Most people think that just by placing the AdSense code onto their website will start earning
them big checks! I am not ashamed to admit that even I thought the same when I was new. But I
soon realized that if I do not optimize my Ads, it is impossible to achieve a good income from
AdSense.
In order to earn big AdSense checks, you have to have a good CTR (Click Through Rate).
CTR is the number of clicks an ad receives divided by the number of times the Ads are shown.A
high CTR means more people are clicking on your Ads.
In this article I would like to share everything I have learned to boost my Google AdSense CTR –
much of which was taught by Matt Callen through his AdSense course. If you follow these tips,
you will see an instant jump in your CTR.
In order to achieve a very high CTR (20% +) it is important that the following points are taken
care of:
Google should serve Ads relevant to your niche.
You should have the right kinds of Ad formats place in the right places
Your Ads should be properly formatted
If you take care of all the three points above, you are guaranteed to have a CTR greater than 20%
We have to ensure that the ads that are being served by Google are closely related with your
content.This is very important because if your ads are not relevant your visitors will not click on
them.Here are some tips to ensure that Google displays relevant Ads on your site
Displaying relevant Ads on your site
Mention your niche keyword in your Title Tag
One great way is to mention your main keyword in the Title tag of your page. This will tell
Google that your keyword must be in integral part of your content; otherwise you wouldn’t
have mentioned it in the title.
Mention your niche keyword several times in the body of your content
Mention your keywords a couple of times in the body of your content. This will tell Google
what your page is all about.
IMPORTANT: Do Not go overboard with this. If you put your keywords too many times, Google
will think you are trying to spam. Remember, Google is not stupid… so don’t treat them like
they are.
Make your keyword Bold
It also helps to bold your niche keyword, so that it stands out. You can also use H1 tag for
highlighting your keyword. Again, by doing this, Google will feel that the keyword is very
relevant to your site’s content. (don’t go overboard though)
Have descriptive names for your images
If you have images on your page, give relevant names to the image files. For example, if
your site is on bicycle, call your images bicycle1.jpg and bicycle2.jpg and not image1.jpg
and image2.jpg. Also – give a related alt text to the image.
Do not have too much content on your page
This is contrary to what some gurus feel. Having too much of content on the page has got
two disadvantages. Firstly, your keyword density for your main keyword decreases and
Google may not understand exactly what your page is all about.
Secondly, if you have too much of content on your page, your visitors will get everything
they are looking for, and will not be tempted to click on your ads. This will adversely affect
your CTR
Use a descriptive file name
This tip is often overlooked by webmasters. But it’s quite effective. If your page is on
bicycles, call your page www.yourdomain.com/bicycles.htm and not
www.yourdomain.com/bi.htm
Ad Formats and Their Placement
Google provides dozens of ad formats that you can use on your site. These ads are of different
sizes. Some of them are completely ineffective. But some are really powerful. Once you know
what kinds of ad formats to use, you should take care of placing them at the right places. If they
are not placed strategically, they will not be clicked on often enough.
Here are some tips to choose the best kinds of ad formats and optimum placements
Use Large Rectangle (336 x 280) as your primary Ad format
The Large Rectangle (336x280) works like a charm because it has proven itself to be the best
performing format. If you place it “above the fold”, its magic!
Use Wide Skyscraper (160 x 600) on the Left/Right border
The Wide Skyscraper 160 x 600 performs very well on the left or right side of your screen. I prefer
putting it on the left side because it gets seen more than the right side...
Do not neglect the Link Unit!
A Link Unit is one of the most under-utilized ad formats. But if used correctly, and in the right
position, it can be really profitable format if put in the right place. It is supposed to be placed
near your navigation menu. Most people will think it’s a part of your navigation menu and
automatically read it. And if the ads being served are very relevant to your niche, they will click on
it!
Try using a Link Unit format that has 4 keywords in them. This is because the size of the ad text
would be slightly bigger, and look more like a navigational menu. Also make sure to make the
border color blend with your website’s background
Hey, we also have Search Boxes!
Don’t forget that Google also provides us Search boxes that we can put on our site. Do not put
them above the fold. But those in a less prominent place further down the page. Bottom of the
page or somewhere on the left side below the fold is perfect.
Do not expect much money from Search boxes, but anything that comes in extra counts!
Have your Ads above the fold
This is one of the most important tips to increase your CTR. The term “above the fold”, comes from
newspapers. Any news above the fold on the front page of a newspaper will be read more than
any other part of the newspaper. The same rule applies to AdSense too.
Here, “above the fold” means the top position of your screen that is visible without the user
having to scroll down. So if you place your ads “above the fold”, it will be visible to everyone, and
they won’t have to scroll down. Your Ads are therefore more likely to get clicked. Also, the area
above the fold loads before the rest of the page. So this is by far the best location for AdSense Ad
placement.
Try not to have any other links “above the fold”
This may not always be possible. But if you can, remove all links that are “above the fold”. The only links displayed should be your AdSense Ads. By having any other link, you are giving your visitors
the option of clicking on them. This will decrease your CTR. If you do not have any other links,
your visitors will sub-consciously be forced to click on your AdSense Ads. This will shoot up your
CTR.
Do not neglect the bottom of your page!
If you have followed the above points, you will find that most people click on the ads above the
fold. But there will be some who will go down the page. And when they reach the end, they
normally think “what next?” To help them, we should have an AdSense Ad to bid them farewell!!
By placing an AdSense ad at the end of the page they will often click it!
Formatting Your Ads
We have all got something called “ad-blindness”. That means we have been sub-consciously
conditioned to ignore ads. Most of the time we completely ignore banners on web pages. We run
away from anything that remotely resembles an ad.
The same is with AdSense. If we want to make our ads noticed, we have to make sure that they
do not look like blatant Advertisements. We have to format our ads so that they seem to be a part
of our content. Once your ad blends with your page and your content, you will see amazing CTRs.
Here are some tips to properly format your ads so that they don’t look like blatant ads.
Make the background of your ad the same as the background of your
page
If the background of your web page is white, make sure the background of your ad is white too.
Our main aim is to make the ad not look like an ad. If they look like an ad, they will not be clicked
upon. No one wants to click on Advertisements, right? We want our ad to look as if it’s a part of
our content. So make sure the background of your ad is the same as that of your page. This will
do wonders for your CTR.
Remove the border of your ad
Again, this follows the same principle as above. If you put a border around your ad, they will look
like ads. They will scream aloud, “This is an ad!” And this will kill your CTR.
If you remove the border, they will blend with your content.
You might think this is something trivial but many people report a massive increase in their CTR,
just by removing their border. So let the border go by having a similar color as your background
Provide ample free space around your ads.
Do not make your ads look cluttered. Have enough free space around them to make them look
neat. And if you have blended it well, your CTR would see an instant jump.
Remove additional titles like “Sponsored Links” or “Advertisements”
Google allows you to mention titles like ‘Sponsored Links’ or ‘Advertisements’ above your
AdSense ads. I suggest you do not mention anything like this at all. Why would you want to tell
your visitor that they are Ads when Google already displays ‘Ads by Gooooogle’? So don’t add
any additional text around the ads that will show your visitor that they are advertisements…
Google already does this for you.
Change the Link color to Blue.
This has proven to have a positive impact on my CTR. This is because the color Blue symbolizes a
link. We have got used to seeing links in blue. So if your ads have a clickable blue link, they are
more likely to get clicked.
Make the color of your URL and the color of your ad’s text the same
This again, is often overlooked. If the color of your ad text is the same as the color of your ad URL,
it will make the URL blend, or melt, thereby making your blue link more visible.
All of these ideas will make your ads more clickable while still abiding by Google’s current TOS.
8/31/09
The Real Truth About High-Paying AdSense Keywords
Every single day I receive an email from someone or the other saying:
“Abhi, please send me a list of keywords that will pay me $20-$30 per click in AdSense”
You see, I do not blame them for asking that question. It’s not their fault.There is a lot of
misinformation floating around the Internet.And newbies get attracted to anything that
promises a lot of riches.
You will find many sites that will sell you lists of “High-paying AdSense Keywords” or list of
keywords that will “Sky-rocket your AdSense earnings overnight”.
They make you feel that if you purchase their list and design your sites based on these keywords,
your AdSense earnings would touch the sky.
According to them,Google pays you around 50% of the keyword cost. So if someone clicks on
the ad, for a keyword costing $50, you will earn around $25...Cool!
But not so cool! This isn’t how it works…
If it were that easy, you would find gazillions of AdSense success stories.Things are not so simple,
friend!
Currently I have more than 150,000 keywords that I use to drive traffic to my sites. So maybe, I
know a thing or two about AdSense and keywords.
Every day when I look at my stats I know what the real truth is. And the truth is not what you
think.
** The Truth **
Google never discloses what percentage it will pay to the AdSense Publisher.And there are too
many factors involved which determine how much Google will pay you.
As I mentioned above, if Google paid everyone 50% on a keyword costing $50, you would
become filthy rich in no time.Oh!Wish life were so easy!
For many so-called high-paying keywords, Big G sometimes pays me not even 10 cents.Can you
believe that?
Yes that’s true. Less than 10 cents for a HIGH paying keyword.
Agreed, there are times when I do receive $25 per click, but those are incredibly rare cases.And
those same keywords often give me 10 – 20 cents the next day.
So you can NEVER BE SURE how much a click would earn you.
How much Google will pay you depends on factors such as your landing page, your content,
Google’s smart pricing, the Advertiser’s cost of that keyword, and various other factors that are
beyond our control.
This is what you SHOULD do instead...
Build your sites according to high-paying **niches**.
If you get hold of any keyword lists from any site, you will notice that most of these keywords are
about finance, health, lawyers, business etc.
These niches are generally profitable because advertisers here have got money to spend on
Adwords.And hence they are generally profitable for the AdSense Publisher too.
So build your sites based the high-paying niches, and even more importantly, their sub-niches.
This doesn’t mean other niches are not profitable.Many are. But the high-paying niches are
where our focus should be.
With that being said, you should try to focus on the sub-niches of these high-paying main niches.
Why? Because the competition for those sub-niches is remarkably lower than it is for the main
niche.
So you want to know the secret of succeeding in AdSense?
1. Select several such profitable niches
2.Make websites for these niches
3.Drive traffic
4.And yes, don’t forget to regularly track your cost/earnings ratio
That’s exactly what I have done.And my AdSense business earns me $15,000+ per
month…month after month.
“Abhi, please send me a list of keywords that will pay me $20-$30 per click in AdSense”
You see, I do not blame them for asking that question. It’s not their fault.There is a lot of
misinformation floating around the Internet.And newbies get attracted to anything that
promises a lot of riches.
You will find many sites that will sell you lists of “High-paying AdSense Keywords” or list of
keywords that will “Sky-rocket your AdSense earnings overnight”.
They make you feel that if you purchase their list and design your sites based on these keywords,
your AdSense earnings would touch the sky.
According to them,Google pays you around 50% of the keyword cost. So if someone clicks on
the ad, for a keyword costing $50, you will earn around $25...Cool!
But not so cool! This isn’t how it works…
If it were that easy, you would find gazillions of AdSense success stories.Things are not so simple,
friend!
Currently I have more than 150,000 keywords that I use to drive traffic to my sites. So maybe, I
know a thing or two about AdSense and keywords.
Every day when I look at my stats I know what the real truth is. And the truth is not what you
think.
** The Truth **
Google never discloses what percentage it will pay to the AdSense Publisher.And there are too
many factors involved which determine how much Google will pay you.
