Traffic Exchanges: Do You Use Them Effectively?

Today we are going to talk about traffic exchanges and how to use them with maximum effectiveness. Every time I am surfing favorite traffic exchanges, I am amazed at how many people are just plain wasting their surfing credits. I guess I shouldn't complain since the more people that do it wrong, allows me to be more effective with what I do.

If I am going to spend time surfing for credits I certainly want to make sure that I get maximum effectiveness from my efforts. Don't you agree? Well here a re a few tips that will help you to stop wasting your traffic exchange credits and start making traffic exchanges a contributing part of your overall traffic strategy.

• Tip #1 - Don't Try To Make Sales
  Keep in mind that almost all surfers are focused on earning credits to show you their ads. They are not looking to buy, so promoting an affiliate program sales page is usually a waste of time and effort. You are much better off using traffic exchanges to generate leads to build your list and make sales offer to your leads.
  
• Tip # 2 - Promote A Quick Loading Splash PageWith the timers on most traffic exchanges becoming shorter and shorter, promoting a fast loading page is a must. I can't tell you how many times I have seen the timer expire well before an affliate sales page has finished loading. You only 10 - 30 seconds to grab the surfers attention so make the most of it.
  
• Tip #3 - Use A Compelling Headline to Grab The Surfers Attention.This tip goes hand in hand with Tip #2. You have a limited amount of time to grab the surfers attention so an eye grabbing headline or graphic is a must! Don't forget to add 2 to 3 benefits as well to compel the surfer to click your link.
  
• TIp #4 - Track And Test Your Splash PagesUsing an ad tracking system and split-testing your pages an important step to maximize your surfing efforts. Now before you glaze over at the mention of split testing and tracking, it is a lot easier than you may think. I recommend Go-To Pro. It is a web-based tracking system that is highly affordable, (A $9.95 one time fee) and the training videos will show you exactly what to do. In fact the training videos themselves are are worth far more than the cost of Go-To Pro.

Start using these tips in your traffic exchange efforts as soon as possible and you will see a marked improvement in your traffic exchange efforts. Traffic exchanges can be highly effective as a traffic and lead generator if you know how to to use them effectively!
Until the next post,
Steve

My Favorite Traffic Exchanges

I use these traffic exchanges every day to drive traffic and build my list!

Traffic Swarm

Traffic Pods

TS 25

Traffic Soldiers

Traffic Roundup

7 Deadly Web Site Design Errors

Do You Make These Mistakes On Your Web Site?

Today I have a special treat for you. If you already have your own website or if you are in the process of creating a website you should really enjoy this article, written by guest author Andrew Mallory, one of the Internet Marketing Centers website design experts from the Internet Entrepreneurs Club.

In this article Andrew details 7 common website design errors that he sees constantly. This article is a little long, but well worth the read. Don't let these website design mistakes kill your business!

I hope you enjoy the article and don't forget to leave your comments!
Seven Deadly Design Sins
(Make sure YOUR site isn't committing any of them!)
By Andrew Mallory
Whenever I go surfing on the Web, I'm always afraid of what I'll find...

... Because I come across so many sites suffering from DEADLY design sins, I want to stab out my eyes with a pen!

Think I'm being dramatic?

Maybe just a bit... but these fatal errors are guaranteed to be killing the sites'conversion rates -- and I just want to grab the site owners by the shoulder and tell them, "It doesn't have to BE this way!!!"

So today, I'd like to tell YOU about the top "seven deadly design sins" -- so you can make sure you're not committing any of them on your website. (Because any one of them could be pulling your potential sales right into the gutter!)

Here they are...
Deadly Web Design Sin #1:
No eye-catching headline to grab your visitors' attention!

It takes the average web surfer 10 seconds MAXIMUM to decide whether to stick around on a site or move on to another one.You have to make those 10 seconds count!

You have to capture your visitors' attention RIGHT AWAY and convince them that your site has exactly what they're looking for. And the best way to do that is with a well-formatted, attention-grabbing headline that's packed with intriguing benefits and compels them to read further.

Here's an example of a well-formatted, benefit-laden headline...

