#1: Change the Default Logo

After creating your small business Twitter account, change the default logo to one that represents your style and helps to brand your small business. Twitter is not a ‘join it and they will come’ small business marketing tool.

If you are hoping to reap the rewards and added blog traffic that Twitter can offer, then you have to be willing to put in the time to build trustworthy relationships with potential customers. To that end, when it comes to any business on Twitter, people want to feel like they are engaging with real human beings.

The profile picture is the first thing that new followers will look at. You need to create a logo that quickly gains follower interest if you want them to carry on further and check out your small business blog. By all means, if you use a personal picture make sure it does not portray you as an axe murderer.

#2: Show Up

As noted in the intro above, there can be a steep learning curve when it comes to using Twitter to drive traffic to your small business blog. According to a recent article in Adweek:

Only 17 percent of Twitter users updated their accounts in December — an all-time low. An earlier study by the Nielsen Co. revealed 60 percent of Twitter users do not return from one month to the next.

When business owners don’t get any @ replies, identify any new customers, or gain new traffic to their small business blog they feel like they are wasting their time and are gone for good.

Using Twitter properly as a tool to drive blog traffic requires a long term outlook, persistence, and a consistent effort every day.

#3: Complete the Bio Profile

Similar to a mini ‘About’ page, Twitter gives you 160 characters in your profile so you can write a brief Bio to describe who you are and further specify your business. Make sure the link to your small business blog appears somewhere in this section. Or, even better, include your blog as the one html link you are allowed to have.

I am amazed at how many small businesses skip the Bio step. The results of not taking the time to fill out the profile section will give your business a look similar to the one below. Ask yourself, would you visit the small business blog of the ‘iamabusiness’ profile?

If you are not getting targeted traffic for your small business blog from your Twitter Bio, try spicing it up with something similar to SmileMakers INC. When I read the profile for SmileMakers INC I don’t have any questions as to what business they are in.

#4: Brand Your Small Business Twitter background

The available Twitter background space is like getting free real estate where you can create an online billboard. When properly used, the background can help to build your small businesses image and highlight your brand. If you struggle with design work then use one of the many online background creation tools that are available, such as, TwitterImage, TwitBacks, and TwitrBackgrounds.

Although ProBlogger is not a ‘brick & mortar’ small business, Darren has an easily identifiable Twitter background that helps to pique interest in what he is about and can drive casual follower traffic to his blog.

#5: Social proof matters

When it comes to getting traffic for your small business blog on Twitter, the ugly truth is, social proof absolutely matters!

The number of followers you have, the number of people you are following, and the number of Tweets you have sent out will all be a determining factor in the minds of potential customers.

You don’t need to wait until your small business account has as many followers as ProBlogger, Chris Brogan, or even John Jantsch. Although, it certainly helps to have a few hundred followers and to be following a few hundred (see: #2 show up above) before you promote your small business blog on Twitter.

#6: Be Sincere

If you are sincere in your interactions on Twitter, after the initial frustration and dip of feeling like you’re in an echo chamber, you will slowly gain a following that you’ll be able to direct to your small business blog.

When you interact and engage on Twitter in a sincere manner, and follow Jeff Pulver’s 95% giving & 5% taking rule, potential customers will slowly begin to trust you and this will gradually open them up to visiting your small business blog.

#7: Use Twitter Search

Twitter Search is a valuable tool for any small business owner who wants to increase traffic to a website or blog. Searching for relevant keyword terms related to your business niche, and finding traffic for your blog, is made much easier with this tool.

However, when using Twitter Search the key is to provide valuable and helpful information in your @ replies and to not press people with spam.

For a bit of a real life example, the other day on Twitter I was looking for some input on web hosting companies. The amount of spam I got back in my Twitter stream was unreal. The reply below stands out in particular as an example of ‘How not to drive traffic to your small business or blog’ when using Twitter Search.

I know you are going to be absolutely shocked! But when you click on the link included in @forsgren’s Tweet you find out that he actually OWNS the company and website that the link directs to.

