Yes, I am the artist. No, really, it’s true…

I run my own business as a commercial artist and illustrator. In addition to event work and my web site, www.slushgem.com I also set up at art shows. I put up a large display of framed pieces behind a table and sell prints to the public. People often ask me if I’m the artist who did the work. This question always struck me as very odd. But I thought to myself perhaps it’s understandable. Just because I happen to know that artists do this all the time, doesn’t mean most people do. And maybe they didn’t see that the name on the tag I wear matches the big sign behind me that says “The Art of Paula Tabor.”

So, I made a little sign to clip on tag that says, “Yes, I am the artist.” I thought this would be a slightly more positive sales technique than a blank look and a “Well, duh!” But they still ask all the time. One day, I was wearing the tag, the sign, a canvas in front of me, brushes in my hand and a guys asks me if I was the one who made all that art! That time I did say “Duh!”

I began to wonder why it would seem so very unlikely that I’m an artist. When I asked around, some of my fellow artists thought its because I’m female. The public must assume that I’m the artist’s wife or girlfriend. I suppose it’s possible that that might be part of it, but I don’t think that’s the whole reason.

So, if it’s not some vast sexist conspiracy, perhaps it’s because I seem so…well, normal. I’m not some surly French guy with a beret, two days stubble and an existential crisis. I wonder if they can’t believe that this tax paying, professionally dressed person with an honors degree and a middle seven hundreds credit rating could possibly be an artist.

Why do so many people have such weird ideas about artists? Partly, I blame artists. Some in the creative community feel they have to shock the public, not only out of their complacency, but just to get their own existence acknowledged. America seems to have such a love/ignore relationship with its artists that, quite frankly, I can’t blame them. I’m sure Dali had a grand old time ‘putting the woof in barking mad,” but he was right when he said he wasn’t crazy. You simply don’t achieve that kind of superb master craftsmanship by blithering in a corner.

Some artists are very unconventional. Some are tortured and some are creatively frustrated–not just financially, like me. There’s nothing wrong with any of those things, it’s just the stereotype that annoys me. It reinforces the concept that creativity is not attainable by the everyday person. Is suffering necessary for greatness? I have no idea. I just decided long ago that if anonymous anguish was necessary to achieve greatness, I would unabashedly rather be mediocre and happy.

Yes, history is filled with juicy, dramatic stories of suffering, unappreciated masters. But dull historical truth contains LOTS of artists who were productive, successful, admired and lived to a ripe old age. Obscure artists? Try Da Vinci and Michelangelo. Too archaic? Norman Rockwell and Maxfield Parrish are a bit more recent. There are many, many more.

So why don’t I play the part? I could, I’ve actually done quite a bit of performing. I could simply “act” like what people might expect an artist to be. But if I could be happy being something I’m not, I’d be an accountant. I’d have money, a large home and lavish things like…health insurance. Yet, I work my ass off in this crazy, risky, frustrating profession because I am an artist and because I love it. The fact that I’m also very organized, fairly punctual and rather good at my own bookkeeping helps my business a whole lot more than quirky flakiness.

I don’t think it’s just my conventional appearance that people find so unlikely. I suspect that some simply cannot believe that a creator of art could possibly be the flesh and blood creature before them. No, the Great Master must be off in his studio, while this lowly lackey takes in the cash. Newsflash people: most artists do their own marketing. Not because they like it or because they’re necessarily even good at it. It just has to be done. If you can’t afford to have someone do it for you, you do it yourself. It may not always come naturally, but we can be taught.

There’s a reason they call it “art work.” It takes work. I mean a LOT of work! People tell me all the time that I’m talented. I suppose I might be, but I’m much prouder of my skills than my talent. All the talent in the world won’t help you a bit if you don’t practice. Maybe I was “given” talent, but the skills I worked hard for. Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate compliments, but they just don’t pay the rent.

On the other side of my “Yes, I am the artist” sign, it says “That’s very nice, now BUY SOMETHING!” It’s not that I’m greedy. There are many reasons to choose a career in the arts, but a deep abiding attachment to material gain is not usually among them. Having someone fork out hard earned cash for your work is the ultimate professional validation. I absolutely LOVE it! It also makes my business accounting a lot easier when there’s actual cash flow.

