A Smart and Easy Way to Get Free Traffic

After yesterday’s post on marketing without search engines, I decided to follow up with a strategy you can use to get quality free traffic. One of the easiest ways to get visitors to your web site is to spend money. Nothing is more effortless then paying for traffic. But if you can’t afford it or don’t want to pay, there’s an equally simple but free way to get traffic: ad swaps.

An advertisement swap or ad swap is simply an arrangement where you agree to put up someone else’s ad on your site or email newsletter in exchange for them doing the same.

The goal of an ad swap is mainly to get exposure for a specific purpose, such as selling products/services or improving awareness of your brand/site. This is different from a link exchange because you are not seeking to improve your search engine rank.

The link value doesn’t matter at all. What matters is getting visitors into your web site.

Four Pre-Requisites for a Successful Ad Swap

For an ad swap to be successful and fair, there are four pre-requisites to be fulfilled:

1. Equal traffic and exposure: Both parties ought to have websites that receive a steady amount of visitors everyday, or an email list with a decent amount of subscribers. Otherwise, there is no meaning in setting up an ad swap in the first place. Ad swaps are most agreeable when both parties have an equivalent audience reach/traffic count.
2. Fair and Good Ad placement: Traffic flows more easily to you when your ad is displayed in a spot which is easily viewable and accessible by visitors. While site designs may differ, both parties should endeavor to exchange ads that are displayed in a similar fashion. A pop-under does not capture visitor attention in the same way as a site-wide banner, so seek to use equivalent ad formats too.
3. High Relevancy: In the best scenario, an ad swap should occur between websites in the same niche, as both parties would benefit from a trade in visitors with an already established interest on the same topic. But it is possible for trades to occur for sites in different niches. The essential point to remember is that your ad/message MUST be relevant to the page or site where it is placed and vice versa for your ad partner.
4. No Conflicting Purpose. If you’re a merchant selling a product or a firm offering a service, you should not do ad swaps with competitors (other merchants/firms in the same niche). However ad swaps can be done for joint promotion of a specific event or shared project. You also should not do an ad swap with a site that contradicts your brand’s ethos or image (e.g. PETA doing an ad swap with Kentucky Fried Chicken).

There is one more important factor and that’s networking. Webmasters and bloggers are often inundated with requests for link trades: they have a defensive barrier against requests from strangers. Unless your site has some reputation or authority in your niche, ad swaps usually need to be prefaced with an established relationship.

People are far more likely to do ad swaps after they become more comfortable with you, when they don’t see you as a leech but a potential benefit. So keep this in mind as well when you aim to fulfill the four other prerequisites.

Seek Quality Ad Partners, Don’t Settle For Anything Less

You may be familiar with the traffic exchange networks of the past (and present), places where webmasters can go sign up, submit their site and browse through each other’s websites in order to earn viewing credits that can be converted into pageviews for their own site.

It’s all about trading incentivized glances in a merry-go-round of self-interest. You look at my site, I look at your site. Everyone is happy. And it goes on ad nauseam.

Even though these pageview-trading rings are called traffic exchanges, they aren’t useful because you don’t get truly targeted and interested viewers, people who click through to your site because they were honestly compelled by curiosity or desire, not because they want more hits to their own website.

I bring up the topic of the old-school traffic exchanges to emphasize the importance of having a quality ad swap. One should carefully select ad partners because you need to maximize your returns with a limited inventory: you only have that much ad space to trade.

Your goal is to get the best quality visitors from your ad. To achieve that, you must try to only trade with websites that have a quality audience. Don’t do ad swaps just because someone asked you to, it could end up being a waste of time and ad space.

You probably know how to find quality ad partners already, as you should be familiar with your niche. If not, find them by doing a Google search for your site’s keywords.

If you can’t set up a good ad exchange because your site doesn’t get enough traffic, try again after you’ve developed a greater audience. Or you can negotiate with more popular sites by reducing the display length for your ad against their ad, although even that may not work.

