Internet marking constantly changing and Keyword Avalanch has changed to NicheRockets.

Why should you care? Keep reading for something really cool (and free) if you are trying to make money online.

What is NicheRockets?

At it’s core, NicheRockets is the same paid forum just like Keyword Avalanche was. In addition to the forum, Keyword Avalanche featured keyword lists that were useful to build niche sites around. However, the Internet marketing world is changing and AdSense does not pay what is used to and keyword lists are not as effective. So to add and keep real value to the forum they increased value of the benefits of being a member.

NicheRockets gives you five businesses in a box on a monthly basis.

More than just five niche sites ready for you to build, they are actually 5 businesses. You get a complete site. Graphics and template plus articles for content. You also get a complete Nichebot keyword search so you can change the content for your articles and know what keywords are hot. The real kicker is the product. A quality ebook for the niche site with sales page. That is not just one, but five per month. All you need is a domain, hosting, and to set it up.

Why not just sites and articles?

The fact is, Adsense is not as great as it used to be. Having a product to sell can really help create a true income from the sites. Let’s face it, if 10 out of 100 visitors click an Adsense ad, you are lucky to make $10 from all of them and in most cases you will make less than $1 from those 10 clicks. Now, if just 2 visitors buy your product, you’ve made over $20 instead. Plus, you can run your own AdWords campaign (or even set up your own affiliate system) to send more traffic.

Curious about NicheRockets’ business in a box? A free offer!

NicheRockets has a free business in a box for you to check out. Yep, a free site with content, graphic, product, and sales page and even a Nichebot keyword search done for you. You can even create the site and sell it. It is also not a ebook on making money online!  NicheRockets places the value of this gift at $1000 and it could very well make you more than that if you know what to do. I would suggest you download it right now before they remove it. Use the following link:

Free Business In a Box

What if you do not know how to set up a niche site?

That is where the NicheRockets forum comes in. With NicheRockets you can get complete training. They have videos to guide you each step of the way, including both a more basic system to get you started and guides for a more robust system when you are ready. If you find that you have questions after the videos and instructions, you also can ask in the forum.

The Nichebot forum is a real value by itself.

There is real advice there from people that really make money online. Tim Gorman (who is one of Ezine Articles top authors) shares his advice and experience. You cannot get more practical than a full time Air Force recruiter who makes the kind of money he does online. What he does works! There are other members that give great advice too. While there are not any real "secrets" in internet marketing, there is also advice that cannot be shared "out in the open" that some members feel safe to share in a closed forum like NicheRockets. There are also other products made available to members on the forum including resale rights products to sell that others are paying just to read (and members get them free). Great products, great education and great advice all in one place. What more could you ask for?

How about a $1-7 day NicheRockets trial?

Check it out for 7 days. If you do not like it, $1 is nothing to worry about it. If you do decide to stay (they wouldn’t make this kind of offer if they did not think you would be impressed) you get $50 off the normal monthly subscription. Give the $1 trial a trial and save the $50 on the subscription using the link below:

NicheRockets $1 trial

If you are interested in making money online, NicheRockets may be a good investment for you.

I am not going to tell you it will make you thousands per month. Most people buy the guru ebooks and never make a dime. Sometimes, it is because the information is useless and everyone is already using it. Other times, it is simply because they do not use the information. Ether way, they have wasted the money they spent. Sometimes that can be hundreds or thousands of dollars. You can see the what the NicheRockets product will look like for free and test the forum for just $1. I feel safe recommending that to anyone.

Once more here are the links:

Free NicheRockets business in a box

NicheRockets $1 trial and $50 off monthly subscription

I have been with NicheRockets nearly 2 years.

It is one of the two paid forums/products on internet marketing that I can really recommend. If you just want to run a blog, it may not be for you. If you are looking at eBay, it may not be worth the monthly expense. If you are interested in affiliate income, Adsense, and niche sites, I would think it definitely would be worth it. In any situation though, I would recommend you see for yourself because $1 is nothing that will set you back financially and it may be just what you need.

Linkbait done right still makes a happy reader

Linkbait can get you traffic.

Linkbait done right, can turn that traffic into readers. Readers can then make you money.

Linkbait done wrong can get you traffic.

Linkbait done wrong will make potential readers feel cheated. Readers that feel cheated will not return.

Linkbait should never leave your reader feeling like he or she fell hook, line, and sinker for a scam!

It is ok to use linkbait to attract attention.

