internet marketing articles directory - from www.whywebsiteswork.com - my articles

my internet marketing articles directory

Internet Marketing Article Directory

This domain name (www.fromthis.com) and server is the depository for all my internet marketing related articles. Below is the complete list of articles in the order they were first written and published to my whywebsiteswork.com internet marketing article website and my internet marketing blog.
Each listing below includes the title (which is a clickable link to the full article), a description or the opening sentence and the html / plain text code.

Use of these internet marketing related articles...

You may, of course, read and make use of the advice and any recommendations contained within them at any time you wish and for how often you need to - that is their primary function!
If you wish to use them as content for your own website, blog or ezine/newsletter, please feel free to do so - observing the following conditions:
You must NOT alter, add to or condense the article in any way - including the title,
    main text and description.
Most importantly, you must INCLUDE the full author resource box at the end of
    each article & ensure the hypertext link in it is an active link back to my
    http://www.whywebsiteswork.com article website.

Occassionally, I recommend products or services within the article - if you are an affiliate marketer for the same product or service then you may use your own affiliate link in place of mine. This is the only time when you can alter the article.
Lastly, if you do decide to use one or more of these articles, I would appreciate a quick email telling me when and where you have used them - thank you.

My Internet Marketing Articles:

Title: Easy... create webpage, blog and ping, collect the money!
Description / Opening sentences: When I first came across the 'blog and ping' technique a few months ago, I have to say I was a bit unsure of how useful it would be. After all, the very words 'blog' and 'ping' sound more like something a 5 yr old would get up to in the school playground! Not a serious business marketing concept, surely?
HTML version: [ HELP ] <h1 align="center">Easy... create webpage, blog and ping,<br>collect the money!</h1>When I first came across the '<a href="http://www.fromthis.com/blogandpingvids.htm" target="_blank">blog and ping</a>' technique a few months ago, I have to say I was a bit unsure of how useful it would be. After all, the very words 'blog' and 'ping' sound more like something a 5 yr old would get up to in the school playground! Not a serious business marketing concept, surely?<br>Of course, I've since seen the light and have started using the practice - but not to the same degree as I read some others have. 100's of pages getting indexed... and thousands of pages visited by the search engine robots. (You can find some excellent 'blog and ping' video tutorials at <a href="http://www.fromthis.com/blogandpingvids.htm" target="_blank" title="blog and ping video tutorials">www.fromthis.com/blogandpingvids.htm</a> )<br><br><br>About the same time I started to read about the fascination with such programs as <i>Directory Generator</i>, <i>Traffic Equaliser</i> and other mass-producing template software. Now, I have huge respect for the likes of Armand Morin who produced <i>DG</i> and other top marketers like John Reese who extol the benefits of <i>TE</i>, but like so many of these new web techniques, I have my reservations. Here's my take...<br><br>Google, Yahoo, MSN et al are not blind. Nor are they philanthropic!<br>People search online for information. Period. Yes some then get their wallets out and make a purchase but the initial activity is to seek out information to solve the surfers’ problems, desires and curiosities. '<b><i>Content is king</i></b>' is still true.<br><br>So if what people get when they click on the links in these search engines is a mass produced site with just a whole load more listings and the occasional rss-feed that's appeared on more sites than Anna Kournikova, surely surfers (searchers) are going to get hacked off and look for the information elsewhere. Which will eventually mean lost revenue for the SE.<b>A page with yet more links <u>isn't</u> information!</b> And most of the rss feeds are not unique and in some cases are not even relevant to the original search query.<br>But the thing that worries me most about these new 'AdSense-laden' copycat sites is that they leave footprints - that is because they are a template, the html code is identical in layout for all of them. <br><br>Surely, the big SE's are going to start wising up. If you produce 5,000 webpages and blast them into the search engines using the blog and ping method (or any other submission technique) - isn't that akin to spamming? No one doubts that Google and the rest of the SE's have the technology to detect if a page is made with one of these programs. My guess is when enough of their customers (the web-searching general public) start complaining that all their results return are pages of identical listings and the odd out-dated snippet if they're lucky, these DR and TE generated sites are going to get dropped quicker than a bandicoot on nandrolone!<br><br><b>What ever happened to the '<u>information</u> super-highway'?</b><br>Sadly, I think this highlights a sign of our times - something for nothing (enter a few keywords, click & send, then wait for the checks to arrive) - the quick buck mentality.