You are your website: It is a reflection of who you are, your product, your service. Portray yourself as a trained, seasoned professional. Your website is the only contact your customers, potential and current, have with you. You must create an atmosphere that is pleasing to your buyers to make them want to stay and buy, and more importantly, to want to come back again and again. You want to aim for repeat business. The long and short of it is this: Your website can make or break your sales…and your business.

TRICKS OF THE TRADE
What secrets can you apply in the design of your website?

1. Surfability
Do your research by visiting several websites. Note what make them appealing, attractive or the opposite. Always remember that visitors to your site have one goal in mind: They are either seeking information or shopping for a product. Your goal is to give them what they want without their having to search for it. It is a cardinal rule to make your site easy to navigate. Ensure that all the information is relevant to your product/service. Convince visitors that they absolutely need your product to solve their problem(s).

2. The First Impression Lingers…The Importance of your Main Page
The main page has a very specific purpose: It is the store front of your website where your visitor lands and from where she/he will shop. Therefore, this page must load very quickly and be easy to view. This is the first contact with your customer: First impressions can either close a deal or…lose this same deal which has exactly the same potential.

Make things simple: Ensure that links are easily viewable by your visitors and that these links will navigate your visitors to where they wish to go. Very often, a great choice is the use of tables when deciding how to design the main page of your site. If your page takes more than ten seconds to load even on a 56k modem, your visitor will click away, through impatience, or to save time, seeking information or products elsewhere. To speed up the loading of your main page, it is advisable to avoid large, or excessive, graphics. Too many banners or special effects often also cause a page to load slowly.

3. Make your Website Appealing to, and Easy for, the Eyes
* Colors
Mild colors are your best bet. If your site is a content site where your visitor will be doing a lot of reading, it is a good idea to keep to black and white. You can add color when using tables as a means to brighten up the page. However, always remember to keep the overall look of the page professional and appealing to your target audience that will be visiting more often.

* Screen Resolutions
These vary among monitors. It is, therefore, good counsel to set the pixels to a standard 800×600. You may also choose to set the tables in your web page to span a percentage of the page rather than a set number of inches. This will be sure to accommodate all screen sizes.

* Browsers
Bear in mind that a lot of Internet users will not use the same browser as you. Therefore, make sure that your site looks as good on other browsers as it does on your own. You can do this by downloading several browsers through which to look at your page.

Be aware that the overall look of your website is to make it attractive to visitors, which in turn appeals to emotions and, therefore, lead to sales and to make money for you. The appearance of your site, if properly designed, can be an excellent marketing strategy for your product/service.

Are these claims about free cars too good to be true? Are there companies who will actually provide a free car or pay you to drive your own car?

Yes, almost, but there’s a little more to it. However, there’s enough truth in it and enough potential opportunity to make it worth a serious further look.

The companies DO exist, and they DO pay people to drive, and they DO provide free cars. Real people are currently participating in these kinds of programs every day.

How Does it Work?

In short, you agree to drive a car that displays advertising for a company’s product or service. Since you do the advertising, you get a free car to drive or get paid to drive your own car. In some cases, you may get a free car AND get paid to drive too.

These arrangements are typically not handled directly by the company selling the product or service, but by an marketing or advertising company hired by the product/service company. Some of these marketing and advertising companies provide brand-new vehicles, some offer almost-new vehicles from their fleet, others may pay you to drive your own car.

The company “wraps” the car in an easily-removable paint-safe vinyl film that contains an attractive graphic ad that promotes a client company’s product or service. For example, the ad might promote a cell phone service or a new restaurant in town.

Some ads might cover the entire vehicle (looks great on SUVs, minivans, PT Cruisers), some only partially, and some only on side or rear windows. Don’t worry, you can see just fine through windows that have vinyl ads applied.

The company offering the product or service pays the advertising company, who pays you to drive your own car or provides you a free car with the advertising already applied.

The amount you get paid, or whether you get a free car, depends primarily on three factors:

* Number of miles you drive per month
* Where you drive
* Where you park

In other words, you’re selected according to the number of people who will potentially see your wrapped vehicle in an average day.

