The Fastest Way to Ezine Advertising
An ezine is an online newsletter. They are used to share news, updates and promotions. They are a great way for webmasters to generate traffic to their site and keep in touch with their visitors.
Generating traffic to your site through an ezine is not that complicated. Most, if not all, ezines accept third party advertising. What that means is Joe Smith has an ezine relating to car maintenance. You are selling a new car polish that will protect the finish of your car. You place an ad in Joe Smith’s car maintenance ezine. This will also help Joe (the ezine owner) to offset the cost of operating his ezine as well as give him an additional source of income.
You can choose to place an ad for your website, product or service in the ezine. You can place different ads in different ezines. If this is done right, you will generate loads of traffic to your site.
You should place your ads in ezines that are related toward your specific niche. Be as specific as you can to narrow the possibilities. To use the above example, let’s say your car polish is used on vintage cars to restore their original color and shine. Would you then place your ad in an ezine for the new 2009 sports car or an ezine relating to car restoration? By narrowing your target audience, you will get the most for your money.
Try browsing sites in your niche to see which ones run an ezine. You can also do a search on Google. Try searching for: “your keyword + ezine” (ex: “car restoration+ ezine”). Once you have a list of possible sites, you can start to narrow it down to find the most targeted one as well as to compare prices and the number of subscribers.
There are various pricing options for these ads. Some things to take into consideration might depend on the niche or the number of subscribers. There are also different prices based on where your ad is placed.
Most ezines will have several options on where to place your ad. They may have one at the top, another in the middle and then when down at the bottom.
The best (and most expensive) is the solo ad. As the name implies, this is “one” ad. This will be the only ad the readers will see. This means great exposure for you. Because of this, you want to create an effective ad.
One way to do this is to subscribe to the ezine yourself and read through a few issues to get a feel of its style of writing. Then you can construct an ad to reflect on that style and match the tone and message it is trying to convey. The words you choose for your ad will determine the success of your ad, so plan on taking some time to construct it.
One last thing, track your ads carefully. You will want to test and keep track of which ezines are getting you the best response. Play around with your ad and see what kind of results you get. Only by testing will you see which ads are bringing in the traffic and which ads are wasting your time and money.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
How To Write Articles That Will Drive Traffic Back To Your Website
When people learn about the powerful web-wide exposure that
article marketing can bring for a website, they sometimes
mistakenly assume that they need to write the article as a
sales pitch to convince readers to go to their website.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
The way article marketing works is that your articles need
to be educational, rather than sales oriented.
The idea is to teach your reader's how to do something that
will benefit them, rather than to tell them why they should
do something to benefit you.
Keep in mind that when you submit articles, you need to
meet the needs of the publisher (who is looking for
educational articles that will serve his target readers),
and also the needs of your target market (who is looking
for helpful information).
Notice that neither of these two parties is looking for a
sales letter about your website! (The appropriate place to
talk about your website is in the author resource box that
sits below your articles.)
If you can't write about your own business, products or
website, what are you supposed to write about?
Whenever you write an article for article marketing you
want to:
a) Convey that you are an authority on your topic.
b) Convey that you're unbiased, that you simply want to
provide a useful article.
c) Always write about the topic of your website. Notice I
said "on the topic of your website" and not about your
website. Does your website sell gardening tools? Well, then
all of your articles would be about gardening.
d) Give the reader the information they need and also make
them more interested in your topic (by heightening the
reader's interest in your topic you make it more likely
that they will click through to your website when they read
your resource box).
How do you accomplish all of these objectives?
The trick is to take off your sales person hat and put on
your teacher hat. Being a teacher is a much more subtle
approach than being a sales person, and with article
marketing subtlety is key!
A good teacher creates a hunger in a student's heart for a
topic, and with a little creativity you can accomplish the
same effect with your articles.
Let's go back to the example of the person whose website
sells gardening tools. She can't write about her products
she's selling on her website--that would make her article
self-serving and a turn-off to publishers and readers.
So what should she write about? Here are some ideas for
article topics:
"How To Plant A Winter Garden"
"5 Guaranteed Ways to Produce a Bumper Crop of Veggies!"
"The Top 3 Health Benefits of Eating Vegetables You Grow In
Your Backyard"
"The Organic Advantage: Growing the Purest Food Possible"
You get the idea--all of these articles would be of
interest to this website owner's target market, make her
readers in the mood to start gardening (and then they will
need gardening tools!), and will also be welcomed by
publishers looking for educational articles.
It's a win-win-win situation!
True, it does take more creativity to craft an article that
is educational rather than sales oriented, but trust
me--you'll reap the rewards of your extra effort, because
well-written educational articles help you accomplish all
the goals you were hoping to meet when you started article
marketing in the first place:
1) You will build more links to your website, because your
articles will be more attractive to publishers. An increase
in links can lead to higher search engine ranking for your
keywords.
2) You will bring more exposure to your website, which in
turn will bring more targeted traffic. Each time your
article is picked up for publication, your author resource
box is included with a link back to your website. When
readers find your article useful, they will natually read
your resource box and will be more likely to click through
to your website (which brings you targeted traffic).