As I mentioned above, if Google paid everyone 50% on a keyword costing $50, you would
become filthy rich in no time.Oh!Wish life were so easy!
For many so-called high-paying keywords, Big G sometimes pays me not even 10 cents.Can you
believe that?
Yes that’s true. Less than 10 cents for a HIGH paying keyword.
Agreed, there are times when I do receive $25 per click, but those are incredibly rare cases.And
those same keywords often give me 10 – 20 cents the next day.
So you can NEVER BE SURE how much a click would earn you.
How much Google will pay you depends on factors such as your landing page, your content,
Google’s smart pricing, the Advertiser’s cost of that keyword, and various other factors that are
beyond our control.
This is what you SHOULD do instead...
Build your sites according to high-paying **niches**.
If you get hold of any keyword lists from any site, you will notice that most of these keywords are
about finance, health, lawyers, business etc.
These niches are generally profitable because advertisers here have got money to spend on
Adwords.And hence they are generally profitable for the AdSense Publisher too.
So build your sites based the high-paying niches, and even more importantly, their sub-niches.
This doesn’t mean other niches are not profitable.Many are. But the high-paying niches are
where our focus should be.
With that being said, you should try to focus on the sub-niches of these high-paying main niches.
Why? Because the competition for those sub-niches is remarkably lower than it is for the main
niche.
So you want to know the secret of succeeding in AdSense?
1. Select several such profitable niches
2.Make websites for these niches
3.Drive traffic
4.And yes, don’t forget to regularly track your cost/earnings ratio
That’s exactly what I have done.And my AdSense business earns me $15,000+ per
month…month after month.
12Must-KnowTips To Avoid Getting Banned From Google AdSense
Although Google’s AdSense program is an excellent way to earn money,we need to understand
that Google is a company that cannot be messed with!
We should not abuse the system in order to make a quick buck.Many website owners, knowingly
or unknowingly, violate AdSense Terms and Conditions and subsequently get banned.
If you are really serious about earning from AdSense,make sure you do not do anything that can
get yourself banned. I have listed 12 things that you should NEVER even think of doing.
1.Never, I repeat, never click on your own Ads:
I think this is one of the biggest reasons why AdSense accounts get disabled.This seems obvious,
but it’s surprising how many people actually do that intentionally.
If you think by clicking on your own ads, you can fool Google, you are highly mistaken.Google
has got its own proprietary technology to find out if the publisher has clicked on his own ads.
And once they know that, your account is in jeopardy.
Google wants to protect the investment of its advertisers, and it will never tolerate any false
clicks. So make sure you do not make this foolish mistake.
2.Never, I repeat, never tell others to click on your own Ads
I often see click-swapping on AdSense forums. It’s kind of you-click-on-my-ad-and-I-will-click-onyours.
Never ever do this.
If you want a strong AdSense business, stay away from trouble.Don’t ask even your friends,
relatives or employees to click on your ads.Do not provide any kind of an incentive to anyone for
clicking on your ads.
I feel one good way to protect yourself is not to disclose your website’s domain to anyone. Keep it
to yourself and you are safe!
3.Never, I repeat, never modify Google’s AdSense code
This is against Google’s policy. Just use the code as-is.Don’t play around with it at all.
4.Never, I repeat, never put images next to your AdSense Ads.
This is a relatively new policy.When I started with AdSense, this rule did not exist.Moreover,what
Google actually wanted with this policy was never very clear.Nor did Google do a good job of
clearly defining what is allowed and what is not.
Even I had put some pretty images next to my Ads, and achieved excellent CTR. But here is a rule
of thumb. If you are in doubt, ALWAYS play safe.When this policy was enforced, I did not waste a
moment removing images that were next to my ads.After
all, I love my AdSense account, too!
My suggestion: If you have images next to your AdSense ads, remove them immediately
5.Never, I repeat, never title your ads the wrong way.
You are not allowed to label your Ads with messages like“Click Here”,“Related Links”or anything
else that misleads people into thinking that it is not an Advertisement.
You are however allowed to mention “Advertisements”or “Sponsored Links”, because your ads are
actually Advertisements.And Google is OK with that. If you want, you may prefer not to put any
label at all.
6.Never, I repeat, never put AdSense on pages that do not have enough content.
Yeah, this is something that web-masters may not be aware of. But Google allows AdSense only
on pages with good content.
Therefore it is not advisable to put ads on Thank You pages, subscription pages etc.Make doubly
sure that you have Ads only on pages with good content.
This also means that you should not put your ads on sites with junk content.Any site that doesn’t
really add value to the visitor is considered to be a junk site
7.Never, I repeat, never put AdSense on sites that have got prohibitive content.
Make sure you do not have Ads on sites that have got anything to do with drugs, pornography,
hatred, gambling etc.
Again, this is self explanatory, but some people simply don’t understand!
8.Never, I repeat, never create multiple Google AdSense Accounts.
Google allows you to have only 1 personal account and 1 business account.Google links these
two accounts.Never try to fool Google by creating different accounts under different names.
As long as you do not get caught, it’s fine. But if Google traces these accounts as being used by
the same person, all your accounts are in danger of being suspended.
9.Never, I repeat, never enlist your site in any kind of auto-surf or traffic exchange
programs.
Again, this is against Google’s TOS. So stay clear of it.
10.Never, I repeat, never exceed the amount of ads you can display on a page.
Currently Google only allows 3 Ad blocks, 3 Link units and 3 referral buttons to be put on one
page. I personally feel Google has allowed more than what is required. So, I don’t know why you
would ever want more than this.
11.Never, I repeat, never reveal your AdSense Data
Google doesn’t allow public display of your CTR, Impressions,eCPM etc on forums, eBooks,
websites or any other publicly viewable media.
But Google doesn’t have any objection if you mention how much you earn from AdSense… just
don’t go into the details of your clicks, impressions, CTR, or eCPM.
12.Never, I repeat, never stay outdated!
Google’s policies are constantly changing. It will help if you know what changes are taking place
in the world of AdSense so that you can update your sites if required.
If you get banned by AdSense for whatever reason you cannot give the excuse that you were
“not aware” of the policy.This will not be of much help. So know the waters that you tread on!
This article, by no means, is a comprehensive list of AdSense Policies. I highly recommend you go
through all the policies in details.And never even try to cheat the system.
that Google is a company that cannot be messed with!
We should not abuse the system in order to make a quick buck.Many website owners, knowingly
or unknowingly, violate AdSense Terms and Conditions and subsequently get banned.
If you are really serious about earning from AdSense,make sure you do not do anything that can
get yourself banned. I have listed 12 things that you should NEVER even think of doing.
1.Never, I repeat, never click on your own Ads:
I think this is one of the biggest reasons why AdSense accounts get disabled.This seems obvious,
but it’s surprising how many people actually do that intentionally.
If you think by clicking on your own ads, you can fool Google, you are highly mistaken.Google
has got its own proprietary technology to find out if the publisher has clicked on his own ads.
And once they know that, your account is in jeopardy.
Google wants to protect the investment of its advertisers, and it will never tolerate any false
clicks. So make sure you do not make this foolish mistake.
2.Never, I repeat, never tell others to click on your own Ads
I often see click-swapping on AdSense forums. It’s kind of you-click-on-my-ad-and-I-will-click-onyours.
Never ever do this.
If you want a strong AdSense business, stay away from trouble.Don’t ask even your friends,
relatives or employees to click on your ads.Do not provide any kind of an incentive to anyone for
clicking on your ads.
I feel one good way to protect yourself is not to disclose your website’s domain to anyone. Keep it
to yourself and you are safe!
3.Never, I repeat, never modify Google’s AdSense code
This is against Google’s policy. Just use the code as-is.Don’t play around with it at all.
4.Never, I repeat, never put images next to your AdSense Ads.
This is a relatively new policy.When I started with AdSense, this rule did not exist.Moreover,what
Google actually wanted with this policy was never very clear.Nor did Google do a good job of
clearly defining what is allowed and what is not.
Even I had put some pretty images next to my Ads, and achieved excellent CTR. But here is a rule
of thumb. If you are in doubt, ALWAYS play safe.When this policy was enforced, I did not waste a
moment removing images that were next to my ads.After
all, I love my AdSense account, too!
My suggestion: If you have images next to your AdSense ads, remove them immediately
5.Never, I repeat, never title your ads the wrong way.
You are not allowed to label your Ads with messages like“Click Here”,“Related Links”or anything
else that misleads people into thinking that it is not an Advertisement.
You are however allowed to mention “Advertisements”or “Sponsored Links”, because your ads are
actually Advertisements.And Google is OK with that. If you want, you may prefer not to put any
label at all.
6.Never, I repeat, never put AdSense on pages that do not have enough content.
Yeah, this is something that web-masters may not be aware of. But Google allows AdSense only
on pages with good content.
Therefore it is not advisable to put ads on Thank You pages, subscription pages etc.Make doubly
sure that you have Ads only on pages with good content.
This also means that you should not put your ads on sites with junk content.Any site that doesn’t
really add value to the visitor is considered to be a junk site
7.Never, I repeat, never put AdSense on sites that have got prohibitive content.
Make sure you do not have Ads on sites that have got anything to do with drugs, pornography,
hatred, gambling etc.
Again, this is self explanatory, but some people simply don’t understand!
8.Never, I repeat, never create multiple Google AdSense Accounts.
Google allows you to have only 1 personal account and 1 business account.Google links these
two accounts.Never try to fool Google by creating different accounts under different names.
As long as you do not get caught, it’s fine. But if Google traces these accounts as being used by
the same person, all your accounts are in danger of being suspended.
9.Never, I repeat, never enlist your site in any kind of auto-surf or traffic exchange
programs.
Again, this is against Google’s TOS. So stay clear of it.
10.Never, I repeat, never exceed the amount of ads you can display on a page.
Currently Google only allows 3 Ad blocks, 3 Link units and 3 referral buttons to be put on one
page. I personally feel Google has allowed more than what is required. So, I don’t know why you
would ever want more than this.
11.Never, I repeat, never reveal your AdSense Data
Google doesn’t allow public display of your CTR, Impressions,eCPM etc on forums, eBooks,
websites or any other publicly viewable media.
But Google doesn’t have any objection if you mention how much you earn from AdSense… just
don’t go into the details of your clicks, impressions, CTR, or eCPM.
12.Never, I repeat, never stay outdated!
Google’s policies are constantly changing. It will help if you know what changes are taking place
in the world of AdSense so that you can update your sites if required.
If you get banned by AdSense for whatever reason you cannot give the excuse that you were
“not aware” of the policy.This will not be of much help. So know the waters that you tread on!
This article, by no means, is a comprehensive list of AdSense Policies. I highly recommend you go
through all the policies in details.And never even try to cheat the system.
1Way To EarnMassive Checks From Google AdSense
Before proceeding further, I would like to mention that whatever you are about to read might
not appeal to some people. But you have to ask yourself “Do I really want to earn from AdSense
or do I want to be one of the countless many who are laying in the AdSense grave?”
If you decide that you want to be an AdSense winner, then welcome to the club! I can tell you
that what you will read will help you make earn a hefty income with AdSense if you actually do
what you learn.
When I started my AdSense business, I had only 1 site - and that site paid me just a few cents
every day. I cried,wailed, but Google didn’t even notice me. I cried again the next week, and the
week after that, but there was no change in my AdSense earning! Looking at my income, I felt no
better than a beggar on the street, with just a few spare changes in my bowl.
Thankfully, I soon realized that it was foolish to depend on just 1 niche. I understood that I did not
have the power to convert a low-paying niche into a high-paying one. But I DID have the power
to choose my niches.No one could stop me from that.
