WEBS4SUCCESS.COM

Sale Ends Soon! SSL Certificate for $19.99

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:44:00 GMT

It is so important that your customers feel they can trust you and make a purchase on your website, instill confidence by adding an SSL certificate today. For a limited time you can get a 1 year standard SSL certificate from Global Net Source for only $19.99. But hurry, the sale ends at midnight on October 31st..

For more information on the benefits of having an SSL, read our previous article here: Do You Really Need an SSL Certificate?

Creating an Online Business101: Part 10

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:07:00 GMT

We hope you have enjoyed this series of articles on how to set up an online business, and that you have found the information useful. Today's article is the final one in the series. If you would like your own copy of the e-book in it's entirety, simply e-mail us a request for it to info@webs4success.com

Creating an Online Business: Part 10

How do You Go About Marketing Your Online Business?

In the final chapter of this book, we will look at various ways in which you can market your online business. The reason for marketing an online business is in order to get that all important traffic to visit your site. This traffic consists of visitors, who will then become your customers and start purchasing your product or service from you.

The first thing you need to do is learn how to optimize your website so that it will start getting ranked in the top three search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN) The sooner you do this the faster it will get ranked and the sooner the traffic will start to appear at it. A great way of doing this is by investing in either a book, E-book or Ecourse on how to optimize your site, or you could try some of the following methods instead. The best way in which you can optimize your website is by ensuring you have back links to your site. This is where you have links to your site placed on other sites through various different methods. Below we provide you with some that are useful in order to get those all important back links to your website.

Link Exchanges

This is where you exchange links with other websites that have complimentary products or services to your own. It will not only give you direct traffic from the link, but will help to increase your pursuit for getting ranked higher in search engines.

Write Articles

It is important that the articles you write are interesting and full of useful information regarding your niche. This is probably one of the best ways around for gaining more traffic to your website. Not only is it free, as there are many article sites around where you can have your articles published for free, but each article you have published will be providing a link back to your site. This means that you are helping to gain even higher rankings where search engines are concerned. When writing an article, you should always include information about you, the author (this will usually be in a resource box at the bottom of your article), and do not forget to include that all important link to your own website.

By distributing to numerous article sites, you are not only gaining traffic (as when someone sees it on there, they will click on your link if they like what they saw), but also you get a link that points directly back to your site, which the search engines use to rank sites.

However, if you are someone who dislikes writing, then you could always look at using a ghostwriter. There are many sites around today who offer ghostwriting services, but when initially setting up an online business, this may not be an expense that you want to incur.

Online Forums

When using these, do not forget to include your signature line at the end of any comments that you make, as this will then provide a further link back to your site. The best bet is to stick to forums that are on the same topic as what you are trying to sell. Not only will you be learning about your potential customer’s desires, but you’ll be able to establish yourself as an expert in the field.

Blogs

Blogs are a great way of ensuring you get back links to your site. So why not start a blog on your website? But ensure that you post to your blog several times a week and think of it as news page for your site. Certainly blogging has become the in thing at the moment on the web. You only have to do a quick search to find out just how many there are.

Conclusion

So hopefully the information that has been provided for you in this book will be setting you on your way to starting your first online business.

However, what you should remember is the costs of running an online business are considerably reduced. This is because you do not actually need an office…you can work from home. No need to employ others and all you need to get started is a good computer and good internet connection.

But there are some problems that you do not get with a traditional business, such as hackers, viruses, websites going down and data preservation.

However, the most important aspect of any online business is to generate traffic to your site. There is no point in you having a great product if nobody knows about it. So get a strategy in place which will generate the traffic required to bring in those all important visitors, and then sales to your site.

So the best way of starting any kind of online business is to sit down and write up a plan. Once you have done this, then you can start looking at all the steps that have been shown in the book on how to start an online business!

Good luck with your future online ventures!

Creating an Online Business 101: Part 9

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:12:00 GMT

Over the course of the next couple of weeks, we will share with you a series of articles on how to set up an online business, we hope you find the information useful. If you would like your own copy of the e-book in it's entirety, simply e-mail us a request for it to info@webs4success.com

Creating an Online Business: Part 9

Is Using an Online Payment System a Good Decision for my Online Business?

There are many online payment services today which provide you with an alternative way to traditional payment methods. So unlike banks and credit card companies, services such as PayPal and CheckFree no longer require a business to have a merchant account. In fact, using services like this not only provides a quicker way for money to be paid online, but it is more secure than having someone sending you a check or cash. This is because the funds are electronically transferred to your account with them in order to settle any transaction made.

Such services have become especially popular among those who use online auction sites (such as Ebay), but also many other online businesses are now beginning to see the advantages of these services as well. However, what is important to know is how they work, and how to avoid any potential problems that may arise.

Such services use a relatively simple process in order to transfer money from one person to another. What you need to do is set up an account providing enough information which should include your real name, email address and credit card or bank account details (which are used to verify your identity). Then, in order for someone to pay you, they enter your email address and the amount of the transaction in question. This is then paid into your account, and can either then be transferred to your bank account, or a check can be sent to you.

However, many of the payment services will charge a small fee in order to transfer funds. For example, PayPal charges you up to 2.5% for each transfer that they make (but this all depends on the amount). But what should be remembered is that these fees are probably less than what you would normally pay for a credit card merchant account. Also, such services can be especially helpful when you need to arrange for small repetitive payments to be made to your account, such as affiliate rewards and commissions.

But there are some drawbacks to be had from using a payment service, and these are as follows:-

1. Many of them impose a daily or weekly limit on the amount of money that you send or receive. So if you want to exceed these limits you may find yourself incurring an additional fee for a "business account" or "premiere account".

2. These services are not banks, and therefore are not subject to strict banking regulations or protected by Federal Deposit Insurance.

