How To Get Potential Customers To Do Business With You

By Janice Sharman


People are beginning to recognize that the Internet offers enormous possibilities to set up a successful online home business for peanuts. Because the home business entrepreneur now has access to more training than they previously did, online marketers need to stay ahead of the game.

Would-be "netpreneurs" are quickly getting up to speed on what is needed to get started online and quickly recognize the products and opportunities that offer true value and those that do not. Customers see so many sales letters that they are almost immune to average "hype". They're still willing to spend - but they want value for money. They want to be treated like intelligent, discerning adults.

The questions all would be "top affiliates" and aspiring gurus, waiting to get their share of those big cyberspace bucks should be asking, are...

1) How do you get potential customers to do business with "you" rather than your competition?
2) What motivates people to unsubscribe from your opt-in list?
3) And what might make them want to ask for a refund?

In other words...
What makes people want to buy your products and sign up for your opportunities?

- Potential customers should be able to see how your product will give them new insight and knowledge in their given niche.

- They will be happily buy your product if it will help to accelerate their online business growth.

- Potential clients will have no problem buying your product if it will automate a task that eats into their time.
The Internet is all about speed, so your visitors quickly learn to spend their time on marketing and promotion, rather than repetitive tasks.

Once "newbies" have been exposed to a few sales pages, it's doesn't take them long to begin ignoring the usual sales jargon. They will carefully evaluate your sales letter to find out just what your product is really offering them. Do they need your product or will it duplicate something they already own?

Your potential customers will also expect value for money. Sometimes the more expensive products are better value and give more information than many of the cheaper ones. It's all about information and what's in it for me.

Smart Internet Marketers already realize that if they produce online material offering truly valuable information, they are much more likely to attract and keep new customers.

Here’s an example:
Jo James listens to your 60 minute audio inteview on keyword research and search engine optimization. Out of it he gets a wealth of helpful information he hasn't heard anywhere else. This helps him decide that you know what you’re talking about so he happily shells out a few hundred dollars for your products.

What Makes People Want to Unsubscribe from a List?
- Receiving several identical emails selling the same product or opportunity, because their sender hasn't worked his after sale, list transfer procedure.

- Receiving a 'canned' email buzzing with excitement about a new product or service, which duplicates an email they get from six other affiliates marketing the same product.

What Makes People Want to Ask for a Refund?
In former times buyers tended to write off a bad purchase. Nowadays, people will ask for a refund, if they feel they have not received value for their money.

What makes them decide to ask for their money back?
- Physical products (CDs, DVDs) that don't work with their systems.
- Software that doesn't work as advertised.
- An e-book full of easily available content.
- An e-book with very little or poorly written content.
- An e-book that is low on content and full of links with hardly any, really valuable information, or one that is full of affiliate links.

An e-book full of affiliate links or links to your upsell... should be given away for free. When you charge for it, you risk compromising your reputation as a source of good, quality information.

Some of the other things that bite into your customer's valuable time are e-books in ".exe" format only, so the customer can't access them on a Mac computer and streaming MP3's as opposed to a downloadable version.

Instead of keeping your customers chained to their monitors, give them information they can listen to or read away from their computer. They can load an interview or tutorial into their MP3 players and listen to it at their leisure or print out an e-book in PDF format to read or mark up while relaxing away from their computer.

A practice that is getting extremely tiring is having to part with your email address to access someone's sales page. Prospective customers are more likely to hit the back button on their browsers or close the window and leave. There is always another internet marketer around ready to make a sale without fleecing them for their email address.

Potential customers will happily do business with you if you respect their time and intelligence.

About the Author:
Home Business Entrepreneur Janice Sharman has helped lots of ordinary people
start their own profitable Home Business. For FREE information on how you
can start a successful Home Business go to
http://www.computer-work-at-home-job.ws/splash.htm
and join the thousands of Successful Home Business Entrepreneurs.

Yahoo Used in Spyware Click-Fraud Scheme

By Jim Hedger, StepForth News Editor,
StepForth Placement Inc.

Through its Overture pay-per-click search division, Yahoo has been found facilitating fraudulent clíck activity generated by known spyware makers including 180solutions, Intermix, and Direct Revenue. The Spyware - Click-Fraud Connection -- and Yahoo's Role Revisited, (Apr. 4, 06), shows how at least a dozen different spyware firms redirect Internet users searches through their servers, inserting Overture ad links on unrelated websites or with pop-ups triggered by those sites.

