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One of the easiest and most lucrative ways to generate a secondary income, which also happens to be passive, is via Google’s Adsense program.

I’m sure you’ve read the claims of a few individuals generating five figure monthly incomes from Adsense. For many of you, I’m sure you are wondering why you aren’t making this same income yourself.

Well, wonder no more. If you follow my simple six step system, you will be well on your way to healthy Adsense profits within three months.

Are you ready? It’s now time to pay attention.

Step 1 – Preparation.

The key to making money with Adsense is all about numbers. BIG numbers!

Sure, there are a few people making serious money with less than ten sites, but these are the exception.

Your goal will be twenty-four sites in three months. That’s just TWO sites per week!

In order to accomplish this, I recommend one of the many available page generation tools available today.

Step 2 – Determine Your Markets.

In order to maximize Adsense income with only twenty-four sites, you must know which markets are paying well.

To break this down even further, you need to know which keywords within those markets are paying the most.

Step 3 – Register you domains.

Once you’ve identified and chosen your markets, you must register domains appropriate to those markets. For example, if your market is ‘Cabbage Patch Dolls’, a domain such as http://www.cabbage-patch-doll.com/ would be appropriate.

Step 4 – Create your site.

Using your favorite page generation software and keyword list, it’s time to develop your site. There are several key points to bear in mind when you develop these specifically for Adsense.

1.Format – Always use the large 336×280 large rectangle.
2.Border – Match the same color as your background.
3.Background color - Border – Match the same color as your background.
4.Link = “0000CC”
5.Color_url = “999999″
6.Color_text = “333333″
7.Position – Far left or center and just above the page fold (Top 25% of site)

Step 5 – Verify and track your site

Visit your site and make sure all links work and that the sites appear to your satisfaction. You should also check out the ads Google is displaying. Are they targeted to your primary high paying keyword? If not, recreate your site using your high paying keyword in a higher density throughout your site.

Make sure you track your Adsense format, position, and traffic with a tracking system specifically designed for Adsense. Once you know your stats, you can adjust for maximum clickthroughs and higher revenues.

Step 6 – Get your site listed in the search engines.

This is simple… no tricks involved. Simply rent links to your site. A PR7 or PR8 link will do the job.

While I’ve simplified the process here, you are now armed with enough information and resources to make some serious money with Adsense.

As you know, Amazon is a buyers market place and is a VERY powerful search engine for products of all sorts, especially Books.

Now, you’re probably saying to yourself, “yeah, I already know that about Amazon, but how do I get my share of Amazon’s traffic?”.

Well, I’m going to answer that question in just a few moments, but first, here’s just some of the benefits you’ll receive once you’ve ‘Set-Up’ what I’m about to show you:

- you’ll position yourself as an Expert within your Niche

- you’ll receive Highly Targeted traffic to your website

- you’ll be able to build a HIGHLY targeted ‘Opt-In’ list

Those are some pretty Powerful benefits wouldn’t you say?

And who would of ever guessed that Amazon could deliver this to you.

I only recently learned of this tactic myself from a Very well known Internet marketer who was kind enough to share it with me.

So now, I’m going to do the same for you.

Are you ready to see what Amazon can do for your Business and Credibility?

Enough said, lets get started.

Step #1. Set up a account with Amazon.

This is the easiest part of the whole task. Simply go to http://www.amazon.com and set up an account for yourself.

This should only take a few minutes and is very straight forward.

Step #2. Click on your “Your Name” Store tab.

Once you’ve set up your account you should have been given a password in order to login to your account.

If you’re not logged in already, login now.

Now, from within the members area there should be a row of tabs at the top of the members area, click on the one that says “Your Name” Store(ex. ‘Corys Store’ tab).

This will take you to a different area with a different sub-menu.

Click on the tab in the sub-menu that says “About You Area”.

Step #3. Setting up your “About You Area”.

Now this is where you have to pay ‘Special Attention’ because this is what people will see when they click on your ‘About You’ tab.

Assuming you are at the ‘About You Area’ you’ll notice that you have spots available to put your Picture, Name, Nickname, eMail Address, Real Name and About Me.

Go ahead and fill out all the area’s accept your ‘About Me’.

