Monthly Archives: October 2010

Getting Your Site’s SEO Right



BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News


Getting Your Site’s SEO Right




Google Spot!





Getting Your Site’s SEO Right
Titus Hoskins Copyright 2010.


While probably every webmaster or online marketer knows in order
to get top rankings in the search engines you have to have quality
one-way backlinks from other high ranked keyword-related sites.
This will more than likely be the main determining ranking factor
for most search engines, especially the all important Google.

You simply need good quality one-way links and plenty of them to rank high.

However, there are many more SEO factors which come into play, especially
if you’re in a very competitive niche and targeting highly cherished lucrative
keyword phrases that bring in the big bucks. Then in these competitive
situations, you must get all your SEO ducks lined up proper if you want to
be a player.

Some of these SEO factors may be minor but in very tight keyword races, it
could possibly mean you get ranked above your competitor. Believe me, for
some very lucrative keywords, just moving up a few notches can make a
significant difference in your traffic and sales. The number one spot is
what you’re aiming for, but even landing or moving up to the top five
can make a big difference.

But you probably already know the significance of getting top rankings for
your site and marketing, it can simply make or break your online endeavors.
So here are some SEO on-page or on-site factors which you should have in
place if you truly want to compete in the ranking wars.


Search Engine Optimization


1. Place your main keyword phrase in your Domain Name and over time you will
see higher rankings for that phrase and keywords related to it. With Google
going to Instant Search, I believe you will see these keyworded domains playing
a much greater role in what is listed first. You still have to get those quality
back-links but having a good keyworded domain will be half your battle.

2. Place your keyword phrase in the URL for your webpage. Place it in the title,
description and in the HI tags on your page. Also place this keyword phrase and
variations of it throughout your page, including at the very bottom. As for
keyword density, try to keep it under 6%, this is the limit that Ezinearticles
puts on their contributed content, go above this percentage and they won’t take
it. I usually aim for around 2% to 4% but don’t get too hung up on this issue,
just write helpful easy to read content for your visitors.

3. Place related keyworded interior links on your page. That is, keep all your
content and links keyword-related to one another. This makes it easy for the
search engines to index your pages and content. I like building keyword-related
traffic hubs or sections on my sites, for example I could have a whole sub-directory
just on all the “affiliate marketing” info pages on my site. These would be all
linked together and back to the homepage.

4. Make sure you have an XML Sitemap which the search engines can use to quickly
index your new pages. I also like adding an HTML sitemap which goes into more
detail and lists all the pages and their content. This is not only for the search
engines but to help your visitors more easily navigate your site; never leave
a visitor stranded.

5. Make sure all your pages load quickly. Reduce down any large images which
you have and break content/articles up into different pages to reduce load times.

6. Make sure your site handles 404 mistakes and your visitors are directed to
your sitemap or another page on your site. If you don’t know how to correct
this problem just do a Google search for “how to set up a custom 404 file
not found page”.

7. Don’t have duplicate content on your site. Do a proper 301 redirect for
the www and non-www versions of your site, as this may fool some of the search engines into believing you have two versions of your site, one with www and one
without the www in the URL. For Apache servers, I simply place this bit of code
in the .htaccess file on my server.

Code example from non www to www:


RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.example\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule .? http://www.example.com%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

8. Link out to other high-quality keyword related sites. I don’t believe
webmasters use this very much, but linking out to high-quality sites have
helped my rankings. Search engines, especially Google, want to see you’re
connected to quality content and besides, pleasing your visitor is what
it’s really all about.

9. Keep all your interior site navigation as simple as possible. Make it
extremely easy for your visitors to find their way around your site. I usually
don’t have any pages more than three clicks away from my homepage. All main
categories or sub-categories of my site are not only listed on my home/index
page but also on every page of my site. Again, never leave your visitors or
the search engines stranded.

10. Don’t know if this is a ranking factor or not, but I like placing my YouTube
videos on my content pages, sure you will lose some visitors to YouTube but it
also connects your content with this very popular site which is owned by Google.
We all know Google says it doesn’t promote its own interests, but what publicly
traded company doesn’t? In that same light, I like using many Google products
such as Google Analytics, Google URL Shorter, Google Profiles… and the list
goes on. Completely inter-connecting all your pages and content with the countless
Google programs will insure your content won’t be missed.

