If you were to ask any internet marketer whats the one thing they would never part with, by all means they would all say their list. Its also the one thing that every marketer is always trying to grow. One of most undervalued methods of growing your subscriber list is setting up and running a free article directory.

Internet marketers know that article marketing is a very effective way of generating traffic and are always looking for new avenues to submit content to. Because they are aware that most article directories expect them to opt-in before they can submit, they wont be surprised to find in it your terms and conditions.

Not only do you grow your subscriber list but you also receive regular content for your website. The benefits of running an article directory on your website are obvious and as an added inducement, setting on up is neither expensive nor complicated.

Some article sotware companies allow you to download the software for free. Other software packages can be bought from $35-$50.

The benefits of paying for the software as opposed to downloading it free are that you get better security. Free scripts come with the complaint of being hacked. Besides that, some paid article software scripts have added benefits like optimized sql queries, ability of admin to set number of featured authors thru admin site settings, and ability to delete articles by keyword.

These added features along with others make paying for an article directory script worth it. However, if money is tight, you can get away with a free download.

Once you download your free script, which comes in a zip file you will need to upload it to your server. You will also have to set up a MySQL database. This, however, is a relatively simple task. The article directory will provide support to help you through the set-up page.

Naturally, when you first set up your article directory it will look bare. You have not begun to promote it. The best solution for this, while you promote your article directory, is to use a service that will feed your article directory with articles.

If you buy a script you will most likely get this service as an add on. Article Friendly for example provides users with 30,000 articles. If you opt for a free download you may be lucky to get one that offers about 200 articles.

The reason why this service is so important is because you want to encourage your visitors to write, opt in and submit new content. If they see articles already there they are more willing to go through this process since your directory looks credible.

You cant rely too heavily on this service however, you need new authors; the mission after all is to grow your list. To do this you will have to promote your free article directory on blogs, forums and ezines. These are all satisfactory methods of publicizing your article directory.

Through the course of time your directory will continue to develop and grow. It will attract more traffic as more readers come to checkout your articles and more webmasters come to gather articles to publish. You will also notice your search engine ranking increase as new article continue to arrive in your directory. The beauty of all this is as you receive a growth of traffic, you will also grow your subscriber list.

A Squidoo Lens is a popular marketing tool website that allows people to express their hobbies, interests and passions by creating free web pages. A single webpage is called a squidoo lens.

No technical knowledge is required to create a squidoo lens. Anybody with no prior web building skills can build one in about 10 minutes. All one needs to do is to click the create a lens button and follow along with the wizard.

Besides being free and easy to set up, setting up a squidoo lens or two has many benefits for internet marketers.

1. For starters, Squidoo is one of the few websites that allows affiliate links. This accepting attitude towards online businesses makes it easier to establish yourself as a Squidoo community member as opposed to other websites that sub their nose at online marketers.

You can join the site knowing you are allowed to use Squidoo to promote your own podcasts, blog or websites.

2. Search engines, especially Google love Squidoo. Because Google is such a key player in the amount and type of traffic your site receives, it should please you to know that Squidoo search results tend to come up in Google ahead of all the social bookmarking sites. Using Squidoo can increase your search engine ranking and the traffic you receive to your site.

The more lenses you make, the more your website ranking will improve.

3. Squidoo lets you set up polls on your lens. Anyone can do it and they are not complicated to set up. Doing so lets you gain some valuable insight into your niche market.

You can ask readers about products they use, get reviews about products they bought and so much more. The answers you can get by using the poll module can help you to build a better business.

You can even ask questions and then link to other lens providing the answers. Its an interactive way to get some great niche insight.

4. A Squidoo lens can also host eBay auctions, Amazon books, Youtube Videos ect. These are assets that many marketers use to build their web business. If someone clicks on your Amazon link, for instance, you earn a royalty.