Types of Ad Swaps You Can Set Up

All ad swaps can be measured with tracking links and analytics so both parties can compare how many hits they received with the clicks they sent out. If you’re doing an ad swap with a friend or prefer a looser agreement, you can forgo click data and stats altogether. The choice is up to you. Here are some ad swap formats you can use.

• On-site Banners and Text Links. This includes banners of all sizes and text links on a site-wide basis or on specific webpages. Includes blog post promos.
• Email Newsletters. Involves inserting a mention of your ad partner’s website or product/offer. This can be accompanied by a personal endorsement or not.
• RSS Feed Ads. These are either text links or image banners placed within an RSS feed.

Some Extra Tips and Recommendations

One guideline I follow is to never send traffic to my homepage or any page that is unoptimized. A custom landing page must be created for each ad swap. I can design it for the purpose of capturing leads (freebie + opt-in) or set it up so that it becomes a welcome page (’Hello, visitors from Site A!’) with a short introduction and deep links.

I also pay special attention to the ad banners used. Banners that reference your partner’s site name or brand tend to get better click throughs, although you should get permission first. Sometimes they do not want to appear as if they were endorsing your site, although they are already implicitly doing so by having your ad up.

Ad Swaps Aren’t Hip Now But They Still Work

While it’s a common email marketing practice amongst internet marketers, I don’t often read about ad swaps being recommended as a traffic strategy for bloggers or webmasters. There were a few ad trading networks around but none of them really caught on for some reason.

Perhaps it sounds archaic and boring compared to all the super cool social media viral marketing buzz building tactics being promoted right now by all the experts. Yes, ad swaps may sound dull but they still work if you know how to do them right. If you’ve got ad space you can’t sell, why not give it a shot? You have nothing to lose at all.

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How to Set up Google Custom Search for Your Website and Make Money

Visitors often visit websites and perform keyword searches in order to find the information they require. One way to make money from this often repeated user action is to display targeted advertisements on your search results pages.

Ideally, you want to monetize while adding value for your visitors and a means to achieve this aim is to use Google’s Adsense for Search, which places text-based ads next to your search results

I’ve inserted a Google Custom Search engine on Dosh Dosh a few months ago and I thought it’ll be helpful to share the process of setting up a Google Custom Search for your own site, in order to generate some extra income.

What is a Google Custom Search Engine?

Simply put, Google Custom Search Engine is a tool which allows visitors to search your website by using Google’s core search technology. This enables you to list search results according to the sites and pages you specify. According to Google, the Custom Search Engine also allows you to:

• Apply your Website’s look and feel to the search results page.
• Provide search refinements within results pages to make it easier for searchers to find the information they’re looking for.
• Make money from your Custom Search Engine by participating in Google’s AdSense program.

There are two main ways for visitors to experience your Custom Search Engine. One way is to direct them to a Google-hosted results page when they type in a search query and the second way is to integrate it by hosting the search results on a page within your website.

Example of an Integrated Google Custom Search Engine

Currently I’m using Google’s Custom Search Engine for Dosh Dosh and you can see it on the top right hand corner of every page. Typing in a search query and clicking ‘search‘ will bring you to a search results page on the left, where the content section is currently located.

Here is an example of a search for ‘make money blogging‘. Note that the Adsense ads appear at the top (this is changeable) and the search results show up below it.

Why I am Using Google’s Custom Search Engine

I am using Google custom search instead of the internal Wordpress search function because I feel that Google’s search results are far more relevant and precise. I also choose to use Custom Search because it allows me to make money from Adsense for Search, which allows you to monetize your search results pages with ads.

A look at my Adsense stats shows me that I’ve earned approximately $20 in this month. It’s not a lot of money at all but it is still an additional source of income, particularly if you are already running Adsense on your site.

Like the traditional Adsense units, how much you earn might vary depending on the ad placement and traffic levels. If you like Google’s search results but don’t feel the need to monetize, set up the custom search engine without advertisements.

How to Set up Google’s Custom Search for Your Site

While writing this article, I found out that SEOmoz had a similar post on how to perform the same steps. I’ve decided to use my own commentary instead, as some readers have been asking me how I set up the google search box on Dosh Dosh.

