Affiliate marketing is one of the hottest growing trends in 2011. Whether you’re selling stuff and you need sales agents (advertiser), or you’re a power blogger with a sphere of influence (publisher), affiliate marketing find a true win win in the marketing world. Below are four top tips for affiliate marketers.
Align your passions with a profitable niche. You might have several passions in life. Some of those passions are able to be “monetized” easier than others. For example, if you’re passionate about making hemp necklaces, you might want to consider a different passion, as this passion will not yield enough income to build a family, afford a home, etc and survive on. The most successful people in the affiliate marketing game do some deep thinking on these two points.
Create a remarkable resource on the web. 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. Try to obtain testimonials from people that are willing to allow you to use their names and photos on the site of the specific product you are marketing. 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.
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 are not likely to take any action. 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 in a short period of time.
Offer free reports to your readers. If possible position them at the top of your page with a strong call to action. 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: closed sale or the prospect leaving the page, never to return again. By placing useful information into their inboxes at certain specified period, you will remind them of their past interest and they usually end up buying. Be sure that the content is directed toward specific reasons to buy the product. Do not make it sound like a sales pitch. I hope these tips were useful for you. Be sure to come down to our Workshop tonight if you live in Santa Barbara, CA – We will be discussing affiliate marketing and how it can help both a publisher and an advertiser to create more income from the internet. -Taylor
“SEO articles are extremely effective at generating more awareness for your business on the internet andcommonly used by search engine optimization specialists to generate top ranks on search engines.”
SEO writing is one of the fastest growing marketing mediums for small businesses today. SEO article writing is a strategic business writing style where the objective is to rank high in the search engines for a particular keyword or key phrase. Ideally, you will have several different keywords to use, and each keyword should normally be used at least once per paragraph – though the exact guidelines for SEO article writing vary from one company to the next depending on comfort levels with writing styles.
In the past 10 years I have written and published over 10,000 pages of SEO articles on the web for my clients, and my own web sites. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work under some very bright SEO writers, and I picked up some gems of web publishing wisdom from them. Below are a few quick tips that might help you write your SEO articles in a way that will increase your ranks on Google and other major search engines. Enjoy.
1. SEO articles are “strategic content’.
Search engine optimized articles are considered to be “strategic content” for your web site (relevant + keyword rich). Strategic content is essentially a block of informational (typically non-self promotional) text that contains the keywords that are important to your business. Google loves web sites that contain helpful, objective keyword rich articles.
2. SEO articles strike a balance between Ernest Hemingway and Google.
Always err on the side of readership and style, when it comes to stuffing keywords inside. The goal of the SEO Article is to drive people to your web site from the search engines, and do so in a way that is graceful, not spammy. In most cases readers will spend less than a minute glossing the SEO article, and then click to the homepage (internet surfers are usually in a hurry). SEO articles are generally 500-1000 word blocks of factual, helpful ‘informational’ text (writer is confined to a set of keywords). The title of your web page, blog post, blog article, etc, is one of the most important areas to consider. Consider adding your target keyword first like this: Keyword – 7 Big Mistakes To Avoid. The reasoning behind this is because Google considers the keywords in the beginning of your title more important than those at the end of your title. Also consider using this little tool for keeping your titles and descriptions within an acceptable character range.
3. SEO articles are ‘educational marketing’ (pull marketing).
SEO articles educate and inform customers in a non self promotional way (informational). Part of the success of a business today depends on the business owners ability to add value to the customer base through their web site. Adding SEO articles is one of the best ways to do this because they increase credibility levels at your site, and generate top ranks in Google search results.
4. SEO articles are typically written specifically for the search engines.
SEO articles help search engines find your product or service. It seems that the majority of writers today, including press release writers, are including SEO keywords in their articles to increase visibility in the search engines. SEO articles are specifically written for search engines. The reason companies today are writing SEO articles is primarily because they make the phone ring with new prospects. SEO articles generate awareness of a product or service online and help prospects easily discover your product or service. New visitors at your web site results in more sales and more success. Google loves to rank web sites highly that have helpful directories of how-to articles.
