New blog post on how to get leads from your website: http://ping.fm/WqaoV

Can you get leads from your web site?

Can you get leads from your website, the answer is definitely yes. How do you go about getting those leads is the great question. Having been involved in web marketing now for years I have gotten a feel for what works and what does not. I know that Google Pay Per Click might be one of the fastest ways to generate leads and sales but it is not cheap.  Who ever tells you that you can spend 5 cents a click is kinda giving you a line of bull. I use to think that, in fact used it and it is possible but you must have a very precise set of keywords that are very highly rated. I am not talking abut using a keyword like dog but instead a specific keyword like German Short Hair male trained hunting dog.Do you get the picture, it is very specific and only those wanting that will type that in. Your chances go way up to get the person that is looking for by being that specific and this goes for Google Adwords and for the keywords you put in your web site. The search engines are getting more specific so if I am looking for a German Short hair male trained the spiders of the search engines will pick that up and that is good.

But you were looking for leads and that will bring some but also I say that you should begin to blog using Blogger (a Google product). Be an expert, write about your web site, write about your products, write about your company and get people excited. Before you know it people will be coming back and back. Sooner or later, some of those people will become a lead or even a customer. Blogger now has some pretty good stat reports so you can get a feel if you are hitting the right topics.

Yes I have said this a lot but have a social media business page link on your web site. Social media is exploding and it is just another way to show the flag and be an expert. When you post to your blog reference that on your social media site. Facebook also has pay per click advertising but honestly I tried it and it did not work at all but that does not mean you will not have success.

Make sure your web marketing person submits your web site to the main search engines and directories on a regular basis. It helps to keep them informed of any changes you might make. Talking about changes, make content changes often it will also help. Do not keep your web site stale.

I also like to make mini ads on Craig's list and other on line advertising areas. You would be surprised that a gem might be found in the rough so use it it is fairly easy to do.

Well enough for now and of course I can help you with all of the above should you need some help. I normally start at $100.00 per month and go up from there.  So until next time, take care and happy lead hunting!

Joe Rossini

A PR release from a Rossini customer Project 17: http://ping.fm/uHRXF

A nice PR release from Project 17 a Rossini customer

 Great News!

 

Project 17 wins $1 million regional leadership training

award

The Kansas Leadership Center has announced that Project 17 - the Southeast Kansas regionalization initiative - has won $1 million in leadership training through the Center's Academy for Team Leadership initiative.

The Academy for Team Leadership is designed to help turn the tide on a tough public issue. The Leadership Center will provide immersion-style, leadership training for up to four years, for up to 400 southeast Kansans. This effort will foster leadership skills and a greater understanding of southeast Kansas' strengths and challenges as a region.

"We were looking for a partnership with a creative, committed organization ready to roll up its sleeves and go to work on a problem," said KLC President and CEO Ed O'Malley.  "We found a great partner in Project 17 that recognizes the value of empowering the next generation of southeast Kansas leaders."

Project 17 is a regionalization initiative named after the 17 counties traditionally considered southeast Kansas. It emerged from a joint effort of the four southeast Kansas senators: Pat Apple, Jeff King, Bob Marshall, and Dwayne Umbarger. The foundation of Project 17, established by the hundreds of participants at the November 2011 southeast Kansas summit, is that Southeast Kansas must work together for our common good, or the region will fail separately.

"The key to vibrant communities and a strong southeast Kansas is local leadership," said Senator Jeff King. "This exciting partnership between Project 17 and the Leadership Center will provide new regional leaders with the tools to improve the lives of southeast Kansans."

Project 17 is focused on the four items identified by participants at the November 2011 summit: (1) economic growth; (2) improved health outcomes; (3) promoting regional leadership; and (4) creating a permanent structure to ensure a long-term regional effort. The Academy for Team Leadership will form the cornerstone of Project 17's leadership efforts.

"The Kansas Leadership Center will bring a serious leadership effort that is focused on the 17 counties of Southeast Kansas," said Senator Apple. "We are very pleased to have this effort as part of Project 17."

Project 17 was selected for the Academy for Team Leadership from approximately 100 interested parties and 21 final applicants. The Visioneering Wichita Health Alliance has also been selected for an Academy for Team Leadership award.

"We have a strong tradition of leadership in Southeast Kansas," said Senator Umbarger. "This is an opportunity to build on that tradition and make sure we continue to have the leadership we need to jump start the region's economy and bring more good-paying jobs back to Southeast Kansas."

The Leadership Center will begin meeting soon with Project 17 to plan the initial trainings, which could begin as early as this year.  KLC officials will attend the next meeting of the Project 17 Steering Committee at 9:00 a.m. in Iola on April 13 to discuss the next phase of the Academy for Team Leadership project. 

"I want to thank Senator King and the Leadership Working Group of Project 17 for their outstanding work with the Kansas Leadership Center," said Senator Marshall.  "This program will help prepare our southeast Kansas leaders for a brighter future."

