Archive for the ‘Internet Marketing’ Category
I’ve been around internet marketing for a while now and I’ve seen a lot of things come and go….mostly go nowhere for the majority people. The select few make a bundle of money and the masses get nothing.
Why is that? It’s not that most people are dumb or lazy – it’s the nature of internet marketing. And once you’ve gotten into the habit of moving from one opportunity to the next, you soon find yourself broke and no closer to achieving any of your original goals.
I love internet marketing and have made it my sole source of income – so it can be done. But let me give you some advice. Choose your company and your products wisely. There is no such thing as something for nothing so don’t fall for those get rich quick schemes. Stop giving them your hard earned money.
Take some time to really look around – to see what people are doing, what they’re buying, what they’re spending their money on. Talk to your friends – ask them the same thing. What’s important? What type of products or services do they spend their money on?
Another question you need to ask is what target market spends the most money? You might be surprised at the answers.
Here’s something you need to check out: Emerging Trends
For anyone trying to make it in the work from home online business, it’s not uncommon to hear over and over that “content is king”. Well, they’re right – it’s hard to get your point across or to make a compelling case for selling something if your website doesn’t have some well written content on it. But if you’re not a very good writer, what do you do?
If you don’t have the means to outsource the writing of your website content/articles/blog, you will need to learn how to do it yourself. The first step is research – start looking for and reading content already published on the subject . You’ll be shocked at just how much information you can find online by simply conducting a search on Google, Yahoo, or Ezine Articles.
It is important to point out that this research should not result in you simply cutting and pasting someone else’s content on your site. This is unacceptable in the business world.
Pull all your research together and write your content based on what you have learned. You should not copy word for word other people’s content, but you can paraphrase a bit. You will need to use your own wording and remember to keep it simple. You may not be a eloquent as some of the more seasoned writers, but you will find that you have your own style.
Just say what you want to say and then go back and tweak it. If you just get over the fear and start writing, you may find that you’re better than you think you are. And as we’ve always been told, practice makes perfect. The more you do it, the better you’ll get.
Most people don’t want to publish an article in their own name while they are honing their writing skills. That’s an easy obstacle to overcome – simply choose another name for publishing your content.
Overcoming this fear will be well worth the effort. You will find that once you do that, you will be able to write articles or posts with ease and in much less time. This new found confidence will improve your skills and will help you to realize the success you’ve always wanted online.
Everyone asks me what is quickest method to start generating money in their work from home online internet business. The answer is always Google Adwords. Taking advantage of the Adwords system can essentially put your website in front of millions of online surfers overnight. There is no quicker method to make money than by getting your website out in front of a lot of people.
Google is the most popular website on the net and is the dominant search engine. According to a recent study, Google is responsible for generating over 70% of the hits to websites that are searched through search engines.
A few years ago, Google crafted a clever plan to take internet marketing to a much higher level. Google developed Google Adwords, a pay-per-click system which aims at matching sellers and buyers – for a fee, of course.
Precisely what is Google Adwords?
Google Adwords is certainly one of the most lucrative marketing systems on the Internet today. It’s a program which advertises websites in prominent positions, in order based on the amount of money bid for a certain search word or phrase. Google charges advertisers on a pay-per-click basis When a searcher clicks on one of the advertiser’s ads, no matter if they purchase or not, that advertiser is charged the bid amount they promised they would pay in exchange for the key placement of their ad.
Any time you search for something on Google, there is a section containing “sponsored links” above the search results and down the right-hand side of the page. These are the Adwords advertisements.
Bidding
Advertisers place bids for their preferred keywords when they use the Adwords system. For example, a company that sells weight loss products might bid on phrases such as “lose weight” or “lose that fat”. The amount of the bid determines the placement position of their advertisement. The person who bids the highest amount of money gets the highly coveted top spot.
The dollar amount of each bid will be determined by the business owner himself based on several factors. Bids can go as low as a nickel per click up to fifty dollars or more per click. The bidder must determine how much to bid because it is easier than you can imagine to lose a lot of money very fast if you don’t have a clue about what you’re doing.
This should have given you a fundamental understanding of what Adwords is and how the placement of the ads is determined. I always urge people to take the initiative to educate themselves on Adwords and proceed with caution prior to jumping in. It can be a bit dicey.
Many internet marketers know that heavy traffic is key to the success of their website, however they often forget how important it is to target the right audience. When you are paying for increased traffic like Google Adwords campaigns, targeting your traffic is even more important.
Here you will learn how to maximize your sales by drawing in a more specific crowd interested in your product or services.
1. Take the time to research your audience and direct your ad campaign to meet their interests. For all of your advertising campaigns, utilize main keywords that define your central customer base. If you use Google AdWords, you need to make your ad specific to your target market. If articles are your method for increasing traffic, make sure to fill them with keywords that involve your particular subject.
