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Is The Web Marketing Lifestyle Worth It?

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BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News

Is The Web Marketing Lifestyle Worth It?

Making a living online is not easy to do but it
can be done. Here’s my story and what I did first…

No matter how long I do this web marketing stuff, it never fails to amaze me.
Perhaps, what sticks out the most, is the fact that people can actually make
a living online. It is still a fairly new concept.

We never know what life has in store for us, if you told me ten years ago
that I would become a full-time web marketer with 9 or 10 websites I would
have probably asked you: What’s a web site?

Today, young people have grown up with the web and it has always been there
for them. But older folks like me, experienced the birth and growth of the
web in the 90’s and have a fuller understanding of this new creature.

I live in a very remote part of the world and if you go back 10 or 15 years,
the whole concept of the Internet was totally foreign. We simply didn’t have
access to this new world of computers, servers and wired connections. When we
finally got web dial-up, it was extremely slow but we did become connected
and I started exploring this new world at full-throttle.

Coming from a background in art and art education, I was blessed with some
graphic design skills which proved very helpful when I started to create my
web sites from scratch. As an artist I was used to learning new techniques
on my own which also helped me tackle the Internet. Those skills were greatly
needed because I even had to learn how to write HTML code in order to create
those sites, something I still do today, even though we have many software
programs which can do it for you.

Since I had to do all the coding myself, I kept my sites very simple and
started re-using templates of pages which proved successful. I believe one
of the keys to succeeding online is to find that one thing that works and
keep duplicating the process. Once you have made that first dollar, just
keep repeating the process until you make another dollar.

Once you have created one site that’s bringing in a profit, design other
sites which do the same.

Even though I have an art background, I don’t let fancy graphics or too much
design interfere with the main objective of my webpages – ranking high for
my chosen keywords in all the major search engines. You must focus on those
keyword rankings because that’s what will bring in the targeted traffic and
sales.

Keywords That Sell

You really have to find the keywords which produce the sales. This is easier
than you think. One handy tool is from Microsoft of all places, but it has
proven very helpful, it’s called:

Detecting Online Commercial Intention

This tool will tell you if your site or keywords has economic potential
on the web.

Another Major Key For Me Was Google.

Truth be told I didn’t really get anywhere until my keywords and sites
started ranking high in Google. Like I have told you a million times,
I have no magic formula – just steady article writing and promotion,
plus creating valuable content which web users need and want.

These simple techniques can work for anyone. I recently helped my brother
set up sites and a year & half in – his sites are selling something every day.
These sales numbers are only small but all he has to do is keep repeating
what he’s doing and the revenue will increase. If you’re curious, here is
one of his sites: Blu-ray Dvd Players

Like me, for him Google is also the key, getting those high “first page”
rankings will bring in the traffic and sales. And like me, he started with
the basics, concentrating on Google keywords and starting with this simple:

Google Keyword Tool

Once you get started with this online marketing stuff, it can become addictive,
but addictive in a good way. Learning how to make extra money in your spare time
is never really a bad thing. Working full-time on the web and from the comfort
of your home is not a bad thing. Most of all, being your own boss and answering
to no one is a very good thing. There is no life like it.

Like I said at the beginning, making a living from the web will totally amaze you.
Well, at least it amazed me, especially when you’re doing other things and then
you check your stats to discover you have made money. Once your sites and marketing
are set up, it runs automatically 24/7, earning you revenue whether you’re
actually working at it or you’re on vacation.

Or doing anything which humans can possibly do…

That part still puts a smile on my face every time… that and the fact because
it’s web based, I can work and live just about anywhere I want. That sense of
total freedom can’t be matched unless you win the lotto or something.

Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!

Kind Regards,
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com

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List Building Tips For The Affiliate Marketer

admin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 10:26:38 +0000

List building is one simple marketing strategy any affiliate marketer
can use to increase traffic and sales. But there are a few simple things
you can do to make your list building and affiliate marketing much
more effective…

If you’re into affiliate marketing you will probably already know how
important list building is to your overall success. However, I sometimes
get the feeling from close examination of my competitor’s sites that
list building takes a back seat in their site layout and design.
One also gets the general feeling that list building is not as important
as it once was, especially in the early days of online marketing before
the advent of so many social media/networking sites.

Granted for the ordinary webmaster, in the age of Twitter, Facebook and
YouTube, building your own personal autoresponder lists have taken a
backseat to these social networking sites which obviously builds your
subscriber list for you. But these are third-party sites controlling
your subscribers and while they more or less eliminates the whole notion
of unwanted spam, they do present issues regarding the use of these lists.

Coming from the old school of marketing, I realized the importance of
my lists from the start. I also realized the most difficult part of building
a list was not getting the subscribers, but connecting in some way with
them and building trusting relationships with lists in the tens of thousands
is not an easy thing to accomplish.

List building in regards to affiliate marketing is of special interest
to me since I am a full-time affiliate marketer and anything which makes
my job easier I will try. Like most affiliate marketers, I have created
niche sites dealing with the products and services which I promote. One
major component of these sites is the list building element. On almost
all my sites I try to capture my visitor’s contact information to give
follow-up information which lets me market to these subscribers in a
very subtle way.

