Internet Marketing Basics

Where do you start if you want to be an online marketer? Tough question, huh? There are lots of ways to begin your way on the bumpy journey. Just make sure you are aware that it WILL be a bumpy ride.

First things first: do a lot of research. Find out what kind of thing appeals to you most. It could be affiliate programs, mlm’s or maybe you like the idea of selling other peoples products for a commission etc.

There are a ton of options, and 1000 times more hype. This is why it’s so important to do as much research as you can before starting out. Sure, you can go the long way round, which is how a lot of us start out, but that’s even more of a bumpy ride...hehehe

Ok, so let’s say you’ve decided on where you want to start. You don’t have a product of your own, so you decide to sell other peoples information products, just as an example. Don’t make the mistake that so many people do, by trying to sell something you haven’t personally tested.

Put it this way: Who would YOU prefer to buy from? Someone who knows absolutely nothing about the product they’re selling? Or someone who has had firsthand experience with the product they’re selling? You know it’s person number 2, right?

So test the product first. Learn everything there is to know about it. If people can trust you to give an honest opinion, they’ll be back for more. Great way of getting contacts AND repeat customers.

Anna
http://annamarketing.com

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How to avoid virus attachments in Outlook Express

I guess nobody is safe from worm viruses these days, at least not if we use Outlook Express and Windows. We don’t even have to be infected ourselves to feel the pain of the really bad ones that auto send emails using various domain names, making them look like YOU sent them.

Worms like this are known as 'spoofers', and are passed on via attachments in emails. A golden rule is: Be extremely cautious opening any attachments that you are not expecting.

Personally, I never open any attachments unless I'm either expecting them, or I confirm with the sender first that they actually did send one. In fact, I've gone so far as to set up my Outlook Express to never open attachments unless I want to.

To do the same, set up Outlook Express like this:

1. Open Outlook Express
2. Click on tools
3. Click on options
4. Click on security
5. Check the box that says 'Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus'
6. Click apply
7. Click ok

Then if and when you're expecting an attachment, go back in and uncheck it until you’ve opened the attachment. Afterwards immediately go back in and re-check the box. This will help curb the spreading of email viruses.

I myself fell victim to a 'spoofer virus' a couple of years ago, and even ended up having to get a new domain because of it. Thankfully, I have my firewall and antivirus program totally turned ON and up to date constantly, so the virus itself couldn’t get to my computer, but it still managed to do a LOT of damage from being on somebody else’s machine.

So please, I urge you ALL to keep your antivirus up to date, and get the patches and updates you need for Windows etc. I know it can be a pain in the butt to keep updating, but it IS worth it. It can save a lot of grief and there’d be a lot less chance of spreading nasty things like this.

Anti-virus programs:

I use the free version of AVG, which is pretty good, and available here: http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php

Once you've downloaded and installed it, open the control center, go to task manager and set it to automatically update however often you like, also, set the task scheduler to allow scheduled scans every 24 hours.

Don't just count on one single anti-virus program though, as they don't all update their files at the same time. Remember, the SoBig virus from a few years ago managed to disable various anti-virus software before they'd had the chance to update.

I recommend you also use HouseCall, Trend Micro's free online virus scanner http://housecall.trendmicro.com and MacAfee's free online scan (this one once caught something for me that HouseCall didn’t) http://us.mcafee.com/root/mfs

If, after all this, you still end up getting a virus, worm or Trojan, here’s 2 great links for you:

There’s a great virus encyclopaedia search here:
http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/virusencyclo

A list of removal tools for various worms and viruses:
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/tools.list.html

Of course, there's always the option of using various other email clients or even web mail, but that’s food for a whole different article ;)

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Anna
http://annamarketing.com

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OK, I should've checked sooner, but omg I was surprised when I went to check on all my reciprocal link partners today.

Reciprocal linking works great for search engines and especially Google PR. If you can linkswap with someone with a good PR, then yours will get better.

I linked to people both with and without good PR from this blog, and yes, I daresay some of them got better PR because of it, but what happened when I checked today? It was almost shocking to say the least!

I had 28 links listed under Sites and Blogs To See, all of which were reciprocal links to start with. Strangely enough, after checking all of them for MY blog link, only 9 of them were still reciprocating!

Fair enough, no worries, I just deleted all the non-reciprocal from the list, no problem. Only thing is, I may have inadvertantly deleted one or 2 others that are in fact still linking to me. Big Boo-Boo!

So if you're reading this, and you have a link to me from your site or blog, get in touch, tell me where it is and I'll re-add your link here.

Anna
http://annamarketing.com

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Social Bookmarking helps to get traffic to a site. You have to use it wisely, and absolutely never ever spam anything, but if done properly it can get you plenty of great traffic.

I'm getting about 300-500 uniques per 24 hours on my new site, mostly from Digg.

All I did was submit a few of the games to Digg.com and I've been getting that amount of traffic from it since. Then again, I'm lucky cos they have a 'Playable Web Games' category.

Of course, there are dangers that your sites can get banned from Digg too if they're seen as being 'spam' so Digg is definitely not for everybody.

But apart from that, I find the traffic is good for me and my site :)

Anna
http://annamarketing.com

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p.s. Have you visited my Real Life Marketers Get-Together forum and posted your free ad yet?

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