Once you have your blog live on the Internet, it is now time to find people who are interested in your topic to visit your blog. The saying, Build It And They Will Come could not be more wrong. Just because you have a blog does not mean anyone will visit it or even know it exists. It is your job to attract visitors to your blog. This article will show you how.
There are paid methods and free methods to get visitors to your blog. Unless you have an advertising budget at your disposal, you would have to rely on free methods. Free methods means getting organic traffic from the search engines or other sources. There are some well-known ways of doing so like article marketing and SEO. Besides those, here are two other ways of getting search engine traffic that are just as effective as the other more conventional ways.
The first method is using Yahoo! Answers. Yahoo! Answers is a website for people to ask questions about anything and for other people to answer them. You must have at least two Yahoo! accounts to use this method (the more the better). The first step is to log into Yahoo! Answers using one of your Yahoo! accounts. Enter a keyword phrase related to your niche into Yahoo! Answers in the form of a question. For example if you are in the weight loss niche, one of your keyword phrases might be Lose Weight Naturally. So just type in How Can I Lose Weight Naturally? into Yahoo! Answers as a question.
Then exit from Yahoo! Answers and log in again but this time using your second Yahoo! account. Go back to the question you asked earlier and answer your own question. Of course, your answer should be informative and as accurate as possible. You can either get the answer from your own blog content or from another related website. If you take the answer from another website, be sure to re-word your answer so that you would not be plagiarizing. Along with your answer there will be a field called, Know your source? List it here: Now here is where you put in your blog URL.
Besides answering your own question, you could do a search within Yahoo! Answers for other similar questions asked by other people and submit your answer there also. What is happening is you are building quality backlinks to your blog with each answer you submit. It goes without saying that the more questions and answers you submit, the more backlinks you get to your blog. And everyone knows that backlinks push your blog ranking up the search engine.
In addition to getting visitors to your blog from search engines, you will also get visitors from those who read your answer on Yahoo! Answer.
The second method is by using forums. Find a forum related to the niche topic you are blogging about. Choose forums that allow you to put links into your signature file. Edit your signature file to include a catchy caption and your blog URL. When you visit the forum, search for threads that are relevant to your blog niche topic. As far as possible, visit threads with as few replies as possible. This is because people reading through the threads would normally not read more than the first page of replies. So if your reply is listed on the second or third page, the chances of people reading your reply is low.
Once you find such a thread, post your reply. Most forums have a check box to indicate you wish to show your signature file. Always make sure this check box is ticked. Another little twist to this method is to start your own thread in the forum. This way, everyone who visits your thread will see your post and signature file.
Using these little-known methods over time, you will start seeing more visitors to your blog from the search engines and from Yahoo! Answers and relevant forums.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
How Gurus Make You Buy Their Stuff
It is said that the pen is mightier than the sword. That is so true especially in internet marketing where there is very little face-to-face interaction between the marketer and the prospective customer. Therefore, it is imperative for internet marketers to 'speak' to their prospects through what they write. Successful internet marketers have learned the art of communicating through powerful, compelling copy that almost hypnotizes their prospects into buying their stuff. How do they do it?
Successful internet marketers employ certain tried and true principles of sales psychology in crafting their copy. Here are some of those principles.
1. Personalization
People respond to friends more than to acquaintances. The exception is with someone so well-known in his field of expertise, like Tony Robbins in self-improvement. Then people would readily trust in such an expert rather than their close friend but only when it comes to that expert's area of expertise. In every other situation, all things being equal, people trust their own friends more than mere acquaintances.
Thus successful internet marketers know how to befriend you to gain your trust. They do so in their sales copy and subsequent follow-up messages. For example, the tone of their words would be friendly, informal and personable, using personal pronouns as much as possible. You get the feeling they are talking to you as if you have known each other for decades. So their emails would contain your first name rather than 'Dear Sir' or 'Dear Madam'.
Another way successful internet marketers befriend you is by identifying with you in the problems or issues you might be facing. If you are reading a website about improving your golf swing, the marketer might tell you how terrible his own swing was not too long ago. He speaks as though he were you! Or supposing you are reading a website about internet marketing, the marketer may well tell you that he is very fed-up with all those gurus who mislead newbies like you and that he knows how you feel because he was once misled also.
Bear in mind that at times the words you read are actually ghost-written. Obviously no one internet marketer can be experienced or knowledgeable in so many fields (niches). That's why all marketers use pen names at times. This way, they assume different identities according to the different niches they market to. All these methods are not wrong, as long as the marketer delivers useful content in a sincere, non-manipulative and respectful way in all his correspondences with you.
So be aware of what the marketers are trying to do. There are times you might need to take their words with a pinch of salt. This leads to the second principle.
2. Engagement
A good novelist always starts by setting the scene of the story. He gives you the big picture first before thickening the plot and going into details. The successful internet marketer is no different, except that the marketer does not have the luxury of wasting words. He knows he only has 5 seconds to engage with you otherwise you would move on to another website at the click of your mouse.
So the first step that every internet marketer makes in engaging with you is to write an attention-grabbing headline. Headlines using the words, "How to....", "Discover the ways to...." or "Who else wants to know the...." are very effective in engaging with you because it arouses your curiosity. By doing so, the marketer quickly tells you what's in it for you. All this is well and good but you must be careful of one thing.
