This is What Worked for Me

My post today is about search engine's baby. If you are going to have a blog or web site you must..must...must...submit it to the major search engines to start your rankings and get some more traffic. This is the most important link of your life is you ever want to start getting the traffic you deserve. Why spend tons of time on your blog or website and not have anyone look at it? Spend a few bucks and learn the right way to do things. Click Here!This is what worked for me and has brought in all the traffic that I slaved months over trying to get.

10 Things you can do TODAY that will improve your Internet Marketing

Build a new headline for a high traffic landing page.
Build a new ad in a high volume PPC campaign ad group.
Take one larger keyword group in a PPC campaign and split it into multiple, more specific ad groups
Sign up for Google Analytics (it’s free). If you already have it, take a look at your top exit points and figure out why customers are leaving on those pages. (http://analytics.google.com)
Add a new testimonial to a high volume landing page. If you don’t have any, send a personal email to some of your repeat customers and ask them about their purchasing experience or about the product/service they purchased.
Build a new button for your site (a call to action such as “buy now,” “buy,” “add to cart,” ). In many of our tests, “add to cart” out- performs “buy now” and similar buttons.
Add an incentive to subscribe to your email list (discount, special report, gift, etc). If you already have one, test a new incentive to try and improve your results.
Run a website speed test on your site (maybe your home page). You can do it free right here: (http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/). Take a look at the results and try to reduce the size of your site by cleaning up your html, your css, or optimizing your images for optimal load times.
Drop or increase your prices. If you have never price tested, then you have never maximized the revenue of your current sales. Pick a high volume product or service, mark it up or down 10%, and watch those numbers. We prefer a/b split tests but if you don’t have a way to do it, a sequential test will usually give you enough information to tell if it’s having an impact on your revenue.
Place an order on your own site. When is the last time you did that? I can almost guarantee you won’t love it. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and ask yourself, “How could that have been easier?“ Then have your designer test changes based on your input.

I have been looking for this all night

Phew and I finally found it. So I've been staying up tweaking my websites and blogs all the while looking for this one website. This site really is what got me off the ground. I bought the product a year ago and it provided more opportunities and ideas then anything else I've tried. Oh and I promise I have seen horrible scams before.If you're serious about working from home or just making some side cash using the your computer and the internet then this honestly is a must. Click here! Let me know how you guys like this product. I promise it is all and more then it says it is. Legit is the perfect word.

The New Rules of Marketing & PR - David Meerman Scott

I got a nice surprise when David included me in his thanks and sent me a proof copy of his new book: The New Rules of Marketing & PR along with an audio seminar Online News Releases. Sweet Stuff!
I’d like to share juicy tidbits of the book with you, but also talk about some things that I’ve learned as a marketer/blogger that correlates to what David has written. I hope it will be interesting, and be warned: this is a long post ;).
If you liked the Cluetrain Manifesto, you’ll like this book. Message: If you have something to sell–you need to understand, and respect, that consumers are now plugged in and connected like never before. Companies are slowly beginning to realize that building relationships and communicating with consumers is the fast track to manna.
David provides plenty of examples and actionable steps that can help expand your online reach–this book isn’t marketing theory and fluff, it’s all laid out with examples and steps to make. And HELLO! we could all benefit from that info. You don’t have to be big business to benefit from what he’s shared, there’s some great stuff in the book.
If you’re a company and you’re not trying to figure out how to connect with your customers online or how to generate buzz and work with bloggers, ***You Are Late***. Because some of your competitors already are, and the number is growing by the day.
Buyer Persona Profiles
David talks about developing “Buyer Persona Profiles”: Who are you trying to reach? What are their goals? Problems? What’s important to them? What are they doing online? What are they attracted to? and on and on. Flipping this to online marketers and bloggers, I’ve found that I have applied this with great success to one of my blogs.
You have to drill down and figure out who is that person you’re trying to reach–and then create content just for them.*
Although David provides examples and ideas for multi-Buyer Persona Profiles for companies and organizations to use, this is a tricky thing for bloggers because you know the “unsubscribe” notices are going to hit your inbox occasionally. And you know it is probably due to the fact that you are presenting a vibe or two that just isn’t “resonating” with a more/less sophisticated crowd. BUT if you stay focused on the “Buyer Persona” that you’re aiming for, instead of trying to kick it with everyone–you’ll see more chatter, more links, more comments, more subs. More blog stalkers. Guaranteed. It’s called tightly targeting your content.
David even goes so far as to suggest naming the persona and clipping a representative picture of one from a magazine and having it in your face when trying to develop the message to reach them. I found that to be really powerful stuff.
I found a vocal blog fan and focused on her (she commented and linked a lot). Carefully chosen, she seemed to fit what I had in mind of the type of reader I was trying to reach. What would she be interested in reading? What would she like to see on the blog? What would she link to? It’s working to the point that another blogger linked to the blog with a blurb along the lines of: this blog is like a crack addiction, can’t shake it. And that’s TRUE for a lot of readers on that blog.
Is your blog crack to someone? Would they miss it if it disappeared in some black hole? If that’s not the case, read what David suggests about developing Buyer Personas and develop one. Because it really does work.
*The best persona would preferably be one that compliments what you can offer and is true to you (as a blogger). It’s no use being fake and trying to attract vegetarians to your blog if a) you think they’re silly or misled for cutting out meat, and b) you don’t have a clue about the lifestyle, benefits and the choice. Your vibe will be ‘off’ and will have a hard time connecting with that persona–never mind driving yourself crazy trying to be something you’re not.

