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How to Avoid Hotlinking

January 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

profitable niche ideasWith the inception of the internet come all sorts of ways for users to use the system in a less than admirable way. One of these ways is hotlinking. You may have heard of it. Here are some facts about hotlinking and why you need to be aware and stay away from doing it.

What is Hotlinking?

Let’s say that you see a video on someone else’s site. If they allow you to download the video, then you can embed it into the text on your site with their link so that they get the credit. Sometimes though, you may tweak the link so that it appears on your page without the owner’s consent. This can cause problems for the owner.

This is how we get to hotlinking. That link to the video you posted on your site for others to link to? Well, what your visitors and clickers don’t know is that the video is linked to the original site. Each time that someone clicks and views it, the bandwidth used to run it is not coming from your site but the other site.

Still not seeing the problem? Well, website owners pay for bandwidth on a server. This is the space that they have available to run software, store files and anything else that they are allowed to do on the site. Each time videos on the server are watched, they use a certain amount of bandwidth. That is paid for by the site owner.

When you use their video still on their site, they are paying each time someone clicks on YOUR site. This is theft and you are doing it if you are direct linking to a website’s video or file without their permission.

How do you know that you are jacking someone for their bandwidth? Look at the coding for your link. If it includes a tag that requests the image from a website server other than yours, then you know that the image is being accessed from that server. There will be no added website address in the HTML language if it is on your server.

Hotlinking can drive up your website charges if someone is stealing from you. But, don’t think this is like using your neighbor’s water hose when they are out of town. Victims of the theft can get even at your expense and it can be more costly than what you are doing.

Since the files and images are on another server, it can be changed at any time by that owner. You could look at your website one day and realize that you have an image showing that is inappropriate or derogatory. This is called “switcheroo.” It could get you booted off your server if someone complains.

The solution is not to hotlink in the first place. If you think you are inadvertently hotlinking, take steps to stop it right away.

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Home Business Ideas: Green Businesses

December 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

profitable niche ideasGreen business is a continued growing trend. And because the topic is so vast, there are an abundance of business start-up ideas you can capitalize on.

Here are a few green businesses start-up ideas to get your creative wheels spinning.

#1 Solar Energy

There are a number of ways you can make money from the solar industry field. For example, you can create a theme-based website on solar energy. Use keyword research tools to find the most profitable solar energy niche. You can also become an information marketer on this topic. It lends itself to a number of information product ideas. For example: How to hire a solar energy contractor. How to install solar panels yourself. How to use passive solar energy. The list goes on and on.

And let’s not forget affiliate income. (Read more about affiliate marketing here.) You can affiliate yourself with solar panel companies for information products on solar power. You can also become an affiliate for green or solar energy contractors. Finally, you can sell solar energy products. These products range from basic gadgets like solar powered laptop rechargers to pricier products, such as solar panels.

#2 Green Living

Green living is still a popular topic. In fact, many people are taking it to an extreme. Several bloggers have gained notoriety by blogging about how they live green. They take the reduce, reuse and recycle to an extreme and spend little or nothing on utilities and extras each month.

You can create a similar business and profit from your blog.

You can also become an affiliate for a green living niche. You can sell green living products yourself or become an information marketer. Consider also becoming a green living coach. If you enjoy working with people, then this can be a very rewarding career. Many people are looking for ways they can cut back to save the environment and their pocket book.

#3 Gardening

Gardening itself is quite a broad topic. However, there are many profitable niches. For example, composting, container gardening and hydroponics are just a few. There’s also organic gardening, rooftop gardening, and small space gardening.

Find a niche that appeals to you and also offers a potential for profit. You can become a gardening coach. You can build a gardening information marketing empire. You can build a theme-based website and profit from advertising. And of course you can sell gardening products or affiliate with gardening-based companies.

Take a look at any green topic and explore the options for niche ideas within that topic. The green industry is alive and growing. Look for trends and take advantage of the amazing keyword tools available. There’s plenty of room for profits and new start-up companies.

