Debra Unplugged on Information Marketing

posted by Debra Unplugged on May 18

http://acceleratorsystemsresources.com/internetmarketingextravaganza.html Michael Pinlands: Internet Marketing Extravaganza Live in Orlando Florida. Come see Debra live from stage as she teaches the Bullseye Marketing Accelerator System and sends your buisness to next level.

posted by Debra Unplugged on May 16

Headers, Tags, and Titles Search engines continue to evolve but there are a few things you still can do to give them a clue about what’s on your website. One is to include your keywords in header tags. Additionally, craft a one or two sentence description that explains the content of each page, including some keywords from the page. This should go between the tags. Finally, you should write short, descriptive titles for each page. Don’t use the same one for each. Keywords:  Look at your website copy. Are your keywords in the first paragraph? They should be because that is where the search engines expect to find them. But don’t go overboard with keywords. SEO: The above tips actually are fairly basic SEO activities, but there are some higher level SEO tactics that will help raise you site above the crowd. Hyperlink your keywords to make them stand out for both search engines and for carbon-based web visitors. Make the linked keyword more noticeable to search engines by linking it to a page that uses the keyword in its address. For example, if you hyperlink the phrase ad agency. The page to which it is linked would have ad agency, in its address to raise its profile. While we’re linking, let’s make these linked pages truly focused on information about specific keywords. If you really want to place your SEO program on steroids, purchase one of the software packages that helps you analyze each page on your site for its appeal to search engines. Submit  There are both search engines and directories where you will want to submit your site. Key search engines for url submission include: Google, Yahoo, MSN Live Search, AOL and Ask. More than 95 percent of search volume happens at these engines. So, don’t bother too much with all the small fries. And it is not hard to complete free registration for these engines. Typically, they will have a link that says something like add your URL. There are a number of directories like DMOZ.com where you will want to submit your site, too. And, I think it is worthwhile to pay the $299 at the Yahoo directory. There may also be directories specifically for your industry. Link:  Develop a linking program where you solicit links from sites that cover the same topics as you. This directs traffic from those sites. Additionally, it tells search engines that you must have something worthwhile on your site if others are linking to you. Write: Articles, blogs, news releases - all of these can help you increase your exposure and drive traffic to your primary website. Craft your article "About The Author", box to include your web address. Once your article is picked up by other publishers, this will become a one-way link to your site, possibly helping boost your search engine ranking. Submit your press releases to PRWeb.com. I get a ton of traffic for myself and clients using this service. Go Email: Develop your own e-newsletter, like mine called Think, to help drive repeat traffic to your site. I use nTarget.com for my email marketing. Then, archive the newsletter on your site. This solid content tells search engines that there is a reason to visit you. Try to get other enewsletter publishers to mention you, consider trading ads with other publishers, or just buying ads outright. Finally, don’t underestimate the power of a good email signature to drive site traffic. Give Yourself A Promotion  Sponsor contests or develop your own promotions and then submit them to contest directories like Contest Hound. You could give away copies of your book, e-book, or white papers for people who sign up for your newsletter. Give away your product or service to randomly selected registrants. This is a good way to build your list of contacts so you can then drive them back to your site. Pay The Man  ReachLocal is my pay-per-click ad engine of choice. If you are truly local, this is a cost-efficient way to reach people in a specific market only. However, you also can launch nationwide campaigns, too. You deal only with ReachLocal and it handles placing and paying for the ads with multiple publishers. It works for budgets of all sizes. Speak Up  All right, let’s go analog. There is no better way to make a good impression on a large number of people at one time than to deliver a good speech. Be sure to have business cards or some type handout that lists your website. Every time I do a presentation I see a spike in web visits and enewsletter sign-up. Go Offline  Look at every printed piece that you have. Is your web address featured prominently? Is it in small type or - horrors  not even there! Businesses with fleets of cars and trucks should have the web address on their vehicles. Think about other physical places you can promote your site. Those are my 11 ways. Get to it.

posted by Debra Unplugged on May 11

If you’ve ever planned or hosted an event you know how overwhelming it can be. Attending to every small detail can leave you wishing the party was over before it even began. This is even more magnified if you are overseeing a large event such as a wedding or a dinner party for business associates. Something always seems to go wrong and it leaves the person in charge of event planning carrying the burden of the blame.

