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How to Build a Successful Busines On-line: Step 5

mtooles — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:24:00 GMT

Wait before you read the rest of this post if you haven’t read my previous posts How I started a Thriving Business on Disability , Keys to Building a Successful Web Site: Step 1, Turning Passion into Profits: Step 2 , First Steps to Building a Successful Web Business: Step 3 and Next Step in Building a Successful Web Business: Beginning the Research: Step 4 you should review those first.

Choosing Your Site Concept and Developing Your Content Blueprint

Now we are down to brass tacks. If you have been following along in my series of blog posts you have already picked 3 potential site concepts and researched each one thoroughly - now it’s time for the FINAL DECISION! Which Site Concept are you going to use to build your future web enterprise?

Keep in Mind the two biggest mistakes made by most entrepreneurs are actually opposites of each other...

1) The person who leaps before he looks. If this fits you, Ben Franklin said it best...

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." In other words... ignore the preparation work at your peril.

2) The person who researches, then researches some more, then some more. For this person, follow Nike's advice... Just Do It!

Again, I can’t say it enough. If you don’t have the numbers (research) to back up your site concept, do not build a web site! It is that simple, you have to do the research first before you will be able to set up a viable web business.

Of course if you are on the other end of the stick and have done all your research plus and know you have a viable site concept but just can’t commit well like I said above - Just Do It!

OK then, decision time.............But first, some advise: Pick the site concept with the most keywords and best overall keyword value, the concept you have the most knowledge and passion about, that has theme “sexiness”, and the site concept with the overall best monetization potential.

Once you have made your decision, now it is time to mold your "Site Concept" into "Content Blueprint." How?

Well.....as if you didn’t know this answer by now….yes, by doing more research!

At this point, you have likely committed to purchasing Site Build It or have invested in a keyword search tool. This is where you are going to get your fingers dirty digging deep into your site concept and finding as many high value keywords or key phrases as you possibly can to help you develop your Site Content Blueprint.

If you are using an independent keyword search tool, you can supplement your research by using the public tool Search It by Site Build It

Search It! has many useful purposes. For example..

• Supplemental brainstorming

• Competitive research

• Domain naming and legalities

• Develop PREselling content ideas

• Add new monetization avenues

Doing additional research, will more fully expose and define your Site Concept. At this point you need to...

• Finish building a superb list of quality keywords related to your concept.

• Know how in-demand they are, and how much competition you face.

• Organize it all into a blueprint for your site's Content.

In order to build a superb list of quality keywords related to your site concept, each keyword you keep must have at least one of the following assets: Relevance, Knowledge, Excitement/Passion or Profitability. Let's look at each now...

- Relevance The best way to score with the Search Engines and your human visitors is to focus your site on a single theme and to have each page focus on a topic (a Specific Keyword) related to that theme. Humans prefer to see a tightly focused theme across all pages. So, therefore, do the engines.

A diluted site will rank poorly with your visitors who do not see the quality and depth of information that they are seeking about a particular subject. As a result, your visitors do not consider you as a focused, credible source.

Not all keywords have to be high Demand/low Supply, but they do all have to add something to your visitor's experience. Developing a high number of relevant keywords provides you with lots of opportunity for Content creation.

Each keyword should "fit" into a 3-TIERed site blueprint of your Content. More on the Site Content Blueprint when we complete the research.

- Knowledge It is important to be able to OVERdeliver solid content. This comes easiest when you have first-hand knowledge about the subject matter. Yes, of course, you can supplement with research... But, even though you can and should research, nothing beats the authentic voice of true experience. The stories you tell, the details you provide -- it all adds up to "R-E-A-L." Keep keywords that you KNOW.

- Excitement/Passion We've talked about this enough. If you're not turned on, it is work instead of fun play. Passion shines on Web sites... without trying!

- Profitability Obviously, keep the high-Profitability keywords. And hold onto high Demand keywords even if they have high Supply (i.e., lower Profitability), too. Why?

You may not win the Search Engine "wars" for these keywords right away, but when you do, they are valuable pages. And visitors will still find them by navigating to your site from pages they do find at the engines.

Low-profitability keywords are also valuable if they fit well with the Site Concept and within the 3-TIER site structure. Why? They usually deliver your first visitors because it is easier to rank highly for them. They have an important "start-the-traffic-snowball" role. And there are many of them, so the traffic adds up.

It does take a lot of research to find a profitable site concept but the keyword in that sentence is “PROFITABLE!” Do the work now and it will pay off in the end.

Next we need to layout our “Content Blueprint.” How are we going to do that? Good Question! Look for my next blog post where I show you how your “Content Blueprint” will emerge from your master list of keywords.......

If you would like to learn more about building your own web site or if you already have one and would like some tips on improving your rankings just drop me a note via my Bio Page

The information, concepts and tools that I am sharing with you are taken directly from Site Build It!, created by Ken Evoy. This is the system that I used to build my successful web business and the basis for everything I learned about e-commerce.

Want to learn more? Check out my bio page and download 3 Free e-books on e-commerce and building a successful internet business. And NO, you do not have to give your email address or any information at all to download the FREE e-books so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Next Step in Building a Successful Web Business: Step 4 Beginning the Research

mtooles — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:11:00 GMT

Wait before you read the rest of this post if you haven’t read my previous posts How I started a Thriving Business on Disability , Keys to Building a Successful Web Site, Turning Passion into Profits and First Steps to Building a Successful Web Business you should review those first.

Once you have decided upon your 3 site concepts you should be ready to get down to business. This is where the real research begins......

The first thing you need to do is evaluate the following key factors for each Site Concept,

· Number of Keywords

· Profitability

· Knowledge

· Passion

· Theme "Sexiness"

· Monetization Potential

So how do these key factors affect your web site’s content, success and profitability?

Number of Keywords

A site Concept that delivers more keywords is better. It offers the ability to create more content

Overall Profitability

The more keywords that have higher Demand, lower Supply and higher Profitability (Value Demand/Real Supply ratio), the better. Again, this is not an absolute, just an indication. Use your judgment.

Compare the overall Profitability of one Site Concept to another. How many solidly profitable keywords does each have? (Remember... the Profitability numbers are useful, but use your judgment to make the final decisions.)

Knowledge
Think about each keyword as the topic for a future Web page (that is what it will become). Do you already know what you could write for those words? Obviously, lean towards the Site Concept that you know the best.

Passion
Just as important... which Site Concept excites you the most? You should choose a less profitable Site Concept if the thought of building a site about it excites you much more! It will be fun to create interesting Web pages about the subject area and to do the necessary research to stay current. It's not work if it's fun.

Theme "Sexiness"
It's not just your excitement that counts. Some Site Concepts are more apt to excite visitors. Trust your gut feeling about which would excite visitors the most. It's easier to PREsell your way to a strong "Brand Of One" with a fun, exciting theme.

Monetization Potential
Look for a Site Concept that offers the potential for you to build multiple streams of income. Your website would be useless if there is no Monetization potential!

Remember, you must be able to Monetize your traffic. And the more ways to do that, the merrier.

How many of the following could you (eventually) implement on each Site Concept, and with what kind of financial potential?...

-Represent the products/services of related, non-competing online businesses (i.e., affiliate income).

-Partner with an offline business, sending them customers, on a pay-per-click, per-lead, per-sale, or per-month basis

-Sell your hard good or e-book.

-Earn income by placing advertising on your site, such as Google AdSense, or by selling advertising directly. (Guess what? As your site grows, advertisers will approach you!)

-Sell your services

-Supplement/build your local offline business.

-Attract more bidders for your eBay auctions.

-Rent -- anything from heavy equipment to a condo in Ecuador!

-Traffic -- send traffic to your own e-commerce business (ex., your Yahoo! store or e-commerce site).

