Emacomsrl

The average Korean has more bandwidth, is online longer, and is quite efficient at extracting information out of the web. You would assume that their tool of choice would be Google. You would be wrong!

Quick overview of US Search Engine Market:
To Search Engine Marketers operating in North America and UK, the process of finding information is relatively straightforward. Go to Google or Yahoo, type in a query, look at the results. There is a choice between “organic” and “sponsored” listings( yahoo paid inclusion not withstanding), and most people pick one of the top few.
Eons ago, web designers in US wanted to show off their skills and had graphic heavy sites. Unfortunately for them, their bosses who were more interested in using the website as a sales tool, soon found that the fancy graphic sites took so long to load up on Jane’s dialup connection that she just went to the competitor to buy that widget. The content sites, who wanted to maximize their CPM revenues also wanted fast loading pages. Fast load, more page views, more money. “Substance” reigned supreme over “style”. “Minimalism” was the order of the day, and given the deep emotional scars people carry from the dial up days, to a large extent it still is an issue. It worked off to Google’s advantage—it is vastly easier for Google to evaluate the text and tags of a page for relevance to a query than to see if that cute flash is providing value to the user.

Korea is different:
You just have to see the Korean mobile games to see what I am talking about—Craigslist is “out”, Hello Kitty is “in”. The average Korean user is a little like a power gamer in the US. Bring on the bandwidth! Net Café is a booming business, and well, we all heard the story of a Korean gamer who dropped dead after playing 50 straight hours of online games (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4137782.stm ). Heart failure, stemming from exhaustion, was the official cause for this 28 year old.
Here in the US, we tend to think of glitz, flash and overdose of pictorial icons on a website as a glorified neon billboard. Superficial, been there, done that, not worth the bandwidth. We also use an alphabet to form words and to communicate and get information—the pictures and the “rich interface” is distracting for us. The Asian culture, on the other hand has traditionally used “characters” or pictorial representation of whole words to communicate. As a result, a text only representation seems inadequate and therefore a sign of lack of technological prowess. I had a hard time convincing some of my Korean counterparts that Google is actually very popular despite it’s simplistic look. The one fact that helped my case was the stock price of Google and it’s market capitalization—120 Billion dollars is well, 120 Trillion Korean “Won”. Unarguable!
The Korean Search Engine Marketing is dominated by naver.com. Much more so, than even Google dominates the US. To understand why naver is so successful, let’s go into the details of how things work in Korea and how things differ from the US market.
When we are looking up something that interests us, we “google” it. “Googling” , a recently coined verb, basically means feeding some keywords in a omniscient benevolent search engine to get some results. Higher ranking usually means relevance to the query and therefore exposure.
In Korea, things work in the way Ask Jeeves wanted to work, but never managed to hack it. And they work well.

Why is Korea a “winner take most” search engine market:
The best way to describe Korean Search Engine users is “trolling FAQ’s”. The portals have a knowledge base, organized by questions. Wikipedia, DMOZ, Usenet and Google Answers, while great projects, pale in comparison to the “knowledge iN” of Naver. The system revolves around asking the portal a question, and there is a high likelihood of a lot of answers to that questions by people who cared to write on the subject. The user gets a ranked list of answers and can either choose to read the answers, or a list of similar questions. She navigates through the questions and answers allowing her to refine her search efficiently.
Naver has the most extensive database of questions, and therefore, it is logical for people to use it to get their answers. To get the most exposure, people tend to contribute there the most. Network Effect–giving naver a 75% share of the “question answer” market.

Downtown Seoul is a small place:
One would think that people who want to promote their products, thoughts would swamp the system with SPAM answers. Fortunately, they have some in built safeguards. All users must be registered to provide answers and their answers are rated by the community. The best answers rise to the top, and for widely asked questions it’s a more reliable way to rank than the “back rub” Google algorithm. Furthermore, the person who is rated high on a few answers gets a higher “rap rating”.
This is a very important point in the Korean culture. People want to be seen as ethical, wise and helpful. No one wants to be caught dead, seen as a spammer, self promoter etc. since everyone knows everyone else. The “reputation” and “prestige” is important, as it is in any “web community” including (say) Usenet. Usenet, it takes a while to gain reputation in a certain group. The Naver ranking software allows faster and more permanent feedback on the ranking of the person.

Problems of Naver’s model–Monetization and homogeneity:
If you are looking for “organic” listings on naver, you would be shocked. Hard to find, since there are so many “sponsored” links. The sponsored listings often blanket true results which in my opinion takes something away from the value of the portal. Furthermore, Korea is much smaller than the English speaking base of Google and has a much more homogeneous culture. The cacophony and diversity of opinion in Google’s index is sometimes missing from Naver’s iN. These facts lead us to believe that Google may manage to rise from it’s anemic 10% market share eventually.
For more information about Search Engine Marketing in Korea visit: http://sofizar.net/search-engine-marketing-korea.php

M96 Directory
M97 Directory

It’s an acknowledged fact that internet users, by and large, and especially those who shop online, are savvy, and becoming increasingly so with each passing day. But what is less acknowledged, mostly to the detriment of advertisers and sellers pushing their wares, is that they’re also fed-up with the petty annoyances that obstruct their direct path to the information and products they seek. Whereas previously these internet devotees merely shrugged aside that which was marketed to them against their will, they now vehemently cleave in twain all which intrudes beyond their Spam filters and Pop-Up blockers.

Their weapon of choice, however, is less gruesome than the previous sentence imagines. Rather the means unto an end (of sites pushing Pop-Ups, that is) relies more upon the speed of their motor reflex skills than the force any show of strength might level with a mighty blow. Simply put, as clickly… I mean, as quickly as Pop-Ups pop in, float down, or follow a scroll like some scraggily stray mutt, internet enthusiasts flick their click, and click, click away not only the Pop-Up but the collaborating site that allowed the Pop-Up to slip in through the backdoor.

As much as email users distrust unsolicited email, i.e. Spam, so do the majority of internet addicts distrust not only Pop-Ups, but also the sites that make the mistake of utilizing them as a principal marketing technique. Research already demonstrates that internet users make final aesthetic decisions about a website’s worthiness, either yea or nea, a mere 1/20th of a second after it fully loads on the browser. First impressions are, for better or worse, everything online. Digging deeper, such research increasingly demonstrates that Pop-Ups, once even a staple in AOL’s, Amazon’s, and eBay’s advertising arsenals, are primary culprits torpedoing a site’s potential for providing a visitor with a pleasing aesthetic experience. The result: 1/20th of a second after a condemning judgment passes against those websites bearing Pop-ups, the clicking finger is already in motion, clicking closed every conspiring window.

If you, as a seller, have a legitimate product—i.e. something you believe in and trust for your personal use as much as you desire a buyer to trust in and use it—than why sacrifice such confidences in the eyes (with synapses constantly firing with the mind) of said buyer by harboring an immediate and lasting distrust. Nothing, in fact, negates your chances of closing a sale with more finality than creating suspicion as to the legitimacy of the claims you make about your product. And, if, rather than even making claims, you immediately attempt to incite shoppers to buy, than in all likelihood, you in turn incite them to find fulfillment of their needs elsewhere.

