HOPE
BLOOMS ETERNAL ON A DREARY
DAY IN A NEW BEDFORD CEMETERY
A
few years ago, my daughter joined me on a day trip to meet my
half-sister, my daughter's half-aunt, who lives in New Bedford,
Massachusetts. We were on a pilgrimage of sorts hoping to learn more
about our family genealogy.
It
was a rainy day and as we passed a cemetery, a bright yellow splotch of
color caught my eye. It took me 2 more blocks before my photographer's
sixth sense ordered me back for a memorable shot.
From
my personal experience of around two years as a home business website
operator as well as owner, I have spent enough time learning and
unlearning. Observing other sites and constantly reading and
contributing in online forums about managing a website.
Having
a website is all about being able to draw targeted traffic to
you site. The more the traffic- betters the sales- improved
commissions. This is everyone’s ultimate goal behind running
a home business website!
Striking
a balance is the key - understanding visitor’s
psyche and the algorithm the spiders follow. Here, we will discuss a
few important aspects of visitor’s psyche; we will
concentrate on home page only, considering it’s the first
impression. Home page is also called the index page.
Point 1. An uncluttered home page
is the
most important criteria of all. Let the home page be clean, simply
formatted with readable font and suitable background color. Consider
all these aspects. Unusual fonts, however attractive, should be avoided
to play safe.
Point 2. You should make sure you
are
not filling up your home page with all and sundry affiliate links.
Google will, in all possibilities not rank the page as well as you want
it or expect it to. Google values content. Let your home page have
information about main theme of the site. Try to cover as many aspects
or points connected with your main theme on your front page. This way
you will attract targeted traffic and move up the search engines
faster. Google will visit your site more often.
Point No.3. Keep the visitor in
mind:
While you are designing your home page or writing content for it, keep
your visitor in mind. His background, his interest, his benefit.
Instead of your designing skills, your control over the language and so
forth. Check other websites from a layman’s point of view and
see what kind of content holds your interest. Apply the same principal
for your own.
Point No 4. Body copy of the home
page
should sound easy and interesting to read. Your headline, your punch
line, everything should have an effect. At the same time -
don’t exaggerate. Don’t lie. Don’t over
emphasize. A chunk of people look at any kind of activity done on the
internet as scam. Be simple yet convincing.
Point No.5. Let your home page
have
clear cut paths. If your main theme is fitness let the pages directly
connected to your home page be directly related to fitness. Like diets,
aerobics, fitness chart, yoga etc. But when a visitor clicks on your
diet page, on this new page, along with info on aerobics, you can have
a link that’s talking about free music downloads to do
aerobics at home. It’s connected and yet sort of diversifies.
But you have to be careful. Excess of these things will mar your main
theme. This will affect your Search Engine Ranking (SER).
Besides
the above, here are a few quick tips: Don’t change
your home page too often. Neither the layout, design, nor the key
phrases you are optimizing it for. While exchanging links, make sure
your anchor tags contain your main keyword. Optimize one keyword per
page. Googlebot treats each page is a separate website. So try to take
time with each page. Let each page be well optimized, interesting and
informative and complete in all respects.
IS
EBAY STILL THE WORLD'S BEST BUSINESS INCUBATOR?
-
eBay has enjoyed a reputation as a 21st century path to the American
Dream since before the 21st century actually began. By the end of the
last century, eBay presented a unique opportunity to start and build an
independent business, capable of providing a sustainable income for
budding entrepreneurs and their employees.
PROPEL
YOUR PROFITS WITH BETTER IMAGES -
There was a time when finding a good image of an item up for auction
was a real treat. These days, it’s an absolute necessity.
Today there’s simply too much competition, and a lousy image
can lead to a lousy sale price (or no sale at all).
To attract more bidders and earn higher bids, you'll need to serve up
quality images every time. Here's how.
SHIPPING
INSURANCE: IS IT WORTH THE COST? -
You've no doubt heard the horror stories about packages that disappear
off the face of the earth moments after being handed over the postal
counter.
There's no better argument in favor of buying shipping insurance than
stories such as these. But what if your package isn't all that
valuable?
NICHE
MARKETING ON EBAY -
Niche marketing is one of the most profitable strategies for the small
to medium-sized eBay seller. It's also among the easiest ways for a new
seller to get started making money on eBay.
What denotes a niche market?
FIELDING
BIDDERS' QUESTIONS -
If you have lots of
listings or a really hot product, you might get tons of inquiries.
Answering them all can be time consuming, but do it, and
promptly—even the dumb questions. They are usually
interested enough to bid, but want to know more—either about
the product or about you—before committing to the deal.
M.
R. Lawrence Publisher
& Editor
TURBO
LISTER SECURITY -
The first time you connect to the eBay site with Turbo Lister 6.5 or
higher, you'll be asked to sign in and verify your User ID and password
(authentication). In the next step (authorization), you'll get the
appropriate privileges to perform your Turbo Lister activities. During
this process, we'll give your computer an encrypted security code that
only eBay can read, which will be valid for 18 months. You won't have
to go through this process again for 18 months, unless you add a new
user to your Turbo Lister subscription, or you uninstall and reinstall
Turbo Lister on your computer. This update is optional, as always, but
in the interest of making the overall eBay marketplace safer, this
process will become mandatory later this year. FAQ
