business

2007-03-04T07:31:00.000-08:00

Network Marketing on Auto-Pilot

Are you frustrated with your network marketing business?

Imagine for a moment that you worked in the hi-tech world and you knew everything about the internet, you knew all about computers and internet-marketing and you walked away from that to join a Network Marketing Company? Then you think to yourself, wait a second…what if we could marry that hi-tech with the hi-touch of Network Marketing and I'd never have to do any of those things that I used to do in the hi-tech world. I don't want to go to meetings anymore. I don't want to wear a tie. I don't want to hear an alarm clock. I want to sit at home in my shorts and t-shirt on my time, on my dime and do it the way I want to do it and that's online.

Imagine that you had never gone to a single hotel meeting or given a face to face presentation. Yet you'd built a team in 13 different countries and became the number one sponsor for the last 2 years running in an organization of over 100,000 people in all of the United States.

It's called Technology Empowered Network Marketing and last month I had the privilege of hearing the man who did this speak to a select group of captivated marketers. They had come from all over the world to hear how he'd built a million dollar business completely online, with online tools, the internet and the telephone.

The following is a unique and revealing interview with him about Internetwork-marketing. His name and company are not mentioned here because it's not important. These techniques can be adapted by anyone, for any online product.

Me: Thanks for meeting with me today. Do you mind if I record this?

Him: Not at all

Me: You talked about sorting. You called it separating the serious from the curious. Can you elaborate on that?

Him: Spending the right amount of time with the right people and the least amount as possible with the people that aren't serious is very important. You have to go through a ton of rubble to find an ounce of gold. So why not let your system do all of this sorting for you so you have more time to spend on more important things?

When your system does the sorting 80% of the work is already done for you. A powerful system will welcome the visitor, find out what they are looking for and take them through the basics of having a homebased business. It will also educate them about the industry, invite them to an online webcast presentation and show the visitor how to make money as fast as possible. My system actually notifies me when each of these important steps has been completed.

The right system can enroll a new business partner, train and introduce them to a system they can use themselves.

Me: So they get to see how well it works even before they join you?

Him: Exactly. People join systems. They look for systems they can see themselves doing. Systems that will bring them success and make them money.

Me: In your talk you mentioned how important it is to find the right company and the right team. How did you know you had the RIGHT TEAM?

Him: Well, before I left my job in Corporate America I was tired and very burned out. It wasn't just the work, it was the stressful lifestyle as well. I did my due diligence and found a publicly traded company that made sense and was a good fit for me. I then called the company and asked for their best rep in my area.

After getting all the information online in a timely manner, I contacted the representative from the number on his site and asked him what the next step to get started was. He asked me if I'd like to go to a presentation with more details about the business and I said: "Sure where do we have to meet?" He answered, How about right at your desk? It takes about 45 minutes.
I was still thinking that he was going to come over to my house when he said: "No, you can watch it on a "live" web-cast right on your computer. What's better for you 6pm or tomorrow at noon?"

He clarified that he did everything online and that I could do the same. This made a lot of sense to me and was my introduction to the best way I have found to build a Network Marketing business.

Now, the only time I actually meet my business partners is at the company's annual convention. They come up to shake my hand only because they recognize my voice from our occasional telephone conversations.

Me: That's incredible! You're shaking hands on the Internet.

Him: Yep! In 5 weeks I made my money back. In 4 months I went full-time and in less than 9 months I was up to six figures. After that I streamlined my system, shared it with my team and made them all wealthy as well!

Me: Would you still have been interested if he'd done things the traditional way, like taking you to a hotel meeting?

Him: Maybe, but I don't think so. There's nothing wrong with traditional Network Marketing, it just isn't for me. I have some stereotype hang-ups like most people. I don't like to talk face to face, I'm shy and I hate getting dressed up. Believe me, there's a lot of people like me out there.

I never have to approach my friends and family and I don't have to dress, walk or talk any certain way. Working online removes all the nonsense. Like, gender, race, age, weight, dress. It also eliminates the driving, meetings, hard work and getting ready…is my tie on straight? (laughing)

Me: Most companies out there already have internet tools like websites, flash presentations and voicemail. Can you tell us more about your system? Why does it work so well?

Him: Well, I figured out a system that puts hundreds of fresh business-builders into my business each year and it's simple so that anyone can learn it. It's a 4 step process:

1. Attend an online Webcast
2. Get Started
3. Train
4. Invite others to the Webcast

Then we track from the backend to see where people are in the system.
They usually contact us. It's that simple.

