How To Create Instantly Compelling Ads Every Time

How To Create Instantly Compelling Ads Every Time

by: Marc Gamble

Use This Quick 3Question Evaluation Process… And You Can Be Sure That Your Message Will Sell!

Evaluation #1: ขWell, I Would Hope So!ข When you make a claim, don’t think about it in terms of coming out of your mouth…think of it in terms of it entering your prospects ears. Then you’ll realize how ridiculous some claims sound. Whenever you make a claim, ask yourself if the prospect will immediately echo this response: ขWell, I would hope so!ข For instance, an insurance agency faxed me the following reason to choose them over their competitors: ขWe will be there for you when you have a claim.ข Well I would hope so! You’re an insurance agency! Isn’t that what you do?

These statements are about like the haircutter telling you that your hair will be shorter after it’s cut, or the gas station telling you you’ll have more gas after you fill the tank. Always, always, always ask this important evaluation question whenever you make any claim. It will improve your effectiveness by 500% immediately.

Evaluation #2: ขWho Else Can Say That?ข Pay close attention to this one; the question is not who else can do what you do. The question is who else can say what you say. The answer is usually…anybody and everybody. We consulted with an auto repair facility that was by FAR the most awesome business of its kind. They put competitors out of business every yearand devour their market share in the process. Small problem: Even though nobody could even come close to performing at their level, their yellow page ad looked virtually identical to all of their cheesy competitors.

Try This: Look at your ad and look at your competitors ad, if you can cross out your name on your ad and replace it with your competitor or vice versa, and the ad is still valid, you failed the test! You failed to distinguish yourself from your competitors.

Evaluation #3: The Specificity Challenge. I could write an entire book on this subject…but suffice it to say for sake of this newsletter that you need to quantify all of your claims. Businesses fail to create a compelling case to buy their product or service. Instead they ask for their consumers business for no justifiable, rational reason. Quantify them in terms of:

1. Specifically How Are You different?

2. Compared To What?

3. Why Can You Do That?

4. What’s Your Advantage?

If You Want To Distinguish Your Business From The Competition… Build A Case Like An Attorney Would.

You need to realize that your business is on trial. Your customers and prospects are the jury. You’re the attorney. And it’s a life or death sentence. What will you say that will convince them to buy from you? What kind of specific evidence can you produce to PROVE beyond any reasonable doubt that they’d be a fool not to buy from you?

Get a FREE Analysis of Your Advertising! Simply email it to [email protected] or fax it to us at (650) 6492221 and ขStop Wasting Your advertising dollars.ข

Good luck with your marketing efforts.

Marc Gamble

Principal Consultant

MYM OnDemand Virtual Marketing Training Program

http://www.mymondemand.com

About The Author

Marc Gamble, the author, teaches business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals how to acheive bigger, bottom line results from their advertising & marketing efforts without spending more time, effort, or money. Learn marketing strategies and tactics to separate yourself from your competition and become the obvious choice to do business with. To learn more about how to improve your own Marketing Efforts and Achieve Better Results, visit: http://www.MYMOnDemand.com. Email: [email protected]

This article was posted on December 08, 2004

by Marc Gamble

Making Informed Keyword Choices

Making Informed Keyword Choices

by: John Calder

Marketers stake much of their livelihood on keywords, whether for proper search engine optimization or targeted payperclick advertising. One challenge faced by inexperienced marketers involves knowing which phrases to target out of hundreds of combinations.

Often, one will find terms which look good, but later testing reveals the terms simply don’t convert visitors to sales. If you performed your due diligence by testing and tracking all elements of the sales page (copy, graphics, price, etc), this scenario may leave you baffled and wondering ขWhy didn’t this phrase produce sales? It really looked like a winner!ข

Every search term presents us with the challenge of reading intent. What was the visitor really looking for when they typed in the phrase? While it’s impossible to know this with certainty, you can improve your ability to read intent from keywords, and improve the accuracy of your targeting.

The First Guideline: Pay Attention to Qualifying Terms

Are multiterm (3 or more keyword) search phrases more targeted? Not always. A narrow search indicates only that searcher intends to find a specific piece of information. It does not necessarily indicate intent to purchase.

For example, the search phrase ขbig blue widgetข points to a narrowly defined interest, but does not reveal whether the searcher intends to research prices, look at photographs of big, blue widgets, or merely discovered a passing curiosity after hearing about them someplace else. The phrase appears promising at first, but still presents us with a high likelihood of nonconverting traffic. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t test such a phrase, only that you are more likely to see a good deal of untargeted spillover traffic.

What you really want to look for during your keyword research is qualification. Specificity is not enough. So, how do you spot the qualifying terms that indicate the searcher is in buying mode?

You spot them by applying a formula to your keyword list. If you have your list in front of you now, take a look at it and see if you can apply the following parameters to any of the phrases:

Contextual/Situational

Urgent

Preferential

Relevant terms for contextual/situational searching might include:

Bad credit/good credit

Student

Divorced

Retired

Self Employed

When you apply contextual/situational parameters to your keywords, you should think in terms of ขfilling in the blanksข of the situation: ขIf I have bad credit, where can I get a loan?ข ขWhile I’m a student, what deals can I get on travel?ข

Searches qualified in this way indicate an active interest in finding solutions. Visitors generated from these terms may view themselves as still in ขresearch modeข, but the fact is that they are as ripe as they’ll ever be for a convincing sales pitch.

What about urgency? The most obvious terms to look for include: fast, quick, speedy, immediate, and so on. However, you may also find terms which imply urgency, such as : easy (the easier it is, the faster it is), hasslefree, preapproved, automatic and instant, to name a few.