3. Often these services provide their customers with less protection against fraud and abuse than many credit card companies offer.

4. Also, they are sometimes quick to freeze a customer’s account if they suspect fraudulent or other criminal activities are taking place. They can be so quick sometimes that some customers have found that their account has been frozen for no apparent reason whatsoever.

It is important that before you sign up to any payment service, you read through their terms and conditions thoroughly. Plus, also read through their terms of service agreement carefully. It is important that you fully understand and accept the service’s dispute policy, limits on liability, their fee structure and any other rules or regulations that they may have. It is also important that you do not keep too much money in your account, rather hold in it enough to conduct a few days of business and any unused funds should be transferred over to your regular bank account.

Below are just a few more payment services that you may want to look at further when setting up an online business account.

1. Authorize.net. This service processes credit card and checking account transactions.

2. E-Gold. This allows the payment in gold (silver, platinum or palladium) to be made from one customer to another using an account based system.

3. PayPal. This is probably the most well known of payment services, and it allows user to user payments. This is where a payer uses a credit card to pay money into another user’s account. Or, in fact, they can use money they already have in that account in order to pay for the goods they have purchased.

4. World Pay. This service provides both an internet merchant account, and payment processing service in one package.

Creating an Online Business 101: Part 8

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:39:00 GMT

Just What is Affiliate Marketing and Why Become an Affiliate Marketer?

Many times you will have seen previously in this book we have mentioned affiliate marketing as a great way of setting up an online business. During this chapter, we will provide a more in depth look at what it is exactly.

Affiliate Marketing is a method of promoting a product in which an affiliate is then rewarded for every visitor, subscriber, customer and/or sale provided through their efforts to the actual company selling the product. The compensation or commission that an affiliate gets may be based on a certain value for each exposure, visit (pay per click), new customer (pay per lead), sale which is usually a percentage of the item sold (pay per sale or revenue share) or it may be a combination of any of these.

Many companies like to use affiliate marketing because they do not incur any marketing expenses unless the desired result is realized.

There are also some e-commerce sites around today which run their own affiliate programs, while others use third party services. These provide intermediaries who will track traffic or sales that are referred to them from their various affiliates. There are many businesses online today who owe much of their growth and success to the use of affiliate marketing. It has been especially successful for small and midsize businesses on the internet.

We have now looked at what affiliate marketing is, now let us look at some reasons as why it is a good type of online business to set up.

No Production Costs

With an affiliate program, production costs are no longer an issue as the product has been developed and proven to be good. Best of all, it has all come out of the merchant’s accounts and not yours.

Do not need a lot of money to set up.

All you will need is a desk, computer, internet connection and word processing software to get started.

Costs Involved

Normally it is free to join an affiliate program, and all the set up costs and shipping costs will be met by the merchant whose products you are selling. Plus, as you do not need any where to store goods, this is another reason for joining an affiliate program. So even if you happen to live in a 1 bedroom apartment, you can still sell the biggest products going as an affiliate because all the goods are held by the merchant you are working as an affiliate for.

Choices

There are thousands of products and services that you can choose from. So finding the right products for either a website you have already or one that you are planning to build is immense.

No need to have a Merchants Account

This can be a time consuming and costly expense for anyone setting up a business for the first time. Certainly, it is even more so where an online business is concerned. However, as an affiliate, the merchant you are selling the product for will bear all costs, as well as handle the processing of all payments. So you never have to worry about any potential charge backs, fraudulent purchases or losing your merchant account completely as an affiliate. Plus, no longer will you be concerned with collecting and storing names and addresses of customers along with their credit card details, as this is all done by the merchant who you are affiliated to.

Plus, no longer do you have to worry about dealing with awkward or nasty customers and their complaints. This is down to the merchant to deal with.

Probably one of the best things about affiliate marketing is that you can make money while you sleep.

Another benefit to get into affiliate marketing is that if the product you chose isn’t making money, then you can just dump it. Remove any links to the product and then start promoting another instead. This is because there are no long term contracts which bind you to selling one particular product, so the risk to you is minimal.

If you work hard at affiliate marketing, then the potential to earn a good income is high. It really depends on just how much you want it and how much effort you are willing to put in to the products you are trying to sell.

For an idea of just what kinds of products and services offer affiliate programs, check out Clickbank.com or CommissionJunction.com. Both of these sites are generally at the very top of most affiliate marketers’ lists.

Creating an Online Business 101: Part 7

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:54:00 GMT

How to Set Up an Online Business on a Budget

You have now decided to set up an online business, but your budget is very small, so how can you get going?

You could start off by looking for free domain names. Because there are so many companies around who are now selling domain names, the market has become quite competitive. But there are a few sites around that will register a domain for you at no charge. However, there is a catch with some of them in that they will set themselves up as the administrator for your domain and then only transfer ownership to you after a set period of time for free or will charge you a small fee.

If you are going to be setting up and launching a website, but do not want to pay the $20-$40 a month that you can typically charged for hosting, then don’t. There are plenty of places on the web today that will host your site for free. But before you get too excited about this prospect, it is important to remember that there is a drawback to be had from using such places. Most of these free host sites will place a banner at the top of your pages for allowing you to do this. However, there are some web hosts around who do not charge you a fee or force you to have a banner on your site either. While there are others who will remove the banners completely for a small fee each year, which is nothing compared to what you would pay to get someone to host your site for you each month.

What if you are someone who does not have their own product to sell, but still wants to make money online? Then look no further than becoming an affiliate marketer. This we will look at more closely in the next chapter of this book.

(Note from Global Net Source: We do offer domains and hosting with very competitive rates, or as stated above, we can provide you with free hosting when you purchase a domain from us, you will see a header with our business name at the top of your website pages.)