In this case it should really be called trafficbait. Just like the headline in a newspaper is used to get people to buy a paper and read the story.

If you provide content that does not leave the reader feeling cheated, they will even appreciate the fact that they took the bait. The reader needs to feel they received value for the time they spent.

There are many common uses of linkbait that seem to work well.

Often, the use of a well known Hollywood star in the title can get a lot of traffic. Cashquest’s post 6 Lessons Britney Spears Can Teach You About Blogging is a classic example of doing it right. The catchy title draws you in and the good information in the post keeps you entertained and informed.

In some ways it is the old bait and switch.

A title about something that will catch the reader, but the article is really about something totally different. As long as the content can satisfy the reader it will work. If you fail to provide something the reader is looking for, you are looking for trouble.

Examples of terrible linkbaiting are common.

Offten, an outrageous claim is made and nothing but a poor Photoshopped image is given as content. The author’s claim’s throughout the post about his great discovery and secret fool nobody. Even when the author has no intention of fooling anyone and thinks it is humorous the reader will feel cheated.

The reader feels he had been made to look like a fool.

You fell for my stupid trick.

Ha Ha. I made you look.

This is the type of linkbait that will kill a website or blog.

If you have a good reputation, this will hurt it. If you do this twice to your readers and you are going to lose readers.

You have built a new reputation.

You now provide totally unsubstantiated claims. You make empty promises. You provide no value. You are a waste of time to read or pay attention to. Not the reputation you want.

Anyone can claim to have a new secret method of ranking high in the search engines.

But if you do not back it up, you look like an amateur. A joke. A cheap scam.

It is not a PR stunt.

It is just dumb.

I read a post recently that claimed readers should not expect credibility from a blog.

Could not be more wrong.

People will read your blog for information or entertainment. You need credibility for both. Maybe not scientific credibility, but the reader must be able to trust you to provide what they came for.

If you are known for information and suddenly only have pranks to show, who is going to continue to look to you for information. You lose the reputation for information and your credibility to provide it.

If you are known for entertaining, your readers trust you to provide entertainment.

You have creditability even then. If no one finds you entertaining and your trying to entertain, you have no credibility to entertain and probably no readers.

It does not matter if your blog is just opinion or even fiction.

You are working to gain credibility in providing a service to your reader. Nearly always that is information or entertainment.

Good linkbait or trafficbait keeps that credibility you have with your readers.

It is not just a cheap trick to raise your page view, but an attempt to lure a new reader that you can build credibility with.

In the long run, any business needs return customers to survive.

Why? Because it is far less expensive to keep a customer you already have than go find a new one. There is a cost either in money or time to get someone to your page. That cost is less if they return.

Bad link bait will get you page views.

But you lose credibility with those readers. Perhaps you will profit if they click an ad as they leave, but don’t expect them back. Don’t expect them to trust your recommendation for a product or service. You already cheated them.

How do you feel when you find linkbait or traffic bait?

Do you feel like I do when there is still good content? Do you feel cheated of your time when there is nothing of value there? Have you fallen for linkbait that you still found useful? Do you think blogs can be credible?

I just converted my How To Take Better Photos site to WordPress.

Originally, I created the site in Dreamweaver.

It was a bit of a chore learning how to do it. Additionally, whenever I wanted to add content, it took a lot of time.

This is what it used to look like.

Clicking on the image will take you to the new page.

With a static site, adding a page has some extra work to it.

Once you write the content, you add it to a page template. Then, you must change the links on the rest of the pages on the site to point to it. For me, this is enough to make me not add much in the way of content since the site was built.

The conversion from static site to WordPress took a while to accomplish.

The first task was to enter the content into the blog. I created a WordPress blog offline on my computer to do this. I used some free software called XAMMPLite to create the server to run WordPress.

The trick was to keep the content and pages with the same addresses they had in the static site.

You do not want to lose any links your site has built up already. You want to take advantage of any traffic you are already getting.

I used the permalinks feature in WordPress to reproduce the link structure of the original site.

One problem I had was I used subfolders for the various articles originally.

This was a problem. I was able to create a permalink structure that gave nearly every page the same URL as it had before. At least I think so. There are a few pages I was not able to keep with the same URL. These pages are not important anyway and should not have any links to them.

Once I had entered the content, it was time to convert the site.

I used the WordPress export feature to export the content and categories to a file.

I deleted the original site on the host.

