• scissors
    June 20th, 2009PaulUncategorized

    It’s natural to feel like you need to maximize your audience and get as many customers as possible to build an online business empire. While it’s true to an extent that a bigger market means more potential, working in a general competitive niche doesn’t necessarily mean more dollar signs, especially if you’re a small independent webmaster.

    In fact, the opposite is true. For Internet entrepreneurs, it pays to go niche and focus in on a smaller subtopic. We’ll go into the reasons why here.

    1. Easier to distinguish yourself as a leader
    What’s easier - to compete with hundreds of established sites and break into a larger niche or to tackle a smaller niche and be one of the bigger players from the start? I think the answer is obvious. Starting an online business in a smaller sub-niche means that there’s less competition and more potential. Sure your overall market will be smaller, but you’re much more likely to dominate it and establish your brand as the market leader.

    As I mentioned in a previous post about how to build a brand, branding is becoming increasingly important and is crucial for surviving in the business world online. By being one of the first in a sub-niche and owning a segment of a market, you’re known for something - and that’s a heck of a lot better for your brand than being mediocre at everything and being known for nothing.

    Furthermore, attacking a smaller sub-niche means that your business can specialize in something - which means that you’ll position yourself to be an expert in reality (hopefully) as well as by perception. For example, search engine marketing firms have the time and resources to be experts in the marketing sub-niche of SEM. Not only that, but because they’re specialists, they are expected to know more about the field than general marketing agencies. Image is everything and specialization gives you a head start in being the leader. You just have to be able to live up to the role.

    2. More defined target audience leads to higher conversions
    As I mentioned before, it’s impossible to please everyone in business. You need to focus in on a target market and work in satisfying customers’ needs. By working in a smaller sub-niche, you’re attracting a specific audience that can relate to your marketing messages and has more interest in your products and services. Because of this, you’ll see a more loyal following and higher conversion rates.

    For example, if someone was an avid X-Men fan, he’d probably be more interested in a site dedicated to X-Men than he would be in a site covering all of Marvel comics. The X-Men site is more focused and targeted towards what the user is looking for.

    The conclusion? A site dedicated to a smaller sub-niche means more targeted customers - which results in higher conversion rates and bigger income.

    3. Better positioning for future expansion
    Not only is a smaller targeted site easier to start and get off the ground, it also presents greater opportunities for future expansion. Why? Because a targeted site has a focused brand and following which it can leverage to grow into new areas. Why do you think Yelp was able to expand past San Francisco? People saw that it was popular in one city and wanted to utilize it in others as well. Similarly, a small established blog about penny stocks can more easily expand to Forex trading and beyond - a much more effective tactic than covering overall “financial trading” from the start.

    The step-by-step expansion approach utilizes leverage to maximize results. By starting small, you carve out a niche for yourself and you can then take advantage of your site’s reputation and brand equity to slowly branch out into areas

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  • scissors
    June 19th, 2009PaulUncategorized

    Yahoo! like the other search engines are constantly tweaking the index algos and from time to time they announce them in advance. Last week was such a case and you may see some index shuffling over the next little while. It’s nothing new and to be expected. As always though we see the results settle back down to where they should be in most cases!

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  • scissors
    June 18th, 2009PaulUncategorized

    Google is always in the process of innovating and finding ways to get it’s products and services into the hands of webmasters of all kinds. To that end they’ve made it simple for ISP’s to provide direct integration of webmaster tools into a webmasters website via the hosting control p1238072165841anel. By placing webmaster tools in the control panel it makes it simpler for webmaster to add the feature when they otherwise may not have even known it existed.

    I like the idea as it will get more webmasters involved in the experience of understanding how Google is interacting with their clients websites. It could just make the Internet a better place to surf, and can lead to more clients getting involved in search marketing down the road!

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  • scissors
    June 17th, 2009PaulUncategorized

    Today even 6 year old kids know that content is the king of Internet. If you have good and relevant content, search engines will find your site faster, people will visit this site more often, and you will be enjoying targeted traffic.

    The first sale on the internet took place in August, 1994. It was the sale of a CD in the USA. Six years later in 2006 internet sales were £800 million per year, and in just the last 2 years internet sales are now worth a whopping £250 billion per year.