And these are just but a few ideas to get the juices flowing. There are a million ways to Monetize your site. Be as creative as possible and think “Joint Ventures.”

At this point, you are probably asking how and where you should go to research keywords and profitability for your site concepts. Good Question!

Simply put, to do the proper research and complete steps #1 and #2 you are going to need the proper tools to get the job done. You will need to either invest in a keyword search tool that gives you real supply/real demand and the overall value for keywords (wordtracker) or consider purchasing an entire tool kit, such as Site Build It . Regardless of which way you go, it is essential that you do the research now to make sure you have a viable site concept.

You can do some preliminary research using a free tool provided by SBI. The tool is called Search It, this is the public version of one of the many tools available on Site Build It. You can use this tool for free to assist you in finding out the demand of keywords for your site concept and for additional brainstorming.

There are two tools you will need to use in Search It the first one is “U.S. Yahoo Keyword selector tool” and the second is “Wordtracker Free Keyword suggestion tool” each one will provide you with the Demand for your keywords. You can find each of these tools by first selecting “Brainstorming” then followed by selecting either the Yahoo keyword tool or the Wordtracker tool. In the third box key in the keyword or keyword phrase that you are thinking of using as your site concept For example for my site, http://healthy-holistic-living.com I keyed in “Healthy Living.” Do this for each of your site concepts.

Even without having the complete tools you need to research each of your site concepts you should be able to complete step #3 Knowledge, #4 Passion, #5 Theme “Sexiness” and #6 Monetization Potential..

If you are serious about building a successful internet business you now will need to consider investing in your goal by making sure you have the right tools for success. Remember Guiding Principle #2 PLAN to SUCCEED.

If you do not have the right tools to do the research now, if you pick the wrong concept for your site, if you develop the wrong topics for your Web pages... you'll get the wrong results and no traffic. No traffic = No income.

Next post you will pick a site concept and create your “Content Blueprint” ....... Plus a lot more in the coming posts about the last 2 steps on how to plan for success.

If you would like to learn more about building your own web site or if you already have one and would like some tips on improving your rankings just drop me a note via my Bio Page

The Birth of Chronic Pain

mtooles — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 19:28:00 GMT

Pain is a fascinating concept. I didn't think much about pain until I got sick about eight years ago. I experienced pain like no other and I was pushed to points I thought were not possible. That's when I started thinking more about the origin of pain and its staying power and truly trying to understand the philosophy of pain.

A pain impulse usually starts its trip along the pain pathway when you suffer an injury or illness.

Let's take a look at an example: Let's say you cut your finger.

Have you ever noticed that when you cut your finger you first feel the sensation of being cut before you feel the pain from it? That happens because you have separate nerves for touch and for pain. And the touch nerves send signals much faster than pain nerves.

Your touch nerve signals travel to the brain as fast as 200 miles per hour while the pain signals travel at around 40 miles per hour and chronic pain signals travel as slow as 3 miles per hour.

Going back to our example, when you cut your finger you tend to instinctually rub it because it relieves some of the pain and makes your finger feel better. The reason it feels better is because those fast touch signals outrun the slower pain signals. By the time the pain signals reach the pain gates they are so overcrowded with touch signals that the pain signals have a hard time getting through.

I learned early on that you could outsmart pain. And one technique I used was exactly like the example above; I gave my "nervous system a competing source of input" one that was faster than the pain signal. That was one of the first anti-pain strategies I learned and I used it often.

Throughout my health journey, I learned that there were many techniques to providing competing sources of input to my nervous system. It can be done pharmacologically, mechanically, electrically and, the most powerful tool of all, it can be done with your thoughts.

When pain signals start their journey up your spinal cord working their way to your brain they automatically trigger the release of chemicals that help them travel to the brain. These are called neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters carry pain signals from one nerve cell to the next. These are the same neurotransmitters that your brain uses to carry all your thoughts and feelings.

"The three neurotransmitters that ship pain signals to the brain are substance P, NMDA (n-methyl-d-aspartate), and glutamate. Of these, substance P seems to be the most active, and most important. Without these three substances - especially substance P-pain - signals have a much harder time reaching the brain. However, if there is an excess of any of these three substances, pain signals have a much easier time reaching the brain."

Another technique to controlling or manipulating pain signal is through the use of pharmaceuticals, over the counter medication and even acupuncture. By using these products the production of neurotransmitters can be decreased therefore altering the pain pathway. "Here's more good news: The body, in its natural, innate wisdom, has its own way of keeping these pain neurotransmitters from flooding the brain, and overwhelming us with pain. The body forces these pain chemicals to travel through a pain gate that sits near the back of the spinal cord. This pain gate is composed of a substance that has the consistency of jelly' it's called the substantia gelatinosa of the dorsal horn."

Thus, another technique to controlling pain: supporting the health and function of this gate. To have a well-tuned, healthy and high functioning gate you have to have a healthy nervous system. If your nervous system is stressed, exhausted or is not getting the nourishment it needs, this gate will lose its efficiency.

One way to achieve this goal is to do a daily workout for your nervous system, I use Biofeedback. To learn more about my personal experience with biofeedback read Biofeedback the Path to Healing.

So, the better your overall health, the higher your pain threshold.

But NO matter what you do some of those annoying pain signals are going to make their way to the brain. And it's a good thing because without those signals we wouldn't know when we were in danger or if our bodies were suffering from disease.

So, if the pain signals have breached the gate, where to next? The pain signals enter an area of the brain called the thalamus. This is kind of like a way station for all incoming physical signals.

Once the signal enters the thalamus it is then sent to two other areas of the brain, the cortex, which does all your thinking and your limbic system, which handles all your emotions.

Once these two areas have gotten the signals they have a bit of a chat, they compare notes and try to decide just how serious this pain is. They look at the intensity of the signal, the frequency and how long the signals have lasted.

The limbic system and cortex come to a conclusion, they decide either that the situation is not serious or they deem it a major emergency and sound the alarm. If it is determined that the situation is not serious then signals are sent to the body to relax and signals are sent to the neurotransmitters to start pumping out that all so relaxing chemical called serotonin. Soon the pain subsides and things go back to normal. But if the system decides it's a full-blown emergency things start hopping.

A red alert from the limbic system and cortex sends a signal to the neurotransmitters to start producing norepinephrine, which is a form of adrenaline. This sets of the classic symptoms of "fight or flight response." "Your blood vessels constrict, your heart pounds, your muscles tighten, and your nerves go "on edge," as they wait for further problems.

This is when things can really go wrong and it can be the beginning of Chronic Pain if your bodies counterattack does not work properly. "The bodies counterattack has to be just right, not too much and not too little. If the body over or under responds it can contribute to the malfunction of the nervous system leading to the creation of chronic pain."

You see, during this "fight or flight response" your body must find a balance between the production of the stimulating effect of norepinephrine and the calming effect of serotonin. When your body is alarmed, it badly needs the production of serotonin to help calm it down and close the pain gates. The problem comes in because when you feel alarmed you tend to become more alarmed which in itself is alarming, leading to the overproduction of norepinephrine which leaves the pain gates open and at times even jams them open indefinitely.

So now more problems start to arise, the brain begins to closely monitor the injured area via the nervous system. The nerves around the injury then become more sensitive creating pain in areas that are not even injured. Now we have even more pain signals heading toward the brain and when the brain receives those signals it sensitizes the area even more contributing to the cycle of pain. To add to the problem pain signals can also jump from one nerve to another. This creates pain stimuli in a nerve that previously had no pain leading to more pain signals heading to the brain, which of course contributes to the perpetuation of the cycle of pain.

