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Fran Jeanes is a North Carolina web designer based in Davidson, NC for i-contact web design. Visit i-contact for more information on search engine optimization and professional custom web site design.

Outline Writing Made Easy

I use this method all the time to write web content, but whatever you need to write, use this outline writing method to easily create an article or essay, or to simply help blast through writer’s block.

All you need is a pen, a plain piece of paper and a few minutes.

If you are like most people, writing web content is about as high on your can’t-wait-to-do-it list as getting a tooth pulled, but it doesn’t have to be as intimidating as it might seem.

Let’s look at two things that might be preventing you from writing - motivation, or lack of it, and not knowing what to write about.

Okay, the first one: Motivation. Call upon the god of motivating phrases, Nike - “JUST DO IT!” And the second one: Not knowing what to write about. You do know what to write about, it’s just getting it down on paper that is freezing your thought process; or the fear that people might not think that you know what you’re talking about. It’s time to put away that fear because you can write, and it all starts with an outline.

Outline Writing
The easiest way to get your creative writing juices flowing is to just grab that piece of paper and follow along! We are going to write your outline right now.

1. Write your topic in the center of the paper and circle it.
2. Let your thoughts roam - write the first word you think of at the top right of the circle, at about the 1 o’clock position. Underline it so the line connects to the circle.
3. If another unrelated thought comes to mind repeat number 2 in about the next o’clock position.
4. If you have a thought that is related then write it next to the related item, underline it so that the lines join and start a branch.
5. Try and keep your thoughts to one word items.
6. Keep going around the circle, branching out thoughts until your paper is full, or you are out of thoughts.
7. If earlier thoughts are related to later ones then join them up with a dotted line or some other form of connector that helps you see their relationship.
8. If you have different colored pens use them for different thoughts, or to emphasize some more than others.
9. Do not censor your thoughts - let them run free.
10. Add some doodles if you like. You don’t have to be an artist to doodle.

You have now created your first mind map while outline writing at the same time. Easy wasn’t it? From your mind map your branches contain the pointers that you will use to create your web page article or other copy.

You may find that you have so much information that you can now take each branch and create a new mind map, and thus new content for another article.

Create mind maps not only to help you with outline writing but for any topic you want to recall later. So, now that you have created your outline, it’s time to get writing!

Website Marketing Tips That Work

Website owners who understand some website marketing know that a successful website has a lot of visitors that are converted into purchasers. However, here are some ideas to give your sales a boost without the need to get more visitors. Work in these website marketing tips into your website and see greater income rewards.

1. Be a Friend.
Speak to the visitor directly in your targeted sales web page, not to your whole audience. Nobody wants to be sold to by a total stranger so be friendly in your website marketing sales text. If a friend recommends something to you, you are more likely to buy it - and the same holds true for your visitors. If your audience feels you are a friend with their well-being in mind, they will be more likely to buy from you.

2. Give Bonuses.
Bonuses that complement and enhance your product make your visitors feel you are giving them a good deal, one they would be foolish to miss out on. Make sure when promoting your bonuses that you list their prices so that your visitors are even more compelled to take advantage of your great value-added bargain.

3. Be Visual.
Another website marketing 101 tip is to use visual media. Show the issues your visitors may have and solutions that your product offers. Most people will not actually read your copy from top to bottom, but instead pay attention to the graphics on your website - especially moving images. Add an image of a person’s face and attention goes up even higher.

4. Testimonials and Comments.
Publish both good and bad comments together - by doing so your reviews or testimonials will appear more real. It boosts visitor confidence when they see reviews, making it more likely that they will buy from you. Why? Because human beings naturally like to follow. If your product has been bought and used by others and you can show that what you are selling is not a scam or over-priced, your visitors are more likely to jump on the bandwagon and buy too.

5. State the Action Required.
You spent a lot of time writing content and laying out your web page but don’t forget the most important element - ask for the sale! Many web sites lead their visitors and captivate them with the benefits of their products, display stories of issues that were overcome with them, even throwing in substantial bonuses, but forget to ask for the sale! Supply clear directions for the buyer of your product so they know what do do next - instruct them to, “Press the button to BUY NOW!”)

Start using these five simple to implement website marketing tips immediately and you will be able to increase your web sales over and over again.

Profitable Online Advertising: Make More Money With Google Adsense

Google Adsense is online advertising that you can place on your website to make money for you. It is free for you to use, easy to set up, and if you target your ads correctly, you can generate a nice income with very little work on your part.

How do you use Google Adsense?
By selecting keywords that are relevant to the content on your website you can choose to display ads on your site that visitors are likely to find interesting and click on. You select the format you wish the ads to display in on your web pages. You then cut and paste some HTML code into your website so that the ads can be generated in the places you wish them to appear. It can take a few minutes to get up and running with Adsense, but a wise site operator will take the time to use the following tips to greatly improve their Adsense earnings.

Here are five sure-fire ways to improve your online advertising earnings.

1. Keep the ad layouts on your pages consistent.
If you don’t have a templated database driven website and you are creating each individual page on your site, make sure that you don’t confuse your visitors by having ads of different sizes, in different places, on different pages. Think how confused you would be if each time you clicked on a new page the menu had moved. Keep your layout consistent and your visitors will be familiar with your Adsense link placement, whether they overtly realize it or not.