    Anchor text, in a nutshell, is the text attached to a link that points to your site. Google and other major search engines place a lot of weight on not just links but also on what exactly is made-up of the actual link. Many times people attach links to such words as “click here” or “homepage”. Unfortunately, according to Google’s search algorithm or ranking formula, you are now getting credit for the term “click here” and not “widgets online” or whatever keyword or phrase you are optimizing for. When link building, it is very important to fully understand what keywords you are trying to optimize for and include them in the links you build. When issuing press releases, news articles, and blog entries, make sure you are including anchor text with all links pointing to your site.

    One important part of SEO is anchor text - which means the text that is linked. For instance, if you hyperlink the text “home page” then home page is the anchor text. Usually people think of back links when the term anchor text is used, but anchor text is also important for internal linking.

    As with incoming links, you should try to include important keywords with internal links, where possible & appropriate.

    Why links are so important? Quantity of links pointing towards your site decides the future of your internet business. While building links you should pay attention not only on quantity but also on quantity of links. Quality links serve two purposes for your website. They not only build credibility of your site but also generate targeted traffic to your website.

    How to Improve Search Engine Rankings of Your Site:

    1. Research Keywords: It is very important to have a keyword or phrase related to your site’s theme. Type a suitable keyword and go to wordtracker.com, which is a catalog search activity at major search engines. They show the number of times that an entry is being searched at major search engines. This service also gives you a list of related terms. Wordtracker gives you more ideas to look for other important search words appropriate to your site for attractive visibility.

    2. Pick Keywords and Get Some Links: Compile a list of often-searched names related to your site’s theme. Pick the phrases with several thousand searches and use in the anchor text of the inbound links that you build for your site.

    The search engines will just think you’re trying to spam its index so that’s why making sure your link is on topic and points to a relevant webpage. Another way to supercharge you back links is to make sure the page that your link is on is also on topic and is a related webpage to your topic.

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  • scissors
    June 16th, 2009PaulUncategorized

    When contemplating web design function combined with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies it is important to understand that virtually all elements of marketing are connected and interdependent. Each component may serve its own unique function, but is enhanced through the blending (mashing) of the various marketing strategies available.

    Let’s run through a few to see how marketing elements can work together to create something bigger than you would have thought possible.

    Social Media – this generally non-intrusive marketing tool can provide the possibility of blogging, video streaming and podcasting all in one convenient location. for more detials:-www.sitemap-makers.com.This off site page can also be used as a powerful backlink that can direct potential customers from your social media page to your primary website.

    Forums – this element provides a mechanism for customers to talk together about your products or services. It allows you to obtain free marketing research. The microcosm of a forum may not present an entirely clear picture, but it can forecast certain trends within your customer base.

    RSS Feeds – Real Simple Syndication can be a positive in alerting those most interested in new posts in blogs as well as any updated content on your primary site to any new posts. RSS has to syndicate something so it makes sense to use this feature in traffic building strategies by syndicating your own unique content.

    Autoresponders – this marketing tool helps keep those interested in your site in tune with your site longer. It provides access to dynamic knowledge based information and can be directed to the customer at the point of greatest interest – and it does so hands free and instantaneously.

    Email Marketing – when using this tool you are attempting to improve traffic to your site and convert visitors to buyers. Email marketing is best developed in conjunction with a solid website filled with useful consumer-centric information. If you provide solid email marketing, but have not developed a comprehensive site you essentially defeat the purpose of this form of marketing.

    Ezines – you can use email marketing or RSS to alert consumers to new ezine editions. Ezines can feature PPC advertising for residual income and the ezine can be used to point customers to specials, discounts or freebies – and your primary sales site. for visit detials:-www.greatseosecrets.com.Traffic Building – virtually every aspect of the features listed in this article are designed to improve traffic to your site. Social media and the use of blogs, video streaming, podcasts ezines, email marketing, forums, and RSS feeds all contribute to traffic building.

    You can mix and match marketing ideas, but the more you can add to the mix the more opportunity you will find in the midst of improving SEO and affiliated marketing strategies.

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  • scissors
    June 15th, 2009PaulUncategorized

    Many calls for articles are requested with the express description asking that a specific keyword or words be used for search engine optimization. If you are not familiar with the term, the definition according to Wikipedia is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via natural search results for targeted keywords.So do you know what it means now?

