The Importance of Your Website The Internet was first developed in the 1960s. It was born out of a process known as “internetworking,” which allowed separate computer networks to exchange information. The World Wide Web (which is a function of the Internet) was...

Qualities of a Good Website Let’s make one thing clear immediately: people don’t care much about your website. They care about what they need or want at the time they visit. Maybe they want to read about your services, maybe they are looking for price information, or...

Your website is the “home base” of your Internet marketing efforts. Make sure it represents your business well. Your website should be uncluttered, easy to read, and easy to navigate. Your website should have a clear call-to-action and easy-to-find contact...

So you have a website. Perhaps you have other Internet marketing methods working for your business as well, such as a blog, a Facebook page, YouTube videos, or Google AdWords ads. This could be an effective set of marketing initiatives. Question: what would make this...

The word blog is a contraction of the words “web log.” A blog is simply a place to post information about something on the web. For example, if someone is searching for the perfect cheesecake recipe and wants to keep their friends and family updated on the project,...

Two Simultaneous Goals With PPC (pay per click) advertising, you have two simultaneous goals: Be visible to the people who might actually become customers (based on the words they search, their geographic location, particular times they are searching, etc.) Be...

Is There a Cost to SEO Traffic? Some would say there is no cost for SEO traffic because there is no charge to be indexed by the search engines or when someone clicks on a link from a search results page. I would say yes, however, because SEO can be very hard work. How...

White-hat & Black-hat SEO In SEO parlance, white-hat describes SEO performed in a proper and legitimate way. This means adding quality content that people will actually want to read or see. Adding quality content to your website causes people to spend more time...

Many businesses have reaped big profits as a result of SEO. Is it right for your business? My opinion is that it probably is, at least to some degree. For sure, you should do simple on-page optimization, such as setting the page titles, meta description tags, and...

SEO (search engine optimization) is the process of making your web pages rank higher on search results pages, or at least attempting to do so. Creating quality content is a mainstay of SEO. If you can provide quality content, it will likely result in more traffic to...

Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing methods in existence. It doesn’t take much time, doesn’t cost much money (if any) and has been known to have greater conversion rates than many other types of marketing. To best explain what email marketing is, I...

Craigslist began in 1995 when Craig Newmark decided to send a regular email to friends about events happening in San Francisco, California. The list was popular. More and more people wanted to receive it. In 1996, Craig decided to turn it into a website that allowed...

Gmail is a free email service provided by Google. It first became available in 2007 and quickly became one of the most popular web email platforms. It has an amazing array of features that can keep you more organized, more productive, and less encumbered by clutter...

(www.techsmith.com/download/jing/) Jing is a simple and free software program that serves a very handy purpose: it allows you to take screenshot photos of all or part of what’s on your computer screen. It also allows you to record video of what’s on your computer...

There are a lot of clever services on the Internet. Many are downright brilliant. IFTTT (pronounced “ift”) has one of the most inspired concepts on the web, and can be a very handy tool for you. IFTTT stands for “If This Then That.” IFTTT is a service for triggering...

While going to M.I.T., Drew Houston (the founder of Dropbox) had the bad habit of forgetting to bring his USB flash drive with him to class. This annoying problem caused him to think of a way that he could easily have his data with him wherever he went. He thought of...

This is one of the most important marketing principles in existence. It is simple, but commonly overlooked by most amateur marketers. When we advertise, we are attempting to communicate a message that will attract customers. What should that message be? We may have a...

We are surrounded by all kinds of noise in today’s world. We are bombarded with information on a daily and even hourly basis. As an advertiser, how do you break through the noise? It’s not easy to do, but it’s absolutely necessary to try. The first step in trying to...

When people quickly glance at marketing items (such as websites, Facebook pages, or print ads), what gets their attention? Images—especially images of human faces. We are always curious about people. We want to see what they look like, what they are wearing, how they...

Years ago, I was on an elevator with a man who was holding a painting in a nice frame. (The painting was in the nice frame, not him.)  I made a remark about the painting, which started an interesting conversation. It turned out that he was an art-auctioneer. This was...

Crucially important marketing and advertising principles: One of the most important principles in marketing is to communicate clearly and specifically how a product or service can improve part of someone's life. In other words, sell the benefits, not the features. For...

To be a successful entrepreneur, optimism should be a driving force for progress. Working wholeheartedly toward a goal requires a firm belief that it can be achieved. We must believe in our plans, abilities, and fortitude. An optimistic attitude will give us further...

An interviewer once asked Bill Gates and Warren Buffet what the greatest key to their success was. They both gave the same one-word answer: focus. This is another concept that is easy to understand but difficult to put into practice. There is so much going on around...

Do we control our habits? Or do our habits control us? To say that the power of habit is immense would be an understatement. Habits serve as the basis for most of the things we do. There are many things we do every day without much consideration because they are...

Are you ready to get motivated and take some action to get more business from the Internet? Here are some tips that should keep you on the right track. I’m putting the information into two categories: Must-Do and Must-Consider. The Must-Do items are the ones I...

This is another topic that has become cliché. There are books, articles, and slogans abundant that promote the virtues of persistence. It’s easy to understand this concept, but it’s difficult to apply in reality. Why is it so difficult to be persistent? Because trying...

The principle of scarcity in marketing describes the tendency of people to be more motivated to make a purchase if they feel there is a limited supply, or a limited amount of time to act. Does this work? How often have you heard phrases like “Limited time only!” or...

One of the best pieces of software I’ve come across in recent years is Evernote. After using it for only a short time, I felt like I could never go back to not having it. It is extremely useful, easy to learn, easy to get, and free (unless you upgrade to a premium...