You’ll be paid more and have a better chance at a free vehicle if you drive lots of miles and drive in a heavily populated and high traffic area. In some cases, you may be asked to drive a specific route every day. The more people that have a chance of seeing your car as it’s being driven or where it’s parked, the greater your opportunity.

If you only drive a few blocks to a part-time job, back and forth to school in the suburbs, or just to church on Sundays, you probably won’t qualify for this kind of program.

It’s not too difficult to figure out whether or not you might qualify for one of these cars-for-free programs when you consider the objectives of the advertisers. They simply want their ads to be seen by as many people as possible in a specific area.

What’s the Catch ?

You have to be at least 18 years old, have a drivers license, and have a good driving record. You pay for insurance and, in some cases, for maintenance, especially if you drive your own car.

New cars aren’t always available and you may not be able to drive the make/model of your choice. However, depending on the company, you may have enough choices that you can find something that you like.

You may or may not be able to select the ad that goes on your car or the duration that the ad stays on the car. Of course, if you don’t like the ad program, you can turn it down and wait for a better one. Most ads are attractive and well designed so that you wouldn’t be embarrassed to be seen with it.

Keep in mind that the “free” car belongs to the advertising company, not you. At the end of the agreement, which could be as much as five years, you give the car back.

Also remember that the ad stays on your car 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can’t take it on and off. If this is your only car, you must be prepared to drive the car everywhere you go — to weddings and funerals, to work, to school, to the mall, and everywhere else that you drive.

Competition for free cars is very heavy, outstripping demand in many cases. It may take up to 90 days to get accepted into a program. Therefore, you have to be well qualified and patient in your attempt to land one of these deals. Free is not always easy.

But, for a free car, it might all be worth it.

How Do I Sign Up?

There are many companies, in many different locations in the U.S. and other countries, that use this form of vehicle-based advertising. Some companies only advertise in a specific city or advertise certain types of products. Some provide new cars, others only pay you to advertise using your own car, and some do both. Some do full-car wraps, others may only do spot ads.

Therefore, the best way to find the companies that would work best for you, where you live and drive, is to “subscribe” to an information directory that lists all such advertisers. These directories are compiled and provided by companies who specialize in this kind of service. There are a relatively small number of these companies, who can be found on the Internet, in newspaper ads, and in auto-related magazines.

There is typically a one-time charge for the directory subscription, usually about $30, and usually with a 90-day money-back guarantee.

Since the directory is always changing and being updated, you are better off getting a lifetime membership.

With the list of advertising companies and contact information, it’s up to you to apply for their programs. Some directory companies offer help with the application process, although you should not pay extra for this service. And you should not pay extra for a “premium” listing or to be placed at the “top” of the list of applicants.

Be honest and provide accurate information in your application. Most companies will check your credentials. Of course, there are no guarantees that you’ll be accepted or that you’ll find a deal that you like, but completing an application is a small investment of your time for the chance at a rewarding possibility.

Where Do I Get the Information I Need ?

The following companies listed below provide free-car and drive-for-pay program directories. The directories include programs in the U.S. and other countries all over the world.

Subscribing with more than one company might be somewhat beneficial but, generally, it should be expected that one company’s directory will be much like another’s.

Free Car Index – A comprehensive database of ad companies that pay people to drive cars with graphic ads on them — with immediate online directory access. The companies in the directory, collectively, have over 100,000 new vehicles decorated with advertisements that are ready to be driven. The directory applies to residents of the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, and Australia. This company has a 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee.

The Free Car – This site offers a great “Car Finder” that allows you to see if there are advertisers in your area before you buy the service. There is an online application process to shorten the procedure. They also have a money-back guarantee and a nice free bonus product. This service is well worth your consideration if you are looking for a free car program.

31 Days to Build a Better Blog is a downloadable e-book designed to help you revitalize your blog by giving you 31 tasks that will all help to turn it into the page view powerhouse you’ve always
dreamed of.

Each day in the project contains:

1) A Task – something to DO that day.
2) Teaching – each day you’ll be given great instruction on both the WHY and HOW of the task of the day.