Me: People actually call you to get started?

Him: All the time but understand that not everyone wants to get involved and that's fine. Somebody has to wash the cars and work at McDonald's (laughing) There's never a wrong prospect-Just the wrong time for a prospect.

Me: Anything else?

Him: Something we have built into our system is what we call a third-party presence. Our system recommends it's owner as a lifestyle coach. This recommendation is made by a well-known success expert so the visitor can feel confident and assured that all the information will be presented honestly and in full.

When a well-known author or businessperson is presented as your partner and shares some highly-educational and motivating advice BEFORE introducing you to the new visitor. Everything gets off on the right track from the beginning.

If we take the focus off ourselves, people can listen clearly (without hype) to what's being said and make an educated decision for themselves. Your system should definitely help this happen.

Me: Where do you think people are going wrong with their network marketing online?

Well here's a few things to keep in mind:

1. Don't send people to your company's all-in-one website. It's like going to the new Spielberg movie and knowing that there are 20 scenes going to be shown and you can pick which order to see them in. Would the movie make any sense to you? I doubt it. That's what's happening out there.

2. Beware of companies that just want to sell you leads. There's nothing more frustrating than calling people who were hoping to win an X-box.

3. Don't inundate people with 17 emails in one week and 27 different websites. Present your company in a simple way with internet media.

4. Don't use the same approach and information for everyone. Find out what the person is looking for. Is it: Time Freedom, Wealth, Health, Fire their Boss? Once you know you can get them the information that pertains to their personal concern. Someone that wants to quit their job right away is not going to be interested in a new skincare line.

5. Use a courtesy call technique when you call someone. When the car service center gives a courtesy call to remind you that it's time to have your oil changed, you don't take offence do you? In fact, you're probably glad to hear from them. They're just doing you a favor and being helpful. That's how your return phone calls should be made.

6. Lead with the business and not the products. The fastest way to the big money is to find more people like yourself that want to do the business. Stop chasing the ambulance and concentrate on the Brinks truck.

Me: You were the Number One Sponsor of your company out of 100,000 associates in North America. How's does that feel?

Him: It feels great! This online system allows me to travel with my family whenever I want. Last month I took my family to Hawaii and while the kids were having a nap I just jumped on my laptop and saw that a fellow had been through our system and wanted me to call him. I stood out on the balcony overlooking the beach and when he answered I said this was just a courtesy call to get back with him. My autoresponder had shown me that he had been reviewing my information. How do you like our system, I asked him. Do you think that's something you could do? He answered yes but the best part is when I told him where I am (laughing) and that I'm looking at a beautiful beach with my wife and kids napping at 2 o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon. There's nothing better than living the lifestyle and showing others that it is possible. It's very rewarding!

Me: What about attrition and people quitting?

Him: There's always going to be people who don't follow through but our company did a study on my internet team and our attrition was very, very low. In fact, we retained over 87% of all our new people which astounded everyone. People like this system because this system likes people.

Me: Thanks so much sharing this amazing information with us. Any last words of wisdom?

Him: Marketing is defined as "creating an interest and then filling it." The secret to putting a Network Marketing business on autopilot is to actually use the technology curve to show your new visitor how easy things are done online.

Your next step? To take what you've just learned and put your new business on auto-pilot right away!

About the author:
Al Walker, makes it easy to launch a successful online business and rapidly build your wealth to a six-figure income. Learn the essential keys to online success. To receive your free 6-step mini-course visit:
http://www.auto-pilotonline.com

2007-03-04T07:18:00.000-08:00

Benefits of Being an Affiliate Marketer

Affiliate marketing has become one of the most effective ways to advertise online.

It is also one of the easiest ways for anyone with a website to make a profit online. Affiliate Marketing is an agreement between a merchant and a website owner.

The website owner, or the affiliate, allows the use of their site for the promotion of the merchant's products by linking to the merchant's website. In exchange, the merchant pays a commission to the affiliate on all sales generated by the affiliate. Every time someone clicks on the link on the affiliate website and proceeds to make a purchase, the affiliate gets a commission. The merchant will pay the affiliate only when a customer clicks on the product link and makes a purchase.

Affiliate marketing programs are described as a win-win situation for both the merchant and the affiliate because of the pay-for-performance scheme. Both the merchant and the affiliate enjoy some benefits in affiliate marketing.

