Learn the Top Reasons Behind Poor Performance & Availability With Microsoft Exchange
As a professional, your clients know they can depend on you, and that you are there for them. But what happens when your technology is not there for you? Imagine you are on the phone with your client, telling him with great pride that at long last the document he has been waiting for is complete. While you chat, you attach the document to an email, send it off…and wait.
And wait. The email is no longer in your outbox and not in his inbox. You double-check the email address, and as the conversation becomes more and more awkward, you assure the client that the document really does exist and there really was an email sent. He is frustrated and you are at a complete loss. You decide you cannot wait any longer and switch to your personal Hotmail account to resend the document, which may or may not work immediately either. The result is wasted time, and if you switched email systems, you no longer have a cohesive record of the exchange.
Your system administrator will list a number of reasons why this incident happened, reasons that are beyond his control:
- Junk mail folders
- Anti-virus systems
- User errors
- Bottlenecks in the Internet that day
The real reasons may actually run much deeper, which means that this lost email will not be an isolated incident.
Lost Emails Mean Lost Opportunities
Consumers, accustomed to fast responses through websites, are quickly losing their tolerance for slow email responses. Evidence of this can be seen through a recent study by the WAV Group, who claims in the real estate industry, the first agent to respond to a customer email inquiry has a 73% chance of securing the business. The third to respond has virtually no chance.[1] Similarly, a study conducted by Vodafone released in December of 2008 estimates that lost opportunities due to failures to reply promptly to email messages cost businesses approximately $27,000 a year.[2]
What about email that goes missing entirely? This summer Apple Corp admitted to “losing” 10% of their MobileMe subscribers email between July 16th and July 18th.[3] A wave of blog posts have popped up as a result of this problem, with subscribers making claims of everything from lost job opportunities to lost business. We tend to view email as a low cost service, yet clearly when it fails, the costs can be startling. Apple would only remark that the problem was due to a “serious issue.” So what exactly does happen to these wayward email messages, delayed or lost?
The truth is there are dozens of potential reasons for email delivery delays and errors. With complex business-grade email systems, like Microsoft® Exchange and Lotus Notes, there are many ways to build and configure a system. Some conform to the highest standards, while others barely meet the minimum requirements. With very little effort, you can determine whether your system had been adequately configured to suit your needs.
High Availability
As the name implies, High Availability is a system or network that is operational, or available, with a high degree of certainty and frequency. Ceryx, a Hosted Exchange provider, has made high-availability one of their primary focuses. With data centers in New York and Toronto, they have developed various technologies to replicate all messaging data in real-time and can fail over to the secondary facility in the event of catastrophe, allowing them to provide a real 100% SLA. While most providers tend to choose between high availability and high performance, all of Ceryx’s Microsoft Exchange deployments have been built to meet the highest standard of availability uptime without sacrificing performance.
One benchmark for testing an application provider’s performance is to log in to the webmail application and switch from the email view to the calendar view. Pick a folder with lots of messages in it and try sorting by “sender” and then clicking through the various pages. If there is a noticeable delay between these actions then your application provider’s performance may not be adequate.
A system’s availability is determined by numerous factors, each of which is examined below.
Architecture
Delays are often a result of high server RPC latency. RPC, or Remote Procedure Call, is how the Outlook client or the Outlook Web Access client (OWA) communicates with the Exchanger servers. RPC latency refers to the delay between initiating a request and its completion. RPC latency, as seen from the client, is a combination of networking latency and server latency. For good performance, the Microsoft guideline is 50ms average latency on the mailbox servers.[4] If mailbox server RPC latency averages much higher than this, the desktop user can experience “pop-ups” and warnings about problems with the connection from Outlook to the Exchange server. In the background, inbound and outbound email is not being processed as the system tries to catch up with other requests. Excessive “pop-ups” can become more than just an irritant; they can slow down a PC to the point of being unusable while Outlook tries to establish a connection to the server.
Ceryx aims to maintain an RPC rate 20ms or less. To do this, they have avoided the tendency of many providers who built their systems with less expensive virtualized environments and network attached storage. Instead Ceryx has invested in server clusters and high-end SANs (Storage Area Networks) at each of their data centers. SANs provide disk access performance, as well as redundancy through RAID configurations and fibre channel connectivity to the mailbox servers.
