Wisely

One of the first steps of SEO, this one needs to be done properly the first time or all your future efforts and promotion could end up being wasted. Start by writing down general terms that describe your products, services or Web content. Use keyword research services to investigate word and phrase variations. WordTracker, KeywordDiscovery, and the Google AdWords suggestion tool are good starting points. The goal is to find those niche phrases that your target market uses to find sites just like yours and optimize your site for them. If the phrases do not get enough use by searchers, your profits from ranking for them will be low. At the same time, stay away from general terms that are tougher to rank for (i.e., like “art,” “computers,” “business,” etc.) as a great portion of the traffic will be irrelevant and you’ll break the bank attaining such competitive phrases.

3. Get Others to Link to Your Site

In theory there are countless ways, some traditional and some quite innovative, to get other websites to link to yours. In practice, it can be easier said than done. Google defines a link as it pertains to rankings and SEO as a “vote” from one site to another. The more quality votes your site receives, the greater chance you have of ranking well. If a well-established site links to yours, that link carries more weight than one would from a mom & pop shop or less reputable page.

If your site has useful content and is doing something unique, you’re already ahead of much of the competition. People need a reason to link to your site, as very few will do it out of the goodness of their hearts. Trading links can work, but link exchange networks have decreased in value and won’t be of much use in competitive fields. Buying links, if you haven’t heard, is a big Google no-no. While entire articles could be written on this topic, here are a few popular methods of acquiring incoming links: 

• issuing company press releases with a link back to your site
• submitting to reputable business directories such as Yahoo! and Business.com
• be active on related blogs by commenting and exchanging ideas
• if you have clients with websites, ask if they would mind adding your link in a “partners” section
• participate in relevant forums and discussion boards with a link in your signature
• write and submit original articles to Web publications in your field with a link in your bio
• get involved in social media and bookmarking

4. Join the Social Media Revolution

The collaboration between Internet users and the development of online communities is at an all-time high. Social bookmarking sites such as Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Furl, Reddit, and Technorati offer users a way to store their favorite pages and media online, and share it with others. These services also provide a way to promote your own content or create a buzz over a product or service. Creating a MySpace page or Squidoo “lens” is also a way to network and share information.

However, if your goal is to generate sales then you must offer something without the promotional hype. The reality of social media is that popularity is based almost entirely on public interest. If your information or media isn’t unique or of interest to anyone, you cannot force success using social media communities.

The key to using social media and bookmarking sites to your advantage is to not be shy. Network with other users, bookmark and share useful content, create eye-catching titles for your entries, and tell your friends and co-workers to vote on content you have on these sites.

These four points are a general guideline to follow for SEO. Search engine optimization experts and firms are a good outsourcing option in competitive markets, while the DIY attitude can yield great results for website owners with smaller marketing budgets. If you’re in the latter group, hopefully this helps get you started.

John Metzler has held executive positions in the search engine marketing industry since 2001. He is the Founder of FreshPromo, a Canadian-based SEO firm, and updates his SEO Commentary blog regularly.

eBay can be a fun and lucrative part or full time job. With the right tools and a lot of hard work you can be very successful selling products on eBay or other online auctions. I learned through mistakes. so I compiled a list of do’s and don’ts so that you’ll have an easier time getting set up and going with your eBay business.

Do research your item. Learn about the market and make sure it is hot before you buy a bunch of inventory. eBay has tools available for you to research products; you can find these in the seller section of their website. Remember that even though something sells well this month, it might not sell as well next month. Current research is the key; always keep your finger on the pulse of the online shopper.

Don’t rush your auction title. This is such an important step. People are going to find your auctions through its title. A title is not a sentence; it is a combination of words that describe your auction. Make sure you spend some time thinking about what you are selling. What title words would make you look at the auction? Use words that create curiosity and interest. Also make sure that all of your words are spelled correctly. When you misspell words describing your auction, no one sees it.

Do give an accurate, thorough description. When you are writing your description, take your time. Make sure you capture the attention of the bidder; your goal is not only to sell this item, but to create a repeat customer. Make sure you include these things:

• Provide content and care information
• Describe the item accurately
• Describe any and all flaws
• Note measurements and size
• Always list shipping and handling charges

Make sure that you are very clear in your description. Clearly state what you expect from the winning bidder and what they can expect from you. Stating these things upfront will save you trouble in the future.

Don’t underprice your item. Make sure that your starting price is enough that you will be happy to sell the item at that price. If you underprice your item, people might think that it is junk. If you overprice your item and people can find it for less, they will not bid. It is a fine line and practice makes perfect. Again with pricing, research will be your most valuable tool.

Follow the do’s and don’s when you are selling on eBay and you will enjoy greater success. Remember that it takes a lot of time and hard work to create any successful business; work at it daily and you can see great results!