However, the healthier your nervous system and the more you nurture your nervous system the less likely it is that this cycle will occur. A healthier nervous system creates thicker sheaths around your nerves; it's like a little insulated jacket, which helps prevent these "neurological leaks."

The more pain cycles that are created, sometimes millions of times per hour, the more ingrained the cycle becomes. It is as if it becomes engraved in your nervous system. "Pain signals literally become a physical part of the anatomy of your nervous system, just like the memories that are engraved in your brain. Thus, the Birth of Chronic Pain.

Many of the quotes and excerpts above are from The Pain Cure: The Proven Medical Program that Helps End Your Chronic Pain by Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D. with Cameron Stauth.. In this book you will find an in-depth overview of how chronic pain is created and methods you can use to overcome pain.

First Steps to Building a Successful Web Business: Step 3

mtooles — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:49:00 GMT

Ok, so you have some idea of what type of web business you would like to build and you are confident in your vision but your not sure what your next step should be?

Wait before you read the rest of this post if you haven’t read my previous posts How I started a Thriving Business on Disability , Keys to Building a Successful Web Site and Turning Passion into Profits you should review those first.

OK, everybody caught up? Good!

The first thing you should do is come up with three site ideas or concepts for your web business. Yup I said three. Why three? Good Question.

If you only have one idea for a niche or web site you won't have anything to compare against. In general, it's best to develop a "top 3" and then do your research to compare and pick the best. And of course ‘the best’ meaning the most profitable.

Developing ideas for your best three Site Concepts is important, so take your time doing this. Remember... the final concept will be your business foundation.

Pick the three areas that you love the most and that you think would appeal to others. After all, if no one is interested in your niche, you won't get much traffic. Without traffic, you might as well not have a Web site. You'd be invisible (just like 99.9% of web sites on the internet today)!

Once you have chosen your ‘top 3’ web site concepts you will begin by developing your “Content Blueprint” but before I review that step some of you out there may not know some of the basics necessary to develop your “content blueprint” so we are going to take a step back and review some of the basics.

"What's A Keyword?"

Good question. That term keyword puzzles small business people new to e-commerce. So let's blow away the fog...

The term "keyword" includes single words as well as multi-word phrases. Most searches are not actually single-word searches. Why?

Because most searchers quickly learn to enter two or more words in their searches in order to get better (more precise) results. We call that entry a "keyword" even if it has 5 words in it.

There are two viewpoints when looking at keywords, both of them correct. The first is from the Internet marketer's (i.e., your) point of view. For example using my site http://healthy-holistic-living.com as an example:

What's my site about (site concept theme)?

"Holistic Health"

What's that Web page about?

"Definition of Healthy Living"

And how about this page?

"Benefits of Living Healthy"

"Holistic Health" and "Definition of Healthy Living" and "Benefits of Living Healthy" are all keywords. The content you create about each page should focus on a keyword. We call that keyword a "Specific Keyword." And we call the page a "Keyword-Focused Content Page (KFCP).” We call the site a "Theme-Based Content Site."

Your site is about a specific theme. This "Theme-Based Content Site" is a collection of "Keyword-Focused Content Pages," arranged into 3 tiers for easy navigation by human visitors and Search Engine "spiders."

We call your site's theme the "Site Concept." And we call the Specific Keyword of your home page, the "Site Concept Keyword." So the term 'Holistic Health' is the site concept keyword for my web site healthy-holistic-living.com.

In other words, a keyword is merely the topic for the content of a Web page. All the other words on that page are "content"... information about that Specific Keyword/topic.

What's is The second viewpoint when looking at keywords?

The surfer's.

A keyword is also the term a surfer enters into a Search Engine when searching for something. These would be words like...

"Holistic Health" and "Definition of Healthy Living" and "Benefits of Living Healthy."

Surfers use the Web to find information. Search Engines (ex., Google, Yahoo! Search, Windows Live Search, Ask) are, by far, the #1 way that your pre-customers use to find that information (your "content").

When a surfer searches for a certain keyword, the engine delivers a "Search Engine Results Page" (SERP). This page is a list of relevant and good-quality Web pages. Each listing offers a title, a brief description and a link.

"What Are The Best Keywords?"

That depends on your Site Concept. The best keywords:

-are specific to your theme. If your site is about "Healthy Living" then "Definition of Healthy Living" and "Benefits of Living Healthy" and even "Healthy Home" are specific.

-have a high "Value Demand." The more surfers search for a keyword, the greater its "monetizability" (i.e., the more commercial in nature).

-have a low "Real Supply." In other words, not too many other Web pages are seriously about that keyword (the fewer, the better).

-The higher the Value Demand and the lower the Real Supply, the higher is a Specific Keyword's profit potential ("Profitability").

Basic supply and demand!

Ok so your next step is to start developing your “Content Blueprint.” What's that? Check back for my post next week where I will go through step-by-step instructions on laying out your 'content blueprint'!

If you would like to learn more about building your own web site or if you already have one and would like some tips on improving your rankings just drop me a note via my Bio Page

Turning Passion into Profits: Step 2

mtooles — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 13:14:00 GMT

One of the first questions I am often asked is how did you turn your passion, which is my disability into profits? Truthfully, I had a little help........ if you want to read about my experience check out my earlier blog post, How I started a Thriving Business while on Disability.

For those of you rip roaring ready to go into the world of e-commerce you need to first find your passion which means finding your site concept.

What’s a site concept? Good Question…..

A site concept is the central theme, the niche, upon which you will base all of your site's content.

When trying to develop your Site Concept for your web site you need to really take the time to figure out what type of business you would like to have, what skill set you bring to the table and what just plain makes you happy doing.

Everyone, absolutely everyone, has a special interest... a passion. Passion makes work fun and easy. What is it that you love to talk about? What do you read? Do you have a hobby? What do you do for fun and games? What are your natural talents? Write these down. Don't forget to look right under your nose.

When you start with what you are passionate about things tend to flow naturally...

PASSION = PURPOSE = MOTIVATION = CREATION

If you are still stuck for good ideas for your Site Concept here are some basic brainstorming techniques and Idea Boosters. Your goal at the end of your brainstorming is to have three potential Site Concepts:

What special body of knowledge have you learned from your job? What do you do day after day, without even thinking about it (ex., child-rearing, taking care of sick parents, renovation contractor, customs inspector). Could any of these activities, areas where you have developed knowledge (without even thinking about it), be of value to others? Yes?... Great! Write these down.

Think about what you do in a typical day, and what you've learned from it. What sections of a book store or a magazine shop do you automatically gravitate toward? What kind of TV shows do you tend to like most? Movies? ….Write these down, too.

What activities do you enjoy most about your current occupation? Is it research? Helping customers achieve their goals? Managing other people? Teaching or explaining things to others? Talking/selling on the phone? Organizing things? Making a process easier? Discovering or creating new products or services? Marketing products? ….OK Write these down.

Problems are also a good source for ideas because problems need solutions! What bugs you? What's tedious? What does not work?... We all encounter obstacles, problems, nasty people in the course of whatever it is that we do every day. What are the three biggest problems in your work place? What are your biggest pains as a parent, or as a step-parent, or as a gardener (etc., etc.)? Do you have solutions to these problems? Would they be of value to a lot of people? Yes? …..Write these down!

Now let's make sure that you haven't overlooked "ancient history"... Repeat all the questions above, except pretend that you are in a "five years ago" time warp. Yes, ask yourself the same questions, except place yourself where you were five years ago. Next, repeat for 10 years ago. To paraphrase an old saying... "You've forgotten more about some things than other folks will ever know."

Call friends. Ask your kids. Phone your parents or your siblings and anyone else who can jog your memory. It's so easy to miss what others see.

Need a few seeds to fire up that old thinking cap? Here are a few examples of "starting points" to get your neurons firing...

