SEO 101 ? The Basics of How to Get to the Top of the Search Engines
August 14, 2007
Depending on your site’s subject matter, you might even be able to start earning a significant income purely from the popularity of your site. For example, if you have a site on jokes you might be able to get a substantial amount of traffic, but you’re unlikely to earn a huge income.
On the other hand, if you have a top ranking site on Google for the keyword phrase "web hosting", you’ll be able to earn at least $1-2 million (probably more like $3-4 million) per year from that site alone. However, to get into the top 10 in Google for the phrase "web hosting" is extremely difficult, you would need to be a search engine pro to do it - even then, it might take you two years to get there with a team of 5 people working around the clock.
A profitable site will be based on a good keyword phrase, a good topic (or subject material) and be different enough to stand out from the competition. If you can combine these elements successfully you’ll increase you chances of turning a profit from your site.
An SEO Checklist
August 13, 2007
Search engine optimization is on every webmaster’s mind these days. Achieving a favorable ranking for the right keywords can mean a steady stream of targeted traffic to your site, and all for free - that’s hard to beat. The key to high search engine rankings is structuring your website correctly, including plenty of content that is relevant to your keywords, and making sure your website is spider-friendly. You can use this checklist to make sure all of your Web pages can be found, indexed and ranked correctly:
Your website is themed. Your site deals with an identifiable theme which is obvious from the text on the home page and reinforced by all the other pages on your site. In other words, all the individual Web pages relate to each other and deal with various aspects of some central theme. The text on your home page should state clearly what that theme is and what your website is about, and the other pages should reinforce that.
Online Marketing Donts
August 13, 2007
There are over 200 million people worldwide connected to the Internet, with over 64 million regular users in America. It’s no wonder that such a vast audience has made online marketing one of the fastest growing industries in the world. However, half the trick of conducing successful ecommerce is finding a way to get people to your site in the first place-hence online advertising.
Internet advertising generated an astounding $1.92 billion in 1999, double from the amount generated in the previous year.
According to the Association of National Advertisers, nearly half of all American companies are selling online. The American City Business Journal reports that businesses that use the Internet grow 46% faster than those that don’t.
Online advertisers beware; marketing trends in this industry often become outdated faster than you can say "pop-up". Here are some of the most common outdated online marketing techniques that should be avoided:
- Pop Ups Ads- Pop-ups ads are like the billboards of the information superhighway-you can’t go anywhere without seeing at least one. The Internet has become so saturated with pop-ups that overall web traffic times are slowing down. Most web users are downloading software that eliminates them from their system, so they are not the best way to reach prospective consumers.
Virtual vs. Dedicated vs. CoLo: Which Web Hosting Do I Need?
August 12, 2007
Virtual vs. Dedicated vs. CoLo: Which Web Hosting Do I Need?
by: John Hasson
You know you need a web host, but you don’t know where to start. So you do a web search to research potential solutions and get a bit overwhelmed with all the jargon: UNIX, dedicated servers, POP3, CoLo… the list goes on.
Step back a bit. You don’t need to learn everything about web sites to choose a host. You do however need to know what a web host is, and the basic types of web hosting. This knowledge will lead you to know what type of hosting you need, and ultimately you can make a sound decision.
To begin, let’s define the term. Web hosting is a service that hosts web pages on servers that can be accessed through the Internet. There are three primary categories of web hosting providers that cater to the requirements of site owners; these include virtual web hosting, dedicated web hosting, and co-located hosting. There are various sources online that offer detailed information and reviews on these services, but there are several details you should pay most attention to. The points to consider before selecting a web hosting provider include the number of clients they service, years in business, customer service reputation, hardware specifications, and backup routines. With that out of the way, let’s jump in and explore the basic types of web hosting.
Tips to Build Your Email Address Database
August 11, 2007
WHY BUILD YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS DATABASE?
Gaining your customers’ email addresses will:
- Provide an additional channel for reaching your customers
- Increase the ROI of your marketing investments
- Significantly reduce your customer acquisition and marketing costs
- Allow you to easily measure the impact of your marketing campaigns
- Increase your customer participation and retention rates
With ongoing postal and telemarketing pressures impacting marketing budgets for many organizations this year, email marketing could become the “silver lining ” for many marketers. But how do you create a successful email marketing campaign if you do not have a substantial email database? That question may be one of the largest Internet related challenges facing companies this year.
Research shows that the majority of organizations have email addresses for less than 10% of their postal files. So how do you level the playing field and start to add quality permission - based email addresses to your database?
Here are some tips that you can use to cost effectively build your email address database and increase your customer participation and retention rates:
START TO ASK FOR IT!
