To many, the phenomenon known as Web 2.0 is as abstract as a Miro painting. His paintings make perfect sense if you understand each of the elements, language, social implications and context. Surprisingly those exact elements identify the key to understanding how Web 2.0 and the nature of social causes have grown in unison.

The common goal behind all social causes is to raise awareness or consciousness surrounding a particular issue, motivating thought and taking action. In order to be effective, it requires committed people with incredible focus and an interested audience. In the past, these movements burned an incredible amount of time simply reaching out, trying to spark interest, educate and usually exhausting resources preventing asking for the support required to further the cause.

In the past many grassroots efforts were reduced to door-to-door strategies, calling people at home or soliciting outside sympathetic storefronts. Results do vary, but more often than not, an eye roll or an apology was the response rather than a smile or handing over cold-hard cash. For the larger, better-funded social causes, the vehicle became traditional media, fighting for the attention of the would be philanthropists among a saturated sea of competing messaging. Reality was, most of these efforts invade inconveniently upon a persons day and going in for the “ask” is less effective without the common interest. It can be hit or miss, really.

How has the gap been bridged? Web 2.0, of course.

Web 2.0, the second generation of web interactivity includes the rise of social networking, collaboration tools, enhanced connectivity, content creation platforms and a vehicle for mass distribution. People have been able to form communities unlike never before, giving strength to the old saying “untied we stand”.

Every day, I log into three or more different websites whose main purpose is bringing like-minded individuals together. Far from being simple communication tools, the online social platforms allow users to create public persona that express likes, dislikes, goals, ideals and values with the intent to connect with others with similar perspectives. Requiring no introduction, the top social networking destinations defined the manner in which we interact with each other online today. MySpace, LiveJournal, http://Tribe.net, and Facebook are among the more addictive Web 2.0 locations, providing individuals and organizations alike the opportunity to correspond with one another through forums and discussions groups on any topic imaginable. Perhaps the most powerful tool on any one of these sites is the search field. With just a few keystrokes one is instantly connected with countless PEOPLE who together form communities of like-minded individuals, share interests from everything from microbrews to machinima, from synchronized swimming to saving the world. These connections are as real and meaningful as if they were in real life.

Thanks to Web 2.0, virtual is real.

People have been coming together to make a change in response to social causes and to create movements surrounding issues throughout history. Today, coming together no longer takes place exclusively in the three dimensional or “real” world. Virtual communities are just as real with real tools and applications to support any cause.

Take the wildly successful example of Kiva, which was founded in order to facilitate peer-to-peer connections between investors and entrepreneurs. Kiva was built as an open platform to allow anyone with $25 to invest in a small business in a developing country. Partnering with microfinance institutions in developing countries, Kiva managed to lower microfinancing as a whole, creating more transparency, thus greater interest. People helping people regardless of their geographical location.

Let’s think bigger, now. Really big. How about UNICEF? Many years ago, their first website comprised of a series of pictures, testimonials alongside a mailing address of where to send donations. Reflective of the early web, a passive experience, to say the least. Now the UNICEF site fully integrates Web 2.0 strategies through interactive games, videos testimonials and features plus the ability to engage with others across the planet on various topical issues. Fully integrated social networking and built in accountability is what makes their current site such a success. Granted, present on every page is the ability to choose your method of contribution, but that’s not all you see. You see the faces of others who are doing their part. You see familiar names and not so familiar stories. You see the accumulated results and how people just like you have made a difference. These strategies make a difference in the countless other success stories pertaining to social causes, both large and small.

The Web 2.0 trend has changed the face of giving and has created new rules effecting all social change from the largest not-for-profit organization to the solitary person with a vision, benefiting both philanthropists and the beneficiaries alike. This is the golden ticket for social entrepreneurs, politicians and grass roots activists. Voice is empowerment. Empowered people create movements. Social movements cause change.

Social movements are happening now, both online and off, strengthened through the language of Web 2.0. This is the context within a new paradigm of interaction and the implications are borderless. However, like an abstract painting, one does not have to truly understand it in order to appreciate it and receive genuine benefits simply from its presence.

Unless you’ve built a website just to showcase your collection of salt and pepper shakers, you probably want to attract some visitors. If your business depends on your site attracting visitors and soliciting sales, then web traffic is essential.

Simply submitting your site to search engines is not enough. You should work with your Webmaster to implement these ten tips to increase the level of traffic to your site.

1. Content, Content, Content

First and foremost, make sure that your site is informative! Don’t just list your services, elaborate on what you do and why you do it well. The more detailed you are in your website, the better your search engine results will be.

2. Classified Ads

Take advantage of the variety of free online classified ad websites and get the word out about your new site!

Be sure to always post a working link to your website. Get help from your webmaster on the proper html coding for a classified ad post if you need it.

3. Articles

One of the best steps you can take to promote your site is to write and publish articles (just like this one!).

First, an informative article helps establish that you’re an expert in your particular field. Once a reader finishes the article, they may be inclined to follow a link to your website to learn more about you and your business.

More importantly, once you’ve distributed your article to some of the many online article directories, you’ll have created additional links back to your website that search engines will see and count. More on that in a moment.

4. Local Directories

There are two basic kinds of directories that should interest you. First, there are regional directories, perhaps for your local metropolitan area, then there are industry-specific directories.

These are similar to search engines in that they list other web sites, but they’re compiled and organized differently. Additionally, many directories allow you to create an online profile that will include information about your business, rather than just a link to your website.