The important thing here is to offer free ebooks, guides or e-courses in
order to capture this contact information before these customers are sent
along to the merchant’s site. This is the “old squeeze page” which many
online marketers use in order to build their own list of potential prospects
for their offers.

This must be a “win-win” situation for everyone involved so I like
connecting these lists to special sales, coupons and deals which are
offered by the merchants. These customers can get $100’s off the price
of the products featured so that they end up with a good deal and you
end up with a sale.

All this couldn’t be possible if you didn’t build your list of targeted
clients or customers looking for the products you’re promoting. List
building in this area has proven very effective for my affiliate marketing,
so effective I try to put my subscriber form or box on all my webpages.
So if you’re an affiliate marketer who is sending your visitors directly
to your merchant’s site, think again, and see if building or capturing
your visitor’s contact information is worth your while? If done properly,
this can be an excellent way of increasing your sales and commissions.

Another form of list building which I believe too many affiliate marketers
take for granted is the powerful little “cookie”. For those not in the
business, a cookie is simply a piece of code which identifies your referrals
as belonging to you or your affiliate ID, if a sale is made immediately
or for any time in the future you will get credit for the sale because
you referred the customer or client.

Now, the trick here is to pick affiliate products and programs which
have a 90 Day Cookie or more; if a sale is made in those 90 days you
get credit for the sale. The longer the length the better, there are
even some products and companies which give life-time cookies.

Why is this so important you ask?

Well, if you have a popular site you can quickly build up a long list of
potential customers cookied with your affiliate IDs. The larger the list,
the more sales you will make. Affiliate marketing is a numbers game,
the more numbers you have, the easier it is to succeed. I have found
this so profitable that I try to “cookie” all the lists I build in the
process mentioned above, so that all these potential customers have my
affiliate IDs attached.

So it doesn’t take a genius to realize, used in combination, this can be
an extremely profitable form of list building which every affiliate marketer
should be doing if they haven’t already figured out this simple marketing
strategy. Build your lists, cookie your lists, and then sit back and reap
the rewards.

….
If you want to find out more about list building, why try this handy eCourse: list building .
And if you want to check out a good practical Autoresponder System – Try a Aweber Free Trial Demo

Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!

Kind Regards,
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com

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help spread the word – recommend this content by using
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Some Tactics For Getting Those Top 5 Spots In Google

admin — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:27:03 +0000

Some Tactics For Getting Those Top 5 Spots In Google

Actually, getting in the #1 spot is best but I will settle for the top 5 or
even anywhere on the first page for very competitive keywords. Obtaining those top
rankings for your targeted keywords in Google will obviously be very important to
achieving your online goals.

I don’t have some magic formula just online marketing stuff that works. Very simple stuff
that everyone can do to get those top rankings. Here are some things I do:

- article marketing thru the free article directories

- create videos on my niche products

- make blog posts in my niche areas

- do press releases for my targeted products

- create free ebook guides on my subject areas

- build separate lists for each major niche market with follow-up emails

- participate in online forums with my sig links added

- find out my competitors’ main backlinks and duplicate them

- create Google Alerts for my major keywords and add comments/links to the ones I like

- keep adding fresh content pages to my sites keyworded to phrases used by buyers

Now on second thought, some of those are not so simple but they can be easily
done by most webmasters. Or you can get someone to do them for you, for example,
I get my videos done for me. If you’re poor at writing or have little time you can
even get someone to write your articles for you as well.

Still, these tactics are fairly basic online marketing stuff which anyone can do
to get those higher rankings. Perhaps, what many webmasters fail to realize, getting
and keeping your keywords on the first page of Google does take a lot of work and time.

For very competitive keywords, I usually put in a year’s work to get to those top
spots. It sometimes takes a lot less if your content (an article or video) becomes
viral and lands on a lot of sites, that does happen but for me it is mostly building
steady one-way quality links back to the page or site I want ranked high.

However, it is this time factor which DEFEATS most people, they don’t have the patience
or the resources to wait it out. After a couple of months they throw up their hands
and come away believing all this Internet marketing stuff is for the birds.

Don’t get the wrong idea, there are probably programs and systems out there which
will give you instant success on the web – I just haven’t found them yet, nor am I
really looking since I have figured out how to get those top rankings and earn money
on the web. However, the catch is, it usually takes around a year or two of hard work
before the serious money starts flowing.

There are exceptions, if you’re good at writing articles, you can get immediate
traffic and a few sales. Same goes if you’re into making videos and they become
popular and featured in Google… you will make some sales.

However for steady targeted traffic which flows regularly and keeps the sales
coming each day – then you will need to keep those top rankings in the search engines
for your keywords, especially in Google. Once you get those top rankings, I find
you have to maintain them by continuing to build links by writing articles, making
posts, creating videos… and so on.

My goals are very modest, steady money for me is around $100 – $300 aday,
keep in mine I am doing affiliate marketing or sales where I usually get
from 2% to 5% since I am promoting high-end electronics which offer low
commissions. I also do some ClickBank type info products where the commission
rates are much higher – 50% or more.

I also concentrate most of my time on products/services which give me
a recurring income – make one sale and earn a percentage for years to come.
The trick here is to promote products where once clients sign up they tend
to keep these products for years… services like web hosting, autoresponder
services, telephone services, internet services and so on.

