Throughout the internet, there are hundreds of free article directories to choose from to submit your article to. Some have more benefits than others, but they all offer similar benefits making it worth your time to submit to. From free advertising to enhanced credibility, there are a number of benefits you get from submitting to free article directories.

The greatest benefit to submitting to free article directories is the free advertising. It has been found to be 7-10 times more effective advertising than any other advertising. The reason being is that you become known as the expert because of your article and the knowledge displayed. This will intrigue readers before they even get to your website, making it an easy pre-sell tactic.

This free advertising leads to an increase in your websites traffic volume. The more free article directories you submit to the better. This will assure you that your article is being seen and read by thousands of people all over the internet. Then, by placing a bio box at the end of the article, people have a link to be directed to your website. This will also allow you to receive interested and legitimate traffic, because they were referred from your article.

Submitting to free article directories is also a great way to get to the top of the search engines, thus increasing your traffic volume as well. By submitting to the directory, it gets your article out in the public eye and allows you to get better use of keyword optimization.

Another benefit of submitting to free article directories is the ability to keep your articles in the directory for an extended period of time. You can continuously add new articles to the directory and your old ones remain in the directory and on the search engines. Many times your articles will get picked up for re-print, which extends the life of your article.

Lastly, submitting to free article directories gives you a head start on the reciprocation process. Your potential customers will be pre-sold from you providing quality content and expertise. After seeing your knowledge, people will feel in touch with you and be more willing to check out your products.

There are a number of ways you will benefit from submitting to free article directories making it an essential aspect to your business. Aside from free advertising and in increase in traffic volume, you can show off your expertise and pre-sell your website in a quick and efficient manner.

Streaming media technology enables the real time or on demand distribution of audio, video and multimedia on the Internet and when one talks of streaming video it simply refers to the simultaneous transfer of digital media in the form of a video communication that is received as a continuous real-time stream. Thus, any data in the form of a video that is streamed and transmitted by a server application and received and displayed in real-time by client applications is termed as streaming video technology. This is an essential part of online advertising and now even mobile phone companies are beginning to sit up and take note of the instant and spontaneous effect of streaming video communication processes.

While streaming video has many benefits, the foremost is the immediate and full-on impact that visuals and relevant context data messaging have on the viewer. Online advertising using streaming video applications function on sending across messaging that is visually appealing and creatively packaged to attract viewer attention so the viewer is compelled to start displaying video or playing back audio with the video as soon as enough data has been received and stored in the receiving station’s buffer. In the case of streaming video, a streamed file is simultaneously downloaded and viewed, but leaves behind no physical file on the viewer's machine. This is the preferred form of streaming video access favored by most first time web viewers.

Most ad agency executives believe that lack of consumer access to the streaming video technology is one reason their clients are not interested in this form of advertising. But, the fact that broadband penetration is at an all time high needs to be re-established firmly. Ad executives also feel that clients are skeptical about the high cost of streaming video, which is a fallacy since the expense is a misconception. Only those actually working gin the field of streaming media and streaming video solutions, like Innovateads, California, can debunk this belief as expert broadcasters have sure means of cost-cutting and still benefiting clients.

Being an entrepreneur isn't easy. Putting yourself out there in such a way opens you up to criticism, makes you confront your fears and forces you to recognize your limitations. But it also shows you how to harness your unique skills and gifts, teaches you delegation and discipline, and even patience and persistance.

As a fulltime mom and fulltime business owner, I sometimes feel overwhelmed with all there is to do each day and frustrated by a lack of time. In those moments, I try to remind myself that what I'm learning from being a mother and from my young daughter applies to my business as well. I truly believe that my success in business is a direct result of my own personal growth. And nothing has helped me grow more quickly than being a mom!

To further the point, since I invested in my first personal development info-product (Tony Robbin's Personal Power in 1989) to my recent attendance at the Power of Collaboration SuperConference in NYC, whenever I make the effort to work on myself, my business takes a leap forward.

This wasn't apparent at first, but over the course of this year, where I've made the concentrated effort to focus on my personal growth consistently, my business has flourished as a result.

It's kind of amazing, actually, to start connecting the dots as to why I would struggle with certain things in my personal life and then face those same issues in my business. Once I started addressing those things that were holding me up personally, the blocks came down in my business as well. AND the money and clients started flowing in, more easily and more consistently.