Link Exchange Emails

I get several Link Exchange Emails a day, and the majority of them go straight into the trash bin. What makes the difference between a Link Exchange email I will read, and one that I wont even open? Simple: the subject line.
Even with a good subject line, if I can be convinced to open such an email, the majority are scanned and deleted within 2 seconds. I received an email just this morning with a subject line that was a good example of an email I wont open:
We Link To “http://www.selfstartersweeklytips.com” - Please link back : )
Most Link Exchange emails will try to leave you feeling obligated to return the gesture. Dont. Just because someone links to your website, doesnt mean you should link to theirs.
Continue Reading This Topic…

Control Your Emotions - Boost Your Affiliate Income

Affiliate marketing can be an emotional roller coaster if you let it. One minute you're riding high as a kite, the next you are ready to throw in the towel.

Are you a compulsive stats checker?

Do the smallest setbacks put you in a tailspin?

Are you letting your emotions control your decisions and your business?

.

Controlling your emotions could be one of the biggest challenges you face on the road to becoming a super affiliate. Amit Mehta over at Super Affiliate Mindset offers some sage advice:

"Think about it, this way your decisions are based on logic and evidence. You’ll never make decisions based on statistically irrelevant data, which results in changing bids too frequently, or pausing a campaign too soon. Most importantly with wild emotions out of the way your productivity will skyrocket! Emotional ups and downs are the #1 factor that kill your productivity!

Here are some tips that will help you exercise your emotional control and keep your emotions from negatively effecting your business decisions."

Amit goes on to share 3 tips for controlling your emotions and growing your business.

Provided by: affiliate-blogs.5staraffiliateprograms.com/

What would earning $80k month mean for you?

Do you believe there is something more to life than working for an ungrateful boss, just paying the bills and simply "getting by" day to day? If you have ever felt that you are not destined to always work for someone else, and deserve more out of life, then you are in the right place.

Wouldn't it be great to work the hours you want, when you want?
How would you feel about being your own boss?
Imagine having the freedom to work from home or even the beach!

All this, and still make more cash than you ever have before!

As an affiliate marketer you can write your own rules. We have empowered countless people just like you to take control of their earnings, careers and destinies. If you have found this web site, you are fully capable of doing the same. Are you ready to do the same?

The key to a fulfilling, rewarding life is having the means to do what you want, when you want to. One thing can help you achieve this more than anything else in this world - money. We all want security and financial freedom for ourselves and families, and let's face it, today's job market is far from secure.

You may not be working right now, perhaps studying or looking after family, or would like to embark on a project in your spare time. We can show you how to build a constant stream of extra money, that in just a few hours a week can build into massive payments.