There have also been some changes (additional features) within Google’s Custom Search function so this will be a more current post on this topic.

Here are the exact steps needed to successfully set up and integrate Google’s custom search engine into your website. This will teach you how to make the search results show up within a designated page on your site.

1. Create a Webpage for Custom Search

Start first by creating a web page on your domain for the search results page. If you are on Wordpress, simply click on ‘Write’ and then select ‘Write Page’. Name the page by using ‘Search results’ or something similar as the Page title.

Leave the text box blank and publish or save the page. Note down the URL for the webpage as you will need to use it later.

2. Create Your Custom Search Engine

Visit the Google Custom Search Engine homepage and click on the ‘create a custom search engine‘ tab. After which, fill in the name of your search engine, along with the keywords. Be sure to select the ‘Only sites I select‘ option and then list your site URL in the Sites to Search box.

Also remember to select ‘Show Ads on results pages‘ if you intend to run ads.

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F-secure

Complete protection for home PC and home office F-Secure® Internet Security 2009 provides a complete and easy-to-use protection against Internet threats. It includes an award-winning antivirus, a personal firewall, an improved anti-spyware, and much more.
NEW! F-Secure DeepGuardTM, a new technology, constantly monitors the heart of your computer, ensuring that no malicious programs can take over your computer. It filters unwanted spam and phishing attempts from your email.

Protects your children against unwanted Internet content
Protects your computer against viruses,worms and unknown attacks
Stops spyware and hackers from entering your computer
Provides the fastest protection against new virus outbreaks

Protects your computer against viruses, worms, other malware and rootkits
Includes real-time protection against spyware
Scans e-mail for viruses and malicious code
Helps you stay free from spam e-mail
Easy to install and use
Provides the fastest protection against new virus outbreaks (based on independent data from AV-Test.org)
Includes an intuative e-learning tool and 24/7 technical support
Automatically updates
Security news delivered to your desktop
Includes a firewall to protect your computer against hackers
Protects your children against unwanted Internet content
Includes a web surfing time lock for children
Includes application control

website

https://store.f-secure.com

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Spam Filter

Free Spam Filter for Outlook / Express and Thunderbird

SPAMfighter has partnered up with Microsoft to build the strongest, safest, and most effective anti spam filter on the market. If you use Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail or Thunderbird and you want to get rid of spam, just install SPAMfighter. And if you use it at home, it's 100%free.

Whenever new mail arrives, it will automatically be tested by SPAMfighter, and if it's spam, it will be moved to your spam folder. If you receive a spam mail that is not detected, click a single button, and the spam mail is removed from the rest of the 6.444.195 SPAMfighters in 224 countries/areas in seconds.

Download SPAMfighter

• SPAMfighter Standard is 100% free for home users
• Award winning spam filter technology
• Protects against "phishing", identity theft, and other email fraud
• Free automatic updates
• Used by more than 6 million happy users around the World
• Protects all the email accounts on your PC
• Unique language filtering tool that empowers you to stop emails written in specific languages
• Unique picture filter that can recognize spam which is sent as a picture
• Automatic "real mail" protection - means no lost business mails!
• Blacklist domains and emails
• Spam Abuse Reporting with one click
• Automatic Whitelist management
• Privacy Guaranteed - we don't see any of your email
• Does not filter based on simple phrases or "trigger" words. Allows any content
• Language support: English, German, Spanish, Chinese, French, Italian, Greek, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Suomi, Russian, Bulgarian, Portuguese, Japanese, Czech, Thai, Vietnamese, Turkish and Danish

SPAMfighter requires:

Operation system	98, ME (32 bit), 2000, XP or Windows Vista (32 bit)
Email client	Outlook 2000/2002/2003/2007, Outlook Express 5.5 or later, Windows Mail and Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0
Memory	64 MB minimum
Disk Space	10 MB

Perfectly integrated with Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail and Thunderbird
If you use SPAMfighter, you will stop receiving spam instantly, and if you by chance still receive a spam email, be pro-active by reporting it. This helps remove spam from all other community members with a single click.

