Social Media Optimization - A Priority For Your SEO Campaign

Social media optimization (SMO) is an imperative ingredient of your SEO campaigns. In the past, social networking sites were little more than an oddity. Today, several have acquired enormous ranking authority from top search engines. If you are not leveraging these sites to improve your exposure and communicate with your niche market, your search engine positions are vulnerable to your competitors.

In this article, we will describe the influence that social media optimization is currently having on search marketing. We'll also give you the rules of engagement for executing an effective SMO campaign. We'll explain what SEO social media is, and the advantage of hiring an experienced SEO consultant to spearhead your social media optimization efforts.

The Influence Of Social Media Optimization On Search Marketing

Search marketing has always relied upon exposure in the search engines to drive targeted traffíc. For years, gaining that exposure was based solely upon the development of your site and generating links pointing to your site. Both are still important today. However, social media optimization has shifted the landscape of search engine marketing.

7 Social Media Tactics for Explosive Results in Your Business

First, let's define the term Explosive Results for our usage.

A standard social media campaign helps spread the word about you and encourages other people to as well.

An explosive social media campaign has inherent viral exposure, inspires community driven communication, helps make the web a better place, and even brings joy to people, however fleeting.

When you share in social media, if your goal is just to get more people to see your links, you're on the right track, but at the same time, you're limiting your potential. You may think that getting explosive results from social media will take more time, energy and money, but this doesn't have to be the case.
[SEO Company or SEO Campaign - Run both with Web CEO!]

If you're a business owner, you know that working harder doesn't necessarily mean better results - what if you're working hard on the wrong thing?

Sometimes the remedy is working smarter. Here are a few small changes you can make to your social media approach that can propel your social media results from lukewarm to smoking hot.

Explosive Social Media Tactic #1 - Hot Content

The cornerstone to any social media campaign is the content. If you get this component wrong, it doesn't matter if all other elements are perfect. Study what's going hot in your targeted topic and find a unique angle to tailor your content into what people already like, without stealing their ideas.

This Is How You Track Internet Marketing

As with any marketing campaign you may run to assist your business, it is important to track the results of your Internet marketing campaign. This should be done on a continual basis so you can ensure the strategies you are utilizing are working.

It can also help you to determine when a strategy is not working so you do not continue to invest time and money on a strategy which is not beneficial to your business. This article will discuss some of the options for tracking the results of your Internet marketing campaign.

Business owners who use banner ads have a simple way to track whether or not their banner ads are effective. This is possible because they can place code in the banner ad which will supply them with feedback each time a user clicks on the banner ad. This information is transmitted to the business owner so he can evaluate which of his banner ads are generating the most interest.

If the business owner is currently using two different styles of banner ads on comparable websites he can use this information to determine which design is most effective. This is important because if one style is significantly more effective than the other it might be worthwhile to convert all of the banner ads to this style or to make changes which will make the two different styles more similar.

Buy text links on my website easily with Ask2link

If you have a blog, website, or forum, with a minimum PageRank 1 or Alexa rank under 2,000,000 (2 million), you could earn more money from your website beyond Google Adsense contextual ads. I have recently joined Ask2link.com (http://www.ask2link.com/refer/titoadithya) to enable advertisers to buy ad space on my website. Ask2link.com provides secure, easy, and fast checkout flow so you could get your text link ads or banner ads live within 2 minutes after online payment. Platforms supported include PHP, Ruby on Rails, Perl, ASP, JSP, and hosted blogs at Blogger.com or Wordpress.com . They also provide you with the ability to customize the 'nofollow' tag tag when you sell your ads. This may affect your ad sales, though.

If you would like to monetize your blog or website, you could visit Ask2link to learn more. Ask2link is a search engine marketing company that specializes in selling text links and banner ads. Advertisers, you may want to think about spending your marketing budget beyond PPC(Pay-per-click) such as Yahoo Search Marketing, MSN AdCenter, or Google Adwords. Why?

Static HTML links can bring you targeted traffic, bring you more organic search traffic, and also potentially improve your search engine rankings (SERPs), and you could increase your website traffic or sales. It also has uses in search engine reputation management. Search engine reputation management companies also use various SEO techniques to fight negative publicity. Start advertising now in this website as part of your SEO or online marketing campaign. You could now purchase static text links or banner ads on my website by following on the links below:

5 Reasons Why Most Internet Marketers Fail

When it comes to starting any endeavor, whether it be learning a new hobby or starting an online business, we all have to start at ground zero. We all have to start at the very beginning from the very same place. Granted, we each bring different skills and backgrounds into the mix, but for the most part we are all on equal footing at the starting line.

If this is the case, then we really have to ponder why is it only a choice few go on to succeed, while most people don't. Just what are the reasons why most online marketers fail? This is the core question that has to be answered if you want to fully understand Internet marketing and how it works.

What are these basic reasons?

What are the causes or stumbling blocks that hold many marketers and webmasters from reaching their full online potential? If we know these factors, we can learn how to avoid them and even overcome them in our own online marketing. These reasons can be a solid reference point or even a source of inspiration for any online marketer just starting out.

Speaking from the viewpoint of someone who has started from the very beginning with little to no knowledge of computers or even marketing for that matter, I can honestly relate to the beginning marketer. I even had to learn HTML from scratch in order to construct my own webpages. Probably my only advantage, I did have a background in art but designing webpages was completely different from anything I had done previously to starting in online marketíng.

Using Keywords as Part of Your Internet Marketing Strategy

Whether your internet marketing strategy utilizes websites, blogs, article marketing or press releases correctly using keywords is an absolute must.

Anyone involved in an online business will tell you their marketing efforts are dramatically reduced if they haven't optimized their published content correctly with the right keywords.

Keyword optimization is a very integral component of an effective online marketing strategy.

The proper keyword optimization of content helps anyone searching for information like yours to easily find it. Done correctly and you'll be rewarded with a higher ranking in the search results. The manner in which you use keywords within your content will make or break you in the search engine rankings. A low search engine ranking will make you virtually invisible to anyone searching for content like yours.

Search engines rely heavily on keywords to accurately identify and rank sites found on the internet for people searching for the content that these sites contain. Under or over utilizing keywords will only hurt the ranking of the site giving it a very weak showing in any search results.

There are 3 areas of focus you'll need to be concerned with to correctly utilize keywords within your content. By doing so you'll gain the favor of the search engines and also quite a bit more traffic to your site.

Let's discuss these 3 important areas of keyword optimization below:

ACCURACY

Any keywords you select to use should be relevant to the content itself. Search engines are very strict about this and will bury you in the search results if they feel your keyword selection doesn't reflect the content. When people search keywords on the internet they're expecting to find information directly related to the words they are searching on. Search engines for their part want to insure that people using their search engine find what it is they're looking for.

POSITIONING

Another factor to be considered when using keywords is the placement of these words within the content itself. For instance it is recommended to use keywords in the title of your content when you can. Even within the title it is better to place the selected word or phrase at the title beginning if at all possible. Again you must remember that these keywords must accurately describe, reflect, or relate to the content within.

Another consideration is to place your primary keyword at the beginning and the end of the body of content you're performing the keyword optimization on. Additional theme keywords should be used conservatively thru out the content when their use makes grammatical sense.

FREQUENCY

Here's an area where some people may have a tendency to get carried away. In an attempt to gain the attention of search engines some may overuse their selected keywords throughout the content. Keyword 'stuffing' as this is known is frowned upon by search engines as a deliberate attempt to gain higher search rankings. Search engines discourage this by penalizing you with a lower search engine ranking.

Opinions vary on what is the right percentage of keywords to use within the content that will maximize your optimization efforts while avoiding penalties. Generally any keyword usage between 2 and 5 percent of the total body of content is considered safe. A free keyword density tool you can use online to check your content can be found at live-keyword-analysis.

Always remember to use your selected words in a natural way within the body of your content since you're writing for the reader and not the search engine. So before you hit the 'submit' bottom proof-read your work to ensure it reads like a human wrote it and not some cyborg.