The Kansas Leadership Center opened in 2007 with a multi-year, renewable grant from The Kansas Health Foundation, and is charged with fostering civic leadership for stronger, healthier and more prosperous communities. 

I am proud to call Pat Apple my senator and also Project 17 as my customer!

Until next time!

Joe Rossini

 

A new post about content writing on my blog:http://ping.fm/GO2sz

I just cannot believe that an owner cannot write content about thier business!

It seems to be happening more and more and that is you sell a web page and then you ask for content such as an about us or company mission or products and services and the owner stops in their tracks and says "I cant write that, I just don't have the time or I don't know what to say", I somewhat buy the time excuse but not I don't know what to say one. If you own a company, run the company, created the company, you darn well better be able to write about it and be proud doing it! You would be stunned at how little an owner can write about the company. You would be stunned at how bad their English is. "Well I bet you can, you have been reading my posts for a while".  OK, why am I writing this? I write it because we can help you. If you are truly word challenged and or do not have the time, we can write It for you. We have written content on several occasions and usually once we get it to the owner they add more to the content by remembering allot more of why they created their company. I think they realize how much they have done and how far they have come.

The moral is, don't be ashamed or embarrassed we can help you every step to the way including writing about your company!  Oh yes, I do not write the content we have journalism majors for that :)

Until next time

Joe Rossini

Another article on having an e-commerce web site and its benefits: http://ping.fm/rSF1Q

More on having an e-commerce web site

This is another neat article on why you should have an e-commerce web site:


Be it a brick and mortar business, a consultant agency, a travel agency, an institute, a sports academy, etc. all have their Websites online.

What is an ecommerce website?

Any website that is meant for the purpose of business is an ecommerce website. It is mainly related to buying and selling of services and products through Internet. The website carries:

Business details- type, infrastructural details, etc.

Products images and their description

Contact information

Why an ecommerce website?

A Business cannot be successful unless it is promoted in a systematic manner. In the present scenario, Internet has emerged to be one of the strong and effective medium of endorsing a business. It has many benefits over other mediums like electronic and print.

Benefits of an ecommerce website: It helps a business earn a huge amount of sales revenue because of the following benefits:

Mass Reach :- Your online store is open 24×7. There are no time constraints, no holidays, etc. Visitors can purchase the required products or services at any hour of the day. This adds to the convenience of the buyers.

Also, as the products are properly categorized on the websites, it saves time of the customer.

Time and convenience :- Your online store is open 24×7. There are no time constraints, no holidays, etc. Visitors can purchase the required products or services at any hour of the day. This adds to the convenience of the buyers.

Also, as the products are properly categorized on the websites, it saves time of the customer.

Cost effective :- Maintenance of the online store is negligible; you just have to pay the web hosts some amount of money to upgrade and renew your site. The money spent on the staff and general maintenance of a store is saved.

As the time is charting forward, the scope and market of the ecommerce business will reach its apex. So, it is very important to advertize your website using various online marketing strategies in order to reap the benefits of the ecommerce business. Thus a well-designed and duly promoted ecommerce Website can be a key to a successful and prosperous business.


This is a nice article which I agree with . The article was written by Anurag Gupta

If you are needing a delivery service in the Midwest contact http://ping.fm/eV8Kj They are minority owned and outstanding!

If you need equipment leasing try www.heritageleasing.com they have been in the leasing business for over 30 years! Tell them Joe sent you.

People ask me if using a blog or doing social media is worth it and I say yes. You must work it and not stop and it will work.

A new blog entry about getting more web traffic:http://ping.fm/AWpdj

Increase your web traffic is it possible..yes

This is an interesting article that has many good points that I have been pushing for a long time. Have a blog, be on social media and have good content.  By the way if you need good content or need a good writer for your blog or social media give us at Rossini.com a call.

Today there are many social networking sites such as Facebook attracting many users to their sites. Due to this reason the website owners are realizing the need to increase website traffic. But there are few website owners who do not have any idea how to improve web traffic. In this article some proven techniques are mentioned which will not only help you to get website traffic but can also help you to achieve better results in search engine.

Write good and quality content

You must not forget that if the page rank is higher, then you can easily increase your website traffic. And the best way to achieve high position in search engine is to post good and original content on your site. Hence, you must make sure that you are writing good and quality content. By posting good content you can get links from other websites also.

Another most important thing that you must keep in mind is that you must write better page titles. It is very essential to have a good page title because then the surfers can find the article very easily. The title should be according to your article.

Blog and social networking

Another best way to increase website traffic is blog advertising. With the help of blogs you can guide users towards your site. But, you must update your blog section regularly and you must make sure that the blogs which you are using on your site must be informative.

As I have mentioned earlier that today social networking sites are becoming very popular hence we can say that it is the best way to improve website traffic. You must create your account in Facebook and Twitter. You must not forget that these websites have high traffic and if you are able to change that traffic to your site then you would be doing a very good job. The best way of re-directing the traffic towards your website is viral marketing.

