Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2008 Bill Platt
John (and other newbie online marketers),
Let me ask you a question. Why would you ever send out an email that destroys your own credibility? Credibility is absolutely essential to the success of any company on the Internet. And yet, you lied to me in your email, multiple times.
Lies? Yes, that is a strong word. Would you prefer me to suggest that you exhibited "extreme ignorance"?
I know that you likely have some very clever software that you are using to construct and mail your sales offers to folks.
Your only salvation here is that I know you likely made only one mistake. You trusted your handy-dandy software package to take good care of your business interests.
But your software has failed you.
The first problem in your mailing appears in the first and second paragraphs.
"I was recently reviewing automobiles ezine sites in some of the major search engines and I came across your web site: www.thephantomwriters.com."
"After reviewing your site I found that we are both targeting the exact same market, though we are not in competition with each other."
It is obvious that you really did not review my website, or you would not have written your sales message as you did. But then again, I also know that your nifty little software package wrote the actual sales script for you.
Later in your message, you also said,
"I offer this partnership very selectively, so please do act fast if you wish to go ahead with this."
Here is another lie that your software's nifty little sales script tagged to "your reputation". If you were selective about who you offered this too, you would never have contacted me. After all, I only have about 20 pages related to the automotive industry - in more than 6000 pages on The Phantom Writers website.
The truth is that ThePhantomWriters.com is not an automotive website!!! It does not even have its own ezine!!!
But, you know what? I decided to check out your offer anyway, because I actually do own an automotive website at a different URL. I am always on the search for monetization offers for my various websites, so I gave you a shot.
At the beginning and end of your message, you referred to my "automotive website", and you offered an affiliate program to enable my "automotive ezine" to earn money.
The biggest disappointment I found in your message is that your affiliate program has absolutely nothing to do with automobiles or the automotive industry. Nope. You are soliciting me to sign up for an affiliate program, to sell web hosting services to my visitors!!! Yes, it is true that most website owners own cars, but not all car owners own websites!
John H. (last name withheld for obvious reasons), I have news for you. My company specializes in the creation of informational and tutorial-style articles and in the distribution of those articles to publishers on the World Wide Web, for the purpose of promoting my clients' websites.
You know what else John? In responding to your email, I just wrote my newest article. The good news is that you are going to be famous!!! The bad news is that you are going to be famous for all of the wrong reasons...
About the Author:
Bill Platt - Owner of http://thePhantomWriters.com
The Phantom Writers specializes in creating and distributing informational articles for the promotion of our clients' websites. Even if you write your own articles, we can help you out by distributing your articles to our network of ezine publishers, website owners, blog owners and newspaper websites. http://thephantomwriters.com/x.pl/tpw/info/nutshell.html
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I will seek to answer those questions here, as well as to provide a Day Planner to enable the new online entrepreneur to navigate the maze of building a successful online business. When I find great advice by other writers, I will include that information as well. --- Clinton Douglas IV, Founder of Vasrue.com |
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Increasing Your Targeted Traffic
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2007-2008 Casey Moher
There are dozens of good ways to send people to your website. These methods come with a wide variety of results and difficulty. Attempting various methods and studying the results has been a focus of mine. I'll review one of my favorites for you.
Offer something FREE to your visitors.
There is a high perceived value on the part of your visitor if you can provide them with useful information. By capturing and sharing this free information, you can make somebody's life better and easier in many regards.
It's simply human-nature that you must constantly work to over-come a basic mis-trust on the part of your visitor. This level of mis-trust MUST be overcome before you can succeed in your efforts.
Your focus should be to find and share valuable information. Finding (and sharing) information on-line is the quickest and most effective. It doesn't take much search time before you will be discovering subjects and information that folks want to know. This shows you the topics that are being inquired upon and which you will want to include in the information you give away.
One strategy you can employ is to share the information in the form of a multi-day mini-course that people can receive from you. Make the information package you send be of top-quality for maximum results. A little more time and attention at this point will have tremendous benefit in the value of your subscriber list. It costs much less than you might think to do this.
You will be offering to share this information in exchange for your visitor's name and e-mail address. A 'squeeze page' is the best tool to use for capturing this information. A squeeze-page is simply a basic website that presents your message offering the information.
Some very professional design work is available at affordable prices these days. Your own squeeze page can be up and capturing names for you in a very quick time.
If you would like to have your own squeeze page up and running, let me know. This is a great starting point in establishing your own highly-profitable list.
With care, your subscriber list can be cultivated and a long-term relationship built with the members. You can build a very rewarding and long-lasting enterprise by steadily and thoughtfully putting these concepts to work.
Like any offline business, you are providing genuine value to your customers who have grown to trust your motives and your interest in helping them. You can be paid very well in the process.
The best strategy in any relationship-selling environment is one where you give before ever trying to take. As with other strategies, here, again you are providing something of value free to the reader. This time it is in a different format and is made available to the reader using different tools and strategies. Quality in what you provide and how you provide it is essential, easy and inexpensive.
A focus on providing information to the people you wish to reach should be foremost in your mind. They will be willing to buy something from you (now or in the future) only if they first perceive that you have something they need or want. The biggest obstacle you will always face with new readers is one of NO TRUST! Providing something free is a great way to start building it. Valuable information can be found readily on the internet. You also likely have more information and knowledge of your own than you realize. There are many sources of information where you can find topics of interest to huge numbers of people.
The article should inform, educate and even enthuse the reader, but should NOT sell something. Your articles are not the place to sell some product or service. It is their job to inform and establish your credibility and TRUST! Your key marketing tool with the article publishing strategy is found in using a resource box. This is simply an area at the end describing who you are and giving your website address where they can visit and benefit by what you offer there.
I've seen a tremendous piece of software in action that automates the process of article-writing. This tool merges blocks of words, uses a 30,000 word thesaurus and manges data bases, as well. There is some new software out there (along with people-run businesses) that helps with article production as well as distribution.
Article writing and publishing should be part of an on-going strategy. Computers and professional service companies make this vital function much easier. If you want more information on these useful tools (or anything else in this article), just contact me.
About the Author:
Casey Moher - Caseymoher@comcast.net (801) 941-3334
Mr. Moher is a Registered Pharmacist and Life-Long Marketing and Sales Professional. You Can Get His Free Five-Day Mini-Course on Building Targeted Website Traffic by visiting: http://www.newtrafficmaster.com
Copyright © 2007-2008 Casey Moher
There are dozens of good ways to send people to your website. These methods come with a wide variety of results and difficulty. Attempting various methods and studying the results has been a focus of mine. I'll review one of my favorites for you.
Offer something FREE to your visitors.
There is a high perceived value on the part of your visitor if you can provide them with useful information. By capturing and sharing this free information, you can make somebody's life better and easier in many regards.
It's simply human-nature that you must constantly work to over-come a basic mis-trust on the part of your visitor. This level of mis-trust MUST be overcome before you can succeed in your efforts.
Your focus should be to find and share valuable information. Finding (and sharing) information on-line is the quickest and most effective. It doesn't take much search time before you will be discovering subjects and information that folks want to know. This shows you the topics that are being inquired upon and which you will want to include in the information you give away.
One strategy you can employ is to share the information in the form of a multi-day mini-course that people can receive from you. Make the information package you send be of top-quality for maximum results. A little more time and attention at this point will have tremendous benefit in the value of your subscriber list. It costs much less than you might think to do this.
You will be offering to share this information in exchange for your visitor's name and e-mail address. A 'squeeze page' is the best tool to use for capturing this information. A squeeze-page is simply a basic website that presents your message offering the information.
Some very professional design work is available at affordable prices these days. Your own squeeze page can be up and capturing names for you in a very quick time.
If you would like to have your own squeeze page up and running, let me know. This is a great starting point in establishing your own highly-profitable list.
With care, your subscriber list can be cultivated and a long-term relationship built with the members. You can build a very rewarding and long-lasting enterprise by steadily and thoughtfully putting these concepts to work.
Like any offline business, you are providing genuine value to your customers who have grown to trust your motives and your interest in helping them. You can be paid very well in the process.
The best strategy in any relationship-selling environment is one where you give before ever trying to take. As with other strategies, here, again you are providing something of value free to the reader. This time it is in a different format and is made available to the reader using different tools and strategies. Quality in what you provide and how you provide it is essential, easy and inexpensive.
A focus on providing information to the people you wish to reach should be foremost in your mind. They will be willing to buy something from you (now or in the future) only if they first perceive that you have something they need or want. The biggest obstacle you will always face with new readers is one of NO TRUST! Providing something free is a great way to start building it. Valuable information can be found readily on the internet. You also likely have more information and knowledge of your own than you realize. There are many sources of information where you can find topics of interest to huge numbers of people.
The article should inform, educate and even enthuse the reader, but should NOT sell something. Your articles are not the place to sell some product or service. It is their job to inform and establish your credibility and TRUST! Your key marketing tool with the article publishing strategy is found in using a resource box. This is simply an area at the end describing who you are and giving your website address where they can visit and benefit by what you offer there.
I've seen a tremendous piece of software in action that automates the process of article-writing. This tool merges blocks of words, uses a 30,000 word thesaurus and manges data bases, as well. There is some new software out there (along with people-run businesses) that helps with article production as well as distribution.
Article writing and publishing should be part of an on-going strategy. Computers and professional service companies make this vital function much easier. If you want more information on these useful tools (or anything else in this article), just contact me.
About the Author:
Casey Moher - Caseymoher@comcast.net (801) 941-3334
Mr. Moher is a Registered Pharmacist and Life-Long Marketing and Sales Professional. You Can Get His Free Five-Day Mini-Course on Building Targeted Website Traffic by visiting: http://www.newtrafficmaster.com
Saturday, July 12, 2008
How To Line Your Own Pockets With Cash From A Product Developed By Experts That Is Already In High Demand!
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2007-2008 Casey Moher
To have a successful online business, many individual components must come together to work as a machine. You can find many products out there that can be great cash-generators for you.
Typically, the scenario when somebody is producing a product is that they will start by doing a bundle of market research. On-line marketers who wish to develop their own product must research the demand for what they envision.
You can accomplish the same thing by taking a marked shift in your approach. A clever and very strategic approach!
What if you could find a product already in existence that had a track-record of sales success? What a great business approach you now have available with all the product sales statistics at your fingertips as you move through the selection process. Choose whichever product you wish from among thousands.
People today want information that can improve their income, their free-time activities, travel, education and a myriad of other areas. You now have available a huge on-line warehouse of these products.
These products are managed by a company that does the lion's share of selling in this massive market. The producers of these information-based products actively seek to have people sell them.
You can actually enjoy a profit of 50% to 75% of the sales price on products you choose to work with using these methods.
A huge amount of groundwork has been accomplished for you. You simply choose which products best meet your area of interest, and which ones you think will do the best job for you. Here are the product criteria I find to be important.
The first thing to consider is choosing a product that solves a problem. Secondly, pick a product that you would own and use. A strong sales letter together with great marketing support materials is important, too. You want to choose a product well ranked in popularity as well as a product that carries a lot of testimonials that the owner has included with the marketing information.
Of course, you want as a product choice one that has a very attractive commission schedule.
Make a practice of actually buying and using the product you choose. If you have first-hand experience with how your product helped you, your customers will have more trust in what you say.
A company that does all this can be found in one stop at: http://www.clickbank.com
Spend some time at this website so you can appreciate the products available to you for your use. At this site, you will also find rankings of all products so you can locate the best ones.
You can set yourself up as an affiliate very quickly and easily. As quickly as you establish your affiliate account you are in position to benefit from each customer that visits and acts on your site. You simply register to get a user name (also known as a nickname) established with clickbank.