There are probably many more on-page factors but these are the major ones which
I can think of at the moment. If you want to check the SEO quality of your site
or page, here is a handy site which will check some common SEO factors:

www.pearanalytics.com



and for checking out your keyword density try this one:



www.webuildpages.com/seo-tools/keyword-density/




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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The Actual Internet Marketing Tools Which I USE



BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News


The Actual Internet Marketing Tools Which I USE


Throughout these newsletters, I have been trying to cram so much
information on the different marketing tools I use in order to make
a full-time living from the web. From the vital autoresponder and
list building to article marketing and one-way link building…
up to newer marketing tools like videos and blogs.

Now I won’t sugar-coat your chances of succeeding with your online endeavors,
it is getting extremely difficult to compete in some major lucrative niches
because more and more of the big companies are going the SEO route and
targeting organic traffic from search engines. And probably that 95%
rule still stands – most online marketers fail.

But then again, in the off-line world, many ordinary businesses also fail.
The determining factor I believe is not only how hard you work but also
how smart you work. This especially applies to the online marketplace
where most of your daily chores can be automated.

People do make a living online and I am simple proof of this fact. I am
nothing special but I did make some good decisions along the way, many of
which have proven very beneficial to my online marketing. Don’t get the
wrong impression, I also made a lot of silly decisions and mistakes as
I was growing my online business, but in the end, I succeeded.

What really stands out for me, are the marketing tools that I chose and
which simply makes my online marketing work. For example, without an
autoresponder most of my income would ground to a halt and without my
online sites I simply wouldn’t have a business in the first place. The
same goes for my articles and their distribution around the web.

To a lesser extent, many of the software programs I use make my workload
manageable and more efficient, but if I stopped using them, my income wouldn’t
entirely dry up, but my job would be much harder to do.

So I sat down and closely listed my most essential marketing tools, everything
I use in the run of a work day to get the job done, starting with the most
important and ones which are more optional.

Web Sites… these are your most important marketing vehicles on the web.
They bring in the cash whether you’re promoting/selling your own product or
you’re promoting affiliate products. You must have a good fast web host with
quality service and affordable prices. Now, I have many web hosts… the ones
that I would recommend are Bluehost> and for simple sites GoDaddy, which I also
use as my main Domain Registrar, where I keep and manage all my domains. These
have proven very useful for me without any major headaches and I have been using
them for years.

If you’re new at this online marketing stuff, I would strongly recommend you use
SBI or SBI SiteBuildIt Review. Now SBI will be a little more expensive than a regular
hosting program but you get so much more with SBI. You really get a whole
marketing package which is important for the beginning marketer or webmaster.
It shows you HOW to build your site and helps you with all the important major
decisions in that process. You also get access to a very active online forum
where members will help you out.

Autoresponder… this is my most vital marketing tool. You have to build your
list of prospects/customers and you have to follow-up with these prospects in
order to make the sales. All of this follow-up marketing can be automated and
run like clock-work. I use aWeber and strongly recommend it, mainly for the
professional service and all the extra features which it has. You can easily personalize your emails to make your marketing more effective and you can use
Plain Text or HTML emails to connect with your subscribers.

Article Distribution… another vital part of online marketing has to do with
article marketing and one-way link building. Now, if you have the time, you can
distribute all your articles yourself, simply log into hundreds of article
directories on the web and submit your articles. Actually, this is a bit of
an exaggeration because most marketers submit their articles to a much smaller
group of select article directories. However, using these distribution services
saves time.

PRweb – I use this service for my press releases which can get expensive but again well worth it.


SEO Software – There simply is no denying it, SEO and getting high rankings for
your targeted keywords will be the most important factor in your success if you go
the organic traffic route. You will need at least one good piece of keyword research
software. I highly recommend Brad Callen’s Keyword Elite or SEO Elite…
believe they sell for around 100 bucks but it’s the best 100 bucks you will ever spend.
These keyword tools will make your marketing easier and put you in the game.

Website Management – Optimize your site for the search engines, and for analyzing and
managing your site… WebCEO is an option I would highly recommend, especially for
businesses that need help with promoting their site or sites.

