To Live Online

Using the right article submission sites can make the difference between success and failure of your business. Particularly if you are like me and use article marketing for the bulk of your marketing efforts. In this case, it is probably the single most important factor in achieving success.

Using my website stat counter, I check my article statistics on a regular basis. I want to know which article submission sites are sending me traffic and which ones are not. After I add a new directory to my list, I check my statistics very thoroughly. If the new site is not sending me traffic after a month, I delete them from my list.

This is extremely important. Early in my article marketing career, I did not check my statistics. And, in a number of cases, I got little or no traffic from many of these sites. However, because I was not aware, I continued to submit to these non-performing article submission sites.

I was very fortunate that I began to check my stats when I did. Initially, I submitted to 150 article submission sites on a daily basis. As you can imagine, it was very time consuming, even though I was using submission software. After I began to check my statistics, I was able to delete 90 article submission sites from my daily list with no loss of business.

90 sites are an awful lot. What about the people who submitted to just 40 or 50 of those non-performing sites and no others? I suppose that those are the people who say that article marketing does not work. To ensure the success of your Internet business, make sure that you regularly check your site statistics. Make sure that you are getting traffic from your each of your article submission sites.

Evaluation is common at work and school. It is conducted to monitor and measure one’s performance. Websites engage in evaluations as well. This process is known as tracking website statistics. Website statistics means that raw data, clicks and server dialogues are translated into easy to grasp information in order to measure a site’s performance and spot patterns. It is also used to answer basic questions and create actions.

First off, statistics are done to measure something. Hence, it is essential and the foremost step to determine what is being measured. Every site is concerned about website performance. The utmost indicator of this is traffic to one’s site because traffic is what initially brings people to the site.

Once a good number of people are accessing the site, it is now easy to see patterns by tracking website statistics. Patterns can answer basic questions that will be beneficial in making any necessary changes to a site such as how many returning visitors does your site receive, what pages are viewed the most, and how visitors surf the pages. Understanding how visitors use your site will enable you to provide the content they are looking for and know which information they find useful.

When there are answers to questions, you will be able to plan the best course of action to take. This is now the time to create actions. Determine what pages and content are working and giving you the desired results. Then analyze why this is the case. Lastly, figure out how you can format other less visited pages the same way.

Tracking website statistics is vital because it aids in development and evaluation purposes which can affect a site’s success. Keep in mind that tracking website statistics is an on-going process. For companies or individuals who do not have any time to spare to make this happen, outsource tracking website statistics is the solution. Outsource tracking website statistics is affordable and can produce the results that you want.

Note: This post was contributed by http://www.agentsofvalue.com

When you start a site either a blog or website, one of the most important information that you need to know is your site statistics such as unique visitors, page viewed, and many other information which will tell you the popularity of your site. If you are using a paid site, most probably you will be provided with these informations from you website hosting site.

But when you use free sites such as blogspot, wordpress and many other  free sites,  these vital informations most probably will not be provided.  In this case, the webmaster will be left  in darkness.  There are many other site counters provided by  third parties which could help you solve this issue, and one of them which I would recommend is http://my3.statcounter.com . This is a reliable conter and I use it personally for one of my project site www.affiliatemoneyblog.blogspot.com . It provides information such as unique visitors, daily chart and etc.

To use this statistic counter, all you have to do is to register and paste their codes on your  main page of your site.

After having my site up and running for many years, finally my site has been ranked quite good. All this while I been getting lots of visitors for the phrase “online business” and I always wonder from which search engine are these visitors coming from. I tried searching in Google, but I did not noticed that my site appears on the 5th page in Google search query result for phrase “online business”.

You may check it out at this link here . I surprise that at even at 5th page of of query results, the number of visitors are significantly large. Now I could not imagine how much traffic you get if you are at page 1.

My site currently has a page rank 4, and this seems to be quite good rank. I personally do not bother much about page rank, but being in search engine query results for certain high profile keyword phrase is another story. I am glad that this happed and I hope more better results will come in near future.

Imagine now… you are highly motivated to pursue your online business. You have been writing materials and other important stuff to improve your business. You had sleepless night planning and preparing your updates, your website, searching new materials and etc, but you forgot to do one thing… checking the health of your computer.

One fine morning, the machine crashes and all you effort lost. You did not even back up your stuffs… Now avoid it!

1. Update your hardware - The incidence of computer problems start rising after the computer is 24 to 36 months old. Hardware grows tired and can start to malfunction, though some computers are known to last for 5 years! However, it is recommended that you replace your computer every three years or so to avoid the costly repairs that will inevitably come (especially if you’re not a do-it-yourself techie!). The price of a new computer has decreased significantly over the years, so it’s worth planning for a new one every few years knowing that one major repair on your older computer could not only cost more monetarily, but an unrecoverable system crash could cost you your business if it takes all your data with it.

2. Keep your hard-drive clean - Over time, the installation and removal of software programs can leave residual files parked around your hard-drive. This can slow down your system and cause other problems as well. Keep your hard-drive clean with a cleaner such as System Mechanic. I recommend this program for its ease-of-use and a thorough-job-well-done. It cleans up your system’s clutter, maximizes memory usage, and optimizes performance! My computer ran smoother and faster after the very first clean-up. It’s also extremely affordable and offers a free 30-day trial.

3. Protect yourself from viruses and spyware - Did you know that about 80 percent of all computer downtime can be blamed on spyware, malware, and viruses? There are hackers all over, using the internet for unlawful purposes such as identity theft. A solid anti-virus program such as Norton Internet Security or McAfee will keep your computer and your information protected at all times. (Many computers come with one of these programs already installed.) These also come with the necessary firewall protection you need to keep hackers and malicious programs from accessing the valuable information and files you keep on your computer. In addition, make sure you are always up-to-date with security patches from Microsoft or Apple. By going to their websites, you can set up your computer to automatically apprise you of (and even install) necessary updates for your computer.

4. Know your computer - It is SO worth it to become trained on the workings of your computer! Go to your local community college and take a class! Using the internet, becoming better versed in a software program you own a license to, or even computer maintenance, all of these would only make you more efficient in running your online business, and the value in your increase in productivity would far outweigh the cost of the class.

5. Back-up your data - I know I’m being redundant, but regular back-up of your system is so important! As you build your online business, the accumulation of more and more files is rapid. If you try to tackle building your own website, your edits and changes will be frequent and should be backed-up just as often. See my article: “5 Things You Must Do Before Starting an Online Business” for more information on backing-up your system. If you’ll be getting a new computer, the HP Pavilion Elite has its own Easy Backup button right on the monitor that instantly duplicates your saved files onto a disk. Talk about easy!

6. Protect it from power surges - Power surges can cause data loss and can reduce the lifespan of your computer components. Did you also know that power surge protectors have a lifespan of their own? You should replace yours every 2-3 years, and make sure you invest in a surge protector that offers phone/fax and coaxial protection, automatic shutdown, EMI/RFI filtration and a connected-equipment warranty. It will be worth the extra few dollars you will spend for it. Here’s one more tip: Did you know that turning off your printer via the power surge protector switch or any indirect power shutdown can cause irreparable damage? Sudden electrical surges (caused by indirect power shutdown), repetitively, and over time, can destroy or seriously damage the sensitive electrical components of your computer equipment or peripherals. Use only the power buttons on the equipment itself to shut them off.

Following these steps will get you off to a confident start in building your online business. You will know that your data is protected, your computer equipment is protected, and your business - at least on the computer end of things - will be operating smoothly and effectively.