We often hear from clients who say their website just isn’t performing as well as they imagined. When we ask what form of marketing they’re doing, “we can’t afford to advertise” is a common response.
An online business needs promotion just like a brick-and-mortar store. How can people find you if you don’t announce who you are and what you do? About.com Guide, Susan Ward has this excellent list of 5 Best Ways to Get Free Web Site Promotion. These are really simple, yet highly important, tips and tricks that actually work!
If you have a website that isn’t living up to your expectations, give us a call or contact us for a free website consultation.
I first learned of MailWasher about 5 years ago and recommend it over many email filters. MailWasher Pro is a valuable secure and time-saving spam filtering tool that let’s you check, preview and delete mail right at the server… before you download it to your email client.
How does it work?
Give it a try. The company is so sure you’ll love it that they even offer a full, no questions asked money back guarantee within the first 180 days! What do you have to lose?
Price: $39.95
Not all work-from-home jobs are too good to be true! Waters Designs has expanded and is currently seeking individuals for data entry and data mining projects.
What our Data Entry position IS NOT…
- This isn’t a scam
- We don’t charge you for work for us
- No telemarketing involved
- We don’t take out taxes
- We don’t provide benefits
What our Data Entry position IS…
- 1099 contractor position
- Ongoing assignments provided by Waters Designs
- Hourly pay for accurate work, paid weekly
Need more details or want to fill out an application? View all of our available positions.
Many of our clients are startups and fledgling businesses that understand the importance of doing business on the Internet, yet they struggle with initial outlay of cash to build an online presence.
Now they have a solution!
Waters Designs is proud to announce several payment options and financing. Combine the convenience of monthly payments with our already low rates and you have to ask yourself… what are you waiting for?
Just imagine, you can have an original, customized website showcasing your products or services in less than two weeks. And the cost? With our new payment options and low prices, Waters Designs can design, develop AND host a website for…
- payments less than your monthly cable bill.
- payments less than one display newspaper ad.
- less than the cost of one radio spot.
- less than $2 a day!*
That’s right… for less than the cost of lunch each day, you can reach thousands of customers looking for exactly what your business offers. Still think a website isn’t affordable? With these options, how can you NOT afford a site?
View all of our pricing and payment options to learn how we can work a website into your tight budget!
*(The above is calculated on a $400 website with hosting.)
The desire to boost our income while staying at home is a natural one. Millions of people want to start a home business or at least work from home. There are also millions of scammers looking to prey on these would-be entrepreneurs.
You’ve probably seen ads that claim you can make hundreds, or thousands, of dollars each week while working from home. While it is possible to create a successful home business, the majority of these ads are placed by people looking to make money off you!
Here are five common work-at-home scams to avoid:
Data Entry Work
This one may sound legitimate but generally what you’ll receive is a generic guide to work-at-home jobs with a useless list of business names.
Envelope Stuffing
For your fee, you’ll learn how to place the same envelope stuffing ad. The only way you will earn money is by scamming those folks who respond to your work-at-home ad.
Craft Assembly
This scam requires you pay for materials and equipment upfront. Once you make the items, the company usually claims the quality isn’t good enough. They never buy the items from you and you’re out a lot of money.
MLM Opportunities
The way the Multi-level Marketing (MLM) works is that as a distributor, you earn commissions both on your sales and on the sales of the people you recruit to become distributors. The problem is that some MLM businesses are just pyramid schemes where the products and services only exist to make the opportunity look legitimate. The scam is that only the people at the top of the pyramid make money.
Medical Billing
These scammers charge hundreds or thousands of dollars for software to process the claims and a list of potential clients. The list usually turns out to be bogus as most doctors’ offices process their own medical claims or contract out their medical billing to established firms.
These are just some of the most common work-at-home scams. There are many more schemes often claiming to be real business opportunities. Legitimate work-at-home opportunities don’t require fees to get further information or use high-pressure sales tactics. If you become a victim of any work-at-home scam, contact The Better Business Bureau or The Federal Trade Commission. Call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).
“We suspect an unauthorized transaction on your account. To ensure that your account is not compromised, please click the link below and confirm your identity.”
“During our regular verification of accounts, we couldn’t verify your information. Please click here to update and verify your information.”
Have you received email with a similar message? It’s a scam called “phishing” — and it involves Internet fraudsters who send spam or pop-up messages to lure personal information (credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security number, passwords, or other sensitive information) from unsuspecting victims.