With that nickname you are established to get credit for all the sales of any and all products that you choose for your project. More than 10,000 products are yours from which to choose.
You can earn an amazing 75% on some products. Clickbank is noted for its very sellable products which means they amplify your marketing efforts.
The 'product warehouse' company keeps track of everything and makes sure the product-owners pay what you are owed.
For a very reasonable price these days, you can get your own website established. You can get visitors to your site as soon as it's ready where they can learn about the product you have chosen for them to buy.
About the Author:
Casey Moher - Caseymoher@comcast.net (801) 941-3334
Mr. Moher is a Registered Pharmacist and Life-Long Marketing and Sales Professional. You Can Get His Free Five-Day Mini-Course on Building Targeted Website Traffic by visiting: http://www.newtrafficmaster.com
Copyright © 2007-2008 Casey Moher
To have a successful online business, many individual components must come together to work as a machine. You can find many products out there that can be great cash-generators for you.
Typically, the scenario when somebody is producing a product is that they will start by doing a bundle of market research. On-line marketers who wish to develop their own product must research the demand for what they envision.
You can accomplish the same thing by taking a marked shift in your approach. A clever and very strategic approach!
What if you could find a product already in existence that had a track-record of sales success? What a great business approach you now have available with all the product sales statistics at your fingertips as you move through the selection process. Choose whichever product you wish from among thousands.
People today want information that can improve their income, their free-time activities, travel, education and a myriad of other areas. You now have available a huge on-line warehouse of these products.
These products are managed by a company that does the lion's share of selling in this massive market. The producers of these information-based products actively seek to have people sell them.
You can actually enjoy a profit of 50% to 75% of the sales price on products you choose to work with using these methods.
A huge amount of groundwork has been accomplished for you. You simply choose which products best meet your area of interest, and which ones you think will do the best job for you. Here are the product criteria I find to be important.
The first thing to consider is choosing a product that solves a problem. Secondly, pick a product that you would own and use. A strong sales letter together with great marketing support materials is important, too. You want to choose a product well ranked in popularity as well as a product that carries a lot of testimonials that the owner has included with the marketing information.
Of course, you want as a product choice one that has a very attractive commission schedule.
Make a practice of actually buying and using the product you choose. If you have first-hand experience with how your product helped you, your customers will have more trust in what you say.
A company that does all this can be found in one stop at: http://www.clickbank.com
Spend some time at this website so you can appreciate the products available to you for your use. At this site, you will also find rankings of all products so you can locate the best ones.
You can set yourself up as an affiliate very quickly and easily. As quickly as you establish your affiliate account you are in position to benefit from each customer that visits and acts on your site. You simply register to get a user name (also known as a nickname) established with clickbank.
With that nickname you are established to get credit for all the sales of any and all products that you choose for your project. More than 10,000 products are yours from which to choose.
You can earn an amazing 75% on some products. Clickbank is noted for its very sellable products which means they amplify your marketing efforts.
The 'product warehouse' company keeps track of everything and makes sure the product-owners pay what you are owed.
For a very reasonable price these days, you can get your own website established. You can get visitors to your site as soon as it's ready where they can learn about the product you have chosen for them to buy.
About the Author:
Casey Moher - Caseymoher@comcast.net (801) 941-3334
Mr. Moher is a Registered Pharmacist and Life-Long Marketing and Sales Professional. You Can Get His Free Five-Day Mini-Course on Building Targeted Website Traffic by visiting: http://www.newtrafficmaster.com
Friday, July 11, 2008
Peak Cycles Are Driven by Timely Content
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2004-2008 Bill Platt
(Revised for 2008) The very first time I had ever experienced this phenomena online was in December of 1996. In those way-back days, I ran a site focused on selling Christian t-shirts. Back then, I had posted Christian-based poetry on my website to draw traffic to the domain. Over the two days leading up to Christmas and the two days following Christmas, I had served as much traffic as I had in the previous nine months of existence!
Fast-forward to April 15th, 2004. I currently have more than one dozen articles on my website dealing with 401k retirement funds and 401k tax issues. These articles are the third most frequented topic on my site as the traffic is generated from the search engines. Beginning on April 12th, my site traffic started to climb beyond its average level. It then peaked on April 15th. Of course, the vast majority of this traffic was visiting my site to find my tax related content.
Although the traffic to these tax resources comes from many sites beyond just the search engines, as many people have linked to these articles, one site in particular is a tax-related site for one of my article distribution clients. My client had decided to leave his articles off of his site, and to link to his articles on my domain. Between April 12th and April 15th, my site received 448 unique visitors from my client's domain alone. (http://www.investsafe.com/articles.html) On the April 15th 2004, my site served 90% more visitors than is average on any given day. Four years later in April of 2008, the tax articles on my website generated another 600 visitors to my website, during the tax-time window.
So the lesson I have learned here is that if I have date targeted materials on my site for several different dates, I can actually draw more people to my site during these peak time periods. While the time-dated traffic may not generate immediate sales, it will allow me to garner more name recognition in the marketplace. Over the long haul, this extra recognition serves to generate more referral traffic that has proven to be the foundation for the longevity of my business model.
About the Author:
Bill Platt has been engaged in article marketing since 1999 and has offered his services to others since 2001 as a article marketing service provider. He offers article ghost writing and article distribution services, to his clients, many of whom have been with him since early 2002: http://www.thephantomwriters.com He has written an ebook to teach people how to be as successful with article marketing as he has been. Bill's Article Marketing ebook has received many excellent reviews. More Article Marketing Tips.
Copyright © 2004-2008 Bill Platt
(Revised for 2008) The very first time I had ever experienced this phenomena online was in December of 1996. In those way-back days, I ran a site focused on selling Christian t-shirts. Back then, I had posted Christian-based poetry on my website to draw traffic to the domain. Over the two days leading up to Christmas and the two days following Christmas, I had served as much traffic as I had in the previous nine months of existence!
Fast-forward to April 15th, 2004. I currently have more than one dozen articles on my website dealing with 401k retirement funds and 401k tax issues. These articles are the third most frequented topic on my site as the traffic is generated from the search engines. Beginning on April 12th, my site traffic started to climb beyond its average level. It then peaked on April 15th. Of course, the vast majority of this traffic was visiting my site to find my tax related content.
Although the traffic to these tax resources comes from many sites beyond just the search engines, as many people have linked to these articles, one site in particular is a tax-related site for one of my article distribution clients. My client had decided to leave his articles off of his site, and to link to his articles on my domain. Between April 12th and April 15th, my site received 448 unique visitors from my client's domain alone. (http://www.investsafe.com/articles.html) On the April 15th 2004, my site served 90% more visitors than is average on any given day. Four years later in April of 2008, the tax articles on my website generated another 600 visitors to my website, during the tax-time window.
So the lesson I have learned here is that if I have date targeted materials on my site for several different dates, I can actually draw more people to my site during these peak time periods. While the time-dated traffic may not generate immediate sales, it will allow me to garner more name recognition in the marketplace. Over the long haul, this extra recognition serves to generate more referral traffic that has proven to be the foundation for the longevity of my business model.
About the Author:
Bill Platt has been engaged in article marketing since 1999 and has offered his services to others since 2001 as a article marketing service provider. He offers article ghost writing and article distribution services, to his clients, many of whom have been with him since early 2002: http://www.thephantomwriters.com He has written an ebook to teach people how to be as successful with article marketing as he has been. Bill's Article Marketing ebook has received many excellent reviews. More Article Marketing Tips.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Increase Your Website Traffic By Selling A Proven, Top-Selling Product That Already Has Massive Sales!
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2007-2008 Casey Moher
Your internet marketing business pivots around several key ingredients that make it hum. Today I'd like to share techniques for getting the actual product that you can sell online.
People who produce their own products must research things very well. On-line marketers who wish to develop their own product must research the demand for what they envision.
There is a completely different approach to this that I teach in my free on-line 5-day course. This is an approach that makes all the difference in what you do.
What you are going to do before you ever select a product is to know how well it sells, how popular it is, and what people are willing to pay for it. What a great business approach you now have available with all the product sales statistics at your fingertips as you move through the selection process. The choice is yours as to which product of the thousands availale you would like to have.
There is a huge demand for products that can give people information on how to make their lives better. A huge on-line warehouse is available to you for product selection.
These products are managed by a company that does the lion's share of selling in this massive market. The producers of these information-based products actively seek to have people sell them.
Product owners can be quite generous, paying you up to 75% in many cases.
A huge amount of groundwork has been accomplished for you. The fun part is in choosing a product that interests you and that you feel will do the best job for you. You should use the product criteria I like to consider when I am choosing the next project that I want to work on.
Look for a product that solves a problem people have. Additionally, focus on a product that you would like to have yourself. Look for a product with a good, compelling sales letter and other exciting sales materials. Look for testimonials from satisfied customers as well as popularity rankings of the product you are considering.
You should take note of the commissions available and go for 50% minimum.
Make a practice of actually buying and using the product you choose. Your customers will be more convinced that it's a good idea to buy your product if you can say how well it helped you do something better.
A company that does all this can be found in one stop at: http://www.clickbank.com
Spend some time at this website so you can appreciate the products available to you for your use. At this site, you will also find rankings of all products so you can locate the best ones.
It's a very simple matter for you to establish yourself as an affiliate. As quickly as you establish your affiliate account you are in position to benefit from each customer that visits and acts on your site. You simply register to get a user name (also known as a nickname) established with clickbank.
With that nickname you are established to get credit for all the sales of any and all products that you choose for your project. More than 10,000 products are yours from which to choose.
You can earn an amazing 75% on some products. Clickbank has high converting products which drive a high return on your marketing efforts.
The 'product warehouse' company keeps track of everything and makes sure the product-owners pay what you are owed.
You can get your own web site established for a very reasonable price these days. Get your site set up and people can go there right away and learn about your product.
About the Author:
Casey Moher - Caseymoher@comcast.net (801) 941-3334
Mr. Moher is a Registered Pharmacist and Life-Long Marketing and Sales Professional. You Can Get His Free Five-Day Mini-Course on Building Targeted Website Traffic by visiting: http://www.newtrafficmaster.com
Copyright © 2007-2008 Casey Moher
Your internet marketing business pivots around several key ingredients that make it hum. Today I'd like to share techniques for getting the actual product that you can sell online.
People who produce their own products must research things very well. On-line marketers who wish to develop their own product must research the demand for what they envision.
There is a completely different approach to this that I teach in my free on-line 5-day course. This is an approach that makes all the difference in what you do.
What you are going to do before you ever select a product is to know how well it sells, how popular it is, and what people are willing to pay for it. What a great business approach you now have available with all the product sales statistics at your fingertips as you move through the selection process. The choice is yours as to which product of the thousands availale you would like to have.
There is a huge demand for products that can give people information on how to make their lives better. A huge on-line warehouse is available to you for product selection.
These products are managed by a company that does the lion's share of selling in this massive market. The producers of these information-based products actively seek to have people sell them.
Product owners can be quite generous, paying you up to 75% in many cases.
A huge amount of groundwork has been accomplished for you. The fun part is in choosing a product that interests you and that you feel will do the best job for you. You should use the product criteria I like to consider when I am choosing the next project that I want to work on.
Look for a product that solves a problem people have. Additionally, focus on a product that you would like to have yourself. Look for a product with a good, compelling sales letter and other exciting sales materials. Look for testimonials from satisfied customers as well as popularity rankings of the product you are considering.
You should take note of the commissions available and go for 50% minimum.
Make a practice of actually buying and using the product you choose. Your customers will be more convinced that it's a good idea to buy your product if you can say how well it helped you do something better.
A company that does all this can be found in one stop at: http://www.clickbank.com
Spend some time at this website so you can appreciate the products available to you for your use. At this site, you will also find rankings of all products so you can locate the best ones.
