Am not yet sure how I am going to use this service for my business yet.  Still playing around with it.  You pick topics. Answer questions.  Guess what?  It said I am a techie!

Am I a “techie”? – make thousands more decisions on Hunch.com

Twitter was atwitter all day to day as the Tweeters tried to make sense of the latest (rumored) move in response to a myriad of copyright infringement by some Twitter users.  Bottom line is – protect your brand and keep your hands off someone else’s as Twitter moves to validate accounts this summer.

One of my Twitter peeps(websuccessdiva) did a nice job of summarizing the different “spins” various weblogs have on the Twitter validate issue.  Check out her blog:WebSuccessDiva.

Thanks to another peep and fellow classmate (BK), you can get directly to my twitter page here:  http://twitterval.com

A couple of emails ago we talked about the number of muscles it takes to frown vs smile. You know Wildly Successful Marketing is on Twitter (http://twitter.com/successify) and on Facebook (wildsuccess)

One follower’s followed operation smile Which led me here. So, I am spreading the work/word:

You asked and we listened!

A couple of people contacted us recently about the look of our blog.  We think they had a legitimate point – the site was just too dark, so we’ve definitely lightened it up!

In keeping with the “wildly” part of Wildly Successful Marketing, we picked up one of the colors in our header/logo and chose it as the basis of our blog.  We may test out more in the coming weeks. Let us know what YOU think?

We also dumped the Google ads and are taking the suggestion of one of our mentors.  You will notice some empty boxes on the top right that say “125 x 125″ or “your ad here”.  The opportunity to advertise on this site for DIRT CHEAP $$$ (how does $5 a month sound?) in a very prominent place .

Watch out for the launch SOON!

Please do not believe everything you read on the internet!  Great case in point is the new “Premium Twitter” application – it IS NOT TRUE.  Only a blogger have some fun (yikes!) at the expense of folks like you who want the BEST for their business and exposure on the hottest microblogging platform out there.   Check out this link for the entire story!

Have questions?  Comments?  Do you know something we all need to know?  Leave a comment now

Online marketing is a very competitive and fast pace business in which the smallest errors can take a chunk out of your online business.

Before you start an online business you should have a clearly defined plan as to how it will be managed. You’ll need to establish certain parameters, conditions, and systems concerning your objectives and the manner in which you’ll accomplish them.

Let’s have a look at 5 key rules you’ll want to adhere to insure yours will be a successful internet business.

#1 List Building

LIST BUILDING should be one of your TOP priorities as you work to establish your online business. Capturing the contact information of anybody who has shown interest in any of your marketing campaigns is a shrewd business strategy. This presents the opportunity to market to these people again in the future with less cost or effort.

#2 Relationship Building

You will want to start emailing these people about once a week with some useful information so you can start building a relationship with them; emailing them with helpful or entertaining information is a good start. By doing this you start to develop a rapport of sorts that breeds a certain familiarity with them. This will make your future marketing efforts more effective.

#3 Auto responder

An auto responder is a great way to keep in touch with your opt-in list even when you don’t have time to send them emails manually. The ability to prepare a series of emails that will be sent out on prescribed dates is an absolute must. Not only will it free you up to tend to other components of your marketing plan but it will also insure the timely and reliable delivery of your emails. The scheduling and frequency of your emails is left up to your discretion but you will want to maintain some sort of regulated contact with your list.

#4 Deliver Value

Each time you send emails to your list make sure that you include something that is useful to your list, like rebrandable ebooks or even just a free gift. People will need to know that what you have to offer will help or interest them. In order to make money online people need to be willing to buy from you. If you’re giving them free information and gifts they find useful they’ll assume products you are selling will hold EVEN MORE value for them. This assumption will motivate them to make the purchase.

#5 Test, then Test again

This last key rule you’ll need to follow is both ‘boring’ but ‘very important’ if you want a successful business that will make money online for you. You have to find out what really works when you are marketing which means you have to test everything you do. From your emails, to your headlines to the copy on your website you want to know what needs to be improved. Online marketing is a very dynamic environment that is constantly evolving so what may work one day may not the next. A willingness to continually monitor your marketing plan for any missed opportunities is a must. Your ability to address and adapt to these changes will ultimately lead to the success of your online business.

Squidoo is the brainchild of internet marketer and online entrepreneur Seth Godin. A Squidoo lens is a one page website you build and add content to it. You don’t need to know HTML and you may make a lens in just a few minutes.

There is a wide variety of content you may add to a Squidoo lens. This includes RSS feeds, Amazon, Ebay and other revenue sharing modules. You may also want to add interactive content; like You Tube and guestbooks. How you make your lens is only limited by your imagination.

