Tony's Big Thing on the Web

I was recently reading an eBook that had something to say that I found refreshing, it actually spoke the truth. In my experience that’s a rare commodity on the Internet. The eBook was entitled Making Money Online – The Simple Truth by Darryl Graham.

If you’re prepared to look past the title which might at first sight say to you, Oh! No, not another book on how to make money online, Darryl tells it like it is.

As he puts it, this is not what you want to hear, but it’s what you need to hear.

In the eBook which is a mere 16 pages, a light weight compared to some, he tells some home truths about making it on the Internet.

Things like:

1. It’s not easy and will not happen overnight.
2. You’re not going to make money with no work and you are not going to make money with no investment.
3. You need to find something you can believe in, something you can use and something you will be proud to sell.
4. Stay away from the so called Guru’s, some of the biggest rip-off people online.
5. If someone tells you that you can make money immediately, they are lying to you so they can make money off you.
6. There are people online that prey on lazy or ignorant people who have no business being online.
7. If you are going to succeed, it will take time and it will take money and that’s the only guarantee for any online or offline business.
8. If you cannot give up some luxuries so you have money to grow your business, you don’t have what it takes to be in business and the odds are high that you’ll fail.
9. Don’t set goals that are unrealistic or goals you cannot reach.
10. If you don’t have passion for what you are selling and if you don’t believe in it long term, then nobody else will either.
11. Own and use what you are selling.
12. One of the great things about creating your own business is you have nobody to fault but yourself as to whether you succeed or whether you fail.
13. No matter what happens some people want to blame someone else for their failure.
14. People will join a program or buy a product and then because of their own ignorance they will not be able to do what’s necessary to make it work.
15. Be self-motivated, don’t rely on someone else.
16. Never stop learning and educating yourself on your business and other peoples business.
17. Stay positive and stay focused.
18. Prioritize - Set aside a specific number of hours per day or per week, to work on your business and stick to it.
19. Enjoy what you are doing or it’s not worth doing.
20. Believe in yourself and your business.

I fully agree with every point and if you want to read the complete eBook you can download Making Money Online

Tony Simpson
Webpage Addons
Making Your Web Site Work for You

Copyright Tony Simpson - Webpageaddons.com | Posted at 04:10 PM | Permalink

If you’re operating a website do you need to be smarter than the next guy or gal running a website ?

Well if my experience is anything to go by, it would seem not.

If you’re running a website do you need to know how to create one, or know how it works ?

No not that either, at least not these days. You can put up a business website in a matter of 15-30 minutes and not have a clue how it works.

If you’re running a web site do you have to be smarter than your subscribers ?

This is a question I have had cause to ask myself over the past few months. Why ?
Because I have been dealing with quite a few website owners over the past 12 months and been trying to help them with their website design and promotion.

OK nothing unusual in that, but what has surprised me is how many of them seem to know less about how a website operates than either their visitors or subscribers.

I’m not referring to how a website works behind the scene’s, I’m talking about website owners being able to follow instructions and directions just like they would expect their visitors and subscribers to do when coming to their website.

Let me give you an example as a website operator, you have a list of subscribers and you email your subscribers some information. The email requires the subscriber to read it then click on a link for more details.

Nothing too difficult so far, but then you receive a few emails from subscribers saying they don’t know what they are expected to do when to your mind you’ve explained everything clearly.

So, what’s the problem, you check what you have written, you check it with other people to see if it’s clear to them. They say yes, it’s clear to them. So you’re left scratching your head wondering how else what you wrote can be explained to those subscribers who don’t understand it.

They say you have to write to people who use the Internet, like they are still in the 7th grade, so that must mean like they are 12 years old.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be written to like I’m 12 years old.

Now depending on who your subscribers are of course, you have to make adjustments, but in my case, my subscribers are all adults with ages from 18 to 70 and all running websites. This means if my subscribers don’t understand what I write, I must have some subscribers who are 7th graders and also running websites.

So to answer my earlier question, if you’re running a website do you have to be smarter than your subscribers ? Once again it would seem not, in fact it could be a disadvantage.