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How to Develop a Sales Forecast for Your Home Based Business

December 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

business basics for home business ownersThe ability to create a sales forecast can provide you with valuable information. A sales forecast can help you create a budget. It can also help you plan your business and ultimately make more money.

What Is A Sales Forecast?
According to BusinessDictionary.com a sales forecast is “Projection of achievable sales revenue, based on historical sales data, analysis of market surveys and trends, and salespersons’ estimates. Also called sales budget, it forms the basis of a business plan because the level of sales revenue affects practically every aspect of a business.”

Why Do You Need One?
When you know how much money to expect you can plan better. Sales forecasts can be developed monthly, quarterly and annually. They help you create a realistic budget. This means you can pay all your bills. It means you can manage cash flow optimally. And it helps you decide what marketing tactics to add to your strategy. It helps you decide what products or services to launch. And it helps you make educated decisions about business opportunities that come your way.

Putting Together a Sales Forecast
The good news is that creating a sales forecast is actually pretty straight forward. It’s really a matter of keeping good records and answering a few questions.
* How much will you realistically sell next year?
* How much do you charge for your goods or services?
* How much does it cost to produce your product?
* How much are your operating expenses? (Utilities, hosting, autoresponders, bank fees, etc…)
* Do you need to hire employees or contractors? If so, how many, and how much will you pay them?
* How much do you pay yourself?
* What additional expenses do you have? For example, credit card debt.

Your sales forecast is a simple calculation of anticipated expenses versus anticipated income or profits. If you already have a budget and have been tracking sales putting together a sales forecast is a simple task.

Create a Forecasting Plan
Once you have an understanding about thaw to create your sales forecast, it’s time to plan. How often do you sit down and plan your business? When you sit down to plan your business, spend a few minutes creating a sales forecast. It’ll give you the extra edge when you plan. For example, if you sit down monthly to plan the next month you can create a sales forecast for that month. If you plan quarterly then you can create a forecast for the next quarter. Adding a sales forecast to your business planning routine gives you extra information. Use a sales forecast to grow and profit.

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Turn Your Ideas into Ebooks – It’s Easier Than You Think

October 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

information marketing tipsInformation marketing can be a wonderful business model. Done correctly, it can be a lucrative standalone business – or you can incorporate it into an existing business model for more profits and credibility.

But so many business owners are intimidated by the process of turning their ideas into ebooks.

Here are a few ideas to get your idea turned into an e-book reality.

#1 Get someone else to write it. No, we’re not talking about hiring a ghostwriter, though that’s certainly an option. Some of the best e-books are actually collections of articles written by industry experts.

For example, if you have a website devoted to dog training and want to write an e-book about training your dog unusual tricks, you could ask ten animal trainers to each contribute their favorite trick to the book. Each dog trainer would get exposure for their business in the book and you’d get a complete, and quite valuable, e-book to sell. You didn’t have to write a single word! Do make sure you are very upfront with your contributors, of course.

#2 Break it down. Sometimes the hurdle between book idea and actual product is a feeling of being overwhelmed. There’s an easy way around that challenge. Break your main topic into ten to twenty supporting topics. It may be easier to pose them as questions.

For example, an e-book on sales techniques might have the following supporting points or chapters:

* What are the benefits of better selling?
* How do listening skills play a role in increased sales?
* How important is relationship building?
* Should I network for more sales?

Each of these supporting chapters can then be divided even more into ten or more supporting points. Thus, for a ten chapter book you end up with 100 smaller, almost article size, topics to address. It makes writing a book much more manageable.

#3 Turn to audio. Some people just don’t have the time or the inclination to write a book, but still want the results. No problem. You can create an audio file instead. There are actually two ways to approach this. You can interview people on your topic, have the interviews transcribed, edited and polished. Then compile them into an e-book format.

Or you can simply speak your book and then have someone transcribe it and edit and polish it into an e-book. For some, it’s easier to flesh out their ideas if they’re talking. If this is you, consider recording your book instead of putting fingers to keyboard. Additionally, there is software like Dragon Naturally Speaking that will transcribe your audio for you. This saves you the cost of a transcriptionist, though you may still want to hire someone to edit and polish your book.

