An alternate term for forums. Please see “forum” entry.

Popularity: 5% [?]

An e-mail server that automatically responds to requests for information. Also called an autoresponder.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Also called a “user name” or “user ID,” this is the name you use to access certain programs, websites, software or networks. A login name is the “nickname” for a user on the Internet. Normally, the user can pick their own login name. Quite often, a login name for e-mail programs is the first part of the e-mail address. Many people choose to use the same or similar login names for all of their Internet activity.

Popularity: 5% [?]

This term is sometimes spelled “login” and is interchangeable with the term “log on.” To “log in” to the Internet is the act of connecting to the World Wide Web. The term is also used to refer to the act of entering your user name and password into a website, e-mail program, instant messenger system, message board or chat room.

When you are “logged on” to the Internet, website or program, you have access to all of the features available. Many sites that require privacy ask you to register with the site and then login with a name and password.

Popularity: 5% [?]

This is reference to another document, resource or web page. Links are “clickable,” meaning that placing your cursor over the link and clicking will take you directly to the information that you are looking for. Links are a short form the official term “hyperlink.”
Links can also be used as a form of “internet” currency.

Google ranks websites based on the number of related links that they have to and from their website. Many online businesses seek links to add to their websites so they can increase their ranking on Google and other search engines.

Popularity: 6% [?]

When two or more people work together on a project in order to promote their services together, they form what is known as a joint venture, also known as a JV. This can be on a digital product, such as an e-book or MP3 recording or it can be on a tangible (physical) product. Joint business ventures are a great way to increase your profits and gain new customers.

Benefits of joint ventures include:

• You will be able to offer your current customers a new product
• You can also attract new customers with your joint venture product

For instance, if you have a website targeted to people who want to carry their babies in a ring-style baby carrier, you can team up with a virtual assistant and create an information product that explains the different ways you can hold an infant or toddler in the sling.

Your current clients may never have known how to use that particular style of baby sling; and people who were specifically looking for a ring sling, but didn’t know about your website, may now find you, simply because you are offering that product. Plus, you can become an affiliate for other products parents who carry their babies might be interested in, and offer those products to your customers as well.

For instance, someone who is new to baby slings may not know very much about attachment parenting. You can create a small report that explains the benefits of attachment parenting for the baby and for the parents. Perhaps you can form another joint venture partnership with someone who runs an informational attachment parenting website and they can help you write the report, or possibly offer you a commission per lead affiliate program.

Using the above example, if you wanted to create an information guide on becoming an “attached parent”, you could seek out well-known attachment parenting proponents and send them an email with some information about the project you are seeking a partner for and ask if they would be interested in working with you. You can also find message boards and forums that are devoted to the attachment parenting community and post a message letting people know what kind of joint venture you are seeking a partner for and ask if anyone is interested or knows someone that may be interested, in partnering with you.

Once you have a list of potential people to work with, you can start interviewing them. You’ll want to make sure that your personalities mesh, as you’ll be spending a bit of time working together. You’ll also want to make sure that they are competent and serious about their business. You will be relying on them to meet you half-way; you don’t want to get stuck doing all the work.

When you find the right person to team up with, joint venture benefits can include fun and profitable projects that bring your business to a whole new level.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Clicking on the button on the left side of the mouse. The left button is the primary selector tool on the standard mouse. When you use the left button to click on an icon on the computer screen, the program will open.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Outsourcing some of your business tasks to an outside contractor is one of the best things you can do for your business. Advantages of outsourcing include: You will be able to focus on the tasks that require your specific attention; the administrative tasks will still be getting done, you will find you are less-stressed, and will have more free time to enjoy with your family. If you are apprehensive about handing over a portion of your business to a stranger, the following are some tips on how to work effectively with a contractor.

When you start looking for someone to work with, ask your other business friends for recommendations. Ask for the names of people that they have personally worked with in the past; if they haven’t used the type of assistant you are looking for, they may know of someone who has.

