So, how can a Web host help your business actually grow? Ben Fisher, co-founder of the Web development and hosting company imSMB, says with the tens of thousands of companies that can provide hosting, look for a Web host that offers value-added services ranging from advertising to business advice. “Most Web hosts will offer you many free booster packages to get you going and ensure you actually use your website,” says Fisher.

Here are just a few of the value-adds you can look for in a Web host:

• E-mail marketing tools
• Advertising credits on search engines like Yahoo
• Discounted rates on press release distribution
• Free SEO reports
• Free text links
• Free website building tools

Most entrepreneurs pick a Web hosting company by getting a referral from another business. So if you’re happy with your Web host, why not join their affiliate program and get paid whenever you refer someone else to them? “While payouts can vary widely, from a percentage of the sale to a flat commission per sale, some SMBs are able to cover all their own hosting fees simply by referring a few people as customers to their own Web host,” says Joshua Sloan, a hosting industry veteran and marketing consultant at SloanTech.com.

Some rules and restrictions may apply, but there are many small businesses making hundreds to thousands of dollars in referral earnings from their hosting company. “In fact,” says Sloan, “many web hosts gain 20 to 35 percent of their new customers from referrals.” If you know how to paste a link into an e-mail, or set up a redirecting sub-domain, you’ll be ready to cash in on referral opportunities offered by your Web host. Just ask them – they’ll help you get started.

David Gass
Founder, Business Credit Services, Inc.
Earn.com Expert Advisor

Featured on EARN.Com : http://www.earn.com/blog/how-a-web-host-can-help-your-business-grow-903.html

Everyone is doing it – and it’s no wonder. One of the easiest ways to spread the word about your business is to use social media. But where do you start? What’s the best way to build your profile? The list of social media platforms can be overwhelming, and new ones pop up every day. Ben Fisher, co-founder of imSMB, offers this advice:

Determine your goals. What do you want to accomplish? Do you want to increase sales? Drive customers to your storefront or website? Analyze your competitors and track what they’re doing?

Secure your identities. It’s important to secure your online identity. Start by selecting a persona for yourself and then register that persona on as many social websites as you can. Hint: If you can’t obtain your company name, use something like @MyCompanyFans. Then contact the provider and see how you can claim your persona.

Next, register your company name as well as the names of your products and services. At a minimum, you should sign up on Twitter, create a Facebook fan page from your personal Facebook profile and then create a Facebook group, and register at LinkedIn. Use a tool like Knowem? which not only helps you determine if your personas are available, but also registers them for you.

Here’s a quick look at the major social media platforms.

Facebook is now the largest social network. Its profiles and fan pages can take your brand awareness to a whole new level. Your Facebook fans and friends can easily share news about your business with their friends, who then share it with their friends, and so on. For statistics junkies, Facebook provides an analytics tool that allows you to view weekly reports detailing your new fans, numbers of interactions, and types of actions taken on your pages.

Twitter is a great way to keep track of who is talking about your company and to find people who should know about you. The volume of information on Twitter can become overwhelming quickly, so create a plan to connect with people of influence and your customers. Reply to all non-spam direct messages (DMs) as fast as you can. Also, use tools that will auto-tweet for you as well as help maintain your following-to-follower ratio. Check out Cotweet.com andHootsuite.com. Both are free tools to help manage all of your social profiles in one neat package.

LinkedIn is an online networking tool that’s especially valuable for business-to-business companies. Connect with your existing colleagues and contacts, make new ones, and find out what projects people are working on and how they can help you. You can form or join groups on LinkedIn, ask and answer questions, and put yourself in front of a valuable audience of potential partners and customers.

New social media sites are cropping up all the time, vying for your attention and the attention of your customers. Try not to be like a kid in a candy store. Find out where your customers are talking about your brand and competitors, and interact there. Mashable.com is a great place to keep tabs on new and emerging social media sites and tools.

David Gass is the Founder of Business Credit Services, Inc. (BCS) and is an Earn.com Expert Advisor.

