Rotendaokab Articles

The largest cost and concern of an internet business is customer acquisition; traffic. Both quantity and quality of traffic directly determines the succes of an internet business. By the fundamental nature of traffic to an online business,one cannot afford to waste it.

So how does traffic wastage occur?

Customers are acquired by driving prospects to your virtual point of sale. At this point, usually a web page, the prospects are engaged to take the desired response. The desired response varies from change of attitude for a newsletter, to purchase of a product for a sales webpage.

This desired response occurs towards the end of the Pschology of Search. Prospect searches particular information, they see something that interests them, they view it and then they decide its relevance to them. They then take the most appropriate action, click the back button or take the desired action.

Generally speaking, Click through Rate (CTR) average 2% for internet marketing. This would be the average for Search engines, Pay per Clicks (PPC) all the way to Free classified Ads and banners. Of course for each specific media it varies significantly. However for illustration purposes lets use 2% CTR.

So, only 2% of prospects flagged down stop to give attention to be engaged. These prospects are interested. Of every 100 of this interested prospects, only 1% may be converted to take the desired response the first time.

Eric Mollink of Businessmaker.info had a real experience of this numbers. He says , they made a killer grab attention email which sent the prospects directly to their website. The mail was sent at midnight and by morning the had 400 hits, a 40% response rate. But no one signed for their program. And there was no way of knowing who the visitors were. had they been able to follow up with the 400,based on previous records, they would have closed at last 30% of the 400.

In essence, taking the previous assumed example, for every 10,000 people that see an Ad or Listing, only 200 will give attention enough to engage them. And the CR would stand at 1% i.e 2 sales or subscriptions.

After being able to get the attention of 200 prospects, 198 will be lost.

Reasons for not acting as desired vary widely. Though it would be correct to say a number were not sold. Meaning some prospects were convinced but not converted. They consequently did not respond as desired due to overcome-able objections. Those converted are those in a sellable state of mind at the time.

Remember sales is 90% emotion and 10% logic. If both strings are not methodically, systematically and sufficiently harped on, there is no sale.

Unfortunately internet presentation are unlike face to face sales presentation, where the pitch is actively adapted to the prospect’s moods(emotions) and objections(logic).

Therefore huge looses of engaged prospects will always occur due to this inflexibility. And once a potential customer is lost, they are gone, probably forever. You will then have lost precious traffic. To get them again, if ever, you will need to pay for them again, if using PPC.

Repeated contact or follow up on prospects may actually increase the total CR and consequently sales. Follow up allows a 2nd, 3rd… chance to find a prospect in a sellable state of mind.

For first time buyers, it gives 2nd ,3rd… chance to sell them again on a different product. This increases the value of the customer from one product a year to two products a year.

The best means of follow up in the internet is email. A mailing list of your prospects makes it cheaper to market to them a 2nd, 3rd… time. It also increases the chances of selling more of them, a higher CR.

With this kind of opportunity, advantages further reflect on profitability. This is simply due to the fact that there is no further cost associated with customer acquisition every time there is need to to do a follow up. With customer acquisition costs down, there is significant reduction in the cost of doing business, resulting in higher profits.

Otherwise, with no mailing list, everytime you would want to do a follow up you would pay for the prospect. Everytime you introduce a new product to your first time buyers you would pay.

Email capture is therefore no trivial matter.

Email capture is the ability of your site to get name and email address of your prospect.

Indeed you will find successful internet businesses owning a mailing list and doing some sort of publishing.

Predictability of income of a site depends on number of customers, as well as the trust the customer have on that site. Numbers of customers are developed by CTR and CR. Trust on the other hand is not easily developed on the first sitting.

Repeat contact does offer a platform to subtly create this trust.

Publishing for mailing purposes may be a reservation for some. However email capture dosen’t necessarily translate into publishing of an e-zine or a newsletter. There other ways of warming prospects to an offer. Use of sweepstakes, low price and promotion alerts etc. all of which are not periodicals. These can assist in building credibility and trust. At the same time, if well done, keeps your p[product “top of the mind” in the prospects mind. Next time the product is mentioned, it is no longer a stranger to them.

With an email list from email capture a chance is given to further develop perceived value of the product. This can incredibly increase sales. Majority of prospects take time to get convinced. They take more time to get converted. With their email addresses one can follow up on them until they are sold. Best of all there are cost of contacting the prospect, of course that is if the list is not rented.

