Saturday, 17 September 2011

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SiteProNews

Posted: 14 Sep 2011 09:35 AM PDT

mobile_payIn late 2008, electronic payment service RBS World Pay revealed that a gang of hackers had broken into its computer systems, stolen information to help them create cloned debit cards, boosted their withdrawal limits and stolen huge amounts of money from ATMs around the world.
Mules operated by the gang stole a total of $9 million from more than 2,100 ATMs in at least 280 cities worldwide. All it took them was a jaw-dropping 12 hours to pull off their coordinated heist.
Some were wearing disguises with wigs and facial hair altering their appearance. They dressed nicely while others dressed shabbily, creeping around trying to go unnoticed. Mostly they were brazen, boldly executing the crime as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.
A key member of the cybercriminal gang arrested for the crime wasn’t your typical low-profile underworld gangster. Among other things, he purchased a luxury car and two apartments in the Russian city of Novosibirsk before being caught in 2009.
At the time of the robbery, acting United States Attorney, Sally Quillian Yates, said that it was “perhaps the most sophisticated and organized computer fraud attack ever perpetrated.”
The criminal gang is alleged to have created counterfeit cloned debit cards with the stolen information, but they didn’t stop there.
They are supposed to have cracked the encryption security used to protect RBS World Pay PIN numbers and raised the level of funds available on compromised accounts.
Some accounts reportedly had their daily withdrawal limits boosted to up to $500,000.
This is said to have allowed low-level members of the gang to steal over $9 million from more than 2,100 ATMs in at least 280 cities worldwide, in less than 12 hours.
The sheer audacity of this criminal plot is mind-boggling. The crime ring stole an extraordinary amount of money over a short time in a well-organized heist that involved split-second timing.
The criminal scheme was executed by means of electronic subterfuge via computers; even then the number of criminals it took to successfully pull off the brazen heist must have been numerous.
2100 ATMs divided by 280 cities around the world equals 7.5 ATMs per city on average. In order to withdraw $9,000,000.00 in under 12 hours from 2100 ATMs around the world, that would entail hitting an average of almost 3 ATMs every minute during those 12 hours.
At 3 ATMs a minute it would take one crook per each ATM in order to execute the transactions successfully, which would be 3 bad guys multiplied by 280 cities, totaling 840 thieving conspirators.
Perhaps we’ll be hearing about the latest exploits of James Bond after all as he saves the world economy from dastardly villains committing a dramatic modern day true-life caper.
Rick Berry is President/CEO of ABC Mobile Pay, a merchant services provider and a registered ISO/MSP of Wells Fargo, N.A. Over the last decade Rick has earned the title of ‘Expert’ in the payments space and the mobile technology arena while developing customized products and services for the mobile payments sector.
ABC Mobile Pay brings a robust mobile POS payment solution to retailers and wholesalers of all types and sizes around the world like the one in use at retail Apple stores. http://www.abcmobilepay.com/ | 877-258-5223 | rick@abcmobilepay.com |http://www.abcmobilepay.com/demos.html
Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Just Like in a James Bond Film – A SPN Exclusive Article
Posted: 14 Sep 2011 09:04 AM PDT