Source: http://www.incorporate.com/Jul28NewsSocial.html

The demographics of those video game players and related studies usually reveal that video games and playing them are adult-oriented forms of entertainment. Based on the studies conducted, video games are extensively played by men and women alike and nearly 60% of Americans are playing them.

Studying the demographics of video game players also include the various demographic variables like how many people in the population are actually playing them, what the average age of players is, the gender of video game players, what video games they play and what the effects these video games have on the population. Recent studies have shown that many people consider video games to be a very important entertainment medium.

Based on video game demographics, women make up a significant 39% of those who play video games in the population. Also, a surprising 40% of online gamers are women. 35% are below eighteen years old. And based on studies, the people who regularly play video games are in the 18 to 34 year old age group. As a coincidence this is the perfect target market for most consumer goods.

Overall, the video game industries and developers are the ones who make the most out of video game demographics. It is through these that they are able to identify the characteristics and preferences of customers and potential clients. They also use video game demographics so that they can enhance the games they develop and release.

Another aspect that I find compelling is that gamers tend to also have a larger amount of disposable income and tend to spend more toward entertainment and spend a tremendous amount of time talking about themselves or their favorite game in quite a few social media outlets, like Digg and N4g ( News for Gamers ).

Web hosting companies fit into this equation in a few ways.

1. A web host can help a game player establish a blog or social community very easily and inexpensively ( See imBroke )
2. Hosts can  also help with the technical side of a blog and offer help in the search arena.
3. A gamer that has a blog can also monetize their  own social profile using affiliate income to offset the costs of buying games.

The fact is that video gamers are the perfect target market for most consumer goods, as such gamers have a great potential to make some income while following their passion. Play a game, build a blog and make some money to support your habit.

By Rieva Lesonsky, Earn.com Expert Advisor

Everyone tells you how easy it is to design and build a website, but the truth is, building a quality website takes preparation and know-how. I asked Ben Fisher of imSMB for tips on how to build a great website from the start.

1. Examine your closest competition. When talking to a Web designer, you need to give them direction. After all, you know your industry. Start your Web design quest by analyzing the competition. Reach out to an online information source. Who is seeing the best results? How are they converting? Once you discover who your main competitors are, tell your designer that you want something close to these websites. Give the designers at least three sites as examples. What elements do good sites have in common? Is there a big red button to “sign up now?” Are they using a form to capture leads? Note these features and let your designer know that these are elements you want in your design.

2. Choose the right platform. So, Wordpress, Joomla, B2Evolution…where to start? Choosing the proper platform for your site is of the utmost importance. You want to make sure your website’s page names are search friendly and easy to read. Wordpress has some great options for what is called a permalink structure. You also want to be able to add content and make changes to your site in an easy and efficient way without having to bug a webmaster. Out of all the CMS systems, Wordpress is the simplest and most efficient for small businesses. You can launch your website, choose a theme (or have a webmaster customize a theme for your needs), easily put in place new features (like Twitter orFacebook) with one click, and update your website effortlessly.

3. Integrate analytics. Whatever CMS you choose, you will need to measure your website’s success. One free tool any website owner can use is Google Analytics. The service is free, easy to set up, and has nice reports that can show you how people are getting to your site and what they are doing. For those of you who spend money on advertising, it can also help you track the effectiveness of and sales from ads.

4. Launch! Then tweak. One common mistake when building a website is wishing for it to be perfect at launch, and then nit-picking the design elements or wording. This ends up delaying the launch of a site for weeks, if not months. Pick a few people you trust—possibly consultants to your industry or your favorite customers—to give you feedback, but limit it to a few people. Ultimately, the decision of what looks and feels right is up to you. Rather than seek perfection, get the site up and running, and then make changes based on user behavior that you (or your webmaster) observe from tools. One easy-to-use tool called ClickTale allows you to actually watch a video of what users are doing on your website—every mouse click, form fill, etc.

