A business website isn't just another gimmick or tool that you have in your business arsenal anymore – it's a necessity in order to compete. If you're still holding back from getting on the Internet, you're doing yourself and your business a disservice. Here are the five ways that your website could be helping you:

1. A website can reach more people – Because your website will never be closed or gone for a holiday, you can be up and running, giving your customers information at all times of the day and night. This allows customers to browse your selection of goods and services at their leisure.

The lack of a physical location means that everyone from Australia to Canada and the United Kingdom can all be looking at your site at any given time – even if you're based out of Topeka, Kansas.

2. A website can boost your sales –It's very simple for shoppers to purchase exactly what they're looking for. Having a website also allows you to suggest additional products that they may be interested in as back end purchases or up sells.

A website generally allows customers to be repeat customers without much hassle. Imagine logging on, clicking on the items you need and you're done. Sales skyrocket.

3. A website is more convenient – Though you may already realize that the website is always open and always ready to take orders, a website is also a way for customers to learn about your business and services without having to interrupt their day.

They can look up items during their lunch hour and then order them a few days later when they're ready for their purchase. They won't have to lug around packages either because everything will be shipped right to their door without any hassle. And there's no worry about not being able to find a size or your business not having it in stock.

4. A website allows you to be where your customers are – Because more than 25% of all people have shopped online at one point or another, you need to start being where your customers are… online! More people are looking to the Internet to avoid the lines, the parking, and the hassle of traditional shopping.

Customers like shopping on the Internet, so you need to be ready for them to look for and find you. Your site needs to be found for local internet searches as well as general industry searches.

5. It's an inexpensive way to boost sales – Having a website is one of the absolute best marketing tools you'll ever invest in. There are many options for building a website. Keep one thing in mind- cheap hosting typically does little to drive traffic to your site.

Without traffic, you have no business. Do a little research to find the best hosting company for the best price. Contact me to see who I use and recommend.

Whether you build a website yourself or hire someone like me to do it for you, you're priority should always be on landing in the top of the search engines. Everything you do should please 2 target groups: your site visitors and the search engines.

These 5 ways that a website can help your business are well known, but very few entrepreneurs have actually figured out how to make the Internet work for them and their business. Be different. Make smart and educated business decisions and a website can be the best investment you've ever made.

Are there really adsense secrets or is it just a myth? Depending on your point of view of the word secret the answer to this question is yes and no. If a secret is information that someone else, and a few other people have, then yes there are adsense secrets.

If your view of the word secret is information known by only a select few within an exclusive group totally shut out from everyone else, then the answer is no, there are no adsense secrets.

The word secret holds certain mysticism, the reason for a quest, that is why whenever we see and read the word secret our mindset changes and we want to know more. Salespeople know this psychological phenomenon and therefore use it very successfully in sales letters.

Adsense is big business for many online marketers and there are many more trying to get into the action. Get their slice of the pie so to say, and it is a big pie.

Now if you are one of those on a quest for the truth about adsense and revealing the secret here is the answer.

It is simply information that a few people have gathered through testing and experimentation that have been working for them. It is not closed information and everyone has access to it, the difference is when you have access to the latest trends and information.

The first few have the adsense secrets, and you could try to get it for yourself, you can be the one having the information first, or you can do what you are good at and buy the information from those who are good at finding the adsense secrets.

The internet is a dynamic ever changing field of business, and unless you are comfortable with the clear knowledge that you will not know what will be changing tomorrow this is not the place to be. Many business models are based on the knowledge of what are changing variables and which ones are not. The less the variables the better chance of success for the business once it is established, and it will remain that way for a long time and changes can be monitored and implemented over a longer period of time.

The internet is a much more diverse and dynamic business that can change overnight. Just look at what a simple google dance does to sites and income. A while back there was a crackdown on squeeze pages and adwords click costs went through the roof for some and others suddenly found themselves making more money that they expected.

The point of all this is that if you are or want to be a internet marketer you need to have a lot of information on your fingertips as quickly as possible to ensure your success. You can try to do all of this yourself, in which case you will end up needing at least forty hours in every twenty four hour day, or you can specialize in one of the multitude of variables, become an expert in that field and be the first to have that secret. Publish your report or ebook with the latest information and others will buy your information.

