2008 Online Marketing Predictions - Going Social, Mobile and Global!

Say goodbye to the Year of the Pig (2007) and hello to the Year of the Rat (2008). That's Chinese for welcoming in the New Year with their own set of predictions. For example, Rat people work hard to achieve their goals, acquire possessions, and are likely to be perfectionists. Their ambitions are big, and they are usually very successful.

History is littered with predictions. If you make enough of the, some are bound to be true! The web is its own "animal" and goes by its own set of rules. However that does not stop me from offering my online marketing predictions for 2008. This year could very well be the Year of the Subscriptions, Mobile and Social Networking.

First, I want to wish you all the web success for an exciting, healthy and profitable 2008. And now for my Top Ten:

1. Subscriptions will be the currency for social networks. The fees will be modest, but they will continue to replace more conventional advertising streams. For example, Skype and Twitter will add subscription charges for enhanced features like groups and they will compete for top social network status as the useless applications, intrusive advertising and annoying emails from Facebook continue to turn off users.

2. Social networks will be the key driver of brand success as consumers increasingly trust each other's opinions and distrust advertising and corporate propaganda.

3. Mobile will be the "fast food" of the year. You are on the move and are hungry for instant access to information. iPhones and similar devices that deliver true mobile Internet access will replace laptops that everyone hates to carry.

4. Companies including YouTube, blip.tv and Seesmic will expand and cooperate to include group collaboration and meetings.

5. 2008 will be the year of collaboration and intellectual partnership, internally and externally. Companies will start forming synergistic groups that work toward improving or bundling products and services that will result in saving time, money, work effort and brand reputation.

6. Special lighting for web cam broadcasts on Seesmic will be the hot new products as video increases in importance. People can now look like people and not like their driver's licenses or passport photos.

7. The Internet will play a growing role in the 2008 election with people trusting plebeian's opinions more so than packaged candidate ads.

8. Privacy will be a key issue of the year.

9. Google stock will hit $1000 a share and split. Search is growing and people are hooked on more.

10. Predict one through nine for next year - that's why they are called predictions. However, it's a sure bet some of these will come true in 2008.

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Keyword Research - Make Them Optimized For Search Engine Indexing

Keywords play a crucial role in Search Engine Optimization. Keywords or Key word phrases are those words or phrases that define and highlight the crux of your content. The choice of keywords is essential to the indexing of your blog or site to the reputed and most used search engines.

A successful blog is conditional to proper and scientific research of relevant keywords that qualifies a specific niche audience search. Therefore, key word research has to be performed carefully and properly to launch a blog that gets a good rank. It should also be catalogued to match the most vital and relevant search generated in the same field.

Tools can only help you to get or access the inventory of keywords listed for a specific business niche. However, you need to choose the right keyword that narrows down the search to your blog appropriately. If you are veteran business professional and in net business for a long time you might be able to locate the right set of keywords that makes your site or blog rank the top in the search engines.

Keyword research could be disconcerting task if one does not put in effort and time to analyze the need, know the audience, and then design the blog. Tools are available in for free keyword research and implementation. This is not just a mere selection of words that you like but those words that people generally search for when they visit the net.

If you are new in internet business, it is always better to consult SEO experts or firms to help and generate a set of keywords just optimized to match search engine results. Employing an SEO expert will be a positive investment in launching business that has success potential from day one.

The most important factors that should cover your keyword research are: Each page of your blog or site should be optimized for a single keyword, Use of Latent Semantic Indexing or LSI i.e. using key phrases rather than single words, Use of geo-specific keywords or using keywords that are optimized to specific demographics.

Each page of your site should be linked to a specific keyword or keyword phrase. Overuse of relevant keywords in the same content or same page could sometimes be confusing. Using up to five different keywords in the description and Meta title are permissible and accepted for indexing by the search engines.

The Other factor that is elemental in SEO is clustering of words to express one relevant keyword that defines your text. This positioning of the words in a particular right sequence in which the popular search is generated makes a keyword most sought after. Latent Semantic Indexing in keyword research and analysis actually focuses the variations or iterations of the keywords. It is a strictly mathematical or scientific approach to relate semantically close keywords and generate fruitful search.