Proper keyword placement and utilization is almost always at the core of any successful internet marketing strategy. Thru the correct implementation of this online marketing technique you will increase your search rankings thereby boosting the awareness of your online presence. Whatever your reasons for being online may be, if you're looking to boost your traffic this is one of the most effective and fundamental ways to achieve that!


Source by :
TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina. For additional online success tips and a free guide that demonstrates how to find both profitable markets and products visit: http://blogbrawn.com.

Streamlining Your Social Web Presence in 6 Steps

Following the advice of social media and Web 2.0 experts, you have established your own blog and joined a number of social sites, including Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, LibraryThing, and Upcoming.org, among others. Now, the experts say you must add content to each of these accounts regularly to keep them dynamic. So, how's this supposed to make your life easier?

Relax. With some careful planning, you can streamline the process of keeping all of your Social Web accounts fresh and engaging without breaking your back or the bank. The trick is to make your social accounts work together. Most social sites use the concept of open source to make it easy for developers to write applications that enhance the features of the site. For our purposes, we will look at applications that can help us streamline our existing presence in the Social Web.

To demonstrate what I mean about streamlining the process, I'll start with an example. Imagine that you have the following social media tools and accounts already in place on the Social Web:

* A WordPress Blog
* A Facebook Profile
* A Facebook Page
* A MySpace Page
* A YouTube Account
* A Flickr Account
* A Twitter Account
* An Upcoming.org Account
* A GoodReads Account

Your 6 Step Plan to a Streamlined Social Web Presence:

Step 1: Optimize Your Blog Feed

The very first step in streamlining your presence in the Social Web is burning your blog's feed to Feedburner. This is a free service, and obtaining a FeedBurner account will help you to easily manage and track your feed subscriptions. Once you have burned your feed to FeedBurner, note the URL of your new feed, which will look something like this: http://feeds.feedburner.com/MyBlogName .

Step 2: Feed Your Blog Now

You want to make sure that you are getting the most mileage from your blog posts. To do so, feed your blog entries into all of your social accounts that offer blog feeding applications. Remember that each social site may provide its own different way of accomplishing this.

Facebook, for example, allows you to feed your blogs into the Notes section of your Facebook page. Click Edit in the Notes box of your Facebook page and find the option that allows you to import notes from an external blog.

Feeding blog entries into MySpace is a little different. Find and add the application RSS Reader. You can access many MySpace applications by clicking More/Apps Gallery from the main menu of your MySpace homepage.

It is possible to feed your blog posts into Twitter, but blog posts are typically too long for this purpose. If you read on, I will clue you in to a better solution for streamlining your micro-blog entries.

Step 3: Maximize the Use of Your Multimedia

Maximize the exposure of your images and video clips by adding galleries and badges to your blog or Website, and by feeding your images and videos into your social networking profiles and pages.

WordPress has many plugins available for integrating Flickr images. My favorite right now is Flickr Tag, a plugin that allows you to easily place your Flickr images right into your blog posts, and create galleries.

A Flickr badge is a snippet of Flash or HTML code that you can place on the sidebar of your Website or blog that will pull in and highlight random or specific photos from your Flickr account. Find out more by going to: http://www.flickr.com/badge.gne.

Similarly, you can embed video galleries into your blog or Website by using your YouTube channels. After you've added videos to your YouTube channel, you can generate code for a video gallery and place this code on your Website or blog.

To feed images from Flickr into your Facebook page and MySpace profile, find the appropriate application and add it. For Facebook, I use an application called My Flickr; for MySpace, use Happy Flickr.

You can place videos on your Facebook page by implementing an application called YouTube Box, and using the application YouTube Favorites, you can display video clips on your MySpace profile.

Step 4: Integrate Other Social Tools

The way in which you proceed in step 4 depends entirely upon which social tools and Websites make up your Social Web presence. In the example I have created, we have accounts with Upcoming.org (a social event calendar) and GoodReads (a niche book sharing and author site) that have not yet been integrated. By searching the applications in Facebook and MySpace, you'll find that Facebook offers an application that allows you to integrate your Upcoming.org events, and both Facebook and MySpace include applications that allow you to display your GoodReads books and book reviews.

Step 5: Take Advantage of Streamlining Tools

Using the social tool, Ping.fm, you can add short posts to your mini feeds on Facebook, MySpace, and your micro-blogging sites like Twitter and Jaiku. Ping.fm is a useful tool that lets you post one brief entry, or often a status update, and feed it into a number of social sites.

Step 6: Research and Repeat

The very nature of the Social Web is connecting people through social platforms and applications; therefore, when deciding whether or not to invest time and resources into a new social tool, it's best to research the ways that tool will accommodate your existing Social Web presence. Can you feed in your blog posts? Does it allow you to import images from a photo sharing site or video clips from from your video sharing community? Have sites like Ping.fm integrated the new tool yet, or do your existing social sites offer applications to integrate the new tool?

When you do decide to integrate a new social tool or Website, do so as best you can by repeating the applicable steps presented above.


Source by:
Deltina Hay is the principal of Social Media Power, and founder of the new social media Website service, Plumb Social. Ms. Hay's graduate education in computer science, applied mathematics, and psychology led her naturally to social media consulting. Her new book, A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization, will be released in March 2009.

5 Tips for SEO vs PPC Advertising

The World Wide Web has deeply metamorphosed the method folks transmit and interact with one another. These changes have too dramatically impacted the business world by varying the process people browse for products, both business-to-business and B2C. 10 yrs ago, businesses extended to their consumers by expos, Publish publicizing, and additional conventional selling techniques.

Nowadays, folks embark on their browsing experience through looking upon the World Wide Web and, more specifically, SEs, particularly Google. In order to continue competing, businesses' online sites want to be establish upon the internet and in SEs.

Online companies bear the chance to leverage the web to extend to buyers effectively and Cheaply with aimed content that buyers look for, not dismiss as rubbish.

WWW Online companies must:

• Aim more prime traffic to their web site • Seize visitants for leads • Win over leads into buyers • Analyse the activeness upon their web site to optimise internet selling exploits

The Net has altered the kinetics of the business existence, demanding an alteration of Previous commercializing methods to fresh marketing processes.

Age-old Marketing = Outward Marketing With stale marketing know-hows, you're Seeking to grasp a broad audience and go for more or less a microscopic share (generally 1-3%) to React. Calculating this a different way, 97% of your attempted marketing is pointless!

Age-old Marketing ways include:

• Wrong sales • Teleselling • Tradeshows • Seminars • Print advertizing • Direct mail and email

The conventional Sales Funnel: Prospects Customers Sales is in control

Modern Marketing = Incoming Marketing

The manner people buy has changed dramatically, people now are in the controlling position of what info they Encounter and how they get it. The World Wide Web and the Growth of web sites like Google, Yahoo, MSN, digg, and del.icio.us have changed the can-do of how people buy products online. People nowadays are often more apt to acquire data about numerous different sellers, products, and industries all by themselves without having to interact with your affliliation or business directly. So, this mean by the time they actually reach you, they're a great deal further along in the purchasing process but you know often less about them.

The Modern Sales Funnel:

Fresh Marketing techniques include:

• SEO (search engine optimization) • PPC (pay-per-click) advertizing • Blogging and leveraging the blogosphere • Buzz marketing • Targeted landing pages • Conversion tools • Sophisticated analytics

Purchaser is in command

Customer and sales share control

Business-to-business purchasers commence in Google The Google Search Golden Triangle

If you haven't seen on yet, it's a heatmap of a person's eye movent accross a Google search result.

What you see there is the phenomenon called the Google Search Golden Triangle. People center on the highest natural results that fall under a triangle shape at the top leftmost corner of the computer screen.

You should prefer to aim as close as possible to this Golden Triangle as top natural results mostly translates into further online traffic.

Natural vs. Paid Search

There are 2 varieties of search results: paid results and natural (or organic) results. Paid results are the listings that involve a payment to the SE in order to list the link for specific keywords.