Ben Edelman is a researching PhD candidate at the Department of Economics at Harvard. In his follow up to a Sept. 5, 2005 paper, How Yahoo Funds Spyware, Edelman documents a web of relationships between Overture and, "... a startling number of notorious spyware programs."

A recent graduate of Harvard's Law School, Edelman lays out his argument methodically, briefly explaining what constitutes click-fraud and ways in which it happens. He also notes that Yahoo has tried to sever its relationships with the offending firms, often unsuccessfully, as they (spyware makers) continue to include Overture code in their spyware programs. "When Yahoo terminates one fraudster, that fraudster's partners find another way to continue operations."

A few paragraphs down, he notes, "After I highlighted these vendors in my August report, it seems Yahoo attempted to terminate its relationships with them. Yet 180 continued not just to show Yahoo ads, but also to perform click-fraud, as documented." Eliminating spyware click-fraud is likened to a game of Whack-a-Mole. When Yahoo moves to shut down one channel, another is immediately opened.

Edelman calls the methods outlined in his study, Spyware Syndicated PPC Fraud. "Suppose X, the Yahoo partnër site, hires a spyware vendor to send users to its site and to make it appear as if those users clicked X's Yahoo ads. Then advertisers will pay Yahoo, and Yahoo will pay X, even though users nevër actually clicked the ads."

Improve Your Organic Search Engine Placement - Frëe Performänce Proposal!

Using four detailed case studies, conducted between Dec. 17, 2005 and Apr. 2, 2006, Edelman traces traffïc generated on test PCs known to be contaminated with various spyware products. Using packet logs, screenshots, images and video, Edelman effectively demonstrates how each of his conclusions was drawn.

In one case, he shows a link inserted on a New York Times document anchored to the word "prime minister". The link was placed by Qklinkserver and would not appear on an uninfected PC. It was placed without permission from the Times. When clicked, the link sent traffïc through Overture to a PPC advertiser.

The study names, Intermix, 180Solutions, Nbcsearch, eXact, Ditto, Look2me, Ad-w-a-r-e, Improvingyourlooks, Qklinkserver, Srch-results, Claria, InfoSpace, SurfSideKick, TrafficEngine, HotBar and IBIS, as companies directly involved in spyware click-fraud.

Edelman goes on to note, "Yahoo's problem results from bad partners within its network." Because it distributes advertising to third parties who might in turn syndicate those ads to others, Yahoo has no real control over how its ad codes are used to generate clicks.

The problem of click-fraud is an ever-present danger in pay-per-click advertising, one that troubles Google as well. David Utter at WebProNews quotes Google CEO Eric Schmidt saying, "Believe me, as a computer scientist, we have the ability to detect the invalid clicks before they reach advertisers", juxtaposing the quote against the $90million settlement Google reached in the Lanes Gift and Collectables class action.



Edelman closes his study with a realistic but stern warning. The problem is not going to go away. In fact, it is likely to get worse. The market for spyware vendors is drying up, mostly because consumers are aware of the problem and corporate advertisers no longer want to be associated with it. The spyware makers are increasingly turning to more complex systems, including the money-rich PPC market, to find susceptible targets.

Spyware makers have long been known leaches on the Internet. Some, such as Claria receive support from large venture capital firms such as US Venture Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures. In some cases, they have become parts of much largër companies, including some of the world's largest advertising firms. For example, Intermix is a division of News Corp and owns the social network MySpace.Com.

Now that several noted spyware makers have been shown to be involved with click-fraud scams, Yahoo and Google should be moved to immediate action. Aside from protecting the integrity of their PPC programs and maintaining the trust of their advertisers, they must be aware that the New York Attorney General's office is watching.

In a speech sponsored by TRUSTe and the International Association of Privacy Professionals, Ken Dreifach, chief of the Internet bureau in the New York State Attorney General's office, said that entities such as Google and Yahoo can be held accountable for how their affiliates use their content.

In an article published by MediaPost, Shankar Gupta quoted Dreifach saying, "You don't want to ever assume that the existence of intermediaries, whether it's two or six, is going to immunize you from liability."


About The Author
Jim Hedger is a writer, speaker and search engine marketing expert based in Victoria BC. Jim writes and edits full-time for StepForth and is also an editor for the Internet Search Engine Database. He has worked as an SEO for over 5 years and welcomes the opportunïty to share his experience through interviews, articles and speaking engagements. He can be reached at jimhedger@stepforth.com.

Yahoo Used in Spyware Click-Fraud Scheme

By Jim Hedger, StepForth News Editor,
StepForth Placement Inc.