Resource page and text link

If you want to improve your website traffic then using text link is one of the most important steps which you may use. It is true that fancy menus look great but the best way to steer is to use a site map. You must use a link from your page in all the web pages. But if you want to get more traffic then you must use the resource page. You must never hide the link’s resource. You can also do well if you make sure that your site is linked with the homepage.

These are some of the best and simple ways to increase website traffic and to make users visit your site again and again.

Another story coming soon have a great day!

Joe Rossini

How can I get my site crawled more often: http://ping.fm/tokCG

How can I get my web site crawled more often by the search engines?

I believe in many things one of which is make sure you update your content regularly. I also believe in having a blog and having a Facebook page and a Google+ page. There are a few other things you can do such as:

If you're interested in making your site more attractive to search engine crawlers so you can generate more free traffic for your site then you've come to the right place. The Google crawl rate is nothing but the total frequency with which their bots visit your site and index new content. Some websites go a long time in between crawls and this prevents new material from gaining valuable page rank. But you can change that by making your site more crawlable.

It's important to invest a little time and attention to optimize the photos on your site. Images that aren't optimized usually aren't good for the overall performance of your site in the search engines. It can also lead to a less than favorable crawl rate for your website. But the real question is how to get that improved crawl rate. You can do many things to optimize images like placing keywords in the name of the file, resizing images properly, and using captions that are designed to appeal to search engine crawlers. While these may seem like simple steps they can have a huge impact on how often your website gets crawled by the search engines.

You need to make regular updates to your site's content.

The problem with this is that this might mean one thing to you and something else entirely to someone else. This doesn't mean that you have to update your site ten times a day; just make it happen more often and you're good to go. Google has a deep appreciation for sites that add new information often and rewards that by indexing their information and updates faster. This is the way that Google uses to let website owners know they've noticed them and like what they see on these sites.

The most basic thing to do when trying to enhance your site's crawl rate is to submit your website's URL to Google. This is something that is quick and easy but effective. In fact, the more search engines you submit to the better your exposure will be. Additionally you'll want to check that you're getting the right header response.

Give Google what it wants and you'll have no trouble at all attracting those famous Google bots to your site every other day. These are all steps that are easy to duplicate and apply to every one of your sites for fast results. Most website owners have no idea how important proper optimization is for their websites. It only takes a little effort on your part to make your site more attractive to them but the rewards are well worth that effort. 

Until next time

Joe Rossini

New post on how to make money on the web ok maybe make money:) http://ping.fm/a6qKp

Can you make money on the web?

This is an interesting article by Tanaka Ara

Here is the basic honest truth: most of the people get into Internet Marketing because they are convinced it is an easy way to earn quick money. Their approach is to make a fast website, put up some advertising and a few affiliate links and then sit back and watch while they earn real cash. There are a large amount of individuals who do this and also earn lots of money on the internet. But what if you want more than some extra or even quick cash (quick cash, naturally being a misnomer)? Can Internet Marketing really be leveraged to produce a worthwhile and long term career?

The quick and dirty answer is that yes, you are able to make Internet Marketing your long term and sustainable career. You only need to take on the project properly. The procedures and programs you use to build something to earn fast money are not all that different than the methods and systems you will use to build long term profits. So what would you do if you need to develop a sustainable career on the internet?

It is very important that the first thing you do, in order to earn long term money online, is accept the fact that you are going to have to do real work. You will have to do actual and real work on a daily basis and you will have days when you feel fantastic about what you do and days when you wish you could find something else to take on. This causes it to be just about like every other occupation that is out there. If you want to produce lasting cash flow by working lots right now and not at all later on then you are going to be in for a rude awakening in a little while. So be ready to roll up your sleeves and get to work.

There are a few ventures that lend themselves much better to a long term career than others will. Affiliate marketing, to use one example, is a great task for someone who wants to earn money on a part time basis or to supplement your already existent income. Is it truly possible to earn a full time income in this manner? You could if you pick out only the right products and then work like crazy to promote them. A far better approach, nevertheless, is to create your own products or websites and then promote those. This gives you full control over the projects you take on and how you accomplish them. And you will end up more likely to stick with it in the long run. If you want to give a service on the web this works much the same way. Writers, for example, need to create websites for themselves and create portfolios that they can point to as examples of their work.

Finally, perhaps the most significant thing that you need to recognize is that, when you want to build a long term and reliable income on the internet, you need to truly dedicate yourself to your task. You might have fun and feel rewarded by your efforts but first you should tell yourself "yes, I really want to do this." Making a half hearted effort is not about to get you anywhere.

Visit ECS Inc's new Google+ page at http://ping.fm/fTt0I

Where do your eyes look when you use a search engine? Read my blog http://ping.fm/0S0Fz

Where do your eyes look on the search engines?