The most commonly utilized type of paid listings is called PPC (pay-per-click), this is where you pay each time someone or a person searching online, clicks on the link in your advertizement. The cost grows with the competitiveness of the keyword.

Google AdWords makes up one popular way of paid search advertizement.

Whenever you are about to do paid search listings, do it right.

Natural results are assembled by SEs' web spiders and placed according to relevancy to the search conditions. This relevancy is estimated by measures such as extent of keyword match and number of web sites linking up to that particular website. It's a great deal more useful to be catalogued highly in the natural results than in the pay-per-click advertizements. Welfares of existing in natural results: • No cost - natural results are listed founded on the search engine's criterion of your relevancy and quality, not your advertizing bucks, so you do not pay a "fee" per click • Acquire a lot of traffic - most people click the natural search results, not the paid advertizements • Acquire visitants with a greater education - research reveals those who click on natural search results To a greater extent often have a greater level of education • More durable lasting rank and traffic - SEs register your placing history, helping you rank highly in the time to come, and they just reassess your place every couple of weeks or months, leaving you to maintain your place longer

Tip to Understand Google If you comprehend how Google functions, you are able to utilise them to your advantage.

Paid (PPC) Results (25% of Clicks) Natural Results (75% of Clicks) • Free • More traffic • Smarter people • Longer lasting traffic which equals more money in your pocket.

Source by : George

Cache's Web-Marketing Manifesto

Who is Cache Closed and what can he do for you? Cache is a digital construct created to inform, enlighten, and entertain Web-marketers interested in learning how best to market on the Web.

Now don't be alarmed, Cache isn't interested in selling you anything, no e-books, no DVDs, no magic elixirs or potions, no sir, just a pixelated-paranoid, pied-piper of ideas and concepts designed to improve your Web-business.

The Cache-man has put a little something together he modestly calls, 'Cache's Web-Marketing Manifesto:' ten things every marketing manager, business owner, and sales executive needs to know about business websites.

Cache's Web-Marketing Manifesto
1. If it isn't working, stop tweaking and blow it up.

If what you're doing isn't working, or if it's working about as well as a 1973 Yugo, then it's time to start over. You can only make so many modifications and adjustments until your site gets a bad case of digital disconnect: a cyber version of Capgras Delusion where the brain can't connect the content to the emotional context.

2. If you're relevant, search engines will find you, it's their job.

Isn't it time you stopped chasing the imaginary pot of gold at the end of the Google rainbow, and start thinking of practical ways to connect to your audience.

Search engines are supposed to find you, it's their job, it's what they do, what they get paíd for. All this stuff about you can't do this or you can't do that because it's not search engine friendly is so yesterday.

If you have something to say worth listening to whether it's text, audio, or video, search engines will find you. And if they're not, perhaps you should take a look at what you are saying and how it's being said.

3. Being relevant means you actually have something to say, something to contribute.

Meaningful content doesn't mean a catalog of merchandise that's the same as the six million other guys selling the same stuff. If all you're offering is an online catalog and order system, all you've done is turn whatever you sell into a commodity and commodity sales go to the lowest seller. Say goodbye to Mr. Profíts.

4. Retaining your audience long enough to get your marketing message depends on how you present your content.

Having something relevant to say will attract an audience, but in order to keep that audience around long enough to absorb your core, marketing message you must present that message in an entertaining performance that creates an experience.

The Web has matured and evolved over time into a multimedia platform that allows you to really connect to your audience by turning your website into an experience. Just because you're selling something, a product, a service or even an idea, doesn't mean you can't present it in some memorable manner.

If your presentation doesn't get your audience's juices flowing then you've wasted your Web-investment and your audience's time.

5. Without creating an experience your message will never be memorable.

You've been careful creating your website content, but ask yourself this? Why would anyone remember any of it? And if they do remember it, why would they remember that it was your company that said it? Just because you're good at what you do, or you sell the best product in your field, doesn't mean you're going to get the business.

Memory is based on pattern recognition, association and emotional triggers. If your content and presentation is without context, without some memory inducing experience, then my fríend you'll be instantly forgotten. The companies that get the sales are the companies that turn their presentations into an experience.

6. Creating an experience starts with engaging the audience and the best way to do that is with a signature Web-host that presents your story.

The easiest way to create a memorable experience on your website is to use a website host, a personality that will deliver the content and context of what you provide in a way that penetrates and sticks in the minds of your audience.

7. Treat the presentation of your website material as if it was a performance, not a meeting with your banker or board of directors.

A signature Web-host brands your company by creating a memorable image through the use of verbal and non-verbal performance techniques, clever scripting, and digital presentation enhancements, including music, sound effects, editing, and style.

8. Don't be afraid to push the limits.

The Web is not a place for the timid. You're no longer competing just in your local market; you're competing with the world, where the Web, email, Internet phone service, and international shipping make buying from England or Australia, as easy as buying from the USA or Canada.

No matter what you do or how good you do it, there are other companies around the globe that do the same thing, and chances are they do it as well or better than you. So who's going to get the business: the company that presents their message in the most compelling manner, that's who.

9. Narrow your focus by turning your brand into a single adjective or short phrase.

The single word "Plastics" from the 1967 movie, 'The Graduate' was voted the 42nd most memorable movie quote of the last 100 years by the American Film Institute.

The biggest challenge most companies have in being understood is their ability to narrow their offering down to a precise concept, idea, or adjective. Can you say what you do in six words or less? How about a single adjective or noun?

10. You cannot be something you're not.

Customers are not stupid; they'll see through any phony presentation or prevarication. You cannot getaway with misrepresenting what you are, or what you do. Eventually you will be found-out or more likely, people will instantly see-through your efforts to present a false image.

If your marketing problem lies deep within your corporate culture, no matter how clever your advertising or marketing campaign, nothing will overcome it. You will have to change your corporate culture before you attempt to deliver a message that redefines you and what you do. You must be true to yourself and to your company's culture.

Cache Closed

Cache Closed was summoned from the misused and discarded concepts found in the ditch beside the information highway. His mission is to demonstrate and enlighten Web-entrepreneurs on how to deliver meaningful content in entertaining, informative and even viral presentations. His bizarre behavior and style may not be suitable for the stuffed-shirt purveyors of yesterday's methods, but he does speak to today's open-minded Web-savvy marketing manager. For all things Cache, visit his website http://www.cacheclosed.com.

Source by : Jerry Bader

7 Steps to Building a Successful Web Presence

Doing business in the 21st century will eventually require every company to have a website in one form or another. Whether your site is interactive or simply informational, there are steps you can take to ensure you're on the right track to creating a successful web presence, seven to be exact (at least from our humble perspective).

While following these steps will not guarantee a successful website, it is certainly an intelligent place to start.

1. Perform a Business Analysis.
What is a business analysis? Simply put, review your business requirements and your objectives. What do you want to accomplish? How does your website fit into your overall business plan? What... no business plan? Develop a business plan first before you go any further into the process.

Your business plan will be your roadmap to success, so make sure the objective of your website fits into your overall business plan. I'll say it again, BUSINESS PLAN, don't have one? GET ONE!

2. Perform some research, also known as, the Research phase.
Research your competition and industry sites. See what kind of competition is out there. What kind of marketing does your competition engage in? Don't look to "reinvent the wheel", take a look at how the current market works; develop a list of pros and cons about your competition and then make your web presence work better.

3. Develop a concept and a design.
Finally time for the creative and fun stuff! This involves the selection of specific content, the layout of the site structure and navigation and the overall "look and feel" of your website.

Remember to pay special attention to your navigational structure!!! If visitors can't navigate your website or feel lost when doing so, your "pretty" site will have been a waste of time; don't go there, keep the navigation simple and for SEO purposes, make sure your navigation is text based. Although Flash driven websites look cool, they are not SEO friendly and can create more problems than the "coolness" factor they express (we'll discuss Flash sites in another article ).

4. Develop your website.
When considering which technology to develop your website, think cutting edge technology, not bleeding edge. Make sure the technology you use, such as ASP, PHP, HTML, CSS, will be useful for the next three to five years.