Rieva Lesonsky is an Earn.com Expert Advisor. She is also CEO of GrowBiz Media, a content and consulting company that helps entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. Follow Rieva at Twitter.com/Rieva and visit SmallBizDaily.comto sign up for her free TrendCast reports

Original post located at http://www.incorporate.com/Jul14NewsWebsite.html

Keyword Research - This is definitely one of the most significant aspects of search engine optimization. It all begins with good keyword analysis and your capability to filter your list down to the best keywords. In fact, a lot would suggest that you’ve got 2 keyword lists. 1 list would contain your main keywords and the second one would contain all the related keywords. This will help you organize everything better. Bear in mind that list number one is for your main page and list number two is for your less significant web pages and articles.

Get to Be familiar with Your Competition - Lots of website owners truly have no idea how their competition got to the height which they are in right now. This is why observing and keeping tabs on what they do is very important. You can learn from what they have done as well as from their successes and failures. This would definitely offer you the info you want when it involves deciding regarding your next move and what you should keep away from.

Optimize Your Web Pages - This is the simplest component of the whole method as all you need to perform is set your template properly and from there on, it’ll only be a matter of tweaking the pages of your web site to follow the standard. Optimization would comprise all the applicable tags like keywords, alt, titles and descriptions. It would additionally include keyword density on your pages and articles. Last of all, your website’s content. Make sure that everything is correctly functioning and in order.

Create External Links - Do not forget that when it involves links, both quality and quantity are important. All the optimization specialists agree that one of the biggest factors that could make all of this preparing effectual is great quality links to your site. In fact, it would be a good gesture if you might sometimes even produce internal links to those web sites in return for linking your web site to theirs. Very simply in this case, it is a give and take deal. You link them and they will link you back. Everybody benefits from it in the end. Having stated that, it is still significant to have a lot of one way links returning into your website. One tool you can use for getting one way text links is by using aTextLinks service.

Usually, if you plan to have specialized designers custom make your website, you ought to be ready to dish out at minimum a few hundred dollars. All this can change if you find out where to locate the best deals, the perfect designs for the lowest price. Here are a few tips on building websites the economical way:

To begin with, you must understand that it is a rip off to get companies to design websites for you. Have you ever noticed those advertisements in newspaper classified advertisement sections that recommend a 5-page site at $500? These companies are established companies with physical locations, consequently they have to add to the amount they charge to pay off a number of overheads: office rent, designer’s wages, marketing expenses and so forth.

For that reason, it would be prudent to find ad hoc designers who operate from their home. These folks are working from home so they do not have a lofty operation expense like that of a company. For the most part, they will be able to create images with quality similar to those of web designers from full-size companies, so it is a “no-brainer” choice.

However, choose freelancers with care. The preeminent way to accomplish this would be to go to elance.com. There, you can publicize the synopsis of your project and get plenty of freelancers to bid on your project, consequently you will without doubt get the superlative deal. On top of that, you will be able to pick the designers based on their skill, historical transactions and ratings, subsequently your value for money is tenable.

A different route you might take is to design your website personally. Think about it, if you simply require 5 unpretentious pages to communicate some straightforward information, why squander hundreds of dollars for it? Simply spend a little time to sit down and achieve it yourself. You’ll be able to design your very own websites even if you do not understand a single line of HTML code with the help of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) programs such as Microsoft Frontpage, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Really Easy Website Builder and so on.

One last remark: For anything to work favorably, forethought ought to be taken to make determined, workable plans to execute it and the very same goes for website designs. Whether you hire somebody to build your website or obtain software to create your own site, you must assert a workable plan, With a considerably thought out site design, you will be able to set up a website that generates numerous streams of revenue for you. In fact, a lot of sites turn into online wasteland because they are not well planned and do not get a single visitor. Little by little, the webmaster will not be motivated to revise it any longer and it turns into wasted cyberspace. Do not let this happen to you, planning a practical website design is of extreme importance

1. Does not Grab Surfers’ Attention.

The primary factor anybody dropping by your webpage will see is perhaps the foremost important element at your disposal to induce them to stay. While graphics will be very helpful, it is the primary couple of sentences that ought to very be focused on. This is often especially true of your homepage. As well upload time is important as visitors will depart if website doesnt open fast. so you require to chose a good web hosting company with cheap web hosting cost. as an example of such service check vexxhost.com.

