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10 Tips for Copywriting Success
While video and multimedia technologies are rapidly expanding, the Web remains a largely a text-oriented system. Text utilizes far less space than video or audio, and remains the go-to medium for the majority of the web’s public content. This means that there is a lot of copy on the web, so a savvy copywriter should be on the lookout for any technique that will improve the material he puts forward.
Tip 1 – Know Yourself
This piece of advice has been kicking around for several thousand years, and it has persisted for a reason – people make better decisions when they know their strengths and limits. If your writing lends itself to narrative structures, find ways to tell stories about the product, perhaps in the form of a testimonial or an interview. If you aren’t capable of writing technical articles, don’t try to bluff it.
Tip 2 – Improve Yourself
The web changes, language changes, people change, products change… in short, everything changes. This is a good thing. Improvement and training are important changes that everyone must go through in some degree if they want to remain relevant. You may want to consider enrolling in a writing course, study new SEO and copywriting tips, pick up a highly rated style manual, or continue refining your skills in some other way.
Tip 3 – Target Your Language to the Audience
There is always an audience. Whether writing a letter specifically to one individual or composing for a website to be viewed by international customers, take the time to find out who your audience is and tailor the writing accordingly. Academics will have different writing standards than a DIY auto repair services, and neither will appreciate receiving articles targeted to the other.
Tip 4 – Write Coherently
Compare the following two statements:
* The Large Hadron Collider, created and maintained by CERN in Geneva, is designed to locate and study the Higgs-Boson particle, which will provide insight into the origin of the universe.
* CERN intends to use the Large Hadron Collider to locate and study the Higgs-Boson particle in an attempt to gain insight into the origin of the universe.
The first sentence is full of asides and parenthetical statements while the second conveys the information more fluidly. There are times when asides and references are important, but as a general rule, take any opportunity you can to simplify your writing. Your message will be stronger and clearer for the effort.
Tip 5 – Write Specifically
Again, consider this ambiguous sentence; “Anti-nuclear protestors released live cockroaches inside the White House Friday, and these were arrested when they left and blocked a security gate.”
While it seems innocuous enough on the surface, this statement does illustrate the problem with ambiguous grammar. Good copywriting is precise and unambiguous. Here it comes across as funny, but if your customers aren’t coming to your site to laugh, go with a clearer example.
Tip 6 – Write Concisely
Strunk and White’s ‘The Elements of Style’ sums this up as ‘Omit needless words.’ Stick to short, clear paragraphs and sentences. Elaborate where needed, but focus on efficient writing that gets the message across without pointless extras.
Tip 7 – Start Strong
Journalism focuses on a technique known as the lede. In short, this is all the relevant detail of the story conveyed in one sentence, and it always comes at the start of the article. “A local man was arrested today in connection with the recent kidnapping of a foreign exchange student.” Notice it doesn’t give names or quotes, just the hard-core facts. While online copywriting rarely needs to emulate this exact approach, it still illustrates a key point; good articles present their best facts quickly while hooking the reader.
Tip 8 – End Strong
There are countless examples of writing that start out with the proverbial ‘bang,’ only to wander off pointlessly. Focus your writing on its key message and make sure the final statement is as strong as the first. Write your beginning statement and ending statement at the same time and make sure the article is always leading toward that killer end sentence that ties the article up in a powerful way.
Tip 9 – Read
While this partially falls under the idea of improving yourself, it’s also a specific example that deserves its own mention. Read constantly. Read good articles and bad, seeing what works and what does not. People who are widely read write better than comparable writers who don’t read as much.
Tip 10 – Write Constantly
Copywriting is a talent like any other. Daily practice with writing will expand your ability to try new ideas and reinforce good habits. Even if you have no copywriting assignment at the moment, browse the web looking for websites in your area of expertise, and see if you can’t improve their copy. Then you can either consider it free practice, or perhaps give the authors a call to see if they’re interested.
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Conversion Secrets
Once you’re online business website is live, generating targeted traffic is your next hurdle. But to maximize your online success you need to go beyond traffic generation. You need to focus on web site conversion. Many online marketers spend lots of time and money on traffic generation. And they fail to pay attention to website conversions.
Here are 7 website conversion secrets to help you get more customers and make more money. Period. Lets start…
Conversion Secret #1
Pay attention to the buying experience. Put your self in your buyer’s shoes. How would you rate your site? The most important rule of thumb is to make everything drop-dead easy. No hoops allowed! Minimize the number of clicks in your ordering process. If they have to register… make it a one-step process. I recently read that up to 40% of ecommerce shopping carts are Abandoned without an order because the order process was confusing.
When your customers get confused, they get frustrated or angry and then they leave. Not sure how you’re doing? Be smart. Test. That’s the only way. Or contact your customers and ask them to rate their buying experience at your site. Just find out and you’ll know! Very simple.
Conversion Secret #2
Optimize your site structure. Sounds easy enough. And it is! But you’d be shocked to know how many marketers Don’t. Make it well organized and stupid simple to navigate. Prioritize your themes and sub-themes and structure accordingly. You have less than 6 to 8 seconds to capture your visitor’s attention and get them interested. Most people don’t sit there and analyze. They respond to unconscious feelings and the famous ‘gut’ feeling.
Conversion Secret #3
What is the goal of your site? Your conversion goal? What is the purpose of the page they’re on? I hope you have thought about this. If not… do it now! Do you have 12 options for them to click on? Ever consider they might get confused because there ARE so many options? You can have many options for them. And if you do then it’s critically important to have a very clearly defined navigation structure.
Conversion Secret #4
Make sure your site or page loads fast! The faster, the better. You know how impatient we’ve all become. Your site needs to be fully loaded in less than 6 to 8 seconds! Fully visible. Research shows again and again that up to half of your visitors will Leave if your site is more than 6 to 8 seconds to load.
Conversion Secret #5
Do you have an effective and clear call to action? Here’s something that has been known for many decades. Courtesy of direct mail pioneers who came way before the internet. But it’s still true! People need to be told what to do next.
Absolutely still true. Don’t be afraid to ‘politely’ inform them of what to do next, or just what to do! Tell them! Don’t expect the website visitor to know what to do next. You can alleviate fears of the unknown by telling them, in some fashion, what their next action will do. Click to order your product… click here to register for your free download, etc. People need to be reassured and you’ll do that by telling them what result will happen from their next action.
Conversion Secret #6
Do you have a strong message? This is different from call to action. I’m talking about a clear, strong, and consistent message throughout your page. If you’re talking about a particular product, theme, service… whatever it is, stay on topic and focus on it.
Conversion Secret #7
Test, test, and test again. Increasing your conversions takes time and is an ongoing process. There are lots of programs available to do this. Find out how much time people are spending on your pages. What do they click on? Find out what’s strong and improve on it. See if you can expand on it. Find out what’s weak and see if you can improve on it.
Your profits will soar if you do only half of what I’ve shown you here today. But why would do that? Do All of them. And there’s even more to be learned. Failing to work on your conversions is like running on half empty, or running on misfiring cylinders. So don’t do it!
Make Your Ezine Make You Money
Writing a regular ezine (online newsletter) can sometimes feel like hard work. So if you’re putting in the time and effort to give your readers valuable content, consider implementing at least a few of the strategies in this article to help your efforts pay off in profits.
Here are 4 ways to help your ezine make you more money:
1. Self-promote
Besides giving valuable content in each issue of your ezine, don’t forget to add a little self-promotion as well. After all, it is one of your best marketing tools, and you want to make sure that you’re letting your subscribers know what products and services you have available for them. It’s best to do this in a separate section of your ezine, instead of in the copy of the article you write for your readers. A short blurb about you and what you offer, as well as a bit about one of your products and services with a link to more information is all you really need to do.
A tip: If space allows, consider adding one or two short testimonials from your clients/customers who are raving fans, too.
Depending on the method through which you are publishing your ezine, you can track how many times your links are clicked on, which gives you valuable market research information about what your readers are interested in finding out more about.
2. Give Options
If you are a service professional, know that there are many people who would like to hire you one-on-one but that option doesn’t fit into their budget just yet. If you offer them other options, and promote those offerings in your ezine, you’ll turn some of those prospects into paying clients.
For example, if you coach or consult one-on-one, consider offering a group coaching program with a price point that would be much more accessible than your private fees would be. Or take your knowledge and package it into an ebook, or a series of teleseminars, or an ecourse, and price them reasonably. Then promote them in your ezine.
3. Offer specials
Your readers may find the content of your free ezine valuable and would really like more, but they might need a bit of encouragement to buy from you. So give your subscribers a special discount on something you offer, with a time limit for purchasing (which really does encourage people to “act now”).
For example, offer a 2-for-1 deal on your ebooks, or 20% off one of your programs if they register within a week. This strategy will move some of your readers from the “free” part of your funnel into the “fee” part of your funnel, which is exactly what you want.
4. Offer recommendations
I get so many questions about the services I use in my business that I periodically give recommendations in my ezine. These products and services are ones I truly believe are of high quality, because I have used them personally or because they come highly recommended to me by my mentor coaches. Some of these I am a reseller of (an affiliate), meaning I make a small commission on every sale I refer, and others are products and services I love and know would be of value to my subscribers.
Don’t forget that your number one priority with your ezine is to provide valuable content for your subscribers. Proportion 10-20% of your content with promoting you and your offerings, and you will be working smarter and not harder.
Also remember that with each issue you put out, you are building trust and rapport with your list, becoming known as an expert in your niche, and gaining lots of exposure (especially if you submit your ezine articles to article submission services), all of which are so important to the overall success of your business.
The Benefts of Professional Article Services
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
The Benefts of Professional Article Services
Professional article services can provide you with effective article marketing campaigns that can turn a failing online business into an unexpected success by giving you the time to focus on the more important aspects of your business.
This is not to suggest that you cannot write articles yourself – of course you can – but it can be time-consuming to write in a manner that attracts readers, keeps them reading and then compels them to click the links in your resource to reach your website.
Sure, you can do that yourself, but do you have the time? Probably not, since the majority that are developing their online businesses want to spend their time doing that and expanding their range of products or services. What time is left to write compelling articles and submit them? Next to none!
Article services can do that for you – not only write your articles but also submit them. However, there is always an associated cost, and you have to determine what the cost of your article services are in respect of the benefits you receive. There are two basic ways of looking at this, and while it is not possible to quantify them for individual cases, you can at least consider them with respect to yourself, individually:
1. Saving Time
It takes time to write a good article. Those that claim to teach you how to write a great winning article in 15 minutes are taking nonsense. You might write 300 words about your product, but that won’t impress anybody, and won’t be accepted by many of the important directories that require a minimum 500 word count or even more.
Also, can you write compellingly? Can you persuade a reader that your product is better than the next guys without being allowed to mention your product or even your website? That doesn’t seem very easy, does it. You won’t learn that skill quickly! How long will it take? I know people that work for an hour or more on a 500 word article just to get the spelling and grammar right!
Spelling is extremely important, and any errors in these days of spell checkers will be regarded as unacceptable and careless, but no spell check will tell you that ‘there’ should be ‘there’ or ‘to’ should be ‘too’. In spite of what you have heard, grammar also counts with a number of people. An article with no errors in its grammar will attract more visitors to the link on the resource than the same article full of schoolboy errors. That’s a fact, not an opinion!
So, how long will it take you? Figure that out against the cost of the article from a site offering professional article services. If the money spent is worth the time saved, then it makes sense. If not, then it doesn’t. Your choice, but it is a logical and economic one as all business choices should be – not based upon opinion but on facts.
2. Now for the benefits
Until you are aware of the its benefits, you will be unable to determine the real benefit of the time you will save by using professional article services to help with your article marketing strategy. There are four main benefits:
* You can have your articles published on ezines and article directories. For each of these that accept your article you will receive a share of the PageRank of the web page on which your article is published. The Page Rank cited for the Home Page of the article directory is irrelevant – that is immaterial because the ranking points you receive are related only to the page on which your article is published, and also the other links leaving that page. However, it improves your Google PageRank score.
* Contrary to what many believe, visitors to article directories read the articles. You can get several hundred people reading your article each month if the title attracts them.
* Many people use published articles as content for their websites. This is particularly popular with those that use Adsense and other contextual advertising systems to monetize pages on their sites. To do so, they must also include your resource that publishes your website links, so you get Google PageRank points from the links back to your website from the page on which your article has been used.
* Naturally, anybody visiting that other website can click on your links and visit a page on your website. That page must lead readers to a page that relates to the topic of the article you have written, and also contain a link at least to your home page.
All things considered, when you take into account every benefit that a successful article marketing campaign can provide for you, then using professional article services might make sense rather than trying to do it yourself.
A professional article will be more likely to attract readers and keep them on the page till they click on your link. After that it is up to you, but the same service can also be used to provide the content that will them keep the visitor on that page and perhaps even purchase your products or services.
Is it worth it to you? That is for you to decide, but just as you would consider professional SEO services, advertising services and emailing services as possibilities to help you market your business, so article marketing is an aspect of advertising that good, professional article services can look after for you, leaving you to do what you do best. Make money!
Who Is Your Online Writing Role Model?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Article Marketing Tip: Who Is Your Online Writing Role Model?
If you do not already have an online writing role model, find one. This is perhaps the best article marketing tip that I can give you to help you grow in your writing.
When you start article marketing, each month you will need to produce a steady stream of articles. At first you may have an initial burst of creative energy that helps you consistently produce your articles, but after a while it’s very easy to lose your focus and your inspiration.
This is where an online writing role model comes in. Not just any type of writing role model, but one who writes for the internet. Online writing is different from any other type of writing.
If you have someone who you can look up to, who you can see producing quality writing on the net, you have a built in motivator. It’s encouraging to think, “If he can do it, so can I!”
Having an web writing role model also helps you to learn. As you watch this person you admire write, you will continuously pick up some of his or her positive writing habits and characteristics.
This is not to say that your writing will mimic someone else’s–quite the contrary. By having someone whose writing you look up to, you will learn from them and have the confidence to develop your own style.
I have a select few web writers who I really look up to, and I’d like to share some of the crucial lessons I’ve learned from them:
* Lesson 1 – Your articles should provide a generous amount of helpful information
When writing an article, the idea is to serve your reader by providing valuable information that is not found elsewhere. Aim to give your reader more than he is expecting. When you write in this fashion, your articles will convey a sense of professionalism, quality, and dedication that readers appreciate.
* Lesson 2 – Focus on teaching in your articles
Not sales, not links, not anything that is directly geared to benefit you. The body of your article is for your readers, and the reason why a reader wants to read your article is to LEARN something. Each article should teach something new. You can be writing on the same topic, but each article should offer new tips, new information, new angles on your topic.
* Lesson 3 – It is never a waste of time to thoroughly think through your article structure and proofread it several times
We’ve all seen articles that are obviously thrown together with little thought for how the article is organized and with numerous spelling or grammar errors. What do you think when you see an article like that? Readers can form some pretty powerful opinions about an author, the author’s business, and the author’s products when the article is obviously low quality. It pays to spend time writing an article that makes sense, has proper spelling and grammar, and offers valuable information to the reader. Writing quality articles takes time, but it’s worth it.
* Lesson 4 – Learn to write on your topic from every angle possible
Publishers do not appreciate seeing virtually the same article being submitted repeatedly. No matter what your topic is, you must come up with a way to offer fresh content. Think about how a beginner would view your topic. Also write articles with more advanced content. Get creative with your approaches to your topic in each article. Any topic can be exciting, depending on how you write about it.
* Lesson 5 – Be yourself
Your articles should demonstrate your expertise, but there’s no need to try to be someone that you’re not. Write about lessons that you’ve learned the hard way. Admit to not always doing things perfectly. Your readers will appreciate your honesty, and they will have the benefit of learning from your experience.
These are some of the major lessons I’ve learned from watching online writers that I admire. Do you have a web writing role model yet? What has he or she taught you?
Top Five Ways Your Virtual Assistant Can Help You Make More Money
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Top Five Ways Your Virtual Assistant Can Help You Make More Money
1. Ezine
An email newsletter will help you get prospective clients into your marketing funnel. Your VA can format the plain text and HTML versions of your email newsletter. All you need to do is write your primary and filler articles each week and forward those to your VA to format and send the finished product out to your newsletter list.
2. Media
Have your VA research an industry-specific media list . This value of this list is in developing relationships with these media contacts so that you’re the expert they immediately think of when they’re doing a story on your area of expertise.
3. Article Marketing
Write once and have that article work for you again and again. Have your VA submit articles you’ve written to online article databases to increase the number of links back to your website and to send more visitors to your website.
4. Strategic Alliances
Once of the quickest ways to grow your business is by creating strategic alliance or joint venture relationships. Have your VA research potential strategic alliance or joint venture partners who provide a service to a similar audience or whose client base could benefit from your product or service.
5. Product Development
Got recorded interviews sitting around gathering dust on your hard drive? How about information you’ve created for presentations that you’ve never done anything with? Have your VA coordinate the transcript and audio editing of any recorded files you might have and help you polish those into saleable products. Your VA can also help your format printed material into an ebook, ecourse, special report, etc. and before you know you, you’ll become an information marketer!
5 Reasons Why You Should Start Using Article Templates Right Now
Are you a small business owner or internet marketer who’s pulling hair out, grinding teeth and wiping sweat from your brow trying to figure out how to write articles that drive targeted traffic to your website?
Well, then it’s a good thing you’re reading this article, because I’m going to give you the power to get out of that dark, cold, gloomy corner and see the light.
* How?
First, I’m going to explain in detail what article writing templates are – and how they can help you overcome your writer’s block. Then, I’m going to give you an opportunity to get 3 of my instant article writing templates for free! These article templates are guaranteed to help you write articles faster – and in many cases, you’ll be able to write articles in 30 minutes or less. So keep reading.
* What Are Instant Article Writing Templates?
Article templates serve as a blueprint for building great articles in a particular style. They provide the guidance and inspiration you need to quickly and easily build an incredible inventory of high-quality, original articles.
For example, when you get my instant article writing templates at http://www.StartWritingArticlesFaster.com you get worksheets that guide you throughout the process.. Each template is in chart format. All you have to do is put the information that’s in your head and put it exactly where I ask you to. Once the template is complete, all you have to do is copy each section and paste it into a new document – and you’ll have a finished article.
* 5 Reasons Why You Need to Start Using Instant Article Writing Templates Now
1) Inspiration
Are you stuck at the gate? Are you confused on how to begin your article? Are you stuck for ideas? Just browsing through through article templates will help you spark an idea for your next set of articles.
2) Speed
Are you thinking in your head right now – It takes too much time to write articles. That’s because most of your article writing time is spent staring at a blank, white screen. Then, you focus a tremendous amount of time trying to organize your ideas in a flowing manner. But, when you use article writing templates, you’re given a structure and format. So you can write articles faster. Rather than spending time on creating the proper structure for your articles, you can now invest the time you save into writing new articles!
3) Ease
Using the right instant article writing templates make it easy to build high-quality articles that are designed to inform readers while also driving traffic back to your website.
4) Clarity
Since these templates have been well thought out in advance, you’re articles will flow smoothly and have a clear introduction, body and conclusion that will make your articles clear and easy to understand.
5) Style
I can’t tell you how many of my article marketing clients sacrificed speed for quality. They had NO flow, NO organization, NO easy transitions. If I had submitted their articles as-is, their articles would not generate results. So, for the last couple of years, I’ve worked hard to solve these article marketing problems that hinder your chances of getting more prospects and sales online. I’ve analyzed hundreds of articles that I’ve written for my blog, for my newsletter and for article submission. I spent hours reviewing all of my client’s articles that I have proofread, formatted and optimized so it can get published on top websites like About.com, I looked for clear patterns and structures that you can use to write your articles right now. You want to use proven article templates that are designed specifically to give you an article layout and structure that insures an attractive, easy-to-read article that’s almost guaranteed to get results.
* Where Can You Get Instant Article Writing Templates?
Now, if you go to http://www.TryMyFreeArticleTemplates.com, I’ll give you 3 of my article templates for free! All you have to do is enter your name and email in the provided box, and you’ll immediately receive the article templates download.
Article Templates That Will Help You Attract More Clients Like Magnets
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Article Templates That Will Help You Attract More Clients Like Magnets
Some business owners attract clients and customers like magnets. Their marketing seems effortless. They don’t advertise. They haven’t made a cold call in years. They charge more. They’re regularly asked to speak at conferences and are featured in newspapers and magazines. Their articles are found on top websites and ezines. They’re invited to be guest bloggers on very influential blogs. And, everyone knows their name, and they get all the business they can handle.
It’s almost as though they were famous.
Their names come to mind when people are looking for a particular product or service. They get more business – not only more, but the right kind of business. Unlike you, they don’t have to work so hard to get it.
Why?
Because they have become a thought leader in their industry. You can too if you start writing articles with the idea of becoming a thought leader.
3 New Article Templates for a Thought Leader WannaBe:
Article template #1 – A Little Bit of Controversy
An article stating a controversial opinion can attract interest and readers if it is written well and based on facts and if it avoids inflammatory statements or personal judgments. Although “controversial” implies disagreement, you don’t have to use words that intentionally create divisions among readers and set one group of readers against the other.
Your goal as a thought leader should be to tell the truth, even if it’s uncomfortable or challenges common assumptions. Make controversy a side effect of your article rather than its goal.
Article Template #2 – Predictions
It’s generally believed that authors who make informed, reliable predictions gain credibility in their field. Good predictions are based on knowledge, experience and an ability to recognize and explain trends, developments and signals. They provide a glimpse of what lies ahead and are highly sought after by those not yet in-the-know.
Using this article template, you can quickly tap into your particular knowledge and expertise to generate articles that are both enticing and provide a high-value insider perspective for your readers.
Article Template #3 – Traps and How to Escape Them Article Template
We’ve all been trapped from time to time on almost every plane of possibility, whether it was a physical, mental, emotional, spiritual or financial challenge. With this article template you get to save the day with your expertise by delivering the “escape plan” followed with a Resource Box where they can learn how to further escape from the trap.
Now, I’d like to help you escape your challenges of becoming a thought leader so you can start attracting more clients and customers like magnet. So, I’m going to invite you to claim 3 of my instant article writing templates for free at http://www.TryMyFreeArticleTemplates.com
This way you can start writing articles more articles, faster. And, then submit your articles to become the expert in your field.
5 Types Of Titles That Can Get More People To Read Your Article
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Friday, December 9, 2011
5 Types Of Titles That Can Get More People To Read Your Article
You probably already know that article marketing is a great way to get your story in front of people that can benefit from it. It helps to drive targeted traffic to your website and is the beginning of the relationship that you build with your customers.