In summary email capture allows for email marketing which can increase CR and profits, both by increasing sales as well as eliminating wastage of traffic and repeated purchase of same prospects.

Resources for opt-in mailing list for rentals such as PostMaster Direct are used by large organization. Other such resources include Me-mail, Advertising.com, Bullet mail, E-target and Ht mail.

Similarly there are innovative email capture systems. Below is an example of a free email capture system exclusivelly for internet business people, www.Opportunity.Com. Such a system can be used by netpreneurs to multiply their “paid for prospects”. At the same time they could build a reasonable mailing list accesible for targeted email marketing.

Email capture is both an effective means of avoiding traffic wastage and if used correctly, an effective marketing tool.

Below is Mark Kimathi’s recomendation for email capture,
http://www.opportunity.com/r/sitebuildit

So you want to start publishing an online newsletter? Why? Because thats what all the online marketing experts and gurus said to do. Youve been told youll pull in lots of new customers if you just start publishing an online newsletter AND purchase their list magnet ebook. I am not going to tell you that because I know its not that simple. In fact, Ill tell you the truth as Im always compelled to do, and offer you an alternative while Im at it.

First, publishing is the fun part. Writing and getting articles and finding resources to offer your subscribers really is the fun part of your online marketing campaign. However, then comes the part where the rubber meets the road: sending that newsletter out to your subscribers. First, youll need a list to send your newsletter to. Second, youll need an auto responder for subscribers to make sure youre in compliance with the double opt-in/opt-out so you wont get in trouble with your ISP or the spam law. Youll need to decide if youre going to publish and send out your newsletter daily, weekly, or monthly and get it delivered when you say you will. This is just the basics. Youll find it gets more complicated as you go on, especially legally. Youll have many of your emails come back because they were bounced by these rigid new spam filters installed by our diligent ISPs to stop (yeah right) spammers. Youll also have some of your new subscribers forget they subscribed and turn you in as spammer. Oh, what fun! So, what do you do? You want to publish; its a great way to establish your online marketing presence and also your credentials in your field of expertise. So, what do you do?

Well, I accidentally found the solution and Im going to share it with you. Before I started online marketing through email publishing, I was submitting articles Id written to online article banks. That is another way to promote yourself in your online marketing campaign. While I was submitting an article to www.thephantomwriters.com, I noticed a banner there that mentioned a new way of publishing without email, without spam, but WITH RSS technology. I knew what RSS was because I had been receiving different online newsletters for webmasters. I subscribed to those so Id know what was going on in the world of technology just for my own knowledge. RSS is really simple syndication; well thats one of its definitions anyway. The banner on The Phantom Writers site stated that Quikonnex had the solution to our online marketing ezine dilemma. Good thing I went there, saw the writing on the wall, and took the leap of faith! Whew! I almost made the email marketing error.

Quikonnex is a great way to keep the fun you want as a publisher, and more. You dont need those lists, or auto responders, or need to worry about spam, or any of that junk. Heres what is even better the search engines get pinged each time you submit an article or item as we call them on Quikonnex. You dont need a delivery date. You can submit items as you come across them. You can use graphics without overloading a subscribers inbox like in email. You dont need email, as your subscribers subscribe through a viewer. They can keep in contact with you through your personal private messenger provided so generously by the founders of the Quikonnex system at no additional charge to you. You get live online support and twice weekly training and meetings, all inclusive in the minimal monthly charge. One of the best things: all of your items go in to a database that is clickable under category titles you create in templates. Very simple, fun, and best of all, hassle-free. So instead of sending out email newsletters that may get read, then deleted after all your hard work, you publish on a channel that is a syndicated RSS feed, with an editor provided if you dont know HTML, that goes into a readily retrievable database, that pings the search engines and then stays on the internet indefinitely meaning it is searchable! This means your newsletters are cumulative, they dont get deleted, and all your hard work stays available for each new subscriber who comes along without you doing anything. You just keep on publishing! How great is that??? So before you take the email plunge, consider the benefits youll have publishing the new way in living RSS technology.