It's a very simple matter for you to establish yourself as an affiliate. As quickly as you establish your affiliate account you are in position to benefit from each customer that visits and acts on your site. You simply register to get a user name (also known as a nickname) established with clickbank.
With that nickname you are established to get credit for all the sales of any and all products that you choose for your project. More than 10,000 products are yours from which to choose.
You can earn an amazing 75% on some products. Clickbank has high converting products which drive a high return on your marketing efforts.
The 'product warehouse' company keeps track of everything and makes sure the product-owners pay what you are owed.
You can get your own web site established for a very reasonable price these days. Get your site set up and people can go there right away and learn about your product.
About the Author:
Casey Moher - Caseymoher@comcast.net (801) 941-3334
Mr. Moher is a Registered Pharmacist and Life-Long Marketing and Sales Professional. You Can Get His Free Five-Day Mini-Course on Building Targeted Website Traffic by visiting: http://www.newtrafficmaster.com
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Guaranteed Search Engine Rankings: Busting The Myth
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2008 Bill Platt
There are many companies on the Internet, who are promising that if you give them lots of money, they will guarantee you top rankings in the search engines. Buyer Beware!!!
Let Me Cut To The Chase
We all want to be on page one of Google's search engine results (SERPs). After all, the higher our websites rank in Google, the more money we will make. Every single one of us who have built commercial websites are looking to make money and perhaps even to get rich doing whatever it is we do at our websites.
But just because you and I both want to be on page one of Google's SERPs, does not mean you or I will be on page one of the results. Think about this objectively: no matter who we are or what we do, we are typically challenging thousands or millions of other web pages in our niche, for the keywords that we hope will make us rich.
Understanding Search Engine Results
There are actually two sets of listings in the search engines.
On the left, you will see the "organic listings", which by definition are free;
On the right hand side of the page in the search engine results, you will find the "Pay-Per-Click listings" (PPC). Placement in the PPC listings is an auction environment. The highest bidder on a keyword will be in the top spot in the PPC results. The second highest bid will hold the second spot, etc.
Comparing Organic and Pay-Per-Click Listings
Those who wish to rank in the organic search results will need to employ Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques to improve his or her rankings. There are literally hundreds of SEO companies, who specialize in helping its clients climb in the "organic" search result listings. But, SEO is a time-consuming process that requires the efforts of specialists, who have actual knowledge and skills in manipulating the search engine results. Here is what Google has to say about this practice and its accompanying industry.
Those who wish to employ paid search listings (PPC), which can frequently be much cheaper than getting to the top of the organic listings, will utilize one of the following services:
Google Adwords (http://adwords.google.com)
Yahoo Search Marketing (http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com)
7 Search (http://7search.com/advertise/)
ISEDN is a bit different than the other search advertising networks. First off, they do not charge a fee for each click. Instead, they charge a quarterly placement fee. Also, instead of representing one large search engine, their ads appear on 225+ smaller search engines. (http://www.isedn.org/)
Organic listings are best if you can get them, because they will deliver free traffic to your website, sometimes for years. On the other hand, given the cost of developing organic rankings, it often makes more sense to pay a little bit each month for PPC search traffic, rather than to pay thousands per month, sometimes for years, just to break into the top few pages of the organic search results.
Some Real-World Perspective
To get your website into page one of the organic search results, can be a daunting process. To put this into perspective, I ran some popular keywords through Google to see how many search results would be found. Here we go:
travel - 1,410,000,000 results
HDTV televisions - 2,310,000
hybrid cars - 15,700,000
homes for sale - 96,000,000
real estate agents - 72,100,000
divorce attorneys - 1,640,000
cancer treatments - 3,610,000
credit card applications - 7,520,000
credit report - 51,700,000
With 1.4 Billion (with a "B", not a "M") pages vying for page one results in Google for the word "travel", and 72 million pages struggling to be seen in Google for the search term "real estate agents", is it any wonder that the people in many industries are struggling to be seen online?
If your competitors are struggling to be at the top of the search results, so will you, unless you have extremely deep pockets. With that having been said, there are some industries where getting to page one will take an investment of millions, and then there still are No Guarantees that you will succeed in your endeavor.
There Is More Than One Way To Skin A Cat
At the end of each day, only ten websites will ever be on page one of the organic search results. But, pay-per-click lets anyone who has some money to spend, to break into page one of the search results.
Depending on your bank account and your business model, SEO or PPC may be the answer to getting people to visit your website and to buy what you are selling. Depending on your keywords, the ISEDN advertising opportunity may make more sense. I have used the ISEDN network (http://www.isedb.org), and I still do use them for some of my own advertising.
But when all is said and done, what matters is for you to get your advertising message in front of the people most likely to buy what you are selling.
My Advertising Model Of Choice
In my years online, I have always turned to article marketing to get my sales message in front of the people most likely to buy my products or services.
Case in point. You are reading an article that I have written, to speak to those people who are looking for ways to advertise their business online. And at the end of this article, you will see what is called a "resource box" or the "about the author information". The resource box, at the end of this article, is my advertisement for my business.
If you reach the end of this article and you read my resource box, then I will have succeeded in getting you (someone in my target audience) to read my advertisement. If you click the link in the resource box, then I will have succeeded in getting a potential client to visit my website. And finally, if you buy my products or services, then my website will have accomplished its purpose - to turn its visitors into buyers.
The interesting truth is - and few people will point this out to you - if you click the link below and visit my website, then you will have reached my website without actually passing through a search engine to get to it. That is the beauty of article marketing - you can use this advertising model to reach your target audience, regardless of how well or how badly you rank in the search engines.
In Conclusion
There is only one company who can guarantee you top rankings in Google, and that company is Google. Although Google could guarantee you top rankings in their search results, they won't do it; not for any amount of money.
So when you see some other company making pie-in-the-sky promises about how they can "guarantee your search engine rankings", get a solid grasp on your wallet and run... the other way... fast...
About the Author:
Bill Platt has written 100+ articles to promote his business online... Why? Because article marketing works miracles, for those people who actually seek to educate their readers. Bill has provided ghost writing and article distribution services to his clients, since 2001, at: http://www.thephantomwriters.com/ In 2007, Bill wrote an ebook to teach people how to duplicate his article writing success, by teaching folks how to write articles that attract publishers and readers, traffic, sales and profits: http://thephantomwriters.com/ebooks/article-marketing-traffic.html
Copyright © 2008 Bill Platt
There are many companies on the Internet, who are promising that if you give them lots of money, they will guarantee you top rankings in the search engines. Buyer Beware!!!
Let Me Cut To The Chase
We all want to be on page one of Google's search engine results (SERPs). After all, the higher our websites rank in Google, the more money we will make. Every single one of us who have built commercial websites are looking to make money and perhaps even to get rich doing whatever it is we do at our websites.
But just because you and I both want to be on page one of Google's SERPs, does not mean you or I will be on page one of the results. Think about this objectively: no matter who we are or what we do, we are typically challenging thousands or millions of other web pages in our niche, for the keywords that we hope will make us rich.
Understanding Search Engine Results
There are actually two sets of listings in the search engines.
Comparing Organic and Pay-Per-Click Listings
Those who wish to rank in the organic search results will need to employ Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques to improve his or her rankings. There are literally hundreds of SEO companies, who specialize in helping its clients climb in the "organic" search result listings. But, SEO is a time-consuming process that requires the efforts of specialists, who have actual knowledge and skills in manipulating the search engine results. Here is what Google has to say about this practice and its accompanying industry.
Those who wish to employ paid search listings (PPC), which can frequently be much cheaper than getting to the top of the organic listings, will utilize one of the following services:
Organic listings are best if you can get them, because they will deliver free traffic to your website, sometimes for years. On the other hand, given the cost of developing organic rankings, it often makes more sense to pay a little bit each month for PPC search traffic, rather than to pay thousands per month, sometimes for years, just to break into the top few pages of the organic search results.
Some Real-World Perspective
To get your website into page one of the organic search results, can be a daunting process. To put this into perspective, I ran some popular keywords through Google to see how many search results would be found. Here we go:
With 1.4 Billion (with a "B", not a "M") pages vying for page one results in Google for the word "travel", and 72 million pages struggling to be seen in Google for the search term "real estate agents", is it any wonder that the people in many industries are struggling to be seen online?
If your competitors are struggling to be at the top of the search results, so will you, unless you have extremely deep pockets. With that having been said, there are some industries where getting to page one will take an investment of millions, and then there still are No Guarantees that you will succeed in your endeavor.
There Is More Than One Way To Skin A Cat
At the end of each day, only ten websites will ever be on page one of the organic search results. But, pay-per-click lets anyone who has some money to spend, to break into page one of the search results.
Depending on your bank account and your business model, SEO or PPC may be the answer to getting people to visit your website and to buy what you are selling. Depending on your keywords, the ISEDN advertising opportunity may make more sense. I have used the ISEDN network (http://www.isedb.org), and I still do use them for some of my own advertising.
But when all is said and done, what matters is for you to get your advertising message in front of the people most likely to buy what you are selling.
My Advertising Model Of Choice
In my years online, I have always turned to article marketing to get my sales message in front of the people most likely to buy my products or services.
Case in point. You are reading an article that I have written, to speak to those people who are looking for ways to advertise their business online. And at the end of this article, you will see what is called a "resource box" or the "about the author information". The resource box, at the end of this article, is my advertisement for my business.
If you reach the end of this article and you read my resource box, then I will have succeeded in getting you (someone in my target audience) to read my advertisement. If you click the link in the resource box, then I will have succeeded in getting a potential client to visit my website. And finally, if you buy my products or services, then my website will have accomplished its purpose - to turn its visitors into buyers.
The interesting truth is - and few people will point this out to you - if you click the link below and visit my website, then you will have reached my website without actually passing through a search engine to get to it. That is the beauty of article marketing - you can use this advertising model to reach your target audience, regardless of how well or how badly you rank in the search engines.
In Conclusion
There is only one company who can guarantee you top rankings in Google, and that company is Google. Although Google could guarantee you top rankings in their search results, they won't do it; not for any amount of money.
So when you see some other company making pie-in-the-sky promises about how they can "guarantee your search engine rankings", get a solid grasp on your wallet and run... the other way... fast...
About the Author:
Bill Platt has written 100+ articles to promote his business online... Why? Because article marketing works miracles, for those people who actually seek to educate their readers. Bill has provided ghost writing and article distribution services to his clients, since 2001, at: http://www.thephantomwriters.com/ In 2007, Bill wrote an ebook to teach people how to duplicate his article writing success, by teaching folks how to write articles that attract publishers and readers, traffic, sales and profits: http://thephantomwriters.com/ebooks/article-marketing-traffic.html
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
How To Measure The Effectiveness Of Your Article Marketing Campaigns
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2008 Bill Platt
I frequently rant on Internet marketing and some of the gurus who try to bend your ear. Why? Because many of these so-called gurus trash everything that makes sense in this Internet world, especially when they realize that they cannot make money from the techniques being recommended.
I don't preach marketing concepts solely for the purpose of selling my products and services. (If you happen to buy my products or services, then awesome, but that is not my point when I share information from my SEO and other marketing campaigns.) I preach the concepts that I have used for myself successfully. Either you can trust me and test the things I recommend, or you can listen to the gurus and drown yourself in pity, when you realize you are not finding the success you seek.
I present things in such a way that anyone can actually go out and try my suggestions on their own, with or without my help. I want you to at least try what I suggest. I don't want you to try once, but I want you to commit yourself giving the suggested methods a chance to work for you.