From Alandra this is a neat article: New eye-tracking study: people ignore ads on the right

"Approximately 90% of participants looked at the sponsored results above the organic results in each search task. [...]

Fewer participants looked at the sponsored results on the right side of the page – only 28% of participants looked at these results on Google and 21% on Bing. [...]

100% of participants looked at the organic search results in each search."

Spotlight on Robinsons Delivery Service: http://ping.fm/6Wumb

Spot light on Robinsons Delivery Service

This is a spotlight on a customer that has provided a service to the Midwest for several years. If you ever need or needed delivery of goods and we are talking a lot more goods than a UPS delivery, Robinsons is the place to look.
Robinsons Delivery Service is a family owned Kansas City trucking delivery service that has been in business since 1950. Robinsons specializes in general deliveries for large vendors such as Hallmark Cards. Fast, reliable and affordable, Robinsons is one of the oldest trucking delivery companies in the Midwest.

Robinson's Delivery Service, Inc. (RDSI), provides pre-scheduled delivery service of non-hazardous materials RDSI using company-owned late model equipment to provide the required deliveries. They also use a state-of-the-art computer driven billing system to make sure their administration system matches their delivery services.

Please feel free to contact Terry at Robinson Delivery at 913-281-4952 or fill out their contact form at Robinson Delivery Contact form.

New post on my blog on how to get leads from your web site:http://ping.fm/0A3Od

How can I get more leads from my web site

Lets face it, getting leads is important to most of us and to get them takes time, money and effort. The neatest leads are those given to you by your customers.  Another neat lead is a lead that come from your web site. I know that when I get a lead that comes in unsolicited from my web site it is a nice feeling. Web site leads can and will come as a result of several factors such as the look and feel of the web site to entice a visitor to come in and look. The information on the web site that draws attention. The offers you have that make people want to ask for more information. All these things and more help your web site get you leads.  There are other factors that are important such as your ranking in the search engines. The way your web site is written so that Google and company will come and like what it sees. The number of times you change content.  These are but a few things that will bring leads.  I will have to say though one of the most important factors is if you really have what people want. A wise man once told me that your web site can sell blue dogs but if people are looking for red dogs it just does not matter what you do!  I guess the moral of the story is, you have to have what the masses want and if you do, you will get people finding you!

More later on getting those red dogs found!

Joe Rossini

A neat article by a John Kennedy a web developer in the UK about how you should choose the right web company for a business web page: http://ping.fm/JzWto

How to find a good web company

Having a business website does not guarantee web success. To be successful your website must have appeal, framework, functionality and above all clear-cut objective of achieving web ROIs – after all a business website is a for profit enterprises, and meeting ROI and cutting costs is an integral element of scoring profit.

You’ll find hundreds of articles dealing with aesthetics of website design and layout. There are hundreds of articles dealing with web architecture, structure, and development tools as well. However, I believe that such things should be left to the professionals. Individuals like us do not have the luxury to get into the think of website design and development. My advice is to hire a company, preferable a custom web design company, and collaborate with them to give you a website that fits the needs and demands of your business/organization.  Most web design companies offer Professional logo design solutions as well, so you don’t have to worry about that either. What I’m interested in here is the cost saving elements of website design.

It’s very important for a business to have a website that is visitor friendly. It usually entails a website that has clear and logical and is well planned and thought out. However, as stated earlier, it’s equally important for you to have a website that is easy to use and inexpensive to keep up. Content Management Systems (CMS) are an extremely effective means of achieving this aim. Content Management Systems provide novices (users with limited understanding of web programming or mark-up languages) to manage website content with relative ease. In terms of scope CMS solutions vary in degree and size. Some CMS solutions offer users limited controls, while other let users fiddle with every nook and cranny of their site – it all depends on requirements.

A recent survey by Beyond, revealed that search engine like Google, Yahoo! and Bing control an normal consumer’s decision making process and purchase choice by a factor of 98 per cent. These figures were especially valid for categories like automobile, electronics, travel and fashion etc. In actual fact, according to beyond, search engines (in particular Google) have become the prime source of influence in a myriad of sectors.  So as in the case of CMS, no right minded businessperson can ignore the importance of search engine marketing. Search engine marketing, also referred to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), is one of the most powerful, and low cost mediums of marketing products/services available on the web. From augmenting brand awareness to becoming the virtual top-dog of the industry, SEO in its various forms, is there to help you channel more targeted traffic and eventually more leads and conversations to your website. In fact it has been deemed the most effective and efficient means of meeting web ROIs in existence – and that’s a certified FACT! 

I’d say that it definitely pays to know each element of your website; however it’s not a mandatory need. Simply get a good web design or logo design company to give you a sharp looking website that has a CMS, and is synchronized with the latest SEO techniques. Remember, as mentioned previously, a good design can affect your site’s performance on search engines, and can actually turn incoming leads into paying customers. So do focus on these elements – it could mean the difference between success and failure. 


