A Sitemap for Sore Eyes

A Sitemap for Sore Eyes
Sitemaps have been about for a while. They were originally
created a visual guide to your website. As websites became
larger and more complex webmasters used them as a way to
view the entire structure of a website to find the
connections between pages. Think of them as a kind of
interactive table of contents and index rolled into one.

In recent years the search engines have been viewing site
maps as a good way to index websites and find all the
related content. Google led the charge to make this a
mainstream web tool when it introduced XML sitemaps.
Creating and submitting an XML sitemap to Google is still
the best way to get your website completely crawled by
Google. It has become a standard SEO best practice.

As with many things on the web, Google, Yahoo, AOL, MSN and
Ask all had their own specific way to use and submit
sitemaps in the format they dictated. About six months ago
a couple of these folks joined forces to create a
standardized method of sitemap creation. They formed an
organization called Sitemaps.org and agreed on using the
XML sitemap format.

Sorry for the history lesson, but this is really good news
for small business web site owners because it will greatly
simplify the process of creating and submitting your
sitemap and in doing so enhance your chances of getting
your entire website indexed by all the search engines.

So, in today's article I'm going to tell you how to create
and submit your XML sitemap.

What is a sitemap?

According to Sitemaps.org: "Sitemaps are an easy way for
webmasters to inform search engines about pages on their
sites that are available for crawling. In its simplest
form, a Sitemap is an XML file that lists URLs for a site
along with additional metadata about each URL (when it was
last updated, how often it usually changes, and how
important it is, relative to other URLs in the site) so
that search engines can more intelligently crawl the site."

Building an XML sitemap

While there are several ways to actually create an XML
sitemap I like XML-Sitemaps.com The good news is that if
you have a rather small site (under 500 pages) you can
simply use their free tool to create an xml sitemap. Over
500 pages and you need to get the $19.95 download.

Getting Your Sitemap found

Once you create your sitemap it's still a good idea to
create a free Google Webmaster account so that you can
submit your sitemap directly to Google Sitemaps

Robots.txt file

Now here's where the coming together of the search engines
gets really nice. Not only will Ask, Google, Yahoo, AOL and
MS Live accept the XML format for your sitemap they have
also decided to accept an easy, auto-discovery method. In
other words you won't have to figure out how to submit to
each as they will find your sitemap if you direct them
using your robots.txt file. A robots.txt file is a very
simple file that resides on your server giving information
for the search engines. Many use this file to tell the
search engines not to find certain information.

If you already have a robots.txt file, you can simply add
the line of code below anywhere to it. If you don't have
one, simply create a file in notepad or other text editor,
add the code below, save it as robots.txt and upload to the
root of your site. (Obviously you need to put the actual
URL of your site in here)

Sitemap: http://www.yourwebsite.com/sitemap.xml

Advanced tip - If you use the paid version of xml-sitemap
generator you can set up what's known as a cron job (it's a
Unix only thing) and have your site crawled on a weekly
basis and update your sitemap. This is really great if you
blog several times a weeks on your domain as it adds your
newest posts. Ask your web host about this one.

----------------------------------------------------
John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, award winning
blogger and author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most
Practical Small Business Marketing Guide. You can find more
information by visiting http://www.ducttapemarketing.com

Expired Domain Name Traffic

Expired Domain Name Traffic
Now it is fairly common to know that what a typical domain
name is and how it can act as an all important link to a
number of domain names on the internet. However, most of us
still do not know that there are thousands of domain names
that get expired everyday and that many small sized
companies use such expired domains create very precious
domain expired name traffic. As more and more people who
use internet eventually become knowledgeable about the
power of domain expired name traffic, a floodgate of new
opportunities and options to earn extra income will open up
for them.

Keep on reading this article, if you wish to know how you
can use the absolute power of domain expired name traffic
to create a meaningful vehicle to earn more income. With a
set of domain expired name traffic, you can discover the
overlying concept of sending visitors to a particular web
site by using an expired domain, and later understand the
undeniable advantages of doing so. Though many companies
and firms have used the power of this new concept, not all
of them have reached the desired level of success. This was
due to selecting and picking up inferior and wrong expired
domain names that came with very low traffic volume.

