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The ABC’s of Creating An Internet Presence

Internet presence is so important in today’s business society, but many business owners are overwhelmed and do not know where to begin.  To create a presence on the internet, one must create a website and/or blog, implement an email marketing campaign, join the social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, create landing pages, create numerous directory submissions, and more.

This is only the beginning or the first few steps in creating an Internet presence. After having a beautiful website created, then comes the task of generating traffic to the website and getting listed in the Google Local “7” Search Box. Attaching a blog to your website is probably one of the most effective ways to begin getting your website ranked in the top 500,000 or above. With over 250 million websites, that can be a quite a feat in itself. After having done the proper keyword research, content creation must be diligent and consistent. After posting, blog posts must also be submitted to various bookmarking websites to help generate additional traffic.

After creating a Facebook page or a Twitter page, these sites must also be updated frequently in order to be an effective tool for creating a presence on the Internet. In addition, traffic must be generated to those pages to generate fans and followers. Email marketing campaigns can be set up via an autoresponder  but the content must be initially generated and consistent follow-up is a necessity. Email newsletters are a valuable means to build a trust with customers and potential customers by providing consistent updates, thus keeping them informed.

As you can see, creating an Internet presence is not an easy task. There are a variety of tools available to help with email campaigns, Facebook and Twitter presence, social bookmarking, and much more. It is often easy to let the vastness of the Internet appear to be overwhelming, however, with diligent, consistent work, your presence on the Internet will increase and your customer base will continue to grow.

Connect and Assist — the KEY to UNLOCKING your INTERNET PRESENCE

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Autoresponders Speak Out

Autoresponders are an integral part of Internet marketing that is currently sweeping the nation and is a valued tool of many network marketers. An autoresponder is an email marketing tool which incorporates an electronic mailing list. The purpose of the autoresponder is providing information to customers and/or prospective customers in a timely manner on a regular basis.

By utilizing the autoresponder, the user can embed a link on their website for prospective customers to subscribe to their promotions or newsletters. Such a link is generally referred to as a squeeze page or a capture page. These subscriptions are then added to a specified list. It is possible to have more than one capture page with the subscriptions to each capture page directed to different lists. It is also possible to add your current list of contacts into an autoresponder. However, it is important to note that those contacts must have opted in to your mailing list. Most autoresponders use an electronic mailing list to confirm subscriptions to the newsletter, to unsubscribe, to provide timely information to clients, and other activities associated with list building.

Email templates can even be created to match your website. Then Internet marketers can create emails, send the emails, and actually track their opening by utilizing the features available on the autoresponder.  Undeliverable emails are referred to as a bounced message and the sender is notified of the delivery problem.

Many internet marketers believe that email marketing campaigns create long-term income success. They believe repetitive contact helps to build a trust with the customer who in turn may eventually respond favorably to the offer after recognizing their need for the product or service. However, one must be careful not to overdo the power of the autoresponder. If you continually swamp your client with emails, he may interpret it as spam and unsubscribe.

There are a variety of autoresponders available which may offer additional features.  AWeber, iContact, and Constant Contact  are a few of the most common autoresponders. Connect and Assist can set up your autoresponder account, get   you started building a list for the future, and help with all your autoresponder needs. Get on the band wagon and start building your list. The number of potential clients on your list is the key to your success. Start building your list today.

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Internet Presence — A Numbers Game

When one commits to becoming a part of the internet community, they become an integral part of a challenging numbers game. Depending on what the numbers reveal, you may or may not gain status in the internet world.

Facebook, Twitter, as well as MySpace and other social media networks, are increasing in popularity as many venture to the internet in search of increasing traffic to their website or business. Each social network focuses on attracting and increasing the number of friends or followers. Increasing the exposure of your business to your friends and followers by the regular posting of subtle messages allows you to gain credibility in your field of expertise and create a bond of trust. Ultimately, by increasing your internet presence using social media networks, you can become recognized as an expert. Your increased internet presence along with this bond of trust and sense of expertise can lead to increased traffic to your website and additional customers.

Blogging is another numbers game. With the number of blogs increasing dramatically each year, blogging has become increasingly popular even in the business world as a means of establishing one’s credibility as well as increasing internet presence. Bloggers must also be genuine and create a bond of trust with their readers. Interaction via comments creates a sense of community with others and increases that bond of trust. At the end of the day, it’s all about the number of page views and the number of comments that bloggers rely on to help them track the effectiveness of their blog. Each blogger wants to watch the numbers continue to grow steadily as the traffic to their website increases.