Many providers, in an effort to reduce costs, combine the Client Access Server and the Hub Transport Server (servers used to facilitate email delivery) on a single physical machine. This dual role can introduce latency at times of peak usage and throttle the ability to handle large outbound mail queues. Ceryx has engineered the Hub Transport role to ensure message queues can be quickly cleared even during periods of heavy load. By combining multiple, dedicated physical Hub Transport servers with the built-in round-robin load balancing capabilities of Exchange 2007, messages are quickly distributed to their destination on the internet. For legitimate email, hardware load balancing is used to ensure optimal performance of the critical Hub Transport role, which processes every single message that passes through the system.
Monitoring
Most hardware load balancing configurations can achieve both high performance and high availability; however, to sustain high performance and high availability – with a dynamic system like a Hosted Exchange deployment, where usage and load can vary dramatically – you must have an advanced monitoring system and the processes in place to scale the system in response to constantly changing variables.
Some providers install generic monitoring packages that tend to monitor every single metric available, whether the metrics provide meaningful insight to system performance or not. With Ceryx, every aspect of the environment from key metrics around SAN queue length through to standard metrics like CPU utilization and memory usage are closely monitored, trended, and understood. This information is used to develop highly accurate forecasting and scheduled system scaling. Any provider who has not invested in such monitoring tools and resources will just react to spikes in usage and load. Ceryx plans for them.
Breathing Room
Another major reason for email delays and poor performance can again be attributed to basic economics. A “store” is the unique databases for storing messaging data. With Microsoft Exchange 2007 Enterprise, there is a limit of 50 stores per server, with a Microsoft recommended limit of 200 GB for each store. Some providers will try to maximize the number of customers they can support by pushing these limits. Ceryx does the opposite. Ceryx maintains a maximum of 50 GB per store – one quarter of the maximum – in order to deliver the best raw database performance and protect against data corruption, common with larger stores. With these hard restrictions in place, it’s difficult to imagine how some providers – who offer mailboxes up to 4GB – are able to run a sustainable business and maintain high performance and availability.
IOPS
Economics may also drive another cause of poor performance: IOPS, a measurement of the number of times data can be written and read to disk per second, can vary widely per system. With Microsoft Exchange, IOPS capacity is directly related to performance and a heavy user can use up to 1 IOPS under certain circumstances. Each disk has a maximum number of IOPS it can support, so a careful ratio of users per array of disks is essential to maintain decent performance.
Ceryx is careful to maintain a generous ratio of IOPS per user based on real-world metrics monitored from its large user base, taking into consideration peak activities times and not just daily averages.
Routing Issues
To be fair, email delays and errors may occur outside your environment. In the scenario where your colleague was eagerly sitting and waiting for an email to arrive, it may have got stuck somewhere “in the cloud” – somewhere in between both of your email environments.
On a pre-sales and support level, Ceryx has developed a number of troubleshooting tools to help identify potential routing issues. As with any application “hosted in the cloud,” bandwidth is an important consideration when trying to ensure a positive end-users experience. Microsoft Exchange, which consumes 3 KB of a client’s internet connection per active user, is no different. Ceryx has developed a tool that simulates a series of network connections to determine if the client has adequate bandwidth to support their user base. Through this exercise they have discovered that – with any client moving from an on-premise environment to a hosted environment – any increase in bandwidth required is partially offset by decommissioning and offloading SMTP traffic, external connections spam traffic and attacks.
Spam/Anti-Virus
Of course the most notorious place a message gets “stuck” or delayed is in a provider’s anti-virus and spam filtering system. Ceryx runs seven different anti-virus products in its environment to ensure system health and email hygiene. That level of protection could potentially cripple an ordinary system that wasn’t built for high performance; however, Ceryx has not only sized their solution with the performance hit associated with anti-virus scanning in mind, but also closely monitors its environment to ensure email delivery is never compromised by spam and anti-virus filtering.
Beware of any provider who either ignores this potential performance hit or, worse yet, removes backend anti-virus all together. Removing anti-virus may appear to be a good way to control costs, as high-end solutions can be very expensive, but removing them allows viruses in, and once in, are often hard to then find, never mind remove. Ceryx’s system scans incoming and outgoing messages as well as messages in the store on a scheduled basis. A regular scan of mailbox databases is just as important as gateway anti-virus to reduce the instance of catastrophic failure.
Mobility
The benefits and usability of the Ceryx architecture can be measured not only on the desktop level but for mobile users as well, who share the same highly optimized and redundant environment. Ceryx also maintains fully-replicated BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Servers) in both its environments to maintain maximum mobility uptime as well. Forum Oilfield Services, out of Houston Texas, currently has 600 employees using the Ceryx Hosted Exchange solution, with almost 100 mobile users.
