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<title>Latest Articles by Mokj</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/</link>
<description>Articles at Populate.NET</description>
<language>en-us</language>
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<title>Say No To Illegal SEO Techniques</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/Search_Engine_Optimization/say-no-to-illegal-seo-techniques.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/Search_Engine_Optimization/say-no-to-illegal-seo-techniques.html</guid>
<pubDate>Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ Search engine optimization spamming, substantially increases the possibilities that a website or page will appear at the top of results on search engines for a certain keyword.

Businesses that use illegal SEO techniques to control, raise and improve their search engine positions, are denying or removing the rights of ethical websites to be heard and seen.  Regrettably, there are still many individuals who believe that "illegal SEO techniques" do no harm.

It is unethical and illegal for "spamming sites" to control search engines in order to gain high rankings in search engines at your website's expense. You acquire your search engine position fairly so you deserve to be safeguarded from deceitful individuals who steal your visitors, publicity and income.

Remember that any effort so as to deceive search engines to achieve higher rankings is regarded as "SEO spam"; under no circumstances should you implement such methods in your marketing campaigns. 

Never sacrifice your principles just so to reach your goals. There will be a great risk involved, such as your website can be penalized or worst, banned from top search engines and can stay banned for a long time.

Unethical and illegal SEO techniques:

1. "Keyword stuffing".  This means employing the use of the same or exact "keywords" in your "META tags" or anywhere in your content repeatedly.  

2. Hidden links and text.  Search engines work by scanning pages for certain keywords which are submitted into a search request and display results where the exact keyword appears typically, on a "page". 

Webmasters then insert some links or texts that are only readable by search engines but can not be seen by the human eye.  You can, for instance put a white link or text with the appropriate keywords unto a certain web page with also a white background.  Individuals can not detect it and will not even notice the difference; however "spiders" can read it and rank that site higher.

3. "Mirror websites" or "Sybil attack".  These are several sites having identical contents but different "URL", all linking to one another, constructed for a very cruel objective. 

4. "Doorway pages".  Normally, these are pages of poor quality constructed to rank highly particularly for one or even more selected keywords.  These do not affect your website visitors and only constructed for search engines.

These pages can contain the exact content of other sites but generally exhibits only a link going to the main page with no "navigation menu".  They can at times dwell on the very same, however typically on other business' server. 

5.  Cloaking.  Delivers many different web pages for search engines and visitors. Webmasters construct their servers so that it can identify "IP addresses" of spiders then provide them with content rich and optimized pages, at the same time displaying different web pages for individuals. 

Cloaking can likewise redirect a web visitor to their home page. 

6. "Link farms".  Purposely to acquire link popularity, link farms are typically one page consisting of fifty up to one hundred or even more links to certain websites having no similarities with your website's content.

Search engine "spammers" are aware of the fact that their pages' content are of poor quality and are useless to individuals that visit their site.  

The unethical and illegal websites prompted Google (Google page rank) as well as other top search engines in improving search technology that now has faster, better and advanced spam filters that can detect illegal techniques then ban such websites from search engines forever.

Risks and dangers of Unethical and illegal SEO Techniques

SEO spamming can, in reality bring about high rankings.  Do keep in mind however, that the effect is only temporary. Webmasters using illegal SEO techniques can benefit from their high search engine position for days, weeks, even months however once search engines discover webmasters using these illegal techniques, then they will be banned from search engine index for possibly a lifetime.

Even if one is not banned for a lifetime, it is difficult to be "re-indexed".  One may need to start over and purchase a new "domain name".  So then before using any illegal SEO techniques, think wisely and weigh if you are prepared to put your entire internet business in jeopardy just for months of obtaining a high rank in search engines. ]]></description>
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<title>What Is Permission Email Marketing And How Does It Benefit Your Online Business?</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/Email/what-is-permission-email-marketing-and-how-does-it-benefit-your-online-business.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/Email/what-is-permission-email-marketing-and-how-does-it-benefit-your-online-business.html</guid>
<pubDate>Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ Email marketing is continuously getting more attention as years go by. Marketing is making a shift towards the Internet and email marketing is one of the major fields that promoters are getting into.