There are many benefits on the merchant's side. It gives the merchant a wider market in which to advertise a product or service. Affiliate marketing will give the product or service the maximum exposure that it may not get with other traditional advertising techniques. The more affiliate sites a merchant has, the higher the traffic, which can convert to sales. Affiliate marketing is the equivalent of having an army of sales people who will do the advertising and will only get a commission if a customer purchases.

Meanwhile, since an affiliate marketing relationship is a win-win situation, the affiliate also enjoys many benefits.

Foremost among these is the easy way to make a profit. The affiliate can earn by having an ad or link to the merchant's website, which prospective customers will hopefully click and proceed to make a purchase. As soon as the customer clicks on the ad on the affiliate's site, is redirected to the merchant's website and goes on to buy that particular product, the affiliate earns a commission. The more referrals there are the more profit for the affiliate.

Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to earn money while at home.

There are virtually no production costs.

The product is already developed and proven by the merchant, and all you have to do to find, as many prospects as you can that will bring in the profit for both the merchant and the affiliate.

Affiliate programs are usually free to join, so affiliates do not have to worry about start-up costs. There are thousands of products and services you can choose from. You can find affiliate programs for every product under the sun. Surely, there is a product or service out there that is relevant to your website.

In addition, there is absolutely no sales experience necessary. Most affiliate programs offer excellent support when it comes to providing marketing material. The simplicity of affiliate marketing allows you to be an affiliate marketer at the least cost and the most comfort. You can even build a successful affiliate marketing business right in the convenience of your own home.

In affiliate marketing, your responsibility is simply to find prospects for the merchant; you do not have to worry about inventory, order processing, and product shipping. These, along with customer service support are the duties of the merchant.

Because of the global reach of the internet, you can easily find thousands of prospects. You can intensify your advertising campaign by exploiting more aggressive and productive strategies such as viral marketing. By attracting more prospects, you also maximize your potential to earn.

Another benefit of an affiliate marketer is the minimal risk involved. If the product you are advertising is not making money then you can dump it and choose another. There are no long-term binding contracts tying you to products that are not making enough money.

All the same, the best benefit of being an affiliate marketer is the opportunity to increase your income; and you can make a profit even if affiliate marketing is only a sideline business. With your own affiliate business, you can earn easily earn extra income, although you do have to exert effort and use your imagination to maximize your earning potential.

Indeed, affiliate marketing is one of the simplest and most effective business opportunities on the web today.

About the author:
Patric Chan is a direct response expert, internet infopreneur, international speaker and author. His latest product, Online Niche Secrets Audio Course reveals how he started an online niche business and makes it profitable in less than 48 hours at http://www.onlinenichesecrets.com

2007-03-04T06:44:00.000-08:00

Paid Surveys Online - An easy way to make money online?

Paid surveys are being promoted as an easy way to make money online. Some ads promise you up to $250 per hour for taking paid surveys. Are they realistic? Can one really expect to earn that much money from online paid surveys? Let us find out the answers to these questions.

Such advertisements are usually put up by paid survey database companies like Surveyscout. They charge you for giving access to a database of market research companies, often in the range of $30 to $60. They typically have 400 to 500 survey companies in their database.

Is it worth paying these companies to get access to such a database? Whatever information you get from these companies, you can get for free on the internet on many free online survey sites. Secondly, these survey database companies do not send any surveys by themselves, and you have to join each market research company in their database individually to get any surveys. In addition, most of the survey companies in their databases are good for nothing. Only about 40 to 50 survey companies are really worth joining.

What does this mean? If you are planning to try online surveys, you never have to pay anyone. You can get the list of the best survey companies for free on the internet. You can join them and get started.

Now let us take a closer look at on the rewards offered by paid online surveys. Survey companies can be divided into those which reward you with cash for each survey, those that give you points which can be redeemed for cash, and those which enter you into sweepstakes or prizedraws.

Survey companies that pay cash give $1 to $20 or more per online survey depending on many factors. This group includes many of the best survey sites like American Consumer Opinion Panel, Surveysavvy, Ciao Surveys, Greenfield online(Gozing) and Pinecone Research. You can expect to get 1 to 4 surveys per month from each site.

