Thursday, May 3, 2007

Unbiased & Impartial Information for the Internet Marketer

Most Internet users would agree that purchasing any product or service online could have many outcomes ranging from being more than happy at the quality, speed of delivery and price, to the feeling of being ripped off leaving you totally disillusioned, disappointed and confused.

The development and increase in the number of Internet businesses makes it easy to find numerous products or services that fit your criteria. However due to this vast number of options all apparently giving good value for money, this makes online shopping a potential nightmare.

How does the consumer decide which provider offers the best value for their money?

Bearing in mind that each consumer is unique in how they make the final decision about who to buy from, one solution should be to seek out a product review.

Consumer product reviews are suppose to be independent opinions about the products or services available from people who are unconnected from the product, in other words provide a totally unbiased opinion.

Product reviews should consist of product details, value measurements, personal editorials and frequently contain favourable comparisons to similar products.

Certainly a large selection of websites - a good example is Amazon - directly selling consumable goods such as books, electrical goods, etc see the benefit of including reviews from the consumer who has already bought the product. This is a way to establishing trust with their visitors, the reasoning is that this should prompt return visitors wanting unbiased information and a certain amount of extra reassurance.

But what about the Internet marketer trying to get hold of a true impartial review or rating of a product or service? Imagine if you are looking for a great online program, but with all the scams and half-truths on line whom do you trust!

Many sites review products with which they have an affiliate relationship with, could it be expected that they would provide unbiased reviews? I think not.

Have you ever been a victim to a well-written sales letter only to find out later that the product you bought didn't live up to the promises. Every time you see a sales page do you now get defensive and sceptical, always questioning whether the product or service being promoted can do what it says. If that is the case then maybe check out the following websites, which do claim to provide reviews applicable to the Internet Marketer.

1. TopTenREVIEWS Quote from their home page "Have you ever spent hours online or at the store trying to figure out which product to buy? At TopTenREVIEWS, we help you cut through the clutter to find the product that's best for you. We provide in-depth reviews, side-by-side product comparisons, industry-related news and articles, and qualified links to purchase products for Software, Web services, Movies and Hardware."

2. ReviewBooth Your online Marketing Review Magazine. Categories include, ad tracking software, affiliate marketing, copywriting, affiliates networking, google adsense, marketing books, marketing experts, PPC search engines.

3.RatingsHub, Quote from their home page "A free site to help all Internet marketers get independent reviews and ratings from people who buy Internet marketing products and services? You need a referral code from an Associate Editor to be able to access the site. The Editor and Associate Editors have one purpose, to create extraordinary value on the RatingsHub review site and in the free newsletter. This allows them to build a long-term relationship with their subscribers, so that the site and the Newsletter becomes essential reading to help the Internet marketer pursue their Internet marketing business." . For example RatingsHub.com allows you to get feedback from real people on what Internet marketing products they've used themselves and what they really thought of them. Before you spend any more money on Internet marketing products or the next possible money making system - find out what other users really think of it.

In conclusion for the Internet Marketer it has got to be an enormous benefit knowing that you can read unbiased reviews relating to all sorts of Internet marketing products ranging from hosting companies to software automation tools.

About the Author

David Rickinson is involved with a variety of Internet businesses including JV Internet marketing. He has recently become a Spoken Network partner after realizing its potential. http://www.spokenselect.com http://www.ratingshub.com/invite/rickd1.html

Web Hosting - The Essential Guide For Beginners

Web hosting is a seemingly complex topic that small business owners can sometimes feel confounded by. When the techie on a message board offhandedly mentions IP addresses, domain names, and the type of hosting plan your business needs, you might be ready to head for the hills! Don't be overburdened by the unfamiliar jargon. It's really very simple.

Before you get any type of web hosting plan, you need to register a domain name. You can create a free account at one of the accredited domain registrars like Directnic, Moniker, or Godaddy.

