The Savage Truth: How to Pay for College

Imagine being a 24-year-old woman, graduating from college with more than $65,000 in debt.

Now you're looking for an entry-level job that -- if you can find it -- might pay $40,000 a year. And you're stuck with monthly payments of nearly $600 on your consolidated loans.

Those payments will consume more than a quarter of your after-tax paycheck, every paycheck, for 20 years.

Was that college education worth it?

It's a question many parents and children are asking themselves, as college costs keep soaring at twice the rate of inflation. In 2007-08, the average all-in cost of a private college education is $32,307 a year. At a public school the average is $13,589 annually. Many schools cost much, much more.

Given the tough economic times, and the relatively high interest rates on student loans, it's no wonder that families are questioning the costs.

On average, college grads make $1 million more over their lifetime than those who just graduated from high school -- projected if they continue working for a lifetime. But the immediate burden of student loans requires some tough thinking in the coming weeks.

It's the time of year when college applicants are receiving acceptance notices -- and the now-equally important letters offering financial aid. Those document the amount the family is expected to contribute (EFC) based on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Then, they list the forms of aid the school will offer to the student.

There will likely be a combination of outright grants and scholarships, work-study programs, and federal student loans.

But there still may be a gap.

Perhaps the family can't contribute what was expected. Perhaps the school didn't offer enough financial aid. It's not just the outright cost of the school, but the gap that's important.

At CollegeAnswer.com, there's an online tool to analyze and compare financial aid offers, which can otherwise be a confusing process. This site will also walk you through the procedure for understanding the award letter and making a decision based on the comparisons.

One important tip: If you've decided to accept the aid package, let the school know immediately. Then go to the lenders they've suggested -- or any others -- to secure your Stafford loans. Many financial institutions, troubled by the credit crunch, are cutting back on the money available for Federal student loans. You may have been "approved" for a loan, but it's your job to actually contact the bank, finish the paperwork, and close the deal.

When The Aid Offer Is Not Enough

So, what do you do if you get that letter and the financial aid offer is not enough?

There are several routes to take. First, if family financial circumstances have changed, through loss of a job, for example, it's important to revise your FAFSA -- and contact the student aid office to advise them of the situation. You may qualify for more aid.

If the lack of aid is going to make attending impossible, financial aid expert Reecy Aresty of Paylessforcollege.com advises students to write a polite letter to the school, appealing for additional help. He suggests writing instead of calling, so it's more difficult for them to turn you down.

Aresty advises that you ask for "help," not money. His rule: "If you don't ask, you don't get!"

Another helpful Web site is SimpleTuition.com, which can help you work your way through alternatives to the aid you've been offered in the original letter.

Among those gap-filling alternatives: Private loans to students, PLUS loans to parents, or home-equity loans, if you qualify. You can actually search and compare private student loan providers on their site, including rates and total repayment cost.

You can find and compare rates for home-equity loans, mortgages and more at BankingMyWay.com.

Interest Rates Have New Impact

Starting this year, Stafford loans have a fixed rate of 6.8% for the life of the loan. PLUS loans to parents carry a fixed 8.5% rate. New Stafford loans made after July 1 will carry a 6% rate.

(It's a shame that Congress decided to "fix" the rates just as the Federal Reserve started cutting rates. Student loans are now relatively more expensive than in previous years, again adding to the cost of attending college.)

Is college worth it?

That depends on the burden that both student and family are willing to shoulder. Certainly there may be less expensive alternatives, such as community colleges, online universities and evening programs.

Only you can decide if your education is worth the ongoing financial load. But the time to think about that is before you get caught in the student-loan trap. And that's The Savage Truth.

Capital Alliance Income Trust Sets Annual Meeting Date and Updates 2008 Earnings Guidance

Capital Alliance Income Trust Ltd. ("CAIT") (AMEX: CAA), a specialty lender organized as a real estate investment trust ("REIT"), announced that its Board of Directors has set Wednesday June 25, 2008 as the date for the annual meeting of shareholders. The meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m. in San Francisco, California. Shareholders of record as of May 5, 2008 will be entitled to vote at the meeting.

2008 Earnings Guidance

CAIT also reaffirmed that it has continued to maintain sufficient liquidity to address the turbulence in the credit markets, has continued to reduce borrowing under a $7,000,000 line of credit and expects to return to profitability for the twelve months ending December 31, 2008.

As of December 31, 2007, the Company reported a common share book value of $7.70 per share. As of April 25, 2008, the common shares last traded at $3.35. Earlier this month CAIT announced a stock repurchase authorization, covering up to 4.9% of the outstanding common shares. At the current share price, common share repurchases will be accretive to shareholder value. No shares have been acquired yet under the stock repurchase authorization.

CAIT plans to file Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2008, on or before May 14, 2008 and expects to report net income of approximately $0.02 per share, basic and diluted.

About Capital Alliance Income Trust

CAIT is a specialty lender, organized as a REIT that has invested in high yielding, mortgage loans located primarily in California. Until 2007, CAIT was externally managed. Historically, only residential loans with a combined loan-to-value of 75% or less were originated for CAIT's mortgage investment portfolio. Due to the suspension of CAIT's mortgage banking business, unsold mortgages with a loan-to-value greater than 75% were transferred to CAIT and are currently part of CAIT's core portfolio. CAIT is actively examining strategic changes to its existing business model and investment policies to enhance shareholder value.

This document contains "forward-looking statements" (within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) that inherently involve risks and uncertainties. CAIT's actual results, operations and liquidity may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements because of changes in the level and composition of CAIT's investments and unseen factors. As discussed in CAIT's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, these factors may include, but are not limited to, changes in general economic conditions, the availability of suitable investments, fluctuations in and market expectations of fluctuations in interest rates and levels of mortgage payments, deterioration in credit quality and ratings, the effectiveness of risk management strategies, the impact of leverage, the liquidity of secondary markets and credit markets, increases in costs and other general competitive factors.

Yahoo-Microsoft Deadline Expires

By Kevin J. Delaney and Matthew Karnitschnig

Word Count: 513 | Companies Featured in This Article: Microsoft, Yahoo, Legg Mason, Google

Microsoft Corp.'s deadline to reach a friendly deal with Yahoo Inc. in its takeover bid expired without comment from either party, setting the stage for a hostile acquisition attempt.

The two companies and their advisers have been talking in recent weeks, but achieved no breakthroughs that would lead them to a friendly deal by Saturday, said people familiar with the matter. That's the day Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer had set as a deadline for Yahoo to reach a friendly deal before Microsoft goes hostile, threatening to lower the price in that case.

The issue of price has been a ..

Rate uncertainty hangs over U.S. stocks

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The stock market will likely start the week on a hesitant note with Wall Street facing the first Federal Reserve interest-rate decision in many months not knowing that a cut is likely guaranteed.

Sparks could fly, however, if Yahoo Inc responds to Microsoft Corp's takeover offer this weekend. The world's largest software company set a Saturday deadline for the two sides to reach a deal and said it would consider its options of going hostile or withdrawing its offer.

A disappointing earnings report from Microsoft capped gains by all three major U.S. stock indexes last week.

For the past week, the Dow Jones industrial average ended up 0.3 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.5 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.8 percent.

Despite Microsoft's miss, the past two weeks have seen a steady stream of encouraging earnings reports. This was especially true in the financial sector, which gave hope to Wall Street that the worst of the credit crisis is near and suggested that further rate cuts may not be needed.

Expectations for a half-point cut were erased on April 18, when stocks staged a sharp rally after strong earnings from Google and Caterpillar pointed to resilience in the face of a slowdown.

While the majority of bets are for a 25 basis-point cut, there is still a 1-in-4 chance of no rate cut, based on fed funds futures. Not since August has there been any question whether or not the Fed would cut rates.

The Fed will announce its rate decision on Wednesday at 2:15 p.m. EDT. Earlier that day, the Commerce Department releases first-quarter gross domestic product data.

"If the GDP comes in well above consensus expectations and the Fed stays on hold, then the market reaction will probably be positive because it shows maybe the crisis is over and the economy is not heading into recession," said John Praveen, chief investment strategist at Prudential International Investments Advisers LLC, in Newark, New Jersey.

Economists forecast that GDP grew at an annual rate of 0.2 percent in the first three months of the year, suggesting that the economy is not quite into recession territory.