Surveys that reward you with points let you accumulate reward points which you can later redeem for cash or gifts. Some of the most reputed market research companies like Globaltestmarket, Opinion Outpost, NFO Mysurvey and Lightspeed Research reward you in this way.

Yet other companies enter you into draws for cash or gifts as reward for taking surveys. Although many people don't like this form of reward system, your chances of getting the prize is quite good as the pool to select the prize winners is usually small. Some good survey companies that follow this reward system are Synovate, NPD Research, NOP World (Surveys.com), ECN Research and Nielsen Netratings.

Another important factor which determines how much you can earn from online surveys is your profile, particularly your country. Generally residents of the USA and Canada can expect to make more money from paid surveys, as there are more market research companies operating in these countries. Also they get more frequent surveys. However, participants from other countries can also hope to make some good extra money from paid online surveys.

All said and done, the maximum earnings an average person can expect from doing paid surveys is not more than $200 to $300 per month. This can be a good source of extra income for some people. But the claims that paid surveys can make you rich or replace your real job are largely unfounded. Hence, it is always best to stay with free paid surveys.

About the author:
Shaj M is the owner and webmaster of the free survey resources site http://www.internetpaidsurveys.com. The site has separate sections for USA, Canada, UK, Australia and rest of the World, each of which reviews free paid surveys for that particular country. For example, the USA Surveys section features more than 50 free survey companies accepting members form the USA.

2007-03-04T06:39:00.000-08:00

How To Create A Successful Work at Home Business

Many people have tried or are currently trying to make money online today. Only a small percentage of these people have actually gone on to achieve enormous amounts of success. The reason for so many failures is that people simply do not know how to create a home based business or even where to start.

I am going to share with you the four things that the online Guru’s do not want you to know because if you did, they wouldn’t have a job anymore. The four areas of focus will be on finding a niche market, building income streams, affiliate programs and networking.

Finding a niche market is your number one priority when starting a home based business. This means that you will have to do a little research and find the products or services everyone is looking for. Contact people already successful with a home business and find out what they are selling and how they started. When I first started myself, I signed up to money making forums and contacted people already making a living working out of their homes. I was shocked to find that these people were very helpful and provided me with plenty of valuable resources.

Once you have found a niche market, go with it and stick with it. Its important not to give up if you fail the first time around, persistence is the key. Continue to diversify and research other programs that are a match for you. Do not rely on one program as a main source of income, rather seek out other opportunities and create multiple sources of streaming income.

Network marketing is a fast growing business online today and an extremely effective way to build a business fast. Whatever product, program or service you decide to go with, become an expert on the subject matter and build a network with other people that share a common interest. When you are able to network your business with other business partners, it is possible to quadruple your income in a very short period of time.

Resell your program, product or service. There are thousands of affiliates making millions of dollars today simply by reselling their programs online. Affiliate marketing is a fast growing online business and can be done by virtually anyone. There are plenty of affiliate programs available online that will offer commissions anywhere from 5% to 75% on each sale.

Building a home business requires dedication and persistence. Following these four simple steps will help anyone achieve there goals and the financial freedom they have been looking for.

About the author:
Tim Rohrer is an established writer and home business owner. Learn how Tim Rohrer created a succesful home business by visiting http://trohrer88.riskfreeprofit.com

2007-03-04T06:35:00.000-08:00

Work From Home Business Money Matrix

Do you want to work from home? If so this is a business for you then. I am about to tell you how you can start working from home part-time or full-time. The more you put in the more you will make just like anything in life. What you put in is what you get out. I will first telling you working from home is not easy. It is still work. Do not think working from home you are going to be rich over night cause you will not be. But if you listen to what I am about to say you can earn a good amount of money doing it. I myself am doing it and I have made $2000 in one month and I work at it part-time.

So here is what it is. What if I told you that you could make $80 for every person you sign up? Also for every person you sign up you will get $47 a month from them as long as they stay in the program. I do not know anyone that would want to leave this amazing program. When you sign up you will also be in a money matrix. So back to what I was talking about. You can work from home doing this easy business. All you simply have to do is sign at least 2 people up to get started. For doing so you will get $160 for sing up those two people. For every other person you sign up after that you will get $80 for just signing them up plus you will get $47 a month from them. Now remember you are going to also be in a money matrix. Say I signed up something they will be going below you and me. For everyone under you that you didn’t sign up you will get $2 off them every month.

