In a recent poll commissioned by the Digital Advertising Alliance and conducted by Zogby, an overwhelming amount (over 90%!) of Americans polled favor websites being free to use and supported by advertisements.  This comes as great news for anyone utilizing advertisements on their website.

Over 63% of the people polled responded that having free, ad-supported news, weather, email, blogs and videos were extremely important in regards to the overall value of the Internet.  When asked if they would rather pay for ad-free content or get ad-supported content for free, 3 out of 4 responded that they prefer ad-supported free websites.

This information is valuable for anyone trying to decide which way to present their website to visitors.  A website owner may think they would make more money charging a membership fee, but this report seems to point out that 75% of people would leave such a site.  Instead, a website could generate much more revenue by selling ad space.

There are several more insightful data points for everyone with an ad-supported website to learn more about what visitors want from advertisements and the value they place on them.  Read more about this report on Marketing Land.

Anyone who has shopped online knows how powerful paying no sales tax is when considering a purchase.  Amazon already has the best price on a lot of items and the added bonus of not having to pay any sales tax seals the deal for many shoppers.  This is great for consumers but not so much for small online businesses, local businesses or brick-and-mortar retailers.

Monday night the US Senate passed a bill to remove this advantage from online retailers that do not have a physical presence in the same state as the buyer.  The bill, which was given the persuasive name of Marketplace Fairness Act, will require all Internet retailers to collect sales tax. If this bill passes the House it will be a huge win for state governments because they are losing an estimated $11 billion in taxes annually due to online sales.

Online retailers already have the burden of shipping costs to contend with, and for the smaller retailers that can add up to become a big deal.  Compounding the ever increasing shipping costs with sales tax could spell trouble for several small online businesses trying to compete against big box stores and online giants.  EBay is doing their best to back small business owners by asking for a larger allowance on the annual sales a company can have in order to remain exempt.  Amazon, however, is backing the bill.

This is a tough call for many people to make as sides are taken on this issue.  Back the states, several of which are suffering financially? Back small businesses that are responsible for fueling the economy?  Either way, we will know soon enough when the House takes their turn to vote.

It may still be Spring but here in Florida it’s already starting to feel like Summer.  Not only are the temperatures outside starting to heat up, but so are some Internet Marketing websites that we have recently added to IM Report Card.  Here are some of the top Internet Marketing sites to keep an eye on throughout the next few months:

Paradox Cash (20 users graded this A) – is a money making website that will allow you to earn an income with one small investment. This is also an advertising website that will give you the opportunity to generate traffic to your own website – or you can use the credits to promote affiliate products (this is a perfect option if you don’t have your own website). This allows you the opportunity to earn both from this company and your primary business.

NameCheap (317 users graded this A-) – is an ICANN accredited domain registrar that was started up in 2000. Millions of domains are registered using their service every year. They’ve also opened up a new web hosting service to webmasters but are mostly known for their registration service which has received awards for customer support and competitive prices.

BeBiz (46 users graded this A-) – Aptly described as an automated internet business builder, BeBiz provides a fully-automated solution that will help you jump-start your online business. With this tool, it is possible to start with no product, no experience, and even no website, because BeBiz takes care of the dirty work including market research and payment.

InstaSqueeze (2 users graded this A-) – is a WordPress plugin that makes it easy for internet marketers to create high converting squeeze pages. If you are an internet marketer then you know how important a responsive mailing list is to your success – but, you can’t build a mailing list without proper tools. One of the tools you need is a squeeze page – but not just any squeeze page – you need one that grabs their attention and makes them want to subscribe.

Starting off in Internet Marketing can be quite a daunting task.  As you can see on IMReportCard.com, an entire market has emerged over the years which is full of “gurus” and coaches in order to help address how overwhelming the full scope of Internet Marketing can be to someone starting fresh.  Here are a few quick tips to help anyone looking for a push in the right direction.

Plan Ahead – Before you create your website, make sure to set specific goals.  Define what you want to do with the website; this includes the layout and design.  A well planned site will go a long way to help keep visitors on your site longer and keep them coming back.  A disorganized site will have visitors confused and clicking away from your site within seconds.  Make sure to have a strong landing page and grabs their attention!