If "the GDP number is zero or negative and the Fed remains on hold, the reaction will be negative," Praveen said. "But I don't think the Fed will want to disappoint the market, so they will probably cut by 25 basis points."

JOBS PICTURE LOOKS DARK

After the dust settles from the Fed's decision, the market may come to a lull in anticipation of the monthly payrolls report, due for release at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT) on Friday.

After a string of positive earnings reports and some market-boosting data, the April jobs report may cast some gloom over Wall Street. The forecast: U.S. nonfarm payrolls cut 80,000 jobs last month, according to economists polled by Reuters.

"Jobs data is very U.S.-centric," said Paul Nolte, director of investments at Hinsdale Associates, in Hinsdale, Illinois. "That may stand in contrast to what we've seen (last) week from the various earnings reports. The earnings reports are colored from the perspective as to how much of their earnings come from overseas."

EARNINGS AND INFLATION ON THE BRAIN

Foreign revenues have been the savior of this quarter's earnings results. With the dollar at a record low against the euro, U.S. companies have been able to sell more to overseas customers and have enjoyed a positive currency translation when they put those revenues on their balance sheets.

Among the companies set to report earnings this week, overseas sales will be key for major multinationals such as Avon Products Inc , Procter & Gamble Co and Clorox Co .

Also set to report quarterly profits this week are cereal maker Kellogg Co and Kraft Foods Inc whose results may show how consumers are coping with higher food prices and whether they are turning away from brand names in favor of cheaper private store labels.

Inflation will likely be a hot topic on Wall Street as rice shortages stir protests worldwide and as crude oil flirts with $120 a barrel as the summer driving season approaches.

Minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting showed policy-makers are concerned about signs of price pressures coinciding with a weakening growth outlook.

"Maybe we've finally crossed over the line where inflation is such a problem globally, where the Fed is going to be forced to stop" cutting rates, said Peter Boockvar, an equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co in New York.

"But the last thing the U.S. economy needs is a spike in interest rates and a stronger dollar. Exports are what's saving this economy. Earnings growth may be nonexistent without the dollar and strength in multinationals."

(Wall St Week Ahead runs weekly. Questions or comments on this one can be e-mailed to: jennifer.coogan(at)thomsonreuters.com)

(Reporting by Jennifer Coogan; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Copyright 2008 Reuters

Strike in Scotland closes major North Sea oil pipeline

EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) - Hundreds of workers at Scotland's only oil refinery on Sunday began a 48-hour strike that has forced BP PLC to shut a pipeline system that delivers almost a third of Britain's North Sea oil.

BP said it had completed the closure of the Forties Pipeline System by 6 a.m., when 1,200 workers at the Grangemouth refinery in central Scotland walked off the job. The pipeline brings in 700,000 barrels of oil a day from the North Sea to BP's Kinneil plant, which is powered from the Grangemouth site.

Energy industry group Oil & Gas U.K. said the strike, over pension issues, could cost $100 million a day in lost production.

The main effect of the walkout was likely to be felt by the British Treasury -- which relies heavily on taxes from oil production -- and at gas stations in Scotland, some of which limited purchases in anticipation of the strike.

The government urged motorists not to hoard fuel, saying there would be enough to go around. It wants to avoid a repeat of scenes in 2000 when motorists were forced to line up at gas stations as truckers angry at heavily taxed fuel brought Britain to a standstill by blockading refineries.

"There is plenty of petrol and diesel in Scotland to meet demand during this period of time," the government's business secretary, John Hutton, told the British Broadcasting Corp. "But of course there is going to be a challenge if people change the way that they consume fuel."

Gas stations in and around Edinburgh were limiting purchases to 20 pounds -- equivalent to $40 -- per visit Saturday, and lines of cars formed beside some pumps. A number of stations reported they had run out of gas and diesel.

Some Scottish gas stations were charging 1.25 pounds -- $2.47 -- Saturday for a liter of unleaded, up from about 1.08 pounds -- $2.14 -- on Monday.

The Scottish government said 72,000 tons of extra fuel was being imported from Europe to help keep the country running.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the strike was unnecessary and called for new negotiations between Grangemouth's owner, the chemical company Ineos, and the workers' union, Unite. Talks to avert a strike broke down earlier this week.

The refinery strike is one of a series of labor disputes to hit Britain as the global economy weakens.

A nationwide teachers' strike over pay issues shut about a third of schools across Britain on Thursday as the government tries to clamp down on public sector wage increases due to inflation fears

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

eBay Affiliate Program can be a Good Money Maker for You

eBay has dropped Commission Junction last month and choose to start their own in-house affiliate program. The new eBay affiliate program has been launched on the beginning of this month.

eBay added more resources into their new affiliate program to help affiliates get started easier and faster:

• A video tutorial explaining everything about eBay affiliate program, from where to start, to running your own affiliate report.
  

• New article that tells you the steps you need to take to get started.
  

• The eBay Partner Network blog that keeping you up-to-date on the latest news and chances about eBay and its affiliate program.

eBay always offer generous commission to affiliates. For every visitor that sends from your affiliate link to eBay.com, then the visitor sign up an eBay account and place a bid or purchase through the 'Buy it Now' within 30 days, eBay will pay you $25 affiliate commission. You will also get a share of the fees earned by eBay.

When it comes to making money online, people often choose Google AdSense and Clickbank affiliate program. They will build content site and informative blog to display AdSense ads and promote different types of Clickbank niche products in order to generate online revenue. If you are one of them who make money online this way, why not use also eBay affiliate program. You will earn huge $25 commission for signing people up to eBay.

One of the ways you can use to make money with eBay affiliate program is by building a niche website or blog that focuses on topics like eBay buying and selling. These niche sites can attract visitors that have an interest on signing up for an eBay account. If you can send many of these targeted visitors to eBay consistent, then eBay affiliate program may become another lucrative source of revenue for you. To get a consistent amount of targeted visitors, you'll need to spend a good deal of time and effort on traffic-generating.

Optimizing your eBay affiliate link and ad are also important. You’ll want as many visitors of your niche website as possible to click on your eBay affiliate link or ad to visit eBay and sign up for an eBay account. So, it is important to know how to optimize and place your eBay ad and link on your niche website so that it can generate maximum click-through rate for you. As an eBay affiliate, you can get access to a range of tools and resources that will help you in ad optimization and improving your performance.

Google AdSense Ad Review Center Now Opened to All Publishers

The long waiting Google AdSense Ad Review Center has finally released fully two days ago. This new feature is now available for all AdSense publishers. It is actually another tool designed by Google to help publishers make more money from Google AdSense program.

With Ad Review Center, you will able to review all the ads that place on your website. You can allow or block specific placement-targeted ads, thus giving you more control over the types of target ads you want them to appear on your site.

As you may have known, AdSense ads work well on content that are highly related or targeted to the ads. The Ad Review Center will help you make sure that the AdSense ads displaying on your site are highly relevant to the content of web page.

This new feature can be accessed by signing in to your AdSense account then click the 'AdSense Setup' and go to 'Competitive Ad Filter' page. You will be asked whether you want to start using Ad Review Center or try it later.

High Google Rank Best Onsite SEO Tips

As you know that SEO can be broadly divided into onsite SEO and offsite SEO. Some people say the both have 50:50 importance. What I think is that getting top Google position depends mainly, say 90%, on the onsite SEO. It means optimizing site for your targeted key words.

According to my experience if you have very few backlinks. like 100 or less and PR0, even then your site can be at first page of Google for your keywords.

What I have learned is that getting Google top positions have not much with external linking. Once your site in indexed, it means Google has stored your content in its database. Now Google applies its algorithm and generates the keywords for which your site is best. For example your web page is about SEO tips. Now SEO Tips is the keyword you are targeting. Now let me give you hints how can you get top position for this keyword (SEO Tips).

1) If you are able to purchase the domain like "seo tips" etc, or "great seo tips"... it will be helpful. Although this is not necessary . You can purchase "xyz", too :-)

2) Use your keywords in your title tag. Like "Great SEO Tips for beginners".

3) In your keywords tag you may use these keywords: "SEO, Search engine optimization, tips, tricks, articles, seo help"

4) Meta description is not important for Google ranking. But it is displayed as a description of your website when your site shown by Google in search results. If encourages visitors to click on your site. So, you write. "This web page will provide you the tips, tricks and techniques to improve the SEO of your website, to get top Google position."