The ‘About Me’ spot is what I’ll talk about in the next step, but for now, just fill out all the other area’s and if you want to put up a picture of yourself, you can, it’s up to you.

Step #4. Setting up the ‘About Me’ section.

This is probably the single most important part of this whole process because this is where your potential customer will read about who you are and what you and your business is all about, so do take this seriously.

Now, you have about 4,000 characters of space to write up a description about who you are and what your business is about, so its up to you on how long you want your description to be.

Before you start writing your description this is what You have to do First within the first 70 to 80 characters of your ‘About Me’ description and I’ll show you an example of how mine looks so you’ll be able to see this in action.

(ex. About me: Hi, I’m Cory Threlfall and I’m the Editor/Publisher of ‘www.internetwondersezine.com’ which is a …)

Do you see what I’ve done?

I’ve incorporated my ‘Domain Name’ in quotes into my First 70 to 80 characters of my description so when they click on my ‘About Me’ and read my profile they’ll also see my Domain Name, and if they wish to find out more about me they can either ‘Copy and Paste or Type’ my domain into there browser which will then bring them to my website where they can either ‘Subscribe’ to my newsletter or read my sale copy which will then get them to Opt-In to my newsletter.

This is where the ‘List Building’ starts to take place from the traffic sent through Amazon.

Now, we’ve already established that Amazon is a High Traffic website and now that you’ve set up your ‘About Me Area’ the way I’ve outlined it above I’m now going to show you how to direct Amazon’s traffic to your website.

Step #5. Directing Amazon’s traffic to your website.

This is where the fun starts. And once you see How its done you’ll probably kick yourself in the butt like I did when I was shown How-To do this.

What we need to do now is a little exercise so you’ll see for yourself how you’ll tap into Amazon’s traffic.

So, we know that Amazon is best known for Books, so click on the ‘Books’ tab within Amazon’s members area. This will take you to a different page.

In the upper left corner you’ll see a ‘Search Books’ search box.

Now, for the purpose of this exercise, just so that we’re on the same page, lets use ‘internet marketing’ as the search term.

So, go ahead and type that in and press GO!.

You should now see a bunch of listings on books related to ‘internet marketing’.

Scroll down and select the “33 Days To Online Profits” link. This will bring you to its Product Description page.

Within this Product Description page you’ll find Product Details, Editorial Reviews and most important of all, All Customer Reviews.

Notice I said “and most important of all, All Customer Reviews”.

Thats right, all you need to do is ‘Write Reviews’ on books within your particular Niche and when potential customers are reviewing the book you wrote the review on and they scroll down and happen to read your review and click on Your Name to see what you’re all about, guess what they’ll see?

They’ll see your profile with your Name, Nick Name, eMail Address and your ‘About Me’ description with your Domain Name screaming out at them which can easily be typed into there browser.

There you have it, “5 Quick and Easy Steps On HOW-TO Send Your Website A SURGE Of Amazon’s Traffic For FREE!”

I truly hope you see the benefits of writing reviews and how it will make you look in the eyes of your potential customer.

This is a great tactic to use if you’re looking to establish yourself as an Expert within your Niche and at the same time, build a HIGHLY targeted ‘Opt-In’ list that you can market to for years to come.

From the laptop of Adwin

Hi

I am Adwin. Nice meeting you. Thank you for taking your time to read this personal
review by me on Senze’s latest mini-encyclopedia.

Believe me, this is the hottest cake now in internet marketing arena. I have read
through most of the chapters and have implemented some of the business models. The result is fantastic.

I hope you would finish reading this review as there is a surprise on how you can make
this mini-encyclopedia generate passive income for you.Isn’t it what you always have been thinking?

Ha, ha. Me too all the time.

Well, the following review which you are going to read is base on my own personal view and does not represent any other person input or idea.

Overview on the Table of Content

Most of the ebook which you have bought does not have a action packed content. Until this mini-encyclopedia is born. Thanks to Senze.

You will discover :-

1)Top 8 Low-cost, High profit Internet Business Model. What is comprehensive catalog model, killer sales letter model, membership site model, expert model, super affiliated model, eBay Power Seller Model, InterNetwork Marketing Model and Automated Service Model.