So you can earn money from signing people up and get $80 for everyone you sign up plus $47 a month from them. Or you can just sign up your first two and let others above you do the signing up and gain $2 a month of them.

Now lets do the math for this work at home business. Say all you did was sign up two people. And the people above you signed up 100 people. Those 100 people would be blow you cause you are higher then them in the money matrix. So now you will get $2 every month from those 100 people. That is $200 for doing nothing but signing up 2 people. Now say you worked from home and singed up people. Member you get $80 for everyone you sign up and $47 every month from them. So lets say you have 110 people under you again the 100 you didn’t sign up but the other 10 you signed up. So 10 x $80 is $800. Now you are going to get $47 every month from those 10 people you signed up plus $2 a month from the 100 you didn’t sign up. So lets do that math. 10 x $47 = $470 plus 100 x $2 = $200. So if you signed up 10 people and had 100 people under you that you didn’t even sign up the people above you did. You made $800 for singing them up, $470 from the 10 people you did sign up ( you get this $470 every month from those 10 people you signed up ), and you get $200 from the 100 people you didn’t sign up. Add that all together now $800 + $470 + $200 = $1,470.

About the author:
Pleas learn more about this amazing working at home business and the money matrix at http://makemoneyonlinenow.riskfreeprofit.com

2007-03-04T05:07:00.000-08:00

Increase Your Internet Speed Fast

I'm sure you've come across tons of articles and even suggestions from some of your friends on how to get your computer to work faster. Everyone seems to give you advice, but your still having issues and your fed up! Relax, take a deep breath and let me give you some basic pointers. It's really not that hard to increase your Internet speed. I'm going to make it real simple for you and you do not need to be a computer geek to make this work.

The first thing you need to remember is to never, and I mean absolutely never download programs especially free software without reading the fine print! Most free computer software will bombard your computer with spy ware and other terrible stuff which will eventually bring your Internet speed and computer to a screeching halt! If your PC is already infected with spyware you can download the leading spyware remover called ad-aware which will scan your personal computer and remove spy ware and cookies that track your net surfing habits.

Step 2 and another way of making your PC and Internet connection faster is by following this crucial step: Click on start, then click run and type the words msconfig in the run drop menu. Next go to the start tab and remove any program except your antivirus software and any other program which you must have run when windows starts. Be careful not to remove any program which is necessary for windows to start and work properly. If your not sure about a program then google it and you will find plenty of sites that may help you figure out if the program you want to remove is important or not. This tip will increase your computer start up time dramatically!

Step number 3, and I do this almost on a daily basis is to clean up your Internet cache. Follow these steps:

Go to your control panel which you can access from your start button and click on Internet options. Go to temporary Internet files and clear your history. I would recommend that you also set Internet history to a maximum of 2 days. Next step is to delete your temporary Internet files including offline content. Last but not least is to delete cookies. Be careful though because deleting your cookies will also delete useful information from your computer. You can read a how to on cookies here: www.howstuffworks.com/cookie.htm.

These steps are the basics you can take which will speed up your Internet connection immediately. I would also recommend doing a virus check on your computer on a weekly basis. If you don't have anti virus software, get it! You'll be happy you did. Just one virus can wreak havoc on your computer! Make sure you test your connection speed whether its broadband or dial-up, before and after you make these simple changes so you can compare if the corrections you have taken have worked.

Of Course there are many more actions you can take to make you net experience more enjoyable. The Internet is a great place to find tons of valuable ideas and articles on helping you speed up your computer and Internet connection. Google It!

Taking these basic steps will make you a happier surfer and will restore your faith in the World wide web!

About the author:
Gio Mangano is the owner of T1 which offers Instant quotes on T1 Line and business DSL. Gio Mangano also publishes a blog on computer tips and tricks and improving your internet speed at DSL Speed Test
& Picasa Download

2007-03-04T04:40:00.000-08:00

Discover How To Easily Optimize Windows For Better Performance

“My system is too slow.”
“Look how much time it takes to install things.”
“My system slows down while playing games.”
“My software doesn’t function correctly.”

These are some very common statements uttered by PC owners. You might be among one of these. Well if you are, here are some basic tips which can help you optimize the performance of your system by optimization of your operating system.

Windows system optimization is the most basic tool which can maintain the performance of your system. You might be spending hours trying to adjust your CMOS settings, RAM frequency and even the registry setting of the windows. Well its time, you use some windows providing optimization tools for better performance of your system.