The information you do not specialize in you buy from other marketers who are specialists in this field.

There are really no secrets in internet marketing, and everyone has access to all information, it is about what you decide to specialize in, and others are specialists in, and having all this information at your fingertips that will insure your success as all round successful internet marketer.

As for adsense secrets, yes there are new secrets, or should we just call it newly updated information that will increase your click through rate and your adsense income. The trick is just finding it in time to make the information work for you.

You see them on billboards and on television. You read them in magazines and newspapers. You hear them when listening to the radio. And in today’s world, you see them everywhere on the Internet. There’s not a single spot around the globe where these are not either seen or heard. What are they? They’re advertisements. And with so many individuals, from large corporations to small Mom and Pop Shops promoting their businesses on the web, selling ad space on the Internet has fast become a popular trend. But selling ad space privately is something few webmasters have yet considered.

Selling Ad Space Privately

To date, nearly everyone has used Google Adsense and other such services to profit from their traffic, but the revenue is not always as profitable as hoped. In short, the power behind selling ad space privately offers huge benefits to webmasters, as it greatly increases income-generated potential and gives the Webmaster greater control. With no middleman to contend with, the benefits are outstanding, as it allows a web master to receive 100% of his or her profits.

The Benefits of Selling Ad Space Privately

You deal directly with the advertiser, gaining full control over the ads and how they are displayed

With private ad sales, you are able to negotiate long or short term deals and benefit by making long lasting relationships with your advertisers

Since you're dealing directly with the advertiser, you get paid as soon as your ad space sells. You don't have to wait 30 days to receive payment from a third party.

You keep 100% of the revenue generated from your ad sales

Far More Choices

Until today, most web masters simply placed some type of third party ad selling solution on their web site to make money, without realizing they could be making far more money selling ad space privately. Selling ad space privately means the Webmaster gets to be in control, but most importantly, the Webmaster gets to keep all the profits.

While the web has given us many opportunities to attract business and clients from around the world, once again it opens a new avenue for online benefits. The trend of selling ad space privately is definitely on its way to becoming the wave of the future.

We are a society in the fast lane, and as a population, we have been desensitized by hype in advertising. Our televisions, radios and newspapers are rampant with product advertising having deadlines. We have annual linen sales, home remodeling sales, jewelry sales, and even car sales. I cannot believe that I am the only person that is fed up with all the impersonal marketing crap that is out there. People are suckered into buying something they do not need, did not want, and were not even looking for every day just because they fell for advertising that made them feel like they must act now or forever regret not buying. The sad part of it is that most of what is advertised and sold like this is nothing but junk.

In recent years, this type of advertising has spilled over into business opportunities as well. Every day I get email telling me I should sign up to sell some healthcare product and participate in someone's teleseminar to learn how I can make tons of money, BUT in order to take advantage of the "opportunity" I need to act quickly because the successful entrepreneur running the show is only accepting the first 100 serious applicants. I read this as, "Hurry up and send me your money sucker, don't waste any more of my time trying to convince you because there are plenty of others out there that will jump at the chance to give me their money."

The first problem I see with advertising with an urgency to sign up for a business "opportunity" is that if there truly were an urgency, then by the time you read the advertisement, it is already too late. Part of this I attribute to the fact that if the opportunity was really that great and the person promoting it really made the millions they claimed to make, they would not sell you their system for $39.99 when they could just as easily employ a few people at nominal salaries and make even more for themselves. I can't believe people fall for the con man that says he is only going accept the first 100 applicants because he wants to train them himself one-on-one before accepting any new applicants. Are we really supposed to believe that someone making millions of dollars a year ($20,000+ per week) is going to coach us one-on-one for $39.99? Based on an eight-hour day this person would be earning $480.00+ per hour if he were making $1,000,000.00 per year. That means that a $39.99 one-on-one session with him would be worth only five minutes of his time. Do you think he is going to tell you anything in five minutes that is going to make you a millionaire too?