Beware of “Bargains”
Unfortunately the market is crowded with Hosted Exchange providers who are not as concerned about delivering a dependable and resilient solution as they are about keeping their costs low and selling high volumes of mailboxes. Providers that offer 3 or 4 GB mailboxes are ignoring the commonly held understanding that mailboxes of this size do not perform well and are highly susceptible to data corruption. That corruption is not limited to just the user in question, but can impact all users on that store, potentially even the entire server.
These providers can only offer mailboxes of this size at a bargain price if they compromise on some other expense – dedicated servers, SANs, anti-virus solutions or a fully redundant architecture. Of course the much greater expense is the lost productivity and opportunity that results from using a solution that was designed with the primary goal of meeting the lowest possible price point to compete with free solutions in the market, and not delivering Enterprise performance and availability.
Ask all potential vendors for the following:
- Customer references
(Quiz the references about any down-time they may have experienced) - The SLA
Have a close look at the financial penalties if high availability is not maintained. Professional hosting providers, confident in their systems ability to maintain high availability, will include clearly worded conditions in their SLA around the exact fees that will be paid to a customer should they not maintain an acceptable level of up-time.
How Do You Measure Up?
A lost or delayed email could be viewed as a nuisance or as a warning. Purchasing decisions need to be fiscally responsible, but often, seemingly bargain solutions can have a devastating and costly effect in the long run.
So how does your system measure up? Using Ceryx as a control, measure the speed, versatility, and resilience of your system.
Ceryx
SLA: 100%
Latency: < 20 ms
GB / Store: 50 GB / Store
IOPS per User: High
Bandwidth Sizing Tools: Yes
Spam / Anti-Virus: Gateway + Mailbox Server, Integrated
Mobile Device Access: Redundant BlackBerry, ActiveSync
Ceryx customers share the belief that their data is their companies most valued asset. As the most used collaboration tool in business, an individual Microsoft Exchange account typically contains a blueprint of an employee’s tenure: their schedule, correspondence (and commitments), contacts, contracts and much more. Ceryx customers trust that this real-time journal is safe, available and always accessible.
Footnotes:
[1] The Wav Group: Gaining an Edge in Real Estate with Smartphones http://wavgroup.com
[2] The Open Press: http://www.theopenpress.com/index.php?a=press&id=42004
[3] Apple Support Forum: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1953
[4] Microsoft Exchange Team Blog: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2005/09/28/411674.aspx
[5] Microsoft TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb738147.aspx
John Carthy
http://www.articlesbase.com/communication-articles/learn-the-top-reasons-behind-poor-performance-availability-with-microsoft-exchange-751535.html
Low Cost Website Traffic: Proven Methods To Generate Low Cost Website Traffic
There is only one main source for making any income from a website and that is a constant stream of targeted traffic. These days almost anyone can build a website, even an outstanding website but with no interested visitors, it just sits there. As the saying goes it takes money to make money and that holds true with Internet marketing and website traffic.
There is hope however, because it does not take a substantial investment to generate targeted traffic to your website.
Many of the high traffic websites online are employing multiple marketing tactics to generate traffic. Some invest a lot of money in advertising campaigns and other costly marketing methods. They are spending large sums of money to make even bigger money. Great for them but what about the rest of us who need low cost website traffic?
Some of the top low cost website traffic tactics also produce some of the most targeted prospects to your website, so at the risk of throwing another cliche’ at you. It’s not the quantity but the quality of the traffic that matters most.
Exchanging links with other related websites is one of the oldest and proven traffic generating methods online. However this method should be more than just creating a link page with tons of other websites plastered on it.
A good quality link exchange should be more than that. Perhaps a section of your website touches on a subject but is not your main niche, you could then link to another website for more in-depth information in return for them doing the same. This also provides added value for your visitors.
A key qualification in exchanging links with other websites is having similar content. They should share a general subject so that there is continuity in the information provided and helps target your traffic.
Link exchanges will also help raise your page rank and increase search engine listings. Search engines will rank sites higher in their listings that have quality inbound links from other related high-ranking sites. Its no secret that ranking high in search engines is the most effective way to generate low cost website traffic.