2)Another 11 Low-Cost, High-Profit Internet Business Models which are gaining
popularity in the recent years. They are: Paid Ezine model, Virus Model, Community
Model, Comprehensive Resource Center Model, Free Functional Tool Model, Free Tip of the
Day Model, Directory/Guide Model, Domain Name Trader Model, Packaged Residual Income

Model, Free/Cheap Software Download Model and the Thank You Page Model.

3)Power packed Summary for you and the step by step activities to set up your own Internet Business. Plus understanding what are the basic free Internet Marketing
Activities Matrix and Basic Paid Internet Marketing Activities all consolidated for you in a form of a Matrix Table. This is for your cross reference. You need to understand not all activities are suitable for the model you have chosen. Indirectly save you money and time.

4)Last part is to discover how the back-end program built into this encyclopedia which you can earn passive income with minimal effort. Just in case you want to be in business within 1 week, there is a special arrangement to a member website. You will be amazed by the free but expensive marketing tools and good customer service provided by this website.

Sample Model Extracted from Mini-e: Internet Business Model No.16

In this model, you will have product to call your own but you don/t have to create and yet can provide you with both up-front and residual income for a long time.

An example of this model is the Mini-Encyclopedia which you are going to purchase. Some of the links within will lead to highly-recommended products of which you are an associate or affiliate.

You’ll be earning directly up-front income through the sale of the e-book, plus all
income directly from any sale that resulted from your associate/affiliate links!

All Profits goes to you. Isn’t it Great!

What you need to get started
1. A High-Quality e-manual/e-book/e-report
2. Resell Rights
3. Customization
4. Domain Name
5. Hosting
6. Marketing Materials
7. Follow-up autoresponders
8. Real-time credit card processing system
9. Associate/Affilate Programs
10. Mailing list

Building your credibility
1. Professional Website
2. Well-written Killer Sales Letter & Follow-up autoresponder messages
3. Killer Product Cover

Making Your Money
1. Up-Front (you earn 100% of the Selling Price)
2. Back-End ( Recurring, Residual income in the form of Recurring Commissions,2-tier
affiliated programs which give you overriding commissions on sales of associates sign up under you)

Well, the above is just an extraction form the mini-encyclopedia. The detailed would be much explained in page 187, Model 16.

There are many other models highlighted in this ebook which you could choose from.

This book is packed with action YOU must TAKE to ensure your SUCCESS in Internet
Business world. You can get a copy NOW at

http://www.yourmultipleincome.com

Your success depends on your action taken NOW!

I can guarantee you I am experiencing the power of Internet Business and potential
passive income I would receive.

Thank you and hope you would enjoy your freedom of work and play brought about by the Internet world.

Best Regards

Regardless of the frustrations involved in launching your own newsletter, never forget this truth: There are people from all walks of life, in all parts of the world, many of them with no writing ability whatsoever, who are making incredible profits with their newsletter.

Your first step should be to subscribe to many different newsletters. Analyze and study how the others are doing it. Learn how the successful newsletter publishers are doing it, and how they are making money. Adapt their success methods to your own newsletter, and add your own flare to it.

Plan your newsletter before launching it. Come up with a plan of action, daily, weekly, bi-weekly, etc. Make a plan to distribute it, using subscription services and lead sources.

Most newsletter publishers do all the work themselves, and are impatient to get that first issue online. As a result, they neglect to devote the proper amount of time to market research and distribution. Don’t start your newsletter with out first having accomplished this task!

Market research is simply determining who you will be marketing your newsletter to, and who will be interested in buying your products and services, and reading your newsletter. You have to determine what it is they want from your newsletter.

Your market research must give you unbiased answers about your newsletter’s capabilities of fulfilling your prospective buyer’s need for information; The questions of why they need your information, and how they will use it should be answered. Make sure you have the answers to these questions, publish your newsletter as a vehicle of fulfillment to these needs, and you’re on your way!

You’re going to loose prospects unless your newsletter has a real point of difference that can be easily perceived by your prospective buyer. If you are using someone else’s newsletter and just adding your own affiliate links, don’t be surprised when you prospects start dropping out.

The design and graphics of your newsletter, plus your unique content will help with keeping your prospects from opting out.

