BOLLYWOOD SURKHIYAN

Networking for Piano Teachers: Why Not Put Yourself Out There?

Networking, in our profession, is often overlooked as a great way to grow your student base. In a nutshell, networking is building business relationships. When you first hear this word, you may cringe at the thought of meeting new people or just think that it’s too much work. Yes, to effectively network, you do need a plan, be able to follow-through, and follow-up. Building that network takes some patience at the beginning but the results are more than worth it.

About a month ago, I responded to a music teacher’s Facebook status update asking about marketing ideas for expanding your teaching studio. I initially responded because I have been successful in my first full year of teaching as a studio owner and wanted to offer up my advice to others. After responding, she asked if I would contribute to a series of articles on marketing/networking she was putting together for her popular music teaching blog. Why am I mentioning this? Well, this is a perfect example of how to network…putting yourself out there is the first big step. The fact that I was asked to participate and share my success story is a direct result of me putting myself out there, meeting people, sharing ideas, etc. Perhaps a local teacher will read this article and remember my name down the road. Maybe a parent will type in a certain Google key word and land on this article. Networking does not always directly lead to new students but it does provide more exposure, visibility, and create opportunities. The possibilities are endless for what visibility can do for you as a business owner. Just like in Sales 101, a lot of ‘maybes’ usually end up in a lot of good results…filling up that pipeline with quality leads.

My music teaching business has been open full-time since the beginning of this year, January 2011. I taught full-time as a piano instructor at a local music school for about 5 years before my transition into a studio owner. Since January, I have had steady growth in students, along with a steady growth in inquiries. I am to the point now where I am thinking about expanding my business (which has always been the plan) but I never imagined it could happen so quickly. I whole-heartedly believe that Networking & Google Visibility are the two most important factors for the studio growth.

Networking should be an extension of everything that we do to promote our studios. The key is having those relationships create & generate new relationships. How much does it cost to Network? Absolutely Nothing!! That’s the beauty! I’ve spent about $1000 in advertising (3 different ad campaigns) since last November. How many current students saw my ads? 0. Now, that’s not to say that it’s ineffective. Over the course of time, I’m sure that Google AdWords will end up being an important marketing tool. The problem is that my marketing budget is not where I need it to be for AdWords to work for me.

I try to implement a little bit of networking in my everyday life, even if it is subtle. Here’s an example of subtle networking that actually generated several positive leads. I wear my polo, that shows my studio logo, not just in my lessons but when I go to business/networking functions, run errands, or just to get my haircut. Branding your studio is another topic within itself but it leads to building relationships as well. When I get my hair cut, more often than not, I am asked what I do because of my logo and have given out 3 or 4 business cards to different hair stylists this year (yeah, I don’t have a preference!). Just from those encounters that didn’t add any time to my day or require effort (outside of throwing on a shirt!), I had several inquiries about music lessons. Having business cards on you at all times is a must! I constantly have to refill my business card holder and occasionally forget (when I need it the most!).

Okay, now to the nuts & bolts of Networking. Here are some tips on how to get started building your network:

School Music Teachers:

Contact and setup an appointment to meet with your local school band directors, piano lab teachers, and any other type of music teachers. If you don’t feel comfortable with ‘cold-calling’, then have one of your students’ parents introduce you. Most school directors will give you their time because they are always looking to build relationships with quality private instructors & piano accompanists. You can also send a friendly email to teachers introducing yourself and followup with a phone call, if you prefer. Volunteer to stay around and listen to the Concert or Jazz band – show your interest. If you’re lucky enough, they’ll ask you to stay and possibly give some pointers to the jazz pianist, if they have a jazz band. Last year, just by chance, I played a gig with a saxophonist who was an assistant band director at a local high school. After telling him about me starting a new studio, he asked me to come to his school and tell him what I had to offer to their program. I was then able to meet the main director and in turn, all of the other directors and piano lab teacher. The following week I made a point to followup. I was then asked to sit in with the Jazz Band and spent the entire class talking about jazz theory & improvisation. In the mind of the director, the importance of learning theory & how to apply it to your instrument would be a more powerful message coming from a guest. The next month, I was asked to conduct a workshop on ‘Teaching Improvisation & Pop Styles’ to group piano classes. The immediate impact of meeting with the band director resulted in 3 high school students signing up for piano lessons. Long-term impact? Since then I’ve had multiple inquiries & 2 other students sign up for lessons. Hopefully, I have gained the trust of the faculty to the point that I become the top recommendation for piano lessons.

Music Teachers Association:

If you haven’t already, join a local music association! Don’t just pay the fee and think that you will automatically get students. Become an important asset to your association. Show up to meetings & share your ideas. Participate in the volunteer activities. Why go through all this trouble? Well, you establish a solid reputation among your peers which is beneficial on so many levels. Less than a year of being part of my association, I was asked to become Vice-President. This is a group that has been established for close to 50 years. Yes, it’s more responsibility. However, with a little organization, you should be able to fit these tasks into your schedule. When I tell prospective students, parents, or teachers/directors that I am the V.P. of my association, their ears perk up just a little. You must be doing something right if you bear more responsibility. You can also join multiple associations and connect with teachers in other areas. Where I live, there are probably 5 associations within 10-15 miles. That means there are probably 50-75 teachers in the area that are part of an association. You can probably at least double that number to get an estimate of how many actual teachers there are. Another reason to join is a more obvious one: you get listed in the handbooks, website, etc as a piano teacher in so-and-so area. Getting referrals from teachers in your association (or one that you are not a part of) is a sign of mutual respect. If they have a full schedule, it’s a great feeling knowing that others trust you to do a great job.