    The search engine optimization request means that the word or words supplied by the requestor are to be used as many times as possible within an article while still sounding natural. The object is to generate the most traffic from search engines on the internet. When the word is used within a 500 word article a total of approximately 6 or 8 times without making the article sound too keyword stuffed, the chances of someone finding this article when they search the keyword is pretty good.

    For the web owner who contracts for articles with keywords associated with their product or service, a search of that particular keyword will take you to their website. This is used to generate web traffic to their site in the hopes that they will purchase something. For instance, a website that sells hair care products may use hair or hair care as a keyword. When someone is interested in looking at anything that is remotely connected to hair they type in the keyword. The results are displayed and if your site made it to the first page of the search engines, chances are they will go to your website.

    If visitors find something they like, they will buy a product from your site. If this happens several times a day you are generating traffic that will make your website more popular. The more hits or times that someone goes to your site, the higher in the rankings that are monitored by search engines like Yahoo and Google, your site will go. The goal is to be in the top spot of course, but number two to eight is a good spot as well.

    This is the reason that many people who own websites post articles on their site. Using the keywords that will generate the traffic to their site is extremely important if you want your site to be recognized out of the millions that are starting to swamp the internet. The site can be several pages or one page and the articles that are used on the site are all linked back to the search engines. Search engine optimization has been the number one way for a site to gain recognition.

    The first providers of content started the optimization for search engines in the 1990s. Then, it was a fairly simple process. The page was submitted, the search engines would basically send spiders to the page to dissect it. All the words and position in the article were searched and all the information was stored in the search engine.

    The whole process of search engine optimization was so simple when it first started. Today, it requires specialized knowledge and serious effort. The search engine algorithms are changing everyday and there are billions of websites on the Internet to compete.

    If done properly…. over a period of time, “search engine optimization” is well worth the effort because of the targeted visitors you get.

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  • scissors
    June 14th, 2009PaulUncategorized

    Copywriting is important and it seems search engines are giving it more and more weight. As the we all know the Internet is full of crappy information but if you know where to look you can find really valuable things too. Over the years some sites have made a living out of scraping the content of other sites, copying pictures or videos and posting them as their own content.

    Although Google or other search engines are trying to keep this phenomenon under control by applying penalties like the duplicate content, the -30 or -950 they can’t really handle this completely. As the web continues to evolve even greater than some people would have anticipated, manual reviewing sites is simply a physical impossibility.

    So the only way to fight against the big outlaws of the web is by working on the reviews they get for common abuses we see on the net like:

    • duplicate content (counting site copying and redirecting) because even search engines can be tricked if the site has 30% of their content changed here and here.
    • major examples of cloaking because the competition is always watching your move.
    • paid links that seem to annoy everyone except the link building firm and the site who pays for them.
    • owning illegal media.
    • etc.

    They started cleaning and this is a good thing overall because people should get credit for what they post on the internet. More changes will come, we just need to keep our eyes open and learn from others and their mistakes.

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  • scissors
    June 13th, 2009PaulUncategorized

    We all know that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the best and most effective way of marketing a website. It is the most efficient method for driving traffic to your website.

    Google largely values backlinks that your website may have from some other relevant websites with barely any outgoing links. Generating backlinks is still very important to gain Search Engine trust and to boost up your rankings. So, it would be good, if you find any way to get few backlinks for your site from relevant sites.

    But, it is not always possible to get backlinks from the relevant site as other sites are your competitors and why would they provide a link to your website?

    With the motive of clearing out illegitimate techniques of SEO employed by black hat users, Google has given a set of restrictions that prohibit black hat users from using their techniques to play with Google’s Algorithms. And, one prominent restriction among these is: Google does not consider any backlinks from other websites hosted on the same C Class IP as yours.

    If you want only to increase the Page Rank of your website for flipping, then multiple C Class IP hosting is not the one you want to waste your time on. But, if you’re looking to rank your website for a particular keyword, if highly targeted traffic is what you are craving for then multiple C Class IP hosting is the best thing for you.

    C Class IP Explained

    Basically, an IP consists of 4 parts: Class A, B, C, D divided by “.”. These numbers are given to identify a particular network and a host on that network.

