BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News



How Well Do You Know Your OWN Site? Your Competitor’s?
These Handy SEO Tools Will Reveal All!

Needless to say, if you have a website, you will already know
it is becoming very competitive on the web. If you’re in a
lucrative niche market you will have probably already felt this
competition, not only from webmasters like yourself, but also
from major multi-billion dollar companies who have wised up
and SEOed up to take advantage of all this free organic traffic
coming from the search engines.

The competition is getting brutal.

For example, in some of my niche markets, I am competing to
get on the first page in Google for keywords that have over
220,000,000 competing pages. Hitting those first 10 spots is
where the money is located. You have to get onto that first
page in order to see your best results. And it is becoming
harder and harder to stay in those top 10 spots.

Of course, one marketing tactic is to simply NOT compete at
all, and go for the “long tail keyword phrases” which have
less traffic but also less competition so you can get on the
first page of Google within a few days. This route will save
you a lot of frustration and sleepless nights.

However, if you’re like me and have held some lucrative keywords
on the first page of Google for over 4 or 5 years… seeing other
webmasters and especially big corporations come in and bump your
listing off the first page – totally ticks me off!

As the competition gets harder, you have to get smarter. Especially
if you have a small site with limited resources to spend on building
links and creating unique content. So you have to try and outwit your
competition.

Now if you know me, I am always pushing the “knowledge” button.
The more you know about your competition, the more able you are
to compete with them. And to a certain extent, the more you know
the more able you are to even beat your competition.

Over the years, I have used countless tools and software programs
to really get to know my competition. Thankfully, there are many
free programs you can use to discover most of what you should know
about your competition.

First, simply using the Google search engine will tell you who is
listed on the first page for your chosen keyword or keywords.
It will also tell you how many pages you’re competing against.
Now if you have a multi-worded phrase put quotation marks around
the “keyword phrase” and do an exact search in Google, which will
tell you the number of webpages which has this exact phrase
on them. This is probably your true competition.

Then you have to take a close look at your competition. Here is
one free tool that has been around since 2005 and you don’t even
have to sign-up to use it.

http://www.reactionengine.com/

Just type in your site’s URL + a keyword and this tool will analyze
the SEO factors for you. They will even give you a “grade” for your
page!

But most importantly, they will give you some very valuable
information about your own site or your competitor’s site. You
can use this information to better design your site to hit all
the proper SEO signals which the search engines use to rank your
site.

In a recent WebProNews video interview, Matt Cutts said Google
has over 200 signals which it uses to rank pages. Now these
are the ranking factors which Google uses to rank your pages.

But really they are signals… give off the wrong signals and your
page will go down in the rankings. You really want all your
on-page SEO signals to be done right – simply because this is something
you have total control over.

For example, if you use the link above, it will tell you how
well you’re using your site against a certain keyword:


- is your main keyword in the title?

- is it in the body?

All these things do affect how well your site ranks in the
search engines. So it might be beneficial to take a look at
your site and see how will it does. And make any appropriate
changes.

Once you have taken a really close look at your site or page,
then you have to examine your main competition. Take a look at
how their site performs for your chosen keyword. What are
they doing different from you? How are their pages optimized
for the search engines? See how they are ranked?

Now look at how you can improve your site to better compete
with your competition. By first getting all your on-page SEO
factors/signals better optimized will help you compete better
with your competition.

Of course, there are many different sites like the one above
which you can use to find out more information about your
competition. I also like using:

www.compete.com
www.seotoolbook.com
www.iwebtool.com

Plus, as you probably know, I am a long-time user of the
Firefox Toolbar Add-on from

SEO Quake

This handy SEO toolbar gives me all the important SEO pointers
about a site while I am surfing. It does slow down your browser
a bit, but the information you get is as they say: priceless.

When I am checking out a site – either my competitor or when I
am looking for search partners, one thing I always check out on
this toolbar is the “SEMRush SE Traffic Price” this tells me the
worth of the search engine traffic this site is receiving each month.
If they had to pay for this traffic – that’s how much it would cost
them. Someone with $500,000 worth of traffic coming in each month,
probably knows what they’re doing when it comes to keyword positioning.

