Archive for November, 2005
Monday, November 28th, 2005
Using the right keywords and phrases in original articles
and submitting them to article directories has become one
of the most profitable ways for internet marketing and
advertising today.
Are you using this internet marketing and advertising
strategy?
You may be missing the opportunity of extra profits on the
internet marketing table by not utilizing this effective
strategy.
This is one of the many reasons writing original quality
content articles is now the latest marketing buzz online
today.
The two basics that you can combine to really power a
successful website. Content and Website Back Links.
You already know that right?
You’ve heard that Content Is King right?
Are you writing articles and submitting them using such
services as SubmitYourArticle and Article Marketer?
Many internet marketing pro’s have been writing articles
for many years. They already know the value of original
quality content and using the right keywords will drive
targeted traffic to their websites from the search engines
and article directories.
So why don’t all internet marketing business owners write
and submit articles for their internet marketing strategy
today?
The simple answer is, that it takes time to write articles,
submit them and get targeted traffic to your websites.
Another reason, is that writing articles can remind us of
school research papers, essays and reports that can be a
deep negative anchor in the subconscious mind for many of
us.
Did you really enjoy writing when you were in school?
If your answer is yes, you have an advantage because about
95% of internet business owners don’t use this effective
marketing strategy.
Imagine how much opportunity there is for you because of
this simple fact.
Only about 5% of all marketers are taking advantage of this
internet marketing strategy and internet advertising.
Many marketers are using this strategy to make money online
on the front and backend writing and submitting articles.
Why do you think many marketing sites want fresh, quality,
original keyword rich content articles?
The website owner can have an article with keywords that
relate to their website content. This helps their websites
page rank when indexed by the search engines.
Think about this for a moment. Imagine taking advantage of
a work at home opportunity, marketing from both sides of
the sales coin with 3 simple steps.
3 Easy Steps For Writing Original Content With Keywords
1.) You write quality original content, keyword/phrase rich
articles, with links to your website in the resource box.
2.) You build a website or web page with targeted
keyword/phrase rich original content for the targeted
traffic that originates from your articles.
3.) You have your site or sites targeted from your
keyword/phrase original content articles when visitors
looking for more information arrive.
A Win-Win Situation For Everyone Involved.
The person looking for quality content and information.
The person writing the original content articles.
The person with the quality original content website.
Internet marketing business owners who incorporate
keywords/phrases with writing articles, can make money
online if done properly with this internet marketing
strategy.
An Overview Of Keyword/Phrase Research And Writing Articles.
There are 3 keys to internet marketing success writing
articles and using keywords and phrases.
1.) Keyword Research. Find popular subjects and
keywords/phrases, using a keyword selector and suggestion
tool by Overture and 7Search.
2.) Writing Articles. Write original content with keywords
from your research.
3.) Quality Content Site. Build a quality content site
incorporated with the target subject and keywords/phrases
of your articles and website.
Writing and submitting original articles and using keywords
for your internet marketing strategy can be a very
effective way to build profits over the long term.
For building long term success, there’s very little you can
do that will give you near the same results online today
for long term business growth. Writing and submitting
articles provides an effective way to drive targeted
traffic to your sites for many years to come.
Posted in Linking and Publicity | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
There is a word for what Internet marketing spews forth…the word is GARBAGE! And it’s a mess cleaning it up, often requiring spam filters, ad-ware & spy-ware removers, and pop-up blockers.
Internet Marketing worked for a while, and we put up with it for a while longer. The Internet was new, and everything about it was a novelty. We’d not only read spam, but actually get exited about buying from the money mongering website linked to it. It’s a bit like never having watched TV…you would probably get mesmerized even by the commercials!
The thing about television commercials is they sponsor the REAL products which are shown. Internet spam on the other hand, doesn’t support anything beyond the greed of the advertiser.
IT’S OUTRIGHT, OVERT, OUTRAGEOUS INSANITY!
While spam is filling up our “inboxes” and taking up space on our computers, the friends, relatives, and co-workers we need to hear from can’t get through.
Who should be blamed for all this? Internet Service Providers and ISP’s are doing what they can about the situation, but the viral parasites are still there. It’s up to each one of us to resist as best we can, recognizing that Internet Marketing is not the get-rich-quick scheme some may say it is.
Learn how to spot internet advertisements by the words in their headlines. Then you will be less apt to waste time reading the remaining ad copy. The advertisement can be put where it belongs…in the email delete folder!
WHAT INTERNET MARKETERS CAN DO ABOUT THE PROBLEM
If you are an Internet Marketer you can increase sales and start hauling in the extra cash! It’s easy.
