09.12.07
Posted in at 9:17 pm by Admin
So you own a small business and you have made the decision to build a simple website to gain internet exposure. Or maybe you already have a website that no one visits? You can be the proud owner of the slickest website you have ever seen, but if you aren’t getting any traffic because it’s not properly optimized you have wasted a good chunk of change and a lot of your valuable time. Weather you are building a site from scratch or tweaking one that already exists, consider these web hosting and marketing tips to help drive traffic to your website:
For Web Hosting:
1) Start with keywords - Think about terms potential customers would use to find you in a search engine. What would you type in if you were looking for your business?
2) Use a keyword selector tool - Type your keywords into a keyword selector tool to see how many people have searched on the term in the last 30 days. Look for terms in the 2k-10k range that are relevant to your site.
3) Use domain names which match your keywords – My client advertises products that are geared toward leadership skills development. In addition to leadingonedge.com he also has leadership-skills.info and a handful of others.
4) Use keywords throughout your web pages - Put your keywords in the title, description, keywords, graphics, and written text.
5) Use a keyword density analyzer - Check your website against a keyword density analyzer to see how frequently a specific keyword is used. Shoot for 3-15% density.
6) Slick and sexy doesn’t get you traffic - Don’t waste your money on slick graphics or things that fly across your screen. Most visitors find them annoying and search engines don’t care for them.
7) Use Google AdSense on your website - Whenever someone clicks on a Google ad in your website, you get revenue. And the ads are relevant to your content. My websites now pay for themselves with ad revenue alone.
Advertise Amazon books and products on your website - Set up an Amazon Associates account and put relevant books and products on your website. When someone buys a product you get referral revenue.
9) Consider using a website starter package - If going it on your own, think about using a website starter package which can have you up and running quickly.
10) Decide where you want to spend your time - In any business, time is money! Small business web hosting is very doable, but it does take time. Decide if you want to do it yourself or have a professional help you.
For Marketing:
1) Get an automated eCommerce system - These can be really good, very comprehensive and very inexpensive. The good ones can do everything from customer base management to product management to shopping cart to newsletter broadcasts.
2) Get a cheap and reliable merchant account provider - You can get merchant account providers that do both the merchant account and internet gateway for you.
3) Put a link back to your website in your email autosignature - This doesn’t need to be obnoxious, just a simple link that email recipients can click on to reference your website.
4) Do selective link trading - Link trade, but make sure the content on the other websites is similar to your own. Don’t touch “link farms” with a ten-foot pole; search engines hate them.
5) Write articles and include your website address – Every business owner has something to say that someone would love to read about! There are a number of article databases out there that are researched for website content. Find some article databases which house content similar to yours and write a few articles. You’d be amazed at where your articles show up!
6) Write newsletters - Allow for customers and visitors to subscribe to a newsletter to get regular visibility to you and your company. This is also a great way to compile a customer email data base for your business.
7) Consider using a search engine submission services - These services submit your site to multiple search engines & directories. This can be helpful particularly if your website is new.
Set up an affiliates program - Allow for others to promote your products on a commission basis. Again a good eCommerce system should already have this built in.
9) Download the Google Toolbar – I am a Google toolbar fanatic! The Google Toolbar has a nifty feature which shows you the page rank (0-10 scale) of every site you visit; the higher your page ranking the higher your placement in search engines.
10) Set up multiple websites - Got three services you perform? Set up three different websites with domain names that match your keywords. Super cheap to do and can be very effective.
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09.11.07
Posted in at 9:16 pm by Admin
Before you even begin hopping onto the Internet marketing e-bandwagon, you must be aware of its myths, fallacies, and fairytales. Yes, Internet marketing is fascinating, it has incredible rags-to-riches fables, and you are just dying to get a slice of the pie. But before you do so, take a breather. Maybe these tips will help save the shirt on your back one rainy day.
Myth #1: Internet Marketing is a Piece of Cake
If it were that easy, everyone and their girlfriend would be e-millionaires by now. However, in comparison to traditional brick-and mortar businesses with huge overheads like rent, salaries, etc, it is certainly more lucrative. Overheads are minimal and affiliate marketing helps you quickly start churning some decent profits.
Myth #2: Everyone Makes Money Online
Can everyone fly an airplane? You might be willing to learn how to fly it, you may even able to fly it some day, however, most people won’t even make the initial effort to learn how to fly the plane. The same logic applies to making money online. Everyone knows that they can make a lot of money online but only a few pursue that dream with hard work, determination, and a bit of luck.
Myth #3: Internet Marketing = Get Rich Quick
The only way to ‘get rich quick’ on the Net is to win a lottery. Banish the idea, get rid of it completely, and erase it from your memory banks! Start building a genuine online business with real equity, sincerity, and dedication, and do it consistently over a period of time. I guarantee that you will get rich if you follow my advice. The good news is that Internet Marketing is less risky than a traditional business and also, requires relatively lesser time to establish and grow.
