Advertising on a Shoe String Budget

Advertising on a Shoe-String Budget

If you've got a product or service to sell you need to advertise the fact, in order to attract customers or users. However, the cost of advertising is normally quite high using conventional methods, i.e. newspapers, classifieds, etc...

The internet, however, is a slightly different beast. Why? Because there are so many sites that cater for your needs that you can essentially make your own choice of what FREE methods suit you and your business best. You just need to know where to look and who to contact. This article hopefully will give you some ideas on where to start or add to your existing advertising portfolio.

Listed below are a number of ways to promote your web site/product/service at no/minimal cost:

Start an ezine

Trade ads with other ezine owners

Trade links with other web sites

Submit your site to the major search engines

Set up a blog

Write and post articles

Write and publish an ebook

Post comments on forums in your business arena

Post to free classifieds sites

Use traffic exchange sites

Let's look at each one in more depth.

Starting an Ezine

An ezine (a.k.a. e-zine, email newsletter, e-mail newsletter, or e-newsletter) is a newsletter that is delivered via email that you can subscribe or opt-in to it. This may seem like a big and bold step but it is easier than you may think. You will need to write and publish your ezine on a regular basis, perhaps weekly, so that your subscribers do not forget who you are. This method however, requires that you have an auto-responder and know how to build opt-in lists. With regards auto-responders I have used many, including lots of free ones, but without doubt the best is Aweber! Their email devilerability is second to none and the back-end is so flexible. Some of the free auto-responders will not deliver your ezine to high percentage of subscribers, so opt for the best.

More information on Aweber can be found here:

http://www.aweber.com/?220028

With regards building opt-in lists, well thats a subject for another article, but if you use the methods in this article to get people to your site, your opt-in list will build itself. (Providing you have subscriber capture facilities in place of course, i.e. Aweber!)

Trade Ads With Other Ezine Owners

Once you have developed your ezine, start swapping ads with other ezine owners. If possible try to get your ads on a well read, highly subscribed ezine as this will put your ad in front of hundreds/thousands of people you would not otherwise have had chance to contact.

Trade Links With Other Similar Web Sites

This can be one of the best ways to get exposure for your web site. If you have inbound links from hundreds/thousands of other sites, do you think you need to worry what the search engines think about your site. The answer is, absolutely not! The major search engines will rank your site higher by default as they will see your site with hundreds/thousands of other sites pointing towards it and think, hey this site must be really important and rank it really well. so you can to certain degree forget about Search Engine Optimisation, if you do this correctly. However, don't just swap links with any old site, try to get your link on sites that are already ranking well, and are in a similar niche to your own site. This will cause the search engines to think your site is the expert in this particular niche as so many others in the niche are pointing at it. Guess what, you'll rise right to the top of the rankings without doing any serious SEO. top of the rankings equals lots of visitors!!!

There are two products I have used to develop the rankings of my sites, and I wouldn't swap as they have served me extremely well.

The first is Power Linking by Jack Humphreys - This guy knows his stuff and taught me a great deal in my early days on the net. Go to http://www.articleland.co.uk/LINKTO.PHP?12 to read more.

The second is Link Metro - Developed by Brad Callen. This programme which integrates into your website is second to none where linking to other sites is concerned. The process is virtually automatic, all you have to do is approve each link or not. Go to http://www.linkmetro.com/AdvancedMembers.php?f=W4221028S315 for more information.

Submit Your Site To The Major Search Engines

OK, despite what I said in the previous parapgraphs, submitting your site to the major earch engines can still be a profitable way of gaining visitors to your site. Play close attention to meta tags and H1 headings as they seem to hold more weight than anything else. Also, try to sprinkle your main keywords throughout the text of your homepage.

Manual submission can be a little painstaking but it is achieveable if you have the time. One site I have used a lot to help with this process is http://selfpromotion.com/?CF=ezepeze1. This site is essentially FREE, although the owner does ask for a tip! I always maintain my tips each year as the site has helped me so much in the past. Head over there now for further infromation.

