Blaine561's Internet Marketing Information Center

In November of 2005, I read that a Roman Catholic high school in Sparta had ordered its students to remove personal blogs from the Internet, in the name of protecting them from cyberpredators. Which brings me to an important question, just how can you keep your child safe online?

The Internet is a “gateway” which leads the adult predator to your child. Parents need to recognize the need to better monitor their children’s online activity. I believe that websites like xanga, myspace, and livejournal, make it all too easy for sexual predators to prey on our children.

Children are vulnerable and they don’t realize that anyone can and most likely is reading their blog entries. Both my children have blogs, however they are under moderation by both my husband and I. Frankly, as a parent of two teenagers I believe that it is up to us as parents to educate our children about the online dangers.

Children’s blogs are a pedophile’s playground, because of the easy ability to look into a child’s world. As parents we can help our children stay safe while using a blog. For information about blogging safety please visit http://BlogSafety.com and http://SafeTeens.com

Regarding sites like hi5: I’ve received several invitations from hi5, but I never signed up until November 2005. It wasn’t long before I was removing my account. I should have read the privacy policy before I registered.

It reads: hi5 collects personal information when you register, when you use hi5, when you visit hi5 pages or the pages of certain hi5 partners. hi5 may combine information about you that we have with information we obtain from business partners or other companies. Once you register with hi5 and sign in to our services, you are not anonymous to us. hi5 collects information about your transactions with us and with some of our business partners. hi5 automatically receives and records information on our server logs from your browser.

Basically, they have spyware.

Hi5 collects your Hotmail or yahoo address lists and contacts. Once you register there is an e-mail that is sent to everyone in your address book. This e-mail is sent without your permission.

The website also requests, your hotmail and yahoo password. I never gave my password, I was not that gullible. However hi5 was still able to gather my information and contact those listed in my address book. I finally was able to delete my account, through the instructions in their help file.

In my opinion, hi5 is even worse than xanga and myspace.

I encourage all parents, whose children have an account on hi5, to log into hi5 and delete their children’s account.

Too much personal information is being revealed on these websites, making it a haven for sexual predators. Parents need to wake up.

I for one, am very concerned with websites like hi5, MySpace, Xanga, DeadJournal, Blurty, etc that encourage children to post their photos and personal information.

I strongly suggest that if your child uses the computer and you have not been monitoring their activity, it is time that you found out just what they are doing.

A report aired Dateline Friday, Jan. 27, at 9 p.m. by Rob Stafford, a Correspondent of NBC News, tells parents why they should mind MySpace. If you have not seen this report, I suggest you take a moment to view it at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11064451/

You owe it to your children.

Which brings me to my next concern, the Internet is a scary place, filled with all kind of strange people. I believe that when you post your child’s picture on the net, you put them at risk.

Did you know that your personal information, such as your home phone number and address can easily be found on the internet?

If this isn’t one reason to make you reconsider posting your child’s picture on the internet, how about that in this day and age, photos can be digitally altered and appear on porn sites.

According to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children more than 20,000 images of child pornography are posted on the internet every week.

Donna Rice Hughes of http://Protectkids.com states, “… the demand for pornographic images of babies and toddlers on the internet is soaring.” (Prof. Max Taylor, Combating Paedophile Information Networks in Europe, March 2003). More babies and toddlers are appearing on the net and the abuse is getting worse. Images are more torturous and sadistic than they were was before.

The typical age of children found on pornography sites is between 6 and 12, but the profile is getting younger (Prof. Max Taylor, Combating Paedophile Information Networks in Europe, March 2003).

The U.S. Customs Service estimates that there are more than 100,000 web sites offering child pornography – which is illegal worldwide. Red Herring Magazine, 1/18/02)”

I don’t consider myself paranoid, but I don’t post my children’s pictures on the internet and I believe that you shouldn’t either. We all have cute children and are proud of them. But parents, please use some common sense. Keep your child safe and out of the arms of child predators. A good website to check out is: http://members.tripod.com/~Seadooer/sayno-contests.html

Say no to children’s pictures on the web and for goodness sake, monitor your child’s internet activity. Our children are our most valuable asset, love them and protect them.

If you have selected a suitable affiliate program to join, and you are keen to start earning some affiliate commissions, you will need to know about the key factors to help you succeed.

So, what do you need to succeed with your internet marketing affiliate program?

• Dedication. The first thing you will need to succeed with your internet marketing affiliate program is commitment to work hard until you get the profits you want. For you to earn some commission, you will need to invest money, time and effort into the business.