An online marketing expert I know recently likened the sharp decline in the effectiveness of Pop-Up advertising to the negative reactions people have toward someone who goes door to door proselytizing. She said, “the first time a proselytizer knocks on your door, you greet them, perhaps with confusion, but nonetheless amicably. You smile as they preach, you accept their literature, and sometimes you even invite them beyond the threshold and offer them something to drink. Maybe you consider their pitch, but 99 times out of 100 you’re secure enough in you’re beliefs, you’re not looking for answers, or you simply don’t trust them, and when they’ve gone you dismiss their pitch and forget their person. Not long after, they, or another of their ilk, knocks again. Maybe this time its on the weekend, your one chance to sleep in; or maybe you’ve just stepped out of the shower; or sat down to dinner with your family; regardless, the last thing you want in any of these moments is to be interrupted, told to change who you are, and commit yourself to a new product (in the case of the proselytizer, their specific brand of religion). You dismiss them a little more abruptly this time. But, not getting the subtle, harsher tone behind your seemingly pleasant excuses, they keep coming, always with the same thing you don’t want or need, regardless of whether you share their beliefs or not. Finally you reach the point where enough is enough. You slam the door in their face. That,” she says, “like the door to door proselytizer, is the fate Pop-Up advertising has brought upon itself. It’s been shown the door once and for all, and if internet users could, they would surely show it the dumpster instead.”

Her analogy, is no doubt long, and perhaps not the strongest imaginable—consider substituting telemarketers in place of the proselytizer, or whatever other annoyance you encounter frequently, but wish you encountered never again—but ultimately it speaks the truth of both statistical evidence demonstrating internet users’ antipathy and distrust of sites advertising with Pop-Ups and the non-quantifiable negative emotional response such advertising generates. In short, in a world where we demand information—on products, anything really—quickly, without distraction, and only from sources we can rely upon and trust, there isn’t space remaining on our computer screens for an extra, uninvited Pop-Up window.

Alas, in this very pitch I turned myself into the proselytizer preaching against the use of Pop-Ups, perhaps in many instances to readers who previously advertised using Pop-Ups with great success. To past success I can only raise a glass in toast—“I commend you good fellow or fair lady”—but it is to the future that I implore you to set your sights. There upon products you believe in, to consumer confidences you wish to earn, cultivate and retain—be they won without overt intrusion, like a cyber handshake, not a Pop-Up window, provoking internet users like a cyber slap in the face.

Copyright 2006, Robert K. Blanc. All Rights Reserved.

M92 Directory
M93 Directory

Google stopped counting, or at least publicly displaying, the number of pages it indexed in September of 05, after a school-yard “measuring contest” with rival Yahoo. That count topped out around 8 billion pages before it was removed from the homepage. News broke recently through various SEO forums that Google had suddenly, over the past few weeks, added another few billion pages to the index. This might sound like a reason for celebration, but this “accomplishment” would not reflect well on the search engine that achieved it.

What had people buzzing was the nature of the fresh, new few billion pages. They were blatant spam- containing Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads, scraped content, and they were, in many cases, showing up well in the search results. They pushed out far older, more established sites in doing so. A Google representative responded via forums to the issue by calling it a “bad data push,” something that met with various groans throughout the SEO community.

How did someone manage to dupe Google into indexing so many pages of spam in such a short period of time? I’ll provide a high level overview of the process, but don’t get too excited. Like a diagram of a nuclear explosive isn’t going to teach you how to make the real thing, you’re not going to be able to run off and do it yourself after reading this article. Yet it makes for an interesting tale, one that illustrates the ugly problems cropping up with ever increasing frequency in the world’s most popular search engine.

A Dark and Stormy Night
Our story begins deep in the heart of Moldva, sandwiched scenically between Romania and the Ukraine. In between fending off local vampire attacks, an enterprising local had a brilliant idea and ran with it, presumably away from the vampires… His idea was to exploit how Google handled subdomains, and not just a little bit, but in a big way.

The heart of the issue is that currently, Google treats subdomains much the same way as it treats full domains- as unique entities. This means it will add the homepage of a subdomain to the index and return at some point later to do a “deep crawl.” Deep crawls are simply the spider following links from the domain’s homepage deeper into the site until it finds everything or gives up and comes back later for more.

Briefly, a subdomain is a “third-level domain.” You’ve probably seen them before, they look something like this: subdomain.domain.com. Wikipedia, for instance, uses them for languages; the English version is “en.wikipedia.org”, the Dutch version is “nl.wikipedia.org.” Subdomains are one way to organize large sites, as opposed to multiple directories or even separate domain names altogether.

So, we have a kind of page Google will index virtually “no questions asked.” It’s a wonder no one exploited this situation sooner. Some commentators believe the reason for that may be this “quirk” was introduced after the recent “Big Daddy” update. Our Eastern European friend got together some servers, content scrapers, spambots, PPC accounts, and some all-important, very inspired scripts, and mixed them all together thusly…

Five Billion Served- And Counting…
First, our hero here crafted scripts for his servers that would, when GoogleBot dropped by, start generating an essentially endless number of subdomains, all with a single page containing keyword-rich scraped content, keyworded links, and PPC ads for those keywords. Spambots are sent out to put GoogleBot on the scent via referral and comment spam to tens of thousands of blogs around the world. The spambots provide the broad setup, and it doesn’t take much to get the dominos to fall.

GoogleBot finds the spammed links and, as is its purpose in life, follows them into the network. Once GoogleBot is sent into the web, the scripts running the servers simply keep generating pages- page after page, all with a unique subdomain, all with keywords, scraped content, and PPC ads. These pages get indexed and suddenly you’ve got yourself a Google index 3-5 billion pages heavier in under 3 weeks.

Reports indicate, at first, the PPC ads on these pages were from Adsense, Google’s own PPC service. The ultimate irony then is Google benefits financially from all the impressions being charged to Adsense users as they appear across these billions of spam pages. The Adsense revenues from this endeavor were the point, after all. Cram in so many pages that, by sheer force of numbers, people would find and click on the ads in those pages, making the spammer a nice profit in a very short amount of time.

Billions or Millions? What is Broken?
Word of this achievement spread like wildfire from the DigitalPoint forums. It spread like wildfire in the SEO community, to be specific. The “general public” is, as of yet, out of the loop, and will probably remain so. A response by a Google engineer appeared on a Threadwatch thread about the topic, calling it a “bad data push”. Basically, the company line was they have not, in fact, added 5 billions pages. Later claims include assurances the issue will be fixed algorithmically. Those following the situation (by tracking the known domains the spammer was using) see only that Google is removing them from the index manually.