Most people complain that they are not making any money with AdSense.When I ask them how
many niches they’re in or how many sites they have, the answer is usually 3-4.
You see, it is almost impossible to earn from AdSense with just 1 site unless you get thousands of
visitors every day. But I assume you do not have that kind of traffic, right?
Otherwise you probably wouldn’t be reading this!
If you have just 1-2 niches, I can promise you with almost 100% confidence - you will not be
happy looking at your AdSense earnings! If you want to be a big player, you WILL have to
diversify into many niches.Yes, there is a bit of work involved. But you have to consider this as a
business. If you treat it like a business, it will pay you like a business.
If you decide to do this work yourself, it might take you 1-2 months or maybe 3 months. But it’s all
worth it.Another option is to outsource this work and have other people do it for you. But before
you can outsource something, you must first know how to do it on your own. If not, you won’t be
able to show someone else how to do it.
We have to focus on quantity and volume.We want to play in big numbers. When I say we need
to focus on“quantity and volume”, I don’t mean that we need to forget about the quality of the
sites. The sites still MUST have quality content, and essentially “add something to the internet
world.”
You know, there is something really funny about niches.The way some niches work often defies
logic. Niches that you think would be high paying may prove to be total disasters.
And niches that seem to be hopeless might turn out to be real winners. It really has nothing to
do with competition. I always say that you can never be 100% sure about which niches would be
profitable and which won’t.
I have learned that if I go into 10 markets, there will be around 6 that will be winners. So if I want
300 profitable sites, I need to make around 500 sites.
If you ask me, I feel this is much easier than searching for “the best niches” that are out there. It is
just like throwing enough stuff onto the wall and see what sticks.
Once I understood this basic truth, I spent the next few months,making hundreds of mini sites. In
fact I created well over 500 sites. In order to keep Google and my visitors happy, I made sure to
add some good content on each of my sites.
I drove traffic through my sites using PPC, as that was the most convenient way of giving me
instant results.
After regular testing and monitoring, I found that many of those sites were not paying me. I
scrapped them, and concentrated on those that were good.And my AdSense income has never
been the same again.
I am also about to tell you something that might make some of you feel uneasy.
You must have heard that you should have lots of content on your site.“Content is King”, right?
But my views are a bit different here. If you want to build an AdSense business, I think Content is
NOT always the King.
Yes, you should have good content on your site, and you should also comply with Google’s
policies. But do not get overly obsessed with putting TOO MUCH content on your AdSense sites.
Here’s why.We should not forget that our main aim is to make money with AdSense. How do we
do that? Our visitors click on our AdSense ads. Our aim is NOT to provide our visitors everything
that they are looking for. If we give them enough content, they’ll be getting everything they
want, therefore, they won’t click on our AdSense Ads.
Just rinse-and-repeat the process and get into as many niches as possible.Work smarter by
outsourcing smaller tasks as much as possible.
The AdSense business has got nothing to do with luck. It has got everything to do with volume
and hard-work.
As I said, this involves some work. But the effort you put in will give you equal results.Armed with
this knowledge you can almost dictate your AdSense earnings.
not appeal to some people. But you have to ask yourself “Do I really want to earn from AdSense
or do I want to be one of the countless many who are laying in the AdSense grave?”
If you decide that you want to be an AdSense winner, then welcome to the club! I can tell you
that what you will read will help you make earn a hefty income with AdSense if you actually do
what you learn.
When I started my AdSense business, I had only 1 site - and that site paid me just a few cents
every day. I cried,wailed, but Google didn’t even notice me. I cried again the next week, and the
week after that, but there was no change in my AdSense earning! Looking at my income, I felt no
better than a beggar on the street, with just a few spare changes in my bowl.
Thankfully, I soon realized that it was foolish to depend on just 1 niche. I understood that I did not
have the power to convert a low-paying niche into a high-paying one. But I DID have the power
to choose my niches.No one could stop me from that.
Most people complain that they are not making any money with AdSense.When I ask them how
many niches they’re in or how many sites they have, the answer is usually 3-4.
You see, it is almost impossible to earn from AdSense with just 1 site unless you get thousands of
visitors every day. But I assume you do not have that kind of traffic, right?
Otherwise you probably wouldn’t be reading this!
If you have just 1-2 niches, I can promise you with almost 100% confidence - you will not be
happy looking at your AdSense earnings! If you want to be a big player, you WILL have to
diversify into many niches.Yes, there is a bit of work involved. But you have to consider this as a
business. If you treat it like a business, it will pay you like a business.
If you decide to do this work yourself, it might take you 1-2 months or maybe 3 months. But it’s all
worth it.Another option is to outsource this work and have other people do it for you. But before
you can outsource something, you must first know how to do it on your own. If not, you won’t be
able to show someone else how to do it.
We have to focus on quantity and volume.We want to play in big numbers. When I say we need
to focus on“quantity and volume”, I don’t mean that we need to forget about the quality of the
sites. The sites still MUST have quality content, and essentially “add something to the internet
world.”
You know, there is something really funny about niches.The way some niches work often defies
logic. Niches that you think would be high paying may prove to be total disasters.
And niches that seem to be hopeless might turn out to be real winners. It really has nothing to
do with competition. I always say that you can never be 100% sure about which niches would be
profitable and which won’t.
I have learned that if I go into 10 markets, there will be around 6 that will be winners. So if I want
300 profitable sites, I need to make around 500 sites.
If you ask me, I feel this is much easier than searching for “the best niches” that are out there. It is
just like throwing enough stuff onto the wall and see what sticks.
Once I understood this basic truth, I spent the next few months,making hundreds of mini sites. In
fact I created well over 500 sites. In order to keep Google and my visitors happy, I made sure to
add some good content on each of my sites.
I drove traffic through my sites using PPC, as that was the most convenient way of giving me
instant results.
After regular testing and monitoring, I found that many of those sites were not paying me. I
scrapped them, and concentrated on those that were good.And my AdSense income has never
been the same again.
I am also about to tell you something that might make some of you feel uneasy.
You must have heard that you should have lots of content on your site.“Content is King”, right?
But my views are a bit different here. If you want to build an AdSense business, I think Content is
NOT always the King.
Yes, you should have good content on your site, and you should also comply with Google’s
policies. But do not get overly obsessed with putting TOO MUCH content on your AdSense sites.
Here’s why.We should not forget that our main aim is to make money with AdSense. How do we
do that? Our visitors click on our AdSense ads. Our aim is NOT to provide our visitors everything
that they are looking for. If we give them enough content, they’ll be getting everything they
want, therefore, they won’t click on our AdSense Ads.
Just rinse-and-repeat the process and get into as many niches as possible.Work smarter by
outsourcing smaller tasks as much as possible.
The AdSense business has got nothing to do with luck. It has got everything to do with volume
and hard-work.
As I said, this involves some work. But the effort you put in will give you equal results.Armed with
this knowledge you can almost dictate your AdSense earnings.
1Way To EarnMassive Checks From Google AdSense
Before proceeding further, I would like to mention that whatever you are about to read might
not appeal to some people. But you have to ask yourself “Do I really want to earn from AdSense
or do I want to be one of the countless many who are laying in the AdSense grave?”
If you decide that you want to be an AdSense winner, then welcome to the club! I can tell you
that what you will read will help you make earn a hefty income with AdSense if you actually do
what you learn.
When I started my AdSense business, I had only 1 site - and that site paid me just a few cents
every day. I cried,wailed, but Google didn’t even notice me. I cried again the next week, and the
week after that, but there was no change in my AdSense earning! Looking at my income, I felt no
better than a beggar on the street, with just a few spare changes in my bowl.
Thankfully, I soon realized that it was foolish to depend on just 1 niche. I understood that I did not
have the power to convert a low-paying niche into a high-paying one. But I DID have the power
to choose my niches.No one could stop me from that.
Most people complain that they are not making any money with AdSense.When I ask them how
many niches they’re in or how many sites they have, the answer is usually 3-4.
You see, it is almost impossible to earn from AdSense with just 1 site unless you get thousands of
visitors every day. But I assume you do not have that kind of traffic, right?
Otherwise you probably wouldn’t be reading this!
If you have just 1-2 niches, I can promise you with almost 100% confidence - you will not be
happy looking at your AdSense earnings! If you want to be a big player, you WILL have to
diversify into many niches.Yes, there is a bit of work involved. But you have to consider this as a
business. If you treat it like a business, it will pay you like a business.
If you decide to do this work yourself, it might take you 1-2 months or maybe 3 months. But it’s all
worth it.Another option is to outsource this work and have other people do it for you. But before
you can outsource something, you must first know how to do it on your own. If not, you won’t be
able to show someone else how to do it.
We have to focus on quantity and volume.We want to play in big numbers. When I say we need
to focus on“quantity and volume”, I don’t mean that we need to forget about the quality of the
sites. The sites still MUST have quality content, and essentially “add something to the internet
world.”
You know, there is something really funny about niches.The way some niches work often defies
logic. Niches that you think would be high paying may prove to be total disasters.
And niches that seem to be hopeless might turn out to be real winners. It really has nothing to
do with competition. I always say that you can never be 100% sure about which niches would be
profitable and which won’t.
I have learned that if I go into 10 markets, there will be around 6 that will be winners. So if I want
300 profitable sites, I need to make around 500 sites.
If you ask me, I feel this is much easier than searching for “the best niches” that are out there. It is
just like throwing enough stuff onto the wall and see what sticks.
Once I understood this basic truth, I spent the next few months,making hundreds of mini sites. In
fact I created well over 500 sites. In order to keep Google and my visitors happy, I made sure to
add some good content on each of my sites.
I drove traffic through my sites using PPC, as that was the most convenient way of giving me
instant results.
After regular testing and monitoring, I found that many of those sites were not paying me. I
scrapped them, and concentrated on those that were good.And my AdSense income has never
been the same again.
I am also about to tell you something that might make some of you feel uneasy.
You must have heard that you should have lots of content on your site.“Content is King”, right?
But my views are a bit different here. If you want to build an AdSense business, I think Content is
NOT always the King.
Yes, you should have good content on your site, and you should also comply with Google’s
policies. But do not get overly obsessed with putting TOO MUCH content on your AdSense sites.
Here’s why.We should not forget that our main aim is to make money with AdSense. How do we
do that? Our visitors click on our AdSense ads. Our aim is NOT to provide our visitors everything
that they are looking for. If we give them enough content, they’ll be getting everything they
want, therefore, they won’t click on our AdSense Ads.
Just rinse-and-repeat the process and get into as many niches as possible.Work smarter by
outsourcing smaller tasks as much as possible.
The AdSense business has got nothing to do with luck. It has got everything to do with volume
and hard-work.
As I said, this involves some work. But the effort you put in will give you equal results.Armed with
this knowledge you can almost dictate your AdSense earnings.
not appeal to some people. But you have to ask yourself “Do I really want to earn from AdSense
or do I want to be one of the countless many who are laying in the AdSense grave?”
If you decide that you want to be an AdSense winner, then welcome to the club! I can tell you
that what you will read will help you make earn a hefty income with AdSense if you actually do
what you learn.
When I started my AdSense business, I had only 1 site - and that site paid me just a few cents
every day. I cried,wailed, but Google didn’t even notice me. I cried again the next week, and the
week after that, but there was no change in my AdSense earning! Looking at my income, I felt no
better than a beggar on the street, with just a few spare changes in my bowl.
Thankfully, I soon realized that it was foolish to depend on just 1 niche. I understood that I did not
have the power to convert a low-paying niche into a high-paying one. But I DID have the power
to choose my niches.No one could stop me from that.
