Critical SEO Basics

OK, so here are the basics you absolutely need to do before anything else.

META Tags

You need a couple of things in your meta tags at the top of every page. first and foremost is a page title. EVery page in your website needs to have its own title and they should all be different. Under no circumstances should your business name be our page title. Page title can be as much as 30% of the score for what is actually on/in the page code, including the content – that’s huge, don’t blow it.

The second meta tag you need is Read more

Turning Visitors Into Leads & Sales

So people are visiting your website, but no one is calling you on the phone and no one is buying anything. Guess what? That’s the case for more than 90% of website owners.

What are you doing wrong? You are probably giving them too much information, not enough information and not actually asking them to do anything. Expert marketers have been testing for years and we know what sells, and what generates leads and builds email lists.

If you are selling a product, you should be landing visitors on a page with a long sales letter. The kind that goes on and on with the sales pitch and sticks a bunch of testimonials and “bonus” offers in there too. I know, you’re probably saying, “I hate pages like that,” but they are proven to make more sales than any other type of website.

If you run a service business, or for some other reason can not sell your product directly on line, you need to generate leads. To accomplish this, you want your visitor to land on a “squeeze page” where they have only two options – Give you their name, email and maybe telephone number, or leave. You should not have any navigation on the page, no where else for them to go. You can send them to your home page after they give you their info if you want. It may seem like you are losing some prospects, but you really aren’t; they were never going to call you anyway, and neither were most of those who did give you a way to contact them. Those who leave contact info EXPECT to hear from you, so you won’t face a lot of objections and your close rate should be very high.

Another benefit of the squeeze page is building a list of people you can send newsletters and special offers to. One of the best known Internet Marketers in the world told me that you should expect to make $1/month for each and every name on your list. I was shocked until I went home and did the math. You see, I had never really done any “list building” up to that point. I had about 600 names on my newsletter list and usually didn’t sell anything in it. But I had sold a few Affiliate products over the years and sure enough it averaged out to $0.78 per name without really trying. I am about to send out an offer to my list (and I am starting to work at growing it – he has over 200,000) that will net me over $13 per sale – but it is a recurring monthly commission, so I should do much, much better. If I sell to 6% of my list, I will make $0.80 that first month, but I will continue to collect the same amount as long as they maintain their subscription. This is not very difficult once you have a list, but you need to build that list. The quickest way to build a list is to give away a free download of some sort and run Google AdWords (learn more about Google AdWords here)ads to drive traffic to the squeeze page where you are giving it away.

So, how are you going to build these “squeeze pages?” I strongly recommend using MarketingMakeoverGenerator.Com, which I use personally to save time. they offer a $1 trial – can you guess why it costs a $1 and is not free?

Highest Bid Is Not Highest Rank!

Hey, I was jut talking to a client and realized it may not be clear why the last post is so important. It is important because Google does not serve up ads based on who the highest bidder is, they consider relevance (a human actually looks at the ads and landing pages) and click through rate (one other way of measuring relevance).

Google wants to give the searcher what they want, or as close to it as possible, even in the paid listings. The higher your click through rate (%) the more relevant you look and the less you have to pay for a top listing. One good trick is to include the search term you bid on in the title of your ad and the headline of your landing page – even better, put it in the URL of the landing page too.

Keep coming back, or subscribe to my feed so you don’t miss any breaking news of critical tips!

Ken

The 10 Most Guarded AdWords Secrets

While Google AdWords is a revenue generating machine for the savvy advertiser, 9 out of 10 people often FAIL in their first few attempts to create an effective campaign.
That is why I have created this report – to help these new or not-as-experienced advertisers battle through the initial learning curve, and to implement a few very simple but effective strategies that will help you achieve your advertising goals and improve the overall performance of your advertising campaign.

1. Expand Relevant Keyword Terms
Keyword relevancy is the KEY to success with Google AdWords.
While it may be tempting to include all sorts of keywords you can get your hands on, be aware that this is often the #1 mistake advertisers make when creating their first campaign.
The keyword term qualifies the user as someone who is interested in the your products/services. For this reason, we need to make them as relevant as possible.
Do not go out on a whim and start adding terms that are somewhat related, because, chances are, even if users do find interest in clicking on your ad, they will end up leaving your website without making a purchase because your product/service was not exactly what they were looking for.

2. Be Familiar with the Various Matching Options
While broad match is the default match type and should be used more than 90% of the time, you should also be familiar with the other matching options that are available to you.
Selecting the right match type will increase your performance potential and for driving clicks/sales.
If you are unfamiliar with the different matching options, here is an example:
When tennis shoes is broad matched, your ad will show when users search on the keywords tennis and shoes, in any order, and even if the query includes other terms, such as tennis rackets and shoes.
With broad matching, the keyword is also automatically enrolled in expanded matching. This means that Google will show the ads for other relevant terms and variations (such as tennis sneakers) even if these terms are not included in the keyword list.
When tennis shoes is phrase matched, your ad will only show when users search on the keywords tennis shoes in that order. For example, queries red tennis shoes and tennis shoes sale will generate your ad, but not shoes for tennis.
When tennis shoes is exact matched, your ad will only show when users search on the keyword tennis shoes. This must be typed in exactly in this format. No other variations of this term will trigger your ad.

3. Use Negative Keywords Read more

What is Google AdSense?

Google AdSense is the opposite of Google AdWords. It is Google’s way of sharing ad revenue with publishers.

If you have an informational website that ads value and has some solid traffic, AdSense is a great way to monetize the site. While Google does not say what % of the revenue they share with the publisher, we know it can add up to a significant amount if you have a busy website.

To apply for Google AdSense, visit https://www.google.com/adsense/g-app-single-1

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate Marketing is when you advertise or sell someone else’s product for a commission. This is a great way to get started in Internet Marketing when you don’t have a product of your own to sell yet. It can also help you hone your marketing skills before launching your own product.

Some Affiliate Marketers actually make as much as $50-100,000/month just in commissions from selling other companies’ products. When I first started on the web as a Web Designer/Developer I ran affiliate ads for hosting companies on my website (I now own a Hosting Company too) and averaged about $300/month in extra income with very low traffic. I now select my affiliate programs carefully and expect a monthly return of at least $3000 or I cancel that program. With a dozen or more campaigns at any one time, that provides a very nice supplemental income. In fact, some months I make more from Affiliate Marketing than I do from my Development Business.

Copy Writing

Writing copy for the internet, and especially for internet ads and Landing Pages is quite different from any other writing. In this area of my blog I will be teaching you how to write more effective copy and whenever possible, why it is more effective.

What is a Conversion & Why Do I Care?

A conversion is when a visitor to a web page does the one thing the page’s owner most wants them to do. It could be buying the advertised product, subscribing to a newsletter, providing contact info, entering a sweepstakes, or anything else the page owner wants the visitor to do. One example would be clicking through an AdSense or Affiliate ad.

What Are PPC and Google AdWords?

PPC stands for Pay Par Click and AdWords is Google’s version of this type of advertising. In this category, we will discuss how to place higher in AdWords while paying less than your competitors, how to write your ads and how to build the pages you send the searchers to — called a Landing Page.

What is SEO?

SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization.

In this category I will be teaching you what to do so your website and landing pages display higher in the organic (free) search results of Google, Yahoo, MSN/Windows Live, and other.

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