As you are probably aware, the search engines, especially Google, keep changing their algorithms in order to find the perfect match between visitor expectation and relevance of the pages within their index.

Like many acronyms, LSI and LSA have no meaning until you know what words those initials stand for. They sound like the names of popular television crime dramas, such as the fictitious "LSI: Miami" or "LSA:London."

That's not such a bad analogy, because LSA and LSI are mysteries to most Internet marketers. Not only that, but failure to use these important concepts would be a crime! Let's try to get to the bottom of these unsolved mysteries.

LSI means Latent Semantic Indexing. LSA means Latent Semantic Analysis. That didn't help much, did it?

Of course not. LSI and LSA are concepts that are better understood through examples. Before looking at examples, however, let's look for clues in the words that make up these acronyms.

Latent Semantic Indexing

Definition of Latent:

Latent means "dormant, quiescent, not readily visible, or hidden." It refers to qualities, abilities, or talents that may be currently hidden or unknown, but which might be revealed in the future.

Examples

1. His latent musical talent didn't emerge until he had been to several piano lessons.

2. Her latent mathematical skills surprised her parents when she began bringing home very high test scores.

3. The car's latent defects did not appear until the warrantee expired. All these examples refer to qualities or properties (both good and bad) that were always present, but took a while to become noticed.

Definition of Semantic:

Semantic refers to "the meaning, or an interpretation of the meaning, of a word, sentence, or document, and its relationship to other words in the text." It does not mean the popular antivirus company (that's Symantec™). It is also the study of meaning in language, or even the study of multiple meanings that a single word might have. The semantic aspect of a sentence, paragraph, or article is what it means to the reader.

Examples:

This word is most often used in its plural form "semantics," as in "Let's not argue over semantics."

An example of arguing over semantics would be two people discussing the meaning of he word "war." The first person insists war means the absence of peace. The second person is certain that war means the presence of combat. Both are correct in a sense, but it is like the argument whether the glass is half-full or
half-empty. Both parties are right about the meaning of war, but there is some interpretation involved.

For our purposes, "semantic" refers to the meaning of a word, sentence or document, how the reader interprets them, and the relationships between the words in the text.

Definition of Indexing:

An index is an "an alphabetized list of names, places, and subjects treated in a printed work, giving the page or pages on which each item is mentioned." It is a tool for organizing printed material so that certain items in that material can be easily found again.

Examples:

The index of a book is an excellent example. If you read a book on internet marketing and wanted to review the information on affiliate programs, the book's index would tell you on which pages the word "affiliate" appeared. You would quickly find the information you need.

Putting It All Together

Latent - refers to qualities or properties that were always present, but took a while to become noticed.

Semantic - refers to the meaning of a word, sentence or document, how the reader interprets them, and the relationships between the words in the text. Indexing - creating a list or reference for a printed work so that items within the text can be quickly found.

Therefore, Latent Semantic Indexing or LSI means a list or reference for printed material containing both the obvious and the hidden meanings and interpretations of the words, sentences, and paragraphs in that material, as well as how the words in the text are related to each other.

Latent Semantic Analysis

The definitions for latent, semantic, and indexing were presented above. All we need is a definition for "analysis."

Definition:
Analysis - a detailed examination of elements or structure.

Examples

The best examples are the explanations you just read! The acronyms LSI and LSA were just examined. The words corresponding to each letter in the acronyms were determined, as well as the meanings of those words. The meanings of the individual words were then combined into a whole or index containing the
author's interpretation of the concepts of LSI and LSA.

Therefore, Latent Semantic Analysis or LSA means an examination of the words, sentences, paragraphs, and the relationships between words in the printed material for obvious and hidden meanings. LSA must occur before the results can be organized and tabulated by LSI.

Why Is LSA and LSI So Important For You?

LSA and LSI are important concepts because search engines, especially Google, are beginning to analyze online documents using these techniques. Let's restate that: Google and other search engines will be using LSA and LSI to read YOUR web pages.

