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by Linda Rich

Email from A. Visitor to Web site Owner:

Dear Website Owner,

This morning, I decided that it's finally time to change my life and to make some extra money. I logged on to the Internet, surfed to my favorite search engine and typed in the term "business opportunities".

YOUR Web site was listed at the top of the results page, so I immediately clicked on the link leading to you. Your beautiful site loaded very quickly and had a very attractive design. A few quick glances told me that your program is EXACTLY what I was looking for!

I also immediately noticed all those colorful banners! Just BEAUTIFUL... There was one banner about the benefits of using a certain banner designer, another one about the latest free Web-based email service, and still another one about the hottest new nutritional product that will solve all my health problems and help me live an active life until age 200...

Age 200? Wow! I clicked on the nutritional banner and spent several hours at their website, researching the long-term benefits of DPSQ. It was around noon when I noticed that this company also had a distributor program.

You see, I had really planned on joining YOUR program, so I feel a bit guilty. I promise that whenever I start looking for another opportunity, I will come back to your site.

Heck, if it just weren't for that banner...

Truly yours,

A. Visitor

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What a nightmare - don't let this happen to you!

There are three lessons you can learn from this example in order to benefit YOUR business:

1) Don't put too many banners at the main page of your site.

2) Always put banners at or near the bottom of your pages.

3) Put powerful banners advertising YOUR business on as many other Web sites as you can get your hands on.

If you don't follow lesson #1 and #2, the same thing will happen to you as happened to our unfortunate business opportunity site owner: The very prospects you've worked so hard to get to your website will IMMEDIATELY be enticed to click on a banner and check out something else. They might get so engrossed in this other site that they FORGET they had found your site in the search engine and had gone there for information. Instead they are learning whatever new information provided by... someone else.

Is there a way to participate in all these banner exchange programs, Freedom Banner Exchange http://freedombanners.com Link Exchange http://linkexchange.com and others, and not lose your prospects? Here is one idea. Put your banners at the BOTTOM of your page... or better yet, create a Favorite Links page and put the reference to THAT page at the very bottom of your main page.

Then work hard to promote that page full of links and banners, and of course be sure your OWN banner to your OWN main site is the FIRST one any visitor to your banner promotional site gets to see.