<br><br>Again, don't get me wrong... most of these programs and techniques are good and useful - but I think they are being used inappropriately. I come back to the point I made about the real reason for people coming online in the first place - they want data, facts, advice, knowledge. It's no coincidence that the internet is often referred to as the 'information super-highway'!<br><br><br>So let's get back to giving our customers - our website visitors - what they came for. By all means use <i>Directory Generator</i> or <i>Traffic Equaliser</i> if you must, and - yes - I highly endorse the '<a href="http://www.fromthis.com/blogandpingvids.htm" target="_blank">blog and ping</a>' principal, but use them for the creation and submission of<br><b>content-rich sites</b> people are going to come back to again and again.<br>That way we will all get what we want - searchers get their information, search engines get relevant listings, AdWords advertisers get quality click-thru's, and webmasters get genuine visitors who'll be more predisposed to opening their wallet!<br><br><br>====================================<br> Article written by Rudi Ashdown and first posted at<br> <a href="http://www.whywebsiteswork.com" target="_blank">www.whywebsiteswork.com</a>.<br> To learn more about the 'blog and ping' technique,<br> check out these <a href="http://www.fromthis.com/blogandpingvids.htm" target="_blank">blog & ping video tutorials</a>.<br> ©Rudi Ashdown. copyright2005. All rights reserved.<br>====================================<br> Plain text version: [ HELP ] When I first came across the 'blog and ping' technique a few months ago, I have to say I was a bit unsure of how useful it would be. After all, the very words 'blog' and 'ping' sound more like something a 5 yr old would get up to in the school playground! Not a serious business marketing concept, surely? Of course, I've since seen the light and have started using the practice - but not to the same degree as I read some others have. 100's of pages getting indexed... and thousands of pages visited by the search engine robots. (You can find some good 'blog and ping' video tutorials at http://www.fromthis.com/blogandpingvids.htm ) About the same time I started to read about the fascination with such programs as Directory Generator, Traffic Equaliser and other mass-producing template software. Now, I have huge respect for the likes of Armand Morin who produced DG and other top marketers like John Reese who extol the benefits of TE, but like so many of these new web techniques, I have my reservations. Here's my take... Google, Yahoo, MSN et al aren't blind. Nor are they philanthropic! People search online for information. Period. Yes some then get their wallets out and make a purchase but the initial activity is to seek out information to solve the surfers’ problems, desires and curiosities. 'Content is king' is still true. So if what people get when they click on the links in these search engines is a mass produced site with just a whole load more listings with the occasional rss-feed that's appeared on more sites than Anna Kournikova, surely surfers (searchers) are going to get hacked off and look for the information elsewhere. Which will eventually mean lost revenue for the SE. A page with yet more links isn't information! And most of the rss feeds are not unique and in some cases are not even relevant to the original search query. But the thing that worries me most about these 'AdSense-laden' copycat sites is that they leave footprints - that is because they are a template, the html code is identical in layout for all of them. Surely, the big SE's are going to start wising up. If you produce 5,000 webpages and blast them into the search engines using the blog and ping method (or any other submission technique) - isn't that akin to spamming? No one doubts that Google and the rest of the SE's have the technology to detect if a page is made with one of these programs. My guess is when enough of their customers (the web-searching general public) start complaining that all their results return are pages of identical listings and the odd out-dated snippet (if they're lucky), these DR and TE generated sites are going to get dropped quicker than a bandicoot on nandrolone! What ever happened to the 'information super-highway'? Sadly, I think this highlights a sign of our times - something for nothing (enter a few keywords, click & send, then wait for the checks to arrive) - the quick buck mentality. Again, don't get me wrong... most of these programs and techniques are good and useful - but I think they are being used inappropriately. I come back to the point I made about the real reason for people coming online in the first place - they want data, facts, advice, knowledge. It's no coincidence that the internet was often referred to as the 'information super-highway'! So let's get back to giving our customers - our website visitors - what they came for. By all means use Directory Generator or Traffic Equaliser if you must, and - yes - I highly endorse the 'blog and ping' principal, but use them for the creation and submission of content-rich sites people are going to come back to again and again. That way we will all get what we want - searchers get their information, search engines get relevant listings, AdWords advertisers get quality click-thru's, and webmasters get genuine visitors who'll be more predisposed to opening their wallet! =================================================== Article written by Rudi Ashdown and first posted at http://www.whywebsiteswork.com . To learn more about the 'blog and ping' technique, check out the 'blog and ping' video tutorials at http://www.fromthis.com/blogandpingvids.htm ===================================================