Take a few minutes to do some searches for directories in your area and in your industry, and submit your site to any you find appropriate.

5. Newsletters

Online Newsletters or eZine’s are a great way to keep your existing and potential clients aware of news or changes within your business. If your business model can support a regular newsletter, you should encourage visitors to your website to sign up for it. You might offer them a free copy of one of the great articles you’ve already written, as a reward for signing up.

When you’re writing for your newsletter, make sure that each of your topics has a Title, a Teaser, then a link back to your website to read the rest of the topic. If your topics are interesting and timely, then you’ll ensure repeat visits to your site.

6. Forums and Newsgroups

Another way to attract new visitors is to participate in online forums and discussions. Be sure to take the time to understand what the forum or newsgroup is about, and be respectful of other members. Simply posting ads or links to your website will likely just get you banned. Instead, post comments or questions that are on point, including a simple link to your site in your signature, and you’ll be rewarded with interested responses and visitors to your site.

7. Press Releases

Many businesses forget the power of a press release. When you have something that’s newsworthy, like the opening of your business, let the press know! They’re happy to print your release if they think it will be interest to their readers.

When distributing press releases, be sure to look for online PR distributors, as well as your local news media. There are sites you can post your release for free, and other sites that will distribute your release for a nominal fee.

8. Blogs, Social Networking and Social Bookmarking

Blogs are online journals, and there are a number of websites that offer free blogging accounts. With your online journal, you can post a few tips or even full-fledged articles. If you submit new posts consistently, and the topics are interesting, you’ll start to attract a variety of visitors.

There are a variety of networking sites, both social and professional, that will allow you to create an online profile for yourself and your business.

Finally, you should look in to creating accounts on several of the social bookmarking sites that have cropped up. These are sites that allow you to simply bookmark and comment on other websites.

9. Reciprocal Links

It’s very important that you find other websites that are willing to put a link on their site to yours. Some of the above methods will help accomplish this, but you should also give some thought to other site options, particularly sites that are related to your business. For instance, you might see if your Chamber of Commerce has a website, and if they do, make sure you have a link by your membership name. You might also consider other businesses that compliment yours, like how a mortgage company and a title company are complimentary. When approaching these businesses, you would offer to put a link on your site to their business, in exchange for a link on their site to your own business.

Not only will visitors to these other sites see the link to your site and follow it, but as we discussed previously, these additional links to your site will help your search engine ranking tremendously. Each link on a non-directory website is like a vote of confidence in you and your website.

10. Email and Letters

There are a variety of other ways to promote your website. For instance, every piece of communication that comes from your business should include your web address. Your email can have it in the signature, your letterhead can have it in the address area, and certainly it should be included on business cards.

Make sure that your email address is from your website and not your internet service provider. Why advertise for ABC.net when you could be advertising for YourCompany.com?

Social Bookmarking and Power Linking.

Just in case you missed it… the Web has changed.

I think a little history of the Internet is in order to grasp the big picture. I’m not going to give any dates (late eighties and early 90′s)… I’ll just give a quick run down.

I would say nearly fifteen years ago I had a dial up Internet connection that allowed me to log into various College computers, BBS’s (bulletin boards) and Newsgroups.

The Internet was much different than the Web is today. There was no graphics… it was totally text based and everything was dial up. All you could do was basically post to a newsgroup, post messages on some BBS’s and send email. Internet Marketing as we know it today did not exist.

In time though – a few brave souls ventured out of the shadows and began marketing within the newsgroups. This started wars between the “Purists” and new “Marketers” that I still remember to this day.

You see, the Purists considered the Internet to be their own little playground. They viewed anyone selling something as evil. After all… Marketers had the TV, the Radio, Magazines, Newspapers, etc, etc as an avenue in which to sell their crap. “The Internet is ours” was their battle cry.

They viewed the Internet as a way for them to communicate with each other without having to wade through all the BS advertising – and they could control what was being said. When the evil “Marketer” entered the picture, this all changed – and it changed quickly.

Once the evil Marketer had discovered the Internet as a new marketing medium, the “Purity” of the Internet, newsgroups and BBS’s was destroyed forever.

The Internet was now becoming just another medium for Marketers to sell their wares. It was inevitable and only a matter of time before this happened. But the Purists fought it tooth and nail.

The Newsgroups and BBS’s were now inundated and overrun with advertising. There was so much spam that you could hardly follow a thread or make sense of it. The thread may have started out discussing a subject as “Microsoft DOS” as it’s first post… but it was hard to make sense of it as the evil Marketers would post “off topic” spam ads trying to sell their wares throughout the threads.

As we all know things have changed a lot since those “Caveman” days… the evil Marketers persevered and the Purists lost the War (or did they?)

Jump to present day…

The Purists did not really lose – they just lost a battle ten or fifteen years ago, but they have recently won the War and staked their claim on the Internet as belonging to them with Web 2.0.

Just in case you missed this “coup d’ etat” – give some serious thought to the current environment on the Web and Social Networking specifically. The Web no longer belongs to the evil Marketer. It is back in the hands and control of the Purists and they are once again controlling the conversations.

I know… it sounds like a bunch of BS, but for the most part it is true.

The difference is the Purists have discovered a way to once again “control” the conversations they want to have, while at the same time make a profit from these discussions (i.e. social networking communities).

Welcome to Web 2.0 and Social Networking.

I do not consider myself a Internet “Purist”… I’d fall more into the “Evil Marketer” category. This being the case, like you (if you are an Evil Marketer too) I have to adapt and change the way I do things or I will soon fall to the wayside and die a slow death.