If you have your own products your daily earnings will be much higher, same
thing if you do drop-shipping… but that also brings in other complications
and worries. I like affiliate marketing before it suits my lifestyle, I refer
the sales or clients and the merchants does all the rest.

Now, I have also found if you target longer keyword phrases which has little
traffic but also much less competition, you can bring in sales in a matter
of months, sometimes weeks. This “long tail marketing” as its called, those
faster but you have to cover a lot of ground to be successful.

I prefer picking “mid-range” keywords that have competition but if you put in
the work you will land on the first page of Google. I usually stick to keywords
which have around 1000 – 10,000 searches a month. Highly popular keywords which
get hundreds of thousands or millions of searches I don’t bother with because I
know I just can’t compete with multi-national companies getting most of this traffic.

So it is a matter of picking the keyword battles which you have a good chance of
winning. You do need to do a lot of research to see who is ranking for these
keywords, what kind of backlinks they have and what kind of resources they’re
pouring into obtaining/keeping those rankings?

I also check to see who owns the domains in the top five spots or on the first
page, if one person or company owns 4 or 5 of these sites, it means you’re going
to have your hands full trying to compete for the top spots.

One simple strategy for getting those top spots in Google is to create two
or three keyworded domains competing for the top spot. Link these together
and one or in most cases all of them will land in the top three or four position.
For lucrative keywords this can prove very profitable because your sites
are receiving the majority of the web traffic for those keywords.

However, keep in mind, in many niche markets major companies are now hiring
writers, SEO services and webmasters to get those top spots.

It sometimes can be unnerving – imagine you’re a small webmaster operating
in a niche for years and suddenly you have four or five top brand multi-billion
dollar companies competing with you for the same keywords in the search engines.
This happened to me and to Google’s credit, small webmasters still have a chance
to keep their spots on the first page.

How long before these small webmasters are totally wiped out is anyone’s guess,
but I believe for very lucrative keywords it is only a matter of time before
these big companies throw so much advertising revenue and SEO resources at getting
those top spots – a little guy will have a very slim chance of holding their
keywords.

Fortunately, there are countless small niche markets and products that an online
marketer can target and rank well for in Google with just a little hard work and
patience. Using some of the tactics listed above will get you to those Top 5
spots in Google – just give them and yourself some time to reach your goals.

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
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What Is LinkBait & How Do You Use it?

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:43:17 +0000

If you have a web site you will probably already know getting
quality one-way link is the key to getting more traffic and
higher rankings, but getting those links is easier said then done.
However, there is one very effective technique which has proven
the test of time and one you should be using.

We are talking about LinkBait.

Simply put: linkbait is any content which is so intriguing/informative/useful
other webmasters and surfers will gladly share it with their
friends and colleagues. Actually, linkbait can be many things:

- an informative article

- a useful software program

- a handy ebook or report

- a YouTube video

- a special seo tool

- an amusing blog post

or just a well constructed web page which your visitors find
especially helpful or interesting.

Whenever I think of LinkBait, I always compare it to “word of mouth”
advertising. Something that is spread virally throughout the
community and in this case, on the web. Never underestimate the
true marketing power of this kind of advertising and promotion.

From my own experiences, I first discovered the instant overnight
power when someone bookmarked one of my web pages in Digg and
it landed on the first page. I received over 70,000 visitors
in one day and gathered numerous quality one-way links from
around the web.

While these visitors were temporary and relatively “useless”
- the seo efforts were long lasting and very beneficial.
No visitor to your site is useless but these visitors were
not my usual keyword driven traffic which buy my affiliate
products or sign up to my lists.

However this incident showed me why using LinkBait is a very
effective way to get traffic. And since that time I try to
place the simple “Addthis” button on all my content – to easily
let my visitors bookmark the material in all the social bookmarking
sites.

This is an easy way to make all your pages LinkBait.

Another important thing about using LinkBait – Google loves it.
Mainly because it fits in with Google’s original ranking philosophy
and system where web users vote democratically on which content should
be ranked the highest.

It is content recommended by other web users and content which
they find helpful, informative or entertaining.

Matt Cutts explains and gives an example in a YouTube video
which in itself is a form of linkbait. You can view the
video here to get more ideas on this topic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QIxTI59r5o

In addition, for some time I have been including in these
emails some links to helpful SEO tools. This is an obvious
form of LinkBait.

Here’s another helpful SEO Optimization Tool which helps you write
or correct your HTML code to better rank in the search engines.

http://seoforums.org/seo-tools/optimize-html-code-tool/

If you’re not already using some forms of LinkBait – give it a try
and see the results for yourself.

Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!

Kind Regards,
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com

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help spread the word – recommend this content by using
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The Yahoo Bing Transition Has Begun – Some Tips

admin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:12:43 +0000

For over 10 years now, I have concentrated most of my SEO efforts and site design
towards Google, mainly because they send me around 70% to 80% of my free organic
traffic depending on the site in question. Although Google, with their countless
updates and never ending Algorithm tweaking, has sent me into fits of
depression/rage/pure joy more times than I can count, but I still like Google and
can’t imagine my web-day or web-income without it.