The next time you see a business "opportunity" advertised and you find the concept interesting, ask yourself why is it being advertised at all. If you are looking to make a steady income by using the Internet, find a product or service to sell that has a good reputation and does not rely on hype to instill a sense of urgency in order to get customers to buy it.

Personally, after a couple years of looking and trying some of the other "opportunities," I opted to sell books online. I have sold books through Amazon.com, Alibris.com, Abebooks.com, ebay.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Half.com, Biblio.com, and a few other marketplaces that are not as well known. I'll bet you have even heard of a few of these marketplaces too, haven't you? That is precisely why I chose to sell used books online. People know the products, they trust the marketplaces, and they know it isn't a con.

It doesn't take anything special to become an online bookseller, I get most of my books to sell from local thrift stores, Friends of the Library sales shelves, library book sales, and the clearance shelves of a local used book store. I am averaging over $11.00 profit per book, I know which ones to buy before I pay for them, and people actually appreciate being able to buy books through my third-party store in these well known marketplaces.

In ecology, a niche refers to the place or position occupied by an organism or a population within an ecological community called the ecosystem. It is the term which defines the role the organism or the population plays in the general scheme of things. The niche an organism or a population holds is the one responsible for dictating the ability of the species to survive. It is the one which spells whether an organism or a population will perish or thrive.

In marketing, a niche refers to a service or a product that occupies a special area of demand. It is that small corner in the market that accounts for a certain kind of specialty concerning an unmet customer need. To be able to attract a strong, solid market, the choice of a niche product should ultimately complement the website one owns. It is through this scheme that he is able to generate a specific market for the niche product he is trying to sell.

Niches are involved in niche marketing, the process of finding market segments that are small but potentially profitable nonetheless. To maintain a profitable quantity of sales, this marketing strategy relies on increasing the loyalty of customers so that their corporate objectives will be met or surpassed. Illustrative of this is the fact that the quality of the product or service sold will generate customer satisfaction and, consequently, customer loyalty. The result is profitability garnered through a solid market base that trusts in the ability of the product or service to really deliver.

One of the great things about niche marketing is that it encourages those who indulge in it to be unique and one-of-a-kind. Here one is not forced into the lion’s den and made to compete against established marketers. He is made to occupy a strong and secure position that ultimately wins him a real place in the market. Niche marketing differs from other online marketing strategies because this particular quality allows it to operate almost autonomously and without having to contend with corporate sharks that tear each other to pieces.

One of the most important things that should be thought over by those involved in this type of business is the niche business that is going to be involved in the process. It is important to consider the type of business that one is going to work on to be able to ensure himself of the success that he hopes to have. It is also important for him to know everything about the niche business at hand. Learning the tricks of the trade in is one of the things that one could do to make a niche business prosper tremendously.

Being able to reach the niche market is another consideration to make. In doing so, one should know the exact phrases that people are searching for. The use of tools can help a lot in knowing the type of keywords that should be used to make the business profitable. Targeting the right keywords does a lot in making this type of business soar.

Those who engage in niche marketing know that determining the potential of a niche before doing everything else is a must if one wants to save all the time and effort that might be wasted if he plunges into everything head on. Building a niche marketing site that proves to be profitable should be done after an unsatisfied customer demand is identified, and marketing the site appropriately by reaching out to customers the best possible way is what niche marketers should consider if they want their business to reach skyrocketing success.

Is niche marketing needed in a world teeming with a hundred like systems designed for people to make money online? Those who know how the system works will answer in the affirmative, because niche marketing is the only system capable of filling up a gaping hole in the market by catering to the unsatisfied needs of customers - needs that are usually not given notice by those in the big league. Though niche marketing, one is able to gain a foothold in the market by being a needle in a haystack. Small and inconspicuous it may be, but its ability to sting someone so madly once it is found will render him more than surprised.

Okay, so you have great business ideas or even a business already, but you want to make more money because most of your money is being used to keep the business running. What do you think you can do to get even more money? The answer is simple; you have to market your product or service to a wider audience so that you can generate more business. You can also look for an affiliate to help you with generating residual online income. Infomercials, mass mailings and even phone calls all help you in trying to help you to earn some more income. Although there are many legitimate companies out there that can provide you with a solid residual income like online affiliations, it is important to thoroughly research an idea before committing your time or money.