Lastly, preference can reveal much about where the visitor is in the buying process. Qualifying terms pertaining to the sales process, to delivery (e.g., ขinstant downloadข or ขfree shippingข) and customer service all indicate a proactive search for solutions.

The Second Guideline: Know Your Industry

Inexperienced marketers often miss out on keyword goldmines because they make the mistake of focusing only on the data their keyword tools give them for broad terms. The tools and tactics one picks up in his or her marketing education are valuable, but they’re no substitute for intimate knowledge of the market. When you ขdabbleข in an industry you often choose only the most obvious keywords, and this leaves you in competition with all the other dabblers scrounging for top placement on those terms.

A much better option (especially if your field is affiliate marketing) is to educate yourself deeply on the vocabulary of one market at a time. Learn everything you can about this one market, its sub or spinoff markets, and anything else that helps you live and breathe the mindset of your potential customer.

When you do this, you will find a wealth of new keywords – words with which only an ขinsiderข would be familiar. These terms are not only more targeted, but they invoke a measure of instant credibility as well. The customer knows you couldn’t reach him if you did not ขspeak his language’.

The Third Guideline: Choose Terms Which Hold Synergy with Your Sales Copy

In the fight to squeeze out as much traffic as possible, it is tempting to bid on as many keywords as possible and funnel them all to one or two sales pages. A better tactic is to slice down your keyword list into subsets which closely match the tone evoked by your sales copy. Next, separate out the terms which you feel are viable but ขdon’t quite fitข, and create new sales copy to support them.

Why do all of this extra work? Well, there’s a little secret you should know about. It comes from a surprising place: the world of personal ads. Personal ads provide the ultimate study in ขshort copyข. Have you ever placed an ad on a dating site and found that most of your respondents focused on only one or two words in your profile and then wrote to you despite their obvious incompatibility?

People are often lazy and they are often hurried. Your customer’s eyes zero in on only a few words – those most important to him at that very moment, and the rest of your copy gets filtered away.

This is why it’s crucial that your keywords hold synergy with your sales copy – and by synergy I mean that if you intend your prospect to zero in on, for example, ขeasy web site creationข, then your copy should speak only to ease, speed and instantaneous gratification of your product, and not make mention of any additional, complicated features. Save those features for your copy when you target people on terms like ขadvanced web site creationข. Even if your solution offers both ease of use and advanced results, split them off.

Making informed keyword choices boosts your bottom line. Remember that quality always trumps quantity. Even though you can’t read your customers mind, the guidelines presented here will get you one step closer to dissecting it!

Copyright 2004 John Calder

About The Author

John Calder is the owner/editor of The Ezine Dot Net. Visit today and read more of his articles held online at: http://www.TheEzine.Net. RSS feeds are available

This article was posted on September 06, 2004

by John Calder

AdWords Campaign Set Up Tips

AdWords Campaign Set Up Tips

by: Chris Burgess

Itกs easy to overlook the basics of a strong AdWords campaign. Without them though, your AdWords campaign can be doomed from the very start. Follow these tips and you can be sure that your campaign will have a strong foundation for both short term and immediate success.

Use Proper Grammar and Spelling

It may sound basic, but ad text that uses slang, has misspelled words or doesn’t read clearly isn’t going to get clicked. If anything it makes your business seem unprofessional and could actually harm your businessก reputation.

Make sure that you spell and grammar check your ads. You might also have a friend, coworker or employee read through the ad text to make sure that it reads smoothly and makes sense. Input from others is invaluable when creating AdWords ads.

Start Small With Geographical Targeting

If you’re just starting out, try limiting your adกs distribution to one or two regions (e.g. for businesses based in North America, limit your initial distribution to the U.S.A and Canada). By starting with a smaller distribution area, you will be able to keep your costs lower and กfine tuneก your ads and keywords before you start to expand.

When you feel comfortable that your AdWords ads are profitable, start to expand several countries or regions at a time.

Scout the Competition

Chances are, no matter what kind of product you are selling, you will have a competitor who is already selling something similar and advertising it on AdWords. Search for the terms you wish to use on Google to see what kinds of ads your competitors are writing.

You might even try a tool like GoogSpy to see exactly what terms your competitors are buying.

Pay close attention to the terms they use, the deals or incentives they offer and the titles they use. You can learn a lot from your competitors. You don’t want your ads to be exactly like theirs, but you can use elements from each competitor to make your ads perform even better.

About The Author

Chris Burgess is a Marketing Expert with BuyItSellIt.com Online Stores (http://www.buyitsellit.com). He has established and maintained successful pay per click campaigns for BuyItSellIt.com and many of its customers. To build an online store for your small business quickly and easily, sign up for your own free 30day trial online store at BuyItSellIt.com.

This article was posted on August 22

by Chris Burgess

Broad, Phrase, Exact, Negative Four Google AdWor

Broad, Phrase, Exact, Negative Four Google AdWords terms you must know for advertising success

by: Rob Barrett

A few days ago, I was setting up my latest Google AdWords campaign. My brother was watching me work through the process, and he asked me:

กWhy do you put quotation marks and square brackets around some keywords?ก

I was a bit surprised to realise that I couldn’t actually answer him not in any definite way, at least. So, I set to work finding out what the matching options mean, and how they affect results.

First up is the default, Broad Match. This is where a keyword phrase is written as is, for example: google adwords

This method means that your Ad will potentially be shown to anyone searching for กgoogleก and กadwordsก, in any order and possibly with other terms. So, anyone searching for กadwords google helpก could see your Ad.