• Patience. This is the hardest trait to have, yet it is the most important. You can not earn commissions overnight with your affiliate program, and you must be patient enough to keep on working consistently, even if you are not making any sales.

• Get your own website and domain name. Having your own website creates the perception that you are serious about your internet marketing affiliate program business, and you have long term commitment to it. A professional website and own domain name appear professional, and you will find it easy to make sales.

• Products, services or business opportunities that are of high quality and reputation. This is very important if you want to make some sales and earn some commission. Make sure that you choose an affiliate program that has products with high demand and easy to sell.

• A website that is well presented and will prompt any visitor to take action and buy! This is an obvious one, yet is sometimes neglected. For you to be successful with your internet marketing affiliate program, your website must clearly present what you are selling. You must make the presentation of your website such that you promote many sales, for example by placing complementary products close together. Use all the techniques you can think of to make help you make as many sales as possible.

• A ‘useful’ website that makes visitors want to visit again. Although the main goal of your site is to make sales; you will also want your site to offer a few other things that will make visitors stay longer and come back again. You could offer some free tips and ideas relating to the products you are selling. The idea is to make any visitor want to ‘bookmark’ your site. Or if they make a purchase the first time they visit; if they found some free helpful hints on your website, they will come back again for another purchase, creating good repeat business for you.

• Have a committed strategy for driving traffic to your web site. It is a very simple fact that more visitors to your site means more sales, which means more checks for you. Have a monthly budget or plan for driving traffic to your site, work on that consistently.

• Customer care and personal testimonials can significantly help you succeed with your internet marketing affiliate program. Have an email system that you check regularly to answer any questions from your potential customers. Instead of just placing your affiliate links, try to have some testimonials that highlight the benefits of the product, service or business opportunity. This will help you make more sales, thus increasing your checks.

• Offer a free e-zine or short course on your website. Some visitors to your website do not make a purchase the first time they visit your site. By offering a free e-zine for your visitors to subscribe to, you are able to keep in constant contact with your potential customers, and over time, they will become your committed clients. Internet marketing affiliate programs need a large customer base to succeed, so you need to capture every potential client.

By following the guideline presented above, you will succeed with your internet marketing affiliate program. You will need to use these strategies so that you increase your sales and earn more sales. Building a huge down-line is important in internet marketing, and having more visitors and more sales or sub-affiliates is important for your business.

Succeeding with your internet marketing affiliate program is easy if you follow the key recommendations that can guarantee your success, and avoid the common mistakes which affiliates make.

Rapid technological advancements in the 21st Century have ensured that society is now more connected, and there are an increased number of media channels available. Unfortunately, due to dominant media ownerships some would argue that though we have a choice in what we want to watch, our choice is still limited due to tight media control. However, to a limited extent media independence is now being balanced due to the increased popularity of the Internet. This can be clearly illustrated with the level of interaction in chat rooms and blogging. E-mails are being used more frequently, hence influencing the level of communication efficiency. Furthermore, even though advertising companies and people with the technological skill to design and build websites are still dominant in the communication sector, software programs such as Dreamweaver and Microsoft Frontpage provide easy web building packages that enable quick and effective website building for beginners. As a result, media independence is gained with the increasing use of the Internet.

Firstly, Internet and blogging in particular, does not create an age barrier to who can participate. For example, a teenager and a more mature person could have the same opportunity to voice their opinions on the Internet. Also, although it can be argued that the people who do not possess technological skills may be disadvantaged, once the skill is acquired, then people will be able to participate. The author of a webpage or an article has the option of remaining anonymous or writing under a false name, hence, an increase in freedom of speech and a reduction of the risk of being associated with a certain ideology or discourse by a reader. The Internet is promoting greater independence, as minority groups are able to express their views publicly and information can be shared rapidly. There are many benefits to blogging on the Internet. One of the most positive aspects in regards to blogging is that it does not require any technological knowledge, and blogs have the opportunity to be read by people from other cultures and nations.

E-mails have also played a pivotal role in creating media independence. Although e-mails are seen as a form of communication technology, they can also be shared between groups of people. Therefore, increasing the speed of connection and amount of people that will be able to read email has greatly impacted on the sophistication of the Internet and its ability to enhance global communication. E-mails offer instant communication. Rapid communication has led to further enhancement in the exchange of ideas between people, resulting in global networking and increases in international business activities. However, e-mails only benefit those who are literate and those who are able to gain access to the technology. For many citizens in developing countries or the poor in developed countries, the privilege of accessing this tool is not available, hence, although email promotes independence through communication, it also marginalizes those who are unable or cannot afford to use it.

