News For Webmasters

Real Success with Google Adsense

WEBMASTER — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 06:50:19 +0000

Here is a short interview with Tim Carter, owner of askthebuilder.com

Q: Steve — Do you think it is really possible for the small guy to make money online? It all seems so dominated by the Amazons and Yahoos. What are small businesses supposed to do? — Inez

A: Back in 1998 or so I read a book that really shifted my thinking about small business and the Internet. Called Striking it Rich.com (now out of print), the book profiled 23 “incredibly successful websites you probably never heard of.”

One of those sites was AsktheBuilder.com.

The book profiled the site and its owner, the builder, Tim Carter. Tim is a nationally syndicated columnist and his website is a font of home improvement columns, videos, tips and help.

His is also your prototypical small business, with but one and a half employees. Yet not only has Tim been incredibly successful with his online business, he’s convinced anyone can have similar success.

How? Hold on and I’ll tell you, because last week the affable Tim told me.

But first, let’s get an idea of just what online success might mean for a small business:

When Tim started his site back in the mid-’90s, he sold ads manually — making phone calls and getting banner ads. But the advent of Google revolutionized his business. All of a sudden, instead of having to sell ads one at a time, he was able to sign up with Google AdSense and have Google populate his content with ads.

How successful was this strategy?

So successful that Google recently did a case study about AsktheBuilder. Here is what Google says:

“In April 2004, Carter learned about AdSense for content sites. He recognized that it would enable him to reach thousands of advertisers and screen ad quality with minimal time and effort. Carter immediately experienced a jump in advertising revenue of 400%. His monthly advertising revenues, including AdSense, grew from $1,500 to $7,500.”

Wow!

But it gets better. The case study concluded with the fact that AsktheBuilder soon began to make $1,400 a day in ad revenue, but according to Carter, that is now incorrect. Today it makes significantly more than that.

So how can we duplicate his success? Here are the steps, according to the master himself:

1. Tap people’s pain or pleasure: Tim Carter says that people go online for one of two reasons: Either for pleasure (to play games, shop, learn, etc.) or to alleviate pain (pay a bill, research solutions, and so on.)

To create a site that draws a lot of people, and therefore Google ad revenue, you need solve problems, such as what Carter does by helping people easily learn about do-it-yourself home improvement solutions.

Solving problems therefore requires that you create content on your site, whether that be written or video. If yours is a service business or you are a consultant and you want to sell your expertise online, you need to create easy to understand articles for posting on your site.

Note however, that even if yours is a product-based, this strategy would work for you too. Says Tim, “Figure out how to give your knowledge away for free and become an expert; get people to trust your information and sell ads around that.”

For his part, Carter is now also moving strongly into video solutions and believes there is even more profit to be had there. (You can see his videos either on his site, or on YouTube.com/AsktheBuilder.)

2. Become an SEO expert: Carter does no marketing of his site, other than creating the best, most useful articles and video he can and then making every article as search engine optimizable as possible.

More than 1 million people a month find his site through nothing more than organic search results.

3. Tweak AdSense: Says Google, “Carter quickly began tests using AdSense channels trying different ad formats, colors, and placement to gauge relative effectiveness. He immediately found ads with a yellow background resulted in a 40% drop in income, so he discontinued them. One winning strategy Carter discovered is a rectangular format. … he saw a 20% jump in revenue from placing the rectangle in the upper left corner inside his articles.”

So can a small business make it online? You bet, and in a big way. Just Ask the Builder and you will see how!

[Via - USAToday.Com]

Firefox tools for Professional SEO

WEBMASTER — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 06:18:19 +0000

Are you a web publisher using Firefox as your browser, then you need to know about these 7 add-ons that will improve your way internet marketing. These free features will allow you to get some pretty useful information about your website or any particular website. Wouldn’t it be cool to know who own a certain website or how long that website has been around? Using these simple add-ons will quickly help you find the answers to these questions.

SEOpen : It have 23 function such as check backlink from Google, Yahoo, Cache Page , Whois domain or view robot.txt file.

SEO For Firefox : Check age of domain, check pagerank , alexa rank , tools to add your post/article to del.icio.us and count inbound link from site begin with .edu

YExplore : Easy way to connect direct to Yahoo Site Explorer Info.

Web Developer :Help you turn off JavaScript, Images, CSS and view your webpage such as Search Enginee

SeoQuake : Analyse result of Search Enginee

KGen : Analyse keywords , leach keywords to Clipboard

Search Status : Make bold links nofollow, back links, page has index, Rank Alexa and Compete.