Next is Phrase Match. This is where a keyword phrase is enclosed by quotation marks, for example: กgoogle adwordsก

This is essentially the next step up from Broad Match your Ad could be shown to anyone searching for กgoogleก and กadwordsก, but only in that order, and possibly with other terms included in the search. So, กhow to start a google adwords campaignก could trigger your Ad to be shown.

The last in the กpositiveก matching options is Exact Match. This is where your keyword phrase is enclosed by square brackets, for example: [google adwords]

This is the most specific of the three types. In this case, your advert will only be shown if somebody searches for กgoogle adwordsก in that order and with no other terms.

These options each have their own merits, but generally, the more specific the search term, the higher your CTR (Click Through Rate).

If you have a small niche to start with, then Broad Match will give you the most exposure. The downside is that the large number of triggering phrases could push your CPC (cost per click) up, as a result of competition.

Larger markets require highlytargeted Ads, and this is where Exact Match (and Phrase Match, to an extent) comes into play. Imagine trying to get clicks from keywords such as กcar partsก compared to กford fiesta rear wheel bearingก. Obviously, the more specific your keyword terms, the more likely you are to get an interested visitor to your site.

The last of the keyword matching options is Negative Keyword. This is where a keyword is precluded by a minus sign, for example: tricks

This stops your Ad from being shown if somebody searches using that term. For example, กgoogle adwords tricksก would stop your Ad from being shown.

This is useful for prequalifying prospect clients if you are trying to sell something, then กfreeก would be a good term to include in your Keyword list.

Of course, as with any marketing campaign, which of these methods will work best for you is unpredictable, so always remember to test, test test!

If you need more help with setting up your Google AdWords campaign, this particular resource is one that I found useful when starting up:

Adword Equalizer (www.robbarrett.co.uk/recommendations_marketing/googleadwordequalizer.php)

Best of luck with your Google AdWords campaign!

About The Author

Rob Barrett is a professional web designer based in Dorset, England. To read more free articles on Internet Marketing and Google AdWords, visit: http://articles.robbarrett.com.

This article was posted on September 11

by Rob Barrett

AdWords Campaign Set Up Advanced Tips

AdWords Campaign Set Up Advanced Tips

by: Chris Burgess

Make Your Ads Different

Your completed AdWords ads are going to run right along side everyone elseกs. You need to use words that will make yours stand out. Again, here is where you need to look at your competitors ads to see what they are saying. Once youกve done that, you need to figure out how to make yours stand out.

Don’t use the same terms at beginning of titles and sentences. Think of synonyms for more commonly used words. Think of different ways to say things.

Whatever you do, make your ad different. If it stands out, for the right reasons, you will get more clicks.

Run Several Different Ads at Once For Each Ad Group

AdWords allows you to run as many ads as you would like for each ก Ad Groupก (keyword group). Take advantage of this feature. Don’t limit yourself to only one ad. Run two or three different ads for each Ad Group.

Experiment with different wording in titles, different text in the ads themselves and different กDestination URLsก to see which ads get the highest clickthrough percentages and which have the highest conversion rate.

Keep the ads that make you the most money and delete the other ones. You can then try other variations of the ad that converted well to make it even better. Always run more than one ad, even if the กdifferentก ads are very similar.

Even a change to one word can increase your conversion percentages dramatically at times.

Consider Using Different กDestination URLsก for Your Ads

Your websiteกs main page may not be the page that best กconvertsก viewers into customers. If you’re trying to sell one specific product with an ad, don’t send people clicking on your ad to your websiteกs main page. Send them directly to the webpage for that product.

You might also consider designing specific กsplashก pages for each Ad Group you run. Each of those splash pages can then use the terms you’re including in that Ad Group. If your customers see the same terms on your web site that made them click on the ad in the first place, theyกll be more likely to buy your product.

About The Author

Chris Burgess is a Marketing Expert with BuyItSellIt.com Online Stores (http://www.buyitsellit.com). He has established and maintained successful pay per click campaigns for BuyItSellIt.com and many of its customers. To build an online store for your small business quickly and easily, sign up for your own free 30day trial online store at BuyItSellIt.com.

This article was posted on August 22

by Chris Burgess

How to Pick an SEO Firm

How to Pick an SEO Firm

by: Michael Murray

If you’re looking for an SEO firm, we recommend that you weigh 10 factors that can save you trouble down the road.

1. Check out their experience.

You shouldn’t have to try hard to find samples of their clients or their SEO performance on individual websites. How competitive are their search terms that are ranking well on Google? Are the search terms that are ranking well difficult terms to positionone, two and three word phrases, or are they easy terms to position because no one else is using them at allsix, seven and eight word terms?

2. Ask for testimonial letters.

Insist on letterheads from the clients that feature real names, not Fred from Cleveland or J.T. from New York. Call these references and ask them questions about the SEO performance of the company you are considering.

3. Ask them to document their process.

What policies and procedures do they follow? Are they consistent? Do they stay away from unethical procedures that could put your site in jeopardy with the search engines?

4. Get staff credentials.

Find out who is doing the work. You really need a team of people no one person can be proficient in every area of server administration, programming, marketing, writing, link building and more. Get to know the team a bit.

5. Be suspicious of money back guarantees.

Unless itกs superclear, you have to wonder about the details of the guarantee. If a firm offers one, including Top 10 placement, ask them to elaborate. Which key words are included? Just one Top 10? Do they plan to achieve Top 10 rankings among natural results or payperclick? Are the Top 10 listings associated with your web site or a supplemental web site the SEO firm controls?

6. Get pricing information.

Is the SEO contract for hourly, monthly or annual services? Get prices from a few other firms as well, but be aware that the scope of services may vary greatly from firm to firm. Insist that the firm you’re interested in explain why it charges more for services, if thatกs the case.