Like the saying goes, “When in Rome… do as The Romans Do” was never a truer statement than it is today.

The way you sell things and market has to change – you are now in Rome.

Marketing as we know it today on the Web is dying a slow death – but it is happening fast. Only those who adapt and change will survive.

The Web 2.0 Marketer will survive this “coup d’ etat”.

Interruption Marketing has lost out to Participation Marketing and the Web 2.0 Marketer will prosper with these changes. It is no longer about forcing our messages down the throats of people – they get enough of that with all the other advertising mediums. It is all about authority, conversations and participating within discussions that other people deem important – not what you feel is important.

Seth Godin has been telling us this very same thing for a few years now – but a lot have not listened.

Why is this? Because it takes work and discipline (and change) to make relationships and participate in meaningful conversations. It is easier to do what I would call “method of the day” or “hit and miss” marketing – at least in the short run. But that is all it is… marketing for the short haul with no regard to the direction the Web is moving.

Like Seth Godin, Jack Humphrey has been telling Marketers they need to adapt and change their marketing methods for years now with Social Power Linking. Jack saw this “coup d’ etat” coming before most and began joining in with the “conversations” while most of us were still doing our marketing basically the same way as the “evil Marketers” of past (and current) – cramming and forcing our message down our visitors throats.

I have posted before on Social Bookmarking and Social Networking and the success I have had with these methods. You can view other posts on this blog and see the results I have had by simply joining in and creating “conversations”.

This is not a fad or a “method of the day”… it is here to stay.

With the direction the Web is heading (we are really already there) – Social Bookmarking, Social Networking, Conversation Participation with links from and pointing to those conversations is the key to being successful for the Web 2.0 Marketer.

So don’t rebel against the “coup d’ etat” – come on it, the water is fine.

A new internet gold rush has been taking hold with the emergence of social networking, blogging, podcasting and other web 2.0 experiments. Media companies and Internet giants have reacted promptly by acquiring many of the new players to take advantage of these new advertising vehicles and evolve their endangered models. Yet advertisers themselves have stayed on the sidelines to a great extent. Small businesses especially have reacted cautiously to web 2.0 marketing fearing its hype and its inherent risks and represent a very small portion of the x million blogs.

It seems that there are several emerging trends that every small business should be aware of. We thought we would share these trends through examples of small businesses that have been the first to capitalize on web 2.0 and have reaped early benefits.

Trend #1: Establish a blog as your primary web presence. Customers value who they do business with sometimes as much as what they buy. Blogging provides you with a more personal environment where you can both promote your product and present a more personal view of your business. Blogging also allows you to initiate an on-going conversation with your customers and build a long term relationship. Blogging is especially important in professional services small businesses where the person is the product and where word of mouth and recommendations are the primary sales driver.

Horsefeathers, a restaurant in North Conway, N. H., publishes a blog about food, wine, local events and restaurant news as a way to keep customers connected and loyal (http://www.horsefeathers.com/ ).

Patti Thompson is the president of Way-Fil Jewelry, Inc. located in Tupelo, MS. She serves as the appraiser, designer and one of two bench jewelers.(http://www.diamonddivaonline.com/ ). She writes a combination of personal stories, stories about her store and appraisal posts (What is gold sodium thiomalate?). She also links her blog to her EBay store.

Trend #2: Take advantage of emerging hyper local blogs. With the number of blogs exploding (a blog is created every second!) and readership skyrocketing, the blogosphere is reaching a sufficient scale to address hyper local content. A similar phenomenon happened in the internet space when readership and websites reached a tipping point to be able to offer relevant content for very small customer segments such as a city and provide local search. This new trend in blogging makes local advertising for small businesses very relevant, for example restaurants, hotels, real estate brokers or accountants.

Cornerstone Wealth Advisors (http://www.cornerstone360.com) in Overland Park, KS created a blog about investing and other financial matters and use it as the jumping off point for several practice groups.

Blogging Ohio (http://www.bloggingohio.com/ ), which is part of Weblogs (http://www.weblogsinc.com/ ), is a great example of this trend with posts that focus on specific towns in Ohio. Lake County, OH (http://www.lakecountyblog.com/default.asp?item=158547 ) has also started a local community blog and local sponsored links such as local restaurants, hotels or country clubs.

Trend #3: Use web 2.0 marketing to market to bloggers. Bloggers have become a growing and influential customer segment with strong economic power. As this customer segment reaches critical mass, some small businesses have understood the opportunity to target them and build marketing approaches that appeal to their tastes and preferences.

Bloggersfuel is a great example of this focused marketing (http://www.bloggersfuel.com/blog/?page_id=2 ). Bruce Frcek has developed this blog to keep bloggers up to date on what is happening in the specialty coffee industry and with its online store Boca Java (www.bocajava.com) and to hear directly from bloggers on ideas about blogging and coffee.

Daily Greencine (http://daily.greencine.com/ ) publishes a blog around independent and alternative cinema that gets 80 000 visitors each month and helps drive traffic to online rental and video on demand store GreenCine (www.greencine.com). The blog helped double the store’s revenues.

Trend #4: Leverage emerging web 2.0 advertising platforms. Web 2.0 start ups are positioning themselves as aggregators of advertising and providing new platforms to market small businesses.

AdCandy (http://www.adcandy.com/default.asp ) allows consumers to develop advertising slogans and suggest product improvements for their favorite brands. Pro’tech’d (http://www.protechd.com/company/ ), a small company making iPod covers uses AdCandy to run a contest letting visitors create their ad campaign and slogan, thus helping raise awareness for its brand in its target customer segment.