Yes, I preach article marketing in connection with building link popularity value for your website (and I operate an article marketing company). But, I am not the only article marketing company out there. So, it remains possible for you to employ my article marketing techniques, without actually using my services specifically. (If you want to use my services, great, but you don't have to do so.)
Frequently, new customers come along and say, "Bill, I am going to try this once. If it works out for me, I will be back." My response is often, "Dude, you are selling yourself short, when you do something just once!"
As a person who has only written one article, you are just one in thousands of uncommitted, wannabe article writers. Your article may very likely be overlooked, because the publishers do not yet know your name or why they should care that you are writing articles.
When publishers have seen your name, 3, 4 or 10 times, then they are more likely to open your articles to see if they like your writing style and to see why they should pay attention to your message. Once publishers begin to pay attention to what you write, then publishers will open more of your articles, and perhaps publish your articles more frequently.
When you do a one-time out article, you are riding solely on a prayer, for success. (I am not in the prayer business - please see your pastor for that service.) But, if you can commit yourself to ten articles, your chance for article marketing success has been improved tenfold.
The first thing that needs to happen for article marketing to work for the promotion of your website is for you to create great content that other people want to publish. Then you must get noticed by the (ezine and website) publishers that will want to publish your articles. Once you have an audience, don't let them down --- keep giving them more content so that they can turn to you always.
To express this point, let me share a couple names with you. How many of you have heard of Willie Crawford? Willie has written and distributed 123 articles through my program, and he has 140,000 search results for his name in Google (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22willie+crawford%22).
My friend Clinton Douglas IV has written and distributed 36 articles. Google credits him with 17,500 mentions in the Google search results for his name (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22clinton+douglas+iv%22).
Both of these gentlemen suggest that they rely primarily upon articles to build their presence online. Of course, Willie is somewhat of an exception, since he has his fingers in so many pies. But, Willie still attributes much of his success to article marketing.
When it is time to measure your article marketing success, you should never go to Google's public search results and pull a simple search for your name or a link:yourdomainurl.com search. You should not even go to Yahoo's Site Explorer to find the same inforamtion.
Instead of relying on the public records for inbound link counts, you should register your website in Google's Webmaster Tools control panel at: http://www.google.com/webmasters
On the public side of Google, my site shows 33 inbound links (http://www.google.com/search?q=link%3Athephantomwriters.com) and Yahoo Site Explorer credits me with 1,478 inbound links. But, inside of Google's Webmaster Tools, I have +10,000 inbound links according to Google's records. I am not going to divulge exactly how many inbound links I have (according to Google's Webmaster Tools), but even I was surprised by the strength of my link counts.
The fact is that Google will only show you a really small sampling of the inbound links for your website, and while Yahoo is more free with this information, they also fail to show anything more than just a small snippet of the number of links you will actually have for your website.
So, if you are truly interested in learning the value that you created with your article marketing campaign, you absolutely have to login to Google's Webmaster Tools to get to the truth of the matter.
But, building links is just one facet of a successful article marketing campaign. There is also the reputation you build for yourself when you teach your readers something of real value in your articles. There is the consistent traffic you can receive to your website when your article is published on a website that has a regular audience. And there is the surges of traffic you can receive to your website when your article is published in a large newsletter.
I have always tried to play straight with folks, so please take this advice as it is intended. If you are only going to do one article to see where article marketing can take you, spend your money on paid advertising instead. But, if you really believe that those of us who have written hundreds of articles do so, because this marketing method works, then make a serious commitment to seeing an article marketing campaign through to success.
About the Author:
Bill Platt has been providing article marketing to his clients since 2001 at: http://www.thephantomwriters.com/ He offers ghost writing and article distribution services. With lots of experience writing articles that attract publishers, readers, traffic and sales to his website, Bill wrote an ebook to share the secrets of his article writing success that can be found at: http://thephantomwriters.com/ebooks/article-marketing-traffic.html
Copyright © 2008 Bill Platt
I frequently rant on Internet marketing and some of the gurus who try to bend your ear. Why? Because many of these so-called gurus trash everything that makes sense in this Internet world, especially when they realize that they cannot make money from the techniques being recommended.
I don't preach marketing concepts solely for the purpose of selling my products and services. (If you happen to buy my products or services, then awesome, but that is not my point when I share information from my SEO and other marketing campaigns.) I preach the concepts that I have used for myself successfully. Either you can trust me and test the things I recommend, or you can listen to the gurus and drown yourself in pity, when you realize you are not finding the success you seek.
I present things in such a way that anyone can actually go out and try my suggestions on their own, with or without my help. I want you to at least try what I suggest. I don't want you to try once, but I want you to commit yourself giving the suggested methods a chance to work for you.
Yes, I preach article marketing in connection with building link popularity value for your website (and I operate an article marketing company). But, I am not the only article marketing company out there. So, it remains possible for you to employ my article marketing techniques, without actually using my services specifically. (If you want to use my services, great, but you don't have to do so.)
Frequently, new customers come along and say, "Bill, I am going to try this once. If it works out for me, I will be back." My response is often, "Dude, you are selling yourself short, when you do something just once!"
As a person who has only written one article, you are just one in thousands of uncommitted, wannabe article writers. Your article may very likely be overlooked, because the publishers do not yet know your name or why they should care that you are writing articles.
When publishers have seen your name, 3, 4 or 10 times, then they are more likely to open your articles to see if they like your writing style and to see why they should pay attention to your message. Once publishers begin to pay attention to what you write, then publishers will open more of your articles, and perhaps publish your articles more frequently.
When you do a one-time out article, you are riding solely on a prayer, for success. (I am not in the prayer business - please see your pastor for that service.) But, if you can commit yourself to ten articles, your chance for article marketing success has been improved tenfold.
The first thing that needs to happen for article marketing to work for the promotion of your website is for you to create great content that other people want to publish. Then you must get noticed by the (ezine and website) publishers that will want to publish your articles. Once you have an audience, don't let them down --- keep giving them more content so that they can turn to you always.
To express this point, let me share a couple names with you. How many of you have heard of Willie Crawford? Willie has written and distributed 123 articles through my program, and he has 140,000 search results for his name in Google (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22willie+crawford%22).
My friend Clinton Douglas IV has written and distributed 36 articles. Google credits him with 17,500 mentions in the Google search results for his name (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22clinton+douglas+iv%22).
Both of these gentlemen suggest that they rely primarily upon articles to build their presence online. Of course, Willie is somewhat of an exception, since he has his fingers in so many pies. But, Willie still attributes much of his success to article marketing.
When it is time to measure your article marketing success, you should never go to Google's public search results and pull a simple search for your name or a link:yourdomainurl.com search. You should not even go to Yahoo's Site Explorer to find the same inforamtion.
Instead of relying on the public records for inbound link counts, you should register your website in Google's Webmaster Tools control panel at: http://www.google.com/webmasters
On the public side of Google, my site shows 33 inbound links (http://www.google.com/search?q=link%3Athephantomwriters.com) and Yahoo Site Explorer credits me with 1,478 inbound links. But, inside of Google's Webmaster Tools, I have +10,000 inbound links according to Google's records. I am not going to divulge exactly how many inbound links I have (according to Google's Webmaster Tools), but even I was surprised by the strength of my link counts.
The fact is that Google will only show you a really small sampling of the inbound links for your website, and while Yahoo is more free with this information, they also fail to show anything more than just a small snippet of the number of links you will actually have for your website.
So, if you are truly interested in learning the value that you created with your article marketing campaign, you absolutely have to login to Google's Webmaster Tools to get to the truth of the matter.
But, building links is just one facet of a successful article marketing campaign. There is also the reputation you build for yourself when you teach your readers something of real value in your articles. There is the consistent traffic you can receive to your website when your article is published on a website that has a regular audience. And there is the surges of traffic you can receive to your website when your article is published in a large newsletter.
I have always tried to play straight with folks, so please take this advice as it is intended. If you are only going to do one article to see where article marketing can take you, spend your money on paid advertising instead. But, if you really believe that those of us who have written hundreds of articles do so, because this marketing method works, then make a serious commitment to seeing an article marketing campaign through to success.
About the Author:
Bill Platt has been providing article marketing to his clients since 2001 at: http://www.thephantomwriters.com/ He offers ghost writing and article distribution services. With lots of experience writing articles that attract publishers, readers, traffic and sales to his website, Bill wrote an ebook to share the secrets of his article writing success that can be found at: http://thephantomwriters.com/ebooks/article-marketing-traffic.html
Sunday, July 6, 2008
How Do You Grab A Top-Selling Product And Put It To Work In Your On-Line Business?
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2007-2008 Casey Moher
Hi, this is Casey Moher.
To have a successful online business, many individual components must come together to work as a machine. Let's discuss how you go about creating ( or finding) and evaluating a product you can sell online.
Website owners who create their own products to sell have much of work ahead of them. On-line marketers who wish to develop their own product must research the demand for what they envision.
This can also be done with a very different strategy and approach. This is an approach that makes all the difference in what you do.
You are miles ahead of the game RIGHT NOW because you have available to you products you can work with that sell like hotcakes! With these methods I am describing, you have all the product research done before you ever begin. The choice is yours as to which product of the thousands availale you would like to have.
People today want information that can improve their income, their free-time activities, travel, education and a myriad of other areas. You now have available a huge on-line warehouse of these products.
These products are managed by a company that does the lion's share of selling in this massive market. The producers of these information-based products actively seek to have people sell them.
Your commissions can range from 50% to 75%.
Again, all the 'heavy lifting' has been done for you. The fun part is in choosing a product that interests you and that you feel will do the best job for you. These are the considerations I use as guidelines for product selection.
Choose a product that solves a problem. It is also critical that you select a product you would use. A product with a great sales letter will serve you better also. Look for testimonials from satisfied customers as well as popularity rankings of the product you are considering.
Also, pay attention to the commission schedule provided for you.
Buying and using the product that will be sold on your website makes for better results all around. If you have first-hand experience with how your product helped you, your customers will have more trust in what you say.
A company that does all this can be found in one stop at: http://www.clickbank.com
Spend some time at this website so you can appreciate the products available to you for your use. At this site, you will also find rankings of all products so you can locate the best ones.
Becoming an affiliate is a very easy matter. Once you are set up as an affiliate, you are qualified to receive a commission on each sale you are credited for. You simply register to get a user name (also known as a nickname) established with clickbank.
With that nickname you are established to get credit for all the sales of any and all products that you choose for your project. More than 10,000 products are yours from which to choose.
Remember, commissions run as high as 75%! Clickbank is noted for its very sellable products which means they amplify your marketing efforts.
Clickbank also manages all partner relationships for you. You always get paid what you're owed.
For a very reasonable price these days, you can get your own website established. You can get visitors to your site as soon as it's ready where they can learn about the product you have chosen for them to buy.
About the Author:
Casey Moher - Caseymoher@comcast.net (801) 941-3334
Mr. Moher is a Registered Pharmacist and Life-Long Marketing and Sales Professional. You Can Get His Free Five-Day Mini-Course on Building Targeted Website Traffic by visiting: http://www.newtrafficmaster.com
Copyright © 2007-2008 Casey Moher
Hi, this is Casey Moher.
To have a successful online business, many individual components must come together to work as a machine. Let's discuss how you go about creating ( or finding) and evaluating a product you can sell online.
Website owners who create their own products to sell have much of work ahead of them. On-line marketers who wish to develop their own product must research the demand for what they envision.
This can also be done with a very different strategy and approach. This is an approach that makes all the difference in what you do.
You are miles ahead of the game RIGHT NOW because you have available to you products you can work with that sell like hotcakes! With these methods I am describing, you have all the product research done before you ever begin. The choice is yours as to which product of the thousands availale you would like to have.
People today want information that can improve their income, their free-time activities, travel, education and a myriad of other areas. You now have available a huge on-line warehouse of these products.
