SiteProNews |
- Squeeze Pages…5 Tips on Creating and Using Successful Squeeze Pages
- Article Marketing Is Still A Goldrush For Local Businesses
- The Importance Of Being Earnest, Err… Honest
- Fatal Webinar Mistakes That Cost You Money
- Google Instant – Implications for SEO & Internet Marketing
| Squeeze Pages…5 Tips on Creating and Using Successful Squeeze Pages Posted: 24 Sep 2010 02:00 AM PDT  Creating a successful squeeze page that converts well is a must if you want to be successful as an Internet marketer Basically, a squeeze page (also known as an opt-in page or a splash page) is used to capture visitor information, like their name and email address, so that you can build a relationship with them. A good squeeze page will help your business save time and money. Getting traffic to your website can not only be very time consuming, but it can also be very costly. However, if you have a good squeeze page, you will attract more subscribers to your list. And with a list, you can leverage your marketing efforts for the years to come. One problem most marketers face with their squeeze pages is the reluctance of people to enter their contact information online. To help you with this, five tips to effectively create successful squeeze pages are discussed below so you can increase your visitor opt-ins: 1. Personalize. Since you will be asking complete strangers to part with their information, you have to make sure they are comfortable in doing so. Introduce yourself and make them feel that they know something about the person they are giving their information to. Add a video, picture, or an audio message of you so that you can establish rapport at your first point of contact. 2. Professional Layout. A professional layout means that you don’t overcrowd your squeeze page with graphics and bright colors. There is no need to hire a professional designer to accomplish this. Use the swipe system…simply check what other successful marketers have done with their squeeze pages and copy and paste the process. Evaluate it and if it looks cluttered to you, adjust it accordingly. 3. Giveaways. In order to motivate your visitors to fill in your opt-in form, give them something in return when they do so. Simply offer them something of value like an excellent ereport, ebook, interview or video that would entice them to opt in. Everyone loves freebies and you can take advantage of this fact. Just see to it that your giveaway is beneficial to your target market so that your conversion rate will increase. 4. Remove Distractions. Keep in mind that everything in your squeeze page should work together with one goal in mind – getting your visitor’s contact information. See to it that your headline, graphics, and copy support what you are trying to accomplish. Don’t make the mistake that many marketers online make by creating extremely long squeeze pages with unnecessary information. This practice defeats the purpose of getting the much desired visitor information because when people get distracted, they tend to leave the page immediately. Distracting them away from opting in on your squeeze page defeats the purpose of the squeeze page…to gather their personal information for your list. 5. Templates. If you’ve been around lately, you’ll see squeeze pages that look exactly like each other. Before you label these pages as spam, think again. There’s a reason why people continue to use them — they are very effective in getting the conversions required. For this reason alone, it is recommended that you create a squeeze page with a similar template and see it work its wonders for your conversions. By taking these five tips into mind, you’ll surely have a squeeze page that will get you the conversions you need. However, if you already have a squeeze page up, you must test and tweak it until you receive your desired conversion rate. A free spirited business owner and entrepreneur, Kathy Dobson is dedicated to helping others achieve financial and personal freedom through Internet marketing with an emphasis on outsourcing. Learn more about the hot, exciting subject of outsourcing. Grab your FREE ebook at: www.kathydobson.com Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
| Article Marketing Is Still A Goldrush For Local Businesses Posted: 24 Sep 2010 02:00 AM PDT  It’s no secret that the most competitive verticals online like Golf, Finance, Forex, Real Estate, Health and Internet Marketing are extremely competitive. That’s because these are known as Global Markets, which means people participate in these from all over the world. But what about Mary’s Hair Salon in Birmingham, AL or Grubby’s cafe in Oceanside, CA.? These are what they call local businesses, and to date very few of these types of businesses even have an SEO friendly website much less know what article marketing is or how to implement it. Right now there are 8 major article repositories you can submit your articles to. They are Ezine Articles, GoArticles, Articles Base, Free Articles Zone, Article Alley, Articles Factory, Article Snatch and Article Dashboard. If you’re not familiar with these places just Google them and they’ll come right up. Each one requires you to sign up. They are all free to sign up for. Then you will have to spend a few minutes on each site uploading a photo of you or your business and filling out some author bio information. Then you are ready to start writing and submitting articles. You can write articles for free on just about any subject there is. The key is to be an expert in what you are writing about. No one knows more about how to run your business than you do, so you should be the most qualified writer on your subject matter. The key is to write your articles and make them about 400-600 