Four Tips For Getting More Mileage From Your Artic

Four Tips For Getting More Mileage From Your Articles

by: Bonnie Jo Davis

It has become common knowledge that the smartest and most effective free method of advertising your business and services is to write and submit articles to the over 400,000 ezines currently on the กnet. There are even several ebooks written on the topic, including mine, that will help you take advantage of this effective technique. What do you do next after youกve invested the hours necessary to research, write, proofread, edit and submit your article to thousands of ezine publishers?

I recommend several methods of recycling articles to clients who utilize my article submission services that Iกm going to share with you today:

1. Publish each of your articles on a separate page on your web site. Then take the keywords from that article that you used in the title and text and create a set of meta tags for that page. Use a free meta tag generator like http://www.anybrowser.com/MetaTagGenerator.html to make sure your meta tags are properly formatted and all inclusive. Next, submit the article page to all of the free search engines. Once that page is indexed those keywords will attract searchers to visit your site where you can convert them to loyal customers.

2. Take the article youกve written and customize it for an industry you want to target. For example, I have a client who writes internet promotion articles. After submission she customizes her articles for real estate agents, accountants, ophthalmologists, home health care companies, etc. I then offer the customized articles to the industry associations representing those groups. This tactic has resulted in hundreds of thousands of fresh, new visitors to her web site when an association prints her customized article in their newsletter or magazine.

3. Choose an article youกve written that outlines several key points on a particular topic. Write an in depth, expanded article on each key point. Contact all the publishers on your list and offer them the expanded key point articles and ask them to run them as a series. A series of articles is much more effective than a single article because each potential customer needs to be exposed to you and your business several times before becoming a customer.

4. Take the original article and the expanded key point articles and offer them as an ecourse to people who visit your site and sign up for your ezine. Use a free autoresponder like http://www.sendfree.com to deliver the articles in sequence. This gives you the opportunity to capture email addresses for your ezine and allows you to use a different byline highlighting your services and products with each article delivery.

Use these four tips every time youกve finished submitting an article and you will get thousands of additional targeted visitors to your web site with just a little extra effort!

(c) 2003. Davis Virtual Assistance. All rights reserved.

Permission to publish online or in print is granted so long as the article and byline are printed intact.

About The Author

Bonnie Jo Davis is a Virtual Assistant who specializes in inexpensive marketing promotions for herself and her clients. For more information about Bonnieกs article submission package visit http://www.DavisVirtualAssistance.com and lick on the กpackagesก button.

This article was posted on May 30, 2003

by Bonnie Jo Davis

Press Releases for Every Occasion

Press Releases for Every Occasion

by: Bill Stoller

To many marketers, the press release is something of a กone size fits allก proposition. You want to get media coverage, you knock out a press release, send it to some journalists and sit back and wait.

Of course, smart Publicity Insiders already know that’s a prescription for failure. You know that your press release has to have a กhookก, be wellwritten and sent to appropriate journalists in an active, not passive, manner. But there’s another part of the puzzle that even savvy publicityseekers sometimes miss you can’t just write กa press releaseก, you have to write the right kind of press release.

There’s no such thing as a กone size fits allก release. Smart publicists have variations of the press release model ready to be go, depending on the occasion.

(Note: for a general introduction to press release writing and formatting, see: http://www.publicityinsider.com/release.asp

Letกs look at some releases suitable for กharderก and more timely news…

The News Release

To some folks, กnews releaseก and กpress releaseก are interchangeable. Not to me. I use the phrase กnews releaseก to refer to a release that, well, carries actual news. Let’s face it, most of what a business has to say to a journalist isn’t exactly กstop the pressesก kind of stuff. But, on occasion, something of real significance occurs. A merger, a stock split, a major new contract, winning a national award…something that’s truly timely and important. For these sorts of events, don’t mess around. Craft a solid, hardhitting News Release that’s written in pure journalistic style (lead includes กwho, what, when, why and howก, language is in 3rd person and completely free of hyperbole). Use journalism’s กinverted pyramidก most important information at the top, next most important info in the second paragraph and so on down.

Tell the entire story in the headline and subhead. Again, don’t get cute get straight to the point. The headline กAcme Corporation Selected by Pentagon to Supply Troops with Widgetsก is far better than something like กGuess Who’s Making Widgets for Uncle Sam?ก or something กcleverก like that. In the subhead, fill in some details: ก$18 Million Contract Largest in Company’s Historyก. Talk about getting straight to the point! You’ve just given the journalist the meat of the story before she’s even read your lead.

Add a กdatelineก (Akron, OH) at the beginning of your lead (first) paragraph. In the dateline, use your company’s home town (or the location where some news has broken. You can be a bit creative here, if it helps maximize your impact. For the above example, you can dateline it Washington, DC and say that ‘the Pentagon today announced that it has selected an Akron company…ก).

In distributing the release, use email, fax, distribution service such as PRWeb or PR Newswire, or even overnight courier. The goal is to get it into journalists’ hands on the same day you distribute it.

Executive Appointment Release

Most businesses send out a brief release and headshot when someone new is hired or a major promotion is made. That’s fine, and it will get them in the กPeople on the Moveก column on page 8 in the business section. It’s an ego stroke for the employee, but that’s about it. Savvy publicity seekers use the Executive Appointment release to generate real publicity. Here’s the key don’t just announce that someone’s been hired or promoted. Rather, explain why the move is significant to the company and perhaps the market as a whole.