Most people complain that they are not making any money with AdSense.When I ask them how
many niches they’re in or how many sites they have, the answer is usually 3-4.
You see, it is almost impossible to earn from AdSense with just 1 site unless you get thousands of
visitors every day. But I assume you do not have that kind of traffic, right?
Otherwise you probably wouldn’t be reading this!
If you have just 1-2 niches, I can promise you with almost 100% confidence - you will not be
happy looking at your AdSense earnings! If you want to be a big player, you WILL have to
diversify into many niches.Yes, there is a bit of work involved. But you have to consider this as a
business. If you treat it like a business, it will pay you like a business.
If you decide to do this work yourself, it might take you 1-2 months or maybe 3 months. But it’s all
worth it.Another option is to outsource this work and have other people do it for you. But before
you can outsource something, you must first know how to do it on your own. If not, you won’t be
able to show someone else how to do it.
We have to focus on quantity and volume.We want to play in big numbers. When I say we need
to focus on“quantity and volume”, I don’t mean that we need to forget about the quality of the
sites. The sites still MUST have quality content, and essentially “add something to the internet
world.”
You know, there is something really funny about niches.The way some niches work often defies
logic. Niches that you think would be high paying may prove to be total disasters.
And niches that seem to be hopeless might turn out to be real winners. It really has nothing to
do with competition. I always say that you can never be 100% sure about which niches would be
profitable and which won’t.
I have learned that if I go into 10 markets, there will be around 6 that will be winners. So if I want
300 profitable sites, I need to make around 500 sites.
If you ask me, I feel this is much easier than searching for “the best niches” that are out there. It is
just like throwing enough stuff onto the wall and see what sticks.
Once I understood this basic truth, I spent the next few months,making hundreds of mini sites. In
fact I created well over 500 sites. In order to keep Google and my visitors happy, I made sure to
add some good content on each of my sites.
I drove traffic through my sites using PPC, as that was the most convenient way of giving me
instant results.
After regular testing and monitoring, I found that many of those sites were not paying me. I
scrapped them, and concentrated on those that were good.And my AdSense income has never
been the same again.
I am also about to tell you something that might make some of you feel uneasy.
You must have heard that you should have lots of content on your site.“Content is King”, right?
But my views are a bit different here. If you want to build an AdSense business, I think Content is
NOT always the King.
Yes, you should have good content on your site, and you should also comply with Google’s
policies. But do not get overly obsessed with putting TOO MUCH content on your AdSense sites.
Here’s why.We should not forget that our main aim is to make money with AdSense. How do we
do that? Our visitors click on our AdSense ads. Our aim is NOT to provide our visitors everything
that they are looking for. If we give them enough content, they’ll be getting everything they
want, therefore, they won’t click on our AdSense Ads.
Just rinse-and-repeat the process and get into as many niches as possible.Work smarter by
outsourcing smaller tasks as much as possible.
The AdSense business has got nothing to do with luck. It has got everything to do with volume
and hard-work.
As I said, this involves some work. But the effort you put in will give you equal results.Armed with
this knowledge you can almost dictate your AdSense earnings.
8/29/09
Start a Business Without Going Broke Keep startup costs low and consider these recession-proof industries.
Starting a business is difficult enough when the economy is strong but when you decide to start a business amid a 9.7 percent unemployment rate--while foreclosures are at an all-time high and bankruptcies are reaching epic proportions--the odds for success seem hopeless.
For startups willing to defy the odds, there are many advantages to starting a small business during a recession, and it can even be done without burring yourself in debt. Experts will tell you that the absolute best time to start a business is during a recession, and several well-known, highly successful businesses were launched during weakened economies.
Why did these companies succeed against the odds? They succeeded because the founders recognized a need in the market and filled it. Identifying that market need is the key to success for any business--regardless of what the economic climate is when those market needs are fulfilled.
Hewlett Packard was started in a garage during the Great Depression with startup costs of just $538. It was the first technology company to exceed $100 billion in revenue and is currently operating in almost every country worldwide. Burger King got its start during the recession of 1954; the Whopper was added to the menu during the recession of 1957. Microsoft was started during the 1975 recession. Bill Gates dealt with primitive computer languages until the creation of MS-DOS, which IBM Corp purchased, starting the company's climb to fortune.
Tips for Starting a Business In a Recession
The high risk of failure during recession requires that the start up costs are kept as low as possible. Businesses that start and survive during a recession are in the best position to take advantage of the inevitable economic upturn. Businesses that postpone launch until the economy shows signs of strengthening are that much further behind, and give a head start to competitors who took the risk of starting during a recession. Keep starting costs low by:
- Keeping your day job. If you're lucky enough to still have a job, try starting your business in your off-hours. You'll have the steady income from your existing job to pay your living expenses and can focus on making your new business profitable without the risk.
- Not buying, leasing or renting office space. Most businesses can be started right from your home. Don't waste money on an office space or retail storefront before absolutely necessary. Use your kitchen table, home office, basement or garage as office space. Some businesses will never need to venture outside the home.
- Not hiring employees. If you need help from other people, use contract workers and issue 1099s instead of hiring employees.
- Not wasting money on advertising. There are countless ways to advertise your business, product or service without spending money. If you--the maker of your product or provider of your service--can't sell yourself, no one else can, either.
Recession Proof Industries
Whenever possible, you should look at starting businesses in industries that are considered “recession proof”. These are the industries where consumers will still pay for the products or services offered even when money is tight. Recession proof industries tend to be:
- Food
- Health care, including psychology and substance abuse
- Computers and IT--especially fixing other peoples computers. People aren't buying new equipment; they're fixing what they have to save money.
- Security / criminal justice / police
- Education--adults go back to school when they lose their jobs; more high school graduates will go to college because they can't find jobs out of high school
- International business--just because the economy is bad in the US doesn't mean it is everywhere else
Finding Your Niche
When starting a new business, whether you create a product or provide a service, you need something that distinguishes you from everything else that's already available. Your long-term success is defined by your ability to be both unique and better than your competition, by adhering to these principles you’ll fill a void in the marketplace.
A good financial management system tells you how your business is doing--and why
While a well-organized bookkeeping system is vital, even more critical is what you do with it to establish your methods for financial management and control.
Think of your bookkeeping system as the body of a car. A car body can be engineered, painted and finished to look sleek and powerful. However, the car body won't get anywhere without an engine. Your financial management system is the engine that will make your car achieve peak performance.
You may be wondering what exactly is meant by the term "financial management." It is the process you use to put your numbers to work to make your business more successful. With a good financial management system, you will know not only how your business is doing financially, but why. And you will be able to use it to make decisions to improve the operation of your business.
Why is financial management important? Because a good financial management system enables you to accomplish important big picture and daily financial objectives. A good financial management system helps you become a better macromanager by enabling you to:
1. Manage proactively rather than reactively.
2. Borrow money more easily; not only can you plan ahead for financing needs, but sharing your budget with your banker will help in the loan approval process.
3. Provide financial planning information for investors.
4. Make your operation more profitable and efficient.
5. Access a great decision-making tool for key financial considerations.
Financial planning and control help you become a better micromanager by enabling you to:
1. Avoid investing too much money in fixed assets.
2. Maintain short-term working capital needs to support accounts receivable and inventory more efficiently.
3. Set sales goals; you need to be growth-oriented, not just an "order taker."
4. Improve gross profit margin by pricing your services more effectively or by reducing supplier prices, direct labor, etc., that affect cost of goods sold.
5. Operate your business more efficiently by keeping selling and general and administrative expenses down more effectively.
6. Perform tax planning.
7. Plan ahead for employee benefits.
8. Perform sensitivity analysis with the different financial variables involved.
The first step in developing a financial management system is the creation of financial statements. To manage proactively, you should plan to generate financial statements on a monthly basis. Your financial statements should include an income statement, a balance sheet and a cash flow statement.
A good automated accounting software package will create the monthly financial statements for you. If your bookkeeping system is manual, you still can use an internal or external bookkeeper to provide you with monthly financial statements.
Which Ad Strategy Works for You?
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted,” Philadelphia department store magnate John Wanamaker was famously quoted as saying. “The trouble is I don’t know which half.”
Wanamaker’s dilemma remains the bane of advertisers today--especially small-business owners on shoestring budgets. Unlike big-name advertisers like Pepsi, Nike, Apple and Ford, small-businesses can’t afford to throw millions of dollars at Super Bowl commercials or glossy magazine ads. Whether your ad budget is $5,000 or $50,000, you’ve got to make every dollar count.
And that means doing the math to calculate the return on investment on every advertising campaign you run.
What’s ROI? Think of it this way: Let’s say you rent a targeted list of 100 dentists in your local zip code and send them each a package containing free samples of your revolutionary new dental floss. After adding up the cost of printing, postage, list rental and samples, you may end spending $3 for every package you mail. This means that your campaign will have bring in at least $300 in profit in order to break even and $600 to double your money.
Here’s the good news: With the double whammy of the recession and the Internet hurting traditional media channels like newspapers, magazines, TV and radio, there’s never been a better time to buy premium advertising at bargain-basement prices--even for a small-business buyer.
The key is finding the advertising channel that best fits your company and your industry and use it to get the biggest bang for your buck. At the end of the day, it’s not about how much you spend or how many eyeballs you reach. It’s about how many customers you can bring in the door while still making enough money to float your boat. And, while no advertising strategy is foolproof (there’s always going to be some initial trial and error before you figure out what works), you’ll get better results and waste less money if you do your homework ahead of time.
“E-mail marketing, television, search marketing and yellow pages typically yield a better ROI for unknown or unbranded direct response offers,” says Michael Weinstein, CEO of Primary Systems, a South Salem, N.Y., Internet marketing firm.“Banner advertising, print and social media are better for companies with existing visibility. For example, Toyota will do better with a banner ad while a one-time ‘act now’ offer would excel in print or television.”
Here’s a quick guide to help you decide which advertising strategy is right for you:
Print
Despite the gloomy predictions of the death of the newspaper and magazine industries, print can still be a great way to target a niche market. For example, if you’re looking to sell pre-paid phone cards to Indian immigrants in Queens or Mexican-Americans in L.A., local ethnic newspapers can be a low-cost way to reach the entire community in one shot and to deliver discount coupons that let you track response to your offer. Likewise, a targeted local or national magazine can offer an inexpensive way to reach quilters or new parents. Depending on the size of the market and the size of your ad (quarter page, half page or full page), newspapers will typically charge $5 CPM to $25 CPM (cost per thousand impressions). National magazine rates average $6 CPM.
Broadcast
No media outlet reaches more people than television, which is why it’s still so popular among advertisers but also why it’s so difficult to measure ROI. While TV may be a great way to market a new car to the roughly 100 million people who watch the Super Bowl, it’s not a cost-effective way to reach your target market--even if you could afford $2.6 million for a 30-second spot. TV advertising ranges from $10 CPM for a local broadcast to $35 CPM for a commercial on a popular network sitcom. That doesn’t include the cost of producing the spot.
“If a general demographic description is all you need, then TV can be great,” says Jerry Shereshewsky, a New York City ad agency veteran and CEO of Grandparents.com. “But as soon as you need to get narrower, you’re out of luck.”
Direct TV is a better bet for small-business owners, especially inventors who have a blockbuster new kitchen appliance or fitness machine that must be seen to be believed. Both broadcast and cable television networks offer 30-, 60- and 120-second direct response commercials at a fraction of the cost of traditional spots. Because DRTV spots usually contain a “call to action,” you can flash a toll-free number or Web address that will let you measure your ROI to the penny. If your product is hot, you may even land a deal with a DRTV production company to foot the bill for your infomercial in return for a share of the revenue.