What Works and What not Works for Your Internet Business
August 10, 2007
“Build it and they will come.”–Filed of Dreams (1989)
If you are working on an Internet business, you may read a lot of information for how quickly you can make money online. The truth is that running online business is same as running traditional business. You need spend time to learn, to build your business. There is no “magic button” you can push and get quick money. But Internet business has larger potential compare to traditional business since you have global customers. If you follow right roadmaps, you can be very successfull.
Here are a few suggestions for your reference:
If something promised fast and easy results, if all you have to do is copy-and-paste something…don’t bother.
Why?
Because, even if it works well at first (and usually it won’t), it will stop delivering results very soon.
They may deliver some traffic at first. If people started seeing it so often, and started feeling so manipulated, that the response rate soon dropped to near-zero.
Ink & Toner Cartridges: How Do I Start An Online Business From Home On A Low Budget? - Part 1
August 9, 2007
Ink & Toner Cartridges: How Do I Start An Online Business From Home On A Low Budget? - Part 1
by: Andrew F James
About a year ago I took over an existing online business from a friend of mine selling ink, toner and other printing consumables and decided that there was a lot of potential for promoting the website more aggressively over the internet. I started with maybe a hundred dollars or so and a handful of customers carrying over from the previous owner. One benefit was inheriting his website as that gave me a good benchmark on what I wanted and didn’t want when I got my own going.
Now a year later I have around ten times as many customers, a respectable page ranking in Google (more about this later), first page search engine rankings (SERP’s) in MSN with respectable SERP’s in Yahoo and Google still needs some work.
Although I still have a long way to go (in truth I will always have a list of more stuff to do) I’ve made a good start and by all accounts done quite well considering my limited resources. I have found that there are a great deal of free or very cheap resources you can utilise for building and promoting a business online and this is what I shall be passing on through this series.
Five Fun Ideas That Increase Online Traffic
August 8, 2007
1. Using Hidden Links to increase subscribers or for a contest. Place a not so easy to find link in your copy and then ask people to find it. Give them a prize or freebie for finding it. Or you can give them the ebook after they find the link and click on it. By burring it inside the material, they will definitely need to read it carefully in order to find it.
2. Have unique information? Start a member-only web site or ezine. Tell subscribers what they will receive for joining. Offer free memberships in exchange for something you want.
3. Use viral marketing by increasing awareness about your product or service on discussion boards or blogs? Exchange your product or service with others who mentioned you on specific boards or blogs. You will need to track all these, so you will want to keep it simple.
4. Help others set up an instant article directory. Offer your articles to be posted on their web site. This works well for others who do not write. It also creates links and increases search engine status for both of you.
Kaizen in Online Marketing
August 8, 2007
Many people throughout the life of online marketing have utilized the use of Kaizen. As a matter of fact I would venture a guess that almost all successful businesses in today’s markets are using it. Which leaves one to wonder, what is Kaizen? Well, to put it in a layman’s words it is the practice of continuous improvement; the fact that we should never be satisfied with what we have, and instead always press onwards to improve what we have to something better.
This can be utilized in many ways, for example, you might own a home based business such as a plug-in-profit homepage where the biggest work load is the advertising campaign. To find new ways to complete tasks in this process easier and faster can mean that you will be getting more done and earn a better income, or maybe just have the time to catch up with some sleep that might be long overdue.
However, it is important to know that Kaizen is something that is utilized over time and is a never ending process. As time goes by you have to keep in touch with all new opportunities that comes flying your way to keep competitive in a way that lets you choose what to improve in you business. This in itself has the effect of giving you a competitive edge against all those that ignore this very easy, but vital step.
How To Protect Your eBooks From Piracy And Copyright Infringement!
August 7, 2007
eBooks, or electronic books, mean big business for all aspiring writers. Not only can eBooks be sold in their own right as standalone products, but eBooks are fast becoming the weapon of choice for marketing gurus!
Many business owners and webmasters pay writers to write eBooks for them. Writers spend hours, days and weeks researching material and writing the eBook. But for writers, business owners & webmasters alike, there is often little in the way of protection in place that stops unscrupulous operators from stealing eBook content. Shockingly, 4 out of every 10 eBooks offered for sale on the Internet are pirated. Material from legitimate eBooks are taken without the owner’s knowledge, and passed off as original content every single day!
I should know…I was a victim!
I have written and published 5 eBooks on various topics in the past year, the content of which has all been stolen and used as original copy on other people’s web sites. The sad thing is, MANY OF THE PEOPLE WHO DO THIS DO NOT REALIZE THEY ARE DOING ANYTHING WRONG!