Creating an Online Business 101: Part 6

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:55:00 GMT

How to Go About Setting Up an Online Business

The best way of setting up an online business today is as follows:-

1. Choose a niche and then specialize in it. Do not think that you are going to make big bucks by selling everything under the sun (unless you are using Ebay, but even this is getting more competitive today).

2. Choose or create a product. You can either use affiliate products or create your own.

3. Probably one of the most important things to do when setting up an online business is to find a good name. It should be short, easy to remember and reflect what your business actually does. Your domain name is the name by which your online customers will remember you by. A good domain name is one that is memorable, short and easy to spell. There are many websites around offering domain names, of course we recommend Right Price Sites by Global Net Source.

4. Get your own website. Do not go for a free page on some affiliate site, but get your own. It is much easier to do than you think. Get some hosting (there are plenty of companies on the web today offering their services). Then buy a template system if you can not program (again take a look around the web and you will soon find plenty of companies offering web templates). Now all you have to do is start learning how to use it. However, if you are not technically minded then you will need to hire someone to handle all the technical aspects of your online business. This could include such things as building your website for you, the handling of your website hosting and the setting up of any domain names that you may require. Global Net Source also offers hosting and sitebuilder!

5. Always look for a secure and reliable host service provider. It is important that you examine the "uptime guarantee" that each service provider offers. Also, analyze the physical infrastructure of where your online business will be stored. But probably most important of all is that you should scrutinize the hosting providers "Back Up" and "Data Security" systems. This includes calculating how much time would be required to reinstall your online business if there was a complete infrastructure failure on the part of the hosting provider. This will help you to calculate the least possible loss to your business if such a situation arises.

6. Build a list. This is important so that you are able to repeatedly talk with visitors to your site. It is important that you keep the visitors updated as to what is happening with your site. This also enables you to contact them numerous times regarding whatever offer(s) you wish to present them.

7. Look at the ways in which you will handle the payments made by your customers. If you are selling an affiliate product, then this will not be a problem as the affiliate program will handle the payments for you. However, if you are selling your own product, then you will have to set up your own payment processing system. This will be looked at more closely in another chapter of this book.

8. Look at the ways in which you will arrange for goods to be delivered to your customer if selling your own products. You must look at local courier companies, as well as the postal service and find out which will be more cost effective for sending goods to customers. Also, you will then need to decide on the pricing system for the sending of packages to your customer’s. But it is important that you choose a shipping company who you know is going to be reliable. Look especially at those companies who offer an online tracking system.

Creating an Online Business 101: Part 5

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:23:00 GMT

What Type of Businesses Can You Have as an Online Business?

In this chapter, we will look at some of the more common types of online businesses that people are running. Keep in mind, the decision is really up to you as to what type of business you want to run online.

Marketing Business

This is one of the most common types of online businesses around. You can either run this business by exclusively marketing your own products, or by marketing those of other big budget companies. But this needs you to produce a visually striking web page that has all the necessary information and purchasing options on it for the products in question. In order for this business to be successful, it needs to be promoted effectively to potential customers via search engines, email or other sources. We will look at marketing in more depth in another chapter of this book.

Turnkey Internet Business

This is a very trendy type of business to have online. This is where you would purchase a website from an already established sector and then run the business on a web platform that is provided to you by the established business. In order to promote such an online business, there are many different methods that you could use, such as promoting individual products or services to your online customers.

Internet Services

This is a business where specific services are provided to online customers at a reasonable price. Such businesses are often set up according to a person’s professional expertise and will provide services to their customers in relation to this. The types of businesses that will come under this umbrella are online consultancies, computer software assistance, and hardware trouble shooting and even such things as how to start an online business.

Medical & Health Care Facility Services

This is where someone will set up a complete online pharmacy and the services related to this type of business will be offered to online customers. Such businesses will provide customers with medical consultancy, selling of medications and other medical charges. If you look further into this line of business, you will find that there are several medical institutes who can franchise a person to run a virtual medical and health care facility for them.

But besides the ones mentioned above, there are many other kinds of online businesses around, such as entertainment websites, home decoration, dating, article writing, fitness, allergies, online chat and interaction and email servers are just some. But no matter what type of online business ("niche") it is you decide to get involved in, it is important to plan carefully and have the ability promote the business professionally over the internet.

Creating an Online Business 101: Part 4

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:15:00 GMT

How to Set Up a Business Plan for an Online Business

By setting up a business plan, you are road mapping your way to success. It will help you to develop your business goals and strategies, as well as providing you with a better understanding of the marketplace. It will also highlight any business strengths or weaknesses that you may have, as well as providing you with an opportunity to take a close look at your competitors. If you want, you can also include financial projections, historical data and growth expectations into your business plan.

With any good business plan, it should show who the target audience is, and just how the product or service that is being provided will meet or exceed their needs and expectations.

When organizing a business plan it is best if you break it down into sections such as:-

1. Business summary – The product or service you want to provide.

2. Market analysis – Research on the product or service and how the competitors are doing.

3. Product positioning – How to make it more prominent compared to your competitors.

4. Market strategy – How are you actually going to market it?

5. Customer analysis – Look at what the customer wants or needs.

6. Financial analysis – What you need to invest in order to set up the business and to keep it going while it is just getting started.

7. Overall business goals – What you hope to achieve in, say, a year’s time.

But what is more important is that once a business plan has been developed, it should not lay in the back of a drawer somewhere. It should be a working plan that you can refer to when you need to.

The best way to make a business plan is to keep it simple (one or two pages should be all you need).

Certainly one of the best things you can do when starting an online business is to create a plan then stick with it.

Creating an Online Business 101: Part 3

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:11:00 GMT

Things That Need to be Considered Prior to Setting Up an Online Business

During this chapter, we will look at things that you need to consider before you actually set up your online business.

What product or service will you want to provide?

For many people, they will start an online business based on knowledge and experience that they have already, while others may spot a gap in the market. But the most important thing that you can do is carry out research with companies and individuals that you do not know in order to get a more unbiased view.

