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Google, Yahoo - Search Tips and Shortcuts

A person could go myopic sifting through pages of search results from Google and Yahoo! I keep a bottle of eyedrops on my desk just for that reason. Unfortunately, nothing can restore the time I lose by a poorly structured search. In a perfect world, I could immediately guess the most effective keywords that might also be the exact keywords selected by a web developer to tell the search engines how to index a specific page. But, there is very little precision in language and, although choosing the right keywords might help lessen the strain on our eyes and our time, learning the capabilities of our favorite search engines will give us the best results.

For example, did you know that certain keywords, or rather “meta terms” trigger more optimized and immediate search results? Let’s say you want to know the current weather in El Paso, Texas. Enter the following as your search terms:

weather el paso

and immediately, you’ll see the temperature and forecast for that day. Here’s what Google showed me for June 20, 2006, as the top search result. With this information, I had no need to browse any of the other search results.

Weather for El Paso, TX, 93

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Why You Cannot Afford to Be An Anti-Social Internet

You may use this article for reprint, as long as it
remains unaltered and the resource box and author
information are included. - Isaiah Hull

Why You Cannot Afford to Be An Anti-Social Internet
Marketer

Anti-social internet marketing is a critical flaw that
will destroy even the best, most creative sales strategies.
If you do not build relationships and follow up on them
–through personal interaction and automation–you will
spend most of your time either a) repeating trivial tasks
that can either be completed exponentially faster with the
help of other people or b) plodding away on a course
that will never result in sales conversions.

Building and maintaining marketing relationships will
help you do the following:

1. Avoid wasting time and money on outdated products
and services that are no longer valid in the internet
marketing world.

2. Create massive contact lists of people who trust you
and want to buy your products and follow your advice.

3. Diversify and maximize your sources and quantities
of leads.

4. Setup joint ventures that will generate immediate
sales for you and add potential buyers to your long-term
customer database.

5. Explode your backend sales from follow-ups.

6. Increase your credibility with potential buyers.

Many internet marketers fail to realize that personal
interaction is in fact the catalyst that allows internet
businesses to make that jump from expensive to profitable.
Rather than seeking this medium to boost their sales, they
assure themselves that the internet is an isolated,
anti-social medium, where people do not need connections
to succeed.

Again, this is a critically-flawed system of thinking.
Without personal connections, you will not succeed with
any internet business.

Here are some ways you can increase your sales conversion
numbers by integrating personal interactions into your
marketing strategy (you may already use some of these):

1. Keep your reciprocal links directory–but also actively
seek links for your main page and your other content
pages. You can do this by finding related websites
on search engines and then personally emailing the
webmasters. Explain what you like about the website–and
how your link would fit in with what they sell. Also
include where you plan to link back to their site.

Make sure all of your emails are personal. Do not make it
look like you sent out some spam robot to hammer every
webmaster with flattering, form-letter reciprocal link
requests. This will not work.

One prominent link from a high-PR, high-traffic website
can potentially reap more sales conversions for you
than 100 reciprocal links that are locked away with
thousands of other link prisoners in the dark depths of
some website’s dungeon of a directory. Just
think of the time you could save! So do not be stingy.
offer partner sites good link positions. If your sales
copy is good enough to pull profits, then you do not
need to worry about links stealing potential sales
from you.

In addition to getting you more productive
reciprocal links, this strategy will also allow you to
develop important relationships that can later result in
profitable joint ventures or even free product exchanges.

2. Encourage your database of customers or mailing list–
or whatever you use to contact potential or previous
customers–to interact with you on a personal level when
you market a product or service to them. You need
to be very honest with your customers if you want them
to trust you. It is fair to say that people are generally
dissatisfied with programs they opt-in to and information
they purchase over the internet. If you have a product
that has actual value, then you should have no problem
explaining any questions they might have, which will
relieve the general queasiness related with internet
purchases. If you do not believe in the product you
are selling enough to field questions about it, then
find or make one you have enough confidence in before
you apply the ideas outlined in this article.

Scientific marketing tests have repeatedly proven that
an increase in contact (and therefore trust) correlates
with an increase sales. The more you personally contact
and talk to your potential customers, the better chance
you will have to make a sale. In the process, you will
also help people who are in your database by giving them
more information about the product or service you are
providing.

3. Join a large internet marketing community and
participate in the discussions. This is hands-down
the most effective way to shape a marketing plan.
You will get the chance to discuss important issues
with people who have succeeded and failed trying
the same exact plans you want to use. You will also
be able to quickly find out what methods are outdated
and which are still valid–which is direly important to
know when you own a business in the most dynamic market
place in the world.

