I have been raving on about seo over the last few posts. I decided to do some research to find out how the search engines actually work. What follows is what I found out.
The search engines bring your website to the notice of the potential customers whey the customer initiates a search.
A ‘spider’ is an automated program that is run by the search engine system. Spiders visit a web site, read the content, read the Meta tags and also follows any links. Search engines use spiders to index websites. When you submit your website pages to a search engine by completing their required submission page, the search engine spider will index your entire site.
The spider then returns all that information back to a central depository, where the data is indexed. It will visit each link you have on your website and index those sites as well.
The spider will periodically return to the sites to check for any information that has changed. The frequency with which this happens is determined by the moderators of the search engine.
A spider is almost like a book where it contains the table of contents, the actual content and the links and references for all the websites it finds during its search, and it may index up to a million pages a day.
When you ask a search engine to locate information, it is actually searching through the index it has created. It is not actually searching the web. Different search engines produce different rankings because not every search engine uses the same algorithm to search through the index.
One of the things that a search engine algorithm scans for is the frequency and location of keywords on a web page, but it can also detect artificial keyword stuffing. Then the algorithms analyze the way that pages link to other pages on the web. By checking how pages link to each other, an engine can determine what a page is about and if the keywords of the linked pages are similar to the keywords on the original page.
Hope you found this interesting and useful.
Until the next post.
Hugs
Sharon
Friday, May 23, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Is PPC an alternatve to SEO?
Pay-per-click is a way of advertising on a search engine. The best known PPC is google adwords.
When a search is done on google we see websites that have been optimized for the keywords we entered into the search box and we see sponsored listings. Those sponsored listings will be charged each time someone clicks on them, but first there is a bidding process to determine who will appear at the top of the sponsored listings. The highest bidder for the price per click will get the chance to be the first listed in the search engine.
With this kind of advertising, you can still basically control your campaign as you get to create your own ad. You will also manage the target audience and still stay within the bounds of your budget. Most of the providers of PPC advertising will allow you to specify the target market, either by topic, industry or geographical location. You can also check if your ad gets to be shown at all and if it is competitive with the similar ads.
There are some guaranteed benefits when you get to maximize the PPC strategy.
PPC lets you advertise to the whole of the online community. It is also relatively easy to set up.
At first glance, PPC advertising may seem very expensive. Could it possibly happen that someone out there will go on clicking on your ad? This will definitely give you a large bill without the expected profit on your part. If this provides a lot of worries, be rest assured that there is a protection for you. Networks are able to recognize fraudulent clicks.
You can also set a budget for a certain period. The moment your budget has been used up by the target number of clicks, your ads will no longer be displayed until the next period you want it again displayed.
You will also be able to adjust well to changes in market demands and trends.
In deciding whether SEO or PPC will work best for you, think of your goals and resources. Take the PPC route for your short-term goals and choose SEO if you have long term ones.
In my website business I'm definitely in it for the long term, so I build my website with SEO firmly at the front of my mind. However, I have affiliate products that I want to promote to start earning money immediately, so for that, I use PPC.
Before even beginning to set up a google adwords campaign I recommend you do the 5 days to success with google adwords ecourse. It's free and could save a lot of money as PPC is not cheap if you don't know what you're doing.
Please feel free to leave comments for any of my posts.
Sharon
When a search is done on google we see websites that have been optimized for the keywords we entered into the search box and we see sponsored listings. Those sponsored listings will be charged each time someone clicks on them, but first there is a bidding process to determine who will appear at the top of the sponsored listings. The highest bidder for the price per click will get the chance to be the first listed in the search engine.
With this kind of advertising, you can still basically control your campaign as you get to create your own ad. You will also manage the target audience and still stay within the bounds of your budget. Most of the providers of PPC advertising will allow you to specify the target market, either by topic, industry or geographical location. You can also check if your ad gets to be shown at all and if it is competitive with the similar ads.
There are some guaranteed benefits when you get to maximize the PPC strategy.
PPC lets you advertise to the whole of the online community. It is also relatively easy to set up.
At first glance, PPC advertising may seem very expensive. Could it possibly happen that someone out there will go on clicking on your ad? This will definitely give you a large bill without the expected profit on your part. If this provides a lot of worries, be rest assured that there is a protection for you. Networks are able to recognize fraudulent clicks.
