Residual Victory Blog

Choosing the best affiliate program is a critical part of website development.  Income and page rank are two reasons to participate in a legitimate affiliate program.  Multiple irrelevant links on a website may result in a demotion rather than a promotion of page rank and income.  Search engines and surfers crawl the web for quality content.  There are literally thousands of affiliate programs and review sites.  The safest way to decide the best program to use is to have a clear understanding of the goals, content and visitors to your website, a realistic view of your monitoring abilities, including cost and time, and a realistic view of your potential income and projected income.  By first having a clear business plan, you can easily eliminate the affiliate programs that are counter-productive to your needs and avoid being dropped from the primary search providers.

Google search engine algorithms pay attention to the amount of visits to your site, the amount of time the visitors spend on your site, and the relevancy of your website and the websites from your links to the input search terms.  Participating in “link farms” is one of the fastest ways to be demoted from rankings.  Knowing your customer is one of the fundamental steps to obtaining success.  Your website content must be tailored to the interest of your potential visitors, and that includes links to any affiliate or associate program for information, advertising or sales.  You don’t want a link to a steakhouse on a site for vegetarians.  The visitors will notice, and Google will notice.  You won’t make the sale and you will be dropped from search engine rankings.  Instead of developing sales, you will be redoing your website.

To keep visitors returning to your site, you must have a reputable site.  The reputation of your affiliate will reflect on the reputation of your site.  Make sure the links are related to your content and are not redirected.  Check for java script code and the HTML source for “rel=nofollow,” which gives the link a command not to count the link in rankings.

To use the best affiliate sites to your fullest advantage, make sure they enhance your site and don’t deter from the content or the aesthetics.  Choosing affiliate sites that offer products or information complimentary to yours builds satisfaction in the customers and the search engines.  Visit potential sites and evaluate them with the point of view your visitors have.

Have a realistic view of your income potential and monitoring ability.  Payment schedules affect your cash flow.  Compare payment arrangements to user data to get clear income projections.  Make sure you monitor affiliate program data.  Fix broken links, evaluate the profitable links, and discard unvisited links.  Many software programs are available to do this. 

Choosing the best affiliate program is a matter of having a clear business plan and thoroughly researching all of your opportunities.  If you build quality content focused on visitor satisfaction with a clear financial plan, the best affiliate program will fall into place by meeting the requirements of your business plan. 
 

Bringing Traffic to your Website

Google Adwords advertises on the web to new audiences.  Any website trying to be noticed through the billions of websites indexed on the web knows how steep the competition is.  Google Adwords is a great option for your marketing mix. 

With Google Adwords, you create an advertisement using your keywords and phrases.  When someone searches using your keywords or phrases, your ad results will show up in the side column of the search result page with a link to your site.  Google has an advertising network that your ad may also appear in that includes popular websites such as the New York Times, AOL, Ask.com, and Earthlink.  

There is no spending or time requirement when you sign up with Google Adwords.  You are only charged when a user clicks on the link in your ad.  You can set your daily budget.  A keyword search cost estimate is available at www.adwords.google.com. You simply enter the keyword you wish to use, type in the average amount you want to spend per click, and it will present you with a list of results of the cost per click, the ad position, and additional keyword options.  For example, if you type in the word “car” and enter ten cents per click, you will get a list of keyword choices that range from five cents per click to ten cents per click.  Based on the variables entered, the phrase “cheap cars” was nine cents per click, but had a low placement value.  “Snow Patrol Chasing Cars” was five cents per click, but was at the top of the list for placement.  This convenient tool helps you decide keywords for your ad and determine your potential costs.  You can then weigh your costs against your returns.

Google uses a bidding system to determine ad placement.  The higher the bid, the higher the placement for advertisement.  If you win the bid, you might be able to pay less than you actually bid.  Google only charges you one penny more per click than the bid under your bid.  For instance, if you bid 50 cents per ad and another advertiser bid 40 cents per ad you would win the bid and be placed at the higher position.  However, you would only have to pay 41 cents per click.  Even if you have unlimited funds (at which point you probably wouldn’t need Google Adwords), you would not be able to “buy” all top placements if you have very few clicks for your ad.  Google Adwords keeps track of clicks per ad and factors this into the bidding wars.