(And conversely, there are things that I was very good at handling in my business that I wasn't so great at handling in my personal life. Once it was concretely pointed out to me that I had the skills already, that I just needed to apply them to my personal life to get similar results, those personal challenges started to disappear.)

So now when I get overwhelmed and frustrated, I remind myself that everything I'm learning and doing, even if it's repetitive (what toddler doesn't love repetition?), is teaching me something that can be applied to both my business and my life, even if it's simply to be more patient or to relax and enjoy the present moment more!

Now we will cover the importance of obtaining Backlinks

Backlinks, defined as links that point to your site on other sites, are one of the most important aspects to consider when optimizing your site for traffic. The more backlinks your site has, the higher it will rank with search engines. And, the more backlinks you have out there, the more people are bound to see your site. Thankfully, there are lots of great ways to obtain backlinks.

One way is to utilize forums and message boards, especially those that relate to your site in some way. You'll find that on these forums and message boards, you can use a signature. Make sure to read the policies of the site, and if they allow advertisements in the sig line, then by all means take advantage of this. By including your link in your sig line, then making a good number of regular, quality posts (no spam!) you will get more backlinks pointing to your site.

Another way to get backlinks is through link trading. Link trading is where you exchange links with another webmaster. This is especially effective if the sites you are trading with have a high Page Rank. One way to find websites to trade with is to visit webmaster forums. Many of these types of forums have a special section devoted to link trading. You can also search for sites that you feel are of good quality, then email the webmaster and request a link trade. Some webmasters will be happy to trade with you, some won't. In some cases, you can even purchase links on quality sites.

Then there's the directory route, another great way to get links. There are hundreds of different web directories out there where you can submit your site. Some of them cost money to list your site, while some of them are free. DMOZ is probably the best example of a free quality directory. Getting your site listed on directories can take time, especially if the directory is large, so be prepared to wait a few weeks.

Listing on directories serves several purposes. First, it allows people searching the directory a way to find your site. Second, it builds the quantity of quality backlinks you have.

Now, let's talk more about those free article directories -- one of the best ways to get backlinks to your website. There are probably hundreds of these sites out there, and you can submit to them all. The key is to write articles that relate to the topic of your site in some way. Then at the bottom of each article, you're given a space to include a short bio and the link to your site.

When webmasters come to these free article directories seeking free content, it's possible they'll use your article. So not only are you getting the backlink from the free article site, you're getting backlinks from all the sites that are using your free articles. These backlinks will improve your Page Rank, and people who read the articles may click your link and end up at your site.

Starting your own catering business can be both financially rewarding and fun. Whether you cater events on a full-time or a part-time basis, the opportunities are excellent. Each catered event is a new experience and challenge with a new group of people. With the rewards and fun come demanding work, for which you will need stamina and the ability to work under pressure. The law requires that caterers be licensed and meet other requirements for foodservice establishments. The Board of Health insures that food for distribution and sale to the public is safely prepared, handled, protected and preserved.

To obtain a license, apply to the local Health Department. Before a license is issued, the Health Department will inspect your business to see that it meets food sanitation requirements. Once a license is issued, the Health Department will conduct routine inspections of your business. These inspections are needed to help insure compliance with food sanitation rules developed to protect the public from foodborne illness. Outbreaks of foodborne illness have been attributed to factors such as poor hygiene by personnel, inadequate cooking, and improper cooling and storage of food.

The development of a business plan will aid you in planning a successful business. Prior to starting a catering business, you need to determine your type of businessãi.e., cakes, receptions, seated dinners, box lunches, picnics, hors d¼oeuvres, or dessert courseãand the type of food you will serve (primarily convenience or "from scratch"). Analyze your market. Ask yourself the following questions to see if your business venture will satisfy at least one of the following fundamental elements of success. If not, you probably do not have a viable business idea.

The questions are:

Will the business serve a presently unserved need?

Will the business serve an existing market in which demand exceeds supply?

Can the business effectively compete with existing businesses because of some "competitive advantage?"

Decide whom you will target as customers. Who is your competition? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Where will you get supplies? Decide how you will promote your business. Will you need to employ staff to help with production, service, and cleanup? What other skills do you need to make your business successful?