Disk Errors
Disk errors are most commonly prevalent in a majority of computer systems. And this is the most overlooked problem even by computer professionals. You often escape the disk error scanning which pops up after a bad shutdown. Well if you keep on escaping the disk error scanning, chances are that your hard disk would develop bad sectors. These bad sectors would initially hamper the proper functioning of your system and then can even lead to hard disk crash.

You should make sure that you allow the disk error scanning option to run and correct any of the disk errors on your hard disk. Once in a week you should also go for the thorough scan disk option which scans the hard disk for errors and corrects them. You should check all the partitions of your hard drive. You can access this option by right clicking on your hard drive partitions and selecting scan disk from the tools options.

Temporary File Cleanup
Cleaning the temp folder in your windows is very essential to get rid of all the unwanted files. These files are the left-overs of the programs which you have uninstalled from the system or other unwanted files. If you do not delete the contents of this temporary folder, the files could gather up to 100 MB of practically no use. You should delete these files as it would help in saving the hard disk as well. To delete these files select the Run option and type %temp% and press O.K. After it displays all the files, select all and delete them.

If you browse the internet with the help of explorer, the temporary cache files should be deleted from the temporary internet folder as well.

Defragmentation
Files which are stored randomly on your system tend to slow down its performance. Your system looks for the fragments of randomly distributed files from everywhere and eventually become slow. To bring back all the files of all programs together, use the windows de-fragmentation tool. This tool joins all the loose files and optimizes the performance of your window.

The Paging File
The paging file is widely known as the windows virtual memory file. This file is used by the system when the windows run short of the actual RAM. Windows keeps on increasing and decreasing the size of the page file, which in itself is not very efficient. This affects the accessibility of fragmentation of your files. You should rather define your own paging size. Select the minimum and maximum size of the virtual memory to be the same. A preferable size is about the double the RAM you have.

By following these basic windows optimization methods you can maintain a good performance of your system.

About the author:
Matt Garrett, http://www.advanced-system-optimizer.com

2007-03-04T04:32:00.000-08:00

Learn How Is Your Internet Privacy Is At Risk

Minimizing the risks related to the Internet security is of primary concern for any online business site. Internet security is very important and must be guarded severely at all costs. Minimizing the risks related to online security will ensure that you will be able to attract many customers to your online sites. Many security measures can be installed in an online site for lessening the risk of Internet security.

If the customers are not sure about the security of their personal details and financial statements, they will never conduct online business. Internet privacy security is very important for any online business site.

Internet privacy is at risk due to the presence of different elements. The presence of spyware is one factor of risk for Internet privacy security. The spyware that is present in your computer can track your online behavior. Spyware software is enabled with the advanced features that allow the spyware manufacturers to surreptitiously track the actions of a computer user. The information gathered through this process can be used to commit frauds and other illegal activities.

The cookies that are deposited in your computer when you visit different sites can also pose a risk to your Internet privacy security. Cookies are data that is sent from a website to be stored in your computer. The cookies of the different websites can be used to track the user’s activities for a particular span of time. If the information falls into wrong hands many illegal activities can take place as a result. With the advancement in technology, it is very natural to be worried about online privacy and security.

A person with a criminal intention is always on the look out for ways and means to invade Internet privacy security of the people. If he can get information about a person’s bank details and other personal details, he can misuse them. The person can assume your identity online and deal with your bank or other agencies in your capacity. The victim may be completely unaware about the fraud that is taking place in his name. This can lead to the huge losses to the person whose privacy has been invaded.

You will have to adopt various means to safe guard your Internet privacy security. Installing a spyware in your computer can be one option for you to safe guard your privacy. The software will efficiently remove all traces of the presence of any kind of spyware from your computer. If it is difficult to remove all spyware installed in your computer, seek online advice on the manual removal of such spyware.

Imagine yourself in a situation where someone else is able to monitor every move that you make. This is a terrifying situation to face. The best way for you to escape such a situation is to install the best security features in your computer. You will then be able to surf online peacefully without constantly worrying about your Internet privacy security.

About the author:
Matt Garrett, http://www.internet-privacy-systems.com

2007-03-04T04:07:00.000-08:00

Choosing Domain Names for Your Business

Let's say that you're creating a website for Barb's Specialty Pet Products. Should the domain name be barbsspecialtypetproducts.com?

Perhaps -- but don't stop there. Having the right domain name, or domain names, can bring more traffic to your site.