However, even if email marketing is getting more popular, it is somewhat getting a notorious image because of spammers. Spam is a term used for unsolicited emails which marketers use to be able to convey their marketing message. There has been a lot of action that has taken place in different states against spamming. One can actually be sued because of spamming.

Surveys have shown that around 70% of people who receive spam emails are somewhat annoyed or agitated. Majority of people don't even open emails from suspicious senders or from people and companies whom they don't recognize. They open emails from persons and companies whom they recognize and have affiliations with. This is the drama in the email marketing field.

However, email marketing is not coming to its end yet. There are ways on how to legally and ethically send marketing messages through electronic mail. One of the ways is "permission-based" email marketing.

Permission email marketing, as the name implies, takes into consideration the consent of the receiver in accepting emails containing marketing materials. Permission can be expressed or implied. 

Expressed permission is solicited when people check a box which states that they would want to receive email updates and marketing materials regarding a certain product or service. When they click on the "terms of agreement" of a certain website, it can be considered that there is an implication of consent to receive certain email messages.

There are a lot of advantages that permission email marketing gives a promoter as compared to spamming. Here are some of them:

1) Legality

As mentioned above, spamming is considered as an illegal activity and some states have developed laws and measures to be able to stop spammers. Permission-based email marketing is perfectly legal and this erases the risks and possible costs that are associated with being sued.

2) Ethical

Permission email marketing is seen as an ethical alternative to spamming. Even if one is not sued for spamming, it doesn't imply that people are not irritated by the unsolicited emails. Sending marketing materials that are permitted by the receiver are given a "go-signal" and is considered totally ethical.

3) Promotes a good image

Companies which employ spamming activities to be able to market their products are instantly hated by the people who receive their emails. Permission-based email marketing gives a company and its product a good corporate image and therefore more appreciated by the targeted audience.

4) Target audience

Permission email marketing channels precious resources to the right audience. Spamming throws marketing efforts as if the promoter is blind. People who give their consent to receive emails regarding topics which are appealing to them are people who are willing to spend money for products in that field. Therefore, the right target market is reached rather than carelessly spreading the marketing message.

5) Avoids costs

Permission based email marketing avoids added costs. Aside from channeling resources to reach the right audience, permission marketing avoids costs that are associated by being sued by people who have been much irritated by spam emails. Other sanctions that are involved with spamming includes the loss of the company's ISP.

6) Appreciation

Email marketing that is permitted is accepted by people with open arms. Spamming is not really accepted by the public and it is best that one does not engage in this activity.

A survey was done by a company called IMT Strategies in 2001 regarding the effects of permission email marketing versus the response that people make from receiving unsolicited email. 

48% of people who receive marketing materials with their permission are curious to read the emails while only 16% are interested to read unsolicited email. The number of people who deleted email marketing messages with permission are half of those who deleted unsolicited email.

Permission email marketing gives certain advantages against spamming. It is a legal and ethical way of marketing through electronic mail and receives acceptance from the target audience. ]]></description>
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<title>Where To Put Your Links: Enhancing Website Usability</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Internet/Web_Design/where-to-put-your-links-enhancing-website-usability.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Internet/Web_Design/where-to-put-your-links-enhancing-website-usability.html</guid>
<pubDate>Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ The Internet is what it is because of connections, bridging one computer to a host of others. Because of this we are able to access information at a click of a button. 

The things we click are called links, and they can be likened to the synapses of a brain - connecting the user from one document to another.

One of the main tenets of website design is that a page must be able to link to another page. Failure to do so renders the page dead - and is a lot like crashing into a brick wall as you speed down the information highway.

That said, website designers, both pro and amateur, make it a point to include links into every single page they design. But it is simply more than just slapping on links anywhere. Links are as vital to a web page as the content on it for without it, a visitor will be hard pressed to connect to other documents on the Internet. 