Google Adwords also offers an option to list business in specific regional and city searches.  This option will take note of not only the users search words, but also of the user’s IP address.

Google Adwords is an easy valuable service to your marketing mix.  It is important that you measure the cost of the clicks with your actual user data to determine if it is worthwhile.  A free online training program for Google Adwords is available at www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter/. 
 

Having Patience While Running a Business is a valuable tool. Patience helps you plan constructively, learn new ways to work more efficiently, handle changes and obstacles, and build better employee and customer relations.  Asset acquisitions always require patience.  Long-term investments require patience.  Patience is a Virtue.  Even in the business world.  It is, however, a profitable virtue.

Corporations ask their shareholders to be patient to seek new talent, develop new products, or demonstrate revenue growth.  Business owners ask their employees to be patient, and employees ask their boss to be patient.  Employees ask the customers to be patient.  We live in a speed-craved society - but as everyone knows, going too fast can lead to a crash.  Just ask any of the 50% of small businesses that fail in the first year.  The Small Business Association (SBA) reports many fail due to over zealousness and lack of planning.

Running a successful business requires developing different strategies during the life of the business, not just at startup.  Developing strategies takes time and patience and the results are not always immediately visible, and could take years.  If there is a fatal error in your strategy, your business will suffer.  You must take the time to thoroughly research all aspect of strategic development.  Monitoring the progress of your strategy is a good way to see evaluate its effectiveness.

When a business plan or strategy does go astray, patience will help you conquer the obstacle.  Patience provides clear vision.  With patience, you will discover the source of your problem and resolve it permanently rather than just covering up the problem and having it resurface in the future.

Patience with people is valuable in employee relations and customer relations.  By having patience with your employees during training, you guarantee them a better understanding of the position.  By having patience with their personal problems, you gain a dedicated employee who will stick with you through your problems.  The employees must see the example of your patience in order for it to filter down to the customers.  Patience should be part of your company culture. 

The need for patience with customers is recognized in all industries.  It also should be recognized that a customer’s impatience is often related to dissatisfaction with the business.  If a customer is transferring their dissatisfaction from other areas of their life into a complaint about your business, it is still your job to diffuse their impatience.  An employee should never under any circumstances get impatient with a customer.  You want the customer to walk away happy.

Big companies take big risks with new product lines.  Some succeed, some fail, but they have the patience to continue developing new product lines.  Patience with mistakes leads to discoveries.  Recognizing mistakes helps you perfect processes.  White-out was invented in a kitchen by a secretary who always made mistakes.  Plastic was discovered from an accidental spill.  Thousands of startup businesses and business processes have been founded on successful mistakes.  Have patience with them and make patience your profitable business plan.

It Depends on how Successful you Want to Be.

Starting an Internet Business could take just a few days depending on how much you enjoy sleep.  The 2007 World Bank “Doing Business” economic data reports that it takes 5 days to start a business in the United States, 2 days in Australia and 77 days if you’re stuck in Iraq. Starting a SUCCESSFUL Internet business may take a little bit more work.  Technology grants us the opportunity to start a business on a shoestring, but the competition is immense.  A business without customers isn’t going to get very far.  Planning is paramount.

Let’s define “start.”  Mere web presence is not the start of a successful business.  Every business must have a plan, and creating a thoroughly researched business plan is crucial to any successful beginning.  This could take a couple days or a couple years.  You should first be able to describe your business in one sentence.  Then you need to develop your revenue sources, market analysis, services and products, pricing strategies, profit and loss statements, marketing and sales strategies, strategic planning, growth and exit strategies, legal structure, proprietary information and, yes, even on the Internet, location, location, location.  The plan doesn’t have to be professionally written, but it does have to be thoroughly researched.  Moreover, you, the business owner, should be the one thinking it out since you will be making the business decisions. 