3) You will establish yourself as an expert in your niche.
Being regarded as an expert builds customer confidence and
increases the odds that your website will be chosen when a
customer decides to make a purchase.
This is perhaps a more subtle, more gentle approach than
you might have expected with article marketing, but this is
the approach that WORKS!
The payoff from all your hard work comes when a potential
customer reads your article and says,
"Now that article was helpful to me! Let me see if she has
any more useful info back at her website..."
And that is how you drive traffic back to your website with
article marketing--by being an expert in your niche and
creatively crafting articles that encourage your reader's
interest in your topic.
About the Author:
Steve Shaw develops systems and software to help you
succeed in your online business. For example, his article
distribution service at:
http://www.submityourarticle.com
YOUR
article to hundreds of web sites with the click of a button.
When people learn about the powerful web-wide exposure that
article marketing can bring for a website, they sometimes
mistakenly assume that they need to write the article as a
sales pitch to convince readers to go to their website.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
The way article marketing works is that your articles need
to be educational, rather than sales oriented.
The idea is to teach your reader's how to do something that
will benefit them, rather than to tell them why they should
do something to benefit you.
Keep in mind that when you submit articles, you need to
meet the needs of the publisher (who is looking for
educational articles that will serve his target readers),
and also the needs of your target market (who is looking
for helpful information).
Notice that neither of these two parties is looking for a
sales letter about your website! (The appropriate place to
talk about your website is in the author resource box that
sits below your articles.)
If you can't write about your own business, products or
website, what are you supposed to write about?
Whenever you write an article for article marketing you
want to:
a) Convey that you are an authority on your topic.
b) Convey that you're unbiased, that you simply want to
provide a useful article.
c) Always write about the topic of your website. Notice I
said "on the topic of your website" and not about your
website. Does your website sell gardening tools? Well, then
all of your articles would be about gardening.
d) Give the reader the information they need and also make
them more interested in your topic (by heightening the
reader's interest in your topic you make it more likely
that they will click through to your website when they read
your resource box).
How do you accomplish all of these objectives?
The trick is to take off your sales person hat and put on
your teacher hat. Being a teacher is a much more subtle
approach than being a sales person, and with article
marketing subtlety is key!
A good teacher creates a hunger in a student's heart for a
topic, and with a little creativity you can accomplish the
same effect with your articles.
Let's go back to the example of the person whose website
sells gardening tools. She can't write about her products
she's selling on her website--that would make her article
self-serving and a turn-off to publishers and readers.
So what should she write about? Here are some ideas for
article topics:
"How To Plant A Winter Garden"
"5 Guaranteed Ways to Produce a Bumper Crop of Veggies!"
"The Top 3 Health Benefits of Eating Vegetables You Grow In
Your Backyard"
"The Organic Advantage: Growing the Purest Food Possible"
You get the idea--all of these articles would be of
interest to this website owner's target market, make her
readers in the mood to start gardening (and then they will
need gardening tools!), and will also be welcomed by
publishers looking for educational articles.
It's a win-win-win situation!
True, it does take more creativity to craft an article that
is educational rather than sales oriented, but trust
me--you'll reap the rewards of your extra effort, because
well-written educational articles help you accomplish all
the goals you were hoping to meet when you started article
marketing in the first place:
1) You will build more links to your website, because your
articles will be more attractive to publishers. An increase
in links can lead to higher search engine ranking for your
keywords.
2) You will bring more exposure to your website, which in
turn will bring more targeted traffic. Each time your
article is picked up for publication, your author resource
box is included with a link back to your website. When
readers find your article useful, they will natually read
your resource box and will be more likely to click through
to your website (which brings you targeted traffic).
3) You will establish yourself as an expert in your niche.
Being regarded as an expert builds customer confidence and
increases the odds that your website will be chosen when a
customer decides to make a purchase.
This is perhaps a more subtle, more gentle approach than
you might have expected with article marketing, but this is
the approach that WORKS!
The payoff from all your hard work comes when a potential
customer reads your article and says,
"Now that article was helpful to me! Let me see if she has
any more useful info back at her website..."
And that is how you drive traffic back to your website with
article marketing--by being an expert in your niche and
creatively crafting articles that encourage your reader's
interest in your topic.
About the Author:
Steve Shaw develops systems and software to help you
succeed in your online business. For example, his article
distribution service at:
http://www.submityourarticle.com
YOUR
article to hundreds of web sites with the click of a button.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Everything You Need to Know to Create an Effective Email Signature
The power of an email signature has been terribly underestimated. An email signature is that short little blurb that is attached to all your outgoing emails. This can be set up through your email provider to be attached to your emails automatically. This will serve as a reminder to your readers of who you are and what you have to offer.
There are few people that actually take advantage of this powerful marketing tool. Those that do, tend to go about it the wrong way. This article will provide some tips on creating an effective email signature.
The first thing you want to include in your signature is a link back to your site. Please remember that not all email providers will allow active links. Formatting your link and using anchor text may backfire if your link shows up as plain text to your reader. Always include a simple link that can be cut and pasted into a browser.