5. SEO articles are a different animal than Magazine articles.
This is often times a point of confusion for business owners, poets and journalists. SEO articles tend to be more factual in nature, not taking serious points of view on the industry, but rather, just finding creatives ways to connect the target audience with the search engine audience by using embedded keywords that customers use when searching for your product or service. In contrast, with magazine articles, the writer has full freedom of expression, and generally has a goal of getting the reader excited. The type of writing that you see in magazines is more motivational and compelling. With most SEO articles, this will not be the case and shouldn’t be the case. SEO articles aim to be short, factual, helpful and keyword rich. A greater degree of flexibility is typically afforded for the literary aspects of SEO articles for this reason. SEO articles are not written for a magazine or for your homepage. They are written primarily for the search engines and to build in-roads to your web site (links), and ultimately to generate more traffic for your web site. That said, they are still helpful and informative for the reader.
6. SEO articles have Twitter streams or RSS streams.
Google loves to rank fresh content. Hence, it would make sense to keep your pages (blog posts) fresh. You might consider adding a Twitter Stream (such as the one you see at the bottom of this SEO article) to keep the page fresh. *Adding video/audio helps as well in terms of keeping the visitor on your website for a longer period of time (time on page is measured as well when ranking websites).
7. SEO articles using a list based writing format.
This is because most people on the web are scanning, not reading. Most people prefer to read list based content. Just take yourself as an example, do you prefer reading big blocks of text on the web? Probably not. List based writing is a way to get your message across on the web. SEO articles utilize proper keyword density. Do not overuse the keywords. If you saturate the article with too many SEO keywords, it is difficult to maintain the flow and a style of the article. Always opt for readership over stuffing a bunch of keywords in the article. Google may even penalize you for “keyword stuffing” if your keyword density is too high.
8. SEO articles bold and italicize the SEO Keywords.
Bolding and italicization on certain text inside your SEO articles might score additional points in the search engines for certain keywords. Scoring systems consider bolded and italicized keywords to be more important (more emphasis) on the page. The same holds true for heading tags, such as h1, h2, h3, etc.
9. SEO articles use ‘anchor text’.
Anchor text is king, and the king rarely shows up these days. This is one of the most overlooked areas of SEO article writing, and it’s simply a matter of internally linking 5-10 key phrases to relevant pages inside your site. Do not hyperlink the same target keyword back to itself. When linking keywords and keyphrases, try to make sure they have a handshake with the h1 tag and the title of the page you are linkingto. Also, double check that all links are using target=”blank” so they will open in a new window, which of course increases the numbers of instances of your brand in front of your customer. One of the best places to add anchor text is inside your “About The Author” box at the end of your article. Here’s a handy author box tool that might help you with formatting.
10. SEO articles use proper alt text on images.
Search engines cannot read images. They rely on ‘alt text’ (an html code tag, i.e. an alt tag), to help identify the image. Hence, it makes sense to use those SEO keywords inside the alt tags. Images really help spruce up your SEO article, and I always use an image in the very last line of the SEO article, embedded with the target keyword for that keyword.
These are just a few points to consider when writing SEO articles. I hope you enjoyed these tips on SEO article writing. I love to use a military analogy in the workshops I teach here in Santa Barbara: “Every page / post of your web site is like a ‘special operations’ agent. Their mission (should they accept it) is to rank for a particular keyword. Marketing is a battlefield. Are you winning in the search engine wars?
The search engines are constantly evolving and keeping writers guessing on the best practices. Remember, practice makes perfect and the best way to approach SEO article writing is to focus on the user first, and robots second. Consider following the About.com & Wikipedia writers and study their writing styles as they post new
Online advertising techniques are more important than ever. Over 81% of consumers are now making purchasing decisions online and according to a recent study by Comscore Research less than 7% of the websites out there are fully optimized. If you have a good product or service, then generating traffic to your site is a matter of search engine optimization. We offer SEO Services and other online advertising techniques for our clients who want to take the next step in internet marketing. We help other people find you in cyberspace, which is where everything gets noticed these days.