In any website, there are different kinds of links. There is no hard and fast rule when it comes to laying out links on a web page. But over time, certain conventions have emerged that seem to have become an unspoken standard in design. Deviations certainly will not depreciate a website's over-all impact, but it may require some amount of time for the visitor to get oriented.

Whether you tend to follow conventions or not, it is best to be acquainted first with the rules, so that you will know what to break and how to break them.

But first of all, for the sake of clarification, imagine a website to be like a book. Of course, you know that a book holds several pages. In the case of a website, the pages are called web pages.

A web page basically has two kinds of links: Internal and External. 

Internal links are what connect pages of the same website to each other. Going back to our book analogy, an internal link connects a page to another from the same book. So a visitor can access the contact page of a website from the home (or index) page via an internal link.

An external link, on the other hand, connects a web page to another web page from a different website. So an external link is something like a connection between two pages from two separate books.

Layout Conventions
Over the years, as more and more users and websites are added to the Internet, certain conventions or assumptions about the location of links have been formed. 

The most common of which are the internal links on either the top or left margin of a page. Seeing that these two areas are the ones first noticed by a user, designers felt it was natural to place internal links that would connect the pages of the same website together. Because of the nature of its location, links on these sides of the page are prominent and graphic designs on them.

Another area where internal links are located is at the bottom of the page, usually where the copyright information is placed. However, unlike the top and left margin areas, the links at the bottom are discreet and usually rendered in small fonts (like the copyright info). This is done primarily to avoid redundancies in design, while still providing alternate sources of links should the others fail.

External links are usually found in the body of the text or in the right hand margins of the page. No specific rule exists for this, and the conventions arise merely out of common usage. 

However, some designers have surmised that the tendency to place external links within the body of the text is done because references to information outside the website should be described or explained, whereas internal links need little to no explanation at all.

Another theory is that the right side feels like the outer part of page. This assumption is built on the observation that reading is done from the left to the right. So the right part of the page indicates the end of a page, thus references outside the website find themselves allocated to this area. 

For some reason as more and more text advertisements (such as Google AdSense) proliferate, the location for such external links are designated at the center or the right side of a web page. 

And yet, as mentioned before, these are merely conventions and NOT rules set in stone. Designers have all the freedom to layout information and links however they want. Deviations from such standard practices simply make the surfing experience for these websites slightly more interesting than the rest. 

The important thing is that connections are made and everyone can continue to cruise and surf the Web one link to one page at a time. ]]></description>
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<title>What To Take Note Of When You're Choosing Your Site's Domain Name</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Internet/Domain_Names/what-to-take-note-of-when-you-re-choosing-your-site-s-domain-name.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Internet/Domain_Names/what-to-take-note-of-when-you-re-choosing-your-site-s-domain-name.html</guid>
<pubDate>Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ There are approximately 68 million .COM domains registered. That's a lot of domain names out on the Internet that are either already taken or just parked in some obsolete spot gathering dust and all kinds of age. 

There are 900 possible combinations for two letter sequences.  If you're looking for "ET" then you just won't find it!  Even allowing for digits, again every single web address is taken. Of course, that's ignoring the fact that .COM registrars now mandate a 3-character minimum length, so it wouldn't be an option.

Many of the three-letter sequences are taken. Adding digits to a domain name creates a number of garbage domain entries. If you're dying to acquire great domains and unique domain names, they'll free up sometimes only to be auctioned off through unique name sales. 

The longer the name that you choose, the more that the possibilities are that it could be available presuming that you're willing to accept an arbitrary sequence of letters and/or digits. For example, most organizations have 4 letter acronyms so you may have a chance using over 4 letters to get the name that you want in acronym style!

Of course many of the registered domains are ever, visited, with a huge percentage having nothing more than a "parked page" (users pay domain registrars to put up ads for themselves on these type of parked pages). There are so many combinations and back door tricks to name cataloging and classification until the possibilities are endless.

