Are you like me? The term "newbie" sort of drives me crazy, but there really isn't another one that comes readily to mind that says it in quite the same manner.

You ARE a newbie? Or have you been online long enough to feel you've left that "newbie" status behind?

Well, one way to tell is CHECK YOUR WEBSITE!

Granted not everyone can run out and pay for their own domain and professionally setup website. But do you even have to? The answer is no! Many successful webmasters start out, and continue on quite nicely, using free websites.

However, free or paid for, if YOUR "domain" is screaming "NEWBIE!" how serious is everyone going to take you?

The obvious sign of a newbie is the just-banners page. You know the kind (hey, maybe we all started there) - absolutely no content, just banner after button after banner.

That's a red flag folks! Unless you team up with a bunch of people willing to at least click for each other, don't count on the rest of the world doing it for you or taking you seriously.

Your site MUST have something of YOU in it!

Now by "something of you" I do mean a step beyond the homepage. When you come online, you're encouraged to create yourself a "home" on the net. While some homepages I've seen surpass, by far, what I'm about to say, the vast majority of homepages still scream "Newbie!"

CONTENT IS THE KEY!

If your aim is to create a true homepage - pictures of the family, the family dog or cat, etc., and that IS what you want, wonderful!

However, if you just take that "nothing but banners" page and ADD SOMETHING to it, you're on your way to an effective SELLING MACHINE!

Pick a topic. Research it. Write about it. Insert TEXT (your OWN carefully crafted words!) in an attractive arrangement in and around all those banners. Better yet, get extremely selective and remove most of them!

Then sit back and decide, "What WILL I display for advertising?"

To begin, return to the affiliate programs that abound on the net and choose complimentary programs. Display those text, banners, and buttons - discretely!

Personally contact webmasters and ask to exchange links. Link popularity using complimentary programs works wonders in the search engines.

Add incentives! Give away a free eBook relating to your theme or start a prize giveaway contest. To collect entries, start off with a simple mailto link. Then, set up your email to automatically reply with thank yous and confirmations (check your email program Help file).

Autoresponders work well, but if you initially find them confusing, start with this simple mailto link.

NOW you've got something going - a marketing center with a way to capture legitimate email addresses! You're beginning to turn that Newbie banner page into a marketing machine.

And congratulations! You've just risen above that "Newbie" label. Happy promoting!