Just give people what they really want. Then you’re no longer seen as a seller, but as a friend, a helper and someone that can be trusted.
This can be accomplished by answering people’s questions, as on forums, where “How To” explanations can be provided.
Put forth solutions to problems. Reveal news that is of interest to your market.
Once you start to freely provide people with information they become open to what you have to say, open to what you have to sell. Soon you will be back in business big-time.
So, summing it up, you need to provide reliable written content to your clients. This will jump-start your business and promote trust in both you and your business.
One of the best places you can get some great content for your clients is through services such as that provided by http://www.infogoround.com. IGR content can be used for websites, blogs, newsletters, email subscriptions, free courses, etc.
Now that you know where to get content, it’s up to you to deliver it in a responsible way to your customers. And, most importantly, to deliver the information without spamming!
Posted in Advertising | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
You’ll get many benefits from helping online business
newbies. Below are eight possible benefits you could
receive:
1. You will feel good knowing that you had a part in
helping them build their business.
You can sit back and say “I had a part in their success.”
2. They may become one of your best friends.
Most people can use new friends, even business owners. You
may even become business partners and create a totally new
business together.
3. You could end up being strategic business allies in the
future.
You could regularly do joint venture and cross promotion
deals with each other.
4. They may help you out with your business.
Maybe they will give you some testimonials or endorsements
for your products or services.
5. You might gain some valuable referrals from them.
They may also join your affiliate program and make sales
for your business.
6. They might offer you some free advertising space on
their web site or in their e-zine for your help.
You could also exchange advertising with them.
7. You both could end up developing a new product or
service together.
The product or service could be a combination of your
current ones.
8. They might purchase the products you sell and become one
of your best customers.
You could sell them many back end products or services in
the future.
There are probably many other benefits you could get from
helping a new online business owner. Always remember to
help them out because it’s the nice thing to do and not
just to benefit your own business.
One more thing on that… get your hands on a book called
“Think And Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill, and you will truely
understand exactly WHY there is a UNIVERSE of reasons to
help a newbie (or anyone else for that matter)!
Posted in Search Engine Marketing (SEM) | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
Even the best affiliate program will not prosper if the affiliate mar= keter does not build their business on a solid foundation. Extra diligenc= e is required when you engage in affiliate marketing using ads. Nothing h= appens if the links or banners you place online just decorate a web page.= The affiliate must convince the visitor to click on it and proceed to th= e program site to buy the products. No click-through means no income for = an affiliate marketer.=20
You can generate a full-time income as an affiliate marketer. You can= do it at home, and yes, even while you sleep. Does this sound too easy? =
It can be this easy if you have planned your affiliate campaign well = and have taken all the steps towards success carefully and diligently. St= eps such as choosing an excellent product, designing a content rich websi= te with banners and product reviews, writing copy for advertising in news= letters and emails to your opt-in subscribers, publishing articles that h= ighlight the benefits your product provides, and placing PPC advertising.= =20
The key to making all these promotional techniques produce the result= s you desire is an advertising tracking tool. Experienced and successful = affiliate marketers know that ad tracking is essential to a successful af= filiate marketing campaign.=20
What precisely is an ad tracker? It is a software program that allows= you to trace and take note of every click-through made by visitors to yo= ur program’s sale site via your referral link. Best of all you know exact= ly where you placed the link that produced the click through. You can=20
purchase the ad tracking software or use a service provider.=20
With an ad tracker, you can monitor the progress of your marketing ca= mpaigns, even offline advertising. This tool is especially helpful if you= are engaged in several affiliate and pay-per-click programs and have pla= ced ads in emails, pop-ups and pop-unders, message boards, auto responder= s, ezines, forums, several web sites, surveys and various ad service prov= iders.=20
Of course, after investing your time, you want to make sure you are g= etting paid for your effort. Likewise, you want to make sure every dollar= you invest in your advertising campaign is wisely spent. With the help o= f the ad tracker, you will know accurately how many and which of your lin= ks were clicked on. It will also act as an email ad tracker. How many of = those who opened your email clicked through to the program site? Which of= your banner ads brought the most leads and sales? All this data will all= ow you to do a marketing analysis of each affiliate program and advertisi= ng medium you are using. You will easily determine which of your marketin= g strategies are most effective and beneficial for each product or servic= e you are promoting.=20
Every decision you make must be well grounded in facts. Using an ad t= racker, you will be able to generate a website traffic report for your af= filiate program sales page. Armed with this wealth of information you wil= l be able to test and tweak your promotions to reach maximum profitabilit= y with confidence.=20
If you are serious about affiliate marketing, remember that your succ= ess depends on the response of those viewing your promotions. Find the ad= vertising techniques that produce the desired customer response. Test eve= rything. Get an ad tracker and begin making informed decisions about your= promotional budget. Now you are on the track to success!
