Archive for August 16th, 2006
It seems the excitement about search engine optimization fades in and out from time to time. The more people talk about search engine optimization (SEO) the more it seems to be the logical choice for bringing customers to your site. However, there are some points that I haven’t seen anyone else make as of yet about the effectiveness of SEO versus the effectiveness of building a responsive list. I think you’ll be surprised to see which one comes out on top.
(663 words, estimated reading time: 2:39 ) read the full post...
August 16th, 2006
Just for a change, rather than a technical article, I would like to tell you a story. To begin, imagine your website is a little country bar, now let’s go back to when the internet began, and reciprocal linking was being done properly. Now just sit back and picture the following…..
(1271 words, estimated reading time: 5:05 ) read the full post...
August 16th, 2006
Promotional Tips and Methods For Your Site
by: Aaron Wilmont
When the time has come to begin sending hits to your website the first thing you will want to do is submit it to the primary directories like Yahoo, DMOZ, Web World Index and Joeant. You have a choice of submiting your site yourself or instead using a paid service to do it on your behalf. Once you are completed with the submissions you have the option of using pay per click advertising like Overture. If you are a work at home business you could be on a tight budget, however. In this event their are other methods to drive much needed visitors to your website which are either free or very low cost. The downside is that these methods normally take more time than the paid ones but in my opinion are usually worth the effort, especially if you are a home business which needs to do many tasks in -house anyway.
The first thing you may want to do is reciprical linking or link trading. The best sites to swap links with are similiar but non-competing, of course. As a general example, if your site is a home improvement site you may want to swap with a home insurance company but nowt with another home improvement business site. This type of linking builds web traffic while at the same time improving your site’ link popularity, which will improve your search engine positioning considerably.
After this campaign you can start posting to bulletin boards and/or forums. These are good free sources which can send you traffic while you are waiting for your other efforts to kick in. These source can improve your link popularity as well. You may also post to Newsgroups (also known as the Usenet) but be extremely careful not to cross post to more than one newsgroups if you do decide to go this route.
You can also submit to the free classifieds like the trendy Craigslist.org. You could also want to search for ‘free classifieds’ on a favorite search engines and submit to those too. You can post your site to weblogs but only if you have something relevent to add to the discussion. You will certainly want to write some article’s as well concerning the subject of your website and post it to the article directories like articles.com, for example. There are numerous other free reprint article directories similiar to this one and some will even syndicate your article for you. You get to have your resource box at the bottom of your article and this can increase your click throughs.
Articles will likewise help your link popularity in this way. This is an underestimated method, so be sure to use it.
If you are writing about a topic you know a great deal about, you should be able to write an article in a reasonable period of time. You will also gain expert or authority status on the web for your specific topic area.
For this reason I also recommend joining a discussion list such as Topica or Yahoo groups.
Permanent link to this post (539 words, estimated 2:09 reading time)
August 16th, 2006
Why You Should Avoid Google’s Content Network
by: George Peters
When you create an AdWords campaign you have a choice as to whether you want your ads to appear on Google’s network of content sites. These are sites that have signed up for Google’s Adsense program, which allows them to display AdWords ads on their pages. Generally speaking, this is not very targeted traffic. Google tries to display your ad on pages with relevant content, and it does a pretty good job of it. Nonetheless, I personally do not like this traffic, and I will tell you why.
When marketing on the Internet, the sooner your ad is displayed to your prospect, the greater your chance of making a sale. This is the reason why search engine traffic performs so well. Most surfers initiate their Internet activity at a search engine. Indeed, many have a search engine like Google, Yahoo, or MSN set as their home page. In other words, it is the first thing they see when they log onto the Internet.
Lets take a closer look at the chain of events. A surfer logs onto the Internet because she wants to find something. She goes to Google and enters her search and among the results she sees your ad. It catches her attention and she clicks through to your site. Since you are offering exactly what she is looking for, she is turned into a customer and you make a sale. This scenario happened the way it did because we understand the virtues of targeted traffic, but it also happened because we were the first to satisfy the surfer’s needs.