Use of country specific keywords in also an important part to ensure the targeted traffic to your blog or site. The same word could be spelt differently in USA, Australia, and UK. Therefore, your research should be able to exclude or include these variations according to your specific target audience. Referencing the keyword phrases in the commonly used search engines is also significant in this context.

Keyword Analysis follows your research task. Your keywords should be checked for competition with other sites. Read relevant blogs related to the same business and study carefully the keywords used and their density. Monitor your keywords for contemporary modifications and new search results. These might require re-positioning and fine-tuning for better matches or best rankings.

Allen Thomason is an accomplished online marketer. If you are interested in search engine optimization through blogs, articles, or other online marketing techniques, get further details here http://www.TheProfitCombination.com

Twenty Steps to Internet Marketing - Step 1 - Meeting That Guru

In my article The 20 Commandments of Internet Marketing,, Commandment 1 is: Thou shalt not have any guru before thee. In fact, if thou seeth a guru, thou shalt run, run, run.

Well, maybe not.

A guru according to the dictionary is:

a. A teacher and guide in spiritual and philosophical matters.

b. A trusted counselor and adviser. a mentor.

I have another definition for a guru: A Big Time Internet Marketer.

The word mentor is used a lot by Internet gurus. You buy their Internet course or ebook and the first thing you know you will get an email asking you to let him or her be your personal mentor.

Did you get that?

You buy his book or program that is supposed to tell you absolutely everything you are supposed to know to get rich in Internet marketing. Ah! Ha! It doesn't. You know for sure when you get an email that your guru or mentor will give you personal instruction to get you going (for a large fee, of course).

Gurus don't come cheap! Not if they are your personal mentor.

Many gurus say that they have there own personal mentor. That special person can help you too. They hook up with each other, these gurus. You click and not only the new mentor or guru gets paid but the first guy does too and vice versa.

They are affiliated.

Most every guru is selling an ebook or Internet course. I've bought many of them as have many would be Internet marketers.

Why not? I might learn something.

Many are junk. The information is free on the Internet and worthless.

If you get junk, immediately ask for your refund.

Did I learn the secrets on how to get rich on the Internet from all of the stuff I have purchased? Well, let's check my bank balance. I guess the answer is: Not at all.

Did I learn all of the Guru Secrets. No, I didn't. Gurus keep their secrets.

Here is my criteria for buying an ebook: Do I want the information and am I willing to risk my hard-earned money to get it?

Some of the gurus are very good teachers. Either that or they hire good writers. If an ebook is very specific about one money-making method, it can be very interesting, entertaining, and informative. If you actually do exactly as the guru says, your MIGHT make some money using that one method.

Like I said, gurus are marketers. That's why the guru comes back to help you further. He knows that you will fail if you don't do what is required. Once he has your email address, he will continue to offer you more products and advice. If you pay him enough, he will give you personal mentoring by telephone and email and by other means.

He is making you lose your focus. He is eliminating you as competition.

Can you believe what a guru says about his past life and his success?

Can you believe the testimonial on his site? Many gurus just write there own, especially for a brand new program that no one has ever purchased. Even the "Good Guys" do this at times. Such dastardly deeds!

If a guru says he made $37,782.98 in 36 hours, did he?

Can't I jump in and do the same thing?

What he didn't tell you is that he worked for a very long time building an email list of buyers that trust him.

He simply found a new exciting offer and e-mailed it to his list.

Oh, for such a list!

Some people read a comprehensive (and more expensive) course on Internet Marketing and actually follow the comprehensive details and create a successful Internet business on their own.

Guru programs come in all skins. One guru, Cory Rudl, put out a program that I call the Nine Pound Wonder, two big 3-leaf binders.

Cory, a Canadian, wrote an ebook on automobiles and made a good living at it. In fact, the ebook is still available. Then, after many of his friends wanted to know how to get started in an Internet Business, he decided to write his marketing course. Other gurus have started in this same way.

Sadly, Cory Died in Late May of 2005 while racing his Porsche in California.

That was a very sad day for many of us "old hands" on the Internet.

I've bought this particular course twice and received three versions. The current version has CDs and DVDs to improve the teaching (and to sell you more products).

Like I say, I've purchased the above course twice. It is very good-but may seem a bit too overwhelming for a beginner.

Cory always said, and I concur, that you should learn one method of Internet marketing at a time and perfect it before you go on to the next method. Have patience. We will be covering these methods as we go along in this series of 20 Internet Marketing Steps.

