1) In beginning...

Create your website. If you don’t know how, there are many free templates offered on Internet. Search on "free website templates" to find one that appeals to you.

If you’d like to learn how to design your own website using HTML there are several tutorials out there:

Boogie Jack’s Dennis Gaskill has an excellent website with tutorials to get you started, along with many "tricks of trade". An excellent resource! www.boogiejack.com/html_tutorials.html

Also, Joe Burns has a very informative and helpful website for all new and seasoned website designers; with HTML tutorials, primers and loads of "goodies" to add to your web pages www.htmlgoodies.com

2) 1000-Calorie Content

Fill your website with keyword-rich content. Write a description of your product or service and create your keywords to match content in your description. For example, if you sell stuffed animals keywords by which you’d want to be found in search engines could be "stuffed toys, stuffed animals, plush animals, stuffed dogs, plush pets", etc.

3) Search Engine Buffet

Submit your site to search engines and directories, whether manually submitting through each or using a free multiple submission service that will submit your site automatically to search engines and directories of your choosing or theirs, depending upon submission site you use. One such site is www.submitexpress.com

4) Chain Links

Exchange links with similar and complementary websites, but not your competitors - I don’t think you’ll hear from them! Email site’s owner and ask for a reciprocal link. If they agree to add your link, return favor and add their link on your site. You can create a special page for your favorite links or if you have only a few, simply add them to your main page or any other page on your site.

5) Snappy Sig-File

Create an interesting signature file to be automatically included at end of your emails. A small, descriptive "blurb" about what you do along with your website address will do it!

6) Newsworthy

Write an ezine, or online newsletter. You can find interesting articles on any subject on Internet that you can publish in your ezine (search on "free content") or even write some of your own (see #12). Decide whether your ezine will be produced monthly, biweekly, weekly or even daily if you have enough time and info to share! Always be sure to give author proper credit! Include his byline at end of his article and email him a copy of your ezine when it’s ready.

This site has a good article on how to write an ezine: www.thewritemarket.com/ezine.shtml

7) Extra! Extra!

Offer a gift for new subscribers. It can be a report that you wrote on a subject of interest that new reader can download; or a small sample of your product, or even a coupon for 10% off your products or service.

8) What’s Behind Door #2?

Run a contest to name your ezine. Create a special page with a subscription form on your site. Explain details and prizes. List your contest on as many contest announcement sites that you can find or publish your contest on discussion groups and forums (see #10 and #11) and other newsletters.

Some contest announcement sites are:

www.theprizefinder.com/asp/addacompetition.asp www.loquax.co.uk

The prizes you offer should be related to your business. You should have a deadline, say a month or so, and be sure to indicate date on your contest page.

Example ad for contest:

** We need you! ** Get creative...Win prizes! Our newsletter needs a name; If we use yours, you win! www.whimsies-online.com/ezineform.htm

Publish winners on your website and in your next ezine - newly-named, of course!

9) All in Family

Submit your ezine to ezine lists such as www.list-a-day.com. They may even feature your ezine as their daily pick!

Other lists are:

www.cumuli.com/ezines/submit.html ezine-universe.com/search/getlisted.html

10) Group Therapy

Join Yahoo groups and other similar newsgroups/discussion lists. Subscribe to similar ezines and then exchange ads with ezine owners. List your contest with group owners. Submit your articles too!

groups.yahoo.com www.topica.com

11) The Gift of Gab

Even being as careful as possible with my email address, I still used to receive more than 100 email messages a day, which is no exaggeration. Only about 10% of those emails were from people that I knew and rest of messages were unwanted email…”spam”. And I’m sure you can relate to my frustration. It is estimated that over seventy-six billion unwanted email messages were delivered in 2003, costing companies more than $10 billion each year.

So How Do They Get Our Email Addresses?

In making online purchases, you should always realize that your email address could be given or sold, regardless of what merchant’s privacy policy may state. Even filling out an online survey or registering your email address to become a member of a web site is subject to having your email address given away. Also, there are spider programs that spammers use that search web and “harvest” email addresses, much like search engine spiders do when they acquire web site information.

Tips To Avoid Getting Spam