There are steps you can take to guarantee that the party will be a roaring success. One of those steps is to hire an event planner. If you really do feel as though all the small details are too much for you, you might consider hiring someone who specializes in event planning. There are many reputable companies who can offer you their services for a fee. All you do is explain the event to them, including your preferences when you wish to have the event, the theme of it and the menu and they handle the rest. The onus of the work is on them, and with their experience they can create exactly the type of gathering that you envision.

If finances are a concern and you can’t afford the luxury of a professional event planning service, there are things that you can do that will help your event run as smoothly as possible. Here are a few ideas:

• Keep an ongoing list. Plan your event by writing down everything you need to do. As you complete those tasks, stroke them off the list and add new ones as needed.
  
• Choose a theme that is appropriate for all guests. It might be difficult for some people to rent or purchase special outfits for a theme party, so try and make it something that is accessible and affordable for every guest.
  
• Send out invitations or call with your invitation well in advance. Life is busy for many people and giving them sufficient notice will enable them to handle any arrangements they need to make, such as child care.
  
• Choose a menu that isn’t too exotic. Although many people welcome new tastes, it’s often more appropriate to offer menu items that all guests are familiar with, this way they won’t be concerned about possible food allergies or digestive conflicts, if they know exactly what they are eating consists of.
  
• Enjoy the event. Often the host becomes so overburdened with party details that he or she neglects their own enjoyment. Plan the event so you will have free time during it to mingle with your guests.

posted by Debra Unplugged on May 11

Here are a few ways you can improve your Internet marketing without spending a bundle. These are some basic tips that have much more involved solutions than the simplified summaries I provide below, but I hope it puts you on the right path. In this example, I’m going to assume you’re trying to sell gourmet steaks online.

1. WHO is your Market? – Do you really know your target market? What else are they buying online and offline? What websites do they visit with regularity? Figure that out, then find the websites that cater to them. Not sure what else they like? ASK THEM. Send your customers a survey, call them…do your homework. Then see what type of designs, slogans, and catchy verbiage these other sites are using to entice that audience. You may not be able to afford a gazillion dollars of website R&D, but you can bet that some of the top sites that already cater to your audience DO. Borrow from the best!

2. What is your Message? – Once you know your audience and the type of presentations that are proven to attract them, you need to define your message. What is the ONE thing that you want your audience to remember about your product/service on your site. Don’t get confused with two or three, although you certainly should have a page that espouses all your benefits. You need to pound home the ONE thing that separates you from the competition? Is your product easier, faster, cheaper, more luxurious? Do you offer better service, newer technology? I can’t tell you how many websites I’ve been to that do a miserable job of telling me WHAT they do or WHY I should buy it. Don’t be one of them!
3. Sell Benefits, NOT Features! – While it’s nice to tell me that your Omaha Steaks are USDA super special beef (that’s a feature) what is really important to most customers is the benefit of that feature, like that “it tastes great!” or “is healthier for me”.

4. Use CPC Wisely – Cost Per Click advertising on sites like MSN, Google and Yahoo is probably the fastest and most efficient way to get quality traffic to your site. You pick the keywords for which you wish to advertise, set the bid amount you’re willing to pay for a clickthru, then you only pay when somebody arrives at your site. AMAZING! But you need to track the results to really use this effectively. That means familiarizing yourself with phrases like CPC (cost per click) and CPA (cost per acquisition). You’ll need to have an order or inquiry page in order to know if the clicks you are buying are converting into actual leads.