This two pronged approach is designed so that you come away from the challenge having not only learned how to build a dynamic a blog but you’ll have actually DONE something with the knowledge.

31 Days to Build a Better Blog normally sells for $19.95. Getting it for half that is a true steal!

To get the 50% discount, just enter ‘probloggeris5′ in the coupon code at checkout.

But hurry, you have until September 24, 8pm MST to take advantage of this offer.

To Your Blogging Success,

31 Days to Build a Better Blog

Well, that exact question was asked a little while ago and with a bit over 200 people responding, 35% named customizing a theme as The Most Painful Task with another 17% deciding that locating a quality theme as even harder.

So, 52% of the replies named the Theme as the biggest problem.

And if you have ever attempted to create a more unique look you might agree. Reality is, WordPress has one of the largest selections of themes but their quality greatly varies. While some can easily be called “designs of pure genius”, a majority of the
free themes are ridden with problems.

If it looks good then more the likely – it is limited in functionality or has huge issues with Search Engine Optimization or filled with poor coding.

And if it was created optimized for fast load and search optimization – it will look just too plain.

And that is not to say that all themes have this issue. In fact there are quite a few superb themes available for download but
first you have to find them! And if you need to change something about it – good luck. Free themes come with little to none support and that is why you see the results I have stated above.

That is exactly why a custom and highly customizable theme is included with the Expert WordPress package. Let me outline just some of the features:

1. Choice of layout: 2 columns or 3 columns with right sidebars activated with one single click

2. Custom header to correspond to your target niche. We have hired a professional designer who created 26 custom headers for the theme to cover most of the niches. At $80 per header that you would normally have to pay- you get them all as part of the package.

3. Complete control of the color theme. You can change almost every aspect of the theme by simply pointing and choosing a color for whatever design element you need to change.

4. Integrated AdSense to help you profit from day one using the custom theme and a whole lot more…

Those are just the major aspects of the theme most commonly changed but they are the ones most often creating issues.

And you get this highly customizable theme, 26 niche headers and the ability to save a lot of nerves as part of the package. And with Upgrade option you actually get all the details on how to benefit from their efforts:

Expert Wordpress

The true value cannot be hidden.

The truth is, it’s next to impossible to compete with existing blog owners and Internet marketers if you don’t “cheat”.

By “cheat” I mean to take some kind of shortcut, gain an unfair advantage, and level the playing field in the shortest possible time.

Let’s face it: If you’re a complete newbie just toying with the idea of making money from blogs, you don’t stand a chance.

By the time you to figure out exactly how to set-up and manage a profitable blog, others have made thousands and have moved way ahead of you..

You’ll end up playing a cruel game of catch-up with these fast-moving entrepreneurs, in which you will always be the loser.

It’s not something you’re looking forward to, is it?

What I’m trying to say is this: If you insist on learning WordPress and blogging the hard way – by searching for free videos and tips – you will fail.

That’s like trying to complete a HUGE jiggsaw puzzle, for which the pieces always don’t fit.

There’s a better solution though.. and I think you should check it out yourself:

WordPress Wizard 2.0

If you read any popular blogging tips online, WordPress is often positioned as a tool that well, creates a blog. But an increasing number of marketers are finding that you can also use it as the most important tool to upon which you can grow a profitable business empire. The most powerful function of WordPress itself lies in its ability to manage large amounts of text, audio and video content. After a dozen pages it becomes difficult to manage a static HTML site. Although you can use template-driven software as well like SBI or DreamWeaver, nothing beats the ease of WordPress.

Using premium blogging tools you can easily transform create a static website, an article directory, a Wordpress based membership site system, a complete e-commerce site, an auction sites, a portfolio site and so much more. As a matter of fact you can also just about use it for anything.

Besides that, Search Engine Optimization is another important element. By default, WordPress is pretty good at optimizing and creating SEO friendly content. However you can also get more serious and utilize simple WordPress plugins to further increase your SEO rankings and get better Yahoo or Google rankings.