2. Lack of Real Text.

This is, perhaps, a most terrible attribute out of all ten listed here. Your web site might appear showy and catch the eye, however surfers these days can tell in seconds if there’s something worthwhile to be read. This depends a touch on the nature of the location, however normally your content should be useful and amusing.

3. It Gets Stale.

Say it with me: “a website is rarely done.” If the information on your website becomes out-of-date, guests are less inclined to stay around. Regularly update your website, and make positive any outgoing links still work.

4. Be short of Marketing.

Very, you should market your website. Not every kind of advertising needs payment, also, thus explore your options.

5. Too Many Ads.

A number of websites are full of big banners and other kinds of advertiments, this is a certain method and a good gates for your surfers to run off.

6. Not Using Keywords Correctly.

An overlooked half of internet style follow is the correct usage of keywords. Learning regarding and applying SEO ideas can, after a time, rise your possibilities of showing high on a Google search.

7. No Obvious Use.

Have you ever ever stumbled across web sites that do not appear to possess a central theme, but simply try to try and do all? Websites like that hardly ever do well, and a lot of typically than not stretch themselves also so much and never hold an audience.

8. Be short of of Preparation.

Who is your target audience? Why are you creating this web site in the primary place? Such choices should be made before your first webpage ever hits the Internet. If you’ve got a concrete goal, it makes all other internet style selections much easier.

9. Too Several Large Images.

This is often turning into less of an issue as broadband penetration improves, but keep in mind that a giant p.c of surfers still use dial-up to connect. Think of them properly.

10. Weak Design.

Your website should have a pleasant flow and look decent. While individuals have totally different tastes relating to this kind of factor, a website that is straightforward to navigate will perpetually win out against a site that appears cluttered.

Having some advertisements here or there will not hurt you, however if you get carried away or attempt to cover ad links as content links, you will notice yourself without an audience in the close to future.

Avoiding these pitfalls can give your site a fighting chance.

Though face-to-face interactions are most suitable for understanding customer requirements and behaviors, web entrepreneurs do not have this luxury. Therefore, you must know your customers through indirect methods. Here are some of the methods you can use.

Tracking your Website Traffic

Traffic reports can serve as an excellent first step in understanding your customers. Ask your web hosting company about the free reports they offer on website traffic. Analyze these reports to determine key trends in traffic and visitor information. Once you have familiarized yourself with report information, use it to track your traffic and modify your website in accordance with customer’s requirements and trends. For instance, if you notice that you have many visitors from China, you can add features on web pages that attract attention of Chinese people and ensure that they keep coming back to your site. Tracking will also help you to assess the impact of specific advertising and promotion campaigns on customers and if they have been profitable for your business.

Some web hosting companies, however, do not provide any traffic reports. In this situation, you can look into your log files directly. Go to your web hosting service and look for a directory named “Logs”. Within the directory, download the most recent file to analyze the location of visitors, the pages viewed, the duration for which each page is viewed and the links attracting the most traffic. E-commerce websites can also recover information on sold products and where, in the ordering process, do customers bail out. Most text editors can open the file containing this information.

Collect E-mail Addresses and Stay in Touch

Give your online visitors incentive for registering with your website by offering them free a newsletter subscription, an e-book or articles. Websites selling services can get customers to register by offering short free consultation. Make sure your web design incorporates these methods so that you can collect the emails when visitors land on your website.

After you have obtained the email addresses and the permission to send mails to your customers, you can use the addresses to contact potential customers, and keep in touch by sending them discount coupons and special offers, information about sales, newsletters, articles and catalogs.