5. Find Your ONE Keyphrase – Now that you know your audience and how you want to present your product to them, you need to choose the key phrase that you think is ideal for your users to find you on a search engine. This is a delicate and critically important task, as you want to be specific enough that you won’t attract bogus prospects or compete for a phrase that’s too general and difficult, but you also don’t want to choose a phrase so hyper specific that nobody searches it, ever. You can see how popular a phrase is by checking with Overture’s Keyword Tool, inventory.overture.com/.

6. Tune Your Tags – We’ve defined the key phrase you hope to rank for on the search engines, now you need to learn these three letters, SEO. Search Engine Optimization is the service of getting your page to rank “organically” (not paid) on the first page of results on the major engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo. This is achieved by a combination of factors, including having Meta Tags that stress your key phrase. These tags are hidden in the HTML code of your site’s pages and tells Google and other engines what you think your site is about. There is endless drivel written on this topic, but I suggest you learn the basics enough so that if you do hire an SEO expert, you can talk basic shop. Check out www.seochat.com to get started.

7. Are You Buying Links? – Probably the most important new element to SEO, you will need to have as many back links (links to your site) from other websites as possible to have a good chance of ranking for your key phrase. This is done by link swapping, submitting press releases and other articles or just buying them. Read more at www.linkbuilding.org.

8. Simplify Your Content and Design – Ok, so let’s assume you’ve had a little beginner’s luck and are now getting traffic to your site. Are you maximizing the traffic? You can use excellent free tools like Google Analytics to analyze your traffic and see what they are and are not clicking. Your end goal should be to generate orders or inquiries, so tweak your site design until you increase your visit to inquiry/order ratio. That means trying different buttons, hyperlinks, text and content until you find the right combo. If you’re not tracking your stats, you can’t improve!

OK, so I realize this is a lot to digest in one sitting, but the key is to know what you do and do not know…and then go find the knowledge on each of these topics. There are thousands of articles and plenty of paid pros out there to help you!

posted by Debra Unplugged on May 8

It is so easy for us web designers to overlook the viewpoint of web design users in our frantic effort to deliver the latest technology using the best coding and cool designs. The fact is, unless web users are able to understand, use and navigate quickly through a web site, it will probably not achieve its objectives. I am not suggesting that all web design solutions are simple. A lot of web sites actually deliver very complex online solutions. However, no matter how intricate the web design solution, the interface with the user must always be simple and clear.

Web site users generally do not spend more than 10 seconds on a site. This is the nature of the online audience. There is so much information out there, so many web sites, so little time. We live in a ‘zapping’ society where patience, endurance, tolerance for the unusual are words that are fast disappearing. As internet connections and processing speeds increase almost exponentially, we tend to flick quicker from one web site to another in an effort to see more or just out of habit. This is the web designer’s nightmare. How to get the web user to stay longer on a site, spot the calls to action and actually get an action. A good web design solution should address this issue. In my opinion, the simpler the web design, the easier the navigation and the more you explain how your web site works, the greater your chances of attracting attention and generating leads with your web site. Look at Google. The backend of the search engines involves the most complex web coding on the Internet, yet there could not be a simpler interface than a text box to search using keywords. It works because users prefer simple and straightforward web design solutions.

So, the next time you are pondering over a web design project, think simplicity. Get every obstacle out of the way of your web user. He the latter hesitates while navigating, rethink your web design. Use familiar navigation paths and icons. People like to encounter the familiar in web designs. They are comfortable with web design features they see regularly on the Internet. Innovation is fine, but get the balance right. You can preach change as much as you want, as long as you do not change too much.

So, simple navigation, familiar icons and buttons, explicit and simple instructions are some of the basic ingredients to capturing the speeding attention of your web user. However, bear in mind that search engine crawlers do need content to figure out what your web site is about. A good balance would be to keep the top fold of your web design nice and simple with the bare essential whilst including enough text further down your web page. The text can be useful information about your products and web design services for instance.

