Tuesday, July 15, 2008

My TOP Three Strategies For Success With The Search Engines


By Derek GehlIf I had a nickel for every email I received from a customer asking how to get better results from the search engines, I'd have... well, I'd have a WHOLE lot of nickels!!In fact, it seems I'm constantly being grilled about the latest, greatest strategies for driving the MAXIMUM number of FREE visitors to your site.But honestly, I'm really glad so many of you are paying attention to the search engines...... because you're SEVEN TIMES more likely to get a visitor through the organic (free) search engines than through a pay-per-click ad!You can't afford NOT to spend as much time as possible improving your site's overall search engine performance.With that in mind, here are my TOP THREE recommendations for improving your free traffic using the search engines...Search Results Strategy #1: Speak your visitors' languageNo, I don't mean English, Spanish, or Russian! ;-)When I say you should speak your visitors' language, I mean you should use the exact words and phrases they use to search for your products or services!I can't TELL you how many times I see people building their sites around the words THEY themselves use to describe what they're selling, even going so far as to optimize their sites using the name of the product!Why is that a problem?Well, let's say you sell the "GutterClear 3000," a tool that comes in pretty handy to clean out all the gunk in your gutters without ever having to get up on a ladder.Now, let's say there are thousands of people out there looking for a really cool tool for hands-free (and ladder-free) gutter cleaning.Do you think they're all going to sit down in front of Google and type "GutterClear 3000"?Not likely, right? Chances are, they're going to describe what they're trying to accomplish, or what problem they're trying to solve ("gutter cleaning tool," "clean gutters without ladder," etc).So even though you've got the #1 spot on Google for "GutterClear 3000," the product remains unsold, because nobody is using that word to find it!And please, never assume. Use a good keyword research tool, like Wordtracker or Keyword Discovery, to be sure you've identified the EXACT words your potential customers are using to find you!Search Results Strategy #2: Make sure your pages are search engine friendlyOnce you've done your keyword research, and understand how your customers are searching for you, you can use that information to create a site that will appeal to the search engine spiders, which, in turn, will improve your rankings.The higher your site appears on the results page, the GREATER the chances that people will click on it!So be sure you use your keywords in your:
Title tag -- This is the title of your site that usually appears in the actual search engine results. Search engine spiders often look at the title tag FIRST to understand what your site is about.That makes the title tag one of the best ways to appeal to both potential visitors and search engines at the same time!
Headline and subhead -- By including your main keywords in your headline and subheads, and wrapping them in tags, you'll be tipping off the search engines that the site's content reflects what's in the heads and subheads, which is an SEO plus.At the same time, by displaying your best keywords in the headline and subheads, your visitors will see that they've come to the right place the second they land on your page... and be more likely to stick around.
Salescopy -- Because the search engines "crawl" your site looking for information about how to categorize your site, and also check to see how relevant your copy is, you want to make sure you include your keywords in the site's copy.But don't get carried away! Search engines can tell when you're cramming your site full of words JUST to get better rankings, and will penalize you for it... and you want to be sure your site actually makes sense to your visitors!
Meta tags -- Your description meta tag normally contains the "blurb" that appears with the link to your site on the search results.Your keyword meta tag contains your strongest keywords relevant to each page.Neither of these, on their own, will be enough to improve your site's rankings, but when done properly, they help give the search engines a more accurate "snapshot" of what your site is about.
Image (alt) tags -- Search engines can't "read" images, but they can read the text that you use to describe the images.This descriptive text, called an "alt" tag, is one more way to add multiple strong keywords to your site, again increasing your overall chances of being categorized for that particular term.Another way to use your keywords is in the way you ORGANIZE the pages in your site.Make sure that all of the information or products on a page are related or relevant. The LAST thing you want to do is confuse the search engine spiders with a mishmash of words on any given page that don't make any sense together.At this point, it's pretty clear that it's the WORDS on your site that give you the overall competitive edge when it comes to your search engine rankings, so resist the urge to "fancy" your site by using Flash, tons of graphics, or other unnecessary elements.The more clearly you spell out what your site is about by using your keywords, the better your chances of raising to the TOP of the results page!Search Engine Strategy #3: Keep your site up-to-dateLike death and taxes, it's INEVITABLE that your site optimization will change... and what's working today may not get you ANY results three months from now.That's because, over time, people, markets, search trends, and even keywords change...... so it's crucial that you constantly monitor your top keywords, and make changes to your site as necessary, in order to maintain your dominant position in the search results.You should be setting aside time every WEEK to make sure that you're still optimized for the best keywords!And if you CAN'T seem to find the time each week to do this, then consider hiring someone to help. Trust me: it's an investment that should MORE than pay for itself with increased traffic and sales!By following these three strategies for maximizing your search engine traffic, you'll not only improve your search engine rankings, you'll be able to send more qualified traffic to your site.But, of course, there's MORE to them than I'm able to cover in this brief newsletter...... so I've asked Kevin Carr, from our Search Marketing Lab's "Search Master's Program" to create an "SEO Whiteboard Series" to walk you through them all in detail.You'll find the SEO Whiteboard videos on my blog.To your success,Derek Gehl