Therefore you should know and understand what these concepts are. Once you do, you'll be able to write web pages using LSI techniques. That will make the search engines happy with you and your websites. Hopefully, that will translate into more visitors and more profits.

In the offline world, LSA and LSI are techniques and concepts developed decades ago for analyzing printed documents. LSA is a technique used in natural language processing in order to analyze the relationships that exist between a specific set of documents, and the terms that are contained within those documents.

This is done by determining a main concept that relates to the terms within the documents, and that relates to the documents themselves. Once the LSA is complete, the results are compiled in an index by using LSI. The concepts and procedures are the same, whether online or offline.

Language is no barrier to LSA and LSI. If two sets of documents are written in different languages, they can be analyzed via LSI and catalogued by LSI if one set can be translated to the other set's languages.

The task becomes easier of both sets of documents are written in the same language, which does not necessarily have to be English.

What does all this mean to you?

As a final consequence, it means for you that the days of keyword stuffing are over! If that's what you're currently doing to optimize your web pages, you should stop it now. Instead, make use of synonyms for the same words and try to find related words which you can use on your pages. This will make the theme "stick" and keep the search engines AND visitors happy!

Tags: adsense, affiliate, affiliate program, affiliate programs, internet marketing, search engines, seo, websites

I often do get asked how illegal "business opportunities" can be recognized. Well, I am now trying to answer this question and make it a bit clearer with the following article…

So called "Pyramid schemes" have been around since about the time the actual pyramids in Egypt were built. You'd think that in the last few thousand years people would have been able to easily recognize a pyramid scheme when they come across one. They don't…!

The people who dream these things up, however, are pretty slick characters. A pyramid scheme never, ever, comes labeled as a "pyramid scheme".

It is really easy to get sucked into one of these schemes. You need to understand how they work and be able to spot them for what they are. There are a few "buzz" words that can tip you off:

1. Recruit: "to engage in finding and attracting employees, new members, students, athletes, etc." That’s one of the definitions of the word according to the dictionary.

The use of the word, ‘recruit’ (or any variation) should be a major tip off that the program that is being promoted to you is most likely a pyramid scheme. Some of these schemes can be easily spotted while others are a little harder to identify. Just beware when you see the word, "recruit". There was a scheme that went around awhile back that was sent by unsolicited email that offered an "exclusive opportunity" to earn a boat load of money by recruiting people to sell a device that would provide access to the Internet by television. No, I’m not kidding. This happened and people fell for it.

2. Buy the secret and sell… This is a typical pyramid scheme that you will often see. This is another "offer" that arrives in your inbox that you have not solicited. You are offered an "exclusive" opportunity to buy a secret that will allow you to make a hundred thousand dollars a month (no work required) and then you can sell this secret to others for a substantial profit and they will make money for you. These gullible folks will just fill your bank account with beautiful green-backs. Wait! You are the gullible folk they are targeting.

You can believe me when I tell you that there really aren’t a lot of people out there in this world that are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to send you money.

You can also believe that there is no legitimate Internet business that is going to immediately make you hundreds of thousands of dollars a month. You might someday make that kind of money but if you do, it will be after you have put in an incredible amount of time and effort into it and not because you bought a "secret"… - there isn’t one.

Creating an online business still means hard work and if you're not willing to accept this and are still looking for shortcuts, then an internet business isn't for you! Better get back to your J.O.B.!

3. Let "others" do the work: This little phrase has pyramid scheme written all over it. The "pitch" is usually for a non-existent product or for a product that is being sold for much more than it is actually worth. You will often be sent information by bulk email that gives you instructions for getting others to promote this "product" (…which product?) and all you will have to do is count your millions.

Right… - Don’t fall for that one!