Be careful to analyze the claims of the marketer. They must fulfill two criteria. It must be believable (not just hype) and it must be fair (minimum or no risk for you). Successful marketers make their claims believable and fair through various means. For example, they use testimonies of people who have benefited from their products in the past. They may also show you statistics of their own records (such as their income) or 'before and after' photos of themselves. To make their offer fair to you, most marketers give a money back guarantee or include lots of bonuses with their main product.
3. Action
Everything the marketer has written thus far is geared towards getting you to take action. It would be either to buy the product or give your email address or some other form of action. Successful marketers use two time-tested methods to do so. They are urgency and scarcity (or a combination of the two). The urgency method is by saying that there will be a price increase after a certain time. The scarcity method is by saying there will only be a limited number of units of the product sold. There are modifications and combinations of these two methods.
With all this information, you can see through all the gurus' methods of making you buy their stuff. This will help you be more selective in buying as well as equip you to make your own offers to your prospects as well.
Successful internet marketers employ certain tried and true principles of sales psychology in crafting their copy. Here are some of those principles.
1. Personalization
People respond to friends more than to acquaintances. The exception is with someone so well-known in his field of expertise, like Tony Robbins in self-improvement. Then people would readily trust in such an expert rather than their close friend but only when it comes to that expert's area of expertise. In every other situation, all things being equal, people trust their own friends more than mere acquaintances.
Thus successful internet marketers know how to befriend you to gain your trust. They do so in their sales copy and subsequent follow-up messages. For example, the tone of their words would be friendly, informal and personable, using personal pronouns as much as possible. You get the feeling they are talking to you as if you have known each other for decades. So their emails would contain your first name rather than 'Dear Sir' or 'Dear Madam'.
Another way successful internet marketers befriend you is by identifying with you in the problems or issues you might be facing. If you are reading a website about improving your golf swing, the marketer might tell you how terrible his own swing was not too long ago. He speaks as though he were you! Or supposing you are reading a website about internet marketing, the marketer may well tell you that he is very fed-up with all those gurus who mislead newbies like you and that he knows how you feel because he was once misled also.
Bear in mind that at times the words you read are actually ghost-written. Obviously no one internet marketer can be experienced or knowledgeable in so many fields (niches). That's why all marketers use pen names at times. This way, they assume different identities according to the different niches they market to. All these methods are not wrong, as long as the marketer delivers useful content in a sincere, non-manipulative and respectful way in all his correspondences with you.
So be aware of what the marketers are trying to do. There are times you might need to take their words with a pinch of salt. This leads to the second principle.
2. Engagement
A good novelist always starts by setting the scene of the story. He gives you the big picture first before thickening the plot and going into details. The successful internet marketer is no different, except that the marketer does not have the luxury of wasting words. He knows he only has 5 seconds to engage with you otherwise you would move on to another website at the click of your mouse.
So the first step that every internet marketer makes in engaging with you is to write an attention-grabbing headline. Headlines using the words, "How to....", "Discover the ways to...." or "Who else wants to know the...." are very effective in engaging with you because it arouses your curiosity. By doing so, the marketer quickly tells you what's in it for you. All this is well and good but you must be careful of one thing.
Be careful to analyze the claims of the marketer. They must fulfill two criteria. It must be believable (not just hype) and it must be fair (minimum or no risk for you). Successful marketers make their claims believable and fair through various means. For example, they use testimonies of people who have benefited from their products in the past. They may also show you statistics of their own records (such as their income) or 'before and after' photos of themselves. To make their offer fair to you, most marketers give a money back guarantee or include lots of bonuses with their main product.
3. Action
Everything the marketer has written thus far is geared towards getting you to take action. It would be either to buy the product or give your email address or some other form of action. Successful marketers use two time-tested methods to do so. They are urgency and scarcity (or a combination of the two). The urgency method is by saying that there will be a price increase after a certain time. The scarcity method is by saying there will only be a limited number of units of the product sold. There are modifications and combinations of these two methods.
With all this information, you can see through all the gurus' methods of making you buy their stuff. This will help you be more selective in buying as well as equip you to make your own offers to your prospects as well.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Viral Url and It's Incredible Value
So you have finally stepped into the world of making money online. You too, like the others, have decided to start with the affiliate programs. Also, you must have heard that it’s not a big deal to make good money with affiliate marketing, provided you choose the right programs and do some strategic planning while promoting your affiliate products. So far so good.
Whether you are promoting other people’s products or promoting your own products - that doesn’t matter because after all it is nothing but your own business and your means to earn good money. So whichever be your case, I am sure you would not want to leave money on the table and invite others to steal your share of profit.
Even though the industry of affiliate marketing is pretty competitive but if you are cautious and are strategic in your marketing techniques then, it could be very profitable for you.
Take a close look at the industry, you will see that not every one who gets into affiliate marketing is successful. People who are doing well leave no room for failure and take all security measures and understand its importance.