Business Association/Networking Events:

Yes, we run a business. We wear many hats and one of those is being a business owner. If you don’t think this way, then you will continue to fight an uphill battle in your hopes of achieving financial success. In Google, type in your ‘city’ and the word ‘business association’ and you’ll find a lot of resources. I have my studio listed in the local business directory & and am registered on various websites linked with my communities businesses. This will increase your web presence as well. Find out when your city or community has Networking events. Check your local businesses to see if they have any network events posted. When you attend, make sure to bring a smile, firm handshake, and your confidence. This may be the first time that the local business owners network with a music teacher so make it a good first impression. Don’t forget your business cards! Also, make sure to have flyers (attractive) just in case you exchange offers with other owners.

Attending conferences & conventions:

With Summer on the horizon, this is also the time for music conventions & conferences. As teachers, we attend these events for lots of different reasons. We all love to be inspired and have that renewed sense of motivation. Whether it be from amazing performances, mind-blowing seminars, or finding the next best technological gadget to use for teaching. This is also the best opportunity for you to meet others in our field & start building relationships. If you really want to build your resume and get noticed, look into conducting your own class. I am currently brainstorming ideas and hope to be up on the stage presenting to others within the next couple of years. Make it a point to converse with experienced members, whether it be to get advice, pick their brain, or exchange contact information.

Social Networking:

By now, I’m sure most of you realize the importance of keeping up with the times in this tech age. The question is: How to use these sites effectively? Start with the basics. Connect with your students & parents. Keep them informed of the studio events. You don’t have to blog or post daily tidbits…doesn’t hurt though. Connect with other teachers, studios, music-related sites. You can learn how to be effective just by observing other studio & teachers posts. I like to post daily if I can to establish a consistent presence on the internet. You can link all of your social networking sites together so that you only have to post once. Once you get the hang of it, then start communicating & share advice with other teachers & colleagues. This is when you start to build those relationships and become more visible in the online community.

Pay It Forward:

Even though the initial act of performing is not networking, the result of volunteering your musical services will give you networking opportunities down the road. You want to create as many ‘give & take’ relationships as possible. Connect with your local downtown associations. Contact them to see if you can setup your keyboard at various events and provide free music in exchange for setting up a table with your business cards & flyers. Even if you don’t get any inquiries (which you probably will), you will be appreciated and called on again for more opportunities.

In summation: Connecting with people and developing relationships, either in person or online, is an effective & invaluable way of generating business. If done properly, business can generate itself as long as you keep yourself & your studio visible. Make sure to always follow-up with people that you connect with. Make a list of everyone or group that you have contacted and/or started to establish relationships with. People lead busy lives and sometimes we have to make it a point to ‘remind’ them that we are here.

Traffic Getting Strategies

Today, with advancement in the technology every business has evolved online and obviously web presence matters a lot for the promotion of every business and enterprise. Since half of the business has turned online, it is important to use effective strategies to woo your clients.

No matter how you look at traffic genuinely, quality traffic simply means the rush of people who are actually interested in getting certain information online. Hence, there have been many arguments that traffic is traffic, but to literally get the crowd on your website you need to treat them as real people. It is important as it will help you catch more traffic once you will know who you are targeting.

SEO

Undoubtedly, search engine optimization plays a great role in bringing traffic to the website. Installing a related content plugin, utilizing keyword research tools, using keywords in post sites, relevant keywords in image file names, linking to the authorized sites, etc. are the major tasks an SEO executive performs to bring the website to a higher rank.

On Page

• Urllist.txt – It’s a kind of sitemap in text file format which aims to help in identifying the path and number of the available urls on the server.

• Sitemap.xml – A Sitemap is an XML file listing the URLs for a website. The webmasters use it to view the graphical representation of a site. The protocols of sitemap inform the search engines about the particular URLs available for crawling.

• Meta Viewport Tag- Meta View Tags also popularly known as Viewport tags are used to check the responding nature of the website. It helps to check out if the website is responsive on mobile phones, tablets, I-phones, etc. In particular, the web developers use this viewport tag to set the width of the layout viewport related to CSS declarations.

• Favicon- A favicon is simply a file having one or more small icons that are associated with a specific website or a web page. This icon is popular with many other names like shortcut icon, URL icon, bookmark icon, tab icon, etc.

• Apple Touch Icon – Just like Favicon, The Apple Touch Icon is a file used as a web page icon on the Apple iPhone, iPad, iPod, etc. This icon is basically used when someone bookmarks your web page or adds it to one’s home screen.

• Meta Tags – Meta elements are the tags that are used in XHTML or HTML to provide a planned metadata about the web page. They work as an important part of the head section of the webpage. Since these tags are useful for search engine optimization and are not visible to the users.

• Customized 404 error page – The Customized 404 error displays the message “Page Not Found” when the page searched by the user is simply not available. There can be the links that are not available or have been currently removed from the website. Consequently, when there is no page to display, the web server displays a message saying “404 page not found”.

