Most of the information on these pages is simple common sense stuff
we all tend to forget while working our day to day business!
The first rule of the Internet Road... "FREE" Free downloads,
free services, free hosting and free in general means that the web site
you are on is catering to another means of income and not your goals!
This can also have a negative affect on your computer as they
download SpyWare with your free download. Free services usual
means they are going to promote themselves through your hard work!
Yes, it's true, nothing is free! NOTE: how many hours will you
work for free? Well.. they don't
work for free either!
Important Terminology!
These are the 3 most important
words to learn, understand and live by, relating to your business and
marketing the
Internet: Community,
Popularity
and Cooperative.
Below you will find descriptions and information about these 3 words
as they relate to life on the Internet. If you read no further and fully
understand these 3 words, then proceed forward with that "Mind
Set", then you will already be 1,000 miles ahead
of your competition which will allow your online business decisions to be more informed
and effective.
First an analogy:
If
you had 2 different location options to open your new business, would you
open it in the middle of the desert with nobody around, or would you
open it within the confines of an already thriving community full of
people? Of course you would pick the community because of many reasons
and the main reason being that the cost of promotions and advertising out
in the desert to attain the desired traffic through your door would
not be cost effective, right? The Internet works the same!
A stand alone web site cost 100 times more to promote than a web
site that is part of a community of web sites having removed
themselves from the confines of "I"
or "Me".
Personally, we would rather have a $2.00 web site at the top of the
search engines in a community than a $10,000.00 web site back on page 5 of a given search! Think about it like this: Your web site is like a single ad in one
newspaper, now let's put that newspaper in a room with 50,000,000 other
newspapers! Now can you truly expect someone to find your ad
without a directory, or community of some sort to show people where your
information is?
"COMMUNITY"
Community
= 1 : a unified body of individuals: as a : STATE,
COMMONWEALTH
b : the people with common interests living in a particular area; broadly
: the area itself <the problems of a large community> c :
an interacting population of various kinds of individuals (as species)
in a common location d : a group of people with a common
characteristic or interest living together within a larger society
<a community of retired persons> e : a group linked by a
common policy f : a body of persons or nations having a common history
or common social, economic, and political interests <the
international community> g : a body of persons of common and
especially professional interests scattered through a larger society
<the academic community>
2 : society at large
3 a : joint ownership or participation <community of
goods> b : common character :
LIKENESS
<community of interests> c : social activity :
FELLOWSHIP
d : a social state or condition.
(from
Merriam-Webster) Is your web site part of an online
community?
"POPULARITY"
Useful tid-bit of information about search engines: Search Engines are
nothing more than web sites seeking popularity themselves... to Be Number
One!
Yes, they have sophisticated spydering software for reviewing and
ranking web sites on a
regular basis and of course the Search database itself.
In order for them to be popular, doesn't it make sense for them to
list popular web sites near or at the top of search results? Of
course! Next, if thousands of web sites are all linked
together, (reciprocal community linking), that means that they all share traffic and
they too
become popular right?
OK, so if only by link appearance in the beginning, all these web sites
move to the top of the search engines because of these links, then
they all became popular in real life and propagate not only
themselves, but all other web sites in that community! A
cooperative effort with great results for everyone! Hello!
Popularity =
The quality or state of being popular.
Popular
= 1 : of or relating to the general public
2 : suitable to the majority: as a : adapted to or indicative of the
understanding and taste of the majority <a popular history
of the war> b : suited to the means of the majority : INEXPENSIVE
<sold at popular prices>
3 : frequently encountered or widely accepted
4 : commonly liked or approved <a very popular girl>
(from Merriam-Webster)
"COOPERATIVE"
Example:
Just for this purpose let's say it takes a few thousand dollars per
year in promotional efforts to get a web page to rank well. (Having
a web site is not Internet Marketing, only part of it) And
of course we want many of our pages to rank well, so at the very
minimum it will require a couple thousand per year to gain the results
you are looking for! Now imagine over thousands of Florida businesses all pooling their
resources together in that promotional community effort! Which budget will
have the greatest impact on both the campaign and your increase in
online exposure?
1 a : marked by cooperation
<cooperative efforts> b : marked by a willingness and
ability to work with others <cooperative neighbors>
2 : of, relating to, or organized as a cooperative 3 : the action of
cooperating : common effort 4 : association of persons for common benefit
(from Merriam-Webster)
NOTE; We retain
complete rights to refuse to list adult, hate, illegal or any other
derogatory site or business not suitable for family viewing of all ages.