Also, do as much reading and research on everything you can about particular areas of interest, as well as studying the pros and cons that this will have in relation to your overall goals. Plus, make yourself familiar with your competitors, as this will boost your confidence and enthusiasm for setting up an online business.

Where to work from?

You do not need to work from home, but this is an option that many online business people prefer. But others prefer to have an office away from the home, as they find it difficult to focus, as well as feeling isolated.

How to market the business?

It is important, if you want your online business to thrive, to ensure that you establish a web presence. The best way of doing this is by direct mail, networking, display advertising etc. But what approach works best for you will depend on the product that you are selling. The best way of finding out what will work, is by trying a different number of methods initially, and then go for it once you know which one is best. However, if you are unsure where to start, then look at how your competition is marketing their goods…if it works for them, it may work for you also.

Develop a Plan.

Without having a blueprint on how to reach your goals, you may find that not just your efforts, but the resources may well be squandered. Having a plan provides you with focus, direction and momentum to keep the business on track. We will look further at setting up a business plan in the next chapter.

Check Laws and Regulations

It is important that you check to see if there are any local laws or regulations in relation to setting up an online business from home. Also, you will need to get laws and regulations in regard to being self employed.

Setting up the Office

More often than not, an online business will be conducted from the person’s home. So it is important that you set up a home office prior to starting up the business. You should arrange to have all the necessary equipment that you will need such as computer, internet connection, printer, fax machine (but not essential) are just a few things that you will need if you want to be successful with your online business.

Creating an Online Business 101: Part 2

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 23:42:00 GMT

What Reasons Are There for Starting an Online Business?

There are plenty of reasons as to why many people start an online business, and below we will provide you with just a few of them.

For many people, the main reason that they decide to start an online business is to earn an extra income. Usually, this is in addition to the income that they are already earning. However for others, what starts as a part time venture, soon becomes a full time one.

Another reason that people decide to start up an online business is that they have more control over their working life.

Also, it provides them with a chance to spend more time with their family and friends. Today much too much time is spent working, and many people find that they have little or no time to spend with those that they love.

Furthermore, there are other reasons as to why so many people now choose to set up an online business.

What rush hour?

No longer do they need to get up in the morning to rush off to work and get caught up in all that traffic. Now that time which would normally be wasted sitting in traffic can be used to their advantage. Plus, it is up to you when you work, so if you don’t want to start until late in the morning, you do not need to.

Prosperity

Because of the rapid advance in technology, many online businesses today tend be prosperous, and so getting involved in this type of business is a good way to make some money.

Costs of Starting Up

This is probably one of the biggest reasons as to why many people choose to start an online business. As many of the transactions are completed online, there is little or no need for lots of paper and documents. What one really needs in order to get an online business going is a computer, a high speed internet connection (ADSL), printer, fax machine and few other essentials that an office may need.

As you can see, these are just a few good reasons for why setting up an online business might be the ideal choice for you.

Creating an Online Business 101: Part 1

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:44:00 GMT

First, let me thank you for reading this guide on how to set up your own online business. I really appreciate that.

Now as you know, more and more people today have become dissatisfied with their jobs and their pension provisions. So the interest in starting an online business has begun to increase. Yet many who look at such a project find it difficult to know where to start because of the mountain of information available on the subject.

However, during this book we will help you to wade through the mountain of information available. This will, in turn, help you to decide on what is the right sort of online business for you.

One of the first things that you should bear in mind when setting up an online business of any sort, is that you must treat it as just that – a business. This means that you must be prepared to put in the time and effort in order to reap the rewards, even if you are only starting it as a part time venture at first.

Next, you must be prepared to invest some money into it. You do not need to put in large amounts, in fact, if you want, you could actually set it up on a very low budget. Also, what you should remember where an online business is concerned, the running costs are very low compared to a more traditional business.

However, the best place to begin is by picking what you like from the existing successful online business models already out there. So talk to others who have already made money in the niche that you have chosen, and then study, then implement the steps that they took to make it the success it is.

So now you need to think about just what sort of business it is you like to run. Some of the more popular types of online businesses to be found are: selling goods at auction sites such as Ebay, creating and then selling digital products (e-books are a good example of this) and setting up a custom storefront for your offline business. Also, you may want to make downloadable audio and video products for your customers, or you may just want to get into affiliate marketing instead. We will look at affiliate marketing a little further on in this book in a little more depth.

However, if you do choose to go with Ebay, one of the main advantages of setting up an online business based around this is as follows:-

1. You will have immediate access to millions of customers.

2. Plus you will have the opportunity to sell anything from cars to collectibles (say old sports cards).

3. Also, setting up an account on Ebay is straightforward, and the costs relating to auctioning items on this site are extremely low.

However, it is important that you familiarize yourself with the site. So take a look at the different categories and auctions that are already taking place. Also check out their "How to Sell" section on the site.

For some, the thought of creating their own products seems very daunting, but if you happen to be an expert in a particular niche, then coming up with ideas should not be that difficult. It is important that you carry out some market research to make sure that people would buy related items.

So spend some time writing down or recording any thoughts that you may have with regard to the subject. Then go back and edit where you need to by putting things into a logical order. However, if you are someone who doesn't’t like writing, then take a look at some other sites selling those same products or similar ones and get ideas from them.

Make a note, if you can, of what is selling well and formulate some questions that someone who is interested in this product might ask. If you are able to find a friend who will do an interview with you, getting them to ask you the questions you have produced. You can, if you want, record this interview and the make into an audio product which others can then download.

But if this just all seems too much, then why not get someone else to write some books for you? Think about hiring a ghostwriter. But this may be something to consider when you have a bit more money in the business account. So really, the next best way to make money with an online business is by selling someone else’s products as an affiliate. As previously mentioned, we will look more closely at affiliate marketing in another chapter of this book.

