Saturday, August 27, 2005

Six Lesser-Known Online Marketing Ideas

Uniqueness is what separates each business, its services and its products. The difference gives buyers and on-line visitors a way of measuring this against that. It also makes the difference on their decision to buy.

Showing these differences takes creativity and unique ideas. Ideas that aren't too far out for the regular person to understand yet also say, "Hey, wake up, this is different.

Here are six Internet marketing ideas that might just help you demonstrate your difference.

1. To increase people reading your whole copy, place a hidden link in your ad copy and then ask people to find it. Give them a prize for finding it or a freebie, like an ebook by clicking on that link.

2. Start a members-only web site. Tell visitors what they will get for access. Offer them a free membership for something in exchange. Example: (1) having a advertising paragraph about your product on their web site, (2) posting your banner on their home page, or (3) an ad in their ezine for a certain period (balance the dollars). This is a powerful way to get more advertising on a limited budget.

3. Increase your popularity on other people's discussion boards or blogs? Exchange their mentioning your product or service on certain discussion boards in exchange for a product or services of yours. This requires tracking, however, they are testimonials and extremely valuable. This is also called viral marketing.

4. Give your visitors an instant article directory. Tell your visitors they can instantly add a free article directory to their web site by linking to yours. Just place your ad or banner ad on top of the article directory for your main product or service. All those links can add up to a large amount of traffic for your web site.

5. You can exchange articles; yours can be posted on their site and theirs on yours.

6. Create a web book website to stand out. Market it was a free web book. Design the website with a title page, table of contents, chapters, etc. Then place your ad or banner for your product or service on the top and bottom of every page.

Now it's time to ask some questions. "What ideas from this list fit your customer needs?"

You will also want to ask, "Are any of these ideas currently used on your competitor's website?" If not, what are you waiting for. Being first is the name of success in sales. Go ahead, set the precedent.

If they are being used on your competitor's website. How are they using the idea? And more importantly, how can you use it differently?

If you have a multiple items you want to implement, create a list. Add next to the list what you need to learn in order to complete this. What is the budget? If you want to delegate this to, who would that be? Do you have such a person or company now, or do you need a referral?

Catherine Franz, a Certified Professional Marketing & Writing Coach, specializes in product development, Internet writing and marketing, nonfiction, training. Newsletters and articles available at: http://www.abundancecenter.com
blog: http://abundance.blogs.com

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Adsense Tricks to Explode Your Profits

There are many adsense tips floating around the internet. Here are some adsense tricks that can drastically increase your CTR and your profits.

Lots of people say to make your ads blend in. However, some people are having a lot of success by making their links stand out. The most effective style seems to be having your links blue, while your other links are a less-noticeable color. A good example can be seen at www.lockergnome.com

- Place images directly above your ads. This simple technique has been known to increase CTR by 400%. To keep the images fresh some people randomize related images on their site
using PHP code. You can see an example of these images at

http://www.how-to-make-money-online.info/

- Google has cited the 336x280 large rectangle as the most effective ad size.

- Place ads where your visitors will likely be focused.

Check out this heat map by Google -

http://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/static.py?page=tips.html


- Weave your articles into your content. This is shown at
lockergnome.com

- Place link units in the top left-hand corner. This part of
the website has shown to be clicked on more than any other
part of the page. You can see an example at lockergnome.com.
(Look at the links at the top, towards the left in blue.)

- Take advantage of the "alternate URL" feature to avoid Public Service Ads that seep money away from your website.

- One of the best things you can do is add additional pages
to your site. A web site with thousands of pages and tons of
content often does very well in the search engines. You can
get free content from article directories. You could also use public domain content, which is a favorite tactic of John Reese. Or, you could use content in the creative commons. This is getting easier than ever now that Yahoo and others have created a search engine specifically for content in the creative commons.

Succeeding with adsense is largely determined by the amount of traffic to your site. However, there are many adsense tricks that you can employ to get the most possible out of your site. Often times, this means doubling, tripling, or even quadrupling your earnings. The key is to find out what works for your web site. Testing and tracking is the key to increased revenue!

Thursday, August 18, 2005

John Reese's Top Traffic Secrets

John Reese has proven himself as one of the top internet marketers. Here are some of his best traffic secrets.

Track all sources of traffic generation.

John Reese stresses the need to track where all traffic comes from and at what cost. It is crucial to know exactly how many sales, newsletter sign-ups, or other leads your particular marketing campaigns generating. This enables you to work smarter and not harder. By tracking all traffic to your site you can make twice as much while working fifty percent less.

