Six Keys to Creating a Successful and Profitable Ezine
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 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!
Here are the six ingredients that you need for creating a successful and profitable ezine:
Advertising Your Ezine
* 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 no value to my list since most subscribers never read my web-based ezine.
* One ezine advertising program that I have used in the past to great success is List Partners which permits you to set up an free affiliate program to permit others to advertise your ezine in exchange for free advertising or cash. http://www.listpartners.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 locate like-minded publishers seeking beneficial ad swaps, there is a moderated discussion group dedicated to this task called the Ezine Publishers Swap Meet:
http://lists.topica.com/lists/publishers_swap_meet/
* Paid Search Engine placement can be another solid method for attracting new subscribers to your ezine.
* For more help in promoting your ezine, check out “How to Publicize Your E-Zine” at:
http://www.zinebook.com/publicz.html
Develop A Standardized Template For Your Ezine
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
http://www.freewebs.com/niche-content/
The Article Depot
http://articledepot.50megs.com/
The Phantom Writers Articles Archive
http://thephantomwriters.com/free_content/d/index.shtml
Free-Reprint Article and Content Providers Webring
http://b.webring.com/hub?ring=contentproviders
Personalize And Brand Your Ezine
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 develop an identity for your ezine, separate from your competitors, is to inject a touch of yourself into every issue. Talk to your readers as if you are talking to a friend or colleague. Your publishing competitors cannot duplicate your personality or your own personal take on life itself. Your personality is the primary ingredient that will help you to develop a solid ezine brand that your readers can trust.
Create Reader Interaction
The greatest challenge in publishing an ezine is ALWAYS getting your subscribers to read your ezine.
One method for doing this is to develop reader interaction.
The one ezine that I know that has done the best job of this is Your Membership Exchange:
http://www.your-membership.com
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 one every day.
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 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 purchase what you are selling! Don’t be afraid of offending your readers. Take care to do what is necessary to help your ezine to generate the profits it was designed to create.
Author Bio:
Bill Platt owns The Phantom Writers, a company committed to helping people to establish an Internet presence & promote their businesses through the use of Free-Reprint Articles and Press Releases. Articles are distributed to 6,000+ publishers & webmasters as part of the package. http://thePhantomWriters.com Do you write your own articles? Let us distribute them for you.
To Optimize Or Not To Optimize
Excessive optimization could be considered a sickness depending on context. Look up compulsive disorders in the Diagnosis and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) and over-optimization fits the description fairly well. So, should most online home business owners be seen by a psychotherapist? Well, I won’t answer that as of now since it doesn’t bode well for my immediate physical health. But one thing is for sure: web site optimization is tricky business.
The search engines are in an all out war to be the best. Since content is king, they are all striving to develop the all around best algorithm to deliver the most relevant search results. They are thus in a constant state of flux, which in turn wreaks havoc on our nerves as online home business owners.
You see, search engines are one of the best forms of free traffic. And we all know that to run a successful online business, traffic is a must. Most home based web businesses start out on very restrictive budgets. I know mine did, and still is. So, when the toss up is time or money, I, like many others probably do, chose to work with time.
In walks optimization. You must be on your toes to stay ahead of the every changing SEs. You must periodically evaluate your site’s content to ensure that you aren’t bumped to low indexes. But this can easily get carried away into what I like to call over-optimization, and then you probably should consult the DSM-V.
Traffic is important. There is no doubt about it. But there must be a balance. So the ultimate question is not whether you should or shouldn’t optimize, but how much time you should spend on it in terms of other site promotion methodologies.
Try to divide your time. In the beginning I focused heavily on search engine optimization. Slowly, after several months of realizing that the process never ends,(I too consulted the DSM-V and had Freud give me a swift kick in the tushy.) my focus began to shift to a host of promotion techniques. Here is a short list of some of the primary traffic generators I work with.
(1) Writing articles, such as this one, to share my experiences with others and of course provide a link to my site at the end. Guess what? If someone picks it up and decides to publish any of my articles on their site, I get bonus points from the search engines. Why? Reciprocal linking of course. The link shows that someone else values my site, and as a result my ranking increases.
(2) E-Zine advertising, whether it be free classified ads which a host of publishers will offer their subscribers, or full blown paid solo ads, is a great traffic generator. You know that the people who visit your site through an ad were looking for something that you offer. Now that’s targeted traffic!