Try the new Making You Richer affiliate program. Last months i made over $57k from this.

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This program really work for me

Optimizing Conversions

Increasing sales by optimizing conversions is the primary function of an Internet marketer, but how do you do this? What is the process that will increase order conversions and how should resources be focused, both internally and externally? These are the questions I get asked everyday by leading companies and over the years I have found that the answer can be outlined by the following five points:

• Company Credibility
• Site Credibility
• Product Value
• Service Value
• Transactional Trust

Let's discuss these five points from a very high-level and strategic point of view.

Establishing company credibility is by far one of the single greatest factors a marketer can do to sell more product. If you can not build into the consumer's mind that you are experts in your industry then selling your product will be a challenge. To establish company credibility you need to create synergy between your marketing department, customer service, fulfillment staff, and back it up with follow-up support, as needed. What should your synergy be - profit! You see regardless of product or industry these aspects of your business must be uniquely tied together through a very pronounced and unwavering focus on profit. Please do not think that by focusing on profit you are hurting your customer, vendors, or employees. The profit of a company benefits every stakeholder including those I just mentioned as well as the shareholders. Why - because a profit focused company will develop internal processes that will streamline costs, reduce prices for customers, increase order volume, and bolster the bottom line for shareholders.

Establishing Site Credibility is without a doubt a unique challenge. The primary areas to focus on and fully integrate into your site when establishing credibility is marketing, merchandising, technical, and customer service. Some tactical facets that need to be addressed are: overall presentation, speed of the website, navigation, search features, and content quality. One more thing - tie your advertisements into your site. If you do not you will create a disconnect between what the creatives that brought a consumer to your website and what your website may or may not have available. Another words don't set your customers up for a fall!

Establishing Product Value begins before you start selling. It comes through building equity in your brand. Is it costly yes. Will it produce an immediate return - no. Is it necessary yes and no! It really depends on the product and industry your trying to enter. Regardless, there really are some common and key elements you need to focus on before your customers arrive at your site to look at product. Focus on product photos, product description, product selection (colors, sizes, add-ons), inventory selection, price, customer testimonials, customer reviews and ratings, expert opinions, and any published product reviews. These elements are key in conveying to customers how "on top of the game" you are and customers will be more likely to transact with you if your look and feel shows them that you value them! Another words lead them to the shopping cart page by giving them the material they want and not what you think they need.

Establishing service credibility is probably the greatest concern (after profit) to companies. A friend of mine just came back from Texas and he said that everywhere he went people went out of their way to help him. When he went into a roadside diner they did everything possible to make sure he was having a wonderful dining experience even though he was eating a $5.00 lunch! Here is the point: if you offer service that creates a wonderful experience, it will be remembered and shared! Think viral marketing!

Establishing transactional trust means insuring the security of the customer's transaction, conveying that security, and making sure the customer understands that spending their money with you is safe. Guarantees and warranties will always help conversions and should be offered on every aspect of the transaction, including the product bought! What transactional trust tells the consumer is that the business that I'm spending money with will back me, will support me, will protect me, and for that I feel secure about buying from them!

Until next time!

Provided by danhagopian.blogspot.com

Final Word on Link Building

Back in 2001 ~ 2002 and thereabouts link building was simple. If you wanted to rank for widgets, all you had to do was spam some guestbooks with links pointing to your web page with widgets as the anchor text.

Seriously, rankings were easier to pick than apples from a tree.

As Google’s algorithm advanced, search engine optimization professionals who were stuck in 2002 found their techniques to be ineffective and even counterproductive. Some SEO’s started claiming that links didn’t matter anymore, even though all evidence is to the contrary.

You see, Google is still running link based algorithms. Google, however, wants to count links which were meant to be legitimate “votes” for a web page. Google does not want to count links as votes if those links were placed on a web page for monetary reward, or as spam.

Google would ideally prefer it if website owners did not buy links.

Website owners, on the other hand, have an obligation to promote their sites and be responsible stewards of their investment.

So how do we buy links intelligently?

1. Buy links from websites which exercise editorial integrity.

Google themselves recommend webmasters submit to Yahoo! Directory, which is nothing more than buying a link.

