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An associate program is an online marketing method used by a lot of small and large scale electronic businesses to generate additional sales. The method involves making a deal with another web site whose content is often related to that of the main merchant’s website. Simply put, the associate web site posts advertisments for the merchant web site, and also offers it’s readers links to the merchant website. For each person who purchases items from the merchant via the associate link, the associate gets a commission. From this simple system, associate marketing has grown rapidly to become larger and more elaborate so that today, entire books are written revolving around creating and operating successful associate programs. Here are 7 basic criteria that both merchants and potential publishers should take into consideration when choosing or designing an associate program.

Compensation System – there are different types of compensation, and associate programs often use more than one in combination when making a package to offer to their merchants. The smallest and simplest types get paid a small, fixed amount every time a viewer from the associate page clicks the merchant’s link and gets redirected to it’s website. Others are strictly commission basis and require actual successful sales to earn a percentage. A well designed compensation system should be fair for both the associate and the merchant.

Publisher Type – the type of associate program is very important in marketing. There are different categories, most notably Product Review Sites, Loyalty and Rebate Sites, Comparison Shopping/Online Directories, Cross Merchant Associate Sites, and Personal Forums/Blogs. Choosing the right type of publisher to get as associates can allow a merchant to tailor different marketing strategies to suit.

Program Compatibility – this is a natural consideration to take for any web based endeavor. The compatibility of the associate web site’s programming with the merchant’s web site is extremely important. Imagine if, for example, the merchant web site could not be properly displayed on certain browsers that the associate web site actually supported! To this end, both merchants and associates are advised to make their web sites compatible with as wide a variety of different programs as possible.

Marketing Approach – this is one area where marketing can get a bit sticky. While there’s nothing wrong with advertising through the use of reviews, personal recommendations, and web based graphic ads, some associate web sites use more aggressive marketing methods that may actually give the merchant a negative reputation. For example, rampant spamming and pop ups can get really irritating for most people and can cause both an associate and merchant’s web sites to get registered as “spam” on someone’s firewall. Needless to say, this is counter productive.

Niche and Demographic Coverage – special interest niches and certain demographics are always the target audience of a certain merchant. Because of this, the associate programs chosen should cater to the same groups. This does not need to be an exact match; for example, a publisher of fire arms magazines can approach magazine review web sites, gun enthusiast forums, and the personal web sites of gun shops as viable options to take as associates.

Online Interactivity Options – associate web sites MUST have a certain amount of online interactivity for users. If it exists simply for the purpose of advertising affiliated merchant web sites, an associate web site would quickly run out of traffic going through it. Good associate programs keep the interest of their visitors through various means, like having discussion boards, offering reviews and helpful articles, and publishing downloadable monthly e-magazines.

Multi Tier and Two Way Affiliate Marketing – these two types of associate programs differ slightly from normal associate programs because they extend beyond the regular merchant-associate type of relationship. They actually involve multiple associate websites connected via links to each other. Multi tier marketing is often seen in referral programs like multi level marketing, and in this case associates can also gain commissions by recruiting to and linking with other “lower tier” associate web sites. This provides larger exposure for a product. In two way affiliate marketing, two or more merchants act as each other’s associate programs, so that both offer their own sets of products and at the same time provide links to each other’s web sites.

Since the invention of the check, people have been constantly inventing new ways to pass fraudulent checks. The National Check Fraud Center estimates that 1.4 million fraudulent checks are written each day, costing businesses over ten billion in losses annually. Fraudulent check writers have found a friend in new technology such as color copiers, high resolution scanners and magnetic or MICR toner. MICR stands for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition, and it refers to the magnetically encoded line at the bottom of each check. Traditionally, this line could only be printed with a highly specialized magnetic ink on an offset press. However, with the advent of MICR toner and desktop laser printers, anybody with the right software, an HP LaserJet printer and blank check stock can print a check.

As a business owner, you and your company are susceptible to check fraud; however, there are ways to guard against it. Here are 6 steps that you and your business can follow to successfully defend against check fraud.

1. Print Your Own Checks – Real Time – The main benefit to printing yourself is security. Traditionally a business orders check stock from a company like Harland or Deluxe and they put the checks in a supply room or closet. These unused checks are a goldmine for any disreputable person that runs across them – all they have to do is grab a check from the bottom of the pile, remove it. In all likelihood, you’ll never know that last check is missing until at least a month later, and that’s if you are lucky and you regularly reconcile your check book and examine each transaction. We know because that’s exactly what happened to us.