Squidoo lenses also offer huge SEO benefits. Because Squidoo ranks so high in the search engines, Squidoo lenses, when optimized correctly, also tend to do well in the search engines. The biggest benefit of creating Squidoo lenses is that it is an easy way to promote affiliate programs. Use these lenses in the resource box of your articles and send them through Article Marketer for submission. Most article directories, including Ezine Articles, will accept Squidoo lens links in the resource box.

The biggest advantage to using Squidoo is that you may make any number of lenses on affiliate programs on just about any topic. If you want to make some easy money online, the easiest way to do it is to build Squidoo lenses.

There are two kinds of lenses that will make you a lot of money: topical lenses and product lenses. Because you are marketing affiliate programs, you want to concentrate on creating product lenses.

Your first step in getting started is to sign up for your account. It’s free: Sign up for Squidoo. Once you have signed up for your account, confirm it, build your profile and then build as many lenses as you can on your topic as well as on the products you are promoting.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you market different niches, create different accounts. (You may have as many Squidoo accounts as you want.) It makes you look a lot more like an expert on your topic if your lenses are related.

Include at least four modules in your lens. Otherwise your lens may get deleted. Some recommended modules are: two text modules, one for an article on your topic and one for the product review, a link module to put a link to the product, and a guestbook. Avoid including any other modules as this will only distract your visitors and cause them to click away.

Once you have created your lens, it is time to market. Use the tools on your lens page to promote. This includes bookmarking, as well as adding it to your social marketing profiles. Promote your lenses in as many ways as you can; including writing articles.

This is one of the easiest ways to make money online. Not only do you make money from the affiliate programs you promote, you also make money from the revenue share on this site.

The secret to making a lot of money from Squidoo is to make as many lenses on your topic as you can. Make your lenses keyword rich, and use the tools inside of the member control panel to tweak your lenses for the best results.

Conclusion : After you create squidoo lens page, you can optimize it with ibusinesspromoter to get high ranking in search engine result page, and always remember because you don’t need to know HTML in squidoo, you just need create good content and build right backlinks with keyword you want to use, if you want to test your seo it might be useful to see Busby SEO test blog.

With the economy in tough shape, everybody is looking for ways to make a little extra money. There are tons of things you can do, the big thing is to just get started. One thing I have done to earn a little extra cash or get some free stuff, is to take online surveys. If you want to get paid for online surveys, there are a few sites you really need to check out. All of the programs except Survey Scout are free to sign up for.

Sign up for all of the programs to maximize your profits and influence. Even if you don’t want to stay with all of the survey programs, you should check them all out and figure out which ones work best for you. Get started today making a little extra money and winning prizes! You can go to Wordpress for all the links market research survey or go to Hubpages for all the same information on get paid for surveys.

Survey Club

Start earning money right now. Survey Club has been paying people just like you for filling out surveys since 2004. If you are looking to get paid for online surveys, this is the place to start. Sign up and get your first $5 in 5 minutes! Go to one of the above links to get started now.

Nielson Net Ratings

This is one of the coolest “surveys” out there. If you have ever heard of television ratings, you know of Nielson ratings. Now you can help shape the ratings of the internet. How cool is that? On top of shaping the internet’s future, you will earn some cash and a chance to win great prizes. One of my favorite programs. Visit one of the above links to get started now.

Global Survey Group

Taking surveys is fun! And getting rewarded for it makes it even more fun! Give your opinion and have an impact on how products are shaped and how they are introduced to the general public! Your input will make a difference for many large brands.
You can win cash, electronics, or even a car. Sign up and start shaping the future and filling your wallet today! The links at the beginning of the article will get you started.

ECN Research

Sign up to win a $1000 shopping spree! ECNresearch.com is an online marketing media company that allows consumer to voice their opinions and enter into a variety of market research and product sampling programs. By utilizing custom online surveys we learn about our users and are able to present them with great survey opportunities, free product sampling and custom offers provided by our sponsors to match their needs. Go to one of the above links to get started now.

Clear Voice Surveys

Clear Voice Surveys is an easy way to earn cash and rewards just by voicing your opinions. Companies need your help to improve their products and services, and in return you get paid for answering their surveys. Simple as that. Go to one of the above links to get started now.

Datatelligence Online

Do you want to belong to an online community of individuals who voice their opinions regarding products and services you use on a daily basis? Datatelligence ONLINE is currently recruiting respondents such as yourself to participate in paid surveys. Registration is free and will only take a few minutes of your time. Go to one of the above links to get started now.

Make Big Money with Survey Scout

If you try out the survey taking business and decide it is right for you, you definitely need to sign up with Survey Scout. There is a fee to sign up, but you will make more money than with any of the free programs and it doesn’t cost that much to get started. Go to the sites listed at the top for links to Survey Scout.

If you know of other survey sites, let everybody know in comments. Good luck! Hope this helps you make a little money. If you are interested in more general business information, check out the Home Based Business Ideas blog.