Set Up A Blog

I cannot emphasise how important it is to set up a blog! It is your doorway to immediate Search Engine inclusion. In another article I will talk about blogging, but trust me the search engines love them! Especially if you update it regular, i.e. daily. My favourite is Blogger.com, there are others out like Wordpress for example, but I love Blogger because it is so easy to use. The best feature, which I'm sure is available on others is the ability to post to your blog by sending it an email. Brilliant!

Go to www.blogger.com for further information.

Write and Post Articles

This is what I am doing now and you are reading. Everytime you post an article on a subject relating to your business, ensure there is a link to your web site in the resource box. This gives you a valuable one-way link. Most search engines give more weight to one way links as opposed to reciprocal linking, although don't disregard reciprocal linking as discussed earlier. Aim to post on sites that have a high page rank, www.ezinearticles.com is one such site and is loved by the major search engines. Another option is to post to up and coming websites, i.e. the ones that are increasing in rank quickly. One such site is www.articleland.co.uk which has jumped up to PR2 in 3 months!

To speed up your posting, you could use an automatic article submitter. I use Article Post Robot, as it has a high number of article sites in its database, and they add more all the time. At present there are over 640 sites. There are cheaper article submitters out there, but without doubt the success rate of Article Post Robot is second to none. for more information on Article Post Robot go here:

http://www.srtsoft.com/cgi-bin/lyre.cgi/jvm/package/go_homepage.html?pack_id=664&aff_id=2045

Write and Publish an Ebook

OK this one takes longer to achieve but can provide the most benefit, especially if you give it away to your site visitors in exchange for their contact information. You could use it as a carrot to get them to sign up to your ezine.

But don't just write an ebook and leave it like that, fill it with links to your site or affiliate programmes you are promoting, because once it's out there it can go viral. With your links in it, it will promote your business or website whilst you are asleep.

So write your book and promote it using all the methods discussed in this article.

Post Comments on Forums in Your Business Arena

One of the best ways to get free one way links, is to post comments on forums. Pick your forums well, aiming for forums with high page rank. Also choose a forum in a niche you are familiar with. Setup a signature file like this:

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Steven W Sharpe is the CEO and Editor in Chief of http://www.articleland.co.uk.

He can be reached for further information at his website:

http://www.articleland.co.uk

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Post to Free Classifieds Sites

Again if you have something to sell or promote, free classifieds sites can be another good source of generating one way links. At the same time you can also advertise the product or service you are promoting.

i.e. Visit http://www.articleland.co.uk/cgi-bin/classifieds.cgi to see how these work. You can also get your own classifieds site like this one too.

Use Traffic Exchange Sites

This one I like a lot. Essentially you click on adverts of other web owners, which generates hit points or credits for yourself. This then means your site advert is displayed to other users. The more you click, the more your site is shown to others. Can be excellent for getting visitors to your site. I have recently written an email course which shows how to generate 10,000 hits a day using the traffic exchanges, to subscribe to my 5 day course goto:

http://www.ezepeze.org.uk

Well that's it. If you put all of these different methods into place, you'll be generating loads of traffic to your site, which means there are more opportunities to sell your product or service. Play around which each of the methods, and settle on the ones that work for you.

Subscribe to my 5 day course - 10,000 hits a day, to give your site a major kick start today. Goto:

http://www.ezepeze.org.uk

If you need any further help or guidance please feel free to drop me a line at steve@articleland.co.uk

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Steven W Sharpe is the CEO and Editor in Chief of http://www.articleland.co.uk.

He can be reached for further information at his website:

http://www.articleland.co.uk

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Three Tips on How to Set Up a Business in Thailand

Introduction

There are many great places in the world to setup businesses today. With the internet boom and the subsequent online riches that people have found, there are online businesses in virtually every corner of the world. Whether you are looking to start an online or an offline venture, Thailand should definitely be on your list of countries to consider. With the greatness that is the Thai country, you will be able to find a number of locations and customers for an offline business and a great deal on fast internet service for an online business. As with all countries, Thailand has some things you should keep in mind when working on your business plan.