Now, say the surfer has been online for some time and has been surfing from one site to another, looking around and possibly doing research. This surfer may be frustrated because she has not found what she wants, and is therefore in a negative mindset. What is more likely, however, is that this surfer has turned into a window shopper. Either way, since this surfer has been online for some time now, the result is she will be harder to convert into a sale.
When your site is shown on content sites it is being displayed to surfers who have often been online for a longer period of time and are generally not as receptive to your message. Add to this the fact that your ad will not be as targeted and your chances of converting the surfer are even less.
What we want is highly targeted traffic and we want that traffic to be receptive to our message. As that traffic becomes more and more diluted, its value diminishes as well.
One strategy that can be used with content targeting is to create a separate campaign for it. In this campaign all bids would be as low as possible, i.e. 5 cents. In this way you can display your ad on content sites, but the cost would be more in line with the traffic’s value. Keep in mind also that there is greater chance of click fraud when advertising on content sites, which is another good reason to keep bids as low as possible.
Google recently added a feature where you can bid separately on your content network ads, which allows you to bid lower on your content network ads without having to setup another campaign. This is useful and can be a good solution. I still prefer to create a separate campaign for content network advertising, however. A separate campaign allows for greater organization and analysis. This choice is one of personal preference, though, and you should use whichever option you feel more comfortable with.
In the end, you should be skeptical about content targeting, as the traffic quality will not be the same as the pure search engine traffic. If you really want the extra traffic, then make sure you bid separately for your content site campaign, keeping your bids as low as possible. You should also keep a close eye on your stats to make sure you are not paying for any fraudulent clicks. Good luck.
|
About The Author
George Peters is a professional Internet marketer and pay per click advertising expert. His website is located at http://cpcsecrets.com.
|
Permanent link to this post (705 words, estimated 2:49 reading time)
August 16th, 2006
Yahoo announced that their Publisher Network, formerly available in the US for large websites, will be extended to small and medium-sized websites.
As stated by Yahoo representatives, this will allow the whole publishing community to take advantage of Yahoo’s products and services through what they have described as an “easy-to-use self-serve platform”.
Although it will initially be available only in the US, expansion is expected through use and projected increase in popularity.
(334 words, estimated reading time: 1:20 ) read the full post...
August 16th, 2006
You’ve got a cool new website with all the works: cool Flash presentations, eye-catching colors, informative text, easy-to-use layout, and an interesting topic. You think your site is amazing, and you know that others will agree with you. If only they know it exists.
How do you make your website known? How do you make yours stand out among millions of others? You can spend lots of money on advertisement, but that will not work if you don’t have the money to spare on advertising. So what do you do? Make search engines work for you, that’s what!
(770 words, estimated reading time: 3:05 ) read the full post...
August 16th, 2006
It’s no secret that Search Engine marketing can drive significant amounts of very qualified traffic to a web site ? as 85% of Internet users utilize search engines to find/research for goods and services. The problem for many companies is the difficulty they face sifting through conflicting information and hyperbole! Here is my top five list of myths that need to be run to ground.
(706 words, estimated reading time: 2:49 ) read the full post...
August 16th, 2006
How to Use Web Directories to Boost Traffic to Your Site
by: Robert Burko
You just got your website online. Everything is setup and you’re ready to go. Excitement is high and the time has come to open your virtual doors to the millions and millions of Internet users around the globe. You put out the cyber welcome mat and declare your site ready for action. But, instead of sitting and watching the users trample over one another to get to your site, you see little to no traffic.
Don’t worry! This is something every webmaster goes through and is to be expected. (Well, webmasters in the late 90’s expected to launch their site and be millionaires the next morning, but times have changed since those wonderful days!)
But there are some quick and easy things you can do to begin building your ‘link network,’ which will ultimately help drive traffic to your site. Since the Internet’s conception, the notion has been that sites link to one another, while web surfers click from place to place. Thus, the challenge begins: Get your site linked to as many others as possible.
You can start contacting other websites offering to trade links (but be prepared to invest a lot of time); you can buy links (but be prepared to fork out some cash); you can join link-trading programs (but be prepared to get a lot of irrelevant sites linking to you); or you can start submitting your website to web directories.