But in today’s fast paced world where visitors take only about 4 seconds to scan a webpage, you are competing with thousands of other article writers so you need to write a compelling title that draws in readers like a magnet so that your article stands out from the crowd.
Here are 5 different types of titles that are sure to get more people “clicking in” to read your article:
A) The Question Title
People are curious by nature, so phrasing your title as a question can cause an irresistible pull for them to satisfy that curiosity.
But not any type of question will do. You need to use an open ended question – one that compels the reader to click into your article to find the answer. This is a question that has more than just a “yes” or “no” answer.
For example, you might want to use the title:
“Do You Know The 1 Trick That Will Stop Your Dog From Jumping?”
As opposed to:
“Do You Want To Stop Your Dog From Jumping?”
See, how the first title peaks your curiosity more? What is the 1 trick? Do you know it already? Even if you do, you feel compelled to click into the article to see what the author knows that you might not.
B) The List Of Tips Title
Another great way to get people to click on your title is to formulate your article into a list of ideas or tips. For some reason people love a list of tips. Not only will that help make your title compelling, but having a list format in your article with subheadings for each “point” on the list is a great way to structure the article itself and makes for easy reading.
Almost any topic can be written as a list, you just need to think vertically instead of horizontally when writing your article.
Then once you have the topic and the number of “points” on your list, you simply write the title in this format:
“X Ways To {Solve Your Problem}”
So, you might try something like:
* 10 Ways To Help You Lose Belly Fat
* 5 Ways To Get Your Dog To Obey You
* 6 Tips For Growing Bigger Tomatoes
…. And so on
Does this type of title work? Well, it enticed you to click into this article, didn’t you?
C) The How To Title
Let’s face it, most people are surfing the web looking for information on “how to” do something. Whether it’s buying a product or trying to figure out how to do something related to a hobby, or clearing up their acne, there’s a “How To” for it.
So why not just give them what they want?
* “How To Teach Your Dog To Sit”
* “How To Choose The Best Laptop”
* “How To Clean A Saltwater Aquarium”
Think about what you search the web for – wouldn’t an article with the title of “How To” followed by your subject matter be something you would want to read?
D) The Benefits Title
If you can, you should try to work your benefit into every title – even the other types listed on this page. But sometimes, it’s just not feasible to combine these different types and you might want to simply use the benefit as your title.
Benefits are very powerful because the illicit emotion in the reader. Benefits are what make people pull out their wallets and buy.
Yet, a lot of people confuse features with benefits and end up highlighting the wrong things!
A benefit is something that you can feel – that makes someone’s life a little better, less painful or easier. A feature is something about the physical product or service.
For example, someone who has insomnia doesn’t want a list of herbal remedies or relaxation techniques, what they really want is to get a good nights sleep. The “good nights sleep” is the benefit.
So, you would want to use a title like:
“Get A Good Nights Sleep Tomorrow By Using These Relaxation Techniques Today”
Tell them what the end benefit will be and you’ll have more people clicking into your article to learn how they can realize that benefit for themselves.
E) The Why Title
They word “Why” grabs attention – after all, who doesn’t want to know “Why”? Using “Why” in your title can turn a boring drab title into one that commands interest in your readers.
Consider this title:
“A Memory Foam Mattress Helps Ease Back Pain”
Now add the word “Why” in the front:
“Why A Memory Foam Mattress Helps Ease Back Pain”
Which one seems more interesting to you?
Using “Why” is actually one of the easiest ways to make your titles more engaging. You can add it to almost any title you currently have and make that title more interesting.
The next time you write an article and are considering the title, try to fit your subject into one of these types of titles and I think you will see that you get a better click through rate into your article.
But, of course, the title is only the first part of getting the visitor to your site. Next, you must deliver on the information you promised in the title by answering the questions or listing the tips indicated and, of course, making your article body and resource box compelling enough to get the click to your website or offer.
By using an irresistible title, you’ve done the critical first step of getting the reader into your article – the rest is up to you!
Article Submission: Services How To Find A Good One
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Article Submission: Services How To Find A Good One
So, you’ve finally made the decision to make your life easier by employing the services of an automatic article submitter. That is a very wise decision, because if you choose the right service you can save a ton of time and vastly increase the effectiveness of your articles.
When you’re evaluating article submission services, keep these tips in mind:
1) A referral from someone who has actually used the service is your best bet in finding an excellent article submission service
If you haven’t been referred by anyone, check the website of the article submitter you’re investigating and look for testimonials. If the service is good, its customers should readily volunteer their recommendations for it.
2) Look for a service that has stood the test of time
In the online world, a service that is 5+ years old is a veteran one, and the longevity of the service speaks to its stability.
3) Is it known for its customer service?
When you need help, you want to know that you can get timely and accurate answers. When considering a friend’s referral or testimonials that you are reading about the article submitter, is the business’ customer care complimented?
4) You will want to use an article distribution business that has professional editors on staff who review each and every article
Why? You want your article to be pre-screened for any obvious issues that might prevent it from being accepted by publishers.
5) Does the service update their distribution network on pretty much a daily basis?
The distribution network is the list of publishers to whom your articles are sent. Having a well-maintained list is crucial, as these types of lists can go out of date pretty quickly if they are not attended to regularly.
It’s a perk if the service has a good reputation with publishers. If the publishers directly request to receive articles from the article submitter, then they are much more likely to approve your articles for publication.
6) How many article submission are you allowed?
The most flexible option would be unlimited submissions, although I must caution you that when you are submitting automatically you need to submit far fewer articles than when submitting manually. Usually 8 articles per website is enough when submitting automatically to a large network of publishers.
7) How about scheduling your articles?
This type of feature allows you to submit your article and then have it be distributed at a later date. This is particularly helpful if you are going on vacation and want your article marketing campaign to continue when you are away. Many people also like to submit all their articles at the beginning of the month and schedule them to be distributed at various dates throughout the month.
Can you “trickle” your article distribution?
Normally when you submit through an automatic article submitter your article would be sent to the entire distribution network all at one time. However, there are SEO benefits to having your article submitted to a few publishers a day, perhaps over the course of a month or so.
This creates a more organic accumulation of links, which Google appreciates. Check to see if the service you are interested in will allow you to submit in this “trickled”
fashion.
9) What kind of article spinning features are available?
It’s great if a service allows you to create article variations so that the same article is not sent to every publisher.
10) Is the article submitter committed to ongoing education?
Most article submission services concentrate on the technical aspects of article distribution, rather than on teaching their customers how to improve their article marketing. If you find a service that offers ongoing training, that is a plus!
It may take you a while to find the article submitter that works for your unique needs, but it’s worth the time and effort to do this investigating. The more information you can gather about the service beforehand, the more likely you are to be satisfied.
The Art and Science of Article Marketing
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
The Art and Science of Article Marketing
I’ve noticed lately, a lot of writers (and I use that term loosely) are saying article marketing no longer works. They’re complaining, no one is reading their articles, and their pageviews are in the toilet. Well, maybe there’s a good reason for that. Maybe they aren’t giving readers what they want.
Look, contrary to popular belief, article marketing isn’t just writing a bunch of words, submitting them to EzineArticles and other top directories, and magically getting back a ton of traffic and a gazillion backlinks. It just doesn’t work that way. It just isn’t that easy. Believe it or not. There’s actually an art and science to article marketing.
* The Art and Science of Article Marketing
For example, according to a readability study conducted by Jakob Nielsen of UseIt.com, 79% of Internet users rarely read web pages? Instead they scan, picking out individual words, sentences and paragraphs.
What? You didn’t know that? You see, there really is an art and science to article marketing. Okay, now that you know, how can you use this knowledge to your advantage?
Well, if you want people to read your articles, the first thing you have to do is get their attention. And the best way to do that is with compelling article titles. Stay away from boring, unimaginative titles that are likely to be ignored or skimmed over. Get readers excited! More importantly, get their attention.
Are you attracted to boring titles? Of course not, and neither are your readers. So when writing your article titles, put on your thinking cap, and be creative. Following are a few examples of article titles designed to get the readers attention:
-The 10 Biggest SEO Myths Exposed
-The Pervasion of Disrespectful Marketing
-The Seduction of Internet Marketing Newbies
-Article Marketing Success Tips: How to Write and Promote Articles
-How to Write Headlines That Make Readers Slam On Their Eyeball Brakes
If you’ll notice, the last title on that list is a “How To” title. It’s an article I wrote recently titled, How to Write Headlines That Make Readers Slam On Their Eyeball Brakes. In that article, I offer tips and advice on how to write better headlines for your ads and/or sales letters. But, the information applies to article titles as well. So you should definitely Google the title, and read the article.
Speaking of titles, “How To” titles are very effective at getting attention. Always have been. So use them as often as possible. By the way, all of the above titles are from real articles. In fact, I’m the author of each of those articles. You may have even read one or two of them. Notice how each title peaks your curiosity, and makes you want to read more?
But as compelling as those article titles are, a great title is only the beginning. Remember, Internet users are notorious scanners. That means you have to give them plenty of additional eye candy, in the form of subheads, bite size paragraphs, bullet points, etc. And having a well-written, interesting and informative article doesn’t hurt either.
Oh, one last thing. While we’re on the subject of titles. Always put your keywords in your article titles. It’s been my experience, it really doesn’t matter where in the title your keywords are placed, just as long as they’re in there. After all, if you’re going to write articles, you might well get some SEO benefits out of the deal.
* Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
In addition to the readability study I cited earlier, I also read a very interesting study on “findability” that was also conducted by Jakob Nielsen. In the study, he was discussing how having too many so-called “new” words can actually ruin your search rankings, as well as diminish your website’s value. Because all those new words are unlikely to appear in search queries.
For example, many website owners attempt to coin new search terms because they’re under the mistaken impression they can own the top search position, if the new search term becomes in vogue and catches on. But the reality is, more often than not, people will continue to use their old terminology, because it’s what they’re used to.
Here’s a quote from Jakob Nielson’s study titled, Use Old Words When Writing for Findability:
“Familiar words spring to mind when users create their search queries. If your writing favors made-up terms over legacy words, users won’t find your site.
If you fill your pages with fancy new words, you’ll lose the most powerful tool in Internet marketing: the ability for users to find you in search. Making the search listings is a crucial first step, but it’s not the only step: users must also click your entry, and your site must have a good conversion rate.
There’s more to website success than simply being found, but it is the first step. Use old words and you’ll be that step ahead of the competition and their useless new words.”
* Consistent Promotion is the Key
As I stated at the beginning of this article, article marketing isn’t just writing a bunch of words, and submitting them to EzineArticles and other top directories. There’s actually an art and science to the process.
That being said, art and science notwithstanding, even if you do all the things I mentioned in this article, it will all be for naught, unless you consistently promote your articles, like there’s no tomorrow!
Promote them on article directories, promote them on your website or blog, promote them through social media, promote them on social bookmarking sites, promote them on RSS directories, promote them in your newsletter.
Write For Your Readers Or Search Engines?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Article Marketing Tip: Write For Your Readers Or Search Engines?
Should you write for your readers or for the search engines? That is a really good question to consider.
Search engines are still the best sources of warm and targeted traffic. They aim to provide online users with quality content.
That is why they put much weight on articles that are informative and content-rich. If you can offer these kinds of articles, you can be assured that the search engines will help you better connect with your potential clients so you can boost your sales and revenue.
Here’s how you can improve your article marketing by writing for your readers and letting the search engines benefit from it:
1. Write for your readers
You need to know how to impress online users so you can maximize the benefits that you can get from your articles.
Start by giving them content that they will find useful and relevant to their lives. Offer answers to their most frequent questions. Empower them to do things on their own by offering them step-by-step guides.
Offer solutions to their pressing issues, and share information that can help them better understand their problems and their areas of interest.
Then, ensure that your articles are easy to understand, easy to skim through, and concise. Remember, you do not want to waste the time of your readers as they have short attention span.
2. Talk about your products and services
Article marketing is one of the best ways to promote your offerings without burning your pockets.
You can highlight the benefits and features that your products can offer and communicate how they can help your potential clients improve the quality of their lives.
You just have to make sure that you don’t fill your articles with marketing hype and sales pitches. You need to do the selling in a subtle way so your copies will not be rejected by the publishers. And the search engines will love you more as well.
3. Create a killer resource box
You would want your readers to click on your resource box as this is the only way to get them to visit your website or your squeeze page.
You can get them to act on your favor by making sure that your resource box is benefit-driven. Tell your readers what they can expect to get from your website or offer them with exciting freebies like vouchers and free e-books.
When people know that they will benefit from something, they will surely do it in a heartbeat. This can lead to enormous conversion rate that can help in growing your e-business exponentially.
Follow these article marketing tips and write for your readers. The search engines will find you too.
10 Useful Tips To Attract People To Your Web Site
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, December 1, 2011
10 Useful Tips To Attract People To Your Web Site
Combinations of two or more of the tips below are being used by many successful sites today. Use your imagination and see what you can do with them. Because there are so many web sites on the internet today visitors are spread quite thinly and web traffic is one of the scarcest commodities on the internet today. Without it your online business does not exist:
1. Give people a free subscription to your newsletter
Almost everyone is publishing a newsletter nowadays so it is important to give something extra with the free subscription. You need to set yourself apart from the other internet marketers out there. This might be done by offering a gift or free advertising when people subscribe.
2. Provide visitors with new and original content
Your content will be more attractive to your visitors if it is up-to-date or original. You could also offer people the option to reprint the content in their newsletter or web site. You will need to change your content frequently if you do this. But the benefits are worth the effort. The search engines will love your site and keep coming back. Your site will rank highly in their results and your visitors will keep coming back for the latest updates.
3. Use PPC directories
You can advertise in pay per click directories. With PPC you only pay when some one clicks on your link. If no one clicks you pay nothing. This method is very good if you are selling a product at your site. It is easy to assess the cost of each sale and measure you success.
There are lots of PPC sites out there now. Google and Yahoo! are not the only ones. You can often get a better deal at these other sites depending on the competition for the keyword you are using. Shop around. There is probably a site out there with your keyword going cheap. But, Make sure that it can deliver the traffic. You can do this by checking its Alexa rank. If it is not getting much traffic itself, how is it going to direct traffic to you?
4. Give visitors a free ebook
You could write your own and include an ad in the ebook linking to your site and allow other people to sell it or give it away. If you don’t want to take the time to write one, you could ask other writers permission to use their articles and assemble an article eBook. Or commission an eBook. There are plenty of writers around willing to write a fresh eBook for you at a fair price.
5. Hold free online classes or seminars
They could be held in your web site’s chat room. The idea of “live” information will entice people to visit your web site. You will become known as an expert on the topic.
6. Offer free consulting to your web site visitors
You could do this via e-mail or by telephone. People will consider this a huge value because consulting fees can be very expensive. Use a separate business line if you use the phone or you will have calls coming in to your home phone around the clock as the world turns. If your site becomes known for this service you may need to employ people to help keep up. If this happens you can bring in a two tier system whereby you have a free service and a paid service offering something extra.
7. Give visitors a free entry into a contest
The prizes should be something of interest or value to your visitors or relevant to your site’s topics. Most people who enter will continually revisit your web site to get the results. Do not be discouraged if the first one or two contests do not set the world on fire. The word has to get out. People will talk to their friends about this site that is running this great contest, and before too long your site will have a name for running contests. There are people out there who really go for that sort of thing and will visit your site regularly.
8. Let visitors download free software
It could be freeware, shareware, demos etc. You could even turn part of your site into a free software area and let other people sell it or give it away from this area. You do not need to produce the free software yourself. There are plenty of sources on the web. All you have to do is link to them. If you gather a significant amount of software of a type relevant to the topic of your site you will make your site a valuable resource for your visitors and they will keep coming back to get more.
9. Offer free online services or utilities
They could be search engine submitting, copy writing proofreading etc. The service or utility should be helpful to your target audience.
10. Give your visitors a free membership to an online club
People like to feel that they belong to something, why not your online club. You could also give away a free newsletter for club members only. The members will very likely want to contribute a large part of its content making it easy to source articles. If you offer them a link back to their own site your members will be queuing up to put content in your newsletter.
It goes without saying that all of the above should be relevant to the topic of your site in order to be of interest to your visitors. Do not keep changing the topic of your site. I see this happening all too often. The webmaster has a site for three months or so and becomes disheartened because his site not taken off as he hoped, so he decides to try a different topic.
Doing so he / she loses the regular visitors he / she had and has to start at the beginning again in the new topic. Also, the search engines will very likely be slow to change to the new topic, confusing everyone who visits from there. It may also affect the PR of the site as the new topic may initially be viewed as unrelated content.
The Ten Most Effective Ways To Promote Your Website
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The Ten Most Effective Ways To Promote Your Website
In a nut shell, this is what I’ve found that will help promote your website. These methods are very effective. Keep this blog post as a reference and make sure you are doing all these things. Ok here it goes:
1. Adwords (or any search engine ads at all)
Of course we all know that Google is the top dog but there are many other decent search engines that will get you the same good traffic. For $40 bucks a day I get over 100 unique hits on my website. Every little bit helps
2. Blogging
Even if hate to write, just post relevant information regarding your site just make sure you give credit to who wrote your blog post. Oh and link on your blog post like crazy. I didn’t believe in this method at first but trust me I have learned the ways of the blog.
3. Mailing List
This is a tough area. Its like you need money to make money. But in this case you need email addresses to send emails. Do your best in trying to provoke your customers into signing up for your mailing list. Offer something for free (not a free newsletter) something legit. This will help you by encouraging repeat visits. Its better to keep the same visitor than trying to get new ones, plus it’s easier. Oh and it’s good for word of mouth (which is still the best way to advertise)
4. List, Register & Sign Up!
Spend at least one whole day signing up for every freaking search engine, directory and relevant search site you can. The more you name and website are out on the internet, the better you are ranked by the search engines
5. Links
Ok this is tricky, yes you want your link on as many websites as you can but even better than that is getting your website linked on a website that is really big. If you are officially linked to a big website that will look very good to search engines. Think of your link as a vote to get you to the top of the search engine. And think of a big website and your link like a campaign contribution. That’s right, get the big guys behind you and they’ll help you climb your way to the top. It’s all about who you know.
6. SEO
If you don’t know what this is, then learn. SEO (Search Engine optimization) is very important. The whole point to internet marketing is to get to the top or as high as you can on search engines. They are the number one way people find things on the internet. So in order to help your chances make sure you website is riddled with good keywords, relevant ones. If you are having a hard time with this, follow this logic: If you are online and you wanted to find a website like yours, what would you do? What would you type into a search engine. Ask yourself that question and then ask that question to everybody you know. That way you get a better understanding on what people are searching for.
Also add meta tags like keywords, descriptions and alt tags to all your pages. You can do this all at the end if you want.
7. The No Brainer
Just make sure your site looks good. If you have a crappy looking website then chances are no one will want to stay. For instance if you never cleaned your house do you think new guest will want to sleep over. Nope. And if you suck at making a website look awesome enlist a professional or someone with a clue to help.
8. The Little Things
Do these little things to your site: Add a “Tell A Friend About This Site” Button (For word of mouth, the best marketing), Add a “Bookmark Us” button to your site, give away free stuff, lure customers with contests, make jokes, get an RSS Feed (if you don’t know what that is, then learn, if you are a website designer then you should already know), put some fun things to do on your site to get people to stay. Case in point: Your having guest over for coffee but your TV is broke, all your board games are missing and you just recently started not talking to anyone, your guest will want to leave because it’s boring and it sucks.
9. Get On Myspace or Facebook
If your website is looking for a younger audience then get on anyone of these site and make friends will as many people as you can. Spend hours a day doing this. Make sure your page is chock full of ways to get to your site. This will boost traffic like nobody’s business.
10. Last But Not Least
Be consistent. If you want to have a high traffic website ,then you need to dedicate yourself to the cause. You need to be on the internet doing these things every single day. It’s just like exercising or dieting, if you don’t stick to it everyday, you will fail. But I have faith in you, do as the Romans do.
How To Have Great Results With Article Marketing?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
How To Have Great Results With Article Marketing?
Ever wonder how to get a virtual flood of FREE traffic to your websites? Yeah, me too! Then I discovered article marketing.
* What is Article Marketing?
Article Marketing is the art of the writing and distributing articles to article directories and blogs.
There are two main purposes of article marketing.
1.) To gain valuable backlinks from high page rank sites to your website or affiliate page
2.) To drive traffic to your website or affiliate page
* So how do you write good articles?
To start off with, the number one rule for writing articles is to provide value to the reader! This can be done by explaining a topic (like this article does) or by solving a problem the potential reader has. Providing Value is very important because if you are trying to get people to your website or affiliate page, what is the chance they are going to click through at the bottom of the article if you do not write a good article? Probably, no chance at all.
The 2nd rule when writing articles for maximum effect is to include a byline or signature that seems to be a natural extension of the article itself. There are far to many individuals who are not aware of this rule. What do I mean by this?
Well instead of writing an author’s signature like this (99% of people do this): Chris Gustafson is a expert in the field of search engine optimization.
Write something like this:
As you can see topic XYZ is not that hard to understand once you have it explained to you in plain English.
When you write a signature like the 2nd one your click through rate on your articles will go from 5% to above 20%.
Yes, it’s that big of difference!!!!
So there are your two golden rules that if followed will put you ahead of 99% of the other people out there who are using article marketing as a strategy. The next thing you need to know how to do is distribute your article. To do this you really have two options:
1.) Manually submit your article to all the top article directories
2.) Pay an article submission service to do this for you:
Option #1 is time consuming and get’s old real fast
Option #2 will cost you some money but may be worth it if you are in this for the long haul. To find article submission services it is as simple as Googling that term! There will be a ton of results; all you have to do is pick one. Make sure to do your homework first though.
In closing, I hope you enjoyed this article. I hope you learned something and it leads you to great article marketing success!
How Many Article Submission Sites Should I Submit To
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
How Many Article Submission Sites Should I Submit To
Here is an excellent question that I get sometimes: “Is it okay to submit the same article to multiple article submission sites?”
Sometimes people are afraid to do this, and that fear is completely unfounded. Let’s start by looking at the purpose of an article directory.
Article submission sites (aka article directories) are like libraries. They specialize in having content (free reprint articles) on all sorts of topics that can be “checked-out” for free, like in a library.
The difference is that with a library you need to bring the book back eventually, whereas the articles on directories do not need to be “returned”.