Title: Zero-cost quality traffic! Impossible... or is it?
Description / Opening sentences: Like most things in life - you get what you pay for. And the internet, generally speaking, is no different. Take ebooks for an example. There are more free ebooks whirling around cyberspace than there are papparazzi and rumours buzzing around Katie and Tom! Every other website seems to offer one, and there are plenty of websites dedicated to nothing else but pushing these 'virtual scribblings'.
HTML version: [ HELP ] <h1 align="center">Zero-cost quality traffic!<br><i>Impossible</i>... or is it?</h1>Like most things in life - you get what you pay for. And the internet, generally speaking, is no different.<br><br>Take ebooks for an example. There are more free ebooks whirling around cyberspace than there are papparazzi and rumours buzzing around <a href="javascript:;" onClick="popuppp()" title="website traffic article fun">Katie and Tom</a>! Every other website seems to offer one, and there are plenty of websites dedicated to nothing else but pushing these 'virtual scribblings'.<br>Now don't get me wrong... there are a few excellent free ebooks out there with some extremely insightful and useful information - but lets face it, most of them suck. Right? Quality advice usually has a price tag, and rightly so.<br><br><br><b>So what about traffic?</b><br>Getting traffic to our websites, as we all know, is the life-blood of our online ventures (whether it's for profit or pleasure). And there are a whole stack of ways to get it.<br>Unless you are very wet behind the ears, most people can generate some traffic - search engine submission, ezine advert, ppc's, banners, articles with a link back, heck even just telling all their friends! But traffic for traffic's sake is of very little value - and in some cases can be a mistake. For example, if your pay-per-click campaign pulls in a tidy 200 visitors a day but none of them buy because you chose the wrong keywords, that would start to hit your bottom line big time. Even a thousand visitors a day are useless, which ever way you get them, if they are simply not interested. Quality is the key, and in this instance quality means targeted - people who are genuinely interested in the subject of your website content and come predisposed to making a purchase.<br>To get this type of visitor to your webpages usually means spending one of two things - either money or time. Taking several days to optimise the webpage to get better natural search engine rankings and not to mention, before the advent of '<a href="http://www.fromthis.com/articles/blogandping.htm" target="_blank" title="opens new window to my blog and ping article">blog & ping</a>', the 3 months it could take before the SE robot paid you a visit, it was for most people too much. Or you could write articles and send them to ezine publishers (or submit them one by one to article directories) in the hope their readers would click through to find your offer.<br>The alternative would be to run banner ads on other websites <i>(Tip: the quality of click thru's is not good because it is perceived as an advert to sell which means buying resistance on arrival at your site)</i> or to run Google AdWords & Overture ppc campaigns but those generally involve a decent sized pot of gold you don't mind throwing away.<br><br><b>So can you get quality visitors for free?</b> (free being both cost and time)<br>Well, if you have a substantial list of enthusiastic ezine/newsletter readers it certainly doesn't take hardly any time at all to blast a broadcast email out to them. And there's no cost involved once you have the software on your pc. But not all of us have masses of eager eyes watching their email inbox, at least not to start with!<br>Mega blasting an ad to the free ad listing sites is generally a waste of time (albeit very little) as no-one really goes there to read them. <br><br><b>What else is there?</b><br>There's a new piece of technology that takes advantage of something we all do everyday - <b>Surfing!</b> We can now rack up substantial traffic to our website just by clicking on different webpages. "<i>WHOAOA!</i>" I hear you say "<i>... you're not suggesting one of those 'homepage rotator programs' or visiting websites I have no interest in, are you?</i>"<br>Absolutely not, although some people have acheived some good results with programs such as 'NoMoreHits' and 'Clicksilo'.<br>No, this is even better because you earn ad credits for every page you visit, not just the first page on connecting to the internet. And it is <b><i>any</i></b> page... the ones <b><i>you</i></b> want to go to. I heartily recommend this new technology for generating good quality traffic - good quality because the ad appears as an unobtrusive text link at the top of other peoples' browsers and the surfer clicks only when they are interested. It's <b>totally free</b>, takes less than 5 minutes to set up and then just let it work it's magic.<br><b>Zero-cost <a href="http://www.whywebsiteswork.com/adtrackz/go.php?c=instantbuzz&s=article1">quality traffic for your website</a> has never been easier</b> - so it is possible!<br><br><br> ====================================<br> Article written by Rudi Ashdown and first posted at<br> <a href="http://www.whywebsiteswork.com">www.whywebsiteswork.com</a>.<br> To get a flood of free quality traffic to your website,<br> check out this <b><a href="http://www.fromthis.com/websitetraffic.htm">free traffic generation</a></b> technique.<br> ©Rudi Ashdown. copyright2005. All rights reserved.<br>====================================<br Plain text version: [ HELP ] Like most things in life - you get what you pay for. And the internet, generally speaking, is no different. Take ebooks for an example. There are more free ebooks whirling around cyberspace than there are papparazzi and rumours buzzing around Katie and Tom! Every other website seems to offer one, and there are plenty of websites dedicated to nothing else but pushing these 'virtual scribblings'. Now don't get me wrong... there are a few excellent free ebooks out there with some extremely insightful and useful information - but lets face it, most of them suck. Right? Quality advice usually has a price tag, and rightly so. So what about traffic? Getting traffic to our websites, as we all know, is the life-blood of our online ventures (whether it's for profit or pleasure). And there are a whole stack of ways to get it. Unless you are very wet behind the ears, most people can generate some traffic - search engine submission, ezine advert, ppc's, banners, articles with a link back, heck even just telling all their friends! But traffic for traffic's sake is of very little value - and in some cases can be a mistake. For example, if your pay-per-click campaign pulls in a tidy 200 visitors a day but none of them buy because you chose the wrong keywords, that would start to hit your bottom line big time. Even a thousand visitors a day are useless, which ever way you get them, if they are simply not interested. Quality is the key, and in this instance quality means targeted - people who are genuinely interested in the subject of your website content and come predisposed to making a purchase. To get this type of visitor to your webpages usually means spending one of two things - either money or time. Taking several days to optimise the webpage to get better natural search engine rankings and not to mention, before the advent of 'blog & ping', the 3 months it could take before the SE robot paid you a visit, it was for most people too much. Or you could write articles and send them to ezine publishers (or submit them one by one to article directories) in the hope their readers would click through to find your offer. The alternative would be to run banner ads on other websites (Tip: the quality of click thru's is not good because it is perceived as an advert to sell which means buying resistance on arrival at your site) or to run Google AdWords & Overture ppc campaigns but those generally involve a decent sized pot of gold you don't mind throwing away. So can you get quality visitors for free? (free being both cost and time) Well, if you have a substantial list of enthusiastic ezine/newsletter readers it certainly doesn't take hardly any time at all to blast a broadcast email out to them. And there's no cost involved once you have the software on your pc. But not all of us have masses of eager eyes watching their email inbox, at least not to start with! Mega blasting an ad to the free ad listing sites is generally a waste of time (albeit very little) as no-one really goes there to read them. What else is there? There's a new piece of technology that takes advantage of something we all do everyday - Surfing! We can now rack up substantial traffic to our website just by clicking on different webpages. "WHOAOA!" I hear you say "... you're not suggesting one of those 'homepage rotator programs' or visiting websites I have no interest in, are you?" Absolutely not, although some people have acheived some good results with programs such as 'NoMoreHits' and 'Clicksilo'. No, this is even better because you earn ad credits for every page you visit, not just the first page on connecting to the internet. And it is any page... the ones you want to go to. I heartily recommend this new technology for generating good quality traffic - good quality because the ad appears as an unobtrusive text link at the top of other peoples' browsers and the surfer clicks only when they are interested. It's totally free, takes less than 5 minutes to set up and then just let it work it's magic. Zero-cost quality traffic for your website has never been easier - so it is possible! Check out http://www.fromthis.com/websitetraffic.htm and start getting a flood of visitors to your website today. ==================================== Article written by Rudi Ashdown and first posted at www.whywebsiteswork.com. To get a flood of free quality traffic to your website, check out http://www.fromthis.com/websitetraffic.htm . ©Rudi Ashdown. copyright2005. All rights reserved. ====================================