The rule is to obtain a name that closely resembles who you are about which gives you and identity and brand on the internet.

Use common sense when choosing a name because your domain name, or URL, can have an impact in both the online and offline marketing of your web-site. Long or difficult to spell domain names can make people ignore your web site and it has to be pretty good for them to stick with it. Short names register better with people's memory and are easy to remember.

Obtain a name that will help you in your marketing niche and strategy. Like I stated before, you can use your business name as your URL. If your business name is already taken by someone else then get a URL name close to what you are doing. Purchasing a business name isn't the only way to go, and when a keyword name could do just fine. 

If you plan on using the .net extension, you may want to wait on deciding your name until after you have found an available name that is suitable to your type of business. If you follow the steps below, you should be okay in identifying your name brand to the internet community.

Structure Your Brand Name - Put your domain name on your letterhead, business card, printed materials; put it on your phone recording, the side of your car; don't forget to include it with your email. 

Keep it Short & Memorable - Don't get a URL that uses all 26 letters of the alphabet.

Secure a .com URL - I strongly recommend purchasing a .com domain name as opposed to a .net, .info, .biz or anything else. If your chosen domain name is not available in a .com, keep looking until you find one that isn't taken. There is nothing wrong with the other extensions but when you have a .com extension, it sounds like you've been on the net a long time.

Remember, your domain name is an extension of your business and your brand of product or service. ]]></description>
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<title>Make Your Online Advertisments Produce Money Online For You</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/make-your-online-advertisments-produce-money-online-for-you.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/make-your-online-advertisments-produce-money-online-for-you.html</guid>
<pubDate>Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ The success or failure of your Internet marketing business depends largely on the Internet users. If they are interested on the products and services that you are offering for sale, definitely you can expect hundreds to thousands of dollars in revenues from your online business. 

On the other hand, if they are just too lazy to hear what you want to say and what you are offering, better shut down your personal computer unit and find some other ways of earning money. 

As an Internet marketer, you do not want the second scenario to happen to your Internet marketing career. To be the "exception to the rule", you must attract more web visitors to your site and turn them into long-term clients and build a loyal clientele base. Once you have satisfied such requirements, expect that there is something in return- positive returns, to be specific. 

How will you say to Internet users that you need them to keep your online business alive? In fact, you need not to tell them straight to the point that you badly need them. All you need is a clever mind and some online advertising to get them without making them realize that you badly need them. 

There are various online advertising methods on the Internet and each method has their product that works better on specific industries. There are huge numbers of individuals and companies operating online who wants to advertise what they have to offer, and there are also huge numbers of individuals and companies on the Internet who are willing to provide some advertising spaces. 

However, considering that the online advertising market is quite large, it will be inefficient for the advertisers as well as the providers of these online advertising spaces to individually meet and talk about the terms of conditions of advertising. 

The individual or company who wish to advertise will certainly contact an online-based advertising company that are willing to provide the space that the advertiser needs as well as distribute their advertisements to different venues on the Internet at the same time. 

The more benefits are now towards the online advertising firm. And you are considering an online advertising business. 

But before you go, there are several things you need to consider first. 

Start to gather a collection of websites or online companies that are willing to place advertisements on their sites. Select sites that are getting high web traffic every month. Once you have gathered advertising site venues, you may now start soliciting advertising clients. These advertisers will pay a certain amount of money that will commensurate with the exposure of their products or services on your advertising site venues. 

For instance, if you have contracted with 20 websites that are receiving an average of 200,000 web visitors every month, you can sell as much as 2,000,000 advertising exposures every month on each advertiser. 

In case that you have negotiated around 20 advertising venues on each website, you can sell an equivalent of 20 advertising clients with 2,000,000 advertising exposures every month. If an advertiser only pays for 1,000,000 advertising exposures, you can still sell the remaining 1,000,000 advertising exposures for a total of 11 advertising clients. 