Publishers go to the article directories looking for content for their websites. They find an article that they like, and they may reprint that article for free, with the agreement that they will also republish the resource box with its link.
The purpose of an article submission site is to provide free reprint articles for publishers. Each article can be republished a limitless number of times–the more the better.
When you publish your article on a directory, you want it to be republished. That is how you build links, and building links impacts your search engine ranking, which in turn impacts the traffic you receive to your website.
So, article directories are never meant to be the end of the line–you do not publish there thinking that it will be the only place that your article will be published. That is not how article marketing works.
The power behind article marketing is in the republication of the articles.
You write one article, and it gets republished many times. You submit your article one time to a directory, and then let’s say 100 publishers find your article on that directory and put it on their site.
So, from one article submitted to one directory, you created 101 links–the first link came from the directory itself, when you submitted your article there. The other 100 links were the result of publishers finding your article on the directory and republishing it.
Let’s go back to the original question–is it alright to submit the same article to multiple article directories?
The answer is “yes”, and you will benefit greatly if you take the initiative to do that.
If you submit your article to one submission site, then you are totally dependent on the results that that one directory can bring. You do that one submission and you wait, and wait, and wait. Kind of passive, isn’t it?
But, if you submit your article to several directories, then you have helped your cause in two ways:
1 – You are automatically building more links by submitting to more sites. Submit your article to one directory, and you know for sure that you have build one backlink. Submit your article to ten directories, and you know for sure you have build ten new links.
2 – You multiply the opportunities for your article to be picked up for publication, which also multiplies your opportunities for building backlinks.
For example, submit your article to one directory, and then 100 publishers republish your article. That makes a total of 101 backlinks for you as a result of publishing that one article on that one directory.
Not bad, but what if you submitted your article to ten directories with the same result–101 backlinks build as a result of publishing on each site. That’s a big increase, isn’t it?
Would you rather have 101 new backlinks or 1,010?
When you submit your articles to more directories, you drastically increase the number of links that you can create.
Article directories are not expecting that they will be the only website that contains your article–the very purpose of an article submission site is to propagate the republication of articles.
Each article that you write should only be submitted one time to each directory, but you can submit that same article to as many directories as you like.
Issues on Privacy Concerns on Facebook
It seems that you can barely log into the internet today without finding dire warnings about the privacy of your FaceBook account. Hundreds (and possibly thousands) of users have declared May 31, 2010 as “Leave FaceBook Day”. Since the dawn of the internet, privacy has been a concern. However, if you put a google search in for “Facebook Privacy Concerns” it returns 17,400,000 results while Twitter returns 15,500,000 results and LinkedIn at the bottom of the pile returns 667,000 results.
In a viewpoint, Facebook is approximated to have the largest number of users among the three. And truthfully, the three (although often lumped together) are really different and have different audiences. With that said, how concerned should you be about your FaceBook security?
Well, like anything else that’s on the internet, it’s not hack-proof. Even the strongest privacy policy isn’t going to protect you if someone really wants to get at your information. Changes on the privacy policy on Facebook however seem to be on a craze and they don’t really mind how many protests they receive, it is more like a “woops” to them. Then there is the audacity of Facebook founders to tell you that having multiple “online” identities is displaying unethical behavior? He’s simply letting you know that your account for business and personal account on Facebook must be one and the same or you don’t have the ethics. And the answer to that?
Probably not – most of us tend to like to keep our “personal” and our “business” lives (especially online) separate as much as possible. I mean seriously – do your children really care if the company that you are promoting has already reached 1000 blog readers? Do those people who follows your company really need to know that your grand daughter is a part of a cheerleading tournament? Probably the answer to both of these is “not so much”.
Given the number of issues that have come around you’ll find hundreds of articles including a very interesting one from the New York Times where they referred to FaceBook privacy options as “A Bewildering Tangle of Options”. Unless you are willing to spend the time to verify all of these potential options, you might just want to rethink your FaceBook account. However, keep something else in mind – deleting your FaceBook account borders on amusing and is certainly confusing for most.
- Words of Caution:
* Disabling your Facebook account and deleting it are NOT the same thing!
* Links shared by other users after you posted them don’t get removed
* Photos that you shared who others shared don’t get removed
* There are other restrictions that can still cause you privacy issues.
* If you get through the delete process and don’t stay out of Facebook it negates the entire process!!
With that here are some options to help:
* A 33 slide show on how to lock down your privacy at Facebook
* Video instructions on how to delete your Facebook account
* Make sure you read some of the information and make an informed decision.
Good Conversation Topics Often Make Good Article Topics
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Good Conversation Topics Often Make Good Article Topics
Want to know how to get a quiet person to talk your ear off?
Ask them about something that they are passionate about– A hobby, their work, their favorite author or musician.
When you have the chance to speak about something that you are passionate about, you can talk for hours, and it feels like minutes.
I’ve noticed this with myself–some of my best articles about my niche are the products of spontaneous conversations I’ve had with people who innocently asked me something that I am very knowledgeable and passionate about.
Whenever I find myself in one of these conversations, I think “This would make a great article!”
When you are doing article marketing, you are always on the look out for new and compelling article ideas. The ideas listed below will help you generate more conversation oriented topics:
1 – Think of yourself as an ambassador for your niche
Wherever you go, no matter if you’re enjoying some leisure time or are officially “at work”, always be on the look out for someone who needs more information about your niche.
Even if you think that person will never become a customer or buy any of your products, still take the time to give them information that will help them succeed.
An ambassador lives to spread truth about his or her niche. This takes you out of the position as sales person (which can be a turn-off to others) and puts you into the amiable position of “the go-to expert”.
2 – Plan how you’ll answer this question, “What do you do for a living?”
This may be a very simple question for most humans, but for those of us who own internet businesses it can be a tricky question to answer outside of the context of the online world. Let’s say someone in the offline world asks you this question–what will you say? How can you explain what you do in a way that they will understand?
Here are some pointers I’ve developed:
* Instead of rattling off some obscure title or description that no one in the outside world would understand, talk about the type of people who you help and what you do to help them.
* Force yourself to avoid technical lingo–use language that your grandmother would understand.
* Speak about your general field, rather than about your specific business, at least at first. Remember, you don’t want to send any “I want to sell you something” vibes (because you really don’t want to sell anything–you’re just having a conversation).
As an example, I would say that I help business owners market their websites. That is something that someone from the offline world can sink their teeth into, and it will lead to other questions. Many of the conversations that you have about your niche with newbies or folks outside your field are excellent fodder for your articles.
If you are going through a writing slump or just want a fresh way to generate article ideas, I have an assignment for you:
Step 1:
Turn off your computer and go out where people are. Go to a party, a coffee shop, the gym, the grocery store–anywhere where you can encounter live humans.
Step 2:
Put on your ambassador hat. Smile at people, be open and friendly. Engage them in conversations. If someone talks to you, be interested in them and ask them questions. The point is to provide fertile ground for conversations to develop. No pressure here–just be yourself.
Step 3:
Did any article topics arise from your conversations? Sometimes you can take the simplest question that someone unfamiliar with your niche asks and turn it into a helpful article. No topic is too simple!
Do this, will you? What’s the worst that can happen?
At worst you will have enjoyed a break from sitting behind your keyboard and staring at your monitor. Sometimes that in itself is enough to jump start your creativity and inspire writing ideas.
My Secrets for Getting More Views and Clicks
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, March 5, 2011
My Secrets for Getting More Views and Clicks
When you are writing an article the reader should find it informative. If you are writing about the pros and cons of something then the reader should be able to identify with what you are saying. You need to come up with a solution to a given problem in the article. With this in mind, article writing can be easier than many of us think.
Here Are 5 Simple Tips On Writing Great Articles:
1. If the title of the article is ambiguous it should be simplified to make it more effective. The readers should find your writings both interesting and informative. You should know your target audience, before you start writing articles. This will help you write better. Make sure that your title is catchy. You will be up against thousands of articles so you want to be able to stand out from the crowd.
2. The success or failure of an article marketing campaign may rest on its use of keywords. They must be strategically placed. They should appear at least once in the title, opening and closing paragraphs. They should also appear in the middle. The rest should be sprinkled throughout the remainder of the piece. Keyword density should be about one to three percent.
3. Use conversational tone. Don’t even think about making your articles sound like novels or encyclopedia. To avoid alienating your readers, write as if you’re personally talking to them. Use first person pronouns when addressing them. Ask questions from time to time and find effective ways to engage them all the way.
4. Keep it short and scannable. As you might already know, online users are usually pressed for time. You can make your articles more attractive for these people if you make them relatively short and easy to skim through. Make sure that you will not use more than 500 words especially if you’re discussing very specific topics. Then, use subheadings, short paragraphs, and bullets lists as much as possible.
5. Use good grammar and proper spelling. This should go without saying. Yet some article writers/publishers seem to have a poor grasp on grammar and spelling. Even if your grammar and spelling are stellar, you should always run your articles through a spell/grammar check. This can help catch mistakes you might miss.
Writing a POWERFUL Resource Box
Never underestimate the power of the resource box. It may be small in size but they will provide a significant aid in driving traffic to your site. A boring resource box will never get the job done. Be fun and creative but at the same time show that you have a great deal to offer.
While the resource box encompasses only a small space, providing the right keywords and content will provide more prodding for the reader to go to your site. You do not need to give away everything in your article, but instead make your readers crave for more information. This will guide them to visit your website to get more details. You only get one chance to wow them and many other chances to repulse them.
Remembering these tips when you embark on creating an article marketing campaign will greatly increase your chances of success. Not only will it be great for business, you’ll undoubtedly come away with a tremendous sense of personal satisfaction.
Final Thoughts
What Article Marketing Lab taught me was how to write articles for certain products and how to use those articles to drive traffic to a simple landing page. The key to writing articles is target specific people looking for more information on my chosen topic and the landing page is there to deliver what my article readers are looking for. Pretty simple really once you know how.
I have been part of the buy everything going crowd and I have learned through this course that there is a way to succeed, there is a way forward and that is to stick to something that works. I have a lot to thank Team AML for opening my eyes to something that I know I can succeed in.
Article Marketing Is Still A Goldrush For Local Businesses
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Friday, March 4, 2011
Article Marketing Is Still A Goldrush For Local Businesses
It’s no secret that the most competitive verticals online like Golf, Finance, Forex, Real Estate, Health and Internet Marketing are extremely competitive. That’s because these are known as Global Markets, which means people participate in these from all over the world. But what about Mary’s Hair Salon in Birmingham, AL or Grubby’s cafe in Oceanside, CA.? These are what they call local businesses, and to date very few of these types of businesses even have an SEO friendly website much less know what article marketing is or how to implement it.
Right now there are 8 major article repositories you can submit your articles to. They are Ezine Articles, GoArticles, Articles Base, Free Articles Zone, Article Alley, Articles Factory, Article Snatch and Article Dashboard. If you’re not familiar with these places just Google them and they’ll come right up. Each one requires you to sign up. They are all free to sign up for. Then you will have to spend a few minutes on each site uploading a photo of you or your business and filling out some author bio information.
Then you are ready to start writing and submitting articles. You can write articles for free on just about any subject there is. The key is to be an expert in what you are writing about. No one knows more about how to run your business than you do, so you should be the most qualified writer on your subject matter. The key is to write your articles and make them about 400-600 words each. Word Count Tool is a free tool you can use to check the word count of your articles before you submit them (Google it). I also use a free program called Note Tab Light which allows me to open up and edit multiple text files at once and is great for simple cut and paste operations.
Your goal should be to write at least 2 articles per day related to your niche subject. You would create an author biography that looks similar to the one you will see below. Take advantage of the 2 anchor text links for every author bio and use them in each article. You can even use the Google keyword tool which is free to collect a list of relevant keywords to your niche. Then start writing articles around these.
If you can type, or know someone who can there is nothing stopping you from becoming the dominator in your local market. The key is to just get out there and start writing and submitting articles every day. Even if you can only afford enough time to do one article per day that’s way better than doing nothing at all. Before you know it your website will start getting better Google rankings for all kinds of keywords related to your business. Of course you have to also pay attention to on-site optimization but that’s a topic for an entirely different article.
But right now article directories are hungry for your wisdom and knowledge about what you know about how your type of business is supposed to be run in your locale. Publish or perish couldn’t be more true. The first one out there with the content will be the supreme ruler in their local niche. I suggest you develop a sense of urgency soon and get out there with as much content as possible before your competition does.
Article Marketing And The Eye Of The Spider
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Article Marketing And The Eye Of The Spider
Ever wondered how internet marketing worked? How does anybody who is into internet marketing inform his potential customers that he exists? And how do customers who are looking for something specific, know where to look for it?
Given the sheer profusion of pages on the internet, this can be a herculean task for both the buyer as well as the seller.
Internet marketing is all about catching the ‘eye of the spider’. ‘Spiders’ are ingenious little devices that search all the pages of the World Wide Web looking for those pages that are most relevant to the search term that the internet user has entered. Not only do spiders find the appropriate pages, but they also rank these pages in order of relevance, making it easier for the user to find what he is looking for. Goes without saying, anybody looking for something would first click on the page that is right on top of the list. If he finds what he is looking for, that’s it- he looks no further. It is only if he does not find what he wants that he will then go down the list of pages that the spiders have ranked in decreasing order of relevance. The key then, is to make sure your website is ranked right up there above all others that have the same keyword.
Here are a few tips on how you can use article marketing to catch the eye of that all-important spider and get your website ranked right up there, where it can be seen by millions of users:
* Make sure your article content is original
Spiders never forget! They memorize every article they have ever crawled over. If they come across a similar article during subsequent searches they immediately pick it out as a plagiarized copy. Instead of the brownie points you would expect to win for featuring valuable content on your web site, your web site would get penalized for featuring copied content. It is critical to make sure that your article content is always original.
Post your original articles on your own website first
By posting your original content on your own website before distributing it to other sites, you stake a claim to your article, and prevent those spiders from penalizing it for duplication. Also, when the spider picks up your article during a search, if the article is posted on your website, it will lead the reader straight to your site circumventing the round-about route.
* Embed those keywords and keyword phrases
Using appropriate keywords and keyword phrases throughout your article while maintaining optimum keyword density, is critical. Proper keywords used correctly helps spiders index your website and leverages your search engine optimization. It is important to remember that proper usage of keywords and keyword phrases is critical. Keywords that are randomly placed throughout the article, known as keyword stuffing, will only help get your article disqualified and penalized by search engines. And if your article that is unintelligently keyword stuffed, does get past the search engines, your site visitors will be none too impressed with the quality of your articles and will almost certainly turn away. Once this happens, it is almost impossible to lure them back again.
* Increase your link popularity
Spiders determine the popularity and relevancy of your website by the quality and quantity of inbound hyperlinks from other websites to yours. Include an “About the Author” section with a link to your website in every author resource box at the end of your article. It is obligatory for other websites to include this section if they decide to publish your article on their site. This in itself will guarantee you unlimited free publicity. If your article is informative and interesting, and is placed on several sites, you would automatically get plenty of links pointing back to your site. This is guaranteed to catch the eye of the spider and increase your search engine ranking.
* Maximize your exposure through article distribution sites
By submitting your articles to large distributions sites such as GoArticles.com or eZine.com you increase the chances of your article being re-purposed by other webmasters who are continuously seeking quality content. This can have a kind of viral effect and send a continuous stream of significant traffic towards the direction of your articles.
* Persistence pays
Writing just one article, no matter how good, is not enough to get you the desired results. Catching the eye of the spider takes time. To reap the benefits of article marketing requires time and patience as well as the unswerving commitment to generate and disseminate good quality articles consistently. This is what will create a valuable footprint in your field of expertise and help increase the number of back-links to your site.
* Maintain that word count
Most websites will only accept and distribute articles that meet their specified article requirements with regard to minimum and maximum length. As a rule, articles should be no more than 500 words and no less than 300 words.
An Editor’s Take on Article Writing: The Submission Process
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
An Editor’s Take on Article Writing: The Submission Process
As an editor for an online newsletter, I receive dozens of articles via personal submissions and article directories throughout the week. Many of these articles are extremely well written, many are very good, but unfortunately, many are well below industry standards due to poorly written or structured content. So, what makes for a good article and one that will actually be picked by an editor for publication?
Understanding what elements a publisher is looking for to use in its newsletter or on its website should be a consideration of any author who wants to be published, as well as having a good grasp of the English language, (i.e. grammar and punctuation). The recent surge of new article directories on the Web has brought a deluge of so called authors who churn out article after article on a subject with little regard, or maybe I should say knowledge, on how they are being reviewed by publishers. A simple, but effective, fine-tuning of those articles for publication will be of benefit to both author and publisher.
* What is a Publisher Looking for in an Article?
1. Good Content
Content on a relevant topic within our specific industry is the biggest consideration when selecting a piece for our newsletter or website. (If the newsletter is for web-programmers or web-designers – relevant topics for submission should be within that scope and pertinent areas.) There has been an influx of articles recently on article marketing and affiliate marketing. These are both great topics, but what I see is the same information rewritten over and over. Once an article has been published on this topic, unless the new article is obviously providing a different take on the subject or has new information to share…it is old news.
Therefore, authors must be creative and take a new direction on the topic; writing something that hasn’t been rehashed over and over. Be controversial. Do some research on the topic that will add value to the article by providing statistics, history, a new point-of-view – anything that is relevant and new that readers will find of interest and not just of interest to you, the author.
Make sure your first few sentences or paragraphs provide enough interest to keep your audience’s attention. You will lose them otherwise. Most people scan an article and move on if it is not compelling enough. Add compelling content! Simply stated is fine – but your content must also be interesting, thought provoking, and of value to the reader.
In addition — Spell-check your work!! A poorly written article is not only difficult to read, but takes time for the editor to proof and edit. Your articles should be well written pieces with spelling and grammar checked before submitting to article directories or directly to a publisher. This is my pet-peeve. With all the tools available to assist in most programs (i.e. Word, Works, Mac Word, iWorks, etc.) there shouldn’t be spelling or grammatical errors. Take the time to check your work, it’s well worth the effort.
2. Give the Article a Catchy Title
This is another very important point I cannot stress enough. A boring or vague title will not prompt a reader to either open an email or click on a link to your article. If your article is about Google – use Google in the title. Think about the point you are trying to make or bring to the reader’s attention and use it in the title. Strong titled articles will get the attention of a publisher and your readers.
3. Making the Word Count
Taking the time to write an article is a task in itself. Unless you are making money at article writing – your time is valuable and you want to make the most of your article writing. Getting published is your reward! With that in mind….A well written article on a hot topic should have a substantial word count, and if less than 550 words – the article may not be picked up by a publisher of a newsletter as a featured article. A featured article has substance and should be at least 750 words or longer for consideration. Still, many publishers are looking for shorter articles for their websites and a well-written article with a shorter word count will suffice.
* Finally…
To be a successfully, published author you must hone in your skills. Providing good, relevant content in an article that is spell-checked and grammatically correct, with a catchy title will entice and grab the attention of publishers. Experienced authors get published more often as they become a trusted source by editors to provide a professional piece which has that added attention to detail we editors all strive for!
How to Write Google Ads that Get New Patients
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
How to Write Google Ads that Get New Patients
If you’re using Pay-Per-Click advertising to promote your plastic surgery marketing practice online or if you’re even thinking about using PPC then you need to read this article right away.
* Why?
Because you can’t just buy the first spot anymore! There’s something called a quality score that Google uses. And if Google doesn’t like your ad or website, it will punish you by lowering the rank of your ad burying it so very few prospects will see it. Now, if you don’t write your Google Ads the right way, you can be spending thousands of dollars and not get one single new patient.
Why Most Google Ads Fail to Bring In New Patients
Imagine you are seated in a room, shoulder to shoulder with your fiercest competitors.
In the middle is a prospective patient for your plastic surgery practice.
This asks, “Why should I choose YOUR PRACTICE in 15 words or less?”
* What would you say?
Would you waste any of the 15 words? Would you waste 3-6 of the words on saying your name once or TWICE???? Would you waste a few words on “Board Certified” or “Free Consultation” that everyone else offers?
Well, believe it or not, the scenario above is basically your Google ad. It’s a preliminary 15-word interview of you versus all of your competition. And, most people doing pay-per-click advertising online stumble by adding words that are a complete waste. People add words that do not make people want to click and visit their website. By not writing an effective Google ad, you can kiss tens of thousands of dollars in new patients goodbye.
* How to Write an Effective Google Ad That Brings In New
Each word in your Google ad must earn its spot. If there’s not a strong persuasive element to every word you select, then you are wasting space and missing out on new patients. And, this includes inserting your name and the practice’s name within the ad. In fact, this is the pay-per-click advertising mistake that is committed everyday. People are obliviously taking up precious Google ad real estate.
For example, look at these to ads under a search for “San Diego Plastic Surgeon”:
Ad #1:
Smith Cosmetic Surgery
Dr. Ray Smith offers cosmetic
procedures for body, breast & face
(URL was placed here)
(Actual ad but name was changed here)
Ad #2
Facial Plastic Surgery
“Only Face; Only Superior Results” San Diego
San Diego Plastic Surgeon (CA)
(URL was placed here)
* Notice the difference between the two ads?
The Difference Between a Good Google Ad and a Poor Google Ad
1. The first ad forgets that the most important part of the ad is the headline. Put your name there and you might as well leave it blank.
2. The first ad in contrast tells the prospective patient nothing about why they should choose or even consider Smith over every other plastic surgeon out there. Everyone else “offers procedures for body, breast & face.” He’s positioned him self as just like everyone body else.
3. The second ad tells people we only do face. This eliminates people they don’t want– so they’re only paying for clicks from their target customers. The general public has been taught that specialists are “better.”
4. The second ad confirmed they are in San Diego, in two different spots. This bolds “San Diego” in the ad and it makes the ad stand out from the rest. Plus it assures someone looking for a surgeon in San Diego that in fact this is in line with what they are looking for.
The only fault that I find on the second ad is the use of “Only Superior Results.” What does that really mean to a prospective patient? Not a whole lot. Every patient is expecting superior results. Some have expectations set more towards miracles then “superior.”
On your Google ad, you want to describe what a patient is after and hit on some emotion. You want to have some psychological or emotional trigger within your ad copy that grabs prospective patients by the eyeballs and pulls them to your website.
* Your Next Steps…
You can continue to do pay-per-click advertising your way and waste thousands of dollars or you can consistently beat your competitors and get new patients even in a recession. And, you can have Google think of you as a long-term business partner they can count on. They give their long-term partners preferential treatment like:
* Higher position with a LOWER cost. It is possible to get a #1 spot for #3 prices or less.