Zixxo (http://www.zixxo.com/cmn/Homepage.aspx ) allows small businesses to create and manage their own online coupons and syndicate them out to local consumers through partner websites and RSS feeds. John – example of coffee shop

Trend #5: explore emerging audio and video marketing (podcasting and vloging). The recent massive growth in these new formats triggered by the Apple IPOD and by new start ups such as You Tube will develop new advertising media that can be particularly appropriate for specific small businesses.

Chaz, a yoga instructor (http://yogamazing.com/ ), has a yoga studio in Louisville, KY and has been using podcasting on itunes for a series of instructional videos that promote his yoga techniques and his studio.

Dave Seitter, (http://seminar.midwestconstructionlaw.com) a construction attorney located in Kansas City, Mo has created a monthly expert teleseminar and converted it to a podcast.

I recently received this question on one of my YouTube blog marketing videos.

“I feel I am cut out for working in marketing, public relations and sales although, I’m stumped from there. What percent of marketing is online and how do I get started? – Fudruckus”

Well, Fudruckus, if that is your real name, I honestly don’t know what percentage of marketing is done online but, I think it’s safe to say – A TON!

I mean think about it. When’s the last time you turned on the TV and didn’t see a .com tattooed onto the bottom right hand corner of the screen or scrolling across the bottom? Can you remember seeing a commercial that did not, in some way, include a web address?

Companies both large and small spend millions of dollars a year on Internet marketing campaigns and more and more people every year get on the Internet. In addition to that, there’s no other form of marketing that I know of that is easier or cheaper to get into.

Now, all of that having been said I think it’s important to know that marketing online does take work. Many people would have you believe that’s it’s as easy as buying a $497 product, working 2 hours a day and “BOOM” you’re rich. I’ve made a lot of money online since 1995 and believe me not once was it as easy as I just described.

That is a myth.

To successfully market online takes time, effort and some monetary investment.
Almost anything can be marketed online. But, not everything is good to market online. Some things do better than others.

A man, much smarter than myself, taught me to always ask 2 questions to determine if something is worth marketing online.

1. Where can I get it?
2. How much does it cost?

If those questions are easily answered then you probably shouldn’t market it online.

For example:

Tooth Paste: “You get it at any grocery store and it cost $2.”
Bad for marketing online.

Custom Skateboards: “I’m not sure where to get one or what they cost, let me ‘Google’ it.” This may be something good to market online.

Next, determine whether or not there are any good niche opportunities for the products and/or services you want to market.

What makes a good niche?

1. You can find them in groups. (i.e. bikers, scrapbookers, dog lovers, weight loss, woodworkers, etc… People who are involved in these types of activities like to hang out with others, in person and online, who share the same interest.)

2. They are passionate and emotionally connected. (i.e. Some pet owners treat their pets as if they were human. They are crazy about them and will do anything for them, including spending a lot of money on them.)

3. They spend money. (i.e. Some hobbies / interests require that the participant spend money and some do not. Obviously, you want to find a niche market where the members spend money on their interests and they do it often.)

Keyword Research

Next do your keyword research to make sure there’s enough search volume for the keywords you are going to target and to get a realistic idea of what it’s going to take to compete in your chosen niche. In general you want to target specific keywords / phrases that have high search volume (at least 200-300 a day) with fewer results. (This means less competition)

There are several good tools that will help you with keyword research you can read more about them here…

http://1cat.biz/if-keyword-research-is-so-important-why-arent-you-doing-it/

Size up the Competition:

Do a quick search in the top 3 search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN) for the keywords you want to target. Take a look at the top 10-20 sites and determine the following:

1.Are the sites professionally designed?
2.Do they have a clear call to action?
3.Is the content compelling and current?
4.What are they doing right?
5.What are they doing wrong? Find what’s missing and make sure your site includes it.
6.Are there any blogs or social networking types of sites associated with this niche? (Important if you want to use Social Power Linking methods to get large amounts of non search engine dependent traffic. Which I highly recommend!)
7.How can you make your product, service and/or expertise stand out from the others?

Ultimately, what you are trying to determine is whether or not you can realistically compete in this niche. Only you know how much drive you have for this project, how much time you are willing to spend on it and how much money you have to do the things that need to be done in order to really compete. So, be honest with yourself. If 15 of the top 20 sites are all big companies like Sony, LG and Mitsubishi then, you might not want to try and sell flat panel TV’s.

Build Your Site

Once you decide on a market and you’ve done your research build your site and optimize it for your top 3 keywords/phrases. The quickest and easiest way to build search engine friendly sites, that are easy to manage, is to use WordPress. Even if you’re not going to utilize WordPress’ blogging features, which I think would be a mistake, it’s still an excellent tool for quickly deploying websites.

Getting Started with WordPress

Register a Domain – It’s best if your Domain Name includes your main keyword(s)

Setup a WordPress Friendly Hosting Account – I like Host Gator. They’re reliable and inexpensive.

Choose a High-Quality Theme – There are many free themes available but, I like to use premium themes on most of my blogs. They look more professional, provide more exclusivity and the code is clean. (Free of embedded Spam links and poor programming that may cause bad performance and search engine issues.)