5 Steps To Save Your Firefox Bookmarks Before Reformating

WEBMASTER — Sun, 23 May 2010 08:16:16 +0000

1. Open up a Firefox window.

2.Step 2: Click on the “Bookmarks” menu and select “Manage Bookmarks…”. In case of Firefox 3.6.2 select “Organize Bookmarks…”

3.Step 3: Click on the “File” menu and select “Export” in the window that pops up. click on In case of Firefox 3.6.2, click on “Import and Backup”. Select “Export HTML”. A save option will appear.

4.Step 4: Give your bookmarks whatever title you like and choose a location to save them, in the save window that comes up.

5.Step 5: Open this file on any computer with a Web browser and click on the links to go to each bookmark, now that your bookmarks are saved as an HTML file. Or you can import them into the bookmarks or favorites menu of another computer.

How Make Some Money From a Simple Blogging Hobby

WEBMASTER — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 22:05:24 +0000

Earn a living from your hobby!
The hobby of blogging has now become a great way to earn a little extra money and be a side business. There are still many people who enjoy blogging as their hobby or a way to display their creativity but at the same time, earning some money on the side. So where do you draw the line? What kind of role does money play when it comes to blogging? If you are a first time blogger or have been blogging for a long time, the first thing you need to decide before making that first post is what your motivation really is. If your number one goal for blogging is to make lot money, you should probably look for a different business. Many are having great success with their blogs but for most, they are not going to be millionaires off their blog. When you decide to start blogging, you shouldn’t make it all about the money. Focus on your readers first and when you are trying to meet their needs first is when you receive the most benefits. If you want to know what they want to read, ask them. A lot of times you don’t even need to ask them, you can just read the different comments that they have left. Many will leave suggestions for other posts or ask questions that could spark a whole new topic.

Focus On Your Readers
When you are focusing on your readers, they will enjoy what they are reading and pass the blog onto others. If you are making a little extra money from your blog, then treat it like a business. Try your best to get good advertisements and publicity. There is much to learn by treating your blog like a business, whether or not you are looking for it. If your first go at having a blog isn’t very successful as you would like, make a few changes and see if that helps. When the money does start to come from your blog, make sure to pay yourself. The more time you spend on the blog, the better it will be and the more hits you will get. Reward yourself for that hard work before you invest the money in the blog or a different business. And don’t feel guilty by earning money from your hobby. There are hundreds out there doing just the same. If you feel like you have what it takes to be a good blogger but don’t really know where to start or how to set it all up with the advertisers, the links, making posts and everything else then a partnership would be the right way to go. If you can’t find someone who wants to go into business with you, there are plenty of bloggers who are looking for writers all the time. Look for what fits your personality the best. Don’t settle for the first job you find because there are plenty of opportunities available. Blogging can be a great way to earn some extra money, just find what works best for and stick to it! The hobby of blogging has now become a great way to earn a little extra money and be a side business. There are still many people who enjoy blogging as their hobby or a way to display their creativity but at the same time, earning some money on the side. So where do you draw the line? What kind of role does money play when it comes to blogging? If you are a first time blogger or have been blogging for a long time, the first thing you need to decide before making that first post is what your motivation really is. If your number one goal for blogging is to make lot money, you should probably look for a different business. Many are having great success with their blogs but for most, they are not going to be millionaires off their blog. When you decide to start blogging, you shouldn’t make it all about the money. Focus on your readers first and when you are trying to meet their needs first is when you receive the most benefits. If you want to know what they want to read, ask them. A lot of times you don’t even need to ask them, you can just read the different comments that they have left. Many will leave suggestions for other posts or ask questions that could spark a whole new topic. When you are focusing on your readers, they will enjoy what they are reading and pass the blog onto others. If you are making a little extra money from your blog, then treat it like a business. Try your best to get good advertisements and publicity. There is much to learn by treating your blog like a business, whether or not you are looking for it. If your first go at having a blog isn’t very successful as you would like, make a few changes and see if that helps. When the money does start to come from your blog, make sure to pay yourself. The more time you spend on the blog, the better it will be and the more hits you will get. Reward yourself for that hard work before you invest the money in the blog or a different business.