For the record, I have absolutely no problem with him directing an @ reply to me. However, please be honest and disclose up front that you own the hosting company. In this particular case, my trust has been lost and the potential for him to gain my business is gone. Additionally, I will never look at his blog. Period.

#8: Collaborative Relationships

When attempting to get more traffic for your small business blog, find out who the thought leaders and influencers are in your industry and connect with them on Twitter. It does not always get discussed out in the open, but collaborative partnerships, particularly with people in your industry, can send a tremendous amount of targeted visitors to your blog.

As a personal example, the actress Alyssa Milano happens to be a passionate animal rights advocate. At present, I help to do the social media activities for the animal rescue organization on my tiny island, and through the magic of Twitter I was able to connect with Ms. Milano.

The animal rescue organization has (what is essentially) a small business blog, which is used to update people on stray animals who need help and any current rescues who are looking for a home. On a couple of occasions now Alyssa has been kind enough to help get our message out over Twitter. In fact, back in June she Tweeted about one particular dog that was really in dire need of some help.

Because many of her followers are also animal lovers (i.e targeted traffic), below you can see the spike in visitors that was generated to the animal welfare blog from her Tweet, which is a site that typically gets about fifty visitors per day.

#9: Useful Links & Hashtags

Once you have gained a few followers and created some collaborative relationships, you should start sharing useful links that are related to your small business. Sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit make it easy for you to search and discover the best of what’s on the web in your niche.

If you’re sharing good stuff and educating your followers, then their natural tendency will be to investigate your profile further and visit your small business blog.

For example, if I owned a bike shop and wanted to drive traffic to my business blog, I would begin Tweeting all of the useful links that I could find on the subject of bikes and bike riding.

When it comes to increasing follower count, resource posts always seem to get ReTweeted well. Be on the lookout for ‘Best of’ and ‘How to’ posts. When Tweeting links, if space provides, you might want to create a branded hashtag for your small business as well.

#10: Power of the Picture

Who you are and what you do on a daily basis at your small business matters to your followers. Tweeting pictures provides a contextual basis to your daily activities, which goes beyond the normal status update.

In order to gain more targeted traffic to your small business blog, I would highly recommend utilizing a Twitter photo-sharing site like TwitPic or Yfrog. These sites allow the small business owner to share cool photos from their typical business day, or while plying their craft, so that people get to know you. Photos help to build social trust and intrigue, which leads to more traffic on your small business blog. Have a look at this Tweeted photo that I just sent this past Friday and one of the responses I received.

As a final note, I have said this before, but its importance cannot be overlooked. It can take a very long time to develop a trusting follower base for your small business on Twitter but it only takes one Tweet to alienate and lose the trust of your followers.

What other suggestions would you offer to those small business owners who are looking to use Twitter to drive traffic to their small business blog?

Source: Problogger.com

Depending on the size of your Twitter account, you might know a lot about the users who are following you, or nothing at all. How can you possibly keep track of 1,000s of friends and followers all at once? A new web site, Ad.ly,  has created the perfect tool for getting full stats and demographics on who is following you on Twitter.

Checking your Twitter analytics is easy. If you haven’t already, be sure to signup to Ad.ly, it’s free and only takes a few seconds. Next, visit the analytics.ad.ly page. You can sign in through your account, or Twitter. Allow the application to connect through Twitter, then waiting a few seconds and your full stats will display.

Source: RoyalTutorial.com

How can you increase your Alexa rank? Alexa is a subsidiary of Amazon.com. It is a ranking system based on the level of traffic a website receives from people with the Alexa toolbar installed.

You may want to increase your Alexa rank because advertisers, ad networkers use it as a gauge to determine the popularity of your blog. So if you are someone who is making money from advertising, you would definitely want to increase your alexa rank as it helps you bargain for an ad price. Sites like reviewme.com determines review price based on your Technorati rank and Alexa rank.

