Updated 5 October 2007 14.10 EST

Please note this 8 part series will be updated as needed should changes be implimented by the management.
I will put the last update date in the top of each article when an update is made.


To find your "APSense Business Center"
Click on the tab "Business Centers".
Next click on "Set up My Business Center". which is on the light blue back ground just below the main tabs.

You will now find yourself on the primary page for setting up.

"Site Status"
To be able to see what you have done and how your site looks you need this set at active when working on it, so that you can preview what you have done to see what it looks like.

"Publish to the Business Exchange"
You definitely do not want to set this to yes until you have all your content ready. By waiting until you have your content in place you will avoid getting low ratings for having little or no content.

"Select Page Theme".
At the time of writing there are 8 options.
To see what each option looks like click on the "Template review" and a new window will open showing you the options. Once you decide which one you want to use close the new window and then select the name from the drop down menu.

"Site title".
Select a good title for your site that reflects what you are doing.

"Site Options"
Each item below has a check box so you can decide what you want to have show on your Business Center. Check it to have it show, unchecked it will not be shown.

"Profile Information"
This will display the picture you have uploaded to your profile and your user id, also if you have entered it, your location, and a link to your profile. So make sure you have your profile in your member’s area completed.

"Products & Services".
This is the page where you can display the products and/or services you are offering.

"Affiliate".
This page is where you can list the affiliate programs you belong to.

"Testimonial".
This is the page that will display any testimonials that other members give to you while they are using the Business Center Exchange.

"Business Network".
On this page there is an invitation to join APSense and a link for people to sign up to APSense with you as the referrer. It will also show up to 10 members that are on your contact list, 10 of your personally referred (level 1) network members, and up to 10 members that have joined your Group.

"Contact".
The contact page is where visitors to your site can send you a message, which will be sent to your "Messages" in box.

"Lead Subscription Form" and "(Popup Window)".
The lead subscription form is the one at the bottom of your "Business Center Home" page. The information from this form is sent to your Business Center leads which you can view by clicking on the "View Business Center Leads" that is at the top of the page on the blue band just below the Tabs.
The Popup will show when someone goes to your Home page. It is more of a slide in than an actual popup so should be ok on surf sites but always check the surf sites Terms of service. Personally I detest them and wont use it, but that is my personal choice.

"Accept Links".
With this page you can allow people to add their links to what they want.
You add your links from inside your "Set up your Business Center".

"Accept Testimonials".
This places an active link on your testimonial page that people can use to leave you feed back. If someone places a testimonial on your page you will be notified and you then go to the "Testimonials" section of the "Set up my Business Center" and you will be able to review the testimonial and either approve or disapprove it.

"Upload Audio".
This is a matter of personal choice. If you want to add Audio then you are limited to a file size of 1024K and it must be MP3 format. You can get the "APSence Audio Creator" by going to the "Business Center" tab at the top of your pages and then clicking on the "Get Business Center Tools" link in the blue band just below the tabs.

If you use the "APSense Audio Creator" you will have the option to set it up either to auto play or leave it for the visitor to click on to listen. Personally I do not like sites that start ranting on at me as soon as I open the page. It’s the fastest way to make me close it. I have viewed sites that were set so that I had the choice to listen or not and I did click on the play and listen, simply because they gave me the option.

I also calculated that setting the recording quality to "Normal" (the default setting) you get about 4 and a half minutes for the 1024k file. You will need to test it to get the exact time you get.

"Business Industry".
You can select up to 5 categories for your site. However if your site does not fit into 5 then only select those it does fit into.

"About Your Business".
This is the most important part of this section. What you put here is what is going to show up as the main content on you home page.

Make the most of it and make it work for you. Don't just use a copy and paste ad or, as I have seen on some, simply copy and paste the whole content from the web site of the program you are promoting. If you do this then you are going to be penalized twice.

Firstly copy and paste will get you a low rating when people are voting on the "Business Center Exchange".

Secondly and most important is that it is duplicate content. That means say bye bye to a search engine rating, as they will most likely not list you.

If you want your "APSense Business Center" listed in the search engines you must make what you put on the site "Unique Content". If you want to promote a specific site then read what they say on the site then write about it in your "OWN" words. Tell people why you personally like it, how you personally are doing in it. If you are not promoting a specific program then still be original and make it interesting enough to keep the person reading. Make them want to look at the rest of your site and see what else you have to offer.

I have seen some "Business Centers" with something to the effect of "Please visit my site and join up under me" and that was it. What’s wrong with this? Well first of all if that could interest me to want to go to the site (which it would not), what site am I supposed to visit? I don't know because they had not even placed a link to the site, and yes out of curiosity I did look at every page of that "Business Center" and they were all blank, not a single clue as to where the site was that I was supposed to go to.

Now it could be that the owner in question was or is still working on their "Business Center" but if that is the case why have they activated it to be shown in the Business Center Exchange. This is why I say at the beginning do not activate to be shown in the "Business Center Exchange" until you have set it up.

At the bottom of the window where you enter the Home page content you will see two tabs "Design" and "Html". You can either enter your content in the design tab, or if you know html click the "Html" tab then paste your code.

Last but not least don't forget to click the "Save My Info" button.