Four Not So Special Ways To Generate Incoming Links

Four Not So Special Ways To Generate Incoming Links

There is one common denominator for all websites and blogs that want to increase their targeted visitors - they need incoming links. Why? Because without them it is most difficult to get high search engine positions.

Here are some ways to gather incoming links:

1. Write good articles and submit them to Ezine Articles.com and GoArticles.com. In your author's box, link back to as many pages within your website as possible. It is not smart to keep linking back to the main website page because, I hear, that one is enough from any one source. That means you could link to your main page from both article directories, but after that link to interior pages.

2. Backup your website efforts with a nice BLOG. You can make your blog be a DoFollow blog and this will help push some juice toward your website. Blogs also make excellent places to direct your friends on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. If people get to know and like you, they are more apt to check out and read other things you offer.

3. Post comments on DoFollow blogs. If you post a good comment people will click the link you provide. They may actually buy something from you if you are posting in blogs related to your niche. But all blog comments will improve your link count to your website.

4. Ask other site owners to link to your site. Offer them a nice article or somethng else of value.

Greg Cryns
Fireplace Accessories
Work At Home Profiles - a nice little membership site
.
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SEO is just one piece of the online success puzzle

If you build a good website, one which provides your visitors with information they want to read or see in video, chances are that in time you will gain respect from the search engines and your rank will rise. You may even get some top rankings for some key phrases.

I advise my clients to obtain good basic SEO advice from experienced professionals. I also encourage my clients to use the existing resources of smart people within their company to do much of the legwork and continue the SEO work done by your professional advisor. Read more in this fine Guest Post.

Finding Balance Between SEO and Non-SEO Traffic Generation
Copyright (c) 2009 Kurt D. Lynn
KLynn Inc
http://www.klynn.ca/

So much SEO.

You might think, from all the buzz about search engine
optimization - SEO - that it offers a cure for all the world's
business ills. Somehow, SEO has been propelled from the
backwaters of Internet geekdom into the forefront of modern
business marketing. For example, if Google's own search results
are any indication, the interest in SEO yields almost 50% of the
interest in general advertising. That level of interest seems way
out of proportion to the realities of business advertising.

So Why All The Hubbub?

The excitement seems to be around the notion that SEO means
"free advertising", that it means, if you do it right, millions
of people will be clicking through to your site willy-nilly
having found you on some search engine and then will immediately
do business with you. And behind all that excitement are
thousands of overnight SEO "experts" that, variously, all claim
to ... (pick one)

* Have SEO secrets that will help you get an unfair advantage
over the next guy;

* Guarantee you a first-page listing for an incredibly low
monthly rate;

* Provide hundreds of high page rank sites that will link to
your site;

* Give you 5/10/20 quick tips to immediately improve your
rankings;

* Tell you what Google/MSN/Yahoo doesn't want you to know about
SEO;

* Tell you that whatever SEO you're doing is all wrong; or

* Some other variant of the above.

To some extent, this notion of "free advertising" is not
altogether inaccurate. SEO can result in your site being found -
free of charge - and it can result in traffic to your site that
may, in fact, result in new business. But the reality of SEO is
not quite that simple.

SEO Is Far From "FREE".

SEO takes work... often, hard work. For those that aren't
familiar with what's involved in SEO, below is a list of some of
the typical activities that (as the CREST commercials used to
say) "when applied in a conscientious program of regular
professional care" will result in higher search engine rankings.

* Researching and selecting keywords that are truly relevant to
your desired audience;

* Researching competition for desired keywords;

* Researching and analyzing competitive websites;

* Re-writing and restructuring your website to address desired
keywords, to be more accessible by search engine "crawlers", to
appropriate label meta tags, headings, and inter-page links;

* Create a program to build links to your site from other sites
(directories, exchanged links,article marketing, etc.)

* Create a program to keep content on your site regularly
refreshed and synchronized with all the above.

* Regularly (daily or weekly) monitor all the search engines and
your competitors positions

SEO Is Not Easy.