The name of your newsletter should also help to set it apart from similar newsletters, and describe what your basic premise is all about. A good name reinforces your advertising. Choose a name that defines what your newsletter is all about.

Try to make your newsletter’s name brand able and memorable - one that flows automatically. Don’t pick a name that’s so vague it could apply to almost anything. The name should identify your newsletter and its subject quickly and positively. You should also brand it with your domain name if at all possible.

When you send out your newsletter, make sure that you use a name variable with your autoresponder. People like to see and feel that they are the only one that you are sending your newsletter to. You create trust and a feeling in the reader that they are special.

You may want to add a picture of yourself, so your prospects have an idea of whom is sending them this valuable information. The use of pictures will set your publication apart from the others and give it an individual image, which is precisely what
you want.

The decision as to whether to carry paid advertising, and if so, how much, is another policy decision that should be made while your newsletter is still in the planning stages. Some purists feel that advertising corrupts the image of the newsletter and may
influence editorial policy. Most people accept advertising as a part of everyday life, and don’t care one way or the other.

The only problem with accepting advertising in your newsletter would appear to be that as your subscription list grows, so may the number of advertisers. At this point, the basic premise or philosophy of the newsletter often changes from news and practical information to one of an advertiser’s showcase. So think this out clearly before you decide what you want the reader to experience with your newsletter.

Promoting your newsletter, finding prospective buyers and converting these prospects into loyal subscribers, will be the most difficult task of your entire undertaking. It takes detailed planning, persistence and patience.

Make sure you send a welcome letter when a new prospect signs up and tell the reader how they are going to benefit from your newsletter, and then keep emphasizing right on through your “PS”, the many benefits they will gain from staying on your subscriber list. . Give the reader a solid list of benefits with examples of what you have, or you intend to include, in your newsletter.

You have to make your prospect feel that “this is the insider’s secret” to the success they want to achieve. Present it to your subscriber as their own personal key to success.

Prepare yourself for the fact that not everyone that signs up for your newsletter will buy your product or service. That is all part of the internet marketing business. However, you should not be discouraged, keep trying to get as many subscribers as possible and always be available to answer any questions your subscriber may have. Good luck with your newsletter.

Your list articles could be a top ten list or top seven list that deals with a specific subject.

You could also write up a list of tips that deals with a broad subject such as marketing or promotion, and then add a
catchy headline or title to your list.

Your list article could be without an introduction or you could write up a few short sentences or paragraphs to lead into your new list article.

With your introduction, write just enough to get your readers interested in your article before going into your list.

Some tips that will help you to maximize the success of your list articles are:

1. Make each tip informative.

You could tell your reader the benefit of using your tip, go into detail about how to use your tip, or define how your tip works if you’re writing about something that is new to your reader.

One tip could simply state the benefit of using your tip, or you could tell your reader the benefit of using your tip and
also how to use your tip.

The key is to provide genuinely useful information to your reader. If you’re able to do this, you’ll be able to get your articles published and achieve long term promotion of your business.

2. Write for your target audience.

For example, if you wrote a manual on
e-zine publishing you could write up a list of ten e-zine promotion tips.

3. Use lots of white space.

Your articles will look cleaner and more professional, and you’ll be able to keep your readers, including your skim readers, interested in your article.

4. Vary the length of your sentences.

Use short and long sentences to get your points across.

For example, if you have two or three short sentences in a row, you could transform these short sentences into one compound sentence.

You could also make these short sentences into one compound sentence and one short sentence.

5. Write your articles as if you are writing to one person or even talking to that person.

Writing your articles in this way will help you to add your personality to your writing, and make it feel like you’re
speaking directly to your reader.

6. Use the active voice.

Using the active voice will make your writing more straightforward.

It will also help you to keep your list article from becoming uninteresting or confusing to your reader.

7. Go over your article for mistakes.

Many article writers, even though they write very informative articles, have a problem with spelling and grammar mistakes.

Because they’re easily avoidable, making mistakes like this can make your writing seem amateurish and decrease your chances of getting your article published.

8. Leave your list article for a couple of days and then go over it again adding detail where it’s needed and eliminating parts of your article that are unneeded.

Afterwards recheck your article for mistakes.