Title: Profiting from Articles - A Step-by-step Guide
Description / Opening sentences: In this article you will discover the exact step-by-step methods many savvy internet marketers are using to profit wildly from articles.
HTML version: [ HELP ] "Content is King" - that's a given, there's no debate. But how do you get content? Like most projects, breaking it into bite-size, easily digestible chunks makes the process realistically achievable. By creating articles, you build and develop that content.<br><br>So how do you profit from articles?<br>I, personally, find the best way to approach the 'process' of making mony from articles is to work backwards! That is, to determine what your ultimate goal is and then figure out each preceding step that leads to it.<br><br><br>Example:<br> Ultimate goal - sell an ebook<br>preceding step - subscriber reads recommendation in 5-part mini series<br>preceding step - article reader visits name squeeze page and signs up for mini series<br>preceding step - prosepct reads your article on someone elses website/blog/ezine<br>preceding step - publisher picks up your article from directory<br>preceding step - article submitted to directory<br>preceding step - you produce article<br><br>And try to keep a single focus for each step. For example, you want people to sign up for the mini series -- then the email capture/name squeeze page should only give them that option! Don't put tons of other links on that webpage which would give the visitor alternatives to signing up for the mini series. Keep it tightly focused -- keep the objective in mind.<br><br>So the tasks would be (for the above example), in this order:<br><b>1]</b> Create the ebook - research and write - or outsource it through elance.com, guru.com, etc. - your product to make money on. If you're not sure of how to write an ebook, just write it in MSWord or your wp of choice and convert it to a .pdf document with a password protection. Upload that to your web server.<br><b>2]</b> Create a single webpage introducing, recommending and soliciting orders for your ebook. Include a PayPal, StormPay or some other shopping cart link to order the book.<br><b>3]</b> Write 5 short emails as a mini series (which include a link to your ebook order page) and put them into an autoresponder.<br><b>4]</b> Create the single webpage with a compelling copy for why the visitor should sign up for your 5-part mini series and include the webform which links to your autoresponder.<br><b>5]</b> Having got those 3 things above in place, now you need to write the article(s) that include a link in the resource box to your name capture webpage.<br><b>6]</b> Finally, use <a href="http://www.fromthis.com/articleannouncer.htm" target="_blank">ArticleAnnouncer</a> to submit your article to the directories.<br><br><b>Important note:</b> You do NOT need big, flashy, complex websites to profit from articles! A simple compelling page that directs them to an autoresponder. From the email messages in the a/r, you can send them to a simple order page for your own ebook or you can send them to an affiliate product page. Bottom line - Keep it simple!<br><br>If you're sending them straight to an affiliate page (I think capturing their email first is better but I include this as an option) from the article resource box, you won't need to do step 1, 2, 3 or 4 above<br><br>If you're sending the reader to an affiliate page after capturing their email, miss out steps 1 and 2. Step 3 could be a 5-part mini series, or you might just want to send them to an ezine you publish (which recommends your affiliate product) or send them to another great article (or part 2 of the article) stored in an autoresponder. But you'll need to give them some reason for them to give you their email address!<br><br><br>Articles are a very powerful method of attracting visitors to a webpage and ultimately to generating 'sales'. Readers of your article have already established a 'know, like and trust' relationship with you and are therefore much more predisposed to buying from you. They are the ultimate targetted traffic - and therefore the most profitable visitor! Get your articles out there and let them silently, effortlessly do their work. <br><br><br>====================================<br> Article written by Rudi Ashdown and first posted at<br> <a href="http://www.whywebsiteswork.com" target="_blank">http://www.whywebsiteswork.com</a>. <br> Quickly and easily submit your article to dozens of<br> directories and ezine publishers -<br> go to this <a href="http://www.fromthis.com/articleannouncer.htm" target="_blank">article submission information</a> webpage.<br> ©Rudi Ashdown. copyright2005. All rights reserved.<br>====================================<br> Plain text version: [ HELP ] "Content is King" - that's a given, there's no debate. But how do you get content? Like most projects, breaking it into bite-size, easily digestible chunks makes the process realistically achievable. By creating articles, you build and develop that content. So how do you profit from articles? I, personally, find the best way to approach the 'process' of making mony from articles is to work backwards! That is, to determine what your ultimate goal is and then figure out each preceding step that leads to it. Example: Ultimate goal - sell an ebook preceding step - subscriber reads recommendation in 5-part mini series preceding step - article reader visits name squeeze page and signs up for mini series preceding step - prosepct reads your article on someone elses website/blog/ezine preceding step - publisher picks up your article from directory preceding step - article submitted to directory preceding step - you produce article And try to keep a single focus for each step. For example, you want people to sign up for the mini series -- then the email capture/name squeeze page should only give them that option! Don't put tons of other links on that webpage which would give the visitor alternatives to signing up for the mini series. Keep it tightly focused -- keep the objective in mind. So the tasks would be (for the above example), in this order: 1] Create the ebook - research and write - or outsource it through elance.com, guru.com, etc. - your product to make money on. If you're not sure of how to write an ebook, just write it in MSWord or your wp of choice and convert it to a .pdf document with a password protection. Upload that to your web server. 2] Create a single webpage introducing, recommending and soliciting orders for your ebook. Include a PayPal, StormPay or some other shopping cart link to order the book. 3] Write 5 short emails as a mini series (which include a link to your ebook order page) and put them into an autoresponder. 4] Create the single webpage with a compelling copy for why the visitor should sign up for your 5-part mini series and include the webform which links to your autoresponder. 5] Having got those 3 things above in place, now you need to write the article(s) that include a link in the resource box to your name capture webpage. 6] Finally, use ArticleAnnouncer to submit your article to the directories. Important note: You do NOT need big, flashy, complex websites to profit from articles! A simple compelling page that directs them to an autoresponder. From the email messages in the a/r, you can send them to a simple order page for your own ebook or you can send them to an affiliate product page. Bottom line - Keep it simple! If you're sending them straight to an affiliate page (I think capturing their email first is better but I include this as an option) from the article resource box, you won't need to do step 1, 2, 3 or 4 above. If you're sending the reader to an affiliate page after capturing their email, miss out step 1 and 2. Step 3 could be a 5-part mini series, or you might just want to send them to an ezine you publish (which recommends your affiliate product) or send them to another great article (or part 2 of the article) stored in an autoresponder. But you'll need to give them some reason for them to give you their email address! Articles are a very powerful method of attracting visitors to a webpage and ultimately to generating 'sales'. Readers of your article have already established a 'know, like and trust' relationship with you and are therefore much more predisposed to buying from you. They are the ultimate targetted traffic - and therefore the most profitable visitor! Get your articles out there and let them silently, effortlessly do their work. ==================================== Article written by Rudi Ashdown and first posted at www.whywebsiteswork.com. Quickly and easily submit your article to dozens of directories and ezine publishers - go to http://www.fromthis.com/articleannouncer.htm . ©Rudi Ashdown. copyright2005. All rights reserved. ====================================