twitterTwitter just announced a brand-new feature that I wanted to make sure you knew about. It allows people to have 1-click access to follow you on Twitter directly from your website which is a huge benefit for building your following with your network and establishing a great social media presence using Twitter.
I would definitely recommend setting it up on your website asap.
Speaking of Twitter, I want to share some of the behind-the-scenes strategies and techniques that I personally use with Twitter to build a huge network of loyal, engaging and responsive followers that allows me to consistently build my list and get new clients.
I’m going to make some assumptions that you are already aware of what Twitter is and how to do some of the basics like find friends, get followers, as well as send updates, replies, retweets, etc.
These are some of the more advanced “systems” I use for leveraging the most of what Twitter has to offer.
Friends (you follow) and Followers (follow you)
I always suggest connecting with like-minded people and those you want to connect with as much as possible. It’s pace, not race. Most number of friends or followers does not matter. Often those you follow (as a friend) will follow you back. Having said that, people ask me about auto-following back those who follow you. My thought is you don’t have to. Auto-follow is not an obligation, it’s a choice. There are many followers I have which I don’t follow in return and vice-versa. If you’re wiling to take the time and effort to manually follow back those who follow you, I’d suggest it (I personally do it.)
Direct Messages
I’m a huge fan of using DM’s to connect with my followers and friends. Sending a direct message is quick and easy and almost ALWAYS gets a response. Now, I’m very active and engaging on Twitter so people I interact with DM’s tend to be the same. But, it’s in some cases more effective and efficient than sending emails for things like making introductions and connecting.
Favorites
I use Twitter favorites all the time, marking other tweets as favorites that I want to read later. It’s kind of like email folders for Twitter. See a tweet you like with a link but don’t have time to read it now? Mark it as a favorite and carve out time later to refer back to it.
Lists
I have lists to help categorize and organize my Twitter friends. With 55,000 plus friends it’s hard for me to obviously read EVERY tweet that comes out – it’s insane. So, I use Twitter Lists to group relevant friends in buckets and then review those lists together. I have some for friends, brands, skiing and even locked (hidden) lists for things like competitors, prospects, etc.
Search
Twitter search is a great tool for finding content and possible connections (friends and followers). You can search by hashtag (#) and see relevant tweets to that topic or just do a general search for “Internet Marketing” and see all the tweets and conversation about that topic. From there, jump on in and get tweeting.
Applications
I use the following: Hootsuite and Twitter for iPhone. Hootsuite allows me to view everything in a browser which means I can do it from anywhere (any computer and from my phone). It’s great for viewing all the tweets in columns and then replying, DM’ing, scheduling and posting tweets. The Twitter for iPhone application is just flat-out the easiest and simplest application for a mobile device.
Now the most frequently asked question: “Derek, where do you get all your content and ideas?” Here are my secret sources (never revealed these before). Google Reader (I subscribe to a ton of blogs and content sites relevant to my niche). StumbleUpon and Digg for finding interesting and relevant content that my followers will respond to. ME! Yes, I do create most of my own content and tweets based on what YOU provide to me as feedback and content you’re looking for. So, trust your followers and give them what they want – they will love you for it!
I hope these Twitter Secrets help you in the Twitterverse and I can’t wait to see you out there.
Until next time – Learn It, Love It, Live It!
Derek Fredrickson, Authentic Internet Marketing Specialist, is founder of the Authentic Internet Marketing System, the proven step-by-step program that shows you exactly how to authentically market your business online, in record time… guaranteed. To get your F.R.E.E. videos and receive his authentic internet marketing articles on attracting more leads and converting more sales online, visit http://www.derekfredrickson.com/.
Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Twitter Secrets Revealed
Posted: 14 Sep 2011 08:38 AM PDT

linksIn this article I want to cover off back links, what they are, why you need them and how to get them. Now if your just starting out you’ll have heard of these but certainly I know for Sam & I when we first started out in internet marketing there’s so much info to take in, it blows your mind so I thought a brief explanation, beginners guide if you will might be handy, so here goes…
What are Links?
Broadly speaking Links are a ‘link’ between your site and another, so as an example you may find a site in the same niche as you links to you because you are not the same but complementary to one another – that’s the basics. You then get ‘one way links’ & ‘back links’- now stay with me on the detail here because One-Way links are also termed back links.
But the unique thing about one-way links is that they do not return a link to the website linking to them, in other words they are not reciprocal. One-way links convey a message to the search engines that the website is so interesting or useful that the other websites had to tell people about it. One way links are the preferred back link for any website owner, so hold onto the concept as we move on.
How Do You Get a One-Way Link?
One way links are achieved is when your website is deemed to have great information and unique content that other websites believe is worthy enough to be referenced by them and shared elsewhere – hope that’s clear and everyone understands it.
Bear in mind also a website will naturally link to another that has content that will consolidate its own site standing. Here are just a few ways you may be able to get or acquire a one-way link status. They are:
Top Tips for Obtaining Back Links
1. Submitting your site to the major online search engine directories such as Yahoo! and Dmoz.org. When you have your link in these websites, your site value will automatically increase.
2. Submit articles to articles directories. There are so many article directories you can submit your article to which will provide you with a back link to your website. Again, as I’ve commented before, if you are submitting manually, still stick to the key directories – that’s where the traffic and ultimately the links will come from.
You can be sure that if it contains quality content someone will click and link back to you. Also bear in mind that by submitting your articles many other website owners looking for quality content will have your article syndicated to them by the directories and in turn your resource box will contain your links back to your website. So, over time you could quite easily have a number of sites featuring your material all linking back to you. This is the power of article marketing.
3. Another way to get one-way links is to search for industry specific search directories and submit your websites to them. There are search directories that are tailored for specific industries e.g. Travel. Getting listed on these directories may be free or at a fee, so you’ll have to decide the worth if you need to pay for it.
4. Create e-books and short reports. When you create e-books and short reports, these can be given away free on the Internet through your website or other avenues. If the e-book has high quality information within it (e.g. Quick hints and tips), you can attract a lot of one-way links over time. You also have the opportunity of a really good report possibly going viral – being passed on to others, friends etc. To achieve that objective, you should include your website on the pages of the e-book or report and embed links within the text.
5. Use videos. Video is a great way to get one-way links to your site. A good video will move around very fast over the Internet. Many Website owners often take an already created video and embed it in their own site to add content and improve the overall design and look.
6. If you have a website that is good and you are confident that it will appeal to other website owners in a similar niche as yours, you can approach them and ask to have your link included on their site. However, the reason why this method should not always be relied on is that more times than not they will demand a reciprocal link. Now this can be ok but unfortunately human nature being what it is people don’t always keep their promises, so just a heads up there.
Top Tip – Also search engines, especially Google, frown on sites with too many reciprocal links. Therefore, although back links are good, if the basis of the link is always reciprocal, it might not achieve the desired result and can actually damage your rankings if you are not careful.
Hope this information helps to get you started with your own link building strategies. It’s important for your online success so don’t sweat it. Do a bit at a time and slowly but surely it will build.
Toby Russell offers tried and tested methods to help you succeed on line. Find out how to generate highly targeted traffic to your own Internet Marketing business with his popular 94 page Free Special Report, “The Secrets to Starting your Own Internet Business Today” available at =>http://www.startinternetmarketingonline.com/
Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