(3) Traffic exchanges can also bring in targeted traffic. Many of these have the option of free or paid memberships. As of now I have focused on the free aspect (Remember, I love low, or no cost advertising). All that is required is for you to do a bit of surfing to have your short ad show up on other sites across the internet. TrafficSwarm and ClickMatrix are two of the best I have come across. They allow you to target your ad to ensure that the people who click are serious about checking out your site. You can sign up for free accounts to both of these at http://www.trafficswarm.com/go.cgi?224700, and http://www.clicksmatrix.com/index.php?ref=ekinetic.
(4) Pay-per-click can also drive targeted traffic. The thing I don’t care for is that the cost can easily get out of hand, if you don’t continuously evaluate your click through rates on a daily basis. Soon your back to focusing on pay-per-click and re-consulting with the DSM-V :).
Ultimately, you want to incorporate a handful of techniques that you find work for your particular home based web business. I nor anyone else can guarantee what works. It takes testing on your behalf. But, and this is important, the testing phase is educational and forces you to stay focused on methods that work. So try the inexpensive traffic builders first. Find out what works for you. Then expand your arsenal. Most of all, be patient and success will come!
To Optimize Or Not To Optimize
Excessive optimization could be considered a sickness depending on context. Look up compulsive disorders in the Diagnosis and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) and over-optimization fits the description fairly well. So, should most online home business owners be seen by a psychotherapist? Well, I won’t answer that as of now since it doesn’t bode well for my immediate physical health. But one thing is for sure: web site optimization is tricky business.
The search engines are in an all out war to be the best. Since content is king, they are all striving to develop the all around best algorithm to deliver the most relevant search results. They are thus in a constant state of flux, which in turn wreaks havoc on our nerves as online home business owners.
You see, search engines are one of the best forms of free traffic. And we all know that to run a successful online business, traffic is a must. Most home based web businesses start out on very restrictive budgets. I know mine did, and still is. So, when the toss up is time or money, I, like many others probably do, chose to work with time.
In walks optimization. You must be on your toes to stay ahead of the every changing SEs. You must periodically evaluate your site’s content to ensure that you aren’t bumped to low indexes. But this can easily get carried away into what I like to call over-optimization, and then you probably should consult the DSM-V.
Traffic is important. There is no doubt about it. But there must be a balance. So the ultimate question is not whether you should or shouldn’t optimize, but how much time you should spend on it in terms of other site promotion methodologies.
Try to divide your time. In the beginning I focused heavily on search engine optimization. Slowly, after several months of realizing that the process never ends,(I too consulted the DSM-V and had Freud give me a swift kick in the tushy.) my focus began to shift to a host of promotion techniques. Here is a short list of some of the primary traffic generators I work with.
(1) Writing articles, such as this one, to share my experiences with others and of course provide a link to my site at the end. Guess what? If someone picks it up and decides to publish any of my articles on their site, I get bonus points from the search engines. Why? Reciprocal linking of course. The link shows that someone else values my site, and as a result my ranking increases.
(2) E-Zine advertising, whether it be free classified ads which a host of publishers will offer their subscribers, or full blown paid solo ads, is a great traffic generator. You know that the people who visit your site through an ad were looking for something that you offer. Now that’s targeted traffic!
(3) Traffic exchanges can also bring in targeted traffic. Many of these have the option of free or paid memberships. As of now I have focused on the free aspect (Remember, I love low, or no cost advertising). All that is required is for you to do a bit of surfing to have your short ad show up on other sites across the internet. TrafficSwarm and ClickMatrix are two of the best I have come across. They allow you to target your ad to ensure that the people who click are serious about checking out your site. You can sign up for free accounts to both of these at http://www.trafficswarm.com/go.cgi?224700, and http://www.clicksmatrix.com/index.php?ref=ekinetic.
(4) Pay-per-click can also drive targeted traffic. The thing I don’t care for is that the cost can easily get out of hand, if you don’t continuously evaluate your click through rates on a daily basis. Soon your back to focusing on pay-per-click and re-consulting with the DSM-V :).
Ultimately, you want to incorporate a handful of techniques that you find work for your particular home based web business. I nor anyone else can guarantee what works. It takes testing on your behalf. But, and this is important, the testing phase is educational and forces you to stay focused on methods that work. So try the inexpensive traffic builders first. Find out what works for you. Then expand your arsenal. Most of all, be patient and success will come!
Color Psychology in Marketing
On the internet we don’t deal with face to face selling. The internet is a visual and psychological medium. The words, or sales copy, on your website have by far the greatest psychological impact on your visitors and thus becomes your most important communication and sales tool.