Off Page:

• Local citations for Branding – Local Citation refers to the task of mentioning your companies’ local information on other websites or the places available on the internet. Local citation assists in branding your website and also help you rank higher in local search results.

• Info Graphics Submission – As the name suggests, infographics are literally the graphical representations loaded with the information or integrated data. This infographic submission on the feature websites actually help in search engine optimization and are effective in bringing traffic to the platform.

• PPT Submission – PPT is a file extension used for depicting a presentation file used by Microsoft PowerPoint. This popular software is generally used to display the information in the form of slide show. It is again an important and efficient method of getting traffic to your website.

• Google Business Places -is one of the important submission methods that can be used to let Google crawl your business and bring traffic to it at the same time. Google My business enables you to create a profile of your business and then verifies your local business which ultimately helps Google map to crawl it.

• Image Submission – As the name clarifies, image submission means posting images on different websites to increase the links. These images can be submitted directly or by using URLs to promote your website and bring traffic to it. These submissions literally increase your site visibility and the popularity of your website.

Create Amazing content:

There is no denial of the fact that content is the king of any website. If you really think that more traffic shall come to your site, you definitely need to use keyword rich content. Following are a few tips to write down the content and fetch traffic on your portal:

• Use catchy headlines.

• Know the requirement of the website and then write down the things accordingly.

• Give your blog a relevant name, so that the viewer can get to know what he is going to read about.

• It’s not important to load your website with content rather keep the things precise and crispy. People do not have time to go through the epic content.

• Keep on posting the content on your website more often. The more you will post, the better.

• Write down the current stories.

• Write down what people want to read and not what you are interested in writing.

• Keep on blogging at regular intervals, so that the readers must know when to expect something new.

Socialize your website:

Socialization is again one of the best ways to get traffic on your website. You can simply make use of social networking sites to make people know your website, the services you are providing and a lot more about it. Socialization will include:

• Creating a Facebook page for your blog. Simply use it to interact with your readers and post notifications, the moment you publish something new on your website.

• Short and crispy tweets work wonder to catch people’s attention on Twitter.

• Pinterest serves as a wonderful platform to tap into the audiences of the other bloggers.

• Creating a Tumblr blog can also fetch more crowds to the site.

• Making an Instagram account can help you tell people about the new posts.

• Create LinkedIn profiles.

• Link your Google+ page with the related website.

• Incorporate social sharing buttons on every post.

• Try to involve people in your discussion by ending your posts with a question.

• Adding the users advised by the Twitter on a daily basis can help you increase the follow-up percentage.

• Ask your friends to involve you in their blog rolls and join yours as well.

Focus on Email marketing:

Most of the businesses are involved in fetching the traffic through content. Meanwhile, it is not wise to forget the power of regular communication through every mean. Email marketing is one of the traditional methods of getting traffic to your website. It is a powerful tool as a single logical e-mail disclosure can lead to a significant change in the traffic rate on a particular website.

Now, E-marketing does not mean that you keep on bombarding people with persistent emails. It can be irritating for sure. So, you can simply send a friendly e-mail revealing about a new service or the product you are launching. In addition, to this, you are also expected to be consistent in replying to the queries.

Web Responsiveness:

Web responsiveness is an essential part of web designing. It actually decides the optimal view and interacting experience of the website. It plays a great role in fetching the traffic to a site and maintaining it as well.

Check out the speed of your Site:

It is very important to ensure that your site works with a great pace. Let’s not go far and put ourselves in other’s shoes. Have you ever waited for any page to load down for thirty seconds or more? The answer is obviously “NO”. Consequently, it is important to be sure that every page of your website is technically optimized. Make sure that your pages are as technically optimized as possible, comprising page structure, file sizes, image files, the functionality of the third party plugins, etc. The faster it will be the better.

Use Multimedia to get amazing traffic:

Multimedia holds a great power to bring traffic to your site if you have made its proper use.

• Use of Photos and Graphics: Photos and graphics are the best tools to express what one actually wants at a single glance without taking much time. Use of fascinating and unique photographs and graphics can help o bring traffic on the website.

• Creating an infographic and sharing it with everyone can help bring traffic on the portal.

• Use of Pinterest-friendly graphics displaying text on the top of the images will encourage people to pin your posts.

• Presenting your content in the form of a presentation and sharing it on SlideShare is one of the effective ways of catching the attention of the people towards your website.

• For extra content, it is advised to write down your videos and other webinars.

• Producing podcasts related to your websites is a wise idea. You can share out these podcasts from different sources.

• Uploading videos on the YouTube and other video networking videos along with your website’s link in the reference box can bring people to your site.

Guest Posting

Guest posting is a successful way of rapidly increasing the visitor’s number on your website. It involves a few steps that any user actually needs to be acquainted with before practically doing it.

• Guest posting enhances the visibility of your blog which increases the demand for your work.

• Commenting and blogging on other’s sites give you an opportunity to talk to different people which ultimately build your relationships with the experienced bloggers.

• Guest posting will definitely bring the visitor’s on your site and if they find much good quality on your website, you can have a good traffic on your site.

• Taking part in the blog carnivals can add to the visitor’s rush on site.

• Post your articles on reputed article sites like EzineArticles or Hubpages. This will create extra links for you.

• Write and associate a press release related to your site.

• Do not forget to use your links in your posts.

