The Tao of Web Marketing
July 14, 2007
A few months ago I was watching a stream meandering back and forth across a flat plain in a high mountain valley. The stream reached it’s destination - a small lake - but only after dozens of loops and curves. It occurred to me that Water and clever Web Marketing have something in common - they both follow the path of least resistance.
Let me explain.
Your first contact with a future customer usually starts with an email. It could be an Ad in an Ezine, it could be your Resource Box at the end of one of your Articles, or it could be your Signature File in your correspondence.
But in the chain of events that leads to a web sale, an email is the point of greatest resistance.
Why is that?
Firstly, your future customer is reading your message offline. She or he has to fire up their modem before they can buy your product. And that requires effort (and expense).
Secondly, if your message is in an Ezine, it’s probably one of a dozen other messages all clamoring for attention.
9 Tips To Help You Write More Powerful Emails
July 14, 2007
1. Make the effort to learn about the etiquette (these days known as “netiquette”) involved in writing emails. There are loads of good reference websites and books about the internet which will tell you the basics. I know it might seem a bit precious to attach so much importance to social niceties when the internet is basically very informal. However, whether we like it or not many people do take online etiquette very seriously. So if you’re writing emails for business, you should assume that your recipient may well be one of those…
2. Never send and preferably don’t even try to write an email if you’re angry, upset, drunk, or otherwise not in total control. If you have a heated conversation with someone on the telephone you can sometimes fudge things over. But with emails, once you hit “send” whatever you’ve written is there, carved in tablets of stone, for as long as the recipient wants to glare at it. The old adage about “counting to ten” before responding couldn’t be more true here. Only send angry emails if you can handle, or really don’t care about, the recipient’s resultant feelings!
How Important are Back Links?
July 13, 2007
When setting up your website for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) on Google there are several factors you need to look at in order to obtain a high rank on their search engine. Of course your content and meta tags must be inline with positive density percentages and reciprocal links. Google then takes your website and performs a mathematic equation and places a numeric value on your website depending on one of the most important features, reciprocal or back links.
A back link and reciprocal link are identical. They both say the same thing to the Google engine, that your site should be ranked higher in the order because other people find value in what your website has to offer, thus they provide a link to your site. In turn, you keep a closed loop by reciprocating the favor to the other website by extending the same courtesy of a back link. Thus creating a solid network connection. Google likes to see interconnectivity and will reward your website well for planning it this way.
Owning Your Category Online - Is Our Website Broken?
July 12, 2007
“Owning your business category online is more than just a few keywords… Is your website broken?”
Let’s face it, the Internet is a crowded place… and it’s becoming even more crowded as you read this. Your business can’t stand still online, and you can’t afford to look backwards. Qualified, targeted traffic generation is what we all desire. Owning your category online goes a long way in providing just that.
It’s not about just looking forward, but moving forward and taking some ownership. Every business online today is worried about being found in the Top 10 Search Engines and Directories for their products or services - and they should be! Statistics still make them (search engines) the number one stop for all surfers.
But, just for a moment let’s imagine that these search engines and directories provide the most relevant results. That’s right, let’s just say for the sake of this article, that they all work extremely well. O.K?
Now, since we believe that our products or services are way more relevant than those companies listed above us in (today’s) search engines results - we have to admit something is wrong… but remember, the search engines are perfect.
Why We Play Games, Part 3
July 11, 2007
Why We Play Games, Part 3
by: Steve Hall
In part 2 of this series we took a look at Creative Expression and Escapism, two significant motivators of the common gamer. The week before that, we covered Challenge and Competition. This week we have a look at Socialization and try to tie it all together.
Social interaction is a subject on which we gamers take a fair bit of static from our non-gaming peers. Sometimes this is because they mistake differing priorities for introversion. Wanting to talk about the relative merits of the Western Plaguelands against Winterspring as a post 55 grinding location isn’t really any different from wanting to talk about the strength of the Bill’s secondary, its just that one of them is relevant to a somewhat narrow audience (give it time.) Sometimes, however, the criticism is merited. We tend to be somewhat socially awkward folk, in part because the hobbies in which we invest a sizeable amount of our time have rigid rules governing most interactions, making them poor training for the free wheeling reality of human discourse. For some gamers, the Social Interaction found in the gaming experience is a primary motivator.
The Power Is In The Pipes: How To Get Maximum Leverage From Your Website
July 10, 2007
What is the most important part of your online business?Many people would say: “my website”. And that’sunderstandable ? it’s the most visible part of an internetbusiness.