Another important psychological aspect of your website that is often overlooked are the colors. Yes, that’s right… I said colors. Just as you use words to express yourself, colors can be used as an expression as well and are a language all on their own.
Author Name: Al Martinovic
Company: MilleniumMarketers.com
Author Bio:
Al Martinovic works from home and runs a successful mlm business at http://www.ineedsmokes.com and also publishes a popular internet marketing newsletter: http://www.milleniummarketers.com
The background color of your website, the color of your header, the color of your text, headlines and sub-headlines etc. can all have a psychological impact on your visitors. Here is a list of some of the common colors and what type of psychological emotion they invoke in people:
RED is associated with love, passion, danger, warning, excitement, food, impulse, action, adventure.
BLUE is associated with trustworthiness, success, seriousness, calmness, power, professionalism.
GREEN is associated with money, nature, animals, health, healing, life, harmony.
ORANGE is associated with comfort, creativity, celebration, fun, youth, affordability.
PURPLE is associated with royalty, justice, ambiguity, uncertainty, luxury, fantasy, dreams.
WHITE is associated with innocence, purity, cleanliness, simplicity.
YELLOW is associated with curiosity, playfulness, cheerfulness, amusement.
PINK is associated with softness, sweetness, innocence, youthfulness, tenderness.
BROWN is associated with earth, nature, tribal, primitive, simplicity.
GREY is associated with neutralality, indifference, reserved.
BLACK is associated with seriousness, darkness, mystery, secrecy.
You can use the above as a guide when choosing colors for your website. It really boils down to your target audience and what psychological message you want to convey in colors.
Blues and white backgrounds work best for business sites. Maternity sites should consider some pink. Golf or lawn sites sites should consider green. Food sites should consider red, etc.
There are also numerous shades of the same color that you can use too. Here a link that lists 216 colors that work in all browsers:
http://www.geocities.com/webtvbeth/hexchart.html
It also boils down to common sense too. As far as using colors in text, black text on white backgrounds may be dull but it is the most readable and pleasing to the eye.
Yellow text on white background is not only unreadable, but causes eye-strain which will have people leaving your site quickly. Nothing will lose sales faster than eye-straining text.
Here’s a link for a “color wheel” that shows which colors compliment each other, and which ones don’t:
http://www.saumag.edu/art/studio/chalkboard/c-wheel.html
In conclusion, not only can the sales copy on your website have a psychological impact with words but the colors you use can as well.
Use them wisely…
Are Your Words Attracting Clients?
I’ve always found that one of the easiest, most cost-effective, and productive ways to build a business is to magnetize yourself. Think of the magnets you see in your everyday life. They’re strong, aren’t they? They have pulling power, don’t they? They have the ability to keep things attached, don’t they? That’s the beauty of attraction marketing, too, with you being the magnet that draws people to you.
So, how do you magnetize yourself? By letting people get a “taste” of you. Why? Because when they’re ready to contact you, they already know who you are and what you can do for them.
It saves a lot of time and brings you clients who want to work with you instead of prospects who want you to convince them to deal with you. That’s a subtle, but very important distinction.
Many potential clients will want to “experience” you anonymously before they’re prepared to enter into a conversation with you. Your job is to make that as easy as possible for them, and one of the best ways to do that it to put your thoughts in writing and make sure your writing is seen by as many potential clients as possible.
What should you write and how do you get your words to “attract” qualified clients to you? Here are a few suggestions:
1. Write an e-mail newsletter in your area of expertise that lets people see who you are and what you can do for them. I have been sending this newsletter out for six years and have received business from readers all over the world. Writing an e-zine has helped me build my business and it can easily help you build yours, too.
2. Leverage your efforts by sending your articles to mailing lists that cater to publishers looking for content. (You’ll need to become members of the list in order to submit your articles, but the exposure you get is well worth the added e-mails you’ll receive.)
Here are a few to get you started:
aageneral@yahoogroups.com
Free-Content@yahoogroups.com
article_announce@yahoogroups.com
ArticlePublisher@yahoogroups.com
aabusiness@yahoogroups.com
I_Need_Content@yahoogroups.com
articlesubmission@yahoogroups.com
QC_Reprint_Articles@yahoogroups.com
Remember to include a resource box with your contact information at the end. Your copyright notice at the end of the article is a must, too. Before you know it, your articles will be appearing in newsletters and on Web sites around the world.
