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Table of Contents for this issue.....

1.    Authors Comments

2.    Q & A, Suggestions and Comments

3.    Eons – 50 plus everything

4.    Squidoo.com

5.    Become an Affiliate of Site Build It

Author's Comments

In this issue we will discuss some websites that can help promote your websites or blogs.  We will also discuss your opportunity to become an affiliate of Site Build It.

The websites are Eons.com and Squidoo.  They give you an easy way to post pages about you or your sites to help drive traffic to your sites.

I encourage you to take advantage of these traffic building sites.

Q & A, Suggestions and Comments

One of our readers emailed that the links in the report that I posted, “Starting Your Own Business” were not live links.  We exchanged emails and it appears that she is using Adobe Reader 6.0 which will not recognize the links as I published them.

I use a free program called “CutePDF” to publish PDF files.  It does not have the full capability of Adobe Acrobat (and it does not cost in the range of $200).  Apparently, CutePDF did not publish the links the same way that Adobe Acrobat does.

Adobe Reader 7.0 and 8.0 have the capability to recognize links and make them active in the PDF document.  This option is selectable in the preferences.  The default option is to make all links active.

You can download any version of Adobe that was ever released at http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?platform=Windows&product=10.

I recommend that you download the latest Adobe Reader so you have all the latest improvements in it.  I downloaded Adobe Reader 8.0 (released 12/06) after this exchange of emails.

It is a large download so allow some time for it.  

If you have anything for this section or you have a suggestion for a topic for an article, please go to http://www.boomer-ezine.com/Suggestion_Form1.htm and give us your input.  With your input, we can improve the Boomer Video eZine.  

Eons – 50 plus everything  

An interesting website that I found is http://www.eons.com.  It is a Boomer oriented site created by the man who developed the wildly successful job search site Monster.com.  Eons targets the 50+ market and that means Baby Boomers.  eons.com is a very popular site with an Alexa ranking of 14,819 as of this writing.  Any rank number smaller than 100,000 is considered to be very good.  (#1 is the top rank which is held by Yahoo.com).  

You can easily register and become a member of eons.  When you do, you can create your own home page, upload your picture, create a profile, etc.  

One of the features that can benefit an online entrepreneur is the Groups section of eons.com.  The link to this is http://community.eons.com/directory/categories.  Here you can see all the different groups that you might want to join and learn from the members.  Leave links to your site or blog and promote yourself.  

A nice feature is you can easily start your own group.  This will give you more exposure and help build the traffic to your website(s).  Remember that if you are building a reputation on the Net, you need to work on establishing yourself as an expert in the field that you have chosen.  What better way than to establish your own group on eons.com?  

The Boomer generation is well into the 50+ age group.  The leading edge Boomers are 61 and the last year of the boom (1964) is now 43.  This site could be a major site for Boomers so jump in and be there first.  

I established a Retirement Jobs group a few weeks back.  It has not taken off like wildfire, but it is established and I am the owner of the group.  I will work on it to try to build the “critical mass” that discussion sites like this need to be successful.  Please come join me at  

http://community.eons.com/groups/group/retirement-jobs.  

A site like this also builds links to your other sites which as we have previously discussed builds the page rank of your websites.  

Another helpful feature is cranky.com at http://cranky.eons.com/Cranky/search/home.jsp.  This is billed as the “world’s first age-relevant search engine”.  It is associated with eons.com.  I do not consider older people cranky (now that I am an older person), but be that as it may, that is the name of the site.  It is interesting to note that the number 5 search last year was “jobs after retirement”.  Sounds like they need to visit Retirement Jobs Online.com.  

A feature of cranky.com is the ability of the searchers to rate a website that the search finds.  Favorable ratings will move the site up in the ranking.  

Each results page shows only four sites so you need to rank high to be on the first page.  When I first searched for retirement jobs, the retirement-jobs-onlinec.com site was on page two (in fifth place).  I wrote a review of it and it is now in fourth place at the end of page one.  

Check out eons.com and join with me on the retirement job=s group at http://community.eons.com/groups/group/retirement-jobs.  While you are there, please go to cranky.com, search on retirement jobs, and write a four star review of retirement jobs online.com and boomer ezine.com.  Linda and I will really appreciate it.  We work hard to create good content and we want others to enjoy it.  

Squidoo.com  

This is quoted directly from the About page of squidoo.com at http://www.squidoo.com/pages/about.

A LITTLE ABOUT SQUIDOO:

Squidoo's goal as a platform is to bring the power of recommendation to search. Squidoo's goal as a co-op is to pay as much money as we can to our lensmasters and to charity. And Squidoo's goal as a community is to have fun along the way, and meet new ideas and the people behind them.