My Top Six Link Building Strategies For Beginners
Posted: 14 Sep 2011 08:18 AM PDT

webdesign3So you have your brand spanking new diploma in your hand, and you are ready to hang your shingle out and open for business. But wait – you know you need a website. So at that point you might invest several hundred pounds (at least), in getting someone to create the perfect website. The colours are stunning, the graphics are amazing. Perhaps it has a nifty little flash thing going on in the header with a montage of meaningful photography. It goes back and forward between you and your designer for weeks, tweaking it till you get it just right.
Then… oops – you need some copy. So you bang something out, get your designer to drop it in for you, and press the go live button. Then you wait. Perhaps for a very long time. I’m not saying your design and branding isn’t important. If you are selling a creative service such as web design, graphic design or photography, then probably it’s very important. Nevertheless, there are a few key things you need to check in your copy, or your website will never work as hard as it should for you.
WIIFM?
When people buy stuff, especially intangible ’stuff’ like coaching, the question that is always in their minds is ‘What’s in it for me?’ Yet again and again websites and promotional material talk about you. It’s never about you. Just because you think you are great for coming first in the class, your client doesn’t care. They probably don’t care about all those professional organisations you are a member of either. They want to know if you understand their problem and can solve it for them. They want to know the benefits of working with you.
Use Carrots and Sticks
People have different preferences around motivation. If your personal preference is to move towards nice things, then that will be reflected in your writing. However, for a lot of people, they need to feel pain before they will take the first step. So ensure that you understand the pain that your client is facing and talk about how you can solve that – and what will happen if they carry on as they are.
Cut the Jargon
Between any group of people, jargon and abbreviations can be a useful short-hand for communicating what you mean. Your client doesn’t know it, doesn’t need to know it, and certainly doesn’t want to feel confused and patronised by it. Write normally, as if you were having a conversation.
Cut the Fluff
It’s a rare person who lies awake at night worrying that they are not in touch with their authentic selves. I’m not saying that they aren’t disconnected, and that the disconnect isn’t causing them unease – but that is not how they will describe it to themselves. Spend some time talking with your ideal client and discover how they talk about their problems. Use the same language in your website and marketing materials.
Write for the Screen, Not for Paper
People appear to read differently on screen, and you need to provide landmarks for them to hang onto. Use a clear font, at least 12 point, in a sans serif font (ie, a font without twiddly bits on the letters). Have lots of white space, use spaces rather than indents to mark paragraphs, and pick up key points with bold, bullet points, and numbering. Keep paragraphs short – if they are running over 6 lines, go back and shorten them.
Tell Them What You Want Them to Do
The very least you want every visitor to your website to do is to sign up for your free giveaway. So have a sign up box on every page of your website, along with an entry or exit pop up. Have your contact details easily accessible on the site. A contact form will help minimise spam. Don’t do a ‘click here’ link to your email address – fewer and fewer people are using Outlook these days, and it is very frustrating to be using a web based email client and discover that you have no way of discovering the email address unless you install Outlook. Tell them that if they have the problems you outline on your site, then you should talk, and tell them how to contact you.
Don’t Delay List Building
If you aren’t sure exactly what you want your website to say, simply set up a squeeze page initially, and then start list building with your free offer.
Over to you!
Go and have a look at your own website, and run through the checklist below:
1. Is your copy aligned with what you actually do?
2. Check how often you use the words ‘me’ and ‘I’ rather than you – there should be many more of the latter.
3. Cut out the corporate speak – it fools no one. You are (presumably) not a member of the British Royal Family, so there is no need to use ‘we’ when you mean ‘I’.
4. Strip out all the jargon.
5. Re-write in the words your client uses to describe their problems.
6. Have a clear call to action.
Joyce Campbell is the creator of The Get More Clients System and http://www.thegetmoreclientssystem.com/. She works with service-based solopreneurs to help them get more clients, make more profit and reach more people. Visit the website to get her free e-course, Six Steps to Ramp Up Your Online Presence. She is also an NLP trainer and author of How to Get Off Your Backside and Live Your Life.
Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