Title: Website Conversion - How to Avoid Losing 94% of Sales!
Description / Opening sentences: Attracting visitors to your site is only half the battle! The website conversion strategy offered in this articles will help you to avoid losing 94% of your sales.
HTML version: [ HELP ] Attracting visitors to your site is only half the battle!<br><br>Let’s face it – it doesn’t matter whether you get 50 or 50,000 people browsing your webpages, if they don’t buy anything from you, you’re not gonna make any money. It is that simple. OK, there are exceptions… your website might be all about giving some information and hoping the prospect clicks through on one of the AdSense links. The site may be purely about brand awareness and not actually sell anything directly off the page. It might even be a simple landing page that gently encourages the reader to click through to an affiliate page. But if you don’t have a carefully orchestrated strategy for following up on these visitors, they will be in and out of there and never seen again.<br><br>Virtually every marketing expert I know, whether online or offline, will tell you that repeated exposure is absolutely imperative in winning new sales, why leave it to chance that these surfers may see another link or advert for your site and make a return visit. Surely it makes much more sense to capture some form of contact information, which can then be used to keep your offer in front of them, drilling the benefits into their minds until the point when they are ready to make the purchase.<br><br><br>Converting new website visitors from prospect to buyer, straight off the bat, is notoriously difficult. Even good copywriters with many years of direct marketing experience can struggle to win the hearts and wallets of the casual surfer. Statistically, less than 6% of the people who will eventually buy the product will do so on their first exposure to it. That means if there is no follow-up process with your site visitors, you will lose 94% of the sales you could otherwise achieve. To add further to these figures, it has been calculated that over 70% of the sales generated as a result of email follow-ups happen in response to the 3rd and 4th email in the series.<br><br><br>So what is the generally accepted ideal strategy?<br>The ‘best-practice’ is to focus on getting the first-time visitor to give you their email address. If you can get them to give more details such as name and a phone number or physical address as well, so much the better. But you’ll need to be careful. The more information someone is asked to give out, the more you’ll scare some people off. The flip side is – the more information someone gives, the more chance they want the product or services you offer. You’ll need to test, but at the very least you should aim to capture their email. And to do that, you must really focus the first webpage they’ll see on that task and that task alone. Don’t give them loads of other links to other pages on your site or ask them to make decisions about your product, company or special promotions. Concentrate on being able to make the follow-up.<br><br>To do this you’ll most likely need to give them something. Some information or sample that is relevant to their needs. This technique is called using the natural law of reciprocity – if I give you something, you’ll feel more obliged to return the favour and give me something when I ask for it. In this case, you are going to give them some ‘extra’ information and they will give you their email address when asked for it!<br><br>In practice, that means this first webpage needs to focus on ‘selling’ the benefits of getting this ‘extra’ information. There must be strong compelling reasons to give you their email address in order that they can receive this ‘exclusive, additional knowledge’. And of course, the process must be quick, easy and ‘painless’.<br><br><br>Having now got a way to gently drip-feed them with your sales message via a series of emails, you can begin the process of turning your website visitor into a buyer. Remember, less than 6% will bite on the first hook and only another 9% on the second reading of your sales message. It’s the 3rd and 4th email that will most likely generate the greatest responses with about 35% each. Also keep in mind that these ‘sales’ messages need to be delivered after all the free information has first been sent. If this ‘extra’ information was in the form of a 5-part e-course, for instance, delivered every other day – you’ll need to hold off sending any ‘sales’ messages until at least a fortnight after they first requested the e-course.<br><br><br>The power of creating this kind of strategy, however, is that the visitor has been ‘warmed up’ to you and your business. They feel they know, like and can trust you – three vital elements in the psyche of buying. The result is your sales messages don’t need super ad-copy to be effective and your ultimate conversion rate of prospect to buyer is both higher and easier! <br><br><br>====================================<br> Article written by Rudi Ashdown and first posted at<br> <a href="http://www.whywebsiteswork.com" target="_blank">http://www.whywebsiteswork.com</a>. <br> Want to know how to skyrocket your sales through<br> email marketing - quickly and easily?<br> Find out from this <a href="http://www.fromthis.com/emailprofits.htm" target="_blank">email profits secrets</a> webpage.<br> ©Rudi Ashdown. copyright2005. All rights reserved.<br>====================================<br> Plain text version: [ HELP ] Attracting visitors to your site is only half the battle! Let’s face it – it doesn’t matter whether you get 50 or 50,000 people browsing your webpages, if they don’t buy anything from you, you’re not gonna make any money. It is that simple. OK, there are exceptions… your website might be all about giving some information and hoping the prospect clicks through on one of the AdSense links. The site may be purely about brand awareness and not actually sell anything directly off the page. It might even be a simple landing page that gently encourages the reader to click through to an affiliate page. But if you don’t have a carefully orchestrated strategy for following up on these visitors, they will be in and out of there and never seen again. Virtually every marketing expert I know, whether online or offline, will tell you that repeated exposure is absolutely imperative in winning new sales, why leave it to chance that these surfers may see another link or advert for your site and make a return visit. Surely it makes much more sense to capture some form of contact information, which can then be used to keep your offer in front of them, drilling the benefits into their minds until the point when they are ready to make the purchase. Converting new website visitors from prospect to buyer, straight off the bat, is notoriously difficult. Even good copywriters with many years of direct marketing experience can struggle to win the hearts and wallets of the casual surfer. Statistically, less than 6% of the people who will eventually buy the product will do so on their first exposure to it. That means if there is no follow-up process with your site visitors, you will lose 94% of the sales you could otherwise achieve. To add further to these figures, it has been calculated that over 70% of the sales generated as a result of email follow-ups happen in response to the 3rd and 4th email in the series. So what is the generally accepted ideal strategy? The ‘best-practice’ is to focus on getting the first-time visitor to give you their email address. If you can get them to give more details such as name and a phone number or physical address as well, so much the better. But you’ll need to be careful. The more information someone is asked to give out, the more you’ll scare some people off. The flip side is – the more information someone gives, the more chance they want the product or services you offer. You’ll need to test, but at the very least you should aim to capture their email. And to do that, you must really focus the first webpage they’ll see on that task and that task alone. Don’t give them loads of other links to other pages on your site or ask them to make decisions about your product, company or special promotions. Concentrate on being able to make the follow-up. To do this you’ll most likely need to give them something. Some information or sample that is relevant to their needs. This technique is called using the natural law of reciprocity – if I give you something, you’ll feel more obliged to return the favour and give me something when I ask for it. In this case, you are going to give them some ‘extra’ information and they will give you their email address when asked for it! In practice, that means this first webpage needs to focus on ‘selling’ the benefits of getting this ‘extra’ information. There must be strong compelling reasons to give you their email address in order that they can receive this ‘exclusive, additional knowledge’. And of course, the process must be quick, easy and ‘painless’. Having now got a way to gently drip-feed them with your sales message via a series of emails, you can begin the process of turning your website visitor into a buyer. Remember, less than 6% will bite on the first hook and only another 9% on the second reading of your sales message. It’s the 3rd and 4th email that will most likely generate the greatest responses with about 35% each. Also keep in mind that these ‘sales’ messages need to be delivered after all the free information has first been sent. If this ‘extra’ information was in the form of a 5-part e-course, for instance, delivered every other day – you’ll need to hold off sending any ‘sales’ messages until at least a fortnight after they first requested the e-course. The power of creating this kind of strategy, however, is that the visitor has been ‘warmed up’ to you and your business. They feel they know, like and can trust you – three vital elements in the psyche of buying. The result is your sales messages don’t need super ad-copy to be effective and your ultimate conversion rate of prospect to buyer is both higher and easier! ==================================== Article written by Rudi Ashdown and first posted at www.whywebsiteswork.com. Want to know how to skyrocket your sales through email marketing - quickly and easily? Find out from this email profits secrets webpage: http://www.fromthis.com/emailprofits.htm ©Rudi Ashdown. copyright2005. All rights reserved. ====================================