* Your ads will show more often
The end result is more new patients and a lower new patient generation cost.
For more information on plastic surgery marketing that generates a flood of new patients visit www.clicksandpatients.com for our free report: “Recession Proof Strategies That Are Bringing In Scores Of New Patients For Plastic Surgeons In The Most Fiercely Competitive Plastic Surgery Market In The World – Beverly Hills.”
When Is the Right Time to Start Marketing Your Book?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Monday, February 28, 2011
When Is the Right Time to Start Marketing Your Book?
Almost every book author wants to know: When is a good time to start marketing a book? While still writing the book, while looking for an agent or publisher, while going through the self-publishing process? When the book is available on Amazon?
There are few certain replies to this question except for one: It’s rather late to start marketing your book when it is already out on Amazon.
So what’s the answer as to when is the best time to start marketing a book? It depends.
And what it depends on is a great number of variables, including is this your first book, do you already have an online reputation, are you a renown newspaper journalist who is about to write a first novel, and any other variable that you care to name. (Such as, do you have a famous last name, such as Mary Higgins Clark’s daughter had when she started writing mysteries?)
If we can agree that we can’t pinpoint an exact right time that applies to everyone, are there general guidelines that can help all authors?
Yes, I believe there are. First, if you’re interested in promoting online, the earlier you start establishing yourself online the better. And the first step is to decide on your brand as a book author.
What do I mean by brand? I mean how you plan to position yourself in your marketing and promotion. What is it that will make you stand out from other writers of non-fiction or similar fiction? What will make people interested in you (and hopefully want to buy your book)?
The strategizing of your brand definitely takes place as early as possible in the publication quest for your book. And as part of this brand strategy, it’s very important to consider the proposed title of your book. This is even more relevant if you’re going to self-publish. You should check out your title with others even if you love the title.
Does your book title “read” the way you think it does? Or does your proposed tile have a different meaning to some people? For example, today I saw someone’s proposed book title that will be very hard to remember, let along spell on Amazon or for a URL. This is probably not the best name for a book.
And does the title stand out? Does it create an image in a potential reader’s mind so he/she can remember the title? A generic title such as “A Good Trip” doesn’t create a specific image, whereas “Six Sunny Days in Paris” creates a strong sense memory.
Once you are clear about your brand and have a good “working” book title (it still may change), you can begin to add elements to your brand positioning.
You can, for example, have someone create short videos (less than three minutes) of you talking about the stages you’re going through in researching and writing your book. Then you can use software such as Sony Vegas Movie Studio to edit the video and to put text such as your name and, if you have a website, your website’s URL on the video.
And you can upload these short videos to YouTube and other video-sharing sites. Remember, it’s important to tag these videos with good keywords that relate to you and your brand so that people will have an easier time finding your videos.
You can start a blog, detailing the stages of your book’s process and sharing sample chapters with your blog readers. Getting feedback early on can help you refine your book. And you can offer to write guest posts for other people’s blogs, again staying true to your brand in what you offer to write about.
And then you’re ready for a website – a site that you can control yourself without waiting days for your web master to make one little change. That’s why I recommend having someone build you a website using WordPress.org. Once all the backend steps are done, you will have a website (and blog if you want) that is hosted on your own site and can be completely controlled (read “changed”) by you.
Finally, it’s time to establish a sincere presence on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn as well as various book sites and other social media sites. Gradually build up your presence on these sites by engaging in conversations with others, offering advice when you can, and establishing relationships that will come in handy when your book is published.
Having a website or at least a blog hosted on another site such as blogger.com provides you with your own arena of visibility when you set up your profiles on social media sites. By using your website URL or blog URL as part of who you are on the internet, you’re more firmly establishing an online foundation for your book’s publication and marketing.
5 Reasons To Use Squidoo
An affiliate marketer has to have certain things. I consider it very important to have a web page where you can put your offers and content.
Then you can just get down to driving traffic to your site, making sales, and earning money.
Still, the beginning affiliate marketer and perhaps even some intermediates, would like it to be low priced and more straightforward than the typical setup.
Take as an example the mass of web pages called Squidoo.
It’s really just another website except for it’s size and variety of content. It’s VERY well known at Google.
By the end of 2009 there were nearly a million individual pages on this huge website and those pages are called “lenses” by the “Squids.”
Here are 5 good reasons to use Squidoo as an affiliate marketer.
The first reason is your cost for the hosting space. It’s zero.
The second reason is the cost of registering a domain name. It’s zero too!
Squidoo loks good because it’s practically effortless, AND it’s very low cost, especially when compared to the typical cost of hosting and domain at about $100 to $130 per year.
That doesn’t sound like much, and it isn’t if your site is making money or if you just have plenty of it. But for affiliates who are just starting and a lot of intermediates too, it’s just perfect.
The third reason, and one of big importance to affiliates, is that it is relatively easy to get indexed by Google for your lens. Really it’s a web page. But Google seems to like them.
If you pick your domain name with a keyword relevant to your sites content, that you can easily rank for, and you put it at the beginning of your domain name, you will be on your way to good rankings.
Doing a good job optimizing your page (lens) for your relevant keyword, is the best way to get your site to come up on the search results page in Google. And Page One of Google for almost ANY keyword will result in some good traffic.
The fourth reason to use Squidoo is that there is on site help. There is lots of assistance.
This would have really helped me when I was getting started because it seemed like, for me, everything new wasn’t just new…it seemed wierd…alien even. I didn’t “get it.”
Squdoo helps you in a dozen ways and you can see for yourself by just going there and looking around.
In addition, there is a forum where you can go and ask questions and get answers. And maybe later you will even answer some questions.
The fifth reason to use these pages (lenses) is because they work!
By work I mean that you can make them look like a great web page. You can also set them up to get a good bit of traffic. And you can sell directly from them.
If you’d like a landing page, this is it!
And that’s not all. You will learn a lot!
Many of the stumbling blocks a typical newcomer or even intermediate affiliate marketer will run into are completely eliminated by this alternative. The first reason that comes to mind is the FREE domain name and hosting.
Go there, join up and start your first lens. Start fooling around with it. Learn how to do a few of the things you need to get a halfway decent site up. There’ll be plenty of help if you get stuck.
In a couple to three weeks you could have an affiliate site up, indexed, and getting traffic, and making sales.
Watch out because IF you do this, the next thing that will happen is that you will get a sale. A sale that didn’t cost you anything but your time and effort.
Only now you’ll know how to repeat it and increase your income.
3 Reasons Why Most Article Templates Do Not Help You Write Articles Fast
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, February 26, 2011
3 Reasons Why Most Article Templates Do Not Help You Write Articles Fast
Instant article writing templates such as those found at StartWritingArticlesFaster.com can help you overcome writer’s block. In many cases, with the right article templates, you can write your articles in 30 minutes or less.
Notice the keywords there – “with the right article templates.”
If you do a Google search for “instant article writing templates”, “instant article templates”, “article writing templates”, “free article templates” and “article templates”— underneath my websites and my articles you find hundreds of other resources. Some sites even give you free article templates.
Heck, I even give you 3 free article templates at http://www.TryMyFreeArticleTemplates.com
Here’s the problem…most article templates are not designed to help you write better articles faster. Now, the creators of these article templates had good intentions. However, if you use the wrong article templates, you will find yourself even more confused.
The 3 Biggest Problems with Most Instant Article Writing Templates
1. Most article templates do not give you the structure and organization you need. In fact, here’s a sampling of what one article template provider offers…
Article Writing Template – What I Learned From….
This one is simply a bulleted list of what you have learned from any number of things or events such as what I learned from my parents, my sister, my brother, my son, my daughter, from my third grade teacher, from September 11th, from watching a TV show, etc.
Bullet 1-
Bullet 2-
Bullet 3-
And, so on…
Now, to me this is not a workable template. Templates are supposed to be worksheets that guide you throughout the process. For example, I put my “Instant Article Writing Templates” in MS Word format. Each template is in chart format. All you have to do is put the information that’s in your head and put it exactly where I ask you to. Once the template is complete, all you have to do is copy each section and paste it into a new document – and you’ll have a finished article.
2. Most article templates don’t keep you, the article writer, focused. If I don’t use my article templates, I find myself rambling, going from one topic to another. And, I’m the article writing and article marketing expert. When you have a workable template that provides you with structure and organization, your copy will automatically become more focused. It becomes an easier, better read for your readers. However, most templates like the example I showed you above do not give you a structure and organization to follow. And, they allow you to bounce from one idea to another without any kind of transition.
3. Most article template resources do not provide real article examples from a wide number of industries. If there are any article examples provided along with the article templates, you’ll just find articles that the creator wrote. So, you’ll just find Internet marketing articles that promote the creator’s other products and services. You want to look for article resources that provide actual article examples of those in your niche. For example, in my Instant Article Writing Templates Kit, I not only share with you some of my own articles, but I share with articles that are written by my clients who are authors, speakers and entrepreneurs dealing with a wide number of business, finance, relationship and parenting issues.
Again, I do not mean to mock or offend those in my industry. I just want to help you write your articles faster. Now, that you aware of the problems that most instant article writing templates have – you can choose wisely.
Use These 3 Tips so that Your Online Income Affiliate Business can Survive
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, February 24, 2011
As an affiliate marketer who would like to not only survive but also generate a large income you will need to utilize these 3 tips given here and be prepared to work hard as there is not magical formula to success.
As an affiliate marketer using these 3 tips will help your chances of success with your online marketing business. Using these 3 tips will help your online business survive the competition that is found in an online based business environment.
1. Give your readers free reports.
Either place these reports where they can be easily seen near the top of your website or alternatively give them as an incentive to visitors who are will to give you their name and email address.
Use a unique squeeze page, in other words one that is different from what everyone else is using, to offer your reports in exchange for their email address and make sure that you have an opt in box on that squeeze page that goes to your auto-responder account.
It is a known fact that the majority of people will not purchase anything the first time they see it. Normally it will take a minimum of seven views for them to make the purchase. Keep in mind that usually people are more willing to spend money with a person that they believe is trustworthy and has taken the time to build a relationship with them, they need to know that they are not just dealing with some faceless website but a real person who is willing to help them.
If the only connection is the product on your website, not only will you not build a list, but chances are that even if someone is interested in the product you are selling they will move on and in the end buy it from someone else.
2. Promote each product on a separate web page.
If you use this method of marketing your products you will be keeping the reader focused on one thing at a time and they will become less distracted than if there were too many things on the one page.
Help the reader to make a decision on each product by having a review for each one on your website. This not only gives it a more personal touch but also helps to encourage a sale. If you are able to get some testimonials from any of your previous customers who have already tried the product then this is something that you can use to your advantage.
Just be sure that those customers are happy to allow you to use their name and if possible their photo.
3. Aim to generate a lot of targeted traffic to your website.
There is absolutely no point in getting people to visit your site who have no interest whatsoever in the products that you are promoting. Write articles and submit them to ezines and article directories and focus on the niche that you are promoting your products to. There is no point in spending your time promoting your affiliate internet business where no one is interested in what you are selling, but writing articles and publishing them in article directories is a great way to become known and brand yourself and your business and the best thing is that this type of advertising will not cost you any money.
If you want to benefit from marketing your online business by using article marketing you will need to write a minimum of 2 articles every week. If you continue to do this consistently you will see that over time your traffic will increase and it will be people who are interested in your products and what you have to say.
None of these tips are really difficult to follow and take action on it just needs some time and thought from you. Try using these tips for a few of your affiliate internet based business programs and see how they will help your opportunity to survive as an online affiliate marketer. Another great thing about this is the increase in the pay checks you will be receiving.
What Benefits Your Online Business more Automating or Building a Relationship with Your List?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
What Benefits Your Online Business more Automating or Building a Relationship with Your List?
Anyone who has been involved in a legitimate online business for any length of time will have heard the statement “the money is in the list”. While this is true there is also another phrase that one hears repeatedly and that is “the importance of automating your business”.
Both these statements have a great deal of truth in them and using an auto-responder to collect names addresses and send out regular emails is an essential part of running a successful internet marketing campaign.
The point to consider though is whether you should rely on these pre-written automated newsletters alone or if you should also send broadcast messages to the subscribers on your email list keeping them abreast of up to the minute news and giving them information that can be of benefit to them.
Let’s face it, if you want to build a successful and profitable list of subscribers, it is important to remember that every time a newsletter gets sent out to an email address there is a real flesh and blood person at the receiving end who is going to be reading and responding in some way to that message.
It is very true that the money is in the list but you need to keep in mind when you have these pre-written newsletters that over a period of time they can become stale and outdated. So from time to time it is necessary to check them and see that the information you are sending out still applies and discard anything that becomes obsolete. A good idea would be to go through these letters every six months or so to be sure that what you are sending out is still relevant.
In addition send out a broadcast weekly or more often if you prefer, with topical information, and learn to build a relationship with your email subscribers if you want a responsive and profitable list. An automated emailing system has a lot of benefits and is well worth having so long as you don’t just rely on that entirely if you want your readers to remain on your list and become customers as well.
A simple method to use for building a list is to advertise with a squeeze page and every time anyone signs up for your newsletter through your squeeze page they will automatically be added to your mailing list by your auto-responder service and they will begin to receive your newsletters. If they enjoy what they read and like the products you are offering there is a good chance that they will purchase from you.
Then it is up to you to start building a relationship with them so that they can become regular customers as this is what will pay the bills for your legitimate online business.
Another way to keep your subscribers up to date and interested in what you do is to set up your auto-responder to notify them whenever you make a new post on your blog. In this way they will be receiving regular information from you and it doesn’t require any extra work.
Finally keep in mind that what matters most in making your online business successful is not so much the size of your list it is more the responsiveness and the amount of money that your subscribers are happy to spend with you.
How To Create Your First Info Product in 7 Easy Steps?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Monday, February 21, 2011
How To Create Your First Info Product in 7 Easy Steps?
Once you’ve mastered your online marketing system and you’re growing your list on a daily basis, this is a good time to then set about creating additional offerings for your subscribers. This is where you start to look at your Product & Marketing Funnel and see where the gaps are and where new products can fit.
If you’re like most solo service professionals you’ll have something at the top (i.e. the widest part) of your funnel, which is usually your free taste, and then you’ll have something at the bottom (i.e. the narrowest part) of your funnel, which is usually your most expensive one-on-one services, but you won’t have anything in-between.
This is where you need to create products at different price points so that your clients and customers can experience your services and expertise without having to invest in your top (most expensive) service, but they want more than you are offering at the ‘free’ level.
A great first info product to create is one that sits at the second level within your Product & Marketing Funnel; somewhere between $1 and $50.
So, here is the step-by-step guide on how to create that all-important first paid offering.
Step 1: Host a Free Teleclass
Not only is this a great way to build your list, but it also exposes your audience to your expertise. You get to interact with your target market via the teleclass and they are able to ask you questions right there on the call.
Step 2: Record Your Teleclass
In addition to this being a great incentive to getting more sign-ups (if a registrant is not able to make it to the live teleclass they know that they’ll be able to get hold of the information afterwards via the recording), but this is where you’ll turn your free teleclass into your first paid info product.
Step 3: Create an Accompanying Guide or Special Report
Using the notes you prepared for your teleclass, turn these into a guide to accompany your teleclass. Or turn your notes into a special report and sell the report as the paid product and offer the teleclass recording as a bonus.
Step 4: Create a Workbook
If you also provided instructions or how-to information as part of your free teleclass, take that information and create an additional workbook. A workbook is a simple document that will allow your customer/client to make notes, write down their ideas, or plan out how they’re going to implement the how-to information that you shared with them on the teleclass.
Step 5: Bundle It All Together
Now that you have your teleclass recording, and you’ve created an accompanying guide/ebook and/or workbook, bundle all this information together to offer as a paid product at the second level within your funnel i.e. between the $1 and $50 price range.
Step 6: Create a Sales Page and Shopping Cart Link
You now need to create a sales page for your product, and associated shopping cart link. It is also a great customer service feature to create an autoresponder so that you can follow-up with your customers to check that they are happy with their purchase and are implementing the information you shared with them.
Step 7: Promote to Your List
Once you have your product all set up (Step 5), and created the sales page (Step 6) it’s time to promote it to your list and make sales! This is the exciting part! Include some teaser information in your newsletter leading up to the launch of your product, and once you’re ready to take sales send a solo mailing announcing the launch of your product. A solo mailing is much more effective than including the announcement as part of your regular newsletter.
After the initial launch continue to promote your product through your newsletter; promote it on your blog; and tell all your social networks about your product.
How to Target your Website’s Visitors for Optimized Traffic
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, February 20, 2011
How to Target your Website’s Visitors for Optimized Traffic
Over the past decade, the web has grown to such a scale that there are websites covering every single topic under the sun. Due to the sheer scale of it, it is near impossible to pin point the exact number of websites which are on the web; however, statistics show that in February 2007 there were an estimated 29.7 billion pages on web. Taking into consideration the speed in which the web has grown since it’s beginnings in the 1990’s, it is safe to say that this number has increased greatly over the past three years. When it comes to using the internet in connection to our business, targeting the right customers can be hard due to the level of competition our website has. There are various methods in which we may attempt to attract the right visitors as a means to increase our traffic, but some of the most effective methods are in actual fact the cheapest and easiest methods.
Increasing your website’s traffic is all about making your presence known on the web. Marketing and advertising strategies are the main way in which to do this, but in terms of traditional business these can be costly and take sometime to be effective. However, the internet is a fast paced business which allows for your campaigns to be made live in a much shorter space of time, as well as lowering your costs to almost nothing. One of the best ways in which to target visitors is through the use of back links. These can be placed on a wide variety of sites which gain high traffic such as social networking websites and blog sites, but can also be placed on other sites which you can partner up with, exchanging links. When using back links, the first thing you must take into consideration is what your website/product is and what your target market is. In doing this, you will have a clearer idea of what the best sites will be for you to target as irrelevant sites or sites which receive a low level of traffic will be of no use to your website. If you are fortunate to have capital to use, you can also use the aid of Pay per Click schemes. Large search engine sites such as Google can offer this to you but before deciding on this as a means to help your traffic, think about how much you can honestly afford as not to risk a loss in profits.
As businesses look for cheap ways in which to promote their websites, there has been a great increase in the amount of blogs and article directory sites on the web. These allow you to promote your product or service, as well as providing a link back to your website all for the simple exchange of your content on the website. This is a great way in which to gain more back links to your website, as well as s great method of advertising and self promotion. Different websites will have their own guidelines in terms of what you may submit to their sites, but in most cases this is one of the easiest ways in which to promote your business for free. The more external websites you use, the more links you will accumulate on the web which will help your overall traffic level. However, ensure you submit content to reputable sites which have some kind of relevance to your website so that you are targeting the right visitors for your market.
Finally there is one of the most beneficial forms of advertisement- word of mouth marketing. This is not necessarily something which you can achieve yourself, but rather a method of marketing which is completed by your current customers and visitors for free. Word of mouth marketing works by users of your site adding their own back links on to websites in the form of link sharing. Many companies and websites have benefited from this increasing their traffic thanks to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The way in which you can help this become possible is by providing a website and service which is worth talking about. By doing your own part in terms of promoting your website and your own marketing strategies on sites such as these, they are more likely to be noticed by visitors who will then be motivated to visit them. If they like what they see, they can then use bookmarking and other back linking methods to share with other web users they know, thus providing you with free marketing.
Generating traffic to your site is simple when you take into consideration what is right for your website. By looking at the way in which other websites are using the web to promote themselves, you too will soon discover the benefits which come from using simple, yet effective marketing techniques and see your traffic levels soar.
3 Simple Tricks to Optimize Your Pay Per Click Advertising Efforts
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, February 19, 2011
3 Simple Tricks to Optimize Your Pay Per Click Advertising Efforts
While it is important to get your PPC ad seen and even more important to get visitors to click on your ad, those aims pale in comparison with your conversion rate. There are simple tricks that can be used to optimize your pay per click advertising efforts, but they are tricks that are often overlooked.
Running a PPC campaign can be an overwhelming task. There are so many things to do, that the details are often overlooked until it is too late. Here are a few tricks to help increase your conversion rate and optimize your pay per click advertising efforts.
1. Make Getting Conversions Easy
If you make your visitors take a multitude of steps in order to make a purchase, then it is more likely that your customers will get discouraged. While this may not be a problem if you are using pay per click advertising for list-building purposes, it is often a killer in regards to making a sale.
One of the easiest ways to increase your conversion rate (even when list-building) is to only collect the information that is absolutely necessary. Studies have shown that the best converting pages require customers to only enter an email address.
While it is nice to get someone’s name, address, phone number, etc it really isn’t critical information to have. If it is necessary, consider obtaining this information after you have already secured their email address.
2. Focus Your Landing Page
Once you decide what the goal of your landing page is, make sure that you do not distract viewers from it. Many people choose to simply use a page from their website as their landing page. Unfortunately, these pages often contain a jumble of additional ads, unrelated content, and links to other web pages. All of these things can either distract or overwhelm visitors, both of which lead to the customer leaving. It is essential to keep your landing pages as simple and succinct as possible to optimize your pay per click advertising efforts.
3. Include Critical Information in Your Ad Copy
Everyone knows that pay per click advertising is advantageous because it can drive highly targeted traffic to your landing page.
However, many people may still click on your ad that are not part of your target audience. This is because your ad copy does not include the right information.
For example, if you are selling a product that is similar or the same as your competitors, then the price is important to include in your ad copy. Many customers base their purchasing decision on price and if your product is out of their price range, there is no reason for them to click on your ad. By including the price in your ad, you can automatically filter out people who would not purchase your product anyways.
Pay per click advertising can be one of the most profitable and lucrative online advertising methods available. However, if steps are not taken to optimize every step of the sales process, money and opportunities will be lost and expenses will climb.
The more you can do to ensure that you target is highly optimized and that you landing page has the ability to create a maximum conversion rate, the more successful your pay per click advertising ventures will be.
Is it a Good Idea to Rebrand E-Books as an Online Business Building Tool?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Friday, February 18, 2011
Is it a Good Idea to Rebrand E-Books as an Online Business Building Tool?
Many well known internet marketers recommend rebranding e-books when possible as a way to increase visitors to your website and build a successful online business income. Because re-branding e-books has proved to be profitable does this mean that it is actually the best strategy?
Like so many other things with internet marketing this question has both a for and against answer, and it basically needs to be looked at as a separate case in each instance.
