Preparing a marketing plan is a key element of your online business planning process, but for some it can prove to be a daunting task. You’ll want to fully understand where you stand in the market right now, what you want to achieve, and how you are going to get there.  One powerful tool that can help with this process is a Mind Map.

Developed in the 70′s, mind maps are diagrams used to represent words, ideas or tasks arranged around one central keyword.  They allow for greater creativity when recording ideas and information, as well as allowing you to associate words with visual representations.  In addition, it can help people to “see” a problem, it’s solution and how best to organize them.

Below is a list of 4 FREE mind mapping software  that you can be used not only to create your marketing plan, but other business tasks as well.   

1. Mindomo

Mindomo – is a great tool used for mindmapping. They offer both a free and paid version and you have the choice of downloading it to your desktop or you can take advantage of the web-based version. In my opinion, the free version will get the job done, so no need to invest in the paid version.

2. Free Mind

FreeMind – is actually one of my favorite mind mapping tool to use, because it is very simple and doesn’t require any specialized knowledge. All you have to do is download it to your desktop and the rest is a piece of cake. Did I mention that it was F.R.E.E?

3. Bubble.us

Bubbl.us –is another great choice when it comes to mind mapping. The main cool feature of this tool lies in the fact that you create mind maps in a bubble format. I also like the fact that it is webbased, therefore, no need to download anything to your computer. This, too, is free of cost.

4. Mind42

Mind42 – this tool is browser based and therefore doesn’t need to be download to your computer. It, too, is a great choice and is rather simple to use.

These are only 4 of the many free mind mapping software on the market.  If you are looking for a more comprehensive listing, I would suggest that you do a Google search.

Whether or not you choose to use one of the four mentioned in my blog post, I would love to hear about your experience with using mind mapping tools.   So, please leave a comment below, sharing your experience and/or your tool of choice.  Also, please share this information to your following, by retweeting or sharing on Facebook.

As online entrepreneurs, it’s vital that we publish valuable information that offers the solution to our ideal client’s problems.  But what good are our solutions if no one knows about them?
You get people in front of your content, by driving traffic to your website or blog.

Alexa Ranking system is one tool that you can use to estimate the amount of traffic that comes to your site.

photo credit: stequoianie

What exactly is Alexa?
In case you don’t already know, Alexa is a website, owned by Amazon, that is used to rank website traffic.  As an example, a site with an Alexa ranking of 500,000 simple means that it is the 500,000 most visited website on the Internet.

Historical data gathered from those who have the Alexa Toolbar installed is used to assign a ranking to your site.  Among the sites with the top  Alexa.com ranking are:

Google - #1
Facebook - #2
YouTube - #3
Yahoo - #4
Windows Live - #5

You can access the entire Top 500 listing to see if your blog or website is among the most popular.

Though it is not the most accurate ranking system to gauge the amount of  traffic flowing to your website, it is one of the tools used by blogger, advertisers and a whole host of others to determine if a site is successful or not.  So, if you want to win the popularity contest, you must play the game.

The following are 10 ways in which you can positively influence your site’s Alexa ranking.

#1 – Install Alexa toolbar on your browser

• This the key component of increasing your ranking – installing the toolbar and getting your followers to do the same.
• It is also the reason why this ranking system is not the most accurate, since not everyone has it installed on their computer.

#2- Visit your blog often

• By visiting your site daily,  this will inherently improve your ranking
• set your website as the default homepage of your browser.

#3- Claim your site

• Encourage others to do the same

#4- Write frequent blog posts

• remember, the goal is to get visitors to your website.  In order to accomplish this, you have to provide value that keeps your audience hungry, where they are always looking for more.
• frequent content publication helps to brand you as a expert in your area.

#5- Participate in Social Media Communities

• Make sure that you have a profile on the BIG 3 – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
• Once you build up a social media following, encourage them to share your content with others.

#6- Comment on other people’s blogs

• the more generous you are with leaving intelligent comments on other’s blogs, the more they will comment on yours – reciprocity is the name of the game.
• this is also another way for you to showcase your expertise to the market.

#7- Get others to install the Alexa Toolbar

• Create content, such as a blog post or video, around the benefits of utilizing the toolbar
• No only will they help to increase your rank, they too can reap the same results.

#8- Utilize Social Bookmarking Sites

• syndicate your content to social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon and Digg
• this will help to increase the traffic to your website and overtime, your rank will increase

#9- Submit Blog Reviews

• ask your blog’s readers to post reviews on Alexa.

#10- Include Alexa widget on your site

• This will encourage others to submit reviews related to your site.

So, there you have it, how to boost your Alexa Ranking in jut 10 easy steps.  Though I choose to focus on 10 factors, there are many more steps that you can take to increase your score.  Perhaps you may even have some ideas that you want to share.  I welcome them and encourage you to leave a comment.

The principle of pay-per-click (ppc) ads are simple: a company that is willing to pay the highest bid for a keyword will be ranked highest on the search result website.  Such an ad campaign can significantly increase traffic to your Internet site in a matter of seconds.  Pay Per Click is a very powerful form of advertising that holds many benefits, particularly for online network marketing business on a tight budget.

To capture the right audience, PPC Internet advertising campaigns allow you to effectively use your own keywords to target a certain niche.  Since search engines like Google recognizes the approximate location of web browsers, your pay per click ads can be set to appear only to those targeted location.  For example, if you own a hair salon in Charlotte, North Carolina, you can tailor your ad to show up only for those who are located close enough to come and visit that salon in person.  This is a great way to keep your advertising budget on track.

PPC ads are most effective since you only pay when a potential prospect clicks on them. Website traffic is guaranteed even if the Internet user doesn’t make a purchase immediately.  An increase in traffic count generally results in significantly improved income potential.  Unlike article advertising that requires a wait to be published, pay per click ads can begin circulation immediately.  Shortly after your advertisements are active for search, your prospective customers can click them.

Not only is the pay per click advertising program real easy to learn, it also is user friendly. In the beginning, there may be a lot involved with the ad composition portion of pay per click marketing; however, the actual process of placing the ad is very simple.  Plus, if you need to have anything on your ads changed, editing is almost effortless.  Google AdWords takes you through each part of the process step by step and the instructions are actually easy to follow.

PPC advertising campaigns also allow for testing possibilities. As you have great control over the performance of your advertising campaign, you can change your keywords and ad listings at any time.  You’ll be able to modify components of your campaign that are not generating sales, by simply fine-tuning the ad listing in an attempt to improve your leads or sales at the lowest cost per customer.

There are countless benefits to using pay per click marketing in your endeavors o make some money online as an affiliate marketer.  It is easy to understand and once you figure out the system.  It is also very lucrative.

Sarah Johnson is a hard working Internet Network Marketer and Coach that specializes in helping struggling networkers to generate more leads and sign-ups for their businesses. Please click on the following link to learn more… http://www.successfulhomebasebusiness.com