Title: The 8 'Must Do' rules for effective website design
Description / Opening sentences: In this article you will learn the importance of designing your website around your customers and their needs. An effective website design is what will determine if a visitor will stay just a visitor or turn into your next customer.
HTML version: [ HELP ] To succeed at your online business (whether you are selling your own product/service or are selling for other merchants as an affiliate), you need a Web design must be just for that - a simple, focused site. One that is easy to build, maintenance-free, low cost, credible, and a powerful traffic-builder and customer-converter.<br><br>Having the right tool and the right product alone doesn’t insure the success of your website. There are many factors to be considered in effective website design. Unfortunately, most of these are overlooked by offline business owners using the internet to promote their business.<br><br><b>Web Design Rule #1 - Build It for Speed</b><br>It's a fact of modern life - people are in a hurry. This means that you have between 10 and 30 seconds to capture your potential customer's attention. To minimize your load time, keep graphics small. Compress them where possible. Use flashy technology (JavaScript, Flash, Streaming Audio/Video, animation) sparingly and only if it is important to your presentation.<br><br><b>Web Design Rule #2 - Target your Market</b><br>Know who your market is and make certain that your site caters to their needs. It is critical that your site reflect the values of your potential customers. Is your market mostly business professionals? If so, the site must be clean and professional. Is your product aimed mostly a teenagers and young adults? Then your site could be more informal and relaxed. The key here is to know your market and build the site to their preferences.<br><br><b>Web Design Rule #3 - Focus the Site</b><br>Make certain your web site is focused on the goal, selling your product or service. A site offering many unrelated products is not necessarily unfocused, but this is often the case. If your business does offer many products, dedicate a unique page for each instead of trying to sell them all from one page.<br><br><b>Web Design Rule #4 - Credibility Is Crucial</b><br>The most professionally designed site won't sell if your customers don't believe in you. A clear privacy statement is one way to build your credibility. Provide a prominent link to your privacy statement from every page on the site as well as from any location that you are asking your visitors for personal information. Provide legitimate contact information on line.<br><br><b>Web Design Rule #5 - Navigation should be simple</b><br>Make site navigation easy and intuitive. Simple and smooth navigation adds to the convenience of the visitors. Add powerful search and catalog features. Many times a lot of visitors do not have the patience to navigate through the whole website to find what they are looking for.<br><br><b>Web Design Rule #6 - Consistency is the key</b><br>Make sure the site is consistent in look, feel and design. Nothing is more jarring and disturbing to a customer than feeling as if they have just gone to another site. Keep colors and themes constant throughout the site.<br><br><b>Web Design Rule #7 - Make your site interactive</b><br>Make your website interactive. Add feedback forms as well as email forms that allow your prospective customers to ask you any questions they might have pertaining to a product. Personalization of your website is another key element that can lead to customer delight and can increase your sales. Personalization technology provides you the analytic tools to facilitate cross-selling and up-selling when the customer is buying online. It would give you an idea of what products to cross-sell and up-sell. For example, when a person buys a CD player, a disc cleaner can also be offered.<br><br><b>Web Design Rule #8 - Content is King</b><br>Good content sells a product. Ask yourself the following questions. Does your copy convey the message you wish to get across to your visitors? Is it compelling? Does it lead your visitor through the sales process? Have others review, critique and edit your copy to insure it is delivering the intended message. Always double check your spelling and grammar.<br><br>These eight, simple rules will go a long way toward an effective website design, and most importantly, turning visitors into customers.<br><br><br>====================================<br> Article written by Rudi Ashdown and first posted at<br> <a href="http://www.whywebsiteswork.com" target="_blank">http://www.whywebsiteswork.com</a>.<br> This is article number 1 of 10 - get the other nine free<br> at my <a href="http://www.whywebsiteswork.com" target="_blank">internet consultancy</a> website.<br> ©Rudi Ashdown. copyright2005. All rights reserved.<br>====================================<br> Plain text version: [ HELP ] To succeed at your online business (whether you are selling your own product/service or are selling for other merchants as an affiliate), you need a Web design must be just for that - a simple, focused site. One that is easy to build, maintenance-free, low cost, credible, and a powerful traffic-builder and customer-converter. Having the right tool and the right product alone doesn’t insure the success of your website. There are many factors to be considered in effective website design. Unfortunately, most of these are overlooked by offline business owners using the internet to promote their business. Web Design Rule #1 - Build It for Speed It's a fact of modern life - people are in a hurry. This means that you have between 10 and 30 seconds to capture your potential customer's attention. To minimize your load time, keep graphics small. Compress them where possible. Use flashy technology (JavaScript, Flash, Streaming Audio/Video, animation) sparingly and only if it is important to your presentation. Web Design Rule #2 - Target your Market Know who your market is and make certain that your site caters to their needs. It is critical that your site reflect the values of your potential customers. Is your market mostly business professionals? If so, the site must be clean and professional. Is your product aimed mostly a teenagers and young adults? Then your site could be more informal and relaxed. The key here is to know your market and build the site to their preferences. Web Design Rule #3 - Focus the Site Make certain your web site is focused on the goal, selling your product or service. A site offering many unrelated products is not necessarily unfocused, but this is often the case. If your business does offer many products, dedicate a unique page for each instead of trying to sell them all from one page. Web Design Rule #4 - Credibility Is Crucial The most professionally designed site won't sell if your customers don't believe in you. A clear privacy statement is one way to build your credibility. Provide a prominent link to your privacy statement from every page on the site as well as from any location that you are asking your visitors for personal information. Provide legitimate contact information on line. Web Design Rule #5 - Navigation should be simple Make site navigation easy and intuitive. Simple and smooth navigation adds to the convenience of the visitors. Add powerful search and catalog features. Many times a lot of visitors do not have the patience to navigate through the whole website to find what they are looking for. Web Design Rule #6 - Consistency is the key Make sure the site is consistent in look, feel and design. Nothing is more jarring and disturbing to a customer than feeling as if they have just gone to another site. Keep colors and themes constant throughout the site. Web Design Rule #7 - Make your site interactive Make your website interactive. Add feedback forms as well as email forms that allow your prospective customers to ask you any questions they might have pertaining to a product. Personalization of your website is another key element that can lead to customer delight and can increase your sales. Personalization technology provides you the analytic tools to facilitate cross-selling and up-selling when the customer is buying online. It would give you an idea of what products to cross-sell and up-sell. For example, when a person buys a CD player, a disc cleaner can also be offered. Web Design Rule #8 - Content is King Good content sells a product. Ask yourself the following questions. Does your copy convey the message you wish to get across to your visitors? Is it compelling? Does it lead your visitor through the sales process? Have others review, critique and edit your copy to insure it is delivering the intended message. Always double check your spelling and grammar. These eight, simple rules will go a long way toward an effective website design, and most importantly, turning visitors into customers. ==================================== Article written by Rudi Ashdown and first posted at http://www.whywebsiteswork.com . This is article 1 of 10 - get the other nine free at http://www.whywebsiteswork.com ©Rudi Ashdown. copyright2005. All rights reserved. ====================================