For example, Jane Smith has been hired as your company’s new director of sales. Not so exciting. However, the reason you hired her is because she came from a major online retailer and is planning to overhaul your sales system to compare with the state oftheart systems used by the big guys. Hmmmm…that’s a lot more interesting. So why not tell the media about it?

The key ingredient is context. Your headline may still look like that of a typical Executive Appointment release (Acme Names Jane Smith New Director of Sales), but starting with the subhead, you begin your journey off page 8 of the business section and onto page one (Hiring of Key Figure in Online Sales Explosion Marks Important Shift in Acme’s Sales Strategy). Ah, now you’ve entered the realm of news, not business as usual. And a sharp business editor will see that a local company is doing something far more significant than just making a hire.

Dateline the release, fax (or even messenger), email or regular mail it over to your local business editor and follow up with a phone call. Offer Jane Smith for interview, too.

The Media Alert

The Media Alert is a deceptively simple creature. It’s essentially a memo from you to TV, radio and newspaper assignment editors, city desk editors and others who decide whether a particular news event is worth covering. They’re used to alert the press about news conferences, charity events, publicity กstuntsก and other events.

The point of the Media Alert is to, in just a few seconds, tell a journalist about the event, how to cover it and why it’s important that the media outlet, in fact, covers it. Most publicists are pretty good on the first two points almost all media alerts do a decent job of telling what the event is, where it will be held and what time it starts. It’s the third aspect the กwhyก that will make the real difference, though. And it’s the thing most publicists do a lousy of job of conveying.

First, a word about format. Use standard press release headings (contact info, กFor Immediate Releaseก and headline). The rest of the document should be a few paragraphs, spaced at least three lines apart from one another. The first paragraph, should begin with What: and continue with a one or two line description of the event (WidgetFest 2004, a celebration of young minds). Next paragraph, When:, after that Where:

Now here’s the key paragraph,

Why You Should Cover WidgetFest 2004: The brightest young minds from around the region will gather to present their inventions, as Acme Corp. celebrates the state’s top high school science students. The event will be a visual feast, with a host of awe inspiring inventions, many colorful, active and exotic, on display. As part of the event, more than $10,000 in scholarships will be distributed to budding Einsteins by John Smith, Ohio’s Science Teacher of the Year.

The key? This line: ‘the event will be a visual feast, with a host of aweinspiring inventions, many colorful, active and exotic, on display.ก I just spoke an assignment editor’s language, telling him that this will provide lots of cool visuals, making for great video or photos. The bit about the scholarships and the Science Teacher of the Year assures him that this won’t just be a promotional stunt. So what are we offering? A nonpromotional, feelgood event with great visuals. Just what an assignment editor is looking for.

About The Author

Bill Stoller, the กPublicity Insiderก, has spent two decades as one of Americaกs top publicists. Now, through his website, eZine and subscription newsletter, Free Publicity: The Newsletter for PRHungry Businesses http://www.PublicityInsider.com/freepub.asp heกs sharing for the very first time his secrets of scoring big publicity. For free articles, killer publicity tips and much, much more, visit Billกs exclusive new site: http://www.PublicityInsider.com

This article was posted on January 04

by Bill Stoller

Guide to Software Marketing

Guide to Software Marketing

by: David B Mahler

Intro

This concise article will tell you in plain English how you can promote your software easily and effectively.

Submit your software

I recommend submitting your software to upload.com. It costs $79 dollars a year, but is well worth it. It will display your product on download.com and its partner network made up of 20 other major download sites. Download.com is so popular that if your product was only listed on download.com it would still be worth the yearly fee.

Use Rudenkoกs (submit.rudenko.com) software submission service to submit your software to hundreds of software archives. Unlike autosubmit programs, Rudenko has employees manually submit your software to each archive so it is less likely to be rejected.

Rudenkoกs software submission service is also beneficial because most of the software archives will have a link to your website. Relevant pages that link to your website increase your link popularity. The higher your link popularity the better your search engine ranking will be, especially in Google. Rudenkoกs software submission service costs $70 and if you include กDavid Mahler 10% discountก in the comment field you will receive 10% off.

Promote through your website

If you have a website than you can promote your software for free by utilizing effective search engine optimization techniques.

The two key factors for search engine optimization are effective titles and clear body text. Make sure that the titles are relevant, unique to each page, and include key phrases that are likely to be searched. Body text should be clear, concise and saturated with key phrases. Feel free to add your key phrase as many times as it seems natural to do so. Before you publish your masterpiece, test your website copy by reading it out loud to yourself or to a friend. If it sounds awkward you probably need to take a few of those key phrases out. Remember it is important to write for both people and search engines.

For more information on search engine optimization I highly recommend highrankings.com.

Have someone else do the work

Websites like shareit.com and cj.com allow you to partner with affiliates that distribute your software for you. This is an easy way to get your product out there but you can expect to pay a commission to the affiliate.

Conclusion

Whether you are a sole proprietor or a major corporation, these software marketing techniques will be effective in promoting your software.

About The Author

David Mahler started his business (Small Business Services) creating websites in 2002. His company has since extended his services to Intranet design, database design and website copywriting.