Use the following posts at 1Cat.biz for setup and plug-in tips…
5 Essential Tweaks for all New WordPress Blogs
5 Essential Plugins for All New WordPress Blogs
The Next 5 Essential Plugins for All New WordPress Blogs

Getting Traffic to Your New WordPress Blog

Obviously, you need traffic in order to sell anything from your new WordPress site. The best way to get traffic quick and to build good search engine rankings is to learn from the masters. I’m a member of Social Power Linking and I highly recommend it. Traffic to my website has increased 10x’s since I started using the methods they teach.

Paid membership sites are one of the leading business models online today. This is mainly due to the fact that paid membership sites offers more advantages compare to other type of business. What are these advantages you ask? Well, there are three basic advantages and one is the steady stream of income.

With paid membership site you can have the steady income of a CEO but without the tedious responsibilities that comes with it. You see, subscriptions to paid membership sites are set up for a certain amount of time usually about by month or by year. So for instance you have a hundred people subscribe to your site for $20 a month. That would give you a steady cash flow of $2,000 for months to come, so long as your members remain satisfied and subscribe to your site. In a year you could make $24,000. That is more than the annual income of some people with normal office jobs.

Another advantage to having your own paid membership site is that the start-up cost is considerably low. Compare to other business, paid membership sites only requires a low capital. All you need to start up your site is a website design or template, a website host, a content management software or membership software (this includes all that you will need with the exception of the content itself) and of course the content. Most of which, you can do yourself to eliminate cost. As for the cost associated with website hosting services, they are very affordable with some as low a $5 a month.

The third advantage is actually the combination of the first and second advantage — high profit margin. The profit potential gained from paid membership site is unlimited. The actual amount of profit you gain would depend on how much time and effort you devote to your site. So if you are looking for a business that could provide you with steady income at a low start up cost then paid membership site is the one for you.

What’s great about starting your own paid membership site is that you are in control. You choose what kind of site you want to start up and how much to charge for it. It can either provide mentoring or coaching, or contain articles or information about various subjects. You can even offer some sort of specialized service like social networks. It’s all up to you! Just remember that your main goal is charge people before giving them access to your website.

So how would you get people to pay just to gain access to your website? Well, the key here is “specialized”. May it be information, product, coaching, or service it needs to be specialized. Why? Because these are hard to come by and would be too time consuming if it were to be done on your own.

When the Internet first came into being no one thought to charge for access to a website since just about every piece of information can easily be obtained for free. However, times have change. Not everyone has the time to devote to looking through endless pages of results just to gain a certain piece of information. So what do they do? They pay for it! Consumers nowadays are willing to pay for the information they need without the hassle of going through pages and pages of information. And that is one reason why it is the perfect time to begin your own paid membership site, the demand is high!

Now, how do you start your own paid membership site successfully? Well, the first step is to choose a topic. This is the critical stage, since it will decide the future of your business. So make sure that your topic is either in high demand or at least interesting enough to catch the attention of consumers.

A good place to start is within your own world. Ask your friends and family members for advice. It might also be a good idea to find a topic that you are passionate about and what would interest others. Since you will be spending most of your time working on your site, why not choose a topic that you can enjoy?

The next step is to creating a niche. You cannot start a paid membership site for the profits alone. You need to target your market and in order to do that; you need to find a niche that will target those who are looking for what your website is offering.

Make sure that your niche is fresh and innovative, but most importantly that it is not being offered for free on the Internet anywhere. This might proved to be a challenge but it is not an impossible feat.

Once you have your niche, next is you need to find prospects. This one is easier to accomplish and can be done for free. All you have to do is post offers on various message boards or forums. Just make sure that your posts can easily be seen by your target consumers. Interested prospects can easily reach you by simply using the private message feature right on the forum.

The next step is to set up your site. There are many tools available that can help you build and maintain your own paid membership site. You have the option whether to leave the website creation to 3rd party services at a very affordable cost or to simply do it yourself.

Another idea is to avail of one of those all-in-one membership management software systems. This will get your website started in no time at all, even if you do not have the technical knowledge, since most of its administrative features are automaton. These membership software programs will reduce your workload by 75%, it’s easier and faster!

So you already have your topic, niche, prospects and site. The next step is to decide how much to charge. This will depend on what your site have to offer, whether it’s worth paying for access or if it can be found somewhere else at less cost. Most paid membership sites charge anywhere from $19.95 to $69.95 a month. Whatever you decide remember that your product or service has to be worth its price. Otherwise, your customers will not continue subscribing to your site.

All across the globe, people are enjoying the large amounts of profits gain from their own paid membership site all of which are comes in regular basis and earned from the comfort and convenience of their own home. So do not be left behind! Start making money online with your own paid membership site.

You might have heard about SEO services and how web entrepreneurs are using them to market their sites. Almost every website that provides services and has products to offer requires SEO services. These sites need visitors to promote their products and to continuously improve their sales and profits. Due to these reasons, almost all website owners are now applying and working with the SEO companies to achieve that precious first page ranking. Website owners are becoming more familiar with the benefits of the SEO services to their clients.

Through search engine optimization also known as SEO services a website is enhanced and improved in order to achieve its full function and higher search engine rankings. There are several SEO services that a SEO company can provide to its clients. These services includes analyzing the client’s website, analyzing the competitor’s website, working on the improvement of the client’s website, and continuous maintenance of the website to retain its ranking in the search engines.

SEO services start when they analyze your site. This is where the SEO services providers learn every part of your site. They study its present PR rank, competitors, inbound links and most and site’s content. They also find the flow of the audience going to your site. If and when these factors are correctly implemented they will lead to higher rankings and more traffic. These are the reasons why SEO services are needed, to be able to generate traffic and improve revenue and bottom line. The traffic is the life of a website. Remember, the more visitors that come and visit your site, the greater chances to convert them into a sale or a membership sign up. They can spread the information to others through social networking which can serve as a referral system.