Try not to make the same mistake of numerous other website owners by including only your name and link in your signature. You will run the risk of being boring and you won’t grab anyone’s attention.
Your email signature is like a small ad. You have to give your readers a reason to want to visit your site. Devote some time to designing your message. Perhaps a catchy phrase or slogan might do the trick. Another great eye catcher is to offer something free. A free report or E-Zine (an online form of a newsletter) is a great way to get people to your site. Coupons and discounts are a great way to generate traffic to your site as well. Don’t be afraid to add any of these things into your signature.
Remember, don’t get carried away. Many of us have several websites and we might feel inclined to mention them all in an email signature. This is going to overwhelm the reader and back fire on you. Try to keep it simple. You can try several different variations of your signature to see which ones are working best.
Another thought is to set up a special landing page just for your email signature. This will make tracking somewhat easier and you will be able to customize this page to fit the offer you may have advertised in your signature. From this special landing page, you can then send the visitor to any site you choose.
A good, well written email signature is a valuable piece of marketing you will want to incorporate into your advertising.
Lori Gorman is the owner/webmaster of My E-Biz Place and My E-Biz Place News and Info as well as a successful work at home mom. Visit her site for up to date, legitimate work from home opportunities. You can also find her on Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and ZenZuu.
The power of an email signature has been terribly underestimated. An email signature is that short little blurb that is attached to all your outgoing emails. This can be set up through your email provider to be attached to your emails automatically. This will serve as a reminder to your readers of who you are and what you have to offer.
There are few people that actually take advantage of this powerful marketing tool. Those that do, tend to go about it the wrong way. This article will provide some tips on creating an effective email signature.
The first thing you want to include in your signature is a link back to your site. Please remember that not all email providers will allow active links. Formatting your link and using anchor text may backfire if your link shows up as plain text to your reader. Always include a simple link that can be cut and pasted into a browser.
Try not to make the same mistake of numerous other website owners by including only your name and link in your signature. You will run the risk of being boring and you won’t grab anyone’s attention.
Your email signature is like a small ad. You have to give your readers a reason to want to visit your site. Devote some time to designing your message. Perhaps a catchy phrase or slogan might do the trick. Another great eye catcher is to offer something free. A free report or E-Zine (an online form of a newsletter) is a great way to get people to your site. Coupons and discounts are a great way to generate traffic to your site as well. Don’t be afraid to add any of these things into your signature.
Remember, don’t get carried away. Many of us have several websites and we might feel inclined to mention them all in an email signature. This is going to overwhelm the reader and back fire on you. Try to keep it simple. You can try several different variations of your signature to see which ones are working best.
Another thought is to set up a special landing page just for your email signature. This will make tracking somewhat easier and you will be able to customize this page to fit the offer you may have advertised in your signature. From this special landing page, you can then send the visitor to any site you choose.
A good, well written email signature is a valuable piece of marketing you will want to incorporate into your advertising.
Lori Gorman is the owner/webmaster of My E-Biz Place and My E-Biz Place News and Info as well as a successful work at home mom. Visit her site for up to date, legitimate work from home opportunities. You can also find her on Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and ZenZuu.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
HOW TO GENERATE TRAFFIC WITH E-COURSES
A great way to generate traffic to your site is through offering e-course. An e-course is a series of emails set up to go out automatically over a period of time. They will usually consist of a series of lessons or specific “how-to’s” to cover any topic you choose. For example, if your topic is working at home, you can create an e-course titled “10 Steps on How to Start a Home Business”. Then, you would set up your emails so the subscribers would get one a day, for 10 days. You would then write the emails, or lessons as follow, Step #1 Finding the Right Home Business, Step #2 Writing a Business Plan, Step #3 etc., etc., just for example.
Your subscribers will remain on your mailing list even after the 10 days (or whatever it is that you set up the e-course for), so you can continue to send out follow-ups and updates. Of course the subscriber will have the option to unsubscribe, but most often they do not, as long as you don’t abuse the follow-ups. Every email you send out is another opportunity to bring your subscriber back to your site. You already know they are interested in the information or service you provide because they signed up for your e-course.
The great thing about an e-course is that once you set up the email series, it runs by itself. Of course you can always go in and make any necessary changes. As long as you keep your e-course up to date, it will continue to bring you traffic for years to come.
Creating an e-course is easy. All you need is a topic and an auto-responder. Two of the more popular auto-responders are Get Response (which is what I use) and Aweber. You will definitely want to choose a well known and respected auto-responder. Your e-course is no good without a reliable auto-responder. Keep in mind that you want to use an auto-responder that uses a double opt-in subscription method. This will protect you from SPAM complaints because the subscriber will have to confirm they want to subscribe to your e-course before any emails are sent to them.
Once you get your email series in order and set up, you will want to “capture subscribers”. Your auto-responder company will provide you a code to place on your site. This will then put a box on your site for subscribers to put their names and emails to be added to your mailing list.
That’s all there is to it. Your e-course is set up, running on autopilot and you are free to work on other things. A professionally written, up to date, e-course can continue to bring you traffic for an indefinite period of time.