This article was posted on February 25

by David B Mahler

How To Research Keywords For Search Engine Marketi

How To Research Keywords For Search Engine Marketing

by: Dan J. Fry

The core element of any type of marketing utilizing the search engines is the keyword. Why is it so important? In terms of general marketing principles keyword search is equivalent to targeting a niche. It can help you focus your advertisements on certain key areas that will already have an interest in what you are offering.
Targeting proper keywords or key phrases, groups of 2 to 5 keywords, is the way to market successfully with payperclick search engines and obtain high ranking in search engine indexes. It is a rather arduous task, but one that can yield massive returns in ranking, traffic, and sales if done correctly.
So where do I start?
Many free resources exist to research which keywords you should target. The two deciding factors are the number of searches performed on a particular keyword or key phrase, and the number of sites currently targeted these. Its nothing more than supply and demand.
Overture
The premiere payperclick search engine who previously supplied search results to several major search engines, is now on its own. The free search tool can be found at: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/. Search results are displayed only for the previous month. This should be sufficient. The internet changes so quickly that what happended 6 months ago is not of much importance. What makes Overtureกs tool king in my view is that it provides hard numbers on how much a phrase was searched, allowing you to directly compare with the number of sites targeting each phrase.
Google Suggestion
Google has their own keyword suggestion tool. If you have an Adwords account then you are already familiar with this resource. Check it out at https://adwords.google.com/select/main?cmd=KeywordSandbox. This tool also provides related keyword information. It provides synonyms that might be used to target areas relatively untouched by others.
7Search
This PPC engine is steadily gaining in popularity. I have used it in the past to build my subscriber base and saw modest results. To use their keyword tool simply create a free account and log on. Then click on กEdit Bidsก and go to กKeyword Suggestionsก.
Teoma
This search engine provides related search results and keyword suggestion in the results returned to the searcher. It can open up new avenues of keywords and phrases not thought about before. This resource can be found at http://teoma.com/.
Web Host Statistics
Unless your site is free, i.e. a free several page site through your ISP, you will most probably have . Have a look. My service is through StartLogic. The statistics are compiled through AWStats, which by the way is a free program for analyzing web site access. When I log into the server, I can view the statistics using AWStats. It also shows me which keywords and key phrases people are using to find my site. One great advantage I have found with this method is that you can come up with keyword ideas that you would have never thought about. Because people are finding you with these keywords the search engines must have you indexed
Online Dictionary and Thesaurus
Well, you may have wanted to stay away from them in school, but, crack them open. These can provide you with additional ideas to then use in Overture, 7Search, etc..
Word Tracker
This service is packed with many rich features to assist in keyword research. It starts at $6US per day. For $225US annually you are free to use it as much as needed. There is also a free version which does not have many of the extended features. I however recommend starting with this version. It will give you a taste of how it works.
Ranking.com
Use this resource to investigate how much traffic a site is receiving. You cannot research individual keywords and key phrases.
As a final note put the required time into researching keywords and key phrases prior to submitting your site or starting a PPC campaign. Otherwise you are feeling around in the dark trying to find your niche. It is time expensive, but not so for your wallet. This fares well for online home businesses where time is usually not a concern.
For more information on keyword research I suggest checking out ClickZ.com. They offer a lot of advice on search engine marketing.

About The Author

Dan J. Fry is an independent researcher and owner of
eKinetic.com, a site devoted to providing resources for small
budget home businesses. He has a PhD in Physics and is married
with two daughters and two cats. Subscribe to his free EZine on
home business resources at mailto:[email protected] or by
visiting his Home Business
Resources and Tips site. He can be reached
at mailto:[email protected].

[email protected]

This article was posted on May 25, 2004

by Dan J. Fry

How To Get Targeted Search Engine Traffic Quickly

How To Get Targeted Search Engine Traffic Quickly

by: Matt Bacak

Here’s the ขHowToDoIt Guideข for driving search engine traffic right to your website.

I only speak about methods I have used and that worked well for my business. There are a lot of people out there who will steer you in the wrong direction because they are just regurgitating old information that might have worked years ago. I’ll help you discover what’s happening right here, right now. Let’s get started with the plan.

Your first step is to define your target market. The better you are able to define your niche, the better your future clients will be able to find you and your products or services.

Next, you want to get very specific about what you’re going to market on your webpage and make sure that it’s congruent with our next step. When a person finds you on a search engine, you have a window of only 3 to 5 seconds to convince them that you are exactly what they were looking for. Make it crystal clear what you offer. If your meaning is unclear, the prospect will jump to the next site and you’ll lose that business.

The following step is to brainstorm your keywords keeping in mind your target audience. How would they search for me? What would they look for? Don’t focus on how you identify yourself. The closer you are to your target audience, the more hits you will get, which equates to more customer traffic. The more specifically you target, the better off you are. You’re not going to have success if you list yourself too generically, there is too much competition and you’ll be lost in the crowd.

Once you have established your target market, define what specific categories you should be linking to and add them as part of your navigation page. A linking strategy is very important for building your link reputation. Links to your page will count towards link reputation and link popularity.

There are a lot of different search engines six in particular that give you about 90% of all webtraffic. Of those Google has the most web traffic so we’ll focus on it. Google has a link page rank feature which rates the importance of your page. You’ll want to download their toolbar http://toolbar.google.com. This will allow you to view the ranking of every site you visit and how important it is in the almighty eye of Google. This is a key ingredient in determining linking strategy. Google ranks itself as a 10 on their scale of 0 to 10 (the higher the ranking, the more important a page). This is determined essentially by who is endorsing and linking to you.

You must map out how you’re going to get Google give to you a high page rank. For Google, the most important attribute is the title tag. You want to make sure you use your most targeted key word in the beginning of your title tag. Google will typically list the first 83 characters so the title is where you put your most valued key word(s) so it can be easily accessed.