Another numbers game which is quite interesting to watch is the Alexa page rank. When you begin blogging, initially when checking your Alexa page rank, you will view “no  page rank.” You must submit your blog to Alexa for ranking and be recognized by Google, then you will begin to have an established page rank. Initially it will probably be 15 to 20 million. Your realistic goal is for your Alexa page rank to be below one million and continue to decrease.  To be ranked in the top one million means that you are in the top one-half of one percent. Posting or writing articles on your blog consistently helps to improve your page rank. Key words are an important link in being recognized by Google. Posting numerous  articles helps as long as you continue to be consistent with your posting.

Once you begin your online writing, the more articles you submit, the higher level of authority you can attain.  Article companies such as Ezine, EHow, HubPages, and other online writing websites, often encourage the writing of numerous articles through the use of contests. Each article should be linked back to your website thus providing a backlink. Increasing the number of backlinks to your website is a important link in the numbers games as it drives traffic to your website.

Each blog post and article should be bookmarked on several of the social bookmarking websites such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Technorati, Propeller, and many more. Do not overdo this on a new blog as it can result in being slapped by Google or rather knocked down in rank. Often times it is difficult to recover. This is an important step but you must gradually increase the adding of bookmarks so that you do not endanger the ranking of your website.

As you can see, increasing your internet presence is a numbers game. You must increase your presence on the social networking websites and build your friend and/or follower base. Once you have created your blog, it should be linked to your website to help improve the page rank of it as well. A blog is one of the best ways to help drive traffic to your website. Be consistent in your blogging and create backlinks by writing articles for some article directories. Don’t forget those social bookmarks. By following these simple steps, you will be well on your way to increasing your internet traffic. Click here for additional information.

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Never Fear … Blogs Are Here

In today’s society, we often hear many references to a blog. Just what is a blog and how can it be used? The word “blog” is a shortened form of “web log.” According to Wikipedia, a blog is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly referred to as posts and are generally displayed in reverse-chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

The two most common uses for blogs are to increase the internet presence of a business to help them increase the number of customers or secondly to function to inform others whether it be business, church, civic organization, friends, or a network marketing team. There is so much potential when using a blog because you can readily connect to others worldwide.

Although a blog may be used as a personal online diary, today many are created by businesses as a means to increase their internet presence. Blogs commonly combine text, images, videos, and links to other websites or blogs.  Blog topics may be on such topics as technology, news, weather, photos, business or personal blogs. The list of blog topics often seems endless. By leaving comments, readers can interact with the author and other readers creating a sense of community. Many readers subscribe to their favorite blogs and anxiously await the next post.

It is very difficult to determine the number of blogs on the internet. Wikipedia reported that as of December 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 112 million blogs.  Currently in 2010, it is estimated that there are  between 250 to 300 million websites and many of those websites are blogs.  Since 2007, the exponential growth of blogs has been outstanding.

The word “blog” either excites individuals and makes them curious or causes them to cringe in fear. A blog is really not that difficult to create but the idea can be a somewhat intimidating and requires  a little computer savvy.  Once your blog is created, it is easy to post your personal thoughts or business articles. However, if you want to be recognized by Google and increase your page rank, then there are some tricks that you need to know. If you want to start a blog but lack the expertise or the time required to learn how, then contact Connect and Assist and let them help you get started. At Connect and Assist, your needs become their deeds.

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WordPress — .com or .org

If you are new to blogging, you may be wondering what is the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org? There are many similarities as well as a variety of differences but each blogging platform fulfills a need for the bloggers in today’s society. WordPress.com is a great introductory website to start blogging and learn the intricacies of blogging unless you plan to monetize the blog. If your intent is to monetize your blog, then you should definitely begin on WordPress.org and not risk the chance of being banned from WordPress.com and possibly losing access to your content.  Some have been banned and lost their content, however, I was requested only to remove the links. This may be a new policy, but I would not want to risk it. Many may consider WordPress.org for the seasoned blogger. However, if you are not intimidated by the setup, there is no reason that you could not begin there.

When I began blogging, the main difference that I knew was that at WordPress.com, all I had to do was create a free account and get started. In contrast at WordPress.org, the blog had to be self-hosted. I had no earthly idea at all what that meant at that time.  However, after beginning on WordPress.com, it wasn’t long until I made the move to WordPress.org.

WordPress.com is a good choice if you only wish to share you thoughts,  photos, and other information with others. As stated above it is not the best choice if you intend to monetize the website. WordPress.org, on the other hand can be monetized without any problems and would be the best choice for business use. Therefore, if the website is for business purposes, it is not worth the risk to begin on WordPress.com.