Database driven website are ultimately the easiest to maintain through the use of a content management system, but make sure the CMS you use is SEO friendly. An SEO friendly CMS will utilize real URLs, not strange looking query strings with lots of strange characters and question marks. Search engines despise query strings and rank these site accordingly.


5. Choose a host provider and implement your website.
When deciding on a host provider, make sure the host is not only reputable, but has been in business long enough that you can be sure they will be in business next year. Also, ask about site uptime. If your site is down for any reason, this will not only affect your potential and current customers, but the search engines as well. If the search engines decide on a given day to spider your site and it is unavailable, it could cost you your rank.

6. Promote and market your website.
Register your site with the major search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Initiate other marketing activities such as an email blasts to prospective customers. Consider "Pay per Click" advertising with the major search engines and don't forget about a long term SEO campaign to drive targeted traffic to your site.

7. Finally, maintain your website.
Probably the most important long term step is continuing to provide current and relevant information on your website. Keep your site content current to encourage return visitors and give them something to return for! Related to SEO, search engines just LOVE sites which provide new content on a regular basis and rank such websites accordingly.

Overall, remember, your website is not just a marketing tool, it's a business tool, and it should be generating a revenue stream for your business.


Source by : Matthew Mckernan

Should Small Businesses Invest In SEO During A Recession?

These are tough times, no doubt. The pinch is on every business to cut unnecessary costs and improve efficiency. Those businesses that were squeaking by to begin with are now in danger of closing their doors.

Advertising is usually one of the first items on the chopping block (though it shouldn't be). You've got to cut costs, and you certainly don't want to lay off any employees if you can help it, so you start looking a bit more closely at your marketing budget to see where you can rein in ad spending. It's a natural reaction to a tightening budget, and there is a good reason for it.

Most business owners know that you need to advertise. Sure, word of mouth is great - there's nothing like a referral from a happy client to instill trust in a prospect - but you still need to be proactive in getting the word out. The trouble with advertising in the traditional sense is that it is difficult to know whether your efforts are working and what is generating the best value for your dollar. The uncertainty makes it hard to keep throwing money into your ad spend. When your budget tightens it is even harder to justify the cost when the benefits are fuzzy at best.

But marketing on the web is different. The costs are lower, return on investment can be much higher and traffic data allows you to chop out the dead wood and optimize your budget. Search engines are a primary driver of traffic on the web (second in use only to email according to a report by Pew Internet & American Life Project and comScore). Search engine optimization (SEO), as a result, has receíved an increasing amount of well-deserved attention.

For most small businesses, SEO is new. Some have considered it, perhaps even done a bit of research on the topic, but haven't yet invested in it. Others have invested in it in the past and found themselves disappoínted with the results. A few have found real success.

In this economy, why should a company consider a new marketing channel like search when they're already looking to cut their budget? What about the risks involved in such a new endeavor? What if it doesn't work? These are all valid questions. For those who spend most of their time building and maintaining their businesses and systems, reading up on what makes search engines tick is unlikely. Understanding SEO enough to truly leverage it for growth can seem a long way off.

So Why SEO, and Why Now?

1. Unparalelled ROI
A 2006 MarketingSherpa survey of 3,053 client-side marketers determined that SEO was viewed as the most valuable marketing solution in terms of ROI, even higher than email marketíng to in-house email lists. ROI is everything - especially in uncertain economic times.

2. Targeted Traffíc
Traditional "push" marketing/advertising options often have you publishing an advertisement in a place where you're hoping it will get a lot of eyeballs. That's great, but the real question is: who owns those eyeballs? Are they the right people? Do they want or need what you're offering? With SEO, up front keyword research can tell you a lot about your market and what kind of language they're using. When you choose your keywords and optimize for them, you're addressing an existing need or desire - and you know that at least a good portion of visitors referred from search engines through your target keywords are looking for exactly what you're offering. In short, SEO helps to drive high quality traffic to your website and gets your message in front of the right people at the right time.

3. Precise Tracking
Web analytics allow you to track your users with a great deal of granularity. The most basic and easy to set up analytics platform is Google Analytics - and it's free. Out of the box, Google Analytics will tell you where visitors are coming from (including what search engines and keywords), what pages bring in the most users, what keywords have the lowest bounce rates (the measure of users who immediately leave your site after viewing one page), what keywords drive the most pages per visit and average time on site and a lot more. With basic conversion tracking you can even tie keywords to conversion rates - an incredibly valuable way to identify the most valuable keywords and focus on them. Bottom line: with web analytics you can identify the dead wood in your campaign and focus on better opportunities to optimize your marketing budget in real time.

How should you approach SEO?

If you're considering investing in SEO as a marketing channel there are two basic options:

1. Take the SEO work on in-house
2. Hire an agency or consultant and outsource SEO


The In-House Option

Hiring for an in-house SEO position is often out of the budget range for small businesses - in this economic climate especially. Existing employees, on the other hand, can play an important role - especially those who are already regularly updating your website. It requires careful research, planning and execution, but with the right training and guidance much of the work required can be handled in-house.

There are also some simple things you can be doing in-house to improve your SEO.

* That company you partner with - do they have a website? If so, consider asking them to link to you (after you link to them). Links are a powerful way to improve your search engine rankings.

* That trade organization you belong to - do they have a directory on their website where they list and link to members? That could be the source of a quick and easy link.

* Thinking about starting a blog? It's a great way to build content on your site and bring in attention and links - just keep in mind you've got to be serious about it and actually post regularly.


Search engines are very complex, but in the end the websites they reward with high rankings are those that get the simple things right: they feature interesting content on a regular basis, they stick around with the same domain name and with the same topic for years and they build links over time and from other relevant and trusted websites.

The Outsourcing Option

Full disclosure: I am biased. I run a search engine marketing agency. But I hope you'll hear me out anyway.

Hiring an SEO agency to either handle the full scope of work or to consult on research and strategy and delegate to your web developer makes sense in many situations. SEO agencies usually spend a great deal of time researching strategies and tactics and compiling resources - all of which can help you hit the ground running with your SEO campaign. But you need to find the right agency.

Let's be clear: no SEO agency can guarantee you rankings or growth. If they tell you they can, they're being either dishonest or foolish, or both. The bottom line is that SEO experts don't control the search engines. Changes to Google's algorithm can, and usually do, come unannounced. That is out of our hands.

This doesn't mean, however, that the burden of risk should fall entirely on your shoulders. Failure of a campaign shouldn't mean you lost your investment, the agency "did their best" and it just didn't work out. Smart agencies recognize that the best thing they can do is share the risk with the client. How? Simply: they set specific goals and benchmarks and stick to them. That may mean they continue working at a discounted rate if they don't reach a goal. On the other hand, they may choose to work on a performance-based contract from the start so their compensation will be linked directly to the return on your investment. The point is, it should be more of a partnership than a client/vendor relationship. That is as important now as it ever has been.

SEO is scalable - you don't have to throw everything and the kitchen sink into it. Sometimes just taking a few small steps here and there over time adds up to success. Other times you need a one-time overhaul of your site, or maybe a long-term relationship with an expert who can help chart the course. It will depend on the goals you set for your website and how realistic they are given the limits of time and resources. But search engines are going to remain the primary driver of traffic and sales on the web for the forseeable future. SEO, for that reason, shouldn't be an afterthought to your marketing plan, even in tough economic times - indeed, with such a high potential return on your investment, it should be a priority.


Source by :
Mike Tekula is the President and Founder of Unstuck Digital, Inc., a Long Island SEO company that provides clients with effective and affordable search engine marketing strategies.

Internet Marketing Blogs that Beg to be Bookmarked

Let's face it, Blogs on the topic of Internet marketing are a dime a dozen. Everyone and their dog seems to have one. I'll be the first to admit it takes a lot to impress me. Some blogs are just boring and uneventful. But then there are some that make me want to come back again and again.