5. A Squidoo lens is a good way to test out keyword phrases for popularity and web traffic. Your Squidoo dashboard provides statistics, including the number of visits your lens has received in the last 7 days. You can see which of your lists is most popular. This information is very valuable when youre optimizing your lens

6. Besides earning money by promoting your affiliate program or eBay shop you can also earn by being a Squidoo content provider or lensmaster as they are referred to in the Squidoo community. Basically the way it works is when you create a page and Squidoo runs ads on them you get a cut of the revenue generated when a reader clicks on an ad.

You can also earn by promoting Squidoo through their affiliate program. Once you get an account you get a referral link. Once someone who signs up under you earns their first $15 you receive $5.

A Squidoo lens is a highly recommend marketing techinque for internet marketers. Above are some of the benefits that it poses those who work from home.

It cant be denied that with the state of the economy many small online business owners are fretting over whether or not they will be able to withstand this economic storm and keep their business afloat in the coming months and years.

With consumers becoming not only stingier but also commercially aware it has gotten harder to use the same old selling tactics. As an online business owner its become even more important to stay on top of consumer trends and demands.

Now with the economy being in the shape its in, its crucial that your prospective customers feel that you know, and are willing to meet their needs. By giving your customers exactly what they want they are more likely to view you as the go to website and part with their hard earned cash.

The goal is to build trust so they will continue to use your services over and over again, or recommend you to others. This is the only way your business has any chance of surviving this economic state.

Before you can even consider providing the right products at the right price you have to find out what your customers expect from you. For years companies have been doing this through the use of surveying your customers through consumer surveys. With the advent of the internet it has become even easier to target groups of people and get their input, feedback and ratings on your product, service and overall online business performance.

By providing an incentive of some sort you can entice your visitors to take a few minutes to provide you with the answers you need to build a stronger online business. You can offer a free ebook that your visitors can download after they complete the survey or even a downloadable video.

In order for visitors to take the time to provide you with honest answers they have to feel they can trust you. Thus, its important to clearly state at the beginning of the survey that any personal information you receive will not be shared with others. Its also nice to let them know they are helping you to better serve them. Consumers enjoy knowing that they are role players in the development of online businesses.

Keep the survey to no more than 20 minutes. After that survey takers tend to get anxious and annoyed; therefore they may not read the questions carefully and provide inaccurate information.

If the survey deals with quantitative (numeric) data you want to be sure that you use the same rating scale throughout the survey. If you started with 1-10, dont switch to 1-7 somewhere else in the survey. You also want to breakdown each issue into single coherent, concrete concepts. Dont ask the visitor to rate both the speed of the checkout and the delivery in the same question, break it down so each item gets its own rating.

When dealing with a qualitative (text, non-numeric) survey try to encourage the user to provide more detailed responses. The trouble with simply using close ended yes or no questions is you wont get sufficient data to improve your online business with. Instead of asking, “Did you like the product?” Try “What did you like most about the product?” This allows the visitor to provide their personal opinion.

It also makes it easier for you when you are looking for trends and surprises when evaluating the survey responses.

After the survey is conducted, publish the results on your website or blog and invite comments and responses.

A successful surveying of your customers campaign will provide valuable insight into what your target market expects from you. With this information you can make necessary adjustments to your online business. You can offer products and services that better meet with the needs of your prospects as well as tweak and update your online business performance.

The online businesses that will ride out the economic storm are the ones that will be able to fully satisfy their customers and build long term loyalty. To do this, create a survey and analyze the results.

95%, thats the number of unsuccessful affiliate marketers on the web. When you take a moment to carefully consider that number, you get a strong sense of what youre up against. Already as an affiliate marketer the statistics are against you. This is due a number of factors, one of them being the killer of all dreams disillusionment.

Most affiliate marketers get caught up in the rush to make money that they develop unrealistic notions for what it takes to actually become successful. They are their own worst enemy right out the gates. So, how do avoid become another affiliate marketing statistic? Its not as complicated as you may think. If you are interested in finally building an affiliate marketing business that will produce sales instead of tears then consider the following.

1. Only invest your time and energy in quality products. It sounds like common sense to only spend time promoting an affiliate product that has been tried and tested by other successful affiliates but unfortunately, so many affiliate marketers waste their time on products that are not worth the space they take online.