Posted in Affiliate Programs | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
Now, I would understand this a little more if search engine
technology was at a level where I type a phrase in and find
what I am looking for. But people’s minds works differently
and no search engine will ever be able to account for this
factor.
A newbie to a certain technology, doesn’t matter which,
doesn’t use the same terminology as an expert. He will use
terms that relate to his areas of expertise and as he
progresses, this terminology will evolve until it is more
precise. Therefore, there will be many levels of vocabulary
that he will use in this progression. As SEO’s, we recognize
this.
A person may type in “change belt in my car”, not knowing
that there are multiple belts in a vehicle and each vehicle
may have different procedures for changing this belt.
The more “authoritative” website may never use this exact
term. They will use “change a timing belt in a 94 Toyota
Camry” or “changing the drive belt in a 95 Chevrolet
Corsica.” While the SEO, who has researched search terms on
internet users, will know the vague terminology that newbies
may use.
This is the job of an SEO. To bring people the information
they are looking for. Maybe make a sale while they are at
it, but still an SEO knows the pulse of what people are
looking for more accurately than the run-of-the-mill
textbook webmasters.
People looking for something on the web are looking for
something quick. They do not care that the language they may
use is inaccurate. They don’t want to read a manual before
they type words into Google. They just want the info. As
SEO’s we bring it to them and reap our rewards.
To do this, we learn a little about the search engines we
submit to. It’s a necessity. And I think this makes the
internet a better place to find things. To suggest otherwise
would be like saying that people born with bad eyesight
should be forced to live without glasses.
Of course, I am only speaking for those on the white-hat
side of SEO. Presenting a false front to search engines is
not good practice. Just give people what they are looking
for and add value to your site.
Let the blind continue to lynch SEO’s. Let search engine’s
change their ranking algorithms. Let spammer’s continue
their games and get banned. Let the non-SEO webmasters
continue to website equivalent of Siberia. Then sit down,
know your audience, know your competition, know your search
engines, and write.
Posted in Copywriting | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
Many people just really don’t realize the power of the
Internet. It is one of the most powerful marketing mediums
today. The real power behind it is the ability to contact
so many people once the system you have in place is set up.
By system, I mean web sites, autoresponders, email
campaigns, etc. that you set up to create a desired result.
In obtaining your desired result, someone would sign up
for a free ezine, free report, or free ebook.
Of course, this is for the purpose of capturing an e-mail
address. The reason for this is very simple. All marketers
that are having positive results know that the key is in
the follow-up.
This is why it’s very important to have a System and the
right tools to get the right results. I go into more
detail in my MAC Success Tips regarding systems and tools,
so I won’t go into it here.
Anyone that is interested in what you have to offer can
benefit from the huge potential that the Internet provides.
Simply put, you can reach an enormous amount of people with
your message with minimal cost (once you know how).
You can also make adjustments as you go online. As a
result, you can scientifically control your outcome/income.
This is the true power and secret behind the Internet.
Posted in Advertising, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
Further, affiliate marketing allows you to make money
online by earning commissions off sub-affiliates, people
you have brought on to be affiliates of the parent company.
These two-tiered affiliates may seem like a pyramid scheme,
but the point is, it generates a tremendous amount of
traffic to your site as well as to your partners’ sites,
which helps everyone make money online.
The biggest key to making money online through an affiliate
program is by generating traffic. You won’t make money
online, though, by adding numerous links that have nothing
to do with you or your product. For example, if you are a
web developer, you won’t make money online by becoming an
affiliate of websites selling fishing equipment. However,
you can make money online by becoming an affiliate of web
development software. Make money online by linking to
bookstores that carry books your clients may be interested
in or trade publications and e-zines. As with any business,
it all depends on who you market to.
In order to make money online, you need diligence and
perseverance. It won’t be made overnight, but through
continual marketing efforts, you can make money online.
Posted in Affiliate Programs | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
How do you do this? Look up the top 20 web sites on the
major search engines under the keywords and phrases people
would find your web site. The key would be to then
advertise on those web sites.
The most expensive way would be to buy ad space on those
web sites. If you don’t want to spend any money, you could
use the ten strategies below. These strategies may not
apply to every web site.