Content is King

On the internet, people are searching for one thing....... Content! Load your website with as much content as possible. Then, continuously add content. Search engines love information and they will love your site if you've got lots of it. There's plenty of free content for the taking on the internet. You can load up your site with articles from article directories like ezinearticles.com. Or, you could be like John and use content from the public domain. Or, you can use content that is in the creative commons. This type is now easier than ever to find now that Yahoo and others have come out with a search engine designed specifically for content that is in the creative commons.

I have one site that has around 25,000 pages and receives about 2,500 visitors a day. The vast majority of this traffic comes from the search engines. Are you starting to see how powerful this can be?

An affiliate program is critical to maximum traffic and sales. Lots of internet marketers don't take advantage of this powerful traffic-generating technique. An affiliate program allows you to have your own personal salesman spread all over the web. The best part about it is that there is absolutely no risk involved but tons of traffic and sales to gain. Your website simply cannot grow to its full potential without an effective affiliate program.

Banner Ads

John Reese advocates the use of banner ads during a time when they are largely an untapped marketing source. Banner ads are one of the most overlooked sources of targeted traffic online.

Also, banner ads are now one of the cheapest sources of targeted traffic. In the late 1990's during the dot-com boom, people were selling banner ads for $40 and $50 CPM. Then the dot-com bubble hit and these rates hit the floor. You can now buy banner ads dirt cheap, at $1 to $1.50 CPM. This is $1 for 1,000 banner impressions. The key here is to find the perfect place to advertise that will send targeted, willing to buy customers to your site.

Create viral reports that can quickly spread around the internet. This method works best when you have an affiliate program. Allow others to brand your report in order to encourage its distribution.
A quality free report can be a powerful promoter when passed around the internet. This same phenomenon can occur when you submit your articles to article directories and popular newsletters.

Take advantage of your virtual real estate.

Take advantage of the different parts of your website. Don't let any of your web pages go to waste. You can do this by adding a link to another one of your web sites or pages on your thank-you or sales confirmation pages. If you have articles on your site, place links to related articles on the bottom of the page. The longer you keep a visitor at your web site, the more valuable they become.

It is very important to funnel traffic from within the multiple sites you may have.

Continually seek out other web sites to link to you. Now, we're not just talking about any kind of link here, but powerful, traffic-generating links from respected sites. Here are some quick suggestions:

Send a related web site an article that you have written and allow them to display it on their website with a resource box at the end. Offer to exchange articles and tell them about the benefits of doing so.

Allow multiple, related web sites to distribute your free e-book or report. All web masters are looking to add value to their web site, why not make it easy for them.

There are unlimited possibilities, be creative!

Online group participation can produce a no-cost stream of traffic and sales.

Get involved in email discussion lists, online groups and forums that are related to your target market. Becoming involved in discussions makes you very credible. Traffic from forums can produce a much higher sales conversion rate.

This method can produce quite a bit of sales for you just by helping others out. Not to mention, you'll learn a lot along the way.

Monday, August 15, 2005

Search Engine Optimization Checklist

Search Engine Optimization Checklist


1. Brainstorm thousands of keywords.

2. Name the file to fit the page's content.

3. Place descriptive title tags on all of your pages.

4. Place description tags on all of your pages.

5. Place your chosen keywords in your keyword meta tags.

6. Make sure that your content is informative and based upon your title and description.

7. Use informative headlines throughout your content. Make sure that your keywords and variations are placed in your sub headings.

8. Include ALT tags on your graphics with keywords.

9. Make sure your navigation is easy to use and that your page is easy to find from your home page.

10. Obtain quality links coming into your page.

Instant Traffic With Expired Domains

Every day thousands of domains expire and become available for anyone to register. Millions of website visitors are wasted on a daily basis because site owners do not renew their domain names. This occurs because the site owner loses interest, doesn't have the time to run the site, or they simply forget that their domain is expiring.

This leaves you with a unique opportunity to grab some cheap, targeted traffic. Unlike other domain names, a domain that was previously owned can send you Instant Traffic! You don't have to worry about being sandboxed or slowly building up visitors. Expired domains offer an instant source of traffic that you can snatch up for just a few dollars.

A few years ago, an Internet tycoon named Ultsearch stumbled across this exact traffic and profit generating idea. Today, he holds a monopoly on the biggest underground traffic industry on the web. Ultsearch now owns 50,000 domains that were once expired. His virtual empire now makes him six figures a day.

Are you starting to see the potential of expired domain traffic? The key is to find valuable expired domains... the ones with existing link popularity and search engine listings. To find expired domains with preexisting link popularity and rankings, take a look at http://www.websitehostdirectory.com/deleteddomains.html.