After all, I clearly have website owners who are like 7th graders, then surely they can’t be smarter than their own subscribers who could also be 7th graders. Hmmm, I wonder if anyone reading this will understand what I mean ?

Tony Simpson
Webpage Add ons
Making Your Web Site Work for You

Copyright Tony Simpson - Webpageaddons.com | Posted at 11:18 AM | Permalink

A few days ago I wrote a blog entry called " Do You Believe in Fairy Tales " in which an Internet Marketer had sent me an email regarding a SEO (search engine optimization) product that he said would get me higher search engine rankings than ever before.

Two days later I get another email from the same marketer telling me to be wary of SEO programs that make all sorts of misleading claims. Now this marketer has obviously not realized or forgotten that his previous email was promoting an SEO product, which I should add, was full of misleading claims.

So does this marketer think I have such a short memory that I'll not realize one day he is sending me a message to buy an SEO product full of all sorts of misleading claims and two days later he is telling me to be wary of SEO products that make all sorts of claims.

In other words he thinks I'm a Goldfish - shown to have poor memory and an attention span of about 3 seconds.

The first part of his email read:

You've probably seen a lot of SEO programs lately that make all sorts of claims. Some will get you the #1 spot on Google, or others will "magically" drive laser-targeted traffic to your site.

The truth is that there is no "magic button" and there never will be. If you've bought into the claims of the SEO magicians, you've probably learned that many of the so-called systems are short-lived, and some of them will get your site outright banned from the search engines!

Don't get me wrong, there ARE helpful tools which can be an important part of your SEO strategy. The tricky part is not wasting your time and money on the ones that don't work or will get your site dropped.

In terms of wasting your money or getting your site dropped he obviously is not referring to his own SEO product of two days before that I showed was a waste of money and could get your site dropped.

I said I wouldn't reveal this marketers identity to avoid him embarrassment, but since he thinks I'm a Goldfish I've decided to tell you his name is David Zohar.

Tony Simpson
web site add ons
Making Your Web Site Work for You

Copyright Tony Simpson - Webpageaddons.com | Posted at 07:47 PM | Permalink

Have you ever been lured by the promise of tons of traffic from software programs that create 100’s and 1000’s of web pages at the push of a button ?

Programs like Directory Generator, Smart Pages, Traffic Hurricane, Traffic Equalizer and the latest to hit the scene Traffic Booster.

But do they really work and if they're so good, do the promoters of such products actually use them on their own web sites ?

Some people who caught the early boat on programs that create these mammoth directory sites full of meaningless links to pages with no real content of any value, have been reporting good Adsense revenues.

After all what else is there to do when you’re a visitor that’s been lured to one of these sites only to find there’s nothing there, you might as well click on an Adsense Ad. Those visitors that don't click on an Ad are just frustrated, angry and blame the search engine for serving up a bad result.

Many search engines would rather such sites didn't exist and a few are taking steps to make sure they don't, at least not in the results they serve up.

The latest intelligence reports from the last Google shakeout, code name Jagger, suggest that many of these push button sites are being discovered and eliminated from Google’s index.

Google has not got them all, but surely there days are numbered if Google gets its way and it usually does. As well as Google detecting these sites automatically by any footprint they have, it's also employing people to search for these sites manually and have people report such sites directly to Google.

The big issue I've always had with these traffic generator programs is where's the evidence they work, other than a slick sales page that tries to convince you they do.

So do you buy one of these programs to get more traffic or let your site slowly die whilst you're trying. Do you buy and try, or do you pass them by.

It's a case of Do or Die.

Take Traffic Booster one of the latest in a line of similar programs was launched in September 2005 going by when the site domain for this product was first registered. The domain is registered for 1 year so can be regarded as a throw away site, not expected to be around for very long.

The sales page for Traffic Booster boasts:

Learn How I Use This Revolutionary Software To Consistently Average Over 15,000 Visitors To My Websites Per Day - Using Only FREE Search Engine Traffic From Google, Yahoo, And MSN!"

P.S. - I forgot to mention to you that TrafficBooster Professional was a project that we started because we needed an advanced search engine optimization tool of our own with Outstanding Benefits that would help us "STEAL" The TOP 10 Rankings against our competition.