Kim Bloomer runs a home business in the wellness industry with an emphasis on holistic pet care. Kim also publishes an online newsletter AspenbloomWellPet. She is co-founder of the online marketing channel Kick The Email Habit. For a comprehensive look at what Kim does go to http://KimBloomer.com

There’s such a thing as taking search engine optimization too far. I’m not talking about black hat versus white hat, things that might get you banned versus staying pristine. I’m talking about keyword stuffing in the title. As far as search engine optimization goes, there’s nothing wrong with it. You might very well make it to #1 with a title like “Widgets, Black Widgets, Home Widgets, Cheap Widgets.”

But who’s going to click on that?

Oh, I’m sure some people will. But I’m betting the guy who’s at #3 with “Widget Information” is going to get more visitors.

Sometimes we webmasters spend so much time trying to second-guess the search engines that we forget potential visitors, people, are the ones we really need to impress. Yes, it’s important to get onto that first page of search engine results, but once you’re there, think of ways to entice people with your titles.

I’m not saying to get rid of keywords in your titles altogether; instead, take your main keyword and work your title around it.

So, what makes a good title?

First off, get rid of the mass of keywords separated by commas. If people were looking for synonyms, they’d grab a thesaurus rather than popping onto Google. Instead, put yourself in the shoes of the person looking for information on widgets. If you were the one doing the looking, what kind of title would attract you?

You really can’t go wrong with Keyword Information or some variation of that title. After all, that’s what most people are looking for, information. However, that can be a bit dry.

You may want to consider employing what writers call a hook. This is something that grabs your attention and makes you want to continue reading in order to satisfy your curiosity. Journalists employ this method all the time to increase newspaper sales.

Some examples might be:

Widgets, Bad for Your Health?
Are Widgets Safe for Your Children?
Widgets Increase Sales… If Used Correctly

Be creative. Whatever you do, make sure your titles are cohesive. Think like your visitors, not like the search engines. Lure the visitor into clicking on your site instead of the nine other sites listed on the search engine results page. You might just be surprised at the increase in traffic you receive.

TC Thorn writes content for numerous web sites, including a number she owns such as http://www.webmasterarticles.net where this article first appeared.

Everyone at some point in their Internet experience has

received an email ad that was simply to difficult to read

or it’s text was so badly broken up that it was impossible

to understand.

Most of the time when I receive an email of this kind (and

it’s far to often) I do what everyone else does, I simply

hit the delete and move on to the next email.

What if your email was the one I deleted? How sure are you

of your email format? Do you follow all Email Etiquette?

Do you even know if Email Etiquette exists?

I know that when I first started advertising on the web my

answer to the question’s above was, no? I wasn’t even sure

if my ad’s were even getting out, let alone if they were

Email Etiquette approved…

Every email server basically follows the same set of rules;

however, each one applies these rules with it’s own twist thus

making their format different from the other guy. As a result

we have many variations to the way our email looks.

So the question you need to ask yourself is this…

With so many different servers, with so many variations of

the rules, can anyone, or any thing you use, format all

emails across all formats with any type of consistency so

that your ad campaign will go out with a professional look?

The answer is, basically YES! I said basically because

there are a few email servers on the web that have their

server set up so that if you do not send and receive your

mail using their system, there is no way of knowing how

your email will look once it gets to it recipient.

But for the most part, if you apply the seven tips I’ve

outlined for you below, 95% of your emails will look the way

you intended them to when they are viewed by your recipient.

As for the other 5%, do your best and that’s all you can do.

(Tip No.1) Send You Ad Text Formatted Instead of HTML

There are three reasons you need to send your ad Text

Formatted as opposed to HTML.

1) There are many email users that do not receive HTML

emails.

Many people do not receive HTML documents because either

their email account will not display an HTML document, or

they have simply turned off that aspect of their email

account because they do not wish to view HTML documents

in their email.

For whatever reason, that group of people makes up a fairly

large group of email users. If you’re sending your ad by way

of HTML they will not see your email, and you’ll lose a lot

of potential customer.

2) When someone is reading through their emails, they want

to click, read, and move on. They get annoyed when they

have to sit and wait for an HTML document to load. Once

they get annoyed, for the most part you’ve lost that

customer for life!

3) Often times when someone sees an HTML ad opening in

their email browser they simply click and delete before it

finishes downloading, I know, I’ve done it myself a few

times.

(Tip No.2) Always Run Spell Check On Your Emails

Many times I have received emails with both typo’s and

misspelled words in them. Now I’m not the best speller

in the world, in fact when I graduated one of my instructors

got up and said, Jerry I have only two words for you…

SPELL CHECKER!