You can also set a budget for a certain period. The moment your budget has been used up by the target number of clicks, your ads will no longer be displayed until the next period you want it again displayed.
You will also be able to adjust well to changes in market demands and trends.
In deciding whether SEO or PPC will work best for you, think of your goals and resources. Take the PPC route for your short-term goals and choose SEO if you have long term ones.
In my website business I'm definitely in it for the long term, so I build my website with SEO firmly at the front of my mind. However, I have affiliate products that I want to promote to start earning money immediately, so for that, I use PPC.
Before even beginning to set up a google adwords campaign I recommend you do the 5 days to success with google adwords ecourse. It's free and could save a lot of money as PPC is not cheap if you don't know what you're doing.
Please feel free to leave comments for any of my posts.
Sharon
Monday, May 19, 2008
Using articles to build your list
We have spoken previously about getting visitors to your site using SEO. That's all well and good but we need a way to keep them coming back. Studies have shown that it takes a visitor being exposed to you at least seven times before they'll consider a purchase.
Many experts agree that the money is "in the list". If we can get people to voluntarily give us their email address we can contact them regularly, essentially reminding them of our existence. It also builds a relationship. People will only make a purchase if they feel they know and trust you.
So, give them an incentive to opt in. Offer a free ebook in exchange for their email address. In my case I offer all my subscribers Revenge of the Online Shopper in exchange for their opting in. The ebook contains common sense advice about protecting yourself and your money while shopping online. A lot of people are very hesitant about handing over banking details which means we could be losing out on sales.
(By the way, if any of you want to grab this little gem of an ebook to give as an incentive to your customers- feel free. You'll just have to put up with the odd ezine from me! But you'll cope. If you can't you can unsubscribe.)
Anyhow, once you've got people on your list, you'll need to send them promotional material that is presented in an interesting way that keeps them wanting more. The best way to do that is through articles.
Well written articles full of content and useful information will help in building your list as more subscribers will be enticed your list. Perhaps in each issue you could suggest that readers pass on the ezine to their friends. Their friends may enjoy your articles so much that they opt-in too.
The article need not go into the newsletter, rather a link to the article from your newsletter which has the benefit of people actually visiting your site. Who knows, they may click on some adsense ads.
There have been the rise for the importance of well written, information enriched and keyword packed articles for the content of their site as well as for newsletters. These articles provide the information many are seeking in the internet. If your site has them, more people will be going to your site for information and research.
Well written articles would also boost your sites reputation. If they are filled with many information you will be regarded as well informed and an expert on the subjects that you tackle. Your articles must be well researched so that the people will trust you. When you have gained their trust, they will always come for you for their needs on that subject.
In connection, you must write articles or commission them to tackle subjects that are closely connected with your type of business. If you have a site for a medicine tackling a certain disease, your articles must be about the diseases. Or if you sell materials for home improvements provide articles with those themes. Most articles searched for are tips, guidelines, methods, manuals and such. If you provide these articles to your customers and you have their trust, they will always go to your site for help and advice as well as for your products.
With the loyalty of these customers, they may subscribe to your opt-in list to receive all the information you have. If you provide them with the answers for that need, they will be happy to be receiving your newsletters as well as other promotional materials to keep them well informed. Others may even forward your newsletters to other people when they find a certain article interesting.
Make sure to keep your subscribers happy and interested in your newsletters and promotional materials. Keep on posting and writing good articles for your site and newsletter. If you are not interested in writing them or if you just don’t have the time, there are many available well experienced and knowledgeable writers available to help you out.
Many online businesses offer their affiliates access to many articles and, in some cases, allow the resource box to be edited to contain your affiliate link.
This is an investment that will pay for itself in time. And at times it seems to take a frustratingly long period of time to realise the fruits of your efforts!
Anyway, hope to see you on my opt in list.
hugs
Sharon
Many experts agree that the money is "in the list". If we can get people to voluntarily give us their email address we can contact them regularly, essentially reminding them of our existence. It also builds a relationship. People will only make a purchase if they feel they know and trust you.
So, give them an incentive to opt in. Offer a free ebook in exchange for their email address. In my case I offer all my subscribers Revenge of the Online Shopper in exchange for their opting in. The ebook contains common sense advice about protecting yourself and your money while shopping online. A lot of people are very hesitant about handing over banking details which means we could be losing out on sales.