These products are managed by a company that does the lion's share of selling in this massive market. The producers of these information-based products actively seek to have people sell them.
Your commissions can range from 50% to 75%.
Again, all the 'heavy lifting' has been done for you. The fun part is in choosing a product that interests you and that you feel will do the best job for you. These are the considerations I use as guidelines for product selection.
Choose a product that solves a problem. It is also critical that you select a product you would use. A product with a great sales letter will serve you better also. Look for testimonials from satisfied customers as well as popularity rankings of the product you are considering.
Also, pay attention to the commission schedule provided for you.
Buying and using the product that will be sold on your website makes for better results all around. If you have first-hand experience with how your product helped you, your customers will have more trust in what you say.
A company that does all this can be found in one stop at: http://www.clickbank.com
Spend some time at this website so you can appreciate the products available to you for your use. At this site, you will also find rankings of all products so you can locate the best ones.
Becoming an affiliate is a very easy matter. Once you are set up as an affiliate, you are qualified to receive a commission on each sale you are credited for. You simply register to get a user name (also known as a nickname) established with clickbank.
With that nickname you are established to get credit for all the sales of any and all products that you choose for your project. More than 10,000 products are yours from which to choose.
Remember, commissions run as high as 75%! Clickbank is noted for its very sellable products which means they amplify your marketing efforts.
Clickbank also manages all partner relationships for you. You always get paid what you're owed.
For a very reasonable price these days, you can get your own website established. You can get visitors to your site as soon as it's ready where they can learn about the product you have chosen for them to buy.
About the Author:
Casey Moher - Caseymoher@comcast.net (801) 941-3334
Mr. Moher is a Registered Pharmacist and Life-Long Marketing and Sales Professional. You Can Get His Free Five-Day Mini-Course on Building Targeted Website Traffic by visiting: http://www.newtrafficmaster.com
Friday, July 4, 2008
Six Keys to Creating a Successful and Profitable Ezine
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2008 Bill Platt
Fortunes are made on the Internet by people who have built solid mailing lists for the promotion of their online businesses. But the question many publishers face is how to turn their ezine (aka: online newsletter or electronic magazines) subscribers into buyers?
Let me be honest with you. Your mailing list is only as valuable as your subscriber's willingness to purchase your products and services, or the products and services of your advertisers.
Until your subscribers begin to buy what you offer, your mailing list is not worth a plug nickel!
This article has been derived in essence from another article written in 2004. It has been updated to represent current programs and resources for this marketplace.
Here are the six ingredients that you need for creating a successful and profitable ezine:
Advertising Your Newsletter
Successful ezines are the ones that continue to grow, from week-to-week and month-to-month. With every publication, there is an attrition factor where subscribers just fall by the wayside for whatever reason. The successful ezine publisher is the one whose growth will always out pace its attrition rate.
The publishers who are able to consistently grow their mailing list are those who frequently utilize one or many of the following advertising formats.
While often expensive, paid brokers can actually get readers to subscribe to your ezine.
Yet in my own personal experience, buying subscribers did put a large number of email addresses on my list, but it provided little value to my list since most subscribers never opened my ezine.
To be honest, my venture into list building was flawed. My partner chose to use a list broker who specialized in getting subscribers from college campuses, yet our ezine was targeted to the online business person. Our new subscribers very literally did not care about what we were writing about. The lesson here is to always target the correct audience for your ezine.
A friend of mine uses list brokers almost exclusively, and he swears by the Co-Registration Lead Generation system offered by ArcaMax Publishing Co-Registration.
Ezine advertising programs are available through a number of websites, but this one is among the most respectable of such programs: Ezine Advertising com.
I have generated some very solid advertising results using Publisher Ad Swaps.
By setting up private advertising arrangements with other ezine publishers, you can get your advertisement in another ezine in exchange for an advertisement in your ezine. To find other ezine publishers, review the Ezine Hub directory.
To locate like-minded publishers seeking beneficial ad swaps, there is a website dedicated to this task called Ezine Ads Net.
Paid Search Engine placement can be another solid method for attracting new subscribers to your ezine:
- Google Adwords
- Yahoo Search Marketing
- Exact Seek Featured Listings
- Pay Per Ranking (a 7search company)
For more help in promoting your ezine, check out the tutorial called "How to Publicize Your E-Zine".
Develop A Standardized Template For Your Newsletter
Your readers want a specific structure for your ezine. They want to be able to learn your structure and to be able to quickly follow your structure to get to the meat and potatoes of every issue. Your readers are pressed for time in the same way that you are, so they want you to enable them to get what they want from you in a quick and orderly fashion.
Provide Exceptional And Targeted Content
When you develop your ezine, you know in principle what type of content that you want to bring to your readers.
But, unless you have the financial ability to work your ezine on a full-time basis, finding the time to create all of your own content is a challenge that every publisher faces.
Fortunately, there are writers who have the time to create the content you can use, and they make their content available for publication so long as their terms of reprint are honored.
These writers cover a wide range of subject materials that enable publishers in nearly every genre find a ready supply of content that they can include in their publications.
To learn how you can find articles that can be used for reprint in your publication, you should explore the following resources:
Niche Content Finder
The Article Depot
The Phantom Writers Articles Archive
Website Articles Net
Article Stars
Ezine Articles
Go Articles
Invisible MBA
Articles 4 Reprint
Cyber Media 101
Free-Reprint Article and Content Providers Webring
Personalize And Brand Your Newsletter
In order to separate your ezine from the thousands of other online magazines, you must create a solid brand for your ezine.
What I mean by this is that you should always strive to make your ezine stand well above the crowd and to give your ezine its own personal identity. You want your ezine to be the one that your subscribers will read religiously and intently.
The way to establish a brand and identity for your ezine is to give it a personality, and then do not deviate from its defined personality or target audience.
Some ezine publishers define their brand as an extension of the publisher's personality. They are not afraid to talk to their readers as if they were talking with their friends or colleagues. One such ezine in this standard is the Daily Dose Of Happiness. Another great one is the Monday Morning Memo by Roy H. Williams, the Wizard Of Ads.
Other ezines like the ones found at SiteProNews or Seo-News have a corporate philosophy that drives their publication style and guidelines.
The personality that you build into your ezine will help you to develop a solid ezine brand that your readers will read religiously and trust absolutely.
Create Reader Interaction
The greatest challenge in publishing an ezine is ALWAYS getting your subscribers to continue reading.
One method that many publishers employ is to provide methods to enable reader interaction.
The one ezine that I know that has done the best job of this is Your Membership Exchange.
In this ezine, readers submit questions, and other readers answer the questions. Their unique selling proposition is "Newsletters for Our Members, By Our Members."
In each issue, a new question is posted, and then the publisher takes the best answers to a previous question and publishes them in the ezine. I read this frequently.
In my ezine, I had accomplished a strong level of interaction with my readers by running a contest. In every issue, I posed a brain teaser question and published the names of the first three people who in the previous issue got the answer right.
Ask For The Sale
I mention this only because I know someone who is making this mistake right now. I am sure a lot of other publishers are making this mistake as well.
Many people begin the process of publishing an ezine for the explicit purpose of selling their own wares. They follow the advice of the guru's about developing a mailing list and publishing their ezine on a regular basis. A lot of work is put into the ezine to develop a loyal base of subscribers who read each and every issue delivered.
And when all is said and done, the publisher fails to ask their readers to consider or purchase the wares that their e-zine was designed to promote. How does one actually expect their readers to buy their wares if they do not ask their readers to buy what is being offered?
You are the expert in charge of your publication, so you should not be afraid to ask your readers the hard questions. You must explain to your readers what you are selling, and you must ask your readers to actually consider or even purchase what you are selling! Don't be afraid of your readers. Take care to do what is necessary to help your ezine to generate the profits it was designed to create.
About the Author:
Bill Platt published his newsletter for two years, and then set up http://www.thephantomwriters.com to supply reprint content specifically to ezine publishers and webmasters. He offers article ghost writing and article distribution services to his clients, many of whom have been with him for years. In 2007, Bill wrote an ebook to teach people how to be as successful with article marketing as he has been. Bill's Article Writing Tips ebook has received many excellent reviews.
Copyright © 2008 Bill Platt
Fortunes are made on the Internet by people who have built solid mailing lists for the promotion of their online businesses. But the question many publishers face is how to turn their ezine (aka: online newsletter or electronic magazines) subscribers into buyers?
Let me be honest with you. Your mailing list is only as valuable as your subscriber's willingness to purchase your products and services, or the products and services of your advertisers.
Until your subscribers begin to buy what you offer, your mailing list is not worth a plug nickel!
This article has been derived in essence from another article written in 2004. It has been updated to represent current programs and resources for this marketplace.
Here are the six ingredients that you need for creating a successful and profitable ezine:
Advertising Your Newsletter
Successful ezines are the ones that continue to grow, from week-to-week and month-to-month. With every publication, there is an attrition factor where subscribers just fall by the wayside for whatever reason. The successful ezine publisher is the one whose growth will always out pace its attrition rate.
The publishers who are able to consistently grow their mailing list are those who frequently utilize one or many of the following advertising formats.
Yet in my own personal experience, buying subscribers did put a large number of email addresses on my list, but it provided little value to my list since most subscribers never opened my ezine.
To be honest, my venture into list building was flawed. My partner chose to use a list broker who specialized in getting subscribers from college campuses, yet our ezine was targeted to the online business person. Our new subscribers very literally did not care about what we were writing about. The lesson here is to always target the correct audience for your ezine.
A friend of mine uses list brokers almost exclusively, and he swears by the Co-Registration Lead Generation system offered by ArcaMax Publishing Co-Registration.
By setting up private advertising arrangements with other ezine publishers, you can get your advertisement in another ezine in exchange for an advertisement in your ezine. To find other ezine publishers, review the Ezine Hub directory.
To locate like-minded publishers seeking beneficial ad swaps, there is a website dedicated to this task called Ezine Ads Net.
- Google Adwords
- Yahoo Search Marketing
- Exact Seek Featured Listings
- Pay Per Ranking (a 7search company)
Develop A Standardized Template For Your Newsletter
Your readers want a specific structure for your ezine. They want to be able to learn your structure and to be able to quickly follow your structure to get to the meat and potatoes of every issue. Your readers are pressed for time in the same way that you are, so they want you to enable them to get what they want from you in a quick and orderly fashion.
Provide Exceptional And Targeted Content
When you develop your ezine, you know in principle what type of content that you want to bring to your readers.
But, unless you have the financial ability to work your ezine on a full-time basis, finding the time to create all of your own content is a challenge that every publisher faces.
Fortunately, there are writers who have the time to create the content you can use, and they make their content available for publication so long as their terms of reprint are honored.
These writers cover a wide range of subject materials that enable publishers in nearly every genre find a ready supply of content that they can include in their publications.
To learn how you can find articles that can be used for reprint in your publication, you should explore the following resources:
Personalize And Brand Your Newsletter
In order to separate your ezine from the thousands of other online magazines, you must create a solid brand for your ezine.
What I mean by this is that you should always strive to make your ezine stand well above the crowd and to give your ezine its own personal identity. You want your ezine to be the one that your subscribers will read religiously and intently.
The way to establish a brand and identity for your ezine is to give it a personality, and then do not deviate from its defined personality or target audience.
Some ezine publishers define their brand as an extension of the publisher's personality. They are not afraid to talk to their readers as if they were talking with their friends or colleagues. One such ezine in this standard is the Daily Dose Of Happiness. Another great one is the Monday Morning Memo by Roy H. Williams, the Wizard Of Ads.
Other ezines like the ones found at SiteProNews or Seo-News have a corporate philosophy that drives their publication style and guidelines.