I suppose that must be another misconception about artists; that we all have rich patrons with nothing better to do than support us. Not in this century! What is the saying? Oh yes; “The real National Endowment for the Arts in America is unemployment compensation.” I don‘t know who said it, but they were right on the (lack of) money. Oh, well. I guess I’ll just have to do more art work.

About the Author

Paula Tabor is a freelance commercial artist and illustrator in the Tampa Bay area. Samples of her commercial work and event art on www.slushgem.com Her award winning illustrations and portraits can be viewed at www.slushgem.com/fine.htm

Do Your Budget Problems Seem Insurmountable?

Fortune 500 companies have the solution and it could help your business in 2007

What’s the secret for budget management that is used by many top fortune 500 companies? Does it apply to government and law enforcement?

Most governmental agencies are looking for more effective ways to stretch their department budget dollars. They want to work smart, not harder and need a way to identify what is really costing them time, money and labor hours. They recognize that a simple way to implement management strategies is exceptionally important and want their staff to not only understand their overall mission, but also carry out that mission in their everyday activities.

What the public wants to see with all governmental agencies is simply a return on their investment.

How do you proceed from the budget problems to the solution? What do you do if hiring more staff is not the answer?

One solution, called Six Sigma, is what has saved the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana more than $7 million over the past few years. Six Sigma technology is used by the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Navy, Air Force, Marines and the Army. The top corporations using Six Sigma have, in the last ten years, reduced internal costs and increased profits by more than $100 billion.

Six Sigma is a process improvement methodology that identifies and eliminates defects, re-works, and redundancies in any process in your organization. It has been described, accurately so, as the most powerful management system ever devised. Six Sigma is applicable to any organization, any business, and will results in substantial internal savings.

Six Sigma was developed by the Motorola Company in the mid-1980’s in an effort to identify and reduce defects. General Electric, under Jack Welch, adopted the methodology, and both companies dramatically improved their processes, resulting in large-scale cost savings, and enhanced profitability.

Here’s an example of how Six Sigma works in a local police department. Assume the department handles 100,000 calls for service each year. Research estimates that between 50-70% of calls for service where officers are actually dispatched have little or no relationship to the police mission. As a consequence, the department requests additional staffing and resources every year at budget time. They need a far more effective policing strategy and by truly partnering with the community and asking for their help on these activities (for example, “Before you call 9-1-1, do this…..”), the change significantly impacts the police budget.

In terms of fiscal and personnel resources, let’s say that 50% of those calls are calls that don’t support your mission. That’s 50,000 calls for service. It’s unreasonable to eliminate all 50,000 of these, but if, over time, the department reduces these calls by half, or 25,000 calls for service, we’ve made progress.

Let’s calculate the impact of the Six Sigma change. Assume each call takes an hour. Now, the police department has freed up 25,000 personnel hours to deploy as they see fit on true mission-oriented activities, such as crime problems.

In terms of financial resources, the average salary and benefit package for a police officer is about $50.00 per hour. At 25,000 personnel hours times $50, the deparment has just saved itself $1,250,000.00 Imagine someone handing your department that kind of money and having the freedom to apply it to achieve far more substantial results. This example is one of literally dozens that if applied, would result in the department being able to reinvest 25-35% or more of its existing budget. Imagine the outcomes after applying the methodology to every department in a city or county.

Six Sigma has proven to be an extremely effective strategy for thousands of businesses and more companies are adopting it every year. It is here to stay.

About the Author

William E. Cooper, M.B.A., M.P.A. is a retired police chief and skillful in applying Six Sigma principles to various work settings. He has included these principles in his book, Leading Beyond Tradition (See www.LeadingBeyondTradition.com) For more information or to schedule a Six Sigma consultation, please email him directly at bipd1@comcast.net

Increasing Your Search Engine Ranking

The methods employed to increase your search engine rankings may seem like rocket science to you, so you have probably avoided dealing with this issue. I am here to tell you – the time has come to face your website! A high search engine ranking for your website is so essential that if you have the slightest desire to actually succeed in your business, there is no way you can continue to avoid this issue.