The best way of starting an online business is to do it in an area that you are knowledgeable or passionate about. This will help you to focus your attention, as well as help to create a small income more quickly. But over a period of time, you will soon develop new skills, and through persistence and patience, you will soon see some very good results appear.

BLOG GIVEAWAY!

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:11:00 GMT

We hope you have been finding our free e-books and articles useful for your business, we will continue to provide you more business resources, but it shouldn't be all work and no play, that's why we are having a BLOG GIVEAWAY!

You know you deserve a break, you've been working hard and it's time to be blessed with a
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Bonus $25 restaurant gift card or $100 gas special offer on completion of travel.

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So how can YOU be the lucky winner? It is so easy to enter our giveaway!

Leave a comment on our blog to receive an entry, make sure you don't leave it anonymously or we won't be able to credit you with an entry.
You will automatically be entered into the drawing by doing this. Please note you must submit your entry from a valid e-mail address or we won't be able to notify you if you win. (We wil keep your information private)

Want additional entries?

--Subscribe to our newsletter by sending an e-mail to us at subscribe@webs4success.com receive 2 bonus entries!

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So..... what are you waiting for? The giveaway will end on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 10.00 am PST, the winner will be notified via e-mail, and will receive the certificate via USPS mail.

Notes:
Travel certificate provided by and guaranteed by Worldwide Travel Center; all terms of use are detailed on the certificate. Global Net Source will mail travel certificate to the winner within 1 business day of drawing. Global Net Source assumes no responsibility for the fullfilment of travel certificate.

Do You Really Need an SSL Certificate?

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:59:00 GMT

Global Net Source is pleased to offer a limited time sale on our Standard SSL Certificate provided by StarfieldTechnologies. From September 15th - October 31st, 2009, our Standard SSL Certificate is only $19.99 per year!
We hope this article will provide you valuable information for your business.

Recent numbers from the U.S. Department of Commerce show that online retail is continuing its rapid growth. However, malicious phishing and pharming schemes and fear of inadequate online security cause online retailers to lose out on business as potential customers balk at doing business online, worrying that sensitive data will be abused or compromised.

For e-businesses, the key is to build trust: Running a successful online business requires that your customers trust that your business effectively protects their sensitive information from intrusion and tampering.

Installing an SSL Certificate from Global Net Source and Starfield Technologies on your e-commerce Web site allows you to secure your online business and build customer confidence by securing all online transactions with up to 256-bit encryption. An SSL Certificate on your business’ Web site will ensure that sensitive data is kept safe from prying eyes. With a Starfield Technologies SSL Certificate, customers can trust your site.

Before issuing a certificate, Starfield Technologies rigorously authenticates the requester’s domain control and, in the case of High Assurance SSL Certificates, the identity and, if applicable, the business records of the certificate-requesting entity. The authentication process ensures that customers and business partners can rest assured that a Web site protected with a Starfield Technologies certificate can be trusted. The SSL Certificate provides the security your business needs and the protection your customers deserve. With an SSL Certificate, customers will know that your site is secure.

In the rapidly expanding world of electronic commerce, security is paramount. Despite booming Internet sales, widespread consumer fear that Internet shopping is not secure still keeps millions of potential shoppers from buying online. Only if your customers trust that their credit card numbers and personal information will be kept safe from tampering can you run a successful online business. For online retailers, securing their shopping sites is paramount. If consumers perceive that their credit card information might be compromised online, they are unlikely to do their shopping on the Internet. An SSL Certificate provides an easy, cost-effective and secure means to protect customer information and build trust.

An SSL Certificate enables Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption of your business’ online transactions, allowing you to build an impenetrable fortress around your customers’ credit card information.

What is an SSL certificate?
An SSL certificate is a digital certificate that authenticates the identity of a Web site to visiting browsers and encrypts information for the server via Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. A certificate serves as an electronic “passport” that establishes an online entity’s credentials when doing business on the Web. When an Internet user attempts to send confidential information to a Web server, the user’s browser will access the server’s digital certificate and establish a secure connection.

Information contained in the certificate includes:

The certificate holder’s name (individual or company)*

The certificate’s serial number and expiration date
Copy of the certificate holder’s public key
The digital signature of the certificate-issuing authority

To obtain an SSL certificate, one must generate and submit a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) to a trusted Certification Authority, such as Starfield Technologies, which will authenticate the requester’s identity, existence and domain registration ownership before issuing a certificate.

*High Assurance Certificates only. Turbo SSL Certificates only contain the domain name and no information on the individual or company that purchased the certificate.

An SSL Certificate secures safe, easy and convenient Internet shopping. Once an Internet user enters a secure area — by entering credit card information, e-mail address or other personal data, for example — the shopping site’s SSL certificate enables the browser and Web server to build a secure, encrypted connection. The SSL “handshake” process, which establishes the secure session, takes place discreetly behind the scenes, ensuring an uninterrupted shopping experience for the consumer. A “padlock” icon in the browser’s status bar and the “https://” prefix in the URL are the only visible indications of a secure session in progress. By contrast, if a user attempts to submit personal information to an unsecured Web site (i.e., a site that is not protected with a valid SSL certificate), the browser’s built-in security mechanism will trigger a warning to the user, reminding him/her that the site is not secure and that sensitive data might be intercepted by third parties. Faced with such a warning, most Internet users likely will look elsewhere to make a purchase.

Phishing and, recently, pharming pose constant threats to Internet users whose sensitive information is under siege by crackers and other cyber crooks. An SSL certificate from Starfield Technologies can clip the wings of Internet criminals and help prevent Internet users from being victimized by phishing and pharming schemes when attempting to visit your Web site.