3. Write a compelling signature file for all your e-mails. The signature file is what you see after someone’s name in an e-mail. It is not meant to be a blatant advertisement, but rather a quick intro of who you are and the benefits you offer. Make sure you include your web site and contact information. Keep it to six to eight lines. Any more than that is considered very poor netiquette.
4. Write letters to the editor. Let the members of your community see where you stand on matters of local or business interest. Sign your name and your business name if your comments are business related. This will go a long way in creating visibility for yourself in your community.
5. Express yourself in a handwritten note. Anybody can use e-mail. Someone who takes the time to sit down and write a note the old fashioned way really stands out from the crowd. “Thank you, “congratulations,” “nice meeting you,” “loved your presentation” are all great openers.
6. Post to discussion lists where your target market is active. Offer helpful suggestions to your list mates. Build credibility for yourself by offering help and expecting nothing in return. You’ll quickly build a reputation as someone in the know.
7. Become the newsletter editor of your Chamber of Commerce, Women’s group or professional association. This will keep your name in front of the membership on a regular basis. Looking for newsworthy articles to write about members’ businesses will give you a perfect reason to stay in touch. Doing so allows you to build both name recognition and relationships.
8. Write a regular column for a trade magazine that caters to your target market. You HAVE identified your target market haven’t you?
9. Send press releases any chance you get. Launching a new business? Send a press release. Adding a new service? Send a press release! Sponsoring a contest? Send a press release! Delivering a workshop? Send a press release! How do you think newspapers get their information? From press releases! Whom do you think they interview? People who send press releases!
10. Give written testimonials. Yes, you read that right. GIVE testimonials. You’ll be amazed at what you’ll get back.
Your written words are constantly being recycled and seen by fresh eyes every day.
If someone likes an article they’ve seen in a newsletter, they’ll hit their e-mail “Forward” button. If they see something in the local newspaper that strikes a chord with them, they’ll cut out the article and mail it to a friend.
Your testimonial on someone’s Web page will be seen by thousands. Notes get passed around by proud recipients. Magazines sit in doctor’s offices forever.
Get the picture?
Ready? Set? Write!
Author Bio:
Leni Chauvin is the creator of the popular “Attract Clients Galore Program” for entrepreneurs and independent professionals who want to attract more (and better) clients, make more money, and have more fun while they’re doing it. She is a certified Professional Coach and Business Building Specialist who has helped thousands of ordinary people build extraordinary businesses. Info and newsletter at http://www.superstarnetworking.com
SEO Trade Secrets – 8 Great Tools for Search Engine Optimization
About 80% of website traffic comes through search engines. And research shows, if you’re not on the first 2 pages, most people won’t find you.
This article isn’t about how to achieve a high ranking. That topic has been done to death over the past few months. We all know the basics now: Submit your site to the major search engines, scatter a generous helping of the right keyword phrases throughout your site in real sentences, then get a lot of other relevant sites link to your site. That’s it.
This article is about what tools to use to make your job easier.
1) Choosing Keyword Phrases (costs approx USD$7.50 per day).
To decide what keyword phrases to use, subscribe to www.wordtracker.com for a day and do some analysis. Simply enter a keyword and WordTracker tells you how often people have searched for that keyword in the last month or two, how many competitor sites are using that keyword, and how many searches it expects in the next 24hrs.
2) Measuring Keyword Density (FREE).
To measure the density of the keyword phrases on your page, go to http://www.gorank.com/analyze.php and type in the domain and keyword phrase you want to analyse. It’ll give you a percentage for all the important parts of your page, including copy, title, meta keywords, meta description, etc. The higher the density the better.
3) Check How Search-Engine-Friendly Your Site Is (FREE).
Search engines send out spiders (or robots) to investigate your site. These tools allow you to see your site from the spider’s point of view.
– http://www.1-hit.com/all-in-one/tool.search-engine-viewer.htm
– enter your URL and it gives you a summary of the things you could improve.
– http://www.gritechnologies.com/tools/spider.go?
– Poodle tells you how many links the spider will see and investigate.
4) Check How Many of Your Pages are Indexed (FREE).
Go to just about any search engine and type site:www.yourdomain.com. The search engine will then tell you how many of your pages it has indexed.
5) Monitor Your Position in Google (FREE).
No need to waste time clicking through hundreds of Google search results looking for your site. This tool allows you to enter a keyword and a domain name, and it searches Google to see where your domain is positioned. Go to, http://www.cleverstat.com/google-monitor-query.htm to download the setup file. Then just install.
6) See How Important Sites Are (FREE).