Discover the secret to eating as much as you want, whenever you want-- And still lose all the weight you need --While buzzing with the non-stop energy of a 9-year-old kid!

(Please note the benefits of "eating as much as you want," "losing all the weight you need," and "non-stop energy"are either bolded or underlined so they pop out at the reader.)

... and here's an example of something that's NOT:

Welcome to my diet site! I sell over 50 different weight loss products, from pills, to nutritional supplements,to popular weight loss books. Feel free to browse through my selection and find the product that's right for you.

... See the difference?

Above and beyond the lack of formatting, there are no benefits listed in the second example at all. It talks about what the site sells, but not about what these products will DO for the people who buy them.

Plus, by telling visitors they have to browse the site to find what they're looking for, you're putting all the hard work on THEM. Your copy should lead visitors straight to the solution they're looking for -- not make them have to hunt for it.

Deadly Web Design Sin #2:
Distracting banners and links!

On your site, don't put up banners or links that send people to someone else's site!
(And that includes Google Adwords ads.)

You want to keep people on your site -- not drive them somewhere else!

Everything on your site should directly relate to its ultimate PURPOSE -- whether it's to get more opt-ins for your email list or to sell your product! Anything on your site that doesn't serve this main purpose should be immediately deleted.

Of course, if the purpose of your site is purely to promote affiliate products or sell advertising space, then obviously you'll want to include banners or links... but otherwise, you shouldn't have them on your homepage at all.

If you try to promote affiliate products on a page that's also meant to sell a specific product, you'll end up doing a lousy job of both.Deadly Web Design Sin #3:Too many dizzying colors or fonts

Nothing screams "amateur!" louder than a dizzying mish mash of different fonts and colors.
To make your site look professional, use a basic color scheme with just 2-3 colors maximum and a couple of fonts only. Look at any well-designed site and you'll see that they're pretty conservative about the colors and fonts they use. (Remember, you want to make it as easy as possible for your visitors to read the words on your page!)

http://www.webopt.com/)

Specify the dimensions of your graphics files in your HTML code, with a tag that looks like this:

!!

Substitute colored text for a graphics file whenever possible And last but not least...

Deadly Web Design Sin #7:
Huge blocks of text that are nearly impossible to read.

Here's a question for you...
Which of the following text samples do you find easier to read?

Sample #1:
Are you sick of trying diet after diet and painfully denying yourself all your favorite foods but never seeing any lasting results? Or joining the latest supposedly "healthy" eating craze, only to discover a few months down the road that most health experts say that following that eating plan is actually BAD for you? I know exactly how you feel.For decades I was a "yo-yo" dieter. I would try out the latest celebrity diet trend and lose maybe 5 - 15 pounds,but then gain it all back as soon as I started eating "normally" again. In fact, usually I'd end up gaining even more weight, which is why I got on the scales one day and discovered to my horror that I now weighed over 200 pounds, not exactly a healthy weight for someone who's only 5' 2"! In my desperation to get back to a "normal"weight, I tried every single diet plan I could. I ate nothing but pre-packaged calorie-reduced diet meals. I took pills. I drank diet shakes for breakfast and lunch, and forced myself to ignore my growling stomach all day long. And yet time and time again, I broke under the strain of self-denial and ended up "cheating." I can't tell you how many nights I'd cave to my cravings and end up gorging on bags of chips, tubs of ice cream, and entire pans of brownies. And then I'd wake up the next day, absolutely sick with self-hatred. Well, I'm happy to tell you that those days are now over for good! Because FINALLY I discovered a healthy approach to food that allows me to eat my fill and walk away from the table feeling satisfied, and stay at my "ideal" weight of 125 lbs, which I've been able to maintain for over two years and counting!

Sample #2:
Are you sick of trying diet after diet -- and painfully denying yourself all your favorite foods -- but never seeing any lasting results?

Or joining the latest supposedly "healthy" eating craze, only to discover a few months down the road that most health experts say that following that eating plan is actually BAD for you?

I know exactly how you feel...

... For decades I was a "yo-yo" dieter. I would try out the latest celebrity diet trend and lose maybe 5 - 15 pounds, but then gain it all back as soon as I started eating "normally" again.