How to Sell with Benefits... and Make More Sales!By Dwain JeworskiWhen it comes to your website, the MOST important elements are the WORDS you use to sell your product.People don't come to a website looking for pretty pictures or funky design elements -- they come looking for INFORMATION.... That's why you need to make sure to give them the information they need, in words that catch their attention and compel them to sign up for your opt-in offer or purchase your product.Unfortunately, when it comes time to writing salescopy (the words on a sales site), so many website owners commit a FATAL mistake: they focus on the features of their product or service -- in other words, what it does, how it operates, or what it looks like.However, good salescopy doesn't focus on the features of the PRODUCT -- it focuses on the USER, and how he or she will benefit from using the product.The difference between a feature and a benefit is this: A feature is something the product has or does, while a benefit is something it does for you.
A FEATURE is one of the components or functions of your product.
A BENEFIT is a way in which your product improves the life of the user. ... In other words, a benefit is an answer to the question, "What's in it for ME?"If that distinction is hard for you to grasp, just keep in mind that benefits are directly related to features. You can usually list all your features first and then go through your list and identify the corresponding benefits.Here are some examples of features and their corresponding benefits:
Feature: Deluxe Autowasher reduces use
Benefit: You save money!
Feature: You can wash, wax, and rinse with the same unit.
Benefit: You save countless hours every month because it's just so darned easy to use!
Feature: Sturdy, polished stainless steel construction
Benefit: Unit will last longer, so you'll save $100s on replacement costs. If you're still having trouble distinguishing between the two, ask yourself this: Did you buy a car with air conditioning just because it had air conditioning -- or because it would keep you cool and comfortable on hot days?Did you buy a minivan simply because it had anti-lock brakes and airbags -- or because it was safer for you and your family?... Do see where I'm going with all this?Benefits are not "quality and service" or "cheapest." They are the answer to "What's in it for me?" or "Why should I keep reading?" or "How will buying this make MY life better?"People don't want shampoo -- they want clean, great-looking hair. So shampoo companies have made their fortunes by stressing how their shampoo solves the problem of unmanageable hair, giving people shiny, healthy-looking locks.By offering benefits instead of features, you will create a higher perceived value, which will translate into MORE SALES.... And that's a HUGE benefit for you!

Do you have a question or comment for me and my team?Drop us a line at questionsforderek@marketingtips.com -- and you may see your question answered in an upcoming issue of The IMC Insider!Click here to visit our blog - we add new articles daily covering subjects that offer something for everyone.To contact us...If you have any questions, email info@marketingtips.com

Monday, May 12, 2008

6 Easy Ways to Drive Paying Customers to Your Site

By Derek Gehl Quality traffic -- it's the "Holy Grail" of online marketing. After all, there's not much point in having a website if your potential customers aren't able to find it!


This week, we're going to focus on some of the different ways you can drive quality traffic to your site. (And by "quality," I mean visitors that are likely to BUY what you sell on your site!) In this article, I'll talk about 6 of my favorite ways to attract more customers to your site. (And all of them are cheap or even freeee!)

And in the article below, two very special "guest contributors" are going to give you ANOTHER hot tip -- and talk about how you can use one of the 'Net's hottest communication tools to drive even MORE qualified traffic to your site! So let's get started with my top 6 tips -- if you're not using any of these strategies, the time to get started is today!

Traffic Tip #1: Give away content
This is one of the best traffic strategies out there... Simply write a series of short articles that are packed with useful information and tips, then submit them to online article directories and other free content sites. Not only will you get some great inbound links pointing to your site, which will help you with the search engines -- other people can republish your articles on their own sites, which will help spread the word about your business and build your credibility as an industry expert! Here are some article directories you should check out:
www.ezinearticles.com
www.freesticky.com
www.ideamarketers.com
www.goarticles.com...

Want to know more? Click here to visit my blog and discover what my other 5 traffic tips are!

4 Ways to Attract Traffic -- With a Blog! By Rosalind Gardner and Anik Singal
[Note from Derek: One of my readers recently asked me how she could use a blog to drive more traffic to her site. Since my friends Rosalind and Anik are true blog marketing experts, I asked them to provide an answer -- and they ended up writing an entire article for me! I hope you enjoy it... D.]