The personality that you build into your ezine will help you to develop a solid ezine brand that your readers will read religiously and trust absolutely.
Create Reader Interaction
The greatest challenge in publishing an ezine is ALWAYS getting your subscribers to continue reading.
One method that many publishers employ is to provide methods to enable reader interaction.
The one ezine that I know that has done the best job of this is Your Membership Exchange.
In this ezine, readers submit questions, and other readers answer the questions. Their unique selling proposition is "Newsletters for Our Members, By Our Members."
In each issue, a new question is posted, and then the publisher takes the best answers to a previous question and publishes them in the ezine. I read this frequently.
In my ezine, I had accomplished a strong level of interaction with my readers by running a contest. In every issue, I posed a brain teaser question and published the names of the first three people who in the previous issue got the answer right.
Ask For The Sale
I mention this only because I know someone who is making this mistake right now. I am sure a lot of other publishers are making this mistake as well.
Many people begin the process of publishing an ezine for the explicit purpose of selling their own wares. They follow the advice of the guru's about developing a mailing list and publishing their ezine on a regular basis. A lot of work is put into the ezine to develop a loyal base of subscribers who read each and every issue delivered.
And when all is said and done, the publisher fails to ask their readers to consider or purchase the wares that their e-zine was designed to promote. How does one actually expect their readers to buy their wares if they do not ask their readers to buy what is being offered?
You are the expert in charge of your publication, so you should not be afraid to ask your readers the hard questions. You must explain to your readers what you are selling, and you must ask your readers to actually consider or even purchase what you are selling! Don't be afraid of your readers. Take care to do what is necessary to help your ezine to generate the profits it was designed to create.
About the Author:
Bill Platt published his newsletter for two years, and then set up http://www.thephantomwriters.com to supply reprint content specifically to ezine publishers and webmasters. He offers article ghost writing and article distribution services to his clients, many of whom have been with him for years. In 2007, Bill wrote an ebook to teach people how to be as successful with article marketing as he has been. Bill's Article Writing Tips ebook has received many excellent reviews.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
The Mythical Google Sandbox And How To Escape It
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2008 Bill Platt
With an article title like this, it almost seems like I am playing the fool, by telling you something doesn't exist and then telling you that I will show you how to beat that thing I said does not exist. Maybe I am the fool, or maybe, I have something valuable to share with you today. You be the judge.
I Don't Believe In The Google Sandbox, Dragons or Unicorns...
I was browsing the Digital Point forums earlier, when I came across this quote:
"The Google Sandbox is something that people either believe or don't believe. It usually means that within the first 6 months - 1 year you won't get a lot of love from Google." - http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?p=8286280
I saw the quote shown above and I had a good laugh. Yes, many people believe in the existence of the Google Sandbox, and I am not one of those people. I place the "Google Sandbox" in the same category as the leprechaun... they both make a neat children's story, but I see no truth in either.
What Is Google Love?
Google love is the imaginary "feeling" that Google has for the websites in its index. The more Google loves a website, the higher that website will rank in the Google search results.
No matter how many search results Google shows for a particular search term, Google will only show a maximum of 1,000 website listing in its search engine result pages (SERPs). However, few people, except nuts like me know that as you go to each consecutive page in Google's SERPs, the actual number that Google is willing to show you gets smaller with each additional page visited.
For example, I just did a search on the keyword phrase "Google Love". My default Google settings are set to 100 results. When I first typed the search phrase, Google showed 68,300,000 results, and Google shows me that I can look at ten pages of results. But, when I get to the tenth page in Google's results, there are only three listings. Google only loves 903 web pages for the search term "Google Love".
Google has told us that they attribute value to a web page, based on the number of inbound links that page might have. Google Love primarily comes from link popularity, which is derived from inbound links.
The Suggested Lifespan Of The Google Sandbox
I see the "sandbox" as being a term that some person working in SEO derived to explain why so many of his client's new pages appeared in Google's search results for about one month, before the pages disappeared into the deep recesses of the Google index.
In absence of a better explanation, some SEO person coined the term "Google Sandbox" to explain to his or her customers why a page disappears from the Google index and stays missing for months or years.
According to those who preach the Google Sandbox theory, the lifespan of the Sandbox is six months to one year. That is a lifetime when you are running an online business.
The Life Curve Of A Web Page
Google's algorithms rely heavily on inbound links to determine the value of a web page. But a brand new web page has not had the opportunity to attract any inbound links, because after all, it is a brand new web page. So Google gives new web pages the benefit of a doubt.
News stories are a good example of web pages that may very well be important to the world-at-large, but its importance cannot be determined by the number of inbound links available to that page.
As a result, all brand new web pages on the Internet are given an intrinsic value by Google, as if the pages housed a news story. But what was important thirty days ago, will not necessarily be important today. So news stories are given early value and then their value fades with time.
Once the news cycle is completed, the web page will slide down to where it deserves to be according to the normal Google algorithms. This often means that a new web page will disappear into Google oblivion (or the theoretical Google Sandbox), if after 30 days the page has not generated any link popularity of its own.
After The News Cycle, All Normal Rules Apply
We have all heard it before. The way to get a web page to rank in Google is to build link popularity for the web page.
And how do you build link popularity for a web page? Build inbound links to that web page, of course.
Once the news cycle is done, a new web page must compete with every other web page, based on Google's normal algorithm.
What If A Page Could Develop Link Popularity In 30 Days?
What if you were able to build inbound links and therefore link popularity for a web page, before the news cycle runs out? That would be a twist, wouldn't it?
Personally, I know for a fact that if you can build link popularity on a page, within the news cycle window, that this new page will not fall into the dreaded and mythical Google Sandbox. The page will not fall into the Google Sandbox at the end of the news cycle, because the page will have already accrued some link popularity within Google's primary algorithm.
You Are The Master Of Your Own Domain
As the master of your domain, you get to choose how long a page is sandboxed. Most people don't realize they have that kind of control, but with smart link building, one can prevent a web page from entering the sandbox. Or, if the web page does slip into the sandbox, the smart online marketer can bring a web page out of the mythical sandbox in days or weeks, instead of months or years. The beauty of this truth is that you define the time line for when a web page exits the sandbox, not Google.
I Boast That I Can Prove It To You
I built a new page 16 days ago (June 10th, 2008) that is holding page one results in Google against 200,000+ websites, with my Blackhat Fish SEO Contest entry.
Now, one could argue that I am still in the news cycle for this web page, so in another two weeks, my page could disappear from the Google results. But, I have built so many inbound links to this page that I fully expect that when the news cycle is done, my page will remain outside of Google's mythical sandbox.
I Challenge You To Test My Results
Test my proof by checking back here in a couple weeks, or even in four weeks or six. If I am right, you will be able to click this link to Google's search results for the keyword phrase Blackhat Fish, and you will be able to see my page title on page one or two of Google's search results: "Whitehat vs. Blackhat: Fish For Links or Die Trying".
I say page one or page two of Google's search results, because I would be surprised if I actually won the competition. However, if I am still in the top20 results for the search key term after July 10, 2008, then I will have proved to you that anyone can beat the sandbox, if only they exercised the right strategy for escaping the sandbox ahead of the end of the news cycle.
I have actually pulled this off with three web pages in the last 60 days. The above listed example is just one of many examples I could show you as proof of concept here. But for brevity's sake, I am only including the one example here.
In Conclusion...
You can accept my analysis as sound, or you can call me the fool. It does not matter to me which you choose. If you want to believe that the Google Sandbox really exists to thwart your online business, then more power to your fears.
For those of you who have found my words worthwhile, let's meet next Saint Patrick's' Day to share a green beer and a laugh.
About the Author:
Bill Platt has been providing article marketing help to his clients since 2001 at: http://www.thephantomwriters.com/ He offers ghost writing and article distribution services. With lots of experience writing articles that attract publishers, readers, traffic and sales to his website, Bill wrote an ebook to share the secrets of his article marketing strategies at: http://thephantomwriters.com/ebooks/article-marketing-traffic.html
Copyright © 2008 Bill Platt
With an article title like this, it almost seems like I am playing the fool, by telling you something doesn't exist and then telling you that I will show you how to beat that thing I said does not exist. Maybe I am the fool, or maybe, I have something valuable to share with you today. You be the judge.
I Don't Believe In The Google Sandbox, Dragons or Unicorns...
I was browsing the Digital Point forums earlier, when I came across this quote:
"The Google Sandbox is something that people either believe or don't believe. It usually means that within the first 6 months - 1 year you won't get a lot of love from Google." - http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?p=8286280
I saw the quote shown above and I had a good laugh. Yes, many people believe in the existence of the Google Sandbox, and I am not one of those people. I place the "Google Sandbox" in the same category as the leprechaun... they both make a neat children's story, but I see no truth in either.
What Is Google Love?
Google love is the imaginary "feeling" that Google has for the websites in its index. The more Google loves a website, the higher that website will rank in the Google search results.
No matter how many search results Google shows for a particular search term, Google will only show a maximum of 1,000 website listing in its search engine result pages (SERPs). However, few people, except nuts like me know that as you go to each consecutive page in Google's SERPs, the actual number that Google is willing to show you gets smaller with each additional page visited.
For example, I just did a search on the keyword phrase "Google Love". My default Google settings are set to 100 results. When I first typed the search phrase, Google showed 68,300,000 results, and Google shows me that I can look at ten pages of results. But, when I get to the tenth page in Google's results, there are only three listings. Google only loves 903 web pages for the search term "Google Love".
Google has told us that they attribute value to a web page, based on the number of inbound links that page might have. Google Love primarily comes from link popularity, which is derived from inbound links.
The Suggested Lifespan Of The Google Sandbox
I see the "sandbox" as being a term that some person working in SEO derived to explain why so many of his client's new pages appeared in Google's search results for about one month, before the pages disappeared into the deep recesses of the Google index.
In absence of a better explanation, some SEO person coined the term "Google Sandbox" to explain to his or her customers why a page disappears from the Google index and stays missing for months or years.
According to those who preach the Google Sandbox theory, the lifespan of the Sandbox is six months to one year. That is a lifetime when you are running an online business.
The Life Curve Of A Web Page
Google's algorithms rely heavily on inbound links to determine the value of a web page. But a brand new web page has not had the opportunity to attract any inbound links, because after all, it is a brand new web page. So Google gives new web pages the benefit of a doubt.
News stories are a good example of web pages that may very well be important to the world-at-large, but its importance cannot be determined by the number of inbound links available to that page.
As a result, all brand new web pages on the Internet are given an intrinsic value by Google, as if the pages housed a news story. But what was important thirty days ago, will not necessarily be important today. So news stories are given early value and then their value fades with time.
Once the news cycle is completed, the web page will slide down to where it deserves to be according to the normal Google algorithms. This often means that a new web page will disappear into Google oblivion (or the theoretical Google Sandbox), if after 30 days the page has not generated any link popularity of its own.
After The News Cycle, All Normal Rules Apply
We have all heard it before. The way to get a web page to rank in Google is to build link popularity for the web page.
And how do you build link popularity for a web page? Build inbound links to that web page, of course.
Once the news cycle is done, a new web page must compete with every other web page, based on Google's normal algorithm.
What If A Page Could Develop Link Popularity In 30 Days?
What if you were able to build inbound links and therefore link popularity for a web page, before the news cycle runs out? That would be a twist, wouldn't it?
Personally, I know for a fact that if you can build link popularity on a page, within the news cycle window, that this new page will not fall into the dreaded and mythical Google Sandbox. The page will not fall into the Google Sandbox at the end of the news cycle, because the page will have already accrued some link popularity within Google's primary algorithm.