The Google Toolbar is an indispensable tool. One of the things it can tell you is the “importance” of every site you visit (in Google’s eyes at least). You’ve probably heard a bit about PageRank or PR. PR is Google’s measure of the importance of a site. Basically, the higher your PR, the higher your ranking. This tool gives you a snapshot of the PR of every site you visit. Go to http://toolbar.google.com.
TIP: It’s good to get links from other sites with high PR especially if they contain the same keywords as your site.
WARNING: Apparently the Google Toolbar monitors your internet usage. As yet, it’s unclear what it uses this information for.
7) Monitor What Sites are Linking to Yours (FREE).
Google News Alerts (http://www.google.com/newsalerts?hl=en) and Google Web Alerts (http://www.google.com/webalerts) will tell you who’s linking to your site. Simply set up an alert to be notified when Google finds www.yourdomain.com.
8) Getting Help (FREE).
If you’re new to SEO, the first thing you should do is check out Google’s guide to SEO at http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html. If you already know the basics, there are a number of forums you can subscribe to to post questions. These forums are free, and they’re frequented by countless SEO experts. And when I say “experts”, I mean EXPERTS! Some of these people do SEO all day, every day. And like many technical experts, they’re only too happy to help for free. The best forum seems to be http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3, but http://searchengineforums.com/Forum28 is ok too. If all else fails, you can try sending Google an email. Go to http://www.google.com.au/contact/index.html, but don’t hold out much hope of help here. They’ll eventually answer, but there’s no guarantee on the quality of their response.
This is just a snapshot of the tools available out there. Doubtless there are better tools available, but these will certainly get you started.
Enjoy!
Author Bio:
Glenn Murray heads copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com. Visit www.divinewrite.com for further details.
8 Ways to Build Your Subscriber Base
When you combine the use of several of the following techniques for building your subscriber base you will find that you can grow your list rapidly. Don’t forget though, building your list is the easy part, Keeping your subscribers requires a lot more effort.
You will want to provide your readers with quality information they can depend on. If you promise to deliver your information on a certain day, then make sure you deliver it that day.
Provide your readers quality information that teaches and informs. And more than anything treat your readers with respect. Don’t abuse your list by sending continuous advertising or displaying twenty ads each issue you send.
Here are some of the best ways to build your list:
1. Your Website
Place a subscription box on every page of your website. Make sure you don’t overlook this simple but powerful way of gaining subscribers.
2. Give Them Something to Subscribe
This strong way of obtaining subscribers can literally quadruple your subscription rate. All you have to do is offer your visitor a free gift in return for their subscription. This free gift can be a free ebook, software course or report.
3. Writing Articles
You can write informative articles and allow them to be freely published. You will be branding your name. Include your subscription information within your bylines. You probably subscribe to at least one online newsletter or ezine. Most ezines will include a feature article written by the editor or a guest author. At the end of the article, a few lines of text about the author, referred to as your “byline” or “resource box.”
The writer gives the publisher permission to publish their article free of charge in exchange for the publisher including the author’s
byline. Your byline is basically just an advertisement for your business. You can usually include a couple of lines about yourself and a web address. By allowing your articles to be published, your articles will have the potential to be viewed by millions of Internet users.
4. Write Your own Ebook
You can create powerful ebooks and allow them to freely distributed. Place your subscription box on each page. Allow others to pass it along.
5. Submit Your Ezine or Articles to Ezine Directories
You will need to submit your ezine to a variety of listing sites. Do a search for ezine directories in your favorite search engine. Start submitting your ezine subscription information. Submit to at least ten different sites everyday. Pretty soon you’ll be listed in hundreds of sites. Be sure and study the listings on each site. You will need to submit a description of your ezine. Write a powerful description that will generate hundreds of new readers.
6. Use discussion lists to promote your list
Discussion lists provide a great way of communication with other people with the same interests. Usually blatant advertising is prohibited, but signature lines are permitted. When you subscribe to discussion lists you will be joining a group of individuals who have mutually subscribed to receive posts from other subscribers on the same list.
7. Pop-Up Windows
Although pop-up windows can be irritating if not used correctly, they will provide a highly effective means of obtaining new subscribers. Combine pop-up windows with your incentives.
8. Alert Boxes
Although using pop-up windows with incentives is a highly effective method of obtaining new subscribes, there is another method that is even better. When combined with an incentive, this method will literally double or even triple your subscriptions instantly. The alert box is similar to a pop-up window but doesn’t require your subscriber to fill out a form.