Even if you are the world’s best speller, always, always,

and did I mention ALWAYS run Spell Checker on your

document. Catch those little embarrassing moments before

they go out in print. Life will be much easier for you and

everyone else as well.

(Tip No.3) Format Your Documents

A good average character count for one line of email is,

55 to 60 characters. On the old standard typewriter it was

simply a matter of setting your margins and typing until

you heard the little bell.

Then you’d simply pushed the return bar and typing cylinder

all the way to the right, and continue typing until the next

bell. (Now I’m really dating myself.)

If you try to set-up your word processor’s margins to do

the same thing the typewriters of old did, it won’t work

quite the same way. You’ll have to manually add carriage

returns at the end of each line.

It can be done; however, this process will be very time

consuming and for many reasons, far to many to mention

here, the outcome will not stay consistent with all email

servers.

A much better way of formatting your document is to

download a copy of Ezine Assistant at

http://www.ezineassistant.com

It’s a free software program that gives you full control

of formatting your document. It works great, and I use it

all the time, even if I’m simply writing an email to my

friends.

(Tip No.4) Keep Your Paragraphs Short

Reading an email is not like reading a book or a magazine.

Long paragraphs in an email are difficult to read, so limit

your paragraph to two or three sentences. Your reader will

be much happier, and so will I.

(Tip No.5) Keep Your Ad’s Sweet And To The Point

From the time someone opens your email, you have about 10

to 15 seconds to capture his or her attention. If you

haven’t captured it by then, chances are very good they

will click, delete, and move on.

Remember the person reading your email wants to click,

read, and move on anyway. Don’t try to sell your product in

your ad; your goal is simply to get them to your Web-Site.

Let your web-site do all the talking because now, they have

chosen how they will spend their time, not you.

(Tip No.6) Be Polite And Always Say Thank You

Your mother was right! Never forget to thank the people

who take the time to read your email. It leaves a warm,

caring feeling with your reader, and the more personable

your email, the more response you’ll receive.

Always add your name and a real email address to your ad, that

way your reader will feel you are real person, and that they

are more than just a number. Invite them to contact you for

any reason.

When your purpose is to make a friend first and a sale second,

you can sit back and watch your sales grow.

(Tip No.7) Do Not Send To Soon

Once you have your email ad looking and saying what you want

it to, put it aside and come back to a day or so later and

go through it one more time.

Most of the time you will find a few changes you’d like to

make before sending your ad out to the public, so make those

adjustment and send your ad.

This step will save a lot of, “I wish I had said that instead!”

(In Closing)

In the mind of your readers, your email is the only window

they have to see who you are. You can either get out

the Windex and clean that window, or your can pull down

the blinds and close the curtains.

Just keep in mind; the success of your business depends

greatly on what people think of you.

See you next time,

_________________________________________________________________
About The Author: Jerry has been working on the web for over five years and has helped many people achieve success on the web. He currently owns an operates several successful web businesses located at… http://www.jeHomeBizOnline.com

Google AdSense allows webmasters to dynamically serve content relevant advertisements on web pages. If the visitor clicks one of the AdSense ads served to the website, the website owner is credited for the referral. Google’s AdSense program essentially allows approved websites to dynamically serve Google’s pay-per-click AdWord results.

Website maintenance related to AdSense is very easy and requires very little effort. Webmasters need only to insert a Google generated java script into the web page or website template.

Google’s spider parses the AdServing website and serves ads that relate to the website’s content. Google uses a combination of keyword matching and context analysis to determine what ads should be served. The java script calls the ad from Google and will ensure that ads are served each time a visitor goes to the web page.

Early on Google implemented a filtering system that allowed webmasters to prevent a specific domain’s ads from being served on any websites in their account. Ad blocking meant that webmasters could prevent their competitor’s ads from being dynamically served on their websites.

Google provides a wide variety of ad formats to match the most suitable option with a website. Webmasters can select from a handful of preformatted towers, inline rectangles, banners and buttons. The ad boxes can be modified by webmasters to resemble the website’s color scheme. Examples of how different the various text boxes and color schemes appear on similarly themed sites can be viewed at:

http://www.ring-tone-software.com (scroll to the bottom)
http://www.ringtones-central.com (scroll to the bottom)

or

http://www.police-central.com (download left side)
http://www.police-supplies.com (scroll to the bottom)

Ads can be geo-targeted based on the visitor’s location. Advertisements containing content in English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Japanese, or Spanish are all available.