This was written by John Kennedy a web designer in teh UK I find it to be very appropriate.

New post on my blog about finding a good domain name: http://ping.fm/yRGrf

Finding a good domain name

This an interesting article and in many ways very true. Domain names are important so think about it and then jump in!

If you are a person, who has reservations about getting your business going, then you need to start here to take the first steps required. Finding a good domain name for purchase can be challenging work, but it is also very rewarding if you know where to look and what to looking for. Of course, you could always try to figure one out on your own, but why start from scratch when you can build on the successes and learn from the failures of those, who have gone before you.
First things first before you catch going. You are going to need a reliable internet hosting company that keeps the most up to date listings of what is on the market and what has sold. You need a host that can give you the tools and information necessary to determine whether or not the domain name will be a wise purchase for the implementation and the growth of your business. The information that you need to be on the lookout for is as follows: current amount of visitors to the domain name, any sales, traffic and content history that may be useful in relaunching and taking the site in the direction you would have for it to go, and any advertising revenue that has been previously generated by the domain name itself.

The sales, traffic and content history is extremely important, because, if you are not starting from scratch, you want something that has the potential to be a moneymaker, and you want to be able to offer a fair price that is advantageous to your budget. By targeting sites with a somewhat successful past, you can see where the current owner went right and where they went wrong, and it can ultimately help you to construct a viable business plan over what the past reveals. Advertising revenue is also a big deal because, again, it gives you a starting point from which you can build on the site and learn from the past missteps.
Once you have this information, you also have the info you need to construct an intelligent offer that will be beneficial to you and your company. If you wish to know how to buy a good domain name and start your online business, the steps above are what you must do to make the best decision for your business. Once you are up and running, you can then connect with the previous audience and grow numbers from there with your own fresh ideas and techniques that are sure to keep you in business for years to come.

A new article about Internet marketing for non profits on my blog: http://ping.fm/rm3YI

Internet Marketing And Website Promotion Strategies For Non Profit Website

Are you looking for a way to present your non profit organization to the world in a manner that encourages donations? Are you passionate about your cause, but unsure of where to start in the marketing of that cause? If so, then you need to brush up on Internet marketing strategies and web page promotion.

You do not have to be an expert, but it helps to understand what works and what doesn't if you are considering outside help. If not, then it can place you in the driver's seat to take charge of your marketing efforts and most effectively position your organization against others in your industry and against the bad economy. So what web page promotion and Internet marketing strategies actually work? In short, these:
1) Community networking.
Community networking sites like Google-Plus, Twitter, and Facebook, are changing the way that people connect with one another. They quickly and effectively allow people to establish potentially invaluable connections, and they do it free of charge. While it may be wise to advertise on these platforms, you don’t actually have to fork out a single dime in order to take benefit of the invaluable platforms that these companies offer. By creating customized connections based on a user's expressed likes, hobbies and interests, a social networking site can give highly targeted leads, which may in turn produce donations and referrals.
2) Need an opinion.
It pays for non profit organizations to keep up with what they are doing within their profession. Having an opinion on matters that pertain directly to the cause is helpful, because those opinions may be expressed in a blog entry and blasted out to tens of thousands of followers and friends on the social networks. Of course, it pays to have your most compelling copy revealed upfront. Write good headlines and use those to attract interest. The larger your footprint is on the web, the more that revenue will start to trickle in, and it doesn't take many devoted followers to looking the marketing going on its own.
3) Never disconnect from the real world.
It is common to think that Internet marketing should be kept entirely online, but increasing the visibility of your site in the "real world" can do much for your success online. As you work your way into online non profit growth potential, be careful not to ignore the tried and true methods and how they can work for you rather than against you moving forward.
With all these tips working for the benefit of your non profit organization, you will see a climb in traffic. How you handle that climb in traffic makes a huge difference in the ultimate success of your fund raising efforts.

This was a neat article and I think good info for all those non profits out there.   Until next time!

Joe Rossini

The billion dollar web site now playing on my blog at: http://ping.fm/Cb8jV

How about a billion dollar web site?

This is a neat article a bit old but still right on. I can help you here.

Building a Better Brick-and-Mortar with the Billion-dollar Web

By: Donald Lee

More than $117 billion passed hands from Internet shoppers to Internet vendors in 2004, according to the statistical research firm comScore. That's billion, with a B. Compared to the year before, the figure represents a whopping 24 percent increase in sales. Compared to the early 1990s, when the Web was a questionable commercial venture, today's $117 billion is proof-positive that the Web is the full-fledged money-making machine. It seems to be a big enough pie that any merchant with a Web site can cut out his heaping slice.