The tracking is accomplished using the “site:” command. A command that, theoretically, displays the total number of indexed pages from the site you specify after the colon. Google has already admitted there are problems with this command, and “5 billion pages”, they seem to be claiming, is merely another symptom of it. These problems extend beyond merely the site: command, but the display of the number of results for many queries, which some feel are highly inaccurate and in some cases fluctuate wildly. Google admits they have indexed some of these spammy subdomains, but so far haven’t provided any alternate numbers to dispute the 3-5 billion showed initially via the site: command.

Over the past week the number of the spammy domains & subdomains indexed has steadily dwindled as Google personnel remove the listings manually. There’s been no official statement that the “loophole” is closed. This poses the obvious problem that, since the way has been shown, there will be a number of copycats rushing to cash in before the algorithm is changed to deal with it.

Conclusions
There are, at minimum, two things broken here. The site: command and the obscure, tiny bit of the algorithm that allowed billions (or at least millions) of spam subdomains into the index. Google’s current priority should probably be to close the loophole before they’re buried in copycat spammers. The issues surrounding the use or misuse of Adsense are just as troubling for those who might be seeing little return on their adverting budget this month.

Do we “keep the faith” in Google in the face of these events? Most likely, yes. It is not so much whether they deserve that faith, but that most people will never know this happened. Days after the story broke there’s still very little mention in the “mainstream” press. Some tech sites have mentioned it, but this isn’t the kind of story that will end up on the evening news, mostly because the background knowledge required to understand it goes beyond what the average citizen is able to muster. The story will probably end up as an interesting footnote in that most esoteric and neoteric of worlds, “SEO History.”

M84 Directory
M89 Directory

The author gives a candid description of how he started his writing venture since his early age which eventually led him to write about Internet online marketing business. He explains in simple English the importance and power of article writing in this new business venture and how he has done it and how it has helped built his Internet business.

If your doctor advised you to run, jog or walk for the sake of your health, I’d advise you to write for the sake of your wealth from Internet business!

Since I ventured into this very interesting and exciting Internet marketing business, I’ve been writing for some time, something I happen to be enjoying doing. Since the day I learnt to construct the first complete and grammatically correct sentence in English, writing to covey to others my thought, ideas and opinions has been a very fascinating process for me.

For many years friends and business associates have been seeking my input to assess, correct and improve their own writings. Before I knew it, strangers from the Internet have also approached me to help them in copy writing their sales letters and web content. These “clients” of mine include those whose mother tongue is English!

Having been immersed in the intriguing English language for about 4 decades and after writings articles pertaining to Polymer Technology with occasional feature articles, the Internet business now “demands” that I should start to delve into the possibility of writing about Internet-online-home-based-businesses. What a refreshing and welcoming prospect!

Despite my“advanced”age (to some at least), Internet online business is relatively new and foreign to me compared to Polymer Technology. A considerable amount of effort in the form of research work has to be put in through both primary (mainly interviews) and secondary market research (Library and the Web). The part I enjoyed most was the interviews I held with the so-called Internet“gurus”most of whom are young enough to be my children!

It has therefore been a very challenging, interesting and rewarding experience. Equally, the“gurus”found the interviews utterly amusing, sometimes jaw-dropping, having to answer questions on matters that are so basic and simple (to them but definitely not to me!) which they have taken for granted for so long!

You must be agonizing yourself with questions in your mind at this juncture wanting to know what writing has got to do with Internet business, if you happen to belong to the uninitiated-soon-to-be-obsolete group of individuals. Relax, I’d put you out of your agony this every instant!

You see, I’ve found to my pleasant surprise that one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website is by writing articles. Of course, by “driving traffic”, I’m not for a moment suggesting that you rev your car aggressively towards some one! “Driving traffic” simply means directing the traffic flow of visitors to your websites. Needless to say, visitors are your potential customers.

Getting your own articles written, distributed and published on the Internet is one of the very best Internet marketing techniques in existence.

Once you have become an author of an article with quality content, you become an instant authority. When visitors locate and read your article they would obtain some useful information from it. As a result they would most probably appreciate you. When appreciation turns into trust, it is very likely that they would click the link in your article resource box to visit your website to get more information. The“resource box”is a special space at the end of your article allocated for a short description of the author and the all important URLs of his websites.

Chances of them signing up with you in one of your recommended business opportunities or buy one of your recommended products would be greatly boosted.

You get the idea? Of course you do!

The question is how to write the relevant articles which might demand some of your effort and time?

If you have a flare in writing and enjoy doing it, you might decide to write your own articles. Follow the steps I mentioned above. Otherwise you could join some article cooperatives to get access to private label articles (meaning using others’articles) or hire someone to write articles for you.

Of course you know now that I’ve chosen to do my own writing as it gives me a sense of achievement and satisfaction knowing that my own articles are touching and benefiting many people across the globe!

The following e-mail is one of the many which I have been very delightfully receiving:

Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 14:37:53 -0800 (PST)
From: ArticleSubmission@linkgrinder.com Add to Address Book

To: Woonsungliang@*********
Subject: YOUR ARTICLE SUBMISSION – LinkGrinder.com

Dear Woon Sung Liang,

Thank you for submitting your article titled ‘Come Blog with Me and Ride the Crest of The Blogging Wave of Internet Business’ to Linkgrinder.com. Your article has been approved and is now in the process of being indexed by the search engines. You should be able to find your article on our website within the next couple days.

Thank you Again!

http://www.linkgrinder.com

Note the e-mail says “…….is now in the process of being indexed by the search engines…..”

Once my article is indexed by the search engines, it means that they (the search engines) love it! The ranking of my website would be enhanced and this in turn would lead to an increase in the popularity of my website.

By virtue of the Internet etiquette, authors quite often allow others to re-print their articles for further publication in other ezines, newsletters, websites etc on condition that the content of the“resource box”be left untouched. This allows the new groups of readers to still be able to click on the authors’URLs.

Hence, through this simple process, your website could be spread like a virus. Many Internet marketers refer this as to“VIRAL MARKETING”. This is by and large my main objective of writing. The joy I obtain in doing so is incidental but definitely a welcome bonus!

The next question is how can you ensure that your articles will reach the maximum amount of potential web visitors? You submit your articles to Web version of publishers.

I normally submit my articles to Article Directories, Article list/Newsletters and Ezine Directories. This could be done either manually by yourself or get some organizations to do it on your behalf by paying them a monthly fee. It is tedious to do it yourself manually because there are at least hundreds of directories in the Net. However the biggest benefit of submitting your article by hand is that it’s absolutely free.

Organizations who charge a fee for doing this are using software that allows them to submit articles to hundreds, if not thousands of interested parties in an instant just by the click of the mouse.

I hope you now realize the power of writing in creating wealth in your Internet business. If you’re in Internet business but have not written a single article, it’s high time you did.

If you’re one of those who’re still groping in the dark not knowing whether or when to start your Internet business, please remember Bill Gates’ wise words: “There’ll be two types of business in the years 2000’s : those online… and those out of business”

M73 Directory
M76 Directory

The emergence of globalise trade, increase in foreign investment and cross-border transactions have put many small businesses under pressure to find innovative ways to continue to market their products and services. This is especially difficult given that they often operate on tight marketing budgets.