Ken Evoy of Canada provides a complete service for people to make money on the Internet based on their experience and interest. Nothing is left to the imagination. But you will have to pay for what you get.

Either way, you will have a tough time getting started with a profitable Internet business without spending money on education and any needed software.

HINT: Before you buy any ebook, program, or piece of software , place the name in the Google search box. Read comments about the software, ebook, or program and all evaluations of the product. Look for complaints, scams, free substitute programs or software that do the same thing.

If you evaluate the ebook, program, or software and find that it is not what you want-for any reason-ask for a refund as soon as possible-before the warranty or guarantee period ends.

Remember that competitors will tell you not to purchase certain items so that you will buy their items instead. You must be the judge of who is telling you the truth. However, if you look at all of the reviews you will find some honest evaluations.

I suggest that you go to Internet forums and say that you are thinking about spending a significant amount of money on a program. Talk with others who have bought the program and actually tried the money-making techniques. See if they think they got their money's worth.

I have a friend, Neal Shearing, who has a Ph.D. to do cancer research but earns more money (to support his young family) through the Internet. Neil lives in Devon, England and vacations in Cornwall. I use to travel to England every few months and I love that area. Lucky guy! Neal has shown that it is possible to make a very good living on the Internet.

Here is my best recommendation if you are new to Internet Marketing:

Join the Wealthy Affiliate University were you will get some individual attention without paying for it. It comes with the monthly site fee. The two computer scientist that own the site are always on the forums to guide you. And you can do what I do, help those who are new to Internet marketing.

Better still, they take you through an 8-week course to get you going. Week by week you will become a stronger Internet Marketer as you work through the course work at the site. Course work comes in three levels, Junior, Intermediate, and Advanced so you work your way up the three education levels.

Even an old dog like me can improve earnings by learning the techniques so simply and completely explained at WA. This site wasn't all that much a few years back when these two pups were getting started. You can not say that now.

Education is expensive but the Wealthy Affiliate University is only about 30 bucks a month. There is no place on the Internet that cost less and is so effective to get you started.

So, that is my recommendation: The Wealthy Affiliate University. Go to my business site to read more about all of the above gurus and their products and the Wealthy Affiliate University.

A few common things that consistently hold people back (Extracted from the proceedings of the WA Conference in Los Vegas in 2008 given by Thad):

1. People don't take enough action.

By far the most common reason people fail or don't see progress in Internet Marketing is not doing enough. If you are article marketing, put up many articles.

2. People over complicate things.

Taking action and getting in the game is key. Quality is obviously very important, but there's no reason to let over-analysis stop you. Just get out there!

3. Lack of good research.

Most marketers are far too focused on shoving the wrong product down their target audience's throat. So mainly, always ask yourself if you're really giving people what they're hungry for.

4. Not sticking to a plan of action.

Success comes from being as consistent as possible with daily or weekly tasks. Whether that's doing one article per day-or one PPC landing page per day. Stick to a plan and keep moving forward. Even if you only did one of those every day-over the course of a year you'll have 365 articles or 365 landing pages in action. That is a recipe for success!

5. Not milking as much as possible out of a single niche that converts.

Every big campaign starts with just one teeny tiny little sale. Maybe it's one lonely sale per week-or one sale per month. It's key try to see the potential of being able to build things up from just a single sale to hundreds or thousands of sales. But it all starts with just that one sale.

In the next segment of this 20 part series, we will discuss Niche Marketing.

Happy Days are Here Again!

Fly Old Glory!

The End

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@yahoo.com, a retired college professor and business executive, is author of books, novels, and hundreds of articles published world wide. Former editor of an international engineering magazine. Jones loves Internet marketing and loves to help others find their way in that complicated business. Jones sells books at Money-Making-Books.com

More info: http://www.AAAFlagpoles.com

Business web site: http://www.InternetBusinessToolCenter.com

Make Money Online - Ways For Lazy People - Way 1

In this Web 2.0 era, it is easy for everyone to make money online. There are a lot of ways lazy people can make money online. Here is one way - "Auto Niche Video Sites". These are websites which pulls videos from Youtube based on your keyword. You can monetize this type of sites using Adbrite, Bidvertiser or with any other affiliate products. Don't use Adsense with this type of sites as it is against Google TOS.