A great way to generate traffic to your site is through offering e-course. An e-course is a series of emails set up to go out automatically over a period of time. They will usually consist of a series of lessons or specific “how-to’s” to cover any topic you choose. For example, if your topic is working at home, you can create an e-course titled “10 Steps on How to Start a Home Business”. Then, you would set up your emails so the subscribers would get one a day, for 10 days. You would then write the emails, or lessons as follow, Step #1 Finding the Right Home Business, Step #2 Writing a Business Plan, Step #3 etc., etc., just for example.
Your subscribers will remain on your mailing list even after the 10 days (or whatever it is that you set up the e-course for), so you can continue to send out follow-ups and updates. Of course the subscriber will have the option to unsubscribe, but most often they do not, as long as you don’t abuse the follow-ups. Every email you send out is another opportunity to bring your subscriber back to your site. You already know they are interested in the information or service you provide because they signed up for your e-course.
The great thing about an e-course is that once you set up the email series, it runs by itself. Of course you can always go in and make any necessary changes. As long as you keep your e-course up to date, it will continue to bring you traffic for years to come.
Creating an e-course is easy. All you need is a topic and an auto-responder. Two of the more popular auto-responders are Get Response (which is what I use) and Aweber. You will definitely want to choose a well known and respected auto-responder. Your e-course is no good without a reliable auto-responder. Keep in mind that you want to use an auto-responder that uses a double opt-in subscription method. This will protect you from SPAM complaints because the subscriber will have to confirm they want to subscribe to your e-course before any emails are sent to them.
Once you get your email series in order and set up, you will want to “capture subscribers”. Your auto-responder company will provide you a code to place on your site. This will then put a box on your site for subscribers to put their names and emails to be added to your mailing list.
That’s all there is to it. Your e-course is set up, running on autopilot and you are free to work on other things. A professionally written, up to date, e-course can continue to bring you traffic for an indefinite period of time.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Back To School...Back To Work
Well, looks like summer is finally coming to an end. With our children going back to school, it's time to start thinking of getting back to work.
Over the summer I have to admit, I got a little lazy with my home business. I guess that's one of the benefits of working from home, you can set your own pace. I would pitter around and try to keep on top of things, but that was about it.
Now it's time for some serious "Back to Work" buisness. On top of my list is expanding my Web 2.0 or Social Bookmarking exposure. This is something that was new to me prior to the summer months. Yes, I did participate in several forums and write some articles, blogs, but didn't consider that to be "social bookmarking".
So about a month ago, I created a MySpace page. I have several other sites where I will be creating a page, on my "to do" list. Where will I find the time??? I suppose I don't have to sleep every night!
I have to admit that although it is a lot of work, it is also very exciting and fun to be meeting new people (even it is just online).
So to all my cyber-friends and colleagues...back to the grindstone!!
Lori
Well, looks like summer is finally coming to an end. With our children going back to school, it's time to start thinking of getting back to work.
Over the summer I have to admit, I got a little lazy with my home business. I guess that's one of the benefits of working from home, you can set your own pace. I would pitter around and try to keep on top of things, but that was about it.
Now it's time for some serious "Back to Work" buisness. On top of my list is expanding my Web 2.0 or Social Bookmarking exposure. This is something that was new to me prior to the summer months. Yes, I did participate in several forums and write some articles, blogs, but didn't consider that to be "social bookmarking".
So about a month ago, I created a MySpace page. I have several other sites where I will be creating a page, on my "to do" list. Where will I find the time??? I suppose I don't have to sleep every night!
I have to admit that although it is a lot of work, it is also very exciting and fun to be meeting new people (even it is just online).
So to all my cyber-friends and colleagues...back to the grindstone!!
Lori
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Driving Traffic to Your Site with Craigslist
For those of you that still don’t know what Craigslist is, try to imagine a gigantic flea market right at your finger tips. A place where you can buy anything from a designer handbag to a vacation home. There are people from all over the world selling their goods and services on Craigslist, with just as many people looking to purchase goods and/or services.
With the tremendous success of Craigslist, it has become one of the most regularly visited websites on the Internet. It is a traffic magnet, drawing massive amounts of visitors a day. Craigslist is used by millions of people every day. Tapping into this enormous market of visitors could result in more traffic to your website. Think about it, the people browsing through Craigslist are already in a “buying” mode, they are there looking for something. So offering your product or service can result in a higher conversion rate.
To register for an account with Craigslist, you need to supply a valid email address. You will then receive a link to follow to activate your account and create a password. You are then ready to submit your ads. For your convenience, the site is divided into regions. You can post your ad locally or by state and even by country. Imagine someone thousands of miles away, reading your ad with just a few clicks. It is free to post your ads and they will stay active for about 45 days. Of course you can always go back and re-post your ads over and over again to stay current.
This will help you to develop a nice flow of traffic to your site. The real traffic however, will come from Google. Google loves Craigslist and it is not unusual for ads placed on Craigslist to achieve a top ranking. This can occur in less than a week’s time. Once this happens, your ad will get some serious traffic. If you write your ad properly, you can even have that traffic directed right to your website.
