Archive for February, 2009

Practical Article Marketing Advice

Author: Harry Constantine
by Harry Constantine

The name says it all: article marketing means marketing yourself with articles and you don′t have to be an author to do that. Anyone can take advantage of article marketing without a writing background.

The idea is that you can increase your exposure by having your contents reproduced around the Internet. Your are rewarded with one-way incoming links from the resource box, you don′t have to reciprocate as you would with link exchanges, which in theory should reward you with better search engine ranking.

Having a process in place makes organizing article submissions so much easier and removes the confusion of where of what to do first. The following guide will take you through an article submission project step-by-step.

1. Start by having your article proofread and then add it to your website. Make sure you have a catchy title and a by-line that compels readers to take action.

2. Use a html editor tool to format your by-line so that your URL will appear live when your article is posted on a site.

3. Collect the information you’ll need for most submission sites including: title, author name, address, phone number, e-mail, website URL, topic, two line summary of the article, word count, line count, article URL, auto responder address (if available), document file names and 10-15 keywords.

4. Make a list of the type of submission sites most suited for your articles. I use EzineAnnouncer to collect and keep track of my submission list and I always write down the categories that are a match for my article. My latest submission qualified for more than 400 sites but your success depends upon your article topic.

5. Start submitting to article sites that support mail submission. Never send an attachment unless asked. Incorporate the entire article into the e-mail and include an option for the recipient to opt-out of your list.

6. Sign-up for all new submission sites on your list that require registration. Typically, you have to wait for a confirmation e-mail before submitting. You can move on to the next step while you wait.

7. Submit your articles to all sites you have registered for and to all sites not needing registration but offering a submission form.

8. Check your e-mail, confirm your new accounts and visit those sites to add your article. Keep track of your login and password for each site.

9. Get your submission updated list by removing or correcting bounced e-mail addresses and URL errors. You will also need to add your new submission sites to your list.

10. Make a report to keep on your computer with the name and URL of the sites you used for submission. Update this list when you submit your older articles to newly discovered sites.

Article Marketing remains one of the best ways to establish yourself as an expert, lead generation, increase site traffic and improve search engine rank. If you haven′t tried it yet to promote your business, I encourage you to take the idea of marketing information online

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Choosing Medical Coding is Simple

Author: Anne Durrel
by Anne Durrel

Medical coding is a hot topic when it comes to online educational courses. Many people are starting to sign up for online distance learning courses that teach them how to acquire a job in this particular field.

Then, there are others who are wondering what medical coding is all about. In this mini-guide, you will learn what this is.

Ultimately, personals who are thought to be coders in the medical subject are personals who give codes to certain processes, and additional things that are directly joined to the performance of the doctor at the facility in which they make.

Medical coding is completely fundamental to the main functions of the facility.

Medical coding is crucial when it goes to tracking numerous services by the doctor for which they make. In addition to this, they perform a key task in cost plus payments that are joined to the assistance given in the medical facility that they perform.

Medical coding is a must when it comes to the healthcare industry. The codes that they place on documentation are the codes that health insurance companies use in order to determine what percentages are paid and more. If you would like a career of great importance, the medical coding one is likely to be a top choice!

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What To Expect with Bank REOs

Author: Lisa Gesinki
by Lisa Gesinki

REO properties are properties that are own by a bank or mortgage company. REO or Real Estate Owned are properties that has been through the foreclosure process and was taken back by the lender after unsuccessful auction.

The lender takes the responsibility of paying the junior liens, and to avoid this, they take the property to auction.

In order to do well with REO investing, one need to have a better understanding of how this work. It’s how they deal and how much they know that makes a difference in landing a good deal.

The thing about this kind of setup is that the investor must buy all of the homes in a package - whether they are vacant lots, burnouts, or condemned. AND - they are not in one location but spread out all over the country.

Finding the market value of each property would help in determining the purchase price of an REO. When buying in bulk, the price of REO properties is reduced, keeping it cheap for the investors.

The bank is losing money for properties on their possession. For this reason, they would want to take these properties off their hands as soon as possible and might accept an offer below the current market value of a property.

The other big advantage of investing in an REO is that you have the option of inspecting the property thoroughly before you actually close the deal, which option you do not ordinarily have in a foreclosure auction. You have the liberty to walk through the property and make all sorts of inspections without annoying the seller - in this case, the bank since it will help them get rid of the property.

Most banks have REO properties and will love to sell them. Bringing REO properties up to date can be a bit more challenging in some cases. One reason for this is when you buy a REO properties you buy it as is.

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by Chris Moyles II

The success or failure of your website is not determined by how good your web designer is or how skilled you are at website marketing - it is in fact determined well before your website is written. Only 5% of websites will ever appear on page 1 or page 2 of search engines for their desired keywords hence try to avoid these mistakes before you begin writing your website:

(For resources supporting this article please see my blog: Top 60 Web Design Mistakes of 2009)

1 - Poor Keyword Research - There are many tools available to web designers where keyword research is concerned - not using these is the single worst mistake a web designer can make. Other than confirming what you suspected, keyword research usually reveals many niche terms that visitors use when looking for your kind of business/service. The niche terms (long tail keywords) with less traffic may in fact be more desirable to you as visitors are usually much more specific just before they make a buying decision.