How To Get Your Website Working For You
Posted: 14 Sep 2011 08:01 AM PDT

SEO2Because the search engines, including Google, place a lot of value on the actual words in the domain itself, many people are now trying to Search Engine Optimize their web presence by buying domain names that contain their target keywords.
It’s not a bad strategy because it doesn’t hurt you – but how much does it really help you?
Let’s say you now have 30 domains, all containing your target keywords, but not including your main website. What can you do with them?
1. Keep them registered and do nothing. This prevents competitors from registering them and using them for their benefit. End result: No SEO value, for obvious reasons.
2. Within your registrar’s account, you can set up 301 Permanent Redirects for each one, redirecting them to your main website. End result: No SEO value, but if someone types in the exact domain name of one that you have registered and redirected, he/she will be taken to your main website, so you might get some traffic, but not likely and not much.
3. Use them for a mini-site buildout. This strategy is to actually use each domain on its own by building a mini-website around it. End result: Potentially a TON of SEO value.
Let’s take a look at this “mini-site buildout” strategy; the one with the most SEO value.
One by one, you take each domain and host a site for it. If you have a hosting account for your main website, chances are you can just add on new sites to that same hosting account. This is very common and you can easily find out if you can do this and how you can do this by calling your hosting company to inquire.
Once you have your hosting set up and each domain pointing towards its own mini-site, you then want to build each site.
To build each site most easily, you should do two things: first, plan all the content around your main keyword (the keyword that is in the domain name) to include both articles and videos; and second, develop the site using some type of ready-to-go website template with a built-in CMS (Content Management System). Probably the best CMS to use in this case would be WordPress because it is very user friendly, search engine friendly, easy to set up, and there are a ton of free (and well-designed) templates out there.
OK, so now you’ve got your domains pointing to their own respective mini-sites, you have created all the content for them, developed the sites, and finally published all that content you created on to the sites, hopefully using a CMS like WordPress to do it.
Now, keeping your main website in mind, you’ll want to make sure you drive traffic from your mini-sites to your main website. To do this, simply include content about your main website in those mini-sites and include links going back to your main website. Furthermore, if you have a business phone number and operate over the phone, make sure to include your main business phone number on all those mini-sites.
There are more advanced SEO techniques you should employ but that is way beyond the scope of this information piece.
In conclusion, if you have already invested, or want to invest, in buying multiple domains for SEO purposes, then put them to good use. Keeping them “locked up” unused or simply redirecting them to your main website is not an effective strategy. You want to use them to build out an “Internet empire” with a lot of “Internet real estate” all focused on your target keywords and eventually leading people to your main website and business.
This article is by TopLine Media Group and Solar Web Tools. TopLine Media Group, located at http://www.toplinemediagroup.com/, has 4 distinct service areas: Website Design & Development, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Internet Marketing, and Online Reputation Management.
Solar Web Tools, located at http://www.solarwebtools.com/, provides Domain Registration and Website Hosting services, among many other Internet-related services.
Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Multiple Domains and SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Posted: 13 Sep 2011 10:00 PM PDT