7. Ask about reporting. How many keywords will the firm handle? How many pages?

Find out whether youกll be able to access the latest data about your project. How often is it provided? Whatกs included? Some firms just send a ranking report. What other details can you expect in terms of the overall strategy, next steps, web site traffic and conversions?

8. Determine the firmกs ethical standards.

What are the firmกs practices when it comes to ethical standards and practices? How far will they go? How do they view doorway pages, cloaking and keyword stuffing?

9. Know your objectives.

You need to have some idea of what you want to accomplish when selecting an SEO firm. Do you simply want to promote your brand? Do you want to increase visitors and push traffic to retailers? Do you want to improve online sales? Which categories of products will matter the most in your campaign?

10. Come up with a budget.

You can submit your web site pages (not optimized) for free or through services that cost well below $100. Optimizing is another matterItกs going to cost money. Have some flexibilitythe level of service and the firmกs expertise will determine whether you pay hundreds of dollars or well over a $1,000 a month.

About The Author

Michael Murray is vice president of http://www.fathomseo.com, a Cleveland, Ohiobased search engine marketing (SEM) firm. A member of Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), he also authored the white paper, กSearch Engine Marketing: Get in the Game.ก

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 12

by Michael Murray

Buying your way to the top with Pay Per Click Adve

Buying your way to the top with Pay Per Click Advertising

by: Ed Kohler

Imagine if you could advertise ONLY to people who have actually expressed an interest in doing business with you? That’s basically what happens whenever a prospective customer or client types a phrase into a search engine that’s relevant to your business. But how do search engines decide which sites are worthy of top placement in their search results? It turns out that some of the results are ranked by the search engine’s computers while others are simply paid advertisements from companies willing to buy their way to the top using Pay Per Click Advertising.

Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC for short) is an online advertising format that allows you to buy your way to the top of search results pages for search phrases relevant to your business. Businesses buy advertising on specific search phrases, and are then charged each time a person clicks through to their web site.

How does this work?

Try running a search on a major search engine like Yahoo or Google for a common consumer product like ขDVD players.ข When reviewing the results, you’ll likely see a set of results labeled as ขSponsor Resultsข or ขSponsored Linkข. Some results may appear in the same format as the main search results on the page, while others are listed within colored text boxes along the site of the page. All of those results are paid advertisements from the sites listed within the ads.

The ads are ranked based on how much a business is willing to pay to advertise on each search phrase. In the example search for ขDVD playersข the current top advertiser is currently paying $0.81 per click – one penny more than the #2 advertiser.

The ads are purchased through pay per click advertising suppliers, and the two largest happen to be owned by Google and Yahoo. Google’s program is called Adwords and displays results on Google.com, AOL, Ask Jeeves, many smaller search engines. Yahoo’s program is run by an acquired company called Overture, and the results appear on Yahoo, MSN, AltaVista, and many other syndication partners.

Why should I pay for traffic?

For businesses that have had success with search engine optimization, the idea of paying for visitors is not particularly enticing. However, if you can make more money off a visitor to your web site than it costs to get them there, why wouldn’t you pay for those visitors? Keep in mind that you can choose exactly what search terms you want to advertise on, and you only pay when a searcher actually clicks on your ad, so it generally comes down to deciding how much you can afford to spend for those visitors rather than whether it’s worth doing at all.

How much should I spend?

The main factors influencing how much money can be spent on a PPC campaign are:

1. How many searches are conducted per month using phrases relevant to your business?

2. How much are you, along with your competitors, willing to pay for those terms?

The average monthly ad spend on PPC advertising is a couple thousand dollars, but this varies immensely from less than $50/month for regionally targeted and niche businesses to millions a month by large national retailers.

The goal of any advertising campaign should be to bring in more money from the campaign than it costs to run it. Pay Per Click is no different, but the level of detail you can measure in PPC is significantly higher than most types of advertising. For example, with relatively inexpensive (some are even free) tools, you can determine which ads are generating sales or leads for your business. Beyond that, you can determine how much money you spent on a specific ad to generate a sale or a lead. By measuring what’s working, you can aggressively advertise on terms that prove to be winners for your business while shutting down ads that don’t deliver.

Tips for Success

1. Advertise on a large number of relevant search phrases. Brainstorm beyond the first dozen terms that come to mind to describe your business. Advertise on the terms used to describe your products, the product names, product codes, and the questions a prospect might type into a search engine that your services answer, and more.

2. Build unique ads for each search phrase. It takes a lot more time to write a unique ad for each search phrase relevant to your business rather than creating one ad for all of your search phrases, but the extra work will definitely be rewarded. Ads that are aligned with the corresponding search term receive more clicks, which will mean more targeted traffic, and in some cases paying less per click (on Google Adwords) due to the intricacies of how the advertising is priced.

3. Send visitors to the most appropriate page of your web site. If you place an ad for a specific product within your online store, don’t send visitors to your homepage and force them to dig for what they just searched. This will frustrate your visitors and increase the chance that they’ll hit the dreaded Back button.

4. Track your results. Spending money without measuring the return on your investment is not a good business practice. At the very least, consider installing the free tracking tools available through Google Adwords and Overture to measure which terms are delivering results for your business. Beyond that, consider using a 3rd party statistics tool with conversion analysis to compile the results of your various pay per click programs into one easy to manage interface.

Go for it

People are searching for what you sell at this very moment! If your site is not showing up near the top of the results, your competition thanks you.

About The Author

Ed Kohler is the President of Haystack In A Needle, Inc., a web marketing firm in Minneapolis, MN, offering search engine optimization and pay per click advertising consulting services.