Yes! Security is one of the key factors in affiliate marketing. If you do not adopt proper security measures, then your business will be at high risk. One of the most important way to restore security is to protect your affiliate links. Do not take them for granted. A bit of carelessness on your part in regards to affiliate links may cost you a lot of dollars.
Do you know the long complicated links that you send to your prospective customers not only look convoluted but they can create a lot of problems too! If you send such an affiliate link to your customers, then the smart ones will definitely figure out that you are promoting someone else’s product and they would rather visit the parent company. Also, if your link does not function then your customers have to type a really long URL into the browser, which will definitely put him or her off.
You could be a victim of even a worse situation. What if some devious Internet pirates steal your affiliate links and replace them with theirs. If they do that, then you get no commission at all.
Did I scare you off with all of the above possibilities? Well, that certainly wasn’t my intention. I just wanted to open your eyes and state facts that actually happen in the world of Internet. It happened with me until I came across ViralURL , that brought a revolution to my online ventures.
So, if you are not getting the desired results out of your affiliate marketing,don’t lose hope. There’s definitely a remedy to this problem and that is http://vur.me/jecraven
Do I hear you asking, what is it and how can it help in averting any adverse situation for an affiliate marketer like me?
Be patient and read on, if you love your business.
ViralURL is a link cloaker that protects you in the truest sense. There may be many unethical people lurking around, who might play with your affiliate links by cutting them off or replacing them with their own etc. How much effort you put in towards building your business and advertising your business, if your links are tampered with, then all your hard work will be rendered useless.
In order to avoid such a rip off, ViralURL gives you full protection and sees to it that your affiliate links never get exposed to others.
So save yourself from getting ripped. Get all the commissions to your account that you rightfully deserve. All this is made possible by http://vur.me/jecraven
It is a blessing for every affiliate marketer like you and me, who wants to achieve success in their endeavor.
Is ViralURL limited to only link protection?
NO!
It does much much more than that. Let’s see what ViralURL can do for us:
*ViralURL helps us in protecting commission.
*ViralURL helps in building mailing lists.
*ViralURL helps in tracking statistics.
*ViralURL helps in earning extra ad credits.
In short, ViralURL allows us to create massive business leverage.
I don’t see any negative aspect associated with ViralURL. All you have to do is join it for free, then cloak your links, promote them and see your business soaring higher and higher.
You can get all detailed information about the program from the site http://vur.me/jecraven . There, you can find several unsolicited testimonials from various users of ViralURL. So if you want to protect your business and see your earnings grow, try http://vur.me/jecraven. You have nothing to lose with it.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Niche Discovery Tactics Gurus Don't Teach But Use Themselves
Every internet marketer knows the importance of discovering good and profitable niches. Many internet marketing gurus have a very simplistic way of teaching about niche discovery. The sum total of some gurus' teaching on this can be summarized as:
1. Choose a topic that you like, have experience or are interested in.
2. Take the main keyword from this topic and plug it into a keyword research tool.
3. Look at the search count. If it is about 30,000 per month, it's a good niche. If it is below 30,000 searches, there is very little market and therefore it is not a good niche. If it is way above 30,000 searches, there is probably too much competition and therefore it is risky to enter this niche market.
That's it. Based on those three steps, you are supposed to find a niche. What's wrong with such a teaching?
Firstly, there is no research into the competition. No step is taken to discover how strong a competition you face in that niche.
Secondly, there is no research into long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are defined as keyword phrases of at least 4 words (the more words, the better). Every marketer knows the importance of long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords can lead you to lucrative sub-niches.
Thirdly, there is no research into the tendency of the searchers to buy. It's not only a matter of whether the searchers have money or not. Some people in a particular niche market may have money but are not intending to buy anything.
So here's how the gurus really do their niche and keyword research:
1. Examine your own interests, abilities, knowledge, experiences. Anything from these may be a potentially good niche to market to.
2. Identify what's hot in the market i.e. what is currently the most talked-about thing, what's buzzing or new in town. Is this a potential niche?
3. From the above two steps, identify potential niches. Then run these potential niches through these 'filters':
a. Are people in this niche ready to buy and not merely information seekers or looking for freebies? For example, 'how to score an 'A' in your SAT examination' would probably not be a very lucrative niche because it would interest only students who may not have the money to buy anything much.
b. Is there a problem that the people in this niche cannot solve themselves? Any niche involving technical expertise would nicely fit into this criteria. For example, 'how to solve Windows Vista registry problems' would likely be a good niche because very few people are technologically competent enough to deal with these problems.
c. Do the people in this niche have an urgent crisis that needs to be overcome? The more urgent the better. For example, 'how to stop your teenager's drug habit' is an extremely urgent crisis that begs for answers.
d. Is there an 'evergreen' need in this niche that is not a just a fad? 'How to improve your golf swing' is an evergreen need compared to 'strategies for World of Warcraft' (World of Warcraft is a PC game). Once the fad for World of Warcraft is over, the market in this niche disappears.
Obviously, the more 'yes' answers you get to the above questions the more potentially profitable a niche is.
4. Once you have identified a potentially profitable niche based on the steps above, it is time to look for some long-tail keywords. These long-tail keywords will reveal some sub-niches which you can further profit from. For example, if you type in 'golf swing' into Wordtracker, you would get a whole list of related searches. Look for keyword phrases with four words or more. Some of them are 'stack and tilt golf swing', 'biomechanics of golf swing', 'what is the proper weight distribution during the golf swing' etc.