Not every Internet business requires you to have a website.  There are many options available for you to have a business working from home using information or advertising from another website.  If you are a web guru, then you’re way ahead of the game.  If you have some capital to invest, you can hire a website developer.  There are many free website building tools on the web, but they often come with limitations.  Many companies offer services that create and host your website.  Your domain name is a factor in determining your volume of traffic, so it is important to spend time choosing the right one.  Rushing your website development will stunt your growth.  If you truly want to be successful, spend time optimizing your site. 

Once your website is ready for trial and you have found a hosting site, you have to announce your arrival to the search engines and find some traffic.  This can be done through search engine submission, pay-per-click advertising on search engines, listings with directories, posting blogs, and press releases announcing your presence and a variety of other creative methods.  Ideally, you should have a marketing strategy that announces your website presence in a variety of formats.  Once the search engines have indexed and you have a good solid plan, a quality website, and quality products and services, it’s uphill from there.

So how long did that take?  The World Bank says five days - they didn’t say if the business was successful.  Take the time to plan and develop.  The more solid your foundation of your internet business the longer you will stand.  The best time to start that foundation is now.

To rank high on Google, your website has to be measured by “500 million variables and 2 billion terms” of Google’s equation, as stated on Google’s Corporate Information Technology Overview page.  Google’s ranking system is based on a democracy, and the citizens are the links on the worldwide web that vote for each other.  Not unlike our government today, many of these “links” are paid for, and some are of greater value.  Ranking high on Google is playing politics.  Links and Keywords are the key players in the ranking game.  Google also takes into consideration the full content of the page including HTML codes, fonts, subdivisions and the “precise location of each word.” 

Links are votes.  You must develop a link strategy.  Google likes linking things together. Create a rich network of links with distinct quality content.  Your website must have quality links going out and coming in.  Quality is the key word.  Links from reputable pages (which ironically includes .gov pages) are given more weight than links on “link farm” pages.  Linking to a “link farm” is one of the worst things you can do and can potentially get your deported off the web.  The better the links, the better your ranking.  Google will factor in your page content and the content of the pages you link to. Do your research.  Google has a free page rank tool on their toolbar.  Use it to find out the page ranking and visit the site.

Google also gives more weight to one-way links that lead to your site, and less weight to reciprocal links.  How do you get these?  Buy them.  List yourself in a reputable directory listing.  Make sure you are listed in the Open Directory Project (DMOZ.org).  If you can’t buy links, write good content.  Give someone a reason to link to your site.  Again, the keyword is Quality.  Submitting articles and press releases are also strategies in the linking game.

Keywords are your platform.  They are what you stand for.  Words count.  Graphics don’t.  Make sure your words are not in graphic form and make sure you have relevant titles under your graphics.  Start with your title tag.  Put everything you stand for in ten words or less.  Make your URLs short and keyword specific.  Brand yourself.  If you type in soda, Mountain Dew will not show up on the first page.  If you type in Mountain Dew, it will be on the first page.  Brand yourself so users know what they are searching for.  Do not put the same words in every heading and every tag.  Be descriptive.  Sell yourself.  There are multitudes of free keyword rank and suggestion tools.  Use them as a supplement to your knowledge of your company.

Think of every element in your website as words and pages in a presentation that is going to be up for a vote.  Does everything fit?  Is it all related?  Are you a reputable company with a quality product?  Does it sell?  Now sell it.  Google is waiting for you.

Keeping Focused while Working from Home isn’t always easy, but there are ways to conquer distractions.  Stay focused and I’ll share them with you.

1.  Don’t go online and look up articles on how to stay focused while you are working from home.

2.  Don’t go online. 

3.  Don’t surf anywhere you are not supposed to go. 

4.  Don’t play games online.
 
5.  Don’t play games on your computer.  Hide the icons.

6.  Don’t read your email.  Keep two separate emails.  One for business, one for pleasure.

7.  Stay away from forums and blogs.

8.  Keep your instant messenger closed.

9.  Shut of the phone.
 
10. Give the kids money to go to the mall.  Make sure the mall is in another country.

The secret to staying focused while working from home is to get rid of the computer, the phone and the family.  I’ll just make the wild and crazy assumption that you can’t do that.  What are more conventional methods? 