9. Read your article out loud.

By doing this, you’ll be able to make your article read just like you speak.

You’ll also be able to make changes to parts of your article that don’t flow very well or that are unclear to your reader.

10. Have someone else read over your article after you’re done.

You’ll be able to get honest feedback for your article that will either tell you that you’re article is really good or that your article needs some work.

If you’re article needs some work, getting this feedback will help you to avoid making the mistake of promoting your article before it’s ready to be published.

11. Promote your e-zine in your resource box.

Promoting your e-zine in your resource box will help you to successfully keep in contact with your readers and keep your
marketing message on their minds.

In your resource box, have your readers visit your site to subscribe to your e-zine or have an email address (i.e., subscribe@yourdomain.com) that forwards emails to your subscription email.

Doing this will enable you to continue to get more subscribers from your list articles even if you decide to change list hosts or autoresponder services.

12. Promote your finished article.

Submit your article to article directories, article announcement lists, and also to
e-zine publishers.

Also post your article on your site, and keep your site updated with your new articles.

1.Central nic is a domain registry offering alternative to the TLD and Country level domains. If you missed out on your chance to get the domain name you desired, now you are offered a second chance to get in on the action. Get the domain name you want with a .com extension!

2. uk.com, gb.com, .eu.com, and more are all available from domain registrars. Thus, if you missed out on your opportunity to get a .uk, .gb, or a .eu domain name, you will get a second chance to get the domain name you desire when you register for a central nic domain.

3.If you are set on a name that has been taken by another Webmaster, a Central nic name can be a good alternative. With a Central nic domain name you can still get the domain name you want with the added commercial extension. Don’t settle for a second choice domain name—get your central nic domain name precisely the way you want your domain name to be.

4. The commercial extension in a central nic domain name is already well established. So many websites on the Internet use .com extensions that it has become a near universal aspect of many domain names. Plus, the short extension is unobtrusive—it does not hurt the overall length of your domain name—nor does it decrease the effectiveness of a central nic domain name.

5. Using keywords in a domain is useful for SE purposes—yet, it can be difficult to get a domain name that is keyword enriched if the applicable domain names are already taken. Now, with our central nic domain name offerings, you get another great opportunity to get a keyword enriched domain name that will immediately improve your search engine ranking.

6. With a short commercial extension, Webmasters will still have a domain address that is easy to remember. You don’t have to worry about compromising a memorable domain address—the .com extension is easy to remember and hardly increases the length of a domain name at all. In fact, with so many domain names ending in .com, the commercial extension is almost expected by web users.

7. Registering for a central nic domain name now will ensure that you get in on the most popular domain names available. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to get the most popular domain names available. Popular domain names that draw significant traffic to websites will disappear quickly. Thus, the sooner you register for your central nic domain name, the better your chances will be that you get the exact domain name that you desire.

8. Beat the rush—you already know that on April 7, 2006, the Landrush phase for .eu domain names will commence. Why submit an application in hopes that you will be able to get the domain name you desire. Instead, secure a central nic domain now with a .com extension and ensure that you get the domain name you want. Thus, while everyone is struggling to get in on the .eu domain names, you will be ahead of the game when you register for your central nic domain name.

9. Whether you want to establish a business website or a personal website, there is no restrictions when you apply for a central nic domain name. That’s right; anyone can apply for a central nic domain name, even if their website is not for commercial use. No need to wait for the proper time to submit your application—if you want to register for a central nic domain name you an do so right now—today, this very minute!

10. Why wait until April when Eurid opens to the public, to get your domain name, when you can register for a central nic domain name and get your domain name quickly? Now is the time to get in on all of the central nic domain names available—the more time you spend delaying—the lower your chances are for getting in on the most popular central nic domain names.

The first, and most critical, step for registering your domain name is choosing the right one. The perfect domain name is memorable, unique, easy to spell, and will rank high in searches. Here’s what to do.

1. Keep it simple. The shortest and most direct domain name is always the best. You’ll have to get creative to find it, though, because almost every single word in English is gone. Most of the best domain names being registered today are a company name, a person’s name, or two-word combinations. If you use a two-word combination, try to own it both with and without the dash: happydogs and happy-dogs.