In the quest for cheap marketing alternatives, these small businesses continue to use conventional marketing tools such as newspaper, magazine, radio and television advertisements, unaware of the advantages that Internet Promotion offers. All too often, these entrepreneurs focus on the disadvantages of Internet Promotion and fail to adequately take advantage of the opportunities that it presents. Moreover, their preoccupation with conventional marketing strategies is driven by a misconception that these are cheaper than Internet Promotion.

To most small business entrepreneurs, marketing or promoting their products or services via the Internet can be a daunting task. However, with adequate information small businesses can benefit significantly from Internet Promotion while minimising the disadvantages that it presents. In fact, it may prove to be the marketing strategy that generates the highest return on investment.

The Advantages

Cost Effective and Enduring Marketing Strategies

The Internet has become the information superhighway for the buying public. Most persons prefer the hassle free transactions that Internet shopping can offer. As a result, the Internet has become the most powerful selling tool. Internet Promotion offers cost effective ways for small businesses to enhance their product or service distribution networks. For example, the use of portals can help create new marketing channels and logistics, or provide better or faster product access for customers.

In comparison to other forms of marketing, Internet Promotion presents the advantage of reduced budget and storage costs, when compared with printing brochures, producing television or radio advertisements or managing a call centre. It presents a fast and cost effective option for penetrating new markets.

Market Penetration

With millions of person using the Internet to search for products and services, small businesses can penetrate other markets at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing methods.

Websites act as virtual storefronts, allowing businesses to stay open 24/7. Internet Promotion gives a business greater visibility, thereby creating more opportunities for increasing its customers at relatively low cost. Never before has it been easier for an upstart business to be able to reach out to literally millions of potential customers and to position themselves for success, without the need for costly infrastructure and overwhelming marketing costs. Thanks to the Internet, new businesses can become popular almost overnight.

Low Cost, Instant Communication

Email makes business communications instant, whether the customer or business affiliate is across the street or across the globe. It makes it easier for customers to maintain contact and readily facilitates repeat purchasing. An effective online strategy can therefore turn a small web business into a virtual cost saver and income-generating machine. The net result is that the small business can gain significant competitive advantage in a given market.

Many online businesses have therefore resorted to the use of ezines, blogs, pop-up ads and other online marketing tools to let customers know about new products or services as well as provide information relevant to their respective industry. The benefits of this strategy are two fold. Marketers can effectively heighten brand awareness for relatively new products on the market whilst strengthening customer relationships, with shorter time frames.

Content is Timeless

Internet Promotion also provides the advantage of being enduring. Whereas participation at a trade fair or conference loses sales impact, once it is over, and an advertisement in a newspaper or business magazine may quickly lose its sales generating value within a day or two or as soon as the next issue is released; Internet Promotion is often timeless. Apart from the dates and sometimes prices, much of your website content remains valid years after.

Real Time Statistics For Measuring Success of Promotion Campaign

One of the most significant advantages of Internet Promotion is that its success is measurable. Marketers can use tools that provide real time statistics, on unique visitors, repeat visitors, click through rates (CTR) on advertisements, thereby allowing them to evaluate the effectiveness of a promotion campaign. This enables marketers to determine what works for their particular market and to make timely changes in their marketing strategies.

Time Saving

Another important advantage of Internet Promotion is that it saves time since it generally does away with counselling on product uses and benefits, service information and sales administration. Visitors can access “frequently asked questions” to help themselves, and can buy online, without the involvement of staff. This saves time and money. So, whether 10 or 10,000 visitors visit the site, the increased cost is marginal whilst the savings can be immense.

But like any business approach, Internet Promotion is not without its risks and weaknesses.

Disadvantages

Difficulty in Attracting Customers

Small business may not have the resources to pay for paid directory inclusion, pay per click inclusions and often have to rely solely on search engine optimisation or word of mouth to drive traffic to their sites. With millions of businesses selling the same product and services, competing with more established businesses can be frustrating and costly venture for small business.

On the other hand, larger companies can offer promotions, pay for directory inclusions, implement pay per click campaigns as well as employ the “who is who” in internet marketing to develop campaigns that generate traffic and leads.

Difficulty in Evaluating Legitimacy of Transaction

Another notable disadvantage of doing promoting businesses online is that it may be difficult for the businesspersons and consumers to thoroughly evaluate the legitimacy of a transaction. Small businesses are particularly vulnerable to thieves using stolen credit cards and stolen information to do online transaction.

With Internet credit card and identity fraud on the rise, small businesses are forced to finance costly security measures to reduce their vulnerability to fraudulent transactions.

Salespersons and Customers are Isolated

Another disadvantage of promotion via the Internet is that the customers and businesspersons are isolated. There is little personal contact between customer and salesperson prior to and after the sales is closed. Thus, the prospect for repeat sales may thus be diminished. Entrepreneurs are therefore compelled to adopt marketing strategies to drive online users back to their site.

From all indications, it appears that the advantages of Internet promotion, far exceed the disadvantages. With adequate knowledge, entrepreneur can benefit significantly from Internet promotion, especially small business owners.

More and more, the growth and outreach of the Internet’s, its ease and accessibility for customers is becoming inevitable. Small business would therefore be well advised to start their web advertising function in order to improve their competitiveness online.

M67 Directory
M68 Directory

Choosing what you want your website to be isn’t always as obvious as it might seem. There are so many options available to you that it really pays to take time out to think about this question before jumping in. Ask yourself what you are actually aiming for in having an online presence? Do you want a personal website, an online shop, a blog or diary style presence? Or do you want to run a forum related to your product or interest, perhaps an ezine with a back-issue website or if you are an artist, photographer or craftworker, maybe an online gallery would best promote you? To help you decide, try asking yourself these questions.

Do you want to sell physical goods? Items that have to be delivered by post, such as books, toys, clothes, electrical goods etc are ideal for an ecommerce website. There are many options open to you whereby you can catalogue your items by entering them into a database. This sounds more complicated than it actually is. Most shop building software has a simple interface whereby you can enter items in obvious categories, add prices, sizes etc and postage costs. The add to basket buttons are generated for you for each item.

There’s a huge number of companies offering you shop solutions for your website but they don’t all have the same facilities. As ever, it pays to research and find one that does everything you want it to. Most companies will offer you a free trial and I recommend that you select a company that does.

You can choose to buy shopbuilding software to install on your computer, the benefit being that this is a one-off purchase and no recurring monthly payments, apart from your web hosting. Alternatively you can go for the hosted shop option. There are an enormous number of companies offering this. Advantages are that your hosting and website are integral. Everything is done online so you can even update your shop from any computer wherever you may be. These options are usually very simple to use and have good help menus.

Do You want to sell downloadable goods, eg. software, music, ebooks? Downloadable products are very hot selling items on the internet. The reason is obvious and it benefits everyone involved. The buyer receives his/ her purchase immediately payment has cleared and the seller has no stock to buy, keep or deliver. Some product examples are music, images, software, templates and ebooks.