5) In body, your page heading should be a H1 tag. This should contain your keywords. It may be like:

"SEO tips, tricks and techniques to get top Google position"

6) Then your first paragraph is very important. It must be at least 200 words long and should contain your keyword (SEO tips) upto 15 times.

7) Then in each following paragraphs, you must create a heading (using H1...H6 tags). Each heading must contain your words SEO tips in different natural formats. Like "SEO tips for beginners", "advanced SEO tips" etc etc. Again in each of your paragraph of you must incorporate keywords at a rate of about 10% density.

8) In all the images of your website, you must use the ALT tag and give a description of your image. Don't forget to add your keyword in the alt tags. Like for your logo image, your ALT tag may be like "Logo of abc site a source of SEO tips" etc. Use the ALT tags of all images.

But remember one thing, dont spam your keywords. Google may penalize you for this. Recommeded key words density by most SEO people is 5-8%. It means if your page has 100 words, then 5-8 should be your keywords. Not less and not much more.........

9) You should make your site navigation really simple. It means, from every page of your website, you must be able to reach any other page just be 3 clicks, at the maximum.

10) Make a page called sitemap.html. This must contain all the links of the pages of your website. This will help Google to index all your pages, fast.

11) All of your page name must be very descriptive so that just be reading the name, users and Google must understand the theme. For example: "7-great-seo-tips" etc etc.

12) On each page of your website, there should be links of related pages of your website.

13) Ok, im tired now, Will write more later. Any how i like to see your comments and if you dont agree to my points or want to add some thing, it will be a pleasure :-)

Thanks.

How to Earn Money Online in 7 Easy Steps

If earning money online is easy, why isn't everyone doing it? Perhaps they have never seriously considered how to earn money online in 7 easy steps. Maybe they tried one or two ideas that are mentioned here, but never discovered how, by implementing these points, they could set up a growing business and reputation.

1. Research what you will sell and to whom. What you sell should match your interests and expertise. It can be your own product or someone else's (affiliate marketing). Whatever you choose, you will need to understand it well so you can market it effectively. You also need to understand your target market. What do they want? What might they be willing to spend money to get? Where do they look online for information on their interests?

2. Read and educate yourself about the ins and outs of internet marketing. There is a vast store of helpful information that is available free of charge on the internet. The savvier and more knowledgeable you become, the more likely you will be to implement what works and avoid what doesn't. You may not have to suffer through the same mistakes that others have made if you follow sound advice. You also need to stay on top of current trends online that will affect your business.

3. Write a blog. Use a relevant blog to attract your target audience and offer them a chance to sign up for a newsletter or other free offer. Blogs are a great way to offer updated content to a specific audience. They also have the advantage of giving an instant way to share your expertise. You don't have to wait for your website and its content to be perfected. From day one a blog can get you lots of free publicity.

4. Raise up your website. The first part of your website to develop is your sign up box, which should be on the first page people see. You can create a lead capture page, also called a squeeze page, to get a list of contacts for e-mail marketing. Then work on developing the rest of your site. Some people also put sign up boxes on other pages of their websites in order to give visitors more chances to sign up for the mailing list and receive something free and valuable. A free guide or a newsletter where you share your expertise are examples of incentives to offer people so that they will join your mailing list.

5. Rely on several income sources. Obviously, your main focus for turning a profit is by selling your product. But there are also other ways to make money online. By offering advertising spots for other companies on your site or blog, you can receive anywhere from 5 cents to 50 cents or more each time a person clicks on an ad. Affiliate marketing can be even more lucrative. This involves promoting someone else's product, for which you receive a portion of the sales revenue.

6. Write articles to drive traffic to your website or lead capture page. Articles have incredible potential to draw people to your site if you give helpful information that people are seeking. Articles are a way to share your expertise and build credibility with those who have an interest in your field. At the end of your article, a bio box tells readers a little about you and how they can link to your website for more information. If they click on the link and make it to your site, you have successfully attracted someone in your targeted area of interest.

7. Review what is working well and what isn't. It is important to look at the numbers on a weekly or monthly basis and see how well each of your strategies are working. Trends and patterns should emerge as you examine your traffic and conversion statistics. From there you can begin to refine and focus your efforts on what works best for reaching your target audience and getting them to buy from you.

To earn money online, you have to know where to start and how to keep the positive momentum going. Almost anyone can discover how to earn money online in 7 easy steps. Putting these steps into action is all it really takes to begin bringing in a growing income from your website.

Earn money - Some Of The Latest Ways To Make Money Online

Gone are the days when the IPO could generate a lot of money. Today people are making money through the Internet. However, a person will always want to know how he will be able to make money online. Among the different ways to earn money on the web, becoming an affiliate in another person or company's website is the best way. If a site faces high traffic, it means that more customers are attracted to it and thus it becomes easier for everyone associated with the site to earn more money online.

Among the various ways to make money online another simple way of making money online is through e-commerce. A businessman can always sell his product or service online and thus make money online. In order to conduct online selling the businessman should be able to deliver his product on time to his customers. Besides, the businessman should have facilities of accepting credit cards for conducting online selling of his product.

Some of the other ways to make money online is through advertisement. A person by opting for the sale of advertisement space within his website will be able to earn money on the Internet. The advertiser will provide the person with a banner add which will be placed in his website. Whenever any visitor to his website clicks on the advertisement, the person will earn money. However, a person who has a website that can generate huge amount of traffic may even charge some kind of fee for the space of advertisement. A person when choosing any of these means of making money online should always ensure that they are genuine.

3 Free Work At Home Opportunity Ideas

Have you found yourself in a position where you need to work at home? Perhaps you would rather just stay at home and work, because you're tired of getting up and driving to a job every day.

In this article we will take a look at 3 work at home opportunities that may be able to fit your needs.

1. Are you familiar with Tjobs.com? They are at telecommuting website that specializes in matching employers with employees who would rather work out of their house. This offers many benefits to both parties.

The employer does not have to provide office space, or anything that a traditional job would offer. Many of these do not even have benefits, although more and more companies are starting to offer benefits to employees who work out of their homes.

When you go to their website you will see a variety of categories that you can look for work in. You can expect you will need to have skills to be considered for any job that you apply for.

2. Another free work at home opportunity is to sell products on the Internet. The fastest way to get started doing this is with affiliate marketing. As an affiliate marketer you will be given everything you need to make sales on the Internet for the merchant that you represent.

In this industry you are required to have skills to be successful too. Expect to learn how to build a website of your own, start a blog, master traffic generation techniques, and do basic functions on a computer. The exciting thing is is that you have no ceiling on your income and you do get to set your own hours working at home.

3. Starting your own home business as a final work at home opportunity we want to consider. Certainly you can start a business on the Internet and do exceptionally well. Other people preferred to find something that they enjoy such as a hobby or something they are an expert at as a way to work at home.

If you like kids, you might look at starting your own daycare center. You might consider starting your own auto repair shop at home if you like to work on cars. Other people are successful doing errands for people in their neighborhood in getting paid for it.

This is three free work at home opportunities that might appeal to you. Get yourself a sheet of paper and set down and start making a list of potential things that you could do to work for yourself at home. Getting started working home for free is possible to do regardless of what you come up with.

10 Ways To Instantly Improve Your Conversion Ratio

A conversion ratio is the ratio of orders to site visits. For example, if 100 people visit your site, and one person places an order, your conversion ratio is 1 percent. Of the top 100 e-tailers, 22 percent report conversion rates between 1 percent and 1.9 percent, 20 percent report rates between 2 percent and 2.9 percent. Only twenty have achieved rates over 5 percent.

Conversion ratios can also be used to measure actions other than purchasing, such as subscribing to a newsletter, requesting additional information or downloading a file.

Generally speaking, you'd like to get your conversion ratio to at least 1 percent and then build from there. In this article, I'm going to give you some steps that should help you improve your conversion ratio.

1. First Impressions: In her article "The Power of First Impressions" Jill Bremer writes:

"First impressions count! Packaging is important, whether we're considering a house, a product or a person. We think what looks attractive or reliable from the outside must surely be on the inside. We judge books by their covers; we buy houses based upon curb appeal and we take people at face value. And they do the same to us!