Channels
Google recently introduced channels, enhancing AdSense reporting.

When a channel is selected Google modifies the java script to include additional tracking. The additional tracking information allows webmasters to track a variety of metrics across their sites. Channels can be used to measure performance on various domains, differences in revenue with various ad sizes, or placement. By assigning each group of pages to a specific channel and comparing results in custom channel reports webmasters can work at increasing their AdSense revenue.

Optimizing
Google determines the content of the ads that are shown, webmasters serious about earning revenue from Google AdSense can use the following guidelines to optimize their website and ensure that targeted and relevant ads are served. If Google’s spider has not crawled the site and determined the nature of the content, public service ads may be served. Public service ads will not accrue any AdSense revenue if clicked. As a result Google allows webmasters to designate alternate ads. Alternate ads allow webmasters to utilize the ad space in the event that Google is unable to serve targeted ads to the web page. By specifying an alternate image, HTML page, or ad server the advertising space can always being used effectively.

1.) Web page content on pages that ads are served should be static not dynamic.

2.) Ensure that the robot.txt does not prevent the web page from being spidered. Robots.txt file’s will need to be removed or the following text will need to bedded to allow Google’s content bot to crawl the site: User-agent: Media partners – Google

3.) If the website contains frames, select the framed page checkbox when generating the ad layout code for that website.

4.) The body of the page and title of the page should contain contextual words that indicate a common theme on the web page.

Revenue Earned
Although Google doesn’t disclose the exact revenue share or percentage that webmasters will earn, webmasters will receive a portion of the amount paid for clicks on Google ads on websites.

AdSense Conclusion:
Overall, Google AdWords can provide great supplemental income to webmasters with content sites. Implementing and maintaining Google AdSense program on a content site requires very little effort and can often bring a steady stream of additional revenue for webmasters.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com, and http://www.small-business-software.net

Culture and Website Localization

With the rise in ownership of computers and internet usage growing daily, the internet is fast becoming the primary port of call for information, shopping and services. In addition, those computer and internet users are increasingly from non-English speaking countries. At the end of 2002, it was estimated that 32% of internet users were non-native English speakers. This figure is constantly rising. In response, businesses have quickly become aware of the benefits of website localization.

Website localization is the process of modifying an existing website to make it accessible, usable and culturally suitable to a target audience. Website localization is a multi-layered process needing both programming expertise and linguistic/cultural knowledge. If either is missing, the chances are that a localization project will encounter problems.

In the majority of cases it is the lack of linguistic and cultural input that lets a website localization project down. In order to give an insight into the impact culture has on website localization the following examples depict areas in which a solid understanding of the target culture is necessary.

Language in Website Localization

Translating a website from English into another language is not as simple as it may appear. There are numerous factors that have to be taken into consideration when translating a websites content. Do all the words, phrases, sayings and metaphors translate directly to the target language? Would it be wise to translate the phrase everyman for himself in text describing a company or product if this is going to be read by a highly collectivist culture? Does the content of your website use humour and if so will the target culture appreciate or even understand it? Native alternatives should always be sought and used in any website localization.

When translating into another language carefully consider the variants. If it is to be an Arabic website then is aimed at Tunisians or Iraqis, Egyptians or Yemenis? If you are targeting all Arabic speakers then ensure Modern Standard Arabic has been employed by your translator.

One must analyse the style of the language and the target audience. If the audience is foreign business personnel, the vocabulary, grammar and punctuation must reflect this. If the audience is informal or youth orientated then a more relaxed language must used. Just as we in the UK would identify the difference between a site using posh English and street English, other cultures will have the same perceptions of language. Using the wrong language for the wrong reader in your localization project will lead to a misunderstanding of the site or company.

It is essential to assess what information is necessary to carry over into the new site. Do not assume that all information on the English site is automatically transferred over. One must evaluate the target culture and society. Is it a culture that relies on information rich writing to fully understand a concept or product or is a culture that relies more on images or one that needs little text to grasp ideas and concepts? If your English site employs a lot of technical language then consider how best to transfer these concepts without the use of language.

Pictures in Website Localization

Images carry many subtle cultural messages within them. These can speak volumes about your company or product. Pictures or images may have certain negative connotations that may repel viewers. This is now an area that thankfully is receiving attention in website localization.