Planning is paramount.  Make a plan on what your objectives are for the today.  The advice is tried and true.  You can also better evaluate where your strengths and weaknesses are, measure your productivity, and monitor your progress.

Become one with your project.  Okay, so that sounds a little corny.  Absorb your thinking and environment into your project.  When you do housework, (if you do), let your project fester in your brain.  Keep pen and paper around the house so you can jot down ideas when they pop into your head.  Try not to lose the pen and paper.

Stay organized.  I hear you laughing.  Another classic tidbit of advice.  Try it, it just might work.  Buy fun office supplies.  Even if they don’t work, at least you had the chance to go shopping.  (Stay focused when shopping.)

Some advisors suggest having schedules and set times.  I advise you to become familiar with what motivates you and times you feel most productive.  It’s not the same every day.  No sense staring at a computer if your brain is blank.  If your job is mundane, do something that tires you out before you work, then you’ll enjoy the time to sit down.  Better yet, do something you hate even more than work so work looks enticing.

Get help.  It is not a sin to get help.

Make your job easier.  Discover new ways of doing things, try new computer shortcuts.

Exercise.  Another tried and true method.  Get up and stretch.  Go for a walk. Relax.  Think.

Appreciate your job.  Remind yourself of the values of working from home, and if you aren’t productive, those values won’t be available to you anymore.
Talk to yourself.  Talk about your problems outloud to yourself.  Make sure the neighbors aren’t watching and act crazy enough so your family leaves you alone.

Make sure you love your job.  If you love your job, you will naturally be happy doing it.  If you hate your job, get retraining and start doing something you love. The biggest distraction you can have is hating your job.  So focus and get back to work.
 

Meta Tags are a basic part of any website, but their relativity to search engine results have undergone considerable change. As with any topic in computer programming or web development, it is important to keep informed of recent developments.  What was once fact evolves into a myth.  Meta tags have taken a back seat in the spider driven world, but they are not yet obsolete.  Some common myths that are crawling around in unreliable or outdated sites are as follows:

1.  The purpose of Meta Tags is to rank high in search engine results.

Ranking high in search engine results is useless if visitors don’t click on your site. Your site doesn’t have to rank first or second, it has to have clear relevant results that create a desire for the visitor to click instead of scroll.  Pagejacking is out.  Relevancy is in.

2.  Meta Tags determine ranking.

In the old days, meta tags determined ranking.  Google tipped over the webmaster’s desk and decided to rely on content rather than meta tags for page ranking.  They now display content extracted from the website in the search result descriptions rather than the meta tag description input by the programmer.  Visitors searching major search engines will be looking at page content for relevancy, not meta tag descriptions.

3.  Since Google doesn’t use Meta Tags, there’s no need to optimize.

Google is not the only search engine out there.  Smaller search engines still spider meta tags.  One of the larger smaller search engines is Inktomi.  Inktomi results show up on MSN search engines after featured sites, directory sites and sponsored sites.  Creating an optimized tag of a three or more word phrase increases your chances of being listed. Some smaller search engines use the meta tag text for a description on your website, and a good description could result in a good click.

4.  I don’t need to use Meta Tags on every web page

Each page of your website provides unique content.  Use your Meta Tags wisely on each page being sure to change a portion of the description to a more tailored content.  According to the Yale Journal of Law and Technology, Google set a benchmark of 500 million indexed pages in the year 2000.  By 2005, Yahoo had 20 billion before the year was over. The spiders have a lot of crawling to do.  Every little bit of information helps.

5.  “To exist is to be indexed by a search engine.” (Introna & Nissenbau)

It is a myth that this is a myth.  This is the mantra and the basis for every webmaster and search engine optimizer.