To make sure your ads rank well with the search engines, use some of the same SEO tactics you used for your site. Optimize your ads for your keywords just as you did your web pages.
There are many other classified sites besides Craigslist. Of course they do not come close to the amount of traffic Craigslist achieves, but that doesn’t mean they should be over looked. Do a search to find other classified sites and then use them to along with Craigslist to drive more traffic to your site.
For those of you that still don’t know what Craigslist is, try to imagine a gigantic flea market right at your finger tips. A place where you can buy anything from a designer handbag to a vacation home. There are people from all over the world selling their goods and services on Craigslist, with just as many people looking to purchase goods and/or services.
With the tremendous success of Craigslist, it has become one of the most regularly visited websites on the Internet. It is a traffic magnet, drawing massive amounts of visitors a day. Craigslist is used by millions of people every day. Tapping into this enormous market of visitors could result in more traffic to your website. Think about it, the people browsing through Craigslist are already in a “buying” mode, they are there looking for something. So offering your product or service can result in a higher conversion rate.
To register for an account with Craigslist, you need to supply a valid email address. You will then receive a link to follow to activate your account and create a password. You are then ready to submit your ads. For your convenience, the site is divided into regions. You can post your ad locally or by state and even by country. Imagine someone thousands of miles away, reading your ad with just a few clicks. It is free to post your ads and they will stay active for about 45 days. Of course you can always go back and re-post your ads over and over again to stay current.
This will help you to develop a nice flow of traffic to your site. The real traffic however, will come from Google. Google loves Craigslist and it is not unusual for ads placed on Craigslist to achieve a top ranking. This can occur in less than a week’s time. Once this happens, your ad will get some serious traffic. If you write your ad properly, you can even have that traffic directed right to your website.
To make sure your ads rank well with the search engines, use some of the same SEO tactics you used for your site. Optimize your ads for your keywords just as you did your web pages.
There are many other classified sites besides Craigslist. Of course they do not come close to the amount of traffic Craigslist achieves, but that doesn’t mean they should be over looked. Do a search to find other classified sites and then use them to along with Craigslist to drive more traffic to your site.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
8 types of income the IRS can't touch
(By: Erich Winnecke)
Don't overpay taxes on income that's protected by the U.S. tax code. Here are the major categories to watch, including five types of raises that don't add a dime to your taxable income.
Want to keep the tax man away from your money? It's easier than you think. There are lots of ways to increase your wealth without having a chunk gobbled up by the IRS.
It's not that the agency doesn't want your money. It's just that the tax law prohibits the IRS from touching it. And with a bit of planning, you can start to cut your current tax bill and put money in your pocket now.
Let's look at a few examples.
Tax-free interest
Interest earned on bonds issued by a state, territory, municipality or any political subdivision is free from federal taxes. These are generically called municipal bonds, and their tax benefit increases in value as your marginal tax rate goes higher. (In other words, the bonds are worth more to you as your overall income rises.)
Assume you're in the 35% bracket, the top rate through the year 2010. A 5% tax-free rate becomes the equivalent of a taxable rate of 7.69%. In the 15% bracket, the taxable equivalent is only 5.88%. If you check out this page at investinginbonds.com, you can compare taxable and tax-free yields. Compare the after-tax rates on alternative investments of equivalent risk.
Some bonds may not only be tax-free at the federal level, they may also escape state and local taxes. If you're in the top brackets and live in New York City, this is one investment you definitely want to consider for your portfolio.
Car-pool receipts
Commuting to work? Bring a friend -- and his wallet. If you form a carpool to carry passengers to and from work, any dollars received from these passengers aren't included in your income.
Commuting costs are generally not deductible. But if you establish a carpool and you're reimbursed in amounts sufficient to cover the cost of your repairs, gas and similar items used in connection with operating your car to and from work, then you've converted personal nondeductible expenses into excludable income.
Assume you're in the 25% bracket for 2007 and 2008. You have to earn $133 per month to cover a $100 monthly commuting expense. If you have a carpool arrangement with expenses being reimbursed, you've got no additional income. But you do have an additional $133 per month in wealth!
Sell your house
Under a tax law enacted in 1997, if your house was your principal residence for two of the last five years, you can exclude as much as $250,000 in gain ($500,000 on a joint return) when you sell it.
You don't have to reinvest the money, and you can claim the exclusion every two years. (If you've got $500,000 in gain every two years, I want to meet your real estate agent and go shopping!)
If you don't meet the two-year rule, you can get a partial exclusion based on the time of use and ownership. Assume you sold after only one year and had a $50,000 profit.
Your exclusion is half the $250,000, not half the $50,000 profit. In this case, you'd pay zero tax on the sale.
But this partial exclusion is only if the sale is required because of either a change in place of employment, health reasons or unforeseen circumstances. I haven't yet seen final regulations defining "unforeseen circumstances." My understanding is that the IRS is going to be flexible here.
Tax-free compensation
When you're due for a raise, ask your company to get creative in your compensation. There are numerous ways to receive non-taxable compensation. Let's look at some of the best alternatives to taxable earned income.