Video Tutorial – Start Blogging using Blogger Platform

What is so special about Google Voice

WEBMASTER — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:14:20 +0000

If you haven’t heard of it, Google Voice is out and it is coming out loud. What is it anyway you may ask? It is a VOIP phone technology that gives you a phone number. This phone number is like an email that Google gives out for free. This number will be a second phone number that you can have, and you can use it as follow:

1. Use it as a business number and give it out to people – when people call you their call will be forwarded to your phone, and you have the option to reject for accept it.

2. Give it the number out to people that barely know – hide your true number, we don’t want to deal with stalkers.

3.Use the number for fun, you can call out from this number and prank call your friends.

4.Use the number to a special love one - it will certainly make something feel really special he/she knows that a phone number is dedicated only to them.

This Google Voice service is a great technology that goes hand in hand with people that are using a smart phone. There are ways where you can use it to save minutes on your regular phones. Many appz are being built around this cool, free, and slick technology. As of this moment, Google will only let Invited Users to have this cool service. Many people are looking left and right for invitation to use this service, but you have to get in line. You can sign up for an Google Voice Invite here, but you may have to wait for a while. Sign up, be patient, and you will get invited. It took me about 3 months to get invited, but I am happy with my second free phone number. Good Luck Everyone

Amazon Strategy to Compete with Ipad and Nook

WEBMASTER — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 03:02:31 +0000

We have to give credit to Amazon as the pioneer in dominating the ebook market, but core competency is about to change in the face of the NOOK and IPAD. With the fierce competitors rising, the company made incremental technological upgrades to its Kindle. Screen resolutions, model thickness, text-to-speech features, and new navigation options are among the many features that have kept Amazon Kindle followers intrigued. Small feature changes, however, were only going to keep people interested so long. A big change needed to happen. The small but power features are the things that consumers are looking for nowaday.

Amazon recently acquired Touchco, a small company that specializes in touch screens may be the big change that the Amazon Kindle needed. The Amazon Kindle, with its current model, has positioned itself as the low-end e-reader. For the technology offered, Amazon had a choice: continue down the path of bargain shoppers looking for a cheap grayscale e-reader or upgrade to compete with the likes of Apple, who just introduced their full color, touch screen iPad.

Amazon Kindle was a head of the race, but the race is not over yet. Considering the launch of the Kindle application store last month, it is no surprise that Amazon has once again chosen to make a move at the Nook and iPad. All along, Amazon has aimed at getting ahead of the market with the Amazon Kindle. Although it was not the first e-reader, it brought the marketing tools and resources necessary to get the paper-saving technology off the ground.

Ebook is an industry that will continue to grow and product features, maintaining market shares, and customer loyalties is what Amazon should be focusing on in the upcoming years.

Nook Pros and Cons Features Review

How to see file extentions in windows 7

WEBMASTER — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 07:31:56 +0000

For the average person there is no need for seeing the extension of a file, but if you are a pro you should know this little trick. This small trick let you know exactly what you are dealing with (.exe, .doc, .rar) and make your life much easier as a computer tech.

Open the Control Panel from the Start menu.
Open Folder Options in the Control Panel.
Change View by to Large icon at the top right of the Control Panel.
Select the View tab in the Folder Options window.
Uncheck Hide extensions for known file types.
Click ok to save

5 Steps To Save Your Firefox Bookmarks Before Reformating

Everything About the New Apple Ipad (islate, itablet)

WEBMASTER — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:23:57 +0000

Amazon Strategy to Compete with Ipad and Nook

Amazon’s expansion into Cloud Computing

WEBMASTER — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 09:03:09 +0000

Amazon is no longer a company that just sell books online. It has grown and it is expanding into the web hosting and storage service. Amazon S3 is the name, and helping people store file based on the amount of usage is the game. The way of allow clients to buy a service online and pay only for what the use is called Cloud Computing. This keyword will be associated with Amazon from now on. Amazon S3 provides unlimited storage through a simple web services interface. Amazon launched S3, its first publicly-available web service, in the United States in March 2006. It stands for Simple Storage Service. S3 uses include web hosting, image hosting, and a back-up system. S3 comes with a 99.9% monthly uptime guarantee.

Amazon Strategy to Compete with Ipad and Nook

Sony Ebook Reader Daily Edition Pros and Cons

WEBMASTER — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 12:57:18 +0000

This lovely video shows you all the features that this reader has. With the larger size from the 600 and 300 series, you will not be disappointed. As of today (jan-19-2010) , you can not grab this gadget from any stores yet, but you can pre-order it online. The video will go step by step showing all the cool features (from using the stylus, touchscreen, and buying ebook online at the store) of this beautiful e-reader.