Traffic exchanges are another great low cost yet highly targeted traffic generating method. In fact you can join most any traffic exchange for free. You submit your website to the traffic exchange, and earn credits to get your website shown while you view other websites. You can bypass most of the drudgery of clicking by upgrading your account or buying credits.
Some may discount traffic exchanges as a waste of time or money but if used effectively it can drive highly targeted traffic to your website. Usually a short effective splash page or lead capture page are much more effective that just placing your sites main page into a traffic exchange. Remember the surfers are doing this to earn credits not necessarily to look at your site, so you must command attention with a good page to get the click to your site.
Traffic exchanges are also a great way to learn different marketing techniques. Keep en eye out for the pages that grab your attention and study them to learn how to create more effective lead capture or splash pages.
Article writing and submission is probably the most effective low cost website traffic generating method. There are thousands of websites that provides free space for articles to be submitted. If you are uncomfortable writing articles there are many freelance writers who are willing to do it for you for a small charge, but to save money, it is wise to learn how to write your own articles.
Your article topics should be focused on the theme of your website or about solving a problem that can be provided by visiting your website. Be careful not to blatantly plug your website or product in the article. Provide good tips and information on the topic showing off your expertise on the subject.
Including a resource box at the end of your article is how to get the targeted traffic to your site. You already proved your expertise on the subject in the article body, and if the reader got to this point now its time to get that click. Provide a short informative sentence about yourself or your website, while enticing them to learn more about the subject by clicking the link in the resource box.
Submitting your articles to as many websites as possible has two major benefits both providing low cost website traffic: Your article can be picked up off the article directory sites and used on other sites and passed around online. This gets you the advantages of inbound links described earlier and even more chances of targeted traffic after those website visitors read your articles.
Participating in online Forums only requires some of your time and nothing else. As you share your knowledge and proficiency in the subject of the forum with others online your reputation as an expert will grow. As you build your reputation in these online communities so does the reputation of your website.
Be careful not to spam any forums with outright ads for your website, and follow the forums rules about posting links. Most forums will only allow links in your signature, similar to an articles resource box. Most forums will always welcome new members as long as you don’t just blast on the scene with both guns blazing throwing links all over the place just promoting your website. You will have much better results by keeping it low key and adding valuable input when you feel others will benefit by your contribution.
As you can see there are multiple ways of generating low cost website traffic. Start out with what you can afford and use your profits to invest in some of the more expensive methods when you are generating a positive income.
Jeffrey Houdyschell
http://www.articlesbase.com/online-promotion-articles/low-cost-website-traffic-proven-methods-to-generate-low-cost-website-traffic-108589.html
How to Boost Web Site Traffic Using Only Proven Free Techniques
With the versatility the internet offers, there are many ways you could find that could help optimize the potential of your site or business in generating web site traffic.
While there are ways to jumpstart your traffic flows, many sites don’t have the resources that others have to increase web site traffic. Well, you don’t have to spend a cent; all you need is the proper mindset and a lot of eagerness. You also must have the drive and perseverance to do hard work and traffic generation research for your site.
How sweet it is to increase traffic for your site without spending a single cent. Now it’s a sure thing that many sites have articles that offer tips and guidelines in generating web site traffic using only free methods. Because it is possible, you don’t need to spend a single cent, it may take time, to say honestly, I’m not going to beat around the bush with you. You get better chances by paying for your advertisements, but at least you get a fighting chance with some of these free methods I’m about to tell you.
Take advantage of online forums and online communities increase web site traffic. With online communities and forums you can build a reputation for your company. You can target a certain group that fits the certain demographic that you are looking for. Show them what you are made of and wow them with your range of expertise about the subject, with that you can build a reputation and trust with the people in your field.
You can also make use of newsletters to increase your web site traffic. Provide people with a catalog of your products and interesting and entertaining articles. If you make it really interesting and entertaining, more people will sign up for your newsletter and recommend it to other people. The more people who signs up for your newsletter, the more people there will be that will go to your site.
Another great traffic generating idea is trading links with other sites to increase web site traffic. You don’t have to spend a cent. All you have to do is reach an agreement with another webmaster. With exchanging links, the efforts both parties do will benefit both sites. Every traffic that goes to the site could potentially click on the link of your site and visit your site as well. This works well especially when both sites feature the same niche.
Write articles that could pique the attention of people that have interest in your product to increase web site traffic. Try writing articles that will provide tips and guides to other aficionados. Writing articles that provide good service and knowledge to other people would provide the necessary mileage your traffic flow needs.
