Peel Away Ads

Is there anything more annoying online than pop up ads?  I’m sure there is, and I know there are many opinions.  I will admit that I, like many, were intrigued at first.  Pop up ads were a novel idea and very effective years ago.  But with overuse, overexposure, and pop-up blockers, pop up ads have gone the way of banner ads.   So is there another alternative for the website owner who wants to advertise?  Let’s consider the peel away ad.

Peel away ads are relatively new but they are catching on like wildfire. These ads resolve the problem of pop ups in an interesting and intriguing way. People actually want to discover what these ads are hiding.

With traditional pop up ads, you have to click on them to make them go away. They can appear in the middle of reading an article or looking at a web page. Some pop up ads scroll across the page from one side to the other. The bottom line here is that the ads have become annoying and bothersome.  And I’m assuming you do not want to irritate your readers;-).

Peel away ads were designed to deal with the frustration of pop up ads. Websites use ads to bring in money.  Advertising is a necessary evil if the website wants to create a bit of passive income, but using a peel away ad is less intrusive to your website visitors. They are good for affiliate programs; events, products and services you want to promote; and can even be used to get people to sign up for your mailing list.

Here’s How Peel Away Ads Work:

Peel away ads look just like a page of a book. The corner of the ad is bent down as if you were marking a page in a book. A portion of the can be seen so that the person gets an idea of what the ad is talking about.  If you are not sure what I’m talking about, you can check out the ad at the top right of my website. See how it peels back?

When someone rolls their icon over the peeled page, it will peel a bit more. The person can continue reading the ad or choose to ignore it. In the second case, moving the icon away from the peeled page causes the page to return to its original state. No extra screen has to be clicked on and closed. The ad rolls back up and doesn’t get in the way.

Is It Easy To Use?

In a word…yes.  In fact I was surprised at how easy it was. There are a few software programs you can check out.

Purchase the peel away ad software. To find out more, go to the website at peelawayads.com. The software is easy to install. Peel away ads can be used in any corner of the web page. It is advised that ads stay above the halfway point of the page for best results. Choose the right or left upper corner for the peel away ads. You can test out which corner is best.

With the software, animate all of your websites. Because people want to see what is on the next page, so to speak, the click rate for your ads will increase. Purchase the software once and no further payments are required. Add the script to your page and get started.

If you run an affiliate program, you may want to include peel away ads in the marketing materials you provide to your affiliates.  If you are an affiliate marketer, you can always contact the site owner and suggest this service.

Maureen :-)

5 Ways To Blog Without A Lot Of Work

On today’s Marketing Monday, let’s welcome one of my mentors from MomMasterminds.  Lynette Chandler is the owner of TechBasedMarketing.com and consider to be a blogging expert.  Here she shares with us some great tips for easier blogging.  Enjoy!

5 Ways To Blog Without A Lot Of Work

1.Assemble a team.

Gather a few people with complimentary businesses to come together and contribute to the blog. Have everyone involved promote the blog as a condition of participation. This helps everyone involved because now, you get to reach each other’s customer group in a non invasive manner. Everyone gets a chance to be seen and read. Use your RSS feeds! Take it one step further by displaying the group’s RSS feed on each others’ websites to capture a wider audience.

2.Hire a team of bloggers.

Newspapers have contributors, blogs can too. If you already hire writers for your articles, this works the same way. Many of the most successful blogs are already doing this. The combination of group promotion effort, regular updates and pinging can help bring in traffic quickly. One thing to note here is blogs are a somewhat social tool. Some very popular niche blogs are not all that visible in the search engines, yet they get a lot of traffic because people recommend them and they become a sort of buzz hub. Search engines do not always pick up on this but they do eventually. This is why group blogging can be very powerful because you’re leveraging the power of not one (your) influence group but several people’s influence group. If you do pay your bloggers, you can always offset this cost by displaying Adsense ads. Many popular blogs earn a good amount in Adsense, that they make a nice profit even after paying their bloggers team. After a while it becomes a passive income stream.

