Choosing which blogging platform to use is one of the most important decisions that you can make as a blogger. The right platform can make blogging a breeze, and the wrong platform can make blogging a chore. Because the program that you use to blog with is such a powerful part of your blogging experience, it is well worth putting in the time to find a platform that provides your ideal balance between a user-friendly interface and a flexible framework that allows you to make your blog look and feel unique. Finding the right platform isn't always easy, but with a little bit of contemplation and a little bit of research, you will be on your way to finding the perfect blogging platform.

Deciding what your priorities are in terms of ease of use versus customization. Most highly customizable blogging platforms, like moveable type, are a bit more difficult to use than very automated platforms like wordpress. If you are new to blogs and to internet technology, you might want to sacrifice the ability to create a custom background design or to integrate a unique font into your template in order to find a program that will be easy for you to use. On the other hand, if you are a veteran web designer with knowledge of html or javascript, you will probably find the limitations of a user-friendly platform to be frustrating.

There is no such thing as a blogging platform that is objectively the best platform, because every blogger has unique needs. The blogging movement is very much about individuality, so it makes plenty of sense that there would be many different platforms available that are designed to meet the needs of different kinds of individuals undertaking different kinds of projects. This diversity is a good thing, because it means that you will almost certainly be able to find a program that suits your level of technical aptitude.

However, the fact that no two bloggers need the same thing from a blogging platform can make your search for the right platform a bit tricky. When you are reading reviews of different platforms, try to keep your priorities in mind and do your best to take into account the position that the reviewer is coming from. For example, a negative review written by an accomplished software designer who complains that a popular platform is too limited may tell you that the platform in question is ideal for a beginning blogger. There is no such thing as the perfect platform for everybody, so instead of looking for the "best" platform, look for the best platform for your specific criteria.

Professional blogging is a very new idea with a lot of potential for entrepreneurs who have insight, drive, and a basic understanding of today's innovative web technology. The ranks of so-called pro bloggers are still quite small, and there are very few people who make their living entirely off of their blogs. However, every day there are more and more people who have managed to turn their weblogs into cash cows that supplement their income. The number of pro bloggers is growing by leaps and bounds, but it is difficult to say whether this trend will continue.

Many bloggers dream of entering the sphere of professional blogging. There are very few people who happily devote an hour or more each day to their blog without at least occasionally wishing that they could earn some kind of financial reward for all of their work. Several models exist for making money with a blog, the most popular being to sell advertising space through Google's AdSense program or directly to a company that wishes to reach the demographic that your blog appeals to. However, there are very few people indeed who can make a comfortable living just by selling space on their blog sidebars.

A lot of the people who read weblogs are bloggers themselves, in part because of the fact that the people who use blogging technology on a daily basis are most likely to be interested in what other writers are doing with the medium. This fact begins to explain why the people who succeed in the world of professional blogging are mostly people who have devoted themselves almost entirely to learning about, talking about, and writing about blogging. More than any other topic, pro bloggers turn their attention to the phenomenon of blogging itself. A lot of pro bloggers make the topic of blogging the stunningly self-reflexive ongoing focus of their blogs.

Of course, professional blogging is destined to become much more complicated in the future than it is today. In the current moment, pro bloggers who attract the largest audiences and make the most money are mostly concerned with investigating the blogging movement and with offering advice to amateur bloggers. However, as the kinds of people who regularly read blogs changes, and the demographics of bloggers expand and diversify as blogging software becomes more user friendly, it is very likely indeed that the world of pro blogging will begin to reflect these changes. Indeed, it is very difficult to predict exactly what kinds of blogs will be reaping the greatest financial rewards five or ten years down the road. The world of pro blogging is one of constant change and flux, which is part of what makes it so exciting.

<a href="http://12b3drq-x1kdw99c5er7xquc6p.hop.clickbank.net" title="Deadbeat Super Affiliate" width="695" target="_blank"><img src="http://affiliatemarketing.boxx.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/deadbeat-super-affiliate-screenshot.png" alt="Deadbeat Super Affiliate" title="Deadbeat Super Affiliate" width="695" height="554" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-166" /></a>

<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Sleep Walk into your first $3,000 month… then sit back and watch as you start passively banking $11,461 a month or more… and once the money starts coming it’s UNSTOPPABLE… even if you stay in bed all day and hardly touch your PC for weeks.</strong></p>

Here's why affiliate marketing with Amazon and similar "name brand product" networks is not only the <em>laziest</em>... but hands-down the most RELIABLE way to make it as an affiliate... and not just for a week or a month – <em>for good</em>...