Analyze your Traffic – Free tools like Google Analytics will help you understand exactly which pages on your website are performing and which ones you need to improve.  Also, using an analytical tool can show you the exact keywords and sites people are using in order to find your website.  This is very powerful data which can be used to increase traffic to your site.  Additional tools, like heat maps ( I like ClickTale for this) can give amazing visual insight into exactly what your visitors are doing while on your website.

Start a Newsletter – As covered in a previous IM Report Card blog article,  Add Email Marketing to your Internet Marketing Bag of Tricks, starting a newsletter is a simple and highly effective way to build your Internet Marketing presence.  A newsletter is not only a great way to send important information to your subscribers, but also to get them clicking back to your site.

Write Blog Articles – Take time out to compose at least two blog articles a month.  This keeps your website content fresh and gives visitors a reason to keep coming back.  To make your blogging efforts even easier, check out some of the helpful tools we reviewed in “Blog Your Way to Financial Bliss”.

Get Social – We all know that Social Media is a powerful medium for getting into direct contact with your target audience.  The obvious sites to engage your audience are Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and the like.  However, there are a lot of smaller sites which only cater to a specific niche.  A wise move is to look for those sites and get established as an active member of that niche.  Position yourself as a subject matter expert, if you can.

For more in-depth assistance with crafting your own Internet Marketing success story, check out our list of Top 25 People.

Do you have a form on your website where visitors can sign up to receive your newsletter?  If not, this is an easy way to increase your Internet Marketing portfolio and profits.  Most email platforms will provide a snippet of code that you can place into the HTML of any web page that will display a sign up form and automatically add subscribers to your email opt-in list.

It is also important to setup an auto-responder, or a “Welcome Series” of emails that will be sent to anyone once they sign up.  All of this can be accomplished, depending on the size of your list, starting with completely a free account.  Take a look at these five highly rated email marketing solutions to see which one works the best for your needs:

AWeber (145 users graded this A-) is one of the most well-known and widely used e-mail auto responders on the Internet today. There is a saying in Internet marketing, “the money is in the list”. What this means essentially is that when an affiliate marketer takes the time to build a highly responsive and dedicated e-mail list membership, they are much more likely to have long-term success. E-mail lists are not subject to the whims of search engine rankings or rapidly escalating bid prices.

Your Mailing List Provider (19 users graded this A-) is a mailing list solution software that has been online for seven years and currently has over 75,000 users in over 100 countries. This software requires no installation or maintenance – it can be quickly and easily accessed from your browser, yet it offers fast and secure delivery through the YMLP servers. It is also an email newsletter builder and includes thirty sample templates for you to choose from.

MailChimp (61 users graded this B+) is a web-based email marketing service. The service allows you to run email marketing campaigns and use auto-responders to deliver scheduled messages to your prospects. You can also create professional emails, get detail tracking information, run a newsletter delivered in html and manage multiple customer lists from one interface.

GetResponse (26 users graded this B) is a web-based email marketing service. Their service allows marketers to set up scheduled email messages (called sequential auto-responders) and automate the follow-up process when new leads are added. Marketers can use HTML templates, deliver newsletters, and easily manage customers in one easy-to-use interface. GetResponse has been one of the more popular auto-responder services since launched by Simon Grabowski in 1998.

Mad Mimi (19 users graded this B) is a web based email marketing service. Their service allows Internet businesses to set up email marketing campaigns and follow up with customers using auto-responders when they subscribe to your list. Mad Mimi is known for their simple yet smart creation tool that lets anybody create beautiful email campaigns with ease.

Posted April 22nd 2013 to Email Marketing,Internet Marketing • Comments (1)

One of the most popular and rewarding forms of Internet Marketing is blogging.  Starting a blog is fairly simple, but earning money from it can be tricky and time consuming.  Earning an income by blogging about something you are passionate about is a wonderful experience, but with too much time invested trying to figure out how to monetize your blog it can become more like a typical 9-5 job.  Free yourself of the guesswork by trying out some of the highly rated blogging tools and training listed below and read the full reports on IM Report Card.

The $365K Blog Traffic Formula (1891 users graded this B-) is a program that allows the user to actually learn all the blogging tips and techniques used by seven of the most successful bloggers in the industry. Get the opportunity to sit down (figuratively) with each of these pro bloggers and learn everything they know and do to make their own blogs successful. Use of this knowledge will enable you to multiply the free traffic coming to your website without you having to work any harder.