words each. Word Count Tool is a free tool you can use to check the word count of your articles before you submit them (Google it). I also use a free program called Note Tab Light which allows me to open up and edit multiple text files at once and is great for simple cut and paste operations. Your goal should be to write at least 2 articles per day related to your niche subject. You would create an author biography that looks similar to the one you will see below. Take advantage of the 2 anchor text links for every author bio and use them in each article. You can even use the Google keyword tool which is free to collect a list of relevant keywords to your niche. Then start writing articles around these. If you can type, or know someone who can there is nothing stopping you from becoming the dominator in your local market. The key is to just get out there and start writing and submitting articles every day. Even if you can only afford enough time to do one article per day that’s way better than doing nothing at all. Before you know it your website will start getting better Google rankings for all kinds of keywords related to your business. Of course you have to also pay attention to on-site optimization but that’s a topic for an entirely different article. But right now article directories are hungry for your wisdom and knowledge about what you know about how your type of business is supposed to be run in your locale. Publish or perish couldn’t be more true. The first one out there with the content will be the supreme ruler in their local niche. I suggest you develop a sense of urgency soon and get out there with as much content as possible before your competition does. Visit Brian Garvin & Jeff West’s Trade School Directory and Trade School Blog and get up to speed on Trade Schools in the US. Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
| The Importance Of Being Earnest, Err… Honest Posted: 24 Sep 2010 02:00 AM PDT 
The answer is of course yes – quality content wins the day, and theoretically, the more quality content you provide your website visitors with, the more you should be rewarded by Google with traffic. Yet, time after time, we see newcomers to the SEO scene filling their websites with garbage (content that is either poor quality, makes no sense, or both!), buying dodgy, powerless links and expecting their site to draw a flood of traffic from Google and co. The reality is that whatever success might be achieved using this methodology will certainly be short-lasted. Here’s a (perhaps overly) simple equation to SEO success: Quality Content (in whatever format) + Decent Promotion Thereof = Backlinks & Therefore Ranking The problem that most “legitimate” internet marketers face is simple: they create the super-duper content, but nothing happens thereafter, leaving them feeling disheartened and tempted to follow a more sinister route… The missing link in the equation is promotion. Quality content, be it a free ebook, report, tool, information, whatever – will NOT promote itself. It is your job to make sure that it gets promoted so that people start talking about it, following which, the traffic and links begin to flow… A few simple ways to promote your content include: 1. Signature links in relevant forums (”Get This Free XYZ By Visiting ABC Now!) The options are endless, and all it requires is a little thinking on your part. Where do the people that would like what you’re offering (the target market) hang out? How can you most cost-effectively reach them? Once you get that initial flood of visitors, be sure to implement simple sharing tools, like a “refer a friend” script and the like. You might also want to provide an incentive to get people linking to your site, such as a free eBook or similar. However you go about it, remember that quality content alone is not enough – you need to promote it. Imagine if YouTube never told anyone about their site when they started, and just expected people to type in their web address by mistake. So this brings us back to the beginning – the importance of being honest… What did that have to do with anything? Well, it’s quite simple – provide a quality, honest product or service that provides value, promote it, and you will naturally have more and more people linking to you over time. No need to employ dodgy link builders in India, or try implement strange “black hat” tactics. Just provide value, promote it, and the world is your oyster… Derek Jansen is an SEO Consultant & Teacher – Download Dereks’ Free SEO Course and learn how to get your site to the top of Google! Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
| Fatal Webinar Mistakes That Cost You Money Posted: 24 Sep 2010 02:00 AM PDT  Webinars have become a low-cost way for people and companies to promote their products and services. I have certainly used them and attended many webinars on a variety of topics. However, I have noticed that many webinar organizers, hosts and panelists, create a variety of mistakes that reduce the effectiveness of their program. 1. Requiring too much information. I don’t mind giving my name, email address, and company name when registering for a webinar. However, I don’t like giving my address, telephone number, and five other details. I know that you want to collect data but the more information you ask for, the less likely I will register for your program. 2. Ask mandatory questions. Most technology allows the person hosting the webinar to ask registrants several questions when they register. However, making these questions mandatory can work against you, especially if the question is irrelevant. Many people will refuse to answer these questions and will chose NOT to register for the webinar. Carefully consider which questions should be mandatory. 