5. To find out how much competition there is in this niche, simply type in all the keywords you have into Google's free keyword analysis tool. This tool will give you the estimated advertiser competition (which is the same as marketer competition), average search volume for the previous month and average monthly search volume. The great thing is that this tool also gives you synonyms for the keywords which means you get more keyword suggestions. You identify keywords with as little competition but as many searches as possible.
The steps above represent a much more complete way of niche discovery. You will not only find profitable niches but also the relevant keywords that go with these niches. By doing this you make a solid start in your niche marketing.
1. Choose a topic that you like, have experience or are interested in.
2. Take the main keyword from this topic and plug it into a keyword research tool.
3. Look at the search count. If it is about 30,000 per month, it's a good niche. If it is below 30,000 searches, there is very little market and therefore it is not a good niche. If it is way above 30,000 searches, there is probably too much competition and therefore it is risky to enter this niche market.
That's it. Based on those three steps, you are supposed to find a niche. What's wrong with such a teaching?
Firstly, there is no research into the competition. No step is taken to discover how strong a competition you face in that niche.
Secondly, there is no research into long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are defined as keyword phrases of at least 4 words (the more words, the better). Every marketer knows the importance of long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords can lead you to lucrative sub-niches.
Thirdly, there is no research into the tendency of the searchers to buy. It's not only a matter of whether the searchers have money or not. Some people in a particular niche market may have money but are not intending to buy anything.
So here's how the gurus really do their niche and keyword research:
1. Examine your own interests, abilities, knowledge, experiences. Anything from these may be a potentially good niche to market to.
2. Identify what's hot in the market i.e. what is currently the most talked-about thing, what's buzzing or new in town. Is this a potential niche?
3. From the above two steps, identify potential niches. Then run these potential niches through these 'filters':
a. Are people in this niche ready to buy and not merely information seekers or looking for freebies? For example, 'how to score an 'A' in your SAT examination' would probably not be a very lucrative niche because it would interest only students who may not have the money to buy anything much.
b. Is there a problem that the people in this niche cannot solve themselves? Any niche involving technical expertise would nicely fit into this criteria. For example, 'how to solve Windows Vista registry problems' would likely be a good niche because very few people are technologically competent enough to deal with these problems.
c. Do the people in this niche have an urgent crisis that needs to be overcome? The more urgent the better. For example, 'how to stop your teenager's drug habit' is an extremely urgent crisis that begs for answers.
d. Is there an 'evergreen' need in this niche that is not a just a fad? 'How to improve your golf swing' is an evergreen need compared to 'strategies for World of Warcraft' (World of Warcraft is a PC game). Once the fad for World of Warcraft is over, the market in this niche disappears.
Obviously, the more 'yes' answers you get to the above questions the more potentially profitable a niche is.
4. Once you have identified a potentially profitable niche based on the steps above, it is time to look for some long-tail keywords. These long-tail keywords will reveal some sub-niches which you can further profit from. For example, if you type in 'golf swing' into Wordtracker, you would get a whole list of related searches. Look for keyword phrases with four words or more. Some of them are 'stack and tilt golf swing', 'biomechanics of golf swing', 'what is the proper weight distribution during the golf swing' etc.
5. To find out how much competition there is in this niche, simply type in all the keywords you have into Google's free keyword analysis tool. This tool will give you the estimated advertiser competition (which is the same as marketer competition), average search volume for the previous month and average monthly search volume. The great thing is that this tool also gives you synonyms for the keywords which means you get more keyword suggestions. You identify keywords with as little competition but as many searches as possible.
The steps above represent a much more complete way of niche discovery. You will not only find profitable niches but also the relevant keywords that go with these niches. By doing this you make a solid start in your niche marketing.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Back-end Selling Ideas For Increasing Internet Marketing Profits
Back-end selling is a technique that every Internet marketer should take the time to master.
Back-end selling is basically the technique of getting a customer to buy something else. The second purchase can take place immediately after the customer has bought something or it can occur weeks or months later.
Either way, it is a very profitable technique. If your Website is generating a reasonable number of sales but the sales process lacks a back-end offer, then you are effectively kissing hundreds or thousands of dollars goodbye.
Once you have set up the process you can pretty much forget all about it as it will run on auto pilot and quietly generate a passive income for you.
So, what does a back-end selling campaign involve?
First you will need a product to sell on the "front end", i.e. on a page of your Website. When someone visits the page and buys the product, the moment the transaction is completed they will be redirected to a new web-page, commonly known as a "thank you page".
Thank You Page
The function of a thank you page is to thank the customer and offer some information about how to access the product. That will only take up two or three lines, leaving the rest of the page blank for you to do what you like with.
The rest of the page can be used as a second sales page to make a follow up offer to the customer. If the customer likes what he sees and purchases the product, congratulations! You have just made a back-end sale.
The "thank you" page is the place where you most commonly see back-end offers, but it is not by any means the only place where you can make such offers.