Search engines serve their visitors.  They will continue to sharpen their algorithms.  Not keeping up to date with changes in the industry will lead to your website’s non-existence.  Sorting out the myths and the facts is an important process in keeping your website in existence.  As long as the meta tags are still out there - use them for all they’re worth.  You need all the help you can get.

Narcolepsy and insomnia are as dangerous for health and safety as lack of food and water.  Modafinil, an FDA approved prescription stimulant sold under the name Provigil, can be the guardian angel for those suffering from the inability to sleep or suffer from irregular sleep cycles; including shift workers or emergency workers experiencing shift work sleep disorder (SWSD), patients suffering from sleep apnea, or obstructive sleep apnea with hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS), and narcoleptics.  Although only approved by the FDA for narcolepsy, shift work sleep disorder and obstructive sleep apnea (with or without hypopnea), Modafinil has also been used to treat depression, attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity, cocaine addiction, multiple sclerosis and other disorders where fatigue is a common side effect, such as cancer. It is not safe for use in children and adolescents.
 
Sleep is probably the biggest desire next to love and sex and is one of life’s necessities.  Sleep deprivation can lead to injury, a lower immunity system, depression, and even death.  The U.S. National Commission on Sleep Disorders found accidents due to lack of sleep have a yearly cost of over $56 billion and cause over 25,000 deaths and 250,000 disabling injuries.  A 2000 study by a University Hospital in Sweden demonstrated that men who suffer from sleep apnea have a 50% higher chance of being involved in an occupational accident, and for women, the results were discouragingly higher.  Lack of sleep significantly effects cognitive functioning, emotional health and physical health, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, headaches and depression. Modafinil’s ability to balance irregular sleeping cycles are clearly a benefit for life, health, safety and economics.

Unlike other stimulants, Modafinil has the advantage of being void of addictive characteristics and is without the side effects of delusion and euphoria.  With Modafinil, it is actually possible to be alert and coherent, which leads to productivity, a mainstay of our capitalistic society.

What are the side effects?  Trouble sleeping of course.  Side effects also include headaches, nausea, irritability, feeling anxious and anxiety.  Headaches are the most common.  As with any medication, the side effects will vary with the individual, and you must review all medications with your doctor.  Modafinil is not recommended to individuals with a history of heart problems, mental illness or liver problems.  It will reduce the effectiveness of birth control, and according to the FDA, there are currently no adequate and controlled studies relative to use in pregnant women.

Modafinil is manufactured by Cephalon, Inc. and prescribed in tablet form to be taken once or twice a day.  Drug tests will show positive results if you are taking Modafinil.  Unlike energy bars, energy drinks, coffee and ginseng, Modafinil regulates sleep and wake cycles, promoting the balance between sleeping too much or sleeping too little rather than simply stimulating the brain.  Scientists are still discovering how Modafinil works.  Until then, Modafinil is being touted as the Viagra for the brain - stay awake, stay healthy and enjoy life.
 

Nootropics could be the stimulator that drives business success.  Our economy is based on business, and stimulating new business.  Nootropics are in a new class of drugs which carries nicknames such as “brain food,” “smart pills,” “botox for the brain,” or “viagra for the brain.”   Nootropics stimulate cognitive abilities, such as learning, thinking, being mentally alert and concentration abilities by increasing neurotransmitters.  Using your brain is always good for business.

The topic of Nootropics is on the top shelf of ethical debates.  The President’s Council did a comprehensive report in 2003 entitled “Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness.”  This report contains chapters on “Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness,” “Better Children,” “Superior Performance,” and “Ageless Bodies.”  It lists aspiration as the heart of what we do.  Aspiration is at the heart of all business endeavors.

Enhancing the brain has always been a goal of society.  Learning has taken place since the earliest days, and occurs in both animals and humans.  Learning is part of who we are.  Society has millions of media and methods in place for learning.  Typically, these learning methods revolve around providing resources for learning.  Then along came Ritalin.  Ritalin is prescribed in startling amounts to “help” children learn in the classroom, and could be described as the start of the trend of accepting the value that learning-enhancement drugs provide.  However, arguments are ongoing in the most intellectual hemispheres on whether the brain should be left to the body, or to drugs.  