(By the way, if any of you want to grab this little gem of an ebook to give as an incentive to your customers- feel free. You'll just have to put up with the odd ezine from me! But you'll cope. If you can't you can unsubscribe.)
Anyhow, once you've got people on your list, you'll need to send them promotional material that is presented in an interesting way that keeps them wanting more. The best way to do that is through articles.
Well written articles full of content and useful information will help in building your list as more subscribers will be enticed your list. Perhaps in each issue you could suggest that readers pass on the ezine to their friends. Their friends may enjoy your articles so much that they opt-in too.
The article need not go into the newsletter, rather a link to the article from your newsletter which has the benefit of people actually visiting your site. Who knows, they may click on some adsense ads.
There have been the rise for the importance of well written, information enriched and keyword packed articles for the content of their site as well as for newsletters. These articles provide the information many are seeking in the internet. If your site has them, more people will be going to your site for information and research.
Well written articles would also boost your sites reputation. If they are filled with many information you will be regarded as well informed and an expert on the subjects that you tackle. Your articles must be well researched so that the people will trust you. When you have gained their trust, they will always come for you for their needs on that subject.
In connection, you must write articles or commission them to tackle subjects that are closely connected with your type of business. If you have a site for a medicine tackling a certain disease, your articles must be about the diseases. Or if you sell materials for home improvements provide articles with those themes. Most articles searched for are tips, guidelines, methods, manuals and such. If you provide these articles to your customers and you have their trust, they will always go to your site for help and advice as well as for your products.
With the loyalty of these customers, they may subscribe to your opt-in list to receive all the information you have. If you provide them with the answers for that need, they will be happy to be receiving your newsletters as well as other promotional materials to keep them well informed. Others may even forward your newsletters to other people when they find a certain article interesting.
Make sure to keep your subscribers happy and interested in your newsletters and promotional materials. Keep on posting and writing good articles for your site and newsletter. If you are not interested in writing them or if you just don’t have the time, there are many available well experienced and knowledgeable writers available to help you out.
Many online businesses offer their affiliates access to many articles and, in some cases, allow the resource box to be edited to contain your affiliate link.
This is an investment that will pay for itself in time. And at times it seems to take a frustratingly long period of time to realise the fruits of your efforts!
Anyway, hope to see you on my opt in list.
hugs
Sharon
Saturday, May 17, 2008
More on Search Engine Optimization
My article yesterday spoke about search engine optimization and how there is no getting around it if you want to be successful online. In fact if there is a secret to being successful online I'd say there are two components.
1. Have a product that people want/need.
2. Get that product in front of those people so they know it exists.
People use search engines to find answers to a particular problem. For example, let's say you are marketing a product called "Fuel Magic" which cuts down fuel consumption by 75% when a tablet is added to your fuel tank.
Unless the customer already knows there is such a product available it's unlikely they would ever type "fuel magic" into a search engine. What they might search for are terms such as "how to reduce fuel consumption" or "tips on saving fuel". If Fuel Magic happened to appear in those search results my guess is that people would click on the ad (afterall who wouldn't want to 75% on fuel costs?)
Would they buy the product? That depends on a couple of things.
Firstly, how much is it and will the price stop people from buying it if it works out more expensive than what the fuel would cost? That would depend on why they wanted to cut fuel consumption. If their motivation was to save money, then no they wouldn't. However, if their motivation was to reduce green house gasses they might.
Secondly, if price wasn't the issue for them they would probably want to know whether the tablet would do harm to the engine, whether the car manufacturer would honour any warranty if such an additive was used etc etc.
The above two points would have to be covered in your sales copy. The point is getting people to read your sales copy in the first place.
We already have two ideas for keywords - "how to reduce fuel consumption" and "tips on saving fuel". Now, they both sound reasonable, which one do we target?
This is where keyword research comes in. Keyword research will tell you how many searches there are for each term, the number of other sites out there competing on those keywords, and other terms that people are searching for that you may not have thought about eg "how to save on fuel". The trick is to find terms people are searching, but for which there is little competition.
Keyword research is labourious and time consuming but soooo rewarding when you see your page listed on the first page of google! Trouble is, it can take many months to see results causing many newbies to feel that it is not worth time time and effort to do the research.