For example, if a travel site in a Muslim populated country used pictures of scantily clad women in bikinis, disco dancing and beer drinking, the chances are that they would not be very successful.

When including pictures of personnel it is wise to tailor these to what the target audience will look positively upon. A picture of the Director behind a desk in an office will be fine for a seniority respecting society, but for an egalitarian society it is better to show the Director mixing with staff.

It is through pictures that websites can either relate to an audience or repel them.

Symbols in Website Localization

As with pictures, symbols can cause problems in localization. Icons using fingers such as an OK sign or V-sign may mean different things to different cultures. Our Western symbols do not always mean the same abroad. An oft cited example is the representation of the house referring to a home page, or a letterbox to mail. The use of animals in logos can cause embarrassment and further problems. For example, pigs are considered unclean in the Middle East and cows as holy in India.

Colours in Website Localization

Colours are also loaded with cultural meanings that need to be analysed in website localization. Choosing the wrong colour for your logo or background will not always have disastrous consequences, but avoiding them is always advisable.For example, in Japan white is commonly associated with mourning. In China red is auspicious. In Africa certain colours represent different tribes.

Navigation in Website Localization

It is even the most taken for granted aspects of website layout that must be analysed properly for a successful localization project. In the West we assume that how we present websites is how it naturally should be done. This is far from the truth.

A common problem experienced in localization is the effect on layout through translation. Foreign scripts can make your pages need more room or less room depending on the target language in the localization. Not all languages read from left to right. Arabic is from right to left and both Japanese and Chinese are from top to bottom.

Access to certain pages is also a factor that can be considered as relevant. Highly hierarchical cultures may view a site positively if it is member only access, whereas an egalitarian culture may find it disagreeable.

Content in Website Localization

Examining your written content in any localization process in critical to its success. This is not only important for proper transfer of aspects such as dates, currencies, and units of measurement but for the presenting the correct image.

For example, will the site focus on a product or a company? Both bring with them certain considerations dependent on the target culture. If a company is marketing itself in a culture that respects seniority and hierarchy, readers will want to see information on senior members. Along with their titles and rank they will also want to evaluate them through information on their professional qualifications, experience and contacts. These areas in the UK may generally be avoided as in our culture it is bordering on self-indulgence and boasting.

Conclusion

Culture affects everything we do, say, read, hear and think and even websites cannot escape the influence of culture.

The impact of culture on website localization is huge. The above few examples are literally the tip of the iceberg. The number of variables that have to be taken into consideration requires the expertise of both a website designer along with a cross cultural communications consultant. In tandem they can identify the issues that will impact on the successful localization of a site.

At a time where the internet is entering more and more houses it is crucial that companies involved in the internationalization of their business consider website localization and take care to use effective cross cultural analysis.

Neil Payne of http://www.kwintessential.co.uk is the Director of cross cultural communications consultancy Kwintessential.

Permission is granted to reproduce the article in full on the condition I am made aware of any intention to use it. npayne@kwintessential.co.uk

Benefits of Website Localization

Maximising profit today involves reaching beyond national markets. Accessing an international customer base is vital if a business wants to expand and participate in international trade.

Localization relates to the act of modifying a product to make it both usable and suitable to a target market. Website localization therefore refers to the process of taking an English, western-orientated, website and moulding it to conform to a foreign audience.

The World Wide Web, as its name suggests, is a means by which businesses can reach an international audience. Companies are now recognising that a key step in successfully approaching and selling to international customers is through website localization.

Website localization brings with it numerous benefits. The three main benefits of localization are:

Website localization crosses language barriers

32% of internet users around the world are non-native English speakers. With PC ownership and access to the internet most rapidly increasing outside of North America and Europe, this figure will increase even more. Website localization breaks linguistic barriers and opens doors to other continents.

Companies are now waking up to the fact that English is no longer the international language but one of many including French, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese. With the number of companies now realising the benefits of website localization, there are more pages in foreign languages than ever before. This means if your companys site has not undergone the localization process yet, it will be playing catch up in the future.

Website localization builds credibility

If your company only has a site in English and your competitor in all major languages, which one will gain more credibility? Localization of your website demonstrates that you are a truly international player. In addition, through localization it shows that you understand, value and have respect for that particular country or region.