1. Participate on their discussion boards.
You could post questions, answer other peoples questions,
and join in on conversations. Just include your signature
file and link at the end of your messages.
2. Ask the web site owner if they would like a free ebook
to giveaway to their visitors.
You could have them link to your web site or include your
ad in the free ebook.
3. Submit content to their web site.
You could write articles for their web site and include
your resource box and link at the end of the article. If
they publish it, you’ll indirectly be at the top of the
search engines.
4. Write an excellent article review of their web site,
products or services.
Then publish the review on your web site. E-mail the web
site owner and tell him or her about it. They may link to
your web site so their visitors read it.
5. Ask the owner of the web site if they would want to
trade advertising.
If you don’t get as much traffic as they do, you could
throw in some extra incentives.
6. Propose a cross promotion deal with the web site.
You both could promote each others products or services
together in one package deal. This means a mention and link
back to your web site.
7. Give the web site a testimonial for their product or
service.
Include a little text link for your web site with the
testimonial. You never know; it could end up on their ad
copy.
8. Post your advertisement on their free classified ad
section on their web site.
You want to be sure you have an attractive headline so they
will read your ad.
9. Post your text link on their free-for-all links page.
You want to go back and post your link regularly so it
stays towards the top.
10. Sign their guest books.
You could leave a short compliment about their web site on
their guest book. Just include your signature file and link
at the end of your message.
Posted in Linking and Publicity | No Comments »
Monday, November 21st, 2005
[2) Putting too many keywords in the Meta Keywords tag
I often see sites which have hundreds of keywords listed in the Meta Keywords tag, in the hope that by listing the keywords in the Meta Keywords tag, they will be able to get a high ranking for those keywords. Nothing could be further from the truth. Contrary to popular opinion, the Meta Keywords tag has almost completely lost its importance as far as search engine positioning is concerned. Hence, just by listing keywords in the Meta Keywords tag, you will never be able to get a high ranking. To get a high ranking for those keywords, you need to put the keywords in the actual body content of your site.
3) Creating lots of similar doorway pages
Another myth prevalent among people is that since the algorithm of each search engine is different, they need to create different pages for different search engines. While this is great in theory, it is counter-productive in practice. If you use this tactic, you will soon end up with hundreds of pages, which can quickly become an administrative nightmare. Also, just imagine the amount of time you will need to spend constantly updating the pages in response to the changes that the search engines make to their algorithms. Furthermore, although the pages are meant for different engines, they will actually end up being pretty similar to each other. The search engines are often able to detect when a site has created such similar pages, and may penalize or even ban this site from their index. Hence, instead of creating different pages for different search engines, create one page which is optimized for one keyword for all the search engines. In order to learn how to create such pages, see my article on this topic at http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?3455_a&keyword-rich-pa ges.htm
4) Using Hidden Text
Hidden text is text with the same color as the background color of your page. For example, if the background color of your page is white and you have added some white text to that page, that is considered as hidden text. Many webmasters, in order to get high rankings in the search engines, try to make their pages as keyword rich as possible. However, there is a limit to the number of keywords you can repeat in a page without making it sound odd to your human visitors. Thus, in order to ensure that the human visitors to a page don’t perceive the text to be odd, but that the page is still keyword rich, many webmasters add text (containing the keywords) with the same color as the background color. This ensures that while the search engines can see the keywords, the human visitors cannot. The search engines have long since caught up with this technique, and ignore or penalize the pages which contain such text. They may also penalize the entire site if even one of the pages in that site contain such hidden text.
However, the problem with this is that the search engines may often end up penalizing sites which did not intend to use hidden text. For instance, suppose you have a page with a white background and a table in that page with a black background. Further suppose that you have added some white text in that table. This text will, in fact, be visible to your human visitors, i.e. this shouldn’t be called hidden text. However, the search engines can interpret this to be hidden text because they may often ignore the fact that the background of the table is black. Hence, in order to ensure that your site is not penalized because of this, you should go through all the pages in your site and see whether you have inadvertently made any such mistake.
