If you have a look on the internet any time of the day you will see hundreds if not thousands of competitions, day in day out, but do they work?

It has to be said that the vast majority of competitions go unnoticed on the internet, and those that are noticed will only attract a very short term crowd to your site. There are very few competitions which actually attract new long term customers to your site, and in reality they are probably more of a tool to retain users than actually bring new ones in.

There are a number of factors to consider when even thinking about posting a competition to your site :-

1. How the winner is chosen. You need to define clearly how the winner of the competition will be chosen – this is vital.

6. Have regular competitions. One competition will not make a big difference, but if you have regular competitions then you will get repeat visitors.

All in all it is not as easy to make an impact on your site with just one competition, you need to give your readers a reason to come back time and time again. Once you have them on your site, and they have entered your competition you need to direct them back to your site, to get them actually checking out what you are offering.

Whether you offer freebies to those who enter your competition or join you mailing list, or you offer them a discount, you need to find a way to convert them fro competition entrants to readers of your site. That is the tricky bit!

While the majority of regular online surfers will probably have heard of Web 2.0, you may just have dismissed it as some tech talk and moved on. However, there is ever chance that you have already come across a Web 2.0 application as they are growing in numbers on the internet. What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 is the new form of online advertising which is interactive with the user, without them actually knowing it! It is a very complicated system which basically tracks your movements on the internet, which sites you visit at which times of the day and what you look for. It is being used by the main search engines such as Google, MSN and Yahoo! in order to get the best return out of their customers. So how does it interact with the user?

After building up sufficient information about your surfing habits, Web 2.0 can then control to the smallest detail the style, type and number of online adverts which you will see on relevant sites. By changing the colour of the ads at a certain time, or realising that a certain style has passed its sell by day, the system will move to the next most successful and formulate a new plan of “attack”. The systems have become so thorough and precise that they may actually know where you are going online before your do!

So what are the benefits of Web 2.0 adverts?

By calculating where you will be at a certain time, the application can deliver an advert which is about a subject which will interest you, and in a style which has shown to be popular to a certain social class or country. By making the adverts as easy on the eye as possible, it has been shown that resulting advert income can be increased dramatically.

We are not talking about just a few percentage points, we are talking about a whole new level of income! Web 2.0 is here and it is here to stay, although it will attract some controversy due to the “tracking” nature of the process.

Of the millions of webmasters on the internet, there will be very few (if any) who have not made major mistakes on their march to the top. Learning by your mistakes is a great way to gain experience, and while you would not go out of your way to make mistakes (or errors of judgement), if it costs you money once, you can be sure that you will not do it again!

So what are the benefits of making mistakes?

While it may seem a little strange to think making mistakes may benefit you, it really can help in the long run. Here are a few things to consider when pondering why you do not want to make the same mistake again :-

· Pride! We all have pride in our work, and we all want to succeed in the best way possible, but it is not always that easy. While you should not take mistakes personally, you should learn for them and ensure there is less chance of the same mistake happening time and time again.

· Competition. The competition to succeed online has never been more intense and it will only get harder. Being able to push your site to the top of the tree can make you feel very proud – a feeling that you will remember for the rest of your life.

Contrary to what many people tell you, the best way to learn is by your mistakes (so long as you don’t make too many!), because there is no better feeling than being in the same situation again and managing to turn it around to your benefit. You can read all of the books in the world,, talk to the best people in the business, but until you actually get out there you will not know what it feels like.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, because as long as you learn from them, the process will be worthwhile in the end.

While in any business the cream will always come to the top at some sage, the internet market is a little different in that there are always other businesses looking to keep you from getting to the top!

Life is really difficult for even the best of businesses on the internet and it is a constant battle to stay one step ahead of your competitors. We are dealing in markets where it is better to be seen, than actually have the most competitive prices – if they don’t see your value, they cant buy from you!

So the quick answer to the question about advertising is , yes. The life blood of any site on the internet is traffic, and the quickest way to get traffic (and targeted traffic at that) is to advertise in all of the right places. You will need to invest money, but if your business is competitive compared to the market place then you should have no problem recouping your advertising investment and more.

We have all seen sites which are not overly impressive but sit at the top of the search engine rankings for some of the more popular terms. These are people who have perhaps spent more money on advertising than they have on their site – these sites will find it more difficult to recoup their advertising budget because they may not be as competitive as others, but they will receive traffic.

The trick to success on the internet is finding that balance between how much you spend on developing your site and how much you spend advertising it. If you spend too much on advertising it will take longer to recoup this, and if you spend too much on your site it will take longer to build up the business (if it ever arrives!).

There is more to launching a site on the internet than you may have thought.

The internet is a grave yard for sites which were successful once, but due to a number of factors they have fallen out of favour. Thankfully there are some very simple ways in which you can give your business the best chance of survival, long tern, and be just a “one hit wonder”.

While some of these ideas may sound very simple and straight forward, that is because they are! The amount of people who look for complicated issues when the bigger picture is simple, is massive. Keep it basic, keep it focused and keep on top of it.

Here are some serious ideas for you to consider :-

Always, always , always listen to your customers – they are your life blood. There is no need to have fancy marketing campaigns to see what the public think, just add a comments function onto your site, advertise this and offer them the chance to have their say – then learn!

Always be open to change, embrace it and use it for your advantage. Never believe that what you have now will be the same shape in 2 years 5 years or 10 years, it should evolve over time and any business needs space to do this.

These are just a few simple yet effective suggestions for staying one step ahead of the rest, and giving yourself the best chance of success.

There are thousands of sites on the internet which do not quite get finished or need that last little touch to make it a success. Where can you go for that last bit of help, that advice from someone who knows?

In general you really have two main options about where to go for advice :-

· the professionals, who will charge you.
· one of the many webmaster forums on the internet where advice is often free.

Surely for that last touch it would make sense to ask fellow webmasters, and ask them what they think of your idea, your site and how you should finish off your idea. Well, if you want to open yourself right up, and give someone your idea before it is even finished then the “free” option may be the one for you!

However, if you are looking to protect your idea and hit the market with it when you are finished, then you need to look down the professional route. True, it will cost you money, and potentially a large amount depending on what you are after, but it is most definitely worth it.

Imagine you have been working on your site for months, and just about got there when you hit a PHP snag or the alignment of the site is not quite right in Firefox and you need advice. You post your site URL, your ideas and your problem for all of the world to see, and check out for themselves. Bang, next day a site along the exact lines to yours is launched and you have been beaten to the punch, the market is slipping away from you. Think it does n’t happen?

It is common knowledge that many online business people scour the webmaster forums for new ideas, new options and a look at what might be the next popular area. They will check your post, ask you a few questions, but ultimately they will not help you.

If your site is popular you will soon make your money back and more, but if it fails then it will soon die, but at least give it the chance to survive, and play your cards very close to your chest until launch.