However the best thing about WordPress is its flexibility. You can easily switch between WordPress themes, and improve its functions by using plugins and even some custom programming. It’s free and have I mentioned before?

If you aren’t using WordPress you should. The learning curve has reduced substantially in the past 3 years. At the moment it’s so easy to use even a six-year old kid can figure it out. To power your online business, go ahead and use WordPress!

To discover more about WordPress, visit WordPress Wizard 2.0. As a member you’ll get tons of step-by-step video tutorials on how to use WordPress, web 2.0 technology, search engine optimization, making money from Google AdSense and affiliate marketing, and so much more. Get more information at WordPress Wizard 2.0.

You can select up to 5 different categories to place your feed under, so that you can target your readers.  Then they can either bookmark it or subscribe, so they never miss an entry that you post!

Once you sign up with your rss feed to secure a page on rsshugger, you have two options:

You can write a review of this great site and  you get listed on Rss Hugger for free.  If you choose not to review the site but still want to register your rss feed with them, there is a one time only fee of $20.00.

Once your blog is approved by Rss Hugger, it will be listed and traffic should come your way!

There are readers out there just waiting to find your blog…but how can they when they don’t know where to look?  Rss Hugger is an easy way to find new readers. Join the rssHugger project and promote your blog. Discover new blogs that interest you.

Some people hate automated phone systems, but not me. I like to be informed of where I stand in any given situation. I would rather have an honest computerized voice telling me I will have to wait (and also likely telling me for approximately how long), than to encounter a real life human being who will tease me with a choice and then make the decision on my behalf in a split second. Imagine if everyone you encountered operated this way. You might be standing in line at a fast food restaurant and be asked if you’d like to try a new item on the menu they are trying to push. Before you have time to think, you’re being charged for it while it stares at you from your tray. You might be at the theatre seeing a play or musical. Instead of, “Would you like to buy a program?” you get the same question followed by a hand in your wallet or purse rabidly searching for your billfold!

I guess the real aggravation is that I really don’t want to hold, and businesses know that. “Can I put you on hold?” is a nice way of saying, “Do you want to hold, or just hang up and try back later?”. Have you ever met anyone who wants to hold? Has anyone ever asked you if they could call you and have you put the phone down for an hour or two as a birthday present?

I just want a little more honesty, that’s all. If you can’t automate your phone system, at least hire enough people during peak business times to facilitate your customers and have the necessary phone equipment to handle the call volume. I think either of those are welcome alternatives to asking me if I’ll hold. If not, I may be forced to simply “hold” onto my money and go elsewhere.

Over the last 7 months over 13,000 people have used Mack’s incredible coaching to earn over 2.3 million bucks as members of his coaching club.

And now, he’s turning the industry on it’s head again!

Right now, I have one instruction for you to follow.

Go  here to find out all the details on his newest course AND coaching club.

Reach into your pocket. What do you find?

I’ll bet you’ve got a cell phone in there don’t you?

Well, so do 4.3 billion other people around the World…

Imagine being able to reach all 4.3 billion of those folks and talk to them?

How incredibly powerful would that be?

There may be millions of people on Google everyday, but AdWords and PPC are so “yesterday”….

On average people look at their cell phones no less than 24 times per day, often may more.

Multiply that by the 4.3 billion cell phone users and what do you get?

Over 103 Billion times that people around the World look at their cell phones.

What if you could deliver your sales message directly to their cell phone? There’s nothing more personal than a cell phone.

And now you have the exact system that Mack used to generate $328,707 in one month using cell phones!

All you have to do is follow the steps he gives you in his step-by-step video training.

Even if you can only duplicate 1% of Mack’s results that’s almost $4k per month!

Excited yet? You should be!

But, if you’re as committed and hard-working as I think you are then the sky is literally the limit.

Don’t miss out on this.

Right now Mack is even taking it further and you can get your hands on his proven system for under $25, which I consider to be utter madness…

Go to Cell Phone Cash right now and find out what all the buzz is about.

Imagine for a moment reaching your ideal income this year. What would that look like and feel like? What would you be able to do that you can’t do now?