I'll agree with you that none of this seems fair. People should be judged by their inner values and beliefs, but it is often the first impression that determines whether someone will stick around long enough for you to reveal those wonderful qualities. Very few people will ever see those documents that define who you are, such as your resume, diploma or birth certificate. Like it or not, it is often that first impression that determines your future, more than your professional achievements, family background or educational credentials."

So what first impressions does your website project? For example, are the colors of your site appealing? Did you know that blue is considered to be the best color for websites? It's true. According to psychologists of color (AKA color consultants) the color blue is psychologically connected to the following words:

authority, peace, unity, harmony, tranquility, calmness, confidence, water, loyalty, dependability, cleanliness.

Have you ever noticed that most police uniforms are blue, as are the uniforms of the United States Postal Service? These colors signify authority and reliability. They instill confidence.

To back up my point, I went to Google and typed in the words "Internet Marketing." Then I examined the top 30 Internet Marketing websites.

Here's what I discovered:

24 of the top 30 Internet Marketing websites use blue as the primary or dominant color on their sites.

24 out of the top 30. That's no coincidence. If you're not happy with your conversion ratio, change your website color to blue.

2. Navigation: Is your website easy to navigate?

While it may be true that Content is King on the Internet, your website needs to have an orderly structure - and many signposts - to help visitors navigate it. To find whatever they're looking for. To get to whichever section of it they wish to visit. Quickly. Effectively. Painlessly.

If you force people to click on multiple links and wander around your website aimlessly trying to find whatever it is they're looking for, you can bet your bottom dollar they won't return again. There are simply too many other choices available on the Internet.

Construct a website with a simple navigation system that shows visitors exactly where they are and how to get to other sections of your site. Do this, and not only will your visitors return again and again, they'll bring their friends with them.

3. Give Before You Take: Don't just send visitors straight to a sales page. Give them something first. Give them a free report, a free 7 day Internet Marketing course, an e-book, something. Give something of value, before you ask for money and watch your conversion ratio improve.

4. Make Your Website Credible: Lack of credibility can kill your conversion ratio. Here are some things you can do to make your website more credible:

• A. Make your contact information clear: phone number, physical address, and email address.
• B. Post a photo of yourself.
• C. Update or add new content to your site regularly.
• D. Have real and verifiable testimonials, including full names, website an/or e-mail addresses.
• E. Be aware of typographical errors and broken links. It's also important to keep your site up and running.
• F. Are you affiliated with a respected organization? Tell people. Conversely, don't link to outside sites that are not credible. Your site becomes less credible by association.
• G. Get our own domain name. Don't use domain names like, "Geocities", "Angelfire" or "Tripod" Be a professional. Get your own domain name.

5. Try Changing Your Headline: Just changing the headline of a sales letter has been know to boost conversion ratios by 500 percent or more. If your current sales letter isn't converting the way you think it should, try changing the headline.

6. Don't Confuse People: When people come to your website, is it crystal clear what your site's about, or do your visitors have to guess? Are you trying to be all things to all people? If you sell e-books on how to make money, why do you have banner ads for satellite dishes? See my point? Laser-target your focus, and leave no doubt what you website's all about.

7. Offer Free Bonuses: Does your salesletter offer free bonuses when people make a purchase? Start offering free bonuses...the more the better. But don't give away the same recycled e-books that everyone else is giving away. Do some brainstorming and try to offer something different and unique.

8. Make Your Website Sticky: "Sticky" refers to a site's ability to keep visitors on your site once they have navigated there, or encourage the visitor to return frequently (i.e., the visitors "stick" to the site).

Research has shown that anywhere from 95 to 99 percent of visitors to your website won't purchase the first time they visit. Therefore, it's important to get visitors to come back to your site again and again so you can have multiple opportunities to sell them something. The best way to do this is to have a sticky website.

A site's stickiness depends on the content of the site that encourages the visitors to remain there but is not necessarily what the visitors went to the site looking for. For example, in addition to the original content visitors are looking for, you can also add a blog, glossary, stock quotes, games, community forum, news feeds and/or chat room to make the site more appealing to visitors. Also, you add special features to set yourself apart from competitors. For example, on my site I feature interviews of top internet marketing experts.

9. Ask For The Sale More Than Once: When I began studying copywriting many years ago, one of the first things I was taught was to ask for the sale several times. This is called "closing the deal," or "call to action." Why several times? Because people are preconditioned to say NO. It's a psychological mechanism.

It starts when we're little babies, and our parents constantly tell us NO. It continues into our school years, when our teachers constantly tell us NO. And we deal with it everyday at work when our bosses tell us NO. So when people come across your ad or sales letter, they already have their guard up. So you have to slowly chip away at all of those years of hearing NO, NO, NO! That's why you have to ASK, ASK, ASK for the sale several times.

1O. Offer A Strong Guarantee: Show you have confidence in your product or service by offering a fair and reasonable money-back guarantee. Thirty days is good. But sixty or ninety days is even better! If you're offering good value for the money, you won't have to worry about refunds. Generally speaking, less than 1% of customers ever ask for a refund.

Google Invests Big In Clean Energy

Solar thermal systems differ from traditional solar panel plants in that they collect heat from the sun and use it to boil water into steam, which spins a turbine to create power. One advantage of solar thermal systems is that the heat can be stored for hours, or even days, improving the plant’s ability to generate energy “on demand”.

It’s terrific to see some serious backing of a company driven to make a business of renewable energy, but one question comes to mind — is this an investment or a donation?

If it’s an investment, does it really count as philanthropy? I don’t want to take the wind out of the sails of a project that I hope succeeds. But let’s be clear when something is philanthropic and when it is a straight-out investment. eSolar’s goal is to create renewable energy at a price that is cheaper than that created from fossil fuels. The clean technology industry is big business and a smart investment, not philanthropy.

Credit to Google for putting its money where its mouth is, though — their Mountain View, CA offices use a 1.6 megawatt (MW) solar panel installation that generates 30% of the power used by those buildings, and I’m aware of a bunch of other programs aimed at reducing Google’s carbon footprint to zero.

Go to Database and get started

1. The number of market research companies that you register with

This is probably the most important factor that will determine your "success" or "failure" - because the more companies you register with the more invitations you'll receive, the more surveys you can take, and the more money you will make. The number of companies you register with should reflect your goals and the amount of money you want to make. It really is as simple as that. If you just want to make a few hundred extra bucks a month to cover a car payment, you definitely don't need to register with all the companies in our database. Just register with a few at a time when it fits your schedule, and before long you'll reach your goal. On the other hand, if your goal is to make thousands of dollars a month then you need to register with as many companies as you possibly can. The more the better. Don't register with 20 companies and expect to make thousands a month - it just won't happen for you. Please ... you need to be realistic. I've personally registered with over 250 companies and I currently receive more invitations then I can handle. So what I do is just "cherry pick" the best ones. Once you get the initial work out of the way, this is a great position to be in!

2. Your "profile" which determines the number and type of opportunities you get

When you register with a market research company, you'll be asked various questions which will make up your personal "profile". Be honest - this is how they match you up with the profiles desired for particular surveys and focus groups. Some surveys are very general, but others are very specific. For example, a company may want to get the opinions of men between the ages of 25-45 on various types of cologne. If you're a women, you won't be selected to participate in this survey. It is very important that you are truthful in all your answers and responses when signing up with the market research companies, so a lot of this is out of your control. Our advice? Provide as much detailed information as you possibly can, in order to give yourself the best chance of getting selected for as many surveys as possible.

3. The amount of time you spend participating in surveys and focus groups

Aside from #1, this is the other important factor that you have full control over. And again, the time and effort you put into it has to be in line with your goals. If you only have 1 hour per week to devote to surveys that's fine - just don't expect to make a full-time income. You'll get out of this what you put into it, as they say. On the bright side, you only have to register with each company once - and then they will usually continue sending you surveys for years! If you don't have a lot of free time every day, be like the turtle. Slow and steady wins the race.

4. How lucky you are when it comes to drawings, raffles, and sweepstakes

If you only want to participate in surveys and focus groups that pay cash that's fine - but we suggest you consider those that pay in prizes, sweepstakes entries, etc. If you have the extra time, it's well worth it to take a short 2 minute survey and be entered into a $10,000 drawing - wouldn't you agree? Sometimes the odds are pretty good, and aside from cash you can win nice electronic equipment, household items, etc. Plus, it's important to realize that market research companies change their offerings all the time depending on what kind of research and surveys their clients need. A company offering prizes this month might offer a $150 paid survey the next month, which is why we highly recommend you register with as many companies as you can - regardless of what they are currently offering. You just never know! There's not a whole lot you can do to influence how lucky you'll be, but just realize that the prizes are often significant and can really make a difference for you.