Finally, though we did mention it in the beginning, if you do have an idea for an e-book but don’t have the time or inclination to turn it into a reality, then consider hiring a ghostwriter. Look for one who is experienced with writing books. Discuss your needs and work together to turn your idea into e-book profits. Read How to Find a Good Ghostwriter for more information>

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How to Connect Your Twitter Account to Facebook

September 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment

getting retweetedIf you’re like many business owners, you have both a Facebook and a Twitter account. It makes good sense because both can be powerful marketing and business growth tools.

However, if you’re also like many business owners, your time is precious. You’re always on the lookout for ways to make your life and your actions more efficient and effective.

Good news on the social media front, you can connect your Twitter and Facebook accounts so one post to either, takes care of both.

When you’re looking to connect your Twitter posts to Facebook, there are actually a number of options. I think that the most straightforward and simplest is to utilize TweetDeck. Sign up, link your account to your social media profiles and you’re ready to go. It’s easy and it saves a ton of time.

There are a number of other options, as well, each with its own benefits and drawbacks. Read the options below to determine which is the best fit for you:

Here’s how to connect your Twitter Account to Facebook.

#1 Facebook Application. Simply visit http://www.facebook.com/twitter and connect your Facebook accounts to your Twitter profile. All you have to do is enter your Twitter Username and Password and click “Allow”. They make the connection. Now when you post on your Facebook page, it’ll show up on Twitter. If you don’t want every single post on Facebook to head over to Twitter, you can use an application like Selective Twitter Status application or  TweetSync which only post #hashtag posts or keyword posts based on your predetermined criteria.

#2 Tweetdeck. The other option to share posts between Twitter and Facebook is to use a Twitter client/dashboard application, such as Tweetdeck or Social Too. These services often give you the option of sharing posts simply by checking a box in your settings.

#3 Ping.fm The third option, which you can, of course, combine with the previous two options, is to use Ping.fm,. This service is free and it updates everything all at once. This includes Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Buzz, Bebo and a ton more. In fact, they say if you don’t see your network to let them know and they’ll get their developers on it to add it.

To use ping, visit the link above and register. Then click on Twitter. You’ll receive a screen that says something like, “Link Ping.fm to Twitter”. You’ll allow the connection and then be redirected back to Ping to add more accounts.

You can then use HootSuite to post your “Tweets” which will then be sent to your other social networking sites. You can also link your Facebook pages with Ping.fm.

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Best iPhone Apps – Small Business

September 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

getting retweetedWhat are the best iPhone applications to use for small businesses?

Most iPhone apps are made by third party companies to use in conjunction with the iPhone. Many of the applications are made specifically with the small business owner in mind.

Here are eight of the best:

#1) Invoice2go

This iphone app enables you to build and then send out PDF invoices via changeable templates. So you can charge your customers while on the go.

#2) iPhone quick mobile office suite

This one allows you to get almost as much done as if you were using your own computer. It comes with Word, Excel, PDF viewing ability, and so on. In other words, it has the same functions as Microsoft office.

#3) Personal assistant

This enables you to stay on top of different accounts, and puts the information from all of them into the same one. So you can combine your business, travel, and email accounts into the same one in an easy-to-read format.

#4) Mileage counter

This one enables you to figure out how much gas your car has gone through. This useful if you want to report the gas as a business expense.

#5) Budget tracker

This app enables you to put your budget in. Then you input your expenses, and figure out how close to your goal you really are.

#6) 43 actions

This essentially allows you to organize different actions in terms of importance. So you would put the most important ones at the top, then check them off when done and go to the next item on the list.

#7) VAT calculator

This allows you to immediately figure out the VAT in many different countries. It’s useful if you do a lot of travelling.

#8) Feed reader

This is an RSSS feed that will bring in latest news relevant to your business.

The bottom line is, there are many apps available. The key is to only use the ones that genuinely help your business.

Some of them might seem cool, but if they distract you from the most important tasks, they are actually harmful. Experiment with the different apps, and see what helps you and what doesn’t.