In 1993, we had an employee that unwisely stole the last page in our check book. We never knew they were missing. Our Ex-Employee filled them out to herself and passed them as payroll checks at a used car dealer. She did get that car and several weeks later my partner’s wife noticed the unusual checks. Had she not noticed the problem who knows how much more money would have been stolen before we got wise to it. Long story short the bank had to eat the bad checks and they wasted no time making sure the case was prosecuted to the full extent of the law. We were lucky and it only cost us time. Had the employee been authorized to sign checks we would have lost the money.

By printing your own checks you only stock blank check stock and a MICR toner cartridge. There is nothing to steal with your account information, they have nothing but a piece of blank check paper. Of course you are still open to a new kind of fraud if someone is able to access your check printing software. Be sure it’s password protected and your network rights are setup so that ordinary users can’t access the directory that it resides in.

Another great benefit of printing your own checks real time is that if you move our change bank accounts, you lose nothing. Just edit your address or account numbering in your check printing software and you’ve made the switch – No wasted checks, no wasted money, no waiting for new checks.

2. Buy Secure Check Stock – When selecting a blank check stock, make sure the check stock is loaded with security features – this will make it difficult for a scammer to copy or scan the check. Recently the US treasury department spent millions adding security features the newly redesigned notes. Many of these same security features are now available for check stock. Here are some security features to look for in check paper:

Copier Void Pantograph – This causes the word VOID to appear in the background of a check when copied. A Void Pantograph is created by engraining a precision pattern of lines and dots in the background of the check. The printing of the pantograph is so precise that the VOID is not visible to the human eye, but when copied or scanned they appear making the copied check useless.

Micro Printed Border – This same technology is used on new US currency – magnify the border line around the portrait on the face of one of the newly designed US bills and you will see the border that appears to be a line is actually comprised of words. Even modern high resolution printers cannot reproduce type this small.

Chemically Reactive Check Paper – A common way to deface a check is to use chemicals to remove the existing writing to change the amount or to whom a check is written to. Chemically reactive check paper will change colors when it comes in contact with chemicals or solvents making the check unusable.

Watermark – Check paper with a true watermark will show up when held up to the light. A watermark will not be visible on a copied or scanned check.

Listing of security features – A good check stock will list the security features on the back of the check. What good is a security feature if no one knows what security features to look for?

3. Positive Pay File Transmittal – A great way to stop check fraud is to generate a positive pay file and transmit it to your bank. Every time you print a batch of checks, you transmit a positive pay file listing the checks and their amounts to your bank. If a check amount is altered or a check is duplicated the bank will reject it because it does not match the positive pay file. Positive pay is fairly common in large companies, but a small company may not have the resources or the software to produce the file and transmit it. Contact your bank about this service.

4. Check Storage / Access – One key to avoiding check fraud is eliminating, or at least, decreasing access to documents with your bank account number on them.

Mail Theft – Mail theft is a very common way checks are stolen – make sure your outgoing mail is not left in a place where anybody coming and going can steal them. A secure mail box is probably the best way to protect your mail.

Check Storage – If you are using preprinted check, store checks in a secure area under lock and key. Never leave checks unsecured.

Document Storage – In addition to securing checks, be sure to secure all documents containing your bank information. They contain all the data necessary for a fraudulent check.

Document Disposal – When disposing of banking and credit card documents, shred them. A shredder is a cheap and easy way to make sure some dumpster diver doesn’t steal crucial information that might be used to create fraudulent checks. We use a shredding service. The service provides locking cabinets to store the documents to be shredded. Then once every two weeks the shredding service comes by and actually shreds the paper onsite. The shredding truck has a massive shredder on the back and our documents are shredded before the truck leaves our site.

5. Electronic Payment – The only way to entirely eliminate check fraud is to eliminate checks. Check processing is very costly for banks and they would love nothing more to eliminate checks all together. With the advent of EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) many large companies such as Home Depot only deal with vendors that can send invoices and receive payments through EDI. Electronic payment is definitely the future and individuals are flocking to electronic payment, but businesses are still slow to make the transition. Most businesses write their checks through accounts payable software, thusly don’t have an easy or standardized way to effectively transmit payments electronically. However, in time software will catch up with technology and electronic payment will become the standard. Electronic payment is already available through QuickBooks and it’s only a matter of time until businesses adopt this practice to make payments.

6. Pay Attention – You may follow all of the above steps and still somehow get scammed. Paying attention to your bank and credit card statements will help you detect any discrepancies earlier. The earlier the problem is detected, the more likely that you will be able to catch the culprit and regain your hard earned cash.