The explosion in usage of search engines has changed the landscape of internet marketing for good. Online advertising techniques are now a prerequisite for commercial success on the web. If your company is not utilizing natural search optimization, then its profile on the internet is not as strong as it could be — as it should be. In order to increase web site traffic and drive higher revenue, your website must be optimized for search engines. Search engine optimization services are all over the web, but they’re not all created equally. If you want affordable search engine optimization that is guaranteed to increase your web site’s exposure, then you want the Search Engine Pros. Our online advertising techniques are not only cost-effective and results-oriented, but they have been proven to work.
If you’re not happy with the amount of traffic you’d like to see on your website, my company can help you quickly and inexpensively to enhance your online advertising techniques. SEO is a marketing medium that is still largely untapped. If you’re a small business and can’t seem to generate any traffic to your site, you’re frustrated, you’re fed up with your e-business strategy, you have options with us! We are proud of the fact that our company is recognized as the web marketer’s web marketer by several local firms in Santa Barbara. Very few firms have pricing lower than ours — due to our outsourcing relationships and offshore contacts. We are one of the few SEO Companies that offer Multilingual SEO on the internet. Call us anytime! 800.605.4988 To your search engine success!” -Taylor Reaume
Not finding ‘commercial intent’ keywords.
Failing to study your competitors strengths and weaknesses, trust issues.
Having a search engine “un” friendly site.
Not having an aggressive ‘smart’ link campaign.
Blowing off LinkedIN, Twitter, Facebook, Ping.fm
Not doing Online Press Releases every month.
Guessing instead of tracking with Google Analytics.
Is your internet marketing strategy delivering the results you want? Are you in need of SEO services or link building services?
Today it has become a proven fact that no website can survive without Search Engine Optimization. Every niche is saturated with a high level of competition as a result all websites online have to struggle even harder to stay on top of competition. Without the help of good search engine optimization, it is not possible to keep pace with the competition.
The truth is that many companies are not taking full advantage of the power of natural search to improve web site traffic. These companies may neglect natural search for a number of reasons — they don’t know what it is; they think it is too expensive; they think they don’t need it. But the fact of the matter is that any company ignoring natural search for web site traffic is leaving a good portion of potential revenue on the table. SEO services don’t need to be prohibitively expensive; in fact, when you consider the revenue that properly-executed professional SEO services can provide, they’re a bargain. The same goes for link building services, which can not only drive traffic but increase a site’s search engine profile by an order of magnitude.
As most of the sites are built using CMS these days, it is important to build an SEO-friendly CMS. searchenginepros.com is one of the best places to turn to if we want to optimize and create an SEO-friendly CMS. Thesearchenginepros.com is one of the top Santa Barbara SEO companies that offer a full range of SEO services at affordable prices.
Search Engine Pros specialize in the optimization of WordPress and Joomla Web Sites. They not only provide a full range of SEO services at an affordable price, but they also offer reliable SEO services by employing only white hat search engine optimization strategies that are approved by the search engines. This is an important factor that you need to take into consideration while hiring your Santa Barbara search engine optimization company.
If your internet marketing company happens to engage in black search engine optimization techniques then you are under a high level of risk. Your website will be penalized or even banned by the search engines. Without good online reputation it is very difficult to reach success online.
They also offer complete link-building services. www.searchenginepros.com/link-robot.html.
It is commonly misunderstood exactly how Google indexes title tags. As we all know, the number one most important SEO factor is the almighty title tag of your website. This is a hotly debated topic in many search engine optimization forums and I am going to try to bring some cohesion to the topic with this article. In order to achieve a top ranking campaign, one must have a tapestry of knowledge about these little SEO subtleties. The issue I am going to discuss in this article is the character limitation issues surrounding the Title Tag.
Yes it matters greatly which keywords you use in your title. But what about the number of those keywords you use in your title?
It is believed that Google only looks at the first 65 characters of the title tag for ranking purposes! Untrue.
For those SEO folks that don’t know how to get the best out of their title tag for Google, here’s some great tips.