From Google’s Webmaster Guidelines:

Submit your site to relevant directories such as the Open Directory Project and Yahoo!, as well as to other industry-specific expert sites.

A few directories I recommend: Yahoo!, DMOZ, V7N Directory, Aviva and Umdum.

When evaluating whether or not you should buy a link from a website - whether it be a web directory, or any other site - browse a few pages or more. If they sell links to Viagra sites or debt consolidation sites, even though the site at hand has no connection to those topics, then it’s fairly obvious that the website owner is not exercising editorial integrity. Buying links there could trip a filter.

2. Vary Your Anchor Text

A good rule of thumb is to never buy the same link twice. If you are targeting “web hosting”, you can vary your anchor texts like so: web hosting provider, reliable web hosting, quality web hosting, PHP web hosting, affordable web hosting, etc.

One of the easiest filters for a search engine to put in place is one which detects and devalues links with identical anchor texts.

3. Buy Non-Keyword Links

One of the hardest things for the simpleton SEO to do is to buy non-keyword links. If only he could see for himself the rewards of those SEO’s who buy non-keywords links.

But of course, anybody can see those rewards. Just do a search on Google for the keyword of your choice, and then analyze the backlinks of the websites in the top ten. You’ll most likely discover that a surprising majority of those links do not contain keywords.

Click here. <- A fine example of a non-keyword link.

Domain authority rules the SERPs. It has for some time now. Don’t think of links for web pages; think of links for the domain and for establishing domain authority.

4. Avoid Site-wide Links

Footer links aren’t necessarily evil. They just don’t help as much as you might think, and footer links can trip those pesky link spamming filters.

5. PageRank Zero Can Pass Link Weight

Yes, PR0 pages can still pass link weight. In one test, I linked to a webpage with a made up word as the anchor text, from a PR0 page. On the basis of the PR0 link, the linked-to page outranked the linking page on Google.

6. Avoid Automated Link Spamming

People are lazy. Search engines love it.

Automated link spam such as referral log spam, blog comment spam and automated web directory submission to hundreds or thousands of web directories; these all have one thing in common. Automation. They most often duplicate spam and create patterns that are easily detected and devalued by search engines.

Sure, I know it’s tempting, but don’t do it. You might as well just send Google a certified letter confessing to your spam.

7. Image Links And ALT Text

Don’t forget about image links and the attached ALT text. From my experience, image links are not subject to all the scrutiny and filters that text links are subjected to. And ALT text is treated the same as the anchor text of a text link. Yummy.

8. A Link On A Page Is Not The Same As A Link On A Page

Search engines have the ability to see pages like a human would. Google is able to evaluate links with regard to their placement on a web page. Links that are placed in the footer or in an area that is unlikely to be seen by a human visitor carry less weight than links that are placed above the fold.

9. Do NOT Rent Links

One of the first things Google started looking at when they began being more critical of links is the age of those links. Links appear to not pass full link juice in the beginning. It’s like a link is on probation. Once that link stays where it’s put for a while, then it;s given full credit. Or I should say, the web page it links to is given full credit.

Rented links should not form the basis of your link popularity. Permanent, stable links should account for 75% or more of your link profile.

10. Google Tells You Where To Get Links

Do you want to rank for web hosting? Get links from these sites, especially those first ten.

Google has patent’s for algorithms which rerank results based on links within the initial subset, and Google shows you that initial subset.

In Summary

Links remain the most important part of any search engine marketing campaign. Links are SEO. The difference between link building in 2002 and link building in 2007 is that the search engines are better equipped to evaluate those links, and this forces website owners to up their game.

Keep building links, just be smart about it.

Provided by GeekProfit.com

Tony Hung is a Beast (How to Market Your Blog)

Tony Hung came out with an awesome article on how to market your blog in 2007. The article touches upon some great points, which I’ll talk about briefly. To read the full article, go here.

Become an expert on your topic, and don’t stop writing.