With SiteBuildIt, the product I use to build my website, keyword research tools are already there and included in the total yearly cost of having an SBI site. No need to pay extra for a tool such as Wordtracker although I do recommend Wordtracker for those that don't use SBI.
(It's also worth noting that hosting, development tools and autoresponders are also included in the price of SBI.)
Ignoring SEO guarantees online failure! Ignore it at your peril.
Hope this article was of some benefit to you.
hugs
Sharon
1. Have a product that people want/need.
2. Get that product in front of those people so they know it exists.
People use search engines to find answers to a particular problem. For example, let's say you are marketing a product called "Fuel Magic" which cuts down fuel consumption by 75% when a tablet is added to your fuel tank.
Unless the customer already knows there is such a product available it's unlikely they would ever type "fuel magic" into a search engine. What they might search for are terms such as "how to reduce fuel consumption" or "tips on saving fuel". If Fuel Magic happened to appear in those search results my guess is that people would click on the ad (afterall who wouldn't want to 75% on fuel costs?)
Would they buy the product? That depends on a couple of things.
Firstly, how much is it and will the price stop people from buying it if it works out more expensive than what the fuel would cost? That would depend on why they wanted to cut fuel consumption. If their motivation was to save money, then no they wouldn't. However, if their motivation was to reduce green house gasses they might.
Secondly, if price wasn't the issue for them they would probably want to know whether the tablet would do harm to the engine, whether the car manufacturer would honour any warranty if such an additive was used etc etc.
The above two points would have to be covered in your sales copy. The point is getting people to read your sales copy in the first place.
We already have two ideas for keywords - "how to reduce fuel consumption" and "tips on saving fuel". Now, they both sound reasonable, which one do we target?
This is where keyword research comes in. Keyword research will tell you how many searches there are for each term, the number of other sites out there competing on those keywords, and other terms that people are searching for that you may not have thought about eg "how to save on fuel". The trick is to find terms people are searching, but for which there is little competition.
Keyword research is labourious and time consuming but soooo rewarding when you see your page listed on the first page of google! Trouble is, it can take many months to see results causing many newbies to feel that it is not worth time time and effort to do the research.
With SiteBuildIt, the product I use to build my website, keyword research tools are already there and included in the total yearly cost of having an SBI site. No need to pay extra for a tool such as Wordtracker although I do recommend Wordtracker for those that don't use SBI.
(It's also worth noting that hosting, development tools and autoresponders are also included in the price of SBI.)
Ignoring SEO guarantees online failure! Ignore it at your peril.
Hope this article was of some benefit to you.
hugs
Sharon
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Search Engine Optimization And Why There's No Skipping It!
Setting up a website to do business on the internet is all well and good, but people have to be able to find it. Many people use search engines when looking on the internet and most will never look past the first one or two pages of search results.
Therefore, it is highly desirable to have your website appear on the first two pages of results and preferably the first simply because you have a high probability in being clicked when you rank that high. Then, if your website contains excellent content full of useful information on the search term the more business you will rake in. Remember people will not usually buy the first time they come across your business therefore it is important you capture their contact information.
Then, of course, after struggling to the first page of search results you want to stay there, and that takes work too.
So just what is search engine optimization and do you have to use it? The answer to why you have to use it is an easy one. You need search engine optimization to be ranked highly so that people find you. Search engine optimization is organizing your web pages in such a way that search engines list your pages when users enter a search.
Search engine optimization requires a lot of work to be fully realized. There are many aspects you have to change in your site or add as well to get search engine optimization. These will include getting lots of information about the keyword phrases that are popular in regards to your sites niche or theme.
You may also need to rewrite your sites contents so that you could get the right keyword phrases in your site without making it too commercial but light and informative. There are certain rules and guidelines to be followed with making your site’s content applicable and conducive to search engine optimization.
You will also need to collaborate with many other sites so that you could get link exchanges and page transfers. The more inbound and outbound traffics generated by sites among others are one of the components search engines uses to rank sites.
If you can part with some money, there are many sites in the internet that can help you in search engine optimization. There are many sites that help in tracking keyword phrases that can help your site. There are also some content writers that have lots of experience in making good keyword laden content for your sites that have good quality.
Act now and see the benefits garner with search engine optimization. All of these will result to better traffic and more business for your site and company.