Advertising, Aerospace, Agriculture/farming, Antiques and collectibles, Apparel/clothing/fashion, Architecture/buildings, Arts & Crafts, Auctions, Automotive
Aviation

Beverages, Books

Chemicals, Children/parenting, Cleaning, Communications/media, Computers, Construction, Consulting, Conventions/Trade Shows

Design, Disabilities

Education, Electronics, Employment, Energy, Engineering, Entertainment

Financial services, Food

Gambling, Games, Government

Health, Hobbies, Home/garden/flowers/plants, Hospitality/entertaining

Information

Jewelry

Law

Manufacturing, Minerals, Music

New age

Office supplies

Publishing

Real Estate, Religion/Spirituality, Research and Development, Retail management

Science, Security, Sex, Software, Sports

Telecommunications, Toys, Trade, Transportation, Travel

Video

Weather

And these are just the general categories! Think about sub-categories of these and about sub-sub-categories.

That should be enough to get you started.....

If I can turn my disability into profits anything is possible........ if you would like to learn more about me or about how I started a successful business while on disability check out my bio page

Need Cash?

mtooles — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:50:00 GMT

Ok so I know that’s a dumb question of course most of us out there need cash! The question is how to get it and how to get it fast!

For those of you not ready to or not inclined to start your own business I wanted to share with you a couple of ways to start earning a bit of extra cash on the internet.

Having found a zillion scams on the internet I know that one of the most important factors in finding a resource to work with is reputability so this is a ‘no brainer.’ It is called Amazon Mechanical Turk and yes, it is run by Amazon.com.

"As a Mechanical Turk Worker you:

Can work from home
Choose your own work hours
Get paid for doing good work"

I am not affiliated with them in anyway I use the service as a ‘requester’ not a worker. I outsource some of the work associated with my web site, small tasks that I don't have time for or if I am looking to bulk up the content on my web site.

Just to give you an example, I put a request in for 'Healthy Recipes' I offered to pay people 50 cents for each recipe and I gave them a 50 cent bonus if the recipe was good. That means that someone was able to earn $1.00 for about 2 minutes worth of work.

Some people request reviews for their web site or ask that you make a quick comment on an article each of these may only pay you 25 cents but it should only take you a few minutes to complete the task. This is simply a way for you to start earning cash quickly and from a reputable company. This may just give you the leg up you need to start the process and create other opportunities for yourself.

The other way I know is through becoming an affiliate for various companies and running ads with your affiliate link in forums, classifieds and on web sites like craigslist.com.

Let me give you an example, I run ads periodically on my web site and on craigslist for people to sign up for an eco-tips newsletter. I make $1.50 for every person that signs up. That can translate into a good chunk of change each month. Last month I made $50.00 from this one newsletter. It doesn't sound like much but the way to achieve success on the internet is to have multiple streams of income.

I hope some of this information helps those of you looking for more opportunities and as always if I can be of any help feel free to contact me via the links below.

Want to learn more about "me"? Check out my Bio Page

Want to learn more about building a successful business on-line? Check out this video or drop by my bio page and download ‘FREE’ e-books on building a successful business on the internet.

Those of you out there that need to create opportunities from home, touch base with me, download the free e-books listed on my bio page, ask questions, where there is a will there is a way.

We may be stuck at home but “opportunity is always knocking!”

Keys to Building a Succesul Web Site: Step 1

mtooles — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:41:00 GMT

You know you want to build a website, but are you sure what type of web site YOU should build? And, do you actually know what will be PROFITABLE to YOU and, most importantly, how to get started?

First rule of thumb when building a web site is to develop a Business Plan. This is nothing new; it is what you would do if you were starting a business off-line. Building a Business Plan is essential, because if you don’t you will be lost before you know it.

Many people fail in business because they don't plan adequately. If you pick the wrong concept for your site, if you develop the wrong topics for your web pages... you'll get the wrong results and no traffic.

No traffic = No income.

So then, let’s start with what steps you need to take to develop a Business Plan...

PLAN to SUCCEED. You will accomplish this by following these steps:

Step 1) Find a niche (Site Concept) that you know and love.
Step 2) Evaluate your Site Concept (Profitability, Knowledge, Passion, Theme "Sexiness", Monetization (Potential))
Step 3) Identify profitable topics within that niche.
Step 4) Layout the "Content blueprint" for your site.

Each of these steps is crucial in building a successful on-line business. This is where the real work begins. So, let’s expand on each one of these steps:

Step 1: Finding your Niche/Site Concept.

a) What is a Niche/Site Concept?

Your site-concept or niche is the central theme upon which you will base all of your site's content matter. Every page that you write will be about a topic, a subject matter that is directly related to your Site Concept.

And, each one of those topical pages focuses on a Specific Keyword, which is why we also call these pages "Keyword-Focused Content Pages (KFCPs - I will review KFCP in a later blog post)

b) How do you Recognize Your Best Site Concept?

A great "Site Concept" must address the following...

• Must be in demand. A reasonable number of people must be searching for information about your theme (i.e. there must be enough "Value Demand"). If your theme is too narrow (ex., an unknown off-island-off-an-off-island in the Caribbean), there is not enough demand for you to MONETIZE, even if your entire (too tiny) market finds you!

• Must not be too broad. If your Site Concept is too broad, the competition will be severe. The number of competing Web pages (the "Real Supply") is just too great, especially since broad themes usually have major competitors.

For example, it is impossible to "own" the theme of "travel." Leave those super- Road themes to companies like Expedia.com. Even the Site Concept of Caribbean" is highly competitive. If you have 60 hours per week and are ready to work for a year, you might succeed. But creating a site about one of the islands is your best opportunity.

You most likely know a lot about one island. And that goes for "islands of knowledge," not just geographic islands!

The competition will be less intense. So it will be easier for your well-written content pages to rank highly with the free Search Engines.

Those who find you will be highly targeted. They will be much more interested in your Content. It is far easier to PREsell those searching for topics ("keywords") related to narrow themes (but not too narrow!) than broad ones.

• Must excite you. Choose something that you know and love (or that you are willing to find out more about). If you do that, writing lots of information-packed content pages becomes an easy pleasure instead of work. Think "PASSION" and "KNOWLEDGE" -- if you have it, it will shine in your Content.

• Must deliver high ROI potential. It must offer excellent options for monetizing traffic to your site. This ensures the ROI (Return On Investment) you want. Make every visitor to your site a possible income-generator.

c) What is the bottom line on choosing your Site Concept?

It takes just as much time to build a low-potential business as a high-potential one. So invest the time now, get the Site Concept right, and you will maximize your returns later, earning far more income per hour invested down the road.

So how do you come up with your Site Concept? Look for my next blog post where I will review some excellent brainstorming techniques to help you get started....

Want more information? Check out my Bio Page

The information, concepts and tools that I am sharing with you are taken directly from Site Build It!, created by Ken Evoy. This is the business system that I used to build my successful web site and the basis for everything I learned about e-commerce.

Want to learn more? Check out my Bio Page and download 3 Free e-books on e-commerce and building a successful internet business. And NO, you do not have to give your email address or any information at all to download the FREE e-books so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Tools for Dealing with a Chronic Illness or Life in General...

mtooles — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:18:00 GMT

"One does not consider their health untill they no longer have it."

Who ever thinks about "Tools for Dealing with a Chronic Illness"? It's not something you consider until it's too late. When you become sick you lose control of so many things in your life that it becomes extremely important to take responsibility for what you can control. That means instead of reaching for the 1/2 gallon of ice cream to throw yourself another pity party you instead choose to go for a walk, to meditate, read a book or watch your favorite comedian on T.V. You do what you know you need to do to help yourself. When you take action to help yourself, you empower yourself which eventually will lead to better health!