Disguised MLM

If you are really new to the world of internet business or work-at-home job opportunities, you may not know what MLM means. It means Multi-Level-Marketing. MLM is similar to a pyramid scheme but it isn’t exactly the same.

True pyramid schemes don't involve the selling of an actual product but real MLM is ALL about selling an actual product.

According to a glossary of Internet terms, "Multilevel Marketing is selling products by using independent distributors and allowing these distributors to build and manage their own sales force by recruiting, motivating, supplying, and training others to sell products. The distributors' compensation includes their own sales and a percentage of the sales of their sales group (downline)."

"So," you say, "that just sounds like a good idea for making money." Well, it IS a good way for making money. The problem is that it is illegal when there is no real product involved, where only the opportunity gets marketed as a way to riches and where they are talking about the money making potential only. This is what I mean by "disguised" MLM. In this case, there would be no product involved - only a business opportunity which promises people to make money without having to do anything apart from promoting the "opportunity".

Do you see that tip-off word again: "recruiting"? The other tip-off that this is a MLM scheme is the phrase, "percentage of sales".

There is nothing illegal about setting up an affiliate program and PAYING a percentage of sales to those who sell your products or services to others. There is nothing illegal about COLLECTING the percentages that are offered by the producers of the products or services. That is simply good business and more than just common practice in the Internet business world.

The problem arises when you start COLLECTING percentages of sales from people whom you have recruited to sell the product. Then another level is added and it becomes multi-level marketing.

Even with just one additional level, it could be identified as MLM even though completely legitimate affiliate programs often have 2 levels as well (that’s why you can’t use Paypal to pay for products which involve more than 1 affiliate level - they see almost everything as MLM even though in many cases it's not! They probably want to be on the safe side and not get associated with ANY MLMs.) but there are MLM schemes that will have many, MANY layers.

The main Internet banking and money exchange on the Internet is Paypal. Paypal employs full-time personnel to search for and identify MLM schemes. When these schemes are uncovered, the accounts (and all attached accounts and credit cards) are frozen.

Yes, it is true that sometimes Paypal does misidentify a perfectly legitimate business as a MLM scheme but it doesn’t happen very often and the problem can usually be resolved in just two or three business days. This very thing happened to a friend of mine not long ago. It was resolved but not without him being able to prove that his business was not a MLM scheme.

This does point out the fact, however, that there are those who are looking for illegal MLM schemes. You may think that you are very anonymous on the Internet but when you do business on the Internet, you are no longer anonymous.

Beware of Lions

There are a lot of big hungry lions in the Internet jungle. They are looking for easy marks… they love "newbies" best of all… You have been warned!

————————————

Let me know what you think about these illegal opportunities and what your personal experiences are by making a comment on this post - I'd love to hear from you!

Tags: adsense, affiliate, affiliate program, affiliate programs

Since there are lots of people getting into affiliate marketing every day, it is no wonder that the competition is getting fierce. The challenge is to try and beat the tactics other affiliates are using and think of smart ways on how to achieve this. Affiliate Video Brander is a tool that allows affiliates to act smarter than others. More on that later in this article.

Let's first talk about why using online video presentations work so well with regards to selling products on the Internet…

What better way could there be to wow your prospects and customers than to record and publish top notch, full motion and streaming screen-capture videos? For you as a seller, it's a great feeling to be able to offer a product that gets subscribers and customers excited in great anticipation to buy your product right on the spot.

This is Camtasia in action. It is a proven fact that giving your customers something they can actually see can explode your online sales instantly.

You do not need to have training and a lot of education to be able to know how this system can improve your sales or sales for programs that you're an affiliate of. Anyone can create stunning videos as there are hundreds of multimedia tutorials and step-by-step presentations available online.

The process is like having your customers seated next to you while looking at your desktop, as you show them the things they need to see and hear. All this is done in a step by step manner.

For those of you who don't not know it, yet - what does Camtasia do…?