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posted by Debra Unplugged on May 4

How do you monetize a blog? It isn’t hard. You can use Google Adsense, text link ads, affiliate products and much more.
For the blogger who doesn’t have their own product, it’s still possible to earn money from their blog thanks to Google Adsense. Google Adsense is free to join and easy to set up.

As you write the content for your blog, keep in mind that the ads shown are dependant upon the surrounding content on your web pages. Be sure to experiment with the ad placement to find where you get the higher clickthrough rates.

Many believe that the best places for the ads are at the top left, at the bottom of the first post on the page and in the footer. Unless your blog is strictly an Adsense site, it’s recommended not to make it look too cluttered with Adsense ads.

Unless you are in a niche that provides you with high costs per click, you can expect to make anywhere from ten cents a click to one dollar. There are niches that pay several dollars.

Of course, the more traffic you get to your site the more sales you will make, resulting in a higher income. There are sites that earn a few cents a day and there are sites that earn thousands a month. It all depends on the niche and the traffic.

Products

Another avenue for making money with your blog is to create and sell a product. Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula walks you through each step involved for creating a product, preparing to sell it, and launching it to the public. If you want to sell your own product, investing in Jeff’s product would be wise.

Selling a product, whether it is an ebook you acquired with resell rights or a product you made yourself, is usually a better way of making significant income. Done correctly, including researching what the public wants, you can usually make a better income selling your own product than depending on Adsense. There are always the exceptions.

Affiliate

Another way to make money with your blog is to promote affiliate programs. Before you decide on a niche for your blog be sure to research what affiliate programs are available.

There are many resources for affiliate products including Commission Junction, Clickbank, and hundreds of online stores that offer affiliate programs. For instance, if you have a pet site then possible affiliate programs would include Petsmart and PetCo.

Referrals

Perhaps you are in a niche that would attract viewers who need a loan, a credit card, or debt relief. There are many companies that will pay you, the blog owner, a significant amount to refer people to their site to simply fill out a form. For each person you refer who fills out a form, you get paid as much as $45, or even more.

Text Ads

This new type of advertising is still growing and evolving and the majority of ads being served are not graphical but text-based in nature. There are two options for selling ads on your blog: Finding your own clients or using one of the third party ad services available, in which case you split the income with the service. Once you’ve setup an account and placed the ads on your site, just sit back and watch the cash come in.

How Long for any Income

It’s not going to happen overnight, but it shouldn’t be long, maybe two or three months, before your blog is bringing in an income that covers your blogging expenses. A little longer, and each blog should make enough to pay some of your living expenses.

Depending on how diligently you pursue blogging as an income source, you could be making a significant amount of money within a year or two, especially if you create your own product.

posted by Debra Unplugged on May 4

I just recently read some more data that shows that internet marketing is going to become increasingly harder to make money at in the very near future. While I believe this when it comes to the ever increasing numbers of junk adsense trash sites out there, I find it hard to believe for the marketers that are taking the time needed to serve their communities. I do take heart at the fact the page generators and adsense template mongers will be cast out of the search engine realm in the near future.

I think it is important to remember that search engine rankings also hinge on content quality and visitor behavior. Making sites that make customers fly away in seconds after landing on your page is a total waste of time. If your customer logs show people exiting quickly then it is time to ask yourself why. If you provide large amounts of information that should be useful maybe you need to analyze how you are presenting it. User experience and ease of use will determine whether or not your site is successful even if it has the best information out there.
It is very important to remember that your sites will be profitable if they are useful to someone else besides your pocketbook. The most important thing you can remember when opening your web business is to focus on serving people and making their lives better. The results of this attitude will pay off big in the long run. If you do not focus on the big picture and choose to shoot for some short term income then you will not be a part of the internet business place for very long.

Here is a tip that will help your sites be more successful:

Research studies indicate that most people use the internet to perform research on topics and products they are interested in purchasing. So the first way to ensure your site has some sticking power is to make it a bastion for the researcher on a quest for information.