We was in a dilemma if we should make public such a Powerful tool. So TrafficBooster Professional Finally designed with every webmaster in mind. But we had to pay the "price". Even our competitors is using it now against us !!!

Obviously English is not the first language of who ever wrote this sale page, perhaps George Karamesinis, the promoter of this product. With 57 mentions on Google.com, mainly all from affiliates for his product one cannot say George is well known, at least not to Google.

But the big question for me is does this product get used on any site owned by George Karamesinis ?

He say’s it does on the sales page, but if that’s true what site is it ?

The promotional web site does not appear to use Traffic booster or if it does its Alexa Ranking (the amount of traffic it gets) does not show high levels of traffic. The Alexa 3 month average is 1,482,167, so it’s not in the top 100,000 sites for traffic.
Now Alexa can be wrong of course.

The lower the Alexa number the better the ranking, so a site with a ranking of 15,000 would be getting a lot more traffic than one with a ranking of 1,500,000 which is where this product site is ranked.

A video on the site that demo’s the use of the product uses a site at www.free-keywords.com. But that site has only an under construction graphic on the main index page and has an equally poor 3 month average Alexa Ranking at 1,475,770.

Digging below the surface on this demo site I did find that Traffic Booster is installed on the site, but buried where one would not easily find it.

So to judge by Alexa, neither the product site, nor the demo site for this product are getting high levels of traffic. So, this is not a good advert for the effectiveness of Traffic Booster. The demo site which has been around longer than the product domain also has a short 1 year term, due to expire in Mar 2006.

From my short investigation of Traffic Booster, there is no evidence it can get the results claimed or even if the promoter uses his own product. If he does there was no sign of a Traffic Boost to the product or demo sites.

So what does this all say about Traffic Booster. It’s not effectively used on two of George’s sites, the product site or the demo site and the traffic to both sites according to Alexa is poor.

Just to be sure, I sent an email to George Karamesinis, the promoter of Traffic Booster, asking if he could provide the domain of any site of his that uses this product. I’m still awaiting a reply.

Tony Simpson
Webpage Addons
Making Your Web Site Work for You

Copyright Tony Simpson - Webpageaddons.com | Posted at 10:40 AM | Permalink

Just how many emails do you get from marketers who will tell you porky pies ( Lies ) to get you to do something. Here’s one I received a while ago from quite a well known marketer of web business products.

It read:

When I got up this morning I found a gift in my inbox. It was an email from one of my top affiliates. He had sent me a free one year paid silver members to his new website. This wasn’t something new because I get a lot of people who send me free copies of their products to review.

I logged in and found ebooks, software, scripts and resale rights to a ton of unique products. It’s really was a very cool gift to find in my inbox today.

So, I sent him a quick email in response to see if I could also send YOU a one year membership. After a little negotiation he finally agreed, on one condition. That was that you wouldn’t share the link with anyone else.

He usually sells these memberships for $97 a year, but you’ll get in the back door because you are on my list. Here is your back door login page:

Affiliate Link to website was here

I hope that you’ll love this gift as much as I did.

The membership site to which this email refers, has been offering this same product for the past 6 months so it’s not new ( Lie 1 ).

Secondly a lot of the products offered are not unique ( Lie 2 ).

The one year membership normally $97 has been given away by lots of marketers, I don’t think many people actually pay for it. ( Lie 3 ).

The marketing strategy is to give the basic membership away for free with the view that you’ll upgrade from silver to gold membership. So getting a one year membership would not take much negotiation ( Lie 4).

You should not share this link ( I agree ) but by telling you not to, he hopes you’re going to be naughty and tell all your friends about it so he can get even more sign ups.

Tony Simpson
Web site add ons
Making Your Website Work for You

Copyright Tony Simpson - Webpageaddons.com | Posted at 07:13 AM | Permalink

I gave up believing in fairy tales at quite an early age yet surprising as it may seem a lot of marketers on the Internet still believe in them, or if not they think the rest of us still do.

You see I subscribe to quite a lot of email lists and get about 250 emails a week. I’m a fast reader and they’re a good way of keeping up to date with what’s going on. However the down side is I have to wade through a lot of Bull S**t.