The "rules" almost NEVER change.

It's a deadbeat's dream come true – Amazon's been running the same  "Associate's Program" since 1996 (they practically <em>invented</em> the idea of giving commissions on product sales)...

... and in all the time I've been paying my rent with it there's  never  been any need to switch up the traffic sources and strategies  I've been using  since the beginning.

You can get away without learning any fancy new traffic tricks  for  years at a time... so you can finally stop chasing down the endless  rat race of  new "opportunities" that flood your email inbox everyday.

Think about it: One day Google's up... then it's down. Then there  was  Twitter... now Twitter's "dead"?... and the next "big thing" is  Facebook... or  media buying... or some new flavor of Google...

Well, you can hit the "unsubscribe" button on all those "must read"  guru lists...

... because the only "change" that's going to happen with Amazon  anytime  soon is an explosion in profits as more and more shoppers go  online looking for  the best deals on everything from books and DVDs to  Plasma bigscreens and  kitchenware.

<a href="http://12b3drq-x1kdw99c5er7xquc6p.hop.clickbank.net/" title="Deadbeat Super Affiliate" width="695" target="_blank"><img src="http://affiliatemarketing.boxx.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/visit-site-now-button.jpg" alt="Deadbeat Super Affiliate" title="Deadbeat Super Affiliate" width="320" height="90" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-168" /></a>

<a href="http://12b3drq-x1kdw99c5er7xquc6p.hop.clickbank.net/" title="Deadbeat Super Affiliate" width="695" target="_blank"><img src="http://affiliatemarketing.boxx.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/deadbeat-super-affiliate-img1.jpg" alt="Deadbeat Super Affiliate" title="Deadbeat Super Affiliate" width="671" height="784" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-162" /></a>

<a href="http://12b3drq-x1kdw99c5er7xquc6p.hop.clickbank.net/" title="Deadbeat Super Affiliate" width="695" target="_blank"><img src="http://affiliatemarketing.boxx.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/visit-site-now-button.jpg" alt="Deadbeat Super Affiliate" title="Deadbeat Super Affiliate" width="320" height="90" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-168" /></a>

So whether you decide to quit your job... or just cut back your hours...

... or even if your friends talk you into performing some ill-advised martial arts stunt that doesn't involve a game controller and you end up knocked out on painkillers the size of horse pills...

... or you go into work tomorrow... and just like you knew they would -- some fat ass eats your clearly-marked lunch out of the fridge and you finally lose control... and it's like an out of body experience where you just see yourself cursing people out and you know there's no turning back...

... or for whatever reason, whether it's on you or the luck of the draw, you wake up tomorrow... next week... or next month with no more 9-5 paychecks coming in...

... Amazon's never going to fire you, downsize you, or "Google slap" you... and the money keeps coming in without having to start over from scratch every few weeks when some "algorithm" or fine-print policy changes up on you.

It's the only way I've ever discovered (and believe me, I've tried almost everything online) that you can literally make money while you sleep... and just keep hitting the snooze button knowing everything's running just fine without you.

All you need to do is get your ticket punched and settle in for the ride.

<a href="http://12b3drq-x1kdw99c5er7xquc6p.hop.clickbank.net/" title="Deadbeat Super Affiliate" width="695" target="_blank"><img src="http://affiliatemarketing.boxx.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/deadbeat-super-affiliate-img2.jpg" alt="Deadbeat Super Affiliate" title="Deadbeat Super Affiliate" width="609" height="406" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-169" /></a>


<a href="http://12b3drq-x1kdw99c5er7xquc6p.hop.clickbank.net/" title="Deadbeat Super Affiliate" width="695" target="_blank"><img src="http://affiliatemarketing.boxx.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/visit-site-now-button.jpg" alt="Deadbeat Super Affiliate" title="Deadbeat Super Affiliate" width="320" height="90" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-168" /></a>

Are you into an on-line business venture? Have you done your research on the ways to maximize the full potentials of your enterprise? How are you going to market your products or services? When pursuing an endeavour such as this, you have one goal to reach. That is, targeted traffic.