Google does in fact index and rank past the 65 character mark…in fact all the way up to 180 character quantity. If you haven’t done a test on this yourself, then please do so, you’ll enjoy an “aha” moment. Insert a long title with multiple phrases, 180+ characters, including spaces. Next search on Google for an “allintitle” (search google with the exact title of your page) and you should see it indexed.
That said, at the end of the day, indexing is one thing, using it for ranking is another. If you have an SEO background, you might have heard SEO Guru’s tell you, “Put Your Target Keyword as First keyword In The Title Tag”
Ever Wonder Why?
Google primarily looks at the 65 characters for ranking purposes.
The secret to this is that the first word of the last phrase you are targeting, must be within the first 65 characters, including spaces.
How do I know this? I tested the theory and every single time, when I inserted the target keyword within the first 65 characters, the page came up when searched for a term within the title only, using the above method, without the word in the body or any other facet of the page.
Example:
>This is your page title here …….. end of the 65th Character<Spacing Test
>This is your page title here …….. end of the 65th Character<
In the 2nd example you see where the 65th character cuts off.
Lets say that the “r” is the 65th character, – hence you will not likely get significant ranks for the keyword “Character Spacing Test” But you will get indexed.
What can we conclude from this observation? Pay close attention to your Titles and always put the target keywords first in line to maximize SEO benefit.
Regarding going over the 65 character title limit. I cannot speak for all sites, but I have successfully, (albiet accidently), obtained random top ranks for pages where by the title tag was longer than 65 characters. I have never read a post saying Google Penalizes for long titles, but I would surmise it’s likely pushing the envelope. Then again, perhaps Google doesn’t really care either way. It’s an unsolved mystery in the SEO world.
At any rate, I hope I have helped you to understand how to make the most of your Google titles.
Entering into the world of web site ownership for the first time? Knowing what options you have can help you make some important decisions about seo hosting and web design. The first decision is which hosting site will work the best for you? Look for hosts that include the two most important options: search engine optimization (SEO) hosting and web design. These are services that can be utilized together for great results. Here is why you should find a host that provides service packages with these options.
Web Hosting Packages
Web hosting is an essential service for website owners. A domain name is useless until it is hosted on a qualified server. Servers held by hosting sites are generally maintained, receive a daily back-up, and stay connected to the Internet so customers are never without you. When the web was first being utilized, the use of the server was all a hosting site provided.
This has changed with the enormous growth of the Internet. Experts on designing sites that attract and keep customers have emerged with valuable information. Your particular business industry may benefit from using a particular type of design.
In addition, with the advent of search engines, and the various algorithms they each use, knowledge about how to rank higher in search results has become essential to many web business models. Packages from hosting sites can include SEO and access to web design templates or one-of-a-kind site design.
The Importance of SEO
SEO techniques can change from week to week, month to month, or even daily in some instances. Tweaking optimization should happen on a regular basis. Keeping up with the changes can be fraught with frustration. Web hosting sites are now offering SEO tools designed to assist website owners in optimizing their content and their site’s programming code. Some offer human assistance as well as technology, either can be helpful.
Results for SEO are not a quick turn around no matter who makes the changes. Expect to wait up to 2 months before seeing a difference. Why? Search engines must return to your site to review any updates to content. Their schedules can require a wait.
Web Design That Attracts
Websites that appear designed by an amateur can drive customers away. Offers of web design templates can be very helpful to first time site owners or those without design skills. The navigation of a web design can reflect to a customer or visitor that the site is legitimate and capable. Many business owners make the mistake of believing web design is an easy task. If you intend for your site to become a marketing tool that is integral to your revenue goals, make sure you get professional help.
Other Web Hosting Service Options
The point of using hosting packages that offer SEO services and web design it to get your online as inexpensively and quickly as possible. Some hosting companies add other helpful services that may include a logo design for your company, content, and articles that are search engine optimized, domain registration, or assistance choosing the right template and colors for your design.
Website management and marketing can be a daunting task, especially with so many website marketing strategies available. Of course, there are many professionals who can assist with this, for a fee. On the other hand, if your budget is limited, here are the keys to affordable web site marketing.