Next, use their search box to see if the domain you want is already taken by someone else, or is still available. Most generic domain names, i.e., dictionary words and names are already taken. However, just because someone has registered the .com version of a popular name, doesn't mean that you can't get the same name without the .com. For instance, you might be able to get laptops.org or laptops.cc. When you run a search for laptops, it will tell you what extensions are available, e.g., .com, .net, .org, .cc, .ws, .name, etc. Each have different technical meanings, but you can use them interchangeably, at least for now. A .com is a company, a .org is an organization, and a .ws represents a website, etc.

Ok, so you've had to combine a few words or maybe even create a brand new word to find a good domain, now what? Now, you need a web hosting plan. In order to serve content on the internet, you have to upload that content. However, you have to upload it to someone else's server. A server is just like a computer, located remotely, that serves other computers in the network. If you're confused, don't worry, just hear me out. Each server has a unique IP address, just like your computer you have at home. That's how computers are identified on the internet. Domain names make it possible to identify computers, or IP addresses, as distinct alphabetical addresses that make sharing and communicating the websites you find easier.

It would be pretty odd to say that you really like 66.249.65.83, but it wouldn't be so odd to say that you really like Amazon.com The IP address simply corresponds to the domain name. How did that happen you ask? I just got a domain name, and it doesn't have an IP address you may say. That's right because only computers have IP addresses. However, your web host will give you a server IP address that you will "point your domain" to. When you buy a web hosting package from a company online, they will give you the IP address you're to use. Then you will login to your domain registrar, e.g., Moniker or Directnic (where you bought the domain name) and tell the registrar (by inputting some information into a simple form) what the IP address of your web host is. A web host is just a remote computer. After that, you just use a program called CuteFTP or SmartFTP to upload all your files (pictures, html pages, sound recordings, and graphics) to your web host. The FTP programs are very easy to use. However, unless you have pictures and HTML pages and text all put together, then you can't upload anything.

It's easy to pay writers to create articles by going to Elance.com, and it's easy to get cheap design through the same company. It's just a brokerage firm where you post your project and all the freelance workers bid on it. You might post one project that stated that you needed 5 articles on cabinet construction, etc. Then post another project with a description that said, "I need someone to make a website with a logo and navigation for cabinet-making. I have 5 articles for content, and I can provide the text for the homepage. I will also provide my company contact information." Then you could go up to the business card store and make 50 cards with your new website name and pass them out to people or pay a business 10% of your sales to have your cabinet-making cards in their storefront. You would simply need to make special cards with a referrer name for the business so you wouldn't be giving the business 10% of every sale :) Remember, too, there are different kinds of web hosting you can purchase when you're starting out, and it's important to know the differences. It wouldn't behoove you to waste money on unnecessary server space or a special kind of high-powered server. There are several kinds of web hosting. Free web hosting is always supported by advertisements.

The provider will place graphic advertisements, called banner ads, or text links, called text ads on the content you upload. A shared web hosting service is when your website is on the same server as hundreds, or even thousands of others. Most of the time the server resources, e.g., RAM and the CPU are shared. Virtual dedicated servers is kind of like a simulation of dedicated servers because each users feels like he has his or her own, but they're actually sharing a server with several others. In a dedicated hosting service, a user gets full control over his or her own server, however, they don't own the server. The really massive websites use clustered hosting, one step above dedicated hosting. In this case, several servers host the same content of a single website. This produces better resource utilization.

When picking out a web host, estimate how many users will be accessing your site. Do you have a plan to drive users to your website? If so, how many users will that bring? What is your growth plan? Can the hosting package accommodate it? Each web hosting plan offers a certain amount of bandwidth to you, and it's really just a measurement that parallels the number of users of your website. Generally, given the same number of users, you'll use more bandwidth if you have larger page sizes. Secondly, when picking a web hosting provider, decide how much storage you'll need. The needs are clealry different if you have thousands of big photos versus just a few. You'll also want to see if your site requires MySQL, Perl, or PHP. Most web hosts have these, and they're only useful if you have a site with dynamic functionality like a database or dynamic pages.