Case Study:

It is a great idea to write on something that can be taken as a case study further. People can have a discussion over that and it can also be considered as an action from people’s side.

Free MLM Traffic – How To Get Free Advertising on Google 24-7!

One of the goals of those who are in a network marketing home based business opportunity is to generate free mlm traffic. I’m sure this is one of your goals as well. Did you know that there is a way you can get free advertising using the web’s top search engine Google? If you are in desperate need to know the secret, finally revealed are the steps you need to take to get free advertising on Google’s first page 24-7!

1. Set goals. You must figure out where you want to be in two to five years from now. You must think about ways people find an find you. You don’t want to be a slamming and hammering sales person since over 90% of the population dislikes that approach. You don’t want to chase after people , but have THEM chasing after you. How will you do this? If you don’t have a plan in place, you are not focused. So, the first step is to set some goals.

2. Name recognition. People need to know who you are. This does not happen immediately, but over time. Unfortunately, most people will quit before they ever reach this point, but for those who are committed, the will amply be rewarded for their efforts. Therefore, you must plan right.

3. Systems. As you think about your strategy, you must have a system. You must be able to see who is on your list in a glance; have a contact manager, and be able to keep records. I personally use a system for 19.95 a month that enables me to build my list by giving away a free resource, has email features, comes with an autoresponder, has 8 splash pages, includes training on how to market as well as places to market, and much more.

4. Don’t believe the hype the heavy hitters or guru’s promote. We all have seen headlines about how people make thousands of dollars almost overnight. Many of them almost sound like these people got rich quick.

With any network marketing internet home based-business opportunity especially, it takes time to build a frontline with strong leaders; leaders who will retail and bring in other leaders for their teams. This does NOT happen overnight. It takes work. If you see promotions from others where they seemed to have skipped this step, there are three possible reasons:

a. The person sold audio tapes, some sort of report or system, where they claimed they did something.

b. They previously had a large downline and just transferred it into a new company.

c. The person has good name recognition. So, a MLM company asked them to promote their company, and gave them a huge downline. The heavy hitter than began to advertise for them.

Now that you have a foundation on what you need to do first, here is the secret to getting listed on page one of the web’s top search engine, Google. The “secret”-articles. Writing articles is the best way to get listed on the #1 page in Google. Article marketing really must be part of your plan. Writing articles brands you, gives you name recognition, and repeat traffic if you are able to connect with your readers. In addition, years from now links can keep coming back to your site.

So, how do you go about doing this?

*Figure out what is popular in your niche. For example, what are people looking for and talking about related to network marketing? What are the most viewed articles in places such as EzineArticles.com? Just browsing through related categories and the most viewed and popular articles can give you a good idea. What you see will let you know what to write about. You can also use material from any ebooks and other resource that you have. You also can hire people through places such as Elance.com if the thought of writing an article sounds overwhelming.

*After you figure out what people want, do a keyword research related to your topic. This will help you discover how to get free mlm traffic. Focus on long tail keyword phrases which are 3 words or more. Phrases such as internet marketing, mlm, networking marketing will never get you on the first page of Google since there is way to much competition or those keywords. A phrase such as free mlm resources” likely will get you better results.

*Use a keyword tool to help you and to save time. Wordtracker is excellent as well as Google’s free tool, Good Keywords, etc.

*Once you figure out your keyword, put it in quotes and then go to Google to see how many searches there are for it. As mentioned before, huge results such as 40,000-50,000 will get you nowhere. Go for results 5,000 or under.

*Once you have found the long tail keyword phrase you want to use, use the exact phrase in the title, and first and last paragraph of your article.

*Submit your article to EzineArticles.com . Of course, there are other directories you can as well such as article marketer.com which is a free distribution service. Once you have submitted your article, in a week do a Google search to see where you landed. If you don’t like the page you are on, you can go back and make changes to get better results.

* In your resource book, add a link to your blog or unique splash page where you are branded. It is best if it is unique and different especially if you are in MLM where everybody uses a generic splash page.

No matter what network marketing home based business opportunity you are involved with, article writing is a great way to bring in free mlm traffic and and prospects over a long period of time. If you are not using this marketing strategy now, take action and get going today as the payoff can be huge!

Home Based Business Made EAsy

Everyone wants to start their own business and become their own boss, but many do not know how to do it. There are several types of home-based businesses. Service companies, product sales, and web-based home-based businesses, to name a few.

In this article, I will walk you through the process of starting your own online home business. I will try to eliminate some of the mystery of the process. By following this guideline, you’ll be up and running in no time without making a huge investment.

First, you need to know what your business is going to do. Will he provide a service? Do you intend to sell products? These are the two general types of home-based online businesses I will discuss in this article.

If you plan to provide a service, what kind of service will you provide? Will it be provided to people who own websites? Will it be a service that everyone can use or will it be confined to your area?

Ask similar questions if you plan to sell a product. Will it be a product that you sell and deliver locally, nationally or internationally? If you choose around the world, do you know anything about shipping your product abroad? The same applies to national delivery. Do you know the costs associated with delivering your product anywhere in the country where you live?

Once you have answered these questions, you will have more of an idea on how your home web business will eventually be shaped.

Then you will need a domain name. Most people think that the name of their business is the best way to get a domain name, however, a generic domain name with keywords associated with your product or service will serve you a lot better. You can also register your company name as a domain name and direct it to your website, but it is not necessary.