Software packages such as Dreamweaver and Microsoft Frontpage are designed to assist beginners and those who enjoy using the programs. For example, the program Dreamweaver has basic instructions that show the customer how to design a webpage. The program teaches beginners by using terms that are non-jargon coupled with simple instructions. Similarly, Microsoft Frontpage is also an easy-to-use computer software program that takes advantage of its easy-to-manipulate templates and lack of html usage. This encourages first-time users to explore and develop their technical skills.

In conclusion, due to the rapid pace of globalisation, the Internet has allowed society to become more interconnected. Although the Internet does marginalise those who cannot afford or do not have the skill to use it, services such as web hosting companies and easy-to-use software programs are available. The Internet is constantly changing. It has allowed a wider range of contribution from people with varying discourses and ideologies, making this form of media more independent.

Most internet marketing ventures start as one-man operations. When mistakes are made, you know who to blame. But don’t just beat yourself up, remember that when progress is made, that was all you too. Celebrate the small victories.

When you are just starting in internet marketing, keeping a positive mindset can be a crucial ingredient of long term survival. On or off the web, most new businesses do not become profitable immediately. Sales can be mediocre as your marketing campaign gets going, and if you didn’t plan ahead for this fallow period you may begrudge the out-of-pocket expenses that arise. It is easy to get discouraged.

Worse, many marketers lack basic support and encouragement. In a normal workplace there are other employees to share the load and help solve problems. Not so for most start-ups, and your personal support network may lack enthusiasm. Your friends may think you’re a sucker involved with some newfangled scam. Your family may worry that your seemingly unprofitable internet career is interfering with your day job.

You must remember that you are your own manager, and good managers care about their employees’ morale and motivation. Notice and enjoy the small milestones in your business as they pass by, whether it is finally getting your web design just right or suddenly nailing the top search position on a good keyword. Reward yourself with a day off or a good meal. Tell your friends about it even if their eyes glaze over; you listen to their stories about their dull jobs, right?

Verbalizing your success is for your own benefit, and it can help you assess your accomplishments and know when you’ve made real progress along your business plan. Don’t commit the common mistake of neglecting the hardest working, most under-appreciated person in your employ – yourself.

Greetings !

The causes may differ from pet to flower or travelling to research, but almost everything boils down to a level of requirement of money or wealth so as to achieve the target and go beyond.

Since civilisation, mankind has been using resources and trading for the betterment of its own being in the form of barter; later which converted to its present form. ie. barter for money. A general exchange note universally accepted.

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The online gaming industry has become the epitome of online success stories. Whilst gambling or gaming has always been a popular pursuit, its online incarnations of the popular industries have truly revolutionised the idea of gambling. Few online industries have developed so far and so quickly in terms of turnover and membership as that of online poker. Whilst the offline standard game of poker has always been played by players around the world, the increased opportunity afforded by the virtual realm has offered up a whole new array of options and opportunities. Online players have become accustomed to fast paced matches at any time of the day and against anybody from around the world. These new online poker players have the opportunity to play for any amount of money, and whilst some may miss the sportsmanship involved in face to face play, the new chat forums and message boards have opened up a new range of opportunities ready to be explored.

The explosion of online poker was not an accidental occurrence, it came in on the back of the success of the gaming industry in general. One of the primary reasons for this online success can be attributed to the marketing method that is unique to the online game. Affiliate marketing programs are a great way for any industry to reach a large audience without have to spend much money on expensive advertising campaigns. It works by creating a network of small sites, which host banners and links leading straight to the poker sites. The affiliate site owners are rewarded in turn when they produce a new customer. The affiliate can expect to receive a percentage of up to 35% of a player’s total money generated, having forwarded them on to the relevant site.

Because the affiliates are rewarded so handsomely for their part in the business deal, they are encouraged to promote themselves and subsequently the sites that they represent. It is through this business ethic that the poker industry has been able to flourish. With the number of affiliates increasing each month, the poker sites can broaden their range of influence. So even if the visitors to sites fail to click on the links there and then they are getting across the brand name, and even sewing the seeds of temptation in peoples minds. The more affiliates the poker sites can attract the greater the number of people that they can potentially reach. In terms of the affiliate, the greater the number of members generated the higher the profits. So in effect the two industries are complementing each other perfectly and have no doubt increased the visibility and popularity of both. Without the affiliate program it is hard to think what the online poker industry would be like. The affiliate marketing industry is one of the most successful and risk-free forms of advertising, both on and offline.