Start-Up Costs: You may choose to start your catering business by renting items to keep initial costs to a minimum. You may rent the use of kitchen facilities, utensils, tables, tablecloths, serving equipment and other items. This will allow you to: 1) Build a reputation; 2) develop some capital for investment and expansion and 3) evaluate how much time and money you want to invest and the impact that this business will have on your family.

Food Safety: To be successful in the catering business, one must produce delicious food that is safe and wholesome. The production of safe foods is your responsibility. Time and temperature abuse of foods contaminated with foodborne pathogens, such as Salmonella, Campylobacter and Escherichia coli O157:H7, will certainly lead to a foodborne outbreak that would likely destroy your reputation and business. Foodborne illness can be avoided if you and your employees follow safe food handling practices.

Like I said earlier, starting your own catering business can be both financially rewarding and fun. Whether you cater events on a full-time or a part-time basis, the opportunities are excellent, but it do require some planning and hardwork in order for you to enjoy the benefits.

Online video marketing is all about the ability to engage viewers through the right messaging combination of visuals and audio projection on the Internet.

California based Innovateads is a video production company that lives up to the promises it makes when taking on your business requirements for online video marketing or developing training videos for your company. It is recognized as the leading service provider in the online video marketing industry and uses a specialized ‘iad’ technology to create video spokespersons live on the client’s website. This facilitates one-to-one online presentations that reach out to the web user and benefits online video marketing strategy since it is personalized, therefore more effective. The web user focuses on the visuals flashing by on the computer screen as unlike static ads, these online commercial messages involve running video clips of actors, spokespeople, or company representatives that actually speak to them. Thus, these online video marketing strategies help to draw a visual connection with the customers visiting the client’s site and build a sort of link with them. This goes on to help divert web traffic to the website that is being promoted in the focus of the advertisement online and is beneficial in furthering positive communication of the company message.

Since using online video marketing advertisements, particularly spokespersons that look realistic and believable helps to engage the viewer’s attention, this form of online video marketing also shows the best and most immediate results when it comes to delivering sales pitches. According to a survey conducted by Online Publishers Association, nearly 5 percent of consumers view online video daily, 24 percent view these once a week while a chunk of 46 percent view online video ads at least once a month. These figures rise with the appreciation that aesthetically designed and captivatingly packaged online video marketing oriented advertisements can garner. Thus, picking an experienced video production company is crucial to the fate of your online business image and that of your product or service. While popular methods of getting the online video marketing idea across includes using video new clips, sometimes subtle means like irony, humor or even testimonials from celebrities prove effective in generating higher interest levels.

The basis of effective online video marketing is finding the right target audience and judging its pulse to produce and package the product in such a way that it is difficult to ignore.

Most people still don't realise the benefits of selling digital products on eBay, so I have provided 10 good reasons why selling eBooks on eBay may not be such a bad idea after all.

1. You have no physical stock to hold. As the items you are selling are digitally stored on your computer or web server you never have to worry about having the space available in your home or office to store your goods.

2. Everything can be fully automated. That's right, if you sell eBooks you don't have to worry about delivering your stock to your customers, you don't have to worry about rushing to the post office. It is possible to fully automate the whole delivery process.

3. Your customer gets their purchase instantly. As you can deliver instantly this means your customer gets their purchase right away, this is a very powerful selling tool indeed.

4. No postage costs. As you are selling a digital item your delivery costs are zero.

5. You can create your own products at will. I think we all dream of writing a book, well because of the digital age this has become possible. Anyone can create their own eBook on any topic they wish.

6. You can generate an affiliate income. If you create your own eBooks you can provide links to recommended products and services and generate an easy affiliate income.

7. Other eBay sellers can make you money. Allow your own eBooks to be sold by others and you can create a viral empire, all linking back to your websites, products and services.

8. You can build your mailing list. Simply give away a free eBook or report in exchange for some contact details. This can generate 1000s of potential leads you can follow up on and ‘build your list'.

9. You can be seen as an expert in any field. All it takes is to research your chosen topic on the internet, write about it and create an eBook that can make you money for years. As you are now seen as an expert in your chosen field you can create further products, websites and services and build your own niche empire.

10. You can have a product that is unique. How often do we see 100s of eBay sellers competing with each other selling the same products? Well in the digital age it is possible to create a product that is 100% unique to you. This means you control the price.