Getting Feedback from Customers

There is no better way of getting to know your customers than asking them directly about their requirements and expectations. Use your website to develop customer databases, and build user profiles and mailing lists. Give your customers an option of joining your mailing list on the homepage of your website. However, when seeking feedback directly from your customers you should always make it a point to respond to their messages or you risk alienating them. Analyze customer responses and requests to determine common problems and then aim to develop solutions to them. If you show genuine concern about their problems and needs, they will reciprocate by being loyal to your business and brand.

A deep knowledge of your customers helps you to precisely target your products and services and attract customer attention and interest. This in turn, helps you to increase your business profitability and significantly expand your customer base. If you want your web business to be successful and your website to be effective start getting to know your customers today by incorporating these methods in your web design.

The most common mistake you should be aware of is using a template that is extremely popular. If a lot of people are using the same template, your website will not stand out as unique at all and your reputation as a solid, original website will be tainted. To put it another way, you will appear generic just like many other websites.

The main reason to use a web template is to spare yourself some time. You just modify the title and appropriate details and you are. The most costly mistake a start up business might make is to modify the template beyond recognition. While this might be ok in the sense that you’ll get a unique website, you’re going against the main reason for using a web template :saving time and effort.

However, from another prespective, if a template you aquired is suitable but some editing must be done to match your site’s theme, then you might want to spend the time to make the changes. For example, you might come across a good template that suits your hobby site except the creator has put an image of stamps at the top. You can find images of garden plants and tools to replace the stamps for your gardening niche website. However, you should only make the necessary changes and avoid redesigning the whole website template.

In some circumstances, users simply make a bad selection of templates. This is a rather subjective matter but you should be careful in choosing templates to suit your audience. Do not choose templates just because they are shiny, choose them because they suit your needs.

With web 2.0 becoming more mainstream, many web developers are turning to dynamic content. A very easy way to incorporate this would be to use a Content Management System, or CMS. Wordpress is 100% free and has a wide range of options, allowing you to make a very professional looking website with little to no effort at all.

Never, and I stress this strongly, violate any terms of copyright when using a website template. Many authors/designers have specific rules for leaving a backlink to their site. Leaving these links in place will help ensure that there will always be someone out there willing to develop free tools that we can use for our own marketing purposes.

Remember that there are many website templates out there, and the only real way to make any of them work is to fill them with quality content. So save time, and be sure to provide quality content to your visitors.

Back in the early years of the World Wide Web, a web host plan can cost hundreds of dollars, but now, there are cheaper alternatives (some offer web hosting fee of only $10 a month or even less), and the differences among them aren’t very significant. Of course, it does not mean that you will just jump right at the first cheap web hosting service provider you come across with and not give it a second thought – that wouldn’t be wise.

You have to be very cautious when looking for a web host, especially if you are considering of going for cheap web hosting services. Remember that an online business is serious stuff and for sure you would want to stay in the business for as long as possible. As such, you would need a web host that has the capabilities to meet your requirements for the long haul. As you know, changing web hosts is very difficult; not only that, there is always the possibility of losing your data in the process, and you really would not want to start all over again. Besides being frustrating, there’s a good chance that you will be losing customers in the process, too.

The shortlist of things to keep in mind when you come across a web hosting service provider should include uptime percentage, disk space, and of course customer or technical support. Uptime refers to the time your website is up and running on the World Wide Web. An ideal uptime score is no less than 99%. You probably did not think it is possible for cheap web hosts to provide an uptime percentage of at least 99.5%, but the truth may surprise you.

The amount of disk space provided should also be a concern of any webmaster. It might be normal to think that when dealing with a cheap web host, you have to deal with small disk space as well, but that no longer holds true nowadays. Many web hosting companies are now able to offer unlimited disk space at a very affordable price.

Just because you are paying a cheap price does not mean that you can expect exceptional customer support in return. A reliable company, regardless of whether it is professional company or a cheap hosting company, should be able to render customer support in a variety of ways, 24/7. Web hosting companies should provide phone support as well as live support, and they should be readily contacted any time there are technical problems that need to be addressed at once.

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