If you want to run a successful blog that many people are subscribing to (and linking to), you need to know your subject like the back of your hand. Unless you find a super unique niche, there’s always going to be “leaders” in your field of blogging. If you can’t show that you’re just as smart as them (if not smarter), the Average Joe has no reason to choose your blog over theirs. Once you learn your topic inside and out, start writing, and don’t stop. People like to see updated content; it can make or break you. If you’re making new posts every other day, your viewers will load your blog up every other day. If you stop posting for 2 weeks, that means people will have visited your blog 7 times and seen nothing new. If you’re not updating, they have no reason to come back.

Join blog carnivals, post at forums, post in other popular blogs.

If you’ve been following our blog since the beginning, I wrote an article talking about blog carnivals. Another great way to market your blog is through forums specific to your niche. Become an active member that helps other people (and not just spams them with your site), and then link back to your blog articles. Posting in other popular blogs in your field can help also, but remember; don’t just spam them.

Make new friends, and keep the old.

Make new friends in your blog field, and network up with them. Often when you become friends with other people in your network, they will link back to you, or link to your articles. You can even make a guest appearance in their blog and write a free article, which will give you credibility.

Social networking can be key.

Blogs are a very social, your blog is useless if other people aren’t reading it. Join social networks like Facebook, MySpace, Digg, Furl, and all the other biggies. Now we can debate MySpace and Facebook marketing, but if your blog is niched to a younger crowd, and you can develop a nice group of teenagers, you have a chance of getting some viral traffic. A stock market blog probably won’t spread that well to a bunch of emo teens on MySpace though. Again, know your subject.

Those are just a few ways to help market your blog in the new year. Hope it helps, and as always, if you have any questions just ask.

Provided by GeekProfit.com

Pros/Cons Of Major PPC Companies

I’ve been thinking about the pros and cons of the biggest PPC companies out there -Google, Yahoo, and MSN-, and I figured I’d post a few of my thoughts on them. Note that these aren’t all my thoughts, it’s just what’s coming off the top of my head from my experience.

Google Adwords

Pros

• Obviously the massive amounts of traffic. A nice medium list of keywords can get you TONS of clicks.
• 50 ads per ad group. More than both Yahoo and MSN, you can enter more ads into Adwords
• 2,000 keywords in each adgroup - double Yahoos.
• You can upload more keywords and ads than Yahoo.

Cons

• Quality score on Google is a huge pain sometimes. It takes a lot more work to get cheap traffic than it does with Yahoo, I’ll tell you that.

Yahoo! Search Marketing

Pros

• It’s a nice “middle of the road” traffic program. Google still gets way more traffic than Yahoo, but Yahoo is ahead of MSN traffic-wise.
• Quality score isn’t bad. It’s not as hard to get more keywords/ads displayed in Yahoo, their quality score isn’t as bad as good ‘ol Googley.
• Good customer support. Every time I’ve called Yahoo, I get right on the phone with somebody and they can help me. Although every time I don’t like what I hear on the other line, they’re still friendly :).

Cons

• Editorial reviews KILL sometimes. I can be doing awesome in an ad group, and then out of nowhere I’ll get an editorial review that wipes out 3,000 keywords and kills some of my revenue.
• Restrictions restrictions restrictions. When first starting, only 50k keywords per account. No keyword/ad upload option, 1,000 keywords per ad group, 20 ads per adgroup. Yahoo is more restricted, especially for non-Gold members.

MSN adCenter

Pros

• Cheap traffic to the max. You can get some pretty low-cost clicks at MSN pretty easily.
• Keyword/ad upload option. A very nice option that Yahoo doesn’t have.

Cons

• If only MSN wasn’t so miniscule in search volume…

Provided by GeekProfit.com

AuctionAds From Shoemoney Released

With the death of Shoemoney Ads comes the birth of the newly released AuctionAds…

AuctionAds takes live eBay offers, and places them on your page in an AdSense/Amazon looking format. Every time someone clicks on an ad, and then takes some sort of action in eBay (other than X’ing out the screen), you get paid. There are a few nice things about this system :

• You can run auction ads along with AdSense.
• They are paying out 100% for the first 6 months.
• International affiliates can use it, whereas you have to be from the US to use the eBay affiliate program.
• They pay via PayPal.
• You select the keywords of the ads you want shown. This way, you can show ads to the exact niche that your site is on.