1. It can record your desktop activity - not only the actions which are taken but also the sound, the explanations which you are speaking into a microphone while recording.

2. In the next step, Camtasia can easily convert your videos into web pages (using flash). Once the videos have been converted from formats like AVI or MPG to Flash, you can have your customers visit the web page which you have produced.

Videos are easier to understand because of the visual aspects. This is unlike reading texts which is not always as comprehensible as seeing and hearing a complete process on your PC.

3. Upload your web pages to your server using FTP. Publish these videos on blogs, within RSS feeds or podcasts. You may want to use your Camtasia videos to reach potential customers. This can be done by uploading your master pieces to video directories like YouTube or Google Video. By doing this, you are actively making use of Web 2.0 techniques.

Video sites and Web 2.0 are all the rage these days and if you are uploading them to places where they can easily be found, you're setting yourself up for free advertising and you can finally get your message across without having to invest thousands of dollars in PPC costs.

There are other things you can do using Camtasia. You can…

- Create stunning multimedia presentations which e.g. show how a certain piece of software works or how certain promotion techniques are being used which are described in the latest ebook you want to promote as an affiliate. This also has the tendency to reduce skepticism among hard-to-please customers.

- Reduce refunds and other customer issues by visually demonstrating how to use your product and how to do it properly. Complaints will be minimized because all the facts can be seen in the visual presentations.

- Promote affiliate products and services using these visual presentations. This is an effective way of pre-selling and redirecting your viewers straight to your affiliate website after they have finished watching the video. Make the most of the presentation by adding your site to the end of the video and make them go there directly if they want more information.

This can easily be put into action using a tool called Affiliate Video Brander. In order to use this tool, you don't even have to create your own videos. All you need to do is use the videos which the merchant has available on his site and you download them to your PC (with the merchant's permission). Videos have proven to increase conversions by a very high percentage.

You simply use Affiliate Video Brander to create a new web page which has a link to the merchant's website included (usually above and below the video). This link is YOUR affiliate link. Moreover, when the video ends, the viewer will be automatically redirected to the merchant's site using your affiliate link. Here's how the interface looks like:

These are just some of the things you can do with Camtasia and Affiliate Video Brander which can be very helpful in promoting your chosen affiliate program. If you're an affiliate and you're not yet using Affiliate Video Brander, you'll be leaving a lot of money on the table since videos can increase your conversions from visitors to buyers by at least 400%!

Tags: adsense, affiliate, affiliate marketing, affiliate program, affiliates, ebook, web 2.0

Let's say we've just signed up as an affiliate for a popular product. Now what?

How you approach this is going to depend on where you are coming from.

1) You might have an existing website and you've just discovered affiliate marketing and would like to implement this on your website. You already have your market and traffic. Maybe… Unless you're just starting out. Then you need to find traffic…

2) You may have a site or several different websites and you want to start fresh and build a new website just for affiliate marketing…

3) You want to do affiliate marketing, but you don't want to build a site… YES, that can be done!

4) You're just starting out and you want to do affiliate marketing and build a website or landing pages to promote the programs… OR you want to build 10 or more websites.

Those are just 4 scenarios… One thing you have to be careful with online is that many people will try to sell you on ONE way of doing things. They will convince you to drop everything and go in their direction.

STOP, you don't need to do what the herd is doing!

Everyone is unique and has a different set up and background… you can build from where you are. It's not what you got or want that will make you a success, it's taking massive action! So take what you have and go from there… you don't have to start over; you don't necessarily change directions… just add another dimension.

Unless of course you realize that you are in a hopeless situation… then just follow your gut. If you think the time and money would be better spent in another direction, then end it…

Again, this is all dependent on YOUR situation. This is not a one size fits all internet. And therefore every "guru" can only give you a plan on what has worked for HIM. It's bad advice to do exactly the same if that's not a market you like or are knowledgeable in!