Doesn't quite sound as easy as some people suggest does it?
That's because it's not. And it's all the more complicated
when you realize that every site on that first page, and on the
second and third, is trying to do the same thing - but against
you! You boost your rank above them. They go to work and boost
their site back above yours. And so on and so on... It's a war
and the SEO "experts" are the arms dealers.

Your Goals And Those Of The Search Engine May Be Different.

If you're going to pay good money for SEO, it may also be
worthwhile to keep in mind that search engines don't necessarily
have a goal of making you the most findable site on the web. The
bottom line for them is making sure that their users finds what
they are looking for. Satisfying that requirement may mean that
you don't and should not come up first. Google is the number one
search engine for a reason: Google users get results they want.
Those may not be the results you want.

Short Term and Long Term.

In the short run, there may be some serious benefits from
investing in SEO to boost your search engine rankings. In the
long run, however, there's probably not much you can do beyond a
certain point. Frankly, if you have a finite budget, altering the
basic nature of your site and trying to boost how valuable your
site is to others (as represented by links to your site) can only
be taken so far. After a point, the perfect market
characteristics of the search engine will prevail.

Balance SEO With Other Forms Of Traffic Generation.

What this means is: yes, do make sure you do the essential SEO
necessary to optimize your rankings in search engines. But do it
in the context of an overall marketing program. Definitely use
SEO to ensure that you get a fair and accurate appraisal by
search engines. But also invest in other non-SEO lead-generation
methods to bring traffic to your site and business to your table.

Above all, measure the results of your SEO and non-SEO activities
carefully and frequently. When SEO reaches the point of
diminishing returns, cut the rate in which you invest in it and
boost your reliance on non-SEO marketing to reach your goals. In
the long run, traditional non-SEO marketing may just be the most
reliable and consistent way to boost traffic to your site.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Kurt D. Lynn has been a founder, cofounder, or senior executive
of half a dozen enterprises in both the U.S. and Canada.
Currently Kurt provides consulting and communication services
focused on the needs of emerging and growing businesses. His
consulting firm, KLynn Inc, offers an assortment of proven
services for the development of sound marketing strategies,
tactics, and project execution. His communication services,
while more diverse, are focused on optimizing sales and
marketing effectiveness: http://www.klynn.ca/


I add that social networking may be an important aspect of your online success. Article marketing could be another. Blogging yet another. There is much more you can do on your own to improve your targeted visitor count. Keep that in mind. You need targeted visitors, not plain vanilla visitors who leave as fast as the arrive to your website.

Greg Cryns
The Mighty Mo Website Design and SEO Promotion
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Is Twitter a waste of time?

When I opened my email account this morning I was surprised to see a message from Dean Hunt that told of his new blog post titled "Is Twitter A Waste of Time?"

I had my own article with the same name in the works, but I will simply link to Dean's article now with a few of my own thoughts.

A month ago I did a test to find out the reach my tweets had to my followers. During one day I posted this message: "If you read this tweet please DM me. I will let you know how many respond."

I posted that message six times over 18 hours during that day. It was on a Sunday, a day which I think is a popular day to post by Twitter members. I calculated that my response rate was 2%. At the time I had 1,000 followers. I had 20 responses.

Of course the response rate will vary depending on many factors, not the least of which is the popularity of the person tweeting. But this is still a dismal result when you think of the OPEN rate of at least 30% for most newsletters.

I also understand that I asked my followers to take a DM action, not just to read my post. I am doing more tests right now.

As an Internet Marketer, I would like to know what happens when I send a link to a free report of my own in a response to people who follow me. I am testing this now and I will report the results later, but so far I am not too excited with the results.

So, is Twitter a waste of time? I speak for myself, but even if all I wanted to do was socialize, Twitter is losing its appeal for me. I simply do not have the time to do too much socializing. I love to post my findings so other can benefit but I also need to put food on the table.

To all of my wonderful and exciting new friends I've met on Twitter: I love you. I really do and I am looking forward to seeing you on Twitter in the future since I am not going away, just curtailing my activity.

What do you think?

Here is the link to Dean Hunt's blog post: http://TwitPWR.com/8Hs/

Greg Cryns
FREE report "13 Guerrilla Tactics To Build Your Email List"

20000 Credit Card Debt
.

SEO - is the page TITLE important? You betcha!