Once you find a domain, you can transfer this traffic to a preexisting site or to a new site that you are developing. However, make sure that you use a domain name that relates to the topic of your existing site. This way you will be bringing in targeted visitors. Targeted visitors are the most likely to convert to valuable sales and lead generations.

Secret Goldmine Source for Thousands of Targeted Keywords

As you probably know, keywords are crucial for sending thousands of website visitors to your site through the major search engines. You've probably sat down at some point to brainstorm a couple hundred keywords. However, how do you get past a couple hundred keywords? Wouldn't it be nice to have thousands of keywords? Think of how this would catapult your internet marketing campaign.

Once you've come up with a good number of keywords, it is important that you use a good keyword tool to find related keywords and keyword combos. Keyword combos seem to pull the highest conversion rates. You can also find valuable keywords by spying on the keywords used by your competitors. This can be found by viewing the source code of their web page. Once you've found hundreds of related keywords, search for common misspellings of your main keywords. Google estimates that 10% - 20% of keywords searches are misspelled every day. This is one of the most underused strategies on the internet. However, it has the power to bring you thousands of targeted visitors every day with little competition.

By now you should have hundreds of keywords. However, to really pull thousands of visitors a day to your site, you'll need thousands of keywords. At this point, I would direct you to search some of the most popular sites on the internet to boost your keyword list.

If you visit Ebay keywords (http://keyword-index.ebay.com/A-1.html) , you will find an extensive list of terms that are searched for on Ebay. Not surprisingly, these terms are also searched for on the internet. Many of these keywords are untapped with little competition. Because they are specific keywords they will also lead to higher conversion rates.

How to Turn Your Articles into a Viral Traffic Stampede

Articles are one of the most underused marketing techniques on the internet. Find out how to exploit this untapped resource and send a flood of targeted website visitors to any web site at your command.


By writing articles you can send targeted traffic to your website at any time without paying a single cent. Articles are one of the best online marketing investments you can make because you write them once and they send you instant visitors each and every day. The more articles you have circulating the internet, the more targeted traffic they will send to your site.

Now, you may be thinking that writing just isn't your thing, but I'm about to show you just how easy it can be.Read on to find out a simple method that will have you ripping out articles in record time.

1. Killer title - The first step is to create a killer title. Authors know that the difference between a bestseller and a dud can come simply through the title of a book. The same thing goes for articles. You must grab the reader out of their chair with an attention-grabbing title. Here are a few to get you started.

Powerful Secret that pulls in thousands of devoted subscribers
3 Strategies that will triple your conversion rate
7 Overlooked Methods that Drive Daily Traffic to your Site
How to Get 1000+ Targeted Visitors a Day
5 Ways to Generate More Traffic Next Week.
Instant Traffic With Expired Domains


2. Grab your audience with an eye-opening introductory sentence. An example might be.

Did you know that 90% of all traffic comes from search engines? Are you taking advantage of this traffic goldmine?

Next, you would uncover your valuable information in the body of the article.

3. The body of the article is the main course of the entire juicy feast. A simple way is to create an outline You could use:

Problem 1 > Solution 1 > Problem 2 > Solution 2 , etc.

If you're writing a "tips" article, you can simply write about each tip, divided into paragraphs.

Make sure your articles are fast and fun. Use bullets, numbered lists, and sub-headings to make it easy to read.

4. Summarize your article with a call to action. End your article by summarizing the main points and getting the reader to take action.

5. Next is one of the most crucial steps: a powerful resource box. This is a 3-6 line ad that sends readers to your website. To get readers to click you must offer a strong benefit. Don't try to sell in your resource box. You must first establish a relationship. So first, try to get them subscribed to your newsletter or autoresponder. Entice them with a free offer. Here is an example of a powerful resource box:

Alli Ross, is the wacky marketing chick at StickyArticle.com. She also publishes a blog packed with powerful tips that will send hundreds of targeted visitors to your site. Grab your power-packed traffic at
http://www.trafficoverload.blogspot.com.


Your resource box should include your name, your website address, a strong benefit, and a call to action.

Each of your articles has the potential to send you hundreds of visitors. Short articles perform the best, usually 200 - 600 words. Be sure that each of your articles contains a killer title with an attention-grabbing opener. Continue your article with a body packed with great info. People won't come to your site if you don't provide valuable information. Do not load the body of your article with links back to your site. This will lower the acceptance of the articles for reprint by other publishers. Allow your resource box to flood your site with quality traffic and soon you will be on your way to increased visitors and increased sales.