Phishing schemes – attempts to steal and exploit sensitive personal information – typically try to trick victims into accessing fraudulent sites that pose as legitimate, trusted entities, such as online businesses and banks. Because perpetrators of such attacks will be using and registering domains that resemble those of the spoofed sites, Starfield Technologies, through its stringent fraud-prevention measures, will detect the schemes and deny certificate requests for suspicious domains.

More sophisticated than phishing, pharming revolves around the concept of hijacking an Internet Service Provider’s (ISP) domain name server (DNS) entries. When a “pharmer” succeeds in such DNS “poisoning” every computer using that ISP for Internet access is directed to the wrong site when the user types in a URL (e.g., www.ebay.com). SSL certificate technology can help prevent pharming attacks, as well. In essence, a “pharmer” simply will not be able to obtain an SSL certificate from Starfield Technologies, as he/she does not control the domain for which the certificate is requested. By protecting your Web site with a Starfield Technologies SSL certificate Internet users that attempt to access a site that poses as yours will be instantly alerted that there is a problem with the supposedly secure connection:

No lock icon: Because CAs usually won’t issue a certificate to fraudulent phishing or pharming sites, such sites usually do not use SSL encryption. Internet users, therefore, are alerted by the absence of a padlock icon in their browser’s status bar.

Name mismatch error: A pharming site could try to use a certificate issued by a CA for a domain owned by the attacker, but the user’s browser will warn the user that the visited URL does not match the certificate presented by the fake Web server.

Untrusted CA: A pharming site might attempt to use a certificate issued by an untrusted CA. In this case, the user’s browser will generate the following warning: “the security certificate was issued by a company you have not chosen to trust.” The alert Internet user will instantly abandon his/her activities/ transactions when presented with such warnings. Thus, a Starfield Technologies SSL certificate provides business owners and wary, savvy Internet users with an effective weapon against phishing, pharming and similar cyber swindles.

Demand for reliable online security is increasing. Despite booming online sales many consumers continue to believe that shopping online is less safe than doing so at old-fashioned brick-and-mortar stores. The key to establishing a successful online business is to build customer trust. Only when potential customers trust that their credit card information and personal data is safe with your business, will they consider making purchases on the Internet.

A Starfield Technologies SSL Certificate provides a convenient, costeffective and reliable means to secure your business’s online transactions. Once installed on your business’ Web site the certificate will safeguard sensitive data by securing online transactions with up to 256-bit SSL encryption. With a Starfield Technologies SSL Certificate your customers will know that they can trust your business. Applying a Starfield Technologies SSL Certificate to your online business today will secure your online sales.

Guide To Setting Up Your Home Office

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:15:00 GMT

Home Office Setup Essentials

Establishing your own home business has its own set of challenges but it can be an exciting prospect for the most part. However, you must not neglect the need for setting up a home office where you take care of most your business needs. This will enable you to treat your home business as you normally think of business.

To set up a home office that makes working convenient and efficient for you, there are some essential factors that you need to put the home office together. Therefore, you have to secure all the necessary equipment and furniture that help to keep your business running smoothly.

Starting Your Home Office Setup

Before you look into the finer details of your home office setup stage, you need to work on the basics first. Taking care of these basic items will help you in working out the specifics later.

• On which part of the house do you set up your home office? Consider the year-round conditions of that particular area in the house. Make sure that it provides a convenient place for you to attend to business and work essentials.

• Find a quiet place in the house. Setting up your home office away from areas that offer a lot of distraction will help you increase productivity. This is an important consideration if you have young children at home.

• Create a home office business plan. As with anything, it is always best to have a plan so you are able to organize the steps you need to take to get to your goals.

Space Plan

Here is where you should decide which area of the house you will be setting up your home office. The source of potential distraction is definitely one of the biggest factors that could influence your decision. Some of your other considerations would be to ensure that that particular room get enough light and air, as well as being away from the source of noise. This will enable you to provide a professional environment dedicated for work.

Since you will be spending a significant amount of your time each day in your home office, make sure it is a place you are comfortable with. If not, then you might consider devoting some time to decorating your home office to make it suitable for working.

Home Office Equipment

Adequate equipment is essential in your home office in order to operate effectively. Therefore, you need to identify what equipment you need to have in your home office for your particular type of business, after you have decided on an area in your house to setup your home office.

Communication tools such as a telephone line and fax machine are essential. When you are doing business, having contact with clients is vital. One important reminder with your home office is to have a separate phone dedicated for business use, which is separate from your home use. Be sure to establish good habits of answering your business line with a professional greeting.

In this modern world, most business professionals also utilize email communication for a more efficient communication system. Hence, you should create an email account if you do not already have one. The idea of having more than one medium of communication is to be able to provide the most convenient communication method for your business associates as possible.

Other equipment that will be essential in your home office includes functional computers (either laptop or desktop)with internet access, a printer and potentially a scanner. There are many all-in-one printer/scanner/fax machines available to choose from which could save you money and space.

Creating a Home Office for your Home Business

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:21:00 GMT

In a troubled economic condition wherein many people are losing their jobs, many have opted for self-employment. This has become a reliable prospect knowing that many people have also experienced financial success with work from home businesses. There are several benefits and yet the earning potential is quite promising as well.

If you are one of these people, then you might want to consider making your home business legitimate with the establishment of your home office. Home business owners might fail to give this priority, especially if they start to enjoy the cost savings entailed with working from home. However, creating a home office will offer added benefits for your business.

Your Professional Image

If you intend to make your home business grow, then it only makes sense to set up a home office. You will be able to establish a professional image behind your business that will convince your clients to do more business with you in the future.

Moreover, your home office will serve as the best place where you could hold professional meetings with your client if they wish to discuss business with you or entertain potential customers. Indeed, image plays such a vital role in every form of business as it increases the client's confidence in your ability to deliver work. This is your first opportunity at impressing them.