Finally, you'll want to see how many domains you can add to your account. If you plan on creating lots of websites, you'll want to ask your hosting service how many you can add to your plan. Some companies have a window of say, 10 domains. That should get you started on your road to understanding web hosting. If you have any further questions, look up the terms or visit a web hosting message board and post in the Newbies or Beginners section.

About the Author

Moses Francis is a fulltime web developer.He owns and operates Webhosting Directory.

How Your Business Can Benefit from Adding Email Marketing to Your Marketing Strategy

Email marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a means of communicating commercial or fundraising messages to a targeted audience. In its broadest sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered e-mail marketing. There are a number of advantages to email marketing - compared to other marketing investments such as direct mail or printed newsletters, it is less expensive. and the return on investment can be high when done properly.

Even if you are already running a successful business, you may be surprised to learn your business can benefit greatly from orchestrating an effective email marketing campaign. An email marketing campaign and a number of different advantages including the ability to reach a worldwide audience, a variety of different marketing options at your fingertips and the ability to do a great deal of marketing with very little investment dollars. This article will take a look at all of these different topics to provide insight into how email marketing can benefit your business.

For many business owners one of the most prominent advantages to email marketing is the ability to reach a worldwide audience with minimal effort. While traditional marketing methods such as television advertisements, radio advertisements and advertisements in print media are typically targeted at a rather small geographic area, email marketing can reach a worldwide audience. It is possible to reach an audience of this magnitude with other marketing methods but it would be much more complicated to do and would likely involve launching advertising campaigns in several different markets. This is possible but would require an intense coordination effort and will likely require at least a few staff members to assist you in this effort.

Conversely, the ability to transmit instantly via email can make it much easier to reach target audience members with literally just the click of a mouse. The act of creating the marketing materials for your email marketing campaign is significantly more involved but once this is done reaching members of your target audience is quite simple.

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Make sure you're not blacklisted!
Companies considering an e-mail marketing program must make sure that their program does not violate spam laws such as the United States' CAN-SPAM Act, the European Privacy & Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 or their Internet provider's acceptable use policy. Even if a company follows the law, if Internet mail administrators find that it is sending spam it is likely to be listed in blacklists such as SPEWS.

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Another advantage to email marketing is there are a multitude of advertising options available to those who wish to utilize this marketing strategy. The most commonly used method of email marketing it so send out group emails with product information and other promotional materials. However, another way to approach the concept of email marketing is to publish and distribute e-newsletters to interested email recipients. An e-newsletter is typically much more in depth than the type of information which would normally accompany a promotional email. These e-newsletters typically feature at least one in depth article as well as a few shorter articles which either offer useful tips or review products. Additionally there may be some graphics, advertising and links include in the layout of the e-newsletter. Email marketing campaigns can also take the place of email correspondence courses which typically focus on one niche subject and feature a few installments which provide detailed information on a specific facet of the niche subject.

Finally email marketing can benefit your business because it is an extremely cost effective method of advertising. When you opt to orchestrate an email marketing campaign you will likely invest money in hiring professionals such as writers and graphic designers to assist you in creating content and an appealing layout for your promotional emails. However, this is typically not more than you would invest in hiring the same type of personnel for an offline marketing campaign. However, unlike offline marketing methods there is not a great deal of cost associated with executing your email marketing campaign. Consider the creation of a television commercial where you will have to pay fees and purchase advertising space to allow your advertising to reach the public. However, when you transmit your advertising via email, there is virtually no cost associated with this transmission. There are of course costs associated with maintaining an Internet connection and retaining employees to send these emails but these costs are minimal and can be considered to be part of normal operating costs.


About the Author
Michael Saunders has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He edits a site on Email Marketing and Web Hosting Services and explains why he can't spell Internet Marketing Waht.