Now, I've discovered "secret" to success. It is not unusual for me to have 20 or more referrals in ANY program that I promote...How did I do it? Here are some facts...

Opt-in Groups DO Work If you Follow rules.

Most importantly, remember that other members of opt-in groups are real people...They do NOT want hype, they want facts, just like you do. These are some basic rules to follow to gain their respect...Remember, if you lose their respect, you will never get them back.

1. KNOW your product

Don't promote anything unless you truly believe. Study program, know details of it. Be ready to answer questions...If you don't have answer ready, someone else might, and you will lose referral. If you don't know answer, be honest. Don't mislead people.

2. Do NOT Use Bounce Back Messages

I know that there are many places on internet which advise you to do so, but honestly...I will never read an autoresponder message, unless it's one that I requested. Plus, if I recognize name of a person who uses one, I will not join their programs...There are many people promoting, so we CAN pick and choose. Don't fall into what I consider to be a form of spam.

3. Do NOT respond to an ad unless you truly have a question, or comment which might be useful to sender.

Receiving an opt-in ad does not give you right to send that person an ad in return. Again, I do not like this form of advertising, and most other people don't either. BUT..if you TRULY have something to say...a question or comment about their program, or another program which goes hand in hand, introduce yourself, make a new contact, even a friend.

4. Do not use phony headlines

It's okay to try different titles to your ads, but always make sure that content of ad applies to subject. There's nothing worse than opening an ad on advertising and finding some hype on a new program. Don't trick someone into opening your ad, they will never believe you again.

5. Always respond to those in need...

If you see an email titles "Help!"...read it and respond in any way you can...We, as Internet Marketers, should be there for each other... I have received help in this way. BUT...reserve it for true need situations The same goes with "unsubscribe" subjects...Write to them to let them know exactly how to unsubscribe from list in question...Don't let any person in need go unnoticed...One day, you might be that person...

Build Lasting Contacts...

1. Browser Compatibility

The first thing is to look at your website through other people's browsers. I do this regularly and I've sometimes been shocked at what I saw!

ANYBROWSER http://www.anybrowser.com

2. Broken Links

About 5% of all links on Internet are broken. A site that contains broken links gives a bad impression to visitors and is a frequent cause of lost sales. Also, major Search Engines and Directories will not list your page if it contains any broken links or missing images.

Here are some free link validators:

LINK SCAN http://www.elsop.com/linkscan/quickcheck.html

NET MECHANIC http://www.netmechanic.com/maintain.htm

WEBSITE GARAGE DEADLINK CHECK http://websitegarage.netscape.com/O=wsg uneup_plus/index.html

3. Web Safe Colors

Are colors on your web site displaying properly on other people's browsers? You may have a beautiful shade of lilac on your index page but it could look very strange on someone else's computer.

There are only 216 colors that you can safely use on Web. These colors display solid and consistent on any computer monitor or web browser that is able to display at least 8-bit color.

The Web Safe Palette contains six groups of colors with 36 colors per group. These 216 web safe colors can have any combination of following RGB (Red Green Blue) values: 0, 51, 102, 153, 204, 255 (each RGB value must be divisible by 51).

Here's a good palette of web safe colors:

WEB-SOURCE SAFE COLORS http://www.web-source.net/216_color_chart.htm

4. ALT Tags

ALT Tags allow you to give an alternative to people who have 'view images' function turned off in their browser. Let's say navigation system on your website is a series of buttons that link to other pages on your site. If you don't have ALT Tags, people who have 'view images' function turned off will be unable to navigate through your site - in place of your button they will just see an empty space.

But an ALT Tag allows you to tell those people what that button does. For example, if button is a link to your 'Site Map' you could insert following ALT Tag:

ALT Tags also allow you to raise your keyword density. For every image that is not hyperlinked you could insert your main keywords. For example:

5. Meta Tags

Meta Tags are so important they deserve a whole article on their own. The most important Meta Tags are Title Tag, Keywords Tag and Description Tag.

The Title Tag should be no more than 64 characters (longer than that and it will be cut off in some Search Engines).

The Keyword Tag should contain about 5 to 10 keywords that appear on your page. Never include words that do not appear on that page - in some Search Engines your website will be penalized for this. Do not repeat same keyword - this is called 'keyword stuffing' and is also frowned upon by Search Engines.

Separate your keywords with spaces (not commas). This allows Search Engines to combine your keywords into phrases, for people who do 'phrase searching'.