In fact, usually I'd end up gaining even more weight -- which is why I got on the scales one day and discovered to my horror that I now weighed over 200 pounds.

Not exactly a healthy weight for someone who's only 5' 2"!

In my desperation to get back to a "normal" weight, I tried every single diet plan I could. I ate nothing but pre-packaged calorie-reduced diet meals... I took pills... I drank diet shakes for breakfast and lunch, and forced myself to ignore my growling stomach all day long.

And yet time and time again, I broke under the strain of self-denial and ended up "cheating." I can't tell you how many nights I'd cave to my cravings and end up gorging on bags of chips, tubs of ice cream, and entire pans of brownies.

And then I'd wake up the next day, absolutely sick with self-hatred.

Well, I'm happy to tell you that those days are now over for good! Because FINALLY I discovered a healthy approach to food that allows me to eat my fill and walk away from the table feeling satisfied, and stay at my "ideal" weight of 125 lbs --which I've been able to maintain for over two years and counting!

... As you can see, Sample #2 is MUCH easier to read. Its "choppy" paragraph allows visitors to skim read the text andimmediately grasp its meaning. In contrast, Sample #1 forces you to read every single word -- and even then, it's hardto keep your place in the text!

When writing for the Web, you should limit your paragraphs to six lines maximum. And make sure you vary your paragraph lengths so they don't all look the same! A "choppy" paragraph structure makes online text MUCH easier to read.

And if you want your visitors to read all the way to your "order" button, you want to make it as easy as possible forthem to do so!

... So there's my list of the "seven deadly web design sins" that all serious website owners absolutely MUST avoid if they want their sites to do a good job of converting casual visitors into eager customers. If you're committing one of these fatal errors, make sure you start working on getting it changed today!*********************************************************
About The Author
Andrew Murray is one of the top web design experts at the "Internet
Entrepreneurs Club".
Get 30 Days Of Expert SEO Advice and Training From Andrew and the
Rest Of The Gang For Only $2.95!

Deadly Web Design Sin #4:Patterned backgrounds.

Make sure your background stays in the background!

If you add textures or use dark backgrounds on your site, people won't easily be able to read your copy. And if you aren't making it easy for them to read your copy, you aren't making it easy for them to buy your product!

Tests have shown over and over and over again that the highest conversion rates are seen on sites that have BLACK text on a plain white background, with colors limited to the margins. It might seem "boring" from a design perspective... but better sales are pretty darned exciting from an income perspective!

Deadly Web Design Sin #5:Too many distracting graphics, animations, or video clips.

Many website owners make the mistake of thinking that having LOTS of images, fancy graphics, animated gifs, or video clips will make their site more interesting.

Ehhh... wrong.

Unless those visual elements help persuade people to buy your product -- by showing visitors what your product looks like, or demonstrating how it works, for example -- then they're useless decorations that will distract your visitors and prevent them from following through on the action you want them to take.Deadly Web Design Sin #6:Slow-loading pages and graphics.

How long does it take for your homepage to load?
If your answer is longer than, say, 3 seconds, you've got trouble on your hands!

Remember the 10-second rule... if your homepage doesn't load quickly, your visitors will lose patience and click away. Web surfers are extremely impatient people. If they can't begin reading or viewing your page right away, they're going to leave and go to another, more user-friendly site.

If you absolutely MUST use large graphics on your homepage, provide a small icon that links to the larger graphic and warn people they may have to wait as it loads.

Here are a few things you can do to speed up your loading time: Reduce the file size of the graphics on your page. A great tool to use for this is WebGraphics Optimizer:

(

Click Here For More Information.

*********************************************************

My Favorite List Building Resources

Getting new prospects for your home business can be a tough and time consuming task.
The list of resources here are some of my favorite home business building resources that I use to bring most of my new members. All of the resources listed are free to join, but being an upgraded member certainly has it's benefits.

List Joe
This is by far one of the most responsive lists that I have ever used! I consider this a must join if you do any email advertising at all. The one time upgrade is well worth the money and allows you to mail 3000 random and highly responsive members every 3 days.

Join List Joe Here.