Increase Alexa Ranking

1. Download Alexa toolbar free. If you are using Firefox, I recommend you to use another plug-in called SearchStatus which not only displays the Alexa rank but it also shows page rank details, no follow links, meta tags, keyword density of a page etc
2. Put an Alexa rank widget on your blog. Each click will be counted as a visitor.
3. Encourage your friends or colleagues to use Alexa toolbar. Explain them about the tracking system of the toolbar. Ask them to rate your Alexa website profile.
4. Try to get dugg or stumbled. This will bring massive amount of traffic to your site and contributes a lot to your Alexa rank.
5. Write content related to webmasters. This is because most of the webmasters use Alexa toolbar. You may write and post articles related to SEO, webmaster tools. Webmasters always look for new tools and may revisit your website to gain access to the tools. Promote your articles on webmaster forums and social networking sites.
6. Buy links and banners from webmaster forums. A well displayed ad can bring lots of webmaster traffic to your site and boost your rank. But you need to have unique and good content on your blog to attract more and more visitors.
7. Write about Alexa and post in your blog. Bloggers love to know about different ways of increasing their Alexa rank. This may eventually increase traffic and your rank.
8. You may try Alexa autosurfs for a new site or blog. They may work for new sites having almost zero Alexa rank. But they are not a long term solution.

Source: QuickOnlineTips.com

It’s been more than three years since we wrote about Japanese Design Barcode, with its clever and whimsical UPC designs. Proving that the idea still has plenty of merit, New Jersey-based Vanity Barcodes just launched a similar service to help businesses take advantage of what it considers the little-known marketing potential of the decorative barcode.

Vanity Barcodes offers an ever-growing library of stock barcode designs that are customizable with any unique product UPC or similar code format. Birds, cows, candy bars, paint brushes, books, flowers and purses are all among the standard designs Vanity Barcodes offers, with customized pieces available as well. All codes are pretested for scan compliance to ensure that they work just as well as standard barcodes. Pricing ranges from USD 375 for one barcode design to USD 200 for 10 or more; supported code formats include UPC, EAN, JAN, ISSN, ISMN, ISSN, UCC EAN-128 and GS1-128.

The result, Vanity Barcodes says, is a barcode that goes beyond functional to serve as a powerful brand asset—and it’s pretty hard to argue with that, we must confess. One to try out on your own product packaging—or to emulate for specific niches or industries?

For more unusual ways to make money, visit this site

Source: NicheGeek.com
Website: www.vanitybarcodes.com

So you want to ditch your corporate cubicle and join the ranks of web workers? But you have a mortgage, maybe a dependent or two, and a taste for Venti Mochas from Starbucks? You can make money in the new economy, though it might not be as easy or cushy as keeping your old economy job.

I’m not talking about advertising or affiliate marketing or selling your junk on eBay. Those are so last millennium! I’m talking about the new new economy.

1. Offer your professional expertise in an online marketplace.These days, you can do more than just sell your old books via Amazon and your old Coach handbags via eBay—now you can sell your professional capabilities in a marketplace. No longer are you limited to looking for a permanent or contract job on Web 1.0 style job sites like Monster or CareerBuilder. The new breed of freelancing and project-oriented sites let companies needing help describe their projects. Then freelancers and small businesses offer bids or ideas or proposals from which those buyers can choose.

Elance covers everything from programming and writing to consulting and design, while RentACoder focuses on software, natch. If you’re a graphic designer, check out options like Design Outpost or LogoWorks–you don’t have to find the customers, they’ll come to you. Wannabe industry analysts might sign up for TechDirt’s Insight Community, a marketplace for ideas about technology marketing.

2. Sell photos on stock photography sites. If people regularly oooo and aaaaah over your Flickr pics, maybe you’re destined for photographic greatness or maybe just for a few extra dollars. It’s easier than ever to get your photos out in front of the public, which of course means a tremendous amount of competition, but also means it might be an convenient way for you to build up a secondary income stream. Where can you upload and market your photos? Try Fotolia, Dreamstime, Shutterstock, and Big Stock Photo.

3. Blog for pay. Despite the explosion of blogs, it’s hard to find good writers who can turn around a solidly-written post on an interesting topic quickly. GigaOM is always looking for bloggers with great content ideas and solid writing skills. How do you get noticed? Comment and link to blogging network sites. Write blog posts that are polished and not overly personal (although showing some personality is a plus).