However, Yahoo has now begun to test and show organic, as well as paid search listings,
from Microsoft. You will still see the same Yahoo interface but the results are coming
from Bing. Now is the time to optimize your site or sites for Bing if you haven’t done so
already.

Now I must admit, I am probably not the best one to be explaining this because as mentioned
above, with all my years online I have never really concentrated much of my SEO on Yahoo or
Bing. Now I have paid listings in both of them and many of my keywords are ranked high in
both Yahoo and Bing but I have never gone out and actually tried to raise my rankings in
any of them.

In other words, I have never really bothered with them because of the low volume of
traffic which they produce compared with Google. If you’re on a tight budget or you
have very little time, it’s best to concentrate your efforts on Google.

But putting all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea, especially now when
we don’t yet know the outcome of the Bing/Yahoo marriage. Ranking high in this new
search engine could produce more traffic and it’s best to be prepared for it.

Like Google, Bing has its own section for Webmasters which offers advice and tools.
Using these tools and following the SEO advice should get your site ranked high.

Here’s something directly from the Bing Toolbox:

“Web sites that naturally appear high in search engine results typically
have maximized their SEO methods, by using:

Relevant and unique title tags on all Web pages;
Succinct meta tag content descriptions;
Header tags (specifically h1 tags) within the content;
Text navigation links;
XML Sitemaps; and,
Robots.txt files. “

Find more helpful stuff here:

http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmasters/

Now of course, how this whole transition plays out and what effect it will
have upon the online search world remains to be seen. Like most webmasters,
I constantly view my site’s stats and raw data… seeing where my visitors
are coming from and what keywords they are using to find my content.

For very lucrative sites I even monitor my site’s traffic logs sometimes on
an hourly basis… checking the latest 300 visitors. I know there are software
programs and site’s stats such as Awstats and Analog Stats. I also use Google
Analytics but closely monitoring your traffic gives you a special feel for how
well your site is performing.

I firmly believe you have to know your site like the back of your hand, you
have to know how well it is performing and what is working. Most of all, you have
to discover what is not working… if your visitors are immediately leaving your
site, your content may not be of a high enough quality or you are targeting the
wrong keywords.

Or even the wrong search engines.

If my Bing/Yahoo daily search traffic starts to increase, I will pay more attention
to ranking high in those search engines. But as of yet, I am not seeing the numbers
which would warrant extra time. This doesn’t mean these search engines doesn’t produce
good quality traffic – just saying the numbers aren’t there yet.

Nor should you be mis-lead by the small numbers, if this traffic is converting into sales
- you should be paying attention and optimizing your sites for Bing/Yahoo. That’s why
I have always found it profitable to have paid search listings in both Yahoo and Bing…
their traffic do convert into sales. So the transition does concern me somewhat and
so far things have gone smoothly.

Can Bing/Yahoo really compete with Google in organic search? I don’t think so, but
their combined numbers will probably go up and make it much more worth your while
to optimize for this new search engine.

To find out more about this whole transition and to get more tips try here:

http://www.ysmblog.com/blog/2010/07/20/new-search-alliance-transition-updates-and-tips/

Google vs Yahoo Comparison

And here’s a great site to compare how your site ranks for your keywords
in both Google and Yahoo:

Compare Google & Yahoo

Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!

Kind Regards,
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com

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help spread the word – recommend this content by using
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Increase Traffic & Sales by Using Sitemaps, Breadcrumbs and Keyword Clouds

admin — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 10:40:42 +0000

BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News

Increase Traffic & Sales by Using Sitemaps, Breadcrumbs and Keyword Clouds

This week I thought I would give you some basic site design tips
which will make your site more visible to your visitors and the
search engines. Over the years, using these design features have
produced more traffic and sales for me. These may also prove useful
to your site or sites.

Google Sitemaps

Some years back, there was a lot of fuss made about placing a Google Sitemaps
on your site. Such a sitemap would let the search engines quickly find your
content and index it. It was also a way for you as a webmaster to let the
search engines know which content you wanted to be featured most from your site.
This was an XML file which updated automatically on your server as you
added new content.

If you want to know more about Google Sitemaps – try this article I wrote
which also have links to some good sitemaps generators.

http://www.bizwaremagic.com/Google_Sitemaps_Explained.htm

General HTML Sitemap

You don’t hear as much about sitemaps these days but just common sense
says you should have a sitemap – listing all your web pages and major
content – featured on all the pages of your site.

This will make navigation of your site much more easier for your site’s
visitors. Personally I can’t count the number of times I have used a sitemap
to find what I am looking for on a site. Next to an onsite search box,
a sitemap is a very important element of good site design.

Most of my sites are very simple HTML sites with very simple and easy site
navigation. I try to place a link back to my homepage on every page on my site,
never leave your visitors stranded. Another practice which I have always done,
is to place a sitemap link on every page.

For SEO reasons most experts suggest you keep all links on your site no more than
three clicks away from your homepage. I usually design my index page with my main
keywords listed and then break these keywords up into sub-topics.

Usually this follows a simple pattern – these keywords are usually made up of one
or two words, then the sub-topics are usually longer three or four keyword phrases.

For example, you could have a site or domain entitled “CheapVacationsDeals” and
on your index (main homepage) you could have links entitled “honeymoon vacations”
“disney vacations”… then these would have further sub-topics or links going
to “niagara falls honeymoon vacations”, “orlando disney vacations” and so on.

