I spent some time recently talking to various Search Engine Optimization firms. These are people who offer to increase the visibility of your web site for a fee. Other than pretending to be interested in their services (I’m not), I was completely honest about my site, my present statistics, and my goals. We’ll cover all that, but first a statement you probably won’t find surprising:
There’s a lot of snake oil out there.
Well, you probably knew that. On the other hand, I did have some pleasant conversations with a few people, and even got a few snippets of free advice. Some of that advice might have even been worthwhile, though most of it was rather generic and nothing you couldn’t find easily on the web. (more…)
Profitability with Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising comes down to how well you have chosen your keywords.
Choose too generic a term and you will lose your shirt – and fast. Choose too specific a term and you’ll miss out on traffic your competitors will get.
For example, let’s say you offer a travel guides for sale online – here are some possible keywords with associated monthly traffic counts and top bid as of the time this article was written: (more…)
Advertising your business in the correct manner is a sure shot key to success. Advertising helps you to reach out to a larger number of people from other websites. You definitely cannot expect these many people to come to you on their own.
But Advertising is very, very COSTLY! And if you don’t watch out, you may actually be going broke after paying your advertising bills, if your ads do not generate revenue. So, you should make sure you get value for your money.
With my own experiences in this field, I have drawn up some questions for Webmasters who are new to the field of Website Marketing. Take a good look at them EVERY TIME you make your advertising plan. (more…)
Researching Your Keywords
Once you’ve opened your account, start researching your keywords. You will probably already have several relevant words and phrases in mind. Write them all down and head over to the GoTo Keyword Suggestion Tool with your list.
The Keyword Suggestion Tool tells you how many times in the previous month people have searched for the keyword you input, or any phrase containing it. Results are listed in order, with the most popular searches at the top.
Type your first keyword into the tool’s search box. When the results come up, select “Save As” on your browser, and choose to save as “Text.” This will save your results in a small plain text file that can be opened by any text editor (like NotePad). Use the keyword as the file name. (more…)
You have a web site ready for action. Your product catalog, order tracking, credit card payment system, and fulfillment process are all in place. Now all you need is traffic! Many web entrepreneurs have learned that the magic nut to crack is attraction: get a steady flow of customers who explore your site and eventually purchase goods. The overhead costs of most web businesses are minimal relative to brick and mortar stores. However, the variable marketing costs can over shadow sales revenues by orders of magnitudes. Unfortunately, unlike the saying in the movie Field of Dreams, ?If you build it, they will not come!? Luckily, the industry has learned this lesson; some the hard way, and others in spite of the losers. Dot-coms are clearly not the darlings of the capital markets any longer; however, there is still money to be made! If you plan to start a web business or already have one but are not sure how to increase traffic and make money at the same time, you should consider a science-driven approach.
How to Lose $500 in 12 Hours
One weekend, my business partner and I created an affiliate commerce site. The site comprised a list of links to other online retailers. People go to our site, pick a link to a jewelry store for example, buy something, and in turn we receive a commission from the sale. The process of creating the site, signing up the affiliate agreements, and turning it on was a cinch. The cost was virtually nothing. We, being new to this whole web business concept, thought we had an incredibly smart marketing idea: pay to have our site come up in an ad box on a major search engine (Google) every time someone searched on the word ?gifts?. The word gifts is searched for 49,000 times per day! We figured we would have a good flow of visitors and the money would start rolling in. For certain, we would at least break even. We sunk $500 in one day and let it rip. Here’s what happened: (more…)
1. Build a solid business foundation. Design a business plan, marketing plan, ideal client profile, and a site map for your web site.
2. Be consistent. Brand your company.
3. Make your website trustable. This article will show you 10 ways. www.coachmaria.com/trustableweb.html
4. Create policies the build trust: customer service, code of ethics and newsletter privacy policy.
5. If you have pages on your site that you update monthly (like an articles page or recommended links page) say so on the page. (more…)
When you are looking for something on the Internet, what do you usually do? You go to a search engine. Where do those results come from and how do you put your website up there too?
The mother of all marketing tools online is the search engine. There are many to choose from and there is no reason not to be listed in as many as you possibly can. However, there are only a few which garner more than 80% (between them) of the Internet’s searching traffic. These are usually referred to as the “Top Ten Search Engines.” They are, in no particular order: Yahoo!, AltaVista, Lycos, MSN, Netscape, AOL, Excite, LookSmart, Google, and the Open Directory. (more…)
Remember those little quizzes you used to see in magazines with headlines like: ‘How Compatible Are You and Your Partner?’ or ‘Are You Dating Mr Wrong?’. Well, we thought it might be fun to create a 5 min quiz for you to test the compatibility of your site with search engines. Your total score will give you an idea of whether your site is destined for a “high ranking honeymoon” in the engines or headed towards separation from the indexes. Pens ready?
Here we go: (more…)
Email is a unique opportunity when you’re marketing. It’s like being a business owner and having the customer standing right in front of you, a captive audience. Treat this person as the target market and make your signature block, your sig, work for you.
It’s part of branding. Everything about you, and everything that comes from you, is consistent and bears your stamp.
If you’re in a professional service, such as coaching, add a quotation that reveals something of who you are and what your philosophy is. Use it with, or instead of, a tagline. (more…)
Whatever your home-based internet business is, you must have people visit your website. The best way for this to happen is to have a high search engine ranking. This takes time, skill, and money.
For those of us that have limited budgets and can’t afford sponsored links, full page ads, or speedy URL insertions, there is an alternative — The Pay Per Click (or PPC).
The Pay Per Click is geared towards business owners who have outgrown free classifieds, but are still not turning enough profit to advertise in the aforementioned way. (more…)