4. Or start your own blog network. If you like the business side of things–selling advertising, hiring and managing employees, attracting investors–and have the stomach to go up against the likes of Weblogs, Inc., GigaOmniMedia, b5media, maybe you should make an entire business out of blogs. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’ll get a lot of time to write yourself though.

5. Provide service and support for open source software. Just because the software is free doesn’t mean you can’t make money on it–just ask Red Hat, a well-known distributor of Linux that sports a market cap of more than four billion dollars. As a solo web worker, you might not want to jump in and compete with big companies offering Linux support, but how about offering support for web content management systems like WordPress or Drupal? After getting comfortable with your own installation, you can pretty easily jump into helping other people set them up and configure them.

6. Online life coaching. Who has time to go meet a personal coach at an office? And don’t the new generation of web workers need to be met by their coaches in the same way that they work: via email, IM, and VoIP? You could, of course, go through some life coaching certification program, but on the web, reputation is more important than credentials. I bet Tony Robbins isn’t certified as a life coach–and no one can argue with his success. For an example of someone building up their profile and business online as a coach, check out Pamela Slim of Ganas Consulting and the Escape from Cubicle Nation blog.

7. Virtually assist other web workers. Freelancers and small businesses desperately need help running their businesses, but they’re not about to hire a secretary to come sit in the family room and answer phone calls. As a virtual assistant, you might do anything from making travel reservations to handling expense reimbursements to paying bills to arranging for a dog sitter. And you do it all from your own home office, interacting with your clients online and by phone. You can make $20 and up an hour doing this sort of work, depending on your expertise.

8. Build services atop Amazon Web Services. Elastic computing on AWS is so cool… and so incredibly primitive right now. Did you know that you can’t even count on your virtual hard drive on EC2 to store your data permanently? That’s why people are making money right now by offering services on top of AWS. Make it easier for people to use Amazon’s scalability web infrastructure like Enomaly has with elasticlive, a scalable web hosting platform built on AWS.

9. Write reviews for pay or perks. If you blog for any length of time on a particular topic–parenting, mobile phones, or PCs, for example–you will likely be approached to do book or product reviews. You can get free stuff this way, but are you selling your soul? Is there any such thing as a free laptop? These are decisions you’ll have to make for yourself, because no one agrees upon what ethical rules apply to bloggers. Even less do people agree on services like PayPerPost that pay you to write reviews on your blog. Check out disclosure rules closely and see whether such a gig would meet your own personal standards or not.

10. Become a virtual gold farmer. A half million Chinese now earn income by acquiring and selling World of Warcraft gold to gamers in other countries. If you’re not a young person living in China, this probably isn’t a viable option for you. But what’s intriguing about it is the opportunity to make real money working in a virtual economy. People are making real-world money in Second Life too.

Source: webworkerdaily.com

When I first started this blog and added Google Adsense I thought I would at best make a couple dollars a month. At first it took me almost a month to make a couple of cents. I got a bit discouraged but I kept at it. I kept at it for a YEAR and was still only managed to make a couple of dollars a month. It was a difficult time in my blogging career but it was a necessary step.  I was getting disappointed but I knew I wouldn’t give up until I made a successful website. From all the websites I read they all said you have to keep at it or you will never become a success and thats just what I did. I thought to myself that if some ‘ordinary joes‘ can make tons of money online I can too! I am a smart guy and I can do it as well.

Anyways you are probably asking what the point of this post is about. Well the point is that you need to keep motivated and never give up. Just keep at it and before you know it you will be making over $50 a month like me! For me this is just the very beginning of the earnings I soon will be making. I know and can feel my websites will explode soon enough. You just need to keep working on it and you will start to make lots of money.

All you need to do to be success is:

• keep at it. Never give up!
• be determined you will one day start making a lot of money
• research! research! research! – learn from other people in the same niche
• advertise! let everyone and anyone know about your website. Post it online all over the place and watch the search engine traffic come in
• write quality content! It isn’t so much about quantity as it is quality. I now only write a couple posts a week at most and still see more earnings now then I’ve ever seen in the past.