The overwhelming fact is that with most advertised residual income business opportunities, performing research and verifying these money making statements necessary before you think of following through with any of the residual affiliate income opportunities online. You can start by checking with the Better Business Bureau which can remove doubts about some of the business that offer such riches. If you have chosen to invest time or money on a new residual income business opportunity it is vital to check with other employees, customers or even the state Attorney General's office before making any commitments.

You can also opt for niche affiliate online offers such as those offered by Success university or SkyQuestCom. They are out there today that you can expect to start generating sales for your e-business like you never have been able to before. In some cases, you can even reach a stage where your affiliate programs are bringing in the bulk of your revenue. It all begins when you take the time to research the leading programs that are available today.

As you learn more about the different types of niche affiliate programs that are out there, you'll find that the most popular programs have a tendency to rely completely on automation to bring the affiliates to your site. These programs are popular for a very specific reason in that they actually work. The best part of it all is that once you have begun using the program, you can take a hands-off approach to selling your products or services while the program does the work for you.

"Practical Things You Can Do to Fight Fraud “Protect your Social Security number, credit card and debit card numbers, PINs (personal identification numbers), passwords and other personal information.”

A thief can use these details to order checks or credit cards, apply for loans or otherwise commit fraud using your name.

Among the preventive measures you can take: Don't provide financial and other personal information in response to an unsolicited phone call, fax, letter or e-mail. It could be from a fraud artist masquerading as a legitimate business person or government official. Be particularly cautious with your Social Security Number (SSN). While your employer and financial institutions will need your SSN for tax purposes, you have the right to refuse requests for your SSN from merchants and service providers who have other ways to identify you. Also, if your state puts SSNs on driver's licenses, find out if you can use another number. In addition, choose PINs and passwords for your bank and Internet accounts that will be tough for someone else to figure out. Don't use your birth date or home address, for example. More suggestions for guarding personal information appear elsewhere in this article and throughout our special report.

Deal only with legitimate, reputable businesses Try to do business with companies you already know or that have been recommended. Do your research before giving money or personal information to an unfamiliar merchant, to charity or to any other organization. For example, contact your state's Attorney General's office or the Better Business Bureau and ask about complaints, lawsuits or other matters involving a company's reputation.

Get key details in writing and thoroughly check them out before agreeing to anything

Don't rely on a sales person's oral representations for a significant purchase or investment. Get as much written information as possible, including a contract, specifying cost information and your consumer rights. If a marketer refuses to supply written information or employs high-pressure sales tactics to get you to act fast, take that as your cue to say ""goodbye.""

Be extra careful when providing personal information over the telephone or the Internet Scam artists hide at the other end of the phone line or computer screen. So, don't give bank account information, Social Security Numbers or personal data in response to an unsolicited phone call or e-mail. Remember that a legitimate company would never ask for passwords or other personal information by e-mail. Before providing credit card or other information to a Web site, confirm that the site is legitimate, not a copycat designed by a crook, by verifying that the Web site's address is an exact match for what appears in literature from the company or some other reliable source. You'd be wise to avoid an online merchant that doesn't list a phone number or physical address which are possible signs that the Web site and its owners are fraudulent. Also look for assurances on the Web site about security procedures for safely transmitting and storing your credit card number, password and other personal information you're asked to provide.

Home business got you down and not making you the kind of money your were expecting? You are not alone. Most of us spend months, even years trying to figure out how to make money with the internet only to quit in total frustration. We hold on to the last, hopefully spending only what we can afford. Of course we always see that one shiny new offer that looks like the one opportunity that we have been looking for. If we go for it, expecting it to produce, the question is will it make anything? Why do we buy into these things when the real opportunity lies with our own talents? Here are some simple things that most of us do not think of that have been proven to create, even accelerate, income. The real difference is, this proven income opportunity is free.

1. Publish your web site in different languages. The internet is a world wide proven income opportunity. The only boundaries are traffic volume, you always need more, and communications. People who cannot read your web page certainly will not buy anything you have to offer. There are add-ons you can place on your web page that will translate it into a number of languages without having to build a new web page for each translation.

