Seven To Ten

Some folks think that calls for action just plain cheesy, but they work. Here are three simple reasons for their effectiveness.

1. Usability

If your page is designed well, with little distractions, a callout will gain the attention of the customers - making it obvious where they can click to navigate, download, register, etc. There’s nothing worse than getting a visitor’s attention, then losing them because they don’t know where to click next.

2.  Options

Just as important, visitors will often come to your site because they landed there from a search, it’s important to provide them a path to continue your relationship. They may have found what they are looking for, but offering them something else can keep them coming back!

3. Curiosity

There’s a certain percentage of users who just like to click on stuff. Providing a nice bold callout can provide them with the target they’re looking for. Additionally, it could bring you a new sale.

If a call to action with a bold callout isn’t on your check list when creating a website or email, be sure to add it today.

Microsoft Corp is set to cut the price of its best-selling Xbox 360 Pro model with the 20 gigabyte hard drive to $299 from $349. This will happen over the weekend before the video game industry’s biggest trade show, E3.

A price cut has been widely reported by popular video game blogs and technology Web sites. Many posted snapshots of flyers from various retailers advertising the $299 price. Microsoft refused to comment on this issue.

Microsoft last cut the price of the Xbox Pro in August, from $399 to $349, prior to the release of “Halo 3″ the following month.

A cut to $299 makes the Xbox 360 Pro $100 less than Sony Corp’s PlayStation 3 with a 40 gigabyte hard drive. Microsoft is locked in a three-way competition with Nintendo’s Wii and the PlayStation 3, which comes with a high-definition Blu-ray video player.

Price cuts from Nintendo and Sony seem unlikely. Nintendo’s $249 Wii is still in short supply at many retailers, while Sony has said it aims to turn its video game business profitable this year, making a cut hard to swallow.

You have heard of Twitter but don’t know what it is. Don’t worry, you are not alone.

You can think of Twitter as a social network but it is less rigid than Digg or StumbleUpon. The system allows you to create you own micro communities, and your actions inside those communities will not affect people outside of them. Every member behaves in a haphazard manner and there is no control over what happens to anyone at any point of time.

The basic concept is a winner: each user has the right to decide who he will follow, who will be able to follow him, and what micro communities he will join. You can’t go wrong with democracy right?

Suppose now, you start a marketing campaign on Twitter, users not following you will not notice your existence, while those who are following can simply remove the follow to stop receiving your nuisance messages. But if your promotional messages are done right, your fans will still follow you.

Some people have taken to using Twitter as a micro blogging tool. Others use it as an instant messaging utility. Others yet use the tool to promote their websites, and some people are even trying to sell their Twitter accounts on eBay!

Be creative and you can think of even more ways to use Twitter. There are immense financial rewards if you do become the next Twitter king.

Do you understand what it means to have an online presence? Everybody dreams of being their own boss and indeed, starting a business is effortless. The challenge is to survive and push the company to the next level of prosperity.

To expand, a businessman need not have the prerequisite knowledge, he can always seek advice from consultants or other compatriots who have been there, done that.

I know of one site, dTelepathy.com, which helps to design online business for budding entrepreneurs. They lend their expertise in Custom Web Application Development, user-interface design and branding, as well as business research, planning and executing to convert your great idea into the “Next Big Thing.”

They have a team of web designers and marketers who understand the industry well and are confident in propelling your website to the top based on ethical and sound principles. Treat the customers right and reap the rewards.

You can look forward to a different website which can stand out in the crowd. Choose the 15 day pathfinder services for relevant business strategies, or 45 day Boot camp for a blueprint design, or 90 day web app services for a comprehensive package.

For those who are interested, visit their website to find out more.

Many people are shifting their financial transactions online using credit cards but they are still unaware of the risks involved when it comes to identity thefts.

To prevent identity theft, there is a ready-made solution in protecting your personal information. The site is Debix.com and I am sure you have seen several excellent Debix reviews on the net already. which specializes in identity theft protection and prevention. They have several advantages: reimbursement coverage is up to $ 1 million for lost wages and professional fees. There is also a $25,000 Identity Protection Insurance underwritten by AIG which is not provided by their competitors. It cost you $99 per year, but if your enroll now, its only $89 per year.

One outstanding service that Debix presents to its customers is fraud alerts. The Identity Protection Network can locate you at up to three telephone numbers and an email is sent whenever someone opens an account using your personal particulars. The phone numbers are confidential and will not be made available to anyone viewing the consumer’s credit report.

If you want great bangs for your bucks, check out the site today.

Most successful blogs had been active for quite a long time. Of course, the definition of success varies according to individuals. But taking the technorati top 100 or the very best blogs in your niche areas, you will notice that there is a minimum of 2 years before they experience an exponential spike in readers.