Even though a nationwide criminal history search is practically impossible, many companies advertise that such a search can be made possible by hiring their services. Practically speaking, such a search would involve having access to records worldwide or at least access to the FBI database that houses national criminal records. This is an impossible task since the investigators would not have access to the records in each and every court in the country nor have access to the FBI records.

Most of the companies that claim to provide a nation wide search would be able to investigate the records in a few specific states as well as the data available online. This does not ensure accurate data when it comes to an extensive search.

The FBI houses the complete nationwide criminal records, but only a small part of it would be accessible to licensed investigators unless the background check is being conducted to catch a criminal. They also have records of the fingerprints of all criminals as well as normal citizens for reference. Hence, the investigators can get the FBI to compare a set of prints to find out if the individual has a criminal history even though they would be unable to access the records themselves.

Many websites claim to provide a nationwide pre-employment criminal search. Often, this returns accurate results but there are also cases when they are unable to check the records in all the states. This might prove to be dangerous in certain instances such as sexual harassment, drug abuse cases where the employer is unable to know about the applicant’s true nature. This might lead to problems later on in the future both to the employer, the company, and all the existing employees.

It is suggested to shop around for a good investigating agency before entering into a contract with them. This usually ensures accurate and correct information and would be of a big help in hiring an applicant for a post.

Several states permit the formation and operation of a single-member Limited Liability Company (LLC). The question that arises automatically is why anyone should register himself as a LLC when he can run the business as a sole proprietary concern. The answer is simple – with a LLC he obtains limited liability protection, which means that for liabilities arising from the business, his personal assets cannot be touched. In fact, certain people exploit this position by contributing only their risky assets to the LLC and keeping the rest outside its scope.

A single-member LLC is taxed as a proprietorship. The profits of the LLC are added to the other income of the interest holder. The profits and losses can be reported on your personal tax return, in schedule C.

Even for a single-member LLC it is prudent to have an operating agreement to distinguish it clearly from a sole proprietary concern. The lenders may like to look at the operating agreement before taking a decision on your loan application. This is also likely to be helpful in case of lawsuits. The document has to be signed by the single member twice, for himself and on behalf of the company.

An additional advantage of a single-member LLC is that the interest in the company can be transferred to a beneficiary (for example, your son), without paying gift taxes. Even after such a transfer you can continue to control the company by being appointed as ‘manager’. Check the details with your tax consultant.

Registration of a single-member LLC is pretty much like the procedure for a multi-member version. The necessary papers are to be filed with the Secretary of State who has jurisdiction over the area where your company is to be set up. There may be some minor differences in the forms. The required forms and checklists can be bought as standalone documents or in combo packs. If you like, you can consult a professional. There are several experts available.

Multi Level Marketing (MLM) has been around for several decades now and while people do make money at it, it is worth noting that the vast majority of the people that get involved with MLM are not making any money with it. The statistics would show that those who make up the majority of the people in MLM programs work harder and lose more money than they could ever hope to make.

The idea behind MLM is that you get recruited, recruit people and then your downline recruits even more people. The big problem with that approach is that it becomes harder to recruit due to geography and market density issues with each layer down in the MLM pyramid. You can only have so many MLM reps in a geographic area or market before they outnumber the people needed to buy the products for them to make money, not to mention recruiting.

A much better way to get started with a home-based business are so-called affiliate programs and, while they are not new, they allow you to make a significant amount of money without the hassles of MLM's. You are not out selling anything or wasting your time recruiting people to build your downline. In MLM programs, you'll have a capital investment in subscription fees and products. Then there is all the time you'll have to spend making cold calls, hosting parties and all the other work that goes into building and maintaining your downline.

With the concept of affiliate programs, you look to see who has affiliate programs that support what your niche market is. You signup for their affiliate program, which is free and start promoting your product. There's no cold-calling, no face-to-face selling or huge investments you have to make. From that point on, you collect a check based on the terms of the contract. MLM programs never have been that easy to promote and they never will. They work very hard telling you how you can be one of the top people and if you get in early enough you can become one of the really rich ones. However, the odds are stacked against you ever being able to make any money.

This is not the case with affiliate programs as they do not have any downlines to maintain and there is no recruiting whatsoever. The amount of money you are able to make is dependent on the amount of traffic your site generates. Your job is to generate traffic to your website in order to pre-sell the products or services you're affiliated with.