Ebooks are one of the most popular downloadable products. They are very easy to produce and most people have the ability to read them from their computer screen or even print them out. “How to” books are the most popular by far as they provide answers, solutions and ideas. The internet is used by many as a research tool and people are actively looking for information and solutions to problems. If you can provide these on a popular enough niche topic, your ebook is likely to be in demand.

There are several websites which offer you the facility to sell downloadable products, such as Clickbank and Payloadz. A quick google search will give you more options to explore to find the most suitable for your particular needs.

Are you an artist or photographer or craftworker? Firstly, ask yourself what your purpose of having an online presence will be. For example, are you looking to have a classy online portfolio or do you want to set up an ecommerce shop where you promote the sale of your original work and prints? Can you design websites or do you have the financial means to ask someone to build one for you? Do you have sufficient I.T. skills to join one of the many online galleries that allow you to upload your work to your own gallery area on their website? Do you like the idea of being part of a larger online gallery but need someone to do all the techy things for you?There are an enormous number of online galleries now but knowing what you want to achieve will help you narrow your search significantly.

Do you have a bricks and mortar shop? If your business is in the real world, think about what it is you require your website to do in order to promote or give added value to your business. Do you wish it to be simply an online information post so that people can find more about what you offer or find their way to your premises? If so, you may if that your local government will offer you a free web page or mini website on their main council site. If you want something more individual, then a simple site built with Frontpage or a webuilder is probably your best option. If money is no object, then you can hire a webdesigner and achieve something more sophisticated.

Or perhaps you wish to add something extra to your business such as an online, out of hours, ordering system with home delivery. Again, unless you can pay for your site to be custom built, one of the easy web-shop builders is probably your best option. Here are some excellent ones for you to review.

Do you want to sell or promote a service? For example, are you a webdesigner, childminder, photographer, plumber, tutor, dogwalker, typist, financial adviser, mobile hairdresser, decorator, gardener, acupuncturist or beautician? The list is endless. If you offer a service whether online or off you will want to reflect your professionalism in a well designed and easy to navigate website. If you are able to afford to have your website designed for you to your own specifications, then this can be a good choice as it frees up your time to get on with actually providing the service you are involved in.

This is in option which many cannot afford. An alternative would be to build the website yourself. The advantages to this can really repay the time you put in. To start with, you can update your site whenever you wish, so keeping the content fresh and relevant. Software to help you do this is easily obtained. Dreamweaver and Frontpage are amongst the most popular. I find that the latter is an excellent choice for someone new to web design as it is so intuitive and easy to learn.

Having built your site yourself, the only ongoing costs are the time you decide to spend on it plus your webhosting and there are some excellent deals to be had these days. If you feel uncomfortable with building sites, don’t despair. There are some fabulous online website builders on offer these days. with this option, your website and hosting are all inclusive. Typically, you will be given a login area where you can select the template, ie. look and feel of your website and add images and information in a very simple step by step way. There is considerable competition amongst web hosts offering this option and for you, the consumer, this means that more added value is being tagged onto these packages all the time.

Do you want to build a community website? Websites reflecting the interests of a community or group membership don’t need to be sophisticated but it is an excellent idea to have one that is interactive. Being able to post questions and opinions, vote on a member poll or even post photographs will encourage members to participate more fully and can lead to new ideas and renewed enthusiasm within the group. An ideal solution might be a one page website linked to a forum. Some web hosts will offer free websites and hosting for not-for-profit groups and this is well worth looking into. Another idea is to have a community Blog. Again, these are something that permit group participation in posting plus are easy to set up and manage and many are free.

Good luck with your endeavours whatever your aims! The internet is a great place to have your own voice.

M58 Directory
M63 Directory

With the constant proliferation of annoying pop-up ads invading their personal computer space, many people are seeking ways to combat this formidable opponent. It may seem impossible at times to rid your computer entirely of those pesky ads that compromise your browsing experience and even slow down your computer, but luckily, there are effective methods of avoiding as many pop-ups, adware and spyware programs as possible.

But first, what exactly is adware? Why are you bombarded with so many pop-ups that surfing the Internet becomes a hassle? Pop-ups, of course, are advertisements that “pop up” in a separate window when you surf the Internet, usually at particular sites that have pop-up advertising. The website you visit can be the culprit of the pop-up ads you see, but other sources are also used to generate pop-up ads as you browse online. For example, adware can also create pop-up windows in your browser. Adware refers to any software program that generates pop-up advertising directly from your computer. Adware is dubbed “spyware” when the adware program running on your computer also serves a secondary function – to collect personal information and pass it on to third parties without your knowledge or consent. This is where adware is most criticized, especially by those who feel privacy is an important right whether you are online or not. Spyware that is installed entirely without a user’s permission is the worst-case scenario, but most people unknowingly allow this code to be used on their computers through other means. This usually occurs by downloading and installing a “free” program you do want without realizing that you have also agreed to let the company install spyware on your system. In computer vernacular these programs are known as Trojans. The actual shareware or freeware program may be a Trojan disguised as a legitimate (or at least harmless) application you want to have on your computer, or it can be an extra attached to the program of which you are unaware.

Perhaps you recently downloaded a nifty browser toolbar to make your life easier when conducting online searches, or to have quick and instant access to your local weather? Unfortunately, you might have also unwittingly downloaded (with your permission) an adware program that will assail you with constant pop-ups and might even track your moves online. Peer-to-peer file sharing applications are also notorious for being full of spyware applications. Although most of the information collected relates to advertising and target-marketing, if you put certain strategies in place to avoid as much adware as possible, you will definitely rest easier, as the most malicious of spyware programs do have the capability to log your keystrokes and obtain personal information, such as passwords, that you don’t want falling into the wrong hands.

Task bar balloon pop-ups are another form of pop-up advertising that can cause you a lot of trouble. Instead of popping up in a separate window box, this type of pop-up emerges out of your task bar to send an advertising message. Task bar balloon pop-ups are a nuisance because they seemingly appear right from your computer desktop, making you feel as if someone is always watching you, even if it is only an adware program. But while task bar pop-ups might seem more threatening than other pop-ups, they are born from the same mother – adware code present on your computer that got there either through a recent software application download or by visiting a bad website (any website that has spyware programs just waiting to infect your computer when you visit).

Perhaps the most insidious way you can be tricked into downloading software onto your computer “willingly” is through the appearance of a Windows dialogue box. This is a type of pop-up ad that appears when you browse certain websites, or it could come from adware already installed on your computer. For the inexperienced user the alert seems legitimate, which is what the creators of these pop-ups are counting on. The ads are worded in a way that makes you think your computer is sending the message, asking you to download software that will eradicate the spyware present on your system. Of course, instead of solving a non-existent problem, you are actually downloading a Trojan that will install adware on your computer and cause all sorts of annoying problems. If you did already have spyware on your system, these applications will not remove adware or remove spyware from your computer, but probably make things much worse. Sometimes these programs are designed to suck you into paying for a spyware removal program. After downloading the program, as the alert asks you to, you are notified that you have adware/spyware on your computer. The company that infected you with this spyware in the first place now offers you the cure – for a price. These companies rely on the ignorance and fears of its targets to make money.