Now, what are the types of online advertising that you can offer? Here are some of the offerings that you can sell to individuals or companies who wish to advertise their products or services on the Internet. 

- Banner ads- these ads are typically pictorial ads that are commonly viewed on high-traffic sites and includes a hyperlink back to the advertiser's own site. These are priced according to the number of ads shown. For instance, banner ads can be sold in lots of 250,000 impressions each. 

- Sponsorship ads- these ads are commonly larger than banner ads, which sometimes contain considerable amount of text. These are typically placed on high-traffic areas such as ezines or online newsletters.  It is priced according to the number of readers of the newsletter or publication in which the ad is placed. 

- Pay per click (PPC) ads- these ads are priced according to the number of clicks generated through site visitors, These are commonly text ads, though there are PPC ads that are pictorial-based. 

Starting your own online advertising business is another opportunity of earning more money on the Internet marketing industry. ]]></description>
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<title>When Web Design Gets Annoying!</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Internet/Web_Design/when-web-design-gets-annoying.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Internet/Web_Design/when-web-design-gets-annoying.html</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ The Internet is home to various artists, web artists, and designers both professional and amateur. It can afford to provide individuals with opportunities to freely explore their artistic capabilities and publish content to a borderless audience.

However, unluckily, alongside this freedom of expression afforded to everyone is the capacity to offend sensibilities. Some website provide great utility and aesthetic pleasure others are bound to get annoying. 

There are ways and means in order to avoid getting annoying, and its best to start by knowing when web design of a website does get annoying.

Using colors that just do not work

Colors in good and sensible does are a good means in order to attract attention and communicate ideas and emotions to an audience. They can help add interest to a dull site full of text, and even introduce and maintain a certain mood (as in scary websites using black as a background). 

However, there is a fine line between too much and just about right. What gets annoying when it comes to colors is when readability is compromised, and combinations are too loud for comfort. When readability is compromised, it can pose great discomfort to the site's visitors when they try to decipher the text that they want to have access to. Using too many colors and colors that do not complement each other tend to make the website look goofy and awkward, and can make the website lose whatever credibility it can possibly gain.

Too many clicks to get to the end of the road

At the end of the day, people who visit websites do so in order to access information and content in a website. Some websites tend to re-route visitors through too many clicks before they get to the content they want to get to assuming that the content is indeed somewhere in the multiple pages they are made to access. Obviously, that gets annoying. Rule of thumb says that a maximum of three clicks (but preferably less) should be enough in order for someone surfing a site to get to the information they want to get to.

Excessive graphics that take too long to load

Graphics and pictures, when relevant and are the primary content meant for the website, are a welcome part of a website. However, when they just serve the purpose of aesthetic enhancement, graphics and pictures that take too long to load and inevitably, slow the process of accessing primary content become a major reason for discontent and displeasure among visitors.

It is also helpful to note that not all visitors of the website are equipped with optimal download or Internet surfing speeds; excessive graphics that are too large and thus, take too long to load are not only unwelcome but also a great inconvenience to a great number of people.
Navigation that's over-the-top and difficult to follow

Overcomplicating the navigation of the website can greatly hamper the efficacy of the website to communicate its content, and can hurt the accessibility of many pages to its visitors. At any point during their visit to a site, it is important to assure that the visitors have some way in order to trace back their steps and return to content they previously accessed, as well as carry on with accessing other content.

For simplicity's sake, many websites solve this problem by having a constant button present on all pages for visitors to return to their main menu page, or their cover page.

Fonts that simply do not work 

Depending on the browser and fonts installed by the users on their computers, extremely decorative and highly uncommon fonts may not be displayed the way the web designer intended them to appear and may oftentimes even compromise the readability of the text per se. 

In order to avoid this from happening, many web designers opt to stay within the bounds of major font families (Helvetica, verdana, and the like). That way, they are assured that most (if not all) of their visitors will be viewing the site as designed, and thus have greater control of the way the page will be displayed in the end.