It sounds easy, but it is not. It requires effort, concentration, belief in yourself and support from your loved ones to validate what you know you have to do. You will get lots of advice from friends and family, but the truth is that intuitively we all know what we need to do to help ourselves.

#1 Tending to your spirit

A chronic illness provides you with an opportunity for reflection and self realization. Feeding your soul is just as important as feeding your body. It is vitally important that you find ways to nourish and replenish your soul.

If you do nothing else find a way to make peace with where you are right now in your life. With an illness you only have control over a handful of things. This is what you must embrace. Know that your value is not in what you accomplish or what you own but simply in the fact that you exist.

“Participate in activities that make you feel whole, alive and one with the universe.” Here are some suggestions:

-Read books that inspire you

-Watch movies that motivate you

-Avoid movies and books that support you in perpetuating self pity.

-Seek counseling if you need support. If you’re dealing with a life altering illness you most likely do need counseling and only an objective party can help guide you through this journey.

-Try new things- yoga, meditation, prayer

-Enjoy the outdoors, experience the richness of nature

-Develop a hobby

-Bring music and art into your environment

-Write about your experience. This is absolutely vital. What you are going through is painful in so many ways. The loss that comes with illness is so great on so many levels that you need to create an outlet to express yourself. Stuffing your feelings can be like poison to your body.

-Maintain some type of social network. I realize that you may have lost many friends in this process. Sadly it is a natural part of dealing with a chronic illness. But you must build some sort of support system whether it is via the internet or reconnecting and rebuilding family relationships. Healthy living includes deep and meaningful relationships - they are a part of our life force and help in the healing process.

-CRY. That’s right cry. Get it out. This situation sucks and makes you want to cry. If you don’t, it’s going to come out when you’re not looking and then you will be really upset. It is healthy, it is natural, and it is necessary.

#2 Speak your mind/Express Yourself

Here is the bottom line when you have a chronic illness. You will either learn how to communicate honestly with people or you will end up alone and lost. “Honest, clear communication with friends and family is vital to your mental and physical wellbeing.”

Get honest with yourself and say what you have to say at the moment you feel it. If it comes out wrong you can always apologize later. This is an emotional, surreal time in your life and most likely you no longer have the control over your life you once had. Your relationships with people are going to change because your life has changed. Some of your friends and family may not be able to deal with you speaking your truth. That is simply their problem, not yours. You didn't ask to have a chronic illness and you are doing the best you can. Just communicate what you are feeling and it will free you from the self-oppression that is so common with illness.

You need to be as clear with your doctors as you are with your friends and family. Your doctor can only do a good job if you communicate your symptoms and experiences with him/her in a simple and clear manner. Write things down before you go to the doctor. Keep a daily log. It is easy to forget from day to day. If you are unhappy with your doctor, let him/her know how you feel. Keep in mind you are paying your doctor to help you. If you are not getting what you need, let them know. If they do not respond to your needs find another doctor. There are wonderful doctors out there so keep looking and keep communicating.

#3 Accept your situation /Take things one hour at a time

It takes a while but you are going to have to accept your situation for what it is. One thing I realized is that my view of life changed from having goals and experiences to just surviving minute to minute. When you deal with illness and pain you have to shift your way of doing things and accept that sometimes just getting out of bed can be an enormous accomplishment. Set goals and priorities according to your energy levels and abilities for that day. Tomorrow may be different, but for today it is what it is. “Permit yourself to achieve your goal in small steps instead of all at once. Always allow yourself to rest when needed and give yourself permission to leave things unfinished. Be flexible and accept your limits. Allow yourself time to recuperate.”

Most importantly, ask for help. Learn to accept help from others. It empowers you and others. People need to feel they are helping you and you need to learn that it doesn't take away from who you are to accept help.

#4 Laughter/Humor

Humor is good for the spirit and the body, especially the immune system. Humor helps us keep things in perspective and maintain a positive attitude which I believe can help us heal our bodies. With humor, life seems so much more manageable. Truly I have never laughed more than in the last six years. Some of the alternative techniques that I have tried are straight out of a sitcom. Give yourself a reason to laugh everyday.

-Read a funny book

-Watch funny movies

-Keep funny quotes on the wall by your bed

-Socialize with funny people

-Laugh at yourself

#5 Avoid stress

If you have a chronic illness you absolutely must avoid stress at all costs. Life in general is stressful but you have to learn how to minimize the stress and how to react to stress in a healthy manner. It is amazing how stress can affect someone dealing with a health issue. It is like adding fuel to a fire. It can exacerbate any current symptoms and add additional symptoms. Stress is like putting poison in your body. Technically it releases a chemical which causes inflammation creating additional health issues.

It is important to remain attentive to negative stress symptoms and to learn to identify the situations that evoke them. When these symptoms persist, you are at risk for more serious health problems because stress can exhaust your immune system. Recent research demonstrates that 90% of illness is stress-related.

To combat stress:

-Eliminate stressful people from your life. This may sound harsh, but it’s necessary to put yourself in the healthiest possible environment.

-Accept your current situation and learn to value yourself for who you are and not what you accomplish.

-Learn to enjoy the small things in life

-Laugh like you did when you were a child

-Don’t allow yourself to get caught up in the coulda, woulda, shoulda syndrome. It is what it is and you do the best you can with what you are given.

-The only expectation you have to meet is your own. So change your expectations.

-Seek out stress reducing techniques like Meditation

#6 The Important people in your life

Having a loving and supportive relationship can provide so much healing energy for a person dealing with a chronic illness. It needs to be tended to and not neglected in the chaos of dealing with a new illness. “It will undoubtedly be a strain and stress on the relationship and has the potential to erode or destroy it if left unchecked.” It will be necessary to make a conscious effort to provide support for your partner as well as get the support you need to deal with your health issues.

Because your illness can be so demanding of your energy and time you need to recognize that your partner’s needs may be neglected. You need to encourage that your partner take private time to refuel and have other outlets. You need to deal with the impact the illness has on your relationships directly and honestly.

In my relationship we found it to be extremely helpful to keep a clear understanding that the negative feelings we had were about the illness and not about me as a person. We got angry at the fact that I was sick and how much it had changed our lives. You have to remember that your partner didn’t sign up to take care of a sick person for the rest of your lives. They are going to have strong feelings about this and need a private outlet to express them without having to worry about how you will react. They are allowed to be angry just as you are allowed to be angry about your illness. Love can be so healing. Don’t neglect one of the things that can help you deal with your illness and give you the desire to find ways to help yourself live a healthier life.

#7 Proper Nutrition

You are what you eat. We have heard it a thousand times and guess what, it's true! What you eat has a profound impact on your mental and physical health. Eating a healthy diet is essential for the body to heal. The bottom line is you are going to have to cut out some of your favorite foods and add all the foods that your mother told you to eat. This doesn't mean that you can't occasionally treat yourself, but for the most part this is your major job in your recovery. This is what you can control and one sure way you can improve your health.

”You should try to eliminate things such as sugar, caffeine, refined foods and unhealthy fats. Replace these with whole foods such as vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, fruits and fresh meat and poultry. Your diet should be free of chemicals and toxins found in most diets such as pesticides, herbicides, hormones, additives, dyes and preservatives.” The natural healing process can’t take place in a body that is busy trying to eliminate the toxins we keep consuming.

These are the basic steps you need to take:

-Do not drink soda or diet soda; make sure you eliminate any foods or beverages that contain chemical sweeteners such as aspartame.

-Drink lots of WATER!

-Eat your 5 fruits and vegetables a day.

-Try and eliminate processed foods. Most foods that come pre-made in a box or bag fall into this category.