A lack of research is to blame for that. If you arent sure what the success rate of your affiliate program is, today is the day to find out. The only products you should consider are those that are trustworthy and have a strong reputation online. Why? Because you put your reputation on the line each time you recommend something to a customer. Building trust online is so difficult, but it will be the making of your success. A good quality product sets you on the right track

2. Choose affiliate programs with high commission rates. Ideally, if you were to put all your efforts into something, you would want a fair return on investment. Sadly, so many affiliates arent seeing satisfactory revenues for their marketing efforts. You cant expect to get out of the 95% hole, if you are not even seeing at least two hundred dollars a month. Your affiliate program has to pay you well for your time or isnt worth investing in.

3. Dont rely on your affiliate marketers website. You should build your own quality website, if you expect to make decent sales. Forget those free websites; your resources will be significantly limited. Its best to choose a good web hosting company and use your own dotcom name that relates with your affiliate niche product. Your website doesnt have to be fancy. You dont need loads of graphics or sounds to get your readers attention. In fact those will work against you.

A decent color scheme and a compelling sale letter that lets the viewer quickly learn that your product is the answer to their solution is all you need. Also be sure to use an auto responder so you can capture the users email address. This way you can continue to entice them to consider your affiliate products.

4. Master one traffic generation method. There are a number of ways to drive traffic to your site but focusing on every method is the fastest way to become a statistic. You need traffic, its the lifeblood of your business, and you need a lot of it on a regular basis. But you cant achieve this if youre hoping from one traffic generation method to another. Carefully consider what methods you like and are successful at then focus on mastering that method. You will gain more traffic, if you play to strengths rather jumping all over the place.

95% is a huge number. If we were talking about the number of successful affiliates we could celebrate but sadly thats the number of unsuccessful affiliate marketers. To help keep yourself from falling into that trap, use the tips above.

The one thing I love about working from home in affiliate marketing just happens to be its downside the abundant choices. Because there are so many options, choosing the right affiliate program can be difficult. Where do you even begin and how do you know the program is a good fit? This article should help you when you are deciding what work from home in affiliate marketing program to choose.

1. Is it in a niche that interests you? The affiliate program you decide to join should be related to something you already have an interest in. There are so many different topics of interest online. From weight loss to finding love, name a niche and surly you will find an affiliate program. If you take your time to find an affiliate program that relates to something you enjoy you will be one step ahead of your competition.

2. Is the niche in demand? Finding an affiliate program that is associated with an interest is nice but finding one that is also in demand is even better. Relationships, golf, weight loss, and earning money on the internet are always in demand online. But your options are not limited to those listed. There are many popular niches online and by doing some market research on Clickbank, Google Trends and even eBay you can find out what people are investing their time and money in.

3. Would you use the product? Its not enough to simply enjoy the niche, or even promote an in demand product, you have to be willing to test the product yourself. This lets you know if the product is in fact up to par. It also makes it easier when you have to create marketing campaigns, because you can provide your own personal experience. This will help to set you apart from some of your competition.

4. Is the product priced for your target market? Once you have tested the product it will be easier to determine if the product is appropriately priced. Believe it or not, this is one thing that many people dont consider when choosing an affiliate marketing program. Can your target market afford it? Dating sites for example are priced in different ranges. If you choose to sell a high end subscription, be sure it isnt to a group of people who are looking for a budget option.

5. What support does the affiliate program offer? This one is huge. Theres nothing worse than being lost at sea with nothing more than a couple banner ads. Can you contact someone directly if you need any type of assistance? In what way does the affiliate merchant help you to make sales? Are there regular updates regarding the products or program? Are your questions answered in a timely manner?

6. What are the commission rates? After you work hard to promote the affiliate program, you want to know that youll be rewarded accordingly. Ideally, you want to look for programs that offer over 40% in commission rates. But also look at how much you earn per sale. You dont want to have sell hundreds of products before you see a decent wage.

Work from home in affiliate marketing works for so many people because there are so many choices. To help you dwindle down all those options, so you can make the right choice, use the tips above.