There is never a "perfect" template for design as it is open to the subjectivity and artistic limitations of designers. However, understanding the behavior of site visitors can only help make shape design innovation and utility move towards greater heights. ]]></description>
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<title>Exclusive: Valuable Information To Boost Your Internet Marketing Career</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/exclusive-valuable-information-to-boost-your-internet-marketing-career.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/exclusive-valuable-information-to-boost-your-internet-marketing-career.html</guid>
<pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ The impact of the Internet on the perceived value of information is just as huge as anybody would ever think. Undoubtedly, Internet changed the way people learn and search for useful information. 

Before the arrival of the Internet culture, individuals who are looking for some valuable and useful information would be congregating themselves in classrooms, public libraries, bookstores, and magazine stands because these are the places where such information could be found. 

However, it's been about ten years since the Internet became accessible to the public and the difference it made has been gigantic. 

The impact is drastic enough that the Internet changed the typical procedure of searching for information that has existed since the civilization era. If you want to learn the life of Florence Nightingale, Christopher Columbus, or even the terrorism acts of Osama bin Laden, you do not need to take a class, read a book, or purchase newspapers everyday. 

You can Yahoo or Google these personalities, and if you are savvy enough, you will be able to find a website that is dedicated to the study of these personalities. 

Through the Internet, such valuable and useful information is readily accessible. In addition, retrieval of information is free. You do not have to suffer purchasing Da Vinci Code for several dollars cheaper than what you would have to pay in a brick and mortar bookstore. The search and retrieval of the manuscript of the book is instantaneous (in short, instant!), no wasting of time, and definitely there is no need to spend for transportation. 

In other words, searching and retrieving information on the Internet is cost-free, except the purchase of your personal computer (if you do not have any) and the Internet connection fee. 

Almost every kind of information could be found on the Internet, historical accounts, answers to personal problems, and information about business opportunities. In other words, every online-based business opportunity related information can be accessed through the Internet.

Nothing more, nothing else. Why purchase marketing strategy books or business newspapers if all information that you need is stored on the Internet and can be read for free. 

However, unlike other information on the Internet, information related to Internet marketing are not entirely for free. In fact, there are marketing gurus who sell such information to Internet marketing neophytes. 

The basics of success on Internet marketing starts with learning the basics of this lucrative industry. Such basics could be learned through various Internet marketing-related information scattered over the Web. 

If you want to acquire information that is proven to be useful for your online business, definitely you will purchase such information from different Internet marketing gurus. 

To get the real worth of your money, you can look for the following categories of valuable and useful information for your online business outlined below:

- The content of the information package must be controlled and distributed by licensed and well-known personalities on Internet marketing. 

Verify the individual behind the personality check if he is really a marketing genius or not. With so many "bogus gurus" out there, there is a need to check on your information resources first before handing out money. 

- Such information must be on its updated status. What is the use of information gathered in 1980 on a 2006 market? Ask for some sample excerpts or initial information that you can see for yourself if it is updated or not. 

- Look for the "money back guarantee" condition of paid information. If you are not satisfied by the results or the results are not what you expect, you can have your money back. There are many experienced Internet marketers who are willing to give your money back if you are not satisfied with the information you have acquired. 

If you cannot afford to purchase premium information sold by different Internet marketers over the Web, you can still look for free information. You may visit different article directories over the Internet that publishes hundreds to thousands of articles related to Internet marketing. 

Some of these articles are written by the Internet marketing gurus themselves, thus you are assured that the information is valuable and can be applied to your online business. 

There are also business sites wherein they give away free information guides that you can use for your Internet marketing career. Just be resourceful and creative enough to locate this free yet useful information. 

The Internet is the information superhighway whether free or paid information, make sure that these will help you learn the ideas and basic strategies to make your Internet marketing career a successful one. ]]></description>
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<title>Viral Marketing Goes Video & Mobile</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/Viral_Marketing/viral-marketing-goes-video-and-mobile.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/Viral_Marketing/viral-marketing-goes-video-and-mobile.html</guid>
<pubDate>Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ More and more advertisers are adopting video as broadband continues to rise and ad-serving technologies become more sophisticated.  Online video advertising is really taking off. 