Blogging has been used for some years as a platform for individuals to record chronological publication of comments and thoughts on the web. They usually include philosophical reflections, opinions on the Internet and social or political issues. This article explains how one could go beyond this to capitalise the strength of blogging to enhance one’s Internet business.

A weblog, or more popularly known as “blog”, is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is “blogging” and someone who keeps a blog is a “blogger.” Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog.

The popularity of blog is gaining momentum globally with each passing month. A recent survey conducted by Comscore.com shows the following findings:

1) 50 million of the population in the USA visited blog sites in the first quarter of 2005

2) This indicates an increase of about 45% compared to First Quarter of 2004.

3) An average blog visitor spends 23 hours per week online while an average Internet user spends only 13 hours online.

4) Blog visitors are 11% more likely than the average Internet users to have incomes of $75,000 or more.

5) Blog visitors are 30% more likely to buy products or services online.

Anybody thinking of starting an online venture, would be silly not to recognise the importance of blogging being one of the best tools of Internet marketing.

Blogging is a perfect way for the average person to make money online without going through all the troubles and frustration of learning how to set up a website and be an efficient internet marketer.

Let’s now talk about nich products. Why do you need a nich product? And what has this to do with “blogging”? You may ask. It is because your online business has little hope of succeeding if you’re going head to head with the big boys. As a small Internet entrepreneur, you can never hope to compete with the big boys in terms of the power of pricing strategy and advertising. But you can be successful by finding niche markets or niche products that you seldom find at your local mall in oder to stay away from the empowering presence of the big guys.

Niche market basically is a market with a significant amount of interest online that does not encounter the same competition as in other regular products. You can easily create a niche market based on any topics including even your own hobbies, e.g. gardening, guitar, tropical fish, D.I.Y etc. As long as the topic is being searched for online, you would have a great opportunity of making some profit through adding ads to your blog and making some effort in promoting your targeted affiliate programs and products.

Many internet marketing newbies opt for blogs to set up their niche markets because as beginners, they can very easily add pages, images, banners, downloads, ebooks etc to their blogs. Unlike the regular websites, they do not need to worry about having to understand HTML (the website design language)!

Savvy marketers have discovered that blogging is one of the best Internet marketing methods that is free because you could create your blog almost immediately at no cost compared to the setting up of a conventional website.

Putting information in your blog to help establishing your presence in the Web is now a growing phenomenon. Blogging for your Internet business is one surefire way to enhance the visibility of your products and services.

With the continuing improvement in software technology, publishing, introducing plug-ins, banners, pictures etc to create a fun and interesting “website” has become a breeze even to those retirees with old and rusty brains.

The more content you add to your blog, the more traffic you get. And you can add these materials almost on a daily basis.

You could get high ranking search engine placement for many internet marketing terms just by designing your posts around certain targeted keywords. This phenomenon is more prominent when handling niche markets due to the lack of competition. Free articles could be easily obtained from many article directories in the web and posted to your blogs for the benefits of your visitors.

There’s almost no limit to what you could and want to do with your blog. You can include your ideas, opinions, expertise in your field of work, resumes, home recipes, pictures, audio or video clips, e-books, poetry, products, services, consultations etc., etc.

What are the main differences between a blog and a website then? You may ask.

Most websites are relatively permanent with only occasional updating. With blogs, you could post any new content almost on daily basis. Also, websites are usually less personal as far as their relationship with the visitors is concerned.

How do you start your first step to set up a blog? There are many host services providers you could join. Among the most popular are Blogger.com and LiveJournal.com. You could start with Blogger.com which many newbies find serving their needs just perfectly.

With Blogger.com, posting your web content is like a breezy walk in the park. Photographs of your produces etc, along with any text, could be uploaded to your blog right away with just a few clicks of your mouse.

Another facility you could use is Audioblogger that enables audio posting to your current blog site with any phone at any time from any place. It is not only effective but also easy and fun. You call a given number, record a post, then your blog is updated with an audioblogger icon and a link to your recorded audio. Your message in your own voice is instantly posted! The beautiful part of it all is the fact that this is totally free of charge!

Blogging has been used for some years as a platform for individuals to record chronological publication of comments and thoughts on the web. Now we know how one could go beyond this to capitalise the strength of blogging to enhance one’s Internet business.

Indonesia, with its growth on internet user, from 2 million in 2000 to 20 million in 2007, has recently grow an enormous amount of internet learner. By looking on this opportunities, in 2007, public speaker from Singapore, Malaysia, experts in tourism internet marketer, has recently visit Surabaya, and tell how Internet, with its opportunities could change people lives in the future. With vast amount of internet learner, for sure Indonesia need additional internet teacher. Especially, Indonesia need a patient teacher, as those who participate in internet classes in Surabaya, is the baby boomer generation, who usually are working as a businessman but they couldn’t even make an email, or we could say they are freshman.