Many sites offer free submission and posting of your articles. When people find interest in your articles they have a good chance of following the track by finding out where the article originated. Include a link or a brief description of your company with the article and there’s a great probability that they will go to your site.
Write good content for your site. Many search engines track down the keywords and keyword phrases your site uses and how they are used. It is not a requirement that the content should be done by a professional content writer. You could do your yourself but you have to make content for your site that is entertaining as well as informational. It should provide certain requirements as well as great quality. Generally, internet users use search engines to find what they are looking for. Search engines in return use keyword searching in aiding their search results. With the right keywords, you could get high rankings in search engine results without the costs thus increasing your web site traffic.
All of these methods and more will drive more free traffic to your online business. All it takes is a bit of effort and some hours. Learn all you can about the methods outlined here and you will soon have online business bustling with a great web site traffic flow without the usual costs that come with it.
Brian Lam
http://www.articlesbase.com/online-promotion-articles/how-to-boost-web-site-traffic-using-only-proven-free-techniques-70345.html
Paid Tv – Buying Media Online – The Good Virus That Can Help Spread A Marketing Campaign
The internet is providing paid TV-like advertising opportunities. Most of the companies that are buying paid TV-like advertising online are buying in blocks of a three month period. Many companies are analyzing how the benefits of this type of advertising have an added advantage in reaching, as well as tracking, a wider audience. There is no doubt that most are more than satisfied with the results.
The diversification of paid TV-like internet advertising not only includes banner advertising, but e-mail newsletters, ads that are targeted by the web page content, text ads, and regional ads (which include direct targeting of a company’s marketing territories, i.e. cities, states). This blitz of advertising effect when done at the same time creates a buzz effect that exponentially increases the marketing effect.
Companies that are buying paid TV-like online advertising do not have the hassle of negotiating with search engine companies if they opt to use an agency that will provide that service for them. It becomes the advertisers’ job to negotiate the best placement of the client’s ads. It is also the responsibility of the advertiser to provide their client with projected visitor counts.
There are so many nuts and bolts that comprise the area of paid TV-like online advertising that it is best to contract with an advertising service because of their expertise.
There are advantages to buying online media advertising rather than traditional television ads. Because of the popularity of chat rooms, e-mail, and every day web searching, the internet has the capability of reaching a very wide audience that is performing more than one function at a time, unlike traditional TV viewing. The ability for an advertisement to appear while the user is performing other internet functions is a vastly different marketing technique in comparison to interruptive television commercials.
Online media advertising has increased sales as well as branding awareness.
Some paid TV online marketing companies have options whereby their client can place ads in exchange for a percentage of any sales resulting from the advertising. This feature is a selling point that traditional paid TV ads do not offer. With this offer, clients can save money and yet be effectively reaching out to the masses.
Companies offering search engine marketing as part of online media buying also handle the aspect of creating and optimizing their clients meta tags and manage their clients “cost per click” marketing campaigns. In addition, some companies are offering blogging as part of an online media campaign. Nowadays, with the advent of social bookmarking, companies have also started to offer social bookmarking services as part of the total marketing package to their clients.
Key Advantages of Paid TV Online Media Buying
The companies that sell the marketing of online advertising have the advantage of tracking the information gathered as a result of internet user behavior. Ad agencies deliver a marketing analysis as well as any recommendations with regards to any changes needed in an online marketing strategy. It is also easy to swap outads, unlike TV advertising takes considerable production time.
Yihang Huang
http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and-entertainment-articles/paid-tv-buying-media-online-the-good-virus-that-can-help-spread-a-marketing-campaign-255955.html
Getting Traffic To Your Web Site
Traffic, traffic, traffic. Any article you care to read about having a successful web site will always stress the importance of traffic. It is absolutely essential if you want to succeed in any internet based business. You can have the best designed web site, a great product to promote or sell, but without traffic, you have nothing.
Whether you already have a web site and not getting enough traffic, or thinking about starting up one, traffic has to be at or near the top of your list of priorities.
To help you generate more traffic for your web site, here are some surefire ways to increase your traffic.
1) Invest in ppc (pay per click) advertising with the major search engines.
Google’s Adwords and Yahoo’s Overture provide great advertising schemes that are very popular and assure you targeted traffic. While this is a surefire way to generate traffic, the downside is the expense which can be quite considerable if you are in a very competitive niche. While some shy away from spending money to increase traffic, this is a guaranteed way to bring potential customers to your web site.