Back-end Sales Via Email
As your front-end sales grows, so does your customer mailing list. While most of your e-newsletter content should be useful and informative for the reader, every so often you can include a "back-end offer" in your e-newsletter and send it out to your mailing list. This could be in the same week as the purchase was made, or several months or even several years later.
Abandoned Shopping Cart Page
Many people begin a purchasing transaction only to cancel it and leave the shopping cart. If the shopping cart is a PayPal cart, for example, the visitor will be automatically directed to another page.
You can set up the page so that the customer is redirected to another one of your web-pages. Write a short message of apology and reassurance. Then, make the customer a second offer. Make it better than the first offer by throwing in some nice extras and also by strengthening the guarantee.
This technique needs some careful handling as the customer has just pulled out of purchasing the product, but when done well it is a great way to try and rescue a lead who would otherwise leave your site probably never to return.
404 Error Pages
Sometimes someone makes a mistake when they type in the address of one of your web-pages, or perhaps the page no longer exists. In either case the visitor will be confronted with a 404 page announcing that the page being searched for does not exist.
That is a great piece of "Internet real estate" that can be put to good use as a back-end sales spot.
One other place where you can seek to generate back-end sales is in the download file. If you are selling zipped program files, sales letters etc, include a sales page with a compelling offer and a link to the web-page where the goods being offered can be bought.
What type of product can you offer on the back-end?
There are several options, but here are a few of the more obvious ones:
* Software programs
* Newsletters
* Products such as heavily discounted ebook or software packs.
* Public Label Rights packages
* Product upgrades
* Affiliate program memberships
Selling on the back-end offers Internet marketers many opportunities to generate repeat sales from their customer base. For this reason it is worth making the effort to cultivate your customers' trust and to implement some back-end sales techniques.
Back-end selling is basically the technique of getting a customer to buy something else. The second purchase can take place immediately after the customer has bought something or it can occur weeks or months later.
Either way, it is a very profitable technique. If your Website is generating a reasonable number of sales but the sales process lacks a back-end offer, then you are effectively kissing hundreds or thousands of dollars goodbye.
Once you have set up the process you can pretty much forget all about it as it will run on auto pilot and quietly generate a passive income for you.
So, what does a back-end selling campaign involve?
First you will need a product to sell on the "front end", i.e. on a page of your Website. When someone visits the page and buys the product, the moment the transaction is completed they will be redirected to a new web-page, commonly known as a "thank you page".
Thank You Page
The function of a thank you page is to thank the customer and offer some information about how to access the product. That will only take up two or three lines, leaving the rest of the page blank for you to do what you like with.
The rest of the page can be used as a second sales page to make a follow up offer to the customer. If the customer likes what he sees and purchases the product, congratulations! You have just made a back-end sale.
The "thank you" page is the place where you most commonly see back-end offers, but it is not by any means the only place where you can make such offers.
Back-end Sales Via Email
As your front-end sales grows, so does your customer mailing list. While most of your e-newsletter content should be useful and informative for the reader, every so often you can include a "back-end offer" in your e-newsletter and send it out to your mailing list. This could be in the same week as the purchase was made, or several months or even several years later.
Abandoned Shopping Cart Page
Many people begin a purchasing transaction only to cancel it and leave the shopping cart. If the shopping cart is a PayPal cart, for example, the visitor will be automatically directed to another page.
You can set up the page so that the customer is redirected to another one of your web-pages. Write a short message of apology and reassurance. Then, make the customer a second offer. Make it better than the first offer by throwing in some nice extras and also by strengthening the guarantee.
This technique needs some careful handling as the customer has just pulled out of purchasing the product, but when done well it is a great way to try and rescue a lead who would otherwise leave your site probably never to return.
404 Error Pages
Sometimes someone makes a mistake when they type in the address of one of your web-pages, or perhaps the page no longer exists. In either case the visitor will be confronted with a 404 page announcing that the page being searched for does not exist.
That is a great piece of "Internet real estate" that can be put to good use as a back-end sales spot.
One other place where you can seek to generate back-end sales is in the download file. If you are selling zipped program files, sales letters etc, include a sales page with a compelling offer and a link to the web-page where the goods being offered can be bought.
What type of product can you offer on the back-end?
There are several options, but here are a few of the more obvious ones:
* Software programs
* Newsletters
* Products such as heavily discounted ebook or software packs.
* Public Label Rights packages
* Product upgrades
* Affiliate program memberships
Selling on the back-end offers Internet marketers many opportunities to generate repeat sales from their customer base. For this reason it is worth making the effort to cultivate your customers' trust and to implement some back-end sales techniques.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
MLM Breakdown for Beginners
Alright let's get off to a fast start. The first thing you need to do is set up a marketing plan. Set it up by listing your primary marketing strategies. Write yourself a check list of some sort detailing the strategy you are going to use, the description of said strategy and of course the tasks you intend to use to implement them. Always track your ads, enzines, you tube, whatever; that way you know exactly how many leads you have generated using that particular marketing technique.
James Craven
I know I may have gotten ahead of myself here so I will backtrack and give you a breakdown of the possible strategies you yourself feel most comfortable using. This will depend on your level of time you have to invest as well as money.
