Made Moon Blog

It seems like soccer fundraising is either a season-long effort or a quick hitter that doesn’t cover all your needs.

Well, the good news is that there are some ways to make money quickly, or even all season long, that merit your consideration.

What are your fundraising goals?

Many youth sports teams and leagues want:

1 – Fundraisers that can be done with little effort
2 – Fundraisers that may be done sporadically
3 – Fundraisers that will produce significant results

Soccer fundraising programs
In this article, we’ll examine several soccer fundraisers that are quick hitting and sure to score.

The three soccer fundraising programs are:

Bottled water
Shot cage and radar gun
Fast-food discount cards

Soccer Fundraising: Bottled Water
The first soccer fundraising program is selling bottled water. Consider for a moment that each team member will bring water to every practice and to every game. That’s at least a couple dozen bottles right there and probably a whole lot more.

Add in sales to spectators and you’ve got at least 500 bottles that could easily be sold. Sure, you can buy in bulk at a warehouse club, but you can add extra value to your soccer fundraising with private branding of your bottled water, either as a team or as a league.

The initial setup for each label is $75 and afterward, the unique label with your logo emblazoned in color costs nothing extra. Prices for the bottled spring water are wholesale, which allows your group a comfortable 50% profit margin.

When you think about it, doesn’t it make sense to capture the wholesale-to-retail markup for your group while building team spirit at the same time?

Soccer Fundraising: Shot Cage
The second soccer fundraising program is best suited for a league-wide effort. On Picture Day, during a tournament, or at any other event with high attendance, set up a soccer “shot cage” with a radar gun to measure velocity.

Every player will want multiple chances to show just how fast their shot speeds toward the goal. You can set up contests with prizes for various age ranges, team awards, Top Gun, etc.

Soccer fundraising featuring a radar-equipped shooting cage is actually an inexpensive event to host.

Several companies rent the equipment by the week with radar gun, cage, and freight all included for less than $350.

You can also find suppliers who will put together a soccer fundraiser with a hosted radar cage and do a revenue split with your group, so there would be no upfront cost.

To maximize your soccer fundraising success, price shots in a multi-shot package, such as two for $1 or other combinations.

Count the number of players in your league or potential shooters at a tournament event and determine if this type of soccer fundraising is right for your group.

Soccer Fundraising: Fast-food Discount Cards
The third soccer fundraiser is one that your group can use once or use to raise funds all season long. And that’s selling fast food discount cards.

This is a simple item to sell. Each fundraising discount card contains a certain number of two-for-one meal packages at a well-known fast food outlet.

Participating companies include McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Subway, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Dominoes Pizza, and other large fast-food chains.

Your group purchases a certain number of these cards in advance and sells them to families or individuals that will appreciate a substantial discount. The number of two-for-one deals on each card varies by company.

Pizza Hut’s card offers a free pizza with the purchase of another pizza up to a maximum of ten. The McDonalds card seems to offer the least number of “double deals” but its also one of the most popular.

Each card retails for $10 and costs between $1 to $2. Each one features the fast-food company’s logo on the front along with a message stating that 80-90% of the price of this card goes to support your soccer fundraising group.

It’s a nice way to tap into the consumer spending revenue stream with an attractive product that benefits both parties.

Find out more about fundraising discount cards from a supplier that handles all the different cards, Krazy Kard Fundraising.

These programs allow your group to reap an excellent return by offering quality products that require only moderate effort.

They are guaranteed to score a goal every time out with your players and your supporters.

Kimberly Reynolds writes about fundraising ideas and tips on soccer fundraising on her website. Find hundreds of fundraiser ideas on her website.

As we move through our lives we gather an abundance of knowledge and experience covering a myriad of areas. As we stop and reflect upon all this knowledge we may be struck with the desire to share with others our experiences and the knowledge we have gained. We know in our hearts that what we have gained in experience in our life could be of benefit. So in possession of this knowledge and experience and with the desire to share it, where do we start?

How about becoming a mentor? Mentoring has been around for a long time and has grown and evolved over the years. A mentoring relationship is one in which one person, often older, but always with more experience guides another person’s development. Mentoring can be utilized in almost any area of life.

Most everyone has heard of Big Brothers and Big Sisters, an incredible program matching adults with under privileged children. The positive results experienced by the children participating in the program are truly impressive. This is only one area where mentoring has had proven results.