2. Create a custom color palette for your ads.
Web surfers are so used to advertising that the more blatant the ads are the more they are glossed over. By blending your online advertising into the layout of your site the less obvious it becomes. Make sure your Adsense ads have the same background color as the web pages they are on. Removing the border and making the link colors match those of your web copy will also help the ads to blend in even more.

3. Prominently place your ads.
Don’t stick your ads at the bottom of the page. Put them “above the fold” so that visitors don’t have to scroll down to see them. If you have some long articles on your website break them up with some subtle, blended 468×60 Adsense banners and you will be surprised at how many more clicks you get.

4. Use the top format for Adsense earnings.
An ad size that works very well for the majority of Adsense users is the Large Rectangle (336X280). This format has the tendency to result in a higher Click Through Rate (CTR.) The wider width of this ad, especially when it is added to the top left hand area of your web page, blends in so well that visitors often think that the links are part of your actual website and so they click on them more frequently.

5. Automate your Adsense code.
Automate the insertion of your Adsense code into your webpages using Server Side Includes (SSI.) Ask your web design professional if your server supports SSI, as using this tip will be a real time saver - it removes the need to cut and paste Adsense code each time a web page is created.

With no cost on your part to use Adsense, it really is a great way to use online advertising to generate income for you. Sign up for a free account at with this Google service and start profiting from the good quality content you have on your website.

Using Your Web Site Traffic Stats to Your Advantage

Researching your web site traffic stats can be invaluable for several reasons but you need to understand how to analyze them to get the most out of them.

Your web hosting company should provide you with some form of web site traffic information, or you might prefer to use Google Analytics which is very user-friendly. The data you get from your hosting company’s numbers can be overwhelming to interpret, with Google’s being somewhat easier, but if you don’t understand how to use it in relation to your particular business and web site - it is useless data.

Start by looking at the average number of visitors to your site on a daily, weekly, and monthly rate. It would at first glance seem that the more traffic you see listed the better your web site is doing, but this is an inaccurate observation. You also need to look at the behavior of your visitors once they come to your web site to correctly gauge how effective your site really is at leading and converting visitors.

In the old days of web site traffic analysis people used to talk about “hits” all the time. Hits are not a good way to assess whether your web site is well visited and this is why: If your home page has twenty images on it your server will show you having twenty hits. But in reality those twenty hits are just a single visitor looking at one page on your site. So, assume hits are not useful when analyzing your website traffic.

Another thing to take into account is that increased web site traffic means your data will be more accurate, as a lower number of visitors can easily skew your data so you can misrepresent your analysis.

Web site traffic stats can help you to see which parts of your web site are working and which are not. You will easily be able to see which pages people are using to exit away from your site. Some of your site’s pages may be causing people to leave prematurely without leaving through your designated exit pages. You can also see which pages are successful and if they are not the ones with your sales copy on them, move your text to those pages to help improve your sales.

If your exit pages are never being used, with visitors leaving before reaching them, you need to fully analyze all the pages on your site to see what links people are following when they leave. You may find that you haven’t successfully laid out a trail for visitors to follow which takes them to where you can close the sale and they make a purchase.

In closing, web site traffic statistics reveal crucial information about your site’s ability to turn visitors into customers which is important information for any successful Internet marketing campaign.

Five Free Link Building Methods To Push People To Your Website

Getting people to visit your website doesn’t have to be an expensive undertaking. By using a few simple, free, link building internet marketing techniques, you can get traffic to your website. While these methods are free, they are time-intensive - but they work.

Even if you don’t have access to employees, or the budget for hiring freelancers, you can still get amazing traffic results without spending a dime. Not everyone is patient enough to take the time needed to succeed in link building, but if you have the drive and perseverance to do some hard work and research you will generate more traffic for your site.

Use the five following free traffic-getting methods for link building success:

1. Take advantage of social networks.
With online communities and forums you can build a reputation for yourself and/or company. It’s easy to showcase your depth of knowledge about topics so that over time you can build a reputation and earn the trust of others in your area of expertise. Using social networking sites also makes it easy to target your desired demographic when internet marketing.

2. Use newsletters to spread your message.
By offering good quality information in a newsletter about your products, or line of business, you can bring visitors to your site on a regular basis. An email newsletter can easily be forwarded, thus expanding your message’s reach and expanding your link building potential.

3. Exchange links with other topic-related sites.
Email the webmasters of other sites in a similar line of business/interest as yours and ask to exchange links. It’s so simple - you place a link to another site on your website and they return the favor. This means that every visitor that goes to their site could potentially click on the link to your site and visit yours as well.

4. Write articles.
Write interesting articles that grab the reader’s attention. Provide interesting tips and techniques, guides or reviews in your field and link to your site in the author’s resource box. By submitting your original articles to article directories you will make your work available for others to use on their sites - with your copyrighted link building information attached. Links for your site will be spread to many other websites and interested readers may convert to new visitors.

5. Write good content for your site.
Write about what people are searching for. By using relevant search keywords in your web content will mean that you will improve your web page’s ranking in search engine result pages. The higher your web page appears in a search result means more visitors to your site.

All of these internet marketing link building methods used alone will drive more traffic to your site for free. Use all five and watch your web stats skyrocket!