The generic domain name can help you with search engine traffic and can be more memorable. This is just one of many factors that will help you with search engine optimization, but it’s a step you should take at startup. Example: Cars.com is a better domain name than Ford.com, even though Ford has spent millions advertising and branding itself. Even cheapusedcars.com is better because people will look for that.

You have to find a good domain name registrar, not a cheap domain registrar. Cheap means cheap in the field of domain names. Your domain name is important. Spending $ 25 a year on a registrar who offers more services and quality VS spending $ 10 or less at a cheap registrar is what we are talking about here. If this extra $ 15 a year will make or break your home business, then maybe you should not start one.

Then you will need a web hosting service. Again, cheaper is not better. There are good hosting services for $ 100 a year or even a little less. Anyone who offers you hosting for less than that should trigger a red flag. Choose and pay for at least a year, just as you have registered your domain name. If you are going with a monthly plan, you are probably not fully engaged in your new home business.

Now you have your domain name and hosting your new website, but where is the website and how can I get it? You have several options. You can learn HTML and build your own. You can use a WYSIWYG editor like FrontPage to create your own website. You can hire someone to build your website for you.

First, let’s talk about learning HTML to build your own website for your home business. There is a learning curve here. This is the best option of the three that I mentioned above, but it takes time to learn. You will probably not be operational in a few days with this option. In the long run, it will save you a lot of money to learn HTML and build your own websites. The more websites you have in your wallet, the more you will have at least one who will be a big winner. Writing your own code means that you can create a new site as often as you want.

Then build your own home-based business website with a WYSIWYG publisher. (What you see is what you get). These editors are similar to creating a document. Everything is visual and you do not need to

Code a piece.

Then hiring a web designer to build your home business website is another option. A professional website designer knows how to give your website the look and feel you need. However, be careful when choosing a web designer. I will add a few things that you need to be aware of here;

1. If they say they will register the domain name for you, say no. Registering a domain name is not technically difficult. Do it yourself. Many web designers register the domain name at the cheapest place they can find, then charge you $ 100 or more per year for the domain name. Then, many of them record it in their own name! This will cause you huge problems if you decide to stop using their services. The domain name should always be in your name.

2. Ask them which program they use to build your website. If they will be using FrontPage or Dreamweaver or another WYSIWYG publisher, you may as well build your own home business website. If they do not write HTML from scratch, then they should not be in the web design business.

3. If they want to bill you monthly to run your website for you, be careful. Do not sign annual contracts. Their job is to build you a home business website. Let them stick to that. Most designers are just designers. They are not search engine gurus, business leaders, or anything else. Hire a designer to design and others to do what they are good at.

4. Do not let them talk about features you do not need. Just like used car salesmen, they will try to make you add a lot of bells and whistles you do not need.

5. A brochure website is one that is basically designed to just let people know what products or services you are providing and to contact you for more information. Usually it’s a main page, a page about, and a contact page. It should not cost you more than $ 500.

6. If you are going to add the ability to purchase your product or service by paying for it through your home-based business website, then it becomes an ecommerce website. Again, pay attention to the bells and whistles that the used website seller is trying to sell you. PayPal is a good option when you are starting out. You can get a PayPal account easily. You can create your own purchase buttons and insert them into your website with the code they provide without being an HTML guru. You can even set the shipping costs and everything else via PayPal for free. They charge small percentages per sale, but the services they provide are worth it. In addition, they have no setup fees or monthly fees like other e-commerce solutions. When your sales volume reaches thousands of dollars a month, you can look for a better solution, but until then, use PayPal.

7. An old adage among those who make money on the web is “You build the first for the show and the rest for the dough”. What does this mean? You will probably be very concerned about the appearance of your website at first, but the design is the least important aspect of your home web business. Many will disagree, but who cares? Let me repeat, design is the least important aspect of your home business. A beautiful website without traffic becomes uglier every day. An ugly website with the traffic that makes money becomes more beautiful by the dollar. Create a total budget for your home web business. Do not spend more than 30% of this budget on design. Spend the rest of your website promotion, advertising and other actions that bring you customers. Do not let a designer tell you that his design is more important than the success of your home-based business.

Now that your domain name, hosting and website are up and running, you now need customers. Where do you find them? I have my website, will not they find me now? NO, they will not do it.

There are many things you can do to get traffic. You can buy AdWords from Google, MSN (coming soon), or Yahoo. This sends you traffic from people who are looking for specific keywords. Pay attention to bidding and set your spending limits until you see what keywords will earn you.

Choose a Domain Name For Your First Website

Business Domain Name Registration and Trademark Protection Domain name registration is an important step for any business. Almost all businesses need to be online even if only for PR. Sometimes we don’t have all the information in order to take a decision regarding a Domain Name.

What is a Domain Name?

Your Domain Name is your property on the Internet. It is the name of your space on Internet.
Every Domain Name contains two or more name components separated by periods.
The last part of the address, (com, net, org, us, ca, uk), is called the “Top Level Domain”.
The second part of the domain is what we call the “Second Level Domain”.

Examples of Second Level Domains are: com.uk, or on.ca. The Second Level Domains are a great way to organize geographically or functional the Domain Names, (on.ca for example is the SLD for Ontario – Canada).

Why do we need a domain name?