The next maneuver is to focus on your link relevancy. Link relevancy is how well the text on your pages relates to your title tag, also taking in consideration the content of neighboring web pages. The analysis of all of this data enables Google to return results that are relevant to user queries. You want to be sure you are listed in user queries so make your content match your title, match your links, and match your products and or services. Remaining consistent and obvious is your key to directing traffic to your site.

About The Author

Matt Bacak became ก#1 Best Selling Authorก in just a few short hours. Recent Entrepreneur Magazine’s eBiz radio show host is turning Authors, Speakers, and Experts into Overnight Success Stories. Discover The Secrets To Unleash The Powerful Promoter In You! Sign up for Matt Bacakกs Promoting Tips Ezine ($100 value) just visit his website at http://www.powerfulpromoter.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 11

by Matt Bacak

Most Effective Search Engine Marketing

Most Effective Search Engine Marketing

by: Debbi Cunnington

Most effective search engine marketing strategies consider a few key aspects of search engine optimization.

1. The target market: Itกs important to make certain that your key words target the market you wish to visit your site. Having an extremely high ranking on a certain key word that brings tons of visitors to your site, with very few sales (low conversion rate) is not effective search engine marketing. Make certain that you target your visitors.

For example, if you are selling antique brass buttons, that is a very specific item for a specific market. You could try to use the key word กbuttonsก but you will get a much wider variation in the quality of your visitors. Someone searching on กbuttonก could be looking for nearly anything related to a button. Whereas, if you target your key phrase กantique brass buttonsก you may get fewer visitors, but they will be extremely targeted. Effective search engine marketing is all about targeting your market.

2. Keyword Effectiveness Index: Definition (courtesy of WebCEO) The Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) compares the Daily World Searches with the number of competing Web pages to pinpoint exactly which keywords are good enough so you can use them while optimizing your site.

Keywords with the highest KEI combine attractive popularity and less competition. It means there are all chances you will get a high ranking, if you use these keywords for optimizations.

Basically, the KEI is based on the number of daily world searches and the number of competing sites. The higher the KEI of a key word/phrase, the better itกs use on your web site.

For example, the phrase กweb designก has over 35,000 daily world searches and over 17 million competing sites (stats courtesy of WebCEO). While กweb designก is clearly a great search term based on the number of people typing it into a search engine, the fact that there are already over 17 million competing sites using that key phrase make it a poor choice. Itกs possible that some of those 17 million competing sites will dump กweb designก as a key phrase, which will increase the KEI in the future. Thatกs why effective search engine marketing involves monitoring and changing your siteกs content and key phrases as necessary, to get your website ranking position as high as it can be!

3. Meta tags & web site content: Once youกve chosen your key words/phrases, itกs time to add those to your site. The first place to add your key word is the title of your page. Many web sites choose to make the title of their page the name of their business, and thatกs a poor search engine marketing strategy. The first meta tag that the spiders กseeก is the title. It should contain your key word and omit any กstopก words, such as กand, or, theก etc. These words are typically omitted from search engine results and should also be omitted from your meta tags.

Other meta tags you must consider are: classification, description and key word. *Google relies heavily on itกs own algorythm, which takes into account back links and the validity of the back links, as well, and optimization for that engine must take those links into consideration for effective search engine marketing.

There are other design กrules of thumbก that should be considered, such as:

Java script

Alt tags

Image names

File and folder names

Text descriptions

There are many more items to consider, but this should get you started thinking about search engine optimization for your business.

Contact Cimmeron Studios for more information about increasing your website ranking position and effective search engine marketing.

About The Author

Debbi Cunnington is a freelance web design professional, and owner of Cimmeron Studios, LLC, who has successfully worked out of her home office for the last 4 years. Visit Debbiกs website here http://www.cimmeronstudios.com.

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 07

by Debbi Cunnington

Optimize your Search Engine Placement Five Easy Wa

Optimize your Search Engine Placement Five Easy Ways

by: Judy Cullins

If you are like me, you created web site metatags with the help of your Web master. Maybe like me, you didn’t spend time or money submitting to search engines because you weren’t techie enough.

Now you can optimize your search engine placement these five easy, nontechie ways. My Web site is now # 1 in Google.com and others. If you are in the top ten listings in your category (mine was book coaching) you are in good shape. This placement has put my web site URL on 4700 other sites with a link back to mine. With targeted viral marketing my sales are 30 times what I started with each monthnow over $4500.

Hereกs Five Ways to Get Search Engines to Boost your Ratings:

1. Makeover your signature file that goes out with every email you send. Include your fre.e report or ezine offer, your email, URL, and phone numbers plus a line with your product or service name on it. See more on this in my fre.e article ‘top Ten Things to Do to Make your Signature File Sellก at www.bookcoaching.com/freearticles/article124.shtml.

2. Submit short articles to dozens of optin ezines who need content daily. Make a special offer in each signature file that relates to your article. Through a hyperlink, offer a free ezine with a free report by autoresponder. To get started, go to www.yahoogroups.com and subscribe to one of the optin ezines (no spam).

3. Rewrite your best list of key words and phrases you used for your Web site. Incorporate them into your excellent, welledited short articles or tips. For more information go to www.goodkeywords.com or see my special fre.e report กKnow Which Key Words Will Bring Targeted Visitors to your Web Siteก at www.bookcoaching.com/freearticles/article47.shtml

4. Submit to top Web sites looking for new content.. They want and need your information, because that is why people visit any sitefor free information. Follow directions for each site. Many want a list of key words and a description. Others require your article by autoresponder. Four years ago, my URL was on 987 other Web sites. Today itกs on 4700. Amazing viral marketing!