And another one is Alexa.com which I like to use to see the
traffic numbers, but also to check some of the links my competing
sites have. One marketing tactic, go out and try to get the same links
as your competition. If you want to truly compete with your competition
and beat them, you have to “out-link” them.

You also have to take a really close look at their whole site and
how it is constructed. What social network/bookmark sites are they
using? Are they using Twitter? Are they using Facebook? Are they
using Adsense? How many pages do they have indexed in the search
engines?

All of these things will add to your “knowledge” about your
competition. The more knowledge you have, the better you will
be able to compete…

Anyway, this is just some of the things you can do to check out
how well your site is optimized for SEO and also some ways
you can check out your competition. Go get ‘em!

Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!

Kind Regards,
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com

Did you find the above information helpful? If so, why not
help spread the word – recommend this content by using
the social bookmark sites below. The SEO Gods will Thank You!

BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News

After Backlinks Your Most Important SEO Factor Is?

Last week I told you about getting backlinks to your
site and how important they are for getting higher
rankings and for bringing in quality traffic. After
I sent that email I started thinking about what’s my
next most important SEO factor?

After backlinks – your SEO comes back to your “on page”
factors which will affect your rankings in the search
engines, especially Google. After much consideration,
and after years of ranking in the search engines for
popular keywords, I have to say your “Title Tag” is
the next most important SEO factor.

This really tells the search engines what your page
is about and what they will find on the page. It shows
up in the Index and it’s what surfer see in their browsers.
It is extremely important to get this right if you want
your pages to rank high.

Put your main keywords at the beginning of the title
tag and keep the title around 60 – 65 characters if you
want the full title to show up in Google. In Yahoo,
it’s exactly 120 characters so you can have a longer
title but Google won’t show it all.

Try to keep all the title tags on your site unique -
don’t use the same title for different pages. This will
not only confuse your visitors but also the search
engines.

Over the years I have been breaking up the title tag with
a “|” has worked really well for me. As in the following
title:

3D Gaming Laptops | Laptop Reviews

Don’t know exactly why it works but I believe the search
engines are breaking up the title and reading it as
two major keyword phrases. Probably puts more emphasis on
each of them for ranking purposes.

As for choosing titles for pages, what has really worked
for me is finding and using the “long tail keyword phrases”
web users are searching for on the web. Placing a popular
question in the title tag and then answering that question
on the page works for me.

Example: “Where to find cheap laptops?”

Title Tag Would Be:

Where to find cheap laptops? | Laptop Reviews


Now another key SEO element which goes hand-in-hand with
your Title Tag is your URL Tag or name… I always try
to keep these the same. For example, in the one above
I would use

www.yoursite.com/where_to_find_cheap_laptops.htm

as my URL for that page.

Notice that I am using an “_” or “underscore” to divide
up the words in my URL. Most experts suggest you use
a “-” or “hyphen” to break up the words, but the underscore
has always worked for me so I keep using it.

And for some reason, when I first started writing up my
html pages – I used “htm” instead of “html” for the closing tag
on all my pages. The only place I use “html” is in or on the
index page, such as “index.html”.

So the title of your page is very important for SEO reasons,
I also believe Google is now placing more emphasis on the
title – almost to the point where somewhat spammy titles and
descriptions are given higher billing.

I follow hundreds of keywords daily, and I have noticed
Google SEEMS to be paying more attention to keywords
in the URL and in the Title, plus description when ranking
pages… including and even repeating your keyword phrase
throughout your Title, Description, Content and your URL
seems to get you ranked higher.

I use the word “seems” because with Google drawing any
firm conclusions regarding SEO takes a big leap of faith.
Cracking how they rank their pages is a whole industry
in itself and we won’t go there.

But writing good optimized “Titles” with your major
keywords at the front, will go a long way in getting your
pages noticed and ranked by the search engines. Then follow
up your good Title Tag with your same Title keywords in
your URL for that page, will go even further to help with
your SEO.