It was only a few years ago that online booksellers had only a couple of options for listing their books on Internet marketplaces. Enter Amazon.com, and suddenly there were some radical changes in the landscape as well as a huge market for online booksellers. Amazon has modified the way many things are bought and sold through the Internet, but their greatest influence has without a doubt been with respect to books, CD's, and other goods with standardized numbering systems, e.g., ISBN and barcode identifiers. When they began to allow third-party sellers to sell used items alongside the new ones Amazon was offering, many people, and certainly some other businesses, thought they were crazy, but Amazon.com maintained that they were customer-centric and intended to provide a marketplace where their customers could make their own decisions while being assured of a satisfactory experience.

Recently, some very interesting events have taken place that warrant at least a cursory look. Google introduced Froogle quite some time ago, but recently introduced Google Base which I believe is intended to be the long-term replacement for Froogle. Google Base offers a venue for online booksellers to list their Amazon inventory for sale and potentially a means for sellers to circumvent the sales commissions charged by Amazon.com. While Google Base is still in its infancy, once Google has all the details worked out and has integrated into their service a means for secure customer payment and seller notification, Base will in all likelihood be a real headache for Amazon.com. I say this because Amazon.com is accustomed to market domination and Google is not very well known as settling for being number two at anything. I am sure Amazon.com will counter with other incentives and features to maintain their position and market presence, but Google will go for position number one in online bookselling if they really decide to get into the business. The developments are going to be very interesting to say the least.

An even more recent development that lends credence to the value of the bookselling market was Microsoft's announcement that they will be launching an Internet book search feature which will target only books in the public domain and those that publishers ask to have included which are under copyright protection. Thus, Microsoft is now at about the same point where Google was a few years ago, but is not targeting all books like Google first declared they would be doing.

So, why are Google and Microsoft so interested in books? The only logical explanation is that both see a way to derive substantial revenues from the sale of books. What I do not understand is why it took them so long to see this. Amazon.com is a multibillion dollar company with very respectable annual earnings, and surely Google and Microsoft were aware of Amazon.com's business theme before now. Amazon.com did not get as big as it is by giving their services away.

With an affiliate program, you will be recruiting affiliates to advertise your product or link. Every time one of your affiliates makes a sale for your site, they get a percentage of the profits. Affiliate programs are a great ways to get hundreds of people promoting your site for you. ClickBank is probably one of the most widely used affiliate sites out there, so if you want to start an affiliate program for your site, that would be a good starting point. There is a fee to use ClickBank, however. If you want to try out an affiliate program without paying, there are sites like PayDotCom. They are free, but you probably won't get as many affiliates as you would with ClickBank.

Now let's take a look at another way to bring visitors to your site -- by providing them a valuable resource:

Starting a Newsletter. Starting a newsletter, ezine, or community can be a fantastic way to bring repeat traffic to your site. So by all means, if you can provide a newsletter once a week, then do so. A newsletter, ezine or even a discussion community builds a loyal subscriber base and brings more traffic from referrals to your site. You can put a subscription box on your website with some information about your newsletter. Then, all subscribers have to do is enter their email address, which will be sent to your database. There are a variety of programs out there that can help you start a newsletter, some of them for free. To get started with a basic newsletter, check out the free software at the ideamarketers web site. This is a good starting point, although there are many other free newsletter software programs you can find as well. When your newsletter gets bigger with more subscribers, you can always move to a more advanced newsletter program that costs.

Offering Something for Free. Offering your visitors something for free can also be a great way to bring traffic to your site. You could offer a free ebook, for example. If people can obtain something free, they're more likely to visit your site. Not only that, but then you can submit your site to the freebie and free stuff directories out there. People seeking freebies will then come across your site and visit. Not only that, but your link in the free directories counts as a backlink! If you do end up using this tactic, be sure that your site offers lots of quality content. Your visitors may come for the freebie, but they stay, and return, for the content!

In Closing, bringing traffic to your website is an ongoing process. Let's take a look at the steps we've discussed: SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Quality Content Dynamic Content Lots of Backlinks Buying Ad Space Starting a Newsletter Giving Something Away All of these steps can be used together to bring the most traffic possible to your site. Building a great site certainly doesn't happen overnight, so be patient and keep at it. With diligence and attention, you can take your website to the top!