Download SPAMfighter

There are two versions of SPAMfighter:

SPAMfighter Pro
This is the product you download and get free for 1 month. After the trial, you can choose to pay only US$29.00 and keep the Pro version, otherwise you are automatically downgraded to the free SPAMfighter Standard.
SPAMfighter Pro can be used in companies and other business environments and gives access to better protection, read more here.

SPAMfighter Standard
This is a free product and can only be used in homes and schools. In SPAMfighter Standard, a short text ad is displayed in your e-mail client, and an "I'm protected by SPAMfighter" message is attached as a footer to your outgoing e-mails. Also, you don't have the language filter and other useful features are missing.
If you want to upgrade to SPAMfighter Pro, please click here.

website

http://www.spamfighter.com/Product_Info.asp

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PowerSuite 2009

This is the most AWESOME CD that you will EVER use!

You can use it to boot up any computer; fix and install Windows; optimize and speed up your system; clean up history and protect your privacy; recover data and passwords; partition and format the hard drive; clone and backup your system; and more...

Feature Summary

Spotmau PowerSuite 2009 is a must-have toolkit providing all essential utilities for every PC owner. This is an everyday toolset for PC maintenance and optimization. This is also an emergency kit for rescuing and recovering your precious data and system. With this complete package, you can almost solve all your PC problems.

Spotmau PowerSuite 2009 includes key features below and more.

Windows Recovery provides a complete solution to recover your corrupt Windows such as partition table recovery, master boot record, registry, lost/missing files recovery and so on.

Windows Backup & Restore backups your Windows, partition table, master boot record and registry periodically. Recover your damaged Windows when the system crashes, or recover registry when the registry crashes, or recover partition when the partition crashes or recover master boot recode when the disk crashes.

Windows Optimization (System Info, System Cleanup, Registry Cleanup, System Speedup, Smart Uninstall, IE Manager, Startup Manager, Network Optimization) collects your system info; Removes your unwanted applications; Cleans your Windows registry; Optimizes your network speed; restores default settings of your Internet Explorer; enables you to choose which programs to run automatically at Windows startup; changes your desktop icon and right click menu.

Password & Key Finder finds your lost passwords for Email, MSN, IE and asterisks; finds your Windows, Office and IE product or CD keys.

Windows Admin/User Password Recovery can easily reset Windows Vista/2003/XP/2000/NT administrator/user password to blank.

Security & Privacy clears up all your activity records in your computer to protect your privacy; enable you to encrypt folders to protect your private files from being viewed by others; shred unwanted sensitive data permanently from your hard disk from being recovered and viewed by others; lock up the programs you don't want others to use.

Personal Safe will split a private space from your selected disk. And you will see a new disk with the name "Personal Safe" in your "My Computer". Without password no one will even notice this space. This NEW technology will protect your personal files more conveniently and safely than ever before.

Data Transfer can be used to backup your personal data before Windows reinstallation. It can transfer files to the removable media/devices, or to a second, undamaged internal hard disk when your Windows has crashed or the hard disk has been damaged.

Data Rescue (Undelete, Unformat, Raw Rescue) recovers files from an accidentally formatted or reinstalled partition / disk; restore files that have been deleted accidentally, even if the file system data structures of your computer have suffered serious corruption or overwriting.

Disk Backup/Restore provides all kinds of backup/restore options under Windows or when Windows crashes: Disk to Disk, Disk to Image, Disk from Image, Partition to Partition, Partition to Image, Partition from Image. You can easily backup disks/partitions or transfer all data from one disk to another, or even burn to CD/DVD, with several mouse clicks. This utility is for cloning Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista. It supports IDE, SATA, SCSI, and USB interfaces.

Partition Genius a powerful partition management tool. Create/delete/format your partitions; convert one partition type to another; resize/move/split/merge your partitions; hide/show a partition; work perfectly under Windows and Spotmau CD.

Spotmau Secretary easily manages your daily duties and business schedules.