Not so fast. As any merchant who's tried to take a bite out of the Internet will tell you, turning a profit online is not as simple as throwing a few pages together. Professional Web sites cost big bucks for design, consultation, and upkeep. Either you have to hire a full-time editor or technician to manage your Web store, or you need to pay three-digit hourly rates to contract Web professionals. Then you have to face fees for Web hosting, broadband access, and IT maintenance.

Even after you expend all of this capital and launch your Web site, you're still not guaranteed anything. Your site will only be one among millions, if not billions. Yes, that's billions with a B again. The Internet, after all, is like a clear sky on a dark night. How can you expect a customer to pick your star out from among all of the others that shimmer for their attention?

On the Web you'll quickly learn that attracting your clientele-and building your Internet-based business-is just as tough as it was when you first started your brick-and-mortar shop. It takes smart investing, creative marketing, a little luck, and a lot more know-how.

What's great about the business side of the Web, however, is that your old-fashioned know-how translates quite well on the Web. A great example is the timeless merchant adage: "Location, location, location." This saying holds true on the Web, too. You can place your store's site in a spot on the Web where no one will discover you, or you could position it on a "busy corner" on the Internet.

One such spot are online classified sites. These sites provide similar services as you would get from a newspaper classified. Sellers can place ads online that describe a particular product for sale. Buyers browse these ads and contact sellers when they're interested. Online classifieds, though, are far more dynamic. They allow a merchant to display dozens, if not hundreds, of their goods with pictures and descriptions. And believe it or not, some online classified sites allow you to do this for free. Yes, that's free with an F.

The benefits don't stop there. As a merchant on a classified site, you can enjoy:

• A store that never closes. Your goods are for sale 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The Internet never turns off.
• A mall of online shoppers. Think of a classified site as a virtual shopping mall, with your grouping of ads under your own virtual storefront. By having a storefront, this allows you to have your own web page and listings, under the umbrella of the classified site.
• A chain reaction of shopping. "Real" shoppers go to a mall to visit one store, but often they end up browsing through all of the stores in the mall. The same is true of virtual shoppers. Even when they visit a classified site looking for one particular thing, they're likely to "spill over" to your storefront out of curiosity. At the very least, it leads to advertising for your store; at best, business.
• An advantage over pure Web merchants. Your classified site will pit you against wily online vendors who only sell their wares on the Web. This is where your brick-and-mortar business comes in handy. It's proven that shoppers seem to trust online merchants that have a real address and a real store somewhere.
• A solution to the intricacies of the Internet. Many classified sites can help with setting up your ads and with designing your storefront, providing you with instant IT IQ. For your buyers, the sites offer the security that Web shoppers demand to protect them from identify theft and fraud.

As mentioned before, many classified sites charge absolutely nothing for all of these benefits. The listings, the shopping traffic, the sense of business community, the advertising-you receive all of these perks for free. Oh, and don't forget your piece of the $117 billion dollar pie.

New post in my solar blog:http://ping.fm/tHOkl

A nee article about blogging: http://ping.fm/cvl1Z

An interesting article on blogging.

13 Steps to Successful Blogging

By: Ant Onaf

Blogs can be a very marketable and very profitable tool if used correctly. Profiting from blogs is just a matter of grabbing the attention of an audience and not doing any actual salesmen selling. In this article you will learn the 13 most essential steps to successful blogging.

1) Where to start?
You should begin your blog with a free blog hosting service such as Journal Home. I don't say that because I'm the owner, but a free blog host is very rewarding for a new blog. Starting with a free blog hosting service allows you to begin blogging instantly without having any advance knowledge of scripts, hosting, or programming. It allows you to build an audience and buzz for your blog. It allows you to focus on your content and not the internal maintenance of the blog. The best benefit of starting with a free service, is in the case your blog doesn't become successful you do not lose any money or are you left holding the bill. The great thing about a blog is that they are organized in chronological order, your latest entry is displayed first. When your blog traffic grows greatly and you are ready to upgrade to your own domain then you can simply make your last blog entry the announcement of your "move". Simply add a last entry stating that your blog has "moved" and type the new blog URL address. Which directs visitors to your new blog site, keeping your following, without a major inconvenience to anyone. Upgrade as you need to...but only when you need to!

2) Niche
A niche is a targeted product, service, or topic. You should first decide on a product, service, or topic which interest you. Choose an area which you can enthusiastically write about on a daily basis. You can use keyword research services like Google Zeitgeist or Yahoo! Buzz Index to find popular searched topics. It does NOT matter if your topic is popular as long as there is a audience for your topic and the topic is precisely focused then your blog should be successful. Anything can be considered a niche as long as it has a target audience no matter how large or how small the audience is. A blog about your cat can be a niche or a blog about the species of the cat family can be a larger niche market, if there are people who are interested in hearing about your cat or the species of the cat family, then you have a niche...you can even choose to build your audience for a market which an audience does not exist, but first you must build your blog.

