Digg it UP - Internet and Businesses Online

The Accidental Artist
Some people decide they want to start their own home business and know exactly what sort of business they want. Many other people who want to work at home have no idea what sort of home based business might be suitable for them.If you fall into the second category, it makes sense to look for a product or service people need and then decide whether you could provide it. Another way of finding your own little niche business in a big competitive world is to examine your skills and think about what you enjoy doing. Sometimes, people don't even have a vague idea about what they could do to work from home and they come across their ideal opportunity by accident. That's what happened to me, but my friend Mick's story trumps that: he didn't even plan to start a business, it was all an accident.Mick is one of those people who can fix anything and it seems like he can make most things from scratch. If you need anything fixed from your wristwatch to your motor-cycle to your curtains (yes he sews as well), Mick's your man. I don't think Mick and his wife have ever needed to pay for any work on their house. Mick can

for your top page for a start. No page rank is an indication of a newer Web site or a site that is not considered to have quality valuable content - that is when PageRank is working properly. Just like everything online, Google's PageRank glitches on occasion too - that is why I stress you use it as a guide not your bible.

Page rank is accomplished by having a valuable resource site that others feel is worthy of linking to. If you are all sales pitch with very little content, page rank is difficult to attain. Always check a site's page rank to determine if it has been determined to have any value. Without a page rank, linking for the sake of linking is moot. Sites with higher page ranks are given more relevancy, as are the sites they in turn link to.

=> Organize and Categorize Your Directory of Links: Google has been known to ignore pages with more than 50 or so links. This is because tons of unorganized links on a page indicate "link farm" and

SEO - Should You Hire a Freelance SEO Copywriter?
Writing all of the SEO copy for your web site or all of the SEO articles that you plan to submit to ezines can be a daunting task. This is especially true if you are completely talent free when it comes to writing. This can mean having to hire a professional SEO copywriter. However finding a qualified writer can also be a challenge as there are so many advertisements for them on the Internet. Even more frustrating is that half of those advertisements lead to software that is supposed to teach you writing or large companies with vague descriptions of what they do (accompanied by high prices.) Although the Internet has its share of great writers it also a lot of hacks on it that plan to never deliver after you have paid them an advance.Before hiring a freelance copywriter you should first of all make sure that he or she knows what SEO is in the first place. Yet another consideration is whether or not he or she is affordable and whether or not they can deliver on time. If the fee is lower than $25 an hour you can assume the writer is part time as that is less than one quarter of what the writer’s union charges for fees. T

On a regular basis I receive e-mail through all my various sites from other site owners offering to exchange links. Most approach me in the wrong manner and I can tell they have no idea about the proper way to run an effective linking program. See, in a real linking program, it isn't just about you - it should be about both sites involved in the process.

So many of these notices are not from complimentary sites in topic or design - some are actually competitors making me wonder why they would think I would link to them. Many having absolutely nothing even remotely similar to the site of mine that they have e-mailed. If they state they have already linked to my site, which is what you want to do when building a valuable link directory - not a link farm - the majority of these requests are immediately responded to asking their link to my site be removed. I know I do not want to have one of my sites "in bed" with another site that can have a detrimental effect on either my rankings or the juried resources I offer my visitors.

Poor grammar, unnecessary formatting and a one-sided approach can doom your link program from the start. Yes, links are important - but all links are not created equal! You will be ranked by the links you keep! You have to be discriminating when it comes to the sites you link to as well as with those who link back. A big warning sign is if the requester is in direct competition with you. This lets you know they will be burying their link directory and really don't plan on site visitors finding it and you - their competitor. Not a good sign!

Here are some basic tips you need to keep in mind and integrate in your linking efforts based in the reality of having an effective and ethical approach. If you cannot take the time to put these issues in play, don't waste your or the other site owner's time.

=> Stay Away From and Do Not Create Link Farms: "Link Farms" is a term used to describe groups of links that have nothing in common other than the sites involved have all agreed to link to each other for the sole purpose of effecting their organic search engine listings. Quality of content, design or site focus is not a consideration that is a requirement to participate. When you create a link directory on your site, you want to have set of guidelines that will be required for sites to be added to your link directory. Only quality links, relational to your site's focus that you know will benefit your site visitors should be considered. Just as you want to see those requesting links from you have done the same.

=> Links Need to Make Sense for Both Sites: On my Lake County, Illinois site, LakeOnline.com, I only exchange links with non-commercial community groups and organizations located within Lake County, Illinois. This makes sense as that is the focus of my site and it benefits the groups within that category to have a link from such a popular site that has proven longevity. It is a win-win for both sides. My site visitors then have links available to them of other Lake County, Illinois resources and the sites that link to LakeOnline.com are linking to a quality Lake County, Illinois resource.