Blogging -- both writing blogs AND reading blogs -- has gone from being a "fringe" activity to one of the most popular pastimes on the 'Net. In fact, blogging is now a global phenomenon.

There are currently 112.8 million blogs in existence, with 175,000 new ones launching every day.... But did you know that blogs are also a great way to drive traffic to your site?

Blogs, by design, are built to quickly and easily attract traffic, whether it be from search engines or from a rapid influx of links. The moment you publish a post, your blog goes to work for you letting the world know that you've made an update - the search engines come running and you find yourself ranking #1 for keywords in no time.

Here are 4 ways to attract traffic to your site using blogs (and 4 reasons why you NEED to start blogging):

1. Long-Tail Keywords
Instead of using only the most obvious or generic terms related to the topic of your post, focus on more specific words and phrases, i.e., long-tail keywords. For instance, if you are writing a post about nordic skiing at Sun Peaks Resort near Kamloops, British Columbia, you don't want to target keywords such as 'travel' and 'skiing' which will put you in direct competition with Expedia.com, SkiNet.com and the like.

Instead, use "cross country skiing at Sun Peaks Resort" and not only will your post show up in a blog search, but it'll soon rank in the top ten in Google's organic listings as well.

Blogs are notorious for ranking high and fast for long-tail keywords. Over time with hundreds of these, the traffic is far more valuable than having one "highly competitive" keyword.

2. Bookmark with OnlyWire
Onlywire is a service that allows you to automatically bookmark your post on well over 17 high-traffic sites.It takes just a few clicks to do this every time you post. You simply click a button on your browser, type in a few keywords and hit "submit." Yes, the service is absolutely free.Onlywire is a great way to not only attract visitors but to also get the search engines running in to index your new post.

3. Leave Blog Comments
One of the best ways to get traffic and highly valuable links in the beginning is to leave comments on other high-traffic blogs in your niche.Finding these blogs is easy -- either just search Google or visit Technorati and find the most popular in your topic.

A couple of key techniques to use:
A) Don't use your name, use something catchy (or a keyword). When they post links to your site, they link the "name field" -- so as long as you use something enticing, you'll get people to click.

Or you can use a keyword and that way you get more search engine recognition for the term you are optimizing for.

B) Don't abuse this -- You can easily find yourself blocked from leaving future comments. Leave a comment that is useful and shows that you read what you're commenting on. Not only will this make the blogger happy but it'll get you more traffic and credibility.

4. Involve the Press
Too many people have forgotten how great press releases can be for traffic -- mostly because they don't know the "right" way of using press releases.The trick is to base your press releases on information that actually MATTERS to people. The easiest way to generate the valuable content for press releases is to quickly poll your readers (or get another blogger to help generate the results). So long as you can get at least 50 people to respond, you can issue a press release with your new-found data.

The press loves data, readers love data -- posts and press releases like this make their way around the Internet very fast.In summary, the above 4 tactics represent less than 20% of the ways that a blog can generate free and targeted traffic to your website.

If you don't already maintain a blog, you should seriously think about starting one up right away. It's the easiest way to establish a solid online presence. ... And if you're not sure how to go about setting up your own blog, don't worry -- we can help!

Simply click here to check out "Blog Classroom."There you'll find 130+ videos that will walk you through the entire process of setting up a blog, managing it, and making posts, plus over 18 techniques to drive traffic.

You can get started today and have FULL access for only $2.97! Just go to: www.marketingtips.com/blogclassroom -- and you can literally have your blog up WITH traffic in less than 10 minutes.

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Do you have a question or comment for me and my team?Drop us a line at questionsforderek@marketingtips.com -- and you may see your question answered in an upcoming issue of The IMC Insider!Click here to visit our blog - we add new articles daily covering subjects that offer something for everyone. To contact us...If you have any questions, email info@marketingtips.comTo unsubscribe, click hereTo change your email address, click hereOr, if you would prefer to use postal mail,please contact us at:The Internet Marketing CenterAttn: Newsletter Subscription Dept.400 - 1155 West Pender StreetVancouver, BCCanada V6E 2P4

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Friday, May 19, 2006

hope u like wat u see


love me ....
just the way i am

i gott a lousy body
but i believe i gott a lovely mind

and no
i wont shave Michele

Monday, December 26, 2005

wat do u do if u get up in the middle of the night and cant sleep?

Count sheep ?

Nah!
will tell u who is doing wat .... so u can chat

when it is 12 noon for u in India
it is 12 noon for devile, moonie, ashes, Fira too

it is 12 night for Anna fron chicago, Miranda, Dorky, Kerry, Shaee, Burfica, Opie, Justine, Ashley, Rex too

it is 4:30 pm for Keshi and Rohit now