At least 85% of people looking for goods and services on the Internet find websites through search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. The idea of optimizing your pages for high search engine rankings is to attract targeted customers to your site who will be more than likely to make a purchase. The higher your page comes up in search engine results, the greater the traffic that is directed to your website. That’s what search engine optimization is about.

You can immerse yourself in all the technical information available online to figure out how to optimize your web pages to achieve higher rankings. Or you can look at a few simple items on your pages, make some small adjustments, and most likely see improved rankings quite rapidly. The first item you should examine is the title bar on your homepage.

The title bar is the colored bar at the top of the page. Look at the words that appear there when you access your home page. To increase search engine rankings, the words on your homepage’s title bar should include the most important keywords or phrases, one of which would include your company name.

Then click on all your links and examine the title bars on the pages you access. Each title bar on every single page of your site should contain the most important keywords and phrases taken from the page itself. However, avoid very long strings of keywords, keeping them to six words or less. Avoid repeating keywords more than once in the title bars, and make sure that identical words are not next to each other.

The next item to put under your microscope is your website content. Search engines generally list sites that contain quality content rather than scintillating graphics. The text on your site must contain the most important keywords – the words that potential customers will be typing into search engines to find your site.

Aim to have around 250 words on each page, but if this is not desirable due to your design, aim for at least 100 carefully chosen words. If you want to achieve a high ranking on search engines, this text is essential. However, the search engines must be able to read the text, meaning that the text must be in HTML and not graphic format.

To find out if your text is in HTML format, take your cursor and try to highlight a word or two. If you are able to do this, the text is HTML. If the text will not highlight, it is probably in graphic form. In this case, ask your webmaster to change the text into HTML format in order to increase your search engine rankings.

Next we come to what is called meta tags. I know this sounds like something out of science fiction, but it is really just simple code. Many people believe that meta tags are the key to high search engine rankings, but in reality, they only have a limited effect. Still, it’s worth adding them in the event that a search engine will use meta tags in their ranking formula.

To find out if your page is set up with meta tags, you must access the code. To do this, click the “view” button on the browser menu bar, and select “source.” This will pull up a window revealing the underlying code that created the page. If there are meta tags, they usually appear near the top of the window. For example, a meta tag would read: meta name=”keywords” content=. If you do not find code that reads like this, ask your webmaster to put them in. This may not do much for your search engine rankings, but any little boost helps.

Lastly, we come to the issue of link popularity. This is a factor that is extremely important in terms of search engine rankings. Almost all search engines use link popularity to rank your website. Link popularity is based on the quality of the sites you have linked to from your links page.

If you type in “free link popularity check” in a popular search engine, the search engine will then show you what sites are linked to your site. In the case that there aren’t many sites linked up to yours, or that the sites that are linked up have low search engine rankings, consider launching a link popularity campaign. Essentially, this entails contacting quality sites and requesting that they exchange links with your site. Of course, this requires checking out the rankings of the websites you want to link up with. Linking to popular, quality sites not only boosts your search engine ranking, but it also directs more quality traffic to your website.

Search engine rankings are extremely important for a successful Internet marketing campaign. Before you go out and hire a search engine optimization company, try taking some of the simple steps listed above, and see if you can’t boost your rankings yourself. Don’t ever ignore this all-important factor in Internet marketing. Remember, the higher your search engine ranking, the more quality customers will be directed your way.

“How I Escaped From The Mind-Numbing, Passion-Sucking World Of Claustrophobic Cubicles And Buzzing Florescent Lights And Started Raking In $33,000.00 A Month Online –WITHOUT A Product, WITHOUT A List, And WITHOUT A Website!” Go to… http://www.affiliatejackpot.com/index1.htm?hop=deja40

About the Author

Vern Black is the owner of Pinnacle Publishing, an internet marketing information firm. Pinnacle Publishing’s hard working staff’s ultimate goal is to work tirelessly to locate legitimate income opportunities that will allow you to escape the rat race and long commutes and open the doors to the life that you have always wanted for you and your family.