So, what are the qualities of a great blog? Well, for me it's one that offers me something of value, whether that be in the form of valuable information, or points me in the direction of free products or services. It's all about me. By the same token, I do appreciate a blogger with a sense of humor or strong personality. If you're stiff and mechanical it's just not for me. Show me who you really are and what makes you tick.

One final point. Don't forget about design. Blogs that are easy on the eyes, uncluttered and simple get my vote every time. If it has a black background and white text, I'm out of there in a big hurry.

So, who has some of the best blogs online today? So glad you asked. Listen closely as I enlighten you and point you in the right direction.

1) Willie Crawford:

An experienced online marketer, Willie is considered one of the world's leading Internet marketing experts. Listen to Willie, he "walks the talk" and can teach you a lot about the world of online marketíng.

He also has a radio show at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/WillieCrawford

2) Michael Fortin Blog:

Copywriting and marketing tips from a man who is too brilliant for words. Michael is an expert copywriter who has done work for John Reese and many of the other top marketers. Without good copy you can't sell a thing, so learning all you can about persuasive writing is a must for your to do list. Also see: http://www.copywritersboard.com

3) Skip Mcgrath:

If Ebay is your thing then Skip's blog is a must. An expert at selling items on Ebay, and an experienced author of several books, Skip covers all of the ins and outs of earning money with Ebay.

4) Jensense:

Jennifer helps you to make sense of contextual advertising and helps publishers to earn more money. Topics include Google Adsense and other similar contextual ad programs.

5) Marketing Pilgrim:

Originally launched by Internet marketer Andy Beal way back in 2005. This blog covers the latest marketing news, reviews and other items related to online advertising.

6) Yahoo Publisher Network:

Everything you ever wanted to know about Yahoo's Publisher Network but were afraid to ask. All of your questions are answered here.

7) Matt Cutts:

A Google employee since 2000, Matt discusses all things Google on his Blog. He also covers search engine optimization and other interesting gadgets he runs across online. If Google is your thing, all is revealed here.

8) Bruce Clay:

Since 1996 way before it was cool to be on the net Bruce Clay has been teaching those about search engine optimization and online marketíng. He really knows his "stuff" and you can tell that by his concrete informative posts which go into great detail.

9) Clickz:

Clickz always has the latest dish on Internet marketing. Serving news and expert advice since 1997.

10) Jim Edwards:

Jim Edwards blog "I Gotta Tell You" is a multi-media blog. Covering numerous topics related to makíng money onlíne, Jim always has a funny story to tell. He has a strong personality, so if you like that you'll enjoy Jim's blog.

1) Marnie Pehrson:

Marnie is the creator of IdeaMarketers.com and covers all things related to article marketing and other online marketíng strategies. Again, she's been online for years and has much wisdom when it comes to gaining traffic from your short articles.

12) Google Adsense:

If you use Adsense by Google to generate an income you'll want to subscribe to this blog. Tons of tips and tutorials to improve your earnings.

13) Search Engine Diva:

Ginette Degner has been providing search engine optimization and Internet marketing consulting for over 16 years. She's good and also has a great sense of humor.

14) Income.com:

When you talk about Internet marketing you can't forget about John Reese. The only online marketer I know of who made a million dollars in one day when he launched his Traffic Secrets course.

15) Joel Osborne:

Joel has been making a living online for the past several years and has numerous web sites and products. Another expert when it comes to learning how to improve traffic and sell online.

16) Jonathan Leger:

Jonathan Leger has been earning a living online since 2004. His blog discusses search engine optimization, Adsense and online marketíng.

17) Pay Per Click Journal:

This blog is written by the website marketing experts at Brick Marketing. They cover all aspects of pay-per-click search engine marketing.

When it comes to marketing online there are plenty of blogs that can keep you up to date on the latest and greatest trends. This is just a small sample of what's out there. Make sure that no matter whose blog you're reading, that they thoroughly know and understand the topic they're discussing. If not, you're just wasting your time, and if that's the case you might as well be reading your dog's blog. But who knows it just might be more interesting.

Source by : Merle

10 Reasons Why People Don't Buy From You

1. You don't make people feel safe when they order.
Remind people that they are ordering through a secure
server. Tell them you won't sell their e-mail address
and all their information will be kept confidential.

2. You don't make your ad copy attractive. Your ad
lists features instead of benefits. The headline does
not attract at your target audience. You don't list any
testimonials or guarantees included in your ad.

3. You don't remind people to come back and visit.
People usually don't purchase the first time they visit.
The more times they visit your site, the greater the
chance they will buy. The most effective way is to give
them a free subscription to your e-zine.

4. You don't let people know anything about your
business. They will feel more comfortable if they know
who they are buying from. Publish a section called
"About Us" on your web site. Include your business
history, profile of employees, contact information etc.

5. You don't give people as many ordering options as
possible. Accept credit cards, checks, money orders,
and other forms of electronic payments. Take orders
by phone, e-mail, web site, fax, mail, etc.

6. You don't make your web site look professional.
You want to have your own domain name. Your web
site should be easy to navigate through. The graphics
should be related to the theme of your web site.

7. You don't let people read your ad before they get
your freebie. When you use free stuff to lure people
to your web site include it below your ad copy or on
another web page. If you list the freebie above your
ad they may never look to see what you're selling.

8. You don't attract the target audience that would
buy your product or service. A simple way to do
this is to survey your existing customers to see what
attracted them to buy. This information will help
you improve your target marketing and advertising.

9. You don't test and improve your ad copy. There
are many people who write an ad copy and never
change it. You have to continually test and improve
your ad copy to get the highest possible response
rate.

10. You don't give people any urgency to buy now.
Many people are interested in your product but they
put off buying it till later and eventually forget about
it. Entice them to buy now with a freebie or discount
and include a deadline date when the offer ends.


Source by :
Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy has helped thousands of people
in over 200 countries around the world start and run a
successful home business. Discover 3 easy steps to start
your own home business and subscribe to The Home Biz Guy's
Free Home Business Secrets Mini-Course at:
http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-23604

Are You Deliberately Keeping Your Website Out Of The First Page Of Google?

Search engines are very difficult to completely understand. There are no complete explanations of how their ranking algorithms work. But the very fact that the average person does not intuitively know how to crack the search engine algorithms leads to all sorts of questions; Usually variations of: "How do I get my website to the top of the search engine results pile?"

Now if you have been following my newsletter, you will know that search engine optimization is not magic or something equally difficult to understand. Instead, I learnt it as a step-by-step process and that is how I have always considered it. Nothing too fancy; in fact, I could probably summarize it all in the following points: * An understanding of how search engines "think" . * Knowing what search engines "want" . * Learning proven optimization techniques . * Applying your knowledge time and time again (experience).

Of course, SEO is not explained by those four sentences, but what they do is that they give you a structure within which you can learn and carry out SEO on your business with exceptional results. In short: Get it right, and do it better than your competition. But what does this have to do with today's discussion?

Basically, when you have "followed" the SEO strategies to the letter, and are still not seeing your website rank anywhere near where it "should" be on a particular keyword, then you have one of the following problems: * Your website may have been sandboxed (specific only to Google). * Your website might be penalized or even removed from the index by a search engine for going against a stated guideline. * A search engine might "think" that you are spamming them.

In the first case, you will have to "wait it out" with Google, while consolidating on your positions in the other search engines by continuously building links and adding content. The second case will never happen if you follow the advice given in my lessons; if your website is penalized, compare what you have done with what I have told you, and you will probably find out that something has gone wrong. However, like I said in the beginning, search engines are notoriously difficult to understand - and sometimes you can do everything right and still not be ranked correctly. Conspiracy theories apart, this is the part of the equation that search engines do not always get right. SEO experts usually term this as over-optimization , and like many SEO issues this one has a lot of debate on it in SEO forums about whether websites are actually penalized for over-optimization or simply banned for spam.