If you will look around, you will see that there are numerous methods that you may use in order to get the traffic that you need for your website. Some of these methods will require you to spend and invest on them while some come for free. Whichever you choose, what matters is that you take time to see the results. It is not all about paying so you can get traffic. What is more important is that you put on your efforts to attend to all your marketing needs.

Search engine optimization or SEO is one of the methods that most experts advise to use. It is a kind of marketing technique that nonetheless works to enhance the tactics and strategies employed in a website so that it will get higher rankings in the search engines. Sure enough, there are particular strategies that may be adhered to for the improvement of a ranking of a website.

When it comes to search engine optimization, it matters that you recognize the relevance of the use of the appropriate keywords and key phrases. After all, that is the core of the success of your rankings. You can check out with the Google Analytics to find out the words and phrases that are often sought after. The popular ones hit the conversion goals.

If you want to be as unique as possible, you need to keep away from the commonly searched for and used words and phrases. After all, the competition is just too much. Meaning to say, you may not have the best chances of making it to the top ranks. If you plan to work on the same niche as with the others, you may provide a variation to your keywords and key phrases. You can also use the Adwords key suggestion tool for more ideas.

It is imperative that you focus on the site structure as well as the content structure when you want to heighten your ranking status. It is necessary that you work on making your rankings higher. When readers get to see you having posted useful, informative, and highly creative write ups, they likely tend to follow you and check out your link. When convinced, they will surely make a deal with you.

Don't make your website too complicated. Even when you want to have animations and graphics, try to limit them. A hard to navigate site will be a nuisance to the visitors. Plus, it will take a lot of time to get loaded.

Never ever duplicate the contents that you have already posted. Not only will they be redundant but readers will think you are recycling your articles and that they are just wasting time in visiting your site.

So, these are the essential tips in targeting traffic through SEO. Try it now and have a wonderful business going on!

The value of targeted web site traffic can never be equal to that of a merely free traffic. Visitors that are easily directed to certain web sites, even for free, if totally clueless as to what the website is all about, are likely going to exit your web pages just as fast as how they have landed on them. You may even find yourself falling from the search engine ranks if this continues to happen, not to mention being banned and the like.

But yes, the web is such an avenue for great opportunities that even free targeted traffic can possibly be obtained. But that does not come without efforts from your end. Here are some tips to building free targeted traffic.

Blogs. If you have a passion for writing and do not mind sharing your ideas on the web, this should not be very hard for you. Blogs are among the most effective ways to get "really" targeted traffic.

The freedom to express your message via compelling articles gives you the chance to capture readers' attention through your writing skill coupled with some interesting images that are sure to spice up interests. When writing blogs, you have the option to directly pitch your website to your readers (seldom done) or do it in subtle, less obvious ways.

You may post ads on your blog, insert links on some key phrases – all of which will lead targeted traffic to your site when clicked. There are numerous blog sites on the web that you can tap all for free.

Forum Participations. This is also another way of getting targeted traffic at no cost. Simply visit forums that discuss topics related to the nature of your website. Participate either by posting your own questions or by answering existing forum inquiries. There may be instances when you can directly refer your website as part of your answers, or you may need to employ tactics to insert it as part of your main answers.

Usually, and this is the safest way to showcase your site for the possibility of getting free targeted traffic, include your web site's domain name on your signature block. Don't be satisfied by just putting your name at the end of your answer. Insert your domain names and URLs so that the readers (who are interested with the forum topic, which is related to the nature of your website) have the option of clicking them and hence becoming a part of your free targeted traffic.

Link Exchange. You are also free to browse the web for link exchange and invite web sites with similar or related industries as yours. Make sure to provide clear link details (an interesting title, clear description, and accurate URL) to draw targeted traffic from websites which visitors may also be highly interested on your web site content. Anyone who visits a web site and cares to navigate through its pages, so that he reaches its resources or links page and clicks on your displayed link – is a very promising portion of your targeted web site traffic.