Simple stuff but it works for me and it should also work
for you!

If you want to find out more about HTML Title Tags:

Title Tags for Search Engine Optimization & Web Usability

And if you still need more help with the SEO stuff,
I highly recommend Brad Callen’s SEO Elite – it only
costs a few bucks but it’s well worth the money.

SEO Elite

Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!

Kind Regards,
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com

BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News

7 Tips To Be A Successful Online Marketer

There’s no life like it – be your own boss, set your own hours, work at home
or anywhere in the world where you have Internet access. What more could you
ask for? Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? But there are countless
individuals doing exactly that, making a good living being an online marketer.

And I am one of those lucky individuals!

I have been a full-time online marketer for around 5 years now, and I run 9 or 10
sites on the wwww – wonderful world wide web. I make a very respectable living
and I enjoy every minute of it. But if you’re under the impression that all
you have to do is to slap some content together and place it on a web site and
watch the money roll in; then you are sadly mistaken. Don’t get the wrong impression,
you can become a successful online marketer, but it will take a lot of time and
work on your part. It just doesn’t happen overnight, at least, this has been
my experience and we can only write about our own experiences and views.

Sometimes, it’s helpful to get pointers from someone who is actually doing what
we want to do. So below I have put together 7 Tips for becoming a successful
online marketer.

1. Knowledge Up

The whole concept of online marketing may seem quite simple, just place some
content or product onto a website and you’re in business. The reality is quite
different. It may take you years to learn all the complex techniques and tactics
to compete in the online marketplace, which is becoming more and more competitive
as more companies and individuals discover its great potential. Sure we have all
heard stories of people who come up with a great idea and make an online fortune
very quickly. People also win the lotteries… but if you want to become a
successful online marketer you first have to learn your trade.

You have to acquire all the knowledge you can on Internet Marketing. Read articles
and ebooks, take online e-courses, study and examine successful websites and/or
marketers… there is a wealth of marketing information on the web. Just find it
and use it. When I was first learning all the ropes, I made tons of mistakes but
I was fortunate enough to come into contact with some successful online marketers
who were actually doing what I wanted to do. People like Marlon Sanders, Ken Evoy,
Corey Rudl, Neil Shearing, Brad Callens… I quickly became acquainted with these
individuals and learned everything I could from them.

This was not out of the ordinary or hard to accomplish, since all these marketers
have comprehensive affiliate training programs to show even the most novice webmaster
or marketer the ropes, most of these programs are free because these marketers want
to teach you how to sell their products. This is a very simple way to get a quick
education on how to market online. I personally liked the numerous free ebooks
offered thru Ken Evoy’s SiteSell program… many of these will drive you bonkers,
especially if you’re new at this game, but only because they are so comprehensive
and thorough – the information can be a little overwhelming to say the least.
But if you can work you way through some of SiteSell’s free marketing manuals
and ebooks, you will get the basic knowledge to further your goal of becoming
an online marketer.

2. Find Your Niche Market or Subject

Unless you already have a product or business you wish to market online, then
your first task will be finding a good niche market or subject which you can
explore and exploit on the web. Best advice, find something that you already
have a strong interest in such as a favorite hobby or past-time, an area where
you already have special training or something you always wanted to study and
examine. This niche market or subject will take up countless hours of your time
so you have to really pick something you like doing. The major point here, if you’re
doing something you like, it won’t seem like work.

For my first site I picked Internet Marketing because it was an area of the web
that truly fascinated me and it has kept me fascinated for over 10 years and counting.
Mainly because the web and online marketing is constantly changing, this stuff never
gets old. No matter which subject area you choose, you must check out the commercial
viability of your topic.

In other words, if you want to be successful, there must be enough commercial
interest in your market or subject. There must be enough people searching for
your product each month so that it’s viable. Use a program like WorkTracker or
Google Adwords Keyword Tool to find the number of searches made each month for
a keyword. Keywords are words or phrases web users type into search engines to
find what they’re looking for on the web. You must have plenty of good serchable
keywords relating to your subject in order for it to be workable.