If you’re running an affiliate site it is extremely important to create
content/web pages based upon the keyword phrases surfers are using in the
search engines to find what they’re looking for on the web. Obviously this
will increase your traffic and sales.

Breadcrumbs

On this subject there is another related topic which should be discussed
and that is the use of breadcrumbs in your site design. This is a simple
way of letting your visitors know what topics and sub-topics they’re
using on your site and how they can get back to the home page.

For like in the Hansel and Gretel story, using breadcrumbs is one method
to find your way home. Here its using a linking structure on your site
to help your visitors find what they’re looking for.

Searching different levels of any site can be confusing for your visitors
so providing some direction can be helpful.

home > computers > laptops > gaming laptops

If you want to know more about breadcrumbs and how to use them, here are
a couple of good links:

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/17/breadcrumbs-in-web-design-examples-and-best-practices-2/

http://www.devlounge.net/code/css-breadcrumbs-in-5-minutes

Keyword Cloud

And if you’re running a blog related to your site, a common practice is to include
a “keyword cloud” which tells your visitors which keywords are most prominent on
your blog. This is a visual presentation of the keywords on your site and is also
know as a “tag cloud”.

Here’s a nice page which will show you how to use/put a “keyword cloud” on
your WordPress Blog.

http://www.staygolinks.com/easy-wordpress-tag-cloud-page.htm

Hope this email has you thinking about sitemaps, breadcrumbs and
keyword clouds… all ways to make your site more useful and easier
to use. It will also help those all important search engines to
find and index your content faster.

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
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Will “GoogleMe” Finally Make Google a Two-Trick Pony?

admin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:52:06 +0000

If you have been reading this small marketing newsletter or emails,
you know I am probably too obsessed with Google and everything
connected with it. However, since 80% of my online income
comes directly or indirectly from Google there is a reason for
this insanity.

Or in other words, without my high rankings in Google my income
would be cut down to 20% – Ouch!

For this reason I keep a close eye on Google and all the rumors
swirling around it. Lately, the buzz concerns “GoogleMe” or “Google Me”
which is supposed to be a “Facebook Killer”, a social network
program/site being developed by Google.

(I am not making this up folks – this rumor comes from CNN –
best source on the planet for rumors and gossip. Find it here:
CNN TECH)

Since Google started people/critics have been complaining that
Google is a “one-trick pony”, its one and only really successful
venture has been its lucrative search engine and its obvious
dominance of that market – at least in the North American
marketplace.

Despite offering up or buying up some very popular programs
such as Gmail, Youtube, Google Voice, Google Buzz, Android
and even venturing into the Nexus One Phone —- Google is still
mainly known for online search.

Now, besides Apple and Microsoft, Google’s main competition is
Facebook, which has the growth and numbers Google can only
dream about. People have embraced Facebook and use it daily to
connect with colleagues, friends and family.

However, Facebook is morphing into more than just a social network
of like minded individuals – it is becoming a search engine. The
Facebook “Like Button and Box” is becoming a more democratic way of
voting for your most popular websites and products. Facebook’s
Open Graph Search can be seen as a real challenge to Google.

The search functions on Facebook even have an “auto-suggest” feature
which makes it even more effective. All this must have Google concerned
since it really has no competition to worry about – the upcoming
Bing/Yahoo might be a minor irritant but Google has already strongly
beaten those two in the search marketplace.

This brings us back to the question at hand – does Google have a
Facebook type program in the works? Can it possibly give Facebook
some competition?

Most of Google’s new programs have not caught fire with the general
public – at least not in the way that Facebook has. Google Buzz,
Google Voice, iGoogle, Google Wave… all have been debuted with
much fanfare and buzz, only to stall or peter out; at least when
you compare them to something like Facebook.

GoogleMe, if it does surface, could suffer the same faith or it could
break the mold and give Google another popular program to further
develop and strengthen its search dominance. And it can be monetized in
the save way that Google has monetized (some say ruined) YouTube.

However, others disagree, many believe Google monetization of YouTube
has made that program stronger and has given a revenue source for
millions of young Spielberg wanabes. More power to them and Google.

Now from a marketing angle, GoogleMe like Facebook, could be a great
place to promote your website and/or products. Recommendations from
family and friends play a vital role in what we finally buy. Recommendations
from people we know and trust is a major buying factor and marketers have
taken advantage of this fact for a long time.

But can a GoogleMe really give Facebook some real competition?
The answer is a definite YES.

People will use the site that gives them the best features and
programs, but Facebook’s numbers could be a problem for Google,
most people use Facebook because that’s where everyone else is.

If GoogleMe becomes “the” place to be on the web, then it will
finally give Google its second “out of the ballpark” program. One
that can generate lucrative revenue streams beside search, although
search will probably be a major part of any program Google creates.

…..

Very Comprehensive Set Of SEO Tools

Keywords and keyword density plays an important on-page
role in how well your pages ranks in the search
engines, especially for highly competitive keywords.

Getting the right density can move you up a few
spaces – so it is helpful to compare the 10 sites
in your niche for keyword density.