A domain name is needed when you want to be present on the web. It is a way to translate your server’s address into a nice looking, easy to remember address.
Marketing and PR are other two major reasons. You want to brand your Web Site and personalize it. A Domain Name is a great opportunity to do that.
Search Engine ranking is another reason. There is been a lot of discussions on this subject and it seems that Search Engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. are taking in consideration the domain name of your website in their ranking algorithm and search results.
Trademark protection is also important these days and if you don’t use a domain name with your company’s name someone else will use it, and reap off the benefits.

How to choose a good domain name?

Use these guidelines when you are choosing your domain name:
Choose a name as short as possible. It is easier for your visitors to remember a short name.
It has to be related to your company name or to your products.
What TLD, (Top Level Domain), should I choose? Try to stick with the original designation of the TLD. For example,.com is for commercial institutions,.org is for noncommercial organizations, etc…

How Many Years Should I register my Domain Name?

The longer you register your Domain Name the better. Some search engines give you some extra points in their rankings if you register for longer periods. That means you are serious and you plan to be there for a long time. If you register for 5 years you get a great discount, most of the registrars give you the best discount for 5 years. However, if you register for more than 10 years, your investment might become wasted; the technology changes fast and we don’t know what the Domain Name Space will look like in 15 years.

How to choose my Registrar?

Your registrar is an important thing since you will have to deal with him a lot. The Registrar Market is constantly changing, however big registrars are the most likely to survive over time, which is critical for you as a domain name owner.
The Domain Name administration is not an easy task and sometimes involves technical knowledge.
Make sure you choose a good and established Registrar that offers you most of the features possible.
Good technical support is another key element.
Cost is probably one of the most important elements for many of us especially if it’s a starter website. But don’t try to go too cheap, because you will end up by paying more.

Why Does My Business Need to Be On the Internet?

I hope you don’t have to ask the question, “Why does my business need to be on the internet?” If you sincerely don’t know why it is important to have an internet presence, I’ll ask you to do an easy experiment. Ask ten to twenty people, from different age groups, how often they use the yellow pages to find a business versus how often they use the internet. For those that say they use the internet, ask where do they look. I think you will find that the majority use the internet much more and nearly all of those use Google to try to find the information they are seeking. Yet if you look in the yellow pages you will still find many, many businesses that are spending hundreds a month, if not thousands to try to attract new customers.

So, hopefully, now you know why you need to have your business on the internet. But how do you go about getting your business there. Most likely if you are not on the internet, you don’t know how to do it yourself. Before you try to hire someone to build a web site and get you on the internet, you need to ask them a few questions. Of course you will want to see some examples of their work. A warning here, a pretty web site is not always the best one. More importantly than what their web sites look like, ask them to show you where they are on the internet. I don’t mean just type in the URL (your internet address). Ask how does the web site rank for their main keyword. If they don’t know what you mean, you don’t want to hire them. This is getting into SEO, search engine optimization. This is more important than what the web site looks like.

You need your site to rank on the first page of Google for your main keywords. Your main keywords will be a group of words that you think a prospective customer would type into Google to find a business like yours. If you were a painting contractor in Memphis, it might be something like “painting contractor Memphis” or “Memphis painting contractor.” Yes, these are different keyword phrases and you might want to try to rank for both. Before I go any further, a person can’t guarantee that you will rank on first page of Google. The more competitive your keyword phrase is the harder it is to rank. For example, “LA injury lawyer” is nearly impossible to rank on the first page of Google. On the other hand I was able to get my antique mall in Dallas to have four listings on page one of Google for my main keyword phrase. So you want to make sure whoever is doing your site knows SEO and can get your web site seen by the people looking for a business or service like yours.

How to Buy and Sell Domain Names Profitably

I have been asked time and time again by my readers of how best to buy and sell domain names profitably and without stress. In my no-holds-barred research approach and attitude, I earnestly went to work on that assignment. My findings have been serialized in this article for the benefit of all.

What is a Domain Name?

Domain name is an online unique identity that distinguishes one web site from another. It could be your personal name, your offline business name or any other name that has not been registered by somebody else online with domain registrars.

Buying and selling domain name is a serious and big business. The good tiding is that you can start with as little as $8.00 and rake in profit of say, $1,992.00 within a month. That is the naked truth! All you need to excel in this domain name business is a bit of your creativity and ingenuity. Your creativity can out perform any known robot or software so far developed. This is because as you check for domain name availability on the Internet, other names naturally come up as you are told the one you want to register has been taken up. In my experience, I have found out that premium and generic names sell fastest and highest on the internet. This is so because business people are desirous of either protecting their brand names or want a name that will easily ring a bell to any internet user. Therefore, they can go to any length to ensure that they repurchase their names if it has been registered before they do. This is where the money juice lies! It becomes a matter of bidding. As the saying goes: “The highest bidder wins the deal.”

If you are low in capital to jump-start your dream business, the cheapest and easiest place to start and earn a reasonable seed capital is in Domain Name Business. Also if you ask me for an excellent resource/e-book that succinctly outlined the basics of domain name selling in easy steps please email me for recommendation for your financial freedom.

Heard of Domain Parking?

Do you know you can register a domain name and be earning money without hosting it? To this end, you won’t be tied to any monthly fee whatsoever. You earn revenue from one-time investment of buying a domain name throughout the year. It is as sweet as that! The simple thing to do is just to park that registered domain name with a parking company and voila, you start earning cool bucks.