If a lot of internet teacher among the world could maximize this potential market, there are possibilities to be made for both parties. Indonesia could gain knowledge about internet, which in the long run could help their economic condition, and the internet teacher could gain fortune from this niche market. Who could know that Indonesia with its approximately 250 millions people could change the world economic condition, if they run their businesses using internet.

Online Internet Shopping is a great way to cash in on the special offers made by companies and stores offering a whole range of products and services. Discounts range from gift certificates, bargain sales, clearances to free shipping offers to even free product offers. Also available are last minute hotel booking deals and online reservations. People who make their ticket reservations online benefit from a discounted rate as compared to people who book their tickets the traditional way by standing in queues at ticket counters. This is a great way to benefit from discounted rates.

One can purchase almost all kinds of products, online or offline. Because of the rising competition in the consumerist market today, companies want to gain a higher market-share and they offer discounts on all sorts of products and services. Discounts, are however, usually seen on products like food items, grocery items, clothing, consumer durables like mobile phones, electrical appliances, digital cameras, MP3 players, DVD players, services like body massaging, gym memberships, club and resort memberships, face toning, weight loss, etc. Some companies offer discounts on bulk purchases.

While discounted shopping may be available in online stores, gift certificates are usually less available on the internet. Besides, these are not seen on the official homepage of the company often. It is usually an online dealer who offers a lot of discounts.

Benefits of Online Internet Shopping:

By far, one of the biggest benefits of Online Internet Shopping is, of course, the kind of savings you can make on your purchases. Discount Shopping offers you cheap, cut-off prices on even branded products and services that you would otherwise have to spend a great deal more on. It could be that otherwise expensive birthday gift, dream camera, high definition LCD TV, etc. With discount shopping, you get it at discounted prices, and there is no compromise on quality or after sales services.

Be sure to avoid scams, though. Get a clear picture of the actual price – compare the discounted rate, inclusive of the shipping price, taxes and duties, etc. against the market price. Read the fine-print very carefully. Another important thing to remember is to make sure that you read and understand the vendor’s return and money-back policies. Be sure to read these terms very carefully.

Towards the end, we’d just like to tell you that all it takes is a couple of minutes to search and you could soon be saving a lot of money, and even time, if purchasing online. Do your research and act wisely to obtain the benefits.

The Internet is clogged up with get rich quick schemes, some work, some fail spectacularly. For users who are looking to choose a system, a scheme or just to get ideas there so many to choose from. But the problem with all schemes is that there is always a catch, a small problem that makes them high maintenance or risky. One of the biggest failsafe schemes is as simple as adding an advert to a personal website. There are no catches, no expensive start-ups and best of all very little work to do. It may sound a little unlikely but affiliate schemes are a self-rewarding Internet money making business opportunity.

In an affiliate program no money is passed over until the affiliate has attracted someone to the secondary website. Therefore the affiliate gets paid on the delivery of the customer, meaning that both parties are satisfied, the website because they have a new customer who may encourage others to join and the affiliate because they get paid for simply housing an advert. It is not at all common in modern business practices for two parties to both to enter an agreement in which both are happy. But through affiliate sites there is an exception to this rule.

The success of the affiliate is dependent on two primary factors, the amount of visitors that they can attract to a personal site and the quality of the company that they advertise for. It seems that anyone with half an eye on the booming e-commerce industry also wants affiliates. The key is to find something that is successful, something that offers you the best services and bonus and if possible one that is relevant to your site. One of the biggest current online markets is the online poker industry. It benefits from a never-ending supply of new customers with almost insatiable love for the game. Because online poker is already one of the largest markets and also has the ability and the huge interest to expand further, it provides the perfect business for potential affiliates to become involved in.

Like all gambling and gaming sites, online poker has experienced huge and almost unparalleled growth since becoming a part of the new virtual world. It is a booming multi-billion dollar industry, which as a result allows it to be generous to those who supply new members through affiliate sites. Once players join they are far more likely to become hooked on the games and spend a lot of money generating incredible revenues. The more people that join, increases the likelihood of attracting further third party members, therefore creating even more cash for the site. As such the sites are more than willing to share large portions of their wealth with anyone who can bring in extra people. Affiliates can expect to earn 25 to 35% of the money a player produces for the site over the entire lifetime of their account. Therefore the amount that an affiliate can earn is only limited by the number of customers created and the subsequent amount of money with which said customers are willing to spend.