Another Keyword tool I like using is Microsoft’s Detecting Online Commercial Intention,
which tells you the probability a certain keyword or site will have enough commercial
potential customers who will purchase a product or service.

3. Google Up!

Google is the most important player on the web. While you shouldn’t ignore the
other search engines, I would suggest you learn everything you can about how
Google both indexes and ranks pages on the web. Getting a number one or even
a top 5 listing for your chosen keywords in Google, can make or break your online
business. Google simply sends/controls the majority of the quality search traffic
on the web, get those top rankings in Google and you will succeed.

Now Google gives webmasters many valuable webmaster tools and devotes a whole
section to help webmasters with their sites. One valuable resource which is
loaded with helpful information is Google Webmaster Tools . Use it! Also,
if you’re just starting out, another good resource is Google’s
Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide, which is a handy pdf file
you can download.

Always, keep in mind, Google is only like any other company supplying a
product and in this case the product is their SERPs (Search Engine Return Pages),
so the higher the quality of your content and pages – the higher your rankings
in Google will be. Of course, seasoned webmasters know quality one-way backlinks
is one of the most important keys to getting high rankings in Google. But it all
comes back to quality, if you have quality content, people will bookmark it in
all the social media sites, and related webmasters will link to your quality content.
This does really happen, so creating high quality content should be your first
and most important SEO strategy.

4. Building Your Site

Regardless of what kind of site you’re building, you must follow some very simple
SEO rules. Make sure your site’s structure can be easily navigated by both your
visitors and the search engines. Try to keep your site’s hierarchy simple, with
all your pages reachable from the home page. Most webmasters only use three levels
- homepage, topics and sub-topics – with all pages linking back to your homepage
and no more than 3 clicks away from it. It is also a good idea to have a sitemap
link on each page so that you don’t leave your visitors stranded. Check with
Google’s Starter Guide for more information on how to create a proper lay-out.

Personally, as an online marketer I seek out the top searched for keywords in my niche,
and create pages around that keyword or keyword phrase. This ensures you’re getting
targeted visitors/customers to your pages. You can have hundreds of these keyworded
pages on your site and connect all these pages together in a thematic arrangement
so that the search engines can easily find and rank them.

As for choosing a domain name, I also try to get my main targeted keyword in the
domain. This helps tremendously with your search engine rankings because every
backlink will have your main keyword in the URL. This will tell the search engines
exactly what your site is about. Again, if you’re brand new at this, I would suggest
you use a program like WordPress, which is free blogging software you can use to
create a blog site. Or try Brad Callens BlinkWeb a free site creator.
Another option, is to purchase or buy a SiteBuildIt hosting package
from SiteSell, but this is more than just hosting, it’s a complete online
marketing system you can use. It will take you step-by-step through the whole
creation and marketing of your site or business on the web.

5. Promoting Your Site

This is probably the hardest part of online marketing, but it is something which
is essential to its success. Too many webmasters/marketers build a fantastic site
and then sit around and wait for the visitors/customers to pour in. Sad fact is,
unless you actually get out there and promote your site you will get very little,
if any traffic. Of course, there are exceptions, some sites instantly attract
visitors and acquire countless backlinks just by word of mouth, but for the most
part this simply doesn’t happen.

You have to actively promote your site and URL. One method that I use is article
marketing – writing simple helpful articles and distributing them all over the web.
articles have keyworded links back to your site. Simple and effective way to get
your site out there. Another free way to promote your site is to tie it in with
all the social media and bookmarking sites, so use Twitter, Facebook, MySpace,
YouTube… to promote your site. Videos also have become very effective recently
and you should be taking advantage of their great potential. So is using a simple
social bookmark program like the Addthis Button, which lets your visitors bookmark
and build your backlinks for you.