But the real power in your online business is email. It’sthe ability to reach your database of contacts at the clickof a button. The efficiency of your email pipeline willdetermine how much money your business makes.
Your website is just a way of building your mailing list -by collecting the email addresses of your visitors.
In fact, we’re not talking about one list, but several.Here are the lists that I maintain ? they’re all people whoat one time or another have visited my websites:
- people who have bought my products- people who have signed up to receive my articles- people who have joined my affiliate program- people who have signed up for my email course- people who have joined my newsletter
So why are these lists so important?
Because most of your visitors won’t buy on the firstcontact. Statistics show that most people will need to seeyour message 7 times before they make a purchase. So ifyou’re not collecting the email addresses of your visitors,you are losing out on a lot of sales.
The Internet Marketing Pie: Slice It Up Right or Lose
July 9, 2007
The number one concern for Internet sales is your marketing list — in other words, your audience.
But…but…but…you’re saying, products for sales is a must too, however, if your list is nonexistent, small or loosely targeted, having a product isn’t going to help much. There just will not be any success.
Yes, I know this is confusing. You need a product to attract. By the way, I am using product interchangeably to mean services too.
This almost feels like the chicken and the egg story - which came first. So, what do you do first?
You can’t create or increase a mailing list without a “what’s in it for them to be attracted to you for.”
Now I’m not talking about buying lists but about opt-in focused lists.
Step 1: Know what your target market (audience same thing) wants and they already have their wallet open and ready to buy.
Step 2: Create a product to answer that want and match their wallet. Create a product that contains 100% they can know everything about as a small segment of that want.
Cisco CCNA Exam Tutorial: Directly Connected Serial Interfaces
July 9, 2007
Cisco CCNA Exam Tutorial: Directly Connected Serial Interfaces
by: Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933
To pass the CCNA exam, you’ve got to master quite a few services and routing protocols that may be new to you. Between RIP, IGRP, EIGRP, OSPF, and switching, there are hundreds of details you’ve got to absorb! It’s easy to spend all your time on those topics and not pay proper attention to “easier” technologies, and then all of a sudden on exam day you can’t quite remember the details of those particular services.
One setup you’ve got to be more than familiar with is directly connecting serial interfaces on Cisco routers. This is also a valuable skill to have in your home lab, since it allows you to add segments to your network setup.
A Cisco serial interface is operating as a DTE by default. The problem is that when you take a cable and connect two routers directly by their serial interfaces (with a DTE/DCE cable, that is!), they’re both waiting for the other to send them a clock rate. One of the interfaces must act as the DCE and that interface must send the clock rate.
The Link Swapping Trap
July 8, 2007
If you want to make money on the web, you must get trafficto your website. If you want to get traffic to your website,you must have a high rank in google’s search results. Googleranks websites based upon the number of links that point tothe site.
Many novice webmasters believe they can trick Google intogiving their website a high rank by swapping links withother webmasters. One reason they believe this, is because”wanna-be” web marketing “experts” keep spouting that trash.
It’s only partially true that Google ranks websites basedupon the number of links that point to the site. Googleuses a highly sophisticated page ranking formula that keepschanging and evolving all the time. Google caught onto thelink swapping trick years ago.
Novice webmasters put all their link swaps on onegigantically long page referred to as a “link farm”. WhenGoogle’s robot finds a link farm, their ranking formulapenalizes the websites listed in the link farm. If Googlefinds the same site listed in many link farms, they removethat site from their search engine.
Just about every week I get an email message saying”I placed a link to your website on my website. Please puta link to my website on your website. Here’s where you canfind your link on my website” … followed by a link to asingle webpage containing hundreds of links … a link farm.
What is The Google Sandbox Effect?
July 7, 2007
In the age of fair competition you may find it hard to believe that a search engine may hinder the appearance of a new website. This is what is currently believed to be happening on more web servers today. Some programmers have viewed Google as uncomfortable to rank newer websites until they have proven their viability to exist for more than a period of "x" months. Thus the term "Sandbox Effect" applies to the idea that all new websites have their ratings placed in a holding tank until such time is deemed appropriate before a ranking can commence.
However the website is not hindered as much as the links that are reciprocated from other users. Newer links that are created are put on a "probationary" status until again they pickup in rank from other matured sites or placed directly by an ad campaign. The idea behind the hindrance is to prevent a fast ranking to occur on a new website. The usual holding period seems to be between 90 and 120 days before a site would start obtaining rank from reciprocal or back linking.