A few more important reminders before you get started ...

1. Some companies will enter you into a contest or sweepstakes when you initially register with them. This is how you build your profile and get started with them. They will often send you "screener" surveys, and then paid surveys will usually follow shortly thereafter.

2. Be sure to check your email often, and act quickly! The companies will often send out more invitations than they need participants, because they know some people won't respond for one reason or another. But once they have enough people, it might be too late for you.

3. Some of the sites and market research companies you'll be introduced to work with various sponsors, promotional companies, etc. and sometimes you'll be invited to purchase products, participate in trial offers, etc. You can safely ignore these offers if you're not interested.

4. Have some fun! You're providing a very valuable service that will help influence new products, etc. You should be proud of what you're doing and have some fun while making money.

Now You're ready. Go to Database and get started!

Start Registering, taking Surveys & Making Money

Now that you're all set-up and ready to go, I just want to share a few more tips and tricks to help you get started. I know you're anxious to get going - and you're almost there.

Note: One thing to keep in mind is that when we talk about registering with a company, we're talking about the market research companies that actually conduct surveys and focus groups. They are generally hired by large corporations to do the research on their behalf.

Now, you're not going to "get rich quick" by taking surveys, but once you get going you CAN easily generate a steady stream of cash, prizes and free products. I know lots of people that make anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of dollars per month.

Your success with paid surveys will primarily depend on:

1. The number of market research companies that you register with
   
2. Your "profile" which determines the number and type of invitations you get
   
3. The amount of time you spend participating in surveys, focus groups, etc.
   
4. How lucky you are when it comes to drawings, raffles, and sweepstakes
   

Let's briefly go over each of these four items ...

Download and familiarize yourself with RoboForm

The "hardest" part about making money with paid surveys, focus groups, etc. is registering with all of the good market research companies - we list so many of them!

There's no way around it - you have to register with the companies you're interested in. With some you can sign-up and take surveys right away, but others require you to "register" and then they contact you about various opportunities as they become available.

It sure would be nice if there was a way to automate the registration process, but as of yet there just isn't. We have however found something that makes it a whole lot easier.

The answer is RoboForm - a FREE software program that will significantly reduce the time it takes you to fill out forms, register with research companies, and fill out surveys. It will even remember all of the user names and passwords that you end up creating!

Every single person I know that's serious about making money from surveys uses RoboForm, myself included. It makes things so much easier, and it does so without "spying" on you or messing up your computer like Gator and some of the other programs.

Using RoboForm is highly recommended so please download it now and spend a few minutes familiarizing yourself with how it works. It will significantly reduce the time you spend getting started, which will help you to make money as quickly as possible.

To download just click the link above, then select "Save" to save the file to your desktop. Once you have downloaded the file just double-click it to install this awesome program.

Important note: After using RoboForm for awhile you may be encouraged to upgrade to the "Pro" version which has a few extra features and costs about $30. This is NOT necessary. The free version has all of the features that you need for doing surveys.

RoboForm works on Windows computers only. We're unaware of a similar program for Macintosh, but if you use a Mac we suggest you use the Safari web browser from Apple since it already has a built-in feature to quickly fill out forms. RoboForm (or Safari) is NOT required to do surveys.

Getting Started Guide

Step 1: Set-up a Dedicated Email Address for Surveys

Sometimes you can register with a market research company and start taking surveys right away, but many times you'll have to wait just a bit and they will notify you when you've been selected to join a particular survey. They'll usually notify you via email. Once you get going and have registered with lots of companies, you will start getting A LOT of invitations and you definitely don't want to miss any of those important emails. For this reason, we highly recommend setting up a separate email address to be used for everything related to your new survey "business." And be sure to check it often! This way your survey-related email won't be mixed up with your "regular" email, you won't miss any important survey opportunities, and everything will just be a lot easier for you. Your Internet Service Provider (AOL, Earthlink, Comcast, etc.) should be able to provide you with an additional email address - usually at no charge. Or, you can also set-up a free email address at Yahoo which we think offers the best free email service available.

Using Google AdWords for AdSense Sites

Some AdSense publishers use Google AdWords to drive traffic to their sites. Now, in case you didn’t know, Google AdWords is the program that supplies the ads that you are showing on your site with Google AdSense. Does it make sense to use AdWords to promote an AdSense site? In some cases, it does.

It is tricky, however. Remember that you are targeting high paying keywords. This means that if you target those same keywords with your own AdWords campaign, you would be paying a large amount of money. You also run the risk of not having the money that you earn from AdSense cover the cost of your AdWords ads.

Here is the secret. First, set a budget for your AdWords campaign that you can afford to pay, regardless of your AdSense income. Next, don’t choose the same keywords for your AdWords ads as you do for your AdSense site. Now you are probably wondering how that would work out.

Let’s say that your website is focused on the topic of weight loss for diabetic women. You could target a lower paying keyword for your AdWords campaign, such as diabetes or diabetic supplies. Again, it is tricky, and it does take some thought.

It is vital that you keep a close eye on your ad campaigns and your clicks. You can easily see how much you’ve spent, and how much you’ve earned in relation to what you have spent. If you are spending more than you are earning, you

need to rethink using Google AdWords, or tweak and tune until you are earning more than you spend.

Aside from that, setting up a Google AdWords campaign is very easy. You simply sign up for the program, write your ad, choose your keywords, set your budget, set how much you are willing to pay for each click, and activate the ad to run.

While you are targeting different keywords, those keywords may be relevant enough to your site for the ad to appear on your own site! You don’t want this to happen. Go into your AdSense account, and using the filter, exclude your site from appearing in ads on your site.

You can target your own keywords with your AdWords ads also, but again, this is tricky, and you need to make sure that you are bidding low for those keywords. That, in turn, gets you less traffic, but with a budget set, Google will work to get your ad clicked on each day until the daily budget has been met.

Ideally, you should not use Google AdWords to promote a Google AdSense site until you have a thorough understanding of how each program works, and you are sure that you can generate more income than you are spending on the AdWords ads. Again, use caution, and remember that you will be paying for each click that you receive.

Also, take advantage of free credits for AdWords. Google offers free credits for signing up, and you can elect to take surveys and such for which you will be given credits as well. These credits can add up, and you should take advantage of them whenever possible.

SEO for AdSense Sites

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, plays an important role in advertising a website. This is how you get a higher listing in the search results, when keywords that are relevant to your website are searched for. The more optimized your site is, the higher it will be in the search engine results.

This brings what is known as natural search traffic to your website. Natural search traffic means that someone found your site in the search engine results because it was naturally listed high enough for them to find it. You didn’t pay to get it listed higher.

There are two types of SEO: on site and offsite. Off site is the easiest to explain, and all it entails is getting inbound links to your site. This means that you get a link to your site listed on other people’s websites.

However, they must be quality links for the search engines to pay any attention to them. You want to get your link on sites that are important. The search engine considers sites that have a high Google page rank, and a low Alexa rank important.

The more quality inbound links you get, the more important your own site becomes, as far as the search engines are concerned. Above all, do not use link farms, and avoid reciprocal linking. You can get your link on sites by participating in the forums with a signature file, or by commenting on blogs and such.

When you are getting links on other sites, mix it up. Don’t just link to your main page all the time. Search engines become more interested when they see

multiple sites linking to various pages on your site, instead of just the main one. Build inbound links slowly. Search engines become suspicious when you get too many inbound links too fast!

There are numerous elements of on site SEO. First, you want very clean HTML code. Search engines don’t like messy code that contains numerous errors. Use an HTML code validator to check your code.

Make sure that you use your keywords appropriately. First, you should have a keyword density of 2 to 3%. If there are 1200 words on the page, your keyword should appear 24 to 36 times in that content.

Use your keywords in all ‘alt’ tags. There are alt tags for tables, graphics, and links. Also use your keywords in the ‘title’ tag which is in the ‘head’ tag at the top of the code. Search engines love links. Remember this. Do some internal linking in your content, using text links.

When linking, avoid linking words like ‘here’ or ‘click here.’ This does nothing for SEO. Instead, for example if your keyword was weight loss, you might have a link that says ‘weight loss information for women over 40.’ Make sure that you put your keywords in bold letters, and use the H1 or H2 tags for your titles and subtitles, which should also contain your keywords.

