Articles Written by Pam Jones

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Search Engines, Web Site Text & Meta Tags  Identifying the keywords for your web site is one of the most important things you can do. If you are building a new site, you will want to cover this base prior to even beginning to write the text for your site.

How To Tell If Email Is Legit Or Spam   We all receive a multitude of email in our inbox that we would rather not receive. Some of this email look like it is legit and may be stating that our subscription is about to expire, when you didn’t subscribe in the first place, etc. Some may be requesting a link exchange saying that they are emailing you from the web site. The message looks fairly personalized…it even has your web site address in the message…but it is a prepared letter that has been constructed with software and sent to a bulk list.

Here are a few tricks I use to determine whether a message is spam or not.

10 Essentials to a Successful Online Business  There is a lot of advice out there about what to do in order to achieve success online. Here are Ten Essentials that are free or very inexpensive to implement in order to achieve success.

Get Organized  I don't know about you, but it's very easy for me to get sidetracked in cyberspace. I go into one site which leads me to other sites that offer valuable information. And the next thing I know  a few hours have gone by.

Where Did I File That  When was the last time you knew you had an email message or a document in your word processor but couldn't remember where it was filed on your computer? I find myself in this position almost every day and my "find" button has become my best friend.

Are You Overwhelmed?  Do you sometimes find yourself with way too much to do and way too little time to do it in and the more you try to do the more behind you seem to get?

Coding Your Advertising  Have you ever received an email message that said "Please send more information" and you have no idea at all what information the sender is requesting? Have you wondered where a prospect found out about you and your product or service, or how a certain ad is performing for you? Here are some suggestions to help eliminate the "what information are they requesting" questions and to be able to track  your ads so you can know what ones are working and what ones aren't.

How to Effectively Advertise By Email  E-Mail is fast becoming very popular for marketing on the Internet. Being able to send one message to many addresses at once with very little or no expenses sounds like the most wonderful way to market a product or service, doesn't it? WRONG!

Creating and Using A Signature File The best form of online advertisement is your signature line. A sig line is a few sentences inserted with every email you send out. It is another form of online business card. Most email programs will let you set up a signature of about six lines. Some will allow full messages. Include your URL, a short description, phone number, address, whatever may be relevant. 

Is Your Own Domain Name That Important?  How do you know if you really need your own URL? If you have just a personal page with pictures of your family vacation you probably don't need your own domain. Or if you are just testing the waters to see if your product or service will fly on the Internet, you might not need a domain. However, if you are serious about marketing your product or service on the Internet and plan to make a long-term venture of it, I would strongly suggest getting your own domain right from the start.

Domain Email vs. ISP Email  If you have a domain name and a web site, you are doing your company a disservice by continuing to use your ISP email (or a free email account such as Hotmail or Yahoo). Why? Because you are not branding your own company!!! Using your domain email is one of the cheapest forms of advertisement there is.

Managing Your Email  Do you find yourself overwhelmed with email? There have been times when it took me all day to go through my email until I learned a few tricks. I found that a lot of the email I received was spam and had heard that you can use filters for spam. I have decided against using the filters because I found that messages I needed to receive were being filtered out ! Besides it takes just a second to hit the delete button. Now I can just about look at a message and know whether to delete it or not without even opening it.

E-mail Marketing   E-Mail is fast becoming very popular for marketing on the Internet. Being able to send one message to many addresses at once with very little or no expenses sounds like the most wonderful way to market a product or service, doesn't it? WRONG!

Backup versus Recovery - Which is more important?   A government study found that 93% of companies that experienced data recovery problems after a computer crash, were out of business within 18 months. The vast majority of these companies were small businesses not large corporations.  Large corporations focus on getting back 100% of their data in a timely manner. They simply cannot afford data loss or to be down very long. Neither can you.

Horse Pulls and Lessons Learned   I remember the first time I watched a horse pulling contest. It was a few years ago at the Clearwater County Fair. Contestants from three states competing in both the light weight competition and the heavy weight competition (the horses' weights, not the team driver's).....As I was watching these competitions I learned a few lessons about life and business in general.

Is Your Website A Winner?   Marketing on the Internet can be somewhat challenging. Whether you are selling a product or service online or offline you need to market that product or service. Are you marketing your website, but still not getting the sales you would like to receive? Maybe your website is holding you back. Here are a few things to consider to have a winning website:

How To Find Sites To Link To   Link popularity is calculated as the number of websites from which your site can be reached by a link from another site. Linking from other sites is one of the best ways of bringing quality visitors to your site additionally link popularity is increasingly important in Search Engine rankings.

Web Site Logs vs. A Hit Counter   If you have a web site you are, no doubt, interested in knowing just how much traffic your site gets. Many people like the visibility of a hit counter so they can just go to their site and see how much that little number has gone up since the last time they checked.   However, this option provides minimal information to determine how well your site is really performing.

Why Should You Start Your Own Newsletter?   If you are reading this I am assuming that you have a product or service you are marketing on the Internet. What avenues have you used to market your product or service? Classified sites, linking your URL to every site you come in contact with, FFA's (free-for-all sites), banner exchanges, attempting to get the best search engine ratings, bulk mailings? Have any of these attempts really brought you the traffic you desire? 

Getting the Most Out Of Message Boards   If you haven't used message boards as an information source, you really are missing some great opportunities to learn and gain exposure. I have received a lot of help by reading posts on various discussion boards and by asking questions there. Very rarely have I posted a question that wasn't answered and many times it is answered that day. Some message boards will allow you to receive an email when your message has been responded to. This is great because you know without checking the board all the time if your message has been answered.

Target Marketing That Works   Do you depend on search engine placement as your only means of promoting your website? Submitting to the search engines and directories is very important, but shouldn't be your only means of marketing your site. This is like getting a business license and expecting people to know you are in business. You need to market your products and services just as you do any business offline.

Become Part of the Online Community

Is It Really Possible To Make Money Online?  Am I making a living on-line? Do I believe it is possible to make a living online for someone who will put forth the effort?  I think for the small business person, the 'net makes success even more possible. 

Feel free to use any of these articles in your newsletter or for your personal arsenal of information. The only request is that you let me know you you have used the articles and include the accompanying bio with the article.

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