To begin your journey to financial freedom, go to http://easypinnaclepublishing.com

The Patio Is Your Outdoor Room

With the growing interest in developing and designing patios into more than what they used to be, the variety of furniture for patios have also evolved and grown into a whole industry by itself. The growth of the patio furniture industry is further encouraged by the fact that many more americans spend time lazing around on their specifically designed patios. Wicker patio furniture is among the most beautiful and comfortable outdoor furniture available. It is a type of furniture that is in its own category.

Today, we can all enjoy the tranquility of water even if our “yards” are limited to a patio or balcony. Alfresco living is the new way to enjoy relaxing and entertaining. Many people enjoy being outdoors during his or her breaks from their work, and there are already very many offices and other facilities already equipped with their very own outdoor patio heaters.

There are aluminum or wood patio covers to protect against rain or sun. You may even want to find one made of the same wood as your furniture, if you have teak patio furniture or cedar patio furniture. They can be had to burn wood or propane, or you can go all out and have a pro install a gas line for you.

Wood is preferred by people who want a natural look gelling with landscaping or the interior of the house. If willing to experiment and build a patio cover, hammer out questions as to why you need a patio cover, for what purpose, whether it would be painted or made with wood, prefabricated aluminum or PVC, and if permission is required from state or city authorities.

For patio furniture do not sacrifice quality for a cheaper price tag. Teak has a lot of oil in it that acts as a natural preservative, so it does very well outdoors. Also, make sure that you take home the best-fitted, top quality enclosure you can. For example, a top quality enclosure would be able to withstand weather changes better than those of lower quality.

When it comes to plants in your patio, try to think of each plant, statue, plaque or other accent as having its own personality, and place them together in groups that allow them to relate to each other in pleasing and complementary ways; place two low flowering plants on either side of a larger fern, or place a small statue between a palm and a vine – the possibilities are endless and are only limited by your creativity and imagination. Even potted plants will not wilt from the hot sun. However, with patio tile and some strategically placed large potted plants I can not only smarten up the rear of the house, but I would also be able to have a beautiful low maintenance garden that would always look nice despite myself.

Do you have space enough for a pool? To help narrow down your choices in pool and patio furniture, consider the style of your pool and the patio that surrounds it. Although you might initially purchase a patio gazebo for the patio, because of the mobility and flexibility, you could easily take it down and move it to the pool area or beach for a party, to the middle of the backyard for a great place to eat, and so on. A good reason to choose an offset patio umbrella is that it can be used to shade anything, from a corner of your pool to the kids’ sandbox.

About the Author

Louise Wasa always writes about valuable news & reviews. A related resource is Patio Furniture. Further information can be found at Your Home.

Big Ralph: Chapter 6: Civil Rights Movement/Discrimination

PART III THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

CHAPTER 6

COLLEGE EXPERIENCES: BLACKS CHALLENGE DISCRIMINATION

Young impatient, restless, energetic and eager troops assemble, old troops sit, weary but still misinformed, they carry messages of mercenary charm to young and old.