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization is one of the most important aspects of affordable web site marketing.
1. Title each page
One way to do this is to make sure that each page has a descriptive title that uses as few “filler” words (“and”, “the”, etc.). This will show up as the hyperlink on search engines.
2. Make use of keywords
It also helps to pick certain keywords for each page—these are words that a search engine can key in on and help direct people to the website. These keywords should appear in the first paragraph of the page’s body, so that it shows up higher in the rankings. Keyword research and incorporating these keywords into hyperlinks is an even more effective strategy—search engines consider words that are hyperlinked in the main text to be important, so creating a few links that incorporate your keywords will really give the website a boost.
3. Keep each page focused
It can be useful to try and keep each page focused on only one or two keywords. This will ensure that each page appears unique to a search engine and helps maximize the number of times each keyword is mentioned.
Linking Strategies
Another key to affordable web site promotion is to maximize the number of links and clickthroughs that each page gets.
1. Include all location and contact information on each page
Many people use the internet to search for businesses. Including a business’s physical address and phone number, as well as any necessary contact information on each and every page of the website greatly increases the chance that a viewer will choose that service.
2. Submit to linking directories
Web directory submission is an excellent way to improve a website’s ranking and increase its traffic. One key directory is the Open Directory Project, a free service which provides content feeds to the major search engines. The Yahoo, About.com, and Business.com directories are also worth exploring. It is also wise to look for local and industry-specific directories.
3. Reciprocal Linking
Finding complementary sites and offering to exchange links with them—that is, setting up an agreement where each site contains a link to the other—is a good way of increasing traffic. A website called the Link Manager Plus is a great resource. Consider using link-building programs like Link Manager Plus to help find and catalog sites similar to yours. Finally, for all of these links, create a separate page so that customers are not encouraged to visit other sites before examining yours thoroughly.
You’ve been reading up on SEO (trying to figure out why your site isn’t working…) and you read over and over about how having fresh content helps keep your web site on top of the search engines. But…you STILL wonder secretly, do I REALLY need to blog every day?
YES! “A blog post a day, keeps the robots from going away…”
Want to hear real-world examples of how business blogging has transformed sales for local business owners? Join us tomorrow at 5:30pm for an hour of interesting and engaging conversation about Google, the web, and online marketing. Details here.
The Thursday SEO workshop is a group of local business owners talking about how to generate more leads from their website via google site optimization and pay per click. Attendees come to learn SEO and search engine marketing from other like-minded business owners who have developed effective internet marketing strategies.
When :
Thursdays Nights 5:30pm-6:30pm ADD OUTLOOK REMINDER Where :THE EAGLE INN (by Sambos) 232 Natoma Ave Santa Barbara, CA 93101
SEO Articles Perpetually Promote…
Content is what makes the web-go-round so….If you haven’t done this already then it’s time to start creating content for your site. Include lots of keyword-rich articles so that you get traffic from the search engines, then make sure you add an opt-in email form on all of your pages so that people that enjoyed your articles can sign up for your list (the most overlooked and most critical online business strategy). Keep in mind that you don’t have to write all for the content yourself. You can hire one of The Search Engine Pros Article Managers to write the articles for you.
How does my Article Manager know about my business?
This is a big hurdle for some business owners to overcome. It is important to realize that other people are smart too, and they can help you if you let them. Your Article Manager will research your business, and often times they present information that you were unaware of about your industry and field. With the advent of the internet, knowledge is everywhere. In the old days, just having access to knowledge made you powerful. Today, it’s how you filter that knowledge and apply it. The difficult part for business owners today is letting go of the idea that they are the “only” or the “best” offering in the market place, and instead of sharing ideas with others and collaborating. Writing is a passion for some people. The smartest business owners stick to what they are good at and let others do what they are good at.
How are these special search engine articles written?
The SEO articles will be 500 words each and written in a list based format (most people on the web are scanning, and not reading, and people love list based writing on the web). The SEO article is written around a predetermined niche keyword with proper keyword density.
Does the article “trick” the search engines?