3. Unfamiliar with the technology. A fatal mistake many people is to familiarize themselves with the webinar technology shortly before the program begins. I admit to include myself in this category. A few years ago I agreed to deliver a series of webinars for a client and unfortunately, my contact person was unfamiliar with the technology. As a result, we had several glitches and problems that reduced the overall effectiveness of the program. 4. Using a speaker phone. I recently attended a webinar and it appeared that one of the panelists spoke from a speaker phone or computer microphone. This created a vacant echo which became distracting whenever she spoke. It is critical that you have a good connection to the call and many companies suggest that you use a landline to ensure that you have a good connection with minimal interference. 5. Poor PowerPoint slides. Death by PowerPoint! My belief is that webinar slides should reinforce your key point, not make them. Too many people use too many bullet points or try to cram too much information on a single slide. Improve your effectiveness by creating a better PowerPoint show. Check out Slide Share for some great examples on how to create an effective presentation. 6. Taking too long to get into the program. I have attended countless webinars where the first five to seven minutes is absorbed by self-promotion, introduction of the presenter or guest expert, or information that was irrelevant to participants. Although sponsoring companies want adequate airtime, it is essential that you manage their expectations and keep the introduction brief and concise. 7. Too much promotion. Many of the webinars I have attended have been a thinly-disguised attempt at selling a product or service. I certainly understand the importance of generating sales but if your webinar is promoted or sold as an “educational” session and you spend most of your time talking about your product or company, I am going to quickly disengage. 8. Failure to deliver high-quality content. A webinar should deliver value for attendees. Unfortunately, too many programs give “here’s what you need to do” information without explaining how to actually apply the concepts. It is better to delve deep into a topic than offer three dozen ways to improve without providing substance. 9. Failure to deliver value. This ties in with the previous point. A successful webinar provides high value to the participants, regardless of the price point. Enough said. 10. The webinar is too long/short. The length of webinar is irrelevant. What’s important is the value that is delivered 11. Not allowing questions. Many people who attend webinars have questions and they want to have the opportunity to ask them. Increase the value of your webinar by giving participants time to ask questions and allot time for these questions so that you don’t have to race through the last five of six minutes of your presentation. Webinars can be an effective marketing vehicle and a great way to generate sales leads. Improve your results by avoiding these common webinar mistakes. Get your FREE copy of 100 Ways to Increase Your Sales by subscribing to Kelley’s free newsletter, “59 Seconds to Sales Success” at .a href=”http://www.Fearless-Selling.ca”>www.Fearless-Selling.ca. Kelley Robertson conducts sales training programs and speaks on sales at conferences and meetings. Contact him at 905-633-7750 or Kelley@Fearless-Selling.ca. Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
| Google Instant – Implications for SEO & Internet Marketing Posted: 23 Sep 2010 10:00 PM PDT 
I keep forgetting that the general public actually uses Google for online search, there are millions of web users out there who have been using Google Instant to find out the weather, the latest Lady Gaga outfit or which flat-screen HDTV to buy? Of course, I know this to be the real function of Google, but if you’re a full-time search engine marketer, your perspective is solidly aligned to all the SEO elements – keyword rankings, link building and content placement in the most dominant search engine in the world. Basically, you will be more concerned with how Google Instant will impact those top keyword rankings, your click-through rates and most importantly, what effect will it have on your conversion rates and sales? More specifically, how does this instant search impact the display of your listings in Google and what are the long-term ramifications this instant “real time” display will have on your online marketing? There are even some so-called experts which say Google Instant will be the end of SEO. This is a rather foolish notion since the underlying structure of using optimized strategies to obtain top rankings in Google or any other search engine for that matter, has not changed. We still have the emphasis on quality content, high quality backlinks, and on-page ranking factors. In the background nothing has changed; in the foreground everything has changed. Well, somewhat. Google Instant is a game changer for online marketers simply because it changes “How” your listings are displayed. Not only is the faster speed a factor, but Google is guessing or rather dictating what the web surfer is searching for so Google’s influence on what’s displayed has increased 10-fold. They are displaying results not only based on rankings BUT on what their data tells them you’re looking for? How big a role this other compiled data and web users’ histories plays in these suggestions only Google knows, but to the online marketer all this is somewhat worrisome. Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google has been quoted as saying, “Never underestimate the power of fast. Quick, quick, quick – we want to help you right now… we can understand things like what you really meant.” Only time will tell what effect this “jumping the gun” or “making up your mind for you” will have on Internet marketing. The long-lasting effect of Google imposing its results on the web searcher will no doubt have some strong impacts on web marketing. Getting those first suggestions when a surfer types in just one or two letters… will become the real money-makers in terms of online traffic and sales. Those companies and products which pop-up first will gain in market share and importance, but hasn’t this always been the case with getting those first place keyword rankings in Google? Yes, but now Google is giving the searcher options and planting seeds/suggestions, which Google has done in the past but not at this speed and to this extent. The implications for online marketing could be enormous, assuming of course, web surfers actually use this function. Google does give users the option of turning off Instant search. In our hurried fast-paced world, one would reason, web searchers would not turn off this function, although if your Internet connection is too slow, Google will automatically turn off Instant search for you. From a marketing angle, webmasters must now note Google’s keyword suggestions which quickly pop-up and target them in their SEO efforts. Analyzing and targeting which keyword phrases Google is displaying in your niche market will be vital to capturing the majority of traffic. Surfers will click on Google’s suggestions to find what they’re looking for on the web. Getting top rankings for those 4 or 5 suggestions will become important if an online marketer or webmaster wants to cover/corner all the search territory in their niche. Whether you actually target these keywords would really be determined by their commercial intent probability which can be discovered by using Microsoft’s Adcenter Labs and of course, the amount of traffic each keyword gets each month. (Try here: adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal). Another area of concern has to do with the ever decreasing space for organic listings on the new Google Instant interface. With the drop-down menu and depending upon how many paid listings are shown, there may only be room for 3 listings instead of five or more above the fold. Keep in mind, we are mainly talking about lucrative keyword phrases which will also usually have three Adwords paid listings in the spots where organic search results were formerly displayed. Searchers are lazy, they will probably not scroll down, especially if they see different listings popping up as they narrow their search. So your SEO has probably gotten much harder since you will now have to aim for the top 3 spots – thanks Google. Of course, savvy online marketers know the real gold is in the long-tail keyword phrases which surfers use to find what they’re looking for on the web. Google Instant could possibly play havoc on this whole process because before the searcher finishes typing in the long 4 or even 5 word phrases, they would be exposed to maybe 4 or 5 pages of Google listings… chances are great that searchers will click on one of these listings before they finish typing, especially if the listing contains a part of the searched for phrase. Marketers will have to closely analyze their own web stats and conversion rates in regards to Google Instant. I am seeing little change in my own online marketing… traffic has dropped on some sites and risen on others, subscription rates are up and sales are steady. What really concerns me is the fact that Google may not only be pre-judging their rankings but also your mind. They are playing a much bigger role in how you decide which listing you click. Granted, this is probably drawn from unbiased data but will the influence of top-brand companies be more dominant in Google’s Instant results? Another general concern – will the display of so many listings make it harder for your site or page to be clicked? Will giving the searcher so many options so quickly, lower your chances of getting that click-thru, even if you have the top spot in Google? The laws of probability and human nature say your chances have diminished somewhat in this new instant search environment. Not good news if your livelihood depends upon getting that click. However, many of these changes (and no matter how fast Google gives you their search results) will not change the fundamental principles of good SEO practices. Keyword positioning will still get you to the number one spot in Google for your chosen phrase if you have the time and resources to create quality content, build quality one-way backlinks, and use good on-page optimization. Besides the smaller emphasis on organic traffic, the only other real concern is the degree to which Google will use their suggestions and how much those suggestions are based not on SEO ranking factors but on users’ histories and compiled data. Even with this concern, Google Instant, even at warp speed, does not negate the importance of getting those top rankings. For many search engine marketers, like myself, it’s business as usual. Full speed ahead. All opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the author who has been following Google since it was a mere BackRub. He is also a full time search engine marketer who operates numerous niche sites, as well as two sites on Internet Marketing, where you can get valuable marketing tips for free: internet marketing tools or try here internet marketing. Titus Hoskins Copyright 2010. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached. Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
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