So this is just a reminder to all those people who are struggling out there to just keep at it! You too can earn a lot with Google Adsense if you just keep at it! You can start to make $50+ a month. If you really keep at it you can possibly one day quit your day job and just live off your earnings. I know its possible and that is my plan someday!

Keep at it everyone! Feel free to share your success stories here too about Google Adsense and how your earnings are growing each month.

Security Tool is a self-proclaimed anti-spyware program, promoted through pop-ups, trojans and malware webites. The Security Tool is promoted just like Windows Police Pro or Green AV ( Antivirus ) 2009. The rogue anti-spyware programs are distributed through websites that simulate virus scans, then the user is told to download the software to clean his PC.

Once installed, the Security Tool will start automatically each time you turn on your PC and log in to Windows. Then it will start scanning your computer and show you a list of fake infections. When you try to clean the infected files, you are prompted to buy the software.

Be careful, don’t believe anything this rogue software prompts to you and DO NOT delete the infected files found by it, because those are just legitimate files.

This is how Security Tool looks ( article continues below the image ):

To get rid of this software, you need MalwareBytes Anti-Malware, a legitimate software that will get you rid of all those rogue applications and malware.

How to remove Security Tool:

• Download MalwareBytes Anti-Malware.
• Install the mbam-setup.exe file.
• To install it, just press next and don’t edit any options if you are not sure what you’re doing.
• After the installation is ready, MalwareBytes Anti Malware will start automatically and will require you to update the software, so just press OK.
• Go to the Scan tab, select “Perform Quick Scan” and press “Scan.”
• MalwareBytes Anti Malware will now scan all your PC for malware, including the Security Tool.
• You will see a “The Scan completed successfully. Click ‘Show Results’ to display all objects found” prompt once the scan is finished. Press OK.
• Now press “Show Results.”
• You will see a list of malware applications, including the Rogue.SecurityTool. Be sure to select them all and press “Remove Selected.”
• After MalwareBytes Anti Malware finishes the cleaning, you can close the program and be sure your PC is clean.

Source: softsailor.com

If your computer got infected with the BlockKeeper virus/rogue anti-spyware, there is no need to panic. This article will explain what BlockKeeper is, how it got on your computer and, most important, how to remove BlockKeeper from your computer.

BlockKeeper is a rogue anti-spyware coming from the Wini family (the same one as Cyber Security, etc). BlockKeeper is a scam software that will try to make you believe your computer got infected so you buy the program to remove these fake infections. Do not buy BlockKeeper as the only thing you should do is remove the BlockKeeper virus/rogue anti-spyware.

Blockkeeper gets on your computer via a Trojan that masks itself as video codecs of a Flash update (that claim to be “required” for watching an online video). When the Trojan gets on yourcomputer, it will then download and install BlockKeeper on your computer and program it to start automatically when Windows loads. In addition, a bunch of files with random names will be created. These files are harmless, but they will serve as a means to trick you, as we will further explain.

When BlockKeeper loads, it will begin a fake scan of your computer. At the end of the scan, the same files it created earlier will be reported as infections, but BlockKeeper will state that you need to buy the program to remove these “security threats”. Other scam tactics include security warnings on your desktop, as well as a fake Windows Security Center screen that advises you to buy BlockKeeper to protect your computer.

Now that you know how BlockKeeper tries to trick you, here is how to remove BlockKeeper using the Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware application.

1. First of all, go here and download the installer for Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware. Save the file on your dekstop.

2. Now close ALL windows and applications (yes, this one too).

3. Run the setup (mbam-setup.exe) file from your desktop.

4. Go through the installation with the default setting.

5. Very important: at the end of the installation, Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware will let you choose to update the software and then launch it (a box you can check for each one). Make sure you leave both boxes checked.

6. When Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware loads, go to the Scanner tab, click “perform quick scan” and then hit the “Scan” button. The scan will take a while, depending on the size of your hard disk.

7. After Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware has finished scanning, go back to the Scanner screen and click “Show Results”.