One domain is all you need to set up a website. But with more domains directing to your site, you can have these additional benefits:

- Bring site visitors who type variations of your domain name

- Acquire traffic that might otherwise go to your competition

- Harness the marketing power of keyword domains

Your primary domain name

If it's feasible, use your business or brand name in your primary domain. People will remember it and associate it with your business. Also consider the following factors when choosing your primary domain.

Domain name extensions

Should your primary domain end with .com, .net, or .biz, or with a country-specific extension such as .ca or .co.uk?

If your website is aimed at people in a specific country, having a country-specific domain can help:

- Site visitors will recognize right away that the business has a presence in the country of the extension. They may therefore be more comfortable buying from you.

- Some country-specific search results include sites with the relevant country-specific domain extension even if the site isn't hosted in that country.

On the other hand, if you're targeting an international audience, a country-specific domain could work against you. People from outside the country of the extension may be less inclined to buy if the business looks foreign to them.

If you want to attract both people within your country and those in other countries, have both. Each domain could direct to the same site, with each audience seeing the domain intended for them. For country-specific search results, the primary domain should be the country-specific one.

Chances are that the .com domain you want is already taken. If you use the .net or .biz version, you risk having potential site visitors go to your .com competition instead. Be sure to use the full domain name on all promotional material to reduce this risk.

Domain name length

A short domain is easier to remember, it has less risk of being mistyped, and it'll fit easily on your business cards and correspondence.

Conversely, if a short name doesn't represent your business, it's more difficult for people to remember. The short names you like may already be taken anyway.

If your business name is up to three easy-to-spell words, it'll probably work as a domain name. For a longer business name, the initials or just one or two words may be easier than remembering a combination of words.

Secondary domain names

Secondary domains directing to your site are for online use:

- For people who type your primary domain name incorrectly

- For people who search for your products or services online

Typing and spelling variations

How many ways can people spell and type your business name?

barbsspecialtypetproducts.com

barbs-specialty-pet-products.com

barbspecialtypetproducts.com

barbsspecialitypetproducts.com

barbsspecialitypetproducts.com

barbspecialtyproducts.com

barbspecialtyproduct.com

Hyphens aren't recommended for your primary domain. When people tell others about your site, they're likely to omit the hyphens. They may also forget to type them.

For secondary domains, hyphens make long domains easier to read. Each word stands out when people see your domain. However, domains such as buy-keyword-product-now.com make some people view hyphenated domains, especially those with more than one hyphen, as spam-like.

Having the words in domains separated may help some search engines recognize keywords. With Google, though, hyphens don't make any difference.

Consider all of these variations for secondary domain names:

- With and without hyphens

- Different ways of spelling some words

- Singular and plural versions of nouns

- Extensions with .com and .net as well as a country-specific extension if relevant

What people search for

If you want to find the website for Time magazine, you might do a search for it, or you might try typing in time.com. If you do the latter, you'll find yourself at the Time site.

This type of search behavior extends to generic words too. Searching for dog collars? Try dogcollar.com, for example, and you'll be redirected to dogidcollar.com. Do you want life insurance? Lifeinsurance.com redirects to nmfn.com (and so does northwesternmutualfinancialnetwork.com).

While having keyword domain names may not draw a lot of site visitors, using them is a technique to consider.

How to use more than one domain

Set up your website with your primary domain, and use that domain on your correspondence and with your customers.

Point secondary domains to your site using URL forwarding (also called domain forwarding, domain redirect, or URL redirect). To have the secondary domain appear in the browser, use domain masking. You can set up these features when you log in to your account with your domain registrar (if your registrar offers these services).

With domains that are simply variations of your primary domain, you can expect additional traffic just from having set up these domains. With domains that contain keywords, you can get more from them by using them to list your site in online directories. When these domains appear in search results, searchers will see the keywords.

The next step

Once you decide on the available domains that you want, register them immediately. They might not be available tomorrow.

If you don't already have a business name, you'll find it easier to market your business online if you choose a primary domain and a business name together. If your first choice for a business name doesn't work well with any available domains, consider a business name that you can easily market with an available domain. Once you've registered that domain name and your business name, register secondary domains and put them to use.

Is it worth registering multiple domains for one site? That depends on your site, but any variations that you don't register will be available for competitors to register and use. If a domain is valuable to a competitor, it's valuable to you.