The article writer does not engage in any keyword stuffing or tricky practices. The articles we write are 100% compliant with search engine guidelines. Did you know that search engines (Google themselves!) recommend that you include the keywords in your articles that you wish to be found for. It helps them to better match up the search engine visitors coming to your web site, which also helps the search engine to be more relevant. The writer will include the important keywords that you wish to be found for inside the article.
On March 4 and 5, 2011, Santa Barbara, CA, you’ll have a rare Santa Barbara networking opportunity with Taylor Reaume, founder of Search Engine Pros. Taylor Reaume is one of the many seasoned business leaders you will meet at the upcoming Women’s Festival at the Earl Warren Showgrounds. If you are interested in learning about the importance of education and women empowerment, you do not want to miss this unique Santa Barbara festival that seeks to empower women and celebrate Women’s History month.
Santa Barbara Event Of The Year
The Women’s Festival is one of the only events in Santa Barbara that offers a unique opportunity to network with women in leadership roles from a wide range of backgrounds. The Women’s Festivals are the premier gathering of women seeking to empower themselves by connecting with the tools and resources they need to flourish and prosper in all aspects of their busy lives.
If you live in the local area and are interested in learning how to market a business of the web, you will have a unique opportunity to meet with Taylor Reaume, fortune 500 e-Marketing Consultant. Attendees will leave with a renewed sense of search engine optimization and search marketing. Taylor Reaume has over a decade of expertise in e-business and marketing, developed over 400 Websites and online businesses, built 30,000+ inbound links to his client’s web sites, and published over 10,000 pages of content on the web. In 2007, Taylor sold one of the largest online music communities http://www.estockmusic.com to fortune 500 Jupiter Media and Getty Images.
According to Taylor Reaume “This event is a great opportunity to network with powerful women business leaders and shake hands with successful people from all walks of life. I’ll be there sharing some of my most coveted SEO tips. Meeting new people, being out there in the community, being friendly with folks, and engaging in smart networking is one of the biggest secrets to my success. I’ll also be sharing information about our new mentorship program that benefits non-profits and college students eager to learn about SEO and web marketing.”
Women leadership is a key focus of this March festival, and many say it is the best networking event Santa Barbara offers. Come help empower women at the 4th Annual Women’s festival. No other Santa Barbara festival gets you up close and personal with inspirational leaders from the arts, local non-profits and thriving businesses.
A talented team of well-connected men and women have joined forces to produce the 2011 Women’s Festivals in Santa Barbara, California. Founding non-profit organizations include the National Association of Women Business Owners, SCORE, Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara, Girls Inc. of Carpinteria, Future Women CEO’s, Women’s Economic Ventures, GOLD, the Women’s Foundation of California, the Weidemann Foundation, the Profant Foundation for the Arts and Santa Barbara Chamber Commerce – all joining forces in a common goal of empowering women through educational and enlightening discussions led by renowned speakers and authors.
According to Founder Patty DeDominic, “We invite you to be up close and personal with inspirational leaders from the arts, important community organizations and business in beautiful Santa Barbara to help you create a Rich and Fulfilling life.”
The Women’s Festival seeks to benefit and encourage non-profit organizations specifically concerned with women leadership, e.g., NAWBO, Girls Inc., etc. The Women’s Festivals will celebrate the accomplishments and nurture the dreams of women in an interactive, multi-cultural, and multi-tracked format focusing on the five critical areas of women’s lives: Personal, Professional, Philanthropic, Political, and Planet— otherwise known as the “5 Ps.”
The festival mission statement is to further the celebratory momentum behind Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, which is always on March 8th, however, the Santa Barbara event is planned a few days earlier on March 4-5th.
About Women’s Festivals: People from throughout the world will attend the California Women’s Festival on March 4 & 5, 2011 at the Earl Warren Show grounds located in beautiful Santa Barbara, California. The Santa Barbara festival will include a professional business expo, awards program, and educational and enlightening discussions led by renowned speakers and authors. For further information about how you can help empower women and meet women in leadership roles at the biggest networking event Santa Barbara has to offer for 2011, please visit the site at http://www.WomensFestivals.org or contact info@womensfestivals.org