Watch The Video To See List Joe In Action

List Bandit
Another very responsive list that also allows you to generate personal leads as well as mailings up to 3 times a week. List Bandit has 5 different upgrade levels with something for every budget.

Join List Bandit here.

List Lotto
Another list that allows you generate personal leads as well as enter a weekly draw for a chance to win a mailing to all members! You can mail your personal referrals every five days with a free membership.
Join List Lotto Here

Instant Buzz
Instant Buzz is a viral tool bar that allows you to generate traffic credits while doing your normal surfing. Instant Buzz has been around for what seems like forever but still continues to drive traffic to and sales. If you haven't joined you are missing out on a lot of traffic.

Join Instant Buzz Here

These are some of my favorite and most productive home business resources. Start using them and I am sure you will see an increase in your business.

Until the next post
Steve



home business resources

Paid Forums - Are They Worth The Money?

If you have been around the Internet Marketing community for any length of time, you know that forum marketing is touted as being a great way to get free traffic and exposure to your offers as well as branding yourself. And the truth of the matter is that this is good advice. Being active in any number of the free marketing or niche forums can only help your business. One of my favorite forums is Russel Brunsons'
Conquer Your Niche Forum.

It has very active members and you can pick up some great tips on improving your business.

But what about the paid forums? Is it really worth your hard earned money to join one? And how do you know which paid forums are really worth joining? The article below should help you answer these questions and provide you some insight on how to evaluate forums of all kinds. The artice is written by my friend Derek Gehl of the Internet Marketing Center and contains all the information that you need to decide to join a paid forum.

"Are Free Online Marketing Communities A Waste Of Time?"
By Derek Gehl

Recently I've been getting lots of questions about my exclusive online marketing community, Internet Entrepreneur Club. Some people want to know why they should bother joining my online community, as opposed to all the "free" marketing forums that are spreading all over the Internet.

That's a good question!

You can get decent information on some of these free sites -- if you're lucky enough to have an experienced Internet marketer provide an answer to your question.

However... in my experience, all too often the members are mostly beginners who have yet to make their first dollar online. And as helpful as these people want to be, they're probably not going to be able to offer you a whole lot of useful advice.

After all, they're still struggling to learn the basics themselves!

OR, the members are mostly advanced marketers who are looking for extremely high-level information and don't have time to provide lengthy answers to questions from beginners. (For example, I've seen a lot of advanced marketers answer beginner questions with snappy responses like, "Look it up on Google, Brainiac!" NOT very helpful, in my opinion.)

The thing to remember, is time is precious. And the people who join free online marketing communities are mostly in it for themselves. They will share information with their peers-- in order to get some good tips and strategies for themselves. But they're not going to bend over backwards to provide detailed, quality advice to beginners who can't offer them anything in return.

So in order to help you determine which online marketing communities are worth joining --and which are a colossal waste of time -- here are three questions you need to ask before getting involved in any of them...

Question #1:
Are your questions guaranteed to be answered by an experienced Internet marketing professional?
Let's face it... Other Internet marketers can be a useful source of information -- provided they have actual experience running successful online businesses!

You don't want to get involved in a community where the only suggestions you get are from people who are simply parroting things they've read online, without ever having tried the strategies for themselves. So when someone offers you a piece of advice, ask them for REAL PROOF they know it actually works. If they can't provide it, it's time to move on.

Question #2:
Are your questions guaranteed to be answered within a specific time frame?
I've seen it happen again and again -- people join an online marketing community desperate for advice from a seasoned marketing professional. So they post their most pressing question and wait impatiently for someone to answer them.

And they wait... And wait... And wait... ... Meanwhile, they're losing out on potential sales because they're not taking any decisive action with their websites!

Question #3:
Will the "experts" give you a detailed analysis of your website -- and offer concrete suggestions for improvement? If you could ask just ONE question of a successful Internet marketer, here's what it should be:

"Will you review my website?"

If they say no, then my advice to you is: find another community to join. Without a doubt, you'll get more value out of a detailed website review than any other information a seasoned professional can offer.

A reputable online expert will give your site a full "diagnostic" -- and let you know exactly what changes you need to make to your site design and sales copy to improve yourconversions.