Tip #1: Tax Laws

Don't assume you know these laws unless you've actually read them. There are many tax laws around that specifically tax a number of different monetary sources that might severely affect the way you can do business. Each country has its own set of tax laws and while they might be similar on the outside shell, each country has their own nuances that are created by unique events that occurred in their history. Therefore, make sure you understand how your business will interact with the Thai government vis-à-vis taxes before you make the initial plunge into launching your business venture.

Tip #2: Other Laws

In addition to tax laws, Thailand has a number of other laws that will affect the manner in which you do business. Their product laws, their shipping laws, their duty laws and their corporation laws are all laws that you need to be well aware of before you start doing business. Ignoring these laws is potentially leaving yourself open to some nasty surprises later on down the road so make sure you are aware of all of Thailand's business related laws and exactly how those laws apply to you before starting your business.

Tip #3: Geography

Depending on where you want to start your business, there are a number of different considerations you need to make. First and foremost, you want to be very sure of the different locations that might benefit from your business being located in that area. If you have an online business, you will want to stay closer to urban centers as this is where the most reliable internet connection is. If you have an offline business however, try to find a place where you have little to no competition; doing so will definitely result in better sales for you.

Conclusion

As you have been reading through this article, chances are you have made the observation that preparing a business in Thailand is a lot like preparing a business in a number of other places. The things that make specific preparations necessary are things you are going to find out based on the research you do according to the three points listed above. There are a number of other things you should be researching as well, but the above three listed are by far the most important. Have a handle on them, and you will have a good advantage starting your business in Thailand.
Johnny Bender owns and operates WatchesWell.com, a successful e-commerce company based in Thailand. WatchesWell.com provides quality replica watches of brands such as Cartier, Omega, Gucci, Tag Heuer, and Breitling.

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jessica writes ""Surround sound" is an attempt – and a very successful one at that – to create a realistic, immersive listening experience, by encapsulating the listener in sound from a full 360 degrees. The effect is achieved by recording multiple, discrete sound channels onto a film soundtrack, and having the facility to decode and reproduce each channel on its own dedicated loudspeaker. Speakers are positioned strategically around the listening area, so that the individual channels blend seamlessly together, making the listener feel that he or she really is part of the action.

Surround Sound Configurations

There are three common configurations for surround sound systems, and each is described in terms of the number of discrete channels – equal to the number of speakers employed – that can be reproduced.

The most common configuration is a so-called "5.1" system, which comprises five, high fidelity, main speakers – usually arranged as front centre, left and right front, and left and right rear speakers – plus a "subwoofer" for low frequency effects. This configuration corresponds to the number of channels provided by the Dolby Digital – the industry standard – and DTS ("Digital Theatre Systems") surround sound formats. One disadvantage of 5.1 systems is that no sound is reproduced from directly behind the listening position.
The Jamo D 7PTX, for example, is a, high-end, 5.1-channel home cinema speaker package.

A "6.1" system, on the other hand, provides an additional speaker that can be positioned to the rear centre, between the left and right rear speakers. If, however, this speaker is placed too close to the listening position, it may also be possible to detect the source of its sound, spoiling the overall effect.

A "7.1" system provides yet another speaker, which can also be positioned to the rear of the listening position, effectively spreading the rear centre sound across two speakers, so that there is an adequate field of sound, and its source cannot be pinpointed. A 7.1 system is, however, the most expensive of the three options, not only because more speakers are necessary, but because an AV receiver with the capability of driving seven loudspeakers is also required. The Jamo D 7PEX, for example, is available in 6.1, and 7.1 variants.

Whichever type of system you are assembling, beware that speakers from different manufacturers may not be "voice matched", and, as a result, there may be a difference in the tone and quality of the sound produced by each. This is an important concept, since the full, surround sound effect depends on the harmonious blending of sound from all the sources – if you can tell the difference between sound from one speaker and another, the effect will fail. It may, therefore, be better to stay with a single manufacturer for all your speakers. Examples include Mission M30I Beech Bookshelf Speakers, and Acoustic Solutions AVCS Column Stereo Speakers.

Conclusion

The size of your listening space will obviously dictate the number of speakers that you can accommodate, but remember that it isn't necessarily the number of speakers which makes a system – correct positioning and matching make all the difference.

Jessica Waterson is a freelance writer specialising in consumer electronics, financial and business subjects.

