Setting Out Bait OnlineWritten by Marcia Yudkin
In 1995 I created and distributed a free document called Frequently Asked Questions about Freelance Writing, or Freelance Writing FAQ. (http://www.yudkin.com/flfaq.htm) I've updated it several times since then and allowed anyone to post it at their Web site without a fee. That FAQ has done more than anything else to keep my 1988 book Freelance Writing for Magazines & Newspapers from HarperCollins in print. The last time I checked, my FAQ was posted at more than a dozen Web sites and linked from scores of others, as well as recommended in numerous books and magazines.With maturing of Web, strategy of setting out free bait for your target market has become more and more powerful. Here's how and why it works, and some non-obvious ways to make most of bait you create. On Internet, people are ravenous for information. Correspondingly, lots of sites find it in their interest to point their visitors to best resources available in their topic area. If you can create a mostly unpromotional informational piece and make it available with minimal strings attached, you'll find complete strangers publicizing and distributing it to your benefit. Really! In a nutshell, start by asking what data or advice would be of value to group of people you want to attract as product buyers or clients. Search to see what's already available on that topic, so you don't spend your energy satisfying a thirst that's already been slaked. Create something authoritative on topic that unobtrusively establishes you, your company or your product as serving that market. Then set out your bait online with explicit permission for people to spread it widely. Keep your piece updated and every once in a while search for new takers, and then enjoy results. I concocted my FAQ after interviewing a law student named Terry Carroll who said that his FAQ on copyright law had made him a minor celebrity with respect to topic and helped him land his first job as an attorney. Since I'd been teaching classes on freelance writing for years, I knew all questions beginning writers had, and their answers. Following format of other FAQs I looked at, I organized 24 commonly asked questions into five categories and did my best to keep answers concise.
| | How To Get Visitors To Your Web SiteWritten by Elmar Alex
To succeed in online business you need visitors to your sites. Lots of visitors! One of easiest and still quite effective ways to get them is to join a few good hit exchange programs. These programs allow you to show your site directly to other people in return for viewing their sites. Some hit exchange programs are just excellent; others are not so good. How to pick up good ones? First of all when you join such a program you normally get a bonus of free hits to your site. This may vary from 20 to 200 hits. Obviously, greater is number of hits, more attractive is program. Another thing to consider is hit exchange ratio. 1:1 ratio means that for each site you view you will get one visitor to your own site. With 2:1 ratio you will need to view 2 sites to get your own site viewed once. Of course, 1:1 ratio looks nice, but it’s not quite realistic, actually. Every new member gets 20-200 free hits as a bonus for sign up. Besides, upline members get some hits from their referrals. 1:1 ratio will hardly allow to have all this. That’s why 2:1 ratio is honest and not so bad by way. Some programs have 5:1 and even 6:1 ratio which means you will need to see 5 or 6 sites to get your own exposed once. One more point to keep in mind is referral system. Many hit exchange programs reward you with up to 100 free hits for every person who joins program under you. When your referral begins to surf for credits you also earn credits. For example, No More Hits gives you 40% of your first level referral’s hits and 10% of lower level referrals. In other words, when your immediate referral earns 10 hits you get 4 also; when a referral of your referral earns 10 hits you get 1 also. This structure is 6 levels deep and with growth of your down line it may give you lots of hits.
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