Separation From Home Life

Most individuals who are self-employed or work from home are easily distracted in their work with activities at home. Therefore, several tasks are put off and you fail to deliver work on time. Setting up your home office will build that separation from your home life. Although at home, you can still attend to your work from your home office, free of any form of distraction. And yet, when emergencies come up, you'd still be easy to contact.

The idea here is not entirely to separate yourself from family. However, it helps to create a boundary and let the members of your family know that even though you are at home, you need to attend to work and must be freed of distractions. Make sure you inform them of your working schedule so they won't be disturbing you during those hours. This is also one reason why you should opt for a separate room in the house to convert as your home office. This creates the necessary separation from work and home life.

Business Growth

With a home office, you are able to open up opportunities for expanding your business and its reach. In a professional setting, there are people assigned to work for certain aspects of your business. Hence, companies hire people to attend to human resource, technical support, finance, and other important departments. But with home businesses, especially starting ones, deciding whether to hire employees is a tricky one. There are compensation and insurance coverage that you need to take into consideration. And yet, you cannot fail to consider the benefits of having employees working for your home business and its success.

Convenience

This is probably the most obvious reason as to why you should legitimize your home business by setting up a home office. You can get savings in your time, energy, and effort. Moreover, you have one specific area in your house that is designed for the purpose of doing business. Here, you can have all the materials and furnishings you need to make doing work convenient. And if you want to step out of the pressure-filled world of your work life, then stepping out to your home life is literally a few steps away.

Tips for Websites that Work

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:44:00 GMT

If you are just getting started with building websites, the task may be daunting, fortunately there are many website buiding tools to help you, such as WebSite Tonight which will get your website created quickly and easily. Regardless of the sitebuilder you decide to use, here's a few tips to keep in mind as you create your site in order to make it pleasing to the user and therefore bring about the business you desire.

Keep it simple, while you might be having fun adding many colors and fonts, this may produce a result which seems overly busy and confusing to your site visitors.
Ensure a naural flow. Your website should make sense to your first time guests, if they are confused by the layout of your site,chances are they won't return.
Make your intent clear. Make sure your visitors know what your main product or service is. Your homepage should reflect the main focus of your business.
Identify yourself. Be sure to clearly display your company name, logo and contact information on each page of your website.
Be consistent. Maintain consistency wih fonts, color schemes and layouts. Your website will appear more professional and be more eye-pleasing.
Check links. It is very disappointing to click on a link only to find that it doesn't work. Check all links before you go live with your site, and be sure to continue to check them from time to time.
Avoid pop-ups. Most people are annoyed by them and many browsers block them anyway.
Quality content. Take your time and make sure you give the best you can, have someone proof read for you and ask them to offer constructive crtiticism.

Click here to watch a short video overview of Website Tonight.

Best regards for your success!

Landing Page Success Part 7: Driving Traffic To Your Page

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:44:00 GMT

Driving traffic into your landing page, it sounds easy, doesn't it? Well, it's not. And no matter how great your landing page is, it wont matter if no one ever reads it. Furthermore, if everyone in the world other than your target audience reads it, it also wont matter. This is why you need to find media through which you can drive targeted visitors to your landing page.

One way in which you can drive traffic to your landing page is through natural search engine optimization. This is the slowest process, but it is also one of the best ways to ensure a continually increasing stream of traffic over time.

Generating natural search engine traffic generally entails getting links to your site. While reciprocal linking was once the best strategy, experts now believe that major search engines are devaluing reciprocal links in favor of one-way links and triangular links (which search engines can't really detect).

Another way in which to get natural search engine traffic is by optimization of your website for certain key phrases. You can do this by creating pages that specifically focus on one keyword on your given niche. You can then set the page extension to that keyword and optimize the content at a 1.5% density for that keyword. You will also want to use it in header and title tags.

Now, in addition building natural search engine traffic, you will want to consider using pay per click advertising. You can do this by opening an account with Google Adwords.

As mentioned earlier, successful Google Adwords campaigns do two things: they group keywords into multiple, small, related groups – and they send leads to multiple, tweaked landing pages.

This means you will have to start with some careful keyword research; and you will then have to alter your landing pages to match that research. These are some of the most commonly used tools for driving traffic to a landing page; however, they are not always the most effective.

Now, both of those methods can be effective, but they both usually have rather high barriers to entry and require a lot of work.

Luckily, you do have another option: human connections. And this is where most Internet marketers fail. They don't realize the power of human connections because they are so caught up in the idea of making transactions and collecting massive checks without having to deal with customers and clients.

One quick way to get traffic through human connections is a joint venture. You can enter into a joint venture by compiling a list of possible "partners" -- or people who might be able to assist you in some mutually-beneficial way. This list might include other list owners in your niche, site owners in your niche, and experts.

There's only one important thing you should keep in mind when contacting joint venture partners – and that is to make it as quick, easy, and beneficial for them as possible. If they have no incentive for doing it, they probably wont even reply to you. And if it isn't easy, they'll accept other joint venture offers over yours.

Another way in which you can drive traffic to your landing page is through blog and forum posting; however, it is important that you do not spam, as many businesses do. Instead, actually participate on the forum, provide people with something of value; and, after a while, post your product in your signature – and try to network with people on the forum who work in similar fields.

Your approach to blog posting should be similar. Include a signature file that links back to your landing page, but don't spam. Instead, post useful comments. This is not only more ethical, but it is plainly more effective. Spam gets deleted. Good comments get praised, inducing people to follow your link and check out your products.

We hope this series has been helpful to you. Visit us tomorrow for something new!

Landing Page Success Part 6: Increasing Your Conversion Rate

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:36:00 GMT

There are three major ways in which you can increase your landing page conversion rate. All landing pages created by professionals usually include these three elements as well as a few others.