2. Surprise your customers with a bonus when they buy. There is a great chance that your customers will buy from you again if you deliver more than they expect.

3. Remember your customers on the holidays. Sending greeting cards offline or online will give your the chance to increase your orders with that sneaky little ad that you include inside the card.

4. Don't try to sell a basketball in a fishing magazine. Your products and services need to be marketed to your target audience. Would you go into a Victoria's Secret looking for hiking boots?

5. Repeat purchases happen more frequently than you would expect. Give your customer the opportunity to buy other products or services when they buy one of your main products or services. A happy customer keeps coming back.

6. Be creative with bonuses, delivery options, and payment options and you will come up with new ways to attract customers to buy your products or services.

7. Start a franchise. Giving other businesses the opportunity to sell your product through a joint venture or an affiliate program means more sales without you having to do all of the work.

8. Your prospects and current customers would like to hear from you. When they leave a message or send you an email, answer promptly. If you keep in touch with them on a regular basis you will come to mind more frequently than your competition.

9. Study your competition. Learn other proven methods of advertising and marketing by studying the ideas and materials from other business ads, brochures, tv ads, and sales letters.

10. Find new strategies and increase your sales by immersing yourself in education. Take classes, subscribe to e-zines and magazines. Learning is always a good idea. Learning more about your customer's expectations can only increase your chances of getting more sales.

The real key to beating your competition is to study your competition and always keep the customer in mind first. If you are not making enough money, start researching the proven methods that have worked for eons. The opportunity is right in front of you when looking in the mirror. Higher rates of online income are there to be had.

Making money through affiliate marketing is one of the most rewarding careers one could ever have. What’s good about this business is that anyone can join and make their way to success. Affiliate marketing has been known to be cost-efficient, assessable method of conveying long-term results. In fact, you can start even with a shoe string budget. And with affiliate marketing, you can have the benefit of working from home and enjoying the freedom and flexibility of working for yourself.

But there are also some people who failed in this kind of business. It could be because they lack knowledge and tactics. If you are a web site owner and you want to join in an affiliate marketing business, you should know where to get good affiliate programs.

Clickbank is an ideal place to start. Here, you can find one of the largest affiliate marketing programs in the industry. You just need to visit their site, http://www.clickbank.com and secure a clickbank ID. From the Clickbank’s home page, proceed to “Earn Commissions” and look for the products and services that perfectly fit you and your site. These products are typically ranked according to their popularity.

Clickbank is one of the affiliate networks that serve as a 3rd party between the web merchants and the associated affiliates. It is responsible in providing the technology to deliver the merchant’s offers and campaigns. The affiliate network also do the job of collecting commission fees from the merchant and giving it to the affiliates involved in the program.

Clickbank provides you a large and increasing network of publishers or affiliates to tap into. To be more specific, clickbank has more than 100,000 affiliates who are experts in finding potential customers for your affiliate program. The reason why more and more affiliates are joining Clickbank is obvious – the process of gaining commissions in this network is absolutely fair and transparent.

For web merchants, joining Clickbank is so easy. You just need to sign up in their site for free and allow them to sell your products. Keep up a promotional web site that gives your potential customers detailed information about your offered product or services. At your website, you must also maintain a comprehensive technical support pages for your product. In return, Clickbank will promote and sell your product, give customer service for your product, allow their affiliates to pass on traffic to your web site, enable you to encourage new affiliates to advertise your web site, furnish real-time sales reporting for you and the affiliates and send you and all affiliates a paycheck twice a month.

If you’re a Clickbank affiliate wannabe, you surely won’t find it hard to be a part of this network. First, you are required to place their link on your website and if you don’t have a Clickbank account, you need to complete the Clickbank affiliate form and create your own account. Then, if you already have a Clickbank username, you are free to choose whatever marketing tools you want to use bring in more clicks and generate more sales. After selecting marketing tools, you can now get your affiliate link.