In my next posting I will describe specifically what I am doing to get my sites ranked highly.
At the very least, what I want you to take away from this article is that there is no way out of search engine optimization - and it is hard work. But it is worth it, afterall you won't survive in this cutthroat business if people can't find you.
cheers
Sharon
Therefore, it is highly desirable to have your website appear on the first two pages of results and preferably the first simply because you have a high probability in being clicked when you rank that high. Then, if your website contains excellent content full of useful information on the search term the more business you will rake in. Remember people will not usually buy the first time they come across your business therefore it is important you capture their contact information.
Then, of course, after struggling to the first page of search results you want to stay there, and that takes work too.
So just what is search engine optimization and do you have to use it? The answer to why you have to use it is an easy one. You need search engine optimization to be ranked highly so that people find you. Search engine optimization is organizing your web pages in such a way that search engines list your pages when users enter a search.
Search engine optimization requires a lot of work to be fully realized. There are many aspects you have to change in your site or add as well to get search engine optimization. These will include getting lots of information about the keyword phrases that are popular in regards to your sites niche or theme.
You may also need to rewrite your sites contents so that you could get the right keyword phrases in your site without making it too commercial but light and informative. There are certain rules and guidelines to be followed with making your site’s content applicable and conducive to search engine optimization.
You will also need to collaborate with many other sites so that you could get link exchanges and page transfers. The more inbound and outbound traffics generated by sites among others are one of the components search engines uses to rank sites.
If you can part with some money, there are many sites in the internet that can help you in search engine optimization. There are many sites that help in tracking keyword phrases that can help your site. There are also some content writers that have lots of experience in making good keyword laden content for your sites that have good quality.
Act now and see the benefits garner with search engine optimization. All of these will result to better traffic and more business for your site and company.
In my next posting I will describe specifically what I am doing to get my sites ranked highly.
At the very least, what I want you to take away from this article is that there is no way out of search engine optimization - and it is hard work. But it is worth it, afterall you won't survive in this cutthroat business if people can't find you.
cheers
Sharon
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Top 3 Ways to Boost Your Affiliate Commissions Overnight
Hi everyone
Sorry I haven't updated this blog for a while but I have been away! My family and I spent the long weekend at Couran Cove. We had a fabulous time, but I was exhausted after all the bike riding, basketball playing etc etc. It was full on! The kids wouldn't let me relax at all! Oh well, at least I know I'm fit. The fact I had to push the bike along instead of riding sometimes is no big deal, my legs were sore... The kids thought it was hysterical. Oh well, good luck to them.
Anyway, I'm back and I have another "cheat" article. Yes, I haven't written what follows myself, but that doesn't mean that it isn't good stuff. It is and I hope you get something from it. (thank god for PLR)
hugs
Sharon
_________________________________________________________
Top 3 Ways To Boost Your Affiliate Commissions Overnight
The ideal world of affiliate marketing does not require having your own website, dealing with customers, refunds, product development and maintenance. This is one of the easiest ways of launching into an online business and earning more profits.
Assuming you are already into an affiliate program, what would be the next thing you would want to do? Double, or even triple, your commissions, right? How do you do that?
Here are some powerful tips on how to boost your affiliate program commissions overnight.
1. Know the best program and products to promote. Obviously, you would want to promote a program that will enable you to achieve the greatest profits in the shortest possible time.
There are several factors to consider in selecting such a program. Choose the ones that have a generous commission structure. Have products that fit in with your target audience. And that has a solid track record of paying their affiliate easily and on time. If you cannot seem to increase your investments, dump that program and keep looking for better ones.
There are thousands of affiliate programs online which gives you the reason to be picky. You may want to select the best to avoid losing your advertising dollars.
Write free reports or short ebooks to distribute from your site. There is a great possibility that you are competing with other affiliates that are promoting the same program. If you start writing short report related to the product you are promoting, you will be able to distinguish yourself from the other affiliates.
In the reports, provide some valuable information for free. If possible, add some recommendations about the products. With ebooks, you get credibility. Customers will see that in you and they will be enticed to try out what you are offering.
2. Collect and save the email addresses of those who download your free ebooks. It is a known fact that people do not make a purchase on the first solicitation. You may want to send out your message more than six times to make a sale.