webdesign4The homepage of your website is often the landing page and is critical to the success of your online business. When people land on this page, you have just a few seconds to capture their interest. This page will be a giant factor in your conversion rate which is the ratio of visitors that respond to your goal action. This goal action can be subscribing to your newsletter, signing up for your ecourse, ordering your products, etc.
Your homepage needs to contain certain elements to be successful in raising your conversion rate. Read the list carefully and check to see if your homepage meets all of the following criteria.
1. Color – The color you choose for your website can have a big effect on your visitors. The type of site you have should be a factor in the colors you choose. There are essentially two types of colors – cool and warm.
Browns, blues and greens are cool colors and can make you feel relaxed, calm and assured. These colors are good for sites pertaining to medicine, relaxation and other sites that have reassuring answers to your problems.
Yellows, reds and oranges are warm colors that bring out feelings of energy, excitement and happiness. These colors work well for exercise sites, sports sites and other energetic type sites.
Purple is a good color for fashion and jewelry sites. It emulates sophistication, royalty, and luxury, but it is also feminine and romantic.
2. Clutter – How does it make you feel when you walk into a business that is messy and full of clutter. It doesn’t exactly bring out the confidence in said business. Your website is the same way. You don’t want it to look like a junk-filled mess! Keep it simple, clean, consistent and easy to follow. Don’t fill your site with flashing banners, junk ads or fancy hard to read font.
3. Header – The header you use for your homepage is very important. You have just a few seconds to “capture” your visitor and the header can be a vital factor in achieving that goal. Make your header professional, short and to the point. You want the header to get the visitor to want to know more about you and your products/services. The header should outline in a few words what the benefits of your site are in a way that will make the visitor stay longer. Color is also a consideration.
4. Ease of Navigation – Another critical point to consider is how easy it is for people to navigate your site. Does your site feel like a maze with doubts on how to get from here to there? Visit your site as a customer and take note on how easy it is to navigate and how well laid out and simple the page is. Is your menu easy to find and follow? Is the font easy to see and read? Does one part of the page flow into another? Are your links prominent and easy to find? Look over every aspect of navigation with an extremely critical eye because people will not stay on a site that makes them feel lost and confused.
5. Use Testimonials – Testimonials are invaluable to your site because they reassure the visitor by increasing your credibility thus allowing them to trust you and your products more easily. Sprinkle a few short testimonials on your landing page where appropriate and have a section saved just for some of your best testimonials. Use detailed testimonials as opposed to more generic ones. For example: “I love your product and will buy more” is not as good as “Your product helped me lose 20 pounds in just 6 weeks!”
6. Contact Information – Nothing makes me leave a site faster than when no contact information or email address is found. This, to me, says the person does not want to be bothered with customers, questions or anything else. I would never do business with a website that does not provide complete and accurate contact info. More than likely, not many people would so it is extremely important to have your contact info prominently displayed on your homepage and every other page of your website.
7. Capture Visitors’ Email Addresses – Most of us are familiar with the phrase, “the money is in the list.” In a big way, this is true. Capturing your visitors’ emails allows you to keep in contact with them so you can build that ever important relationship that will turn them into customers. Most people will not buy anything on a first trip to a website so by capturing their emails you can astronomically increase the chances of converting that person into a customer. You can put a subscription form on every page of your site and be sure to have one on your landing page. Building a mailing list will help you market your sales, specials, etc. and will also help you build a solid customer base.

8. Call to Action - A Call to Action is a specific thing you “order” your visitors to do. This can be done with a text link or graphic. For example: Click here for a free marketing ecourse. You are giving the visitor very clear and concise instructions on what to do. Sometimes your visitors need a little push to complete the call to action so you would use something like this:
Limited Supply Click Here Now, or Sign Up Today for a Free Consultation.
Offer incentives to help your visitor make the decision to complete your call to action. Have just one clear call to action. Do not give you visitors too many choices because it will just result in confusion and indecisiveness.
9. Always Proofread – Always proofread and proofread again to be sure you catch all typos, grammatical errors and so forth. Make sure all your links work and everything on your landing page is in working order and correctly done.
10. Analytics – Be sure to take advantage of your site stats and analytics. This information can be critical to making your page a success. Google Analytics is free and provides a great service for anyone who has a website. You want to see how many people are going from your landing or homepage to other pages of your site. And if they are not, try to find out why, so you can improve your homepage. Monitor your bounce rate, conversion rate and other valued information.
You just cannot throw up a website and expect to make money. You have to nurture, maintain and care for your site and always be improving it. Keep abreast of the latest trends, info and data and always be learning how to make it better. Your landing and/or homepage is critical because it often decides the fate of your site so be sure to make it the most efficient and effective webpage possible.
Terri Seymour has over twelve years of online experience and has helped many people start their own business. Visit her site for reprint articles, resources, information, resell ebooks and more. Sign up for the RSS Feed for a free business ebook with MRR. http://www.seymourproducts.com/
Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

10 Valuable Aspects of a Successful Homepage
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