5. Makeover your Web home page. Place those top key words and phrases in the top half of this page and in the links you list along the bottom or side of your page. Search engines pick up these and you receive a higher placement. For instance, my top key words include: book coaching, eBook, ePublishing, selfpublishing, Online promotion, Web copywriting, Free Publicity.

Yes, you can buy key words and put paid ads in Google and Overture, but when I tried that I got almost 0 results and spent a lot of money. The above ways to boost your search engine placement are totally free. Itกs a building process this viral marketing, but if you are willing to stay a while, youกll get money results as well as becoming well known and trusted for your product or service.

About The Author

Judy Cullins, 20year Book and Internet Marketing Coach with small business people who want to make a difference in peopleกs lives, build their credibility and clients, and make a consistent lifelong income. Author of 10 eBooks including กWrite your eBook Fast,ก กHow to Market your Business on the Internet,ก and กCreate your Web Site With Marketing Pizzazz,ก she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, ‘the Book Coach Says…ก and กBusiness Tip of the Monthก at http://www.bookcoaching.com/optin.shtml and over 155 free articles. Email her at [email protected].

This article was posted on November 19, 2004

by Judy Cullins

Search Engine Copywriting: Focus on One Topic

Search Engine Copywriting: Focus on One Topic

by: Nick Usborne

Perhaps the simplest of all the lessons I have learned about writing for search engines is to keep my pages simple. That is to say, whether I am thinking about my readers or about Google, there is a huge advantage to keeping most of your pages confined to a single topic.

There are three approaches I take to the creation of a page, and each has a significant impact on how high the listing for that page appears on Google.

>>>> #1 – When I don’t think about Google and cover multiple topics.

There are times when a page is put up simply for the benefit of my readers and, for one reason or another, covers a number of different topics.

A simple example of this would be a page in the Excess Voice newsletter archives. I archive all issues, so visitors can browse their way through previous articles and reviews.

>From Google’s point of view, these pages are very unfocused. A particular newsletter might include an article on one subject, a review on another and reader feedback on yet another. As a result, Google sees a mix of unrelated topics, gives a digital shrug, and rewards me with a horrible listing across a variety of keywords and phrases.

>>>> #2 – When I do think about Google and cover multiple topics.

Let’s say I am reviewing a service of a fairly general nature. As an example, we’ll pick a site that offers a variety of marketing services for companies online. My review may cover search engine optimization, newsletters, buying AdWords, buying newsletter ads and banners.

In other words, by the nature of the services being offered, my review tackles a number of different topics. However, I’d like to get some Google traffic to that page, so I might even use WordTracker to find some good key phrases. Then I’ll include that phrase in the page title, meta tags and in the headings and text.

Will that help me? Probably not. The problem is that Google will find my key phrase, take a peek at my text for related phrases, but then find a whole bunch of unrelated topics. The result? Page 10 on Google for my key phrase.

>>>> #3 – When I hardly think of Google at all, but focus on just one topic.

This is when I deliberately confine my page to a single topic. Sometimes I give very little, if any thought to keywords or Google. I simply write a good page on a single topic. I write for the reader.

What happens? Quite naturally, I will find that my page title, meta tags, headlines, subheads and text all include a logical key word or phrase, and the text is filled, quite naturally, with related phrases.

Will this page do well on Google? That depends. If the topic is very general, like ‘advertising’, then probably not. But if the topic is more focused, within a smaller niche, like ‘advertising in German ezines’, then I’ll probably do very well indeed.

>>>> Concluding thoughts

A lot of the time, trying to get a high listing simply by packing in keywords and phrases will do you very little good.

If I have learned one thing over the last few years, it is that if I want a high listing, I need to do just one thing:

Write a simple, focused page on a single, niche topic

On top of that, if you use WordTracker or a similar tool to find a relevant and strong, high demand/low supply key phrase, you’ll do even better.

About The Author

Nick Usborne is a copywriter, author, speaker and advocate of good writing. You can access all his archived newsletter articles on copywriting and writing for the web at http://www.excessvoice.com/archive

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 16

by Nick Usborne

Youกve Got The Power, Why Aren’t You Promoting It?

Youกve Got The Power, Why Aren’t You Promoting It?

by: Martin Lemieux

Like all things, theft is theft, misery loves company, negative people are everywhere, business is sometimes bad, things go up and others go down.

If those are all true then knowledge is power right? Wrong, knowledge is only power if applied. So why is it that most of us only apply กcommercializedก marketing tactics and fail to utilize the little stuff that counts?

For instance, Google allows us to promote 2 urlกs, www.yoursite.com & http://yoursite.com

So ok. Nothing new…

Then why aren’t you promoting the power Google gave to you?

See thereกs some of us who know that adding a link to both urls within our sites is a powerful thing. But what most of us don’t know is that you can’t just simply add both urlกs and expect good results!

You can’t just want popcorn without poping the corn!

What you want to do is give 2 URLกs and 2 Key Phrases. Thatกs it, there it is! So if you promote your main page twice,

re: www.yoursite.com & http://yoursite.com

.. Then you want to give Google 2 key phrases for both urls seperately within your title tag.

Don’t stop there though, try utilizing both key phrases respectively within your description tag, alt tags, H1 tags and within a portion of your text.

Here are the results of your efforts:

So the next time google searches your site, it now has more food then before and you actually didn’t have to do too much. Your search terms have now doubled for 2 urls pointing to the same information.

Have fun with this and remember, search engines don’t like spam tactics and neither do your visitors, so play safe and stick to the rules!