What exactly is over-optimization? Over-optimization happens when your website is considered "too good" by Google - either in terms of a sudden volume of backlinks, or because of heavy on-page optimization. In other words, if Google considers that your website optimization is beyond acceptable limits , your website will be red-flagged and automatically restricted or penalized. There is a fine line between over-optimization and spamming, and it is on this line that Google can appear to err. However, this is not a mistake by the search engine - in fact, Google calculates rankings by considering thousands and thousands of different factors - and a lot of importance is attached to average "trends" within the niche / keyword range that a website is optimizing for. The bottom line is that over-optimization is non-spamming search engine optimization that is misread by Google as being beyond acceptable limits, thus leading to a penalty in search engine rankings.

What criteria does Google use? To understand why Google can consider certain websites over-optimized, it is important to factor in the criteria that Google uses to rank websites. When fully indexing a website, Google does not just look at the optimization of the target website; it also compares the website with all the other websites that belong to the same niche / category / keyword range. Through this comparison, Google can then figure out the following: * Is this website "way more" optimized than the current top ranking websites? * In the past, have over-optimized websites been discovered as spam websites? * What are the trends / acceptable limits for well-optimized websites in this niche/keyword range?

Since Google is automated, it cannot do what we do - look at the webpage and determine if the purpose is spam or delivering truly useful information. Instead, the search engine uses historical trends to predict what the acceptable limits of over-optimization are, and how likely over-optimized websites are to be found out as spam. In other words, your website may be red flagged as being a potential spamming website even though your only fault might be that you were "perfect" in optimizing your website while your competition was left far behind. Google takes both on-page and off-page optimization into account when checking for over-optimization / spam, and as such it watches out for over-optimization in all ranking factors - your backlinks and your tag optimization (meta tags, title tags, header tags) being most important.

A lot of what I am talking about becomes invalid if one tries any overt search engine spamming technique , such as stuffing your pages with keywords, white on white text (something I talked about in the first few lessons) or backlink spamming (building too many backlinks with the same anchor text in a short period of time. But it is also possible that you have followed advice and still have your website penalized for over-optimization. The real question then is: How can you avoid such penalties ?

Avoiding the trap of over-optimization As I mentioned at the start of this lesson, search engine optimization can be boiled down to two simple steps: * Getting it right and… * Doing it better than everyone else .

In the context of over-optimization and avoiding unnecessary penalties, this rings especially true. If you optimize your website within search engine guidelines and according to proven optimization practices, you have it right. While putting too little time on SEO is a serious mistake, the search for perfection within SEO is a time-wasting and fruitless effort. Too much focus on getting the page structure "just right" can divert attention away from the more mundane but equally more important tasks - such as adding more content or monetizing the website.

The next step is to eschew perfection and find out what your competition has done. Suppose that you are optimizing your website for the term "landscaping". Which of the following approaches would you realistically choose? - Go full-throttle on your search engine optimization, spending as much time as necessary to get maximum value out of each word, link and page in your website, so that you can get the highest ranking possible. - Analyze the top 10 webpages for the term "landscaping" and understand what optimization has been performed on them (natural or artificial). Calculate the number of backlinks, check for authority inbound links - and once you have figured out what your competition is doing, and do exactly the same - only a bit more .

The first approach might mean that you are guaranteed a top position on the search engines, but has two problems - you will waste a lot of time and resources in this search for perfection and more importantly, your website may be flagged for over-optimization. On the other hand, the second approach does just enough to beat the competition - without pushing you or your budget to the limit. Over-optimization is a phenomenon that is particularly difficult to figure out - how does a SEO expert really determine whether his new website is in the sandbox, penalized for over-optimization or just doing badly in the search engines? While trying to find out the real cause for your poor rankings may satisfy curiosity, you would be better served by following the "second approach" above.

Search engine optimization is a long-term, low-intensity process. You keep building links and adding content, so that eventually your website not only escapes the infamous sandbox but it also starts to rank really well on the search engines. And as for over-optimization - as long you follow search engine guidelines and don't go too far above your competition, you will be fine.


Source by : Mike Benner

Relation between Google PageRank and Back links

The PageRank of your website will govern the amount of traffic your website receives through the Google Search Engine.

Many people are now struggling to obtain the elusive target of a high Page Rank for their websites and facing a wall they cannot climb. The wall is of course, how to get the best Page Rank. Are Back Links the answer to this dilemma? If you work hard enough creating Back Links around the web will this have a direct positive impact on your website Page Rank?

Page Rank is a complicated method of determining how useful your website is to users based on a scale of 0 -10 (ten being the highest). Your Page Rank will have an affect on how Google places your website when a user searches for related keywords. Naturally, the better your Page Rank is, the higher your website placement will be and the ultimate goal is to appear top of the list when a potential customer searches for your keywords. Many people are now using Back Links extensively in order to produce positive Page Rank results. The results of Back Linking can vary depending on quantity, frequency and associated Page Rank.

Back Links are created by having a link to your website on an external page. This means you need to get other people to link to your website. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen overnight and it takes a lot of work to create an extensive range of Back Links. The amount of Back Links Google can find that point to your website will tell Google how highly other people rate your website. The more Back Links you have out there, the higher your Page Rank will be. Back Links are not the only factor for Page Ranking so you should ensure you develop further marketing and SEO methods for your website on top of an extensive Back Link building program. Things like Meta descriptions and SEO content will also determine how relevant your website is when a user searches for certain keywords.

There is no solid definition of how many Back Links you need to obtain a certain Page Rank. Because there are other factors it can be difficult to pin a Page Rank down, some pages may have few Back Links and still have a high Page Rank number. Regardless of this, a website with more Back Links generally tends to achieve a higher Page Rank and as long as the Back Links are achieved properly, they can have a definite positive affect on your website Page Rank. In addition to the overall quantity of your Back Links, your Page Rank will depend on the increase of Back Links you achieve each month. It has been shown that a steady flow of Back Links created will help you to maintain your current Page Rank. This means you will need to steadily and consistently provide Back Links to your website on external sites.

Your Page Rank will also be affected by the quality of your Back Links. If a high ranking website links to you, Google will deem your website to be of importance and value to an already prominent website. This means you will get a terrific boost to your Page Rank from every high quality Back Link. The way in which Google determines a website Page Rank has long been an elusive piece of knowledge and the design of it has changed considerably over the years, however the basis of the system remains constant.

The quality of your Back Links can also have a negative impact on your Page Rank. If the links are part of a "Bad Neighborhood" you can experience a drop in your Page Rank because they feature a Back Link to your website. It's not just a case of putting as many links out there as possible; you also need to consider where your links are going. Websites that use illegal means to achieve a Page Rank such as hidden links, hidden content or excessive keywords will have a negative impact on themselves and those associated with them. If you remove any links to bad neighborhoods and successfully request webmasters to remove your links, your Page Rank will be positively affected.

For more information and SEO Expert advice on acquiring PageRank and Quality One-Way Back Links through Writing Articles and Article Submission, please visit the site.

Source by : Sunil Punjabi

The Secrets to Keywords - Expanding Your List

The Primary objective of a business website is to attract potential buyers and convert them into paying customers. Relevant keywords allow you to fulfil this primary objective. They help you attract relevant traffic that want to buy the types of products you have to offer, however, the more relevant keywords that you rank well for, the more business you will do. By effectively expanding your keyword lists, you expand the potential market for your business.

There are two fundamental ways of expanding your keyword lists:
* Long tail keywords that give you depth and allow you to dominate a particular market - so, moving from 'chocolate' to 'chocolate gifts' to 'corporate chocolate gifts'. These long tailed keywords tend to have a smaller advertiser competition, therefore you get a better PPC price, also, you dominate that specific niche market.

* Related keywords that allow you to broaden the range of market sectors that you can target. So, if you're selling gourmet chocolate, you may find opportunities in related keywords such as 'truffles', 'fudge' or 'luxury foods'. Related keywords can make you aware of markets that you might now have considered. So in building your online business, you need to make sure you have an effective sales process in place. Do that and you will have real benefit from expanding your keyword lists.

You need to convert people who arrive at your website into paying customers. If you don't do that, then it doesn't matter how extensive you keyword research is, or how effective your optimization efforts are in drawing new visitors to your website. If you can't convert a visitor into a customer then your efforts will be doomed to failure.