2. Submit your site to the top directories and search engines in categories that are related to your niche. For example, if the subject of your website happens to be “work from home online” you will want to find compatible sites to list your website. This will make it easier for people who need this particular information to locate your website.
3. Advertise your site to relevant online groups and forums. Learning all that you can about your customers will make it easier to find them and draw them to your site. Visit relevant online groups or forums where your target customers hang out, and you can subtly advertise to them by putting your URL in your signature. People in forums or groups that relate to your niche are definitely targeted, and there’s a good chance they’ll buy from you.
4. Take time to write a few keyword rich articles. The articles you write can get published by lots of different sites, directories and e-zines, so you could end up with thousands of links pointing back to your site. Articles with a higher density of top keywords will give you a higher ranking in search engines for people who enter those keywords. This brings targeted customers to your business.
5. Take advantage of online publications such as e-zines for increased advertising. Publishing your own e-zine means you have lots of prospects already who have an interest in the product or service you offer. Your e-zine should always have new, relevant material and prominently feature your web address in every issue. Find other e-zines with a similar readership that’s geared to your target market, and then advertise in those e-zines.
6. Start a blog using Wordpress, Blogger, Hubpages or Squidoo about a related topic to your website, and make sure it has really great content that people search for. Your blog posts should include your keywords as linking anchor text to direct visitors back to your website.
Using the tools outlined here, you will be able to lead a targeted audience of potential customers right to your site. By focusing your attention on a more targeted group of customers your sales and conversion rates are sure to climb.
Ok, more on promoting your website and making your work from home online business more visible to the public.
As we previously discussed, getting quality backlinks to your site will boost your search engine rankings and get you seen faster and by more people.
Another way to create these backlinks is to submit your site to directories. There are thousands of directories out there – some better than others – that will allow you to add your link. Choose the directories that do not require a reciprocal link on your site. You need to void reciprocal links because Google does not like them and may penalize your site because of it.
If you would like to submit your site to quality directories and have it semi-automated, you can download a free copy of Brad Callen’s Directory Submitter. You can submit your site to approximately 350 directories for free. If you want to upgrade, that number goes up substantially. However, just starting out, the free download should be sufficient.
Try not to do all 350 submission in one day. It is important to be consistent in building your links. Getting hundreds of links in one day for a new site draws unwanted attention to your site by Google and they may think you are using some underhanded method of creating these links. When I did the submissions, I would do about 20 per day until they were all done. You can do more or less, but you get the idea. Happy submitting!
The best part of being able to work from home online is the freedom to do what you want to do when you want to do it. But you must remember that it takes time, dedication and consistency to actually see results.
Website and product promotion is the piece of the puzzle that most people miss. Most believe in the “If I build it, they will come” philosophy. Well, let me tell you from experience that that’s not realistic at all.
There are literally billions of websites that have been published. Most of them get absolutely no traffic at all. Why is that? Because no one knows they exist. You can build the most beautiful website in the world and have the best products but if no one sees your website, you’re going to be just another statistic.
So, I’m sure you want to know…..what do you do?
Let’s go into my two favorite free ways of promotion first. Most people who are starting an online business are a little tight on cash and want to save money whenever possible.
1. Blog about your business. There are many free blog services out there and they are very user friendly and easy to set up. For example, you can get free blogs at the following sites: Blogger (Google’s blog site), Squidoo, Hubpages, and Wordpress. There are many others, but, in my opinion, these are the best places to start.
When blogging about your business, it’s important to not do a “hard sell”. It’s a turn-off to many people and probably won’t help you at all. Instead, try to offer up some free information or advice that is related to what you’re selling. Then you can direct them to your website or affiliate site with links (very important) from within the blog. For example, if you are selling golfing items, you could write a blog on how to correct a slice or do a review on the newest driver on the market. If you don’t have this knowledge, do some research. My experience has been that you can find just about anything you need if you “Google” the specific topic.
When linking back to your website from your blog, you will want to use your keyword phrase as the “anchor text” for your link. For instance, if “golf shoes” is your keyword phrase, you would use this phrase to build your link and “golf shoes” would then become a “hyperlink”. I’m sure you’ve seen a hyperlink before – it’s text that’s usually a different color and sometimes underlined that when clicked takes you to another website or location. Building quality backlinks to your site will assist in boosting your search engine rankings and the more, the better.
If you build a blog that contains good information, you will build a base of viewers who frequently return to see what other information you may provide. After you gain their trust, they may become a customer.
2. Write articles about your subject. I know, I know, that’s a frightening thought. But I read articles every day that are written by ordinary people – just like you and me – and they’re not going to win a Pulitzer Prize for their work. Unless you have some true gift, neither are you. But good information, tips and advice are always good for business.