WordPress.com, as stated above is a free account and the hosting of the blog is included. It is simple and easy to set up and the website is available instantly. Since the blog is actually hosted at Wordpress.com.,  you will be given a web address which is “your user name”.wordpress.com. If you wish to have a specific web address, you may purchase a domain name and forward to it. Creating an account on WordPress.org is also free, however, the hosting of the blog is not included. Therefore, it is not quite as easy to set up and can be quite intimidating at first. It is necessary to purchase and register a domain name and create a hosting account through a reliable online marketing service such as Go Daddy or Host Gator, or another hosting company. Some of the hosting companies offer a one step set up which makes it much easier. Once you have created the account, there is a waiting period of up to 24 hours before you can set up your WordPress.org blog.

Once the account is set up and you are ready to begin, selecting a theme is the next step. The theme selection is basically the same with the exception that WordPress.org offers almost an unlimited number of themes. There are free themes available through WordPress.org and there are numerous paid themes available as well. The themes on WordPress.org tend to be more sophisticated and a wider variety than WordPress.com. However, it is possible to find a great workable theme on WordPress.com.

Once your theme is set up and ready to go, WordPress.com does not offer options to customize the theme. Customizing options are available on many themes on WordPress.org. The customizing options depend totally on the theme selected. Widgets are available on both blogging platforms allowing some additional customization. Both blogging platforms have identical features for creating a new post including the insertion of  images, videos, and audio. Links may be created on each platform as well as inserting embedding media.

WordPress.com does not have the option for plug-ins. However, they are almost unlimited on WordPress.org. You will find plug-ins available to track website statistics, to filter spam, to optimize your blog for the search engines, to create a poll on your website, to utilize for social bookmarking, to help with keywords and links to similar websites, and more. Since many of the themes in WordPress.org are search engine optimized or have a plug-in for search engine optimization, they are generally more recognizable and generate a better ranking in the search engines.

As you consider your intent and evaluate your options, just remember that both blogging platforms serve their purposes in the blogging world. You must consider your intent as you consider the needs that each will fulfill.  Careful evaluation of each blogging platform will help you choose the one that is right for you. Why not let Connect and Assist help you get started blogging and increase your internet presence?

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Increase Your Customer Base Using Videos

When searching on the Internet for a company or a product, many customers are taking advantage of the opportunity to click on the video to learn more about the product or company. By simply clicking on the arrow and watching a brief video, a company can present an appealing introduction to their company or product and entice the potential customer to want to know more.

According to Wikipedia, a video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion. Today’s society is infatuated with the video bug. The video has become an integral part of our lives from infancy until the day we die. Video is one of the first media that an infant relates to. What would a mother do without videos to entertain her children while she attends to the necessary household chores? In addition, the movie industry has made everyone video conscience and comfortable with this media source. The third most popular website on the Internet today is a video site called YouTube.  The popularity of the YouTube website has dramatically impacted the use of videos in business.

National research has shown video presentations enhance a website and increases customers which means more dollars to the business. In other words a video tends to create a higher conversion rate.  If a picture says a thousand words, then a video can easily say millions or even billions of words.  Imagine how much text it would take to create the same amount of information which a potential customer probably would not even read.

A video on your website, not only makes the site more appealing esthetically, but  it also gives a more personal insight into your business or product as well as keeping potential customers on your website longer.  The longer you can retain a potential customer on your website, the greater the chance that the potential customer will become a real life customer.  A video gives you that potential by appealing to more senses and creating an urge to fulfill an emotional need.

Today thousands of businesses are wisely using their advertising dollars by producing videos. Video production requires a little Internet expertise to develop but there are many vendors that can produce one inexpensively, if you do not have the time or desire to learn. Not only can a video be uploaded to your website, but it can also be shared via a variety of video sharing websites. Thus, creating another means of directing new customers to your website.

If your customer base is shrinking and you feel like you are wasting your advertising dollars, you may want to consider using videos on your website. Click here to learn more about using videos to increase your internet presence and your potential customer base.

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The Advertising Dollar … It Ain’t What It Used To Be!

Do you remember the “good old days” when you could advertise by printing and distributing a flyer, placing an ad in the newspaper, putting an ad on a local radio show, or maybe even go big time and placing an ad on television? Albeit, these were all excellent means of advertising at one time but today the name of the advertising game is the INTERNET.