There are several ways on how the SEO services help in increase the traffic of a website. These are through the Internet marketing strategies like the pay-per-click, link building and organic search engine optimization (SEO). The pay-per-click strategy is the process of purchasing space on the online where ads are displayed and the advertiser pays for traffic on a pay per performance. Further, the better the keywords that you use with respect to your products, the more chances that your site will be visited. For example, if your products are pieces jewelry, with the use of SEO services strategies, you can use keywords research and go for popular keywords like low priced diamonds, pure gold jewelry or even wedding rings and engagement rings in order for your site to be discovered first during the search. On one hand, if your products are related to travel, you can use keywords such as group package or cheaper seasonal rates and the like. SEO services providers would give you reasons why you need to use these well researched keywords that must be well written in the contents of the site.

What are all these SEO services strategies mean? Primarily, the more informative your site is the more and frequent the visits that you will receive from thousands and millions of online users globally. You’ll get all the help you need in optimizing your site’s contents through valuable support of the SEO services providers. What do these providers do actually? For one, to make the keywords more effective, SEO services try to find the keywords that are related to your products. You can also use the keywords that individuals frequently use when searching for your products through the search engines.

Another way on how to increase traffic in your website is with the use of link building strategy. Remember, SEO services aim at increasing your site’s traffic or visitors thus allow your site to be accessible whenever possible. SEO services determine that this strategy can either be paid link or free link. The paid links are usually associated with the membership for joining a certain directories or sites which offers linkage. The websites under these directories are usually high-ranking sites that make profit by accepting links. They allow newer sites to be linked with them but require payment in return. These sites usually have an area within their site where links are associated interchangeably.

On the other hand, other sites actually allow free links, as long as the site owners provide an exchange links to their site or they have to share the free links with other merchants as well. There are other sites that also offer free links but the exposure of the link is not usually that long compared with the paid sites. These sites are alternately paced with other sites that wish to be linked as well. This interlinking strategy is one of the best Internet Marketing promotion and strategy of the SEO services providers.

Finally, SEO services providers have this organic search engine optimization. This is the slow but sure strategy for websites. It is slow because it involves link building which is a very time consuming task. It is the most effective strategy among the three. This works by achieving a decent rank from the search engines and from that rank, you will slowly move upwards. The website is enhanced and improved by the SEO services applied for to be able to achieve a rank in the search engine. From its initial rank, it will slowly acquire traffic and will slowly increase in rank over time. This may take a long time compared with the previously mentioned strategies but it will last longer too. To invite traffic, your site must be attractive and filled with information needed by your target audience. It is important to consider the information written on it because it will help in the ranking of your site in the future.

SEO services needs to be continuous and used on an ongoing process in order to maintain the rank of your site.

For much of the year, Facebook had been in negotiation to sell itself to Yahoo. The market value of the “instant behemoth” social service sites has fluctuated, as services both large and small have changed hands this year. The first big acquisition was Newscorp’s purchase of MySpace for $580 million in 2005. That set a benchmark, which was driven upward somewhat by the NBC Universal purchase of women’s online network iVillage for $600 million earlier this year.

Social networking sites typically allow users to create and share blogs, pictures and videos with friends and the wider public. What makes Facebook different from MySpace? Its founder(s) set out to create a social networking site that is designed for post-high school users. It connects people by region, college, company and high school.

Build a personal profile and connect with others that are sharing your life experience as opposed to your social, entertainment and artistic interests, which are the focal points in MySpace. Facebook attempted to blend a little maturity into the energized chaos found on MySpace, and they have been successful. Their current membership is somewhere north of ten million – compared to the 145 million that MySpace claims.

The MySpace inclusion of ‘artist pages’ allows artists working in audio and video mediums to freely distribute media from within a social network. It has become a central feature of the network. Artist pages exist alongside individual profiles, and in addition to the regular profile features they allow the artists to upload media and distribute it in the network. Individuals can link to artist pages, endorse media, and participate as fans. This feature resulted in bands using the site to promote their music, one of the dynamics of the site that has made it so successful.

Facebook’s orientation around actual communities makes it much more efficient as a connectivity tool. You can connect to anyone within your group and you can search for people across the entire Facebook spectrum. Specific interest areas are much more easily brought into focus and it is easier to build a group around them. The big question for Facebook is its relevance past the college years. The question for MySpace will be its ability to undergo a little maturation in the form of advertising and control of commercial video and music posting.

In the marketplace Facebook has had several suitors on its dance card, having held negotiations with both Microsoft and Viacom over the past year. Microsoft has in fact signed a deal with Facebook whereby Microsoft will sell and provide banner ads and sponsored links for Facebook using its adCenter online advertising software. Some medial analysts dismiss this deal as minor, citing banner adds as passé and sponsored posts as an advertising method that is showing some age as well.

In the Google corner, the company has announced a deal with MySpace to pay at least $900 million in shared advertising revenue and become the site’s sole search provider. As part of the deal, Fox Interactive Media will add Google search boxes to MySpace and its other web sites. Google has first crack at selling any display ads Fox doesn’t sell directly. Google has shown an ability to work partnership agreements and a willingness to settle for a piece of the action that has served them well in the feinting and blocking that occurs in the Internet consolidation ring.