Joy Fredrickson publishes the Work at Home Business Reviews site.

Google AdWords’ Quality Score has often been a mystery to many online marketers. But many AdWords experts agree that there are three main components to achieving a high Quality Score and lowering your minimum cost per click — your ad copy, your clickthrough rates (CTR) and your landing page copy.

Here are four easy steps you can take to boost your Quality Score and get lower minimum costs per click:

1. Include Your Keywords in Your Ad Copy

Having your keywords in your ad title and body copy is one of the keys to writing a relevant ad. Also, this simple act makes your keywords bolded and gives it more prominence among the listings, improving your CTR and lowering your costs per click. It’s a ‘vicious’ cycle!

2. Include Your Keywords in Your URL

Include your keywords in your URL. Again, this has been proven to increase CTR and that is one of the strongest determinants of a good Quality Score — the clickthrough rates.

3. Increase Your Clickthrough Rates by Split-Testing Your Ad Copy

Write two different ads and have them rotate evenly. You can do this under your Campaign options. Doing this will show you which ad is performing better and getting a better clickthrough rate. Always create new ads to test against your ‘control’ ad, or your current best performing ad.

4. Include Your Keywords on Your Landing Page

Landing page relevancy is another important factor of Quality Score. Having your keywords on your landing page indicates relevancy and it allows you to pay lower costs per click.

Fabian Tan is a well-known Internet Marketing expert and the author of the free popular 51-page report, “Murder Your Job: How to Build Cash Sucking Autopilot Businesses in 30 Days or Less!”

When the time comes to set up your own Internet business one of your first thoughts is to buy a domain name to establish a website for your new business. You may spend a lot of time dreaming up possible names and testing their availability, but there is another option you should consider — buying an existing domain name.

There are a number of advantages to buying an existing domain name and if you do not yet have your heart set on a new domain name, you could find an existing domain name available at a price not much greater than you will pay for a fresh name.

One of the primary advantages of an existing domain name is that it may already have traffic flowing toward it. Obviously the amount of traffic will vary greatly depending on what the current owner has done for promotion, but any traffic is more than the zero visitors a fresh name will deliver.

Another advantage is from search engine optimization. Many domainers will have at least put in a small amount of time optimizing their domain name portfolio for search engines. Others put in a great deal of time and effort targeting keywords and making sure the domain name is listed. It takes time for various domain names to work their way into search engine listings and if someone has already done that work for you, you are ready to capitalize on their groundwork as soon as you take over the name.

A third advantage is that the wild frontier of short, targeted, keyword domain names is over. It is not impossible but very difficult to find an unregistered domain name in the form of a short, catchy phrase, and even more so if you have a specific keyword in mind. However, many of the domainers who registered these domain names originally did so as an investment rather than a long-term project, and so are willing to sell. The only way to acquire many of these great domain names is by purchasing an existing domain name. You will not be able to find one to register fresh.

Choosing the right domain name for your Internet business enterprise can be exciting and challenging, but if you take the time to learn more about the available domain names you can buy, then you just might find the bargain of a lifetime and start off your business with a bang.

Deanna Mascle publishes Renaissance Woman Online.

As an affiliate marketer, it is very important to ensure that your affiliate site can generate income for you. Of course it will be impossible for each of your websites to become a cash cow. However, you have to make sure that a site at least contributes something to you.

You will be using your affiliate site to pre-sell your visitors. If your site can contribute, it will make some conversions. In fact, you have to make your site interesting in order to attract visitors. And you will only have conversions if the visitors click the affiliate links and purchase at the sponsor’s website.

In most cases you will try to make your affiliate site a theme content site. You can probably guess that this means your site should have a main theme. The theme of the site should reflect the products you are promoting. If you are promoting financial products such as personal loans, for example, you’ll need to create a website on finance or loans.

It is essential to understand that a single website should only focus on one theme. It is very difficult to make a multi-theme site make money. If you are going to promote a few products under different niches, your best option will be to create a few different sites.

When you register the domain for your site, you should choose the domain name with extra care. If it’s possible, try to get a domain that reflects your site’s main theme. Try to choose a name that includes one or more of your site’s keywords. This will also help when you are doing your SEO work.

You should always remember that you are pre-selling the affiliate products or services. Some marketers will be inclined to sell the products. However, that’s not your job. The sponsor will sell the products. Try to do that yourself and you will only fail.

SEO is another very important part if you want to get free traffic from search engines. Some advanced marketers prefer to focus on tweaking their PPC campaigns instead. However, PPC campaigns will certainly mean expenses and you should only go for that when you have the budget and affiliate marketing experience.

John Lung is an affiliate marketing coach; visit his site, Make Money Onlnie Now, to learn more about making money with affiliate marketing.