What Tech Professional Are Saying

" It's highly useful even if Windows doesn't load. " -- PCMag.com

" Spotmau has done a great job of creating a worthwhile software suite complete with innovative technology, some exclusive features. For convenience, customization, and confidence, Spotmau PowerSuite is a great way to go. " -- TopTenREVIEWS

" Powersuite is extremely user-friendly. Whether you possess basic computer skills or you are an advanced PC user this toolkit will not only meet your needs, it will exceed expectations! " -- RegNow

" Spotmau PowerSuite is a must-have toolkit providing all essential utilities for every PC owner. This is an everyday toolset for PC maintenance and optimization. This is also an emergency kit for rescuing and recovering your precious data and system. With this complete package, you can almost solve all your PC problems. " -- Wugnet.com

" Spotmau PowerSuite is what could be described as the ultimate Windows troubleshooting and maintenance tool. It's an easy-to-use bootable CD that you can use to solve just about any problem you may have with your PC. " -- ezinearticles.com

More Awards

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What Customers Are Saying?

" I don't know anything about computer but this CD has helped me a whole lot. l would say people go get this CD. "
(USA)

" I never stop telling people around me to purchase this magnificent product of Spotmau CD. The only CD with all necessary tools to analyze and cure a machine with troubles. Splendid, and anybody, even my grandfather, can work with this CD! "
(Holland)

" Awesome product! I have only basic knowledge of computers but have already fixed two machine, one of which the local PC workshop advised that the hard disk beyond redemption. "
(Australia)

" I managed to resurrect the PC. ntoskrnl.exe was corrupt and I couldn't even boot to Safe mode. Using your product I managed to fix the problem in about 10 minutes and PC is working fine now. "
(United Kingdom)

" Thank you very much for the cd to keep our 5 computers running 3 laptops as well just donated by going through their philanthropy program. "
(Canada)

More Testimonials

website http://www.spotmau.com/products/package/full.htm

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ITC Font Packages

	Family Packs Family packs combine all of the weights of a typeface into a single package. A font family pack allows you to work with more flexibility when using a typeface and provides big savings over acquiring weights one by one. Choose from over 140 font families. Search for all Family Packs View List of all Family Packs Value Packs We hand-pick fonts in our Value Packs that share a common theme or purpose. You'll find collections grouped by style, usage and designer. No matter what the theme, all of our Value Packs offer an affordable price. So if you have a particular project in mind or are just looking to expand your font collection, Value Packs are a smart place to start your font search. Search for all Value Packs View List of all Value Packs

ITC Classic Fonts

ITC Chivalry ITC Chivalry is a calligraphic hybrid built on the tradition of combining Roman capitals with italic lowercase letters. Drawn by Missouri lettering artist Rob Leuschke, who used a flat-nib pen on textured watercolor stock and then converted the drawings into a digital font, the design combines an “old world” feel with “new world” legibility.

ITC Oldbook In ITC Oldbook, designer Eric de Berranger succeeds in doing two things at once: this distressed design elegantly simulates the weathered look of antique printing while remaining unusually readable at text sizes.

ITC Tactile Innovative yet highly legible, ITC Tactile is not afraid of paradox. Designer Joe Stitzlein has given this unusual typeface a range of seemingly contradictory design features that come together in a versatile, distinctive whole. In three weights, with complementary italics and small caps.

ITC Souvenir Not every typeface design is a hit the first time it’s released. ITC Souvenir waited decades to go from painful obscurity to wildly overexposed. Now that the pendulum has swung comfortably back to the middle, this ninety-years-young design is finally free to be its charming, affable self.

ITC Avant Garde Gothic Pro Avant Garde has been a typographic touchstone since its creation in the late 1960s. The legend continues to grow with the release of Avant Garde Gothic Pro in OpenType format.

ITC Benguiat If at first you don’t succeed, design, design again. At least that’s what Ed Benguiat did. The result was ITC Benguiat, a typographic classic that almost didn’t make it out of the reject pile.