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DIY SEO

July 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

There are all kinds of Search Engine Optimization tips available today. And it’s no secret that the search engines can provide a lot of long-term traffic.

Getting ranked can be a challenge for those who don’t know what to do. But it’s also not as difficult as you might believe. Here are two ways to make it happen:

#1) Have a good site design

Many people get so focused on off-page factors that they forget their page content makes a huge difference as well.

What’s a good design?

Make sure that your main keyword is the first thing the search engine robot sees. This is why you want to have it at the beginning of each page, as well as in the title.

How many times do you have to include the keyword?

Some people mistakenly believe that they need the keyword five to ten times on their page. However, three times should be good enough. Just make sure it looks natural.

#2) Beat the sites already ranking

Look at the strategies of the sites that are already ranking well for your keywords. Try to get the same backlinks that they have.

Once you’ve gotten as many of the same links as you can, then you just have to do a little better. Just continue building new links as long as it takes to rank. In many instances, just submitting some articles is enough to help you rank.

What if it’s a competitive keyword?

Then you might have to work a bit harder. For instance, after you’ve submitted your article, check and see if other sites have picked it up.

This is a golden opportunity. Sites that are using your article content very often will want regular content contributed. If it’s a more popular site, it might be worth contacting the site, and seeing whether they want a full-time contributor. This could end up providing some long-term traffic.

Why is this better than an article link?

Because the search engines place more importance on links that are hard to get. Therefore, blog, forum and article directory links are not worth as much, because anybody can get a link from them. Instead, independent sites that don’t give away links freely are usually more valuable.

The bottom line is, how much effort you need to put into your link-building campaigns depends on the keywords you are targeting. The more competitive terms generally require more effort to get ranked.

As long as you take care of your on-page factors, and copy the sites linking to your competitors, you should start ranking shortly. This is the best way to get ranked as fast as possible.

You might want to look into: SEO Linkvine
SOE Linkvine is a link-building website that allows you to submit articles and get thousands of one-way links pointing to your website. All links will be “in-content” links  related websites of your choice. All done on auto-pilot. From IM superstar Brad Callen.

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How to Find Untapped Markets for a Profitable Online Business

July 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

In the world of internet marketing, there’s a lot of money still to be made. There are many untapped markets and unsaturated markets just ripe for the picking. The trick is to find these markets and make the best use of them.

Here are a few ideas to find untapped markets.

Explore Gender Differences In Markets
Many markets are promoted toward a particular gender, and there may be additional opportunities if you can consider a subject from another gender’s perspective. For example, the stay at home mom market is huge, but  there are many stay at home dads now who could use a community of their own.

Explore Language or Nationality Differences
Like gender differences, many markets focus on one nationality or ethnic group. The reality is that there are many opportunities when you open up a market to include or even target a specific nationality or language.
For example, in the previous point we spoke about stay at home moms & dads. If that same topic were approached to target Spanish-speaking stay-at-home parents it would tap a potentially untapped market. Pages and content could be offered in Spanish and English and topics could address cultural issues that may not be relevant to the general market.

Explore Age and Other Demographic Opportunities
Various demographics, such as aage and median income, offer various market opportunities. Keeping with the stay-at-home parent example, older stay-at-home parents may be an untapped market. They likely have different needs and a different lifestyle than younger parents. And some markets can be approached locally.

For example, if you’re interested in offering a parenting website in general and you live in Austin, Texas you can have a parenting in Austin, Texas website. This local niche helps you become number one on the search engines quickly and offer unique information to your audience.

Stay on Top of Trends
Finally, in addition to seeking a unique approach to a market to create or find an untapped market, staying on top of trends can also provide a valuable and profitable untapped market. Who knew a few years ago that “Quitting Facebook” would be such an in demand market and now you can find very popular websites on the topic. Staying on top of trends and predicting their future can create untapped markets. Additionally, spending time on the keyword tools can offer unique insight to emerging or potential untapped markets. The key to finding these markets is to look at opportunities from a broad minded perspective. Think outside of the box and explore the potential within already existing markets. There is untapped potential around every corner.

Resources for Further Study:

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