Teachers also have the opportunity to be mentors encouraging students to reach for goals they may never have dreamed possible. Teachers in particular work so closely with children for so many hours of the day they are given a wonderful chance to impact a child’s life in a favorable way. Many of us can look back fondly in remembrance of at least one teacher who had a lasting positive effect on our life.

Some school systems have implemented mentoring programs for children enlisting the help of adult volunteers. The results have been well documented including increased school attendance, educational performance, confidence and self-esteem. The adults have been given a priceless opportunity to influence a child’s life.

Business and the corporate environment have recognized the value of mentors and mentoring programs. In larger corporations a mentor will be assigned to incoming junior employees to give these newest members of the corporation the best possible start. Similar programs have been started in many schools to support the new teachers coming into the education system. Any career path you are contemplating would be benefited by enlisting the guidance of a mentor and many people already established in a certain career still work with a mentor to further themselves in their chosen field. As a coach I work with a mentor coach and find it an invaluable business and life resource.

With the increase of entrepreneurs forging ahead to start their own businesses, mentors will be in higher demand as their prior business experience and knowledge will be invaluable. The same holds true for any business owner targeting a niche market, where specific prior experience in the similar niche could influence success or failure.

As for the person contemplating what to do with their wealth of experience and knowledge; what should they expect?

Mentoring is truly the gift of yourself that you share with another human being. It is a relationship you establish with the mentor in the place of more experience and the mentee the benefactor of your experience and guidance.

Both people truly benefit from this special relationship. The mentor will gain the pleasure of sharing their knowledge. They will also discover a new excitement surrounding the area in which they are serving as a mentor. When you observe someone else benefiting from your knowledge and experience it is difficult not to feel a sense of pleasure and fulfillment. We all want to know we matter in this world, that we indeed have made a difference. Becoming a mentor is one of the great ways to have a positive impact on another human being.

If you want to get started on being a mentor, get clear on who you would like to work with and whether it would be in a business context or helping someone develop in their personal life. Do you want to work one on one or would you like to share your experience with a greater number of people?

Once you have a direction, do the research. Big Brothers Big Sisters is always looking for volunteers. Many school systems offer programs of their own. A phone call will likely give you the information you may need. The internet contains many websites regarding mentoring opportunities and how to get started. If you currently work in a large corporation, check with the Human Resource department for opportunities that may exist in your company.

If you feel that you would like to put your writing talents to good use, mentoring is a wonderful opportunity. I have many of my most influential mentors between the pages of a book.

Most importantly get started. The world is in need of your experience and the gift of yourself, don’t keep it waiting. The benefits you will enjoy will be priceless.

The ability to understand the most basic elements of culture is invaluable to any educator, manager or business professional. The goal of curriculum is to elevate the knowledge and understanding of the learners. This goal is the sole determinant for instructional efficiency and success. To understand the natures and proclivities of one’s students or associates is a necessary requirement when designing learning tools. Dunn and Marinetti (2004) look at the proposition this way “For learning to be effective, learning activities should be relevant to the learners’ interests and background and should occur in settings that mimic authentic ones.

Ignoring cultural factors leads inevitably to frustrating and ultimately ineffective learning experiences”. This process is not much different from that of a coach training a new team. The coach understands that each team is different, possessing varying skill levels and dispositions than the previous team. The coach as a result must adjust his/ her strategy to best fit the character and needs of the team. It is an unrealistic expectation that the same educational or management strategy will work in all situations. That expectation does not exist in the world of sport, nor should it exist on the educational landscape. One should always be learning and growing as a professional and as a person; this is the only way to consistently understand, train and develop people within a diverse workforce.

Regi Adams Adisa is an instructional designer, performance coach, and founder of the
e-Lightened Professionals. Regi has conducted his human based approach to professional and personal development within multiple Fortune 500 companies and non-profit agencies.

Regi’s philosophy on exceptional business and human performance is that “all success starts with the people”. Thus Regi’s approach to creating high performance organizations is by creating high performance individuals and teams. If people can learn to be effective leaders and teammates this would positively impact the organization as a whole

Regi’s belief is that “Powerful relationships are the key to effective work environments, and goal attainment. Powerful, healthy relationships are the pulse behind any great endeavor and achievement”. Developing a healthy understanding of yourself and your teammates is the way to achieve big things!

More information on Regi can be found at e-lightened.com.

In past articles I have touched upon how to play a penny stock or micro cap stock near its bottom. You will come across a lot of stocks at or near their bottoms when trading penny stocks, here are some tips for timing your purchase correctly.