This is the simple reason why you should collect the contact information of those who downloaded your reports and ebooks. You can make follow-ups on these contacts to remind them to make a purchase from you.
Get the contact information of a prospect before sending them to the vendor’s website. Keep in mind that you are providing free advertisement for the product owners. You get paid only when you make a sale. If you send prospects directly to the vendors, chances are they would be lost to you forever.
But when you get their names, you can always send other marketing messages to them to be able to earn an ongoing commission instead of a one-time sale only.
Publish an online newsletter or Ezine. It is always best to recommend a product to someone you know than to sell to a stranger. This is the purpose behind publishing your own newsletter. This also allows you to develop a relationship based on trust with your subscribers.
This strategy is a delicate balance between providing useful information with a sales pitch. If you continue to write informative editorials you will be able to build a sense of reciprocity in your readers that may lead them to support you by buying your products.
3. Ask for higher than normal commission from merchants. If you are already successful with a particular promotion, you should try and approach the merchant and negotiate a percentage commission for your sales.
If the merchant is smart, he or she will likely grant your request rather than lose a valuable asset in you. Keep in mind that you are a zero-risk investment to your merchant; so do not be shy about requesting for addition in your commissions. Just try to be reasonable about it.
Write strong pay Per Click ads. PPC search engine is the most effective means of advertising online. As an affiliate, you can make a small income just by managing PPC campaigns such as Google AdWords and Overture. Then you should try and monitor them to see which ads are more effective and which ones to dispose of.
Try out these strategies and see the difference it can make to your commission checks in the shortest of time.
___________________________________________________________________
Pay Per Click ads are a great way to boost traffic to your website. However, there is an art to writing the ads. I recommend doing the free ecourse on PPC by Perry Marshall. Sign up for theGoogle Adwords Definitive Guide 5 day ecourse here. It's free and no obligation.
cheers
Sharon
Sorry I haven't updated this blog for a while but I have been away! My family and I spent the long weekend at Couran Cove. We had a fabulous time, but I was exhausted after all the bike riding, basketball playing etc etc. It was full on! The kids wouldn't let me relax at all! Oh well, at least I know I'm fit. The fact I had to push the bike along instead of riding sometimes is no big deal, my legs were sore... The kids thought it was hysterical. Oh well, good luck to them.
Anyway, I'm back and I have another "cheat" article. Yes, I haven't written what follows myself, but that doesn't mean that it isn't good stuff. It is and I hope you get something from it. (thank god for PLR)
hugs
Sharon
_________________________________________________________
Top 3 Ways To Boost Your Affiliate Commissions Overnight
The ideal world of affiliate marketing does not require having your own website, dealing with customers, refunds, product development and maintenance. This is one of the easiest ways of launching into an online business and earning more profits.
Assuming you are already into an affiliate program, what would be the next thing you would want to do? Double, or even triple, your commissions, right? How do you do that?
Here are some powerful tips on how to boost your affiliate program commissions overnight.
1. Know the best program and products to promote. Obviously, you would want to promote a program that will enable you to achieve the greatest profits in the shortest possible time.
There are several factors to consider in selecting such a program. Choose the ones that have a generous commission structure. Have products that fit in with your target audience. And that has a solid track record of paying their affiliate easily and on time. If you cannot seem to increase your investments, dump that program and keep looking for better ones.
There are thousands of affiliate programs online which gives you the reason to be picky. You may want to select the best to avoid losing your advertising dollars.
Write free reports or short ebooks to distribute from your site. There is a great possibility that you are competing with other affiliates that are promoting the same program. If you start writing short report related to the product you are promoting, you will be able to distinguish yourself from the other affiliates.
In the reports, provide some valuable information for free. If possible, add some recommendations about the products. With ebooks, you get credibility. Customers will see that in you and they will be enticed to try out what you are offering.
2. Collect and save the email addresses of those who download your free ebooks. It is a known fact that people do not make a purchase on the first solicitation. You may want to send out your message more than six times to make a sale.
This is the simple reason why you should collect the contact information of those who downloaded your reports and ebooks. You can make follow-ups on these contacts to remind them to make a purchase from you.
Get the contact information of a prospect before sending them to the vendor’s website. Keep in mind that you are providing free advertisement for the product owners. You get paid only when you make a sale. If you send prospects directly to the vendors, chances are they would be lost to you forever.