3.Recycle your content.

Have you got articles you’ve written a long time ago? What about material that you’ve never put online? A newspaper interview, printed article, maybe an audio segment. You can blog these. Break up the articles into small manageable blog entries. One of the reasons people like blogs so much is they are bite-sized pieces of information that give people what they want to know quickly. If the article is long, create a series of entries for example, a long article about finding the right home insurance can be broken up into home insurance week on your blog. You’ll also have one whole week’s worth of blog entries covered.

4.Include audio.

For some of us, it’s much easier to speak than to write. So, mix up your blog. Carry a small portable MP3 recorder or blog by phone. This is awfully convenient especially as moms, we’re running in and out of the house all day, ferrying our kids where they need to go. Maybe you’re stuck in traffic, or waiting for the kids to get out piano class or school. An idea or thought strikes and you think “Oh I need to share that on my blog” so, pick up your phone (assuming you have a cell phone – and many of us do), dial a number, say what’s on your mind, save it and you’re done. Your blog is published. If you’re using Blogger, you can do this for free through AudioBlog. It involves calling a long distance number, but most cell phone plans don’t charge extra for long distance anyway so you’re not incurring any extra cost.

If you’re using another blog publishing tool like WordPress, Movable Type or TypePad, then you’ll need a service like AudioBlogger.com. This one is a paid service but it’s only $4.95 a month and it gives you more options like a nice flash player, statistics and even video that make it worth while.

5.Automate your blog.

One of the best things about using a more sophisticated blog publishing tool like WordPress is forward blog entry. This allows you to blog ahead of time. For example if you have several things you’d like to share or speak out about, you can set the blog not to post that entry until a date and time of your choosing. It works much like an autoresponder or scheduled mailing feature you find in mailing list managers.

Let’s face it. There will be times we have a ton to say and times we have little or nothing to share. Instead of having multiple entries one day and nothing over the next few days, by using forward entry you can blog everyday of the week. Or rather you blog once and the blog publishing tool does the job automatically the rest of the week. You can even forward blog for weeks and months ahead of time.

Note: Blogger users unfortunately cannot do this because Blogger publishes all entries regardless what you date it immediately.

Affectionately nicknamed Tech Diva by her peers, Lynette Chandler regularly dispenses blogging and RSS help to countless business owners. Visit Lynette’s BlogEnergizer to learn more about blogging and get a copy of her video free.

Coaching Business Pt2

This is the second part of a three part series.

You have decided that you want to become an online coach. This is a great business for you to get into. Coaching online is a business with room for unlimited growth. As you begin your online coaching business, there are a few things that you need to be aware of.

These are the basic steps that all coaches need to take to make their online coaching business successful:

  • Decide on your niche.  Your passion and  expertise will guide you.  But before you go into any business, especially coaching, it is important to know that there is a demand for your services. Use a keyword tool to analyze how many times people are searching for the type of coaching that you will be giving.
  • Create your own website.  You will need to have your own web site and develop an online presence. This will be the site where you will direct potential clients and post information that your clients can have access to.  If you have the skills you can do this yourself or you can outsource it.
  • Communications and Materials. There are many different ways to coach online and keep your clients and potential clients in the loop. You can use weekly email newsletters to update your clients. Web casts can give your clients a live “how to” and pep talk. You can also use e-books and articles to coach your clients.
  • Advertising and Marketing. After you have set up your web site and decided how you will coach your online clients, it is time to get your first clients. You can begin promoting your online business through well-placed ads on web sites and through using forums to tell people about your new online coaching venture. You can choose to take your first couple of online clients pro-bono. You can offer your services in exchange for testimonials once your coaching is done. This will help to build your credibility as an online coach.

Beginning your online coaching business is a new and exciting experience. By following the basic steps to start your online coaching business, you will set your business on the road to success. This template for online coaching can be used with any type of online coaching. With a little change and variety in the ways that you use each step, you can make these easy steps work for you.