Success in business is a rare thing. Most businesses fail today, not because they were built upon bad ideas, but because most business owners do not focus on what truly makes the difference between success and failure.

There is one skill, above and beyond any other skill, that is critical to your success in business. If you do not learn to adapt this skill, your business idea will probably either fail or not reach your intended level of success like ninety-eight percent of all start up businesses in the world today.

It does not matter whether you are running a restaurant, a retail store, an Internet business, or a home-based business; the necessity is still the same. This one skill is the biggest reason for success and failure in business.

Oprah knows the secret; so does Time Warner, Ted Tuner, McDonald's, Google, and Bill Gates. I could go on and on. They know the secret. Do you?

What is the secret?

It is the art and science of "Media Placement." This one skill reaps more rewards than any other aspect of business. You want to become a "Media Placement Specialist."

You might ask, "What is a ‘Media Placement Specialist?'" Well, first of all, this is not about getting a certification to put on your resume to get a job. It is how to specialize in the skill of placing media to promote your business. It is also bigger than "traditional marketing."

When someone masters the art and science of placing media, they start to control the game. If they master many areas, they are what many experts call a "media mogul." A "media mogul" controls different forms of media and, ultimately, marketing.

Oprah Winfrey is a great example. She is self-made. She is a self-made billionaire media mogul. Oprah is now the owner of Harpo Productions, has her own TV show, had a radio show, and does print media and Internet marketing.

When you master the art and science of media placement, the idea is simple. Start small, and find one or two methods of media placement that work for you. You could start by trying Internet media placement, direct mail, pay-per-click, co-registration, or articles. The idea is to find a couple of means, start them working for you, and then you can grow your business and expand the types and amounts of media you use.

Today, Internet marketing is one of many media placement strategies you could use. It could be the single fastest, least expensive, low-risk type of media available today if you take the time to learn some of the secrets. Once you do your testing on the Internet, it makes it easy to expand into other types of media quickly.

There are many resources you can find that are available to learn the art of marketing, but there are very resources that teach the mastery of media placement. Take the time to learn it. It could become the best investment you have ever made.

A home based business can be a great opportunity. It can provide you with financial freedom, or that extra money you are looking for so that you can enjoy some of life's little luxuries. A home based business can be your dream come true.

The thing about home based businesses is that there are a lot of them out there in cyberspace. Some of them are good ones, and some are not so great. You will have to do your homework on the various home based businesses available. The good news is that with the huge array of home based business choices out there, it is more than likely that you will find one that is perfect for your needs and suits the skills you have.

A home based business will require work. They do not run themselves. You must put in the effort to make them work and be successful. Every successful home based business owner will tell you that they had to work at their business. It also did not happen overnight. A home based business requires time to grow and become successful. Everyone starts small, and everyone has to start somewhere. So give yourself time to go from a beginner to a success at your home based business.

Another way to find a good home based business for you is to learn from others. Often, people are willing to share their stories about what worked and what did not work for them as they began their home based business. Ask questions, and investigate possible shortcuts. You never know when you will find something that will help make your home based business very successful.

Work At Home Using The Internet

If you want to work at home, start a home based business on the internet. Basing a business on the internet broadens your client . It also has the advantage of low or no overhead.

Home based businesses on the internet abound. To find one that suits you, work within a field you enjoy. The internet increases your client base, but because of the competition you will have to work hard to make your product or site stand out.

Home based business on the internet can be started in almost any field of interest. If you want to offer services, writing web content and designing websites can provide good opportunities. Artists can offer services ranging from graphic design to pet portraits. You can offer advertising services on the internet. Think of any field you are interested in and search the web. You will probably find somebody offering services in that field. If the competition is too much, you narrow your services to a specific group. For example, instead of offering pet portraits you could offer dog portraits.

Most people think of selling products online when they think of home based business on the internet. You can sell through a website, but first learn about website promotion. If you promote your website well you can also sell other people's products through affiliate programs. If you don't want to build a site or don't know how to promote, consider selling your products an an auction site. Many people have found internet auctions work well for them.

If you are interested in working for yourself, consider a home based business on the internet. It works for others. Research well, know what you are doing, and it should work for you.