Use this site and their very comprehensive SEO tools
to help you on this:

http://www.gorank.com/seotools/

Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!

Kind Regards,
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com

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What Google Says About Link Building

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:07:37 +0000

Recently, in a GoogleWebmasterCentral blog post, Google told
webmasters exactly how you should go about building quality
links to your site. Now its up to your own judgment if you
want to believe Google or not… some webmasters and marketers
take everything coming from Google with a large grain of salt
- are they really giving you the true facts?

For the most part, I believe what Google is saying is true.

So here are some Key Points for building the best organic
links according to Google:

1. If you have a new or unknown site… get involved in communities
surrounding your topic and offer up quality content so that your
“expertise shines” on your chosen topic.

2. One way to make quality content is to offer solutions to common
problems in the form of tutorials, videos explaining a technique
or solution, online guides and practical tools. Let your users
spread the word about your useful content.

3. While writing amusing content can get you greater visibility
and some links, Google advises you not only to concentrate on this
“short-lived link-bait tactics” but rather have a more long-term
strategy to your marketing efforts.

4. Avoid spammy short-lived links if you want to keep your site’s
reputation. Don’t buy “PageRank-passing links” and don’t exchange
links as this will have no positive impact over time in Google’s index.

5. Most online directories are worthless and of lower quality. If you
submit your site to one – make sure that directory is related to your
site, moderated and well structured. Mass submissions are useless to
your goal.

6. Take a close look of other successful sites in your field, then
identify and copy the elements which make these sites successful.
Don’t copy exactly, but rather adapt these elements from your own unique
viewpoint and perspective.

7. Lastly, make your content easy to be bookmarked in all the social
media sites like FaceBook, YouTube, Google Buzz and Twitter. Let your
users spread the word about your content.

You can read the entire Google Entry Here:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2010/06/quality-links-to-your-site.html

Now, in an ideal world all of the above could possibly work, but
in the very competitive world of SEO where lucrative keywords can
mean millions of dollars to an individual or company – not everyone
plays by the rules. Link-buying and link-selling is still rampant
on the web, despite Google’s attempts to stop it. Companies with
deep pockets can still buy their way into Google’s top spot for
lucrative keywords. The full extent will probably never be known
nor stopped.

Unless they want to do the same, the ordinary small time webmaster
will have to follow Google’s advice above and pray they land on
the first page of Google – hopefully in the top five. By placing
more emphasis on social media and bookmarking sites Google has thrown
these webmasters a very small lifeline, but a lifeline all the same.

Another effective strategy is to build not one but two or three
websites on your subject area. These have to be related in theme
but should contain totally unique content. If you have a broad topic,
then breaking that topic up into two or three related sites can be
easily done and an effectively way of marketing online.

Say you have a travel site – your main site could be a general site
offering travel tips and information. Related sites could be special
discount site dealing only with coupons and discounts. You could have
another related site totally devoted to honeymoon vacations.
Connect all these sites together in a linking structure – boosting
up your rankings for each in the search engines.

Regardless, no matter how many sites you have, offering quality
content which solves a web user’s problem is the best way to proceed.
Offer a valuable service, tool or your own unique expertise and you
will satisfy your visitors as well as Google. Natural organic link
building will be a by-product of this quality content.

….

Handy Marketing Tool:

Checking to see how well your website ranks for certain keywords
is very important, but not only in Google. This site below will
also tell you how your site ranks for Bing and Yahoo for your chosen
keywords.

http://www.rankchecker.net

……………………………………..
……………………………………..

King of Step-by-Step Marketing Round Table

The “King of Step-by-Step Marketing” Marlon Sanders
is holding a virtual Round Table where he walks you
thru all the steps needed to market a product or service
online in 2010.

In case you don’t know that name, Marlon Sanders is
one of a short list of marketers, who started all this
online stuff. He goes way back and he knows how it’s
done.

Marlon Sanders Round Table

I have known and promoted Marlon on my different sites
for years. His how-to marketing products are some of the
most popular because he presents them in a no-nonsense
layout. In simple step-by-step dashboards which even the
most novice marketer/webmaster can follow and do.

I own and use several of his products myself, so I know
first-hand the quality of his products. For that reason
I have been a long-time affiliate of his and promote
his products whenever I can.

Anyway, Marlon is opening up his entire marketing process
in a virtual Round Table where he walks you through
all the steps and shows you how to market online in
2010.

You can check it out here:

Marlon Sanders Round Table

or you can watch his video here:

7 New Rules of Selling In 2010 Video

Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!

Kind Regards,
Titus

http://www.bizwaremagic.com

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help spread the word – recommend this content by using
the social bookmark sites below. The SEO Gods will Thank You!

How Much Do You Know About SEO? Some SEO Basics

admin — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:11:35 +0000

One of my biggest problems in trying to help other webmasters or marketers
- I naturely and wrongly assume they know all about SEO. I forget these
webmasters have not spent the last 10 years battling it out with other
online webmasters and marketers for some very popular and lucrative keywords,
in the process, homing their SEO skills with other like-minded individuals.

I forget that many beginning webmasters may not be familiar with all the
SEO jargon and SEO techniques which I mention in my small online marketing
emails or newsletters. Now, I don’t get much direct feedback on this but
in a lot of questions I get from webmasters, I can tell they are missing
or misunderstanding some basic SEO tactics.