When you interview a potential contractor, ask them for the names of people that they have worked with previously. Always check these referrals. Ask questions such as how they liked the contractor’s work, if the work was finished on time, and if they would hire the contractor again.

You should also ask to see some samples of the contractor’s work. Do they have a style that is similar to the style you are looking for? Does the work look polished and professional or slapped together? Are there obvious mistakes?

Since you will be working together a lot, make sure that your personality does not clash with the contractor’s. How do you like to communicate? If you like to talk via telephone and your contractor prefers email, this could pose a problem.

Find out how the contractor likes to be paid before you hire them. They may accept full payment after the work is completed, or they may ask to be paid half of the payment before they start. Many contractors will accept Paypal, but, again, make sure you both understand how the payment process will work before you commit to a project.

In addition to the payment process, you will want to make sure you both understand how the contractor will keep track of time and how you will be notified of their progress. You can use an online task assistant that you can both access. You can put up information such as due dates, notes about the project, etc; and the contractor can give daily feedback on the progress they have made.

If you are worried about the contractor having access to sensitive information and possibly stealing or leaking your ideas, have them sign a non-disclosure agreement. If they do take your idea or tell your idea to someone else, you have legal recourse.

Once you find a contractor that you enjoy working with and you’re enjoying the benefits of outsourcing to them, you may want to consider putting them on retainer. This means that you are guaranteeing them a certain amount of hour’s worth of work each month. They will know you are a consistent client and will most likely give you a price break.

Popularity: 22% [?]

Several months ago, my friend Amie told me about a social networking site she had joined called StumbleUpon. She said she spent a couple of hours a day “stumbling” pages of interest to her target market and voting for the ones she liked. She’d also leave comments on the site.

Her results: The traffic to her site dramatically increased. In one month alone, she received almost 9,000 visitors to her site JUST from this one social networking site. Her sales also dramatically increased in direct correlation to amount of stumbling she did.

The downside?

You have to spend a couple of hours a day stumbling websites, voting for and commenting on sites that are of interest to your target market. Now, if you have time to do this, no problem. But if you’re like me, you don’t have a whole lot of extra time with business, family, church and sleep thrown in to the the mix.

I’ve tried Stumble, but just never really got into it for that reason. But then my friends at Mom Masterminds told me about another site called Squidoo.

Squi-what?!

Basically, it’s a site where you create a page, which they call a lens. You can create a lens on any topic you want — anything from Attachment Parenting to Benefits Of Soy Candles. You can also create as many lenses as you want. My friend Tiffany has more than 40!

Anyway, the way it works is, your lens receives a LensRank and can appear in the Top 100 ranked lenses list. You can also leave comments on other people’s lenses, which link back to your lens. You can also add your link to other people’s lenses.

You can see one of my new lenses at:
http://www.squidoo.com/wahm-ecommerce/

What does this mean for your product selling business? Well, for example, you can start a lens about attachment parenting, add an article to it about babywearing and link to your own baby slings for sale.

That’s just one networking site and one idea. A whole world of networking exists and they’re all part of a trend called web 2.0. Basically, web 2.0 is about websites interacting with visitors.

Several other sites out there are available for business-related, web 2.0 networking. Depending on your style and your goals, one may work for you better than the other.

Would you like to learn more about business networking and web 2.0? Download my Business Networking For Product Seller’s Special report to learn:

• What is business networking and web 2.0?
• How can I incorporate web 2.0 tactics in my business?
• Where can I go to network?
• Do’s and Don’ts of business networking

My report is an affordable $7. Why so low? I wanted to make sure that everyone can afford to purchase a copy of this valuable information.

Are you ready to learn more? Click here to order!

Popularity: 7% [?]

The search for keywords related to your Web site, in order to analyze which ones yield the highest return on investment for PPC and other types of advertising. Wordtracker (www.wordtracker.com) and other keyword research tools help advertisers pick appropriate keywords for their campaigns.

Popularity: 5% [?]