With domain expired name traffic, you will have benefits
like:

* Increase the popularity of a given web site among net
surfers and net shoppers.
* Provide real visitors to that site.
* Offer a real-time user friendly access to the web site.
* Accrue higher search engine rankings.

However, for a web master, the real problem is to maintain
the site popularity by generating traffic towards the web
site address. The use of domain expired name traffic as a
tool for domain redirection has assisted many web sites to
reach better search engine rankings and gain public
recognition. A concerted pool of meaningful and beneficial
domain expired name traffic can help you build a stable
expired domain name business.

The process in which a webmaster uses domain expired name
traffic to gain advantage is very simple and
straightforward. An automated process will be used as a
tool to redirect visitors to specific web sites and this
process is not visible to the people, who use it. Smart
entrepreneurs use the benefit of this automatic tool to
drive hundreds of site visitors to pool traffic and use for
beneficial gains.

Though there are hundreds of expired domain names are
available for purchase and use, you will need to be very
careful in selecting the best few that provides you
handsome domain expired name traffic. Ensure that you are
picking up the right name that is 100% reliable and
trustworthy. You can opt to purchase a good domain expired
name traffic package to create a good volume of traffic to
your site. A good expired domain with plenty of traffic can
provide you real and genuine site visitors, who can
eventually give you lot of sales and orders by deciding to
purchase them products and services.

----------------------------------------------------
John Khu is the well-known author of a new e-book titled
"Expired Domain Secret". He is also a seasoned professional
with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is
also the owner of the path breaking web site called
http://www.expireddomainsecret.com which provides complete
and up-to-date information on expired domains and their
eternal secrets.

Avoiding Becoming An SB Site Spammer

Avoiding Becoming An SB Site Spammer
MAKING SURE YOU DON'T SPAM

Social bookmarking offers you a lot of freedom, and can
help you drive traffic to your website overnight. Still,
abusing this freedom can lower the credibility of your
business, your brand, and your company name. Moving beyond
the potential for spamming will help you to build a strong
and regular community, instead of being booted off a social
bookmarking network.

It's important to review your submissions to make sure
you're not overusing keywords. Keyword overuse is a
turnoff for readers anyway, and you should aim for a
keyword density between 6-8% at the maximum level. Most
readers will easily pick up on articles that simply do not
make sense, and this will limit your ability to promote
quality work. Instead of focusing exclusively on SEO,
create something unique with an attractive headline instead.

Google and Yahoo! are also becoming vigilant about catching
spam-type articles and you will lower your chances of
indexing as a result. The most important factors for
indexing by Google include:

" Publishing content that is relevant to the heading or
topic " Quality formatting " Appropriate links and
references " Appropriate amount of keywords

Reading all terms of use and guidelines will ensure that
you can make the most of your participation, and grow with
your community so you are developing a strong presence.

Avoiding Becoming A Spammer If You're Using Duplicate
Content.

Duplicate content makes it easier for you to write about
your topic of choice, giving you a pre-researched format
and guideline. Still, it's important to make many changes
to the article, and obtain permission rights from the
author when necessary. A single sentence or paragraph that
is copied word for word can be detrimental to your search
engine placement, and may even lead to copyright
infringement.

THE SOFTWARE QUESTION: TO BUY, OR NOT TO BUY

You'll find a variety of submission directory software
packages and applications available on the web today, but
it's important to review the risks involved with using an
automated service. Since many of these can be blocked by
spam filters, the efforts may not be worth your time. These
software packages are designed to submit your content and
information on multiple sites in one simple step.

Some social bookmarking submission software packages are
designed to be compatible with multiple websites, but you
may find that some of your content simply becomes pushed
onto spamming sites and bogs. This is why submitting to
quality directories and sites is even more important today.
Automation does not necessarily guarantee quality, and
only you can make the decision on whether this is
appropriate for your business, your blog, or your website.

Still, you may find some value in free sites such as
Socializer 2.0. Socializer is free web service from
eKstreme.com that allows you submit one link to several
social bookmarking websites by adding some code to your
site. The company has also developed customizable
Wordpress and Movable Type plugins and you can find
instructions on downloading this information directly from
the website.

You can book mark your articles to one folder in your IE
Favorites, export it to it's own folder and import all book
marks in that folder to Del.icou.us and them tag/label
them. Many of the other Social Bookmarking Sites have
features that will allow you to import those favorites
directly into your account from Del.icio.us.