If the site linking to you has no direct relationship to yours in topic or is a poor quality site - don't exchange links. Just having links for the sake of doing so doesn't benefit either site. Think in terms of the fact that the links off your site need to compliment and add to the overall offering for your site visitors.

=> Consider Google's Page Rank: Page rank is not the end-all-be-all! Don't live or die by Page Rank. (From what I've read as of late Google is way behind in updating their PageRank.) However, when it comes to linking it can be a useful tool you can use to guide you. Before you begin requesting links, you want to ensure that you at least have a page rank for your top page for a start. No page rank is an indication of a newer Web site or a site that is not considered to have quality valuable content - that is when PageRank is working properly. Just like everything online, Google's PageRank glitches on occasion too - that is why I stress you use it as a guide not your bible.

=> Organize and Categorize Your Directory of Links: Google has been known to ignore pages with more than 50 or so links. This is because tons of unorganized links on a page indicate "link farm" and d

Writing Articles for Traffic, Viral Marketing
With the increasing cost of advertising, it is getting very hard to find targeted free or low cost traffic.A great method is by writing articles for traffic and letting websites and ezine publishers reprint them including your resource box which includes a link back to your website. Website and ezine owners need constant fresh content to publish. A great way to build one way back links to your website and increase branding.Getting startedDecide on relevant keywords. You could use software, like clickadequalizer from www.clickadequalizer.com, this software finds alternative keywords, the number searches for that keyword as well as the amount of competition. Try to find keyword with high number of searches and low competition. You could also use www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion which is a free tool.Do some research on the topic you wish to write about. Read some books and search the internet for information. Information for ideas and increase your understanding of the subject, so that you can put it into your unique thoughts.Get some ideas for your article with some brainstorming, as thou

effect on either my rankings or the juried resources I offer my visitors.

=> Organize and Categorize Your Directory of Links: Google has been known to ignore pages with more than 50 or so links. This is because tons of unorganized links on a page indicate "link farm" and

Are Your Business Process Management Solutions Using an Elephant Gun to Kill a Fly?
Business is complex and that complexity demands big solutions. Yet, in many cases, in the quest to find a quick solution, some management teams may use an elephant gun when a fly swatter would work even better.Elephant guns range from the big change management initiatives to the many training and development solutions to the quality programs such as lean to six sigma. These guns shoot out round after round of new knowledge and skills all in the attempt to solve the current challenges. Yet, if the elephant guns were effective, then why are the same change challenges returning? Why for example does it take up to 7 years to integrate a total quality management system? Could the aim have missed the fly?Flies are the attitudes and habits that swarm around the culture of every organization. They quick swarm together to give the impression of a significant problem, but in a blink of an eye they can disappear. By the time the elephant gun is loaded and fired, the fly is gone leaving three large holes. Hole one is missing the problem such as training and development or quality programs.

sed to describe groups of links that have nothing in common other than the sites involved have all agreed to link to each other for the sole purpose of effecting their organic search engine listings. Quality of content, design or site focus is not a consideration that is a requirement to participate. When you create a link directory on your site, you want to have set of guidelines that will be required for sites to be added to your link directory. Only quality links, relational to your site's focus that you know will benefit your site visitors should be considered. Just as you want to see those requesting links from you have done the same.

=> Organize and Categorize Your Directory of Links: Google has been known to ignore pages with more than 50 or so links. This is because tons of unorganized links on a page indicate "link farm" and

How to Find Freelance Writing Jobs
You can find many freelance writing jobs websites, on the internet you can find thousands of freelance jobs opportunities, here you have some ideas on how to start doing freelance writing and how to find where to get freelance writing opportunities.First of all you need to choose what kind of writing job you want to do or what kind of writing you are good at. Many people want to work on projects others want to write for the Web. Once you choose what kind of writing do you want, then you need to look for the freelance markets and then you can advertise your great writing talent.Now you need to find the market, if you would like to work with your clients in your backyard, well the best place to start will be your local area. You need to talk with the people that you already know in your community and you need to get involved with the chamber of commerce in your local area.The other way to find freelance writing jobs is looking on the internet. There are a numerous amount of freelance writers websites to start. You will find a lot of opportunities, all you need to do is look for then, the

nk from such a popular site that has proven longevity. It is a win-win for both sides. My site visitors then have links available to them of other Lake County, Illinois resources and the sites that link to LakeOnline.com are linking to a quality Lake County, Illinois resource.