One of the most efficient forms of today’s internet marketing is the affiliate marketing, and this article is designed as an affiliate marketing tutorial. This is mainly because many people know that money can be earned online, but they don’t know exactly how to do that. For many, affiliate marketing may be the answer, as it requires less effort, having an own product to sell isn’t mandatory, and it can bring reasonable profits.

Definition: Affiliate marketing is the action of referring your visitors to a merchant’s website, and getting a commission out of that merchant’s sales if the buyer was a person you referred. Although it can be done even without having a website of your own, it is better if you design one. Choosing an appropriate field for you, doing some quality research and finding good affiliate programs are all very important processes, which have to be dealt with a lot of involvement and perseverance.

And first thing’s first. Before you actually build your website, you have to think about how it is going to look, what it’s going to be about. Just sit down and start a brainstorming process. It is recommended you organize everything well, and write everything down. Find a subject you feel confident about, and start taking notes about the competition, affiliate programs, everything. You have to think of it as a serious project, and every good project needs a good sketch.

Now, once you’ve made your sketch, start designing your website accordingly. Buy a domain, preferably a .com one, because these are the ones that people trust the most. Now, if you are not a programmer, then you should hire one for designing your website according to your specifications. Even though it’s going to cost you some money, if you do it right, that amount should come back as profits multiplied many times.

Your website should look professional, the hallmark of a person who knows what he’s talking about. You should respect your visitors with quality content, if you want this internet marketing strategy to be successful. And although this affiliate marketing tutorial tells you what to do, it ultimately depends on you if it is going to work or not.

Now, once you’ve designed the site, it’s time to get some traffic in. There are many online marketing tactics to do that, and you could also consider hiring a Search Engine Optimizer to get you high ratings on Google searches for your site. If you can’t afford one, don’t lose hope, because there are many SEO tutorials available on the web. You can catch on a few of these important SEO techniques and try to do it yourself. Apply al this information to your sketch and continue working on your project.

Now that you’ve managed to get a decent amount of traffic to your site, it’s time to introduce you to the new term, which is conversion rate. The conversion rate shows you how many of your visitors actually click on the links of your affiliate partners and buy something from them. Taking into consideration that you don’t have a product of your own, your approach in increasing your conversion rate should be pre-selling. What do I mean by “pre-selling”? Let’s put it this way. The content of your site is the one which actually forwards your visitors to your affiliate partners’ links. I mean, if you have a very high quality content site, your visitors will unknowingly be much more open-minded about visiting the links you display. Keeping in mind that you don’t actually have a product of your own, it’s better not to have an aggressive looking page or your visitors will exit immediately. Also, choose the best affiliate partners in your field, and don’t try to put so many links on your page. You need 3 or 4 quality partners at the most.

The rest is history. With a lot of involvement, professionalism, dedication and a little bit of luck, you can design a site which has the potential of being your cash machine. Once the whole mechanism starts to work, you don’t have to do anything as it will run by itself. OK, maybe a few adjustments from time to time, but nothing too complicated. With the hope that this affiliate marketing tutorial has shed some light on the subject, grab a pen and design your sketch!

Holiday shoppers are expected to spend $32 billion online this season, with purchases happening well past ground shipping cutoff dates. That's according to "Online Retail Holiday Forecast, 2006," a report from JupiterResearch.

People are going to spend more money online than they did last year. An 18% percent increase in sales over last year. That translates into big sales for online retailers.

That number is incredible. Online stores that can offer, excellent prices, superior shipping, brand name awareness are going to cash in.

The big search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN sent 25 percent more visits to leading shopping comparison sites The week of October 23, 2006, compared to the same period in 2005.

As an online merchant it is absolutely critical to get listed in the comparison shopping engines. Those engines as compiled by Search Engine Watch include.

BizRate http://www.bizrate.com/ BizRate allows you to search for products from hundreds of online vendors. Features include merchant ratings, reviews, tax and shipping information, as well as a list of your own most searches and recently viewed products. Also powers some of the results provided by Lycos Shopping.

DealTime http://www.dealtime.com One of the major comparison shopping search engines on the web that integrates product reviews from Epinions, which it acquired in May 2003. Also owns Shopping.com, which essentially is a clean-search version of DealTime.