First the list:
1) My Space Marketing: This form of marketing requires time and is of course free, unless you decide to use one of their advertising avenues. It's pay per click and can be effective if you have a well designed ad. OK, now in order to best take advantage of this social networking site you must first make friends. There is a couple of different ways to go about this.
A) Search through the friend selector and look for people listing your niche i.e. networking. Alot of times people don't really know what that means, believing it's looking for friendships or whatever, but over time you will develop a large group of friends that you can market to. But don't make the mistake of coming on too strong and trying to sell your business. NOBODY CARES! There are hundreds, even thousands of business opportunities out there and the majority of people are just sick of hearing about them. So what you need to do is market yourself as a leader. Hey fake it until you make it right? That will work I promise you. Tell them something of yourself. Make them interested in you and then and only then make your approach, but do it casually.
B) The other way to gather friends on MySpace is to use a friend blaster. This is much faster and relatively cheap software that could generate 25-100 new friends a day for you. Depending on how fast you choose to move forward.
2)Facebook Marketing: This is a great place to meet like minded individuals. I would advise setting up a Facebook profile straight away and make as many friends as possible. If you don't have a clue about how to market they're more than enough people readily available who are more than willing to show you how.
3)Free Classified: This can be a very effective form of advertising if you used correctly. Practice writing ads and get some advice from friends and family about what they think. Does it interest them? If not try again and until you find something that will. I will recommend a few classified ad services that I have used and had success with in the past. They are USFreeAds and BOConline. Craigslist is another, but I wouldn't advise using this service at least not initially. It is difficult to use, being there is alot to it. Try the others first.
4)Content/Article Marketing: This is one of my favorites because I love to write, it is my passion. It is also an excellent way of driving traffic to your site and in getting name recognition. It normally takes anywhere between 6 to 8 weeks before you start seeing some results, but if you keep at it and post anywhere in the neighborhood of 3 to 5 articles per week I can almost guarantee you will definitely see your visitor rate go up dramatically. The key though is in content, do not dive right into any business that you are selling. I REPEAT DO NOT DO THIS! People will read a sentence or two then see ya! Write about things that you know and can benefit others. This is key, you need to come off as someone who knows what they are talking about. If you believe in yourself then others will follow.
5)Forum Marketing: This is another social media site where people congragate to ask questions and give optimum insight into marketing techniques, lead generation, what businesses are doing well, who's doing what and when, well you get the idea. This can also be effective. Build relationships, build trust and build your business.
6)Ezine/Solo Ads: This is a very useful and effective form of marketing. It is not free. It could run you anywhere between 25 to 100 dollars an ad depending on which company you use. The upside is your ad will be made viewable on hundreds of different websites which can only lead to more leads for your business. Like I mentioned before, try your ad out on some of your friends and family first and let them give you their opinion. If they like it, then go with it, but track it using an AD Tracker. Here is an important tip, track all of your marketing efforts, that way you can judge which ones are effective and which ones may need changing.
7)Listbuilders: These are sights like Viral Url and LIST JOE. They'll run you a few hundred dollars a year if you opt in immediately, otherwise you'll end up paying monthly and that can get expensive if you don't have the funds. What they will accomplish for you is they will send out your message to thousands of their members every 3 days or more depending on your level of membership, in turn driving potential prospects to your site. This once again comes down to the content of your message, do it right and you will have results.
8)Video Marketing: Here is a great free source for getting name and face recognition. It is quickly becoming one of the most popular forms of marketing on the internet. Google loves You Tube, Met Cafe and all the other WEB 2.0 sites. So if you post a video your rankings will be high, maybe first page. So your chances of being seen are great. It is also an awesome opportunity to brand yourself as a leader and someone people can trust. That is what people are looking for when trying to find that business to join. It's that question! Who can I trust that can help me become successful? Over the internet people join people not businesses. REMEMBER THAT! Another thing is a good idea to post an article along with your video, that'll help with the rankings.
9)And lastly but not least, pay per click marketing. This is basically the monster of all advertising sources if done correctly. Training is required. Don't dive right into it, you will just lose your money with very little return. I guarantee it! Google, Yahoo/Overture they come fully equipped with all the training resources you need to have effective advertising. Just make sure you read and learn, otherwise you'll be screaming at yourself like I did about what a complete waste of money that campaign was. Don't make the same mistake I did, gather the knowledge first then apply what you learned and you will be rewarded.
That about sums up the different types of marketing techniques. If I missed anything I apologize, I am not perfect.
IMPORTANT: Please do not try doing all these things at once. Try one at a time and as soon as you become comfortable with it move onto something else. Remember success doesn't happen overnight. It takes patience and alot of hard work. So if you stick to your goals and believe in yourself, the sky is the limit.
Thank you for taking the time to read my article.
To your success,James Craven
Autoresponders and Spam – What You Need To Know
There are laws against sending spam. There are
even laws that you must adhere to when you send
out email that was requested. No matter what type
of email you are sending out, the chances are good
that the anti-spam laws apply to you in some way.
In order to be in compliance with the anti-spam laws
in various states in the US, each commercial email
that you send must include your name or business
name, your street address, city, state, zip code,
and phone number. You must also include
instructions that will allow the recipient to remove
themselves from your mailing list. If you fail to do
any of this, you are essentially breaking the law in
various states – no matter what state or country you
live in!