They also give me a good laugh from time to time with the claims they make and the way they write about different products. I have to wonder who on earth swallows this sort of stuff, but I guess some people do.

A good example of a fairy tale was an email I received yesterday from a marketer whose name I will not reveal to save him the embarrassment.

##### His email went as follows #####

Here is how you can be on your way to higher, stronger and more powerful Search Engine Rankings Than Ever Before...

URL link to product.

With this new software you can boost your search engine rankings, and help your website climb the search engine charts like never before.

Top search engines such as Google and Yahoo are now listing many different types of documents in their listings, including PDF files, as well as Flash sites, and .SWF graphics files.

These top search engines are always updating and adding new abilities to their search engine spider technology, and as that technology increases, it gives you added opportunities to update and give your websites that cutting edge before your competition knows about it.

The "Secret FLASH Search Engine Rank Booster" simply going to replace your existing .GIF and .JPG images on your site with new images that can carry keyword phrases the search engine spiders can read and rank

The "Secret FLASH Search Engine Rank Booster" takes away all of the time consuming effort that it would otherwise take you, and turns it into a few short minutes of playtime that can help boost your rankings like crazy.

You can read about this new and amazing tool at:

URL link to product

##### End of email #####

The ability to put text into images is not new and Google has been able to read text in Flash files for at least the past 12 months. I came across a similar product to this about 6 months ago.

What’s being offered in this product email is the ability to put hidden text in images by converting gif’s and jpg’s to flash files.

But putting hidden text on a web page can get your pages removed from a search engine’s index and get your site banned, so don’t try this at home folks.

Google has for a long time made it clear that even the use of Alt tags for images by stuffing them with keywords will be regarded as Spamming the search engine. The end result can be the same – banned by Google.

What this marketer also doesn’t tell you is converting all your gif and jpg images to flash files will slow the download time of your web pages dramatically. This will not make your visitors very happy and the search engine’s don’t like slow loading pages either.

Does this marketer use this technique on any of his 12 or more web sites, well I asked the question and I’m waiting for the answer. I also asked if he could provide a URL so I can check.

What do you think his answer will be ?

If Yes, he does believe in Fairy Tales

If No, he doesn’t believe in Fairy Tales but he wants everyone else to.

Tony Simpson
Web Page Addons
Making Your Website Work for You

Copyright Tony Simpson - Webpageaddons.com | Posted at 09:45 AM | Permalink

That’s what I’m forced to conclude after too many experiences that tell me most people don’t value what they get for free.

I recently launched a new membership site called Member’s Exchange the aim of which is to form a small group of 50 webmasters who want to co-operate to help each improve their web businesses and succeed on the Web.

Whilst it’s a paid membership, members can also pay in kind, by what they give back to other members.

Before I launched the paid membership I had an equally small group I had formed to help for free with their web design and promotion issues.

What I was forced to conclude from this group was that the majority of them did not seem to value what they got for free.

Regrettably it was not my first experience in reaching such a conclusion as I have tried to help many other people for free.

I think it’s a sad reflection on how cynical and mistrusting people have become on the web. The worst group seem to be webmasters themselves who are constantly bombarded with products and solutions offering them the success they so desperately want but continues to elude them.

When someone presents a genuine offer of help and support, their defensive radar is such that it prevents them from being open to the idea that perhaps the offer could be genuine.

Have we all become so cynical that if something genuine was presented to us we would not recognise it if it smacked us between the eyes, or do we refuse to accept that there can ever be anything genuine on the web.

It’s right to have a healthy scepticism about all these instant solutions, easy push button schemes and how to make $60,000 in one month sitting in your underpants claims.

And I’m just as cynical and sceptical as anyone else who has spent 5 years on the web. But I would never want to get to the stage of being like some people who like deer in a car’s headlights are frozen to the spot.

They seemed numbed by repeated bad experiences from ever taking anymore risks or seizing a genuine no risk opportunity of help and support.

Tony Simpson
web page addons
Making Your Website Work For You

Copyright Tony Simpson - Webpageaddons.com | Posted at 11:12 AM | Permalink