One of the most important SEO expectations is to get people to click on your link in the search engines.

This may not be as easy as it sounds. Think about how you search and what you decide to click on.

Let's say you search for "SEO". Easy enough. Try it in Yahoo. I did that just now and came up with these results (after the first four that are ads but look like natural search results).


Which would you choose to click on right now? They all look pretty good, right? Chances are that the information on all of these sites would be very good as well. So, you decision will be influenced by the headline that grabs you. Is that a fair assumption?

Assuming that you know what Wikipedia does you may skip that one if you were looking for someone to do your SEO work. The rest look pretty much the same.




So, it is likely that you would quickly skim the descriptions below the links to see if the results would give you someone to consider to do that work.

If you are the business owner you are trying to influence your decision by using words, phrases and simple good copywriting techniques to get your attention. Pick me! Pick me!

Efficient SEO people will try to make sure that each page on your site will scream Pick Me! Pick Me! Each title meta tag will be different on each page as will the descriptions. This works most of the time to tell the search engines what you want to say to the public. It does not work 100% of the time but often enough to make this good SEO practice.

You may not be the #1 result found but your headline and page description may be all you need to beat out your competition. Check your own website now to make sure each page has its very own identifiers that could make all the difference to your business online.

But remember getting click throughs is only the beginning.

The page they click to needs to be optimized for whatever effect you want to occur.

Do you want the visitor to join your email list? Do you want your visitor to make a decision to buy on the spot? Do you want your visitor to obtain good information from the page and help them to think of you when they are ready to buy?

SEO is much more complicated than it was a few years ago when the job was almost entirely about good meta tags (that barely matter any more except for the title and description tags) and keyword placement.

Finding and hiring a good SEO person is like finding gold in a California mountain stream. Hard to find but tough to beat, as the old ad goes.

Greg Cryns
Free Freelancing Report
Wahm Search Engine - good advertising values

Which products should I promote?

Guest post - more great information from Willie here

How I Choose Which Products To Promote
Copyright (c) 2009 Willie Crawford
Willie Crawford Incorporated
http://WillieCrawford.com/ezine.html


Once it became known that my subscriber database was approaching
800,000 (across numerous niches - some fairly obscure), I started
getting dozens of joint venture proposals every day. These "JV
proposals" are generally just requests to become an affiliate
for their product, or to help with an impending product launch.

Most of the proposals I get are in the internet marketing niche,
while less than 1/4th of my database is in that niche. If a
product isn't a perfect match for a niche, I don't consider
offering it to that niche. Experience has taught me that offering
inappropriate products is one of the quickest ways to lose your
list!

I thought that it might be useful to share some of how I decide
which products to promote and why those criteria matter. This
should prove useful to both product owners looking for joint
venture partners, and to those also trying to decide which
products they will promote.

Here are some of the questions that I consciously ask myself:

1) What does it do, and is this something that my subscribers
both need and already want? If they want it but I don't feel
that they need it, then offering it to them may cause an ethical
dilemma. I don't compromise my ethics! If they don't want it,
and aren't already looking for it, then making sales can also be
an uphill climb.

If it's too difficult to explain what it does, then the sales
process will have to be protracted. If it's just "the next
shiny thing," then telling my subscribers about it is probably
more of a distraction than a service.

2) Does it really work if my customers will just use it? A
skilled copywriter can make burnt toast soaked in hemlock sound
appealing! What value does the product actually add to the stream
of life?

3) Do I know the product owner and feel that they are reputable
and someone I want to trust with customers whom I care about and
nurture? I work very hard at building a relationship with my
customers and trying to actually help those willing to be helped.
I won't do anything to un-do years of hard work.

4) Has the product owner ever promoted one of my products and how
much effort did they put into it. Many people have been trained
to point out that they are a subscriber or customer in a joint
venture proposal. My question then becomes did you become a
subscriber, or buy my $5 product, just so that you could stick
that in your joint venture proposal. Did you register as an
affiliate, and then promote no harder than making one blog
post... which barely generated 10 clicks?