2) Exchange, trade or buy links.
When you exchange links with other sites, both of you benefit from those exchanges as the traffic one site generates can flow on to the other. This is especially beneficial to you if the other site has a higher page ranking. The search engines crawl high PR sites regularly and will follow the links to your site and hopefully rank your site higher as well. The more links you trade with other sites the more traffic you can expect. Just remember early on in your traffic generation program, to keep the links within the same or similar niche.
3) Use Viral Marketing.
Viral marketing allows you to advertise your company or product with minimal or without any cost at all. This method involves attaching your link to a variety of media such as a funny video, entertaining games, interesting articles or a gossip. With this method, people get infected with the creativity and entertainment of the medium and pass it on to others. Your link will be seen and investigated.
4) Search Engine Optimization.
Ensure that you use proper keywords/keyword phrases that relate to your site’s content when you design your web site. Search engines look for certain keywords that they show in their results page. Having the right keywords/keyword phrases is a high requirement in ranking well in search engine results and thereby getting lots of traffic.
5) Write and submit Articles
Submit your original articles to article distribution sites. You can write these yourself or have others do it for you. Make sure that you attach a description as well as a link to your web site in the resource box at the conclusion of your article. As well as directing readers to your site, you will also get backlinks to your web site which will increase your web site’s ranking.
6) Join forums and contribute to discussions.
Show your expertise and credibility by making constructive comments. People will begin to trust you and your site will benefit from the traffic of those wanting to visit it to get more information about you or your product.
These are just a few methods you can use to generate traffic to your web site. Obviously there is a limit to how much detail can be explored and each of the above topics merits an article in its own right.
I will be launching a website in the near future to provide substantially more information on this topic. Keep a look out for it in links within my other web sites listed below.
Alexander Kent
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/getting-traffic-to-your-web-site-90192.html
You Can Make Money With your Blog
Are you a blogger? Do you own your own blog? If you answered yes to both of these questions, then you need to know that you can make money off of your blog, good money at that. Are you interested in learning how? Read on and I’ll share some tips from the pros on how you can monetize your site.
Operating a blog is as easy as joining Blogger and starting to write. As soon as you join Blogger, Google will invite you to join their ad display network called AdSense. Once you apply and are approved, you can run ads on your blog. You will only get paid for each time people click on your ads but you can earn anywhere from five cents to over one dollar for just one click. Don’t click on the ads yourself or encourage people to do the same, as this is stealing and Google knows when you click. You don’t want to lose a steady stream of income which can easily top $50, $100 or more per month.
If your blog has a popular theme, such as a blog for German Shepherds, and every German Shepherd owner in the country knows about your blog, then you can sell banner ads to dog groomers, veterinarians, pet supply companies, and more. Add this income to your Google money and you’ll be doing fairly well.
You can also charge for text links on your site or charge others to blog on your already popular site. In exchange for their blog entries and payment to you, you would allow them to have keyword rich text links back to your site.
Another way to monetize your blog is to join an existing blog network. Large networks of blogs are always on the look out for high trafficked blogs and they may pay you to post on your own blog in exchange for running their ads on your site. This set up could mean that you would have to take down your AdSense ads and let theirs run on the site, but if the daily income is good, you could end up making more money in the long run with this type of arrangement.
Of course, if you get really good at blogging you can establish your own little network of a dozen or so high trafficked blogs. Get your business going enough and who knows, you may be able to quit your day job and make a living off of your blogs!
Adamheist
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/you-can-make-money-with-your-blog-128207.html
Are You Magnetically Attracting Free Traffic?
We have all tried different methods of creating traffic, from PPC to traffic exchanges, and still a great amout of effort is needed to attract new leads. If your like me, you have tracked and tweeked …and tweeked some more, only to watch your conversions increase by a small amount.
We look for that huge leap in conversions, justifying or hard work and dedication, and we all know it doesn’t happen over night. But still you wonder… How can I work less and reap greater rewards? How can I generate endless leads and instant cash?
I have been working with a great group of people for a few months now, and the creator is all giving. But I’ll save that for another article in the near future. The group was recommended to watch a free video series. It was a 7 day series, and touched on various aspects of marketing. Not only did these videos reveal information for online marketing, but also offline marketing.
The greatest thing about these videos, and the actual course itself, is they are targeted at you.
Your personal self, you as a marketer, you as a leader. Your personal devolpment is key to your business and to your ability to make it grow, your ability to attract new leads and create more income. After a few days with using only some of the methods taught in the series, I was already seeing results. After completing the course, and using more of the techniques I was soon attracting more leads for free.