Only when you have got an effective sales process can you get the real benefit from expanding your keyword lists. And when you have that sales process in place, like any business you will want to expand. You could add new product lines, associated products and other ways to expand your potential income from each of the customers you attract.

However, before you embark on the path of product development you need to be sure that you are getting maximum return from what you have already. Let's suppose you've got a website that performs well - you get 100,000 unique visitors per month and you have a conversion rate of 3%. That equates to 3,000 paying customers per month. Not a bad business situation to be in.

Now look at your log files. From these you see that 30% of your traffic comes from search engines. Dig a little deeper and you find that 80% of this comes from around 20 good keywords. Here's a quick calculation of what this means:

* 30% of your traffic comes from search engines so that's 30,000 unique visitors per month. 80% of these come from your top 20 keywords - that's 24,000 per month.

* With a conversion rate of 3%, those 20 keywords bring you 720 paying customers every month. Now, if you could find another 20 keywords that perform just as well, then you could add another 720 customers, giving you a total of 3,720 customers per month - an increase of 24%.

And if you could achieve this growth once, could you do it again? Of course, the answer to that depends on the potential in your marketplace but the underlying principle is that good keywords will bring additional revenue to your website and you really can't get too many of them.


Info By : Darren Jennings - Expert in Business Building, Coaching, Mentoring. Find out why so many people are having huge success in Darren's Business opportunity: http://www.successfulincomestrategies.com

Tips for Using Traffic Exchanges To Get Traffic To Your Website

To surf or not to surf? That is a very good question. I've been doing a lot of research on the effective ways to drive traffic to my website. Most importantly the free way. There are many free avenues to advertising such as blogging, articles, free classifieds, as well as traffic exchanges. When it comes to traffic exchanges there can be a fine line between wasting time and being successful in driving good, quality traffic to your site.

The whole concept behind traffic exchanges is surfing other people's sites in exchange for credits that will give your site views. For the most part, people that use traffic exchanges are doing the same thing you are doing: quickly surfing through as many sites as they can to get credits for their site to get viewed. From experience, I usually don't spend much time on each site and I'm usually surfing more than one exchange at a time to make best use of my time. Getting a great quantity of traffic will never be a problem if you are willing to spend the time surfing. Getting quality traffic depends greatly on the site which you are trying to push.

If your site is a specific product or service that requires a significant investment it will probably be overlooked. However, if you are advertising a site that provides free advertising solutions, a free affiliate program, a blog, site referrals, or an inexpensive product or service that will catch someones eye, you will have much better luck.

If you decide that your site will fit well into a traffic exchange, there is the question of which traffic exchanges to use and how to use them effectively. For starters you need to sign up for many different exchanges as you can find as this will give you a wider audience. Create an email address separate from your personal or business email because you will have a lot of confirmation emails as well as follow up emails. Also keep a notepad file with all of your login names and passwords. I've listed quite a few exchanges that I've found to be effective down below. You should also use all the features that each traffic exchange provides. This will give you the most exposure possible. Features such as banner and text link submissions will increase your site presence. Downline builders can help you get referrals that can net you credits or sometimes even money.

When it comes to surfing I suggest surfing 5 sites at a time. Not only will this help you use your time more wisely but some sites actually offer credit bonuses for surfing simultaneously. (see below) Surf 5 sites a day and rotate among the exchanges to make sure you keep a consistent level of credits with your links on each site. (Example: Group 1 on Monday, Group 2 Tuesday, Group 1 Wednesday, Group 3 Thursday, and so on) I haven't found a tried and true way to rotate and keep credit levels up, some sites will use credits faster than others, so trial and error will have to do. Finding out what exchanges work well together with counter times so you can flow from one site to the other quicker is also something that you'll just have to test. How long to surf each day is up to you. It all depends on the time you are willing to spend. I suggest being very careful as in some weird way it can become a little addictive. I usually allot myself an hour or less each day.

I wish you the best of luck in using traffic exchanges as an effective way of driving traffic to your website. Remember that just because your site is getting hits that doesn't mean that people are really paying attention, let alone signing up for your product or service. Hits aren't enough to make traffic exchanges worth the effort. If you find that they are not significantly helping your bottom line then traffic exchanges may not be worth your time.

To surf or not to surf? That's up to you. Be smart, give it a try and give it some time. You might find that traffic exchanges may be just the thing that your advertising mix needed.

Below is a list of traffic exchanges that I use most often and that I feel work the best for me. This is only a small portion of traffic exchanges sites out there. While you are surfing you will very often see other traffic exchanges being advertised. Use this as an opportunity to check out exchanges that you haven't joined and can add to your catalog.

Best Results
Traffic Pods
EasyHits4U
Traffic Swarm
10KHits4UNow
Soldier Surf
Traffic Era
Webmaster Quest

Super Surf with these 5 sites (Earn extra credit value for surfing simultaneously)
I Love Hits
Advertising Know How
Dragon Surf
Start Xchange
Traffic Splash

Other decent sites
Link Crews
Swim in Traffic
Funny Farm Traffic
Pro Hits Plus
Hit Safari
Traffic Garden
Traffic Taxis
Traffic Dynamite
Traffic Roundup Traffic At The Races
Top Surfer

Source by :
Dwayne Cash quit his job and started working from home less than year ago. Since then he has become increasingly knowledgeable on all subjects relating to online marketing and internet money making. He strives each day to learn something new and to pass on that knowledge to others so they can learn to be as successful as he has become. Click here to view Dwayne's secret to online success.

Basic Things to Know About Affiliate Marketing

The truth behind affiliate marketing is the fact that 90% of affiliates will actually make less than 100$ a month. Therefore, you shouldn't count on making
Full time income unless you can get very good at the following:

1. Building a good web site that converts.

2. Search engine optimization. You'll need a lot of traffic, as maybe 1 out of 200 visitors will buy your products. SEO can help you get your site in the search engines so more people will be able to find you.

3. The trial and error of picking the right merchants and learning the correct ways to promote them.

Too many people out there assume that affiliate marketing is actually a get rich quick type of program. These types of people will throw up a couple of banners, and then wonder why they never make a single sale or any money at all.

How long you'll need to do it depends on how much money you want to make. If you are a quick learner and really good at affiliate marketing, you
Might make $2,000 in 2 years. This is based on the fact that you are starting at 0 and the fact that you have another full time job, not being able to devote a lot of time working with your affiliate marketing program.

If you decide to give it a try, the hardest challenge will be the first few months. If you check your stats and see that you are only making a couple of
Bucks, you'll find yourself wondering if all the hard work was worth it. If you get some sales going and stay committed with your hard work, the commissions should start growing.

One of the biggest factors with affiliate marketing is the traffic that goes through your site. Even though you'll get a lot of traffic passing through
Your website, only a fraction of the traffic will be buyers.

The key here is knowing your visitors and then being able to determine which affiliate programs you can offer to meet their needs. There is also the concept of pre sale, which is the ability to put your visitors in an open mind set that's required for them to actually click on what you are selling.

By sticking with affiliate marketing, you'll learn more and more over the years. You can't expect to be the best when you first start, it'll take a lot
Of hard work and dedication. By putting the time and effort into your programs, you'll be well on your way to making it in the very profitable and exciting world of affiliate marketing.

How to Speed up your Article Marketing with Firefox

As you may already know, article marketing, also known as article directory submission, is an effective way to build relevant links and to boost your online visibility. The benefits are plentiful and the investment is minimal, in most cases anyway. What many people do not know, however, is that there are two tools in particular, both of them free to download and use, that can speed up your article directory submissions immensely. While these tools will not let you auto-submit to article directories, they certainly bring you several steps closer to auto-submit speeds while keeping to the safer, and more accurate, manual article directory submission model.

These two tools rely on the use of the Firefox web browser, so if you do not yet have Firefox installed on your computer, you should download it now.