Through its Overture pay-per-click search division, Yahoo has been found facilitating fraudulent clíck activity generated by known spyware makers including 180solutions, Intermix, and Direct Revenue. The Spyware - Click-Fraud Connection -- and Yahoo's Role Revisited, (Apr. 4, 06), shows how at least a dozen different spyware firms redirect Internet users searches through their servers, inserting Overture ad links on unrelated websites or with pop-ups triggered by those sites.

Ben Edelman is a researching PhD candidate at the Department of Economics at Harvard. In his follow up to a Sept. 5, 2005 paper, How Yahoo Funds Spyware, Edelman documents a web of relationships between Overture and, "... a startling number of notorious spyware programs."

A recent graduate of Harvard's Law School, Edelman lays out his argument methodically, briefly explaining what constitutes click-fraud and ways in which it happens. He also notes that Yahoo has tried to sever its relationships with the offending firms, often unsuccessfully, as they (spyware makers) continue to include Overture code in their spyware programs. "When Yahoo terminates one fraudster, that fraudster's partners find another way to continue operations."

A few paragraphs down, he notes, "After I highlighted these vendors in my August report, it seems Yahoo attempted to terminate its relationships with them. Yet 180 continued not just to show Yahoo ads, but also to perform click-fraud, as documented." Eliminating spyware click-fraud is likened to a game of Whack-a-Mole. When Yahoo moves to shut down one channel, another is immediately opened.

Edelman calls the methods outlined in his study, Spyware Syndicated PPC Fraud. "Suppose X, the Yahoo partnër site, hires a spyware vendor to send users to its site and to make it appear as if those users clicked X's Yahoo ads. Then advertisers will pay Yahoo, and Yahoo will pay X, even though users nevër actually clicked the ads."

Improve Your Organic Search Engine Placement - Frëe Performänce Proposal!

Using four detailed case studies, conducted between Dec. 17, 2005 and Apr. 2, 2006, Edelman traces traffïc generated on test PCs known to be contaminated with various spyware products. Using packet logs, screenshots, images and video, Edelman effectively demonstrates how each of his conclusions was drawn.

In one case, he shows a link inserted on a New York Times document anchored to the word "prime minister". The link was placed by Qklinkserver and would not appear on an uninfected PC. It was placed without permission from the Times. When clicked, the link sent traffïc through Overture to a PPC advertiser.

The study names, Intermix, 180Solutions, Nbcsearch, eXact, Ditto, Look2me, Ad-w-a-r-e, Improvingyourlooks, Qklinkserver, Srch-results, Claria, InfoSpace, SurfSideKick, TrafficEngine, HotBar and IBIS, as companies directly involved in spyware click-fraud.

Edelman goes on to note, "Yahoo's problem results from bad partners within its network." Because it distributes advertising to third parties who might in turn syndicate those ads to others, Yahoo has no real control over how its ad codes are used to generate clicks.

The problem of click-fraud is an ever-present danger in pay-per-click advertising, one that troubles Google as well. David Utter at WebProNews quotes Google CEO Eric Schmidt saying, "Believe me, as a computer scientist, we have the ability to detect the invalid clicks before they reach advertisers", juxtaposing the quote against the $90million settlement Google reached in the Lanes Gift and Collectables class action.



Edelman closes his study with a realistic but stern warning. The problem is not going to go away. In fact, it is likely to get worse. The market for spyware vendors is drying up, mostly because consumers are aware of the problem and corporate advertisers no longer want to be associated with it. The spyware makers are increasingly turning to more complex systems, including the money-rich PPC market, to find susceptible targets.

Spyware makers have long been known leaches on the Internet. Some, such as Claria receive support from large venture capital firms such as US Venture Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures. In some cases, they have become parts of much largër companies, including some of the world's largest advertising firms. For example, Intermix is a division of News Corp and owns the social network MySpace.Com.

Now that several noted spyware makers have been shown to be involved with click-fraud scams, Yahoo and Google should be moved to immediate action. Aside from protecting the integrity of their PPC programs and maintaining the trust of their advertisers, they must be aware that the New York Attorney General's office is watching.

In a speech sponsored by TRUSTe and the International Association of Privacy Professionals, Ken Dreifach, chief of the Internet bureau in the New York State Attorney General's office, said that entities such as Google and Yahoo can be held accountable for how their affiliates use their content.

In an article published by MediaPost, Shankar Gupta quoted Dreifach saying, "You don't want to ever assume that the existence of intermediaries, whether it's two or six, is going to immunize you from liability."


