by HomeBusinessWiz contributing writer Katja Bartholmess

Hello again, Home Business Wizzes!

In the last homepage booster we discussed the ways that fancy-shmancy web design can actually hurt your business. Today, let's look at the other side of the coin. I want to show you how even the simplest home page can help you land more clients - if you know the crucial homepage-boosting rules.

Today's booster recipient, Debbie Payne, launched her leadership consulting company at the beginning of this year. She maintains her own website (www.dpleadership.com) using an inexpensive html template, but is considering an upgrade to a more professional platform down the road. Until she does, let's explore a few ways Debbie can make her existing site more client-friendly and search engine-friendly without spending a dime.

And remember: my 7 point homepage critique is available to anyone with a company and a website. If you fall into that category and want to drum up more business, click here to get more info. There's no fee - just a suggested donation to a great charity.

As you read the following critique, ask yourself how these comments could be used to hotrod your homepage. Let's do it!

by guest writer Darren

The Thirty Day Challenge is a free training course that teaches you how to make your first $10 online. For a full 30 days master Internet marketers Ed Dale and Dan Raine teach you exactly how to start your own Internet business and generate your first income online without spending a dime.

That's right, without spending a dime. The entire training program is free, and you won't have to spend a thing to get your business started and begin making money. No credit card required.

The 2008 Thirty Day Challenge starts on August 1st, but pre-season started in June.

I participated in last year's challenge and would like to share the lessons I learned. Here we go:

Lesson #1. There is no way to know whether a particular idea will work or not. The only way is to test.

This is a big lesson. I see so many newbies out there who don't test and track their results. If you're not testing and tracking, you won't know what works and what doesn't. For example, if you're into affiliate marketing, you must track where your referrals come from. If they come from search engines, then you need to see which phrases work best and focus on them.

Marketing has often been confused with selling. In fact, they are quite different, despite being related. Here's the distinction:

Marketing determines how the item gets to the particular outlet and how buyers are made aware of the item.

Selling is the process of convincing the buyer to make a purchase from the selection offered.

Any artist's work will sell best when its location is best matched to the needs of its prospective buyer. It stands to reason that as an artist you will want to think about the end result and choose the best setting for your work.

Marketing includes the advertising, public relations, price points, business networks and locations. Sales take place when all of the above has been successfully addressed. This brings the right customer through the right door.

How do you do that? One way is to take a close look at the outlet. Who are its customers? Where do they live? What kind of income and educational background do they possess? Are they in specific age group? Which gender makes the purchase?

A good established gallery will do a lot for you, but if you are in a cooperative artist run center or a new gallery or an overworked gallery you will need to jump in yourself and make sure that all of the marketing elements are in place. The artist cannot sit back and wait or hope that the important items will be done to the artist's satisfaction.

Too often, necessary steps are omitted, and the artist realizes too late that more promotion should have been done. Then they feel burned and disappointed when the audience is small and the media didn't come around.  In a perfect world, everything would be in place. In the real world, we must take responsibility to create our own success.

Alice Parmelee Rich is a Canadian artist, art marketing consultant and business owner. She has given numerous Marketing Art Seminars in BC and the Yukon and combines her gallery background with her publishing and marketing experience. To contact Alice, please visit her web site www.Alice-Rich.com or email: alicerich [at] telus.net

Andrea Lee has put together a list of 60 ways to collaborate with others for increasing your bottom line. Each idea is very straight-forward and can be implemented immediately.

1. Interview someone.
2. Have someone interview you.
3. Write an article with someone.
4. Have someone write your ezine while you're on vacation.
5. Offer to write someone else's ezien while you're on vacation.
6. Invite a guest to lead a TeleSeminar
7. Send a complimentary copy of your product to 10 key players.
8. Put a promotion of someone else's product on your thank you page.
9. Invite someone to use your Pink Spoon Autoresponder for their target market.
10. Offer your 1-hour audio CD to someone to brand for their market.
11. Merge your membership site with another one and form a new branded site.
12. Hold a workshop together.
13. Put together a panel and write a proposal to speak at an industry conference.
14. Offer to write an endorsement.
15. Hire someone who's just starting out in their profession.
16. Invite guests to post insights at your blog.
17. Deliver a free TeleSeminar to promote someone else's product for an affiliate fee.
18. Send an article to 10 key players in your market - one that will help them.
19. Do a pre-event call for attendees of a conference you're speaking at.
20. Do a pre-event call for organizers of a conference you're speaking at.
21. Introduce a key player you already know to someone else who'd benefit.
22. Provide sponsorship opportunities for your offerings.
23. Take a photo of yourself using the product of someone you want to help.
24. Build an R&D Team.
25. Get in with a top-notch mastermind group.
26. Get an endorsement from someone who can benefit.
27. Promote the businesses of the suppliers you recommend.
28. Co-write a book.
29. Get your book ghost-written.
30. Make a list of things you need help with and make it public.
31. Offer a lucrative affiliate program.
32. Spend time training your affiliates.
33. Use humor and emotion to create a viral storm.
34. Hire someone who has a day job.
35. Get bonus gifts from 10 key players.
36. Offer a bonus gift to someone creating a big launch.
37. Build a relationship with 3 meeting planners.
38. Send your book draft out to be reviewed by area experts.
39. Groom a business partner.
40. Put photos of your business partners on the product or program.
41. Solicit feedback and comments on your TeleSeminars.
42. Ask for 'the biggest question' on the minds of your customers.
43. Find 3 key players to cross-promote your offering.
44. Offer to help finish a project someone else is struggling with.
45. Approach charities to become sponsors of your business.
46. Do a fundraiser for a charity.
47. Use an incentivised payment plan (partial pay for performance) for key team members.
48. Ask everyone for help, more often.
49. Recruit volunteers for finite projects.
50. Always request referrals.
51. Invite 2 key players to co-lead an event.
52. Create a product or program based solely on other people's content.
53. Use case studies.
54. Private label some of your content.
55. Find places that look for speakers for their ready-made audiences.
56. Work for someone else for a length of time.
57. Ask 3 authors to sell you their book for cost to provide as a gift to your customers.
58. Invite your customers to review your products at Amazon or Ebay.
59. License someone else's material.
60. Sell your business.