Informenter

Informenter is a form-filling add-on for Firefox that allows you to "click and fill" text fields on a website. When enabled, an arrow is placed next to a text field on a web page, and you simple click on the arrow, choose the text to input, and click on that text. The tradeoff here is that instead of copying and pasting your article information into an article directory submission form, or worse yet -- actually typing all of the information in, this two-click process will shave precious seconds off from each and every manual article directory submission that you perform.

To use Informenter, just install it, setup a profile, and enter each of your details onto a new line. Personally, we store our name, our email address, our website's primary URL, our article summary, article title, one text version of our author bio, and one HTML version of our author bio in Informenter when we are getting ready to submit an article to article directories.

You can download Informenter here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/673

Roboform

Many people already know the power, security, and convenience that Roboform wields for protection of personal information. However, many of those people, even if they utilize article marketing as an off-page SEO or link-building strategy, do not realize the potential that Roboform holds for article marketing.

Even with the limited, yet free, version of Roboform, you are able to input what it calls "custom" fields. These custom fields represent different elements of your article that you are submitting to article directories -- your name, your website's URL, the article itself, your article's summary, keywords, and so forth. While the pro version of Roboform allows unlimited custom fields, the free version currently allows three custom fields after you have the software installed for thirty days. In any case, it is still a big help.

How Roboform differs from Informenter is notable; instead of having to click on an arrow to fill each individual field, you simply have to click a single button with Roboform to fill all of the fields on an article directory submission form -- it's far from perfect one-hundred percent of the time, but it is a real time saver.

Now, getting the names of custom fields for article directories is a bit technical and tricky, so we'll outline a few common "field names" for use with article marketing. First, however, we'll outline the different fields used in the custom area of a Roboform identity:

• Field name - This is the primary field name used for text and textarea inputs on a directory submission form.
• Field value - This area is where your article's information will go. This information can include your name, website URL, article, article title, etc.
• Other match strings - This area works with the 'field name' section to supply additional field names for article directories that use a less-common field name to represent the submission form fields.

Here is a list of common 'field name' words and 'other match string' words -- other match string words are in parenthesis.

• Title (arttitle, articletitle) - represents your article's title
• Summary (artsummary) - represents your article's summary
• Article (artbody, body) - is the actual article that you are submitting to the directory
• About (artres, author, bio, signature, articleabout) - this is the 'about the author' bio, or blurb
• Keywords (artkey, articlekeywords) - a short list of keywords used to represent your website, usually separated by commas
• Link (url) - this is the primary URL for your article

A note about Roboform

If possible, we recommend that you purchase the pro version. While it is $30, in terms of improved functionality and speed during article marketing, these benefits alone justify the purchase price. For our own article directory submissions, we store a HTML version of our article in one identity and the text version in a separate identity -- this saves you from constantly having to move back and forth between a text document and your web browser during submission.

You can download Roboform here: http://www.roboform.com

The add-on that allows Firefox toolbar integration can be downloaded here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/750

We recommend using both Roboform and Informenter together for manual article directory submissions, regardless of whether you have purchased the pro version of Roboform or not. Before we draw this tutorial to a close, here are a few things that you should be aware of:

1. Not all fields 'fill' with Roboform.
2. Roboform is not accurate 100% of the time -- sometimes field names overlap, and when they do, sometimes the wrong information is placed into the wrong field.
3. Not all fields fill with Informenter -- built-in HTML editors sometimes require a manual cut and paste.
4. You should always double-check your submission information before hitting the 'submit' button. Placing your article in the 'about the author' field will not win you any brownie points with an article directory owner, and will likely lead to your article being declined immediately.

Article marketing is a popular, and effective, method that you can use to promote your website and brand your name or your business online. By familiarizing yourself with these two tools, and maybe considering a small investment, you can speed up your article marketing exponentially.

Source by :
Rob Ferrall is the owner of Inoweb Marketing, a marketing and internet product development company. For help with article directory submissions, SEO, or other website promotion services, visit http://www.inowebmarketing.com.

10 Secrets to Using Twitter to Attract More Followers and Get More Clients

I do wonder at times if some Twitter users have any time to get any work done. Several of the more prolific ones that I follow swear they spend no more than 30 minutes a day on Twitter, but I really find that hard to believe. Many times it seems they are twittering just to say something, like "Good morning Twitterverse" when they begin their day, give more details than I want to know about what they had for lunch, what their children said to them, or when they take a nap.

I realize that this is part of the "like, know, and trust" process that enables people to get to know each other, but sometimes it's simply too much information..LOL. I'm Twittering primarily to market my business. Consequently, I try and limit my personal twitters to no more than 2 per day. My clients, who create Twitter accounts for marketing, as well, tell me, "I'm signed up. Now what in the world do I Twitter about? How do I market my business with this tool?"

Here are 10 strategies that I use regularly to market my business and my expertise via Twitter. Remember, you have only 140 characters for your tweet (Twitter post).

1. How you're helping clients. Talk about specific ways that your business helps clients and use their Twitter ID if you have their permission, i.e. "Just finished @clientname brainstorm great Internet marketing plan for 2009" or "Finally finished setting up Quickbooks for local hardware store -- now they can invoice their clients"

2. What you're doing in your business. This is a perfect time to tell others when you're blogging, writing an article, creating your weekly ezine, recording your podcast, i.e. "Had great interview with Jane Smith today on speaking to grow your biz. Great ideas! Subscribe to podcast & listen here (URL here)"

3. Useful tool or resource you've found. I run across these all the time in my daily activities, and Twitter is a perfect place to share,. i.e. "Found great new Firefox plug-in to monitor & check multiple Gmail accounts at same time at (URL here)" or "Read great blog post on workíng at home with kids under 5 at (URL here)"

4. Ask a question. Need some ideas or some quick brainstorming? Twitter is an ideal place to gather opinions, i.e. "Help! Desperately seeking new laser prínter. Recommendations?" or "How do I find training organizations online?"

5. Conduct a survey. What do your Tweeps think about a particular issue? Ask them via Twitter, i.e. "Quick poll: Do you get more clients from Facebook or Twitter? Respond at (URL here)"

6. Report on live events. The latest Twitter trend seems to be tweeting what's happening at conferences or workshops. In order for Twitter users to follow a particular event, it's usually referred to by a name preceded by a # sign, as in #JVAlert, for example, to make it simpler for people who want to follow those posts. So, if you were at an event, you might tweet "#JVAlert John Smith speaking on affiliate programs. Just got great idea on training affiliate managers!" Just don't get so wrapped up in tweeting that you ignore the content delivered in the conference!

7. Product or service launch. If you're about to launch a new product or introduce a new product, let your Twitter followers know, i.e. "Pre-launch pricing for new DVD set about how baby boomers can start an online biz. Get $100 early bird discount at (URL here)"

8. Responding to others with advice or answers. The way to build professional relationships on Twitter is to help your tweeps. So, if someone asks a question, comments about something to which you have a response or an idea, or you want to ask a followup question, this is the perfect place to do so.

9. Acknowledging new followers. I've noticed a recent trend of acknowledging people who've decided to follow a Twitter user in the past day or so. I initially thought that others were doing this as a measure of popularity, but what I've come to realize is that it's actually helping out the new followers because it exposes their Twitter profiles to others who may have never heard of them and who might like to follow them. So, to thank your followers, you'd tweet, "Welcome new followers @twittername, @twittername, etc."

10. Automate your tweets. Many of my tweets have been automated and connected to other things I do. TwitterFeed turns all of my blog posts into tweets. aWeber turns each ezine issue into a tweet. EzineArticles.com tweets my followers every time I publish an article through their service. Typically all that's involved here is connecting the particular service to my Twitter account. Once all the services are connected, I get free and automated Twitter posts with no additional effort on my part.

Twitter can be a great time-waster or a wonderful way to market your business and leverage your expertise online. Follow these 10 strategies and you'll begin to attract more followers and get more clients through social networking.

Source by :
Online Business Manager and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketíng Toolkit, visit her site at OnlineBizU.com . Follow Donna on Twitter: http://twitter.com/donnagunter