ITC Legacy Serif Inspired by one of the first roman typefaces, ITC Legacy Serif is the result of painstaking labor after a decade-long gestation. The end result is one of ITC’s most beautiful and versatile typeface families.

ITC Garamond Did the world need another version of Garamond? Apparently it did – when ITC released two weights of a display version of the popular text face in 1975, the public demanded more. Now ITC Garamond is a complete typeface family. It’s not the most traditional interpretation of the 16th century original, but it may well be the most distinctive.

ITC Galliard One quality of a true classic has to be endurance. This virtue appears in spades in the tale of ITC Galliard, which had its origins in a sixteenth-century design by Robert Granjon, and was a secret dream of both Mike Parker’s and Matthew Carter’s for decades before its ultimate release.

ITC Weidemann From Gutenberg to today, project commissions have resulted in some of the most striking typeface designs. Among these is ITC Weidemann, a classic old style face first designed for the German Bible Society as “Biblica,” then revised, expanded and renamed in honor of its designer.

ITC Korinna The third time was the charm for Korinna. It began life in 1904 as a German art nouveau design, was reborn in a modified American version, and finally achieved classic status with ITC’s sensitive but pragmatic revival in 1973.

ITC Cheltenham It’s Cheltenham, a typeface that few typophiles have a kind word for, and yet somehow has managed to persist in popularity for a hundred years.

ITC Leawood ITC Leawood was both a first and last in the timeline of type design — released in 1985, it was the first ITC font developed with new digital font technology, and the last design undertaken by noted Canadian designer Les Usherwood.

ITC Tabula Two years in the making – after languishing in a drawer for several months – ITC Tabula is both: handsome and easy to read.

ITC Franklin Gothic It took nearly a century, but Franklin Gothic finally got the weights it deserved. This classic sans serif by Morris Fuller Benton has enjoyed several revivals in its popularity over the years, but it wasn’t till 1991 that ITC made sure Franklin Gothic offered the variety and flexibility that today’s designers need.

ITC Kabel This classic example of late 1920s German geometric design remains a powerful tool for setting display text. Look closely, though, and you’ll see how designer Rudolf Koch imprinted his own personal creativity on the structured assignment he was given.

ITC Fenice All the beauty of 18th century classic typeface designs, but adapted for today’s typographic requirements – that’s ITC Fenice, by Aldo Novarese. Based on the Bodoni model but made warmer and much easier to use, this neoclassical classic belongs in every typeface library.

ITC Eras This distinctive, legible sans serif is a wonderful blend of French style and sans serif practicality. With an angled, rather than vertical, stress and proportions that are more Roman than geometric, ITC Eras is a modern classic that can be used wherever a readable but not generic sans serif is called for.

ITC Bodoni ITC Bodoni is one of the most carefully researched and accurate interpretations of Bodoni’s typefaces ever attempted. The process involved two trips to Parma, Italy, and hundreds of hours of research.

ITC Goudy Sans ITC Goudy Sans is different than most sans serif typefaces, which tend to have a quiet, conservative structure. Instead, ITC Goudy Sans is friendly, almost playful, with an unusual cursive italic.

ITC Berkeley In 1937, a friend asked Goudy if he would consider drawing a face for the exclusive use of the University of California Press at Berkeley, the result was a classic design.

ITC Stone Sumner Stone, an introspective, thoughtful person was trained as a mathematician. His approach to creating a new typeface is a logical one, where design decisions are reached after careful contemplation.

ITC Charter When Matthew Carter drew ITC Charter in 1987, his goal was to create a typeface that was equally at home in an office memo, a fine book or an advertising headline.

ITC Highlander Oswald Cooper never created a sans serif type (he didn’t like them much). Dave Farey discovered some display lettering exercises in serifless letterforms and went to work creating a prototype.

ITC Tyfa The story of ITC Tyfa is a story of three artists spanning almost forty years: Josef Tyfa, P. L. Nervi and Frantisek Storm.

ITC Freddo James Montalbano originally saw his future as printing type, not designing it. ITC Freddo was inspired by a sign-lettering manual from the 1930s.

website http://www.itcfonts.com

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