Domain parking means registering a domain name and pointing it to a “parking company” (at no cost of course) so that your site will show a page with adverts when any internet user searches key words or key phrases that relate to your site adverts. When someone clicks on those adverts you earn money. That is domain parking, pure and simple! It is akin to putting Google AdSense adverts on your site. However, parking is simpler since you do not need to worry about designing a website nor pay monthly web site hosting fees. Truly, online business ideas are limitless. Domain parking is really domain “monetization” business.

Marketing and Profiting from Domain Name

If you are in the camp of “buying and selling domain names”, what you should do is buy popular, premium, generic or key words or key phrases that will be easy to remember and market. People are always enthralled with unique names. There are whole gamuts of a combination of key words that have not been registered. Market them and profit from it. It is your business! But beware: You cannot run this business and excel with naivety. That is why I am recommending a great resource that I can cross my heart for to you when you reach me on email as a quick start.

Take action, become a domainer and add it to one of your income streams. It is a win-win deal!

You will excel!

How to Buy a Domain Name – Tips For the Newbie

If you are planning to make a income on the internet through your own internet marketing website or you just want to put up a website or blog about your favorite subject, there are certain steps that you have to complete first before you will be able to view your website online. One of the first and most important of these steps is buying a domain name. When you are new to this process it may all seem to be a little challenging, knowing just how to get started or what you have to do. If you find yourself in this position this article will definitely aid you when you are ready to buy your first domain name.

What is a domain name?

Simply explained a domain name is your one of a kind address on the internet. It allows Internet browsers (individuals searching the internet) to locate your particular website. Your domain name may be made up of your name, your business name, or variation of a set of relevant words associated with your website, company product, theme or subject. A good domain name will pretty much let people know what your website is about before they actually see or visit it.

Things to do before buying your domain name?

Because people and businesses have been buying up domain names for years now, it has been said that all of the good domain names have been taken already. Maybe this is true to some extent, however with a little research and imagination there should be no reason that you cannot create or find a domain name that you will be suited to you and or your website subject or niche. A good idea is to try to think of names or combinations of words and names that not only will tell the web surfer what your website is about but also be a name that is easy to remember, easy to spell, hard to forget. A domain name can be up to 67 characters in length, so it can also include names made up of a small phrase. such as “BestInTownPhoto.com” or “TheBarkingDogsKennels.com”. These kind of domain names not only focus directly on what your website is about they are easier to remember than abstract or random characters or letters thrown together. You must also be aware that there are different types of domains which all have their certain type of extensions or ending:

-.com – Stands for company/commercial, but it can pretty much be used for any web site.

-.net – Stands for network and is usually used for a network of sites.

–.org – Stands for organization and is supposed to be for non-profit entities.

–.us, .nu, .co.uk, – Are country specific domain extensions that may require the register to be a citizen of the given country.

–.biz, .info – These and other like them are domain types that have been added because there are barely any short and intelligible domain addresses left to register.

When you are determining the type of domain name that is right for you simply stick to these guidelines: In the United States try to get a.com or.net. In other countries, if you cannot get the.com, then using your country’s domain extension is a workable remedy

Write down the different names you come up with that appeal to you, make sure to put down as many as you can think of so that when you begin your search for available names to buy, if your first choice is already taken, as it very well may be, you will have a number of alternate or backup names that you can try. Many times finding the exact domain name you want can be “HIT or MISS” it is good to be prepared. You may also be able to keep the domain name of your choice by simply changing one letter, character or hyphenation within the name.

If you are determined to have a particular domain name and find out that is already in use by someone else there may be the option of purchasing that name directly from the owner by using the “Whois System” to help you identify the current owner of that particular domain name so that you may contact and make a offer to purchase that particular domain name. However because this is your first time buying a domain name and that method can involve much more, I will save the how to about that issue for a later time or article.

Register Your Domain Name

Once you have your list of preferred domain names you can now locate a service online that will not only show you the availability of the names but also register your chosen domain name as well. There are many of these companies and services to choose from. some of the better known and reliable services are:

“GoDaddy.com”,”Domain Name Registry.com” and “Register.com”, you can also do a Google Search for “Domain name registries” to find other places to register your domain name.

Be prepared to pay between $8-$15 for your right to own your name for a one year period. This payment must be made annually to keep your ownership of your Domain name active. That is a good reason to choose a name that you will want to keep for a long time period. so that people will know exactly what your name is and where to find it over the years.

The last thing you will need to do is to take the IP address information provided to you from your webhost and in put input it at your domain name register before your domain name will function properly. It will allow the “DNS” (Domain Name System) to locate your domain name and website when your domain name is typed into a internet browser, this is called pointing you r domain name to your web host servers. A majority of domain registrars will probably require your IP and DNS server names in the course of registration, although some will call for you to go in and enter the information manually enter after your domain name registry fees have been paid.

Once you begin to follow the steps mentioned here in this article to buy your domain name you will see for yourself that they are not complicated at all, in fact buying a domain name is quite a simple process, so don’t let the idea of doing this very important task yourself stop you from getting your first domain name online.