Users' attention can be captured and ads stand out from the crowd in an increasingly ad-cluttered online environment. It is true that video formats cost five to ten times more to serve than standard banners and they involve a lot more production and implementation work but they may well be worth all of that if they achieve greater response rates. 

Where to use online video if wishing to maximize its effect, is what advertisers must carefully consider. Video to be used on the Internet should be information and communication focused while video to be used on television should be focused on entertainment.  

Like everything else, there are good ways and bad ways to use video advertising. Right now most marketers are incorporating their audio-visual content into existing embedded ad formats like banners or over-content formats like pop-ups. 

Though this could reach a potentially large audience, viewers are likely to be less captivated and more annoyed by these disruptive and distracting placements. 

Cached or streaming video on a specific destination site offers the best chance of interesting consumers in brand messages, but it is not likely to reach a large audience unless it generates a viral outcome.

Whatever you come up with, don't forget to make it easy to open and distribute. File size is important, as is the media format. If your viral video has been created for a particular type of software that not many people use, how will you get people to spread it like wildfire?

Also, if you've made a video the impact will be better if you send the clip as an attachment rather than stream it. It's cheaper and, if you're not hosting it, it's more viral, too.

Mobile devices, mobile phones and PDA's are one of the last great frontiers of viral advertisement opportunities. However, we have become experts at filtering everything, our air and water, our e-mail and pop-ups, and our mobile devices as well. We are good at filtering.

The very idea of unwanted advertising streaming through our Blackberries is abhorrent. Mobile devices are the ultimate opt-in medium and, therefore, a great way for marketers to connect with users if that's what the users want. "WANT" is the key word here. How should marketers approach the medium? 

There are three main ways to achieve this. They are:

1. Offer exclusive content. Anyone can offer ring tones. It's the unique content, such as exclusive mobile images of new brand concepts, that drives interest and calls them out in other media like e-mail campaigns, newsletters, websites, etc. So a wireless campaign is most effective when it offers exclusive content for wireless devices. 

2. Make it useful and timely. Think about what would be handy and helpful to have on a mobile device. Last year, for example, Food Network enabled Sprint customers to download shopping lists for their Thanksgiving dinners. There was a lot of "Sprint-envy" going around among non-sprint customers. 

3. Clearly define objectives. Usually, one of two business objectives drives successful mobile experiences: incremental revenue of brand intimacy. On the intimacy factor, a text message usually takes priority over almost any other form of communication. Why? Because we haven't yet been saturated with mobile spam, and this is what causes us to prioritize wireless messaging over voice.

Mobile marketing has been out there for a while but we marketers have new territory to explore. Video offers fantastic opportunities for engagement. Consumers already bypass their filters for highly useful or entertaining content and will do so for rich exclusive, compelling content. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Publish & Churn Out Your Very Own Ezine Content</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/Ezines_and_Newsletters/publish-and-churn-out-your-very-own-ezine-content.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/Ezines_and_Newsletters/publish-and-churn-out-your-very-own-ezine-content.html</guid>
<pubDate>Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ On the Internet, it is very possible to make money without selling any product. One way of doing so is through starting your own ezine, also known as an electronic newsletter. 

You send out your ezine issues on a periodical basis to your subscribers. The good part is that you have a flexible choice in automating the process of sending out your eZine issues for you or manually sending them on a periodical basis.

As an eZine publisher, not only can you easily achieve the benefits a conventional newsletter publisher enjoys without having to chop down several trees in the process, you can easily and conveniently spread your marketing influence and expertise to your base of subscribers from the shoes of an ordinary individual.

In other words, you do not have to invest in expensive printing equipment, brick and mortar business, and hiring staff just to run your own newsletter publication, resulting in a lot of time, money and effort saved.