Affiliate marketing is a process where the merchant will pay a portion of their sales revenue to an affiliate if the sale is result of the affiliate's promotion to the products and services offered by the merchant.

Now days, it's one of the fastest growing industries because it's cost efficient and quantifiable for both the affiliate and the merchant.  Other players can profit as well, such as the affiliate network or the affiliate solutions provider.

The best benefit for the merchant is the fact that he will gain opportunities to advertise his products to a much larger market, therefore increasing his chances to earn.  The more affiliates the merchant obtains, the more sales he can expect.

With the merchant having affiliates market his products and services, he will save himself time, effort, and money in looking for markets as well as customers.  The affiliate marketer will benefit from each customer that clinks on the link in his website and who actually purchases a product from the merchant.

If you have wanted to join the growing legion of affiliate marketers and have an unlimited potential for income, simply follow these 3 steps to start an effective affiliate marketing program.

1.  Identify something that interests you or you feel very passionate about.  Then, focus on a specific area you know a lot about, as this will help you bring out your best and give your visitors who are possible buyers a demonstration of your expert in this field.  This way, you'll gain their trust and encourage them to buy the products that you endorse.

2.  Search for merchants and products or services that are related to your interest  then creat a web site with top level domain names and very reliable hosting.  When you choose the products for your web site, you need to consider the commission structure and the conversion rate.

There are many different affiliate networks and affiliate solution providers where you can obtain the information on most profitable products and which merchants pay the best.  Take your time - and be sure you choose the right one.

3.  Now, you are ready to promote.  You've chosen everything you need and even created your very own website.  You'll need to be creative, flexible, and willing to embrace new ideas.  By this stage, you'll be well on your way to making more money than you ever imagined - and enjoying every minute of it.

The ideal world of affiliate marketing does not require having your won website, dealing with customers, refunds, product development and maintenance. This is one of the easiest ways of launching into an online business and earning more profits.

Assuming you are already into an affiliate program, what would be the next thing you would want to do? Double, or even triple, your commissions, right? How do you do that?

Here are some powerful tips on how to boost your affiliate program commissions overnight.

1. Know the best program and products to promote. Obviously, you would want to promote a program that will enable you to achieve the greatest profits in the shortest possible time.

There are several factors to consider in selecting such a program. Choose the ones that have a generous commission structure. Have products that fit in with your target audience. And that has a solid track record of paying their affiliate easily and on time. If you cannot seem to increase your investments, dump that program and keep looking for better ones.

There are thousands of affiliate programs online which gives you the reason to be picky. You may want to select the best to avoid losing your advertising dollars.

Write free reports or short ebooks to distribute from your site. There is a great possibility that you are competing with other affiliates that are promoting the same program. If you start writing short report related to the product you are promoting, you will be able to distinguish yourself from the other affiliates.

In the reports, provide some valuable information for free. If possible, add some recommendations about the products. With ebooks, you get credibility. Customers will see that in you and they will be enticed to try out what you are offering.

2. Collect and save the email addresses of those who download your free ebooks. It is a known fact that people do not make a purchase on the first solicitation. You may want to send out your message more than six times to make a sale.

This is the simple reason why you should collect the contact information of those who downloaded your reports and ebooks. You can make follow-ups on these contacts to remind them to make a purchase from you.

Get the contact information of a prospect before sending them to the vendor’s website. Keep in mind that you are providing free advertisement for the product owners. You get paid only when you make a sale. If you send prospects directly to the vendors, chances are they would be lost to you forever.

But when you get their names, you can always send other marketing messages to them to be able to earn an ongoing commission instead of a one-time sale only.

Publish an online newsletter or Ezine. It is always best to recommend a product to someone you know than to sell to a stranger. This is the purpose behind publishing your own newsletter. This also allows you to develop a relationship based on trust with your subscribers.

This strategy is a delicate balance between providing useful information with a sales pitch. If you continue to write informative editorials you will be able to build a sense of reciprocity in your readers that may lead them to support you by buying your products.

3. Ask for higher than normal commission from merchants. If you are already successful with a particular promotion, you should try and approach the merchant and negotiate a percentage commission for your sales.