5) Not using the NOFRAMES tag in case your site uses frames
Many search engines don’t understand frames. For sites which have used frames, these search engines only consider what is present in the NOFRAMES tag. Yet, many webmasters make the mistake of adding something like this to the NOFRAMES tag: “This site uses frames, but your browser doesn’t support them”. For the search engines which don’t understand frames, this is all the text that they ever get to see in this site, which means that the chances of this site getting a good ranking in these search engines are non-existent. Hence, if your site uses frames, you need to add a lot of keyword rich text to the NOFRAMES tag. For more information on the different issues that arise when you use frames in your site, see my article on this topic at http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?3455_a&frames.htm
6) Using Page Cloaking
Page cloaking is a technique used to deliver different web pages under different circumstances. People generally use page cloaking for two reasons: i) in order to hide the source code of their search engine optimized pages from their competitors and ii) in order to prevent human visitors from having to see a page which looks good to the search engines but does not necessarily look good to humans. The problem with this is that when a site uses cloaking, it prevents the search engines from being able to spider the same page that their users are going to see. And if the search engines can’t do this, they can no longer be confident of providing relevant results to their users. Thus, if a search engine discovers that a site has used cloaking, it will probably ban the site forever from their index. Hence, my advice is that you should not even think about using cloaking in your site. For more information on what page cloaking is, how it is implemented, and why you should not use cloaking, see my article on this topic at http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?3455_a&page-cloaking.h tm
7) Using Automatic Submission Tools
In order to save time, many people use an automatic submission software or service to submit their sites to the major search engines. It is true that submitting your site manually to the search engines takes a lot of time and that an automatic submission tool can help you save a lot of time. However, the search engines don’t like automatic submission tools and may ignore your pages if you use them. In my opinion, the major search engines are simply too important for you not to spend the time to submit your site manually to them. In order to speed up the process of submitting your site, you can use our free submission tool which allows you to submit your site manually to all the search engines, without having to go to the “ADD URL” pages of the individual engines. It is available at http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?3455_a&submission.htm
Devoting too much time to search engine positioning
Yes - I lied. There’s another common mistake that people make when it comes to search engine optimization - they spend too much time over it. Sure, search engine placement is the most cost effective way of driving traffic to your site and you do need to spend some time every day learning how the search engines work and in optimizing your site for the search engines. However, you must remember that search engine optimization is a means to an end for you - it’s not the end in itself. The end is to increase the sales of your products and services. Hence, apart from trying to improve your site’s position in the search engines, you also need to spend time on all the other factors which determine the success or the failure of your web site - the quality of the products and services that you are selling, the quality of your customer service, and so on. You may have excellent rankings in the search engines, but if the quality of your products and services are poor, or if your customer service leaves a lot to be desired, those high rankings aren’t going to do much good.
Posted in Search Engine Optimization | No Comments »
Monday, November 21st, 2005
What that means - generally speaking - is you are still writing promotional copy designed to cause a *person* to take a specific action. Your target audience (your site visitors) should come first. The elements designed to help the copy rank well absolutely come last.
What good is all the traffic in the world if your site copy doesn’t convert visitors into buyers? Not much. That’s why - when writing SEO copy - the human visitor comes first.
Unfortunately, SEO copywriting is getting a bad name because so much of what is being cranked out is repetitious babble. Most of these pages would never have made it on to a site, except for the fact that the site owner wanted to rank highly for certain key terms.
So, in the interest of salvaging the good name of search engine copywriting, before it’s too late, let me offer some guidelines.
SEO Copy Is:
· first and foremost - written for the visitor.
· unique and purposeful.
· natural-sounding - it flows.
SEO Copy Is Not:
· written exclusively with the engines in mind.
· mirrored, adjusted or altered to create new pages by simply
changing keyphrases.
· stiff, forced or overly repetitive.
The Dos of SEO Copywriting
When writing SEO copy, you’ll want to:
· understand who you are writing to.
· choose what the focus of the page will be.
· create a plan outlining the message you want to convey.
· decide how best to communicate that message to your particular
target customers.
· choose which keyphrases will be incorporated into the copy.
· make sure those keyphrases work well with the page and the
planned copy.
· incorporate keyphrases as you write (not after you write), so
they flow naturally with the planned message.
The Don’ts of SEO Copywriting
When writing SEO copy, you should never:
· create a plan based solely on how to rank high.
· replace *every* instance of a generic term (car) with a
keyphrase (red, convertible car).
· add pages of copy simply to appease the search engines.
· rely on useless keyword density ratios and formulas.
· shove keyphrases in everywhere possible. (No, it won’t get you
banned, but it will sound completely ridiculous!)
SEO copywriting is not the process of writing exclusively for the search engines. It is the process of writing copy to appeal to your visitors, while including elements to help the search engines and your visitors understand what the page is all about.
If you remember who truly makes or breaks your site’s success (your customers!) and focus on them, you’re sure to create SEO copy that rings true.
Posted in Copywriting | No Comments »