Basically, all you need to start your own eZine are an auto responder and broadcast feature to go with, enabling you to reach out to your massive subscribers whom you can regard as your prospects, too.

All in all, if you do not have the commitments of creating your own product for sale, then publishing your own online newsletter can be one of the wisest decisions you will ever make, given the benefits of impressive marketing power and influence it can offer to you.

Creating your own content can be a challenge if you publish your own online newsletter or eZine. However, regardless of any topic you are publishing on, types of contents can be generally divided into four categories, namely factual content, short tips, mini stories and case studies.

Other than writing your own content, you can get your own unique content the quick and easy way by organizing an interview with an expert or leader in the topic.

Very often, this can be done for free and since the interviewee is writing out most of the content, there is nothing else for you to do other than giving the interviewee something valuable in exchange (maybe a meal!).

Now if you have money to spare, you can hire a ghostwriter to write your content for you without taking any credit. 

Another little known and underused method in getting your own content is via public domains. If you are not familiar with the term "public domain", "public domain"  simply means anything that is NOT protected under US copyright law.

This includes ALL works published before 1923 and, under certain conditions, works published up to 1978. And in this case, we are referring "works" to written materials such as reports, articles and books.

Republishing and repackaging public domain information can help you save time and effort from creating new ideas and content as they are readily available. On top of that, you do not have to pay royalties or copyright fees on that work.

If you fancy the idea of publishing content without any writing on your part, this method is for you. ]]></description>
</item>
<item>
<title>Online Marketing On eBay: Profitable Title Writing Tips You Can Use</title>
<link>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/online-marketing-on-ebay-profitable-title-writing-tips-you-can-use.html</link>
<guid>http://www.populate.net/Internet_Marketing/online-marketing-on-ebay-profitable-title-writing-tips-you-can-use.html</guid>
<pubDate>Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ Trying to be help your buyers find your auctions can be a truly daunting task. Most people only search eBay by title, not by description, and that means that you only have those 55 characters of the title to cover all the possible search terms. That's not easy. In this email, I'll give you a few pointers.

Don't bother with eBay clinches: There are plenty of eBay auction titles that say things like "Super rare camera wow look low price". These are stupid things to put in your title, as no-one is going to search for them.

Think like a buyer: If you were looking for your item, then what exactly would you type into that box? If you think it'd help, try searching yourself to find someone else selling your item. What were the first things you thought of typing?

Think like other sellers: Keep an eye on which sellers are doing best with items like yours, and try to copy their title styles - if it works for them, it can work for you.

Be specific: You should be sure to write the item's brand and specific model number in the title, as people will often search only for this information. Make sure that you also say exactly what the item is.

A Few Examples

Here are a few examples of good titles. They're real, and they're on eBay right now, making their sellers money. So what makes them good?

"Dell Latitude Laptop P3 500mhz Notebook PC Computer"

If you know about computers, you'll know instantly what this auction is selling. It has manufacturer (Dell) and product line (Latitude), followed by a few technical specifications (P3 500mhz is the processor speed). Notice also that the title includes the four words "laptop", "notebook", "PC" and "computer", as the seller wants people looking for any of those words to see his auction.

"OASIS Don't Believe the Truth CD Album (New)"

This auction for a CD is well formatted: it gives the artist name in capital letters, followed by the album name. It then manages to include the two key words "CD" and "album", as well as the word "new" - that means that anyone searching for "new oasis cd", "oasis new album" and so on will find this auction.

"1840 Penny Black stamp, certificate, four margins"

Here's a slightly more obscure one, from the exciting world of stamp collecting. A penny black is one of the oldest and most famous stamps. 

It uses a few key words that collectors will consider important: "four margins" indicates that the stamp has been cut out with some margins around it and so isn't damaged, and "certificate" tells you that the item has a certificate of authenticity - it's a real penny black. Remember to use every bit of space to squeeze in as much important information as you can in the title.

So now that you've written a winning title, you need to start on a great description. The next email will show you how. ]]></description>
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