Here’s a test.

Go to Google.

type “site:yourdomainname”

replace yourdomainname with your domain name (eg. whoisandrewwee.com) and check how many pages have been indexed.

Go to Yahoo!, do the same.

Go to MSN, do the same too.

How many pages do you have on your site?

How many were indexed?

Indexing is critical to your Internet Marketing success.

If you show up on a SERP (search engine results page), you’ll have organic traffic.

Of course, you can rely on viral or advertising-supported traffic, but pound-for-pound organic traffic is the most sustainable and costs the least.

If you’re not listed on Yahoo!, you can use the Site Explorer and submit your URL.

You may need to autheticate your site.

While doing these steps won’t guarantee you’ll have tons of traffic, you’ll at least be on the map, so you can be found.

By virtue of their fresh content and frequency of updates, blogs will rank higher and be indexed more in depth compared to traditional websites.

Web hosting is a necessary part of any Internet Marketers’ arsenal.

Next to your domain name, you need the web space, Internet bandwidth and facilities to operate your blog, sales page, affiliate marketing or domain parking page.

It’s also one of the most vexing exercises to look for a good webhost.

Some may promise unlimited bandwidth, but only host 1 domain.

Some may host unlimited domains, but only provide 1 MySQL database (one database is required for each blog, forum, content management system like Joomla or other facility you need).

So many promise marketing hype.

Few deliver.

I was in a dizzy frenzy about 2 months ago.

I had many domains, but each web host I signed up with let me down (I’m still reeling from $300 worth of web services purchased from GoDaddy!)

I eventually settled on a web host not just because of its facilities (quite impressive), but because of a blog.

Not any ordinary blog, but the CEO’s blog.

As you might already be familiar, some blogs are just the PR mouthpiece for product launches, quarterly financial results and other corporate communications. Gobbledygook stuff which frequently isn’t worth reading.
Matt Heaton‘s blog is something special.

Matt is CEO of Blue Host.

Matt blogs about issues related to the Internet and specifically, web hosting.

Read it if you enjoy a no-holds barred, insideer’s view of the web hosting world: GoDaddy’s policies and the complexities of an industry where referrals could be equal to a year and a half of revenue from each client (imagine paying out referrals equal to 18months of sales to your affiliates!).

I was pumped and signed up with Bluehost after reading Matt’s blog.

I’m happy with the support for wordpress, joomla, forums and plan to keep my business with them.

Heck, my comment was even published.

I like doing business with people that I like.

It’s worked out so far.

If you’re serious about Internet Marketing, consider Blue Host.

In cyberspace, you don’t know who you’re communicating with.

The website you see before you is a collection of words and images.

And getting a sense of the person through their blog or website is not easy.

That’s why it’s important to establish your credibility as soon as possible.

Have you noticed how many sites lack an ‘About Us’ page?

Even if you have them, does it contain some canned corporate spiel about how they want to deliver the best product with best-of-breed technologies.

Let’s face it, at the end of the day, you still want to place a face to a brand, a service, your cell phone, the DSL service (which is a series of 1’s and 0’s). Even if you are eating dessicated corn pieces with bovine milk, you’d feel better if it was fronted by Tony the Tiger; or Snap, Crack, and Pop of Rice Krispies fame.

If we want to see a face or some characters when we buy a $2 box of cornflakes, wouldn’t we expect more when we buy Internet Marketing products that cost $599? $997? or $1499?

Then how come so many products don’t have a human face to them?

They could be the same guys who write those:

“I am Chan Ching Chong, the son of the late General Ding Dong Bell, who died leaving a $20 million fortune. And now I need your help”

Gee.

Do you think you could up your Internet Marketing credibility by personalizing your product and service?

Is that yes? or yes?

Focusing, specifically on blogs, check out Coen Ching’s bio page here.
In 3 parts no less. Quite well done.

It inspired me to work on my bio too.

Though not as monumental as Coen’s, I’ve done a short and long version.

You can check it out here.

If you do your own bio and would like feedback on it, drop me a comment, including the URL.

You might already have read my previous post “Time mastery for Internet Marketers” and are wondering, So what?

What’s next?

Why do you keep harping on this point over and over again?

For the fact that it’s:

• The most equal resource, regardless of rank, wealth, status, all of us have 24 hours a day.
• The greatest resource any of us can have. It can’t be bought, no matter how much money you may have.
• It’s a one-way resource, it flows in one direction. (Time may move slower at the speed of light, accordingly to Einstein, but that’s outside of this post)

It also happens to be the most badly managed and most wasted resource any of us will have. At least 90% of people will spend an entire day achieving less than 5 minutes of productive work. In many cases, it is 0 minutes!

Why does this happen?

There’s a poor connection between our:

• values
• our actions
• and ultimately the outcomes

Our values determine who we are and how we see ourselves.

Is what you’re doing at work or in your entrepreneurial venture creating meaning for you?

Is it something you’re looking forward to each day?

If you are energized each day working on expanding your business, that’s great.

If you are less than enthusiastic, you have 3 outcomes:

• Do nothing about it
• Quit!
• Do something about it

Doing nothing is self-explanatory. The pattern will repeat itself

Quitting: while it will remove you from the situation, you may not be able to better your situation.

Doing something: by shifting your mindset, you can achieve better results.

My previous post on time mastery has addressed some of the mindset shifting and I’d like to add the element of timeslicing.

Find your peak performance time. It varies from individual to individual. If you are a morning person, perhaps you might like to do it once you’ve woken up. If you’re a night person, maybe just before you retire for the night.

Timeslicing involves allocating time to achieve specific tasks.

• Set aside an hour a day.
• During this time, you are to focus solely on the task at hand
• Turn off your mobile phone, email, instant messengers
• Lock the door
• Keep away magazines, newspapers, mail

During this hour, you are to work at your peak efficiency.

It may not be easy to disregard distractions at the beginning, but the more you do this, the more efficient you will become.

Some who have an ingrained pattern of wasting lots of time might be tempted to shoot for 4 or 5 hours. This may work for the first day or two, but the disruption in your routine might throw you off and the pattern will collapse after the third day.

Strive to achieve an hour a day and keep it up for at least 21 days.

Once you have mastered this and it becomes part of your daily routine, you can move up to one and a half hours for the next 21 days and subsequently two hours.

In time, you will find yourself becoming very productive.

By timeslicing and segragating a chunk of time that you must be productive, you will find your personal efficiency reaching a new level.