Use your health coverage. Health and hospitalization insurance premiums paid by your current or former employer are tax-free -- a huge benefit. Let's say your health insurance premiums come to $280 a month or $3,360 a year (for an HMO policy for a family of four with a $1,500 deductible). If you're in the 25% tax bracket and have to pick up the bill, the real cost to you would be $4,480. That's $3,360 for the premiums and $1,120 for additional income taxes because you'll be paying for the coverage in after-tax dollars. Having your company pick up the cost helps both of you. It doesn't have to pay the salary necessary to get you even. It gets to write off the full cost of the coverage. Plus, neither of you has to pay the 7.65% payroll taxes on the premiums. And you, of course, boost your disposable income substantially.
Cover your life.
Group term life insurance coverage of $50,000 or less paid for by your company isn't taxed to you. You pick the beneficiary; your company pays the premiums. Your company deducts the expense; you walk away with additional tax-free income.
Send yourself to school.
Get educated. The courses don't even have to be job-related. But they can't be for any education involving sports, games, or hobbies. Your company can pay, and deduct, as much as $5,250 per year in educational assistance paid for either undergraduate or graduate courses. Again, that assistance comes to you tax-free.
Get you there…and parked.
Your company can give you discount fare cards, passes or tokens to take public transportation to work. As long as it's not worth more than $100 per month, your company can deduct it, but you, as an employee, receive it tax-free as a de minimus tax benefit. You're taxed only on any excess over the $100. If you drive and have to pay for parking, your company can provide free parking, up to a maximum value of $180 per month, to you tax-free.
Cafeteria plans.
These are sometimes called Flexible Spending Accounts. Your company makes deductible contributions under a written plan, which allows you to select between taxable and non-taxable benefits. To the extent you chose non-taxable benefits, you have no additional income. Available non-taxable benefits may include group life insurance, disability benefits, dependent care and/or accident and health benefits. Your individual plan details the options. You make your choices among the items on the cafeteria menu.
You get the idea. Any time you can convert taxable income into non-taxable income, you've given yourself a raise. And when both you and your company save money, it's a win-win for everybody.
You can read this and other useful information at the TOPS Work at Home Forum
(By: Erich Winnecke)
Don't overpay taxes on income that's protected by the U.S. tax code. Here are the major categories to watch, including five types of raises that don't add a dime to your taxable income.
Want to keep the tax man away from your money? It's easier than you think. There are lots of ways to increase your wealth without having a chunk gobbled up by the IRS.
It's not that the agency doesn't want your money. It's just that the tax law prohibits the IRS from touching it. And with a bit of planning, you can start to cut your current tax bill and put money in your pocket now.
Let's look at a few examples.
Tax-free interest
Interest earned on bonds issued by a state, territory, municipality or any political subdivision is free from federal taxes. These are generically called municipal bonds, and their tax benefit increases in value as your marginal tax rate goes higher. (In other words, the bonds are worth more to you as your overall income rises.)
Assume you're in the 35% bracket, the top rate through the year 2010. A 5% tax-free rate becomes the equivalent of a taxable rate of 7.69%. In the 15% bracket, the taxable equivalent is only 5.88%. If you check out this page at investinginbonds.com, you can compare taxable and tax-free yields. Compare the after-tax rates on alternative investments of equivalent risk.
Some bonds may not only be tax-free at the federal level, they may also escape state and local taxes. If you're in the top brackets and live in New York City, this is one investment you definitely want to consider for your portfolio.
Car-pool receipts
Commuting to work? Bring a friend -- and his wallet. If you form a carpool to carry passengers to and from work, any dollars received from these passengers aren't included in your income.
Commuting costs are generally not deductible. But if you establish a carpool and you're reimbursed in amounts sufficient to cover the cost of your repairs, gas and similar items used in connection with operating your car to and from work, then you've converted personal nondeductible expenses into excludable income.
Assume you're in the 25% bracket for 2007 and 2008. You have to earn $133 per month to cover a $100 monthly commuting expense. If you have a carpool arrangement with expenses being reimbursed, you've got no additional income. But you do have an additional $133 per month in wealth!
Sell your house
Under a tax law enacted in 1997, if your house was your principal residence for two of the last five years, you can exclude as much as $250,000 in gain ($500,000 on a joint return) when you sell it.
You don't have to reinvest the money, and you can claim the exclusion every two years. (If you've got $500,000 in gain every two years, I want to meet your real estate agent and go shopping!)
If you don't meet the two-year rule, you can get a partial exclusion based on the time of use and ownership. Assume you sold after only one year and had a $50,000 profit.
Your exclusion is half the $250,000, not half the $50,000 profit. In this case, you'd pay zero tax on the sale.
But this partial exclusion is only if the sale is required because of either a change in place of employment, health reasons or unforeseen circumstances. I haven't yet seen final regulations defining "unforeseen circumstances." My understanding is that the IRS is going to be flexible here.
Tax-free compensation
When you're due for a raise, ask your company to get creative in your compensation. There are numerous ways to receive non-taxable compensation. Let's look at some of the best alternatives to taxable earned income.