THE BEST PLACE to be in is where your passion is… working in markets that you are passionate about will give your campaigns and efforts more energy… and you will most likely find it easier and have better results!
OF COURSE learn and emulate what the successful people are doing, but don't get consumed with the "you gotta do this" hype… once you've decided what to do, focus.

The traffic that you get to your pages with affiliate programs need to be as targeted as possible to your content and your content should match your affiliate programs or vice versa.

So you should NOT have people looking for televisions coming to your computer store…

How successful you are really depends on the market you are in and how you are doing compared to your competition. If you have a competitive market like mortgages or school loans (OR Internet marketing for that matter!!), then you need to buckle down because it will be a battle and you are probably going to have to spend a lot of money to make money…

ON THE OTHER HAND… the best thing to do is to start from scratch and research markets to find niches that you can tap into. A niche is simply a market that is maybe unique or on the outer fringe… You can often break down a large market into smaller markets fairly easily.

These niche markets will probably get less traffic, but you will also have less competition.

This is where keyword research comes in. An excellent tool to research with and one I highly recommend is NicheBot…

When we're talking about niches, normally the best niches are those that have little competition in Search Engines or in Pay Per Click Advertising… People search using keywords and keyword phrases. Find the right keywords that people are searching for and you will find a lot of traffic hitting your website… For search engines, that is FREE traffic!

So you use the tool above to find those niches. You plug in a keyword and it will bring up all kinds of results for people that have searched for that word or words in the last month AND it will also give you results for related or similar words and phrases AND it will show you how much competition there is!… cool stuff; check it out…

One last thing before I go… YOU can do well without a website. Many people are still doing this… there were recent changes to a policy at Google that put a damper on things a bit, but it's still alive and well… it's called Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC) and allows you to drive people to a landing page or sometimes (in niches where you don't want to build a list) to a merchant straight away.

Well, I gotta go… I am currently working on several products for the German market. Yes, I finally got started doing things in german - most importantly building a list. It's something I've been preaching for a long time…

People everywhere around the world are looking for a way to generate an income from home - so if your first language is not english, why not create an info product in your native language?

Stay tuned for some more great info to come! And remember… "Action is key!"

If you want to know more about getting focused, taking the right actions and simply getting the key concepts of Internet marketing right, then get a copy of my Revenue Blueprint. It will help you to take the RIGHT actions so you'll not waste months of your time…!!

Tags: adsense, affiliate, affiliate marketing, affiliate program, affiliate programs, free traffic, internet marketing, search engines, traffic, websites

Project Quick Cash - This is my personal review of Alok Jain's latest ebook.

Some info about the author, first…

Alok is from India and he has also written: "Viral Profit Machine", "Two Minute Profits" and "Silent Profit Machine". I have them all and they were all very helpful. Project Quick Cash is about 5 very specific methods of making money which can be implemented quickly.

And "Quick Cash" is something almost every Internet marketer wants, although in most cases, I personally prefer methods which will build you a solid business like described in my own ebook called "Revenue Blueprint".

What is Project Quick Cash all about? Is it really revolutionary or have we seen it all before?

I will be describing the techniques so you can decide for yourself if these techniques are for you or not.

Method #1 "Cashing The Spike - Part 1"

This Project Quick Cash technique is being used to cash in on current trends and events and can bring you a lot of very targeted visitors quickly. It makes use of a resource that I hadn't known about before. But now that I know about it, I will be watching it very closely myself.

The trends which you can discover there, can be monetized with affiliate programs. I really like this method because just like Alok's ebook title promises: It's quick and easy to implement.

Method #2 "Cashing The Spike - Part 2"

It's almost done in a similar way like in part 1 with the main difference being that the monetization is done via Google Adsense. It is dependent on the niche which you choose whether it's better to use affiliate programs or Adsense.

Both parts have a lot of potential and I will be using them myself very soon.