But when you get their names, you can always send other marketing messages to them to be able to earn an ongoing commission instead of a one-time sale only.
Publish an online newsletter or Ezine. It is always best to recommend a product to someone you know than to sell to a stranger. This is the purpose behind publishing your own newsletter. This also allows you to develop a relationship based on trust with your subscribers.
This strategy is a delicate balance between providing useful information with a sales pitch. If you continue to write informative editorials you will be able to build a sense of reciprocity in your readers that may lead them to support you by buying your products.
3. Ask for higher than normal commission from merchants. If you are already successful with a particular promotion, you should try and approach the merchant and negotiate a percentage commission for your sales.
If the merchant is smart, he or she will likely grant your request rather than lose a valuable asset in you. Keep in mind that you are a zero-risk investment to your merchant; so do not be shy about requesting for addition in your commissions. Just try to be reasonable about it.
Write strong pay Per Click ads. PPC search engine is the most effective means of advertising online. As an affiliate, you can make a small income just by managing PPC campaigns such as Google AdWords and Overture. Then you should try and monitor them to see which ads are more effective and which ones to dispose of.
Try out these strategies and see the difference it can make to your commission checks in the shortest of time.
___________________________________________________________________
Pay Per Click ads are a great way to boost traffic to your website. However, there is an art to writing the ads. I recommend doing the free ecourse on PPC by Perry Marshall. Sign up for theGoogle Adwords Definitive Guide 5 day ecourse here. It's free and no obligation.
cheers
Sharon
Thursday, May 1, 2008
3 tips for affiliate marketers
Hi everyone
One thing I have mentioned a couple of times on this blog is the fact that you don't have to write every single article yourself. If you are time strapped - (and who isn't you can use PLR.
The following article wasn't written by me. I haven't even changed it slightly because I just haven't got time. However, it makes some good points so I hope you enjoy it.
By the way, if you want some good PLR for yourself have a look at All Private Label Content. Some PLR sites just give you a stack of PLR that you may not be interested in. All Private Label Content allows you to only purchase those subjects you are interested in.
___________________________________
Every affiliate marketer is always looking for the successful market that gives the biggest paycheck. Sometimes they think it is a magic formula that is readily available for them. Actually, it is more complicated than that. It is just good marketing practices that have been proven over years of hard work and dedication.
There are tactics that have worked before with online marketing and is continuing to work in the online affiliate marketing world of today. With these top three marketing tips, you will be able to able to increase your sales and survive in the affiliate marketing online.
What are these three tactics?
1. Using unique web pages to promote each separate product you are marketing. Do not lump all of it together just to save some money on web hosting. It is best to have a site focusing on each and every product and nothing more.
Always include product reviews on the website so visitors will have an initial understanding on what the product can do to those who buys them. Also include testimonials from users who have already tried the product. Be sure that these customers are more than willing to allow you to use their names and photos on the site of the specific product you are marketing.
You can also write articles highlighting the uses of the product and include them on the website as an additional page. Make the pages attractive compelling and include calls to act on the information. Each headline should attract the readers to try and read more, even contact you. Highlight your special points. This will help your readers to learn what the page is about and will want to find out more.
2. Offer free reports to your readers. If possible position them at the very top side of your page so it they simply cannot be missed. Try to create autoresponder messages that will be mailed to those who input their personal information into your sign up box. According to research, a sale is closed usually on the seventh contact with a prospect.
Only two things can possibly happen with the web page alone: closed sale or the prospect leaving the page and never return again. By placing useful information into their inboxes at certain specified period, you will remind them of the product they thought they want later and will find out that the sale is closed. Be sure that the content is directed toward specific reasons to buy the product. Do not make it sound like a sales pitch.
Focus on important points like how your product can make life and things easier and more enjoyable. Include compelling subject lines in the email. As much as possible, avoid using the word “free” because there are still older spam filters that dumps those kind of contents into the junk before even anyone reading them first. Convince those who signed up for your free reports that they will be missing something big if they do not avail of your products and services.
3. Get the kind of traffic that is targeted to your product. Just think, if the person who visited your website has no interest whatsoever in what you are offering, they will be among those who move on and never come back. Write articles for publication in e-zines and e-reports. This way you can locate publications that is focusing on your target customers and what you have put up might just grab their interest.