About The Author

Martin Lemieux

Founder and President of Smartads.

http://www.smartads.ca & http://www.smartads.info Here to provide you with effective web design & web advdertising services.

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This article was posted on January 18, 2004

by Martin Lemieux

Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing Starting A

Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing Starting A Campaign

by: Martin Lemieux

Pay per click advertising is an ongoing and growing arsenal for all entrepreneurs world wide. Whether your have a small business or a large business, buying a search engine placement is definitely the way to go.

Why fight a never ending battle against some of the worlds best webmasters who have years of experience and are deticated to search engine placement 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?

Don’t fight the battle, win the battle by utilizing pay per click search engine marketing!

1st Thing 1st: Testing Your Market Place…

If youกve never attempted a pay per click campaign, a good idea is to start with a small budget in order to test your market place.

The key is to find what your potential customers are searching for. Thereกs no better place to test that out by going to Google. Google allows you to pay for a small ad off to the right within a small green box.

Huh? If youกve never seen these small ads within Google, go to: http://www.google.com

If you type in กweb designก in googleกs search engine, you will no doubt get the regular results on the left, as well as a list of small ads off to the right within small green boxes.

Underneath the small green boxes, you will see a link that says; กPlace your ad hereก. Another route is by going here: http://adwords.google.com

Please do yourself a favor and deticate yourself to a small ad within Google in order to learn the ropes and utilize an inexpensive way to some fabulous research information.

Youกll want to determine how much you are willing to pay for 1 month. It could be as low as $20, but I recommend starting out with $50.00 to start your 1st campaign.

Try coming up with an ad thatกs catchy and to the point!

Ex. Legal Services

Get A FREE Consultation!

Legal Services in Ontario

legalservices.com

After that you need to predetermine the กKey Phrasesก you think that your potential clients are typing in Google when it comes to your product or service.

EX. กLegal Servicesก.

When Google asks you to enter your key words or phrases, you might want to try entering something like this….

Legal Services

Lawyers in Ontario

Law Services

Lawyer Services

Lawyer Services in Ontario

Try using as many as you can think of… Google will later show you the most popular key phrases compared to the key phrases that don’t work at all.

Please Note: I am using Googleกs Adwords as an example because of how easy it is to log into your account at any time and check to see how many people have seen your ad and how many people have actually clicked on your ad to visit your site.

Once youกve entered your กKey Words & Phrasesก now you’re going to be asked to enter the maximum amount of money you want to pay every time someone clicks on your ad.

Ex. If someone searches กLegal Servicesก, you enter that you will pay a maximum of 0.07cts per click.

This will give you a prequalified potential client for 0.07cts.

Letกs move on a little now..

Assuming that your ad is all set up and already on the way. Now you can return to Google, log into your account and see how your กKey Words & Key Phrasesก are performing with your campaign.

It might read something like this….

Legal Services Ad was viewed 2000 times Clicked on 100 times.

Lawyers in Ontario Ad was viewed 4560 times Clicked on 9 times.

Now you will get a much better understanding at what your potential clients are searching for and what they are actually clicking on.

KEY NOTE: Try to experiment with this as much as possible and as quickly as possible so you can really begin your Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing.

Are you ready???

Now that you have your predetermined key words of phrases you want to use, you can now start looking into pay per click campaigns. Per per click search engines are a little different compared to the Google Adwords because instead of getting a small ad off to the right you are now going to bid on actual search engine placements.

1st thing you want to do is to visit a pay per click search engine. For instance, you might want to visit: www.goto.com or www.lycos.com or any other pay per click search engine online and test your new key words to determine what the top placements are paying for those spots.

Ex. Letกs use กLawyer Servicesก again, type in that phrase in any ppc search engine and look at the top placements! It should read something like this…

5) Legal Services.com

Our firm is dedicated to helping you win your case each and every time.

Cost: $0.10

The key is to look at the cost. The cost is what กLegal Services.comก was willing to pay for the 5th search engine placement.

And there you go, you now have the basic knowledge to plan out a pay per click campaign. Always remember to lay out how much you are willing to commit to your search engine campaign and keep yourself to it.

I recommend to all my clients to atleast master the Google Adword program. Googleกs search engine is the #1 hotspot on the internet for potential clients, why not get a slice of the pie!

Good Luck To All!

About The Author

Martin Lemieux

Smartads President

http://www.smartads.info

Affordable web site design & Web Site Marketing Tips

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ASES Affordable Search Engine Specialists

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This article was posted on November 12, 2003

by Martin Lemieux

5 Steps To Successful Joint Ventures

5 Steps To Successful Joint Ventures

by: Raam Anand

Most Internet Marketing related ezines have carried at least one article on Joint Ventures; probably many.

JVกs are THE MOST preferred and fastest way to increase sales and cash flows.

Itกs no longer a secret!

Everyone knows a good JV is the master key to online success.

But… why many people are failing to use this master key? Why so many website owners are not able to make use of this powerful strategy?

Here are some reasons:

1) Other marketers are NOT WAITING for your JV offer. Before sending your JV offer, make sure to address the question กWhatกs in it for the JV Partner?ก. Unless you give a compelling reason, most partners are not looking forward to your offer. No, it won’t work that way…like, you offer one of your products for free and your partner will gladly endorse it to her list. No, it won’t.

It takes time to craft an irresistible offer. The offer should be beneficial to your potential partner and her customers/subscribers.

Take it from me… I told you it takes time… but itกs definitely possible.