Method #3 "Underground Niche Profits"

The method which is explained in "Underground Niche Profits" is very similar to the techniques described in George Katsoudas' "Hybrid Traffic System". But it's not as comprehensive as George's ebook and doesn't make use of the twist George is revealing.

Therefore, the uniqueness factor is not very high but nevertheless it IS a very effective technique if used correctly. Alok explains exactly what kind of forums to target and how to find the best niches to get into in order to maximize your return on investment (ROI).

Method #4 - "Super Placement Targeting"

This technique is one which I had actually read about in a report which I bought as a WSO (Warrior Special Offer). It's about using Adwords to get clicks for as low as $0.01 per click. Initially, I never thought that getting clicks for such a low CPC was possible but after reading the WSO report and now Alok's ebook, I've actually tested it myself and I can say: Yes, it can be done!

You should not be using this method in Internet marketing related niches because it probably won't work. Most likely, the click costs will be much higher there. But for other niches, this method is perfect to get very low cost clicks but highly targeted traffic, nonetheless.

Technique #5 - "Leeching On A Launch"

This is a good technique and I have seen quite a few marketers make use of this. It's a very specific way of profiting from a big launch within the Internet marketing arena and it can make you from several hundreds to several thousands of dollars from the launch day to about 1-2 weeks after.

The technique doesn't require you to have any technical skills at all and it can be implemented within 5-10 minutes depending on how experienced you are with the set up of new domains.

Cost of implementation: About $9 for a domain registration…!

Conclusion:

The title of the ebook really doesn't promise too much. These are "Quick Cash" methods which can be implemented in a few hours, some even in a few minutes. I knew about 3 of the techniques already but nevertheless, the explanations were very well written and they've actually enhanced the knowledge which I already had about them.

Who can profit from this ebook?

Newbie and intermediate Internet marketers can definitely profit from the content which is included in Project Quick Cash. But it supposes that you are at least familiar with using Adwords, implementing Adsense and integrating affiliate program links. If you have never done these things before, it could be quite difficult to put these things into practice.

But just like I did with Google Payload, I am going to give you bonuses, which will help you to understand the presupposed basics and from there, you can go on and actually implement the techniques Alok describes.

Click here to visit the Project Quick Cash website

MY KILLER BONUS PACKAGE:

Even though the techniques are quite easy to implement, they require you to have at least some basic knowledge in the following areas:

Adwords - You'll get the ebook "Google Adwords Primer" from me as a bonus.

Adsense - You'll get the ebook "Adsense Profits Exposed (3 PDF files)" from me as a bonus.

Keyword research - You'll get a video from me which will show you how to use a free software tool to do basic keyword research.

Blogging - You'll get 12 videos from me which will show you how to set up a Wordpress blog. These videos are actually part of my Wordpressprofitmachines.com package…!

+ You'll get 6 months FULL access to my Niche Content Audios website (A $60 value!)

+ You'll get 3 months FULL access to my Niche Content Websites website (A $75 value)!

+++++++++++ MEGA BONUS:+++++++++++++

+ MY HIGHLIGHT:

You'll get a BRANDED version of my latest database software called IM Product Buddy:

This brand new database actually has 3 strategically placed banners inside… I will replace them with YOUR banners and YOUR affiliate links and you can start giving away this branded version to your list. Or you may even sell it.

In case that you're getting Project Quick Cash today, you don't have to wait until the 1st to get my new software. I will send you the download link to the unbranded version immediately and a branded version 1-2 days AFTER you have sent me your banners and affiliate links. This is manual work and can take a while, though. Please be patient!

After you have purchased your copy from here, just visit my helpdesk and paste your Clickbank receipt with the subject line "Project Quick Cash Bonus" in order to get my bonuses.

Click here to visit the Project Quick Cash website

-

Tags: adsense, adwords, affiliate, affiliate program, affiliate programs, clickbank, ebook, google adsense, google adwords, internet marketing, targeted traffic, targeted traffic, traffic, websites