You Are The Master Of Your Own Domain
As the master of your domain, you get to choose how long a page is sandboxed. Most people don't realize they have that kind of control, but with smart link building, one can prevent a web page from entering the sandbox. Or, if the web page does slip into the sandbox, the smart online marketer can bring a web page out of the mythical sandbox in days or weeks, instead of months or years. The beauty of this truth is that you define the time line for when a web page exits the sandbox, not Google.
I Boast That I Can Prove It To You
I built a new page 16 days ago (June 10th, 2008) that is holding page one results in Google against 200,000+ websites, with my Blackhat Fish SEO Contest entry.
Now, one could argue that I am still in the news cycle for this web page, so in another two weeks, my page could disappear from the Google results. But, I have built so many inbound links to this page that I fully expect that when the news cycle is done, my page will remain outside of Google's mythical sandbox.
I Challenge You To Test My Results
Test my proof by checking back here in a couple weeks, or even in four weeks or six. If I am right, you will be able to click this link to Google's search results for the keyword phrase Blackhat Fish, and you will be able to see my page title on page one or two of Google's search results: "Whitehat vs. Blackhat: Fish For Links or Die Trying".
I say page one or page two of Google's search results, because I would be surprised if I actually won the competition. However, if I am still in the top20 results for the search key term after July 10, 2008, then I will have proved to you that anyone can beat the sandbox, if only they exercised the right strategy for escaping the sandbox ahead of the end of the news cycle.
I have actually pulled this off with three web pages in the last 60 days. The above listed example is just one of many examples I could show you as proof of concept here. But for brevity's sake, I am only including the one example here.
In Conclusion...
You can accept my analysis as sound, or you can call me the fool. It does not matter to me which you choose. If you want to believe that the Google Sandbox really exists to thwart your online business, then more power to your fears.
For those of you who have found my words worthwhile, let's meet next Saint Patrick's' Day to share a green beer and a laugh.
About the Author:
Bill Platt has been providing article marketing help to his clients since 2001 at: http://www.thephantomwriters.com/ He offers ghost writing and article distribution services. With lots of experience writing articles that attract publishers, readers, traffic and sales to his website, Bill wrote an ebook to share the secrets of his article marketing strategies at: http://thephantomwriters.com/ebooks/article-marketing-traffic.html
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
The SEO Benefits of Press Releases
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2008 Lee Jenkins
Search engine optimized press releases are still relatively new in the field of SEO (during some research I found an article from 2004 claiming they were the new "secret back door to top search engine ranking"), but they are incredibly beneficial to an SEO campaign.
But why?
Some of the most frequently asked questions I get from clients are "Why does my company need to do press releases? How will press releases benefit my SEO campaign?"
Part of the answer is in the anatomy of an optimized press release. A properly optimized press release will include your top keywords as well as links to your website.
Backlinks:
Once the optimized press release is distributed, it gets picked up on various sites and channels including news search engines such as Google news and Yahoo! news. Every time another website picks up the press release, it reproduces the release along with all of your keywords and links. This has the effect of generating widespread backlinks (links back to your site).
These backlinks are one of the factors Google uses for determining a website's search engine ranking. Google looks at how many backlinks you have, and where they're coming from, so add in the fact that most of the backlinks are coming from news websites which have very high page ranks, and you have a good amount of quality backlinks that will increase the page rank and link popularity of your website.
Increased Keyword Rankings and Visibility:
News stories on the web are considered more time sensitive than regular web pages, so when your press release is distributed, it will be linked very quickly, giving you early visibility in news sites, news searches and standard search engines. Many news web sites also archive stories which can help to deliver long term link value, rankings and visibility.
In addition, online news search queries are generally much more targeted than standard web searches. In other words, people searching for news related to your industry are more likely to search for the terms that are used in your press release, which gives you a better chance at increasing the ranking of your website for popular and competitive search terms.
Credibility and Increased Traffic:
Last but not least, well written content will always add credibility to your website. The more information you show that you know, the more trustworthy you become. When your press releases start appearing in Google news and Yahoo! news for your keywords, potential customers searching for your product or business will see that you are a credible source of information in your industry and that you can be trusted. Those with Google alerts for your keywords will automatically receive your press release in their inbox, which will generate interest and relevant traffic to your site as well.
Bottom Line:
So bottom line, "Why does my company need to do press releases?" Because search engine optimized press releases are one of the quickest and easiest ways to start generating more backlinks, visibility and traffic for your website, and are a beneficial addition to any SEO campaign, no matter what your industry.
About the Author:
Getting your target audience to find you is increasingly challenging, which is why adding the Press Release to your online marketing arsenal is of key importance. Learn more about the SEO Optimized Press Release by visiting us.
Copyright © 2008 Lee Jenkins
Search engine optimized press releases are still relatively new in the field of SEO (during some research I found an article from 2004 claiming they were the new "secret back door to top search engine ranking"), but they are incredibly beneficial to an SEO campaign.
But why?
Some of the most frequently asked questions I get from clients are "Why does my company need to do press releases? How will press releases benefit my SEO campaign?"
Part of the answer is in the anatomy of an optimized press release. A properly optimized press release will include your top keywords as well as links to your website.
Backlinks:
Once the optimized press release is distributed, it gets picked up on various sites and channels including news search engines such as Google news and Yahoo! news. Every time another website picks up the press release, it reproduces the release along with all of your keywords and links. This has the effect of generating widespread backlinks (links back to your site).
These backlinks are one of the factors Google uses for determining a website's search engine ranking. Google looks at how many backlinks you have, and where they're coming from, so add in the fact that most of the backlinks are coming from news websites which have very high page ranks, and you have a good amount of quality backlinks that will increase the page rank and link popularity of your website.
Increased Keyword Rankings and Visibility:
News stories on the web are considered more time sensitive than regular web pages, so when your press release is distributed, it will be linked very quickly, giving you early visibility in news sites, news searches and standard search engines. Many news web sites also archive stories which can help to deliver long term link value, rankings and visibility.
In addition, online news search queries are generally much more targeted than standard web searches. In other words, people searching for news related to your industry are more likely to search for the terms that are used in your press release, which gives you a better chance at increasing the ranking of your website for popular and competitive search terms.
Credibility and Increased Traffic:
Last but not least, well written content will always add credibility to your website. The more information you show that you know, the more trustworthy you become. When your press releases start appearing in Google news and Yahoo! news for your keywords, potential customers searching for your product or business will see that you are a credible source of information in your industry and that you can be trusted. Those with Google alerts for your keywords will automatically receive your press release in their inbox, which will generate interest and relevant traffic to your site as well.
Bottom Line:
So bottom line, "Why does my company need to do press releases?" Because search engine optimized press releases are one of the quickest and easiest ways to start generating more backlinks, visibility and traffic for your website, and are a beneficial addition to any SEO campaign, no matter what your industry.
About the Author:
Getting your target audience to find you is increasingly challenging, which is why adding the Press Release to your online marketing arsenal is of key importance. Learn more about the SEO Optimized Press Release by visiting us.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
The Myth Of Being Successfully Solo In Business
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2008 Mark Silver
There's a breakneck pace that many new solo business owners assume. With an infinite number of things to do, and about a dozen hats to wear, it gets overwhelming, fast.
And, that's nothing compared to what happens once the business actually has some momentum under it. That's why one of my clients with a brand-new business was asking me: "Mark, how do you get it all done? Your business has about 100 times more going on in it than mine does, and I'm overwhelmed just with what I'm trying to get done."
Here's my answer: "I don't get it all done."
Which strikes at the heart of the most dangerous myth in business: the bootstrap myth, known in this particular instance as the myth of the successful solopreneur.
Why this myth is so dangerous.
The myth says that you can do it on your own, you can bootstrap your way to success, and that when you go solo, you don't need anyone else. That's the whole point of being self-employed, or running a personal-sized business, right?
This rugged homage to individualism isn't just in the U.S., as some have claimed. I have seen this myth in action across the globe: Canada, the UK, mainland Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa.
It seems as if it's just hard to get it: we can't do it ourselves.
The physical reality.
When you're an employee at a company, you get to do your job. And, unless you think upon it, you might not realize how much other people do just so you can do your job.
Who prints and signs your check? Who makes sure the office building gets cleaned? Who stocks the office supplies closet, or goes out and sells to clients so there is revenue to pay you?
It's humbling, but when you become self-employed, all of those functions fall into your lap. And it is impossible, literally impossible, to do them all. If you're overwhelmed trying to make your business work on your own, there is good reason for it.
Frustrating- but don't despair. It may help to understand why it is this way.
The spiritual reality.
As my Sufi teacher tells me, "Be the earth for your brothers and sisters. If you don't carry them, who will?... When you look into another's eyes, see the reflection of God looking at you."
The depth of this teaching really struck home when I realized that he wasn't talking to me personally- this teaching was for everyone. We're all asked to carry each other. Which means that we also need to allow ourselves to be carried.
When someone offers help, do you say: "Yes!" or do you say: "Nah, I can get it. " If the bootstrap myth is operating in your business, there may be a hundred subtle and not-so-subtle ways that you avoid or turn away from help."
Lord knows I do.
And yet we are meant to both help and be helped by each other. This is one of the ways that we experience the Divine in our lives, is through the actions, support and love of others.
Yes, I mean you. :-) You are supposed to receive the Divine through the actions, support and love of others. You can't do everything yourself. And that's as it was designed to be.
Watch the wing-stretching and contortions you go through as you learn to receive more help. It will do much more than help your business, it will be a real experience of healing and growth for you as well.
Who can afford to hire an entire company of help?
Of course, not all of the help you get will be free, and there's so much of it to get. And you can't hire it all, especially early in your business. So what do you do?
After going through some big transitions ourselves, having grown up in a small retail business, and having worked with hundreds of clients, let me share some insights into how to prioritize.
Keys to Being a Successful Pseudo-Solo.
First, invest in information and learning.
I know, I know- it seems like a lot needs to get done, right now. Remember- millions of people have already done what you've tried to do. So, the best thing to do is to learn from some of them.
Get books from the library, or buy them. Take classes, free or otherwise. Find people you admire who have successfully navigated what you're trying to do and take them to tea or lunch and ask them questions. I've done about a dozen interviews with folks I admire and have them up in our online community for just that reason: The Business Oasis.
Make sure the information resonates with you. As just one example, marketing professionals out there are all saying more or less the same thing, so you can find one that your heart really resonates with and is speaking your language.
Second, get help with the numbers.
I'll say this once: if you're running your own business, you shouldn't be doing your own taxes. There are too many deductions and pitfalls and details. You want to hire it out, even if you think you can't afford it.
Related to that, as soon as you can, hire a bookkeeper to keep your accounting clean from month to month. Not only will it help you at tax time (imagine filing your taxes in the beginning of February!), but it will also help you understand your business better, simply knowing how money flows in and out.
Third, experiment with a virtual assistant.
You may not be able or ready to hire out help. You also may have no idea how or where to start. I suggest finding a virtual assistant you like, who has strengths in areas that you get overwhelmed by easily, and hiring them for a very small project, maybe an hour or two. Then repeat in a month or so.
Over some months, as you both get to know each other, you'll get more comfortable with asking for help, and receiving it. Your business may need to develop before you hire a significant amount of help, but if you start small, it will be a much easier transition. And you'll get there much more quickly.
Getting help in your business is a huge topic. The trick is to face the simple truth that you can't do it all yourself, and that spiritually it's enormously beneficial to receive help.
Then, first get help by learning through books, classes, and other resources, second get help with the numbers with an accountant then a bookkeeper, and finally practice outsourcing to a virtual assistant in small, do-able, bites.
And watch how much more successful you can be as a 'pseudo' solo business owner.