If you would like to find out more about Online Business Incomes or get help with starting one, I will be glad to help. Please visit his main site at: http://www.sasonlinebusinesssuccess.com

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Stopping Domain Name Hijacking and Domain Name Theft

Domain hijacking, or domain theft, occurs when a person improperly changes the registration of a domain name without permission from the original registrant. A domain can be hijacked for several reasons: to generate money through click-through traffic, for resale to the proper owner or a third party, to add value to an existing business, for malicious reasons, or to achieve notoriety.

The costs of domain hijacking are significant. According to Symantec, a security-software company, in 2012, the economy lost $400 billion as a result of incidents of domain hijacking and related crimes. A variety of domain names have been hijacked in recent years, including the U.S. Marines, The New York Times, Twitter, Google, The Huffington Post, Forbes.com, and Craigslist.

Once a domain is hijacked, it is difficult to recover. If you suspect your domain has been hijacked, immediately contact the company with whom you registered the domain. To the extent the registrar can confirm your domain has been hijacked, the registrar should work to help transfer the domain name back to you. It is rare, however, to recover any damages incurred during the period that the domain was improperly in the hands of a third party.

There are few alternative actions if the registrar does not or cannot act. Both litigation and ICANN proceedings can be expensive and time-consuming. Neither option may adequately protect your online business and reputation during the proceeding. In some instances, it may be cheaper to just create a new webpage and register a new domain.

Because of the risks associated with domain hijacking, it is important that companies take steps to make any attempted hijacking more difficult. First, make sure that the registrar with whom you register your domain is reputable. There are hundreds of registrars, so it is important to do your research. You might also consolidate all of your domain names with one registrar, which simplifies your ability to monitor all of your domains.

Second, make sure that your contact information is updated. Registrars tend to use email as the primary means of communication and to reset passwords for your account. If that email lapses for any reason, then someone else can change your domain registration more easily. Consider using an administrative email, so that you don’t have to update the email every time the person responsible for the domain name changes.

Third, secure your user names and passwords. As with other passwords, make your password difficult to guess. Limit access only to those who absolutely need it.

Fourth, consider using Whois Privacy Service, which makes your contact information private. This option may have drawbacks, however. For example, it may be difficult to prove that you are the true registrant of the domain if this feature is enabled. It may also create additional delays in the event that you have to use a legal process to recover a hijacked domain.

Fifth, monitor your domain for any unauthorized changes. Make sure that you regularly check your information and that you contact your registrar if you find anything unusual.

Sixth, consider a registrar lock. Many registrars offer the ability to lock a domain, which prohibits the domain from being transferred, modified, or deleted by a third party.

Finally, make sure that you carefully monitor the expiration of your domain name registrations. Once a domain has expired, it can be easily registered by someone else. In fact, some people use automated programs that allow them to monitor expired domains, purchase them, and then try to sell them back to the original registrant or to third parties. For those domains that are critical, it is worth considering renewing the registrations early and for longer periods of time.

Take these few simple steps now, and help prevent the hassle and expense of trying to recover your domain down the road. Need additional help with domain name hijacking or domain name theft, see our website for additional domain name recovery techniques and domain name litigation.

The Importance of Self-Branding

Stuck in your MLM business? Not getting noticed? There is only ONE way to get noticed in this industry and that is through self-branding. Self-branding (and the whole “You, Inc.” business model) will bring your MLM business to a completely new level if done in the right way. This could mean the difference between 5 leads trickling in per month and 50 (or more) leads coming in PER DAY.

Self-Branded Websites vs. Replicated Websites

Say you joined this great MLM company and you’re really excited. You pay the joining fee, get your little distributor kit and get set up on the auto-ship. The products are great, the sales pages are great and you are ready to go! So you set up your little cookie-cutter replicated company website and start promoting like a beast.

Your site starts getting hits. And the sales page is great, so it creates a LOT of interest. But, because people don’t usually buy something the first time they see it, these people decide to actually go online and do some research on your company. So they go to Google, type in the company name, hit search and guess what happens next? If I’ve done my homework right and applied the right self-branding principles, my personal website (or an article directed to my personal website) will be up there on the first page of Google. And I can guarantee you these things about my site:

My site is not a company replicated site;
My site has my name plastered all over it;
My site has very useful information these people can actually use; and
My site has free training tools that anyone can sign up for.

My site starts building a relationship the minute someone gets there. And the great thing about this is that I don’t even have to be a distributor for your company to take your business. I simply do some kind of business review on your company and get it on the first page of Google to attract their attention. This is what self-branding is all about – marketing YOURSELF as someone who can BRING VALUE to others.Ok, so who do think the business will ultimately go to after the research is done? I’m banking on me because that is how self-branding using attraction marketing works. You, Inc. is what you need to promote – not your business. The business will come later (pretty much guaranteed) if you offer something of value and actually help people.

Self-Branding Proof

Go online and research every major leader in this industry and you will see they have their very own site bearing their very own names. And I can guarantee you they are raking in the leads. They didn’t get there by using company replicated sites. They made a name for themselves. They stood out and positioned themselves as leaders. And as you position yourself as leader, people will want to follow you. They will want some of what you have.

Your first item of business today should be to get rid of your little replicated, cookie-cutter website. If you don’t start implementing self-branding in your business now all of your work will be in vain and it will inevitably go to someone else. Believe me, there are plenty of people banking on just that and waiting for those free leads. Don’t give them up!