1. Reasons why rebranding e-books is a good idea!
It is easy to do
Rebranding an e-book can take a very short period of time to do and can bring you extra income over a long period of time. These e-books can usually be offered as a free download as an incentive for someone to join your emailing list, which just requires them to fill in their name and email address in an optin box on your website and then they can download the book.
Alternatively you could add a free download section on your website where visitors would be able to download a variety of e-books. If they choose to purchase any of the products that are offered via an e-book that you have re-branded, you will get the benefit of earning a commission on that product.
An added advantage of using this method is that it does not involve you having to write anything, create any graphics or create a product. All that is required of you is to re-brand the book and share it with other people online.
If you are involved in any type of MLM affiliate program, by passing on a rebranded e-book you will not only make a direct profit, but will also benefit from any affiliates below you who may generate extra income for you as well.
2. Reasons why re-branding e-books may be a Bad Idea!
Inside every re-brandable e-book there are certain links that cannot be changed and these are links that generally belong to the person who created the book in the first place and they will also continue to benefit from the work that you do in sharing the e-book with others.
If this scenario does not appeal to you then you should think about writing an e-book that is perhaps similar to the one you were thinking of rebranding and then you could keep all the profits as all the ads will be your own.
Another disadvantage of a rebranded e-book is that if you find an affiliate product that you would like to sell and the creator of that product offers you an e-book that you can rebrand to get started, chances are if the product has been around for any length of time, that the e-book can already be found all over the internet and it will not attract many interested people.
With affiliate products it is important to have a unique selling point if you wish to be successful and if you have something that is already last weeks news it will not work for you. With a little extra work you could have a report that is unique and that no one else has seen yet and this will give you a much greater chance of being successful.
Rebranding e-books definitely has a place in marketing an online business opportunity and should not be judged too harshly. The secret is to look at each case individually and make a decision on what will work best for you. Depending on what you want to achieve and the quality of the book, you can then make an educated choice on what will work best for your online income business.
5 Secrets to Turbocharging Your Online Business with a Telesummit
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, February 17, 2011
5 Secrets to Turbocharging Your Online Business with a Telesummit
I’ve been listening to a number of list building and lead generation teleclasses lately, and many of them have been offered in the form of a telesummit. A telesummit is a virtual online conference that offers a line-up of varied speakers over a period of time, like a few days or over several weeks. The telesummit is usually organized by a theme, like outsourcing or lead generation, or for a particular target market, like the online telesummit for virtual assistants for which I was recently a guest speaker.
Participation in many of these telesummits requires you to pay a registration fee, but the model I’ve been seeing a great deal recently is the “free for live” model in which registrants can participate in the “live” version of the program, but if they’re not able to be on the call live, the only way that they can access the content is to pay a registration fee for the audio file and PDF transcripts.
What I love about telesummits is that they are perfect for a downturned economy. There’s no airline reservation to make, no hotel to book, no clothes to pack, no shuttle fees to pay, no bad hotel food to endure….it’s simply conducted from the convenience of your home, the home of your speakers, and the home of your participants. You offer high value with low cost — a great combination!
In my opinion, this type of event is a genius way to turbocharge your business.
Here are 5 secrets to turbocharging your online business with a telesummit:
1. Grows your list fast. Many telesummit hosts report that holding a telesummit has helped them grow their list from 2,000 to 10,000 or 15,000 or greater in a span of only a few weeks when the participants are required to give their name and email address to get the telesummit call-in information. Best of all, the additions to the host’s email list are perfect leads for their target market. How did this happen? Because the host carefully chose their speakers who market products and services to a similar target market and created a telesummit around an issue or theme important to their target market. And, in an ideal world, the speaker has a large list and agrees to help market the telesummit to that list.
2. Establishes you as the preeminent expert. When you hold an event featuring well-known speakers, you suddenly become the authority, or the expert in the field. After all, how else could you have attracted these experts if you were not an expert yourself?
3. Helps you open the door for valuable joint ventures (JVs) and strategic alliances. Once you’ve invited someone to be a guest on your telesummit, you have provided a great service to them by introducing them to others who may not have previously heard of them. And, if you offered some healthy affiliate commissions for telesummit upgrades, they love you because you’ve helped them make money without a lot of effort. Assuming that your event was a success and there were no major hiccups in the process, this success has paved the way for future joint ventures and strategic alliances with this person. This certainly beats cold-calling someone to try and speak to them to sell them on a JV proposal, doesn’t it?
4. Increases your credibility. Another key factor in hosting a telesummit is that the notoriety of your speakers rubs off on you as the host. One of the quickest ways to go from “no name” to “big name” in your industry is to invite the industry experts to speak at your telesummit. The fact that you now have a connection with the movers and shakers in your industry gives you a leg up boosting your own credibility and expertise in the industry.
5. Makes some cash in the process. In addition to the advantages listed previously, there are a number of ways to make a little money in this free telesummit model. First, you offer every participant the ability to “upgrade” to get all the recordings and transcripts of the telesummit. Creating a price increase deadline (before summit vs after summit pricing) may encourage more participants to buy. Secondly, once the telesummit is complete, you can go back to your speakers and offer to interview them a second time exclusively for members of their list. The upsell in this second interview is the complete telesummit recordings and transcripts, on which you pay them a healthy commission on all packages sold.
Examine your business model and see how well a telesummit fits into the mix. You’ll need to begin planning 8-10 weeks in advance, but once you see the results, you may want to make your telesummit an annual event.
9 Ways To Increase Your Email Clickthrough Rate
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
9 Ways To Increase Your Email Clickthrough Rate
Like all forms of marketing, an email marketing campaign usually has a single end goal: the conversion of non-buyers into buyers. Buying decisions tend not to be made all at once, but rather in a series of small steps toward a commitment.
For an email marketer, the first step toward conversion is signing up for your mailing list. After that, it’s the click-through. With each of these actions, the subscriber makes a small behavioral commitment to the idea that you are someone who provides value to them. Below, you’ll find 9 ways to help your email subscribers click through the links in your messages.
1. Segment your lists for maximum relevance
People just don’t have time for mailings that aren’t relevant to them. If you send them a few messages that they can’t use, they’re likely to get impatient with you and either unsubscribe or click the spam button. Even if only part of your message is relevant to them, they’ll be less likely to find it and cilck through if they have to wade through parts that they have no use for. Modern email list managers such as ActiveCampaign’s Email Marketing make it easy to split your mailing list into smaller segments and customize the content based on which segment it’s being delivered to. This boost in relevancy can have a dramatic effect on your reader response.
2. Use a simple template that’s easy to scan
Yes, your messages should be attractive, but they should also be clean and simple. Use a layout that lets the reader easily find what they’re looking for without the distraction of navigation links and multiple panels.
3. Tantalize your readers with article previews
If your newsletter includes informative articles, consider moving those articles onto your main web site and simply including a teaser in the body of your message. This not only wins you the emotional benefit of the clickthrough, it also makes your email easier to scan so that readers can focus on the content that matters most to them.
4. Put your main call to action above the fold
If you’re sending a message that has a main purpose, make sure that purpose is the most prominent thing in it. At least half of your readers will only ever look at your message in their preview pane. Make sure that your main proposition and call to action are visible in that limited space.
5. Make the benefits of clicking obvious
If you don’t describe in detail what the reader has to gain by clicking on your link, they’re going to be a lot less likely to click on it. This is just plain common sense. Yet too often you’ll see email newsletters that offer up links without any clear description of what the reader has to gain by clicking them. Don’t just describe what the reader will find at the other end of your link, tell them what it will do for them.
6. Consistently deliver on your promises
An effective email campaign builds up a relationship with the subscriber. Over time, your readers should come to see you and your business as trustworthy and beneficial. You can build up that trust by simply delivering on any promises you make in your messages. Don’t promise a benefit unless you’re sure you can deliver it.
7. Set limitations to spur action
People naturally respond to scarcity and competition. You can put that to good use by limiting the offers you make to your subscribers. For example, you might make a special offer that is only valid for a day or two after your message goes out. You can also offer a special gift or a chance to win for the first 100 subscribers that respond.
8. Add a link in a P.S.
If someone makes it all the way through your message, they’re probably very interested in your work! But they may also have forgotten about an important call to action that occurred earlier in your message. It’s a good idea to add a “P.S.” after your signature line to remind your readers what you want them to do and why.
9. Split test!
Some tactics will work better than others depending on your industry and target demographics. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a mind-reader to figure out which work best. Simply write up a few different versions of your message, taking a different approach to inducing action in each version.
5 Ways Your Business Can Benefit
Internet business owners have found online article directories to be positive for their business. Here are five ways you can benefit from using article directories on the Internet to promote your business.
Before we get into the directories understand that article marketing is effective when you write keyword rich articles and include a resource box at the end of them. Think of the resource box as your classified ad and the more opportunities you give people to find you the better off you will be. That is the real power of online article directories.
1. Submit your articles to the top article directories only and concentrate on the quality of the article. This is one strategy you can use and it certainly takes some of the pressure off of writing high number of articles. The key to making this work is to develop unique versions of your article and submit them to only the top directories online.
2. Once you have submitted it to the top directories ezine publishers may find your article. This can lead to your article being published in newsletters on the Internet. It can also end up in the inbox of prospective customers. Many online ezines have a huge customer base you might not otherwise we reach. If the ezine is archived online this can give you long term exposure and backlinks.
3. Go for volume of articles and to submit to multiple directories by the hundreds or even thousands. Unless you use article rewriting software to make each article unique this is not a very effective strategy. Some Internet marketers prefer to play the numbers game and just get their articles out where they can be found.
4. Printed publications might pick up your articles from an online directory. These can be picked up by magazines giving you additional exposure. Again the point is to have a link in your resource box to get traffic from an off line reader to your online website.
5. Many online directories have links back to them placed on other Internet marketers websites and blogs. You see this in the form of text links or banner ads. Any directory that is getting traffic coming to it can potentially benefit you if your articles are being published by them.
There certainly are more ways you can benefit from online article directories. This is just a handful of them, but really shows the power of marketing with articles in directories on the Internet today.
Internet Marketing Via E-mail Promotion
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Internet Marketing Via E-mail Promotion
Marketing, as defined by the American Marketing Association, is any activity that involves the flow of services, products and/or goods starting from production until consumption. It involves various activities such as profiling, planning, pricing, promotion, and distribution of products and services.
Promotion is a crucial method that can make or break a market. Promotion stimulates demand and therefore increases profit from sales. It makes use of every media available that are accessible to potential customers.
Recently, promotion management of various companies opts for internet as the effective tool to increasing demands among customers.
Have you ever thought of this query to yourself, “What is the difference between internet marketing and e-mail marketing?”
Internet marketing is an advertisement method that makes use of search engines to promote websites using different strategies such as e-mail marketing. Currently, this provides all companies with the edge among competitors.
Internet is one medium that is sought by clients to promote their companies’ products and services. Moreover, they view internet marketing as a potential strategy to attain maximum return of investment or ROI. However, clients must be very critical in choosing the appropriate and effective advertising company.
These are the few things to remember about successful internet marketing:
1. The advertising company dealing with internet marketing must be abreast with pace and competition set by new products and services being introduced.
2. The advertising company must enable websites to be in the ranks of search engines for as many keywords as possible.
3. The advertising company must exhaust appropriate strategies to make the websites produce ranks in search engines.
4. The advertising company must assist their clients earn automatically within a few months.
5. The advertising company must help their clients receive their maximum return of investments of ROI.
Just what now is e-mail marketing?
E-mail marketing is an internet advertising tool that is cost effective to connect with existing and even potential customers. Moreover, this is about quality of the data the internet advertising company that can be sent to the addresses of potential and existing customers.
These are the things to be considered about successful e-mail marketing:
1. The best way to perform marketing with e-mail addresses is through cost per acquisition.
2. Companies must ensure that internet advertising service providers are allowed to give you e-mail addresses for corporations to contact.
3. E-mail designs must be simple yet elegant. Companies must avoid sensory overload. This can be done with the help of internet service providers.
Generally speaking, these are the things that are offered by internet service providers in e-mail marketing:
Services may include:
* Appropriate strategy for e-mail campaign
* Identification of opportunities for growth
* Maintenance and development of list of addresses
* List set-up for client’s email
* Sign-up form for client’s web site
* Importation or set-up database for client’s database
* Updates regarding client’s success and development of
Newsletter or HTML E-mail Development comprises:
* Newsletter or e-mail design
* Content formatting and developing
* Various integration with client’s website
* Programming compatibility and functionality
Sending e-mails employ the following actions:
* Set-up and sending of client’s account
* Cleaning and exportation of database
* Employing of Web Analytics to determine areas of successes and improvement
Business-minded people should be smart people. Investing a lot on an advertising company is not the turnkey strategy. Dealing with credible internet service provider is the effective step to make it big in the marketing industry.
What is Pay-Per-Click?
Basically there are search engines which offer a marketing option called “pay-per-click” to advertisers.
Most of the major search engines offer this type of service.
The advertiser places a small advertisement on the search results page based on a specific keyword or phrase. Although you don’t pay to place the advertisement, as such the search engine company makes their money by charging you for every time someone clicks on your advertisement. Hence the name “pay-per-click.” Note that this is different from organic (free) search engine optimization obtained through other methods of advertising. How pay-per-click operates is that when a person asks a question of the search engine e.g. “How does such and such work” or “how can I do…” then if the words used tally with your keyword/phrase then your advertisement appears. Should your advertisement appeal to the enquirer and they click onto it then you are charged by the search engine company. If your advertisement doesn’t ring any bells and is not clicked on then you will not have to pay any money. Bear in mind though that if your advert is clicked on and it is not of interest to the reader you will still be charged. So it is very important to ensure that your keywords are very specific to your targeted audience. Whilst this method of advertising seems fairly simple it is in fact one of the most feared by newbies and with good reason. If you don’t know what you are doing then you can very quickly lose all of your advertising budget.
On the other hand done correctly the rewards can be HUGE. It is very important that you have your website set up properly after due diligence before even considering pay-per-click. My advice would be that you shouldn’t use company replicated sites (unless brand new!) because everyone else is! You need to have set up your own branding pages, submitted articles etc first. Make sure that your foundations are secure before entering this field! Assuming you are now in a position to go ahead with pay-per-click then how do you pay?
You bid! Oh no I have to get in an auction? Basically yep!
In essence the greater the bid the higher your advertisement is placed on the search engine.
That is a rather simplified explanation so please study further so that you fully understand how to construct a suitable campaign.
Normally the bid price is in cents rather than dollars but can still work out very expensive unless you have suitable controls in place.
As with most things you have to educate yourself first.
You have probably gathered by now that pay-per-click requires a serious learning curve and plenty of patience if you wish to be successful advertising in this medium.
As with all things testing is paramount.
So, yes, pay-per-click is a mayor way of selling your product/service on the internet and should be included in your advertising campaigns.
Just be sure you know what you are doing before dipping your toe in the water as you are playing with the big boys here. To your success.
Is Direct Mail Really Dead
Even with sky high postage costs, a properly executed direct mail campaign still provides a solid ROI. What? You’ve bought into the myth that direct mail is dead?
You’re not alone. And while people are entitled to their own opinions about direct mail, they’re not entitled to their own facts. Here are the facts: According to an annual study from the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), spending on direct mail marketing is expected to increase by more than $1 billion in 2010. Yes, that’s billion with a “B”. Hmmmm…it would appear that rumors of direct mail’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Don’t People Hate Junk Mail?
And if you’ve also bought into the myth that people hate junk mail (and that’s exactly what it is a myth), here are the myth-busting facts: According to the 2010 DMA Statistical Fact Book, 79% of households either read or skim junk mail advertising sent to their home.
That study is right in line with an International Communications Research survey commissioned by postal automation giant, Pitney Bowes. The survey found, despite the immense popularity, and widespread use of digital media, consumers still prefer mail over e-mail, as it relates to receiving new product announcements, as well as confidential business communications such as bank statements and other financial information.
Here’s how the numbers breakdown: 73 percent of consumers prefer mail for receiving new product announcements or offers from companies they do business with, as compared to 18 percent for e-mail.
For important and confidential communications such as bills, bank statements and other financial information, a huge majority of respondents (86 percent)preferred mail as their communication method of choice, as compared with 10 percent for e-mail.
But wait, the news gets even better: The survey also found that 31 percent of consumers are less likely to discard unopened mail – including new product announcements, coupons, brochures, catalogs, etc. – than they are to delete unsolicited e-mails (spam) regarding new product announcements (53.2 percent).
When consumers were asked what specific advantages they saw in junk mail versus unsolicited e-mail and telemarketing calls, 45.3 percent of respondents found mail to be, get this – less intrusive; (40.2) percent more convenient – can be saved and considered at leisure; (30.2) less high-pressured – lets you consider your decision; (22.7 percent)more descriptive – lets you picture the offer; and (12 percent)more persuasive – encourages you to respond. I don’t know about you, but those numbers definitely got my attention.
What is Cooperative Direct Mail?
If you haven’t considered trying direct mail, maybe you should. A properly executed direct mail campaign combined with online marketing methods could be an unbeatable combination. Don’t know where to start? No problem. Cooperative direct mail companies like Valpak and Clipper Magazine make launching a direct mail campaign easy and affordable, for even the most budget conscious small business.
So what exactly is cooperative direct mail? Cooperative direct mail simply means you share an envelope with other advertisers – mostly local merchants, but usually a couple of national companies as well. Sharing an envelope with other advertisers reduces your costs significantly.
For example, if you were to do a mailing on your own to 10,000 homes, it would cost you thousands of dollars – even at reduced bulk rate postage costs. However, that same mailing shared with other advertisers would only cost you a few hundred dollars. That’s a huge difference that allows you to free up valuable marketing dollars that can be used elsewhere.
And if you’re a “push the envelope” type of marketer and really want to take your direct mail campaign to the next level, a new company named Dukky (pronounced ducky) is merging “junk mail” with social marketing and web technology – creating an amazingly effective and powerful marketing combination. Dukky’s web address is www.dukky.com.
In closing, if you do decide to give direct mail a try, whatever you do, don’t approach the process blindly. In order to utilize direct mail to its optimum effectiveness, you need to know what you’re doing.
In that regard, I highly recommend you purchase the book Million Dollar Mailing$ by the undisputed King of direct mail, Denny Hatch.
Just remember:
“You will go only as far as the limits of your knowledge. If you want to go farther, increase your knowledge.” – David Jackson
Affiliate Tracking Software – What to Watch Out For
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Affiliate Tracking Software – What to Watch Out For
A large number of business owners rely on their affiliate programs to help increase their sales and their profits. Personally, affiliate marketing and programs play a major roll in my earnings. If you are interested, you can also be one of those individuals. All online business owners can benefit from the use of an affiliate program, but there are some business owners who can benefit more than others. Those business owners run and operate businesses that either sells a product or a service. If you are one of those business owners and you would like to start an affiliate program, you will need to think about purchasing affiliate tracking software.
Affiliate tracking software is a unique program that is vital to the successful operation of an affiliate program. Without tracking software, you would be unable to determine whether or not one of your sales were generated with the assistance of an affiliate, let alone which affiliate it was. With affiliate tracking software, you can easily find out this important information. Therefore, this means that if you haven’t already purchased affiliate tracking software, you will need to do so right away.
When it comes to purchasing affiliate tracking software, you are first advised to familiarize yourself with all of your available options. This can easily be done by performing a standard internet search. Your search results are likely to include a number of different software sellers. Your first impulse may be to purchase the first affiliate tracking software program you come across, but you are advised against doing this. That is because these software programs come in a wide variety of different styles. Each program is likely to have its own unique services and features. You are encouraged to examine each of those services and features before making a decision.
If you are unfamiliar with affiliate marketing and affiliate tracking software, you may not know what you should be looking for. If this is the case, it may be easier to understand what you should watch out for. One of the many things that you should be concerned about is the software name or the name of the software seller.
Unfortunately, there are a number of different software sellers that will scam internet users; however, not all of them will. Before purchasing a particular affiliate tracking software program, you may want to perform a standard internet search on that program and the individual or company selling it. If you come across any warnings, you may want to stop and start searching for another software program.
It is also important to be on the lookout for affiliate tracking software that is being sold without information on the program. All legitimate software sellers should provide you with detailed information about their products, including affiliate tracking software. This information may include, but should not be limited to product descriptions, product services, and product features. Without this information, you will not know how an affiliate tracking software program works or how it can help you and your business. There are plenty of software sellers that will provide you with this information; you are encouraged to do business with them.
You will also want to watch out for affiliate tracking software that costs too much money. It is true that the more services and features you are provided with, the more the program will cost. However, that does not mean that you should have to pay an outrageous price. For an average cost of affiliate tracking software, you are advised to examine and then compare a number of different prices. If anything seems out of the ordinary, you are advised to move on and find software that is more affordable.
By knowing what to lookout for and avoid, you should be able to find an affiliate tracking software program that can give you exactly what you want and need. You should also be able to find that software at an affordable price.
An Excellent Web Promotion is the key to success
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the internet and World Wide Web for the expressed purpose of delivering marketing messages to attract customers, this form of advertising is about getting your website in front of the people who are interested in your product
or service and for such all you have to do is find the best terms and phrases that people search for who would like to purchase exactly your goods and services.
The number of internet users is on a rapid rise worldwide and internet is used by people of all age and types, internet has become a major medium for communication, entertainment and is in the process of replacing the traditional entertainment and informative media such as
television, radio, newspaper, magazines etc. WebVisible offers a range of creative services like corporate communications, promotions and branding new media, logo design, exhibitions and events, advertising, direct mail and editorial design, they are an Advertising, Marketing &
Brand Consultancy firm and work with strategic creativity, they are amongst the world´s fewest advertising firms who offer a Pay-for-Performance model for the professional fees.
WebVisible has the ability to deliver guaranteed services is proven by the fact that they possess expertise across all media be it direct, broadcast, out of home or digital media, their ideas are led with passionate and driven by making businesses a success, as compared with offline advertising the main advantage of online advertising or marketing is the much affordable price when compared with the traditional advertising costs, with a much lesser cost you can advertise on the net for a wider range of audience and geographical locations.
It is an online advertising portal that gives your ads a wider coverage and this globally wider coverage helps in making your advertisements reach more audiences, which may ultimately help you in getting better results through your online advertising campaign with a measurability and
easiness to track the conversion that makes online advertising miles ahead on the traditional advertising methods, a lot of effective analytics tools are available to measure online advertising campaigns which helps in more improvisation of the ads.
Online advertising is much faster than offline advertising and you can start sending out your ads to a wider audience, the moment you start your advertising campaign you are able to convey more details about the advertisement to the audience and that too at relatively low cost.
