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8 Benefits Of Helping An Online
Business Newbie
Do your remember when you first
ventured out in the
online business world? You probably had questions
and problems along the way. Wouldn't it have been
easier if you had help? When a newbie asks for your
advice, educate them; answer their questions and
help
them solve their online business problems. If you do
not have the knowledge to help them out, point them
in the right direction.
You'll get many benefits from helping online
business
newbies. Below are eight possible benefits you could
receive:
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You will feel good knowing that you had a part in
helping them build their business. You can sit back
and say "I had a part in their success."
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They may become one of your best friends. Most
people can use new friends, even business owners.
You may even become business partners and create
a totally new business together.
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You could end up being strategic business allies
in the future. You could regularly do joint venture
and cross promotion deals with each other.
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They may help you out with your business. Maybe
they will give you some testimonials or endorsements
for your products or services.
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You might gain some valuable referrals from them.
They may also join your affiliate program and make
sales for your business.
-
They might offer you some
free advertising
space
on their web site or in their e-zine for your help.
You
could also exchange advertising with them.
-
You both could end up developing a new product
or service together. The product or service could be
a combination of your current ones.
-
They might purchase the products you sell and
become one of your best customers. You could sell
them many back end products or services in the future.
There are probably many other benefits you could get
from helping a new online business owner. Always
remember to help them out because it's the nice
thing
to do and not just to benefit your own business.
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Quote of the Day:
"Only the educated are free."
-- Epicetus
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5 New And Lesser-Known Online Business Ideas
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Ask people to find a hidden link in your ad
copy. If they
find the hidden link tell them they will get a prize
or freebie
by clicking on it. This will increase the chance
that they will buy your product or service because they will read
your
whole ad copy.
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Start a members only web site. Tell visitors
what's in your
members only site and what it costs to get access.
Offer them
a free membership, if, in exchange they link to
your web site,
post your banner on their home page or agree to
advertise
your web site in their e-zine for a set period of
time. Usually
they will agree to the free advertising to save
money. This is
a powerful way to get free advertising.
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Want a popular discussion board? This technique
is based on
the number of postings made by any one person. You
could
give away a free product or service to any person
that posts ten
or more messages on your discussion in a month. It
could be a free e-book, report, e-mail consulting etc. Just
keep track of everyone's postings each month. This could also
work for e-mail discussion lists.
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Give your visitors an instant article directory.
Tell your
visitors they can instantly add a free article
directory to
their web site by linking to yours. Just place your
ad or banner
ad on top of the article directory for your main
product or
service. All those links can add up to a large
amount of traffic
for your web site.
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There a millions of web sites on the internet.
Instead of
marketing your web site as a web site. Market it as
a free web
book. Design your web site with a title page, table
of contents,
chapters, etc. Just place your ad or banner for your
product or
service on the top of each web page.
Quote of the Day:
"Only the strongest egos escape the trap of
perfectionism.
To solve problems successfully, you must
believe you can,
must feel capable enough to improvise. Yet
too many adults
have been schooled away from their ability
to experiment
freely."
-- Marsha Sinetar
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Almost
everyone is giving away a
freebie so they can
attract people to their web site. They are giving
away free e-zines, ebooks, services, etc. What's
happening
to all this free stuff? It's loosing it's perceived
value.
Every time you surf the internet or check your
e-mail
you see at least 20 to 50 freebies offers.
Don't get me wrong freebies do
increase traffic,
but
not like they did when the internet was new. The key
is to increase the perceived value of your freebies
so
they will be more attractive to your audience. How
do you do this? Well, here are eight ways:
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You could tell them what the freebie is worth
with
a dollar amount. For example, "Subscribe to my
free e-zine! A $199 value!"
-
You could add other freebies to your freebie that
will increase the value. For example, "Subscribe
to
my free e-zine and get free access to our "subscribers
only" private web site!"
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You could tell them the freebie is only available
for
a limited time. For example, " Download our free
ebook, this free offer will only be available
until May 30, 2000."
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You could tell them the freebie is only available
to
a limited number of people. For example, " Our
free
software will only be available for the next 100
people that download it."
-
You could give more details about the freebie.
List the benefits, features, what problems the
freebie
will solve, etc.
-
You could describe your freebie to sound more
attractive. For example, instead of "free report"
you
could say "free never released top secret document"
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You could list testimonials for your freebie.