Build a site map, upload it to your server, and link to it on all of your pages. Search engines love site maps. In fact, Google makes it easy to create a free site map that you can use for your site.

Do not use any hidden text. Do not spam your keywords. Use them in natural ways. Write natural sentences. Search engines are very hard to fool, and if you use ‘black hat’ SEO techniques, the search engine spiders will simply stop visiting, and your site won’t get listed!

Finally, do not use any content on your site that can be found elsewhere. All of your content must be original, or the search engine will view it as duplicate content, and ignore it.

Building AdSense Site Traffic with Videos

Video is becoming more and more important to cyber citizens, and essentially to online business owners, and even to AdSense site owners. You can drive traffic to your sites with the use of video and free video websites. Everybody loves video. Even Google now offers video ads for AdSense.

Sites like Google Video, You Tube, and Yahoo Video get tons of traffic every single day, and you can easily take advantage of that. You have two options for

creating video. You can use a digital video camera, or you can use screen capture video software.

With a digital video camera, you can make a video of basically anything, and then upload that video to your computer, and then to the video websites. With screen capture video software, you don’t need a camera. You can just make a video of what is appearing on your computer screen.

For instance, if you have a website that reviews software, for which you earn AdSense revenue and affiliate revenue from software sales, you could purchase the software, and make a video that shows people how to use it. Videos such as these are in high demand. Just make sure that the video that you produce is relevant to the topic of your website.

Once you have a video, you want to be sure that it is of high quality. It should sound right and look right, and you may want to try it out on different computers to make sure that it is as good as you can get it. You do not want to present a video to the public that doesn’t have good quality, because this is a bad reflection on you.

Next, sign up for a free account at the three popular video sites, and upload your video. Create a profile, and of course include your website address in that profile. You can also use software to watermark your URL on your video, so that while it is being viewed, the URL remains in plain site. When you write descriptions for your videos, be sure to include your keywords, and your URL.

There is another way that you can use video, without creating it. Again, visit the video websites, and find video that is already there, which relates to your site. It’s there and free for you to use. Start the video, and look for a button near it that says ‘embed.’ You will be given code. Paste that code on your webpage where you want the video to appear.

Now, make sure that you put a description of the video, again using your keywords, above the video. Your AdSense ads will be served focused on the keywords in that description. Make sure you list this page with the search engines as well.

This is not duplicate content, as long as you write your own unique description. The search engine spiders can see that there is a video there, but they can’t watch the video.

They will pay more attention to the description that you write. This is a great way to fill up a site with content, in a very short amount of time, without having to write very much. Just simply make your site video based, or a combination of text and video or audio.

Even though the video is available elsewhere, people will still come to your site to view it. Hopefully, while they are there, they will click on some ads! You can use audio in the same way, again ensuring that you write a textual description of the audio file. This may get you even more clicks, because there is nothing to watch!

Blog for Traffic and AdSense Revenue

You’ve probably heard that there is a great deal of money to be made by using blogs – whether you are into affiliate marketing, or an AdSense publisher. You can use a blog in several different ways.

First, you can use just the blog, as opposed to having a separate static website. You can also use a blog to drive traffic to a static website. Either way works, but in the long run, it’s easier to have a blog, with your own domain, hosted on a web server, than it is to operate both a blog and a website.

Promoting a blog is much easier and faster than promoting a website, because blogs are so interactive.

For instance, people can come to your blog, subscribe to it, leave comments on it, and go to their own blogs and write about something that you wrote about, quote you and leave a trackback. This works the opposite way as well.

To promote a blog, there are very specific things you do:

1. You ping your blog after each post. You can do this at a site such as www.pingomatic.com, which will send the ping to multiple blog directories at one time.

2. You use social bookmarks each time you make a post, tagging the post with your keywords. You can quickly and easily send out multiple bookmarks at one time by using a free service such as www.onlywire.com

3. You burn your feed at a free site such as www.feedster.com. This lists your feed in their directory, so that people may subscribe before they’ve ever even visited your blog.

4. You visit relevant blogs that belong to others, and leave relevant comments (not comment spam) with a link back to your own blog.

5. You quote other people’s blogs – just portions, not the entire post – and link to it using your trackback feature. Your link to that post will automatically appear on their trackback list for that post, if they have enabled trackbacks.

6. You use the same promotional techniques that you use for a static website, along with the five techniques listed above.

If you can, make a blog post each day. Otherwise, you should be making a blog post each and every week, once a week. If you’re blog isn’t updated, you can’t really promote it very well.

If you want to use the other method, where you have a blog and a website, you can do this as well. The idea here is to use the same promotional techniques for the blog, and then in each blog post, point to your website.

As you can see, if you are an AdSense publisher, this may be a bit redundant, since you can publish the same information on your blog, and it gets promoted in much the same way – and you can put AdSense on your blog just as you can on static webpages.

Generally, if someone has both a blog and a website, it is because they are promoting several products, or their own product. Again, as an AdSense publisher, with no other source of revenue, it makes sense to just have a blog, instead of a static website as well.

If you are going to be using just the blog, instead of static pages, you will need your own domain name, and your own server, just as you would for a website. Otherwise, you won’t be able to run AdSense ads. At www.blogger.com, you can run AdSense ads, but you have to split what is earned through those ads with Blogger, and it is all set up through their system.

Article Marketing for AdSense Sites

If you have an AdSense website, you need traffic to earn revenue from that site! There are numerous ways to get traffic, but since we all have limited time, you want to cut right to the chase, and find out what works. Article marketing is one of the best traffic generation methods you can use.

Article marketing is a very successful and easy concept. It is used by all successful Internet Marketers, and when it comes to website promotion, you must look at things from an Internet Marketers point of view, even though, as an AdSense publisher, you aren’t exactly selling any product.

Again, the concept is easy. You write a short article, approximately 400 words long. At the bottom of the article, you write an ‘author’s resource box.’ This is just a simple paragraph of text that says who the author is, gives a little background info on the author, and a link to the author’s website. It’s about five to seven sentences long.

Once the article is ready, you visit numerous article directories, which are also referred to as article banks and article repositories, and submit your article. That’s all there is to article marketing.

Now, many people use these article directories. They go there to find information, or to find content for their own websites, blogs, or newsletters. The article that you submitted is free for them to use, as long as they publish it with the author’s resource box intact, and they don’t make any changes to the article.

Because so many other people can (and will) publish your article elsewhere, it becomes viral. This drives traffic to your site, on a continual basis. But one article submission is not going to be enough. You need to be submitting one article per week, to at least the top ten article directories.

Note that there are faster ways to get traffic, such as using Google AdWords, but article marketing is free, and again, the traffic that you will eventually get from the articles being published is fairly steady.

Here are nine important tips for article marketing:

1. Don’t use the same content that you have on your site. Your site will be penalized for duplicate content.

2. If you use private label rights (PLR) articles, make sure that you rewrite them before submitting them.

3. Before you write your first article, visit one of the popular directories, such as Article City at http://www.articlecity.com to see what your article should be like. You can also get ideas for your author’s resource box here.

4. Writers Block? Lack of time? Use PLR articles, or hire a ghostwriter to write and submit articles for you. Make sure that you are submitting one article per week!

5. Make sure that the topic of your article matches the topic of your site, and the topic of the ads that are being displayed through your Google AdSense ads. This will get you the best results.

6. Before you submit an article, make sure that everything is spelled correctly, and that you’ve used proper grammar.

7. Don’t expect immediate results. Sometimes, it takes the article directories several days, and in some cases, several weeks, to publish your article. You need to be using additional traffic generation techniques as well.

8. Even if you aren’t seeing results from your article marketing techniques, keep at it. Remember, it takes time for it to ‘kick in,’ but when it does, it is well worth the effort.

9. Use your keywords in your article. This is search engine fodder; it drives the article up in the search engine results, which in turn brings more traffic to your site.

AdSense Site Traffic Traffic Techniques to Avoid

There are many ways to get traffic to a site. You will most likely do research to find out about those traffic generation methods.

Methods such as article marketing, forum marketing, pay-per-click advertising, social networking, blogging, and social bookmarking all work very well. But in the world of Internet Marketing, there are also traffic techniques that you should avoid, for various reasons.