HaystackInANeedle.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 27, 2004

by Ed Kohler

Attack Smaller Searches To Get The Big Ones!

Attack Smaller Searches To Get The Big Ones!

by: Martin Lemieux

Searching online can not only be fun, but you sometimes need to be downright inventive.
For those of you who have been searching online for years now, youกve probably adapted ways & techniques to find what you are looking for quickly.
Unfortunately when it comes to promoting your site, nothing out there is classified as a quick fix. If people say itกs a quick fix, it probably has a major risk attached to it.
Your ultimate goal when promoting your site should be to acquire some of those กBigก search terms online! For example, กMarketing Tipsก or กMarketingก in general. The only way to ever come close to the Big Dogs is to start small. Increase the search term and decrease your competition.
Hereกs an example of this, letกs use กMarketingก. Wow, what a powerful search term, but someone has to get it, right?
As of today, June 1st, 2004, if you search for กMarketingก you will get 72,700,000 results found within Google. Thatกs a tough one.
Going further, letกs add กMarketing Tipsก, you get: 7,560,000 results found.
Going a little further now, letกs add กWeb Marketing Tipsก, youกll get around: 5,760,000 results found.
Letกs go beyond that for our final search, letกs add กWeb Site Marketing Tipsก, youกll get: 4,940,000 results found.
Now take a good look at all those search terms, what do you see right in the middle??? You got it, that oh so powerful term called กMarketingก!
Are you starting to see the value of targeting larger search terms? (Larger meaning more words attached to it).
Eventually as time goes on, once youกve done your duedilligence and worked hard at targeting these larger search terms, search engines will start rewarding your site with much smaller and more difficult terms to acquire.
Another way to accomplish this is to target your local market 1st. Instead of targeting กWeb Site Marketing Tipsก as a whole, you can target กMarketing In Hamilton, Ontarioก.
By targeting the area you live in, you not only target your local market 1st, but you also setup your web site for success in the future market, which ultimately, is the rest of the world!
Letกs just say I was to remove กOntarioก from that search term กMarketing In Hamilton, Ontarioก, how many cities are named กHamiltonก ??? Many more than you think!
So in conclusion:
Don’t be afraid to work for your key phrases and set your web site up for success by targeting larger key phrases to increase your chances of better search engine placements. In the end, youกll receive what youกve been after all along, more exposure for your enterprise!
I hope you enjoyed the article!
Read more of Martinกs articles online here: http://www.smartads.info/newsletter

About The Author

Martin Lemieux

President

Smartads Affordable Web Solutions

http://www.smartads.info & http://www.smartads.ca

Eye Catching Print Design

http://3dimentionaldesign.com

Powerful Internet Marketing Tools

http://www.thewebclinic.com

This article was posted on June 03, 2004

by Martin Lemieux

Keep Your Navigation Simple!

Keep Your Navigation Simple!

by: Jamie Kiley

Navigation must be simple. Since itกs the backbone of your site, itกs imperative that visitors be able to understand it. Here are two tips on how to make simplicity a reality in your site:

1. Your link titles need to be understandable.

Visitors need to know exactly what link to click on for the info they need. Unfortunately, visitors frequently get confused and don’t understand what a link means. Consequently, they aren’t sure what info theyกll find at the other end of the link.

Often, a link name that makes complete sense to you will mean nothing to the visitor. For example, I once used a link called ‘resourcesก in the navigation bar of a site for a client. This section of the site contained various articles and links to outside sites with helpful information.

However, after a little bit of testing, I discovered that most people had no idea what I meant by ‘resourcesก. They didn’t know what kind of information was in that area. Also, when visitors tried to look for articles, they didn’t think to check the Resources section.

In other words, the link wasn’t doing anyone any good.

The difference between your understanding of a term and a visitorกs understanding of the same term can be rather drastic. This happens because you are so close to your own business and your own site.

Itกs important to remember that visitors don’t know nearly as much about your business as you do. They often have no background knowledge, and they might not know standard terms in your industry. Sometimes, youกll have to work to come up with terms and phrases for your links that are meaningful to the visitor.

Hereกs one general principle: Don’t use clever terms.

Although clever attentiongetters often work well in the offline world, itกs different online. In character with their generally hurried attitude, web users want to know exactly where they are going and what they will find when they click on a link. They don’t like guessing games and are usually not enticed by clever leadins. What lies beyond them is simply not clear.

Cleverness doesn’t belong in navigation unless you’re positive the meaning will be understood by everyone. You should avoid anything that isn’t straightforward and clear. Steer away from any terms that obscure what your links are really about.

Also, you should be very careful about using industryspecific terms. You might be suprised to find out how much of your lingo doesn’t make sense to people who aren’t familiar with your industry. Carefully evaluate each of your links to make sure you’re not using a confusing term.

2. Navigation options need to be kept to a minimum

The second way you can simplify your navigation is to make the amount of options manageable. Visitors tend to get overwhelmed if you give them too many choices. They aren’t able to focus. Rather than seeing each individual option, they only see a mass of links.

An additional reason not to include too many links is that you ordinarily shouldn’t send visitors in a lot of different directions. If youกve established a primary goal for your site (you have, haven’t you?), your site should revolve around accomplishing that goal. So itกs in your best interest to keep the options down. That way, you’re able to steer your visitors in the direction you want them to go.

Keep your navigation menus to 57 options or less. Thatกs the max amount you can have without losing your visitorsก concentration. Any more than that, and they aren’t able to discern an individual choice.

If you find yourself having more than 57 options in each of your navigation menus, try to pare them down. Itกs better to simplify the list and make sure visitors can evaluate everything than to cram everything in when visitors will miss most of it.