Google seems to be paying special attention to how many social bookmarks/links your
site is receiving. It is a simple form of voting for the quality of your content
if actual web users see it and bookmark/recommend it to their friends. The more
Tweets, Diggs… your content gets, the higher it will rank in the search engines,
besides all those links bring in targeted traffic, which is what you want.

6. Monetizing Your Site

There are countless way to monetize or make money from your website once you
have a steady flow of traffic coming to your site. We are not talking about
tons of traffic here, a site getting just 100 or 200 visitors a day can prove
very profitable. Personally, I like choosing affiliate programs which give a
residual or have a re-occurring element to their payments. Make one sale and
get paid for years to come, I am still receiving monthly payments from sales
I made 5 years ago. So if you decide to place affiliate links on your pages,
try to go with a company or program which gives you residual income for the
life of the referred customer.

I also like promoting high-end affiliate products simply because the commissions
are obviously higher. Why sell a $20 item, when you can sell a $2000 one? Of course,
there are countless strategies to marketing online, if you sell 100’s of that $20 item,
you still end up in the same place. As for finding affiliate products to promote I
like using the major affiliate networks like Commission Junction, LinkShare,Shareasale ,
ClickBank, Affiliate Window… these networks are totally professional, do all your
tracking and give you valuable information on how to market online.

Another very simple way to monetize your pages is to use Google Adsense, now the
payments won’t be as high as with promoting affiliate products but using Adsense
is a simple and quick way to monetize all your pages. I also find Adsense very
consistent and totally reliable, besides getting that check from Google each month,
always puts a smile on my face.

7. Track Everything That Moves

Another major key to online marketing success is having extensive tracking in place.
You must track where your visitors are coming from and what keywords they’re using
to find your site. And what they do once they hit your site. I like using Google Analytics
for tracking all my content but I don’t just depend on Analytics, I also use all hosting
stats such as Awstats, Webalizer… I also regularly check my site’s traffic logs and
daily visitors.

All this tracking tells me what’s working and more importantly, what’s not working.
Check your bounce rate and the amount of time people spend on your site as these are
more than likely ranking factors. Also check how fast your site loads, Google is said
to be making this another ranking factor which they use to rank your pages.

Carefully reading of your site’s stats and logs will show you which keywords are
profitable and making you money. Then you have to simply fine-tune your marketing
to target those lucrative keywords or phrases. Keep building your rankings for those
keywords over a period of time and you will be successful.

Bonus Step: Persistence Brings Home The Bacon

I couldn’t finish this article without mentioning another key element to succeeding
on the web – persistence. Maybe it’s just me, but it took me around three years before
any of my sites became really profitable. Now most marketers and webmasters become
profitable in much shorter periods, but I still believe it takes time to build a solid
online business. It takes time to build up your customer base, it takes time to build
up your rankings in all the search engines.

Guess, what I am saying is this: if you expect overnight success, you’re setting yourself
up for disappointment. But if you take a long-term strategy and build your site and marketing
up over a matter of months, more likely years, then you have a much better chance of becoming
successful. Mainly because, you’re not just building a site, you’re building an online business
that will take some time to become established and it may even take more time to become prosperous.
Be persistent and you will succeed.time to become prosperous. Be persistent and you will succeed.

….

SBI Vanentine Special

Ken Evoy’s SBI (Site Build It) is holding their regular Valentine’s
Special. Buy a subscription to this popular and comprehensive web site
building system and for $100 more you get another site which you
can give away to a friend or someone special. Sort of a Valentine’s
Gift!

You can find the full details here:

SBI’s Valentine’s Special

Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!


Kind Regards,
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com

BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News

How to Get 10x More Traffic From EVERY Article You Write

Perhaps the biggest mistake any online marketer or webmaster
can make is this: “believing that they know everything about
a particular subject” and sticking to that belief.

This week I saw a video that changed everything I thought
I knew about article marketing. I have been doing article
marketing for over 5 years and it’s my main source of income.
But this free video by Kim Roach really woke me up about
article marketing.

In the 77 minute video (yes 77 minutes) Kim shows you
how to use Google to find different sites to display
your articles and/or content to get 10 times the amount
of traffic you’re currently getting from them.