Title: The Dangers of Comparison Websites (when searching for the cheapest gas and electricity)
Description / Opening sentences: Finding the cheapest gas and electricity is fast becoming a necessity given the latest round of domestic fuel price increases. But there are dangers if we think the online utility comparison websites hold all the answers!
HTML version: [ HELP ] The price of domestic gas and electricity has been a regular topic in the UK press over the last couple of weeks and for good reason. The current round of price increases that have just come into effect from many of the big utility companies have hit many people hard, not least the elderly and the lower wage earners. It is estimated that those who remained with their original supplier are now paying 20 – 30 percent more for their domestic fuel than those who have switched. With the current 14.2% extra added to the bill, and with the figures banded around that British Gas has lost nearly half a million customers this year alone, it is no surprise that the British public are saying enough is enough.<br><br>Privatisation and deregulation was supposed to put an end to the exorbitant prices these monopolies once could charge, but from where I stand, loyalty only seems to be rewarded by fleecing. New customers of these giant utility companies are treated preferentially to get them on board but only for a very short period before they too are moved to the ‘standard rate’ higher charges.<br><br>So the answer for the savvy consumer is to shop around – but therein lies another problem. Phoning around for quotes or visiting showrooms (those that are left) is time consuming. Very time consuming... and also challenging in so far as making the comparisons between all the different tariffs and options available. Hence, many are using the internet to do their searching. Typing “gas and electricity comparison” into a search field such as you’ll find on the Yahoo! homepage brings up plenty of sites claiming to make an ‘independent’ comparison. Probably the best known of these is Uswitch.com. I’ve read several articles recently in leading national papers extolling the virtues of these ‘independent and unbiased websites’ and how they “give you a completely impartial and objective assessment that leads to recommending the absolute best deal for you”.<br><br>But please, before you go off and start entering all your personal details into one of these online services, I implore you to stop and think just for one minute. How do you suppose these huge sites – that take a lot of man-hours to continually update and maintain – make their money? As a general rule, they don’t have lots of advertising banners plastered all over each page so they must get their revenue from elsewhere. And, yes, just like most other advisers or consultants, they get it from commissions. These are paid by the big corporate utilities to these ‘independent’ websites for each consumer that switches to them through the website.<br><br>Doing a little research by typing in exactly the same details, I found that different comparison websites produce different results even when they list the same companies! Clearly some of these websites are getting bigger commissions by recommending me certain deals over others. As well as having a tendency to recommend the deal that best suits them, they also only list ones that they can get a commission for, which mean not all of them list every option available for the individual consumer. Hardly independent and impartial! For instance, none of them list the Utility Warehouse and only a relatively few list Equipower/Equigas as neither of these providers will pay commissions to comparison website owners.<br>Yet for the vast majority of the British population, the Utility Warehouse are by far the best option provided you are happy with paying by Direct Debit. They guarantee to be the cheapest gas and electricity supplier in the UK for normal usage customers. Those on very low usage who can pay quarterly by cheque may find Equipower a better option. My advice is dig a bit deeper and you’ll discover more deals than these comparison websites have to offer. But that comes back to time and effort… two valuable ‘commodities’ most of the general public aren’t willing to use just to get lower bills.<br>So let me help you by leaving you with my research conclusions:<br>If you are like the vast majority of households in the UK on standard average or high usage, check out the Utility Warehouse guaranteed cheapest gas and electricity tariff! You’ll need to apply through one of their representatives – a good one can be found at <a href="http://www.cheapest-gas-supplier.co.uk" target="_blank">www.cheapest-gas-supplier.co.uk</a> or <a href="http://www.cheapest-electricity-supplier.co.uk" target="_blank">www.cheapest-electricity-supplier.co.uk</a> .<br>If you are on a very low usage, then you may want to check out the Equipower/Equigas scheme by going to their website at <a href="http://www.ebico.co.uk" target="_blank">www.ebico.co.uk</a> .<br><br>Getting the cheapest gas and electricity shouldn’t be such a trial… but then again maybe that is what the big utility companies are relying on! Too bad you and I now know differently…<br><br><br>====================================<br> Article written by Rudi Ashdown and first posted at<br> my <a href="http://www.whywebsiteswork.com" target="_blank">internet marketing advice</a> website.<br> To quickly and easily save on your domestic fuel bills,<br> go to this <a href="http://www.gas-electricity-comparison.co.uk" target="_blank">UK cheapest gas and electricity</a> info website.<br> ©Rudi Ashdown. copyright2005. All rights reserved.<br>====================================<br> Plain text version: [ HELP ] The price of domestic gas and electricity has been a regular topic in the UK press over the last couple of weeks and for good reason. The current round of price increases that have just come into effect from many of the big utility companies have hit many people hard, not least the elderly and the lower wage earners. It is estimated that those who remained with their original supplier are now paying 20 – 30 percent more for their domestic fuel than those who have switched. With the current 14.2% extra added to the bill, and with the figures banded around that British Gas has lost nearly half a million customers this year alone, it is no surprise that the British public are saying enough is enough. Privatisation and deregulation was supposed to put an end to the exorbitant prices these monopolies once could charge, but from where I stand, loyalty only seems to be rewarded by fleecing. New customers of these giant utility companies are treated preferentially to get them on board but only for a very short period before they too are moved to the ‘standard rate’ higher charges. So the answer for the savvy consumer is to shop around – but therein lies another problem. Phoning around for quotes or visiting showrooms (those that are left) is time consuming. Very time consuming... and also challenging in so far as making the comparisons between all the different tariffs and options available. Hence, many are using the internet to do their searching. Typing “gas and electricity comparison” into a search field such as you’ll find on the Yahoo! homepage brings up plenty of sites claiming to make an ‘independent’ comparison. Probably the best known of these is Uswitch.com. I’ve read several articles recently in leading national papers extolling the virtues of these ‘independent and unbiased websites’ and how they “give you a completely impartial and objective assessment that leads to recommending the absolute best deal for you”. But please, before you go off and start entering all your personal details into one of these online services, I implore you to stop and think just for one minute. How do you suppose these huge sites – that take a lot of man-hours to continually update and maintain – make their money? As a general rule, they don’t have lots of advertising banners plastered all over each page so they must get their revenue from elsewhere. And, yes, just like most other advisers or consultants, they get it from commissions. These are paid by the big corporate utilities to these ‘independent’ websites for each consumer that switches to them through the website. Doing a little research by typing in exactly the same details, I found that different comparison websites produce different results even when they list the same companies! Clearly some of these websites are getting bigger commissions by recommending me certain deals over others. As well as having a tendency to recommend the deal that best suits them, they also only list ones that they can get a commission for, which mean not all of them list every option available for the individual consumer. Hardly independent and impartial! For instance, none of them list the Utility Warehouse and only a relatively few list Equipower/Equigas as neither of these providers will pay commissions to comparison website owners. Yet for the vast majority of the British population, the Utility Warehouse are by far the best option provided you are happy with paying by Direct Debit. They guarantee to be the cheapest gas and electricity supplier in the UK for normal usage customers. Those on very low usage who can pay quarterly by cheque may find Equipower a better option. My advice is dig a bit deeper and you’ll discover more deals than these comparison websites have to offer. But that comes back to time and effort… two valuable ‘commodities’ most of the general public aren’t willing to use just to get lower bills. So let me help you by leaving you with my research conclusions: If you are like the vast majority of households in the UK on standard average or high usage, check out the Utility Warehouse guaranteed cheapest gas and electricity tariff! You’ll need to apply through one of their representatives – a good one can be found at www.cheapest-gas-supplier.co.uk or www.cheapest-electricity-supplier.co.uk . If you are on a very low usage, then you may want to check out the Equipower/Equigas scheme by going to their website at www.ebico.co.uk . Getting the cheapest gas and electricity shouldn’t be such a trial… but then again maybe that is what the big utility companies are relying on! Too bad you and I now know differently… ==================================== Article written by Rudi Ashdown and first posted at http://www.whywebsiteswork.com . For a direct link to the cheapest gas and electricity in the UK: go to http://www.gas-electricity-comparison.co.uk ©Rudi Ashdown. copyright2005. All rights reserved. ====================================