If you really need more than 7 links, group the links into a few categories. Although this can still get overwhelming, it helps significantly if you categorize links for visitors. They can latch onto one category and narrow it down from there, rather than having to deal with the whole list at once.

Overall, try to objectively evaluate your navigation from the point of view of a visitor. If you can, get input from people who aren’t familiar with your site or your business. Theyกll be a great resource in helping you determine whether or not your links are confusing or overwhelming.

About The Author

There are 605.6 million people online. Can they find your business? Jamie Kiley creates powerful and engaging websites that make sure YOUR company gets noticed. Visit http://www.kianta.com for a free quote. Get a quick, free web design tip every two weekssign up for Jamieกs newsletter: http://www.kianta.com/newsletter.php

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 29, 2003

by Jamie Kiley

Use These Highly Effective Terms In Your Marketing

Use These Highly Effective Terms In Your Marketing Copy To Pull Sales!

by: Abdallah Khamis Abdallah

It is always important that you use the right terms when marketing your product to potential buyers. The right term may mean increased enquiries for your product and possibly more sales.

Failure to use these terms may leave potential customers undecided or going to the competition to satisfy their needs. Your competitors may be making more sales by using these terms intelligently while you are still stuck with dry unattractive terms in your promotional materials.

In using these attractive terms care must be taken not to overuse them or to display mere rhetoric with no matching action to back them. You ought to choose which terms to use and when the right mix of terms may be used together. Circumstances may also not allow you to use certain terms at certain times and sound discretion must be applied in their usage.

Apart from advertising copy and sales promotion materials the terms may be suitably used whenever talking to potential customers. You ought to speak with confidence and emphasis if they are to believe your claims regarding your products.

Here is a listing and brief descriptions of these terms:

FREE: Perhaps the first and foremost of these terms. You ought to give the customer something free to persuade him to buy your product and not those of your competition. It could be free advice, a free report or another product of lesser value. But the free offer must be tied to the buying of the product otherwise you may not make substantial sales.

MONEY: Mention money and everybodyกs attention is caught. It could be กgreat Value for moneyก or a donation to a worthy cause or a sweepstake tied to the buying of the product. Find out a way of factoring the issue of money in your sales material if you want to make more sales.

NEW: If the product is new or if there are new facts or ingredients in the product then say so. It will create interest from potential buyers. Everyone loves new things and people are willing to abandon old unattractive products for new better ones. Some do it just to break the monotony.

SAVINGS/REDUCED PRICES/PRICES SLASHED/DISCOUNT: Customers want goods at lower prices and use the money saved for other needs. If you can demonstrate that the prices have been reduced whether by giving a discount or by selling at a lower price then you are likely to attract prospective customers.

QUALITY: You ought to tell your customers that your products are of a high quality to win their confidence. Mentioning a quality standard you have attained or showing a quality mark from a national or international standards body such as the International Standards Organisation (ISO) may easily demonstrate this

BUY NOW!: Don’t forget to mention this term at the end of your ad. Put it in a conspicuous place in a bold, big font size somewhere in your ad and it may work like magic. This term helps to inform the doubting prospect to take action now and not later.

LIMITED TIME OFFER: If you are giving away free goods with your product or are giving an irresistible offer it is best to make it for a short but reasonable time. This will cause whoever is interested in what you are offering to expedite his buying decision so that he does not miss it. This is where the use of this term comes in. The use of this term should be used after taking into consideration the type of offer you are giving whether it is attractive enough to prospective customers and the quantity of products in stock whether they will be sold in sufficient quantities within the time offer period.

MONEY BACK GUARANTEE: By giving your customers a 30 days money back guarantee and no questions asked if they are not satisfied with the product if they return it in a saleable condition, you are demonstrating a measure of credibility and reliability of the product. Do not fail to give this guarantee. You will definitely win over the doubting customer by giving him the guarantee.

TESTIMONIALS: Provide brief statements from satisfied customers who liked your product and include their names and location. This shows that your product is genuine and has been tried and tested to some customersก satisfaction.

BENEFITS/GAIN: Explain to the customer the benefits he is going to get by using the product. We use products because of the utility we expect to derive from them and an explanation on what will be obtained from their use is important.

ADVANTAGES: Even if you do not mention this term, please explain the superiority of your products over you rivalsก products. What features are more outstanding? Is the quality much higher? Are the ingredients more and is the price lower?

ONLY: By specifying the uniqueness of your product you are very much likely to entice prospective customers to buy your products. This uniqueness may best be expressed by using the term กonlyก appropriately. This shows customers you have an edge over competitors, materials and products to delight their customers and stay ahead of the competition.

Please note that the use of these terms on their own will not make high sales without the presence of a valuable product and the right mix of factors such as a strong distribution network, attractive packaging and a strong brand name, an effective and efficient friendly customer service among a host of other factors.

The whole business must be geared towards providing better customer service and care and continually improve its marketing materials.

Mere usage of terms without ensuring that your products meet the highest safety standards and customer expectations will not do much to improve sales. The company must develop ways of measuring and meeting customer expectations if it is to gain and maintain a high market share.

About The Author

Abdallah Khamis Abdallah is a freelance copywriter and ghostwriter. To learn more about how you and your business can benefit from our viral and credibility marketing solutions visit his website at: http://www.qualitywritingsolutions.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 22, 2004

by Abdallah Khamis Abdallah

Keyword Ownership: What It Is And Where Itกs Heade

Keyword Ownership: What It Is And Where Itกs Headed

by: Richard Zwicky

Have you ever got one of those silly emails that offers to let you own a keyword? Silly question. How many such emails do you get every day?