IMPORTANT: Remember to mark all your bookmarks in all
Social Bookmarking Sites as public. When you import
bookmarks, most sites will automatically or by default mark
them as private. When they are marked as private, no one
including search engines can find of view your bookmarks.
If you leave them marked as private, it of course then
defeats the purpose of Social Bookmarking from a marketing
standpoint.

----------------------------------------------------
Sean S. Sampson provides valuable resources, and
information to help the home business owner, and online
business owner prosper with their business. For more
information about Social Bookmarketing, please go to
http://www.makinglotsofmoneyonline.com

Choosing An Affiliate Marketing Mentor

Choosing An Affiliate Marketing Mentor
The once-popular notion that anyone who has a computer can
become a millionaire on the internet seems, thankfully, to
be dying out now. People realize that, to be successful as
an internet entrepreneur you have to have the same
qualities that any other successful businessman will have -
qualities of character and qualities of ideas.

There are still out there, though, lurking in hyperspace,
some people who think that, because they know that
affiliate marketing has made some people a lot of money,
they can jump onto that particular bandwagon, flood a
website with links and banners, and sit back and wait for
the cash to pour in. If only it was that simple; we all
would have done it!

Affiliate marketing is similar to every other business
enterprise in that it has its essential body of knowledge
that must be learned and its prerequisite skills that need
to be developed before you can hope to enter what is a very
crowded market.

Let's face it. Would you dream of setting up any business
without, first of all, trying to discover as much as you
can about the whys and wherefores of it? I hope you
wouldn't, because it would almost certainly be doomed from
the outset if you did.

With affiliate marketing, one of the best things you can
do, when embarking on it as a career or a potentially
lucrative sideline, is to try to pick the brains of someone
who has done it before. Clearly, we all have to have our
own ideas and our own individual ways of working, but there
really is no substitute to knowing the business inside out
- and that's what a mentor can bring.

A mentor - who could be used on a face-to-face basis or,
possibly more likely, encountered on-line - is the 'wise
and trusted teacher and counselor', as the dictionary puts
it, who can guide you through the entire affiliate process
and make it all that much more straightforward for you.
The person who can see obvious mistakes before you have
made them - saving you time and money.

So, what are you looking for in your mentor?

Well, first and foremost, you are looking for someone to
offer you advice, guidance and supervision as you take your
first steps in your new venture. You are, therefore,
looking for a specialist.

Don't be tempted to try to use a 'one size fits all' type
of business mentor who tells you that just because he
hasn't done this himself doesn't mean his principals won't
apply. Go for a specialist who has been involved in
affiliate marketing and who is able to share their
expertise with you.

Find someone who can see everything from all angles - the
affiliate, the trader and the customer. You need to know
how each of these people think and react so that you can
target your marketing strategies accordingly.

A good mentor will be able to develop your perspectives.
Find someone who can teach! It's not enough to know all
about search engine optimization, link exchanges, email
marketing, producing Ezines and newsletters, how to utilize
forums and networks, and so on.

You need a mentor who is able to be a reliable source of
knowledge about these and related matters but, more
importantly, is able to transmit to you that ability to be
able to use them yourself.

Find someone who is honest with you. A good mentor should
have the ability to listen to your ideas and be able to see
their strengths and weaknesses and be brave enough to
discuss them with you. You don't want someone who is going
to agree with everything you say just to make you feel
good. You want someone who is going to make you successful.

Find someone who can talk as much about personal qualities
as they can about skills and methods of advertising.
Affiliate marketing needs a special kind of approach to
business. You need to be determined, dedicated, optimistic
and many other things. A good mentor can foster those
attitudes within you; show you how to maintain a positive
attitude during the difficult times that might well come at
some stage.

You don't want someone who is only interested in numbers
and programs; you want someone who is interested in you!
There will be many people now who can see the potential
income to be gained by mentoring new recruits to the
affiliate marketing industry. If you can take your time
and find a really good one, then a mentor can make a
considerable amount of difference to your chances of
success.

----------------------------------------------------
Tod Dale helps ordinary people all over the world make
money online with affiliate programs. In 3 easy steps, you
can get your own website, autoresponder and marketing
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