As a writer and editor of The Digital Camera Zone, I spend hours every day scouring the ezine barns for articles to put in front of an information hungry public.

I definitely find a lot of articles, all right. They number in the thousands. Because I need content to feed a voracious audience, I select as many as I can even though I’m often not really happy with many of them.

”Why,” I can hear you ask, “do you publish articles that you are not happy with?”

Well, the answer lies in several unfortunate deficiencies in many of the articles published in article barns…

DEFICIENCY NUMBER ONE: INADEQUATE CONTENT

Many articles are glaringly superficial. The author may start with a good premise, say, the need to research out digital cameras before buying one, but then drops the ball.

In essence, the only thing the article says, in 500 – 600 words or so, is “Do your homework”.

—There are no concrete suggestions as to how to do the research.

—There are no suggested sources where the reader can go to find information.

—There are no criteria by which the reader can decide which camera is best for her.

In short, the article might not as well have been written. The writer is merely telling the reader what she already knew and provides no real information. Remember: it’s not “content that is king¨; it’s quality content that is king.

DEFICIENCY NUMBER TWO: OVERDEPENDENCE ON KEYWORD ANALYSIS

Just about every article on writing articles for the web emphasizes that your creation should be “rich” in the keywords your readership is inputting into the search engines.

The trouble comes when you try to include all of the right keywords in your article so that people will find and read it. The danger is that you actually degrade the content of the article and make it less useful.

DEFICIENCY NUMBER THREE: NOT GRABBING THE READER’S ATTENTION AT THE BEGINNING

There’s nothing that attracts a reader more quickly to an article than a short story, anecdote or personal experience that identifies her with the subject.

This anecdote or short story should be based on experience, either your own, an acquaintance, or a plausible situation, and should confront the reader with a problem, immerse her in a dilemma, or invoke an emotion that directly leads to the solution posed by the article.

Many article writers start firing facts at the reader and doggedly go on in the same paragraph to advance the solution, without really building up the reader’s curiosity or expectations.

DEFICIENCY NUMBER FOUR: NO ORGANIZATION

Many writers, when they decide it’s time to pump out their daily (or minute-ly) articles, sit down and write paragraph after paragraph until the word count reaches 850 words or so without any discernible organization to their work.

Then they stop, and fire it off.

DEFICIENCY NUMBER FIVE: NO SUB HEADS OR BULLETS

We load up the article with long paragraphs which exhibit no logical breaks.

The article has no:

– Subheads. A pithy subhead for each paragraph will pique your reader’s interest and lead her into it. If your readers don’t encounter at least one subhead after reading a couple of paragraphs, you’ve probably lost them.

—Bullets. If you’ve got several points you want to make in a paragraph, create as many bullets as you need. Don’t overdo it of course. Bullets are like salt.

—Numbers. If you’ve got sequential steps you want the reader to take, number them. It makes it so much easier to figure out what you’re trying to say.

DEFICIENCY NUMBER SIX AND THE FINAL HORROR: GRAMMATICAL AND SPELLING MISTAKES

—Gramatical Mistakes. Yes, you knew this one was coming—things like “your¨, when you mean “you’re¨; “its¨ when you meant “it’s¨.

—Spelling Errors. Your reader will assume that if you can’t spell, you don’t know what you’re talking about.

—Incomplete Sentences. Have a subject, a verb and an object unless you’re being fancy, and know you’re being fancy.

—Missing Words. Missing words, for example, “I went New York”, are enough to blow any reader away. My question is, “You went what?”

If your article contains any of these stoppers, your readership will never get as far as your Resource Box.

SO WHAT’S THE SOLUTION? GO OUT AND HIRE A PROFESSIONAL WRITER?

No, you are the pro. Here’s what you can do to make your articles sizzle:

1) Read professionally written articles on the web until you’ve absorbed their style.

2) Develop your own voice. Do this by writing and writing.

3) Paste a picture of your hypothetical reader on the computer, and write to that person. What do you need to say to catch and keep their attention?

4) Break it up. Use subheads, bullets, and numbers. Keep pulling the reader ahead with your subheads.

5) Edit.

—Read and re-read what you’ve written; cut out unneeded words. Think economy: less is more.

—Get somebody else to read it—somebody who neither loves you nor hates you.

—Sleep on it. Never send out an article the same day you wrote it. Your brain will “cook¨ overnight and you’ll think of all kinds of things you needed to say…and change.