The first way in which you can increase your conversion rate is through personalization. This is usually done in two ways: the first way is by providing a photo of yourself. The second way is by adding your signature to the bottom of your landing page.

This radically increases visitors' trust. Most people who resist buying products online do so because they're weary of getting scammed by a faceless liar, who wont be around when they need help or when they need to return the product.

Tip:

By adding your picture and signature, you can significantly increase a gain in your visitors' trust. ☺

Another way in which you can increase your landing page conversion rate is by using black text or a white layout. Regardless of what anyone tells you, this is one of the easiest ways in which to make your page look professional, rather than pathetic or desperate.

The third way in which you can gain trust is by offering something for free. This is generally what you will do if you're using a squeeze page to generate leads: you'll offer a free report or five-day course – and then use that to generate leads, which you will later up-sell or generate revenue from via affiliate sales. Why is this technique so effective?

Quite simply because it allows them to judge your work and ideas before they actually have to pay for them. Additionally, it builds trust.

In addition to these three general ways in which to increase your conversion rate, you should always guarantee a product. If you sell through Click Bank, you actually wont have a choice.

But if you're using Paypal or some other check out (Credit Card processing) program, you will want to make sure you clearly state that customers can return your product for any reason within a given period of time after the purchase.

Follow all of these steps and you will significantly increase your landing page conversion rate.

Landing Page Success Part 5: How to Write a Landing Page that Converts

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:30:00 GMT

Most people have no (or simply the slightest) idea how to write a landing page that converts. Instead, they slop together elements that they have seen used in other landing pages – but usually do not put them together in the same way the owner of the successful landing page did.

One major problem is copy. And that's fine. Not everyone is going to be an excellent writer – never mind a copywriter. But as someone selling a product or trying to build a list, it is important that you know your strengths and weaknesses – and that you either spend the time to overcome them or hire someone else to do it for you.

With copy writing, for instance, it is important to use a mix of compelling sales points with powerful psychological triggers. Most people who create a sales page miss either one or both of those elements.

For instance, they might concentrate so much on building hype that they don't actually explain what solution they are providing – and for whom they are providing it. If I don't have a specific problem that your product solves, why would I buy it? I wouldn't.

Now, if they fail to sprinkle in psychological triggers, such as "scientifically proven," "guaranteed," and "shocking," no one will feel compelled to continue reading, as the benefits will have a low or average perceived value.

In addition to these two problems, some sales pages lack coherency and direction. The copy looks amateurish and it doesn't slowly grind forward, breaking down the visitor's resistance to the sale – and compelling him or her to buy more and more at each sales point.

Additionally, if there aren't multiple calls to action – another form of psychological trigger – then a potential visitor might never feel compelled enough to pull out his or her credit card on the spot and make the purchase.

In addition to careful copy writing, there are other important things you must take into consideration when writing a landing page that converts. For instance, it is important to build a compelling case for a time-bound offer.

Now, this doesn't mean you have to invent fake deadlines and constantly revise them each week. This is a good way to guarantee your complete loss of credibility in the shortest amount of time possible.

However, when planning your copy, you will want to make sure that you constantly urge the reader to act immediately by inserting a number of "calls to action," as I've mentioned previously.

You may want to consider using fly-ins or pop-ups to create more urgency – or to make a time-bound offer. Perhaps you can use a countdown to build urgency (i.e., when someone arrives at your landing page, they have five minutes to purchase the product at the lowest price).

Now if you're creating a squeeze page, you might want to employ slightly different tactics. Rather than building a compelling case with multiple triggers and calls to action over the course of 1000 words, you may want to simply condense that all into a compelling headline and one paragraph of "benefits."

For a completely free-to-join squeeze page, you more than likely won't have a considerable amount of resistance to joining, unless the visitor:

Doesn't see any benefits
Suspects that you will sell their email address to spammers.

Both of these problems are relatively easy to overcome. In your headline, simply state the exact benefits they will receive for joining – as always, mixing in psychological triggers.

In your first paragraph of copy, give them a compelling reason to join now (i.e., the price might go up, the list might become private, you'll get this amazing report).

Now, to overcome the second problems, simply include a short line under your opt-in form that explains that you will not – under any circumstances – spam them or sell or give away their email address and name.

Landing Page Success Part 4: Planning Your Landing Page Theme

info@webs4success.com (Webs4Success) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:03:00 GMT

Perhaps the most important part of creating a landing page is planning your landing page theme. How you select your theme, of course, will all depend on how you plan to generate traffic.

If you decide to generate traffic through search engine optimization, planning your landing page theme will entail finding phrases within your niche which have a high demand (aggregate search value) and a low supply (small amount of competing sites) and then creating multiple landing pages, each which is optimized around a different phrase.

If, on the other hand, you decide to generate traffic through pay per click (PPC) programs, such as Adwords, planning your landing page theme will again entail tuning a number of different pages to fit the keywords you are purchasing.

This is actually where most people fail when they create a landing page: they don't tune it to fit a specific audience. For instance, in the case of a squeeze page for a newsletter, they might start a newsletter about toys, but they only create one landing page and send all traffic to it. This is a big mistake.

Chances are, if you create a quality product or newsletter, it can benefit a number of people. So why not communicate the exact benefits they will derive from subscribing or buying?

If, for instance, you have a newsletter about Legos and toy blocks, so you group it under the loose heading of "toys," a visitor who is looking specifically for information about either Legos or toy blocks will click off your page if they don't see the direct connection to the exact topic for which they were searching.

Instead, you will want to setup a page centered around Legos and a page centered around toy blocks. On each page, you will want to communicate the specific benefits to joining the list for each of those groups of visitors.

Going one step further, in addition to planning your landing page theme, if you are creating a landing page for a newsletter, you may also want to segment your list, so you can send information specifically about Legos to those who request it – and information about blocks to those who request it.