A number of such services regularly email me offering keyword ownership of premium keywords for $300/year. They say that anyone can type the keyword I bought in the address bar of Internet explorer, instead of typing in a URL, and they will be sent directly to my site. In total it seems that there are about 2% of Internet users worldwide who have enabled one type or another of this system, spread out between a few competitive services.

Data shows that between 4% and 7% of search queries are performed by entering something in the address bar. By default for IE users, these searches are automatically routed through to MSN search. Many of us however have installed so much software over time, and unknowingly, some of this software has rerouted these search queries to other search portals, such as iGetNet, or others. This often happens if youกve installed any file sharing software. We have all heard / read about how many extra กfeaturesก come with programs like Kazaa. This means that your default search from the address bar may no longer be MSN, and may have been rerouted elsewhere, but the basic principle still applies. Of the queries that are actually run from an address bar, at least half of them are unintentionally instigated by people mistyping the desired URL. This means that between 2% and 4% of Internet users actually search via their address bar.

So how exactly do these address bars work? There are many of these companies offering this kind of service, with each one of them selling the very same keywords to different and sometimes competing companies. To make things worse, the keywords you might buy will only work with the issuing companys proprietary address bar plugin. Then, to actually offer search capabilities from the address bar, each of these service providers needs to get individual Internet users to download and install their plugin, and remember to run searches from the address bar.

How effective can a marketing strategy of this nature be when the various tools are not interchangeable, there are numerous competitors selling the same key words to different companies, and you are targeting only a small fraction of Internet users? If your ad is being displayed because its similar to the search query, are you paying for irrelevant results? This can happen; If there is not a perfect match to a search query, the next closest match may be displayed.

Competing with these companies is any search engine that offers its own toolbar. You can download a toolbar from any number of engines, and run searches on any key word or phrase quickly and easily. You then get the search engines selection of closest matches, from all the web sites they have indexed. They offer more than just one choice, and dont cost anything

Who Started This?

Started in 1998, Realnames was the first company that tied searching via the address bar to a web browser. At the time, it was touted as a value added solution for businesses around the world who were attempting to get their products found quickly, but didn’t want customers to have to wade through a sea of Web addresses to reach their destination.

In part, it was deemed necessary because so few web site operators were search engine savvy, and fewer still knew anything about search engine optimization and promotion. What the Realnames solution did was allow a web site operator to buy a keyword, and then when any user of Internet Explorer would type that keyword into the IE address toolbar, they would get directed to the web site that owned the keyword.

The company hoped to profit from businesses which wanted to reach Internet users who would type keywords into their browsers address bar instead of remembering the url, or going through a standard search interface.

Unfortunately for the company, the service was entirely dependent on Microsoft; and when Microsoft stopped supporting the technology in May 2002, the company was forced to close. The reason it was so totally dependent was simple; Unlike the new companies on the market today, Realnames did not depend on an end user downloading and installing a plugin, instead it was essentially integrated into Internet Explorer by Microsoft. Therefore everyone who used IE automatically had the plugin.

The Legal Question

Each of the companies offering these services has a policy designed to ensure that a web site only buys keywords related to their content, and their review process is designed to keep cybersquatters from hijacking popular names and products. Unfortunately, there is no way to guarantee that any one of these keyword ownership services adheres to any naming standard, or even ensures that any purchaser has the legal right to any of the terms they are buying. This means that the rights to copyrighted material like กPepsiก or generic words like กbusinessก could end up in the hands of the first buyer. While Pepsi is a well known brand name, there are millions of copyrighted and trademark protected terms, covered in multiple jurisdictions. It would not be cost effective or practical for these services to police copyright and trademark infringement.

In the summer of 1999, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, denied Playboyกs request for an injunction barring a search engine from selling advertising based on the terms playboyand playmate. In the precedent setting ruling regarding keyword advertising, Judge Stotler of the United States District Court in Santa, Ana, California, dismissed a lawsuit brought by Playboy Enterprises against the search engine Excite, Inc. and Netscape. The ruling limited the online rights of trademark holders, as it recognized that a trademark may be used without authorization by search engines in advertising sales practices.

Playboy claimed that the search engines were displaying paid banner ads from pornographic web sites whenever กplayboyก or กplaymateก were used as a search term. As the owner of the trademarks for both terms, Playboy argued that the use of its trademarks for a third party sales scheme was trademark infringement and branding dilution.

In the ruling dismissing Playboyกs case, the Judge found that Excite had not used the trademarks กplayboyก and กplaymateก in an unlawful manner. This was because Excite had not used the trademarked words to identify Excites own goods or services and therefore trademark infringement laws did not apply. It was further determined that even if there was trademark usage, there was no infringement because there was no evidence that consumers confused Playboy products with the services of Excite or Netscape.

What about within Meta Tags?

Is it illegal to use trademarked terms in your meta tags? Sometimes. The problem occurs with how and why you are using the terms. Web sites that use the tags in a deceptive manner have lost legal battles. However, legitimate reasons to use the terms have resulted in successful defenses.

In a case involving Playboy, the firm was able to prove trademark infringement, based on use of their trademark in meta tags, url and content on the web site. The case was filed by the firm against web site operators for stuffing their web pages with the words Playboyand Playmatehundreds of times. Furthermore, the defendants were also using the terms Playboy and Playmate in the site names, URLs, and slogans. In this case the Judge ruled for Playboy, as there was a clear case of trademark infringement.

In the separate case, Playboy vs. Terri Welles, the court refused Playboyกs request. The reason was simple. Terri Welles was Playboyกs 1981 Playmate of the Year. She had used the terms กPlaymateก and กPlayboyก on her web pages and within her meta tags, and the Court felt she had a legitimate right to use them to accurately describe herself, and to ensure that the search engines could catalog her web site properly within their databases. Playboyกs appeal was dismissed on Feb. 1, 2002.