Author Bio:
Kristie Weddell is an independent researcher and owner of Affliatesource.com, a site devoted to providing resources for Affiliate and MLM Marketers. Subscribe to her free ecourse ‘5 Simple Steps to an Online Cashflow’ at http://tinyurl.com/33p42
Just what exactly are Trusted Feed programs?
With today’s many PPC (Pay per Click), PFP (Pay for Placement) and PFI (Paid for Inclusion) programs from so many vendors, it’s no surprise that some people can be confused. While organic SEO (search engine optimization) search results (the ones you see at the left of Google’s screen) are considered the best and generally constitute the highest ROI, for companies that just launched a new site and that need sales real fast, these various ‘paid’ programs can make a big difference in their search engine marketing campaigns.
Enter the trusted feed arena
Before I start describing some of the advantages and disadvantages of using trusted feed programs and how you can benefit from them, let’s see what the term ‘trusted feed’ means and what it entails for companies that are considering using such programs.
When a company has a large website, with more than 400, 500 or maybe 600 pages, a trusted feed program would make a lot of sense. With most trusted feed programs offered today, your site’s listings are given the same chance to rank among the generic or organic listings, usually on the same pages.
With certain PFI programs such as Inktomi, you need to pay for each Web page you submit. Trusted feed programs differ from this, since you are required to pay a fee only for the clicks your links are getting.
So, what makes trusted feed programs popular with some companies is that you only pay if there is traffic to your site, as opposed to PFI where you have to pay, whether you get traffic or not.
Trusted feed programs are also called XML feed, since they are based on the XML protocol, a technology developed specifically for Web services. It also used to be called Direct Data when it first came out, but the two most popular terms we hear of today are either trusted feed or XML feed.
Advantages of Trusted Feed programs:
1. Trusted feed is continually re-indexed
2. Appears as generic listings, not advertisements
3. Can boost more keyword and key phrase rankings
4. Greatly facilitates indexing of sites that are database-driven
5. Helps with indexing information that is buried deep in a site
Similarities between Trusted Feed and PFP
Trusted Feed and Pay for Placement (PFP) programs have one thing in common: both programs rely on a Cost per Click (CPC) pricing model. However, PFP click charges for every keyword fluctuate constantly, since advertisers keep modifying their bids all the time. In the case of trusted feed, you can negotiate a single, fixed CPC cost with some of the search engines or their inclusion partners.
Two of the most popular and most recognized PFP search engines are Google’s AdWords program and Overture. A lower and more stable CPC rate makes trusted feed programs a more attractive option to some larger advertisers, since it helps facilitate its monitoring.
Inventory management
If you are a manufacturer or distributor, what happens if you temporarily run out of stock on a certain product? Another popular advantage of trusted feed programs is that there are mechanisms in place that allow an advertiser to remove discontinued or temporarily unavailable products pages from the engine’s database.
Additionally, XML and trusted feeds support the utilization of most third party tracking URL’s from each search engine, for their corresponding individual landing pages. All of this helps companies better manage their ad programs, while at the same time offering them better flexibility.
Trusted Feed limitations
Everything can never be perfect and there are a few limitations to trusted feed. Although trusted feed can significantly improve the indexing of a database-driven website, top rankings can never be guaranteed. Sometimes, certain positions that are achieved can be located in a further down (lower) position than those of sponsored ads.
Another drawback to using trusted feed programs is the time it can take to carefully manage them, in certain situations. Generally speaking, there are certain types of trusted feed programs that were designed mainly for bigger companies that have large advertising budgets to work with. Furthermore, even with trusted feed, don’t neglect the fact that your title tags and description tags still need to be written in a convincing fashion that will entice visitors to click on your link.
Other disadvantages of Trusted Feed
Although advertisers using trusted feed don’t need to worry of large outbursts of click-fees or such big variations, they still need to monitor their campaigns closely, to ensure their maximum profitability. A steady stream of visitors from trusted feed listings could, in certain cases, come to an unexpected halt.
As with conventional and generic SEO, with trusted feed, you will still need to have your Web pages optimized, if you want the best positioning on most engines.
Another common disadvantage to using trusted feed is the amount of people it generally takes to prepare all the data. It is fairly easy and simple for a programmer to export data inside a document. However, in some large companies with thousands of different products to sell on their sites, this can take a few months if there are some problems. So there could be additional delays, which might in effect circumvent one of trusted feed’s main features: faster time to market.
Conclusion
Trusted feed inclusion programs are not for every marketer or advertiser. By their inherent design, some trusted feed programs are more appropriate for larger companies, or advertisers that have larger budgets and can afford longer-lasting ad campaigns.