If you’re looking to reach a targeted demographic while they’re commuting to work in the morning or driving home at night, there’s nothing like radio. With an average CPM of just over $4, radio is a low-cost way to reach loyal listeners of popular DJs and talk show hosts. Radio advertising packages offer more than just a pre-recorded spot. They often include on-air introductions to your ad plus interactive contests and giveaways that can help you track and monitor the effectiveness of your campaign.
Directory
Advertising in the Yellow Pages may be old school, but, if you’re a plumber, electrician, locksmith or other emergency repair technician, you can’t afford not to be there. According to the Yellow Page Publishing Association, 96 percent of U.S. households have at least one copy. When a pipe bursts, a toilet overflows or someone locks himself out of his house at 2 a.m., you want to be the first to get the call--even if nobody remembers that the name of your company is AAA Aardvark Plumbing.
But there’s more to advertising in the Yellow Pages these days than listing your phone number in big bold numbers. With consumers and businesses increasingly turning to the Internet to find the service providers they need, it may also pay to list your business in online directories. AT&T’s YellowPages.com claims it generates over 140 million monthly searches and that 55 percent of their users have purchased a product or service from a merchant they found there. Merchants can enhance their listings with interactive features like video profiles, premium inventory listings, websites and search engine optimization.
Outdoor
Outdoor advertising – the signs you see on billboards, bus benches, subways, trains, airports, even elevators – is almost impossible to quantify in terms of ROI, but it can work wonders for dentists, lawyers, podiatrists and trade schools looking to reach busy commuters. And, at an average CPM of $2.26, there’s no cheaper way to reach a captive audience. So, while a small resort hotel may not have the ad budget of a Marriott or a Hilton, there’s no better way to tell weary commuters about your hotel than with a sign that says “Pat’s Bed and Breakfast, Exit 16.”
Internet
No longer an experimental ad vehicle, Internet advertising will total $24.5 billion this year, up 4.5 percent from 2008, according to research firm eMarketer. Unlike print and broadcast, Internet advertising is easy to measure thanks to tools that track site traffic and click-through. And it’s often cheaper than traditional media because many online publishers charge on performance, not traditional CPM-based metrics.
Internet advertising falls into three basic categories:
Banner Advertising
The online sister of print and broadcast, banners can give your ad constant exposure on a popular website or advertising network, letting you associate your brand with a publication that your prospective customers already trust. Banner ads generally work best for e-commerce companies that sell directly from their web pages and boast well-established brands. These are the types of companies that can take advantage of the fact that their next customer may be just one click away. Susan Wilson Solovic, CEO of Small Business Television, says “banner ads work well for branding campaigns and established brands with a simple call to action.”
To get the most out of banner advertising, it’s best to run your banners on the kind of sites that target your desired demographic--working moms, sports car enthusiasts, business travelers or senior citizens. If you’re selling luxury trips or expensive watches, for example, it may be worth paying $7.50 to $15 CPM to advertise on The Huffington Post. If you’re looking to tap the affluent baby boomer market, you may not mind spending $25 CPM to $45 CPM to run your ad on AARP’s site. But beware: Click-throughs on banner ads are notoriously low, so make sure you’re not spending more on banners that you can realistically recoup in sales.
E-mail Marketing
Unlike traditional direct mail with its hefty postage, printing and handling costs, you can blast out an e-mail marketing campaign for little more than the list rental cost alone--and start ringing up sales within minutes. Depending on how narrow the market you’re trying to reach (for example, divorced female fly fishers, ages 35 to 45, in Jackson Hole, WY), you can spend a tenth of a penny to more than $1 per e-mail address for a targeted list of permission-based e-mail addresses.
Once you’ve picked your list, the rest is easy. Just whip up some copy, remember to pop in a link to your website and hit send. Whether you send out your e-mail campaign to loyal customers or hot prospects, you can easily track ROI by inserting a URL in your message that contains a special tracking code or which sends recipients of your mailing to a specific page on your website. A word of caution: “Spam lists” containing e-mail addresses compiled from websites, directories and other sources without their recipients’ permission continue to circulate on the Internet. Beware of bargain-basement lists that promise millions of e-mail addresses--or else you may find your mailings blocked and your company booted off your ISP.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
On the Internet, every store is only one click away. That’s why one of the most cost-effective ways to drive customers to your site is sponsoring search terms on Google, Microsoft, AOL and other popular search engines. Unlike banner advertising and e-mail marketing, which are typically sold on a CPM basis, pay-per-click marketing requires you to pay only when a prospective buyer types in the relevant keywords and clicks on the link to your website.
“Search is now the tool of choice for shoppers, replacing both local newspaper advertising and yellow pages,” Shereshewsky says.
Even so, it’s important to choose your keywords carefully and closely monitor your budget. Because popular keywords like “toys,” “shoes” and “travel” can be expensive, it’s often more cost-effective to sponsor more targeted terms like “extra wide women’s shoes” or “luxury hiking trips Nepal.” Make sure to test the ROI of the keywords you sponsor (along with your ad copy and landing page) before you roll out your campaign in a big way.
In addition to paid advertising opportunities, the Internet also offers the chance to conduct no-cost grassroots marketing campaigns through blogs, social networks and bookmarking sites. But don’t expect the kind of ROI from Facebook or Twitter that you get from banners, e-mail or search engine marketing. According to Weinstein, social media marketing “is a great forum to communicate with your customers, but it takes constant care and feeding and isn’t suitable for marketers looking for an immediate return.”
Whether you choose an online, print, broadcast or directory advertising channel for your next campaign, it pays to do the math before investing your company’s hard-earned dollars. A little planning now will ensure that you’ll know which half of your advertising budget is working--and which half you’d be better off employing elsewhere.
Wanamaker’s dilemma remains the bane of advertisers today--especially small-business owners on shoestring budgets. Unlike big-name advertisers like Pepsi, Nike, Apple and Ford, small-businesses can’t afford to throw millions of dollars at Super Bowl commercials or glossy magazine ads. Whether your ad budget is $5,000 or $50,000, you’ve got to make every dollar count.
And that means doing the math to calculate the return on investment on every advertising campaign you run.
What’s ROI? Think of it this way: Let’s say you rent a targeted list of 100 dentists in your local zip code and send them each a package containing free samples of your revolutionary new dental floss. After adding up the cost of printing, postage, list rental and samples, you may end spending $3 for every package you mail. This means that your campaign will have bring in at least $300 in profit in order to break even and $600 to double your money.
Here’s the good news: With the double whammy of the recession and the Internet hurting traditional media channels like newspapers, magazines, TV and radio, there’s never been a better time to buy premium advertising at bargain-basement prices--even for a small-business buyer.
The key is finding the advertising channel that best fits your company and your industry and use it to get the biggest bang for your buck. At the end of the day, it’s not about how much you spend or how many eyeballs you reach. It’s about how many customers you can bring in the door while still making enough money to float your boat. And, while no advertising strategy is foolproof (there’s always going to be some initial trial and error before you figure out what works), you’ll get better results and waste less money if you do your homework ahead of time.
“E-mail marketing, television, search marketing and yellow pages typically yield a better ROI for unknown or unbranded direct response offers,” says Michael Weinstein, CEO of Primary Systems, a South Salem, N.Y., Internet marketing firm.“Banner advertising, print and social media are better for companies with existing visibility. For example, Toyota will do better with a banner ad while a one-time ‘act now’ offer would excel in print or television.”
Here’s a quick guide to help you decide which advertising strategy is right for you:
Despite the gloomy predictions of the death of the newspaper and magazine industries, print can still be a great way to target a niche market. For example, if you’re looking to sell pre-paid phone cards to Indian immigrants in Queens or Mexican-Americans in L.A., local ethnic newspapers can be a low-cost way to reach the entire community in one shot and to deliver discount coupons that let you track response to your offer. Likewise, a targeted local or national magazine can offer an inexpensive way to reach quilters or new parents. Depending on the size of the market and the size of your ad (quarter page, half page or full page), newspapers will typically charge $5 CPM to $25 CPM (cost per thousand impressions). National magazine rates average $6 CPM.
Broadcast
No media outlet reaches more people than television, which is why it’s still so popular among advertisers but also why it’s so difficult to measure ROI. While TV may be a great way to market a new car to the roughly 100 million people who watch the Super Bowl, it’s not a cost-effective way to reach your target market--even if you could afford $2.6 million for a 30-second spot. TV advertising ranges from $10 CPM for a local broadcast to $35 CPM for a commercial on a popular network sitcom. That doesn’t include the cost of producing the spot.
“If a general demographic description is all you need, then TV can be great,” says Jerry Shereshewsky, a New York City ad agency veteran and CEO of Grandparents.com. “But as soon as you need to get narrower, you’re out of luck.”
Direct TV is a better bet for small-business owners, especially inventors who have a blockbuster new kitchen appliance or fitness machine that must be seen to be believed. Both broadcast and cable television networks offer 30-, 60- and 120-second direct response commercials at a fraction of the cost of traditional spots. Because DRTV spots usually contain a “call to action,” you can flash a toll-free number or Web address that will let you measure your ROI to the penny. If your product is hot, you may even land a deal with a DRTV production company to foot the bill for your infomercial in return for a share of the revenue.
If you’re looking to reach a targeted demographic while they’re commuting to work in the morning or driving home at night, there’s nothing like radio. With an average CPM of just over $4, radio is a low-cost way to reach loyal listeners of popular DJs and talk show hosts. Radio advertising packages offer more than just a pre-recorded spot. They often include on-air introductions to your ad plus interactive contests and giveaways that can help you track and monitor the effectiveness of your campaign.
Directory
Advertising in the Yellow Pages may be old school, but, if you’re a plumber, electrician, locksmith or other emergency repair technician, you can’t afford not to be there. According to the Yellow Page Publishing Association, 96 percent of U.S. households have at least one copy. When a pipe bursts, a toilet overflows or someone locks himself out of his house at 2 a.m., you want to be the first to get the call--even if nobody remembers that the name of your company is AAA Aardvark Plumbing.
But there’s more to advertising in the Yellow Pages these days than listing your phone number in big bold numbers. With consumers and businesses increasingly turning to the Internet to find the service providers they need, it may also pay to list your business in online directories. AT&T’s YellowPages.com claims it generates over 140 million monthly searches and that 55 percent of their users have purchased a product or service from a merchant they found there. Merchants can enhance their listings with interactive features like video profiles, premium inventory listings, websites and search engine optimization.
Outdoor
Outdoor advertising – the signs you see on billboards, bus benches, subways, trains, airports, even elevators – is almost impossible to quantify in terms of ROI, but it can work wonders for dentists, lawyers, podiatrists and trade schools looking to reach busy commuters. And, at an average CPM of $2.26, there’s no cheaper way to reach a captive audience. So, while a small resort hotel may not have the ad budget of a Marriott or a Hilton, there’s no better way to tell weary commuters about your hotel than with a sign that says “Pat’s Bed and Breakfast, Exit 16.”
Internet
No longer an experimental ad vehicle, Internet advertising will total $24.5 billion this year, up 4.5 percent from 2008, according to research firm eMarketer. Unlike print and broadcast, Internet advertising is easy to measure thanks to tools that track site traffic and click-through. And it’s often cheaper than traditional media because many online publishers charge on performance, not traditional CPM-based metrics.