Google’s purchase of YouTube ratcheted up the pressure on Yahoo to close the deal. It’s worth noting that Google bought YouTube with Google stock – a choice that was not open to Yahoo in their Facebook negotiations. Earlier this summer Yahoo decided that Facebook was too expensive at $1 billion and in July, came close to closing an agreement at the $800 million figure. The reported high offer of just over 1.6 billion was rejected, and now Facebook claims it isn’t for sale, but if it was, it’s worth at least 8 billion.

From a financial/cultural perspective, Yahoo had a lot on the line with this acquisition because it would have significantly reshaped the portal’s efforts to establish and hold a Yahoo “community.” In one Yahoo corner or another, many of the features contained in both MySpace and FaceBook can be found already as Yahoo proprietary components. What is missing is the packaging and the social cachet that both social networking services hold for young people.

Yahoo has built a strategy of drawing Internet users and advertising through building community-based services on the Web, but acquisitions so far have been on a small scale. Recently Yahoo has acquired Bix, MyBlogLog and Kenet Works. Bix and MyBlogLog are built along social networking lines, and will work (hopefully) as a complement to Yahoo’s current properties: Flickr, Delicious, Upcoming and WebJay. All of these have slightly different orientations: FLickr is photo-centric, Delicious is a blog tagging and sharing service and Bix is a digital karaoke and entertainment site that takes amateur uploads.

While the Yahoo / Facebook deal appears to be dead, the evolution of social networking sites is bringing several characteristics to light. There is some indication that user loyalty is a slippery issue. MySpace users are migrating to Facebook, YouTube and other sites as their primary “hookup.” Average visitation time on the site has dropped by over half.

On the other hand, Media metrics firm Hitwise has released its Media Report which found that MySpace is still atop the social networking mountain, with 82 percent of visits to the top 20 social networking sites landing on their site. Whatever the figure, Yahoo’s attempted purchase of Facebook would have been an expensive bet on a hot product that could cool as quickly as Friendster and others that have preceded it. Finding an advertising model that works for the Facebook is also going to be a challenge, particularly given the existing Microsoft deal to handle some ad placement for the service. Given the turbulence in the social network marketplace, the inability to close the deal may end up being a positive for Yahoo.

It is many people’s dream to work from home, by starting a business from scratch or joining a legitimate work at home business opportunity, affiliate program or franchise. Working at home means you can work at something you enjoy, “sack” difficult clients, put difficult bosses behind you, and avoid a lot of the daily stress faced by employees. The home based business industry is expanding rapidly and research suggests that revenue from home-based businesses will increase by up to 17% a year for the next five years. Home based business can mean a consultancy, franchise, affiliate program, network marketing, party plan, internet sales, and many more.

It’s a big step from being employed to working for yourself, so plan as far ahead as possible. You will need to think about the effects on all areas of your life to prepare yourself, before you actually leave your job. With corporate cutbacks, redundancy can be the trigger for starting a home based business, and in this case you may have no scope for planning ahead. If you are made redundant try to negotiate as many extra benefits as you can from your employer: for example pay in lieu of notice, use of company equipment such as mobile phone or computer. Also see if there is any training your employer could pay for, to help you in your business, such as internet skills.

If you have no other income, you will need some savings to carry you through your business start-up period: work out basic living expenses for six months and try to put at least that sum aside. Don’t forget that you will need to provide for benefits you may have received from employment, such as health insurance, pension contributions or a use of a company vehicle. Of course, if you have a spouse or partner who is employed and is willing to provide these necessities during your start up phase, you are buying yourself extra startup time.

Of course you will want a comfortable and quiet work area, ideally away from the rest of your household. This is important not only to reduce noise, but also to create the psychology of being “at work” and not “at home” when you need to concentrate. While some lucky people do manage to start their home business from the kitchen table, you’ll find the separation will help you run your business much more efficiently. Don’t forget to allow space for storage and meeting visitors, if your business involves this.

When you are working from home to help your business succeed, sometimes long and unusual hours, it is easy to ignore both your physical and mental health. The usual advice applies – proper diet and exercise, and even if you don’t have a family at home, don’t work all the time. Entrepreneurs often report that the one aspect they miss in home working is the contact with colleagues, so be sure to maintain a social life, possibly through a business networking or support group. Try to surround yourself with positive, supportive people, and be sure to explain your business idea fully to your family. They will be a critical part of your support system. Those who love you the most aren’t usually trying to stand in your way – it’s just that starting a home business may be something unknown to them, and like everyone, they tend to be fearful of something they don’t understand.

Benefits of a home based business
Working from home is a different way of life from 9-5 employment and offers benefits – monetary or lifestyle – that can far outweigh those found as an employee. Whether you work at home already, are thinking about it, or your life circumstances now make working from home necessary or possible, be sure to think these benefits through as you choose your employment options.

Financial benefits are not always the prime motivator. Many people are willing to take a reduction in income to enjoy the lifestyle benefits of working from home. There is a huge sense of freedom in being able to plan your own timetable. You can make appointments, do your shopping, and run other errands without trying to fit everything into a lunch hour or on the way home from work when everyone else is doing the same thing. You can take advantage of a glorious day to take your dog for a long walk, or stop to watch sport for an hour in the afternoon. You may need to start earlier or finish later to compensate – but the point is that you have this freedom when working for yourself.

In addition to time freedom, another big benefit of working at home is a reduction in stress. Of course, any business will bring its own pressures, but there are certain stressful situations that can be avoided by working at home. and the less stressed you are, the more energy and enthusiasm you have, energy that can be spent on your family or business! The daily commute can literally be a few feet to an office or other work area. You can avoid the stress, time and wear and tear involved in the traditional daily commute, and literally add two hours to your working day.