The success of these Sites purely based on the niche you select. Tutorials, hot TV series and Music niche works well for this type of sites.

How to setup an Auto Niche Video Site?

There are two easy ways to setup these sites; using Youtube Video Sites Generator in a Box or using TubePress, a wordpress plugin.

Youtube Video Sites Generator in a Box is a professional tool for building Niche Video Sites. It costs around $10, which is a very small price for this professional tool. With this software you can create your site in just 6 clicks. The site looks like a professional video website.

TubePress is a Wordpress Plugin. With this plugin you can change your wordpress blog into a Niche Video site. This plugin is free. But the ugly interface is the only drawback with this plugin.

It is up to you to select Youtube Video Sites Generator or Tubepress.

How to promote the sites?

Rely on social bookmarking sites like Digg, Stumbleupon and other sites for traffic at the initial stage. Be an active member at forums related to your niche. You can bring traffic to your site with your forum signatures. Once you started getting traffic from Google or yahoo, then you can start focusing on your next site.

This is an easy method for lazy people to make money online.

Arun, is a Internet marketer from India. Discuss making money online at this Make Money Online Forum.

Ways to Make Money Online - Affiliate Marketing

Search the term "make money online" on Google, your browser will literally be filled with millions of results on ways to make money online. After eliminating all the sites that are trying to scam money off you, there are still a good portion of sites out there that offers genuine advices.

Make money online is such a broad topic, there are many different ways in which you could achieve this. This could range from spending just a few minutes every day filling out surveys to managing your own online business full-time.

Before you choose a way to make money online, take a few minutes and ask yourself how much time do you have to spare, how much money you'd like to invest, and how willing are you to learn new things.

The best way to uncover ways to make money online is to start with your own interests. Ask yourself what your hobbies are. If you start a moneymaking campaign that resolves around something you are already interested in, you just doubled your chances to succeed.

Of all the ways to make money online, affiliate marketing is one of the easier and among the most popular methods. Affiliate marketing is a low risk/high reward monetization method. Money is generated from promoting a company's products. The company will provide you with a service or product to promote; you will receive a commission for each sale.

Benefits

1. Freedom of choice. - Pick the best available products from the best available merchants to promote!
2. You do not have to worry about inventory, shipping and handling, customer service, or processing orders.
3. Set your own work hours
4. 99% of affiliate programs are FREE to join (remember, you are helping the merchant by providing your services, why should you pay them?)

Affiliate marketing is certainly not the only way to make money online, but I truly believe it's one of the best methods.

Greg is tired of seeing get rich quick-schemes flooding the internet. He is trying to get people aware of the truth behind these programs and set them onto the right track. He has written a review on some of the best places to learn Internet Marketing.

Information Marketing - 5 Sure-Fire Ways To Increase Your Profits Per Sale From Info Marketing

Making a living from information marketing is not always easy. In fact, many do not succeed in their information marketing ventures. Here are 5 sure-fire ways to increase your profits per sale from information marketing:

1. Turn Your Product Into A Continuity Program

Instead of selling a product that only collects payments one-time, why not set up a membership site as one of your products that automatically bills your customers every month? That's like guaranteed money in the bank every month, if your customers stay enrolled in the membership.

2. Create An 'Upsell' Product

Create a product that's a bigger package than your front end product . Perhaps you can add in an audio or video component of your ebook, bonus interviews or bonus software. Promote this product on your order page as an upsell.

3. Create A 'Downsell' Product

A downsell product is the product that is presented after your customer rejects your upsell product. This is typically a 'watered down' version of your upsell product. It is another chance to grab additional sales while your customer is in a buying mood.

4. Promote Related Products On Your Download Page

On your download page or thank you page, promote related affiliate products or other products that you have. This is yet another chance to grab more sales.

5. Build A Mailing List!

Most important of all, build a mailing list. It allows you to follow-up with your customers on related product offers. As they say, the money is in the list, and if you build a list, it will only be beneficial and result in increased profits for your business.

Fabian Tan is a well-known Internet Marketing expert and the author of the popular 51-page Report:

"Murder Your Job: How To Build Cash Sucking Autopilot Businesses In 30 Days Or Less!"

Head over to http://www.MurderYourJob.com to get your free copy now before it's gone!