Most
businesses don't give testimonials for their
freebies.
This would defiantly increase your freebies value.
-
You could tell people how many people have
already receive your freebie. For example, "15,000
people have already subscribed to my free e-zine!
Can they all be wrong?
These are only a few ways you can add value to your
freebies. You could be creative and think up some
other ways to increase the perceived value of your
freebies. Also test each idea to see which one draws
the most traffic to your web site.
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Quote of the Day:
"It is better to ask some of the questions
than know all of
the answers."
-- James Thurber |
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10 Ways To Improve Your Customer
Service
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Stay in contact with customers on
a regular basis. Offer
them a free e-zine subscription. Ask customers if
they
want to be updated by e-mail when you make changes
to
your Web site. After every sale, follow-up with the
customer to see if they are satisfied with their
purchase.
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Create a customer focus
group. Invite ten to
twenty of
your most loyal customers to meet regularly. They
will give
you ideas and input on how to improve your customer
service. You could pay them, take them out to dinner
or
give them free products.
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Make it easy for your customers to navigate on
your
web site. Have a "FAQ" page on your Web site to
explain
anything that might confuse your customers. Ask them
to
fill out an electronic survey to find out how make
your web
site more customer friendly.
-
Resolve your customers complaints quickly and
successfully. Answer all e-mail and phone calls
within an
hour. If possible, you the owner of the business,
personally
take care of the problem. This will show your
customers
you really care about them.
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Make it easy for your customers to contact you.
Offer as many contact methods as possible. Allow
customers to contact you by e-mail. Hyperlink your
e-mail
address so customers won't have to type it. Offer
toll free
numbers for phone and fax contacts.
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Make sure employees know and use your customer
service policy. Give your employees bonuses or
incentives
to practice excellent customer service. Tell
employees to
be flexible with each individual customer, each one
has
different concerns, needs and wants.
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Give your customers more than they expect. Send
thank
you gifts to lifetime customers. E-mail them online
greeting
cards on holidays or birthdays. Award bonuses to
your
customers who make a big purchase.
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Always be polite to your customers. Use the words
your welcome, please, and thank you. Be polite to
your
customers even if they are being irate with you.
Always
apologize to your customers should you make a
mistake.
Admit your mistakes quickly and make it up to them
in a
big way.
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Reward customers a point for every one dollar
they
spend. Let's say customers can get a free computer
for 300
points. That means customers will spend $300 dollars
on
your products and services to get enough points to
get the free computer.
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Build strong relationships with your customers.
Invite
them to company meetings, luncheons, workshops or
seminars. Create special events for your customers
like
parties, barbecue's, dances etc. This will make them
feel
important when you include them in regular business
operations and special events.
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Quote of the Day:
"It is the province of knowledge to speak,
and it is the
privilege of wisdom to listen."
-- Oliver
Wendell Holmes,
Jr. |
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10 Ways To Gain An Avalanche Of
Sales
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Utilize holidays to
increase
your visitors or sales.
You could give away free electronic greeting cards,
hold discounts, send customers holiday cards, etc.
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Become well known by speaking or chatting at
seminars. The seminars could be held offline, in
a chat room, by telephone or via e-mail.
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Start a free ebook club on your web site. People
could sign up to receive a free ebook from you each
month. Just include your product ad in the ebooks.
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Give away your products or expertise to internet
business newbies. Just ask them in return to place
your link on their web site.
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Trigger your visitors to
buy your products by
using
colors. You should totally relax and think about
which
colors would compel prospects to order.
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Let your past offline customers know about your
web site. When they visit and sign up to your e-zine
it will remind them to shop at your online store.
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Create a long term relationship with your entire
customer base. You can stay in touch with them
through an e-zine, with greeting cards, etc.
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Repeat the 3 most powerful or appealing benefits
throughout your ad copy. Repetition can brand your
product's benefits quicker in your prospects mind.
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Give your new customers surprise
free gifts.
This
will increase their loyalty and give you more word
of
mouth advertising.
-
Make your long ad copy interesting enough so
people click through to the next web page. If it's
not,
they won't take the time to click and read more.
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Quote of the Day:
"The happiest person is the person who
thinks the most
interesting thoughts."
-- Timothy Dwight
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20 Possible Reasons Why Your
Business Is Failing
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You don't offer
free original
content.