I created the MYSQL database for WordPress. I edited the wp_config file to show the database, user, and password before I uploaded. I then uploaded the WordPress files to the server. I am using the Semiologic Pro for the theme and content manager on the site, so I had all the files I needed.

Only two major steps left

First, recreate the permalink structure I has used offline. Next, import the content file I had exported. All the pages were there in the right categories. Just a little fine tuning to do.

A few things needed to be fixed.

Links in the content from the static site no longer worked. I needed to find these and point them to the right pages. For a photography site, I have had (still have) very few images, but they needed to be uploaded to WordPress and replaced. Also, I needed to put the ads back on the site.

Semiologic has an ad managing system.

I want to take advantage of this so I did not keep the ads that were on the original pages. The next version of Semiologic has even better ad management that I think will be an asset, not only to me, but to regular readers.

I will be able to show AdSense to search engine traffic and new viewers and show fewer or different ads to regular readers.

I will be updating this site to Semiologic Pro soon also. I think my regular readers here will really appreciate it also. I should be making the switch within the next couple weeks.

In all, I have managed to keep much of the original look of the site.

I now have a 3 column layout. Right now, I have a mostly white theme where it was white and grey. I am planning to change this later.

Most importantly, it is now fast and easy to add content.

I am hoping to get an article up tonight. It will be about ghosts in pictures.

I hope you will check my photography site at http://www.photographybyjet.com.

Let me know what you think about it. If you have any questions about converting to WordPress from a static site, let me know here.

This is something I have been wondering since the iPhone was released.

Is Apple’s practice of only allowing iPhone use with AT&T against antitrust laws?

I do not own an iPhone. I would like to, but have not been able to justify the cost (at least to my wife). Is the way the iPhone is currently being marketed against antitrust laws? I am no lawyer (thankfully) but I have seen similar situations that would seem to make the current iPhone questionable.

The industry I am familiar with is the photography industry.

There have been some interesting antitrust laws that applied to the photo  industry. Yet, the iPhone and many newer products and industries are far more restrictive to the consumer. I feel that Apple may be currently acting much worse than Microsoft.

I was amazed to find out how antitrust laws applied in the photo industry.

Did you know that a film manufacturer could not include film processing with a roll of film? You could not by a roll of film with an included mailer to have the film processed by Kodak or Fuji. The mailer would have to be sold separately.

Also, manufacturers had to sell the chemicals used to process the film.

Not only could they not include the processing with the film, but they had to make the chemicals to process it available.

Compare that to the iPhone.

I buy the iPhone from Apple. I can only use it with AT&T. In fact, attempts to make it work with other services have been countered by Apple updates.

This is far worse than the typical cell phone being locked to the cell phone carrier you buy it from.

In most cases, you can still get the same phone at another cell phone provider. There is also no problem getting the phone unlocked to use with another mobile phone provider if you want.

A locked cell phone is a bit like a film company including the processing.

But Apple has gone a lot farther than just locking the iPhone. It is very difficult to do. They have made it more difficult.

So, when I read the following article about a lawsuit and antitrust, my thought was "Why has it taken so long?"

In the lawsuit — the second in as many weeks involving the iPhone — Smith alleges that Apple violated several California antitrust statutes when it tied the smart phone to AT&T and prohibited customers from using other carriers. The result, read the lawsuit, was that Smith paid too much for the iPhone.

"Apple forced plaintiff and the class members to pay substantially more for the iPhone and cell phone service than they would have paid in a competitive marketplace either for the iPhone or for AT&T’s cell phone service," read the suit.

Calif. man sues Apple over iPhone ‘bricking’

Unfortunately, Apple and the iPhone are not the only current examples typical of this practice.

Can you think of other products place similar restrictions on consumers?

BTW, I would still like to get an iPhone. I think it would be a very useful business tool. I am really interested in the calendar function as I need an easy way to keep track of appointments and set them while keeping it with me.

As always, I’d love to know how you think and feel about the subject.

You comments on the subject are highly valued.

I am on SiteProNews’s email list

Today’s email was on ideas for adding content to your site.

I thought some of the ideas were unique and I suggest anyone trying to find content to create a site take a look.

SiteProNews is a free newsletter and webmaster resource site We’ve known for a long time that quality matters to Google. In a post Senior Google Engineer Matt Cutts made to his blog, "quality" was mentioned several times as being important to Google. Quality matters when it comes to content, and it matters when it comes to links.

I really thought the idea of coloring books might be good for any site that might be ok for children. I could see parents printing out a coloring book for kids from a site the parents go to.