Website localization increases revenue

Billions of dollars, pounds and francs in potential revenue are lost each year due to lack of investment in website localization. Most internet users will naturally feel more comfortable and understand a company better if their information, products or services are presented in their native language. By undergoing the website localization process you access potentially millions of new customers.

It is clear that website localization is a must for any truly international business. In addition to the technical and programming elements of website localization many cultural factors must be borne in mind.

For example, has language been translated properly and cultural variations in terminology, phrases, metaphors and sayings been taken into consideration? Have symbols, graphics, pictures, colours and general layout been viewed for their cultural applicability?

Website localization is a huge investment and should not be viewed as a straightforward process. When localizing your site, ensure you get the expertise of both a website designer and a cross cultural communications consultancy to ensure your site has maximum impact on the target audience.

Neil Payne is Director of cross cultural communications consultancy http://www.kwintessential.co.uk

Permission is granted to reproduce the article in full on the condition I am made aware of any intention to use it. npayne@kwintessential.co.uk

“Everything worthwhile has a cost… Whenever you think you are getting something for nothing, look againsomeone, somewhere, somehow is paying for it. Behind every free lunch there is a hidden cost to be accounted for.” Edwin G. Dolan

If you, or any of your business prospects, believe that time is money, then yes, the “There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch” principle DOES apply to your internet business. What you can’t invest in money, you will have to invest in time. You will have to be able to put the axe to the grind for more hours per day or week, and you will have to wait for more weeks and months before your ship comes in. Those are the facts.

If you are able to think outside the box (and few internet entrepreneurs CAN’T!) then the principle can be stretched a little. Are you balking at spending a few pennies a day to boost your sales? Do some research comparing what your marketing program offers and what the same services cost on the open market. Compare what information your program offers and what you can learn elsewhere. For example:

* find some online business forums and search these topics: free advertising, phone follow-up techniques, sample follow-up letters, sample phone scripts.

* investigate your and other affiliate marketing programs for all the above plus services and tools such as: prospect notification, contact manager, online forum, billing and revenue collection, gateway website, company resource center, free sales and marketing tools, affiliate training courses, successful team support, commission or compensation schedule. In other words, look at EVERYTHING that the program will give you for free.

* research what you would have to pay for any or all of the above tools, hints, and services. How does your affiliate program measure up? What do you get for free and therefore, what do you save? How much can you afford to invest based on these savings?

If you absolutely HAVE NO MONEY to invest, that’s one thing. If you have a knee-jerk reaction to investing in something that “says it’s free”, think again. What other business in the WORLD besides one on the internet can you begin for NOTHING? How many pennies a day can you AFFORD to invest in your business, maybe not now but as soon as possible?

If you have nothing, you can start and run a business. You will have to pay for it, however, with time. Free ads need to be worked every day. Free ads drop out of sight as new ads follow. You need to study your product till you know it inside and out, so all prospective affiliates can be led, encouraged, taught how they too can succeed. Since the name of the game is visibility amongst the billions of offers on the internet, you can’t afford to waste a single hard-won prospect.

Without any money to invest in advertising, this will be a long slow process. You will have to determine how YOU can best achieve sales and attract affiliates, because each person’s skills, style and dislikes are different.

You need to be internet savvy because all the information you require to succeed is out there, you just have to know how to find it. Study, seek your own answers, and know where and how to ask questions. You will win the game with patience and persistence.

About the author:
Glenn Beach is a poet, writer and home business entrepreneur in Nova Scotia, Canada. Free newsletter, more articles, and business start-up info at: http://www.work-at-home-business-opportunity-canada.com

iral Marketing is the hot topic at the moment, but many dont really understand what the term means. As this is an internet based business, and therefore Internet Marketing, we need to look at it in internet terms.

You know when someone sends you a joke on email and its a good one you want to pass it on. From your mailbox you open your list of friends names and post the joke on to everyone you know, or everyone on your joke list, a list of people you pass jokes on to.

Next time you do this, have a scroll down the email to see the list of people it has come from at the head of each mailing. Each person who sent the joke on will have sent it to everyone on their joke list. Youll see quite a few names youll recognize, some of who will be on your own list.

This is Viral the joke has been passed on like a virus from person to person. Everyone they come in contact with has passed it on to everyone else they know.

The trick with viral marketing is to duplicate that process with your products and the business opportunity itself pass your stores website URL on to everyone who cleans their house or takes nutritional supplements, or who might, and get them to do the same with everyone they know.