Direct Marketing Tips: What to Focus On?
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
There are many different forms of direct marketing, from leaflets to telemarketing.
However my direct marketing tips will focus on using email marketing. Email marketing is the most cost effective way of direct marketing and is easily automated. But it is also easy to get wrong.
Once you’ve managed to build a targeted mailing list, from an email capture form on your blog or site, you are ready to start broadcasting messages.
Below are my direct marketing tips:
1) Keep regular contact with your mailing list, sending out helpful information like “how to” videos and articles.
2) Don’t over sell to your list. One marketing sales message per month.
3) Prepare your readers for the sale. Tell them that you’ve found something that’s pretty great but you don’t want to tell them what it is yet because you want to make sure works.
4) Don’t over do it. I personally hate it when I get messages from the same guy every day, even if they are helpful. Two emails a week should be fine.
5) Be a leader. One of favourite direct marketing tips is telling people to act like a leader. Start acting like a leader now and before you know it you’ll actually be one. This is when people start coming to you and actually asking to buy what you sell… crazy.
Remember to keep your emails basic and to the point. The title is very important because you need people to actually open the message. Try using Re: at the beginning because it makes people think they’ve had previous correspondence with you. It’s a bit cheeky but it works.
Direct marketing is an easy way of reaching out to lots of people, but it can be difficult to make those people convert. So take your time and learn as much as you can. If you’re new to this you need to realise that you won’t convert well at first. Not many people will open your messages, let alone buy something because of them. It’s once you’ve managed to build up a decent sized list that you will really see the rewards.
Even if you have a small list don’t worry about getting started with broadcasting your messages. It’s best to do as much as you can now so that you can learn and build confidence because it will pay big in the future.
How to Avoid Four Surefire Ways to Kill Your Brand
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, December 11, 2010
How to Avoid Four Surefire Ways to Kill Your Brand
There are no guarantees of success when developing a modern brand. There is no switch that will pour out money, there are no stunts that will automatically create attention, and there is no how-to manual that, if assiduously followed, will assure your brand’s place in the annals of the great Internet legends. Brands are driven as much by the customer as they are by the originator, and the customer doesn’t always want what’s being sold.
That said there are certain behaviors and practices that are guaranteed to kill a brand, virtually without fail. There are always exceptions to the rule, but by and large you can at least count on these ‘do nots’ as fairly ironclad rules. What follows are four ways you can miss the point, and some advice for avoiding them.
Misfire #1 – Number Chasing
This may feel like a complete turnaround from previous articles. After all, we’ve discussed metrics and their usefulness in measuring success, haven’t we? Surely the larger an audience the better a brand is doing.
The problem with this logic is that it confuses the goal with the measurement. Instead of focusing on satisfying customer demands for particular content or a certain product quality, the company focuses on making sure web traffic stays high. This kind of thinking disconnects you from the actual cause-and-effect of working on the product you’re pitching, and creates an artificial reality that will do your brand no good.
As a rule of thumb for avoiding this behavior, consider the way you set goals. If you find the goal focusing on increasing audience numbers or some abstract figure instead of refining your core product, it’s time to re-evaluate.
Misfire #2 – Going by Rote
Part of maintaining a modern brand is providing regular content. Updating frequently enough to maintain viewer interest is vital for any service, and making sure the physical product is advertised for the public’s awareness is equally important if sales are the goal.
That said, there is a problem inherent in a scheduled updating system that can sneak into the provider’s routine. Specifically we’re speaking of the tendency to update without purpose. You see it frequently on twitter or certain blogs, where the provider is strapped for ideas and just posts a bit of airy, fluffy filler because ‘it’s time to post.’ While this does meet the customer’s expectation, this can work against you, as it leaves a bit of the ‘what was the point?’ question in their minds.
Instead, consider missing out a day if you genuinely don’t have content to provide. It happens, there are slow days for everyone. Missing the routine for a day will give you time to pull up some new content, and when the audience chimes in and sees there isn’t an update, they’ll be curious and more likely to check back the next time.
Misfire #3 – Fadding Out
The difference between a movement and a fad is that a fad sits on the surface of things, changing very little; whereas a movement alters the very basics of how the world functions. ‘Virtual Reality’ was a fad. People hyped it up, but there was no way the majority of people were going to shell out thousands for VR systems and their ten-pound headsets. Twitter is a movement, having developed a broad appeal and fundamentally changed the way people think about spreading information.
We have spoken of the need for innovation and the ability to take risks in brand development, and these things are still true. However, how innovative is it to jump on board something someone else has created? Instead of following the trends, focus on what your brand needs and how it functions. If adding in an element makes sense, do so without hesitation. If you have to force it, forget it.
Misfire #4 – Losing Focus
At this point it’s virtually ancient history, but there is a lesson for modern brand development in the Video Game Crash of the 1980s. The short of it is that every single company worth mentioning decided video games were the future, and opened up a video game division. They launched these efforts without any serious dedication to the craft of game design, and some succeeded while others failed. The most bizarre entrant was Quaker Oats, the people that make oatmeal. The result was a complete disaster.
What business would an oatmeal company have making games? On the surface, any business they desired. Perhaps it was always their secret passion, who knows? However, they lacked any serious experience in the venture, and you probably can’t find ten people out of a thousand who remember what game or games they put out.
Focus on your message. This ties in with the idea of fads, but warrants its own point. If you have to stretch yourself or come up with a new department to accommodate a new idea, it’s time to sit down and decide just how essential this idea is to your core message.
9 Ways To Increase Your Email Clickthrough Rate
posted by Web_University @ 8:52 AM
Saturday, October 16, 2010
9 Ways To Increase Your Email Clickthrough Rate
Like all forms of marketing, an email marketing campaign usually has a single end goal: the conversion of non-buyers into buyers. Buying decisions tend not to be made all at once, but rather in a series of small steps toward a commitment.
For an email marketer, the first step toward conversion is signing up for your mailing list. After that, it’s the click-through. With each of these actions, the subscriber makes a small behavioral commitment to the idea that you are someone who provides value to them. Below, you’ll find 9 ways to help your email subscribers click through the links in your messages.
1. Segment your lists for maximum relevance
People just don’t have time for mailings that aren’t relevant to them. If you send them a few messages that they can’t use, they’re likely to get impatient with you and either unsubscribe or click the spam button. Even if only part of your message is relevant to them, they’ll be less likely to find it and cilck through if they have to wade through parts that they have no use for. Modern email list managers such as ActiveCampaign’s Email Marketing make it easy to split your mailing list into smaller segments and customize the content based on which segment it’s being delivered to. This boost in relevancy can have a dramatic effect on your reader response.
2. Use a simple template that’s easy to scan
Yes, your messages should be attractive, but they should also be clean and simple. Use a layout that lets the reader easily find what they’re looking for without the distraction of navigation links and multiple panels.
3. Tantalize your readers with article previews
If your newsletter includes informative articles, consider moving those articles onto your main web site and simply including a teaser in the body of your message. This not only wins you the emotional benefit of the clickthrough, it also makes your email easier to scan so that readers can focus on the content that matters most to them.
4. Put your main call to action above the fold
If you’re sending a message that has a main purpose, make sure that purpose is the most prominent thing in it. At least half of your readers will only ever look at your message in their preview pane. Make sure that your main proposition and call to action are visible in that limited space.
5. Make the benefits of clicking obvious
If you don’t describe in detail what the reader has to gain by clicking on your link, they’re going to be a lot less likely to click on it. This is just plain common sense. Yet too often you’ll see email newsletters that offer up links without any clear description of what the reader has to gain by clicking them. Don’t just describe what the reader will find at the other end of your link, tell them what it will do for them.
6. Consistently deliver on your promises
An effective email campaign builds up a relationship with the subscriber. Over time, your readers should come to see you and your business as trustworthy and beneficial. You can build up that trust by simply delivering on any promises you make in your messages. Don’t promise a benefit unless you’re sure you can deliver it.
7. Set limitations to spur action
People naturally respond to scarcity and competition. You can put that to good use by limiting the offers you make to your subscribers. For example, you might make a special offer that is only valid for a day or two after your message goes out. You can also offer a special gift or a chance to win for the first 100 subscribers that respond.
8. Add a link in a P.S.
If someone makes it all the way through your message, they’re probably very interested in your work! But they may also have forgotten about an important call to action that occurred earlier in your message. It’s a good idea to add a “P.S.” after your signature line to remind your readers what you want them to do and why.
9. Split test!
Some tactics will work better than others depending on your industry and target demographics. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a mind-reader to figure out which work best. Simply write up a few different versions of your message, taking a different approach to inducing action in each version.
Advertising is Dead – Long Live Advertising
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Advertising is Dead – Long Live Advertising
Brand leadership through social media
Not so long ago, the relationship that brands had with their
customers was a one-way street. The brand was the boss. They
told their customers what to like and how to like it. The only
say the customer had was the decision to buy. This is no longer
the case. Customers are very publicly talking back and it is
making the management teams of some brands very nervous.
Web-based social networking platforms give customers power never
seen before. Now one voice can be heard by thousands of people.
Brands need to learn to deal with this evolution, so here is a
primer.
First, some background on how the internet has altered consumer
behaviour. The internet, and particularly the rise of social
media, has allowed people with similar interests to connect.
This becomes obvious when one trawls through Twitter, where the
common social network model of simply connecting with people you
know tends to give way to people connecting in groups according
to interest. Indeed, people interested in any topic imaginable
from all areas of the world are connecting. It’s like
subject-based forums on steroids. People are forming tribes.
Humans have always formed tribes. Religion, family, sports and
fashion are all examples of tribal behaviour. The difference now
is that any interest group can form a tribe almost instantly.
Social media has allowed any fringe idea to become the basis of
a tribe and a movement. People want desperately to be connected,
but, even more importantly, they want to be led. We are in a
time of massive change, which is driven by everybody’s desire
to do things in a new way and to be heard.
Barack Obama’s recent landslide victory is a good example of
this. He promised change, he communicated differently and led
with integrity. He connected to his audience through social
media. He started a movement, formed a tribe and then he and his
followers charged to victory. What the world discovered is that
you can now make an ad campaign as slick as you want, but if the
product is poor then it simply doesn’t matter.
So “advertising is dead” in the sense the old methods don’t
work the same way they used to. Obama’s opponents didn’t fully
understand the impact that social networking has had on society.
They continued to use the old and trusted methods of marketing.
These apparently transparent methods are diminishing in
influence as social networking begins to infiltrate every media
touch-point. In two recent articles I wrote for Anthill I talked
about how this is already happening to television and how the
newspaper industry needs to change to avoid becoming
irrelevant.
Social media is much more than a passing phase. Human
civilisation is built around social interaction. It’s what the
people want and this new media is only going to get bigger. It
will eventually become part of everything. Individual social
media companies might fade away (MySpace seems to be in that
category) as better designed products come onto the market, but
the world has spoken and it wants to be connected. Brands that
don’t adapt to this reality will be left behind. They will
become the guy at the party that nobody wants to sit next to
because he just keeps talking about himself.
Tribal Behaviour
Blogs have become socially and commercially influential. From
what started out as individuals chatting on about their lives,
blogs have become business tools and money making ventures. They
influence groups, buying patterns and fashion. They are modern
tribal leaders.
Not so long ago commentators speculated that blogging was simply
a passing fad. What these commentators didn’t realise was that
it was yet to achieve maturation and once it had it would signal
big trouble for the large media organisations. Now anyone with a
camera or a desire to write is ‘the press’. This pattern is
being repeated for micro-blogging, a category in which Twitter
is the current market leader. Some commentators question the
relevance of utilising Twitter to listen to people “drone on
about their lives”. But Twitter, and other micro-blogs, are in
the early stages of their development. They too will mature,
most probably much quicker than the original blogs, and enable
much bigger tribes to develop around even more specific subject
matter.
The tribal leaders of these new social media can be reached and
persuaded to support you, no matter what platform they decide to
use. Unlike the old ‘one way’ approach however, they need to
be interacted with on their own terms. Provided they have a
group of true fans, they can influence hundreds of thousands of
people – in a matter of hours. This is what gives them such
power.
And this is what marketers in the current environment have to
understand. The ‘mass-market’ model is on the decline. What is
needed now is a pattern of marketing to the ‘early adopters’ -
the ones at the front of the bell curve who have a true interest
in what you have to offer – and form a base of evangelists that
will market for you. You no longer have to aim to connect with
everyone. This really leaves the field wide open for the smaller
brands to break through – the ones willing to challenge.
The Age of the Challenger
In marketing speak, a ‘challenger brand’ is code for ‘the
small brand’. A challenger brand is one that is meant to be
fast, flexible and innovative in its communications. But in my
view the word ‘challenger’ should instead be short-hand for
‘emerging leader’.
Emerging leaders challenge the status quo, they challenge
themselves and they connect with others who have similar ideas -
those people who need a leader to show what to do and inspire
them. The market leader wants the status quo to remain just
that. They want to speak and be heard in a mass market. No
discussion thanks. The challenger realises that, in order to
create a movement there needs to be systems in place for
everybody in that tribe to be heard, and they commit to leading
that tribe with everything they’ve got.
Traditional advertising is not about interaction with the
individual. It is predominately a one-way conversation to a mass
audience. But nobody likes to be forced into making decisions.
This is why the traditional advertising model is beginning to
fail. It relies on mass media, and this media is itself being
transformed by social networks.
What can Social Networking do for Your Brand?
All of this may sound a bit scary for brand managers. It’s true
that it does take time and effort to build a community. And to
be truly effective, you have to obey some rules. Even so, it is
not a hard thing to do. It takes far more time and resources to
build that fan base with traditional advertising. Be honest, be
helpful and contribute to the community and you’ll get
supporters fast.
Social networking is far more than having a Facebook profile. It
is any platform that gives the end user an ability to
contribute. Many companies have realised that developing an
internal social media platform can aid in communication but have
yet to work out how it can help shape their brand personality.
A good social media strategy accepts that you can’t do
everything at once. A company can employ a social platform to
perform customer service, to connect directly with customers
(thereby humanising the brand), to obtain demographic
information on individuals to improve the effectiveness of
direct marketing or to harness a mass of surplus cognitive
resources to generate new ideas.
You can’t do everything with social media, but as long as you
are focused you will be able to do much more than you may
expect.
Where to Start
In the coming months, many companies will try to market through
social networks and many will fail. There are, of course, ways
of dramatically upping the chances of success, not least of
which is making sure you hire a company that knows the space
well. Making sure you know the fundamentals will help move
things along quickly.
The first thing any company moving into social networking should
decide is the overall goal. Knowing what you want to achieve and
why you are doing it may seem obvious but is something that is
easily overlooked if you rush into a project too quickly.
As with any good marketing activity, you need to know how your
customers think and behave. Unlike traditional advertising,
marketing online is very data-rich. It is possible to know
exactly what your customers are looking at, how long they spend
doing it and who they then talk to about the experience. Make
sure you know as much of this information as is possible before
you develop a strategy any further.
From there, deciding what channels you wish to utilise becomes a
very important choice. You should know where your target market
is by this stage, so deciding if Facebook, Twitter, Bebo or any
other platform is right should be easy. Deciding to create your
own platform is a bigger step but can be very rewarding if it is
done correctly. Again, make sure you are getting good advice and
a solid strategy and don’t just assume that if you make
something it will get used.
Measurement is important in all areas of business and social
networking is no exception. Developing good metric methods
should be an early priority. Remember that it is possible to
measure everything but not all information has value. Knowing
what you are looking at is vital. If you are hiring a marketing
firm to build you a social networking campaign, it makes sense
to have part of the payment tied to the performance of that
campaign. If you are building a network to get staff talking to
each other and your customers, the quality of the content will
go down if you assign KPIs to ‘platforms usage’ only.
Most importantly, make sure everyone involved knows what your
‘voice’ is. It is wise to develop a policy around social
networking usage, but if that policy is too tight you will lose
support. This is about people. Learn that it is OK to give up
control of your marketing message and become part of the
conversation. Be honest, be objective and be involved. And do
not leave your community. You have made a promise to these
people to listen to them. If you stop participating, they will
abandon you in an instant.
Start Lending
There is no better time to start developing social media
strategies. All market segments are spending a lot more time on
social networks (the time spent on Facebook grew by over 500
percent in the year Dec ’07 to Dec ’08) and in this time of
economic downturn it may be wise to attract new customers from
further afield. In the not-too-distant future, every company
will have a social networking policy, so getting in early will
give you an edge.
Marketing in social networks is not rocket science. It may
involve technology but, at its core, it is what human
civilisation is built upon. If you can hold a conversation you
can market in social media.
So get good advice and get moving. The world is changing and the
challengers are going to come out on top. They will create
movements and lead tribes. They will interact and not be afraid
of change. They will know how to listen and realise the greatest
power they have is to empower their customers.
If you understand that these networks have all been built
because it’s what your customers want, then the challenger, the
leader, can be you.
Web Marketing Ideas You Can Use
The Web is full of information, articles, videos, white papers,
e-books and all matter of research and information. Some of it
is very, very good, and some of it is misleading and irrelevant.
Somewhere in the middle, falling squarely in the category of
spectacularly mediocre, is the vast majority of the rest of it.
If you’re like me, always trying to improve, learn, and grow
your business, then you’ve probably been frustrated in your
search for truly useful information that you can actually use
to improve your marketing, branding, and sales efforts.
There seems to be a wide choice of articles dedicated to
surefire courses on do-it-yourself marketing that will make
you a Web-Media-Mogul overnight (usually available for a mere
three payments of twenty-nine, ninety-five) and of course,
there’s always lots of stuff on how you just got to get
onboard with the next big social networking fad. Excuse me
while I delete another email about an absolutely fabulous
linking strategy I just can’t live without.
It’s all too familiar and for the most part, a waste of time.
If this nonsense were really the answer to growing your
business, then you’d already be rich, sitting on some
Bora Bora beach sipping pina coladas, and not hunched over
your computer trying to find something useful that will
actually help.
In One Word Or Less
When it comes to marketing, it really doesn’t matter what
venue, method, or media you employ; marketing is simply a
matter of effective ‘communication,’ easy to say, not so
easy to do.
Your ability to communicate is the key to marketing success,
or conversely, your inability to communicate effectively
is what is holding you back. So the time has come to grapple
with the real problem, and that is, how do you communicate
your marketing message in the most effective manner to your
audience; how do you tell your brand story so people pay
attention, and care.
The first thing to understand about marketing communication
is that text messaging, Twitter and all other limited, one
dimensional solutions, stifle the very thing that’s necessary
to implement effective marketing communication: the nuance,
depth of understanding, and emotional value inherent in what
you offer – the very thing your audience needs to know about
what you sell. The key being ‘why they need what you
offer’ not ‘what.’
Communication Is A Complex Process
The second thing to understand about marketing communication
is that it involves five critical elements in order to be
effective: the Message, the Method, the Messenger, the
Audience, and the Venue.
Ask yourself, why are you on the Web at all? If it’s because
everyone else is on the Web, then you’re never going to have
the marketing breakthrough you crave; but if it’s because you
have something to say, a story to tell, a reason for people to
say, “I need some of that!” then it’s time to get serious about
developing the right message, delivered by the right messenger,
sent to the right audience, and employing the Web venue’s best
method of multidimensional communication – Video.
This is nothing new. Web Video is now accepted as the most
effective communication tool available to Web businesses, so
what is the difference between Web Videos that are an utter
waste of time, and worse, counter productive, and Web Videos
that turn companies into marketing phenoms?
Unlike one-dimensional forms of communication, Web Video
delivers your message by accessing multiple senses using visual
and auditory techniques. Just by adding a human being as
presenter goes a long way to making an impact.
Because video communicates by accessing multiple senses on both
a subliminal and direct level, it demands knowledge and
expertise in concept creation, writing, casting, graphic and
motion design, video production and editing, audio, music and
sound design, as well as the ability to get it all to work
together in an effective presentation delivered on time and for
an affordable investment.
But all of this expertise and skill can be wasted if your video
campaign lacks an identifiable emotionally relevant conceptual
design. One of the hardest marketing concepts for bottom-line
oriented business executives to accept is that the value of
their offering is found in the emotional satisfaction their
product or service provides. Telling people what a company
does alone is not marketing, telling them why they need what you
do is. Companies that focus on ‘the what’ turn their products
and services into commodities and products that are
indistinguishable from the competition, but companies that
focus on the emotional value they provide, deliver the answer
to the question, why people buy from one company and
not from another.
Effective Marketing Communication is Concept Based
All good marketing is based on an emotionally based concept.
This is especially true on the Web, where content and attention
span go hand-in-hand. If your Web marketing is not interesting,
informative, and entertaining, it will never be memorable; it
will never have the lasting impact you need to meet your sales
and marketing objectives. Effective marketing communication
starts with an emotionally charged concept, one that can be
spun-out into a long-term presentation strategy, a concept
with legs.
Coming up with an appropriate concept that will work for your
product or service takes a bit of creative thinking, but it
really isn’t as hard as you think. One caveat that often escapes
clients, when they come to us with their ideas is that the
concept must be executable for the available budget. Anybody
can come up with fantastic ideas that are impossible to
implement or cost prohibitive. The trick is to develop a
concept that can be implemented on time and on budget.
Executable Brand Video Campaign Concepts
One method we use to develop affordable brand video campaign
concepts for clients is to combine the emotional value
proposition the client offers with a recognizable presentation
trope.
Tropes are metaphorical expressions, or in this case,
storytelling-scenarios that audiences recognize and accept in
terms of their implied expectations and implications. Used
properly within the context of a Web Video presentation,
tropes can simplify and shorten a complex message, and provide
cover for what would otherwise be a boring, blatant sales pitch,
or desperate plea for business.
Human beings are all programmed for pattern recognition, it is
a basic skill needed for survival, and it’s been hardwired
into our DNA. Our very survival as a species is dependent on
our ability to recognize danger and opportunity. Business and
marketing is no different. And that is what makes communication
tropes effective. This intrinsic aspect of our nature allows
professional video marketing experts to tap into the
motivational triggers that govern our subliminal decision-making
responses, the kind of responses that get people to buy
what you sell.
Size Really Does Matter When it Comes to Twitter
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Back in the days when newsletters first hit the Internet, they were usually published in text format because many email clients did not support HTML email just yet. One of the problems many publishers faced was long URL’s being split in half and not being clickable to the reader. To solve this problem, shortening services started to spring up that would take a long URL and cut it down to a reasonable size.