The following is quoted directly from the Squidlens at  http://www.squidoo.com/squidoo.

WE BELIEVE THAT WHEN YOU GO ONLINE, you don't search. You don't even find. Instead, you are usually on a quest to make sense.

That's the goal of most visits to Google or Yahoo! or blogs or Wikipedia. How do you make sense of the noise that's coming at you from all directions?

You won't take action, you won't buy something, book something, hire someone, or take a position on a political issue until you've made sense of your options.

Searching online should really be called poking online. Because that's what you do. You poke around. You poke in Google and you poke at some ads. After looking at a bunch of links and pages, then, finally, you get it. You understand enough to take action—to buy something or make a decision. The thing is, this takes a long time.

The Web ought to accelerate and even replicate that word of mouth phenomenon that works so well in the real world.

There ought to be a way to leverage the power of personal recommendation online. 

There ought to be a way for you to talk about what matters to you, what 10 things matter to you, without the pressure of keeping it up daily (like a blog); and you ought to be able to make some money if someone buys something because you recommended it. 

There ought to be a way for us all to benefit from what everyone else knows.

And so we built Squidoo.

End of quoted material.

I think that the name is a little hokey, but the concept is solid.  You build lenses (web pages) that focus on a particular topic.  The lens recommends a subject, blog, or website to the readers.  This is a great way to point people to your site.  

Squidoo is in the stratosphere of Alexa rankings with a ranking of 828.  This means that any lens that you build on Squidoo stands the chance of receiving lots of views.  

I built two lenses on Squidoo.  One promotes retirement jobs online.com  and the other promotes, you guessed it, Boomer eZine.  

I tried to put the direct links in this article but Squidoo intercepts them and directs you to the home page.   

To see the lenses go to the home page at http://www.squidoo.com/browse/homepage.  Then search for “John Howe” in the search box at the top right of the page.  This will bring up the lenses that I have built and you can see what they look like.  

This is nothing revolutionary.  It is all part of Web 2.0 (Read about Web 2.0 in http://www.boomer-ezine.com/V1I46_022307.htm).  It gives you a quick and easy way to promote anything that you want to promote on the Net.  

If you have a site or blog and you are trying to build traffic to it, I recommend that you join Squidoo and build some lenses to focus readers to your site or blog.  On the Net, every little reference and link helps.  And Squidoo has a very high traffic rating.  

Become an Affiliate of Site Build It  

I have had a running email correspondence with Calum Nairn, one of our subscribers.  We have discussed starting a website and various other ideas about starting an Internet business.  

He wanted to know more about SBI, and I recommended that he become an affiliate of SBI.  This permits him to view all the SBI instructional videos, read all the SBI literature, and read the SBI forum (which is one of the most powerful features of SBI).  He can read it, but he cannot post to it.  

After I recommended this to Calum, he jumped on it and signed up.  (I admire people of action).  Since I sponsored him, he is now member of my affiliate team, and I am responsible for him.  I will do all I can to make him successful.  

If you have been reading the Boomer eZine for any time, you know that I am an advocate for Site Build It.  I invite you to join my SBI affiliate team.  

What are the benefits?  

Joining does not cost you anything.  You do not have to purchase an SBI site or any SBI products.  

To join my affiliate team, click the link below.  This will take you to the Site Build It affiliate page.  Read down to the sign up form.  Complete the form and welcome to the team.  

Click here to become an SBI affiliate and join my team.  

If you passed on this link, consider the following that is quoted directly from SBI:  

SPECIAL TIP: Save 50% on your purchase of SBI!...

Join the 5 Pillar Program (before or after you buy Site Build It! -- it doesn't matter). Refer a friend, relative or colleague, which is simple enough -- SBI! empowers anyone to build a profitable Web site. (Show your SBI! site... "YOU built THAT and get THAT much traffic?")

Net outcome?...

You earn an affiliate commission of 25% of the referred sale. And... you also earn a special, additional 5 Pillar Rebate of 25% of the referred SBI! sale. Yes, just for earning your first 5 Pillar Affiliate check... our way of saying, "Thank you and welcome aboard!"

Hey, that's 50%!

Even if you devote no further time to your 5 Pillar Business (naturally, we're hoping you do), it makes sense to join and take advantage of this affiliate-only opportunity.  

Now I ask you, can you beat a deal like that?  Sign up now.  You really have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.  That is a no brainer decision!  

Click here to become an SBI affiliate and join my team.  

Don ’t let procrastination cheat you out of this opportunity.  

That wraps up our issue for this week.  Until next week, stay tuned.  

John and Linda Howe

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