What Is A Web Directory?
A web directory is a compilation of sites organized by category or topic. Most web directories have multiple levels of categories, progressing from general to highly specific. In addition, a web directory editor will likely have to approve your site, lending it at a certain degree of credibility. Being listed in a directory ensures that if a web surfer finds their way into a specific category, they don’t just see your competitors, they see you! And, if they can see your link, they can click it, producing traffic to your site.
A Web Directory Listing Helps with SEO
If you have a website, you undoubtedly know the importance of ranking well in Google and other major search engines. These search engines count links from other sites as votes for your site, which helps determine your ranking, or position in the search results. There are a lot of other parts of the algorithm and this brief explanation doesn’t do it justice. However, it serves the point that links improve your ranking, and that’s something every website owner needs to know.
A link in a directory that is spidered by Google (and a lot are) will count as a vote for your site. This improves your ranking, and yet again helps drive traffic to your site. It’s important to note that not all directories help with SEO. Sometimes, a web directory will link to your site through a special URL that is often a programming CGI script. If the URL is not a direct link to your site, then the search engines don’t count it as a vote. Therefore, it’s best to pick directories that offer a direct one-way link to your site. (This way, you get more bang for your buck: traffic from the directory and improved search engine ranking.)
Relevancy Matters
If you trade links with random sites, then you are theoretically building your ‘link network,’ but you are sacrificing the quality of that network. Web searchers who are looking for information on a particular topic often use resources that link to a variety of sites related to what they seek. This makes web directories the perfect destination.
Since directories are categorized by topics, a person can arrive in the directory and have one-click access to a variety of resources. You definitely want to be one of those resources! Plus, when the other search engines pick up your link, it will count for more since it is surrounded by relevant content, which is most likely filled with your important keywords.
As you build your link network, you’ll continue to see increased traffic. And if you use web directories as your vehicle, you are essentially paving more paths to your site. Several good submissions in popular directories will help get you rolling. The best part is that many directories are free, so this jump start won’t even hurt your bottom line.
Good luck and happy submitting!
Permanent link to this post (767 words, estimated 3:04 reading time)
August 16th, 2006
Ebooks are Promotional Powerhouses
by: Andrew Wroblewski
Ebooks are part of the new frontier of cyberspace. They are an entirely new medium for sharing marketing information, ideas, techniques, and expert knowledge. Each day the number of people accessing the Internet grows, causing the exposure of your ebook to increase incrementally. It’s obvious why electronic self-publishing has become so popular so quickly.
The publishing industry, I hope, does not intend to forever banish the printed word to the dustbin of history. Books in print have their own special qualities and merits, and the world would be diminished by their disappearance.
Having said that, let’s look at what makes ebooks so important and so unique. Ebooks have certain abilities and qualities that other mediums do not possess.
For example, ebooks are fairly easy to produce, and their production cost is inexpensive. Just think about it: you don’t need a publisher, an agent, a printing press, offset film, ink, paper, or even a distributor. You just need a great concept, the ability to write it or to hire a writer, and the right software.
Additionally, ebooks are easily and rapidly distributed online. They are also easily updated; they do not require a second print run. All you need is to go into your original creation and modify the text or graphics. Because of this flexibility, ebooks can change and grow as fast as you can type.
Ebooks are also immediately obtainable. You don’t have to go to a bookstore or search through endless titles at an online bookstore. All you have to do is download it from a website, and presto! It’s on your computer, ready to be read.
Ebooks are interactive. This is one of the most unique and specific qualities that ebooks offer. You can add surveys that need to be filled out, order forms for customers to purchase your products or goods, sound and video that draw your reader into the virtual world of your ebook, even direct links to relevant sites that will expand your ebook outward. The potential is virtually limitless.
Ebooks have a particular kind of permanence that other mediums do not possess. Television shows and radio shows air once, and then may rerun a few times. Ebooks remain on your computer for as long as your choose, and they can be read and reread whenever you choose to. They can even be printed out and stored on the shelves of your traditional home library.