3) Update Daily (nothing less)
This step is a must and not a suggestion. Updating your blog daily not only keeps your blog more interesting to readers, but it also gives your blog fresh content on a day to day making it more appealing to search engines. Not updating your blog on an occasional holiday or one day here and there is understandable to most, but missing days at a time or weeks is unacceptable and will most likely result in your blog being unsuccessful. To keep your blog traffic and retain your visitors interest it is a must to update your blog daily with multiple entries. Though, I am seeing a growing trend of successful blogs that are not being updated daily, but they are successful and have a stable audience who continue to visit their blog daily. Regardless, these blogs are still updated weekly with multiple entries. Until you have a steady audience you should try to update your blog everyday with at least 3 or more daily entries. The best way to accomplish this is to set aside 1-2 hours a day for tending to your blog and adding new entries. It may even be wise to schedule a set time which you dedicate to your blog each day. Give yourself work hours and treat your blog as a job, what happens if you don't come to work for days or weeks...you lose money or worse you get fired! Same applies here...if you don't update your blog for days or weeks you'll lose visitors.

4) Traffic
It's no secret. You must have traffic to profit from blogs. There are numerous ways to build traffic. Paid advertising, free advertising, viral marketing, search engine marketing, RSS/XML feeds, and word-of-mouth. You should always use your blog URL address in the signature of your email, forum discussions, message boards, or any other communication media. You should submit your blog URL address to search engines and blog directories. You should submit your RSS/XML URL feed to blog ping services like Technorati, Ping-O-Matic, and Blogdigger. You should confidently share your blog with family, friends, co-workers, associates, and business professionals when it relates. Many blogs can be considered as a collection of articles, for this purpose you should submit your blog entries (those that are valuable and lengthy articles) to content syndicators like GoArticles.com or ArticleCity.com. Once submitted your articles can be picked up and published by others. The trick is to make sure you include your Blog URL address in the "About the Author" passage. What this does is create link popularity and backlinks for your blog, when someone picks up your article from the syndication then publish the article on their website the "About the Author" passage is included with each publication and the link you included is followed, crawled, and indexed by search engines. Imagine if your article is popular enough or controversial enough to produce 10,000 publications across the web. The search engines is bound to find your blog in no time with that many publications and credit you a authority on the topic, in return increasing your rank on search engines. The small effort of writing a well written article is rewarding. You should try to write at least 1 full length article every week for syndication and submit your article to at least 10 article syndicators.

5) Track Your Blog
How do you know if your blog has traffic? Just because no one is leaving comments doesn't mean your blog isn't growing. Many visitors do not leave comments but they are returning visitors. I know it sounds crazy but with blogs people are more interested in what "you" have to say! Many visitors do not comment their 1st, 2nd, or 3rd time. Some do not comment at all, but are active daily visitors.

Tracking your blog does not have to be overly sophisticated usually a simple free page counter like StatCounter.com or Active Meter will do the trick. Install (copy/paste) the code into the html of your blog template and start tracking your visitors. Its better to use a service which gives you advanced traffic analysis, such as keyword tracking information, referral information, and search engine information. Visitors, returning visitors, and unique visitors should be standard for any page counter service you choose.

6) Listen to Your Audience
When using the proper page counter you should begin to see how others are finding your blog and if through search engines then which keywords are being used to find your blog. If constantly your blog is being found by 1 or more keywords then focus your blog around those keywords to make it even more powerful. When writing entry titles and entries use the keywords as often as possible while keeping the blog legible and interesting.

7) Multiple blogs
Use multiple blogging accounts (free) to attract more people. This means you should have a blog with JournalHome.com and others. The more blog accounts the better (be sure to read and adhere to the Terms of Service for each site). You can copy/paste from 1 blog to all others. Having different blog accounts is like having a publication in different newspapers. This enables you to attract more visitors and this also increases the chance that 1 of your blogs will be in the search engine results for your focused keywords.

8) Short & Concise
Aside from the lengthy article a week for syndication and publication your blog entries should be short & concise (if you can help it). Sometimes there are exceptions to the rule and you have no choice but to blog lengthy entries, but try to avoid this as much as possible. You do not want your blog entries to become hours of reading. Visitors like to easily find information and skim through your entries. It is good to be detailed and provide useful information, but do not include useless information or run away sentences that veer away from your topic. Stay keyword-focused.

9) Digital Art
Try to include non-advertising graphics, pictures, photos, and art in your blog entries. Not too much. Once a week is fine. Graphics can sometimes bring your blog to life. Of course, the content of the blog is the most important aspect and you do not want to overshadow your content with graphics, but displaying graphics can add a bit of spice to the blog. Be choosy about your graphics and make sure they fit your entry topic. You should add content with the graphic, at least a caption. Original graphics, photos, pictures, and art is recommended.

10) Keep it Personal
A blog is most successful when it is kept personal. Try to include personal experiences which relates to the topic of your blog entry. Stay away from the business style of writing. Write with a more personal style and use first-person narratives. Do not write any of your entries as sales letters, instead share product reviews and personal endeavors.