Ask yourself what are the things you need to be doing right now to manifest that? Do you need to find a way to raise your motivation? Do need to stop procrastinating? Do you need to stop avoiding marketing ? Do you need to be more accountable to yourself?

If you want to learn a simple way to create your ideal income, then read on…

Step 1: Get clear on what you do want.

Do know exactly where you want to be professionally in 12 months from today? To achieve even more clarity, do this simple visualization…

Sit in a comfortable place where you wont be disturbed. Ask yourself the following questions: In a year from now, what kind of work do you want to be doing? How many hours a week do you want to be doing it ? Who would be your ideal clients and colleagues ? What kind of people do you want to be around? What would be your ideal physical surroundings for work? Finally, ask your self what would be your ideal income? Pick a figure that is realistic but optimistic.

Here’s an example of what your visualization might look like, ” In one year from today, I see myself doing real estate, working mostly with listings, and being surrounded with people I like; people who are upbeat, responsible, committed and motivated. I have my own office, and I am looking out of a big window at a garden. My income is $150,000 net.”

How close is that to what you want to create?

Step 2: Overcoming the obstacles, challenges, self limiting beliefs, and self sabotaging strategies.

In Step 1, you got clarity on your ideal professional life. In Step 2, you identify the blocks you would need to overcome to get there. So ask yourself what is stopping you? What are your self limiting beliefs? What are your self sabotaging strategies?

The self limiting beliefs that I hear the most are:

~ “I’m not good enough”

~ “I don’t know enough”

~ “I don’t have what it takes to succeed”

~ “I can’t do marketing”

~ “If I market myself, I’m afraid I’ll be rejected”

Take a good look at the list and ask yourself which ones resonate with you? Here’s the good news: “These are not facts, these are beliefs and beliefs can be changed“. You have to reprogram your self limiting belief into an Empowering belief. If you were to reprogram the beliefs above into Empowering beliefs what would they sound like? Anything like:

~ “I am more than good enough”

~ “I know all that I need to know and I can always research and find the answers”

~ “I have all I need to succeed”

~ “I’m learning to become a Master at marketing”

~ “Since I have something of value to offer my prospective clients, most likely I will be accepted”

How would it feel to have those beliefs as your foundation?

Step 3: Create your script.

Once you have clarified what you want and reprogrammed your self limiting beliefs, the next step is to create your script. What is the area that you need to develop the most? Is it marketing, is it time management, is it confidence building? What ever you decide, you need a script to achieve it.

Why a script rather than a plan? A business plan is a written document outlining a series of logical steps that lead to the realization of a goal in business. A business plan follows specific guidelines and requires certain information. A script, on the other hand, comes from your imagination. You can write what you want and not have to follow guidelines set by someone else.

Einstein once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge“. Imagination is an integral part of ourselves and our intuition. When we write a script, we feel what we are writing and those feelings create physical sensations that connect our body to our imagination. When we are free to imagine and feel what we want, not only do we become like magnets to draw it to us, but also we are guided by “inspired action“.

What is the difference between “inspired action” and “frantic action“? The difference is between faith and fear. As you have probably heard, “Desperation doesn’t sell“. And yet, most people end up in a state of fear and panic. They have been taking action steps, frantic action , based on their fear and then they wonder why their marketing isn’t working. Fear doesn’t attract clients, it repels them.

“Inspired action” on the other hand are action steps that you feel inspired to do. What inspires you? Your vision, the reason why you’re doing what you are doing. Here’s a tip: if you really want to be successful, focus on the service you’re giving to others, not on the money. The money will follow if you are making a contribution and doing what you love.

One final thought on Faith v.s. Fear. Here’s a story that illustrates the message: a student goes to his teacher and says, “I’m having a terrible struggle between my fear and my faith. My fear is represented by a black dog and my faith is represented by a white dog. They are battling all the time and I don’t know which one is going to win.” The teacher says, “Why, the white dog, of course.” The student says, “How do you know?” The teacher says, “Because that’s the one you’re going to feed.”

Here’s another tip: How many creative ways can you find to feed your white dog?