2. Try to use a domain name with your keyword in it. If you have a dog-oriented business, the happydogs/happy-dogs domain names are perfect.

Why? Because when you use your keyword, the search engines take notice. A dog-oriented web site with the word “dog” in the URL is always assumed to be closer to what a searcher is looking for than one that doesn’t have that word in it; because the search engines are in the business of giving searchers what they’re looking for, they will rank that site higher.

3. Don’t use creative spelling. Your customers aren’t looking for a puzzle, they’re looking for you and your product. You can use the number 1 in your title, but don’t register the website Cre8ive; no one will ever find it, and it means nothing to the search engines.

4. Before you register, try to come up with at least a dozen different names; your top choices will almost certainly be taken, but it’s much less frustrating to register names when you have plenty of alternatives ready to go.

5. If you have a business that does a lot of volume in the UK or that is targeted specifically at a UK consumer base, getting UK in your domain name is a great way to rank higher in the search engines. The primary extensions for United Kingdom websites are .com and .co.uk.

However, most of the best domain names with these extensions are taken. Avoid buying a .info or another alternate extension; few people look for these. You should also avoid the .org extension unless you’re running a non-profit business. Acceptable alternatives to these extensions are the .uk.com and the .net extensions. If more than one of these extensions is available for your domain name, you should buy them all; domain names are not expensive, and you can point multiple ones at your web site. Buying multiple similar names ensures that you keep the competition away from your name, and that any search for your domain name will bring you up. Most large corporations use this trick; companies like Disney buy up every trademark they own.

6. When you register a domain name, as soon as the traffic starts picking up on it go ahead and renew it for multiple years. This is an investment. Even if you don’t keep the site yourself, you can resell your valuable virtual real estate at a profit later. Renewing it for a long time can keep someone from sneaking in and registering your domain name if you miss the expiration, too.

7. Register with a company that has been around for a while and charges enough that you know they won’t go bankrupt. This makes it much easier when you renew; instead of re-registering, all you have to do is let your registrar know that you want to renew. Shop around a bit, though, so you’ll have a good idea of price ranges.

realized that many persons are seeking a magic button to success.
What is even more interesting is that they really believe that
it exist.

I have never encountered anything of such nature, the
achievements of so many are owed to hard work,
persistence and dedication.

If there is a magic button online then Send may be the one that
you are looking for. Puzzled? Newsletters and ezines are known to
connect with readers on a more personal level than websites and
their subscribers received fresh content daily, weekly or
monthly.

A newsletter demands a lot of work and commitment to become
successful. It can be used to subtle sell your affiliate products
and also to drive traffic to your website(s).

Even though your subscriber base might be in the thousands, it is
essential that you write to connect with each on a personal
level. This way relationships are built and in the long run these friendships can
result in sales.

It is when you have covered the basic steps that you are on your
way to creating your magic button. By clicking on Send, you almost
immediately place yourself in a most valued target –your
subscribers’ mailbox. The thing is even if you are short on
money, you can still venture into newsletter publishing.

Many companies like Topica offer such services for free. One
disadvantage is that some of them may place advertisements in
each issue e.g. Getresponse, which may dilute your credibility.

You can take it to a more professional level
if you can afford it by getting your own domain name, newsletter
template and email management software.

Forget about finding a magic button to success online and go
create your own. Send. It feels good to know that at a click of a
button you can connect with a global audience almost instantly.

Obviously there is more ground to cover here but if you are
interested then you will take your interest beyond this article.

Happy Researching.

© Oceanroc Web Publishing

So basically, more content means more visitors which means more m*ney!

But what if you really hate writing or can’t think of ways to get more content?

If that is the case, then here are six great places where you can easily add quality content to your website.

Google Alerts

Google has a service that sends news, press releases, and website information to your email account. Easy to set up, you enter a search phrase and Google Alerts will send you updates about that specific topic. You easily take this information and create a 100-150 word summary that can be entered into a blog or news section.

Public Domain

There are tons of books, magazines and websites full of great content that can be easily copied to your website. Called Public Domain Works, this is content that is written by someone else which has no copyright protection. You have the legal-right to take it and use it for your own purpose. By using public domain works, you can easily create sites with thousands of pages.