There’s nothing wrong with that, if I were to take up a new hobby or explore
a new subject, I am sure I would be just as clueless. For instance, I think
I have played around one or two rounds of golf in my life… someone asked
if we should play Ball Four Golf and I didn’t know what the heck they were
talking about, nor did I realize it shouldn’t be confused with Ball Fore
which nearly took my head off!

So every sport, hobby or subject comes with a lot of terms/phrases which are
unique to that subject. SEO is the same way so maybe a little background or
warm-up is needed in regards to understanding the basics of SEO.

First, you must understand that SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization…
which means you optimize your website and content so that it ranks high in
the major search engines such as Google and Bing/Yahoo. This optimization
can take the form of following a strict formula or layout of your website
content with the proper meta tags, keyword density, linking structures and
so on. It can also mean off-site optimization with link building, right
anchor text, keyword positioning and so on.

SEO has become a major industry simply because getting top rankings for
lucrative keywords means big bucks for companies or individuals. We are
talking about billions, if not trillions of dollars, exchanging hands with
the sale of products, services and business transactions. Get a top ranking
for your chosen keyword phrase and it means a flood of targeted prospects/buyers
coming to your website or company, ready to do business.

Now, because there is so much money involved, a whole SEO industry has
sprung up with consultants, experts and companies offering their services
to get you or your company into those top rankings in the search engines.
These SEO services could include link building, link buying, social media
positioning, onpage optimization, pay-per-click management… all with the
goal of bringing targeted traffic/customers to your site or business.

White Hat vs Black Hat SEO

You may also have heard other webmasters talking about White Hat SEO as
opposed to Black Hat SEO. And as the names suggests, White Hat is strictly
above board proper site optimization, while Black hat is using underhand devious
cloaking methods and system to raise your rankings. For obvious reasons,
always go the White Hat route and you won’t be disappointed and you will
feel better knowing you’re doing the right thing in regards to your site.

Perhaps the next concept or term you should know is Algorithm. Search engines
create complicated algorithms or list of rules which determines not only how
web pages are listed but also which web pages are listed first in their index
or SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). These rules or ranking factors are
used by SEO experts and webmasters to help move their keyword rankings up
in the search engines. You open a web browser, go to a search engine such
as Google, type in a search query for “top corporate lawyers” and the search
engine returns a list of organic results along with a list of paid listings.
Now, getting to that top spot means a lot of potential traffic/clients would
be coming your way.

This is just one example, but most people would quickly realize how lucrative
getting to those top spots would be for any individual or company. They would
also realize that understanding how the search engine algorithms work and how
to manipulate them would be a valuable skill which many clients would pay big
bucks to have on their side. This SEO industry also consists of SEO software
which help webmasters/marketers get their sites into the top positions in
the search engines.

Most SEO experts break up your search engine optimization into TWO TYPES:

On-Page and Off-Page Optimization

On-Page Optimization means getting right all the factors which influence your
rankings in the search engines. Keep in mind, the whole web is “keyword based
and keyword driven” which means you must optimize your domain and site for your
chosen keywords. Your main keyword should be in your Domain Name, in the title
of the page, in the main heading for that page, in the URL and it should appear
(with variations) throughout the page. Try to keep the keyword density to around
2%-5%, although like many things to do with SEO… there are varying opinions on the
exact percentage. But what most experts agree on: the layout or structure of your
web site or pages must be easily reached not only by your visitors but also by
the search engine spiders which crawl your site. Keep it simple, have no links
more than three clicks away from your homepage and many webmasters include a
link back to your homepage on EVERY page of your site.

Off-Page Optimization means building backlinks flowing back to your web site or
web pages. Regardless of what anyone will tell you, getting quality keyworded
links from other high quality keyword related sites is the most important factor
in achieving top rankings in the search engines. So link building should be a
major part of your SEO efforts and something which will bring the fastest results.
These links must appear natural and organic so varying the anchor text (underlined part)
in your links is important. Also, the web is quickly changing, links from social
media sites such as FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter are becoming more helpful to getting
top rankings. So too, are links from blogs especially those from Blogger and Wordpress
because these are optimized for keywords. Don’t forget other media forms such
as videos since links from sites such as YouTube can also boost your rankings.

Tip: SEO experts sometimes like to complicate matters, one easy and simple way
to get hundreds, if not thousands, of links from the different social media sites
is to add the Free Addthis.com bookmark to all your pages/content. Let your visitors
bookmark your content for you. Simple, yet effective SEO technique that doesn’t
cost you anything. Other webmasters simply place bookmark logos for Twitter, FaceBook,
Google Buzz… on their sites. If a page goes viral in one of those networks, you
can get hundreds/thousands of backlinks flowing traffic and SEO link juice back to
your site.

Along those same lines, the key to SEO has been and always will be quality content.
Never forget the web is a very smart place, remember it holds all our collective knowledge,
users will find your quality content and promote it. Produce quality articles and
webmasters will place them on their sites with backlinks to your site. Produce
quality blog posts and bloggers will link back to your posts. Produce quality
videos and viewers will recommend them to their friends.