You also can attract more leads for free and generate more traffic for free when you use these same principles. You will actually start to become the hunted, instead of the hunter. You will see your list grow and your business grow, and even you can not stop the increase in traffic.
With this course you will also learn how to get paid to prospect and build your business. How to stop rejection and start to attract only quality leads. You will also increase your personal value and your knowledge base.
For more great information and to get the free 7 day video boot camp series to learn how to attract an endless new stream of leads to you go to… 7 Day Video Series
Check it out, it is truly is worth your time.
To Your Success
Dave
db
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-opportunities-articles/are-you-magnetically-attracting-free-traffic-674361.html
Limitations of Free Web Hosting
With the web hosting scenario currently prevailing, one can say that, free web hosting is among the most misunderstood concepts on the web of today. Tremendous popularity of free web hosting plans is due to emergence of new web site into the idea without really measuring the future results. Several people cannot see the dim side of the free web hosting plan but a new webmaster definitely can groom him/her after penetrating through such conditions.
What happens when Coke promote Pepsi on their website!!!? Some people may find the above question comical, but in fact it is a root problem related to free web hosting plans. Clients are compelled to advertise different things which are not related to them, this is the way several companies make it an affordable `deal’. It can be through anyway, it can be through pop-ups, pop-under, headline ads, implanted ad sense etc. The user should host advertisement on his/her website in any of the case because it is the source of revenue for the concern hosting company providing free hosting services, whether the user like it or not, it doesn’t matter. Such situations are not only irritating but also capable of destroying the look of user’s page; several times the denotation of the ad and its entrance and exit is not in the user’s hand, they are simply induced into one’s site and the user can do nothing but to suffer it.
Traffic chaos
The last line in web hosting is no doubt, bandwidth (data transfer) costs money and if the user develop a strategy for free service it is quite certain that the bandwidth enjoyed by the user will be limited. Several times when the user attempt to access a web site which is located on a free server is shown with the message given next: “The user had crossed the supplied bandwidth limit, please seek next month”. There is nothing to amaze if a webmaster gets frustrate onto it. For an instance, a user build an attractive page, promoted it in the market, grabbed a plenty of audience, and then losing that audience quite easily because his/her page does not permitting further hits for the month.
SEO woes
In the beginning, it can cause a lump of irritation to the user but later provides the lesson about how search engines operates and the way search engines handle name resolution. In approximately complete cases free hosting plans restrict the user in pointing a domain name (www.mysite.com) to an actual page. Rather, the user is compelled to adopt a substitute (concept) termed as URL redirection. The function of URL is to permit a webmaster to identify a site that the URL is supposed to point to. Thus if a user types in www.illustration.com and one has configured it to redirect to www.freehost/users/mysite.html it will end up on that page. Such sorts of things are not a big issue until and unless the user start attempting to reach to the condition where his/her website get indexed in the search engines. Then the user put forward his/her site (www.illustrations.com) in the front of few directories and then inquire from them about some of the good link partners but then a shake of surprises arises, when the user come to know that he/she has not been included in the lists of SE’s. Inspite of the fact that the user has 100 solid back links pointing towards www.illustrations.com, still every one knows what is going on. The root cause is that www.illustrations.com possesses no matter in it, but merely redirects the user to actual page at any of the reputed site. It is a fact that SE’s never index a page containing zero data in it, rather consider it as an effort to hoodwink their algorithm, which results in proscription of the user’s domain name. Then the only option left will be is to forget the domain name and take a U-turn towards free hosting address, which is not a preferable work in real sense.
The spirit of free web hosting is not bad enough as shown above. As there are several positives aspects on which one can rely upon. Like for e.g. there are some free hosting providers which do not compel the user for advertising, using limited bandwidth and also allow pointed domains. Only daunting task is to search them out. Thus, an ideal hosting without hurdles can be enjoyed by loosening slightly the pocket. The user can enjoy an outstanding hosting by paying $5.95 per month, it asks for little money but the efforts will be WORTH it.
Web Hosting
http://www.articlesbase.com/web-hosting-articles/limitations-of-free-web-hosting-306957.html
Online Home Based Business – Add Extra Income With Little Effort
Apart from earning income from affiliate products or services that you actively promote, there are other ways of earning with your online home based business from your website or blog. You might as well capitalize on every opportunity available.