2) Many JV offers are passed onto the ‘recycle binก with even being read (I told you… they are NOT waiting)

Some leading marketers get about 200 JV proposals every week! May be more. Most of these JV offers doesn’t catch the attention of the busy marketer.

Some are lost due to SPAM email filters.

Solution?

Followup is the key. If you consistently followup, your chances of getting the attention of your potential JV partner is very high. Usually a second email will get the response.

A mixedmode followup is sure to get higher success rates. An initial email followed by another email reminder and a phone call should normally get you going.

3) Another strong demotivating factor is NOT sending personalized JV offers. If your proposal does not กspeakก directly to your partner, itกs chances of succeeding are very thin.

Thatกs why I told you earlier, it takes time to create your JV proposal. You need to visit your partnerกs website, subscribe to their newsletter, study their online content and read their publications and articles before you attempt to draft your proposal.

Your JV proposal should address your potential partner directly, using their name. Mentioning a few things about their website, products, ezines or articles in your offer will surely catch their attention.

4) JV partners are not your affiliates. Differentiate your resellers with your strategic JV partner. To drastically raise the success rate of your proposal, offer a higher commission than your affiliates.

For example, if you are offering a 50% commission for your affiliates, your JV partner should be offered 60% or more.

5) Targeting a large corporation for your JV is a surefire way to failure. First, try and do several JVกs with businesses similar or smaller than your own and build a track record. Then you can approach bigger businesses with a record of your successes.

Large businesses have large problems everyday to tackle. They have struggled hard to build their enterprise. They have their own range of products to sell and keep their customers happy.

However, if you have a compelling story to tell, along with factual proof of your claims, it will definitely bring you windfall profits.

Iกm not discouraging you to keep away from these giants. Iกm just telling you the right way to approach.

You see friend, Iกve revealed to you some key tips on Joint Ventures. Now, itกs up to you. Follow these rules and create a compelling offer and Iกm sure you will succeed in making highly profitable Joint Ventures.

About The Author

Copyright (C) 2004 Raam Anand With Raamกs Joint Venture Manager, you could make 10.. 20.. even 30times more money! Click to learn more about JV Manager: http://www.infoYOGIS.com/track.cgi?1

This article was posted on November 20, 2004

by Raam Anand

Secrets To Buying Without Being Sold

Secrets To Buying Without Being Sold

by: Dan Auito

Have you ever asked yourself, now how did I let that guy sell me on something that I had no real need for at the time? Do you ever get a sneaking suspicion that your probably not going to really use whatever it is that your buying in the way that it was presented? If this is true which is often the case, then why in the heck do we give up our hard earned money for something that until we heard some sales spiel, we really had no need or want to have.

Please allow me to expose what marketers do to us on a regular basis in an effort to develop those perceived wants, needs and desires in us which drive us to buy what is being offered.

Let me first tell you that My wife Kimberly was at one time a true life consumer protection agent for Pinellas county Florida and I along with her have the same bent attitude towards protecting people as opposed to seeing them being taken advantage of, If you can let your guard down for a minute I think you’ll absorb these keys to understanding better and you’ll get more out of what I’m about to tell you.

Secrets that marketers don’t want you to know!

(When you buy, use logic not emotion)

• • A good marketer or salesman will always make it as easy as possible for you to buy whatever they are selling, check, cash, credit, fax, phone, mail or on line, That’s fine we want that, but almost without question once you have decided that your ready to check out you’ll find the upsell pitch almost preventing you from completing the transaction. The upsell is where once they have you sold on the least expensive item or package deal, they attempt to upgrade you to a more expensive premium feature, option or package.

A Variation of this technique is the crosssell, this is where they start adding options to the item that you have decided to buy, cars are a good example with undercoating, floor mats, premium sound systems, Sport packages etc… these are things that enhance the desirability of the original product sold.

Key: Don’t fall for the sale, after the sale.

• • The next tactic relied upon by many is to prey upon your fears, there is a rule that says people will buy ten times more often to relieve fear then they will to obtain pleasure, insurance companies use this tactic by instilling fear and guilt in you by saying you will be leaving your family broke, destitute and homeless if you fail to provide this protection through the products they sell. Once they have the fear established then you would see the focus put into selling the benefits that would result from your wise decision to buy today.

KEY: Recognize when someone is trying to instill or plant fear into you and also remember who initiated the conversation. Did you originally need this protection or has someone made you feel that way through a mind altering sales script.

• • Their next ploy is the takeaway, here they employ the factors of scarcity, greed and time, you often see it used in the following manner; You must act now on this exclusive offer, we only have a limited supply at this price, this won’t last long call now! In this case they make it appear there’s not many, it’s a great deal and it will be gone, you are about to lose the advantage, the edge, the deal, the benefit, the opportunity will be gone.

Again the fear of loss and the loss of pleasure are being used to get you to logically make an emotional decision based on fear, they want you to act fast so you don’t have time to think!

Key: Know that the deal will most often be there tomorrow and think logically when making your decision on whether or not to buy, use time as your ally.

The ability to make quick decisions and stick to them is an admirable quality, but you must insure you indeed did make the right decision to start.

• • You must be aware or beware of savvy salesman, one trademark quality of this type of individual is his or her ability to lower your resistance to their pitch, often you find them criticizing the product or service before you get the chance, this is known as Objection Resolution. Based on their experience they know what often will prevent a sale before they begin, so they bring it up first to effectively remove their biggest obstacle to the sale.