The best to you and your business,
Mark Silver
About the Author:
Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your Business: How Money, Marketing and Sales can Deepen Your Heart, Heal the World, and Still Add to Your Bottom Line. He has helped hundreds of small business owners around the globe succeed in business without losing their hearts. Get three free chapters of the book online: http://www.heartofbusiness.com
Copyright © 2008 Mark Silver
There's a breakneck pace that many new solo business owners assume. With an infinite number of things to do, and about a dozen hats to wear, it gets overwhelming, fast.
And, that's nothing compared to what happens once the business actually has some momentum under it. That's why one of my clients with a brand-new business was asking me: "Mark, how do you get it all done? Your business has about 100 times more going on in it than mine does, and I'm overwhelmed just with what I'm trying to get done."
Here's my answer: "I don't get it all done."
Which strikes at the heart of the most dangerous myth in business: the bootstrap myth, known in this particular instance as the myth of the successful solopreneur.
Why this myth is so dangerous.
The myth says that you can do it on your own, you can bootstrap your way to success, and that when you go solo, you don't need anyone else. That's the whole point of being self-employed, or running a personal-sized business, right?
This rugged homage to individualism isn't just in the U.S., as some have claimed. I have seen this myth in action across the globe: Canada, the UK, mainland Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa.
It seems as if it's just hard to get it: we can't do it ourselves.
The physical reality.
When you're an employee at a company, you get to do your job. And, unless you think upon it, you might not realize how much other people do just so you can do your job.
Who prints and signs your check? Who makes sure the office building gets cleaned? Who stocks the office supplies closet, or goes out and sells to clients so there is revenue to pay you?
It's humbling, but when you become self-employed, all of those functions fall into your lap. And it is impossible, literally impossible, to do them all. If you're overwhelmed trying to make your business work on your own, there is good reason for it.
Frustrating- but don't despair. It may help to understand why it is this way.
The spiritual reality.
As my Sufi teacher tells me, "Be the earth for your brothers and sisters. If you don't carry them, who will?... When you look into another's eyes, see the reflection of God looking at you."
The depth of this teaching really struck home when I realized that he wasn't talking to me personally- this teaching was for everyone. We're all asked to carry each other. Which means that we also need to allow ourselves to be carried.
When someone offers help, do you say: "Yes!" or do you say: "Nah, I can get it. " If the bootstrap myth is operating in your business, there may be a hundred subtle and not-so-subtle ways that you avoid or turn away from help."
Lord knows I do.
And yet we are meant to both help and be helped by each other. This is one of the ways that we experience the Divine in our lives, is through the actions, support and love of others.
Yes, I mean you. :-) You are supposed to receive the Divine through the actions, support and love of others. You can't do everything yourself. And that's as it was designed to be.
Watch the wing-stretching and contortions you go through as you learn to receive more help. It will do much more than help your business, it will be a real experience of healing and growth for you as well.
Who can afford to hire an entire company of help?
Of course, not all of the help you get will be free, and there's so much of it to get. And you can't hire it all, especially early in your business. So what do you do?
After going through some big transitions ourselves, having grown up in a small retail business, and having worked with hundreds of clients, let me share some insights into how to prioritize.
Keys to Being a Successful Pseudo-Solo.
I know, I know- it seems like a lot needs to get done, right now. Remember- millions of people have already done what you've tried to do. So, the best thing to do is to learn from some of them.
Get books from the library, or buy them. Take classes, free or otherwise. Find people you admire who have successfully navigated what you're trying to do and take them to tea or lunch and ask them questions. I've done about a dozen interviews with folks I admire and have them up in our online community for just that reason: The Business Oasis.
Make sure the information resonates with you. As just one example, marketing professionals out there are all saying more or less the same thing, so you can find one that your heart really resonates with and is speaking your language.
I'll say this once: if you're running your own business, you shouldn't be doing your own taxes. There are too many deductions and pitfalls and details. You want to hire it out, even if you think you can't afford it.
Related to that, as soon as you can, hire a bookkeeper to keep your accounting clean from month to month. Not only will it help you at tax time (imagine filing your taxes in the beginning of February!), but it will also help you understand your business better, simply knowing how money flows in and out.
You may not be able or ready to hire out help. You also may have no idea how or where to start. I suggest finding a virtual assistant you like, who has strengths in areas that you get overwhelmed by easily, and hiring them for a very small project, maybe an hour or two. Then repeat in a month or so.
Over some months, as you both get to know each other, you'll get more comfortable with asking for help, and receiving it. Your business may need to develop before you hire a significant amount of help, but if you start small, it will be a much easier transition. And you'll get there much more quickly.
Getting help in your business is a huge topic. The trick is to face the simple truth that you can't do it all yourself, and that spiritually it's enormously beneficial to receive help.
Then, first get help by learning through books, classes, and other resources, second get help with the numbers with an accountant then a bookkeeper, and finally practice outsourcing to a virtual assistant in small, do-able, bites.
And watch how much more successful you can be as a 'pseudo' solo business owner.
The best to you and your business,
Mark Silver
About the Author:
Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your Business: How Money, Marketing and Sales can Deepen Your Heart, Heal the World, and Still Add to Your Bottom Line. He has helped hundreds of small business owners around the globe succeed in business without losing their hearts. Get three free chapters of the book online: http://www.heartofbusiness.com
Four Obstacles Your Customer Wants You To Hurdle Before Buying From You
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2007-2008 Casey Moher
Hurdles stand in the way of every attempt you'll ever make to get a customer.
Your obstacles are:
1. No TRUST for you on the part of your visitor.
2. No NEED for what you have.
3. No perception that you can HELP them.
4. They are in no HURRY to act.
We can break these down into manageable segments.
When you're selling something online, you are a stranger. You are a stranger trying to meet and persuade somebody who has never met you (and probably never will).
Doubt quickly evaporates from the mind of your visitor if your initial approach is to provide them with something of high perceived-value absolutely free. It's natural for your visitor to have their defensive guard very high at first.
Giving before you try to take (sell) something is a great resistance-buster. A good item to give away would be a report on a popular and good-selling internet-based product or service that you have something about.
A popular product that you would enjoy owning and using yourself is a great one upon which to base your report. You'll find that this approach is the best way to overcome the obstacle of NO TRUST! Obstacle number TWO is the one of NO NEED.
The most straight-forward method of dealing with this no-need obstacle is to choose a product or service that has some great testimonials. Much good will comes from your providing free valuable information. This good will results in a receptive frame of mind on the part of visitors to your site.
Once you begin to elaborate on the virtues of your product, your site visitor starts thinking about the issue of (NO HELP) which is actually obstacle number three.
The mind-set of NO HELP is a stubborn one and hangs in there even though you have built up a good amount of TRUST with your site visitor. Sharing the success that others have found with the product or service remains a powerful persuader for you at this point. It should now start becoming apparent to you just how valuable it truly is for you to start out as an affiliate marketer using a popular product.
There are a huge number of things that are done for you when you are an affiliate. Order taking, shipping, complaints and returns. Moreover, a great and proven sales letter together with testimonials are in place for your use in obstacle-busting.
I am convinved that the absolute best way for you to enter the on-line business arena is as an affiliate using your website to promote a proven and successful product. Also, getting past the obstacles we are discussing is much easier for you when you are working as an affiliate.
You are now in the position of three hurdles down and one to go. So you're now faced with obstacle number four, which is overcoming the natural human tendency to resist buying through the rationale of NO HURRY! The best tools I've found to overcome NO HURRY are to instill a fear of loss that could be suffered if they don't act now. Your customer could very well believe that your product and your offer will 'always' be there available for them at some point in the future. It is your job to dispel this notion. Indeed, it could very likely not be available in the future, even the very near future.
Also, you can cultivate the idea that even if the product is available for the foreseeable future, the price most likely will never be as low as it is today.
You can effectively use both the price and possible future shortage thoughts to encourage your customer to act NOW!
Focus your plans beyond making one or two sales as we've been discussing. If you concentrate, instead on building a large list of loyal subscribers, your passive personal cash-flow will continue to grow. It's fun and financially rewarding (although challenging at first) to build an expanding list of responsive subscribers. When you do, they will be your asset for years and years. You will get better and better all the time at overcoming the four obstacles. As you do, your responsive subscriber list as well as your business and income will grow.
About the Author:
Casey Moher - Caseymoher@comcast.net (801) 941-3334
Mr. Moher is a Registered Pharmacist and Life-Long Marketing and Sales Professional. You Can Get His Free Five-Day Mini-Course on Building Targeted Website Traffic by visiting: http://www.newtrafficmaster.com
Copyright © 2007-2008 Casey Moher
Hurdles stand in the way of every attempt you'll ever make to get a customer.
Your obstacles are:
1. No TRUST for you on the part of your visitor.
2. No NEED for what you have.
3. No perception that you can HELP them.
4. They are in no HURRY to act.
We can break these down into manageable segments.
When you're selling something online, you are a stranger. You are a stranger trying to meet and persuade somebody who has never met you (and probably never will).
Doubt quickly evaporates from the mind of your visitor if your initial approach is to provide them with something of high perceived-value absolutely free. It's natural for your visitor to have their defensive guard very high at first.
Giving before you try to take (sell) something is a great resistance-buster. A good item to give away would be a report on a popular and good-selling internet-based product or service that you have something about.
A popular product that you would enjoy owning and using yourself is a great one upon which to base your report. You'll find that this approach is the best way to overcome the obstacle of NO TRUST! Obstacle number TWO is the one of NO NEED.
The most straight-forward method of dealing with this no-need obstacle is to choose a product or service that has some great testimonials. Much good will comes from your providing free valuable information. This good will results in a receptive frame of mind on the part of visitors to your site.
Once you begin to elaborate on the virtues of your product, your site visitor starts thinking about the issue of (NO HELP) which is actually obstacle number three.
The mind-set of NO HELP is a stubborn one and hangs in there even though you have built up a good amount of TRUST with your site visitor. Sharing the success that others have found with the product or service remains a powerful persuader for you at this point. It should now start becoming apparent to you just how valuable it truly is for you to start out as an affiliate marketer using a popular product.
There are a huge number of things that are done for you when you are an affiliate. Order taking, shipping, complaints and returns. Moreover, a great and proven sales letter together with testimonials are in place for your use in obstacle-busting.
I am convinved that the absolute best way for you to enter the on-line business arena is as an affiliate using your website to promote a proven and successful product. Also, getting past the obstacles we are discussing is much easier for you when you are working as an affiliate.
You are now in the position of three hurdles down and one to go. So you're now faced with obstacle number four, which is overcoming the natural human tendency to resist buying through the rationale of NO HURRY! The best tools I've found to overcome NO HURRY are to instill a fear of loss that could be suffered if they don't act now. Your customer could very well believe that your product and your offer will 'always' be there available for them at some point in the future. It is your job to dispel this notion. Indeed, it could very likely not be available in the future, even the very near future.
Also, you can cultivate the idea that even if the product is available for the foreseeable future, the price most likely will never be as low as it is today.
You can effectively use both the price and possible future shortage thoughts to encourage your customer to act NOW!
Focus your plans beyond making one or two sales as we've been discussing. If you concentrate, instead on building a large list of loyal subscribers, your passive personal cash-flow will continue to grow. It's fun and financially rewarding (although challenging at first) to build an expanding list of responsive subscribers. When you do, they will be your asset for years and years. You will get better and better all the time at overcoming the four obstacles. As you do, your responsive subscriber list as well as your business and income will grow.
About the Author:
Casey Moher - Caseymoher@comcast.net (801) 941-3334
Mr. Moher is a Registered Pharmacist and Life-Long Marketing and Sales Professional. You Can Get His Free Five-Day Mini-Course on Building Targeted Website Traffic by visiting: http://www.newtrafficmaster.com
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