You can sign up for an affiliate program with Yahoo Publisher, Google Adsense etc. You will earn commission for your online home based business if people click through from your site and buy products. There are many companies who do this but – think about the relevance to your main business.
With companies like Yahoo and Google they will select appropriate ads. With other companies you have to be sure that the businesses advertised fit in with yours in some way.
One way that companies offer an online home based business earning opportunities is by your having their banner advertisements on your site. You have probably seen them. Sometimes they can be very intrusive, but, thoughtfully selected, can be another way for people to click through and for you to gain some commission for your online home based business.
Another way online home based business can be promoted is to use link exchanges. This is where you research other companies with relevant products or services and exchange links that can be clicked. This practice has a two-fold advantage. Your website or blog will have greater visibility in the Internet world, and the more places you are linked to, the more your online home based business will be picked up. Without getting into Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which is a subject in itself, this method is simple and gets you going.
In order to find links, guess what? There are sites out there which specialize. Three good ones are:
- Commission Junction
- Link Market
- Link Share
Do your research on these sites to see how they work and think laterally about the kinds of businesses that you could benefit your online home based business. Although it is important to get different kinds of links to your online home based business you must also bear in mind that overkill doesn’t work.
You must have visited the sites of some online based home business which have millions of links, ads, banners on their site. What is your reaction? Usually you feel completely overwhelmed and will end up clicking off the site.
So remember, keep it relevant to your online home based business. Choose those that are useful to your visitors because you want them to come back to you. Find the right balance for your online home based business linkages and you can earn useful extra passive income with no further effort.
Trisha Stone
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-opportunities-articles/online-home-based-business-add-extra-income-with-little-effort-516478.html
Free Traffic Ideas for the Low Budget Online Business Entrepreneur
The predicament every new webmaster faces is “How do I get Free Traffic to my website?” This becomes even more critical when you work with a low budget.
Webmasters know the value and importance of traffic. They know only too well that the very success of their online business depends on the volume of targeted traffic they can generate and if they can find ways and means of obtaining free traffic, then why not!
There are several tried and tested Online and Offline methods that can generate free traffic to your website.
Online Free Traffic:
The easiest and simplest method is to include your website URL in your signature in e-mails.
Write articles and submit to article directories on the theme of your website and related topics that will display your expertise. It is important that you have a link to your website in the Resource Box at the end of the article. This is considered to be the best way of attracting free traffic especially if you are working on a low budget.
Regularly visit topic related Forums and make useful contributions, give valuable advice and ensure that you place your signature in the forum posts.
Actively participate in reciprocal link exchange with websites that are relevant to the theme of your website and preferably of higher page rank.
Optimize your website for the search engines especially Google, Yahoo and MSN with the most relevant keywords or keyword phrases that will ensure that your website will appear high in the search results when these keywords or phrases are searched in the search engines.
Have excellent and unique content and constantly update them. This will entice visitors and the search engines too, to make frequent visits to your site.
Submit your website to high quality topic related directories that accept free submissions.
Advertise in free classifieds sites that cater to the category to which your online business website falls.
Submit a press release every time you introduce a new product or make changes in your business which will create interest in your customers or attract new customers.
Submit your website to social booking sites whenever you update your site. Useful information is shared by people and this will bring you a stream of targeted traffic.
Start a Blog on your website. Search Engines especially Google love Blogs that are frequently updated and make regular visits to these Blogs.
Offline Free Traffic:
Word of mouth is considered to be one of the best offline methods of generating free traffic for your online business. Pass the round to your friends, acquaintances, colleagues and relatives about your business.
Put your website URL on all printed material that goes out of your office such as letterheads, envelopes, invoices, faxes, labels and anything and everything you can think of.
Print Business Cards with your website URL and exchange cards with others at seminars, conferences, trade fairs, parties and other functions. Business Cards project your image and credibility.
Distribute Flyers with a description of your online business, your physical address and your website URL. This is one of the cheapest and low budget ways of promoting your business offline.
Write articles about your business in the local community newspapers with your website URL in them.
Place bumper stickers or magnetic signs on your vehicles displaying your website URL and your phone number are a free or an inexpensive way of promoting your online business Offline.
Place your Ads in Community centers, Bulletin boards and other places that provide the opportunity to place free Ads.
All these methods will bring to your online business a stream of free traffic that will boost your confidence and keep you enthusiastic and motivated even if you working on a low budget.
Kanaga Siva