By the time Ralph and Catherine had gotten settled at Lane College the south was a land of protest.They had graduated in the Howard High School class of 1956. They met soon after they both arrived on campus. There was a transition from the 1950’s to the 1960’s. This transition reflected the mounting growth of the civil rights movement. Lane College is located in Jackson, Tennessee. Jackson Tennessee is about 250 miles west of Chattanooga and Jackson is about 50 miles east of Memphis, Tennessee. Lane College is a Christiam Methodist Episcopal college. In the Methodist Church the Christian Methodist Episcopal denomination is known as C.M.E. This was a fun year for Ralph and Catherine. Catherine recalls that this was one of the happiest periods in her life. She got involved in various campus organizations and enjoyed college and the challenge of academics to the utmost. The social atmosphere at Lane was cordial. For example in Chattanooga at Howard School Catherine recalled that there were many cliques. Therefore if your parents were not of a certain social status or if they did not have a so-called professional job you were not allowed or welcomed in certain social circles. Ralph did not love Lane College like Catherine. He was busy playing basketball, but he loved his travel experiences with the team. As an athlete Ralph had a super appettite, but like so many other young men in college the cafeteria food was not up too par. This was a constant source of displeasure for Ralph and Catherine remembers this very clearly. Ruby Iverson was a close friend whose father was a C.M.E. minister in New York. Catherine had been raised up in a C.M.E. Chruch. Phillips Temple C.M.E. Church was located on Grove Street when Catherine lived in College Hill Courts. This remained her home church for many years until she changed her membership to her husband’s church Orchard Knob Baptist. At Lane Catherine achieved academically and spiritually. Her strong religious belilefs became a strong element that kept her family intact and gave her the strenght to support her husband at all times. She enjoyed the fact that while at Lane she could walk to church every sunday. She enjoyed teaching sunday school and relished that she did not have to ride the bus to church like she had to do in Chattanooga. Ralph and Catherine were dating so they readily had mutual friends. Dorthy Anderson was Catherine’s room mate. Dorthy married a young man from Chattanooga named Melvin Brooks. They remained close friends over the years and visited Ralph and Catherine when they lived in Little Rock. The years 1954 and 1955 caused a significant impact on civil rights. The year 1954 the world witnessed the U.S. Supreme Court outlawing segregated schools. The following year (December 1, 1955) the Montgomery bus boycott also launched what some social thinkers called the beginning of the civil rights movement. Five years later the battle for desegregated schools was still raging because white America attempted to defy the law of the land. Also, by 1960 the challenge to segregation extended to all fronts. The battle over desegregating the schools was waged by the NAACP. This struggle took place in the courts. Chattanooga was typical of most southern cities as the city fathers attempted to defy the constitution, and the Supreme Court by manipulaing the law. Four years after the Supreme Court ruling Chattanooga segregationist were saying, along with the Board of Education, that the community is not ready for integration. Mixing of Blacks and whites in the same school was thought to be a clear road to violence. It is for sure that the term mixing was a clear way that white people sought to keep the race question in perspective. Most white people expressed a displeasure with the mixing of the races. This displeasure resulted from their fear that they would lose their racial purity. Therefore, the ultimate mixing of Blacks and whites meant the mating of males and females. On the other hand the Black integrationist was favorable toward the mixing of the races. Thus, the integrationist felt that his children would learn more seated next to white children in the classroom. For the most part the Black integrationist was favorable toward interracial copulation because, too many Blacks, mulatto children were more attractive. So in 1958 the Board’s program was: “1. To elucidate, or to make clear, to the citizens all aspects of the problem. 2. To assess, or evaluate, public opinon in an effort to determine when an integration program would be acceptable. 3. To develop a plan for integration.” 1 By 1960 Black parents, led by NAACP president James Mapp, were threatening to file suit in federal court over the Board’s failure to desegregate the schools in Chattanooga. Meanwhile Black parents and Black children were threatened with lynchings, bombings and being run out of town. Because of over crowded school conditions, Black parents attempted to enroll four Black pupils at Glenwood School. “The school population in 1960 was 15,740 white pupils and 10,369 Negroes, Negroes made up 39.7%. ” 2 By April three Black parents sued to order the city of Chattanooga to desegregate the school system. The suit was filed on behalf of all children and parents in Chattanooga affected by segregated schools. R. H. Craig, a local attorney, filed the suit. The NAACP’s legal team of Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley of New York were also involved along with Avon Williams and Z. Alexander Looby of Nashville. “The suit sought the following relief: 1. A decree enjoining the city “from operating a compulsory biracial school system in Chattanooga.” 2. A decree enjoining the city from “continuing to maintain a dual scheme or pattern of school zone lines based upon race and color.” 3. A decree enjoining the city from “Assigning pupils to the schools . . . on the basis of the race and color of the pupils.” 4. A decree enjoining the city “from assigning teachers, principals and other school personnel to the schools based on race and color. 5. A decree enjoining the city from “approving budgets, making available funds approving employment and construction contracts and approving policies, curricula and programs that are designed to perpetuate or maintain or support a school system operating on a racially segregated basis. ” 3 Also, involved in the language of the lawsuit was an alternate plank. This plan sought to re-organize the entire school system. The measures of this plan noted the following: “1. The city operates a primary system of schools for whites. 2. The city operates a secondary school system for colored or Negro children. 3. There are also two distinct school zone lines based on race and color. These lines overlap where Negro and white children reside in the same residential area. 4. It was also charged that the system is predicated on the theory that Negroes are inherently inferior to white persons and consequently, may not attend the same public schools attended by white children who are superior. 5. There was also the theory that Black teachers and administrators were also inferior to whites and may not teach white children.” 4 No doubt that ever since Blacks were first brought to America as slaves the European has had a superior attitude. So, for white parents to take this position as late as 1960 is not surprising. But ironically Black integrationist also would soon take this position to justify desegregation. Thus, inferior Black schools produced inferior Black students. Therefore Black children suffered discrimination when not allowed to remove their inferiority by attending white schools. So as the Black integrationist philosophy took root the battle over school desegregation continued. The Board of Education had been preparing for a lawsuit since the court decree handed down in 1954. By now most of the school zones in Chattanooga had Black and white children. Thus the argument of strictly segregated housing patterns as a cause for all white schools was not a valid argument. The following is a history of the actions of the school Board on the Supreme Court ruling: “1. 22 July 1955 Board issues statement declaring that in time it would comply with the decision. 2. The Board proposed an advisory committee. 3. 9 September 1955 the original School Board statement was opposed. 4. 12 October 1955 Board stated that court had placed situation in our hands as long as we act in good faith. 5. 9 November 1955 the Advisory Committee was appointed, 23 white persons and 12 Negroes. The first meeting attended by 150 person’s mostly segregationists, was broken up before any business could be conducted. The segregationist totally disrupted the meeting by releasing tear gas and shouting down the speakers. 6. 31 March 1956 Board issued statement saying integration could not be accomplished for at least five more years.” 5