WP Robot (174 users graded this A-) is an auto-blogging plugin for WordPress weblogs. It will enable the user to create targeted blog posts on any topic without having to write anything. Blogs will be set on auto-pilot and fresh content will be entered on a schedule that the user specifies and the posts can be on any topic and will be targeted to any keyword desired. Content can be taken from any source including Amazon, Ebay, ClickBank, and YouTube.

Dude I Hate My Job (81 users graded this B+) is a training course developed by 18 year old Adam Horwitz that will show you how to generate a large income by blogging about things you love. It is unimportant whether or not you have any online experience as long as you are willing to write about things that are important to you. You will learn how to brand yourself as an expert in what you are blogging about and how to monetize your blogs so that you can start to generate a large online income.

AutoBlogged (47 users graded this A-) is a WordPress plugin that creates blog posts from an RSS or Atom feed. This allows the user to easily add unique content to their blogs with no effort. With this fully supported software a blogger will be able to create a high content blog that will be able to generate income from advertising or links. With this software blogging can be put on auto-pilot that will enable the user to spend their time generating income instead of generating content.

CPA Marketing is a wonderful way to work for yourself and set your own schedule.  However, without the right tools and training, you may end up getting burnt out before you see the results you need in order to gain financial freedom. Make sure you research the right CPA Marketing tools for your needs so you gain the full financial benefit from your endeavors.  Here are some of the top rated CPA Marketing tools as rated by IMReportCard.com members.

Profit101 (68 users graded this A-) is a 5-module course created by Chad Hamzeh.  In this course he shares the exact blueprint that he used to make over $10,000 a month within the first 59 days since being online. In the first 59 days, he made a total of $91,348. He claims he has one of the fastest online marketing success stories in recent history. Using his CPA methods, you don’t need to know how to build websites, you don’t need to have a product or even have to sell anything. The course is targeted toward the newbie marketer, but has valuable information for Internet marketers of all levels.

Affiliate Payload (25 users graded this A-) Reviews from users online showed that the Affiliate Payload has some very useful contents that are based on rock-solid information. The author doesn’t use too many fluff words to add to the volume of the eBook, which is definitely great. In essence, the package is geared towards the ability to earn substantial income through CPA offers. CPA is a hot new niche that allows marketers to earn money by generating qualified leads. The best thing about CPA offers is that you don’t have to get a sale to earn money. Instead, the advertisers will pay for qualified leads which can be in the form of an opt-in email, queries, form filling or filling up surveys.

Adwords Reinvented (13 users graded this B+) is a video and written tutorial course created by internet marketer Sajnish Gupta. This course teaches how to be successful at CPA, or “cost per action”, marketing through a simple but effective system. The course covers each step in the process of setting up and running a CPA marketing campaign, with a lot of focus on the paid advertising method Google Adwords.

Dirty CPA (11 users graded this B) is a membership site and training course created by internet marketers Steve Iser and John Hostler that teaches you how to make money through CPA marketing. The course teaches about how CPA networks operate and how you can best work the system to make the most profit. Members have access to the training course as well as helpful tools and resources.

Mobile web traffic has been exploding these past few years and continues to grow at an unstoppable pace.  Mobile traffic topped 13% of all web traffic by the end of 2012.  It is projected that mobile commerce sales will reach $14 billion in 2013.  With stats like this, going mobile can not be ignored!  Mobile marketing is still pretty new, so there are plenty of untapped income streams out there.  Here are some helpful sites to help you get started with boosting you income through mobile marketing.

Mobile Blog Money (3 users graded this A-) is a new training system and software package that has been developed by Chris Waldron. With this you will learn how to combine blogging with mobile marketing – this means that you will be taking one of most reliable methods of generating an online income and mixing it with one of the newest and most powerful money making methods currently being used. It is the perfect mix of traditional and new.

App Code 2.0 (3 users graded this B+) is software and training that will allow you to quickly and easily create mobile apps  that you can then place in Google Play or the Apple Store. Many people have ideas for applications but simply don’t have any idea of how to actually get them up and running – this software has been designed to help even those who may not know coding or graphics to create those applications.