    Now, as we mentioned above that Google does not count backlinks from websites that are hosted on IP Addresses in the same IP C Class as your website is hosted, it might get little complicated for utilizing backlinks for ranking. However, this trick surely has a solution. What you can do is create your own websites and trick Google into counting the backlinks.

    Simply, you need to create websites on different C classes and place your backlinks on them. The entire procedure is extremely simple, provided you arrange for Multiple C Class web hosting. Once you avail this requirement, all you have to do is registering 10 different domain names in accordance with the niche of your website.

    Create WordPress blogs on each domain and craft exclusive, keyword rich articles for these blogs. And then easily get your keywords hyperlinked and backlinks them to your website.

    When it comes to boosting your position on SERPs, these backlinks work wonders. They efficiently boost your search engine rankings for your specific keywords as you have backlinks from 10 different websites all of which have low outbound links. This step increases your trust rank amazingly and opens a huge funnel for traffic from Search Engines.

    Hence, Multiple C Class IP Hosting is a successful way to enhance your search engine rankings. However, link building is somewhat an expensive option but Multiple C Class IP hosting makes it simple and effective for low budget webmasters.

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  • scissors
    June 12th, 2009PaulUncategorized

    Expedia Affiliate Network (EAN) has reported a 50% rise in demand for its affiliate and private label solution from potential new business partners across EMEA in the first quarter of 2009 compared with the same period in 2008.

    That’s the headline and first paragraph from the story at Net Imperative. Given the economic challenges many companies are facing it comes as no surprise that business is turning more and more to the Internet as a source of more affordable advertising and lead generation services. At Spark we’re investing more in Affiliate marketing and see it as a tremendous opportunity for many of our clients.

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  • scissors
    June 11th, 2009PaulUncategorized

    1. Information Overload
    The Internet holds an abundance of information, which is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, you can pretty much access any bit of knowledge you want but on the other hand, you can literally spend your entire lifetime “researching” contradicting ideas and not accomplishing anything. Avoid this at all costs. Rather than spend a lot of time looking things up and making sure you’re an “expert” before getting started, take action and don’t look back. Of course careful planning is important, but there comes a point when you need to drop the books and the feeds and simply dive in with your venture. Action brings clarity and there’s no better teacher than experience.

    Do your market research and learn the basics of your business, but don’t get carried away. Have a few role models you can emulate but learn to think creatively for yourself. After all, as an Internet entrepreneur, you need to be unique to stand out and be successful. Too much information is useless and won’t help you. Strive to learn by doing.

    2. Procrastination and Inactivity
    With the down economy, it’s easy to make excuses and wait until everything gets “better”. It’s easy to get comfortable and not stretch yourself to be successful with your business. No one said it was going to be a walk in the park. Don’t let procrastination keep you down. Set a weekly schedule for yourself and associate yourself with other positive-thinking entrepreneurs for moral support. It definitely makes a huge difference. I suggest getting in touch with others in your area through Meetup.

    3. Business Opportunity Scams
    With widespread layoffs, there are tons of scams out there for “business opportunities” promising Internet riches working at home with little effort. Beware of these scams. If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Dishonest people are looking to take advantage of others who have just lost their jobs and are desperately looking for ways to make ends meet. Phony “business opportunities” run rampant these days, especially online where most people don’t know exactly how Internet marketing works. Develop a solid business foundation and learn to think for yourself rather than have to follow some “system” that will supposedly generate you millions with a click of a button (sound familiar?).

    4. A Weak Business Foundation
    Remember, the Internet is just a medium that is used for business, not some sort of a gold mine in and of itself. Your website can be extremely profitable, but it’s important to note that all business principles still apply. In other words, you need a good product or service idea that fulfills a market need and is sustainable with a solid business model. It’s easy to buy into the Internet marketing hype (which caused the dot com bust of 2000), but you need to treat your sites like businesses because that’s essentially what they are.

    Are you falling prey to any of the four traps mentioned above? There’s a huge opportunity to make money online with an Internet business in the next few years, but it’s not easy to be successful in this industry. A few words of advice to get you on the right track - avoid information overload, procrastination and inactivity, business opportunity scams, and weak business foundations.

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