-If you can afford it, buy organic. If not, at least buy the foods you consume the most organic and the rest make sure you wash really well before eating.

-Empty your house of all the goodies you have stashed for those emergency feel good sessions! If it's in the house, don't expect that you will be able to have the will power to not eat that yummy food. That is just setting yourself up for failure.

#8 Exercise

As a person dealing with a chronic illness and knowing what it is like not to be able to get out of bed, I can understand your first response, “I am too sick to exercise.” But the bottom line is exercise is absolutely crucial for the mind, body and soul. If all you can do is curl your toes then curl your toes, but you have to move your body!

When the body is in movement it releases endorphins that improve our emotional state and act as a natural pain reliever. It also is a wonderful outlet for relieving depression, stress, and anxiety which are all a natural part of dealing with a chronic illness.

“The bottom line is regular exercise improves energy levels, helps you sleep better, promotes healthy bowels, boosts the immune system, and aids your body in the natural healing process.”

-Start slowly

-Don't set your goals too high. You don't want to stress your body you want to move your body.

-This isn't about losing weight or how you look. This is about moving the body so it can function to its fullest capacity.

-Stretch!

-No excuses - move what you can, when you can and your body will respond.

#9 Take an Active Role in Your Health Care

Personally this is a very difficult task to accomplish. My experience with the medical community has varied. I have been very disappointed and frustrated at times. You will run across doctors that are not helpful and do not necessarily have your best interest in mind. This is where you must take responsibility. If your doctor is unwilling to accept you taking an active role in your health care and is unwilling to accept that you know your body better than anybody else, then change doctors!

”You’re with your body 24 hours a day, so no one knows how your illness or how certain medications or treatments impact you and your life, better than you do. Research and pursue all viable avenues and present your physician with options.” There are great doctors out there that really want to help guide you through your illness. It is your job to find those doctors.

#10 Educate Yourself/Question

Research, Research, Research. “Learn everything you possibly can about your illness and your options. Speak with physicians, nutritionists, alternative health providers, and other individuals with your same condition.” Go to the library and read everything you can get your hands on. Do research on the internet. “Saturate your mind with knowledge about all aspects of your condition so that you can make informed choices.” Knowledge is power. But then apply it, applied knowledge is the true power! Question what advice you get from doctors. Doctors hold a tremendous amount of knowledge and can be incredibly helpful but they are not all knowing and sometimes their advice is not what is going to help you. Ultimately it is your decision. Use your intuition, your personal knowledge and your doctor to make your health care decisions. Remember, you are in charge!

If you want to learn more about me, my illness and my journey check out my Bio Page or you can listen to my interview with Brian Therrien at The Disability Digest

It’s just a tilt table test....

mtooles — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:39:00 GMT

Today started out like any other day……..

I woke up with a raging headache, numbness, blurred vision, burning in my nerves and soreness along the left side of my body. As I rolled out of bed and my feet hit the floor the nerves on the bottom of my feet decided to revolt and elicited a nice jolt of morning pain. My body responded to my request for movement with an immediate drop in blood pressure adding dizziness and nausea to the list of discomforts.

I pulled myself together got dressed and ready to go to the hospital for a tilt table test. I have never had this test done and didn’t think much of it. After all, having had a million tests done in the last several years I have learned, as many of you probably have, to endure discomfort.

So what’s the big deal about a tilt table test? Well, if you don’t suffer from Orthostatic Intolerance or Neurally Mediated Hypotension it’s not likely to be a big deal, but if you do you are in for one hell of a day!

What’s Neurally Mediated Hypotension (NMH), you ask? Neurally Mediated Hypotension, also known as neurocardiogenic syncope, vasodepressor syncope, the vaso-vagal reflex, the fainting reflex, orthostatic intolerance and autonomic dysfunction, is a condition which involves miscommunication between the heart and the brain. And it happens when there is an abnormal reflex interaction between the heart and the brain.

Dr Peter Rowe, one of the members of the Johns Hopkins University research team, says: "We think that in these patients, the heart is generally normal and the brain is normal, but the reflex interaction between the two is what is out of kilter. And what seems to trigger that dysfunction is a state of a low amount of blood in the ventricle of the heart while standing. It is either low because you've started with a lesser volume of blood, for whatever reason, or because the amount of effective blood volume that is potentially available is not getting delivered to the heart because of an excessive amount of pooling in the extremities." Basically it is a malfunction of the nervous system, specifically the autonomic nervous system, your bodies’ auto-pilot.

To better understand this phenomenon, we must first examine how the nervous system in our bodies functions. “During our daily activities, our heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) constantly rise and fall to meet the needs of the body. The HR and BP are lower at rest, while the HR picks up and BP is elevated during emotional stress and exercise. The control of the HR and BP are under the domain of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system (2 of the 3 parts of the autonomic nervous system). The former increases the HR and BP while the latter reduces them. To simplify this concept, let us imagine that the body is an automobile. Pressing the accelerator pedal would make the car work harder and go faster. In contrast, pressing the brake pedal would slow the car down. Thus, the sympathetic nervous system behaves like an accelerator for the body while the parasympathetic system functions like a braking system. You with me so far? Great!

Normally, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems work together in a very efficient and cooperative manner. Just like a good driver, the accelerator and brake pedals are used efficiently (one being slowly pressed while the other is smoothly released). The car slows down and speeds up so smoothly that one does not recognize the change. Similarly, our HR and BP go up and down without us being aware of it. From time to time, this system breaks down in people with NMH. It is almost as if the accelerator pedal remains in the control of the car driver while the braking system is occasionally turned over to an extremely nervous "back seat driver." This spells trouble! Now, if the "car" accelerates too rapidly (HR and BP goes up), the back seat driver panics and SLAMS the brake. The HR and BP (either singly or together) drop suddenly and severely. This reduces blood supply to the brain and the patient passes out. The back seat driver then steps off the brake pedal, the HR and BP increase, blood flow is restored, and the patient awakens.” Theoretically when your body returns to a horizontal position and the blood pressure returns to normal your symptoms are alleviated. Mind you, this is theoretically and certainly not in my case!

So how is the Tilt Test Performed?

Heartsite.com says it better than I can……

“The patient is hooked to an EKG machine and a BP monitor. The HR and BP are constantly monitored during the procedure. An intravenous (IV) line is placed in the arm. Large patches are also applied to the patient's chest.

These patches are connected to an external pacemaker and turned on if the patient's HR slows down and does not pick right up (in the majority of cases the slow HR is transient and the external pacemaker is only a precautionary measure).

The patient lays on a swivel table in a flat position. Safety straps are applied across the chest and legs to hold the patient in place.

After obtaining the baseline HR and BP, the motorized table is tilted up to an angle of 80 degrees. This simulates going from a flat (supine) to a standing or upright position. The change in position causes the HR and BP to rise and the patient's response is noted. Depending upon the physician and the protocol of a given laboratory, the duration of time spent in the supine and upright position can vary from 5 to 30 minutes.

If nothing happens, the table is returned to the flat position and an intravenous infusion of isoproternol (Trade name = Isuprel) is started. This medicine increases the HR and BP. This effect is similar to that produced by our own natural adrenaline release. As you may have gathered, the test is now simulating what happens when the sympathetic nervous system is stimulated and the "accelerator" is pressed. The tilt table is then raised back up to 80 degrees and the IV medication continued.

A stop clock in the room is used to keep track of time. If an abnormal result is not seen, the table is lowered and then raised back up after increasing the dose of the IV medicine. In patients with NMS, the increase in HR and BP is usually sufficient to cause "panic in the back seat driver" (parasympathetic nervous system). When this happens, the HR, BP or both drop suddenly and dramatically as the parasympathetic system "slams the brake pedal.". The patient gets dizzy and passes out. Thus, TTT succeeds in simulating a real life situation and establishes the cause of recurrent black out spells. With the above changes, the test is considered positive. The IV medicine is immediately stopped and the patient returned to the flat or supine position. Within a few seconds, the patient regains consciousness and both the HR and BP return to normal. The patient is observed for 10 to 20 minutes and then disconnected from the equipment.”