Internet advertising falls into three basic categories:
Banner Advertising
The online sister of print and broadcast, banners can give your ad constant exposure on a popular website or advertising network, letting you associate your brand with a publication that your prospective customers already trust. Banner ads generally work best for e-commerce companies that sell directly from their web pages and boast well-established brands. These are the types of companies that can take advantage of the fact that their next customer may be just one click away. Susan Wilson Solovic, CEO of Small Business Television, says “banner ads work well for branding campaigns and established brands with a simple call to action.”
To get the most out of banner advertising, it’s best to run your banners on the kind of sites that target your desired demographic--working moms, sports car enthusiasts, business travelers or senior citizens. If you’re selling luxury trips or expensive watches, for example, it may be worth paying $7.50 to $15 CPM to advertise on The Huffington Post. If you’re looking to tap the affluent baby boomer market, you may not mind spending $25 CPM to $45 CPM to run your ad on AARP’s site. But beware: Click-throughs on banner ads are notoriously low, so make sure you’re not spending more on banners that you can realistically recoup in sales.
E-mail Marketing
Unlike traditional direct mail with its hefty postage, printing and handling costs, you can blast out an e-mail marketing campaign for little more than the list rental cost alone--and start ringing up sales within minutes. Depending on how narrow the market you’re trying to reach (for example, divorced female fly fishers, ages 35 to 45, in Jackson Hole, WY), you can spend a tenth of a penny to more than $1 per e-mail address for a targeted list of permission-based e-mail addresses.
Once you’ve picked your list, the rest is easy. Just whip up some copy, remember to pop in a link to your website and hit send. Whether you send out your e-mail campaign to loyal customers or hot prospects, you can easily track ROI by inserting a URL in your message that contains a special tracking code or which sends recipients of your mailing to a specific page on your website. A word of caution: “Spam lists” containing e-mail addresses compiled from websites, directories and other sources without their recipients’ permission continue to circulate on the Internet. Beware of bargain-basement lists that promise millions of e-mail addresses--or else you may find your mailings blocked and your company booted off your ISP.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
On the Internet, every store is only one click away. That’s why one of the most cost-effective ways to drive customers to your site is sponsoring search terms on Google, Microsoft, AOL and other popular search engines. Unlike banner advertising and e-mail marketing, which are typically sold on a CPM basis, pay-per-click marketing requires you to pay only when a prospective buyer types in the relevant keywords and clicks on the link to your website.
“Search is now the tool of choice for shoppers, replacing both local newspaper advertising and yellow pages,” Shereshewsky says.
Even so, it’s important to choose your keywords carefully and closely monitor your budget. Because popular keywords like “toys,” “shoes” and “travel” can be expensive, it’s often more cost-effective to sponsor more targeted terms like “extra wide women’s shoes” or “luxury hiking trips Nepal.” Make sure to test the ROI of the keywords you sponsor (along with your ad copy and landing page) before you roll out your campaign in a big way.
In addition to paid advertising opportunities, the Internet also offers the chance to conduct no-cost grassroots marketing campaigns through blogs, social networks and bookmarking sites. But don’t expect the kind of ROI from Facebook or Twitter that you get from banners, e-mail or search engine marketing. According to Weinstein, social media marketing “is a great forum to communicate with your customers, but it takes constant care and feeding and isn’t suitable for marketers looking for an immediate return.”
Whether you choose an online, print, broadcast or directory advertising channel for your next campaign, it pays to do the math before investing your company’s hard-earned dollars. A little planning now will ensure that you’ll know which half of your advertising budget is working--and which half you’d be better off employing elsewhere.
Most commonly used words and phrases in the online marketing world
Ad Copy, Ad Tracker, AdSense, AdWords, Affiliate, Affiliate Link, Affiliate Marketing, Affiliate Program, Affiliate Program Provider, AIM, Alexa, Anchor text, Applet, Attachment, Arbitrage, Article Marketing, Autoresponder, Avatar, B2B, B2C, Back Button, Back End, Banner ad, Banner exchange, Black Hat SEO, Blog, Bloggers, BMP, Brick and mortar, Branding, Business Plan, Butterfly marketing, Cache, Campaign, Camtasia, ClickBank, Content, Contextual advertising, Conversion Rate, Cookie, Copywriting, Cpanel, CPA, CPC, CPM, Crawler, Cross promotion, CSS, Dedicated hosting/dedicated server, del.icio.us, Digg, Digital delivery product, Direct response, Directory site, Domain Name, Doorway page, Download, Downsell, Double Opt-In, Ebay, E-business, E-book, E-mail, E-mail Marketing Campaigns, Emoticons, EPC, Ezine, FAQ, Fantastico, FFA pages, Firesale, First cookie, Flaming, Flash, Folksonomy, Forums, Forward, Freelancer, Free Reprint Articles, FTP, Fulfillment, Ghost site, GIF, Give Away Rights, Graphic, Guru, Handle, Hardware, Headline, Hits, Home-based business, Hot linking, HTML, Hosting, ICQ, IM, Impression, Inbound link, Incentivization, Infoproduct, Internet, Internet marketing, IRT, ISP, Javascript, JPG, JV, JV Broker, Keyword, Keyword density, Keyword research, Landing Page, Last cookie, Lead, Lead capture page, Left click, Link, Link Bait, Link cloaking, Link exchange, List building, Load time, Log in, Login Name, Mailbot, Master Resale Rights, Membership site, Message Boards, Merchant account, Meta Tags, Minisite, MLM, MSN, Mod, Mouse, MySQL, Navigate, Newbie, Newsletter, Netizen, Niche and Niche marketing, Netiquette, One Time Offer (OTO), Online, offline, Opt-in & Permission-based marketing, Outsource, Page impressions, Password, Payment threshold, PayPal, Payment processor, PDF, Phishing, PHP, Physical product, Plugins, PM, Podcast, Pop in, Pop up, Pop under, Post, PPC advertising, PPL, PPP, Private Label Rights (PLR), PR (page rank), Press Release, Presell, Product launch, Public domain, Publisher, Quarantine, Query, Reciprocal Link, Redirect, Reprint Rights, Resale Rights, Resource box, Right click, RSS, RSS Feeds, Sales Copy, Sales Letter, Script, Search Engines, SEM, SEO, Server, Shared hosting, Signature file, Site/Website, Site builder, Solo Email, Spam, Spam blockers, Spider, Splog, Spyware, Squeeze page, Social bookmarking, Social networking, Software, Source code, SSL, Sub-domain name, Super Affiliate, Tags, Target Market, Telecommute, Teleseminar, Template, Thread, TLD (Top Level Domain), TOS, Traffic, Tracking, Troll, Trojan, Unique visitors (uniques), Upsell, URL, Username/ User ID, USP, Viral, Viral marketing, Virtual Real Estate, Virus, Vlog, WAHM, Web 2.0, Web Designer, Web marketer, Webinar, Webmaster, White Hat SEO, Whois, WIKI, WordPress, www, WYSIWYG, XML, Youtube, Yoyo mode, ZIP file
Leadership Vs Management: Understanding The Leadership Role
"I don't like to be managed. But if you lead me, I'll follow you anywhere." — A comment heard in the halls of a large corporation
Leadership is hard to understand, there are so many definitions, some of them bad ones. Leadership has an essential focus on people and how they can be influenced. Leader’s focus more on:
- Vision
- Inspiration
- Persuasion
- Motivation
- Relationships
- Team work
- Listening
One can add to the list activities such as:
- Counseling,
- Coaching,
- Teaching,
- Mentoring.
Comparison Chart of Leadership Behaviors vs Management Behaviors
Conclusion
It's vital for senior individuals in positions of great responsibility to be able to play both roles: the boss who cannot manage will kill an organization just as fast as one who cannot lead. But the person who can do both, they are on the path to success.
Leadership Vs Management: Understanding The Management Role
standing The Management Role
"Not one talks about managing fun and play." — Anonymous
Management focuses on work. We manage work activities such as money, time, paperwork, materials, equipment, etc. Management focus more on:
- Planning
- Organizing,
- Controlling
- Coordinating
- Directing
- Resource use
- Time management
- Logistics and the supply chain
- Finance and money management
- Budgeting
- Strategy
- Decision Making
- Problem Solving
The first five (planning, organizing, controlling, directing, and coordinating) are often listed in the management 101 texts as the major functions of management. Certain conceptual skills such as decision making, strategy development, and problem solving seem to fit better in management verses the leadership area, but you can go either way..
Some professors like to say "Managers are decision makers." but that doesn't seem quite right. A better description is, "Executives are decision makers— manager’s are problem solvers."
However, some things some things should be managed and others should not. People should not be managed—it implies we threat them like a thing.
Playing Leader and Manager Roles
"All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts." — William Shakespeare As You Like It)
To understand the difference, it helpful to look at a role--not the thing you eat unfortunately. A role is a fairly standardized behavior. Technically, a social role is, "An expected behavior for a given individual that relates to social status and social position."
In a family environment, a woman plays the role of mother, aunt, sister, daughter, grandmother, lover, etc. as she goes through life. A man will play complementary roles, the father, uncle, son, brother and so on.
It's important to understand, that one also plays roles at work. For example, the Dictionary of Occupational Titles has thousands listed. In the professional category, many professions such as medicine and law have even have a number of specialty roles.
Certain roles function almost as a class. These include: employees (or workers), manager, executives, entrepreneurs, investors, and stockholders. Within the executive class, we have the various c-level role such as: the CEO, CFO, CIO, COO, and so on.
Effective Leadership Versus Effective Management
Throughout life, we will be called to play many roles. Two of the most important work roles relate to that of leader and manager.
"Some leaders cannot manage— some managers cannot lead."
In business and in government, one must be both good at both management and relationship effective as both a manager and a leader. These roles are extremely complex, typically requiring university degree(s) and thousands of hours of practice.
Leadership Vs. Management: They are not the Same
Most people talk as though leadership and management are the same thing. Fundamentally, they are very different. Unfortunately, a lot of people do not understand this.
This was discovered a few years ago when doing on-site training in TQM. As part of a class exercise, participants where asked for a definition of total quality and management. Everyone got total right, there was even good consistency regarding quality. However, when it came to management, participants were all over the the place. There really wasn't any consistent definition.
This confusion extends even into the business schools. In fact, professors tend to lack clarity about the fundamental differences between what a leader does and what a manager does.
One way to understand leadership versus management is to imagine a Venn diagram. Most of the time, the two do not intersect. However, certain activities require both outstanding leadership and management skills. Three examples:
Project manager. One must ably manage the resources associated allocated to the project and while exercising leadership skills to build a strong team.
Delegation. Essentially, one must plan what to do and persuade someone to do it.
Change "Management." If one is putting a new light bulb in the socket, one can management that change. However, real organizational change has both a leadership and a management component.
Leadership Vs Management: Basic Definitions
"One cannot do what one cannot define."
One of the institutions that never got the two confused, was the U.S. military. One person who clearly knew what she was talking about was Grace Hopper. An interesting lady, she started in the Navy Waves in WW II and retired as a rear admiral. One story about her goes:
In the early days of computers, there was a great deal of mechanical parts and relays. One day, her engineers and programmers got into a big argument about whether the software was wrong or whether the hardware was messed up. She went pulled off a back panel and found an insect crawling in the electronics. This lead to the words, “There is a bug in the computer.”
Another saying attributed to her was, "It's better to seek forgiveness, than to ask for permission."
The Nine Spheres of Leader Influence
Introduction
In politics, a sphere of influence is typically defined as the cultural, economic, military or political influence a state exerts over another state. Similarly, powerful leaders have a sphere of influence used on the people around them.