Froogle http://www.froogle.com Comparison shopping search engine from Google. Gathers listings from crawling the web and accepting product feeds vendors.

Kelkoo http://www.kelkoo.co.uk/ Major comparison shopping search engine for the United Kingdom and other European countries. According to the company, 16 out of the top 20 e-commerce sites in the UK are currently advertising through Kelkoo. Advertisers have the opportunity to reach customers in all nine European countries in which Kelkoo operates. (see links at bottom of the Kelkoo home page).

MSN Shopping http://shopping.msn.com/ MSN Shopping, formerly known as eShop, offers Buyer's Guides with tips and tools, editor suggestions, and other features beyond the price comparisons offered by other shopping search sites.

mySimon http://www.mysimon.com/ One of oldest comparison shopping sites on the Web, featuring the ability to search for products from thousands of merchants or browse by product category.

NexTag http://www.nextag.com/ Comparison shopping search engine with "TruePrices" feature that shows prices including tax and shipping charges, as well as user ratings.

PriceGrabber.com http://www.pricegrabber.com/ Comparison shopping search engine with ability to see member ratings of products. Available in English or Spanish, including specialized product searches for retailers in Mexico and Brazil.

Yahoo Shopping http://shopping.yahoo.com/ Yahoo Shopping connects you with thousands of merchants -- traditional retail stores, name-brand catalog companies, small boutiques, and specialty vendors. Listings come from merchants hosted in Yahoo Store and through partnerships with others, in addition to online merchants throughout the web. Provides access to user reviews, as well.

So, you are ready to start your network marketing business, and you want to build your business online. Great! The Internet offers almost boundless opportunity for finding and contacting excellent prospects for your new business. But, beware - beneath all that potential there are a few things you need to consider, to ensure that your new venture is successful.

Network Marketing - a People Business No matter what anyone tells you, a successful and long-lasting network marketing income is not going to be built around anonymous online marketing. Putting up a website and then expecting people to just sign up and make money for you isn't realistic. Internet prospecting is just a tool that enables you to identify people who have an interest in a home business. It will still be up to you to personally contact these people and help them. You have to be willing to pick up the phone and talk to people. You may think, "but I hate selling". I hate selling too. I don't consider calling someone who has contacted ME to be selling - I think of it as providing information. I never "close" anyone on my business - my online tools provide the information, I fill in the gaps by talking to interested prospects, then let them make the decision. If you have to "sell" the business to someone, they won't likely pursue it for long. You don't want that.

The Reality of Online Advertising I see it all the time - "blast your ad to 500,000 classified ad sites". So goes a typical pitch that many marketers use to sell their submission software and service. The reality is, blasting ads to FFA link sites and free classified ad sites rarely, if ever produces a real prospect for you. How many people really look at these sites, anyway? How many times have you personally looked for opportunities among hundreds of links plastered on a web page somewhere? Effective online promotion of your network marketing business will require spending some money to put ads where people will actually view them. One strategy I use is to purchase keywords in pay-per-click search engines - keywords directly related to my home business. I get many of my prospects this way. I also have small, inexpensive ads on several "work from home" business sites that receive a lot of traffic. With online advertising, you get what you pay for.

Online Sales Tools Whatever network marketing company you join, if you are going to promote and build it online, you will need a web site. Some companies provide free sites to help you. Some even provide turn-key prospecting systems that collect information about your prospect and guide them through presentations that help them to make a positive decision to join your business. The company you choose should provide these tools for you, and they will if they are serious about supporting online marketing efforts.

Consistent Follow-Through and Commitment Whatever network marketing company you join, remember that your success will be measured in large part by how much time you spend following up with prospects, and how well you do it. I've seen many people come into my business, set up their free web site, and then sit back and wait for something to happen. It won't - you have to take whatever tools you've been provided, and make something happen.

It's not surprising that many people overlook the incredible potential for selling information online when you see the top of the bestseller list are celebrities or politicians.

But here's the plain truth, there are hundreds of thousands of other small business, entrepreneurs, professionals and people just like you who became so fed up with their job and lifestyle achieving amazing results selling information.

Having over 10-years of direct experience in this industry has allowed us to confirm that there is profit in selling information in almost every market imaginable, and some you haven't even imagined yet.