Articles

By using other people’s articles, you can easily add thousands of pages to your website. If you go to an article directory, you can find a large variety of web articles that are related to your topic. In addition, most of these articles are quite informative and provide quality content to your web visitor.

Outsource Your Content

If you have a little c*sh to spend, you can easily hire someone else to write tons of web content. What I usually do is find about 30-50 profitable keywords in my niche and hire someone to write an optimized article of 400-600 words. Usually you can find authors for around $8-$10 per article. So for a small-investment, you can get great content that is unique and optimized for search engines.

Private Label Resale Rights

One of the “hidden” places to get quality content is through websites that offer private label resale rights. With private label rights you get full access to ebooks and articles that are written by other people. You have full permission to change or present the content in any way that you see fit. So if you find an ebook with 101 tips on a topic, you can easily turn this material into a series of web pages. You can also take this one step further and create an autoresponder sequence that is tied into your major affiliate-program.

RSS Feeds

A great way to get fresh content is to have a RSS Feed installed on your website. Basically a RSS Feed is a tool that pulls news items from a website or blog. A great trick is to place the RSS Feed on all your web pages, so search engines see that your content is being consistently updated.

What I usually do is use a feed that pulls entries from my own blog. That way, I can control the content and amount of times that it is being updated.

Although I have given you six great places to get content, there is one thing you should know about using it. Many search engines penalize websites for having duplicate content. So if you know that this information is listed on other sites, you need to change or add to the content. What I usually do is add to or alter about 25% of the content. This will help you avoid the duplicate content filter that is used by major search engines.

By utilizing all six of these content sources, you can easily build up a site filled with thousands of pages of fresh quality content that will attract tons of web-traffic. Once this is done, you will see your income soar through the roof.

The disturbing fact is that those of us who run our own small businesses are more at risk than our corporate comrades. They can enjoy the luxury of choosing whether to put all their eggs in one basket, but most of us only have the one egg, and there’s no shortage of ways to break it.

Chances are that your business is reliant on one single person in one single office. So taking precautions shouldn’t just be a habit, it should be a way of life.

What If Something Happened To You?

Let’s look at the first link in the chain. You. If your business relies almost completely on your name, knowledge and capabilities, have you considered what might happen if something were to happen to you? If you catch a cold, you’ll probably be able to keep things ticking over. But what if you need to go away unexpectedly for a few days? Or need some kind of longer break? Is your system setup in a way that your partner can keep things ticking over? Or is most of it in your head? If you have a lot of time-based commitments, and rely on your business as your main source of income, then it might be worthwhile showing someone how things work now, before it becomes vital to do so. Try to imagine explaining to someone on the phone how to create a mail-merge from your database and word processor. Nasty.

As with most things in life, an hour or two of preparation could be a sound move, and time well spent. Showing your assistant or spouse how your email client works, where you store your client list, and how to process an order might take you an hour. But this could well save you a great deal of time, stress and money at some point in the future. Think ahead, and plan for the worst. Caution is not paranoia.

Your Equipment Is Vulnerable

The next link in the chain is your equipment. 99% of the work that I do is carried out on a computer. To describe a PC as vulnerable is something of an understatement. Viruses, power-surges, hardware breakdowns, lightning, idiocy, coffee, bad-software, dog-fur, theft … the list of potential enemies is endless. No-one likes computer problems, but when they can grind your business to a halt, they’re a whole lot more important.

And let’s face it. Call me superstitious if you wish, but you know as well as I do that these problems always happen at the worst time. When’s the last time you had a system crash when you just wanted to browse the newsgroups, fire-off a letter to a friend, or test your skill behind the (virtual) controls of a Concorde? It doesn’t happen. The problems strike when you’re working. The night before I had to hand in a business proposal for funding was the first (and only) time that my Windows 2000 went belly-up. I couldn’t get it going - not through safe mode, using start-up disks, emergency repair - nothing worked.

So take precautions. A basic UPS device can protect your computer from a power surge or power-cut, and as such might well save your data one day. If you haven’t yet got one, my advice would be to put it at the very top of your list, especially if your area is prone to power fluctuations or electrical storms. Weigh up the cost of buying one against the cost of losing your data. Worth it?