What I liked most about this video is that Kim doesn’t
just tell you the extra sites or places where you can promote
your articles but actually shows you how to go about
doing this process for yourself. She shows you the
actual strategies which she uses. This way you can use
her methods to get sites perfectly targeted to your
articles and content.

This is very useful knowledge to have when marketing online
and I strongly suggest you check out her link in this
week’s blog posting here:

How to Get 10x More Traffic From EVERY Article You Write

I know this stuff works because several of the sites she
mentions: site-reference.com and sitepronews.com
have displayed my own articles for years and have brought
in tons of targeted traffic to my sites.

Site-reference has even done videos of my articles and
I have a blog on SiteProNews – so I know using those
sites work. However, Kim’s video is not only about
Internet Marketing articles or affiliate marketing…
it’s about getting 10 times the traffic for any
article you write – no matter the subject area.

Check out the free video here. You won’t have to
use your email or anything. Totally free:

How to Get 10x More Traffic From EVERY Article You Write

Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!

Kind Regards,
Titus

P.S. Why doesn’t Apple have its own search engine?

If Apple wants to play with the big boys: Microsoft and Google
- then it will have to eventually develop its own search engine.
This week Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad Tablet… calling it magical
and revolutionary. But what would have been more revolutionary was a
statement or commitment from Apple that it would be creating its own
search engine to go along with this iPad and its other computer products
- is Apple missing the boat here?

Find out about this idea and the new iPad here:

Apple iPad Tablet

BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News

Spiders, Breadcrumbs & Google – Why All Three Are Important To Your Site’s Success

Do you see what I see!

It could just be me, but one of the least talked about aspects of Internet
marketing has to do with the pesky little spider. Actually these are the
countless spiders/robots that spider the web continuously and report back
all content and links to the search engines.

It is surprising that this lowly spider is not better known or understood
by webmasters since they play a major role in the success of your website
- at least where the search engines are concerned. How these spiders see
your site and what they report back is crucial to getting your pages and
content listed in the search engines.

What you see is not what you get.

One common mistake many webmasters make (especially those just beginning)
is that they take if for granted all the information and content on your site
can be seen by the spiders/search engines. You can have a spectacular looking
site with all the bells and whistles – full of images, java scripts, flash
banners, widgets… a visitor to your site will come away amazed at the content
and information.

But a spider comes along and spiders the same spectacular page and finds
nothing – no content whatsoever – nothing. That spider then reports this
back to the search engine and your page or content is not indexed since
nothing of importance was found.

This can mean disaster, even for the most spectacularly designed pages.
No content, no listing.

Of course, the whole issue or problem is the simple fact that spiders can’t
read images, banners, java scripts, widgets… and so on. What they see
when they visit your webpage MAY be entirely different from what you or
your visitors see. If they can’t see or read your content it doesn’t exist
for the search engines.

For this reason, it is always a good practice to run your pages through
software programs which tell you exactly what the spider sees. Get your
pages read or displayed through the eyes of these spiders.

One good site is Search Engine Spider Imitator

Just type in your page URL and you will see what the spider sees. If any
of your main information or keyword phrases are missing – make sure you
place them as “text” on your page, not text in an image or banner.

One common mistake, which I see all the time, a site has it’s main keyword
phrase in the domain name but then creates an eye-catching logo with the
site’s name displaying the keyword phrase – but the spider cannot read this
logo and that much needed keyword SEO is lost. Especially if this logo is
displayed on every page of your site, which in most cases, it will be.

It is much better to have this domain name/keyword displayed as text on all
your pages. In this manner, the search engines know exactly what your pages
are about; having it read as “site logo” just doesn’t cut it.

However, many webmasters are smart enough to put your keyword phrase in
the “alt” tags connected with this logo or image – which the spider and
the search engines can read. For SEO reason it is good to place your targeted
keyword in the “alt” tag, but like everything, don’t over do it or you will
be accused of keyword spamming.