11) Interact With Your Visitors
You now have the traffic you deserve. You should begin interacting with your visitors. Create a regular theme such as: "Monday Money Tip" or "Picture of the Week" which entices your readers to look forward to each week.

Give your readers advance notice about a product, service, or topic which you are going to review and then talk about later. If the President was scheduled to give a speech then in your blog you should state that you "will discuss the speech and give your opinion after the speech airs. Comments will be appreciated".

Try your best to find exclusive information that not many have. Do not disclose any confidential or secret information which is deemed illegal or can potentially get you into trouble, but try to get the scoop before everyone else does. Such as: If your blog was about Paris Hilton (the socialite) and you had a blog entry about "Paris Hilton Getting Married" then it would be interesting to your readers if you had a actual picture of Paris Hilton engagement ring. Give your best effort to dig and search the internet for exclusive information and you will possibly come up with something useful. Your readers will appreciate this and they show their appreciation through word-of-mouth referrals. Imagine how many readers will tell their friends, family, and others about information they only can find at your blog.

12) Make Money
Once your blog has gained some real momentum and your blog traffic is increasing then it is time to start thinking about turning your traffic into profit. You should use contextual advertising, like Google Adsense or Chitika. Contextual advertising is usually text links which use the content of your blog to publish targeted ads on your blog. The payout is usually based on a pay-per-click model, meaning for ever click an ad receives you are paid a small percentage of the profits. In addition to contextual advertising it is good to also use graphical advertising such as: BlogAds.com, Amazon.com, MammaMedia, or General Sponsored Advertising.

13) You're a Professional
You're a professional now! What are you still doing with that free blog hosting service? It is time to upgrade to a domain hosted solution. You need to get a web host and choose a domain name for your blog then check its availability. Select the blogging software you wish to use, such as: Squarespace.com, WordPress.org, MovableType.org, TypePad, etc. When you have your new blog domain setup and ready for traffic then it is time for you to announce your move on all your previous blog accounts. Your last entry to the blog should be a "move" announcement. The title should be "Moved" and the blog entry should state something like "I have a new home for my blog, please bookmark and follow the link: http://www.YourNewBlogDomainName.com". This way all returning visitors and new readers should not have any problem finding your new blog domain. Plus, search engines can easily index and crawl your new blog, since your old blog should already be popular with the search engines.

At the level of a professional blogger you may want to team up with 1 or more other bloggers. This will create a more interesting and more powerful blog. The old saying "two heads is better than one", more authors mean more advertising and exposure because each author will have a vested interest in the blog. The idea of a team blog is to make it profitable and rewarding for all authors, while continuing to target the blog topic and keeping the blog interesting for visitors.

Following these blogging techniques should make your blogging experience much more rewarding. There is no guarantee that your blog will become popular or a household name, but the effort should at least put you one step closer. Making money online is not an overnight experience like many may think, but making money online is definitely a foreseeable possibility. As well, growing popularity on the web is not an overnight experience, but through time, dedication, and persistence you will be rewarded with all the royalties of blogging.

Rossini.com is pleased to announce the release of a new web site for Project 17 of SE Kansas http://ping.fm/ABee5

Rossini.com is pleased to announce the release of a new website for Union State Bank of Clay Center Kansas http://www.usbcc.com/

Just a bit about e-commerce

Just a little bit about e-commerce today. My previous post tells you that it is growing and fast. Gas is way up and so is postage so everything will be effected. As I put new products in my e-commerce web site Solar savior I have learned that preparation is important.  What products will you sell? What categories are those products going to be in? Will you charge shipping or build it into the price? How about charging sales tax? Will you inventory it or will someone drop ship it for you?  See just a few things to think about. There are easy shopping cart methods such as using a PayPal simple shopping cart and that can work for a while until you grow bigger then the fun begins. Remember e-commerce is growing and if you are not yet in it or using it will in the near future especially if you are a retailer. I do not predict the end of brick and morter stores but I do say that more and more the stores will be on-line and allow the owners to make quick changes and decisions which are not as easy as in hard stores.
So if you have an interest give me a shout or e-mail me and I can help you or advise you on which way to go.

Until next time!

Joe Rossini

This may be interesting The Wall Street Journal reports: Wal-Mart and Target are among some two dozen retailers working together to develop a mobile payment system.

New post about e-commerce and web sites at http://ping.fm/ifcxx

Why you should invest in a good web site instead of a DIY template

I have said this to many and hit many deaf ears but this article says it well. Please take a look it is a good read.

DIY web sites

I fully believe that if you want to sell from your web site and with postage and gas soaring the use of e-commerce is and will continue to grow, choose a pro to help you and then see the money come in! We redesigned the www.actioncoffee.com web site and since it has gone live, leads have flowed in. That is just one example. By the way, they have some of the best darn coffee in KC.

Until next time!

Joe Rossini