Protect yourself from spam complaints in any way
that you can. Make sure that when a customer
requests any type of information from you that an
email is sent requesting confirmation before any
other email is sent. If someone is placing an order
from you, include a check box on the order form,
asking for permission to send them periodic emails.
Never use your autoresponder to send unsolicited
commercial email!
even laws that you must adhere to when you send
out email that was requested. No matter what type
of email you are sending out, the chances are good
that the anti-spam laws apply to you in some way.
In order to be in compliance with the anti-spam laws
in various states in the US, each commercial email
that you send must include your name or business
name, your street address, city, state, zip code,
and phone number. You must also include
instructions that will allow the recipient to remove
themselves from your mailing list. If you fail to do
any of this, you are essentially breaking the law in
various states – no matter what state or country you
live in!
Protect yourself from spam complaints in any way
that you can. Make sure that when a customer
requests any type of information from you that an
email is sent requesting confirmation before any
other email is sent. If someone is placing an order
from you, include a check box on the order form,
asking for permission to send them periodic emails.
Never use your autoresponder to send unsolicited
commercial email!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
4 Things ALL Articles Must Have - Don't Forget!
The importance of articles in today’s websites and internet based companies are immeasurable. They dictate a lot in the success and the drive of traffic into one’s site. It has become a key element in making a site work and earns a profit. A website operator and owner must have the good sense to include articles in his or her site that will work for them and earn them the many benefits articles can give to their site.
Articles have been known to be the driving force in driving traffic to a website. Articles are a factor in giving site high rankings in search result pages. The higher a site ranks the bigger slice of the traffic flow pie he gets. With a huge number in traffic flow, there are more profits and more potential for other income generating schemes as well.
But, it is not just about stuffing your site with articles; they have certain requirements as well. These requirements must be met to obtain the maximum benefits an article will provide for your site. A well written article will catch the eyes and interest of your customers and keep them coming back for more. They would also be able to recommend your site to others.
Here are some tips to help you and assist you in making your articles. Below you will read about four things all articles must have to make it successful and helpful in making your site a profit earning and traffic overflowing site.
• Keywords and Keyword Phrases.
An article must always be centered on the keywords and keyword phrases. As each website visitor goes to a site, there are those who are just merely browsing but actually looking for a specific something. When this happens, a searcher usually goes to a search engine and types in the keywords they are looking for (e.g. Toyota Camry, Meningitis, Tax Lawyer and Etcetera). It could be anything they want.
The Important thing is that you have an article that has the keywords that are related to your site. For example, if you maintain an auto parts site, you must be able t have articles about cars and their parts. There are many tools in the internet that provides service in helping a webmaster out in determining what keywords and keyword phrases are mostly sought out. You can use this tool to determine what keywords to use and write about.
• Keyword Density
Know that you have your keywords and keyword phrases, you must use them fully. An article must have good keyword density for a search engine to “feel” its presence. Articles should at least have ten to fifteen percent of keyword density in their content for search engines to rank a site high in their search results. Getting a high rank is what articles do best for a site.
Keyword density is the number of times a keyword or keyword phrase is used on an article. The number varies depending on the number of words used in an article. An effective article must have a keyword density that is not too high or too low. With a very high density, the essence of the article is lost and may turn off a reader as well as the search engines. It comes off as overeager. A low number may be ignored by the search engines.
• Good Article Content
Like what is stated above, you cannot just riddle an article with keywords. They must also be regarded as good reading materials. Articles must be able to entertain people as well as provide good information and help for their needs. Articles should be written well with correct spelling and good grammar. If you want people to trust you, make your work good and well thought out.
People respond well to figures, facts and statistics. Try to get great information and as many facts as you can. A good and well written article will boost your reputation as an expert in your chosen field or topic. As more people believe in you. They will be able to trust you and your products.
• Linking Articles
And another important thing to remember. If you are going to submit articles to ezines and/or contribute your articles to newsletters and other sites, DON’T ever forget to include a link to your site. A little resource box with a brief description of your site and you should always be placed right after your articles that you have submitted. If people like your articles, they will most likely click on the link directing them to your site.
Articles have been known to be the driving force in driving traffic to a website. Articles are a factor in giving site high rankings in search result pages. The higher a site ranks the bigger slice of the traffic flow pie he gets. With a huge number in traffic flow, there are more profits and more potential for other income generating schemes as well.
But, it is not just about stuffing your site with articles; they have certain requirements as well. These requirements must be met to obtain the maximum benefits an article will provide for your site. A well written article will catch the eyes and interest of your customers and keep them coming back for more. They would also be able to recommend your site to others.
Here are some tips to help you and assist you in making your articles. Below you will read about four things all articles must have to make it successful and helpful in making your site a profit earning and traffic overflowing site.
• Keywords and Keyword Phrases.
An article must always be centered on the keywords and keyword phrases. As each website visitor goes to a site, there are those who are just merely browsing but actually looking for a specific something. When this happens, a searcher usually goes to a search engine and types in the keywords they are looking for (e.g. Toyota Camry, Meningitis, Tax Lawyer and Etcetera). It could be anything they want.