Also, a lot of people who start using the products are going to want to get the products at wholesale. So they want their own store. So they sign up under you! And you get the commission not only on what they buy, but on anything people they know buy from them, and for anyone who signs up under them, who will be in your second line!

So, just as you send a joke you get to your joke list, you need to get the biz opp to anyone who has a biz opp list. Congratulations, you have just been introduced to Listbuilding!

Marketing tools

Why use marketing tools? A lot of people on the Net arent looking to join a program, they are already in one. It doesnt matter that ours is better than theirs, if they never look at the opp and consider it, they aint gonna signup.

What we can give them however is a way to market what they are already selling. So we offer them our marketing tools. In doing so, they join our downline for that program, and so does anyone else they sign up. This gives us marketing methods to get our biz opp out to people who DO want to see it!

Listbuilding

Remember the analogy earlier about the joke list? What you have there is a list of people you send jokes to. How did you build that list? Your list of friends who you send jokes to. How did you get on the list of someone else, the person who sent you the joke?

What you need to build for your biz opp is what is known as an opt in list. This is a list of people who have chosen to join your list to receive information from you.

Building a list is vital for many reasons.

SPAM is the first and foremost it is illegal to send spam unsolicited email to people who havent asked for it and didnt want it. Junk mail.

Despite the legal ramifications, look at the basic logic. Why send your biz opp to someone who doesnt want to see it? Why send a letter to someone who will just bin it without even opening it? Why send an email with a link to your site if the person receiving it doesnt want to know so wont even go look at it?

You may have the best biz in the world and sell the hottest products but if you cant get people to it, you arent going to make a sale!

So we use listbuilding tools so that you have people to send your biz opp to! These are known as VLBs Viral List Builders.

And a great way to advertise your VLB is on a Traffic Exchange program a TE, Surf Exchange, Surf 4 Hits, etc. (Whats in a name?)

Once you have a list of people who opted in to hear from you, and you have made initial contact and built up a relationship, then you can show them a biz opp that works for you, and then help them build their own business.

Congratulations – you’ve just become a mentor!

Silke Stahl is an International Internet Marketer and Home Business Entrepreneur. Visit her website at: http://www.silkestahl.com and her forum at: http://thestork.proboards20.com

Everyone is striving to be at the top of the pile, we all want to get a better google PR and want this to reflect in more visitors to our site. But after we have followed all the advice about keyword placement and alt tags is there anything else we can do?

I recently asked Tinu Abayomi-Paul the well

respected google expert from freetrafficdirectory.com if having tidy html coding helped. She told me that although there is no absolute proof that

it helped she had noticed that sites with good xhtml

code often seemed to get a higher ranking.

It is my belief that when the spiders visit they prefer

a clean house.

So how do you know if your pages are up to

scratch and up to search engine standards? There are a couple

of sites that you can visit and get your pages spring cleaned

for free so its worth a visit.

The first site is site

valet and this is in my humble opinion the most useful

as they use an online version of html tidy, the program

was originated by Dave Raggett and now at Source

forge and it offers to tidy your pages straight off

your hard drive, did I mention the word free, yes this valuable

resource is free.

The big bonus for me is that if Tinu is correct then this

site can convert from html to xhtml, what a bonus it could

be to raise my google PR at the same time as making my code

better. The online report gives you a not to complicated

list of warnings about missing tags, attributes and offers

advice about what you could add or change for people with

non graphical browsers.

The magic is that site valet gives you your page code back

in tidy form, just copy and paste the code for a spotless

site. As well as tidy the site offers the more rigorous

but more technical page tidy so if you know exactly what

you want and are a techie then the page tidy option is for

you.

The other site is net

mechanic.com and is incredibly useful, they offer a

free limited look at your site and offer advice similar

to site valet. You can get a report for up to 5 pages of

your site free and they offer other resources for you to

try such as image optimisation programs, online link checking

and browser compatibility checks.

The cost of a years membership to sort out your site is

really good value and well worth it if you have a larger

site as the tools could save you weeks of work over a year.

If you use the full resources available to

you on both of these site then you should end up with very

clean precise code that has the engines all in a tizzy over

your level of code hygiene, they may even reward you with

a better rank.

About the Author:

Mark white has built and run 3 sites for the last 4 years, has worked in I.T. for 15 years and is actively involved in traffic/search engine related sites.

His current site is http://www.mobile4-u.com

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