Carefully evaluate your advertising needs and consider the ad budget you have to work with, in order to determine if a trusted feed program is really appropriate for your company.
____________
Reference:
‘Search Engine Advertising’ by Catherine Seda.
347 pages. New Riders Publishing. Indianapolis, IN. 46240.
Author:
Serge Thibodeau of Rank For Sales
Why writing for the Web is different than in print
As you sit down and start thinking how you are going to write the content for your new website, or if you are contemplating a complete redesign of your existing site, there are a number of important things you need to know, before you even start writing.
If you have never written for the Web before but if you have plenty of experience writing for print, there are in fact a number of things here that may even shock you. To be really successful on the Web, you may even have to ‘relearn’ a few things.
The exact way you do this will have a direct and long-term impact on the overall ranking features of your website in the major search engines. So if you want to succeed at this task, and if you want to significantly increase your site’s ROI from the search engine’s generic (organic) results pages, listen up.
First, what do search engines need to index a page?
To begin with, the only thing search engines are interested in is text, and lots of it. The more text you can place on your pages, the better. To be properly indexed, any Web page needs a minimum of 500 to 750 words on it. Make it less than that and you are seriously compromising your chances at good rankings.
I often have to work with writers that have lots of experience in print advertising, but know very little about the correct way to write for the Web. In fact, there are still many that tell me our finished copy has more than one word repeated a few times on the same page! I smile every time I hear that of course, since it is an important part of the SEO process in itself!
Don’t get me wrong here: if a Web page ‘sounds’ like you are repeating your keywords or key phrases over and over, you should review it carefully, since this is not the intent of SEO. To be real effective, a properly optimized page needs to read well and ‘sound natural’ to your visitors, and it must convey a message that your content is professionally written.
At the same time, you also need to get the right keyword density and keyword frequency that is all so important, as far as the search engines are concerned. Neglect either one of them and you won’t end up with the results you had hoped for.
Just how much is enough?
So some of you may ask: when do we know how much is enough, without repeating our keywords too many times? I have been optimizing pages and websites for the past seven years, and I can honestly tell you that, for a typical page with about 700 to 750 words on it, your keywords or key phrase for that page needs to be written at least three to four times, in order to yield their maximum ranking effects in the search engines. Less than that would not be enough, and more than five times would be too much.
Avoid the error of ‘going off on the deep end’ by repeating your keywords 10 times or more, like I have seen on some sites we had to redo, since they were hit with the Google OOP (Over Optimization Penalty), either in November of 2003, or two months later, when Google did their ‘Austin’ monthly update in January. These sites were ‘over-optimized’ by either ambitious SEO’s or by people that lacked the experience or the knowledge to ‘know when to stop’. Too much of a good thing is never good.
What else is there to know?
While utilizing the right techniques in writing for the search engines is extremely important and can vary a lot than writing for print, there are other important considerations to evaluate and implement. Such considerations as the correct way to write your title tags and your meta description tags are equally as critical.
Also, depending whether your site caters to your local market or to an international audience, the proper linking strategy of your site can have a dramatic influence in the overall rankings features of your site in the search engines.
Additionally, before you even start writing your text, you need to carefully research your real keywords that people type in the search boxes of the search engines. Depending on the exact products or services they are looking for, the keywords that you might think they are using are often not the same keywords at all they are typing, in order to find your site.
I see this over and over. Even if you have been in business for 20 or 30 years, the words people type in search engines to find businesses like yours will surprise you more than once! The only way to effectively determine and accurately identify these correct keywords or key phrases is to use the facilities of Wordtracker.
Optimize a site for the wrong keywords, and you will end up with enquiries or questions for products or services your company may not even sell! Not only that, but you will seriously undermine the ranking characteristics of your site at the same time.
Conclusion
Writing for the Web is significantly different than writing for the print media. To be real effective, a site needs to be written for its human users: the real people that will visit your site. At the same time, consideration must also be given to the search robots that will crawl your site at regular intervals.
Search engine optimization (SEO) need not be boring, nor should it ever be systematic. Write in a compelling fashion that will truly add credibility to your site’s image. Important words such as your main features and benefits, the many reasons why a person should do business with your company, your store hours, etc. can go a long way in fully realizing the true potential of any website, large or small.
With all else being equal, generic or ‘organic’ search results pages usually carry a significantly higher value. Additionally, unless there are serious problems in the overall structure of your site’s design, they will also deliver a better conversion rate, while at the same time offer a higher ROI, provided the optimization was done correctly.