In Summary

It is clear that if you have a legitimate reason to use a trademarked word or phrase in your web site you can. You may also rent their ownership from one of the keyword ownership companies. Be careful, though, it is possible that may get sued.

Does the technology work? Yes, but only for some of the approximately 3% of Internet users worldwide who have installed any one of a variety of competing plugins that enable this type of searching. I stress a fraction of the 3%, as you would need to buy the keywords from each individual vendor to ensure reaching all 2%.

About The Author

Richard Zwicky is a founder and the CEO of Metamend Software, www.metamend.com, a Victoria B.C. based firm whose cutting edge Search Engine Optimization software is recognized as the world leader in its field. Employing a staff of 10, the firmกs business comes from around the world, with clients from every continent. Most recently the company was recognized for their geolocational, or GIS, along with their phraseology technology and context sensitive search technologies.

[email protected]

This article was posted on November 11, 2003

by Richard Zwicky

How To Attract Buyers Using The Right Sales Termin

How To Attract Buyers Using The Right Sales Terminology

by: Abdallah Khamis Abdallah

It is always important that you use the right terms when marketing your product to potential buyers. The right terminology may mean increased enquiries for your product and possibly more sales.
Failure to use these terms may leave potential customers undecided or going to the competition to satisfy their needs. Your competitors may be making more sales by using these terms intelligently while you are still stuck with dry unattractive terms in your promotional materials.
In using these attractive terms care must be taken not to overuse them or to display mere rhetoric with no matching action to back them. You ought to choose which terms to use and when the right mix of terms may be used together. Circumstances may also not allow you to use certain terms at certain times and sound discretion must be applied in their usage.
Apart from advertising copy and sales promotion materials the terms may be suitably used whenever talking to potential customers. You ought to speak with confidence and emphasis if they are to believe your claims regarding your products.
Here is a listing and brief descriptions of these terms:
FREE: Perhaps the first and foremost of these terms. You ought to give the customer something free to persuade him to buy your product and not those of your competition. It could be free advice, a free report or another product of lesser value. But the free offer must be tied to the buying of the product otherwise you may not make substantial sales.
MONEY: Mention money and everybodyกs attention is caught. It could be กgreat Value for moneyก or a donation to a worthy cause or a sweepstake tied to the buying of the product. Find out a way of factoring the issue of money in your sales material if you want to make more sales.
NEW: If the product is new or if there are new facts or ingredients in the product then say so. It will create interest from potential buyers. Everyone loves new things and people are willing to abandon old unattractive products for new better ones. Some do it just to break the monotony.
SAVINGS/REDUCED PRICES/PRICES SLASHED/DISCOUNT: Customers want goods at lower prices and use the money saved for other needs. If you can demonstrate that the prices have been reduced whether by giving a discount or by selling at a lower price then you are likely to attract prospective customers.
QUALITY: You ought to tell your customers that your products are of a high quality to win their confidence. Mentioning a quality standard you have attained or showing a quality mark from a national or international standards body such as the International Standards Organisation (ISO) may easily demonstrate this
BUY NOW!: Don’t forget to mention this term at the end of your ad. Put it in a conspicuous place in a bold, big font size somewhere in your ad and it may work like magic. This term helps to inform the doubting prospect to take action now and not later.
LIMITED TIME OFFER: If you are giving away free goods with your product or are giving an irresistible offer it is best to make it for a short but reasonable time. This will cause whoever is interested in what you are offering to expedite his buying decision so that he does not miss it. This is where the use of this term comes in. The use of this term should be used after taking into consideration the type of offer you are giving whether it is attractive enough to prospective customers and the quantity of products in stock whether they will be sold in sufficient quantities within the time offer period.
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE: By giving your customers a 30 days money back guarantee and no questions asked if they are not satisfied with the product if they return it in a saleable condition, you are demonstrating a measure of credibility and reliability of the product. Do not fail to give this guarantee. You will definitely win over the doubting customer by giving him the guarantee.
TESTIMONIALS: Provide brief statements from satisfied customers who liked your product and include their names and location. This shows that your product is genuine and has been tried and tested to some customersก satisfaction.
BENEFITS/GAIN: Explain to the customer the benefits he is going to get by using the product. We use products because of the utility we expect to derive from them and an explanation on what will be obtained from their use is important.
ADVANTAGES: Even if you do not mention this term, please explain the superiority of your products over you rivalsก products. What features are more outstanding? Is the quality much higher? Are the ingredients more and is the price lower?
ONLY: By specifying the uniqueness of your product you are very much likely to entice prospective customers to buy your products. This uniqueness may best be expressed by using the term กonlyก appropriately. This shows customers you have an edge over competitors, materials and products to delight their customers and stay ahead of the competition.
Please note that the use of these terms on their own will not make high sales without the presence of a valuable product and the right mix of factors such as a strong distribution network, attractive packaging and a strong brand name, an effective and efficient friendly customer service among a host of other factors.
The whole business must be geared towards providing better customer service and care and continually improve its marketing materials.
Mere usage of terms without ensuring that your products meet the highest safety standards and customer expectations will not do much to improve sales. The company must develop ways of measuring and meeting customer expectations if it is to gain and maintain a high market share.

About The Author

Abdallah Khamis Abdallah is a freelance copywriter and ghostwriter. To learn more about how you and
your business can benefit from viral and credibility marketing solutions visit his website at: http://www.qualitywritingsolutions.com.

This article was posted on April 14, 2003

by Abdallah Khamis Abdallah