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You don't use a signature file on your e-mails.
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You don't offer
free software.
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You don't have
your own domain name.
-
You don't offer a
free contest or sweepstakes.
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You don't test and improve your ad copy.
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You don't offer a
free web site directory.
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You don't give people any urgency to
buy now.
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You don't offer a
free e-zine.
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You don't attract the target audience that would
buy your product or service.
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You don't offer a
free community.
-
You don't let people read your ad before they get
your freebie.
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You don't offer a
free affiliate program.
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You don't make your web site look professional.
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You don't offer a
free online service.
-
You don't give people as many ordering options
as possible.
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You don't offer
free current information.
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You don't let people know anything about your
business.
-
You don't offer
free samples of your product
or service.
-
You don't make people feel safe and secure
when they order.
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Quote of the Day:
"Learning is an ornament in prosperity, a
refuge in
adversity, and a provision in old age."
--
Aristotle
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10 Lightening Fast Ways To Escalate
Your Sales
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Sell an inexpensive product to
sell an expensive
product. If people like your inexpensive product,
they'll be persuaded to buy your expensive one.
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Allow your visitors to decided how much they
want to pay for your product. I only recommend it
for products that don't sell or ones that hardly
sell.
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Create an extra revenue stream with your web
site's articles or content. Publish the first
paragraph
of each article and charge people to read the rest.
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E-mail targeted e-zines and ask them to do a
joint venture with you. Ask them to run your ad and
in exchange they get a percentage of the profits.
-
Find a tiny niche for your new
free e-zine.
There
are thousands of free e-zines; your e-zine needs to
be extra specialized to attract new subscribers.
-
Test your ads by using autoresponders. You can
have people e-mail your autoresponders to get more
information and you just check your traffic reports.
-
Create credibility and trust with your visitors
by
telling them something they already know. They'll
know for sure you're not lying to them.
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Make residual income from your customers by
selling back end products. If you don't have any,
you could sign up to related affiliate programs.
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Use a redirect page to boost your sales. People
think the long affiliate URLs look unprofessional in
e-mail so you could redirect them to a web link.
-
Create an extra
income from your web site by
charging for consulting. The consulting should be
related to your web site's theme.
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Quote of the Day:
"Liberty cannot be preserved without
general knowledge
among the people."
-- John Adams
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14 Ways To Persuade Your Web Site
Visitors To
Give You Their Email Address
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Ask visitors to subscribe to your
e-zine. It's a
good idea to also give them a freebie when they
subscribe.
-
Have them sign-up to get access to download
a free ebook. The subject of the ebook should
be related to your target audience.
-
Give your visitors a
free membership inside
your member's only web site. Have them sign-up
to receive a user name and password.
-
Hold a free contest or sweepstakes at your
web site. Ask them to give you their contact
information to enter.
-
Offer your visitors
free consulting via e-mail.
Have them fill out a web form to e-mail you with
their questions.
-
Hold an interactive poll on your web site. Ask
your visitors to e-mail you their vote or opinion.
-
Ask your visitors to sign-up for a chance to
get a web site award. Have them e-mail you their
contact and web site information.
-
Have visitors fill out a survey on your web site.
Give them a free gift as an incentive to complete
the form.
-
Offer a free online service from your web site.
Have visitors fill out their contact information to
sign-up to the free service.
-
Ask visitors to sign your guest book. Tell
them they will get a free gift in return.
-
Offer a free affiliate program for your
visitors.
They will have to sign-up in order to receive
marketing materials and commissions.
-
Allow visitors to submit a
free classified ad
on your web site. Require them to give a valid
e-mail address in order to post an ad.
-
Give people who visit your web site a
free
course sent via autoresponder. Just ask them to
fill out their contact information to receive the
free
course.
-
Offer your visitors
free software to download.
Have them sign-up to get an access code to unlock
the software.
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Quote of the Day:
"Mistakes are the portals of discovery."
-- James Joyce
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16 Things To Check Before Joining
Someone Else's "Pay Per Sale" Affiliate Program
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Does the affiliate program
offer
you a free way to join
without buying the product or service?
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Contact other affiliates already in the program
to see if
they have had any problems.
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Is the product or service related to your target
audience?
-
Can they notify you by e-mail when a sale is
made?
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Do they offer backend products so you can get
repeat sales
from the same person?