Do a little research before you begin. Go to Ezine Articles and see what other people are writing about on that subject. Get some ideas, then sit down and start writing. You just might surprise yourself. The more you write, the better you will get and the easier and faster it will become.
The same rules apply for articles as with blogs. They should be informational and not promotional in nature. Save the promotion for your bio box. That’s where you can add your hyperlink to your site using your keyword phrase and can sell yourself or your products a bit. Just be tasteful when doing it.
That’s it for today….More later…..
Being able to work from home online has it’s perks, however, it also comes with a lot of decision making.
Ok, at this point, you’ve chosen your niche. You’ve done your keyword research to ensure that you’re choosing the right niche, one that is popular and sells very well. You’ve also chosen the keywords that you will use to actively promote your site. In case you didn’t already fill out the form to get your free copy of our “Everyone Needs Free Internet Marketing Resources”, you should do so now. There is a great site listed that offers videos on every aspect of internet marketing, including keyword research. Watch it. This is one of the most important decisions you will make regarding your new business.
Only after you’ve chosen your keyword(s) should you even attempt to pick out a domain name. Your domain name does not need to be cute or clever, it needs to contain your keywords which should describe exactly what your site is about.
Next you need a website. There are many places to get the easy-to-use website builders, including most hosting/domain companies. If you’ve chosen a product that you have to build a website around, check out the competition – especially the ones who rank the highest in the Google searches. See what they offer on their site as far as information, support, pricing, etc. You’ll want to make your site is appealing and professional. If spelling words correctly is not your cup of tea, be sure to have someone else double-check your work. Nothing turns people off faster than a site that contains bad spelling and incorrect grammar.
It could be that you’ve chosen to join an “affiliate” program. This is the fastest way, in my opinion, to get up and running with a ready-made online business. I like to think of it as a business in a box. You would be supplied with a website, marketing materials, support, etc. You would never have to deal the customer’s questions, money or support issues. You would promote and sell these products and be paid a commission for doing so. Commissions typically range between 30%-70% of the sales price of the product. You can check out a blog post I wrote concerning the key elements of choosing an affiliate program to join: www.squidoo.com/Work_From_Home_Online_Tips
Next Lesson: Time to promote!
We all have to start somewhere but sometimes that’s the problem – knowing where to start and what to focus on when starting our work from home online business.
The Internet Marketing field is vast and it can easily become overwhelming, causing you to lose your way. Follow these tips to keep you on track so that you can focus on making money.
1. Choose a niche that you’d like to be involved in. Try not to pick something that you personally are interested in but doesn’t appeal to others. That’s a sure fire way to fail. When considering your niche or product, think about future sales to the same group of people. Is the product a one-time shot or are there other items you could sell to your buyers that would complement the main product? You should strive to maximize your efforts by building a base of repeat customers.
2. Make sure there is a market for what you plan to sell. One of the ways you can do this is to go to ebay Pulse. It lists the most popular items and searches on ebay. Another way you can determine if your niche has any marketability is to check to see how many searches are conducted in the search engines for it. Choose a word or phrase (keyword) that best describes your product or service. If there are not many searches for a product, chances are you won’t be very successful. If there are millions of searches a month for a particular product, it means it is in demand, however, you may have to focus on a more targeted area of that particular field. To start your keyword research, I personally use Google. You can also find other keyword research websites listed in our Free Internet Marketing Resource Manual (see previous post for details).
When looking for the best keywords, it is best to find the most highly searched with the lowest competition. Less than 500k competitors is medium competition, less that 200k is low competition.
3. If you are not familiar with internet marketing, take the time to educate yourself and learn the basics. Doing so will save you tons of time, effort and MONEY! This can be a very expensive venture if you jump in without knowing at least a little about what you are doing. There is a section in our Free Internet Marketing Resource Manual that provides you with a series of internet marketing videos. Take a few minutes of your time to view these.
4. Beware of those who try to get you to spend a ton of money to join their “program”. The truth of the matter is that internet marketing should not cost you a lot of money in the beginning. There are many free methods of promotion that will give you results. After you’ve established yourself, you can scale your efforts and include the ones that are not free.
Once you’ve chosen your product and completed some basic education, it’s time to get started. Next lesson -
That’s right. There are actually companies on the internet that offer their products and services totally free of charge – services you may be paying for right now. It’s certainly worth taking a look and seeing where you can trim a few dollars. Some of these sites offer services you probably didn’t even know existed. It’s pretty incredible.
Check it out here: Free Internet Resources Manual
I hope you enjoy our free gift to you!
Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope this becomes your “go-to” place for internet marketing information. Our goal is to supply you with up-to-date and useful information that will make your internet marketing business much more enjoyable and profitable. Don’t miss our free gift – a resource you will not want to be without if you are online working or intend to be.
I hope you’ll like it enough to check back often to see what new tid-bits we’re offering!
Let’s get this party started!
Susan