First, do not ever pay for traffic from a site that promises you a great deal of traffic in a short amount of time. The traffic that you get will not be targeted, and will be of no use to you at all.

In fact, many of these sites are scam sites, and the traffic that you get will actually be automated traffic, not real traffic. Pay-per-click advertising, or PPC as it is known, is not the same as these sites that promise traffic for a fee.

Do not spend hours, or even use automated software to submit your site to free classified ad sites or free for all link sites. This only results in lots of spam for you. It does not result in traffic.

There is one exception: Craig’s List at http://www.craigslist.com. Craig’s List works very well and it is free. The only catch is that you cannot post identical ads in different categories or regions. You have to change the ad each time.

Do not participate in reciprocal linking for search engine optimization purposes. Such links are essentially ignored by the search engines, so it actually does more harm than good as far as getting your site listed in the search engines. Furthermore, avoid any and all black hat SEO techniques.

Don’t use pop ups. People hate these, and most people now have software installed that keeps pop ups from popping. Avoid other irritating elements on your site as well, such as blinking text and music, and colors that clash.

Some people say that traffic exchanges work well, while others say that they don’t. However, for an AdSense site, they can work out nicely. You should definitely give it a go, and see how it works out for you.

Don’t use false statements or exaggerated statements in your advertising. This may get you traffic, but it will irritate the traffic, and they won’t click on links. Instead, they will either close the browser, or hit the back button. You may not be selling anything, but this is false advertisement none-the-less, and it makes people very angry.

There are two huge mistakes that many newcomers make. The biggest is doing nothing at all. You can build a site, but if you don’t advertise it in anyway, you are not going to get a drop of traffic. Your Mom might visit, if you tell her about it, but that’s advertising!

The second biggest mistake is not tracking your advertising. If you don’t know what works, and what doesn’t, you will be wasting time and possibly money. Track all of your advertisements to see where your traffic comes from, and where it doesn’t come from. In the end, you will be glad that you did.

Building Your AdSense Sites in Step-by-Step

Once you’ve been approved for a Google Account, by building a site that Google would easily approve, and you’ve selected a high paying topic for your site, you are ready to get to work and build your first profitable AdSense website.

If you have not already done so (you should have), you really need to go and read the program policies that Google has set, as well as their webmaster guidelines. This will help you to build a better site, and to avoid issues that can and will get you banned from the Google AdSense program.

Your site should be full of content that uses your keywords. A keyword density of about 2 to 3% is great. This means that your keyword should be used approximately 2 to 3% of the time in your content. So, for a page that has 600 words of content, the keyword would appear twelve to eighteen times (600 x 2% or 600 x 3%).

There is more to it than targeting keywords. The content must be accurate. It must be readable and understandable by visitors. It must be unique.

You should use all of the search engine optimization techniques as possible when building your site. Not only will this attract the right ads, but it will also help your site to move up in the search results, for the purpose of driving traffic to your site.

You want your site to look nice, to be informative, and to load fast. You want it to attract the right ads. You do not want anything on your pages that will irritate your visitor, such as blinking, blinding text or music.

Make it a site that you would want to visit, and then ask an uninterested party, such as your neighbor (not your best friend or your mother) if it is a site that they would want to visit, if they were interested in the topic.

Now, you are ready to place the AdSense code on your pages. Log in to your AdSense account. Click on the AdSense Set up tab at the top of the page. First, click on Channels, and set up a Channel for the topic of your site. This will come in handy later on, when you are analyzing which of your sites is pulling in the most money.

Next, click on palettes, and create a color palette that matches your site well. You want your Google ads to blend into your site. If they stand out like a sore thumb, they will get fewer clicks, simply because people really do try to avoid advertisements.

You want the ads to look like content on your site. Once you’ve set up a palette that matches your site, click on products. Choose AdSense for content to create your ad units.

Here, you can choose ads that are enclosed in a box, or ads that are more free standing, but still just text links. It is a good idea to choose the link unit to add above or below your navigational links, and you can design your site navigation links to look just like the Google link units.
You can use the ad units (boxed in) on other sections of your site. Those who have been in the Google AdSense game for a while have done years worth of testing on the topic of ad unit placement. Ideally, you will use ‘text ads only’ as

your setting. Then, place a skyscraper on one side of your page, and a rectangle ad unit at the top of your page.

Note that Google has limits as to how many Google ads can be used on your page! On one page, you may have three ad units, two search boxes, one link unit, and two referral units.

Choosing Your AdSense Site Niche Topics

Now that you’ve built a site that has met Google’s approval, and you have a Google AdSense account, you need to learn how the experts select topics for their Google AdSense sites. Choosing the right topics is the difference between success and failure!

Let’s take a look at the various tools that you will use, and how you will use them. First, you need keyword research tools. You can find out what the top keywords that are being searched for are with a web based tools such as Word Tracker, at http://www.wordtracker.com. There is a fee for using this tool.

If you don’t want to use a fee based tool, you will have to do more manual work, and use a free tool such as the one found at Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture) at http://www.overture.com.

When you get here, you would click on resources, and then on the Keyword Selector tool. You would have to type keywords in, and then the tool will tell you how many searches were performed for that keyword the previous month.

It is much faster and easier to use the fee based tool at Word Tracker, however. But finding the most frequently searched for keywords isn’t enough. Once you have a good list of what people are searching for the most, the next step is to find out how profitable those keywords are.

Not all frequently searched for keywords are profitable, and if you hope to make a full time living with Google AdSense, you need high paying keywords.

Now, before you rush out in search of a list of high paying keywords, note that even if there was such a list, it would constantly be changing, just as the list of frequently searched for keywords changes. Furthermore, you don’t seriously believe that other AdSense publishers are going to share such a list, if one even existed, do you? They wouldn’t. You have to find this information yourself.

Here is where having a Google AdWords account will come in handy. You can see what the advertisers are paying to get in the top position of the search results for their keywords. Simply log in to your free Google AdWords account, and click on ‘tools.’ Next, click on Keyword Tool.

Enter your keywords, and then in the drop down box below that, select ‘Cost and Ad Position Estimates.’ Type 5.00 in the last box, and hit ‘calculate.’ Now, Google will display possible keywords, based on the main keyword that you entered. Next to each keyword, you will see the estimated average CPC (cost per click) and the estimated position.

You want to view the CPC for the keywords that will fall into the top five on position, stated as 1 – 3 or 1 – 5. As of this writing, using the keyword phrase ‘weight loss’ you would see that the estimated CPC for hoodia weight loss is 3.43. Now, as an advertiser, that is what you would pay per click for an ad that is being run when that keyword phrase is searched for.

As a publisher, however, you would not make 3.43 per click. Google wants their share as well. Google doesn’t state what percentage is earned by the publisher, however. It varies, and how that percentage is figured is Google’s secret, and they are not sharing that information!

You basically have to pull a percentage out of the air to work with. Try using 30% as a guide.

Once you start getting clicks, you can then look to see what the estimated CPC is in AdWords, and then see how much you were paid for that click in AdSense to find out how much Google is paying you per click for that keyword. Again, this varies from one keyword to the next, so there are no set guidelines here.

Applying For a Google AdSense Account

Once you are prepared to apply for a Google AdSense account, it is as simple as filling out a form. But there are some aspects of that form that can be a bit confusing.

Here, we will go over filling out the form, so that Google will approve you without any problems. You can find the form to apply for an AdSense account at:
http://www.google.com/adsense

The first thing that the form asks for is the URL of your website. Note that even if you have multiple sites, Google only wants to see one. So, list the URL of the site

that you have set up for the purpose of being approved for Google AdSense, and enter the URL like this: www.yourdomain.com.

You do not have to include the http:// part of the URL, and don’t include any subpages of the URL, such as www.mydomain.com/mypage.html. Google wants to see the main page of the site, at the top level domain.

Next, Google wants to know what language your site is published in. If your site supports multiple languages, this is fine, but this isn’t what Google wants to know. They want to know the primary language of the site – this would be the language that you used to write the pages, such as English.

The next question on the form throws a lot of people into a tail spin. It asks if you are setting up an individual or business account.

Here is a way to simplify this question: If you do not have an office or business that currently has 20 or more employees, you are an individual. It doesn’t matter what your future plans are. Next, select the country that you live in.