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How often will you receive a commission check?
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Do you get credited for a sale if people come
back in month
and then make a purchase.
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Can you get around-the-clock help online or
offline?
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Do you get a large percentage of each sale as
commission?
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Do they provide you with proven sales material?
(links,
banners, classified ads, sales letters etc)
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Will they give you the leeway to create
promotional ads.
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Do they offer you access to an online sales
stats page?
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Do they use a reputable system to track your
sales?
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Does the affiliate program pay commission for
sales of
people who sign up under you?
-
Can they offer customers a lot of different
ordering
options, so in return you won't lose sales.
-
Will they keep in contact with you on a regular
basis by
e-mail?
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Quote of the Day:
"The sea does not reward those who are too
anxious, too
greedy, or too impatient. To dig for
treasures shows not
only impatience and greed, but lack of
faith. Patience,
patience, patience, is what the sea teaches.
Patience and
faith. One should lie empty, open,
choice less as a
beach--waiting for a gift from the sea."
--
Anne Morrow
Lindbergh |
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20 Sure-Fire Ways To Get People To
Link To Your Web Site
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Offer other web sites
free
content to post on
their web site. Include your link on all of your
content.
The content should related to your web site because
it will be in front of your target audience.
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When you visit a web site you've enjoyed a lot,
write a review for the site. Write about the
benefits
you gain from the web site. Tell them they can
publish
it on their web site if they link to your web site.
-
Allow other people to publish your e-zine on
their
web site. Include your web site's ad and link in
each
issue you publish. This may also help you increase
the number of people that subscribe to your e-zine.
-
Market your web site as a
free web book. Design
your web site with a title page, table of contents,
chapters, etc. Just allow other people to give away the web book by linking to your web site.
-
Give your visitors an instant article directory.
Tell
your visitors they can instantly add a free article
directory to their web site by linking to yours.
Just
place your ad or banner ad on top of the article
directory for your main web site.
-
Allow other web sites to use your discussion
board
for their web site visitors. Just have them link
directly
to the discussion board. Include your web sites ad
or
banner ad at the top of the discussion board.
-
Start a members only web site. Tell visitors
what's
in your members only site and what it costs to gain
access. Offer them a free membership if, in
exchange,
they link to your web site.
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Offer your visitors a
free sign up to your
affiliate
program. Pay them commission to sell your products
or services. Just give them an affiliate link to
track their
sales. People will link to your web site to make
extra
money.
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Create your own award site for other web sites.
Give the winners a graphic or text link to place on
their
web site when they win. This will link your web site
to theirs and draw more traffic to your web site.
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Are you an expert on a particular subject?
Offer
people free consulting via e-mail if, in exchange,
they
either link to your site. People will consider this
a
huge value because consulting fees can be very
expensive.
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When you purchase a product and it exceeds your
expectations e-mail the business a testimonial. Make
sure your statement is detailed. Give them
permission
to publish it on their web site if they link to your
site
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Create a directory of web sites on a specific
topic.
Give people the option of adding the directory to
their
web site by linking to it. Put your business ad at
the
top of the directory's home page.
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Exchange content with other web sites. You could
trade articles, top ten lists, etc. Both parties
could
include a resource box at the end of the content.
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Allow people to download software at no
charge
from your web site, if they link to your web site.
The
software could be freeware, shareware or demos.
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Trade other forms of advertising to people that
link to your web site. You could trade e-zine ads,
print ads, autoresponder ads, classified ads, ebook ads, etc.
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Give away web space to people for
free. Since
you are giving it away for free, request they link
to
your site by placing your ad or banner to the site.
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Join or create a web ring. A web ring is a
group
of web sites on a similar subject agreeing to link
together. To find a web ring to join type keywords "web rings" into your search engine of choice.
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Create an online club or association. Tell your
visitors what's included in the membership and what
it costs to join. Offer them a free membership if,
in
exchange, they link to your web site.
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Allow people to use an online service or
utilities
from your web site if, in exchange, they link to
your
web site. The online service could be an e-mail account, search engine submission, web page design,
copywriting, proofreading, etc.
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Offer a free e-book to your web site visitors.
The
ebook should be related to your target audience.
Allow them to give the e-book to their own web site
visitors by linking directly to your web site.
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Quote of the Day:
"Better to ask than to go astray."
--
Italian proverb
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