Written in 1959, French and Raven The Bases For Social Power is commonly cited in management texts as the model for leadership influence. However, they listed only five sources, which they referred to as:
- Reward,
- Coercive,
- Legitimate (authority),
- Referent (charisma) and
- Expertise.
It's been over 45 years since this classic article was published and times change. For example, there is a great deal of research in both psychology and management that we can now draw on to better understand the nature of leader influence. Besides the five that used by French and Raven, I believe there are four more:
- Coaching,
- Vision,
- Relationship, and
- Persuasion.
And while reward and coercion are definitely terms in common use, it would be more helpful to think more in terms of behavioral modification (or operant conditioning) which uses two motivational consequences that leaders need to understand: positive reinforcement and punishment.
What is Management
Management focuses on work. We manage work activities such as money, time, paperwork, materials, equipment, etc. Management focus more on:
Planning
Organizing,
Controlling
Coordinating
Directing
Resource use
Time management
Logistics and the supply chain
Finance and money management
Budgeting
Strategy
Decision Making
Problem Solving
The first five (planning, organizing, controlling, directing, and coordinating) are often listed in the management 101 texts as the major functions of management. Certain conceptual skills such as decision making, strategy development, and problem solving seem to fit better in management verses the leadership area, but you can go either way..
Some professors like to say "Managers are decision makers." but that doesn't seem quite right. A better description is, "Executives are decision makers? manager?s are problem solvers."
However, some things some things should be managed and others should not. People should not be managed?it implies we threat them like a thing.
Planning
Organizing,
Controlling
Coordinating
Directing
Resource use
Time management
Logistics and the supply chain
Finance and money management
Budgeting
Strategy
Decision Making
Problem Solving
The first five (planning, organizing, controlling, directing, and coordinating) are often listed in the management 101 texts as the major functions of management. Certain conceptual skills such as decision making, strategy development, and problem solving seem to fit better in management verses the leadership area, but you can go either way..
Some professors like to say "Managers are decision makers." but that doesn't seem quite right. A better description is, "Executives are decision makers? manager?s are problem solvers."
However, some things some things should be managed and others should not. People should not be managed?it implies we threat them like a thing.
What is Leadership
"I don't like to be managed. But if you lead me, I'll follow you anywhere." ? A comment heard in the halls of a large corporation
Leadership is hard to understand, there are so many definitions, some of them bad ones. Leadership has an essential focus on people and how they can be influenced. Leader?s focus more on:
Vision
Inspiration
Persuasion
Motivation
Relationships
Team work
Listening
One can add to the list activities such as:
Counseling,
Coaching,
Teaching,
Mentoring.
Conclusion
It's vital for senior individuals in positions of great responsibility to be able to play both roles: the boss who cannot manage will kill an organization just as fast as one who cannot lead. But the person who can do both, they are on the path to success.
Leadership is hard to understand, there are so many definitions, some of them bad ones. Leadership has an essential focus on people and how they can be influenced. Leader?s focus more on:
Vision
Inspiration
Persuasion
Motivation
Relationships
Team work
Listening
One can add to the list activities such as:
Counseling,
Coaching,
Teaching,
Mentoring.
Conclusion
It's vital for senior individuals in positions of great responsibility to be able to play both roles: the boss who cannot manage will kill an organization just as fast as one who cannot lead. But the person who can do both, they are on the path to success.
8/28/09
Handy iPhone / iPod Touch apps for your travels
Packing an iPhone or iPod Touch for your trip? Here are some iPod Touch or iPhone apps that you may want to pack with you for your travels.
Road Trip:
AroundMe (Free)
Find out information about your surroundings en-route. AroundMe is an easy way to locate your nearest petrol station, bank, hotel, supermarket or somewhere to stop for lunch.
Road Trip Fun ($0.99)
Road Trip Fun contains a list of games that you and your family or friends can play on a road trip.
Packing ($0.99)
Become a packing perfectionist with this easy tool. Create lists of necessary items and check them off as you go.
Trazzler ($0.99)
Travel application helping you answer one question, “Where should I go?”.
Roadtrippr (Free)
The part of planning a road trip is finding places to visit. Everyone can find the main attractions, but most of the time the most interesting places to visit are off the beat path.
Accufuel ($0.99)
Monitor your vehicle´s fuel efficiency.
The Beach:
Weather Pro ($3.99)
Track the weather before you head out to ensure you are going to have a great day on the beach. Weather Pro reports high quality forecasts for over 400,000 locations, every 3 hours, 7 days a week.
Surf Report (Free)
Surf´s up. And thanks to Surf Report, you know exactly where you´ll find the best surf conditions near you. In fact, the free Oakley´s Surf Report offers surf conditions and weather reports for thousands of beaches around the world.
Facebook (Free)
Keep your Facebook status updated and upload photos from your iPhone so that your friends can see what an awesome time you´re having.
City break
UrbanSpoon (Free)
UrbanSpoon makes your life easy by suggesting places to eat when you´re stumped. With a shake of your iPhone, UrbanSpoon scrolls through restaurants wherever you are by type and price.
Currency (Free)
Currency provides up-to-date exchange rate information for over 90 currencies and 100 countries. Great for when you travel abroad and need to calculate the latest exchange rates.
My Gate Maps ($2.99)
Gate maps of worldwide airports, including a favorites list.
WikiMe ($0.99)
Hoping to learn more about The Tower of London? WikiMe is a fun and interesting way to find Wikipedia articles for your current location or post code of your choice.
Skype (Free)
Roaming on your iPhone? Skype gives you free calls and instant messages to anyone else on Skype.
Qype Radar (Free)
Search reviews on restaurants, bars, shops, hotels, and nightlife in over 15,000 cities worldwide.
Tipulator - The Fun Tip Calculator ($0.99)
Not sure what to tip? Use Tipulator the next time you go out to dinner. Enter the bill amount, select a percentage, and Tipulator will calculate the tip.
Flight Status ($4.99)
Flight Status lets you check the status of your flight, view maps with live weather, view terminal, baggage claim and gate information.
Lonely Planet Phrasebooks ($9.99)
Never be at a loss for words with text and audio translations of common words and phrases from English into Cantonese, German, Japanese, Spanish, French and over 600 spoken (and phonetically written) phrases in each guide.
Business Travel
LinkedIn (Free)
Perfect for the business traveler, LinkedIn allows you to connect to your personal professional network, browse contact information and receive status updates.
Salesforce Mobile (Free)
Log on to your salesforce account via this application. Keep ahead of your business deals by viewing and editing your accounts in between meetings.
SpeakEasy Voice Recorder ($1.99)
Perfect for the forgetful mind. SpeakEasy allows you to record and replay important “to-dos” and notes for yourself.
Oracle Business Approvals for Managers (Free)
Take your business on the go! This application makes it easy for all managers and executives to keep track of delegated tasks and make important decisions anywhere.
Timewerks ($4.99)
Keep track of time with Timewerks. Timewerks is an application that allows you to send invoices and track important materials for your business. Create personal timesheets for each project.
Currency (Free)
Currency provides up-to-date exchange rate information for over 90 currencies and 100 countries. Great for when you travel abroad and need to calculate the latest exchange rates.
Air Sharing ($4.99)
This highly popular application allows you to drag and view important documents from your computer onto your iPhone.
Keynote Remote ($0.99)
Take some pressure off your next big presentation with Keynote Remote. This application allows you to control your Keynote slides on your computer with your iPhone.
Bloomberg (Free)
The most trusted financial report is now available on your iPhone. Get the latest financial news and create a customized list of the most important stocks from markets around the world.
Next Flight ($2.99)
Out of a meeting late and missed a flight? Next Flight keeps you updated with the next available flight so you can catch the flight that best fits your schedule!
AP Mobile News Network (Free)
Powered by the Associated Press, the Mobile News Network app allows you to stay current in local and global news right on your iPhone.
Expense2GO for Salesforce (Free)
Use salesforce.com to create expense reports right on your phone.
|
AroundMe (Free)
Find out information about your surroundings en-route. AroundMe is an easy way to locate your nearest petrol station, bank, hotel, supermarket or somewhere to stop for lunch.
Road Trip Fun ($0.99)
Road Trip Fun contains a list of games that you and your family or friends can play on a road trip.
Packing ($0.99)
Become a packing perfectionist with this easy tool. Create lists of necessary items and check them off as you go.
Trazzler ($0.99)
Travel application helping you answer one question, “Where should I go?”.
Roadtrippr (Free)
The part of planning a road trip is finding places to visit. Everyone can find the main attractions, but most of the time the most interesting places to visit are off the beat path.
Accufuel ($0.99)
Monitor your vehicle´s fuel efficiency.
The Beach:
Weather Pro ($3.99)
Track the weather before you head out to ensure you are going to have a great day on the beach. Weather Pro reports high quality forecasts for over 400,000 locations, every 3 hours, 7 days a week.
Surf Report (Free)
Surf´s up. And thanks to Surf Report, you know exactly where you´ll find the best surf conditions near you. In fact, the free Oakley´s Surf Report offers surf conditions and weather reports for thousands of beaches around the world.
Facebook (Free)
Keep your Facebook status updated and upload photos from your iPhone so that your friends can see what an awesome time you´re having.
City break
UrbanSpoon (Free)
UrbanSpoon makes your life easy by suggesting places to eat when you´re stumped. With a shake of your iPhone, UrbanSpoon scrolls through restaurants wherever you are by type and price.
Currency (Free)
Currency provides up-to-date exchange rate information for over 90 currencies and 100 countries. Great for when you travel abroad and need to calculate the latest exchange rates.
My Gate Maps ($2.99)
Gate maps of worldwide airports, including a favorites list.
WikiMe ($0.99)
Hoping to learn more about The Tower of London? WikiMe is a fun and interesting way to find Wikipedia articles for your current location or post code of your choice.
Skype (Free)
Roaming on your iPhone? Skype gives you free calls and instant messages to anyone else on Skype.
Qype Radar (Free)
Search reviews on restaurants, bars, shops, hotels, and nightlife in over 15,000 cities worldwide.
Tipulator - The Fun Tip Calculator ($0.99)
Not sure what to tip? Use Tipulator the next time you go out to dinner. Enter the bill amount, select a percentage, and Tipulator will calculate the tip.
Flight Status ($4.99)
Flight Status lets you check the status of your flight, view maps with live weather, view terminal, baggage claim and gate information.
Lonely Planet Phrasebooks ($9.99)
Never be at a loss for words with text and audio translations of common words and phrases from English into Cantonese, German, Japanese, Spanish, French and over 600 spoken (and phonetically written) phrases in each guide.
Business Travel
LinkedIn (Free)
Perfect for the business traveler, LinkedIn allows you to connect to your personal professional network, browse contact information and receive status updates.
Salesforce Mobile (Free)
Log on to your salesforce account via this application. Keep ahead of your business deals by viewing and editing your accounts in between meetings.
SpeakEasy Voice Recorder ($1.99)
Perfect for the forgetful mind. SpeakEasy allows you to record and replay important “to-dos” and notes for yourself.
Oracle Business Approvals for Managers (Free)
Take your business on the go! This application makes it easy for all managers and executives to keep track of delegated tasks and make important decisions anywhere.
Timewerks ($4.99)
Keep track of time with Timewerks. Timewerks is an application that allows you to send invoices and track important materials for your business. Create personal timesheets for each project.
Currency (Free)
Currency provides up-to-date exchange rate information for over 90 currencies and 100 countries. Great for when you travel abroad and need to calculate the latest exchange rates.