Myth #4: It’s Zero Cost
There is no such thing as a free lunch. Everything costs money, from your Internet access costs, to the cost of purchasing a PC, to fees for the affiliation membership to a website, enrolment for an Internet marketing plan, etc. Costs crop up everywhere. However, start-up costs are relatively more reasonable here than in traditional businesses.
Myth #5: It’s Too Late to Start Now
It is never too late to start anything, if you know your target market, that is. Don’t even attempt to become a Google or a Johnny-come-lately MSN. You might just fail before you even begin. Think of niche marketing as a solution to dead-end low-paying jobs or loss-making companies you owned.
Myth #6: Built It, and It Will Sell
This is opposite of the previous myth. Either it’s too late to start or it’s very easy to do just that. This is bunkum. This myth promotes the fallacy that if you hobble together any old site, people will flock to it. Why should they? Will people pay good money to buy a bullock cart, if you happen to throw it all together and create one? Similarly for the Internet. If you have planned a site, and you have designed a good business plan, implemented it effectively, then the buyers will come to you. And not a moment before that.
Myth #7: Only Tech Gurus Make it Big
Bill Gates isn’t one. And anyways, tech has advanced so rapidly, that you can find sophisticated tools and software – sometimes even for free – that help you do everything with the click of a button. For example, earlier HTML required hours of coding and months of training. Now, with the help of What You See Is What You get (WYSIWYG) editors, templates, tutorials, etc even a granny can create her own website in minutes.
Myth #8: It’s all Just Hype
Well, there is no smoke without fire. People aren’t crazy to chuck up secure jobs to venture into online marketing. Its not all just hype in the same way it’s not just a piece of cake. Between these 2 extremes lies a viable, intelligent, working system that will help you achieve great success provided you are ready to work hard and work smart.
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09.10.07
Posted in at 8:45 pm by Admin
A press release, or a media release as it is sometimes called, is a way to make an announcement to the news media about your organization and your web site. This could be a product release, a webinar, a new version of software, a new section in your web site, the latest financial results, a new strategic partnership and so on. The list is endless.
Press releases are used by all the major companies to inform the press about what is going on in the company. As you read on, you will discover the different parts that make up a press release, how to write them well and how to distribute press releases on-line including at the Free Press Release Center.
A press release is made up of different sections. It starts with a headline then there is a summary of the press release and then this is followed by the actual contents and finally the contact information. A well written press release can capture the attention of journalists and get you good exposure. In preparing your press release you need to consider several key things which are outlined below.
The first part of the press release is the headline. The headline is in title case. This Means You Capitalize Every Word Except for Prepositions and Articles of Three Words or Less and Short. Ideally the headline should not be more than 170 characters and it doesn’t end with the period (or a full stop as the British would say). Your headline needs to be sharp, to the point and eye catching. Some journalists see hundreds of press releases each day. Your one needs to stand out.
The summary paragraph is a synopsis of the press release in regular sentence form. It doesn’t merely repeat the headline or opening paragraph. It just tells the story in a different way.
Next comes the actual text of the press release. This is known as the body of the press release. The first paragraph, known as the “lead”, contains the most important information. After that you need to remember that in a press release you need to keep sentences and paragraphs short, about three or four lines per paragraph. The first couple of paragraphs should cover the who, what, when, where, why and how questions. The rest of the press release expounds on the information provided in the lead paragraph. It includes quotes from key staff, customers or subject matter experts. It contains more details about the news you have to tell.
At the end of the press release you need to include a short back ground paragraph about your organization. You then need to list the contact person’s name and phone number. You should include a phone number so that journalists can contact you easily without having to wait for your to reply to emails.
One very important thing to remember when writing a press release is that you are writing for journalists and not for potential clients, consumers or visitors to your web site. Journalists use press releases as a starting point for a larger story or feature. Press releases written as sales pieces will be completely ignored.
It can be very difficult to get your press release noticed by a journalist. It is a sad fact, but many press releases are quickly tossed in the trash without being studied. Journalists have deadlines and a job to do. Press releases help them do that job, but unless your press release stands out it will be in tomorrows garbage collection. You need to get the journalists attention. The press release needs to be good. It needs to contain news. And most of all it needs to be better than the other 200 press releases the journalist saw that day.
Once your press release is ready you need to distribute it. A good starting place is the Free Press Release Center (http://www.free-press-release-center.info). The power of FPRC is in its keyword linking. With each press release the you can choose a keyword and a URL (different to your main site URL) which will appear as a link (using the keyword as the anchor text) in your press release. This gives you free links to your site using the anchor text of your choice. Plus it is in a natural context, i.e. the text of their release.
A press release is a great way to get media attention for your web site. Used well your web site news can be tomorrows headlines.
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