About The Author
Jim Hedger is a writer, speaker and search engine marketing expert based in Victoria BC. Jim writes and edits full-time for StepForth and is also an editor for the Internet Search Engine Database. He has worked as an SEO for over 5 years and welcomes the opportunïty to share his experience through interviews, articles and speaking engagements. He can be reached at jimhedger@stepforth.com.

Is Google Forsaking The Webmaster?

Google may be tired of Webmasters taking advantage of its sensitive algorithms through link abuse and repeated keyword digs. With no one else to turn to, the engine that launched a million splogs, might turn its back on Webmasters, trusting visitors and Web directories with less scarlet reputations instead.

The topic on the collective conscious of webmasters lately (and perpetually) is what kind of changes Google is making to its algorithm. Of course none can confirm, but many suspect that traffic, user trust, and the measured value of referring links (including reputable directories) are playing significant roles in search engine rankings.

The apparent shift would include more emphasis on visitors to a website than other factors easily gamed by black hatters. Holistically, this means that not only are inbound links important to ranking, but who links, how often links are clicked by users, how long they stay at a website, and the extent of their activity at the site.

The most interesting of the recent speculations is the quality of certain references (or inbound links). If it is true that the number of links to a website is being devalued because of link farms and so-called "made for AdSense" pages, then the valuation eventually needs to be put on the reference, not the link itself.

This reintroduces the discussion on directories. Though many have recently denounced the effectiveness of directory listings such as DMOZ, others are reviving the idea that if the quality of link is important, then the directory will regain its glory.

Directory-submission.net's Pankaj Gupta argues that since Google mentions both the Yahoo Directory and the Open Directory (DMOZ) in its Webmaster Guidelines, then they must be "editorial votes of quality. These ‘trusted links' are the type a site needs to both break out of the ‘sandbox,' and to rank highly in the current (hard to crack) Google."

How do you determine if a directory might be considered a "trusted source?" Search Engine Journal's Loren Baker suggests snubbing second-tier directories that are obvious spam machines:

"Besides red flags like sitewide links in questionable directories, before submitting your site also look at the quality of the other sites listed in random and popular categories. If expired sites, site maps, spammy sites or ‘made for AdSense' pages are listed - it's best to blacklist such directories from your link building marketing plan."

Loren follows with a list of respected directories other than DMOZ and Yahoo.

It should be no surprise that in the competitive world of search, engines need to shift from quantitative to qualitative examination. Trusted directories are one way of measuring that, as is finding a way to measure user trust and popularity. A hot topic at Webmaster World is how traffic patterns may impact SERPs.

"The Google Toolbar, Google Analytics and click monitoring on the SERPs," begins travisk, "give Google an incredible picture of where people are going, what pages they stay on, what sites they frequently return to and where they go when they leave."

The first comment in the forum thread illustrates the new concept. After reviewing how search engines have been gamed by keywords and inbound links, lammert suggests the influence is shifting from Webmaster to visitor"

"Now the only source left to be trusted is the visitor. To make this functional, Google first had to introduce tools which make it possible to communicate information from the visitor back to Google. And yes, webmasters will find ways to abuse this system also, although it will be more difficult than with the previous two systems."

Jason Lee Miller
Staff Writer - WebProNews

Commission Junction - Pros and Cons

By Paul Cris

Commission Junction is one of the most popular affiliate programs, which offer thousands of products for affiliate marketers to choose from. There are millions of people who market other companies' products and services through middlemen (CJ). Affiliate marketers get commission on sale of products/services. CJ is a middleman between the affiliate marketer and the company. The amount of money spent online is increasing day by day. E-commerce is picking up at a very faster rate and more and more people are joining affiliate networks like CJ, link share etc.

Some people have a feeling that there are not many products for them to market. Once you join CJ then you need to apply for the affiliate programs that you would like to market. Each advertiser has their own procedures to accept or reject your application. Most of the advertisers take long time to accept new affiliate marketers. Once you are accepted, then the next step is to take the code or banners and apply in your web pages.

There are thousands of serious affiliate marketers who make huge money with commission junction. It is at the moment the best in affiliate marketing intermediary.

There are some positive and negative points of commission junction:

Some plus points are:

· There are thousands of products and services for an affiliate marketer to choose from.

· Good statistics and reports.

· Good quality companies and no cheap products.

· Options for affiliate marketers to choose whether button, text or banners to be added in their site.

Some minus points are:

· Difficult interface for new person, it takes time to learn about it.

· There is less variety of products.

· Some product application takes time when you apply for an affiliate program through CJ.

To learn more visit http://www.totalaffiliates.com