Title: Why should we ‘get together’ to pray?
Description / Opening sentences: In this article I explore my Christian beliefs regarding the importance of getting together physically in order to pray.
HTML version: [ HELP ] I often hear in reply to an invitation to a prayer meeting… “Oh, I’ll be with you in spirit” or “Tell me the time you’re all meeting and I’ll have my ‘quiet time at home’ at the same time”.<br><br>Now it may be that, because of other commitments like you are on child-minding duty that evening, it is genuinely impossible for you to attend in person. You, also, <i>may</i> be one of those rare people who are ultra self-disciplined, have a room set aside with no distractions that gives you perfect peace and solitude, and a family from whom you have total respect and obedience by granting you uninterrupted meditation.<br><br>However, the reality for most of us is that our family, work, chores, our latest home D-I-Y project, hobbies, the television in the next room or the party in our neighbours’ garden all conspire to take our thoughts away from concentrating on the job at hand – to enter into and do battle in the ‘heavenly realms’.<br>Some may argue that it’s the devil doing his utmost to scupper our intended time with God, others may view at as natural human weakness or the simple reality of the situation… but the chances are your “quiet time at home” – whilst the others are gathered elsewhere – will end up a rather disturbed and consequently ineffective affair.<br><br>Many would suggest that the literal meaning of Matthew 18:20 – “<i>For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.</i>” [<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">NIV</font>] – does refer to a physical togetherness. And I would suggest there is a deeper significance than merely the numbers. Being together in the same room, we are able to open the corporate communication channels with our Father and evoke a far more powerful combined force against the enemy. We tend to be ‘pulled’ into focusing our minds and hearts toward the common goal of “seeking first the kingdom” by those around us.<br>Having other people present means that everyone rests from speaking whilst the others vocalise their thoughts. This is not about giving us time to switch off… indeed it is the opportunity to listen to God. On our own there is always the temptation to fill the time by talking – to be truly still and quiet when we are on our own in order to hear God takes practice and discipline. In a group prayer session, we are ‘forced’ to shut up and listen! And, yes, sometimes God speaks through other peoples’ prayers.<br><br>Also from a purely practical point of view, we have an immediate opportunity to hear from, and respond to, others who may have ‘words of knowledge’ or ‘pictures’ given to them in specific relation to the subject of the prayers. This instant communication is vital in encouraging one another and for maintaining the momentum and enthusiasm to keep going. It becomes easier as part of a joint venture; it becomes a pleasure. And the extra energy can then be channelled into greater worship and stronger petitioning.<br><br><br>Of course God can work across the geographical divide! But I think He delights so much more when we gather in His name (and with His presence) physically because, if for no other reason, He can see the seriousness of the business we want to do with Him by our ‘actions’ as well as our thoughts. We are making a real effort! – So… “<i>Let us not give up the habit of meeting together… but let us encourage one another.</i>” [<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">NIV Hebrew 10:25</font>] <br><br><br>====================================<br> Article written by Rudi Ashdown and first posted on<br> my private <a href="http://www.fromthis.com" target="_blank">article depository</a> website. <br> Quickly and easily submit your article to dozens of<br> directories and ezine publishers -<br> go to this <a href="http://www.fromthis.com/articleannouncer.htm" target="_blank">article submission information</a> webpage.<br> ©Rudi Ashdown. copyright2005. All rights reserved.<br>====================================<br> Plain text version: [ HELP ] I often hear in reply to an invitation to a prayer meeting… “Oh, I’ll be with you in spirit” or “Tell me the time you’re all meeting and I’ll have my ‘quiet time at home’ at the same time”. Now it may be that, because of other commitments like you are on child-minding duty that evening, it is genuinely impossible for you to attend in person. You, also, may be one of those rare people who are ultra self-disciplined, have a room set aside with no distractions that gives you perfect peace and solitude, and a family from whom you have total respect and obedience by granting you uninterrupted meditation. However, the reality for most of us is that our family, work, chores, our latest home D-I-Y project, hobbies, the television in the next room or the party in our neighbours’ garden all conspire to take our thoughts away from concentrating on the job at hand – to enter into and do battle in the ‘heavenly realms’. Some may argue that it’s the devil doing his utmost to scupper our intended time with God, others may view at as natural human weakness or the simple reality of the situation… but the chances are your “quiet time at home” – whilst the others are gathered elsewhere – will end up a rather disturbed and consequently ineffective affair. Many would suggest that the literal meaning of Matthew 18:20 – “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” [NIV] – does refer to a physical togetherness. And I would suggest there is a deeper significance than merely the numbers. Being together in the same room, we are able to open the corporate communication channels with our Father and evoke a far more powerful combined force against the enemy. We tend to be ‘pulled’ into focusing our minds and hearts toward the common goal of “seeking first the kingdom” by those around us. Having other people present means that everyone rests from speaking whilst the others vocalise their thoughts. This is not about giving us time to switch off… indeed it is the opportunity to listen to God. On our own there is always the temptation to fill the time by talking – to be truly still and quiet when we are on our own in order to hear God takes practice and discipline. In a group prayer session, we are ‘forced’ to shut up and listen! And, yes, sometimes God speaks through other peoples’ prayers. Also from a purely practical point of view, we have an immediate opportunity to hear from, and respond to, others who may have ‘words of knowledge’ or ‘pictures’ given to them in specific relation to the subject of the prayers. This instant communication is vital in encouraging one another and for maintaining the momentum and enthusiasm to keep going. It becomes easier as part of a joint venture; it becomes a pleasure. And the extra energy can then be channelled into greater worship and stronger petitioning. Of course God can work across the geographical divide! But I think He delights so much more when we gather in His name (and with His presence) physically because, if for no other reason, He can see the seriousness of the business we want to do with Him by our ‘actions’ as well as our thoughts. We are making a real effort! – So… “Let us not give up the habit of meeting together… but let us encourage one another.” [NIV Hebrew 10:25] ==================================== Article written by Rudi Ashdown and first posted at www.whywebsiteswork.com. Quickly and easily submit your article to dozens of directories and ezine publishers - go to http://www.fromthis.com/articleannouncer.htm . ©Rudi Ashdown. copyright2005. All rights reserved. ====================================

Title: Coming soon - I'm adding more of my articles to this archive shortly.
Description / Opening sentences:
HTML version: [ HELP ] the text of the article Plain text version: [ HELP ] the text of the article

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