The Important thing is that you have an article that has the keywords that are related to your site. For example, if you maintain an auto parts site, you must be able t have articles about cars and their parts. There are many tools in the internet that provides service in helping a webmaster out in determining what keywords and keyword phrases are mostly sought out. You can use this tool to determine what keywords to use and write about.
• Keyword Density
Know that you have your keywords and keyword phrases, you must use them fully. An article must have good keyword density for a search engine to “feel” its presence. Articles should at least have ten to fifteen percent of keyword density in their content for search engines to rank a site high in their search results. Getting a high rank is what articles do best for a site.
Keyword density is the number of times a keyword or keyword phrase is used on an article. The number varies depending on the number of words used in an article. An effective article must have a keyword density that is not too high or too low. With a very high density, the essence of the article is lost and may turn off a reader as well as the search engines. It comes off as overeager. A low number may be ignored by the search engines.
• Good Article Content
Like what is stated above, you cannot just riddle an article with keywords. They must also be regarded as good reading materials. Articles must be able to entertain people as well as provide good information and help for their needs. Articles should be written well with correct spelling and good grammar. If you want people to trust you, make your work good and well thought out.
People respond well to figures, facts and statistics. Try to get great information and as many facts as you can. A good and well written article will boost your reputation as an expert in your chosen field or topic. As more people believe in you. They will be able to trust you and your products.
• Linking Articles
And another important thing to remember. If you are going to submit articles to ezines and/or contribute your articles to newsletters and other sites, DON’T ever forget to include a link to your site. A little resource box with a brief description of your site and you should always be placed right after your articles that you have submitted. If people like your articles, they will most likely click on the link directing them to your site.
Email Marketing Tips on Making a Clearer and Stronger Call to Action
A call to action is usually composed of two or three lines, possibly making up a single paragraph, which emphasizes the importance of information provided in the body and the need for the reader to perform the desired action. If your email newsletter focused, for instance, on your latest product then your call to action could be for readers to buy now before the promo period ends or maybe just to visit your website to learn more about your product.
Email Marketing Tips on Making a Clearer and Stronger Call to Action
Place it right after your concluding paragraph.
For strategic positioning, your call to action should be directly below your concluding paragraph. Your concluding paragraph contains the strongest points of your email as well as whatever conclusions you've drawn. With key points still fresh on your readers mind, you'll have an easier time achieving desired results if you issue your call to action right after.
Be specific.
Call to action doesn't need flowery and elaborate statements. Brevity, simplicity, and power are what you should focus on. Make your sentences short as this will create greater impact. Lastly, be precisely clear about what you wish them to do so there won't be any confusion about it.
Stick with one link.
Calls to action can become quite tedious if readers are asked to click multiple links. One or two links would do but links numbering four and up might be too much. If various links are however necessary then use the main pages link in your call to action. When they get there, that's when you can explain more about the other links. Remember: your call to action is still a part of your email newsletter and you want to retain its uniformity and cohesiveness till the end. Don't use your call to action to create a new letter within a letter.
Don't be afraid to use font effects.
There's nothing wrong about making your call to action more visible, but of course make sure that the distinctions you make are appropriate and appealing. You can underline and place the words click here in bold letters, maybe even change its font color, too.
Avoid using images.
Pictures may say a thousand words, but they don't always show up and that's going to be a big problem if you've got an image link serving as your call to action. As much as possible, avoid using images but if its necessary, make sure to double-check its links and provide a textual replacement just in case it doesn't show up.
Now you know how to make your call to action clearer and stronger, what are you waiting for? Go and make your readers do what you want!
Email Marketing Tips on Making a Clearer and Stronger Call to Action
Place it right after your concluding paragraph.
For strategic positioning, your call to action should be directly below your concluding paragraph. Your concluding paragraph contains the strongest points of your email as well as whatever conclusions you've drawn. With key points still fresh on your readers mind, you'll have an easier time achieving desired results if you issue your call to action right after.
Be specific.
Call to action doesn't need flowery and elaborate statements. Brevity, simplicity, and power are what you should focus on. Make your sentences short as this will create greater impact. Lastly, be precisely clear about what you wish them to do so there won't be any confusion about it.
Stick with one link.
Calls to action can become quite tedious if readers are asked to click multiple links. One or two links would do but links numbering four and up might be too much. If various links are however necessary then use the main pages link in your call to action. When they get there, that's when you can explain more about the other links. Remember: your call to action is still a part of your email newsletter and you want to retain its uniformity and cohesiveness till the end. Don't use your call to action to create a new letter within a letter.
Don't be afraid to use font effects.
There's nothing wrong about making your call to action more visible, but of course make sure that the distinctions you make are appropriate and appealing. You can underline and place the words click here in bold letters, maybe even change its font color, too.
Avoid using images.
Pictures may say a thousand words, but they don't always show up and that's going to be a big problem if you've got an image link serving as your call to action. As much as possible, avoid using images but if its necessary, make sure to double-check its links and provide a textual replacement just in case it doesn't show up.
Now you know how to make your call to action clearer and stronger, what are you waiting for? Go and make your readers do what you want!
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