Now that’s not to say you shouldn’t do any SEO promotion or work. One of the best
ways to succeed is to constantly promote your site or links: do press releases,
write articles, make videos, create quality blog posts… get involved in online
forums related to your topic and leave your sig links at the end of your comments,
do the same for all your email messages by including your signature tag.

Many webmasters make the mistake that just because they have created a well
optimized site – it will automatically rank high in the search engines and you
will get plenty of quality traffic. Now if you’re extremely, extremely, extremely
lucky and by word of mouth your site catches on and becomes popular you will get
that traffic. However, in my experience, you can build an excellent site and have
it indexed in all the search engines but unless you do some SEO promotions it
will go nowhere.

With one of my nine or ten sites, I have done very little in regards to SEO and it has
done exactly that; it gets very little traffic and is nowhere to be seen in the
rankings. This is a site which I have not worked mainly because of lack of time
and it’s not closely related in theme to my other sites. Now if I wanted to promote
this site and build up my rankings… I would do all of the above… write articles,
do press releases, do viral videos, join related forums and get involved, do blog posts,
and so on. Now, from past experiences, I know if I work/promote this site for two or
three months consistently, the rankings would go up and the SEO would improve. Give
it six months to a year and this site would be highly ranked in the search engines
and bringing in a lot of quality traffic.

SEO is not some mysterious process that only a few skilled individuals know how to do,
rather it is a simple process of consistently promoting your site and content by
building quality backlinks from related sites on the web. It is the simple process
of connecting your content with the steady flow of traffic on the web by becoming
involved in forums, blogs, social networks and like-minded communities. SEO is simply
placing your site/content into the whole mix of things so that the search engines
can’t ignore your site. By consistently using SEO you will make your site an authority
on your chosen subject and you won’t look back.

…..

Handy SEO Dictionary

Here’s a very helpful dictionary of all the terms
related to SEO which you should know:

SEO Dictionary

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!

List Building In The Age Of Twitter

admin — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:11:21 +0000

If you have a web site or you’re into online marketing – you will
probably already know how important list building is to your success.
You simply must have some way of building your list in place.

Years ago, when I first started with this online stuff, one of the first things
I learned (learnt) was how to build lists in order to increase my site’s traffic
and sales. At first I was mainly concerned with using my lists to bring repeat
visitors to my site and to build up some kind of relationship.

I soon discovered one of the most effective ways of doing this was simply
offering quality information in the form of a free ebook, video or newsletter
in return for the contact email.

Your site’s visitors would opt-in to your email list in order to get quality
information from you, which gave you the chance of offering follow-up information
in order to fully engage your subscribers with your site.

This doesn’t have to be complicated or a lot of work.

I believe one of my most effective list building systems is where visitors can
opt-in to get discount coupons on high-end products. When merchants give discounts,
special sales… I simply send out an email to these subscribers with the offers.

Ridiculously simple but it works.

Another version of this list building system is where I give 6 or 7 follow-up
information emails on a product or service. Within those emails are links
to a discount page where I place all my discounts and sales for that particular
product or service.

Again simple yet very effective.

But things have changed in the field of list building. I am still doing those
techniques above and will continue to use them because they work.

But…

There are now new programs on the web which make it much easier to build
your list of contacts.

When I think of all the time it took me to just get 10,000 subscribers, I am kinda
freaked out that some kid can put a few music videos on YouTube and in less than
a month have over 160,000 subscribers.

The same thing with Twitter, where building a list of 100,000 followers is fairly
common. The potential for building a large quality list is at anyone’s fingertips.
And all these programs can be used in addition to your onsite autoresponder which
you’re using to build your contact list.

Anyway, below is a recent article on building your list with Twitter and the
whole key is to integrate all your social networks programs into your web site.
Make it extremely easy for anyone to sign-up to your Twitter, YouTube, MySpace…
accounts from your site. Connect everything together and promote your
social contact sites just like you would your own site.

In this article I also give you some tips on how to increase your Twitter
followers – you can find it here:

List Building In The Age Of Twitter

…

Top 10 Linkedin Strategies To Increase Your Contacts/Income

Another online resource which is extremely helpful but you don’t hear too much
about it is Linkedin, which you can also use to build your list of contacts.

I am not an expert on Linkedin, so of course I do the next best thing – seek
out someone who is!

One of the best experts on how to use Linkedin is Lewis Howes.

He has become somewhat of a LinkedIn “guru”, someone who has developed
and used strategies to make this program work for him and for you, if you
follow his advice.

I personally find Linkedin has the most professional or highly connected contacts
on it, more so than on YouTube or even Twitter – high level experts and business
people who can really help your business grow.

To get a free video of the Top 10 Linkedin Tips you can use to fully take advantage
of this networking site. He also has an ebook entitled “Linkedin Master Strategies”
at a reasonable price you can consider but make sure you view the free video.

You will have to give an email address because of course Lewis is also building
his list. (Tip: I often use a secondary email address when signing up to things
like this – if the follow-up information is extremely good and the person is
some one of high quality. I will then often re-subscribe to them using my primary
email address!)

To discover these common sense tips on how to use Linkedin to your advantage
click here:

Linkedin Master Strategies

Helping You Succeed Online Since 2002!

Kind Regards,
Titus

List Building

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help spread the word – recommend this content by using
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