Air Sharing ($4.99)
This highly popular application allows you to drag and view important documents from your computer onto your iPhone.
Keynote Remote ($0.99)
Take some pressure off your next big presentation with Keynote Remote. This application allows you to control your Keynote slides on your computer with your iPhone.
Bloomberg (Free)
The most trusted financial report is now available on your iPhone. Get the latest financial news and create a customized list of the most important stocks from markets around the world.
Next Flight ($2.99)
Out of a meeting late and missed a flight? Next Flight keeps you updated with the next available flight so you can catch the flight that best fits your schedule!
AP Mobile News Network (Free)
Powered by the Associated Press, the Mobile News Network app allows you to stay current in local and global news right on your iPhone.
Expense2GO for Salesforce (Free)
Use salesforce.com to create expense reports right on your phone.
Finding the right external DVD burner
WITH many of us now (or soon to be) a proud owner of a netbook, there´s a need to have an external optical drive.
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You can also play lightweight games on your netbook off a disc if you have an optical disc drive.
DVD burners today are slimmer and more stylish, with some that even match your netbook´s design.
Third-party models are plenty, and many support both Windows and Mac machines.
The easiest interface to work with would be USB 2.0, as most netbooks have at least two ports.
For netbooks that have a FireWire interface, you can opt for models that support this connectivity and free up your USB ports.
Of course, DVD burners that support both USB 2.0 and FireWire offer more options, but they are more expensive.
Typically, each DVD burner offers different speeds for reading, writing and rewriting discs. If you plan to use the drive to back up data such as downloaded movies, music, videos and photos, you can invest in a DVD burner that offers faster speeds.
Speed-wise, the current offering is 20X for write-once speed on a singlelayer DVD, and 8X for dual-layer DVD.
The rewrite speed for DVD-RW is 6X. Most of the time, slimmer external DVD burners tend to be slower, unlike their internal counterparts. But you gain on portability, which is important if you travel a lot.
While speed affects pricing, items such as bundled software can add value. Check the list of software that comes with the DVD burner. Go for those that offer easy-to-use video and image authoring tools, data backup utility, and capability to encode data for playback on a regular DVD player.
Software titles from Nero and Roxio are common inclusions. But there are models that pack in proprietary software that might need a bit of learning. So, it´s important that the tools suit your computing needs.
As you browse for a DVD burner, you will likely come across the term "LightScribe", which refers to a disc-etching technology licensed by Hewlett-Packard. DVD burners that support LightScribe let you creatively label each disc you create using text and images.
Check for warranty details and after-sales service before you settle on your purchase.
Also, make sure that you get the vendor to bundle in the necessary cables.
Choosing speakers for your MP3 player
Portability. Entertainment. MP3 players offer many benefits. But do they sound good? To truly enjoy the digital music stored on these devices, many people are looking to purchase high-quality MP3 speakers and add an essential accessory to their setup.
Today, a number of companies offer a full range of speaker systems designed specifically for digital music players. These speakers offer different features designed to address the various needs of the digital music consumer. Unique design, alarm clock functions, and high-performance audio drivers are just a few features that distinguish these products.
However, the most important element of any MP3 speaker system is audio quality. When you are getting ready to test and review sound quality, these tips may help:
Listen to similar, high-quality files
To make an accurate comparison, ensure that the files you´ll be testing are all high-quality files. With your media player open and your song selected, you can find the bit-rate by �- for example, in iTunes -� clicking “Get Info” from the File menu. Compared to a 128-kilobit file, a 24-kilobit file is not going to do justice to the listening experience.
Enjoy your favorite songs and artists
Because sound quality is often subjective, listening to songs based on some previous experience will help you better assess a speaker´s audio quality. For example, you´ll be able to tell right away if the vocals are thin or the piano is tinny because you know what a faithful reproduction of the music ought to sound like.
Listen to a wide variety of music
Without advanced analytical equipment, you can still make a good qualitative assessment of a product´s acoustics. But you´ll want to make sure you get an idea of how it performs in each range. As you listen to multiple tracks, make sure that the audio sounds balanced. The bass, mid and treble ranges should sound balanced relative to each other. Make sure to listen to rock, rap, classical. The breadth of styles will give you a good idea of how the speakers perform across all frequencies.
Your ears don´t lie
Remember, your ears are a reliable source of information. You´ll be able to tell if the speakers you´re reviewing fill the room with the rich, hair-raising sound you love. And if they don´t, you´ll hear that, too.
So now, with the right choice of music and the right choice of music speakers, with the push of a button on your remote, you can throw a party, be motivated to do your house chores or even groove to the music at the comfort of your home.
Today, a number of companies offer a full range of speaker systems designed specifically for digital music players. These speakers offer different features designed to address the various needs of the digital music consumer. Unique design, alarm clock functions, and high-performance audio drivers are just a few features that distinguish these products.
However, the most important element of any MP3 speaker system is audio quality. When you are getting ready to test and review sound quality, these tips may help:
Listen to similar, high-quality files
To make an accurate comparison, ensure that the files you´ll be testing are all high-quality files. With your media player open and your song selected, you can find the bit-rate by �- for example, in iTunes -� clicking “Get Info” from the File menu. Compared to a 128-kilobit file, a 24-kilobit file is not going to do justice to the listening experience.
Enjoy your favorite songs and artists
Because sound quality is often subjective, listening to songs based on some previous experience will help you better assess a speaker´s audio quality. For example, you´ll be able to tell right away if the vocals are thin or the piano is tinny because you know what a faithful reproduction of the music ought to sound like.
Listen to a wide variety of music
Without advanced analytical equipment, you can still make a good qualitative assessment of a product´s acoustics. But you´ll want to make sure you get an idea of how it performs in each range. As you listen to multiple tracks, make sure that the audio sounds balanced. The bass, mid and treble ranges should sound balanced relative to each other. Make sure to listen to rock, rap, classical. The breadth of styles will give you a good idea of how the speakers perform across all frequencies.
Your ears don´t lie
Remember, your ears are a reliable source of information. You´ll be able to tell if the speakers you´re reviewing fill the room with the rich, hair-raising sound you love. And if they don´t, you´ll hear that, too.
So now, with the right choice of music and the right choice of music speakers, with the push of a button on your remote, you can throw a party, be motivated to do your house chores or even groove to the music at the comfort of your home.
Ways to network successfully Internet
IF you use the Internet, chances are you are in a social network or two.
According to ComScore, more than 600 million active users frequent social networks, blogging and photo sharing sites.
A study conducted by Synovate of 15- to 24-year-olds in Asia commissioned by Microsoft found that young Asians are spending an average of almost five hours a day online. This number goes up to nearly seven hours in countries such as Singapore (6.8 hours), Taiwan (6.8 hours) and Malaysia (6.7 hours).
But if you have not jumped on the social networking bandwagon, here are some tips to help you become a successful social butterfly online.
Be selective
There are more social networks out there than you can imagine, and there´s no way you will have the time to be involved in all of them.
Explore some of the key choices on the Web, such as Facebook, Ning, LinkedIn, Twitter, De.li.cious, Flickr, Friendster and Picasa Web.
Then ask yourself: What do I want to get out of this? Do I want to make friends? Do I want to promote my music or art? Do I just want a platform for sharing ideas?
If you want to do all of the above, do consider Windows Live home page, Facebook, MySpace or Friendster.
Stay focused
If you have chosen to sign up with more than one social network, signing in to all of them daily to keep track of the latest updates is likely to wear you out.
Who are you?
People like to put a face to a name. Put up an eye-catching photo of yourself and share some details about yourself on your profile. But overdoing it might just earn you a cyber-stalker or two.
So be smart about the personal information you put out there and manage your privacy settings well.
Stay active
Make sure you engage your friends regularly and take part in discussions, update your status and give your two cents´ worth every now and then.
You don´t want to drop off the face of the online universe. On the flip side, don´t overload your friends with links, messages, comments and content or you will be deemed a spammer.
Have fun!
Social networking should be fun. Keep it simple!
Aggregating your social networks is a great start. After all, this is about making friends, socialising and sharing interests.
Green-It-Yourself: Promoting greener living through Twitter
Three colleagues are promoting greener living through Twitter. YONG HUEY JIUN writes.
GREEN is the new black. On Twitter anyway.
The man who made saving trees in vogue, former United States vice president Al Gore, has taken his environmental crusade to one of the fastest-growing online social networks.
Just three years ago, the Nobel prize and Oscar winner hammered home the message of a planet in jeopardy in An Inconvenient Truth, a compelling film documentary about global warming.
Thirty-year-old Jek Tan recalls how in one simple yet powerful diagram, Gore explained carbon dioxide´s impact on the earth´s temperature and projected its effects in 50 years to come. To this day, the presentation has stuck indelibly in his mind, forever changing the way he viewed planet earth.
“The readings were off the charts!” Tan remarked. “It scared me to think what Earth would be like for my children.” That alarming revelation has yielded “#GIY”, short for “Green-It-Yourself”, an online collection of green tips named for Twitter´s popular communication format.
In March this year, Tan, along with two of his colleagues, Tee Tsun Joo and Alex Lam, came together to promote greener living through the online social network. From turning off the tap when brushing your teeth to hibernating your PC when you are out for lunch, the (#GIY) hub offers practical green tips and ideas that are easy to apply both at home and at work.
“Anyone can be part of this. It´s about what you can do and how you can do it,” said Tee, 28, who first envisioned Twitter as a tool for advocating green.
The trio decided to translate their tweets (messages) into action at the place they spend the most time together: at work. Making sure their company´s corporate culture dovetails with their green mission, they started bringing their own food containers to work. Soon, other employees began to follow.
“The numbers for using food (plastic) containers don´t look very impressive on a day-to-day basis. But if you take an average of eight containers a day and multiply that by five working days and one year -- and we´ve been doing this for the last three to four years -- we´ve actually saved thousands of containers,” Tan explained.
But why Twitter? With tweets limited to 140 characters, Tee said Twitter is fast, easy and concise.
A voting mechanism on Twitter unearths the more popular green tips that may sometimes get buried in a seemingly bottomless stream of information. “If you make the effort to dig through websites of power companies, you´ll find many green handy tips. But the problem is they are buried so deep within the site no one really reads them,” Tan pointed out.
However, Twitter´s most productive use has been its potential in tapping into the world´s collective brain. Twitterers can re-tweet (RT) -- pass along what someone else said on Twitter -- to their followers.
“We don´t always have to come up with new green ideas,” said Lam, 30, known on Twitter as @TheBackpackr.
As Tee discovered, no idea is too bizarre on Twitterland. In May, Google, the world´s largest search engine, announced in its blog an unorthodox low-carbon approach to property maintenance -- the company is turning to a herd of 200 goats to replace its lawn mowers.
Though still an early-adopter phenomenon in Malaysia, Twitter´s traffic growth is accelerating. Traffic on #GIY soared on World Earth Day (April 22), double the number of tweets on a normal day. Already, the trio has drawn a large following, with a network spanning 10,000 twitterers since they began.
Twitter, as it turns out, has become an unlikely intersection of digital concepts and social activism. But it wasn´t always this way. When Twittermania first hit the World Wide Web, Internet hipsters randomly tapped out a slew of mundane status updates and comments to pass their time.
If Twitter´s power is properly harnessed, the stream of mindless Internet chatter on #GIY may one day offer an early glimpse into public sentiment -- if not already -- and perhaps even help shape it.
“The power is exponential in the realm of online social network,” Tan marvelled.
For now, though, the trio is content on making an earthly difference in the digital world -- one tweet at a time.
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