For buyers guides on surround sound speakers, have a look at CompareStorePrices, the UK`s largest independently owned price comparison site. CompareStorePrices also has a range of discount vouchers and exclusive offers.

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15 New York's Opera Society Every Wants Something From Gosia

americanwriter writes

"It was after the performance that we all sat down for coffee during which it become plain to see that everyone wanted to talk to Gosia but what was strange was that they all wanted to do so for different reasons. First my mother wanted to congratulate her on her playing and to reassure her that she would be getting a lot of students and that she would surely recommend her to play at her friends' piano bars.

Second was my father who wanted to ask her if the next time she came over to the house she might play some more Beethoven or perhaps some Brahms and if she would come to a party he was planning for some people from his company and play for them for which she would get paid. She said she would gladly play for the people from his company however that she did not wish to do it for money, but my father convinced her to take the money as, it was not going to be money out of his own pocket but it was going to be money from his company.

Third was Brad who wanted to ask Gosia for 3 favors, the first one being if she could give him some piano lessons, once a week, then perhaps more. The second favor was if she could play the piano at a business party his bank was going to be holding at their offices, for which she would get paid up to one thousand dollars for one whole night of playing and not to worry that the money was not coming out of his pocket either but out of his bank's. The third favor was more of a request if she could give him pani Beata's number so that he might order some Polish food for the same party she was going to be playing at. Gosia agreed to everything and she added "it is no problem".

Fourth was Barbara who wanted to tell her (in Polish) that she felt great pride in being Polish American (I found out later what she asked for when Gosia told me) specially when she could hear music like that and know that it had been not only composed but played by someone from the country of her parents' birth. Second she wanted to know because she had heard from my mother that she lived in Green Point, if she would care to share an apartment with her in midtown Manhattan on the east side. She told her that her roommate had moved out at the end of the month and the rent would only be 500 dollars a month which was cheap for Manhattan. Gosia gladly accepted this offer as soon as it was made as it was really a good deal for her as well as for me as we wouldn't be living so far apart.

Fifth was Amanda who asked Gosia, if she could play the piano at her upcoming wedding something that Gosia accepted and considered to be an honor but however on that occasion refused the money which was being offered saying that Arturo and her could consider this a wedding present.

Last but not least was Arturo's turn to ask for a favor. He started by telling Gosia in his typical diplomatic tone that he felt that her playing had been very good but that he could tell that she had not been at her best. Something that Gosia not only did not take as an insult but even as a compliment which made her confess that she had not had as much time to practice as she would have liked to for that particular performance. Arturo also wanted to ask Gosia to play at their wedding but said that giving that Amanda had already asked, went on to his first and only request which was really a job offer, he told her that a friend of his owned a small club in Queens where an orchestra which he sometimes conducted played mostly Colombian and Latin American music. He asked if she would care to play there from time to time on weekends, he also added that she could make at least 100 dollars on a Friday or Saturday night (counting tips). He added that though the music played there was not serious it was a lot of fun to play. Gosia's eyes light up when she heard this and told him that she had always admired Latin music and that she would play there on any weekend when she was not going to be playing somewhere else.

I was so happy with the way this evening was going, it could not have gone any better even if I had planned it myself (well in fact the planner had been my mother). All my friends had accepted Gosia and she had accepted them as well, "New York's opera society" had another member who through her Polish background would be enriching an already culturally rich society.

The only downside to all this was that because Gosia was going to be moving in with Barbara so there would be no nightcap like there had been the night before due to the fact that she had agreed to move into Barbara's apartment the following day telling me she was going to need the whole night to pack her things in order to have them ready to move in to Barbara's apartment. She had to be at Barbara's bright and early at 7:00 which was just around the time Barbara went to school and being that she probably was not going to get home till midnight this meant that she was not going to get much sleep. I asked if l could help, to which she told me that would not be necessary given that she did not have much in the way furniture only her keyboard and clothes which she could pack by herself.

However when seeing my look of slight disappointment, Gosia did agree as a small consolation to meet me the following day on the net at 8 pm to chat about the events of the evening which was about to be drawn to a close by the hour which was rapidly becoming a late one."

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