DO POOR BLACK INDEPENDENT CHRISTIAN WRITER’S HAVE A RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH AND EQUAL ACESS TO THE PUBLISHING MARKETING PLACE?

ARE WE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST BASED ON RELIGION ARE RACE?

Let it be written that many Black writers have come speaking of many things that are seen in radicalism and controversy. However many in the world support their right to the market place and constitutional guarantees regarding the 1st Amendment. Meanwhile those that come as REAL CHRISTIANS like the writer’s of Psyche Z Publishing/FreedomJournal are Censored by a vast assortment of people some as unbelievers and many as so-called Christians. These people also come from the left and the right. However we stand neither left nor right as Jesus Christ encompasses all.

Peace be unto you, Our prayers are for the few righteous and will forever be for the enemies of God Carl A. Patton a willing servant of God March 19, 2007 in the days and times of our Lord Jesus Christ.

PLEASE SEE OUR NEW WEB PAGES AT: www.psychezpublishing.com (Look for on-going improvements and additions to our Pages. Especially look for a Page that will note our on-going and recent Censorship incidents).

My dearly beloved Brethren,

Peace be unto you. Noah came crying and pleading that the world and its people were consumed with sin. However none sought repentance and looked upon Noah a man of righteousness as crazy.

We bear witness just as Noah came the FreedomJournal also comes crying, writing and teaching that the world is on a constant downward spiral as the multitudes embrace sin and death. Meanwhile Christ Jesus and the Father are forsaken and denied. Repentance is something the ungodly believe can be bought with a money price. Sadly the water will not be able to extinguish the coming Fire. www.psychezpublishing.com

About the Author

WHEN YOU KNOW GOD POVERTY (RICH) IS WEALTH

We are thankful today as we bear witness that the Truth of God is greater than all the money in the world. Let it be written that we do not come to glorify poverty and the lack of resources. However we come with a message of Truth that is a cooling drink to the thirsty who have the right to the Spring of life.

Pay Per Click Advertising

Advertising your services or products on the Internet is both extremely effective and extremely competitive. There are several ways to go about attracting traffic to your website; Pay-Per-Click is one of the options you can choose from, along with developing an SEO, or search engine optimization campaign. Both pay-per-click and SEO are targeted to get your website placed as close to the top of search engine results as possible. One of the differences is that it takes minutes to set up a pay-per-click campaign versus months for a good SEO campaign.