Another whole issue is the matter of site/link hierarchy. Explained simply,
your domain index is level one, links flowing off this main homepage are
usually considered level two, links flowing off these level two pages are
considered level 3 and so on… most web experts suggest you keep all your
content within these three levels. Why? Mainly because it is easier for the
spider to index them. If you go down too deep, some spiders may not spider/index
your deeply linked pages.

Another reason, you want your site and pages to be easily accessed by your
visitor. A simple page structure or layout is best suited for this purpose.
Make sure all your content can be easily found, especially by spiders.

So in conclusion, make sure spiders can read all your content, use the link here
and check your pages. If you are unpleasantly surprised or disappointed by
what these spiders are seeing, then simply fix the problem by making your
important content placed in “text” on your pages. Keep feeding those spiders,
and they won’t come back and bite you in the… well, you get picture.

……………………………………………………………….

Get Your Breadcrumbs in Google for More Links in Results

This is the title of a really good informative piece on Google and Breadcrumbs
in WebProNews by Chris Crum, no pun intended. Basically, breadcrumbs are same
as the linking structure or levels we talked about above – “the hierarchical display
commonly used in site navigation. For example: Home Page>Product Page>Product A Page.”

Google is starting to list these breadcrumbs/links in its results which means
more of your site’s links will be displayed on that first page. Instead of one
link, you can have three or more links on that first page in Google. If you’re
into search engine marketing like I am, you will know this is a major, major deal.
Getting more links in Google for your site simply means more targeted traffic
and more targeted traffic means more sales and opt-ins.

According to Matt Cutts it’s very early days for “Breadcrumbs” but it is
something you should consider when designing your site as Google will probably
be using some form of them in the future.

Click this link if you want to find out more about this topic:

Get Your Breadcrumbs in Google for More Links in Results

………………………………………………………………….

The Only 3 Steps You Need To Make Tons Of Sales Online In 2010

This is a free PDF article by Marlon Sanders who is one
of my favorite Internet Marketers. Mainly because he produces
“no non-sense” “point & click” marketing products which
are easy to use and apply. He cuts out all the “bull” and
gives you what you need to market online.

I have always recommended Sanders and his products to
anyone who’s interested in finding out “how” all this
online marketing works. Heck, he was marketing on the web
before there even was a “web” as we know it today.

Anyway, if you’re interested in finding out more, simply
download this free article:

Marlon Sanders 3 Steps

Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com

BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News

Is Article Marketing Still Effective In 2010?

Don’t exactly know what it is about starting a new year of marketing online,
but I always stop and take a hard look at all my marketing tactics and methods.
Article marketing is always at the top of my list, mainly because it is and has
always been the cornerstone of everything I do on the web.

By cornerstone I mean it is the key to basically all of my online earnings. Without
article marketing I wouldn’t be a full-time online marketer – it’s as simple as
that. No articles, no income.

Articles bring in the targeted traffic. Articles build those all important one-way
backlinks. Articles build those even more important top rankings in Google for your
chosen keywords. Articles build your online reputation and credibility in the eyes
of your visitors.

I was struggling on the web for around three years before I wrote my first article.
“10 Reasons To Put RSS On Your Site” which is still on around 8,000 sites
around the web.

Writing was always a passion of mine, but it was more on the creative side, although
I did work briefly as a reporter for a very small community newspaper. Looking back
on it, I believe (perhaps falsely) that I had to gain all those years of experience
before I could start writing about it.

Which was the totally wrong attitude to take. Anyone can research a favorite subject
or topic and write a short informative article on it. Most of us have been doing that since
grade school – it is the same as writing a report or an essay.

Only with article writing you actually see monetary returns almost immediately. Surfers
search for an answer in the search engines, your article pops up, they read it and then
click the link to your webpage where you have conveniently placed your affiliate links
or your own products.

A small percentage of those article readers will buy your products and you’re in business.

Over time, all those backlinks in your resource box at the end of your article will
make your keywords rise in the search engines, especially Google. Then as someone searches
in Google – your site pops up, they click thru to your webpage and a small percentage
of these visitors will buy your product or affiliate product displayed on your page.