Try to write a minimum of 2 articles per week, with at least 300-600 words in length. By continuously writing and maintaining these articles you can generate as many as 100 targeted readers to your site in a day.
Always remember that only 1 out of 100 people are likely to buy your product or get your services. If you can generate as much as 1,000 targeted hits for your website in a day, that means you can made 10 sales based on the average statistic.
The tactics given above does not really sound very difficult to do, if you think about it. It just requires a little time and an action plan on your part.
Try to use these tips for several affiliate marketing programs. You can end maintaining a good source of income and surviving in this business that not all marketers can do.
Besides, think of the huge paychecks you will be receiving…
__________________________________________________
I will be going away for a couple of days so my postings may be spasmodic. And don't forget to check out All Private Label Content
bye for now
Sharon
One thing I have mentioned a couple of times on this blog is the fact that you don't have to write every single article yourself. If you are time strapped - (and who isn't you can use PLR.
The following article wasn't written by me. I haven't even changed it slightly because I just haven't got time. However, it makes some good points so I hope you enjoy it.
By the way, if you want some good PLR for yourself have a look at All Private Label Content. Some PLR sites just give you a stack of PLR that you may not be interested in. All Private Label Content allows you to only purchase those subjects you are interested in.
___________________________________
Every affiliate marketer is always looking for the successful market that gives the biggest paycheck. Sometimes they think it is a magic formula that is readily available for them. Actually, it is more complicated than that. It is just good marketing practices that have been proven over years of hard work and dedication.
There are tactics that have worked before with online marketing and is continuing to work in the online affiliate marketing world of today. With these top three marketing tips, you will be able to able to increase your sales and survive in the affiliate marketing online.
What are these three tactics?
1. Using unique web pages to promote each separate product you are marketing. Do not lump all of it together just to save some money on web hosting. It is best to have a site focusing on each and every product and nothing more.
Always include product reviews on the website so visitors will have an initial understanding on what the product can do to those who buys them. Also include testimonials from users who have already tried the product. Be sure that these customers are more than willing to allow you to use their names and photos on the site of the specific product you are marketing.
You can also write articles highlighting the uses of the product and include them on the website as an additional page. Make the pages attractive compelling and include calls to act on the information. Each headline should attract the readers to try and read more, even contact you. Highlight your special points. This will help your readers to learn what the page is about and will want to find out more.
2. Offer free reports to your readers. If possible position them at the very top side of your page so it they simply cannot be missed. Try to create autoresponder messages that will be mailed to those who input their personal information into your sign up box. According to research, a sale is closed usually on the seventh contact with a prospect.
Only two things can possibly happen with the web page alone: closed sale or the prospect leaving the page and never return again. By placing useful information into their inboxes at certain specified period, you will remind them of the product they thought they want later and will find out that the sale is closed. Be sure that the content is directed toward specific reasons to buy the product. Do not make it sound like a sales pitch.
Focus on important points like how your product can make life and things easier and more enjoyable. Include compelling subject lines in the email. As much as possible, avoid using the word “free” because there are still older spam filters that dumps those kind of contents into the junk before even anyone reading them first. Convince those who signed up for your free reports that they will be missing something big if they do not avail of your products and services.
3. Get the kind of traffic that is targeted to your product. Just think, if the person who visited your website has no interest whatsoever in what you are offering, they will be among those who move on and never come back. Write articles for publication in e-zines and e-reports. This way you can locate publications that is focusing on your target customers and what you have put up might just grab their interest.
Try to write a minimum of 2 articles per week, with at least 300-600 words in length. By continuously writing and maintaining these articles you can generate as many as 100 targeted readers to your site in a day.
Always remember that only 1 out of 100 people are likely to buy your product or get your services. If you can generate as much as 1,000 targeted hits for your website in a day, that means you can made 10 sales based on the average statistic.
The tactics given above does not really sound very difficult to do, if you think about it. It just requires a little time and an action plan on your part.
Try to use these tips for several affiliate marketing programs. You can end maintaining a good source of income and surviving in this business that not all marketers can do.
Besides, think of the huge paychecks you will be receiving…
__________________________________________________
I will be going away for a couple of days so my postings may be spasmodic. And don't forget to check out All Private Label Content
bye for now
Sharon
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