This article provides 8 sure-fire ways to increase your Google page ranking through building backlinks. Tips #2 - #8 come from the comprehensive guide to backlinks available at Search Engine Workshops.

Backlink Building Tip #1:

Increase Google page ranking by adding your website to the free Qassia directory.  You'll get unlimited quality backlinks (as opposed to "no-follow" backlinks), and you don't have to add reciprocal backlinks.

Backlink Building Tip #2:

Host your own affiliate program on your own server. Sure it takes more work: you have to set it up, administer it and pay out the affiliate checks. However, if you use an affiliate service, such as Commission Junction, the links point to the affiliate service and get redirected to your site. A more effective strategy is to host your own affiliate program, so all those affiliate links point directly to you. You can find affiliate programs, some of which may be free at The CGI Resource Index (Bill Gentry with Look Sharp Designs)

Backlink Building Tip #3:

Increase google page ranking by finding linking opportunities within discussion lists related to your site’s topic.  Warning: do so responsibly and carefully (in other words, don't join a discussion list for the sole purpose of getting backlinks.  Participate and add value to the discussion group). Try YahooGroups, which has thousands of topical discussion groups on almost any topic. I often send short posts to appropriate lists with links for my clients’ sites, and if you do so properly, it is very effective. (Eric Ward, President, NetPOST and URLwire)

Backlink Building Tip #4:

Anywhere you can leave your link, do it: in chat rooms, guest books and social networking sites (the warning from tip #3 applies here as well).  You would be surprised at where your link turns up on search engines when you start doing this. And if the search engine has found it, then it adds to your link popularity. (Don Hammond at DonOmite.com)

Backlink Building Tip #5:

Now that Google indexes the content of newsgroups, if you post to related newsgroups, be sure to use a signature line with your link and appropriate link text. (Robin Nobles of Search Engine Workshops, Online Search Engine Marketing Courses, and the TNT-Guides for Successful Web Sites.

Backlink Building Tip #6:

Ask a question at a site that has a question and answer page and include a link. Post questions on forums that allow links. Post into the newsgroups. Include an e-mail tail tag. Put it on your T-shirt. Include it as a sticker with each shipped order. Tattoo it on your forehead. Tell your mom. Get a vanity license plate. (Michael Campbell with Internet Marketing Secrets)

Backlink Building Tip #7:

The number one way I've built link popularity is by offering a good information product or service, establishing a good conversion on the site, and then getting super affiliates. I've found that getting super affiliates multiplies the number of regular affiliates I'm able to get. All of this leads to hundreds of inbound links. It takes a very disciplined approach, but one I've found very effective. (Jon Keel with Improved Results)

Backlink Building Tip #8:

I'm surprised at how many people don't have their link in their signature line of their e-mail. (Don Hammond at DonOmite.com)

by Katja Bartholmess

Today's homepage booster is for Kerry Oldfield of Oldfield Performance Dynamics (OPD). OPD is an Australian company that helps clients improve productivity through coaching and consulting.

Founder Kerry Oldfield says that his website currently acts more as an “electronic brochure” than a business-generating machine. “I figure that a search that someone may do (e.g. on leadership, cultural change etc.) will get so many sites mine will have little chance to be opened by a searcher.”

We’ll see about that, Kerry!

7 point Homepage Booster critique of Kerry's website

What can Kerry do to get more business?

Kerry’s goal is to “get calls on how I could help potential clients/managers.” Let’s take a look at his homepage and see which areas are working and which ones need to be overhauled.

Remember: my 7 point homepage critique is available to anyone with a company and a website. If you fall into that category and want to drum up more business, click here to get more info. And as you read the following critique, ask yourself how these comments could be used to hotrod your homepage.

Okay, let’s dive in!

1. Clear purpose – does the reader know exactly what you’re offering?

GENERAL CRITIQUE
• Within seconds of opening your page, web surfers should be able to tell if they’re in the right place. Your title, slogan and headline only indicate that you’re addressing businesspeople – not the size or kinds of business that you work with
• Good work on your simple, catchy slogan (“Adding Value and Vision”). By itself, however, the slogan doesn’t tell the reader what you do. To what do you add “Vision and Value,” and to whom do you offer these services?
• Your headlines and body copy seem vague. “Performance business strategies” doesn’t really describe what you can do for the reader