Browser hijackers are the scariest type of spyware. After visiting a site or downloading malicious software accidentally, a hijacker program will be installed on your system against your knowledge. It then changes your browser settings so that your home page and favorites are all something different, usually a search engine or portal site; you are essentially taken prisoner and unable to reset the browser to the parameters of your own choosing. In addition, any time you initiate an online search through this engine, you are always redirected to affiliates and websites trying to make money. The people who used the hijacking program to direct you to these sites make affiliate money from these “hijacked” visitors.

How Do You Protect Your Computer From These Threats?

Knowing the different ways your computer can become infected by spyware and overrun by pop-up ads, you might be wondering how you can guard against all these threats. The best way is to install a reputable anti-spyware program that will immunize your computer against common adware programs and continually work to keep new ones from being added. Running a good anti-spyware program and keeping it updated will make your life a thousand times easier and make it possible to protect your computer without too much effort.

To avoid the annoying pop-up ads that harass you on a constant basis, directly from websites, using an alternative browser (instead of Internet Explorer) is a must. Many people are unaware that they get so many pop-up ads simply because the browser they are using is not properly equipped to block pop-ups from their view. Obtaining a browser such as Firefox or Opera is the most simple and efficient way to protect your computer from unwanted ads and adware installations. The difference is noticeable when you are given the opportunity to browse pop-up free. These browsers are also designed to have less security holes than IE. Their advanced security enhancements block adware, spyware and malicious websites while keeping the browsing experience simple and user-friendly. Malicious software isn’t even given the chance to install on your system, meaning less computer-related headaches for you.

By using web browsers that automatically block pop-ups, you don’t have to download extra pop-up blockers or worry about keeping them updated. With the right browser, everything you need to avoid those dreaded pop-ups is already set up and working as an integral part of your browser. This means more efficiency in pop-up blocking, less adware programs clogging up your computer and more time to do what you intended in the first place – surf the Internet.

M47 Directory
M56 Directory

Everyone wants to start their own business and become their own boss, but many are not sure how to do it. There are several types of home businesses. Service businesses, selling products, and web based home businesses, just to name a few.

In this article I am going to guide you through the process of starting your own web-based home business. I will try to take some of the mystery out of the process. By following this guideline, you will be up and running in very little time without having made a huge investment.

First, you need to know what your business is going to do. Will it provide a service? Are you planning to sell products? Those are the two general types of web-based home businesses I will be discussing in this article.

If you plan to provide a service, what type of service will you be providing? Will it be provided to people who own websites? Will it be a service that anyone can use or will it be confined to your local area?

Ask similar questions of yourself if you plan to sell a product. Will it be a product you sell and deliver locally, nationwide, or internationally? If you choose worldwide, do you know anything about shipping your product overseas? The same applies to nationwide delivery. Do you know the costs associated with delivering your product everywhere in the nation you live in?

Once you have answered those questions, you will have more of an idea about how your home web business will eventually be shaped.

Next, you will need a domain name. Most people think their company name is the best way to go for a domain name, however, a generic domain name with keywords that are associated to your product or service will serve you much better. You can also register your company name as a domain name and point it to your website, but it is not necessary.

The generic domain name can help you with search engine traffic and can be more memorable. It is only one factor of many that will help you with search engine optimization, but it is a step you should take when getting started. Example: cars.com is a better domain name than ford.com, even though ford spent millions to advertise and brand their name. Even cheapusedcars.com is better because people will search for that.

You need to find a good domain name registrar, not a cheap domain name registrar. Cheap means cheap in the area of domain names. Your domain name is important. Spending $25 per year to registrar that provide more services and quality VS spending $10 or less at a cheap registrar is what we are talking about here. If that extra $15 per year is going to make or break your home business, then maybe you should not start one.

Next, you will need a web hosting service. Again, cheaper is not better. There are good hosting services for $100 per year or even a little less. Anyone that is offering you hosting for less than that should raise a red flag. Choose and pay for your hosting for at least a year, just like you registered your domain name for. If you are going with a monthly plan, you probably aren’t fully committed to your new home business.

Now, you have your domain name and the hosting for your new website, but where is the website and how do I get that? You have several options. You can learn html and build your own. You can use a WYSIWYG editor like FrontPage to build your own website. You can hire someone to build your website for you.

First, we will talk about learning html to build your own website for your home business. There is a learning curve here. This is the best option of the three I mentioned above, but it takes time to learn. You will probably not be up and running in just a few days with this option. In the long run, it will save you a lot of money to learn html and build your own websites. The more websites you have in your portfolio, the more likely you will have at least one that is a big winner. Writing your own code means you can build a new website as often as you want.

Next, building your own home business website with a WYSIWYG editor. (What You See Is What You Get). These editors are similar to making a document. Everything is visual and you do not need to know html. The learning curve for these editors is much less than that of learning to actually code your own website.

However, these websites do have limitations. Since the code for the website is auto-generated, it tends to have mistakes. In addition to that, you have to make sure your hosting has the proper extensions to host your website. FrontPage Extensions is the example if you use the FrontPage WSYIWYG.

This option will get you up and running faster, but you need to hire someone at some point to fix the code for you so the page will always load correctly and optimally. How your website is viewed in different browsers, how fast your website loads, and how your website looks are all design factors that make a difference to your customers, so weigh each option carefully.

Next, hiring a web designer to build your home business website is another option. A professional web designer knows how to give your website the look and feel you want it to have. However, be careful when choosing a web designer. I’ll add some things you need to be aware of here;

1. If they say they will register the domain name for you, say no. Registering a domain name is not technically difficult. Do this yourself. Many web designers register the domain name at the cheapest place they can find then charge you $100 or more per year for the domain name. Then many of them register it in their own name! This will cause you huge problems if you ever decide not to use their services anymore. The domain name should be in your name always.

2. Ask them what program they use to build your website in. If they are going to use FrontPage or Dreamweaver or other WYSIWYG editor, you may as well build your own home business website. If they do not write html from scratch, then they shouldn’t be in the web design business.

3. If they wish to charge you monthly to run your website for you, be careful. Do not sign yearly contracts. Their job is to build you a home business website. Let them stick to just that. Most designers are just designers. They are not search engine gurus, business managers, or anything else. Hire a designer to design and others to do what they are good at.

4. Do not let them talk you into features you do not need. Just like used car salesmen, they will try to get you to add on a lot of bells and whistles you don’t need.

5. A brochure website is one that is basically designed to just let people know what products or services you provide and to contact you to get more information. Usually, that is a main page, an about page, and a contact page. That shouldn’t cost you more than $500.