Choosing the right business for you
Many escapees from the corporate world don’t have a clear, transferable set of skills that they can use in their own business. For example, an engineer can see a number of uses for the skills used in their former job. For the rest of us a little more imagination may be needed.

The key to success is to keep an open mind and do not dismiss an opportunity because it is different form things you have done before. Look around at the opportunities available for online and offline businesses, surf the net, visit sites that offer advice. Also remember that you could be involved in more than one business.

There is a wide range of business opportunities to consider, including Affiliate programs, Internet based businesses, retail sales, network marketing, party planning. Many are highly reputable companies with successful track records. It’s important to find out as much as possible about the company and to contact those already involved so you understand any risks you may be taking, how long before you can reasonably expect to make serious money, and what amount of work is required to make that money.

Be practical in your expectations of a homebased business: enormous income in a very short time is unrealistic, and a legitimate home business will not promise this. However, many offer a steady income stream that can increase gradually. It takes a certain amount of time to build any successful business. By starting and maintaining a legitimate home-based business, you can achieve your dream of being your own boss.

The main reason for the general fascination with brands is their ability to provide the consumers an extra value in addition to what the product\service\company themselves can provide. A value which becomes the major motivation for consumers to desire the product. Everybody agrees about that, but from here on it becomes foggy. First of all, what is this value exactly? Also, how precisely is this value being added and incorporated into the brand? In this short article I attempt to provide a clear answer to both of these key questions and to suggest a workable approach to creating value added brands.

By way of introduction, let me say that strong brands are perceived instruments, means to achieve goals or benefits, in the consumer’s mind. They arouse emotions because they are perceived as a source of something beneficial. The positive emotions are direct outcomes of these anticipations. Their various symbolizations (name, logo, font, emblem, etc’) have little impact of their own. Their importance is mainly as identifiers of sources of already attributed and anticipated benefits.

The act of branding has ten different meanings which are ten different ways to create instrumentality or usefulness beyond the tangible benefits which the product/ service/ company themselves can provide.

Creating a conceived linkage to a tangible benefit

The most basic level of branding is creating a conceived linkage between the brand name and other identifiers and a tangible benefit. Huge brands like Pantene shampoo which promise to amend the six symptoms of unhealthy hair look, work in this level.

Forming a mental context

A “mental context” is a concept or an organizing principle which allows the consumer to conceive originally unrelated facts (such as: the various marketing activities of a company) as connected by a guiding intent or by some other common factor. For example: should you stumbled into a hotel like the “Hudson” or the “Royalton” in the heart of Manhattan, you are promised pleasure on different levels, but if you know you’re in a “Boutique Hotel” your stay becomes a very different experience altogether.

Directing an experience

This is essentially a hypnotic effect, in some cases related to Placebo. The branding here is the creation of an expectation which alters the sensed experience and enables the consumer a richer experience than what the product alone can provide him with. For instance, the expectation that an energy drink like “Red Bull” will energize, makes the consumers feel a wave of energy beyond the physical effect of the drink.

Creating a means of self presentation

Here the branding creates a symbol with a meaning that is well known to everybody in a relevant group, which enables the consumer to characterize himself. The brand “ABSOLUT vodka” became a way for yuppies to signal their yuppieness to other yuppies and so became a huge success.

Creating a means to deliver a message

The branding role in this approach is to create a symbol of another kind, its meaning known for everybody as well. The diamonds giant “De Beers” made the diamond a means of expressing commitment, making the physical fact that a diamond is indestructible a metaphor for the lastingness of a relationship.

Building a social-cultural authority

The next branding approach is the creation of an authority which the consumers can use as a guide, to help them understand what’s happening around them and to inform them which behavioral ways are normative, what will make them happier etc’. The brand “Apple” depicted the personal computer, not only as a working tool but also as a device for self expression and creativity.

Creating “a long hand”

In this approach, the branding is creating means for the consumer and empowering her to act for noble objectives and high purposes, which are important to her, but which she can’t achieve by herself. The “Body Shop” network made buying a way for contributing to the preservation of the environment and helping people in need all around the globe.

Creating an Alter Ego

Here, the brand is a way for the consumer to behave (at least on a fantasy level) in a manner he would like to but doesn’t dare, or isn’t willing to pay the price for. The provocation of the fashion brand “Diesel” is made as if “in the name of” the brand customers. They can feel like they are provocative themselves every time the brand advertises one of its outrageous campaigns.

Building an “Emotional Gym”

Opting for our civilized and protected life style, we compromise (not once, happily) a lot of our possibilities as humans. We go to the gym to prevent the degeneration of our body which, in our life style, doesn’t get to face the challenges it was designed for. Similarly, we watch movies and TV series’ in order to “exercise” emotional skills which aren’t legitimate in our life style. Brands like “Sicily” from “Dolce & Gabbana”, allows us too to experience such emotional possibilities.

Facilitating fantasies

With only a fine difference from the previous approach, this branding approach helps the consumer to fantasize an alternative reality. The brand “Timberland” was designed as a way for consumers to fantasize about courageous adventures against the forces of nature.

The understanding of the different kinds of added value, the ways by which these values are instrumental to the consumer and the methods by which brands can be destined to be means for the consumer for achieving his goals, makes the difference between masterful creations of brands and amateur imitation which produces mere look-alikes.