By asking these three questions, you can make sure you join a community populated with real Internet marketing professionals who will deliver real advice -- and help you get REAL results!

To be honest, I don't know of any free online community where you're guaranteed to get answers to all your questions from successful online marketers in a specific timeframe.

And I definitely don't know of any free community where the experts will "go to town" on your website and tell you everything you need to do to take it to peak performance levelsin as little time as possible.

That's why I created my own online community, the Internet Entrepreneur Club. I wanted to create a place where beginners could go and be guaranteed to get professional advice on how to solve all their online business challenges.

In addition to round-the-clock access to me and my team of REAL Internet marketing experts(who are PAID to provide in-depth answers to your questions!), Club members also get: A guaranteed response from a seasoned professional within 48 hours... and often much sooner!

Monthly 60-75 minute teleconferences with industry masterminds who are making huge six- and seven-figure incomes -- such as John Assaraf, one of the experts featured in the hit film and book, "The Secret.")

Monthly training videos showing how to implement the latest proven online marketing strategies ... and much more.
You can easily check out the value of "The Club" for yourself, because I'm currently givingaway a handful of 30-day trials of this exclusive private member's club -- for only $2.95!

... So if you're thinking about joining an online marketing community -- and getting UNLIMITED Internet marketing advice including business ideas... website reviews...salescopy advice... traffic secrets... and MORE...
Then I urge you to activate your risk-free trial now by going to: Internet Entrepreneur Club

To your success,
Derek Gehl

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Derek Gehl specializes in teaching real people how to start profitable Internet businesses that make $100,000 to $2.5 Million (or more) per year. To get instant access to all his most profitable marketing campaigns, strategies, tools, and resources that he's used to grow $25 into over $60 Million in online sales,visit:
Internet Marketing Center

How to Achieve the Success You Want in 2007 - part 2

This is the second part of a three part webinar by Shawn Casey on the steps you need to follow in order to achieve the success you desire. This information can be applied to home business, your inter-personal relationships or your career.

You can listen to Part 2 Here.

Don't forget to leave your comments. Shawn and I both would love to hear your comments.

Until the next post,
Steve

Home Business Success Tips

Happy Labor Day to everyone in the USA and Canada. I hope you enjoy your holiday. I know I will.

Having a succesful home business requires dedication, hardwork, and determination. I know that sounds easy enough and it is, especially in the beginning when you are all gung-ho and full of enthusiasm. It's not so easy when you've been slogging away and and have yet to make any significant progress toward your goals.That's when the determination must kick in.

But have you really given any thought to why you are not making any progress? Could it be because you have not really set any specific goals or put together a plan on how to reach them? Goal setting and planning is the most overlooked and misunderstood parts of starting a home based business. You really must do more than say I'm going to make $500.00 a month by next month. You need to be specific in your goal setting and you also need to have a method of measuring your progress. But you are in luck!

I am going to share a audio with you by Shawn Casey, a very successful marketer and let him lay out exactly how to set your goals and plan a way to meet them. This podcast is absolutely free. No list to sign up for, just high value, quality information to help you start and grow your home business. This was recorded on New Years Day 2007 and is part 1 of 3 parts. I will post the second part of the webinar in a day or two.

Click to listen to Part 1 Here.

I hope you enjoy the audio and feel free to leave any comments that you might have.

Until my next post.
Steve Casteel

Welcome To The Home Business Wealth Blog

Welcome!
This is my initial post on this blog, so I just want to take a little time to introduce what The Home Business Wealth Blog is about. I intend to share ideas, resources and information that I run across or discover along the way in my quest to become financially independent while working from home. I will be posting articles written by me as well as others others on the subject of making money from home. The subjects will probably be far ranging but will be concentrated on tools, business opportunities and software that I have used and found to be useful.

I also hope to meet some new people and make a few friends during this quest to take control of my financial future and fire my boss, even though he is a very good guy and someone I admire. but lets face it, no one ever gets rich working for someone else, so I'm sure he will understand.

So, that being said, lets get on with it. Thanks for reading and I hope to talk with you again soon.