What are these wealthy online entrepreneurs selling?

Here is a small list of some of the information formats that are being sold for massive profits online:

- ebooks and books from $17-$97 - reports from $17 and up - courses, workshops and manuals ranging from $197 above $10,000 - seminars, teleseminars, webinars from $47 into the tens of thousands - audio and video products, multimedia training $100 to tens of thousands - subscription sites, newsletters from $17/month toward $697/month - group coaching sessions from $500/month - private coaching and inner circle programs over $1000/month

Selling information is the single biggest non-fiction genre totaling into the Billions of dollars when all of these formats are combined.

Even more interesting is the fact that most publishers of information products are not writers, speakers, trainers, consultants or even pure subject matter experts. Instead, they are investigators, astute marketers, able to discover a trend toward demand for information in a market and fulfill that demand by quickly putting together information that fills that demand for profit.

Point being that anyone can improve their business by selling information.

How?

Take a look at some of the things that have worked for me lately - see if I'm not totally going off my rocker when I say that ANYONE can do this.

1. Create Your Own In-Demand Information Product.

Start with a market you are either involved in, can access easily or at least have a personal interest and passion with. Remember, selling information online is all about matching an urgent, high-demand desire from desperate buyers with timely information. If you commit to become involved in a certain market (health, business, home improvement, travel, food and wine, self-improvement, hobby-based interest, just to name a few), then you will automatically access the desires and techniques you can share with your market - charging a nice profit as you dig deeper into your market.

An example, I recently hired a group of trades people to finish my basement. They have a stellar reputation and had recently figured out that if they filmed themselves renovating they could release a basement design and renovation DVD that would bring them in more revenue AND get them far more work at higher prices. A perfect example of how you can simply market your involvement in a market to launch your own business selling information.

Let's face it, the internet has turned the Network Marketing world on its head. Marketers now see Network Marketing opportunity advertisements every day, and are savvy enough to do research before signing up with a Network Marketing Company. In the old days we were only exposed to a Network Marketing opportunity when somebody invited us to a hotel meeting or a "family room ambush".

Today, marketers have choices. I recently faced the tough decision of leaving a very good, solid, but old fashioned company to find an opportunity I could sprint with. My old company didn't understand the internet and was afraid of it. They had a very seasoned "Customer Prevention Department", and in that department there was no "Approved" stamp, only a big fat red one that said "DENIED!" on any marketing you submitted for approval.

So I decided to shop. Here are the eight criteria I used, and I believe any company must have to attract modern, skilled marketers into their Network Marketing opportunity:

1. Strong, compelling web-sites. This is the downfall of many companies out there. Their corporate provided web-sites suck. They are a potpourri of everything, the product, the company, the founder, the story, and on and on. They don't follow any of the online rules of conversion. A good company provides two great sites, one for recruiting and one for product sales. Each should be very good at what it does and convert cold traffic into distributors or customers.

2. A great value product. Too many companies are just selling marked up stuff that you can buy at Wal-Mart for cheaper. A good modern Network Marketing opportunity should have cutting edge products that are affordable. Wealth in this industry is build by having large amounts of people on an auto-ship of your product. If it isn't a good value, they are just going to move on.

3. Low or no sign up fee. This one is critical. One of the keys to a good Network Marketing opportunity today is easy, automated sign-ups. In old fashioned Network Marketing the relationship building was done first, then the person signed up. Today it's the other way around. You want them to join first, then contact them and start building the relationship. That won't happen if it costs over $100 just to get started in the company.

4. A Binary or Matrix plan. Binary or Matrix plans force new distributors to be "placed" under other distributors in your downline. This does two important things. First of all, it helps new people in the early phases. For example, a new distributor may have had a terrible day and heard "no" from 10 people. They are discouraged and want to quit. But then they check their e-mail box and it says, "Congratulations, John Doe was just placed in your downline." These e-mails motivate people while they build, but they also provide a fear of loss. Nobody wants to quit when there are people being placed below them. To maximize the compensation plan they have to get to work to qualify, but it's easier to get to work when they know they have help building their team.