You’re Automatically A Publisher/Affiliate Extraordinaire

Once you publish some ads on you’re site, you are automatically an affiliate as well. Any time somebody clicks the “Ads By AuctionAds” link and signs up for the service, you get 2% of what that person earns in their first 6 months. Pretty sweet.

Anyways, pretty cool new system they have here. Perhaps I’ll give it a test run in this blog and you can see how it looks. You can read more about it in Shoe’s blog here.

Also, AuctionAds aren’t displayed contextually, but if you want to learn how to make them contextual, check out this blog post.

Provided by GeekProfit.com

Some Comments About YSM + A Trick :)

I got serious with YSM almost 3 months ago, and in that time I’ve had some thoughts as to how they could improve, as well as some things I don’t like. Plus at the end, I have a nice little factoid that seems to have worked for me and others using YSM.

• Their 50,000 limit is low initially for serious users. You get more keywords when you become a “Gold” member, but some people are serious from the get-go and will prove that, yet are stuck at the 50k limit. I called Yahoo the other day and told them that I’ve been spending over double what it takes to be a “Gold” member, and asked for a keyword raise. They said because of their new policies, they couldn’t.
• The above point wouldn’t be as bad if Yahoo didn’t count declined and removed keywords towards your total. Say you submit 10,000 keywords, and 2,000 get removed. You still have 10k keywords under your account, not 8k. So there’s 2k useless keywords sitting there. Not cool.
• The whole 50 keyword limit is just stupid, when you can do 10,000 off the bat at other places. Once again, this gets raised when you hit “Gold” status, but I called about this also and they wouldn’t make an exception.
• Customer support is good, but I’ve had problems. Here’s a little story. Back when I first started with YSM, on my first day I charged more than I wanted to my account. So I called Yahoo and said “oops I charged too much, can you refund X amount to my credit card?” They said yeah sure we can do that, it’ll just take about 4 days to process. So I get an email saying the process has started and I’ll be refunded. My credit card bill comes with no refund to what I asked for. I spent the money anways so it’s not a big deal, I’m just advising you to make sure to watch things.
• The lowest you can bid is $0.10/click. Most of us long-tailers could get high spots for cheaper than that, but we end up paying $0.10 for the #1 or 2 spot.
• This is totally opinionated, but I just don’t like the whole prepay idea, I like how Google runs it more.

Alright enough of that, now for a little trick. I know when you try to add keywords, it says “You can only upload 50 at a time.” Well my advice is, try to add more anyways :). At first I was just adding 50 at a time and thinking “this is hell”, but I just tried slapping 500 in there, and bam it worked. Maybe they’re changing things, or maybe it’s always been that way and people haven’t known. But yeah it’s pretty cool, and doesn’t take me hours to load up thousands of keywords anymore.

Provided by GeekProfit.com

Google AdWords New Tool

Google AdWords updated their desktop tool, you can download it here.
Perhaps one of the most awaited features is the site targetting. Ah heck, I’ll just give you the new features and updates straight from Google :

New features:

* Site targeting: AdWords Editor now provides full support for site-targeted campaigns.
* Negative sites: Add or edit negative sites for keyword- and site-targeted campaigns.
* Edit while you wait: If you manage multiple accounts with AdWords Editor, edit another account while your changes post.
* Count your selection: The status bar now displays the number of rows you’ve selected in the data view.
* Pause or resume ads, keywords, and sites: Use the Status menu in the edit panel to change the status of selected items.

Updated features:

* Export to HTML: Your HTML export will show or hide deleted campaigns, depending on how you’ve configured your preferences. The HTML export is ideal for showing your account to someone who doesn’t use AdWords Editor.
* Export to CSV: In addition to account, campaign, and ad group snapshots, you can now export custom views. The CSV export is ideal for spreadsheets or other applications that can read structured data files.
* Paste to multiple ad groups: Select multiple destination ad groups via the Edit menu > Paste Special.

source

Anyways, it’s a sweet lil tool, so if you’re into affiliate marketing or PPC, you should download it.

Provided by GeekProfit.com