—Read it from the bottom up. This is a good way to catch typos after you’ve looked at it for too long.

–Read it out loud.

—Do a spell check. In this modern age of spell checking word processors, how can anybody submit an article that contains misspelled words?

6) Beware of the spell check. It doesn’t catch words used in the wrong context.

The bottom line is, take more time with your stuff. Write something that will make ezines glow like comets and you’ll see your dreams come true.

When it comes to your website, extra attention should be paid to every minute detail to make sure it performs optimally to serve its purpose. Here are seven important rules of thumb to observe to make sure your website performs well.

1) Do not use splash pages

Splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very beautiful image with words like “welcome” or “click here to enter”. In fact, they are just that — pretty vases with no real purpose. Do not let your visitors have a reason to click on the “back” button! Give them the value of your site up front without the splash page.

2) Do not use excessive banner advertisements

Even the least net savvy people have trained themselves to ignore banner advertisements so you will be wasting valuable website real estate. Instead, provide more valueable content and weave relevant affiliate links into your content, and let your visitors feel that they want to buy instead of being pushed to buy.

3) Have a simple and clear navigation

You have to provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. Stay away from complicated Flash based menus or multi-tiered dropdown menus. If your visitors don’t know how to navigate, they will leave your site.

4) Have a clear indication of where the user is

When visitors are deeply engrossed in browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at that moment. That way, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily. Don’t confuse your visitors because confusion means “abandon ship”!

5) Avoid using audio on your site

If your visitor is going to stay a long time at your site, reading your content, you will want to make sure they’re not annoyed by some audio looping on and on on your website. If you insist on adding audio, make sure they have some control over it — volume or muting controls would work fine.

6) The most important – Host only with a Reliable Hosting Provider.

Before Chosing a Web Hosting provider, read its reviews and always check the top 10 hosting providers. A good resource to research hosting providers is at Top10DedicatedHosting.com

If you own an online business, you are probably always on the lookout for new forms of Internet marketing. As you have no doubt discovered, there are many different ways to market your business online. One of the best and least expensive is direct email marketing.

Direct email marketing is a simple, but effective form of Internet marketing. It allows you to reach your customers, and provide them with information that you want them to see. Direct email marketing is very similar to classical direct marketing, but is much less expensive because you don’t have to pay for stamps, paper, return envelopes, and printing costs. Yet, at the same time, direct email marketing has all of the benefits of direct mail.

For example, direct email marketing can be used before and after a sale. You can utilize this form of Internet marketing to promote products, provide news, and to send confirmations and thank-you notes. Many of your website visitors will up to sign up for regular emails and offers. Take advantage of their interest and tell them more about your business.

If you don’t have time to send the emails yourself, you may choose to use email autoresponders. Email autoresponders are triggered when an email is sent to you. If you are unavailable, email autoresponders can contact the customer for you, providing order confirmations, information requests, etc.

If you’re not sure where or how to get started, here are five tips that will allow you to easily incorporate direct email marketing into you Internet marketing strategy.

Use a Professional Email Signature
This is an important part of direct email marketing. Every time you send a business email, you should include a professional signature at the bottom. Your signature should include your name, business name, and full web address. This is like free advertising for you. Plus, the person opening the email has instant access to your information. If they need to contact you, they will know exactly how to do it.

Find an Affiliate
An affiliate, or signature buddy, can step up your Internet marketing campaign and allow you to reach more customers. Simply ask someone to include your web address below their own signature every time they send an email. In return, you can add their web address to every email that you send below your signature. The benefit is obvious. You both get free advertising. However, you should keep in mind that this form of Internet marketing works best when you don’t pick someone who has a competing business.

Create a Newsletter
A newsletter or e-zine should be included in your Internet marketing strategy. A free newsletter takes a bit of time every month to create, but it is well worth the effort. Newsletters are an effective form of direct email marketing, and can be used to promote your products and services. If you don’t have time to produce a quality newsletter yourself, you can hire a freelancer to do it for you.

Send Coupons
Everyone loves coupons. Make them part of your direct email marketing campaign. Send coupons for your products and services to your customers on a regular basis. Use them as promotional tools to increase business and increase sales.

Send Thank You Notes
Using an email autoresponder to send thank you notes to your customers after the sale is a polite gesture. It’s also Internet marketing at its finest. Thank show your appreciation and should be incorporated into your direct email marketing if at all possible. Sending a thank you note is polite and an example of good customer service.