Once you have found a stock you like, take a look at its 52-week high and its 52-week low. This will give you the stock’s trading range for the year. When a stock is trading near its 52-week low it has a better chance of moving upward in the trading range. When at a 52-week high, some traders may feel its to risky to purchase and will wait until there is a retrace in price. This is a general rule for the majority of penny stocks that trade within a range. There are some obvious exceptions, such as great news causing a penny stock to continually make new 52-week highs.

When a stock you like is near or at its 52-week low, you must investigate why. Search for any S-8’s, SB-2’s, or an increase in the amount of operating shares. These filings are dilution, the company will have added shares to the market causing an increase in supply and a price drop. If these filings are not present and there is no reason for the stock to have dropped this low, then it may be a good time to invest.

You should have a good reason why you like the stock before purchasing. Some major things to keep an eye on are stocks in very strong markets. Currently gold and oil stocks are strong, therefore finding undervalued gold and oil penny stocks is a good idea. Another of my favorites is finding a penny stock with an innovative product, these types of products can garner national media attention and often will draw the interest of other big companies in that field.

Ideally, you want to find a company that has increasing revenues and a lot of valuable assets. These types of companies are hard to find and you must investigate thoroughly. Often you must assume they will generate revenues in the future. Look at the amount of shares the insiders are holding: is there a small float with a large amount of insider ownership? This would be a sign that the insiders think that their shares will be very valuable in the future. At times you will also find that institutions are holding a percentage of shares, which would also be a good sign.

Using a stock screener you will be able to generate lists of stocks with institutional holders, insider buying, small floats, and strong revenues. After you generate these lists, separate them by their fields, such as technology, oil, or gold. Find the companies that interest you most in the strongest of fields and begin to read the filings. You will be able to dismiss some companies almost immediately. Keep narrowing down your search until you have a handful of companies into which you are willing to invest your hard earned money.

If you have done your research correctly, the company should continue to grow in value and in time other investors will realize the potential and the price of the stock will continue to rise.

About the author:

Keith Guyette M.Ed, J.D. is a professional trader and the owner of a stock talk board http://www.thepennystockblog.com as well as the head stock analyst for http://www.bottompicks.com

More than a film or the 12 foot tall, stainless steel sculpture on display in downtown Point Pleasant in West Virginia, Mothman is a strange creature seen in the United States between November 1966 and November 1967, appearing several times in West Virginia, on the border with Ohio. Artist Robert Roach portrayed the creature in his sculpture as people reported the sightings, a man-sized beast with wings and large reflective or luminous red eyes, that scientist tried to associated with owls, but due to the size and characteristics, it is believed that Mothman was a paranormal phenomena, mostly see during the 1966-69 years.

However, some theories associate Mothman with visitors from outer space or a type of Alien never seen before or after his visit. Mothman was first sighted in November 12, 1966, and named after the Batman TV series. The first apparition occurred in a cemetery close to Clendenin, West Virginia while a group of 5 men were preparing a grave. The workers described the being as a “brown human shape with wings” which lifted off from behind nearby trees and flew over their heads. This sighting was kept in secret in the belief it would not occur again, but 3 days later two young married couples from Point Pleasant, were out for a drive and saw two red lights in the shadows of a nearby World War II TNT factory.

After stopping the car, their curiosity led them to see that the lights were the glowing red eyes of a large animal described as “shaped like a man, but bigger, maybe six and a half or seven feet tall, with big wings folded against its back”. This time the creature started chasing the couples, who were terrified drove off in their car, heading for Route 62 toward the Mason County courthouse after finding the creature again standing on a ridge near the road. Later it was revealed that a poltergeist attacked one of the couples’ home later the same night, after the encounter with Mothman.

Apparitions of Mothman continued in West Virginia during all of November 1966, and after the reports, strangers dressed in black began to appear in the area. Nobody knew who the Mothman, or the men in black were and where they had come from or went, one year later. Some neighbors of West Virginia believe that Mothman was an alien and the men in black were government agents investigating the strange occurrences, but most people are convinced that Mothman was a paranormal being and the mysterious visitors were Catholic priests who went to exorcise the demonic creature.

There is a website that describes this and numerous other creatures of Cryptozoology in detail. The website is called: Unknown Creatures, and may be found at this address:

http://www.unknown-creatures.com

By Robert W. Benjamin

Copyright © 2006

You may publish this article in your ezine, newsletter or on your web site as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and without modification except for formatting needs or grammar corrections.

If you’ve been struggling with your website traffic and your sales aren’t what you had hoped for, then maybe it’s time to start paying for traffic.

