Boosting Your Website with Free Directory Listings Part I

There are many ways to boost website traffic and popularity. For me, one of those ways is through directory listings. Whenever I put up a new website, obtaining directory listings is always one of the first steps I do for promotion. Read more

Popular Ad Sizes

Are you curious about what other Internet business owners are doing? Well, I certainly am. One of the pieces of information I love to know is what types of ads other website owners are utilizing.

Recently, I came across some statistics from Nielsen that showed what ad dimensions websites were using most. They analyzed millions of web advertisements and provided numbers for more than a dozen ad types—over 69 million ad deliveries monitored.

The top four ad types accounted for 82.7% of all impressions. Let’s take a look to see what ad type dominated the playing field.

The number one ad size was the 180×150 rectangle. It had a 26.7% share of the impressions monitored.

Coming in second was the 234×60 half banner. This ad type picked up a 20.8% share.

In third was the 728×90 Leaderboard. It was used nearly as much as the half banner. It received 19.7% of the impressions.

Finally, in fourth was the 300×250 medium rectangle with a 15.5% share.

Perhaps a bit surprising was the 120×600 skyscraper, which had just over a 1% share. It looks like advertisers are shying away from big bulky ads and going more for pinpoint precision.

While these stats don’t show what dimensions are most successful, it does show that there’s a follow the leader mentality in online advertising.

Making Money with AdSense

AdSense is an advertising system owned by Google for website publishers. In this introduction, I will go over some very simple basics and begin a new series at Internet Business Entrepreneur about AdSense.

In a nutshell, AdSense gives website owners an easy way to monetize websites by showing targeted advertisements to visitors. Initially, the ads were primarily text based, but Google has recently begun video ads.

The program gives website owners a plethora of options for displaying ads—sizes, amount, colors and so forth. The system even generates the HTML needed.

If you want to sign up for Google’s AdSense, just click this banner below.

Signing up for Google’s AdSense is a snap. Once your website is approved, you can begin adding the AdSense code instantly. The system has a tracking component, so you always know what ad units are the best.

Another great feature is the ability, through the competitive ad filter, to block out ads from websites. For instance, you could put Ebay.com in the filter and all Ebay.com’s ads would be blocked.

Google pays out on a monthly basis, and their system provides tracking of payments due, sent and so forth. The Internet is full of businesses that revolve around AdSense.

As we go deeper into the AdSense series, I’ll be talking about how to set up ads, tracking, placement tips and more. For now, I recommend clicking on the banner below to signup for AdSense if you are not signed up already.

Too Many Hats

The small business owner often has to wear many hats. One minute he or she is an accountant, then next a web designer. It’s easy to get bogged down with all the tasks required of small business owners.

Many small business owners kill themselves and their chance for success by doing too much on their own. The feeling of having to do everything is a common one among small business owners. However, that’s just not the case nor is it wise.

I think this state of mind comes from people who think it’s better to spend time rather than money. This line of thinking will keep one’s business small indeed.

The proper course of action is to determine what your strong points are and where money can be spent to free you up to focus on those points.

For instance, perhaps you are a very talented artist who’s just opened a web design business. While you might be Picasso with your graphics programs, perhaps you write ad copy at an elementary school level.

For the good of your business, you need to find a way to hire a professional copywriter for that task. The result will be a job done right and the potential for more business.

By spending time for tasks you are very good at, and spending money at those you’re not, you will make the most of your business and give it the best possible chance to prosper.

Setting Up an Internet Business

For some reason many people think that running a business on the Internet is different from doing so in the real world. Many people are tempted to just set up shop and start dabbling in commerce.

I would like to give you a word of warning. Before you engage in any business, you need to think about possible legal issues. It’s highly recommended that you set up either a corporation or a LLC prior to engaging in business on the Internet.

Why? The main reason is protection. If you operate under your own name—D.B.A., partnership, sole proprietorship—your personal assets are at risk. However, by forming your own corporation or LLC, you limit your own personal liability.

Setting up a corporation or LLC isn’t too complicated, and it isn’t costly either. For instance, you can set up a LLC in Nevada for about $250—depending on your situation. If that seems like a small fortune, just think about what you have to lose.

You don’t need to live in the state you set up your company in. Nevada is a great choice, because of the lower fees and lack of taxes. The Nevada Secretary of State’s website has everything you need to setup any type of business entity desired.

Next in this series, I will go over how to set up a Nevada LLC. I will also be showing you how to set up a basic Internet business quickly—bank account, EIN and so forth.

Promotional Articles Part One

About ten years ago I wrote my first article in exchange for advertising. A few years back this process began going mainstream. Today, writing and distributing promotional articles is a major tool for many Internet marketers.

A promotional article is an article that’s distributed to anyone that wants to use it in exchange for advertising. More specifically, they are great for building up incoming links, traffic and credibility. Read more

Writing Poor Content

For my first article on the new Internet Business Entrepreneur blog, I thought it would be great to write about writing.

Poor writing is, in my mind, the number one killer of websites. The more educated the reader, the more poor writing leads to a breakdown. It’s vital that your content flows properly.

Today, I will give you five things that must not appear in your website’s content. Follow these simple items to create content. In the coming days, weeks, months, and years, I’ll be talking more about content writing, layout and other tidbits.

Five Backbreaking Writing Errors

1. Stay away from big words unless necessary. I’d like to point your attention to the newspaper. A general newspaper article is not full of big words. Your goal is to write so that even someone with just a High School education can read your content fluidly.
2. Keep those sentences concise. It’s easy to ramble on, but doing so will anger your reader. Tighten up those sentences.
3. Check your spelling. Yes, it seems like an obvious task, but the Internet is full of spelling errors.
4. Use logical flow. This is one of the main killers for the amateur writer.
5. Make sure the following words are used properly: it, it’s, your, and you’re. Even the best of writers make errors—usually from writing too fast.

As I expand on my writing series, I’ll will revisit these five writing mistakes and expand on them. Point #1 can become moot if you are writing to a specific audience, such as doctors.