Use your health coverage. Health and hospitalization insurance premiums paid by your current or former employer are tax-free -- a huge benefit. Let's say your health insurance premiums come to $280 a month or $3,360 a year (for an HMO policy for a family of four with a $1,500 deductible). If you're in the 25% tax bracket and have to pick up the bill, the real cost to you would be $4,480. That's $3,360 for the premiums and $1,120 for additional income taxes because you'll be paying for the coverage in after-tax dollars. Having your company pick up the cost helps both of you. It doesn't have to pay the salary necessary to get you even. It gets to write off the full cost of the coverage. Plus, neither of you has to pay the 7.65% payroll taxes on the premiums. And you, of course, boost your disposable income substantially.
Cover your life.
Group term life insurance coverage of $50,000 or less paid for by your company isn't taxed to you. You pick the beneficiary; your company pays the premiums. Your company deducts the expense; you walk away with additional tax-free income.
Send yourself to school.
Get educated. The courses don't even have to be job-related. But they can't be for any education involving sports, games, or hobbies. Your company can pay, and deduct, as much as $5,250 per year in educational assistance paid for either undergraduate or graduate courses. Again, that assistance comes to you tax-free.
Get you there…and parked.
Your company can give you discount fare cards, passes or tokens to take public transportation to work. As long as it's not worth more than $100 per month, your company can deduct it, but you, as an employee, receive it tax-free as a de minimus tax benefit. You're taxed only on any excess over the $100. If you drive and have to pay for parking, your company can provide free parking, up to a maximum value of $180 per month, to you tax-free.
Cafeteria plans.
These are sometimes called Flexible Spending Accounts. Your company makes deductible contributions under a written plan, which allows you to select between taxable and non-taxable benefits. To the extent you chose non-taxable benefits, you have no additional income. Available non-taxable benefits may include group life insurance, disability benefits, dependent care and/or accident and health benefits. Your individual plan details the options. You make your choices among the items on the cafeteria menu.
You get the idea. Any time you can convert taxable income into non-taxable income, you've given yourself a raise. And when both you and your company save money, it's a win-win for everybody.
You can read this and other useful information at the TOPS Work at Home Forum
Friday, February 01, 2008
Blogging Basics
If you are looking for a way to drive more traffic to your website, look no further. Blogging is a very effective way to bring new visitors to your site. Search engines like blogs and this is why when doing a keyword search, you will very often see a blog posting at the top of the list.
If you are not blogging, you are missing out on a lot of traffic to your site. Start one or several blogs and channel all that traffic to your main website. Your blog can be a subsection of your website or you can build a stand along version. Either way, make sure you link back to your main site. Place links to your home page as well as other pages from your site. You are trying to get as much exposure for your site as possible.
There are several ways you can use to create your blog. The two that I recommend are Blogger and Wordpress. They are both easy to use and navigate. They also offer a lot of features so you can customize the look of your blog. You have the option of hosting your blog on their servers or you can host it yourself. To host it yourself, you will need to purchase and register your own domain. Many hosting companies will offer free domain registration when you purchase a hosting account from them.
There are several benefits for hosting your blog yourself. For this article, we will discuss two of them. First, the url itself. If you host your blog on Blogger, your url will look like this: yourwebsite.blogspot.com. However, if you host it yourself, the url will look like this: yourwebsite.com. This will give your url a more professional, as well as credible, look. Plus, it will be much easier for your readers to remember.
The second reason to host your own blog is far more significant. Blogs that are hosted on free services, are at risk of disappearing without warning or reason. All your hard work and effort will be gone. If you choose to go this route, I highly recommend keeping backups of all your posting’s on a disc, just in case.
Here are some pointers to a successful blog. Post frequently, at least 2 – 3 times per week. Blogs that are not updated regularly will become boring and lose their following. Add an RSS feed so your readers can subscribe to your blog. This will also notify them when you have added a new post.
Give your blog personality. Make it interesting to your viewers. A dull, uninteresting blog will not build much of a following.
Finally, find other blogs in your niche and write some comments to their posts. Most blogs will allow you a link back to your site. Post useful, informative comments. Do not post SPAM or sales pitch comments. You can use this method to build good working business relationships as well as establish links back to your site.
If you are looking for a way to drive more traffic to your website, look no further. Blogging is a very effective way to bring new visitors to your site. Search engines like blogs and this is why when doing a keyword search, you will very often see a blog posting at the top of the list.
If you are not blogging, you are missing out on a lot of traffic to your site. Start one or several blogs and channel all that traffic to your main website. Your blog can be a subsection of your website or you can build a stand along version. Either way, make sure you link back to your main site. Place links to your home page as well as other pages from your site. You are trying to get as much exposure for your site as possible.
There are several ways you can use to create your blog. The two that I recommend are Blogger and Wordpress. They are both easy to use and navigate. They also offer a lot of features so you can customize the look of your blog. You have the option of hosting your blog on their servers or you can host it yourself. To host it yourself, you will need to purchase and register your own domain. Many hosting companies will offer free domain registration when you purchase a hosting account from them.