6. If you are going to add the ability to buy your product or service by paying for it through your home business website, then it becomes an e-commerce website. Again, watch out for the bells and whistles that the used website salesman tries to sell you. PayPal is a good option when you are first starting out. You can get a PayPal account easily. You can create your own buy buttons and insert them into your website with the code they provide without being an html guru. You can even configure shipping costs and everything else through PayPal for free. They charge small percentages per sale, but the services they provide are worth it. Besides, they have no setup fee or monthly fee like other e-commerce solutions. When your sales volume reaches into thousands of dollars per month, you can look for a better solution, but until then, use PayPal.

7. An old saying among those who make money on the web is “You build the first one for show and the rest for dough”. What that means is this; You will likely be very concerned about the look of your website in the beginning, however design is the LEAST important aspect of your home web business. Many will disagree, but who cares. Let me repeat, design is the LEAST important aspect of your home web based business. A beautiful website with no traffic gets uglier by the day. An ugly website with traffic that makes money gets more beautiful by the dollar. Create a total budget for your home web based business. Spend no more than 30% of that budget on design. Spend the rest on promoting your website, advertising, and other actions that bring you customers. Don’t let some designer talk you into thinking his design is more important than your home business’s success.

Now that you have your domain name, hosting, and website up and running, you now need customers. Where do you get them? I have my website, won’t they just find me now? NO, they won’t.

There are several things you can do to get traffic. Do not fall for all the scams out there that tell you they can send millions of hits to your website for just a small fee. There are a lot of traffic scams. The traffic is usually auto or bot generated traffic and will do you no good in selling your product or service.

You can buy Adwords from Google, MSN (coming soon), or Yahoo. That sends you traffic from people who search for specific keywords. Be careful about bidding on these and set your spending limits low until you see which keywords are paying off for you.

You can purchase links on popular websites that are related to your product or service. Again, start with a small text link and a small budget until you find which of those links are actually sending you traffic that is converting to sales. If one is producing sales, expand on that one. If one is producing nothing, drop it. It’s like running an ad in the newspaper, on TV, or on radio. If it isn’t bringing you business, you get rid of the ad.

You can write articles on topics related to your products or services like the one you are reading now. Your links go into the box below, just like mine here. You submit your articles to article submission websites. They provide it to other webmasters that want to use your article as free content for their website. Each one that picks up your article becomes another link to your website. This is the best method of marketing in my honest opinion.

Posting in related forums and blogs with your home business link in your signature can produce more targeted traffic for your website. More traffic does not mean better. Targeted traffic means much more and converts to sales more often than traffic you might get from unrelated websites, so stay focused on blogs and forums that relate to your topics.

I hope this article has helped you realize what it takes to start your own home business on the web!

M43 Directory
M46 Directory

The blink of an eye! That’s how long it takes a visitor to assess the overall look of your website. Research has recently shown that a site visitor will decide whether or not they like your website in 1/20th of a second. That’s less than the time it takes to blink! And in less than 10 seconds they decide to stay at your website or leave!

The report, published in the latest issue of Behaviour and Information Technology journal, claims that “if the first impression is negative, you’ll probably drive people off. It really is just a physiological response,” Gitte Lindgaard told Reuters. What the report does not conclude, is what actually makes a successful, aesthetically pleasing website, but only how much time it would take for a visitor to make that decision.

In the 6 years we have been developing websites, we have had the ability to test many different styles and looks of websites. We have also studied successful sites, to find out what the secret really is. What we found out is astonishing. Ready?

There is no secret! That’s right, there is no single, right way to build a website. There are however many “wrong” ways to avoid.

The real secret of a good website, is to eliminate anything that drives your visitors away. And how does one do this you ask? By understanding your target market. That’s the real trick in designing a website that is successful, and more importantly a home page that will retain your visitors.

Too many times new website owners think they need every bell and whistle available. They tend to pack their home page with too many components that are simply “eye-candy” and have no real value to the viewer. Others strip their site down and all you see is miles and miles of content, and no appealing graphics to get excited about.

What is needed is a site with the right balance of graphics and content. By “right”, we mean whatever is most pleasing to your target audience. If you are trying to attract elementary school children, then having a bunch of flashy images, bright colors, and huge fonts would more than likely pull them in. However, if you are attracting Fortune 500 companies those strategies would be a sure turn off.

I like to think of a website as a house. Take your house for example. You probably have a nicely colored front door, and possibly a wreath or other decoration (even just a fancy door knocker) hanging on that door. Chances are you have some sort of welcome mat that you spent time picking out just to give your visitor’s a welcoming place to wipe their feet. You keep the area around your front door clean and tidy. Your front door is welcoming and warm, making your visitors feel like they want to come in, that they want to see more.

In the same way, your home page is the front door to your website. This is the page that you should spend the most time constructing, because if visitors don’t move beyond it then the other pages won’t matter! You want this page to be eye-catching (but not overwhelming), easy to navigate (but not boring), and have the right amount of content to grab the attention of your visitor.

Let’s start with the visual appeal of your home page.

First and foremost you should have a professionally designed logo. Your company name displayed in plain Arial text just won’t cut it for most of your visitors. A nicely designed logo is the first part of establishing credibility with your visitor, and as such should be shown prominently at the top of your website.

Along with a memorable logo, your website should incorporate colors that your audience will respond to. For an explanation on selecting colors, please see our “Color Theory” article at http://www.nicmedia.com/color_theory.htm.

Graphic images are also important to help the viewer relate to your website. Professional photographs can easily accomplish this and still be affordable. There are numerous stock photography houses that provide high resolution images for very affordable prices, or you can hire your own photographer for custom work.

When using images of people, keep it down to earth. Research indicates that while viewers like to see attractive people in their own age group, they should not necessarily be identifiable as models. It’s more important that the images portray someone relatable that looks like them or “real” in their eyes rather than made up.

Your home page should be organized so that visitors quickly understand what they can accomplish. The typical website has logo on top (in a banner sometimes called a masthead), along with navigation either horizontally across top or vertically along the left hand side. Yes, this may seem old and boring, but it’s what visitors have come to expect and rely on. When that gets changed too much they don’t feel comfortable and tend to back away.

Navigation is the key to the flow of your website. Your navigation should have links that can be easily identified. Home, About Us, Our Products, Our Services, Contact Us – yes those are names we’ve seen a hundred times and we think we’d like to fluff that up – but don’t forget that is what your visitor is looking for. Remember, newspapers are written on an 8th grade level in order for the majority of it’s readers to be able to read and understand, and that same principal should apply to your navigation and entire website.

Make sure that your navigation flow makes sense for your viewer, ordering your pages with the most important pages listed first followed by the lesser important or least likely to be viewed pages. This helps assure you get your audience to the meat of your website quickly. To avoid confusion, consistency is key, so whatever navigation you use on your home page should be carried on throughout the remainder of your website.

Last but not least, is content. Content has to be rich and exciting enough to draw your visitor in, and short enough to grab their attention! Research suggests that the average reader can read approximately forty words in ten seconds.