Relatively speaking,  the Internet has been around a short period of time in comparison with the other means of advertising. However,  the Internet has become the future to advertising as an important way to attract new customers. Today the business world has begun to embrace the use of Internet advertising by using their advertising dollars to develop a  website or blog and even to create a custom Facebook Fan Page or create a Twitter account for automated daily tweets or updates. Once you have a website or a blog, you have only just begun. It is imperative that you drive targeted traffic to your website.

Computers have become the dominate tool in our society today. Laptops abound in society not only in the home but also in schools and businesses. It is not always the younger generation embracing their use, but also you will find many seniors using the Internet throughout their daily lives. Visit a local coffee shop and you will find a multitude of computer savvy individuals utilizing a laptop computer to access the Internet in order to perform their daily business tasks, complete an assignment for class, updating their status on Facebook, posting a tweet on Twitter, or even searching for a special travel deal. If a local plumber is needed, it is simple to grab your computer and do a local Google search. It seems almost amazing when the Google Local “7″ Box appears with a list of local plumbers.

It is an absolute necessity as a business person that you take advantage of the incredible opportunity that advertising on the Internet provides. As a business owner, you may have no idea where to begin. Maybe you had a beautiful website designed and created just for your business, but you have no traffic on your website. The end products of a successful business person are profits and satisfied customers. Allow the Internet to help you achieve both goals.

If you would like assistance with any of your computer needs, Connect and Assist is a company that specializes in helping businesses improve their Internet presence, improve their website ranking, and drive that targeted traffic to their website. They can assist you with any and all of your computer or Internet needs. They are comprised of a team of young and energetic people whose sole purpose is to grow your business. Check out this team at Connect and Assist. Let us “assist” you as we “connect” the pieces to your advertising puzzle.

Let YOUR NEEDS become OUR DEEDS!!!

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Benefits of a Local “7″ Search Box

“Hey, John,” yelled Sarah. “The bathroom sink is leaking again, but don’t worry because I’ve got the coffee can under it.” “We definitely need a plumber,” replied John. “Why don’t you use that new computer to find one? Why don’t you Google Louisville plumber?”  “Wow!!!” Sarah exclaimed. “A map came up with seven local plumbers listed beside it.” “Just pick any of the seven and give them a call,” replied John. Later that day… Knock! Knock! “Hi, my name is Ralph and I am with Acme Plumbers. How may I help you?”

You could be generating leads as simple as that.  If you do not have the time, the interest, or even the skills to put your business in the Google Local “7″ box, then you must seek assistance. Every business today needs to use the internet. The internet is not a “passing fad” because it is here to stay. It is imperative that you establish an internet presence! Advertising dollars are being used to develop websites, blogs, as well as Facebook and Twitter pages. The time is now for you to connect or let someone assist you in joining the worldwide web.

What can you gain? Customers and contacts! What can you lose? That gnawing feeling that you are missing out on the best kept secret in town — the internet. Again, if you lack the time or do not have the interest, there is a company that would love to help you set up your internet presence. Check out Connect and Assist where your needs become our deeds!

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Is Blogging For You?

Have you heard all the buzz about blogging? Have you even considered starting your own blog but had no idea where to begin? Blogs are used in most facets of life today. You will find blogs in businesses to increase internet presence for their business. You will find blogs to keep team members informed. You will find blogs to promote a newly published book or to promote another product. Blogs are also great for sharing photographs or keeping family members and others up to date. Others have used a blog to share a traumatic journey,  such as experiencing chemotherapy, in hopes of helping others who are experiencing similar treatments. Blogs are everywhere and used for a variety of purposes.

Some blogs may appear as a traditional website but are really a blog with a static page. Blogs may stand alone or may even be linked to a traditional website. Whatever the case, blogs fulfill a variety of needs in our society today and  are extremely effective in increasing your internet presence.

Here at Connect and Assist, we specialize in helping others get started with a blog. If all you need is a blog, we can do that but we also offer a variety of packages to help you get started building your business. Don’t be bogged down by the details of creating a blog, contact us and get started blogging.

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Help For Network Marketers

“I keep hearing that I should create an internet presence but I don’t have a clue where to begin.” If that statement sounds familiar to you, then you may want to continue reading.  What does it mean to create an internet presence? By creating an internet presence, you must create a blog, be present on Facebook and Twitter, and submit your articles to social bookmarking websites. Creating your internet presence requires that you research your keyword choice as you seek to improve your page rank and your Google ranking.

At Connect and Assist we know your needs and we have a package that may be just right for you. Let us help you get started creating your internet presence today.

Let YOUR NEEDS become OUR DEEDS!!!

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