There are several benefits for hosting your blog yourself. For this article, we will discuss two of them. First, the url itself. If you host your blog on Blogger, your url will look like this: yourwebsite.blogspot.com. However, if you host it yourself, the url will look like this: yourwebsite.com. This will give your url a more professional, as well as credible, look. Plus, it will be much easier for your readers to remember.
The second reason to host your own blog is far more significant. Blogs that are hosted on free services, are at risk of disappearing without warning or reason. All your hard work and effort will be gone. If you choose to go this route, I highly recommend keeping backups of all your posting’s on a disc, just in case.
Here are some pointers to a successful blog. Post frequently, at least 2 – 3 times per week. Blogs that are not updated regularly will become boring and lose their following. Add an RSS feed so your readers can subscribe to your blog. This will also notify them when you have added a new post.
Give your blog personality. Make it interesting to your viewers. A dull, uninteresting blog will not build much of a following.
Finally, find other blogs in your niche and write some comments to their posts. Most blogs will allow you a link back to your site. Post useful, informative comments. Do not post SPAM or sales pitch comments. You can use this method to build good working business relationships as well as establish links back to your site.
Friday, January 11, 2008
The Benefits of Backlinks
Having knowledge of SEO tactics is helpful when marketing your web site. However, you will need more than this to rank well in the search engines when vying for highly competitive phrases. You will need backlinks, the more the better.
A backlink is when one webmaster exchanges links with another webmaster. I will place your link on my site and in return, you will place my link on your site. You will see that having a few high quality backlinks on your site will make it more appealing to the search engines.
Search engines, such as Google, will see a link on your site as a vote for you. A vote means that someone thought highly enough of your site to link to it. The more links, the more votes you have. The more votes, the more important your site must be. This could lead to a higher ranking with search engines and as you know, higher page ranking = higher volume in traffic.
Now that we know why backlinks are important, let’s discuss how to obtain them.
No one will “vote” or link to a site that is ordinary or low quality. To get more links, make sure your site has something to offer. Put high quality content that is unique on your site, something that cannot be found anywhere else. People will want to link to your site if they feel that it is unique and informative. If it is everyday or ordinary, they will think twice before exchanging links.
To help you obtain links, you should make the process as easy as possible. Consider setting up a “Link to Us” page that will provide html code for them to copy and paste on their site. Make sure to include your keywords within your anchor text (anchor text is the visible, clickable text of a link) in the code you provide. They will in turn leave their information to be included on your site.
Another way to obtain backlinks is to write articles and submit them to various directories. Along with your article will be a resource box which will tell the readers a little bit about yourself. More importantly, it will include a link to your site. Other webmasters will post your article, with your resource box containing the link to your site, on their site. Providing they feel your article provides something of interest to its readers. One single article could get you dozen’s of backlinks.
In addition, you can find other sites related to yours and offer to exchange links, trade content or offer to write a regular column for them. You can also submit your site to free directories that are related to content of your site.
Lastly, find blogs that are related, and post comments. Be sincere, you never know what new relationships may form. You can not only trade links with the blog owner, but also ideas. You remember the old phrase “I’ll scratch your back, if you’ll scratch mine”. Use it to your advantage. Negotiate an opportunity where you will both benefit.
Having knowledge of SEO tactics is helpful when marketing your web site. However, you will need more than this to rank well in the search engines when vying for highly competitive phrases. You will need backlinks, the more the better.
A backlink is when one webmaster exchanges links with another webmaster. I will place your link on my site and in return, you will place my link on your site. You will see that having a few high quality backlinks on your site will make it more appealing to the search engines.
Search engines, such as Google, will see a link on your site as a vote for you. A vote means that someone thought highly enough of your site to link to it. The more links, the more votes you have. The more votes, the more important your site must be. This could lead to a higher ranking with search engines and as you know, higher page ranking = higher volume in traffic.
Now that we know why backlinks are important, let’s discuss how to obtain them.
No one will “vote” or link to a site that is ordinary or low quality. To get more links, make sure your site has something to offer. Put high quality content that is unique on your site, something that cannot be found anywhere else. People will want to link to your site if they feel that it is unique and informative. If it is everyday or ordinary, they will think twice before exchanging links.
To help you obtain links, you should make the process as easy as possible. Consider setting up a “Link to Us” page that will provide html code for them to copy and paste on their site. Make sure to include your keywords within your anchor text (anchor text is the visible, clickable text of a link) in the code you provide. They will in turn leave their information to be included on your site.
Another way to obtain backlinks is to write articles and submit them to various directories. Along with your article will be a resource box which will tell the readers a little bit about yourself. More importantly, it will include a link to your site. Other webmasters will post your article, with your resource box containing the link to your site, on their site. Providing they feel your article provides something of interest to its readers. One single article could get you dozen’s of backlinks.
In addition, you can find other sites related to yours and offer to exchange links, trade content or offer to write a regular column for them. You can also submit your site to free directories that are related to content of your site.
Lastly, find blogs that are related, and post comments. Be sincere, you never know what new relationships may form. You can not only trade links with the blog owner, but also ideas. You remember the old phrase “I’ll scratch your back, if you’ll scratch mine”. Use it to your advantage. Negotiate an opportunity where you will both benefit.
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