Pay-per-click Search Engines provide an extremely effective means of obtaining highly targeted traffic to your website. The concept is simple. You bid on targeted keywords for as little as .001 per click and receive targeted traffic to your website.

The key to using this technique effectively is to focus on one specific product and select highly targeted keywords. This will help you to weed out all of the window shoppers and attract your specific target audience.

Viewing Search Terms

Most pay-per-click Search Engines will enable you to view exact “search terms” that have been used to perform searches. Use this to your advantage. You can find out exactly what “search terms” are being used for your target market and place your bids accordingly. Try to create a list of as many relevant keywords as possible. The more keywords you bid on, the more traffic you’ll receive.

When bidding on keywords, keep in mind that in order to be successful, you don’t have to be listed at the top. Although receiving a listing in the top three positions will produce major traffic through Goto.com, most of the time, you must have a large advertising budget to compete.

Before placing your bid, perform a search to find out how much your competitors are paying per click. Try to place your bid so that your listing will appear on the first page to increase your chance of success. By selecting highly targeted, less popular keywords, you’ll not only attract a more targeted audience, but you’ll also obtain a higher listing for less money.

Your Ad Copy

Your headline and copy are the most important part of your entire strategy. Your headline must grab your potential customer’s attention and force them to read on. Your copy should tell them exactly what you have to offer and convince them to visit your site. Try to avoid attracting freebie hunters by mentioning free stuff within your ads. By weeding out those potential visitors expecting to get something free, you will attract a more targeted audience of potential buyers. There is no need to pay for visitors that weren’t interested in buying anything in the first place.

Your listing should lead your potential customer directly to your product with no other distractions. In other words, if your product isn’t on your main page, then don’t direct your potential customers to your main page and make them search for your product. Direct them to your product’s page.

Reveiwing Your Reports

Once your campaign begins, make sure you take the time to review the reports provided by the pay-per-click services. These reports will provide you with information in regard to how well each of your keywords are performing and enable you to adjust your keywords or change your bids accordingly.

To increase your traffic even further, don’t just stop with one pay-per-click Search Engine — try several at time. The more streams of traffic flowing to your site, the better.

Here is a list of some of the top pay-per-click Search Engines:

http://www.overture.com
http://www.Bay9.com
http://www.Win4win.com
http://www.Findwhat.com
http://www.7search.com

Visit http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com for a complete list of over sixty pay-per-click Search Engines and reviews.

If you’re serious about your business and you’re ready to drive a stampede of targeted traffic to your website, then give the pay-per-click Search Engines a try. They’re well worth the small investment.

Copyright © Shelley Lowery

About the Author:

Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design course, “Web Design Mastery” (www.webdesignmastery.com) and “eBook Starter – Give Your eBooks the look and feel of a REAL book” (www.ebookstarter.com)

Visit www.Web-Source.net to sign up for a complimentary subscription to eTips and receive a copy of Shelley’s acclaimed ebook, “Killer Internet Marketing Strategies.”

You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook, or on your web site, free of charge, as long as the author bylines are included.

There are a couple of things you will want to procure when you start cycling. The first and most understandable is good quality bicycle that fits you! Whilst that may well appear like a no-brainer, stacks of people begin out on bicycles that are too little, or constructed with poor quality parts, merely because they’re cheaper. The correct fit & a well produced mountain bike can make your outing a lot better, but, do not be persuaded to bargain shop for your bicycle. However, it will be better in the long run to 1 one that will survive you a considerable amount of time. Once you have a racing bike that’s just right for you, it is time to acquire the other items that will assist you in becoming a devoted cyclist.

Lights: The minimum needed by UK law for your bike is a small number of reflectors. Nonetheless a headlight and tail light are worthwhile even in daylight hours. When it is dark & rainy, they can make a colossal impact in your visibility to motor cars.

Tools: Just like driving a car, accidents do happen while you are cycling. Therefore, it is important to keep a tiny tool kit on you at all times to take care of flat tires, uncooperative chains, loose bolts & any other issues.

Helmet: Whilst it’s legal in the majority of places to go without a cycling helmet, in loads of others, one is required. If you’re hoping to cycle often, it’s sensible to have one even in locations where no helmet law exists.

Clothing: Although special cycling clothes is certainly optional, it’s shrewd to pay close attention to what you are wearing. Loose garments ought to be prevented, or tucked up so they do not get jammed in the chain. Find cheap cycling equipment online at Sportswear-Equipment.com.