Author: Serge Thibodeau of Rank For Sales
Peak Cycles are Driven by Timely Content
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 the 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 15th, my site served 90% more visitors than is average on any given day.
So the lesson I have learned here is that if I have date targeted materials on my site for several different dates, that 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 recognition in the marketplace. Over the long haul, this extra recognition serves to generate more referral traffic that has proven to be the basis of my business model. 95% of all of my clients have come to me directly by referral.
Author Bio:
Bill Platt owns The Phantom Writers, a company committed to helping people to establish an Internet presence & promote their businesses through the use of Free-Reprint Articles and Press Releases. Articles are distributed to 6,000+ publishers & webmasters as part of the package. http://thePhantomWriters.com Do you write your own articles? Let us distribute them for you.
Using Words That Sell
This article may come as a surprise to you.
Especially since it is written by a web designer. Let me explain……
Rescue Your Web Site from Boring Words and Poor Design.
The difference between a successful website design and a site that brings in zero or very little business is not how nice the graphics are, not the colors you choose. It’s not the flashy animation, and it’s not your precious company logo.
I’m not saying to remove these elements. Some of them are important. But they’re mostly ego-driven. They are “me” messages, and have absolutely nothing to do with what you want your visitor to do.
And what is that you ask? The answer is of course. You want your visitors to buy something.
People who are considering doing business with you are only interested in one thing; “What’s In It For Me?”
One of the first steps toward a successful website is writing copy that tells the reader what’s in it for him, in a style that is easy to read.
Make More Cash
Study any website that makes money and I promise you’ll see the following copy elements in place:
In the main body copy, the text color is always black with a white background, making it easy to read. This should be obvious, but it’s amazing how many websites out there do not follow this very basic guideline.
Testimonials, and other secondary elements commonly use a contrasting font such as courier, courier new. The background in light blue, beige, or yellow shade to make it stand apart from the white background of the main body copy.
Verdana is the most widely used font for your body copy. This font was actually developed for use in the web. Times New Roman, Arial, and Georgiana are also popular. Never use more than two different font faces in your sales copy.
The use of yellow highlights, italics and bold font-style for emphasis.
Headlines and Subheads are usually a contrasting color from the black body text. A shade of red, dark green and dark blue are good colors. However, do not use more than three or four different colors.
Sentence and paragraph font size is commonly between 8pt. and 12pt. Never smaller than that, and never bigger.
Headlines and sub headlines usually between 14pt. and 18pt.
Paragraphs never justified. Most common is left-margin with no indent.
How To Write Successful Headlines
In your sales copy you need an attention-grabbing headline and a compelling sales message full of benefits, clearly describing what your product or service is all about.
Legendary copywriter Ted Nicholas author of 14 best-selling books including “Magic Words That Bring You Riches” has these excellent tips on writing headlines
“Start with a well thought out headline.”
“Five times as many people read the headline as the body copy. It makes sense, therefore, to spend the major portion of your effort on headlines.”
“A good headline motivates action by stirring an emotion”
“Write as many as 250 headlines before settling on one”
13 Proven Headline Words
Announcing…
Secrets of…
New…
Now…
Amazing…
Facts you…
Breakthrough…
At Last…
Advice to…
The truth of…
Free…
How would…
How to…
How To Write Attention-Grabbing First Sentences
Joe Sugarman (of blu-blocker sunglass fame) and author of best-selling book “Advertising Secrets of the Written Word” has these tips on writing first sentences;
“Keep it short, sweet and almost incomplete.”
For example:
It’s easy.
It had to happen.
It’s time.
It’s crazy.
The sole purpose of the first sentence is to get you to read the second sentence.
How To Write Attention-Grabbing Ending Sentences
“You must plant seeds of curiosity for the reader.” “At the end of a paragraph offer a reason to read the next paragraph.”
Using sentences such as…..
But there’s more.
So read on.
But I didn’t stop there.
Let me explain.
Now here comes the good part.
These tips represent just the tip of the iceberg on breathing new life into your half-dead web site.
We’ll cover all of the other necessary elements in future articles. Stay tuned.
I hope that you have found this information to be helpful in your pursuit of excellence. Thank you for reading.
Regards,
Dave Peterson
Author Bio:
Dave is not only a Professional Website Designer. He also incorporates exciting state-of-the-art marketing strategies and expertise that help clients put more cash in there pockets. Providing great value to his clients.