5) Are they a member of The Internet Marketing Inner Circle, my
membership site, where they are both exposed to the culture of my
online operations, and I get to interact with them... and get a
feel for them and their business accumen and standards?

This my mastermind where we discuss many complex issues related
to marketing, and running an online business. If you are a
member, then you will have been exposed to many important
concepts necessary for success, and that puts you ahead of many
of your competitors.

6) Does this compete directly with one of my own products or
projects, or one of my clients' products or projects? As a
business owner, it's generally foolish to sell a direct
competitor's product instead of my own... though not always. I
also feel an obligation to promote my clients products before
promoting those of someone that I don't have a relationship
with.

7) Is it appropriately priced for the value that it delivers?
After testing/using/studying the product, do I honestly feel that
it's worth the price being charged? Will it deliver many time
that much value to my customers who actually use the product?

8) How good is their customer service? How do they provide
customer service? Will my customers who have problems be able to
easily reach someone? Do they have a helpdesk so that there is an
easy way around email deliverability issues? Do they have an easy
to find phone number and mailing address? Is it clear WHO owns
the business?

9) When is it being released, and how will the release or launch
be handled? Is there sufficient lead time to sequence it into my
calendar without interfering with one of my own or one of my
clients' projects? Will the tools that I prefer to use have time
to work, or am I forced to only mail for a 2-3 day period after
which the product is no long available? How much hype will
surround the launch, and what long-term impact will this have on
my customers?

10) Will there be long-term demand for this product, or will the
market forget that it even exists in a week? Can I use tools that
will deliver a steady stream of orders over the long-term, or is
this a product that there might be alot of short-term demand for
but that customers will likely set aside in favor of "the next
shiny object" next week?

11) One year from now, will my customers be happy that I
introduced them to this product? Is this something that is easy
enough to use, and that they can easily sequence into their
business processes/systems in a way that they will still be
benefitting from the product a year from now?

12) Would I buy the product if I fit the profile of "the ideal
customer?" Knowing the product as well as I do, after thoroughly
studying it, would I buy it if I didn't already own it, IF I
were the target customer that it was designed for?

13) If I did a previous promotion for them, did the product owner
pay commissions promptly? Running my own business, where I pay
numerous professionals for their expertise in a timely fashion, I
prefer spending funds recently paid to me over tapping into
capital that I've already invested/employed in other places.

Late payments combined with a lack of communication WILL result
in my refusing to ever do future promotions for a given company
or individual. If they mistreat a business partner then they will
likely mistreat my customers.

14) Am I really satisfied with all of the answers I gave myself
to all of the questions above. Am I being totally honest with
MYSELF, and am I... by promoting this product, living up to the
standards that I set for myself?

If I can answer yes, to all of the above questions, then I will
consider promoting a product. If not, then I should politely
decline promoting that product, pointing out why if asked.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Willie Crawford is one of the world's leading Internet
marketing authorities, and an in-demand joint venture
broker. Most of his mentoring is done in a group
setting on the member-only discussion forum at:
http://TheInternetMarkeingInnerCircle.com Join that
discussion to experience phenomenal business growth!


Greg Cryns

Free Freelance Report
Wahm Search Engine - low cost advertising

Why People Buy Things: Stress Relief

If you sell products or services on or off the Internet, it is probably a good idea to know why people buy things.

I was thinking of why people will buy something. There are lots of reasons but today let’s talk about just one: people buy products to help get rid of STRESS.

Let's be honest. The lives we live are very stressful. We get up, go to work, come home, take care of the kids, the bills, the problems, maybe have an hour to watch TV and then we do the same thing all over again the next day.

If you think stress isn't a problem, you obviously don't live in the real world or at least in the working world. So it's important that our product or service is able to relieve stress in a person's life.

For an example, let's say you are promoting an auto responder service. How can something like this relieve stress in somebody's life and how would you go about promoting it?

Well, people who need auto responders are usually business persons who are trying to manage their own in house list.

The way you would go about marketing this as a stress reliever would be to stress how easy a person's life will be with this auto responder service. Explain how stress free it is because they won't have to deal with manually entering people into their list. All they need to do is send them the link and once they click on it, the auto responder adds the contact. Tell them that opt outs are just as easy because at the end of each message they send there will be a link included to allow a person to opt out of the list. This way they don't have the worry of having to maintain this list manually. This helps ease some of the stress of running their business.