Ironically, humans have been enhancing their bodies for years.  The market is saturated with diet pills, vitamins, age-reducers, skin enhancers, hair enhancers, make-up, jewelry and clothes that are made specifically for body enhancement.  Now the naysayers are claiming what’s good for the body isn’t good for the brain.  Increasing the line of bodily enhancements over the last several thousand years has been largely driven by politics, money and media.  These factors will be the driving force to bring Nootropics to the business world. 

The theory is simple. Capitalism is based on making money.  The sales of Nootropics support the economy.  Making brains smarter make businesses smarter.   More business.  Better economy. Trying to improve oneself by using your brain was never a crime and nor should it ever be.  Our country is based on the freedom to improve who we are and what we do.  Without that freedom, we are not free.

The concentration and clarity that Nootropics provide will make businesses smarter and safer.  This ability to think more clearly has the potential to result in rapid advancements in technology, science and health, and the potential to result in speeding up most ideal goals, such as providing a cure for cancer.  Creative solutions to social problems would evolve into a healthier society.  As long as the aspirations of our heart are good, Nootropics will be a blessing to our brains, our business, and our society.

Nootropics are a relative new class of drugs, often equated with “brain food.”  Just as the diet gurus argue over an increase in calories, so too does the medical community debate an increase in neurotransmitters.  A neurotransmitter is a chemical substance that carries a message through the brain. Nootropics feed the brain neurotransmitters and oxygen to increase cognitive ability, improve concentration, memory, creativity and moods, just as vitamins provide the nutrition needed for an energetic healthy body. Nootropics’ ability to enhance the brain has earned this class of drugs the nicknames “smart drugs” and “smart vitamins.”

There are Nootropic drugs, and there are Nootropic substances.  Nootropic drugs are often available by prescription, and Nootropic substances are available at health food and grocery stores.  Nootropic substances are vitamins and herbs. The term “Nootropics” refers to those drugs and substances that have a reputation to increase mental functions, such as memory and concentration, or those drugs or substances that can prevent damage to brain cells.

So what’s all the fuss about? Good food, good brains, good life - sounds good.  But is everyone good?  Just as not all food is good, neither is all thinking - or all drugs. Welcome bioethics. Brain enhancement can be for good or evil, just as cosmetic surgery can give hope to an accident victim or give a new identity to a serial killer.  Will physicians be the sole determinant of learning potential, or will individuals be left to decide for themselves?  By firing up your neurons, Nootropics might be able to help you decide.

How does Nootropics help with decision making?  Thinking and stress depletes neurotransmitters which reduces mental performance, concentration levels, learning efficiency and recall abilitites.  Nootropics keep the neurotransmitters at optimal levels, thereby increasing the brain’s capabilities for decision making. With the overwhelming choices of Nootropics available on the market, the hardest decision is going to be deciding what type is best for you.

For millions of Alzheimer and Cancer sufferers, Piracetam is available over the counter.  Vincopetine is available for stroke patients. Mayo clinic research showed that certain “smart drugs” slowed brain cancer tumors by as much as one-third.  For those afflicted with depression and other mood disorders, Indian Ginseng, Lemon Balm, Rhodeolia Rosea, St. John’s Wort, and Deprenyl are available. Amnesia might get a little boost from Brahmi, and for someone looking for improvement with memory and recall, simple Rosemary might be the answer, which has a longstanding reputation for improving memory, albeit unverified.  There are many types of Cholinergics, Dopaminergics and Serotonergics available for a variety of conditions, however an oversupply of any of these might have the opposite of the desired effect, a decrease rather than an increase in brain power. Nootropics are on the market for athletes promoting the focus-building properties; but be careful, the unethical get-rich-quick schemers might market a powder form of caffeine claiming it to have “nootropic effects” and charge an unreasonable price. Goodbye physicians, hello lawyers.  Fire up your neurons and do your research.