With the popularity of Twitter and the confines of 140 characters, URL (link) shortening services are in high demand once again. When you have such a small amount of space to work with, no one wants a long URL cutting into that precious real estate.
There are a variety of shortening services to choose from, each having their own specific features and benefits. Most of them do work hand in hand with Twitter, allowing you to Tweet the link once it’s been shortened. If you’re an avid Twitter user this is a useful feature to have.
Some only provide a basic shortening service, but many allow you to view stats and metrics on your newly shortened links if you register. If you’re doing any form of social media marketing, it’s nice to be able to see if anyone’s actually clicking on all the links you’re sending out to the “Twitosphere”, or posting on Facebook and other sites. Tracking will give you an indication that you’re being heard and that people are actually paying attention to what you have to say.
Another important thing to look for is whether or not the shortening service uses 301 redirects. This is the most search engine friendly, and forces the search engine to look at the destination URL, not the domain of the shortening service itself. A 301 stands for a permanent move, not temporary. What this means is, you want the links you’re sending out to be given acknowledgment by the search engines, not the shortening service itself. Make sense?
Many allow custom URL’s, which allows you to use your name or company name in the links you create. This is great for branding purposes. Think of it as a vanity license plate. Instead of being just a regular URL it’s your special creation.
Let’s review a few options:
1) http://TweetBurner.com – A bare bones tracking service which allows you to shorten any link and then share it instantly with your Twitter followers or Friendfeed. Basic stat tracking is available so you can see how many people clicked on your link.
2) http://Cli.gs – A shortening service which includes full analytics. You can create links that include your brand in them. Free to use. It’s easy to send your links to Twitter with one click.
3) http://Bit.ly – This is Twitter’s default shortening service and used by Tweetdeck.com. It allows you to track performance of your links in real time. Easy to share generated links on Twitter, Facebook, even Gmail. It also offers many extra tools and plug-ins such as a browser bookmarklet and browser sidebar.
4) http://MyTwitterToolbar.com – Free to download and comes complete with a massive list of URL shorteners as well as over 50 Twitter tools. Also includes 100 Twitter tips.
5) http://www.TwitClicks.com – A fairly simple service that allows you to shorten a URL immediately and tweet it. Can also see complete stats. Detailed stats show percentage of browsers used and locations of those who clicked. Check out a short video on how to use it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1ScPeCd6X4.
6) http://www.ExpandMyUrl.com – This service takes a shortened link and gives you the true URL that it points to. Perfect for the paranoid individual who wants to know where the shortened link will send them.
7) http://www.TwitPwr.com – A short URL service which also includes analytics and stats. Their home page shows the top 25 users with the most TwitPwr and also a “hot URL” list of those URL’s that get the most clicks. Free to use.
http://1link.in – A multiple link shortening service. Simply type in a list of links and get one link back for all. If you click on the newly shortened link it goes to a page showing details of what sites that link points to, and asks if you want to open them all. If you answer yes, multiple windows will open for each site.
9) http://Go2.me – A different type of link shortening and discussion service which creates shorter links which also contain a chat window to exchange comments with your readers. It’s also easy to share on Twitter, Facebook or email with one click.
10) http://Tw.itter.me – You can customize the shortened link with your name or company name. From what I saw no stats are available.
11) http://budurl.com – Another popular service which shows you a real time view of your inbound clicks. This free service allows you to track up to 250 Budurl’s. They provide 3 pay levels of service from $4.00 a month to $49.00 a month. There is a 21 day free tríal on any paid service. You can start out free and upgrade your account at any time.
12) http://Tr.Im – Trim those long URL’s and instantly share them on Twitter. If you want stats, you’ll need to register. Offers many different tools and extensions to make for easier sharing, such as a Firefox extension that allows you to view your tr.im stats and tweet your new links quickly.
13) http://short.ie – Keeps all your shortened links in one place. Tracks clicks and allows you to instantly share your list with friends. It can also be connected to your Twitter account for more features. Customization of URL’s also available.
14) http://hootsuite.com – Not really a URL shortening service, but has the ability built-in. Hootsuite is a “Twitter Toolbox” loaded with features which are all free. They use ow.ly as their built in link shortener.
If you haven’t tried a url shortening service, you’ll want to find one that fits your needs and start to really utilize it in your marketing activities. Finding out who’s clicking on your links, time of day, where they’re from and other information will be very valuable in your ongoing efforts as an Internet Marketer.
Remember, when it comes to social media marketing T.M.I (too much information) is a good thing, unlike when your Aunt Ethel wants you to sit with her and go over every detail of her latest vacatíon [grin]. One is helpful, the other just downright painful.
Which Website Visitors Are Potential Clients?
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 8:00 AM
Monday, April 5, 2010
With today’s website tracking software and services you can find out a lot about the people who visit your website. You can learn where they’re from, what kind of browser they’re using, how long they stayed on your site, and a whole lot more. But what all this high tech intelligence won’t tell you is what kind of people they are, and how likely they are to be transformed by your Web presentation from viewers to customers.
Your ability to convert website visitors into clients depends on your ability to find the soft underbelly of their subconscious desire. After all, if someone is happy with what they’ve already got, they don’t need you, but if they were truly one hundred percent happy, they wouldn’t bother coming to your website. Therefore every visitor that comes to your site is a potential client whether they know it or not.
The Setup’s The Thing
Your website presentation has to find that annoying little subconscious scab just under the surface and pick at it until it becomes a full blown irritation that fosters discontent and a desire for change. That discontent is your opening to make your value statement.
We refer to this process as The Setup. Like any good presentation you cannot, or rather should not, just blurt out how great you are, but rather you have to set the scene. Like any good story, the punch line, moral, or payoff only works if it is properly setup. Far too many website presentations suffer from premature pitch climax.
The ability to transform viewers into customers requires patience. Entrepreneurial companies tend to view the setup as a waste of time, and they fear losing viewers before they ever get to the so-called “good-stuff.” But without a proper setup, an audience is just not primed to accept what you have to say.
You can’t sell anybody anything unless they understand they’ve not been getting everything they need and deserve. That understanding creates dissatisfaction with your competition and opens the audience’s minds to what you have to provide. In short, the setup needs to touch a psychological nerve.
The Customer Is Always Right – Not Quite
We’ve all heard the expression, “the customer is always right.” The fact is the customer is not always right, and in many cases they don’t really know what they want or what they should have; and sometimes even when they do, they resist it because of a variety of misinformation, misunderstanding, self-doubt, and preconceived notions of conventional wisdom. It’s your website presentation’s job to set visitors on the right path.
Being The Expert Inspires Confidence
You’re supposed to be the expert in what you do, and if you are, you need to have the ability to dig deeper into what people really want, need, and desire. I am always reminded of friends of mine who hired an interior decorator to furnish their new home. The decorator asked them what kind of furniture they liked. They answered that they were looking for Colonial, to which the decorator answered, “No you aren’t. What you want is Country French.” And after he showed my friends what he was talking about they quickly agreed. The decorator knew his business and understood the clients. Yes the clients liked the idea of the homey Colonial look they’d seen, but not being furniture experts they didn’t understand what the options were, and what kind of furniture best suited their lifestyle and budget, while still providing the homey rustic but comfortable aesthetic they wanted. Customer satisfaction is about providing what the client really wants and not necessarily what they say they want.
Learn How To Communicate So Audiences Get It
Let’s face it; we all like to read about how the digital revolution has opened up the business world to more audience influence, but the fact is people are influenced and manipulated and desires created through marketing and advertising as much as ever. How many website owners actually benefit in any meaningful way from social networking and search optimization, or do they do it because it’s expected and promoted by proponents as the tactic du jour.
If you think a particular song you like is played on a thousand radio stations because it’s good, or even because it has a following then you are living in a fantasy world. If you thing the vast majority of viral videos produced by corporations go viral all by themselves then think again.
Audiences are being manipulated and transformed into customers all the time, not because companies responded to what the public says, but rather to how the public reacts to various communication and marketing stimuli. What’s truly incredible is how bad companies are at doing it. With all of the television industries’ research into viewers, they still fail to deliver consistent quality programming that people want to watch. Every Fall new shows are yanked faster than a Nolan Ryan fastball, but the same crappy commercials live-on for what seems an eternity. Television viewers are a captive audience and if they want to watch their favorite show they have to tolerate the commercials (PVRs aside), but the Web is different. If your website presentation stinks, no one is going to stick around to absorb the smell.
Web Television Convergence Has Arrived
If you think of your website presentation as nothing more than a digital brochure, you’re already behind the curve. Welcome to the Web on TV.
All you need is a laptop computer or one of the new gaming consoles attached to your big screen TV to access the Web on television. And as network programmers scramble to get their acts together more and more people are opting to spend their television time on the Web. Kind of makes you rethink what kind of website presentation you should be offering. It’s time to start thinking of your website as your business channel and the content on it as programming. It’s the future and it’s here, now.
Who Visits Your Website?
Before website visitors can be transformed into clients, we have to understand who they are in terms of their mental outlook or frame of mind when they first arrive at your home page.
1. Accidental Tourists
Accidental Tourists are website visitors who find their way to your website by serendipity. Your company’s link may have come up in a search for something mentioned on your website, but not something that’s a core element of your business. But just because these people didn’t really intend to visit a site like yours doesn’t mean they’re a waste of time. Perhaps they hadn’t ever thought of using your product or service, or perhaps they didn’t ever realize how much they really wanted what you have to provide. If your website presentation is exciting, meaningful, and entertaining you at least have the chance to plant the seed of desire for your product or service.
2. Brain Pickers
Brain Pickers show up at your site with little intention to buy anything, in fact they’re there to pick your brain and find out how to do what you do for themselves. But if you’re truly an expert at what you do, you at least have the chance to show these people that what you provide is special, and doing it right requires a company with your skills and resources.
Google SideWiki Encourages Public Graffiti
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Google has launched a controversial new tool that allows the public to comment on any web site in a side bar displayed in their browser.
Called Google Sidewiki, the tool is integrated in the latest version of Google Toolbar and works with both Firefox and Internet Explorer but ironically, not yet Google Chrome. To use Sidewiki, download the latest version of the Google Toolbar and set it to enhanced.
When activated, Sidewiki slides across from the left and becomes a browser sidebar, where you can write entries in a vertical column and read the entries of others. To activate Sidewiki, you simply click on the Sidewiki button in your Toolbar menu or the little talk bubble on the left hand side of your screen.
See: http://www.sitepronews.com/images2/sidewiki.jpg
If you’ve got a Google profile, your image will appear next to your Sidewiki entry. You can either highlight a certain part of a web page, click the Sidewiki button and comment about it, or you can make a general comment about the entire web page. If you’ve got Sidewiki installed, you can see comments made on the same web site by other members of the public and you can forward your Sidewiki comments to colleagues, friends and family via direct link, email, Twitter or Facebook.
It appears that persons can read the Sidewiki comments sent via link whether they have Sidewiki installed or not. When you’re logged into Sidewiki, you’ll always see your comments at the top and any others below.
Not only does your Sidewiki entry appear on the original page, but if you have highlighted text, your entry also appears on any webpages that contain the same snippet of text that your comment is about. From the official blog post:
“Under the hood, we have even more technology that will take your entry about the current page and show it next to webpages that contain the same snippet of text. For example, an entry on a speech by President Obama will appear on all webpages that include the same quote. We also bring in relevant posts from blogs and other sources that talk about the current page so that you can discover their insights more easily, right next to the page they refer to.”
Rather than viewing them in the order in which they were written, Sidewiki entries are ranked via an algorithm determined by Google:
“So instead of displaying the most recent entries first, we rank Sidewiki entries using an algorithm that promotes the most useful, high-quality entries. It takes into account feedback from you and other users, previous entries made by the same author and many other signals we developed.”
The technology used to determine ranking involves large-scale graph computing but other factors are at play, as revealed by Danny Sullivan in his post about Sidewiki. These include use of sophisticated language, complex sentences and ideas, user reputation and user history as revealed by your Google profile and comment contributions. Your comments and others can be thumbed up or down using the “useful – yes or no?” tool, or reported as abuse, further contributing to your user reputation and “Profile Rank” as Danny calls it.
Google have also launched an API that allows developers to work freely with the content created in Sidewiki. Where no comments have been made on a web page, Google may show blog results relating to that page.
The potential applications of Sidewiki are interesting and frightening at the same time. For example, I can see how it could be a useful bookmarking tool, allowing you to make notes about a web site you’ve found which you could refer to later. You can even embed YouTube videos in Sidewiki (take a look at the Google home page to see this in action).
It also has fantastic potential as an online collaboration tool, letting you annotate the pages on a site in conjunction with team members in a similar way to tracking changes in a MS Word document and sharing document versions via Google Docs.
BUT, (and it’s a big but), I can see Sidewiki being open to abuse in a similar way to Searchwiki, Google’s comment tool for search engine result pages. Searchwiki has been widely panned in the search industry because it’s Notes feature has been exploited by spammers, overactive PR companies and people with a chip on their shoulder about certain web brands. Unfortunately, I see Sidewiki heading in the same direction. And fast.
Any user controlled element of a search engine is open to some level of abuse. But I don’t see a huge amount of comment filtering going on yet and have already seen evidence of spamming (view the Microsoft home page with Sidewiki installed and you’ll see anti-MS entries like this one).
Yes Google have a usefulness rating system in place, a Report Abuse link and are flagging some comments with the disclaímer “These entries may be less useful” but I doubt their filters will be able to keep up as Sidewiki takes off. There’s also going to be the troll factor which will undoubtedly lead to the system becoming worthless if it’s not carefully controlled. I’ve viewed Sidewiki entries on some major sites this past week and it’s already starting to feel like Toilet Wall Graffiti 2.0.
Sidewiki has program policies but spammers don’t care about those and trolls don’t read them. Besides, one man’s graffiti is another man’s gospel.
Google’s catch phrase for Sidewiki is: “Contribute helpful information to any web page”. To that, I say: Define helpful.
“My mechanic told me, ‘He couldn’t repair my brakes, so he made my horn louder.’” – Comedian, Steven Wright
We all want our websites to be more effective, and if you’re like most business people you are constantly searching the Web for anything that will help. What you find is a cabal of experts armed with statistics, analysis, charts and graphs all pointing to how they can get you high-up on the search engines and drive more traffíc to your site. The problem is that like Steven Wright’s mechanic these guys are adjusting your horn when it’s your brakes that need fixing.
There is little point in attracting more visitors to your site if your site has little of interest to say. Even if your site is jammed packed with useful products, services and solutions if it doesn’t connect with your audience, they won’t ever invest the time necessary for you to make your case.
When websites fail it’s most often because they do not function effectively as your primary communication tool. The Web is overcrowded with options and unless you’re prepared to deliver a compelling differentiating presentation you will be quickly dismissed as irrelevant. Let’s face it; business is tough, probably tougher than it’s ever been before.
Something is Missing
You’ve done all the technical tweaks and responded to all the research and analytics. You’re blogging, micro-blogging, social networking, and search optimizing, but still something is not quite right, something is missing. What’s the missing ingredient? You know it’s out there, but you can’t for the life of you figure out what it is.
You know the Web offers the potential to access new markets, find new customers, and reach new heights, but with all that potential, the results always seem just out of reach. If research and analytics were the answer you’d already be rich. Of course it was an over-reliance on research that brought us the Edsel, New Coke, and that wonderful Wall Street goody called Derivatives, one of the greatest investment boondoggles of our time.
There is something artificially comforting about putting your faith in seemingly logical yet unfathomable solutions based on indecipherable scientific modeling and over-hyped research analysis, all brought to you by computer scientists and mathematicians who haven’t ever run a marketing department or launched a new product or business.
Business leaders have adopted the attitude that, “It must be right, because I sure as heck don’t understand it.” And when it all goes wrong, or results are anemic, well, “What are you going to do? It’s not my fault, it all looked good on paper.” Ad agencies and Wall Street have been getting away with this kind of bunkum for decades, and look at the mess they’ve made of things.
What’s It All About, Alfie?
Business success is all about your ability to engage your audience with a message that compels them to action. Simply put, your business relies on your ability to communicate. Eureka!
And your website is the best communication vehicle you have. The question is how do you use your website to communicate your marketing message in the most engaging, compelling, and memorable manner? What is the missing ingredient that will turn your scientifically sterile online cookie-cutter presentation into something that cuts through the massive sameness of Internet clutter, and makes a statement that your audience will respond to?
Finding Your Emotional and Psychological Value Proposition
One of the hardest things for tough-minded business people to accept is that sales and marketing success is based on the subconscious emotional and psychological appeal of a brand. That’s the reason, reliance on feature selling rarely works, and only tends to commoditize a product or service – the guy with the most bells and whistles for the least amount of money wins, and why would you want to play that game?
Even the most casual market observer must recognize that all leading brands have one thing in common, no matter what they sell: the promise of their brand is based on a concept that is established through an emotional or psychological appeal. Apple is about thinking and acting creatively without the worry of technical issues; Starbucks is about reconnecting to the original coffee break ideal of a relaxing oasis away from the hustle bustle of everyday life; and Ikea is about stylish living on a budget. Each concept appeals to the deep-seated desires of the targeted audience. It is this singular concept that makes each of these companies special and different from their competition; it is the message that all their marketing, advertising, and promotion is based upon, and it is the true value they provide their audience that attracts interest, holds attention, and delivers promise.
Implementing Your Emotional and Psychological Value Proposition
In order to implement a company’s emotional and psychological value proposition, we use a process called the ConceptCreator. It starts with various sales’ points that need to be covered. Based on the supplied information, we develop a focused marketing concept using the Law of Dissatisfaction that enables us to discover the experiential human subtext of why people will want what you sell. The presentation concept is boiled-down to a movie-style logline that states the brand story to be presented in the Web Video campaign.
How Much Is A Concept Worth?
“Wait a minute – did he say a movie-style logline? That sure doesn’t sound business-like, and I haven’t heard any corporate CEO or MBA talk about movie loglines.” Maybe so, but think about it. Hollywood studios spend enormous sums of money to produce a movie with the potential of making hundreds of millions of dollars, and each financial investment starts with someone coming up with a clever logline that captures the imagination. Television commercials can cost ten thousand dollars a second to produce and without a guiding conceptual premise they become DOA when implemented. So why wouldn’t you start your Web Video campaign using the same proven formula.
The logline, mission statement, or elevator pitch if you prefer needs to state the characters, goals, obstacles, differentiating factors, and resolution within the context of a story scenario.
For Instance…
If it works for the movie industry will it work for the advertising and marketing industry? Let’s take a look at one of the most successful, popular, iconic marketing campaigns of the last number of years, The MAC versus PC campaign.
Example Logline Concept: A stylish, pleasant, mild-mannered young man verbally spars with his geeky competitive opposite (characters) in a series of humorous, relatable incidents (story scenario) that illustrate the people-friendly advantages (resolution) of the brand compared to its rigid, unbending competitor (differentiating factor) whose sheer size dominates the market (obstacle) in an effort to win the hearts and minds of the computer buying audience (goal). – The MAC Versus PC Ad Campaign.
“The Time Has Come The Walrus Said…”
- Lewis Carroll from ‘Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There,’ 1892
The time has come to realize that Web Video is the best communication tactic available to deliver your marketing message to a worldwide audience; an audience that craves answers and resolution to their every need, concern and desire. It is not good enough to list a bunch of features and hackneyed bulleted points or even to dump pages and pages of search engine optimized hard-to-read text, especially when it’s aimed at an audience raised on television, movies, music and video games. We must learn to speak the language of the audience, and use the appropriate communication tools they can understand in a way that connects on a human level.
It all starts with finding the emotional and psychological value proposition your product or service promises. In a world of frustrated, cranky, attention deficit consumers, the onus is on you to present what you provide in a way that relates to the human elements that make your brand relevant.
There is always a big discussion when it comes to comparing two of the best ways to advertise online: PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising and article marketing, otherwise known as “organic” or “natural” search engine optimization. There is no denying that both methods can be effective. However, which method is better? Which gives you a bigger bang for your buck?
You may get varying statistics on this issue, depending on which website you visit for information. Oh yes, this matters, because you have to consider the source of the statistics and who is sponsoring the article. For example, two sources of information (respectively, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and ComScore) recently produced studies indicating that PPC advertising was more cost-effective on average. However, did the fact that Yahoo/Overture and Google were sponsoring this major study play any role in determining the final outcome? Of course it did – those are the two biggest PPC companies on the net!
In figuring out which of the two is better, you have to consider cost-effectiveness as well as click-through-rates and direct conversion from visiting user to paying customer. We are going to review some statistics a little bit later on. For now, let’s consider some logical points that illustrate how PPC and article marketing differ.
Search engine result pages display more listings than PPC results, which does have a psychological effect on the user. For some users seeing ten search results (each one relevant to the search) is enough to convince them that there is enough web information on the subject and that “fishing” PPC ads might not be necessary.
The catch is that in order to actually rank in the Top 10 SEO results for your keyword, you have to have relevant website content, not to mention technical prowess in HTML coding. Search engines will be focusing on their proprietary algorithms, or the most relevant websites based on the search term queried. There is no “bribery” here, whereas in PPC, it is quite the opposite: whoever bids highest for each word usually gets the top listing. A quality algorithm definitely plays a part in PPC, but in the end money talks. In article marketing, we haven’t quite come to the point where “money talks”. The best websites still win the search engine contest and that is an important factor to consider in your marketing campaign.
Even PPC proponents will admit that PPC is largely style over substance. With PPC advertising you are trying to grab attention in just a few loud and occasionally obnoxious words. You direct the user to a carefully crafted page that “sells” the idea. This operation contrasts with article marketing, which doesn’t necessarily sell an idea on a single page, nor does it grab attention with a few words. With article marketing, there is an entire article waiting for the visitor, which uses a methodical and “indirect” approach. Assuming you are listed in the Top #10, your listing means that the search engine agrees that your website is the best authority on the keyword subject – for the time being. People in a hurry or on a whim will probably click on PPC. People on a mission will be looking for relevant content on their chosen keyword.
Therefore, the question now becomes which methodology works better for your business? Are you appealing to the fast clicker or the thoughtful user? Let’s now consider two sources of statistics for a clearer view of the issue. First, one in favor of article marketing, the next in favor of PPC.
In Favor of Article Marketing
Jakob Nielsen, Ph.D. and principal founder of the Nielsen Norman Group researched the behavior of users who found search engine results pages and noticed some trends. Forty-two percent of users selected the #1 search listing for their result, leaving 58% that selected another Top 10 Result. The #1 site listed held the majority of clicks. This indicates that almost two thirds of Internet users were not content to choose even the #1 listing on a natural SEO search. That means that these users (and the majority of all users) are actually using independent judgment in deciding what links are most relevant to their needs.