8. Check all the infections the software detected and click “Remove Selected”.

9. Wait for Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware to remove all the detected infections. Note that the software may ask for permission to restart your computer. Allow it if this happens.

10. When the removal process is finished, a log of the scan will be opened in Notepad. Close this.

Now you should have successfully removed BlockKeeper and all related files, as well as any other malware that Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware detected on your computer.

Source: softsailor.com

9b9w3.exe is a dangerous file which creates activities on a user’s computer which may be highly undesirable. This file is unsafe.

Type: Trojan Virus (Click Here To Learn More)
Location: C:\9b9w3.exe (Click Here To Learn How To Locate)
Risk Level: Moderate (Learn More About Risk Levels)

9b9w3.exe has been identified as a trojan horse. The file is generally bundled with another trojan virus, herss.exe.

Below is our recommended removal tool for 9b9w3.exe. The removal tool has been rated 5 cows out of 5 by Tucows and was previously CNET’s Editor’s Choice. Feel free to download it below.

View Information On Herss.exe

Manual Removal – 9b9w3.exe may be removed through analyzing your HijackThis log. Feel free to post your hijackthis log below if you need assistance analyzing it. Hijackthis will be ideal to manually remove the virus

Click Here To Learn About HijackThis. To download HijackThis, please click HERE.

9b9w3.exe File Details -
File Type – EXE – 9b9w3.exe is a executable file
First Identified – November 3 2009

Common Questions -
1. What is a computer virus? (Click Here To View)
2. How did I get this computer virus? (Click Here To View)
3. What common symptoms show that my computer may be infected? (Click Here To View)
4. How can I check if 9b9w3.exe is a computer virus? (Click Here To View)
5. What are some antivirus and antispyware programs which I can use to remove viruses and spyware? (Click Here To View)

We recommend that you follow our safety tips so that you can keep your computer clean. Please click here to view our safety tips

Source: virusremovalguru.com

If your computer has been infected by the TrustSoldier scareware program, here is a quick way on how to remove it from your computer. Find out how it got on your computer, what Trust Soldier does and follow the removal guide to get rid of it in a matter of minutes.

When TrustSoldier reaches your computer through the use of Trojans, it will automatically install itself and it will start each time your computer boots. The program will also install a high number of harmless files with random names on your computer. When TrustSoldier will perform its fake scan of your computer, the files it installed itself will be detected as harmless. The program then goes on and tells you that you cannot remove the infected files until you buy the program. It is obvious that you should not buy the program as it is a scam.

TrustSoldier will also display various warnings and notices that will tell you about security problems that your computer has. Another way that Trust Soldier will use to try and trick you is by displaying a fake Windows Security Center window that will state you should buy TrustSoldier so your computer is protected. Remember that the legitimate version of Windows Security Center will never recommend any security software.

If TrustSoldier is installed on your computer, you can follow these steps to uninstall it as quickly as possible.

1. Like with all our virus/malware/trojans removal instructions, make sure you print these instructions since the process will require you not to have any open windows at some point.

2. Go here and download Malwarebyte’s Anti-Malware (MBAM). We recommend that you download it to your desktop so you can quickly access it.

3. Close all programs and windows that you have open and run the file called “mbam-setup.exe” that you downloaded. It should be on the desktop if you followed our instructions.

4. Malwarebyte’s Anti-Malware will guide you through the installation process. Do not change the default settings and when the installation is finished, check both the “Update Malwarebyte’s Anti-Malware” and “Launch Malwarebyte’s Anti-Malware” before clicking on the finish button.

5.The program will prompt you about updating itself. Press OK.

6. Go to scanner tab and perform a quick scan by selecting “Perform quick scan” and then pressing the scan option.

7. When the scan is finished, go back to the main scanner screen and click on “Show Results”.

8. Select all the malware MBAM detected and press “Remove Selected” on the lower left side of the window. A restart may be required by the software, so allow it to reboot your computer if asked.

9. When the software has removed all detected malware, a scan log will be opened in Notepad.

10. Close the Notepad file and you should have removed all traces of TrustSoldier from your

Source: Softsailor.com