The paragraph above is exactly 40 words. If you only have 10 seconds to pull your viewer in, that’s roughly the amount of content they can take in during that amount of time.

People tend to scan websites rather than read them entirely, so adjust to this fact. Use eye-catching headlines, bolding, bullet points, anything to break up the monotony of a plain paragraph and draw attention to the stuff that is most relevant for them to see. Plenty of white space helps to pull the reader’s eye along through the content of the page. Faced with a large block of text, our eyes tend to skip past it.

In short, you really have no choice but to make your website’s homepage an attention-grabber. Let your visitor know right away they are in the right place, that you have THE answer to their problem, that your company is credible, and that your site is easy to navigate.

Once they find the basic components that are expected they will be drawn in to more of your content and navigate deeper into your website. That’s the foundation for a solid call to action so your website achieves it’s goal. Remember, you only have a second!

L19 Directory
M38 Directory

Most people know what consumer survey is but do they know they can get paid for answering opinion surveys? If by chance they participate in a paid survey and receive a paycheck in their mailbox, they are thrilled by their discovery. They understand that paid surveys are a great way to earn extra money at their spare time and they just regret they didn’t start earlier…

Today, at the Internet age, it is easier than ever to make extra cash with paid surveys and mystery shopping jobs. To help you have a clear picture of this opportunity, we have summarized here the main reasons why you should start taking paid surveys today.

1. Money

Paid surveys are not new. Opinion research has been used for decades by marketers as a way to explore customer needs and every year companies and institutions spend billions of dollars on consumer research. The reason is simple: The better they understand us as consumers, the more money they can make.

Because they need to know what consumers like and want, companies are willing to pay for our opinions.

There are companies that will pay you up to:

* $75 to take online surveys
* $250 to participate in focus groups
* $120 per hour to take phone surveys
* $50 per assignment to participate in shopping surveys

To dismiss any misunderstanding, we don’t claim here that you will make $250 an hour all day and every day… But from experience we know that you can easily earn extra money every month, working at your spare time, with hundreds of online paid surveys and mystery shopping jobs that are sent directly to your email. From time to time you will also receive an invitation for a 1-2 hours focus group (a personal interview conducted among a small number of individuals) that can pay as high as $250 per session!

To give you a rough estimate of the money you can earn with online surveys, focus groups and mystery shopping jobs, we can say that anyone who is actively registered with at least 300 top market research companies should have no trouble earning an extra $250-$500 per month working at it part-time. Top performers that stick with it for long and work full time can make up to $3000 per month!

2. You Make Your Opinion Counts

* By answering the questions of legitimate survey researchers, you make your opinions known to the people who have the power to make the changes you want.

* Your answers to survey questions influence many decisions that affect you as a consumer and a citizen.

* Health care providers, government agencies, airlines, hotels, telecom companies and car dealerships are responding to your comments by improving their customer service.

For all these reasons, your opinion is in high demand and you can make a difference when you participate in paid surveys.

3. It is Fun

Participating in online paid surveys isn’t a boring job requesting every day to complete a routine task. On the contrary, you will be involved in very diversified assignments dealing with new products you will test before they go on the market, new technologies that are still in R&D labs, original perspectives on existing products, new marketing concepts etc. You will be exposed to many topics you wouldn’t have any idea about them otherwise and you will better understand what’s going around you as a citizen and as a consumer. After taking many paid surveys, you will look at prices, brands, product design, customer service etc in a different way and you will enjoy your special view on all these matters.

With focus groups, you will be invited to spend 1-2 hours with a small group of 6 to 12 people to discuss a product, a service, a brand or any other marketing concept. Participants can be paid up to $250 and the meeting is typically held in pleasant surroundings and refreshments are served. During this group session there is interplay of thoughts and ideas to get insights on attitudes and perceptions held by consumers. These discussions are very animated and very interesting. That’s real fun and great money!

Mystery shopping assignments are a special type of marketing research. You are paid to shop at the mall or to eat at restaurants! All you need to do is filling out a questionnaire on your customer experience. We all shop, and many of us enjoy shopping. But very rarely do we get paid for it! Mystery shopper jobs give us this opportunity: Earning extra income just for shopping and filling out a questionnaire!
It’s a fun job that pays real cash. You can earn money to shop in your favorite stores, to eat in your favorite restaurants, to drive a car, to see a movie at your local theater or to play golf!

Beside money, online paid surveys, focus groups and mystery shopping jobs will bring a lot of fun in your life.

4. Cool Lifestyle

* You can do it Full-Time or Part-Time. It’s Your Choice!

Paid surveys invitations and mystery shopping assignments are sent to you by email and you can take as many or as few as you want. You can do it full-time or part-time.
You decide how much time you want to devote to paid surveys and shopping jobs and you can work whenever you’d like: morning, noon, night… midnight if you’d like.

* You are Your Own Boss

This kind of work is entirely voluntary and you have no boss looking at your performances all the day. It is all up to you if you want to participate in a survey or not. Nobody will try to force you to take a job if you don’t want and if you need a day off, just take it! You are your own boss! You will manage your work as you wish and you will benefit of 100% of your efforts.

* If you are a mom at home, you can schedule your work around your family’s needs, spending more quality time with your loved ones.

* If you are a student, you can answer surveys between lectures or before you do your homework. This is a great way to relax and have a little fun when you are tired of your college assignments.

* If you are a senior citizen, paid surveys and mystery shopping jobs will fill your free time with interesting activities and they will supplement your retired pay.

* If you decided to work from home, paid surveys and mystery shopping are just for you. You can work from the comfort of your home and you keep the flexibility to share your time as you want.

* If you are a full time employee and need an additional income, you can fill out online surveys and shopping questionnaires during pauses at work, on the evening or on your weekend. All your family can take paid surveys too so all the surveys taken add up in a cumulated income.

5. It is easy to get started

* No experience or special skills are required.

No special background is needed to participate in consumer research. If you are a consumer, your opinion counts and you qualify to take paid surveys and mystery shopping jobs. Every consumer is welcome.

* No special equipment is required

Taking surveys for money requires no special equipment other than access to a computer and email. If you know how to access the Internet and your email, you’re set.

* Professional databases have made all the hard work for you

Finding an excellent collection of legitimate and well-paid surveys isn’t an easy job. The most difficult part about making money with paid surveys is finding an extensive list of legitimate companies out of all the market research programs on the Internet. Some of these sites are scams – they don’t deliver their promises about cash and other incentives or they don’t keep your privacy and bombard you with unwanted advertising… The best way to avoid scams and to make the best of paid surveys and mystery shopping jobs is to join a professional database of paid opportunities that give you access to a wealth of legitimate opportunities.

We recommend Maximum Paid Surveys as the most professional resource of paid surveys and mystery shopping jobs available today on the Internet. Whether you’re a stay-at-home mom, student, retired or just need some extra money, Maximum Paid Surveys will make it easy to get paid for your opinion.

K96 Directory
K97 Directory