If the merchant is smart, he or she will likely grant your request rather than lose a valuable asset in you. Keep in mind that you are a zero-risk investment to your merchant; so do not be shy about requesting for addition in your commissions. Just try to be reasonable about it.

Write strong pay Per Click ads. PPC search engine is the most effective means of advertising online. As an affiliate, you can make a small income just by managing PPC campaigns such as Google AdWords and Overture. Then you should try and monitor them to see which ads are more effective and which ones to dispose of.

Try out these strategies and see the difference it can make to your commission checks in the shortest of time.

Well you have finally done it. You have packed in the rubbish job and told your boss exactly what you think. You have taken the plunge and made the decision to begin your own affiliate marketing business. Affiliate marketing can be very lucrative. It provides people with the opportunity to work for themselves with very little risk to them. Those that are sales savvy, good at marketing and are not afraid of a little hard work can often do incredibly well with an affiliate marketing program.

Affiliate marketing sounds easy but you do need to exercise some caution. You want to avoid the affiliate marketing pitfalls that can ruin your business and worse, have you crawling on your hands and knees back to that boss that now knows how you truly feel.

People tend to get excited when they start a new venture. Unfortunately this excitement and eagerness can cause them to miss key things in their agreement. Whenever you sign up for an affiliate marketing program, you will be expected to sign an agreement. The terms and conditions of the agreement for both sides should be outlined. However, if they want to hide something this is where they will put it. It will either be in the small print, so get your magnifying glass out, or they will baffle you with legal language. Either way, you need to read and understand your agreement thoroughly to avoid disappointment and lost earnings.

If you are signing up for a commission based affiliate marketing program then you need to understand how the term revenue is defined. This is one of the biggest pitfalls of the contracts. They may advertise 5-10% commissions but it all fall on how they define revenue. Most affiliate marketing programs will calculate commission on the gross value of the sale. In other words, the amount of money the site will get at the completion of the sale. You may think that this sounds great. However, you need to read this part of the agreement very carfully. The amount of the sale almost always excludes credit card or debit card payment surcharges. They also are likely to exclude payment and delivery charges as well as any gift wrapping or other surcharges. What sounded like a nice commission is soon shrinking before your eyes. Ask these questions specifically before you sign an agreement.

Some affiliate programs are even stricter in their definition of revenue. Your commission may be based on the profit margin of the sold product. For example, if you help sell a book for 20 dollars but the company only makes 10 dollars profit, you’ll receive a percentage of 10 dollars not 20. This can make a substantial difference in your earnings. Again, make sure you understand these things and ask specifically what your commission will be based upon. Read your agreement and look out for odd sounding clauses. These could come back to haunt you later.

Something else to beware of when you work on commission is returns. Many affiliate marketing companies only pay commission out on completed sales and then only if the customer keeps the item. If they return the items your commission could be cancelled. To really rub salt in the wounds, you could be billed for the outstanding commission if you do not have sufficient commission credit built up. Make sure you understand this before signing on. You cannot expect a company to pay you a commission on an item that is returned but make sure you understand their return policy. Find out your rights in this situation.

Affiliate marketing can be a great way to earn money. If you have good sales and marketing skills then it can give you the opportunity to out them to good use. You’ll be able to work for yourself and not someone who undervalues and does not appreciate them. One needs to consider affiliate marketing carefully. Make sure you understand your agreement and exactly what you will be paid for. You don’t want to have to go crawling back to your boss begging for your old job back.

If you are an affiliate marketer, you have two options. The first option is to choose the product which has a great demand in the market. These items are expected to be sold immediately due to the interest of the people. Some examples of such particular items are dating sites, casino sites and weight loss products. The second option is to choose a product that suits your interests and you, yourself like to promote it.

We recommend you choose a product which is considered to be the hot product in the market as well as you having some interest in it. For example if you are golfer, then you should choose golfing products to promote. These products are among the hottest products on the market. Plus if you are a golfer, it will be easy for you to give detailed information about it on your website. So you can give lots of information there, you can write the basic rules about that sport, you can also write the tips about how new golfers can improve their playing skills. You can also give some guidance to anyone who may want to purchase golf equipment by suggesting the best place to go for good quality equipment. Similarly, you can give lots of golf related information on your website that may attract more visitors.