Pay-Per-Click is a simple type of paid advertising that most search engines, including some of the largest ones, now offer. It requires a bid for a “per-click” basis, which translates to your company paying the bid amount every time the search engine directs a visitor to your site. There is the added bonus that when a per-click site sends your website traffic, your site often appears in the results of other prevalent search engines.

As with all marketing campaigns, there are advantages and disadvantages. If you understand the process and monitor your pay-per-click campaign frequently, it can be very effective. One of the greatest advantages is that you never have to tweak your web pages to change your position in search engine results, as you must do in a typical SEO campaign. What you do have to do in a pay-per-click campaign is pay a fee.

Another advantage is the simplicity of the pay-per-click process. You just bid and you’re up and running. It doesn’t demand any specific technical knowledge, though the more you know about search engines and keywords, the easier – and more effective – the process will be.

The downside is that pay-per-click is essentially a bidding war. A higher bid than yours will lower your position on search engine results. This means that you will have to raise your bid to regain your position – which can obviously become quite expensive, especially if you are bidding on a popular keyword.

In order to determine if pay-per-click is a cost effective form of marketing for your business, you must do some computing to figure out how much each visitor to your site is worth. You can compute this value by dividing the profit you make on your website over a given period of time by the total number of visitors for that same time period. For example, if your site made $5,000 in profits and there were 2,5000 hits, each visitor would be theoretically worth 50 cents. The basic formula is profits divided by visitors.

The figure of 50 cents per visitor is the point at which your business breaks even. The idea, of course, is to show a profit, not to merely cover your costs. Therefore, you are aiming at a figure less than 50 cents per click.

Be aware that the most popular keywords often cost considerably more than 50 cents a click. The only way around this is to bid less for these phrases or you will be paying too much for each individual hit.

The key (pun intended) to success is to learn everything you can about search engine keyword research. The good news is there isn’t a limit to the amount of keywords you can add to your bid because additional keywords do not add additional cost. This translates into a lot less hassle for you because there is no need to optimize your site to index a particular set of keywords.

Obviously, some keywords are much more effective than others are, but they will not cost you anything except time to set-up your account in your pay-per-click bid. Of the popular search engines that offer pay-per-click, one called Overture provides an online tool that will give you the data on how often particular keywords are entered into their search engine. They also offer suggestions for keywords after you enter a description of your site.

In pay-per-click, this written description is crucial. You must understand that the object of your description is not to generally attract visitors, but to be as specific as possible so that only those visitors who are likely to buy your service or product go to your site. You must use expert marketing copy to guarantee that your description is both precise and enticing to attract the most ideal candidates to your site. This description is your most powerful tool to insure that your bid is profitable.

Another essential element of pay-per-click advertising is that you constantly monitor your bid. It is very important that you bear in mind that the results of the top search engines providing pay-per-click advertising, which are Overture and Adwords Select, usually appear on other popular search engines. Because of this, the competition for top ranking is intense, and very often you will find that the bidding price balloons too high for pay-per-click to yield a profit.

If this happens, it is advisable to withdraw your bid on that particular keyword and try another one. Remember: when you pay too much per click to make a profit, you are in essence losing the bidding war.

Since losing is not acceptable, you must have a plan in place to closely track the effectiveness of your keyword. It is advisable to monitor your keywords on at least a monthly basis.

Not only is careful monitoring important, but the analysis of visitor behavior can produce invaluable knowledge about consumer motivation, habits, and trends. Expert monitoring and consumer analysis is essential to your overall business needs, and will also insure that your pay-per-click campaign is a success.

“How I Escaped From The Mind-Numbing, Passion-Sucking World Of Claustrophobic Cubicles And Buzzing Florescent Lights And Started Raking In $33,000.00 A Month Online –WITHOUT A Product, WITHOUT A List, And WITHOUT A Website!” Go to… http://www.affiliatejackpot.com/index1.htm?hop=deja40

About the Author

Vern Black is the owner of Pinnacle Publishing, an internet marketing information firm. Pinnacle Publishing’s hard working staff’s ultimate goal is to work tirelessly to locate legitimate income opportunities that will allow you to escape the rat race and long commutes and open the doors to the life that you have always wanted for you and your family.

To begin your journey to financial freedom, go to http://easypinnaclepublishing.com

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