Let's say you're selling a product and not a service and the product is an acne cure book. You might be thinking of how you could possibly incorporate the angle of stress into a pitch for an acne cure book.

Actually, it's very simple. Remember, you're targeting mostly a young audience. These are kids who are very looks conscience. The last thing they want is to be getting ready for their prom and getting a zit on their face. This is very stressful for a young teen. So what you do is tell them in your ad copy that with this natural acne cure they won't have to worry about whether or not they'll have a pimple on their prom night. This will help relieve that part of stress in their life, how they look.

If you think about your product and what it is used for, you can apply the stress principal to just about anything. Try it. You'll be surprised by the results.

Photo: Copyright: Derek Chatwood All Rights Reserved.

Greg Cryns

20000 Credit Card Debt

Tom Peters - "we are all salesmen"

Quick. What does "marketing" mean? While you are thinking about that on the back burner, what does "salesman" mean? Is the picture getting clearer?

Tom Peters says, "Every single person on the marketing team is a salesman."

"If the MBA were wiped off the face of the earth we would live in a better world."

About China, "They are developing MBAs which means they are on the slippery slope to oblivion."

I agree with Tom Peters. Each person inside a company needs to be a salesman for the company. Ideally, as an owner you would like them to be an evangelist for the company, but you would be happy if the employee at least felt like a salesman.

Even the coders for the websites fit into the saleman designation.

See for yourself......


Tom Peters on Yes! You Are in Sales! from Tom Peters on Vimeo

Photo by Jens Peter


http://www.workathomeprofiles.com
Scentsy: http://www.scentsy.com/16684
http://www.wahmsearchengine.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/calgreg

Negative and Posititive Marketing Messages

Negative Versus Positive Marketing Messages: Which Works Best?


Nancy is a small business owner who helps nonprofit groups create
fund raising events that can double- even triple- their average
donation.

Until recently, Nancy has gotten her business primarily through
in-person meetings: attending networking events, taking people
out for coffee, and giving presentations.

In-person is great for getting local business but Nancy wants to
serve a national customer base. So she hired someone to design a
website and using emails and postcards to market her services.

She's been using emails and postcards for the last ten months
and the results have been dismal.

"I haven't gotten a single new client," she told me.

So I took a look at the emails she was sending out and I
immediately saw the problem.



>> Enthusiasm Can Turn People Off



Nancy loves her work and really wants her clients to succeed.
It's hard to spend time with her and not get excited about what
she's doing.

Her enthusiasm works to her advantage when she meets people in
person.

It seems logical then that enthusiasm would work in all her other
marketing. Wrong.



>> Establishing Trust is the First Step



There's a saying, "People want to know you care, before they
care about what you know."

As human beings, we have a natural desire to belong and feel
valued. It's the reason why people hate to be sold to...we
don't feel understood or valued for who we are.

When you meet someone in person, it's a lot easier to build
trust because you can communicate that you care in many ways: in
your tone of voice, in the way you look at others, in your
gestures.

For people like Nancy, building trust occurs almost immediately
during in person meetings because she communicates that she cares
both in what she says and what she doesn't say.

But when communicating in less personal ways—using email,
postcards, and other types of written media, you have only words
to work with.

Which means you must take an extra step and deliberately
demonstrate empathy before you enthusiastically share why your
products and services are so wonderful.



>> Establishing Trust Means Starting with the Negative



So how do you show you care when you use email, web pages, and
other mediums that limit your ability to express yourself?

You start with the problem or pain your customer is likely
experiencing.

When you do this you are saying, in effect to your audience:

"I understand you have this problem that you're struggling to
solve."

"I, too, have struggled with it"

"Through my experience, education, research, etc., I have came
up with a solution to solve the problem."

"My solution work for you too."

Once you say these things, you are free to bubble away about your
wonderful solution.



>> Example: Establishing Trust First



So let's go back to Nancy.