Let us look at some of the important things before promoting ANY affiliate program

Choose Hot Products

Always choose the items which have a high demand in the market. If you want to choose a product but don’t know about the demand of that product, then visit Overture.com. Here you can check the bidding status of a product. If you find that many sellers are bidding for it, then it means it is a demanding product.

Be Familiar with Product

You must be knowledgeable about the product you are selling. If you do not know much about the product, how can you satisfy and convince your customer? You must know all the drawbacks of the product. Also do the comparative study of the product with the other same types of products present in the market. Provide your customers with this comparative study using graphs and tables. This will help sell your customers.

Good Sales Letter

Your sales letter is considered to be the key point for boosting your sales. It should be convincing enough for your consumer to want to buy. A good sales letter will attract visitors. You should also add some testimonials in it to make it more effective and believable.

Money Back Guarantee

If you want consumers to buy your product with no hesitation, then give them the benefit of a money back guarantee. If the affiliate program owner is not providing this guarantee with the product, then you should look for another merchant.

Contact Info

Physical address and contact info must be given on the site. This makes your website more reliable and trustable to your customers.

Real-time Statistics

Choose the affiliate program that can show you the real-time statistics of your visitors and sales. This will tell how many visitors are going to the merchant website from your website and how many visitors are converted into buyers. This will help you to see your progress.

How to find profitable affiliate programs

It is not difficult to find profitable affiliate programs. It is advised to search the most popular directories like AssociatePrograms.com or AffiliateMatch.com. Another option is to search in regular affiliate networks like Click Bank (for digital goods) and Commission Junction (mainly for physical goods).

Choosing the right affiliate program is the key factor. Always study the program in detail before choosing. See what are they offering? Good affiliate programs offer good profit, money back guarantee, real-time statistics and complete information about their products. You can search the good affiliates by using well known and trusted affiliate networks like Commission Junction and ClickBank.

Great Online Shopping Festival(GOSF), A word in ecommerce industry...GOSF for Indian ecommerce Industry

Will add stuff and latest update for GOSF. Keep watching this space

Everybody who is practically involved in an Internet business is after the knowledge of how to target traffic. Surely, traffic is very much important especially when promoting a specific website that sells products or services. Without the promotions, your business will not be recognized at all! So, what are the top ways on how you can generate the traffic that you want? Read on below.

Know and Use the Appropriate Keywords and Key Phrases

As an Internet marketer, your very first investment must be on the right keywords and key phrases. You see, they help you in getting the higher rankings in the popular search engines. It happens because the search engine spiders recognize the text or words used. As a tip, you should first research about the popular keywords that the public mostly search for. This will then give you an idea as to the niche that you must be working on.

If you want your business to be unique so that no competition will bug you, you can always do so. It may take a while before you get on top of the list but there is always a way on how you can make it included in the popular query listings.

Provide High Quality Content Articles

Now, as you have already determined the keywords and phrases to use, your second step is to come up with the keyword-rich content to be posted in your website. Be sure that whatever articles you compose are reader-friendly. Remember not to stuff your articles with too much keyword or else the entire text may look like a spam and therefore not attractive anymore. Worse, your content articles may even get banned from the search engines.

Make a Website that is Simple and User-friendly

Al right, so you want to entice your visitors with the graphics and series of animations in the website. However, it doesn't guarantee a following. Not only will it take time to load but the crawlers will also find it difficult to navigate through the site. When the crawler gets trapped, chances are it can’t any more proceed to the other web pages. Not even when you have optimized the content in the site by using the right keywords but a hard-to-navigate website becomes a problem.

Social Networking Website

Among the popularly known social networking websites these days include Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and the likes. Undoubtedly, they are able to gather millions of visitors on a daily basis. If you join one of them and start with your promotional campaign, you will surely be able to attract more potential customers.

RSS Feeds

Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication or better known as RSS feeds is known to generate more traffic. So, make a brief and concise summary of your website for people to know.

To target website traffic may be a bit tedious for you at first glance. But, if you know what to do and where to start, there will be no problem at all. So, keep these tips in mind for a more productive Internet business!