Sounds easy enough, unless you have NMH! If the test is positive and causes a black out spell, it is certainly not a very pleasant circumstance! Sure it’s nice to have a definitive diagnosis, but boy it is not fun.

I don’t tend to easily pass out, my body fights and fights hard to keep from passing out. During the tilt table test you are strapped down so when you are placed in an up right position you cannot move your legs or bend your knees. And for me, moving my legs is one of the little techniques I have always used to keep my symptoms from progressing too far.

So, flash back to my test today:

I was placed in a freezing cold room and plugged into a zillion pieces of fancy equipment, all meant to let the doctors know that you are still alive. I had 3 straps holding me to a table preventing me from moving my legs or mid section. I had an I.V. in one arm and a blood pressure cuff on the other arm. In the beginning I wasn’t that uncomfortable, I have learned over the years to deal with times such as this by finding a peaceful place within myself and relax into my version of meditating.

So, the test started without much discomfort at first, but it fast escalated into a full out fight or flight experience! Once the doctor administered the medication to increase my heart rate and placed the table in an upright position my body immediately responded with an extreme drop in blood pressure and my heart rate sky rocketed. The room began to spin and I thought for certain that I was going to projectile vomit all over the room and the doctors! I began to panic and tried desperately to get my legs free from the straps to rescue myself. I completely forgot where I was and what was happening and all I could think about was getting free. I felt violently ill and I think it would probably had been better if I had just passed out, but my instinct and the nature of my body wouldn’t let me, so I simply suffered through the experience for what I felt was an eternity.

I finally ended up begging the doctor for mercy and he agreed to lower the table since, as he stated, he had already arrived at a positive diagnosis and that my blood pressure had plummeted to near ZERO! He said, “I’m sure that wasn’t comfortable”. Wasn’t comfortable? He said near ZERO! No wonder I felt so horrible. I felt I was near death!

Once the doctor put me back in a horizontal position I have to admit I did feel a lot better, still like crap but no longer at death’s door. The test left me with a new myriad of neurological and cardiovascular symptoms that have yet to diminish. But, trust me, none of it compares to how awful I felt during the test, it certainly reminds me that everything is relative!

Oh well, tomorrow is another day…. And it will start out like any other day.

What’s an 'Authority Site' and Why Should You Strive to Become One?

mtooles — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:31:00 GMT

So you already have a web site and you want to set some goals for the New Year? Consider setting your sites on becoming an ‘Authority Site.’

What’s an Authority Site? Good Question……….

The definition of ‘Authority Site’ seems to be a debatable topic among experts on the Internet. To deem a web site an ‘authority’ or a person for that matter, always seems to leave a bit of room for debate, but, to put it simply, an authority site is one that is a well-presented, well-read, and well-regarded site.

An authority site focuses on creating a positive user experience and provides high quality content within a specific niche. Writing good articles, keeping up-to-date blogs and content, making the site easy to navigate, and blending ads in with the content all are traits of an ‘authority site.’

According to seodesignsolutions.com “ In layman’s terms, an authority website is a popular site that people frequent, that gets linked to on the basis of it’s merit, or that others willingly refer to when the theme of that site comes into play.”

And Miles Galliford, a leading internet entrepreneur says that “An Authority Site can be defined as a website that sets out to be a leading online source of information for a niche subject.”

Simple enough, but who deems a site an authority site?

An ‘authority site' is one which Google values and deems an ‘authority’ for a particular search term or topic. Typically Google grants ‘authority’ status to well known brands, such as Gap or a leader in any particular industry or niche.

An authority site will appear as the first result in Google’s search engine results as well as having 4-5 and sometimes 8-10 other links directly under it pointing to other high ranking pages within the listed web site. Google rewards ‘authority sites’ with additional links for being a trusted and quality website.

Not to toot my own horn but………..my web site, Healthy Holistic Living.com is an ‘authority site.’ Yup, check out the image below showing the results for the search term ‘holistic living.’

And what is even more exciting is that I have the same ‘authority status’ for the keywords ‘holistic healthy’ which means I am the authority out of over 9 million web sites! Of course I am not going to get the same results for all the keywords associated with my web site, just for certain keywords that Google considers my web site to be an ‘authority’ on.

To check whether a site has been given ‘authority website’ status, you need to do a search on Google for its full domain name. If the search engine results page shows the site listed as number one with anywhere from 4-10 sublinks under it then it’s an ‘authority site.’

So why do you want your web site to be an ‘authority site’?

When you establish authority in your given niche, you become an industry leader and, from that, consumers start to seek out your products, information and services instead of the traditional marketing process, where marketers seek out consumers. And that means more profit for you.

What Does It Take to Create an Authority Site?

An ‘authority site’ requires strong content, a large number of pages, and a large number of incoming and outgoing links that are themed to the web site’s content.

According to theinternetdigest.net an authority web site should be:

“Interactive: You should be engaging the minds of your visitors at all times using surveys, commenting and feedback. Make these features easy for your visitors and your site will grow exponentially. Why? Because they feel like you actually care about them. Interaction is a powerful tool and creates a sense of community on your site.

Consistent: You should post to your web site often, and you should always provide quality and original content. That doesn't mean you need to produce 800-word articles three times a week. Your goal should be to become an information master. You need to be an "authority" on the news or information in your niche.”

The keys to becoming an authority site are highly interrelated. They include number of indexed pages, quality content, links, and strong Google PageRank. All of these factors work in harmony to achieve that highly desirable ‘authority site status’; lacking any of those qualities, can hinder a web sites goal of becoming an authority site.

Bottom Line…..

If you want to become an authority site you need a good amount of original high quality content and you need to provide a superb visitor experience, the rest will come naturally.

If you already have a web site and would like some tips on improving your rankings just drop me a note via my Bio Page and I will send that right out to you.

Building Your 'Brand of One'

mtooles — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:24:00 GMT

So you’re interested in starting your own business on the internet? Or maybe you have a book that you wrote and want to make a name for yourself? Well, I have a great tip for you…..actually, it’s a great tip for anybody wanting to establish themselves as an expert and this will help you build your own ‘brand of one.’

Editors are “always looking for content” and the same goes for reporters, bloggers, radio hosts and pod cast hosts. So, how do you connect with editors, reporters, bloggers, radio hosts and pod cast hosts that need you? Good Question….

And I have a great answer…. HARO. What’s HARO?

HARO stands for ‘Help a Reporter Out’, a web site started by Peter Shankman and it is an excellent resource for those of us trying to build our own ‘brand of one.’

According to Peter, “I built this list because a lot of my friends are reporters, and they call me all the time for sources. Rather than go through my contact lists each time, I figured I could push the requests out to people who actually have something to say. These requests only come from reporters directly to me.”

Once you sign up to Peter’s web site you will get 3 emails each day. Each email will include a list of reporters, bloggers, radio hosts and pod cast hosts looking for sources for their stories. Of course it’s not likely that you will find someone looking for your expertise on a daily basis, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you find something every other month. It’s certainly worth your time and the best way to build your ‘brand of one’ is to put yourself out there.

Good Luck and happy Branding!...

If you have questions about how to start your own on-line business you can contact me via my Bio Page

How I Started a Thriving Business on Disability!

mtooles — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:34:00 GMT

So you have a disability and need to find work you can do from home...right? Are you having a tough time finding employment options? Are you thinking of starting your own business from home, but have no idea how to get started? If you answered yes to all these questions, by now you are probably frustrated and about to give up!