2 - No Competitor Research - Not checking out your competitors could prove costly in terms of wasted time/money - without competitor research you won’t be able to tell weather your page 1 competitors have a few or thousands of backlinks, and you wont be able tell how many content rich pages their websites have. Competitive research will also help you determine any areas you could improve as far as page planning is concerned. Moneysupermarket.com who usually rank no1 for ‘mortgage’ and have over 300 thousand backlinks & thousands of pages would hence cost a fortune to outrank

3 - Same as the Next Guy - By making your website the same as everyone else you are not telling your visitor what’s different, hence you are setting your website for failure. Plan to be different and insure you convey your differences quickly - think about improving your: content, visitor experience, site navigation & any special offers you might have when planning your website - making this effort in the planning stage really pays dividend later

4 - Lack of Good Content - fail on this point & it doesn’t matter what else you have got right - many visitors use search engines to resolve a problem: this could be: find a product, find a supplier, find a service provider etc - hence answer your visitors immediate question & provide plenty of supporting content. The more thoughtful you are with your content the more likely your visitors will turn into business

5 - Inadequate Page Planning - it’s like the old saying: ‘fail to prepare - prepare to fail’ - inadequate page planning will inevitably result in lower rankings. Use well researched keywords in: titles, descriptions, headings, footers, menu text, link text, paragraphs, page names &amp directories. Keep your layouts consistent &amp your menus easy to follow. If you have the necessary skills prepare to write your website in scripting language such as ASP/PHP for greater control of layout &amp functionality &amp consider building in CMS so pages can be added or removed easily.

6 - No Plan for Marketing - most of us by now know that the myth of ‘write a website & the visitors will come′ is not true. The objective for most websites should be to aim for Pagϳ or Pagϴ of search engines. By doing your competitor research you will know how big a hill you have to climb un order to match/beat the competition. Being unrealistic with the time/budget for this task will make even the best website fail.

7 - Hosting Overseas - planning to host your website overseas is also a big mistake as many search engines use ‘Geo Targeting′ in their ranking algorithms - worse still - your website will almost certainly load slower than if hosted with a reputable host in your home country. So savings here are not worth making. Always check your hosts IP address to insure the servers really are based where the host claims they are - yes there are hosts that tell big fat lies.

8 - Poor use of Colours - you have approximately 3 seconds to make your first impression hence insure your colour scheme is perfect for your website & is unlikely to offend your visitors. Avoid luminous colour schemes & take care when designing websites geared for other countries as certain colours have major cultural significance. Avoid using any more than 3 colours in your scheme & insure these are web safe & matched well. Poor planning in this area is likely to make your website look amateur.

9 - Choosing Strange Fonts - could make your site hard to read especially for people with poor vision. Wherever possible use basic fonts such as Arial &amp Helvetica. If you must use alternative fonts insure the text is large enough, clear &amp it matches your website theme.

10 - Poor use of Domain & Suffix - Wherever possible register a domain which incorporates your keywords, whilst this is not essential, every little helps. Many of us still make mistakes in registering the wrong suffix, whilst getting this a little bit wrong is neither here or there, however you might have trouble ranking a .pl (polish TLD) in the UK searches. Below are common UK TLDs

.com - ecommerce or commercial website (UK &/or International)

.co.uk - typical uk corporate website

.net - larger network website - typically used by web hosts

.biz - almost purely for business-to-business sites

.org.uk - organisation, group or charity

.info - informational site

.name - for an individual or organization

.ltd - requests only accepted from ltd companies

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The Best Home Office

Author: charlie reese
by Charlie Reese

If you work from home, or can take some of your work home from the office, you have a need room for a home office. Some people have a spare room that they can use for this, but some dont. When you are low on space, you have to get creative when you are looking for a way to set up an office in your home. As long as you can find some space, you can find a way to fit what you need into the area. Some people will use a walk in sized closet when they seem to have no other space available in the home.

One of the most important things you need for your home office might just be your computer. When space is limited, it is in your best interest to get a lap top for your needs. The reason for this is that they take up minimal space, and can be easily stored elsewhere if you are using the same space for your home office for something else.

If you need a printer, and have one elsewhere in your home, you can set up a network rather than getting another printer. This is not something that is very hard, but you may need to get something in order to accomplish this. You can ask at your local computer store for more information.

Filing cabinets are usually a great idea in any home office, but you may not want to get the largest size. Instead, find one that has just two drawers and put that under your desk, being careful to leave legroom, of course. You can store important papers and even some of your office supplies in there, saving even more space. If you need more light, you can always get a small desk lamp, or you can find lighting that will attach to the wall so that it is not taking up any of your limited space in your home office set up.

Find as many space saving ideas as you can find. One great location for home office space savers is a home improvement store or office supply store, and it does not hurt to look around online. There are some great ideas out there that are easy to use and will make your life much easier. You should remember that your office at home is also a tax deduction, so save your receipts from each purchase that you make for your space. You cannot claim it if you use the space for something else, but it is a great deduction each year when it comes time to get your taxes done.

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