Other related statistics (with sources from ComScore, Webxico, iProspect, SEOResearcher and Hotchkiss, Garrison, and Jensen) concluded that 77% of search users choose organic listings over PPC ads. There were also studies that suggested organic click-through generated 25% higher conversion rates than equivalent PPC click-through.
In Favor of PPC Advertising
Now to be fair, we have to consider some advantages that PPC advertising has. The best feature PPC has is that it gets instantaneous results. SEO advertising takes time, especially if you have a new website just submítted to the all of the major search engines. Yes, this can be frustrating. PPC brings you immediate traffic and sometimes brings in thousands of users. Seeing your Alexa ranking take a drastic jump certainly pumps up your adrenaline!
ComScore recently published statistics in favor of PPC, stating that their studied users had an 18.3% click-through-rate on “paid” search results versus a 4.3% click-through rate for organic search results. The conversion rate was also higher according to ComScore, stating that PPC had a 1.4% versus SEO’s 0.6%.
The Real Issue: Longevity
However, the downside here (even if you didn’t contest these suspicious results) is that instant and high volume traffic is, frankly, cheap and not as exciting as it first appears to be. Remember that when you use PPC ads you are making a pitch and capitalizing on your audience’s curiosity. When that curiosity fades, they forget your website – especially if it’s just a glorified advertisement. PPC campaigns can also be costly and time consuming when you consider your duties as a manager.
Another problematic scenario with PPC is that they have no staying power – unless of course you have thousands of dollars a month to blow in this recession. With article marketing you get more quality traffic, and perhaps more importantly to you, you earn customer trust over time. Internet users aren’t stupid, the popularity of Yahoo Answers notwithstanding. Most users know that PPC ads usually aren’t relevant to their search – they’re just there because someone is consistently paying to get noticed.
You can consider article marketing as an investment that continually pays all through the life of your company (or until you shut the website down) since it generates traffic forever. You can easily spend thousands a month on a brilliant PPC campaign and soon run out of money, meaning your ads go extinct. Therefore, we can conclude that article marketing does have specific advantages over PPC, which are intrinsic because of the differences in operation.
• Article marketing generates traffic forever
• Article marketing improves your natural SEO ranking and backlinks
• Article marketing establishes trust – you appear as a professional in your industry
• Article marketing doesn’t cost you extra on top of fees spent on websites, landing pages and superfluous domains
How About Return-On-Investment?
ROI is another key issue, as short-term and long-term profit must equal out. Article marketing, by some authorities appears to have a slower ROI -(especially if you make revenue on CTRs). However, studies suggest that organic ROI is more consistent than PPC. Consider some independent research conducted by popular blogger Gord Hotchkiss who explained the situation in crystal clear terms. Let’s say you have 50 high traffic search terms. Now for these 50 terms, there are 2.8 million searches being launched in a month. If statistics like ComScore’s are correct and unbiased, that translates to 456,000 visitors thanks to PPC and 153,000 visitors thanks to article marketing.
The total cost of those 456,000 PPC visitors would amount to over $500,000 with an average CPC of $1.18. Even if you work with an SEO company that charges top dollar ($10,000 a month, let’s say) you’re still paying $10,000 compared to half a million. That means article marketing’s virtual CPC amounts to $0.07. Even if you apply PPC’s higher conversion rate, 3,647 converted visitors, you are paying $147.08 for each individual person. Compare that to 611 visitors you earned through article marketing – you are paying $16.37 for each visitor. And in doing so, you are also earning a higher quality of customer and generating traffic until the end of days.
Does your final ROI number take into account your total expenses? Absolutely! While both methods of advertising have their place online, when it comes to earning quality traffic, article marketing gets the last word.
7 Tricks to Get a Goooooooooooogle of Links
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 8:00 AM
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
SEO is a race. And in any race learning from your competitors makes you a better runner. Even when you’re running first it’s sometimes good to look back and check the runner-ups. And if you’re not the yellow jersey guy, you absolutely should examine the leaders: their gear, their training, their strategy. In SEO the most interesting thing about your competition are their links.
Whether you like it or not SEO is still pretty much about links. Good link profile can make up for almost any lack of optimized content and other onpage flaws. Love or hate, the best thing you can do about it is embrace the fact and run with it.
So let’s go through some tricks that will enable you to look deeper into your competition’s link profile granting you access to the restricted areas: their locker room, dirty laundry and even the briefing hall where they plan their link building strategies.
Let’s Talk Competitive Link Research
Finding out where your competitors’ links come from is not all that hard. You just go to Yahoo! or Google and type in link:www.your-competitor.com to get a list of inbound links to the site.
Yahoo’s much better in that respect as it tends to give more extensive and accurate data. The problem here is that there’s a limit of 1,000 links per website which is often not enough as the fattest link sources get left behind the limit fence. Here’re some tips to break through to the other side.
Note: If you’re lazy like me skip to the end of the article where I’ll share a tool that does it all much quicker.
Trick 1: Search for Links to Particular Web Pages of a Competing Site
Alongside with link:www.your-competitor.com search for
link:www.your-competitor.com/products.html or
link:www.your-competitor.com/services.html
and so on.
Trick 2: Exclude Internal Links
You may examine the internal linking structure of your competition if you want to gain some insight on their navigation and marketing steps. But as we want to find more external links, let’s exclude the internal ones.
You can do this by adding -site:site.com operator to your search query. Type in:
link:http://www.your-competitor.com -site:your-competitor.com or
linkdomain:www.your-competitor.com -site:your-competitor.com
and you’ll get a list of external backlinks only.
There’s a dropdown option in Yahoo! site explorer that does the same.
Trick 3: Exclude Links Coming from Certain Domains
The -site: modifier lets you exclude links coming from specific sites. So, whenever you see a large chunk of links coming from the same domain add -site:thisdomain.com modifier to your query and the links from this site will get replaced with new ones.
You can add -site: multiple times in one query so that you have something like this:
link:http://www.cnn.com -site:cnn.com -site:en.wikipedia.org
Trick 4: Check Links Coming from Certain TLDs
This is a little known trick. The site: modifier actually lets you get a list of links coming from domains with certain TLDs: .com, .org, .edu, .co.uk and so on. Just type in
link:http://www.your-competitor.com site:.gov or
linkdomain:www.your-competitor.com site:.gov
and you’ll get a list of .gov sites linking to your rival.
Note: Do this in Yahoo! regular search, not site explorer
Trick 5: Exclude Links Coming from Certain TLDs
This is an even lesser known trick. You can exclude certain TLDs from the results with the -site:.tld modifier. Usually the biggest chunk of links comes from .com’s so add a -site.com modifier and you’ll get lots of new link data.
Trick 6: Use Different Combinations of the First 5 Tricks
Try link:http://www.your-competitor.com/page.html -site:your-competitor.com -site:.com
Or link:http://www.your-competitor.com site:.org -site:wikipedia.org
Give it a thought and I’m sure you’ll come up with lots of ideas. Feel free to share your findings in the comments.
Trick 7: Use the Above 6 Tricks in Different Search Engines
Don’t limit your searches to Yahoo! and Google, go to AltaVista, Alexa, (Bing doesn’t give you link data, so forget about it) but then there’re Exalead, Excite and tons of regional search engines. Search them, get rid of the the duplicates and you’ll have a goooooooooooooooogol of competitor’s links to study.
Note: Some search engines have a different set of operators so you’ll need to type domain: instead of link:.
Getting It All Done Fast
This sure seems like a lot of work and it is. Moreover, getting the links list is only the beginning and the easy part of competitive link research. Once you get the list you need to analyze each link, weed out poor quality sites and only leave the ones you can get a link from. Now THAT’s a lot of work.
I’m too lazy to do this all by hand, besides I value my time too much to waste it on such kind of work. That’s why I use SEO SpyGlass an advanced link analysis tool that employs all the tricks described in this article (plus some more advanced ones I don’t even know) to get up to 25,000 links per domain, which is much, much more than any other tool can get.
SEO SpyGlass also finds all the data I need to analyze the links:
• Google PR of the domain and linking page
• The URL and title of the linking page
• The anchor text and description
• Whether the link is still on the page (sometimes the link gets removed but search engines will
think it’s there till they reindex the page).
• Whether the link is no-follow or dofollow
• How many other links are on the page
• How much link value the link passes
• And some other data like TLDs, domain age, country, etc.
If you want to do competitive link research seriously, I’d strongly recommend trying SEO SpyGlass out. And of course you can always use my tricks whenever you want to run a quick background check on that new guy on your block.
When doing business on the Internet, there are many ways in which you can make a website successful. Although the look of your website is important, fancy websites don’t make sales. There is much more to creating a quality website. To make a website successful, you must create a website that will be of interest to your target market and make them want to visit your website over and over again. In addition, your website should lead your visitors to take the action you desire, such as joining your mailing list, or making a purchase.
Selecting a Website’s Niche
The first step toward how to make a website successful, will be to target your website for one specific niche. For example, if you are designing a website about wine, everything within your website should relate to wine.
Selecting a Website’s Keyword Phrase
You must also select the most relevant keyword phrase for each webpage. A keyword phrase is two or more words that best describe your webpage. For example, if your webpage is about ‘making wine,’ your best keyword phrase would be ‘wine making.’ You should use your keyword phrase a few times within your webpage, as this will enable the search engines to determine what the website is about. This is a very important step to make a website successful.
Using HTML Heading Tags
When you begin writing your content, it is very important that you use the HTML H1 heading tag with your main title at the top of your webpage. In addition, use the HTML H2 tags for your sub-titles. This is very important, as some search engines place relevance on the text displayed with heading tags.
As the default text for the H1 heading tag is very large, you may want to use CSS style sheets to display the heading tags in the font style and size you prefer.
Using META Tags Within a Webpage
Another step to help make a website successful is to include META tags between the HEAD tags of your webpage. META tags help the search engines to know what keywords are relevant to the webpage. They are also used to tell the search engines what the webpage is about. Many search engines will display this description within the search results.
Backgrounds and Text
It is always best to display a webpage with a white background and black text, as this will make the text easy to read. Distracting backgrounds will make the text hard to read. A good rule of thumb is to just use common sense and keep your website simple. This alone is a great way to help make a website successful.
Animated Graphics
If you’re using animated graphics, it is important that you use them sparingly. Graphics that continually flash are VERY annoying and may prevent your visitors from returning to your website in the future.
Navigational Links
It is very important to include good navigational links on every page. They should be displayed at the top, bottom, left or right side of your webpage. In addition, your visitors should be able to get to any webpage within your website within four clicks.
Webpage Layout
Always be consistent with your webpage design. This is a very important step to help make a website successful. The layout for your website should be the same on each page. If you make it different, your visitors will become confused. In addition, it will make your website appear to be unprofessional. Your website design should include the same layout, logo, and navigation setup on each page.
Spelling and Grammar
Always make sure you proof read and spell check your webpages for errors. It is also very important that your webpage doesn’t have any broken images or links.
Important Webpages
When you launch your website, it is very important that you include the following webpages:
About – The ‘About’ page is used to tell your visitors about you and/or your company.
Privacy – The ‘Privacy’ page is used to let your visitors know what you do with their personal information, such as their email address.
Terms and Conditions – The ‘Terms and Conditions’ page should be displayed on your website for your protection.
Site Map – A ‘Site Map’ is used to help the search engines index your website more easily.
You can learn more about all of these pages by doing a search through your favorite search engine. They are very important and will help make a website successful.
Website Interactivity
Another way to make a website successful is to make the website interactive. This can be done by including a targeted forum that complements your website, a form in which they can subscribe to an ezine, a feedback form to enable them to give their opinion, or an informative blog in which visitors can comment.
Web Browsers and Screen Resolutions
When you begin designing your webpage, it is HIGHLY recommended that you install the most popular web browsers on your computer. This will enable you to see how your website will display in different browsers. You will find that your website may look great in one browser and terrible in another. It would be wise to design your website to display properly in Firefox and then it should display properly in Internet Explorer, Opera, etc.
It is also important that you view your website through different screen resolutions. You can either open your webpage in your browser and then change your computer’s screen resolution, or there are website’s online that you can visit, such as Any Browser, to test your website.
If you follow these simple guidelines, you can begin to make a website successful in no time.
10 Best Strategies to Massively Increase Your Visibility Online
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 8:00 AM
Monday, March 22, 2010
Increasing online visibility is the goal of most online business owners. After all, without visibility, you have no traffic and thus no business. However, when you start to research how to improve your online visibility, you discover many options, but find that there is little time for research and implementation. Where does an online entrepreneur turn first to get the visibility (and traffic) to promote an online venture?
New tricks and gimmicks come out every day, but unfortunately, most of them are like so many recording artists and become one-hit wonders. In my business, I’ve discovered that there are a handful that are able to stand the test of time. Some have been around for as long as websites have been around, while others are newer kids on the block. Here are my 10 most effective strategies to massively boost your visibility online:
1. Press releases. Press releases are a well-known marketing strategy that have worked for years with print and broadcast media. In recent years they have found new life as an online visibility tool. Just like in the old days, your release should carry some newsworthy angle that has been optimized with a select few keywords by which you want your business to be found. Don’t waste your time submitting your release to the free press release sites — the release simply sits on the site and goes no where else. Instead, invest in a fee-based service (I prefer PRWeb.com), which will ensure your release gets the recognition it deserves.
2. Social Networking. A “johnny come lately” to the online visibility scene, social networking now ranks near the top in terms of attracting visibility to your business for a very low cost. If you don’t yet have accounts on the two most popular social networking platforms, Facebook and Twitter, today is the day to hop on board and begin to network. Choose 1-2 social networking platforms where your target market hangs out, and then begin to work it by making connections, joining groups or networks, sharing resources, and asking questions. Dedicate 15-30 minutes each day to your effort to begin to see results.
3. Article Marketing. Writing and submittíng articles to major article directories has definitely stood the test of time for online visibility. Article marketing will drive traffic to your site, establish you as an expert in your target market’s eyes, and give you valuable content to repurpose into information products. For maximum effectiveness, your article needs to contain a strong resource box (author’s bio) that drives traffic back to your site, needs to contain useful content that solves a problem of your target market, and be written in a tips-based fashion, like this one, since it is the easiest format for a website visitor to read and digest.
4. Blogging. Business blogs (a web log or journal), have gained popularity over the last few years as an online visibility tool. Blogs use RSS feed technology to immediately get new posts and updates out to your blog subscribers through a feed reader. Unlike ezines or traditional websites, search engines index blog posts almost immediately, which help you generate traffic to your website. To use effectively as an online visibility tool, you need to post 2-3 times per week to keep your readers interested and coming back.
5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Optimizing your site or your blog for organic (naturally-occurring) searches has been around from the beginning of Internet marketing. Use a keyword research tool and create a listing of keywords applicable to your business. Don’t forget to add things like “how to”, “tips”, or short descriptions of your target market’s problems to your research. Then, take a look at your page titles, page descriptions, page headlines, and formatted text on a page (bolding, italicizing, underlining) and include your keywords in those areas, as well as sprinkling 1-2 keywords throughout the content of your page. Make the SEO appear to be natural, not forced, and the search engines as well as your visitors will love you.
6. Email Newsletter (Ezine). Regular publication of an email newsletter (weekly is most effective) will enable your prospects to get to know, like and trust you and have you be top of mind when they are ready to solve the pressing problems that fall within your line of expertise. If you make opting into your ezine the primary call to action on your website, you continually build your list with prospective customers. Best of all, if they like what you write, they are more likely to pass along the issue to their contacts, thus increasing your visibility yet again.
7. Signature Teleseminar/Speech. Have you created your signature speech or teleseminar that you can present whenever you’re asked to speak to any type of group (face-to-face or virtual)? If not, design a signature speech or teleseminar that demonstrates your knowledge and expertise without giving away the store (focus on the what and the why but not the how) that compels your listeners to visit your website or request your client attraction device and get on your líst.
Then, begin to research groups that contain your target market both in your geographic area and online. Once you’ve landed a speaking gig, strategize your best call to action for the group — do you want participants to sign up for your ezine, purchase a product, or book a consultation? Add that call to action to your presentation.
8. Videos. With the popularity of broadband Internet connections, it’s much easier for almost anyone to view online video these days. And, with high-quality yet low-cost web cams, video cameras, and screen capture software readily available, anyone can make a video today. You might record a live Q&A session on UStream.com and post it on your site. Or, perhaps you want to record a “how to” tutorial using screenshots from your computer and upload that to your YouTube.com channel. Remember to include your call to action in your video so that you drive traffic back to your site. Just think — your video may cause you to become the next YouTube star!
9. Expert question sites. Most people conduct online searches to find free information that answers their questions. Many online entrepreneurs are registering as experts on an expert or answers site, like Yahoo Answers or AllExperts.com, in an effort to get visibility online. To be an effective expert on these sites, you need to seek out questions that you can knowledgeably answer as an expert. Your answer needs to be very detailed and as specific as possible. The more thorough your answer, the better chance you’ll have of getting chosen as the “favorite” answer, which is the one rated highest on the site and in the search engines.
10. Viral marketing. Viral marketing involves creating a marketing piece (ebook, video, software) that gets passed along free of charge from person to person. Publicity Hound Joan Stewart does this quite effectively each year when she compiles the best tips she’s written about in the previous year in a “best of” ebook compilation that she gives away free of charge on her site. She also encourages her líst and website visitors to “regift” it.
You’ve got two options when you try to get online visibility: the “steady and effective over time” method or the “quick and short and probably get banned” method. I prefer to use methods that have stood the test of time and won’t result in my site being removed from the search engines. Use one or more of these time-honored strategies to get you the visibility you deserve online.
Why success comes from goal-setting and persevering to the end.
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 1:16 PM
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
More than 5,000 years ago, in the ancient mystery schools of Egypt, the mental and spiritual laws and principles of success were taught to students who dedicated their entire lives to learning the “Esoteric Arts.”
One of these “secrets” was the Law of Attraction, which said that your mind is a magnet and that you invariably attract into your life people and circumstances in harmony with your dominant thoughts, especially those that are emotionalized.
OMG, Your Company on the Net is WHAT??
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 11:05 PM
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Be careful when converting your company name / brand name into an (available) domain name; it can have embarrassing repercussions. Imagine seeing a web address like, arsecommerce.com. This domain name may appear rather ordinary to us Americans. But to those who speak “the Queen’s English” – including those in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand – I bet they get a chuckle when they see it. You can imagine them thinking to themselves “Is this the company that put the “arse” in commerce?”. The company is ARS Ecommerce, not Arse Commerce.
Motivation for the Team During a Recession
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 11:15 AM
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
When a recession follows a boom (as it often does) it’s even more difficult to keep up the spirits of your sales team. Denial is generally followed by despair. It will be up to you, the business owner, to put your own anxieties aside and focus on creating a strategy to get your team, and your company, through it.
Face It Head On
The first thing you will have to do is revaluate your own expectations and get realistic about the market. Take your team out of the office for a day and work together to create reasonable sales goals for 24 months. It’s important to let employees be empowered, as opposed to set up to fail. You may need to reconfigure compensation: less base, more commission. Or use this as an opportunity to usurp high commissions with profit sharing. If cash flow is going to be a problem, consider offering the team a four-day week, flex-time, or the option to work from home for a cut in pay.
Interesting Links Makes Us Interesting
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 10:44 PM
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Content and inbound links are most important for SEO, according to experts, and in that order. Even though this is old news for experienced SEO experts, it is still good news for new ones joining the online community.
Experts were often left to theorize and test—and worse, try to game, in response to Google’s silence on the subject. However, when Google started hitting the PageRanks of paid directories, they seemed to confirm basic SEO tactics.
24 Ways To Provide Amazing Satisfaction To Online Shoppers Part 2
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 11:40 AM
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
I recently posted an article and reviewd how to find a need for the online shoppers. I even showed how there is a lot of ball-dropping. Fortunately, it can all be corrected to give yourself a leg up on the competition. Here are some more tips:
• Search is fundamental. Be there at every entry point possible.
• The landing page is crucial. You should have a landing page relevant to the search term.
24 Ways To Provide Amazing Satisfaction To Online Shoppers Part 1
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 11:37 AM
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Three-quarters of online shoppers surveyed said website content is insufficient to complete research or purchase a product online always, most, or some of the time. Nearly 80 percent rarely or never purchase a product without complete information, and 72 percent will take off to a competitor that does supply that information.
It seems that consumers really want to buy online, but retailers aren’t making it easy for them. Sometimes, it seems like retailers go out of their way to lose customers.
Better Ads, Better Clicks, Better Money
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 8:35 PM
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Online video ads are not as popular as perceived with only 11 percent of consumers saying they were likely to click on video ads, according to a recent study. Simple text ads were found to be the most likely to receive clicks with 25 percent of consumers doing so, followed by display ads at 20 percent and banner ads at 12 percent.
It seems the video audience is mostly young people under the age of 25, a group that accounts for nearly one-third of the video-ad viewing audience.
Since business may soon be tougher, it’s critical for entrepreneurs to take steps to up-end any damage that could happen as a result of a recession.
The secret to weathering a particularly nasty economy is to diversify your customer base, free up cash flow and cut costs where you can. Here are some steps for recession-proofing your business: If three employees are doing the job of one, you may need to make job cuts. Additionally, if you have two product lines and one is successful while the other one isn’t, consider selling off that division. When times are tough, it’s best to focus on core markets and spend money in those areas, not in areas that haven’t been more profitable.
I was inspired by this and wanted to share it with you, an article from the famed sales guru, Brian Tracy…
When Vince Lombardi took over the Green Bay Packers some years ago, he was asked what he was going to change. The players? The plays? The training process? How was he going to turn this team around after a string of failures?
Having a game plan can get your site up and running without all the headaches. At the end of the project, the outcome should be measured by, “Did we get a good-looking, usable Web site deployed in a reasonable amount of time?”
Initial Web site design and redesigns of existing sites may each face a few different challenges, but overall, they are similar. Experience shows that these problems are not technical issues, but project management and cultural issues. Here are some of the things I’ve learned to do that will help make any Web site design project go smoothly.
Avoid these elements that should never see the light of day on your site. Poor planning and neglect of your Web site can lead to lost business, security concerns, slow traffic and other problems.
When it comes to your company’s Web site, there’s no shortage of advice on what you absolutely have to have there. However, Web site missteps are preventable. Here are nine items to avoid.
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