Smart marketers will also start building a large list of prospective customers by
offering a free guide, ebook or software program to get those visitors to sign-up to your
opt-in list. These marketers can then do follow-up with all these potential customers.

That in a nutshell is an article marketing model or funnel which thousands of online
marketers and webmasters are using. And have been using for years.


But will article marketing remain effective in 2010 and the coming years?

More than likely the answer would be yes but the web is constantly changing and
there are other games worth playing. The same kind of marketing system could be
done with Videos, Blogs, Social Networks and even with Twitter. Your options are
more varied…

However, I find article marketing can be integrated into all elements. For example,
Ezinearticles lets you Tweet your articles to all your followers. I turn my best
articles into Videos and place them on YouTube which opens up a whole different
flow of traffic to my webpages and affiliate links.

Likewise, you can place your articles or links to them on FaceBook,
MySpace and the other social networks. I find getting your articles
on Digg, Reddit, Stumbleupon… can bring in a lot of traffic and
increase your rankings.

But the question remains – is article marketing as effective as it once was?

My own answer and personal opinion is no since it’s effectiveness has been watered
down somewhat because every “tom dick and harry plus sally” is doing it.
Everyone has discovered how writing short informative articles on the topic
of your site can be very lucrative.

When I wrote that first article five years ago, I was ‘writer #1561′ with
Ezinearticles. Now they have over 240,509 writers!

Back then, I found your article was placed on a lot more sites mostly because
there wasn’t that many articles out there and competition was much, much less
than it is now. More people writing more articles simply means your article
falls into a bigger pool of other articles.

However, the popularity of these free article directories have grown and some
of these sites have very high traffic numbers. Just look at the Alexa numbers
for the popular article directories on the web:

However, article marketing is still a very good way to get your site and name
on the web. It can still bring in traffic and help build those all important
backlinks and search engine rankings. This is one marketer who will not be giving up
article marketing any time soon.

Some of my most effective techniques for article marketing are:


- Place your targeted keyword phrase in the title, usually at the beginning.

- Make sure your article is informative and supplies the information a reader is searching
for – but always try to motivate the reader to click your links in the resource box for
further information since your main objective is to get the reader to click thru
to your site.

- Most experts say to keep your article short, around 400 – 700 words, but I have
found longer articles of 800-1500 words do really well.

- Place your targeted keywords in the anchor text of your resource box links, that’s
the underlined clickable part. Vary these keywords to avoid keyword spamming.

- For very important sites, try writing an exclusive unique article for that site alone.

- Always spell-check and proof-read your articles. Grammar has never been my strong
point so what I do for finding the correct usage of some tricky phrases or words
– I do a search in Google with “quotation marks” to find out which one has the most
links/usage… I go with the one that has the most links, even if it’s wrong, thousands
of people are making the same mistake. Many marketers do the same thing with mis-spelled
keywords.

While they can be expensive, I also like using paid article submission sites such as
Submityourarticle, ThePhantomwriters and Isnare… mainly because article marketing
has been so profitable for me, I don’t mind pouring some of those earnings
back into those sites. It saves me time and extends the reach of my articles.

Article marketing will continue to be one of your best ways to build backlinks, raise
your rankings and bring in potential customers to your site. It works for me and hundreds
of thousands of other webmasters – it should also work for you.

….

In addition, this has been a very busy week and I thought these links
would prove to be of interest/help to you:

How Google Ranks Tweets?

This is a posting on WebProNews which I found very interesting and
beneficial to read. Google looks at now only the number of followers
you have, but the quality of those followers when ranking your Tweets.

Find out other interesting stuff here:

Google Reveals Factors For Ranking Tweets

….

Jiggling The Web

Michael Campbell has a free report entitled “Jiggling The Web”
which has a rather silly name but in it he explains how you can
get your links/content into Google and the search engines within
minutes. Many professional marketers are now using these techniques
to boost traffic and make more sales.

Find out more here:

Jiggling The Web

Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com