Mobile Autoresponder (3 users graded this B) is a web based service that allows you to build a list of cell phone numbers that will enable you to send out text messages regarding new products, promotions, updates, or anything else that you desire. 90% of text messages are actually opened – meaning that the likelihood of your message getting seen is greatly increased over the number that would see a typical email message.

Green App Machine (Brand New! 1 user graded this B) is a push-button system that will allow you to launch your own mobile apps. You can do this even if you have absolutely no technical skills and if you don’t have a ton of money to outsource the work. This software will make creating and launching a mobile app a simple process – allowing you to create apps that will earn you money around the clock automatically.

iPhone Dev Secrets (2 users grade this B-)  is a unique opportunity to learn how to make a lot of money creating apps for iPhones, iPods, and iPads. The creator Mike says you can learn how to create an iPhone or iPad app or game in about 4 weeks without any programming skills. Mike said there are over 250 million i-gadgets sold which includes; iPhones, iPods and iPads all together.

Facebook recently released Graph Search which is a powerful new way to search for just about anything you can imagine!  Facebook has a nice introductory page available which provides videos and information on Graph Search along with the ability to test out a search.  However, the really interesting part of the equation is how Facebook Graph Search will impact Internet marketers.

The most obvious impact is for your Facebook Page.  Properly categorizing your Facebook Page is now very important due to Graph Search.  In addition, making sure your Page has the correct keywords on it will help make sure it shows up in the most relevant Graph Search results.  SEO on Facebook is critical to being shown in Graph Search results.  Facebook has provided a helpful video about SEO for your Facebook Page.

If you spend any advertising dollars on Facebook, you will be happy to hear that Graph Search is making Facebook Ad targeting much more relevant.  How so?  Users are taking the time to be included in Graph Search by filling out their profiles and their likes.  More complete user data spells better targeted ads for marketers.

Facebook Graph Search also impacts your SEM efforts.  If Facebook has no results to display, it pulls in results from Bing.  Is Bing part your Search Engine Marketing strategy?  In the past many marketers have stuck only with Google for SEM but with the power of Facebook behind them, this is a huge win for Bing!

Overall, Graph Search looks like it is poised be a great asset for Internet marketers in many ways.

It’s tax season and for those who are lucky enough that means a tax refund!  We have many highly rated Internet Marketing sites that are low cost to get started and will have you turning your tax refund into a full time income.  Here are a few of the top sites we have been seeing a lot of interest in lately:

WP Robot (174 grades, A-) is an auto-blogging plugin for WordPress weblogs. It enables the user to create targeted blog posts on any topic without having to write anything. Blogs are set on auto-pilot and fresh content is entered on a schedule that the user specifies.  The posts can be on any topic and will be targeted to any keyword desired.

Just Host (11 grades, B+) is a hosting website that offers quality web hosting with a wide variety of features that makes it perfect for both the newbie internet marketer just starting with their first website and the experienced marketer who has their own large list of marketing websites. This hosting is easy to use and also offers a good support base to make switching to and using Just Host well worth the change.

AWeber (144 grades, A-) is one of the most well-known and widely used email auto-responders on the Internet today. The company, which is based in Pennsylvania, has been a leader in the field of CAN-SPAM compliant e-mail marketing for over 10 years and is highly regarded as the auto-responder of choice by most affiliate marketers.

Micro Niche Finder (198 grades, A-) from James Jones is an SEO-oriented research tool that allows you to research keywords and niches. The primary feature of this tool is to allow you to easily discover micro niches that have not been taken full advantage of yet and can easily be dominated. The tool also features an indicator that allows you to quickly get an idea of the competition level.

Chris Farrell Membership (1524 grades, A) is a site created by who else but Chris Farrell for people who are serious about learning Internet marketing and making a significant ongoing online income. In his membership program, Farrell promises to take people from beginning Internets marketer to successful Internet marketers with solid support and valuable help along the way. Chris Farrell Membership requires paying a monthly membership fee, but Farrell claims to always work to make it worth the money.  The A grades just keep flowing in for this program!

For more ideas on the best ways to use your tax refund, see our Top 25 Sites, as rated by IM Report Card members.  There you will find Top 25 lists for Products, Services, People, Biz-Opps and Other sites.