Of course, some blogs, through luck, excellent content and shrewd marketing, rise through the ranks faster. If you have neither of the three qualities in abundance, take a long term approach and stick to it. You can’t go wrong with patience. Traffic will come, and with it, lots of money.

Most American families will be happy with some extra cash in the household these days. Money is tight and if any event crops up, the monthly paycheck can overrun very easily. For those with little savings in the bank, things can get ugly or embarrassing.

I have done some research in the field of money lending, and it is difficult to get funds from banks. The process is, in a word, frustrating. First, you have to research the banks to find acceptable interest rates, then spend a lot of time compiling credit and personal data for the bank’s assessment. After that, wait for their decision and there is no guarantee a loan will be extended.

Payday loans are more convenient but you have to be careful to sign up with the reputable sites. Security of clients’ information is paramount to prevent identity theft. There are certain sites which sell private information of customers to identity thieves and once that happens, the cost and time spent cleaning up your reputation can really made you cry.

At paydayone.com, the risk is lesser as they are subjected to strict regulation, being based and licensed in the United States, unlike offshore companies. All the Payday Loans have very attractive terms for interest rates and payment, and are issued in the space of 24 hours. Customer service is professional and you can apply anytime from home or work, without faxing documents or waiting in line.

The site has made it easy for everyone (bad credit customers included) to pay bills and cover unexpected expenses. Apply today and you can expect their State Licensed Cash Advances to arrive hassle-free in your bank account as soon as tomorrow.

However, I will suggest that you use payday loans as a last resort, in case you abuse the easy credit and end up in worse shape than before. Your loan snowballs until it exceeds your monthly paycheck and you can no longer make repayments, that is not what the companies want either.

Advertisers have to lower their expectations when it comes to alexa ranking. John Chow reported on his site a change in ranking system by alexa.

Like everybody else, his blog is affected but he has little complaints. Because his blog has been established to such a popularity level that PR and alexa ranking doesn’t hurt his earnings any more.

Previously, Alexa only consider users who downloaded and installed alexa toolbar. This did not sufficiently capture the traffic data as certain segments, like make money or affiliate marketing tend to show higher alexa ranking than technology websites where the users are more savvy and believe the alexa toolbar to be nothing more than a piece of spyware.

No doubt, the change is a positive move as the ranking is now a more accurate reflection of internet traffic for blogs and websites. But as bloggers, we have to do more promotion and marketing to drive traffic which can help us to push or even maintain the existing alexa ranking.

At this point of time, I think advertisers who strictly look at alexa ranking to determine a blog’s popularity have to appreciate the change, else a lot of websites may suffer as a result.

As a blogger, we need to conduct research frequently for our articles. Among my favorite research tools are google and of course, Wikipedia (the net’s encyclopedia).

Lately, I notice a lot of sites wanting to emulate the success of Wikipedia. The technical competency needed to create such a professional site is daunting but thankfully, Wetpaint allows you to circumvent your lack of knowledge. What you need is only your passion and some hard work in promotion.

Just in case you have never heard of a wiki, it is any website where users can edit/contribute text, polls, photos, and videos. Content can build up very fast if your site is popular. You can also control members’ access and privileges using the permission settings. Every modification on a wiki page is tracked (for accountability) and objectionable material removed easily, otherwise the quality will deteriorate and become a hotbed for spam.

The beauty of wikis is they are always work-in-progress. The more coats you add, the richer the story. To start your little wiki adventure at Wetpaint, just decide upon your topic of interest and then pick the appropriate site style. Then determine if you want to operate your wiki within a closed group or open it to the public, and choose your contributors wisely - is it a free for all to increase quantity or only to selected parties who can make insightful editions?

To summarize, Wetpaint combines the best of wikis, blogs, forums and social networks. That is why they are so attractive and have already powered more than 850,000 sites and counting. I have signed up already and once my wiki is up and running, I will announce it on this blog. Check out the site today and see if you can catapult your wiki into the next big thing.

I do not like clutter and the first impression I get from a site must be its cleanliness and user-friendliness. Loud, colorful banners and oft-centered pages really get on my nerves.

My sidebar is still pretty empty and it will be staying like that for a while. It may make the blog look empty and uninteresting but I always believe less is more. Unless your blog is really popular, you can get away with a lot of things, like John Chow.

The advertisements there have taken up all his available prime space but I doubt he is maxxed out yet. He will certainly be coming up with ever more creative ways to increase advertising revenue from his blog. Take a leaf from him if you want to know how to monetize your site. Earning over $30,000 per month is simply amazing.

Yes, the ads make for slow loading but his content is fresh and useful, so I don’t mind visiting his blog every few days. For smaller blogs, the amount of ads