Key: Ask yourself if this feature is critically important to the products ability to solve, provide for, or deliver the results that you intend to buy it for, if not? Then you may consider dwelling awhile on the defect to get a price concession or discount based on that fact. Don’t allow your resistance to be lowered through dissolving, disabling or disarming sales double talk.

• • Another orchestrated event you’ll often see is the use of the image plant or involvement device these are designed to get you into an ownership state of mind as if the product or service being sold is already yours and the benefit will now be achieved. By getting you to envision some great outcome or result they tout how much better your life will be, IE… Slimmer, stronger, healthier, happier, WEALTHIER! When dealing with hard goods they ask you to hold it, feel it and smell how nice it is, by getting you to investigate further they increase the odds that you will take ownership. How about a free test drive?

Key: Remember! A generous offer often comes with a hefty price tag, don’t allow yourself to get involved to quickly in what seems to be the deal of a lifetime.

• • Moving on to the super smooth and accomplished salesperson we find an even more persuasive individual who is adept at patterning and mirroring you yourself! These people will move as you move, adjust the tone and dialect of their speech patterns to your type and style while getting you to respond with as many yes answers as possible, if they can get you nodding and saying yes to obvious questions that evoke that response then you could say that they are conditioning you to continue agreeing with what will come next, that question being: And how would like to pay for that? Will that be cash or charge? Would you like that in red or blue? That is the close or what is called assuming the sale.

As you can see these types are very well healed and they actually are using a little acting and showmanship on you, They use scripts to control the sales event and they don’t leave much to chance, if your weak and unprepared then consider yourself vulnerable to being persuaded by this professional at work.

Key: Ask your own questions to take them out of their script, and when they prompt you for that affirmative yes answer, say to yourself: I’d like to think about that for a moment. Again slow the process down to see what’s going on before it’s too late.

• • One last Character and we’ll rap this thing up, this fellow presents the good ole boy image, the friendly type who spends a great deal of time conditioning you to buy through storytelling, he’ll give you examples of others who received extraordinary results, benefits, satisfaction, performance, reliability or a hundred other favorable outcomes from taking his advice.

Key: If you find yourself being captivated by good storytelling then you should recognize that your tendency to buy is slowly being increased. Once you recognize the method you should immediately refocus on your specific needs and what the product or service actually delivers. Again you’ll need to use logic to avoid the emotional images being conjured and implanted throughout the presentation.

There’s an old saying that says the more you tell the more you sell, I can agree with that to some extent but I come back to the fact that if something is of great value at a low price, it sells itself! with only enough advertising to get word of mouth to do the rest.

By now I probably have you afraid to leave the house after telling you how these individuals go about their craft, fear not educated consumer we have a solution!

Simply by understanding and recognizing the simple tactics used in the trade we can effectively neutralize them and continue on our way to getting the best deals on the products and services that we truly need, want and desire.

Lets recap and create our own script or methods to counter the professional salesman’s effort.

How can we neutralize Upsells, Crosssells, Fear of loss, Use of guilt and shame, takea ways, preemptive resolutions, Image plants and involvement devices, Patterning and Mirroring, Assumptive closes, and good storytelling? Simply by recognizing that they are being used to stir our emotions in a sales situation!

Once you are aware of the tactic and recognize that it is being employed you can defend against it, now you know the rules of the game and can make an effective corresponding move to counter the well thought out strategy of the seller.

How can we make the buying events easier on ourselves other than just keeping our guard up for all these different emotional appeals?

I believe the #1 way to insure a great deal is to know whom your dealing with! By using referrals, reviewing unbiased testimonials and obtaining proof in cases where you don’t actually know the person or company in question you will be one step closer towards feeling as though you will receive more than an average benefit from the transaction. Note: If you can cut out the middleman than I encourage you to do so whenever possible.

Try to buy direct from the source through friends or their referrals to people they know, reputations are put on the line and personal service with care is more often rendered, this is where having a large network to rely on will help you to achieve better pricing on guaranteed products and services

Again this is the first step in stacking the deck in your favor, once you have come this far its time to interview the seller to insure again that they aren’t going to use those classic tactics we’ve become so accustomed to.

They may be friends, acquaintances, or rock solid referrals however we still need to ask tough questions to determine various levels of competence, product knowledge and proficiency to determine their credibility. As they say, actions speak louder than words, do they have integrity are they honest? Can they be relied upon as an authority regarding the business dealings you’re undertaking?

You need to ask tough questions in order to get the correct answers in these fact finding missions, this pays big dividends in the long run, because you strengthen your resources while gaining the respect you deserve as a paying customer.

In the end your not going to be able to use a single script like a person or company who sells the same products or services day in and day out but you can understand how those companies operate and thereby be an informed and educated buyer when your needs arise for the products and services they sell.

This report was written to help you buy right without being sold!

Sincerely yours, Dan Auito.

About The Author

Dan Auito is a duallicensed real estate agent and appraisal assistant. Dan is a 20year veteran of the United States Coast Guard. He has acquired over 1.3 million in real estate assets in 14 years while also founding a nonprofit drug prevention corporation, a real estate consulting group and is the author of ขMagic Bullets in Real Estate.ข This 300page powerpacked book (due out in early July 2004) comes with a website that further supports its readers. Dan lives with his wife Kimberly and their two children, Brandon and Briana, on the emerald isle of Kodiak Island, Alaska. Dan may be reached at [email protected] or by visiting www.magicbullets.com. Call 1 907 4816300 or write 1619 Three Sisters Way Kodiak AK 99615

This article was posted on April 25, 2004

by Dan Auito