The following part of the form asks for your information: name, street address, city, and state. It is important to note that when Google pays you, the check will be made out to the name that you put here, and sent to the address that you put here. So, use the information that you need to use here in order to receive the check, and to cash or deposit the check.

After your name and address, Google wants your telephone number. They probably won’t call you, but sometimes they will, if there is a problem or a question. Give a good phone number where you can be reached. You do not have to provide a fax number.

Here, you can also choose to receive Google’s newsletter – or not. Choosing not to receive the newsletter will not have any affect on whether or not you are approved.

Product selection confuses many as well. Choose both: AdSense for Content and AdSense for Search. This means that you can run both, but don’t have to run both.

You can have Google ads appear on your pages (AdSense for Content) and you can also include a Google search box on your pages (AdSense for Search), and when people use those search boxes, and click on sponsored ads in the results, you get paid for those clicks as well.

Following this, there are five check boxes, all of which must be checked, before you can submit the application.

By checking these boxes, you are saying that you will not click on the ads on your pages, that you will not encourage visitors to click on your ads (incentives), that you are able to receive checks that are made out to you, that you will not place ads on pornographic sites, and that you have read the AdSense program policies.

Finally, you submit the form, and prepare to wait. Your site will be checked by a live human being. Approval is manual, not automated, and it can take up to three business days (72 hours) before you hear from a Google representative. That contact usually comes via email.

Preparing To Set Up an AdSense Account

The hardest part of getting started with AdSense is getting Google to approve your website. In fact, for many, it is easier to get a $100,000 bank loan than it is to get a free Google AdSense account. The key is to be prepared before you apply.

You cannot start using Google AdSense on your pages until you are approved. This means that you must prepare to open an account, before you apply for an account.

The very first thing you must do is read Google’s Terms of Service (TOS). If your site doesn’t fall within the guidelines that Google sets out, it will be denied. Furthermore, even after you are approved and you start running Google ads on your site, if you break the TOS, you will be removed, and possibly banned, from the program.

Specifically, what you are looking for is the Program policies, which can be found at http://adsense.google.com. Scroll to the bottom of the page, and click on Program Policies. The first thing to note is that Google will not accept any site that is not complete.

This means that you cannot have any pages that are ‘under construction.’ All of the pages must be complete, and all of the links must be working correctly. Make sure that all of your graphics are also appearing correctly, because even a broken graphic can prevent you from getting approved.

Google also has a set of Quality Guidelines that must be adhered to before you can be approved. These guidelines, along with the program policies, will tell you exactly what you cannot have on your site, and what is expected of you and your site in terms of meeting the qualifications for a Google AdSense account. You can find these guidelines at http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html.

One mistake that so many would-be AdSense publishers make is not reading the TOS, the Program Policies, and the guidelines. Google lays these out in very specific terms, so there is no doubt as to the rules. They are also very serious about these rules.

Often, people skip this step in the preparation – reading the rules – work hard to build a site, only to be disapproved by Google, or to be approved, but then banned from the program later.

Don’t let this happen to you. These are rules that you must not only adhere to for approval, but must continue to adhere to in order to stay in the program. You don’t want to spend days and weeks building sites only to get kicked out of the program later. Google is very serious about this.

Once you’ve read the rules, and you understand them, the next part of preparation is doing research to find out which topics will be the most profitable for you, and getting the site built. We will cover these topics in more depth in a later article, but for now, you just need a website that will be approved by Google.

Remember that you only have to get approved for one site in order to get in the program, and from there on, you can publish as many sites as you want, on a wide variety of topics, and use Google AdSense on them, from the one account that you have been approved for.

While many just put up a website that will meet Google’s standards, without doing any research in order to get approved, you could also take a little longer, and go ahead and build a site that you can use to target the high paying keywords.

This is totally up to you, and it really doesn’t matter much which direction you go, as long as the site will get you approved for a Google AdSense account.

What Is AdSense, Really?

In recent years, there has been a great deal of discussion and information concerning Google’s AdSense program at http://adsense.google.com. There have been numerous E-Books and articles written on the topic.

But in the grand scheme of things, it is a profitable program that still gets overlooked by many who are just coming online to start a business, as well as those who have been around a while.

First, let’s take a look at exactly what AdSense is and what it is all about. AdSense is a program for webmasters which was implemented by the famous Google some years ago.

Essentially, a webmaster (a person who owns and builds one or more websites) signs up for an account with the program, and once they are approved, they paste the Google AdSense code into the pages on their websites.

Google then starts serving ads to those websites, based on the keywords that it finds in the text of the page. When a visitor clicks on one of those ads, the webmaster earns money – usually a few cents for each click. However, when a site has a great deal of traffic, and when the webmaster knows which keywords are the most profitable to target, there is a lot of money to be made.

It sounds simple enough, but it’s not really that easy. First, you have to be approved – and Google is picky. The good news is that once one site is approved, you have a Google AdSense account, and you do not have to seek

Google’s approval to use AdSense on any other site that you own, as long as that site is within the Google’s terms of service guidelines.

Once you are approved, you have to know which keywords to target – the ones that will make you the most amount of money per click, and how to write (or have written for you) content that draws those high paying ads. Often, this is the hardest part for what are known as ‘AdSense publishers.’ When we get into this, the secrets will start unfolding.

Finally, you have to learn how to drive traffic to your AdSense site. Without the traffic, you won’t get any clicks, and without clicks, you won’t be earning any money.

This is the second hardest part of being an AdSense publisher. There really aren’t any secrets here – it is just a matter of learning to use some basic, proven site promotion techniques.

You may have heard gurus say that it isn’t wise to build Google AdSense sites anymore. If you haven’t heard this, there will come a point when you will. But that really isn’t true. In fact, there are thousands of people just like you that are making very nice livings from the Google AdSense program.

Usually when a guru says that you should not use Google AdSense, they generally mean that you are better off not using it when you are promoting your own product, and your website is tightly focused on that product. However, you can use Google AdSense for a site that was built specifically for the AdSense program, or on sites that you are using to promote affiliate products as well.

You should also note that many successful AdSense publishers have more than one website. They typically have numerous websites, on a variety of topics on which they display the Google ads. However, there are also those that simply

have one high traffic website, from which they earn revenue from the AdSense program.

Regardless of this, all AdSense publishers start with just one website, and grow from there, and this is what you will be doing as well. You have to get the basics down, and learn the secrets that surround the profitability of Google AdSense before you can be successful with more sites.

4 Steps to Creating A Website Specifically to Earn AdSense Revenue

Building a website to earn Google AdSense advertising revenue has become a popular way to make extra money online nowadays. It is easier to earn AdSense income versus generating sales by selling products or services online. However it does involve works, time and money before you start earning from Adsense program. Below are the steps to creating a content website for earning AdSense revenue.

Step 1
Decide the content of your website. You can write a topic or subject related to your interest, hobbies or experience. You can also provide educational information and advice on your website if you are expert at something.

Step 2
Use a website builder to create your website. One of the easy-to-use website builders that can help you build a website is Bluevoda website builder. Bluevoda site builder allows users to build a website without technical knowledge. You don’t need to build your site from scratch. The trick is to use a free professional template provided by the site builder and then start adding your text and links to your website. You can add some graphics and pictures to make your site look nicer. After completing your website project, your next step is register a domain name and sign up for a hosting account to publish your website on the Internet.

Step 3
Join Google AdSense program. It will usually take several days for Google AdSense team to review and approve your site. If Google accepts your application. You can start learning how to generate AdSense code for inserting to your website to generate Adsense revenue. If your site rejected by Google, don’t get upset easily. Google will let you know the reasons of the rejection. You can fix the problems and reapply again.

Step 4
You need to drive targeted Visitors/Traffic to your website to generate Adsense revenue. The higher your website’s traffic the greater your Adsense earning will be. Below are some of the ways that can help you drive some traffic to your website in short period of time.

1) Use Per-per-click (PPC) advertising. The two most popular PPC search engines are Google and Yahoo. Google and Yahoo can deliver instant traffic to your website but it is costly to advertise on Google and Yahoo. There are other alternatives like Bidvertise.com and Clicksor.com which are cheaper to advertise with.

2) Introduce your site to your family and friends.

3) Write several articles with a link to your website on the resource box and submit them to article directories. You can find a list of article directories by going to Google and entering the search term 'article directory'.

4) Post messages on community forums with a link to your site on the signature of each message posted.