Locks: Unless you’re lucky enough to live in an area where you are able store your bicycle inside all the time, a lock is critical. Even in the countryside, there are people who will willingly nick & resell your bicycle.

Related topics of interest include: Formula 1 Racing & Buy Toys.

If you are an Internet retailer, a storefront retailer who also has a website, a mail order retailer or a catalogue company, you may find the concept of drop shipping attractive. After all, drop shipping eliminates the need to buy inventory, store it, and ship it out yourself. Working with a good manufacturer, importer or wholesaler that will drop ship offers numerous benefits, including low overhead costs and higher profit margins than you might realize through regular affiliate programs. The beauty of using such a service is that it allows you to focus time, resources, and energy on building and expanding your customer base and not on sending out products you have already sold.

The drop shipping process involves four basic steps:
– You advertise specific products and take orders for those products.
– Upon making the sale, you receive your money.
– You then send the order along with the money for the wholesale and shipping costs to the manufacturer, importer or wholesaler.
– They ship the product directly to the customer.

It is a simple, efficient process. That is as long as you are working with a quality, trustworthy drop shipper. If you end up contracting with an unreliable company or a scam artist, your reputation, profit margin, and entire enterprise can suffer and be destroyed. When deciding which companies you will conduct business with, there are a few practices of which you should be wary.

Most often you will be looking to work with a few companies or perhaps even one company whose products you will represent and sell. In essence you are marketing specific goods with the resulting sales benefiting your company and the manufacturer, importer, or wholesaler.

With this in mind, you should never be required to purchase a membership in order to sell another company’s products. The types of companies that charge such fees usually say they offer a complete array of goods backed up by a marketing department. They will even include your own e-commerce website that you can use to sell their items. Such turnkey businesses are replete with large initiation and setup costs, monthly membership fees, and other hidden expenses. Additionally, you are often only allowed to offer their products on their site.

Does anyone ever make a profit from these turnkey businesses? Yes, the people who sell them to unwitting retailers make large sums of money. Do not fall for this scam. The only fees you should ever be charged are those for the product and for shipping the product. Legitimate drop shippers may charge you a fee, which is however refundable once you have commenced trading.

Additionally, never pay a drop shipper a membership or license fee for the right to have them drop ship for you. The concept sounds ridiculous, and it should. It’s another con. They are already making a profit from the effort you are putting into selling their product, why should you pay a license fee for the right to have them ship that product? Should you pay for the shipping? Of course, but that should be on a per item or shipment basis and no additional charges should apply.

There are also lists of bogus drop shippers that are sold to potential retailers. A legitimate business can spend hundreds of dollars on such lists, which are really names of middlemen posing as drop shippers. Contracting through these sham shippers will result in you paying much more than you should for your products.

You may also be tempted to buy relatively cheap lists of drop shippers. These lists are inexpensive because they contain out-of-date and/or false information. When you try to contact the companies on the list, you will find that they have gone out of business or never even existed.

Finally, whatever companies you contract with, make sure that you have it in writing that the manufacturer, importer or wholesaler will not market to your customers. The customers you directly sell to and the drop shipper, through your order, ships to, belong to you and not them. You have done all of the ground and legwork to sell to your customers and usurping them is not an option open to your drop shipper. Any legitimate company will agree to and honor such a contract.

Be sure to ask companies about their drop shipping policies, including charges, length of time for delivery, return polices, and backordering procedure.

Paul Mroczka is chief editor at http://www.esources.co.uk, a UK dropship and drop shippers portal based in London, UK.

Yet another study has come out telling us that kids and toddlers are spending too much time in front of the TV. So tell us something we don’t already know…

As a mother and an educator, I am very concerned at the television/video game phenomena of the 21st century. On the other hand, I realize that television can be a useful tool and can actually be educational. I also realize that without the TV, my floors would never get vacuumed! So what’s a caring parent to do?
As with so many parenting issues, I find that a rational, common-sense approach to television is totally appropriate. Here are some guidelines that you might find helpful:

Babies:

Yes, we now have television for infants! I find that most babies are not even remotely interested in the cutsie videos created for them. And there’s certainly no data to suggest that watching any video will make your baby smarter. However, I do find that babies respond to having their caregivers talk to them and sing along with movies. If you’re going to watch TV with your baby, make sure to keep it interactive. Otherwise, just don’t bother.