I know exactly how you feel because I spent months looking on the Internet trying to find options that would allow me to work from home. I needed something that was extremely flexible and that would allow me to work an hour here or there and then maybe not for a week or two. I certainly couldn't find anything that gave me the flexibility I needed with my illness . Truthfully, most of what I found sounded like a scam.

That is when I decided that I would need to do something on my own, start my own business. I have always been entrepreneurially inclined so the thought of starting my own business worked well for me but not everybody is cut out for it….

So first things first…. One of the most important things an entrepreneur, or anybody for that matter, can do is better understand who they are, their strengths and their weaknesses.

So, before I go on, this would be a good time for you to take a personality test. Take the time now to assess if you are the type of person to succeed in your own business. Just don’t wait to figure it out after you get started! Just click on “Benevolent Leader” below and you can start your own personality test.

My results came up:

Benevolent Leader

If you want to read about my results you can click on My personalDNA Report

Done? Good, that should have given you a little more insight to help you determine if you have the personality and drive to create your own business.

According to Entreprenuer.com there are 5 things that separate the entrepreneur from the average 9-5 guy:

1. PASSION

2. POSITIVITY

3. ADAPTABILITY

4. LEADERSHIP

5. AMBITION

And I would add ORGANIZATION....but that's just me.

If this sounds like you it's time to consider starting your own business.

So you have the personality, drive, ambition and all that other good stuff but you have absolutely no idea what business you could start...Well, for our situation, anyone living with a disability one of the best options is starting an online business.

OK this all sounds good, but now what? And how do you go about selecting a business that will succeed on the Internet? And, how do you know where and how to start?

The problem is that most of us are not certain what the best way to approach this is or we don’t have any web design experience. If you are anything like me, you have already done a ton of searches on home-based business opportunities and have felt let down by all the scams and get-rich-quick schemes out there. It took me over a year, traveling to another country and listening to my Dad’s advice to come across this Site Build It opportunity.

I now have a successful business on-line, Healthy Holistic Living , but when I got started I knew nothing about how to begin. I floundered for a while until I found the right way to go about it.

The first thing I learned was that the most important principle you need to understand is WHAT DRIVES THE INTERNET. You may think you know, after all you have searched a ton of successful sites and it all looks fairly simple. But building a business on the internet has its own set of rules and principles.

Luckily after a rough start I was introduced to a business tool called Site Build It that took all the mystery and fear out of building a successful web business.

You see, I had zero, zip, nada computer experience... sure, I used one at the office but I never really ventured on the Internet until I got sick. And I had no tech background so the idea of building a web site and writing code was beyond my skill level. So when I came across Site Build It and read over there Action Guide , I thought this is the ticket for me.

Site Build It’s philosophy of “following your passion” resonated with me. That combined with powerful business tools that handled all of the technology and an incredible price sold me right away. Check out this video.

We are only limited by the tools we choose to use, our vision and our belief system.

Once I got started with Site Build It, my ideas just pored out and everything followed effortlessly. Don’t get me wrong, it is still hard work with lots of numbers crunching before you begin the actual page writing, but the tools are there to support you all the way. This program is designed to let you know in advance if the information you plan to focus on has any value/demand on the internet and how you can then monetize it. It will help you figure out how to take your ideas and put them into action. It will help you with the web design layout and how to monetize the traffic without ever leaving your home or, if you choose to travel, you can build and maintain your website anywhere in the world where you have internet access.

Again, you don’t have to have any site-building experience, the Site Build It program is specifically designed for the neophyte.

So, what’s your next step if you want to build a unique, successful and profitable website? This is where the word UNIQUE comes in; this is your knowledge, your passion and your experience. It's about finding your niche, and giving people quality information they can trust!

First, find what you are most knowledgeable about. Second, find what you are most passionate about and using the Site Build It program build a website around that with lots and lots of information, articles, research data, pictures, whatever, to create credibility and trust and then consider monetizing the traffic that will come to your site in search of your knowledge!

Want to learn more about "me"? Check out my Bio Page or you can listen to my interview with Brian Therrien at The Disability Digest

Want to learn more about the tools that I used to build a successful on-line business? You can go to Site Build It

If you have questions about how to start your own on-line business you can contact my via my Bio Page or you can contact me via my web site

Curious about the success of my site using Site Build It ? Do a quick search:

- Go to the Google home page and key in "holistic living", I should be listed as #1! Now try keying in "healthy living tips", I should be #9!

- Still not sure? Ok, go to the Yahoo home page and key in "benefits of living healthy", I should be #1! How about "healthy holistic living" I should be #1 & 2!

-All right now, let’s go ahead and check out MSN and key in "Holistic Living tips." I should be #1! OK, you get the point, I hope, because I could go on for a while!

The neat thing about Site Build It is that it doesn’t take long to achieve this kind of success. I built the first page on this website July 2006! And I was able to incorporate this program into my life in a Holistic way, without changing my vision and my belief system. The key is to follow your passion and allow yourself to be open to the tools presented to you.

And last but not least according to outside ranking sources my site; healthy-holistic-living.com is in the TOP 1% of all web sites on the internet today for traffic statistics!

Simply put my year and half old, little, one man show web site has more traffic coming to it than most web sites on the internet today! You can check out my results (click on Health & Medicine) Thanks to Site Build It I was able to accomplish this without the expertise of a web master and in a very short period of time!

To get technical, according to Alexa.com I am in the Top 1% out of 100,000,000 sites but in all actuality there are about 160,000,000 sites but why quibble!

Look for my future Blog posts where I will share tips and more about my experience as well as answer any questions you may have.

How to Build a Successful Busines On-line: The Basics

mtooles — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 19:12:00 GMT

So you think you want to build a business on-line? That’s great, but do you know how to go about selecting the kind of business that will succeed on the Internet? And, do you know where and how to start?

I now have a successful business on-line, but when I got started I knew nothing about how to begin. I floundered for a while until I found the right way to go about it.

What then is the best way to build the kind of business that will succeed on-line? Well, success on the Internet all begins with a critical mind-set shift. This means replacing that well known off-line strategy of location, location, location with.....INFORMATION, INFORMATION, INFORMATION.

That’s right, Information. Most of us use the Internet as a searching tool. We search for credible, high value information or solutions, anything that can fulfill a wish that we hold dear or solve a troublesome problem that we are experiencing. So, then, it is clear that we are all searching the Internet for information and solutions. Well, guess what, that is exactly what you are going to give them!

With that in mind, here is your first guiding principle: “GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT” How do you go about fulfilling this principle? Simple. You will accomplish this by building a THEME-BASED CONTENT WEB SITE. What does that mean? It means building a simple site that contains information based upon a MAIN SUBJECT. Where each page focuses upon a single topic that is related to the overall theme or subject.

By providing your visitors with high-value content, over delivering on the information they were seeking, visitors start to like and trust you. Your content-rich site builds trust and credibility.......which leads to an OPEN-TO-BUY MINDSET. Good content encourages your visitor to think about you as a friend or expert rather than as a stranger. People buy from those they know and like. They resist sales efforts from everyone else.

So it's clear that by creating a relationship with your readers and giving them the solutions or information they are seeking leads to MONETIZATION opportunities, which of course translates to MONEY!

Easy enough to understand, but what type of web site should YOU build? What will be PROFITABLE to YOU and how do YOU get started?

Good Questions.... Download Ken Evoy's Free e-book, Make Your Site Sell it will provide you with the basic principles and steps that will help guide you to your goal of building a successful business on-line.

You can check out my web site at Healthy Holistic Living. Curious about the tools I used to create a successful on-line business? Go to Site Build It