=> Organize and Categorize Your Directory of Links: Google has been known to ignore pages with more than 50 or so links. This is because tons of unorganized links on a page indicate "link farm" and

Top 3 Tips For Protecting Your Domain Name
Do you have a business website? Do you ever plan on having a website for your business? Are you even remotely interested in having a website for your business? If you've answered yes to any of these questions then it's important that you pay special attention to what we're about to discuss here. It won't change your life but it might just save you a gigantic headache and potentially thousands of dollars.If you plan on either building your own website or having one built for you then you're going to need a domain name. Owning your own .com is a nice feeling and something that has a certain sense of pride to it. When you register your domain (or it's registered for you) there are three critical elements to this:1. Who actually owns the domain. Make absolutely certain you have 100% legal and financial control over your domain name.2. The number of years you want to register the domain for. Make sure your domain is registered for at least 5 years.3. Always, always, always set your domain to automatically renew.On point one here you want to be absolutely certain that nobody outside of your busin

=> Organize and Categorize Your Directory of Links: Google has been known to ignore pages with more than 50 or so links. This is because tons of unorganized links on a page indicate "link farm" and do not indicate any sort of value or relational substance to the site in question. Categorize your links and create a new page when necessary for new topics. When a specific topic starts approaching 50, create a subcategory or an additional page.

You want to do everything you can to avoid the perception of linking purely to manipulate your rankings. When I receive requests from sites with over 50 links and their link directory is not categorized, I generally do not respond as I know they are creating a link farm which will offer no benefit to me and may have even have a detrimental effect on my natural listings.

=> Have a Plan Before You Request Links: After you have reviewed the sites you would like to exchange links with, (Never spam for link exchanges! See #2 above.) here are some tips to keep in mind before you e-mail them with your request.

1. Create a brief but concise e-mail that includes specific instructions on how they can link back to you. You want to make sure that your requested return link text, if at all possible, includes a couple of your main keywords in the link.

2. Be sure to mention why your site and the one you are contacting are complimentary and why a reciprocal link will benefit both sides. If you cannot make this analogy, you probably should not be requesting a link in the first place.

3. Have the other site's link already in place on your site before you e-mail your request and let them know exactly where that is. Be sure if you said their link is in place that it is or you loose credibility and look as though you are not sincere in your offer.

4. Include a comment of exactly where on their site or in what category of their link directory that you would like to see your link. This lets the other side know that you've reviewed their site and see the reciprocal value and are not just spamming for links.

=> Your Link Directory is Easy to Find: Hiding your link directory deep within your site or not obviously linking to your link directory is a sure sign that you are gathering links for all the wrong reasons. Understand the search engines have a way of determining link relevancy based on topic, popularity and as well as other evolving factors. If you are hiding your link directory this is a big clue that is probably has no value to your site visitors or why would you be hiding it? If you cannot have obvious navigation to your link directory, you know that you are not offering value and need to rethink your strategy.

One of the other benefits of exchanging links is the hope that those who visit the other site, will find yours by following the link to your site. If their link directory is hidden, folks cannot find you which prevents you from garnering this potential additional traffic. If you receive a request to exchange links and see that the other site has their link directory buried where their site visitors will have difficulty finding it, I would decline the request as they are not offering me anything. Work only with site owners who understand what linking is all about and have a link directory that is well organized and easily found on their site.

=> Spammy Link Requests: You've probably received those yourself. Some marketer asking if you are interested in exchanging links with a site they are unwilling to identify until you show interest. What is that!? If exchanging links makes sense there should be no reason to hide the identity of any site. This is an indication the site most likely has no page rank, is not related to yours, or is creating a link farm. Use these e-mail as an example of what you don't want to do. Hit the Delete button.

Link exchanges serve two purposes. The first being they add value to both sites and offer visibility to an entire set of site visitors who may not have known the other site even exists to sear

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Are you one of the thousands of job seekers who question their sanity, marketability, and capacity to make smart decisions-just because you’ve lost your job? Are you wondering how to overcome these p...

The term web2.0 was originally presented by O'Reilly Media (A well known media company publishing books and websites on various computer technology topics). It's a term that refers to a new generation of websites (social networking websites, wiki-based websites etc). These websites take advantage of web application technologies and give web users the ability to collaborate and share their experiences, views, opinions and interests while they surf the web.

Although it is clear that most website users of the internet use search a engines to find their destination, is there a better alternative?

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Digg it UP - The Reality of Linking

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