Toddlers:

Toddlers do have a little more interest in television than babies do. Once again, they will always get more out of a program if a caregiver is experiencing it with them and helping to “translate” the show into their language: “Did you see…” “Let’s sing the song together…” “Count the _______ with me…” Limit the times when your toddler is in front of the TV alone. I know the seduction of 20 minutes alone to vacuum upstairs or sort the laundry, but try to limit it to just 20 minutes per day at the most.

Kids:

With our school-age children, there are really two concerns: what they’re watching and how long they’re watching it. A recent study has shown that school-age children are actually watching more “adult” television than “young” television. This is a real concern. There is no reason for an eight-year-old to be watching a crime-scene investigation show. You must set boundaries around what your children are watching. Use the parental guidelines that are now built into every single television program. And remember: just because it’s animated, doesn’t mean it is appropriate viewing material for your child! Make sure you sit down and watch a few episodes of any program your child is watching to ensure that it really is good for your particular child.

As for the amount of time spent in front of the TV, it’s up to us parents to limit it. Most kids won’t set time boundaries for themselves. During school breaks, we have a “no screens from 10 am to 2 pm” rule that works well for all of us. That way, we know that there are at least four hours that are dedicated to outside time or creative work away from the shows and the games. And we work to make sure that we’re hiking, swimming and biking together as a family in the evenings, so we’re all healthy and strong.

Teens:

By the time your child is a teen, he has pretty much set his patterns: is he a couch potato or is he so active that he barely gives the TV a glance? Probably, something in between these two extremes. The thing to do with your teen is to watch what she’s watching and talk about it. This can not only be a great way to influence her decisions, but it can really help to open up those sticky lines of communication. Plop down on the couch next to your teen with a bowl of popcorn and see what’s going on in her world!

By looking at your family’s television habits with a little perspective and some common sense, you can find a happy medium. And remember to model healthy television watching patterns for your children. If you know how to turn the TV off, chances are, so do your children.

Straight talk from the mom who’s been where you are and knows how to help your family: Shelly Walker is the mother of two beautiful children and the author of Awakened Power and the upcoming book Parenting Keys. Shelly is passionate about children and believes that every child deserves healthy, happy parents. For more information, go to http://www.parentingkeys.com.

In the current competitive climate, tourism-dependant businesses in Coastal Maine are looking for every possible edge to set themselves above their competition. The internet has quickly become the ubiquitous marketing venue for tourism and travel, and our local businesses have jumped into this venue with both feet forward.

For several years, search engine marketing firms have sold pay-per-click, link farms, and meta-tags as the must-do’s for increasing web visibility. Tactics such as tag-stuffing, hiding keyword instances, or creating unintelligible site content in order to trigger higher pageranking have served to increase traffic for some, but have severely decreased the quality of search results for the consumer. Over time, vanguards in the industry have come to understand that it is the searcher whose needs should be the focus, not the business that wants desperately to be found.

The increasingly jaded public, through such daily delights as spam and pop-up ads, has learned quickly to dismiss businesses that force themselves on them. I know from my own search experience that I tend to ignore both sponsored ads and even the highest ranked search results if the description looks or smells anything like either a paid placement or a keyword-jammed “information portal”. Now don’t get me wrong, all of these sights get tons of traffic, but that’s not my point. My point is that consumers are becoming more hip to the game, and the trust that is necessary to produce a financial transaction with them can be severely inhibited through seemingly disingenuous marketing techniques.

Companies like Google have pivoted left and right to shake the rigging of search results. Their mission has re-focused lately , and they are developing brilliant techniques to make sure their users are delivered PERTINENT search results. They still generate revenue from paid advertisers, thats true, but look where they put the ads. They are clearly seperated from the search results, and are clearly labeled ’sponsored links’. As a matter of fact, the majority of these links are placed in the right column of the page, a veritable no-man’s land for browsers, according to eye-tracking studies.

Anyhow the important thing to keep in mind is that, rather than trying to ‘beat the system”, businesses
would be better served if they moved toward creating the pertinent site search engines are trying to return to their users. Instead of jamming tags and buying links, businesses should be making sure their sites are chock full of good, pertinent content. If you own a gas station, your website should strive to be the end-all, be-all location for gas related information in your area. Not only will the mass of content help the search engines find you and rank you higher, but visitors will be happier, more satisfied, and consider you the expert in your field. Others will link to you as an expert, and this is probably the most effective single way to increase traffic to your site.

Lance Dutson runs Maine Coast Design, an internet design and marketing firm catering to tourist-oriented businesses on the coast of Maine. http://www.mainecoastdesign.com