Another wonderful quality is that ebooks have no barriers in terms of publishing. You don’t need to go through the endless process of submitting your manuscript over and over again, and then once you land an agent, having the agent submit your manuscript over and over again. Nor do you have to shell out thousands of dollars for printing a self-published book. All ebooks require is a writer and appropriate software. Figure out your market, write your book, post it on your website, and with the right business savvy, your audience will come to you.
Finally, you have creative control over your ebook. You don?t have to compromise with an editor or the publishing trends of the time. You don’t have to haggle with a designer or wait for copyedited galleys to arrive by snail mail. You are in complete control of the design and the text.
How to Use ebooks for Marketing and Promotion
There are innumerable ways to use ebooks to promote your business and drive quality traffic to your website. Once posted on your site, you can turn them into a daily course, which brings your customer back to read the next chapter. You can use them as a free gift for making a purchase or for filling out a survey. Put your ebook on a disc, and you will have an innovative brochure. Blow your competition away by inserting the disc into your sales packages.
The most effective marketing products are those that are unique. Copyright your ebook, and immediately, you have a powerful tool that you, and you alone, can offer to the public. People will have to visit your site to acquire your ebook, which increases the flow of quality traffic and the potential of sales and affiliate contacts.
Make sure that you keep your ebook current. Update it frequently as the market and trends change. Add new advice and techniques to show your prospects how your goods or services can enrich their lives. By constantly keeping abreast of new trends and techniques, you can continue to see profits from your ebook for years after your original creation.
Another phenomenal advantage of ebooks is that you can test their marketing potential without putting out hardly any cash at all. You can even produce an ebook one copy at a time, each time you receive an order, eliminating the need for storage and inventory. By this method, you can gauge the saleablity of your ebook, and make adjustments as necessary until the orders start pouring in. Ebooks allow you to learn about your market and customer habits and motivation over a period of time, without risking your precious financial resources. They also provide you with an invaluable way to gather marketing information, which you can use in many different facets of your business.
Use your ebook to discover what the specific goals and problems are in your specific industry. Then figure out how to solve these problems, and publish an ebook with this invaluable information. This will increase the value of your business, upgrade your reputation, and get you known as an expert in your field.
You can extend the value of single ebook by breaking the book down into chapters for a serial course, into special reports available on your website, or into audio or visual tapes. Ebooks can be broken down into several different promotional materials by excepting some of the articles and using them to promote your product. You can include a catalog in your ebook to promote all the products or services you sell. You can include a thank-you note for reading your book and an invitation to download a trial version of your product. Or you can include a form for your audience to contact you for further information or with questions, thereby building your business relationships and your mailing list.
Using ebooks in this manner helps to cut the cost of individually producing separate promotional materials. You can use a single ebook to entice new prospects and to sell new products to your current customers.
No other medium has this kind of flexibility and ability for expansion. Think of your ebook like a spider spinning a beautiful and intricate web. Now go and create that web, and see how many customers and prospects you can catch!
|
About The Author
Andrew Wroblewski
When not on his soapbox, Andrew Wroblewski is doing battle with the thousands of spyware programs that can affect you via his ant-spyware and spyware removal website: http://spyware.pcwash.com where you can get a free spyware scan of your computer system.
|
Permanent link to this post (1171 words, estimated 4:41 reading time)
August 16th, 2006
Web commerce is all about courtship, not salesmanship. In life, a suitor can’t go from first date to the engagement ring in one afternoon. Courtship is an intricate dance, where each party contributes to the relationship at a measured tempo. Trust grows through gradual exchanges and reassurances.
Yet, the typical sales-oriented Web site urges the visitor to jump to commitment right away. Pushing for them to “BUY NOW!” is not only premature, but a misapplication of the fact that visitors are in a hurry. Developing a relationship can’t be rushed or skipped–not if you intend to lead them to the alter (sale). Buyers want and need to proceed at their own pace.
(941 words, estimated reading time: 3:46 ) read the full post...
August 16th, 2006
Next Posts
Previous Posts