Backups Are your Best Friends

Backups have become a way of life for me. I backup my critical data every night onto a ZIP disk, and use a set of three in rotation. I have never and will never miss a backup. While I’ve only had to use them four or five times in as many years, they’ve been a real life saver each time. Make it a habit. Slapping your forehead saying “I wish, I wish” after the event is no good; trust me!

On top of that I make a more thorough backup once a week onto a CD-R. Other options include FTP storage and backing-up over a network. Look into all of them. Off-site storage is also a good idea. If you’re ever unlucky enough to experience either a fire or theft, you may realise the pointlessness of keeping your backups in the same room. Sending or mailing a CD once a month to someone in your family takes minutes and costs almost nothing. If you never use the backups, what have you lost? If the day comes when you do need them, you’ll be grateful.

In terms of what to backup, it couldn’t be simpler. Imagine that your hard drive has just died, right now, and you can’t access any of the information on it. What do you wish you’d backed up? Now’s the time to do so. Setting up a good backup system and routine shouldn’t take longer than an hour or so. Doing so could save you days of work, chaos and lost income in the future.

If something critical happens to your main machine, and you can’t fix it yourself in minutes or hours, what then? Having a separate “spare” machine might be worth looking into. It doesn’t have to be a top of the range powerhorse; an old 486 will be enough to at least deal with emails and process orders, while your main machine gets fixed. If you already have one or more in use, then you might want to look into how usable they are as a spare machine. Do you have some way of transferring your backup data into them for instance? A parallel-port ZIP drive is an odd shaped lifesaver, but it does the trick. A little forethought can make the difference between an inconvenience and a full-blown disaster.

There’s also no shortage of software to make your life easier. Personally I swear by PowerQuest’s Drive Image, which allows me to make a complete image of the whole of my hard drive. If my system dies unexpectedly and can’t be fixed, I can use it to restore either a just-installed fresh Windows 2000, or my system as it was one or two months ago. This should take no more than half an hour - think how long it takes to format your hard drive, install the operating system, then all your software. Time and money well spent.

Is Your Web Connection Reliable?

The next link in the chain is your web connection. Almost all my work involves some use of the web. Take away my internet connection and I’m blind, deaf and soon to be broke! Because of this I have a permanent high-speed connection with one of the main phone companies in Finland. I also have a separate account with a different server, that can use my old 56 modem on a regular phone line. It costs me all of $9 a month, but if/when my permanent connection goes down, I can still work - a little slower, but it’s certainly usable. I look at it as a very cheap form of insurance.

A few months ago I experienced a real-life nightmare. My website went down one morning; the site was unavailable, and email was getting swallowed-up. That’s right - not bouncing, but somehow vanishing. So anyone writing to me assumed I’d received the email but never replied. My server assured me that the problem would be fixed within a few hours. It wasn’t, in fact it still wasn’t fixed a week later. This problem cost me dearly in time and income. It won’t happen again.

I now have a backup site, on a different server. My main site is at www.sharewarepromotions.com, but if this ever goes down for any length of time, a letter will go out to all my clients, and everyone who has ever contacted me, telling them to use the www.shareware-promotions.com site and email addresses. The site itself isn’t yet finished but a basic version is already in place, and the email is fully functional. If I ever need it in an emergency it’s there, and I even have the letter ready to go out. I pay around $4 a month for the web space, taking advantage of the low price and reliability available from SWREG.ORG. If I never have to use it, I’ll be happy. If my main site goes down, it’ll be business as usual, and this time I won’t lose any income. Again, a very cheap form of insurance. Be prepared.

A few final common-sense tips. If you have a large number of downloads each day, don’t rely on one single location for your files. If they go down, you go down. Also make sure you have the contact details for your server. If your server’s site also become unavailable, you won’t be able to find their emergency phone number on their site either. Keep these details somewhere safe.

Think through every single problem that could happen, and work out exactly what you’d do if each should actually occur. While the chances of your office being hijacked are fairly remote, the chance of you experiencing some sort of server or hardware problem are high. If the website is a critical component of your business, and your business a main source of your income, then you don’t want to wait until the server goes down before looking for a new host and registering a domain name. Be seen, be sold.