Are you a small business owner looking to setup a website? Maybe you own a cake shop, an art gallery, or work as a freelance writer from home? Whatever type of business you have, if you have been wondering in what way you can use the Internet to boost your business presence and gain more clients, then scan through this article before you go out and spend money on a web design company to put together a site for you.

Although it may not be your core business, it’s worthwhile to educate yourself a little bit first before spending any $$. This article will give you a grip on the basics of web marketing before you hire someone to create a website for you so that you aren’t uninformed. It will also coach you about some things you can do yourself, which you may choose to do on your own to save you the cost of outsourcing.

Some Facts About Blogs

If you have the inclination to provide regular updates and news relating to your business, you might consider establishing a blog in lieu of a website. A blog works like a diary. Each entry is time and date stamped. Here is a blog about finance as an example. Note the time and date stamped posts and the optional peel back ad in the top right hand corner of the page. You don’t need to have any knowledge of html or programming to use a blog. Once your blog is installed, you just login to a control panel, type what you want to say into an entry field, and click “Publish”.

Blogs can be quite simple to setup. You might even try your hand at creating one yourself. You can get very affordable cPanel webhosting nowadays beginning at $4.95 p/mth. cPanel webhosting includes a feature called Fantastico, which allows you to install a blog with just a handful of mouse clicks. A decent hosting provider should be able to help you install your blog as well, even if you have very limited knowledge. After all, they want your business.

Click here for a great US based hosting company

Web 2.0 Websites

An alternative method to spread the word about your business without creating a website, is to create a free webpage on one of the numerous Web 2.0 content sites such as Hubpages.com and Squidoo.com. Here is an example Squidoo lens review of Success University. These are even easier to setup compared to a blog as they don’t require any technical know-how at all, leaving you to focus on your content and writing whatever it is you wish to write to your chosen audience. Pages on Web 2.0 content sites also frequently appear very high in the search engine results, further boosting the means by which greater numbers of people can discover your business.

Social Networking Sites

Facebook, MySpace and Linked In are probably the three most trafficked social networking sites. As with the Web 2.0 websites, social networking sites are also based on pre-defined styles and templates, removing the need to have any html knowledge and enabling you to save the funds you might have otherwise spent on a web design company and invest that elsewhere.

SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Once you have setup either a blog, Web2.0 or Social Networking page, you will want to ensure that your page has good exposure in the search engine results, and therefore sending greater traffic and increasing the number of people who become aware of your business. This is where Search Engine Optimization, comes into play. Don’t be scared! You can get a handle on SEO by taking a loan of a book from your local library or spending a bit of time researching it on the web. There are a whole host of free websites containing SEO information. Check out this site here.

[ad#horizontal]

The best situation is usually to find a processor that has the total package for online merchants. Consumer payment preferences are vastly changing in favor of online payment processing. If you are an internet business and most of your transactions are over the web then a merchant account is a must have. If you are a new e-commerce business you must accept credit cards for transaction payments. You simply have no chance of doing well in business if you do not.

Online Merchant Account

A credit card swipe terminal is needed wherever the point of sale is. If your organization is home based office or has been in operation for a short time, then you are likely to experience negativity or high costs from the normal local bank in attempting to acquire a merchant account. E-merchants should also find out if the card processing company provides a payment gateway as part of the offer. To start credit card processing online either you have your own merchant account or you use the card processing capabilities of a third party. Start accepting credit cards instantly with one of the most popular merchant accounts available and you will experience the profits of credit card processing.

Merchant Account Resources

If you don’t process credit cards online, you not only limit your income opportunities, you prevent your ability to offer the modern payment options that are continually being shown to consumers. In order to accept payments on the internet, an online merchant needs to have an Internet Merchant Account, a shopping cart and a secure payment gateway to connect to credit card bank processing networks for transaction authorization of credit card transactions. Merchant accounts allow for credit card processing; thus to accept credit cards the step number one is to signup and apply for a merchant account from a quality merchant account provider. Thanks to a series of advances in e-commerce, the smallest home based businesses can now accept credit card payments. On the other hand, real-time credit card processing means the credit card is automatically processed when the customer completes their order.

How to Get a Merchant Account

To conclude, if you don’t start credit card processing online, your patrons will find merchants who will. Small Business Merchant Accounts are absolutely essential because hard earned patrons have learned to respect small businesses who accept credit card credit payments. How long does it take to start credit card processing. Our internet application is completed in only a couple minutes. Most of our newly applying merchants are instantly approved for their merchant account online. For small volume operations, manual processing is a efficiet route. The order is received with the credit card number through a phone call, fax, or online form and processed manually, either by contacting the payment processor to verify number or by using a credit card processing terminal to swipe the card. A merchant terminal is a smaller machine designed with the purpose of authenticating credit cards that customers use when buying goods or services.