According to OnGuard Online, phishers send an email or pop-up message that claims to be from a business or organization that you may deal with — for example, an Internet service provider (ISP), bank, online payment service, or even a government agency. The message may ask you to “update,” “validate,” or “confirm” your account information. Some phishing emails threaten a dire consequence if you don’t respond. The messages direct you to a website that looks just like a legitimate organization’s site. But it isn’t. It’s a bogus site whose sole purpose is to trick you into divulging your personal information so the operators can steal your identity and run up bills or commit crimes in your name.
OnGuard Online suggests these tips to help you avoid getting hooked by a phishing scam:
- If you get an email or pop-up message that asks for personal or financial information, do not reply. And don’t click on the link in the message, either. Legitimate companies don’t ask for this information via email. If you are concerned about your account, contact the organization mentioned in the email using a telephone number you know to be genuine, or open a new Internet browser session and type in the company’s correct Web address yourself. In any case, don’t cut and paste the link from the message into your Internet browser — phishers can make links look like they go to one place, but that actually send you to a different site.
- Area codes can mislead. Some scammers send emails that appear to be from a legitimate business and ask you to call a phone number to update your account or access a “refund.” Because they use Voice over Internet Protocol technology, the area code you call does not reflect where the scammers really are. If you need to reach an organization you do business with, call the number on your financial statements or on the back of your credit card. And delete any emails that ask you to confirm or divulge your financial information.
- Use anti-virus and anti-spyware software, as well as a firewall, and update them all regularly. Some phishing emails contain software that can harm your computer or track your activities on the Internet without your knowledge.
Anti-virus software and a firewall can protect you from inadvertently accepting such unwanted files. Anti-virus software scans incoming communications for troublesome files. Look for anti-virus software that recognizes current viruses as well as older ones; that can effectively reverse the damage; and that updates automatically.
A firewall helps make you invisible on the Internet and blocks all communications from unauthorized sources. It’s especially important to run a firewall if you have a broadband connection. Operating systems (like Windows or Linux) or browsers (like Internet Explorer or Netscape) also may offer free software “patches” to close holes in the system that hackers or phishers could exploit.
- Don’t email personal or financial information. Email is not a secure method of transmitting personal information. If you initiate a transaction and want to provide your personal or financial information through an organization’s website, look for indicators that the site is secure, like a lock icon on the browser’s status bar or a URL for a website that begins “https:” (the “s” stands for “secure”). Unfortunately, no indicator is foolproof; some phishers have forged security icons.
- Review credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them to check for unauthorized charges. If your statement is late by more than a couple of days, call your credit card company or bank to confirm your billing address and account balances.
- Be cautious about opening any attachment or downloading any files from emails you receive, regardless of who sent them. These files can contain viruses or other software that can weaken your computer’s security.
- Forward phishing emails to spam@uce.gov – and to the company, bank, or organization impersonated in the phishing email. Most organizations have information on their websites about where to report problems. You also may report phishing email to reportphishing@antiphishing.org. The Anti-Phishing Working Group, a consortium of ISPs, security vendors, financial institutions and law enforcement agencies, uses these reports to fight phishing.
- If you believe you’ve been scammed, file your complaint at ftc.gov, and then visit the FTC’s Identity Theft website at ftc.gov/idtheft. Victims of phishing can become victims of identity theft. While you can’t entirely control whether you will become a victim of identity theft, you can take some steps to minimize your risk. If an identity thief is opening credit accounts in your name, these new accounts are likely to show up on your credit report. You may catch an incident early if you order a free copy of your credit report periodically from any of the three major credit reporting companies. See www.annualcreditreport.com for details on ordering a free annual credit report.
Learn other ways to avoid email scams and deal with deceptive spam at ftc.gov/spam.
Does your website scream ‘bookmark me!’ to its visitors? Do you think readers are recommending it to their friends? Are visitors staying on the pages longer than a few seconds? If you answered no to any of these questions, your website may not be sticky.
Stickiness is referred to the length of time a website viewer stays when visiting a site and how often they return. Sticky sites generally offer interesting content, free stuff and other interactive features.
Here are some ideas to make your website sticky:
- Add a regularly updated blog.
- Offer a newsletter to subscribers.
- Provide free games, downloads or tutorials.
- Sell products? Add a RSS feed.
- Keep the content fresh.
If you would like to learn how your website can become sticky, contact Waters Designs for a free site evaluation today.
Related reading:
10 Ways to Make Your Website Sticky
Need to Get Noticed?
Keep Your Readers on Your Website
Waters Design was wonderful to work with. Very hardworking and creative and came up with just what I wanted. Very pleasant and professional, I had an excellent experience and will highly recommend them to others. 