In addition to this, you will be able to generate sales
by attaching a signature with a link to your website or
affiliate gateway below each of your posts.

Again, interacting with other marketers–whether it be
through emails or forums–can get you involved in
joint ventures and free product exchanges, which
will cut back your advertising costs and boost
your sales. Forums are one of the best places
to do this.

So, to reiterate:

1. You greatly inhibit your success by limiting personal
contact with other marketers and potential customers.

2. There are three major ways to improve your marketing
methods and results through personal contact: personally-
emailing webmasters for mainpage links; encouraging your
database to contact you–and then following up with
any questions they have; and joining a large internet
marketing community.

If you follow these simple steps to increase your
personal contact with buyers and marketers, you will
see an increase in growth and sales. I use these
methods to make money–and I encourage all my affiliates
to do the same.

Isaiah Hull is the CEO of an internet marketing and
business-building business. He is also the publisher
of Home Business Tips Newsletter and a member of the
top Internet Marketing Group in the world, the Internet
Warriors. To receive step-by-step training, a free
profit-pulling website, and a membership to the
Internet Warriors, click here to learn how you can begin
working for yourself by working with Isaiah:
http://www.workathomerightnow.net

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Internet Explorer Shortcuts for Mouse-o-phobes

If you’re like me, you occasionally find the ubiquitous mouse inconvenient. Here are keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (I.E.), the default browser for most personal computers in the business environment.

Of course, learning them all would be far more trouble than it’s worth. But as you scan through the possibilities, look for the tasks you do multiple times a day. Acquiring shortcuts for these repeated tasks makes sense, because you thereby improve your efficiency and reduce your unproductive mousing time. You may also find using the keyboard ergonomically more comfortable.

I’ve divided the tasks into categories that seem to reflect the routine process we all follow when using I.E. Remember: Some of these only work in certain locations or sequences.

Navigation

ALT+HOME — Go to your home page.

ALT+D — Select text in address bar.

CTRL+ENTER (cursor must be in address bar) — Add “www.” to beginning and “.com” to end of text entered in address bar.

F4 — Display/hide list of addresses you’ve recently entered.
SHIFT+TAB — Move back through the items on a Web page, the Address bar, and the Links bar.

UP ARROW — Scroll backward through a document one line at a time.

PAGE UP — Scroll backward through a document in larger increments.

BACKSPACE or ALT+LEFT ARROW — Move backward one page.

HOME — Move backward to beginning of document.

TAB — Move forward through the items on a Web page, the Address bar, and the Links bar.

DOWN ARROW — Scroll forward through a document one line at a time.

PAGE DOWN — Scroll forward through a document in larger increments.

ALT+RIGHT ARROW — Move forward one page.

END — Move forward to the end of a document.

Window Management

F11 — Toggle between full-screen and regular views of browser window.
CTRL+N — Open new window.

CTRL+W — Close current window.
CTRL+O or CTRL+L — Go to a new location (URL address field).

CTRL+I — Open/close favorites bar.

CTRL+D — Add current page to Favorites.

CTRL+B — Open Organize Favorites dialog box.

CTRL+H — Open/close history bar.

Searching

CTRL+E — Open search bar.

CTRL+F — Find on current page.

Refreshing

F5 or CTRL+R — Refresh current web page.

CTRL+F5 — Refresh current web page even if time stamp for web version and locally stored version are same.

Cut-and-pasting (same as in other Windows applications)

CTRL+A — Select all items on current web page.

CTRL+C — Copy selected item(s) to Clipboard.

CTRL+X — Cut (remove) selected item(s) and copy to Clipboard.

CTRL+V — Insert contents of Clipboard at cursor location (insertion point).

Printing

CTRL+P — Print current web page or active frame.

Saving

CTRL+S — Save the current page.

Closing

CTRL+W — Close current window.

More keyboard, less mouse — it often makes your Internet experience more of a pleasure and less of a pain.

* * *

Copyright ©2006 Steve Singleton

Steve Singleton has written and edited several books and numerous articles. He has been an editor, reporter, and public relations consultant. He has taught college-level Greek, Bible, and religious studies courses and has taught seminars in 11 states and the Caribbean.

Go to his DeeperStudy.com for Bible study resources, no matter what your level of expertise. Explore “The Shallows,” plumb “The Depths,” or use the well-organized “Study Links” for original sources in English translation. Check out the DeeperStudy Bookstore for great e-books, free books, and great discounts. Subscribe to his free “DeeperStudy Newsletter” or “DeeperStudy Blog.”

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