Instead of immediately starting her emails off with how she helps
her clients double their fund raising results she begins with
demonstrating empathy and understanding.

Before:

"Non-profits, let me show you how to double- , even triple your
donations."

After:

"Non-profits, are you struggling to compete for funding in
today's difficult economy?"

Can you feel the difference?

Nancy's email then went on to describe her own struggles with
fund raising and how she developed her solution.

When Nancy began using this approach, her prospect inquiries
immediately increased and she's now in the process of turning
some of the prospects into clients.

But she first needed to demonstrate she understood and cared
before they were willing to make the call.



>> Bottom Line



The less personal the communication, the more important it
becomes to first establish trust with your prospects.

For emails, blog posts, web pages, etc.:

1. Start with the Negative: demonstrate you understand their
problem and struggle to solve it.

2. End with the Positive: share why your solution is better and
will work.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost,
effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals,
guerrilla marketing activities, and selected strategic alliances.
To download a free copy of the workbook, "Where Does it Hurt?
Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers
Crazy!" go to http://www.judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm
You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@...

Greg Cryns
How Michael Phelps got started

10 Questions to Ask Before Choosing an Affiliate Marketing Program

by Ruth Brown

With literally thousands of affiliate marketing programs available to choose from, a prospective internet affiliate marketer needs to ask several questions first before making a decision as to which program(s) to join.

Doing some basic research about the various online promotion programs you intend to join is to your benefit and advantage. Be sure you that you receive definite answers to the following questions from the merchants you are interested in signing up with. The answers you they will give you are the decisive factors on which you should base your decision on whether you will join or not as an online reseller of their products or services.

1. Does it cost anything to signup? Most online marketing programs do not entail any joining fees therefore do not settle for programs that charge you money, even if it is only a few dollars, before joining.

2. When do they issue commission checks? Depending on the type of program you choose, checks may be issued monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly. Choose the one that suits you best.

3. Is there a minimum commission payout? Some companies set a minimum earned commission amount (normally $50) that must be met or exceeded before they issue checks. If you are happy with it, go ahead.

4. What is the hit per sale ratio? This is simply the average number of hits to a banner or text link it takes to make a sale - this is particularly important because it allows you to calculate the amount of traffic you must generate before you can earn a commission from the sale of the product or service.

5. How does the company track referrals from an affiliate's site and how long do they remain in the system? Since all affiliate marketing programs employ cookies to track online promotion, you need to be positive that the merchant correctly and reliably tracks people you refer from your site since this is the only way you get credit for a sale. The period of time is also important because some visitors do not buy outright, they may want to return at a later date to make the purchase. Know if you will still get credit for the sale if it is made some months later after a client's initial visit to your site.

6. What are the available statistics? A good affiliate program must be able to provide detailed statistics online anytime an affiliate wants to review them. Regularly checking and analyzing your individual website statistics is valuable and keeps you up to date on the number of impressions, hits and sales generated from your site.

7. Does the program also pay for hits and impressions aside from commissions on sales? It is important to determine if the program also pays for impressions and hits, this adds to your earnings from commissions. However, this becomes more important if the program you happen to join has a low hit-to-sales conversion ratio.

8. Whom are you doing business with? Knowing whom you do business with is fundamental to successful online promotion. Know the company, the products they sell and the average sales they generate. This will help you determine if the program is suited for you and your website.

9. Is the system a one-tier or two-tier program? One-tier programs pay only for the business you generate whereas a two-tier program pays you for your own self-generated business and also pays you a commission on the on the sales generated by affiliates who signed up through you in the affiliate marketing program. There are also two-tier programs that pay a small fee for each affiliate you recruit.

10. How much is the commission rate? Normally, programs pay out anywhere from a minimum of 5% to a maximum of 20% commission. Clicks or hits are worth from .01% - .05% per hit.

Make sure that the affiliate marketing program you plan to join gives you definitive answers to these 10 questions before you make a decision to join. It is always best to know before hand what you are getting into.

For more information, resources, and some of the best internet marketing tools on the internet, visit Affiliate Marketing News

Greg Cryns
http://www.ziparticles.com
http://www.workathomeprofiles.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/calgreg