Product Creation – If you want to learn how to build a website, create your products
or how to do online marketing (promote a product) – I would highly recommend the Dashboard
line of tools from Marlon Sanders. Believe me, in the course of running two sites on
marketing tools, I have examined countless marketing tools/products over the years.
None impressed me more than those of Marlon Sanders, they are consistently good and
what I really like about them – there’s no BS, it’s all straight forward directions.
Do this, don’t do this, this works the best, you need this set-up first… solid marketing
tips and advice.

Finally, there are many simple software or marketing programs/sites which I use on
a daily basis. These tools simply make my workday very easy. Here’s just a few of these…
many which you can download or use for free. Few will have a small price.

Google Analytics – Valuable free information about your sites and your marketing. Not
entirely accurate but it will give you an overall view of what is working and what is not.
PayPal – This site is simply invaluable for transferring funds and accepting payments.


Affiliate Networks – These are the professional affiliate networks such as Commission Junction
and LinkShare. These networks also have extensive marketing information and tools which you
can use to market on the web. What products are selling, what ads are effective… vital
stats to help with your marketing.

SeoQuake – Very handy free Firefox toolbar which will give you some quick SEO information about
a web site. Great for checking out link partners and your competitors.

Alexa – This site will give you valuable (if not entirely accurate) traffic stats on your
own sites and your competitors.

3D-FTP – This is a really fast and powerful FTP agent that I use to upload all my files
to my different websites. It can also check the speed of a web site and tell you how fast
it is. Great time saver and I believe it costs around $40 but well worth it.

Pinnacle Video Maker – Videos are playing a more important role in my online marketing
and this video editor is simple and fun to use. Used in combination with YouTube, videos
made through this system can be quite effective for your marketing. Priced around $50 and
up depending upon what options you choose.

NoteTabLight – Simple editor which you can download for free. Don’t know why, but this
is the program I use for writing all my articles and even my web pages.

That’s it! When you closely look at the marketing tools I actually use in the day-to-day
running of my online sites the number is rather small. Of course, these are just tools
like a hammer and nails, what you build with them is whole another story entirely.




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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5 Things I Wish I Knew About Internet Marketing



BWMagic’s Internet Marketing News


5 Things I Wish I Knew About Internet Marketing
(Before I Started Making $200 – $300 A Day)



Hindsight is priceless. If only we could take what we know now
and go back and do it all over again; the lessons learnt over
time would make that difficult journey much easier. The same
applies to me, I have been online since 1998, but it took me
years before I could make a full-time living from the web, mostly
with affiliate marketing.

Over the years, there are many things I wish I had known earlier
in my struggle, this knowledge would have made my progress much
easier and faster. So I sat down and listed the FIVE most important
THINGS which would have helped me SUCCEED much sooner. Never know,
they might even help you on your own journey of becoming a full-time
online marketer.


SEO Is King


When I first started online, I didn’t have a clue about SEO
(Search Engine Optimization) or even search engines and how
they worked. More grievously, I didn’t even know about keywords
and the essential, no vital role, they play in your online success.
To me at the time, a web site was just a place where I put my
information and affiliate links. Nothing more.

Little did I know how important proper site construction, optimized
for the search engines, played in your success. These days I would
start from the very beginning and place my major targeted keyword
phrase in my domain name – using hyphens if I had to. Next, I would
create or layout my site with related keyword pages all linking back
to my homepage. I would keep the site navigation extremely simple,
with no page more than three clicks away from the homepage. And if
I didn’t use SEO rich blogging software like WordPress for the whole
design of my site, I would have one of these WordPress blogs on my
site for SEO reasons.

Onsite or onpage optimization is very important but QUALITY BACKLINKS
and lots of them will get you the top rankings and those targeted
visitors from the search engines, especially Google. And the key to
getting those quality backlinks is providing valuable information and
superior content in articles, posts, videos, ebooks… and spreading
those items around the web. However, just getting the high rankings
and traffic through your SEO efforts is just the first step. You must
have an overall marketing strategy which will take this quality
traffic/visitors and turn them into buying customers. You have to
create marketing funnels to take advantage of this traffic and produce
your sales. This rather complex topic is discussed in more detail
down below.


Develop Your OWN Brand


You must stand out from the crowd, you must create something that’s
unique to you and to the web. Whether it’s developing your own product
or creating an authority site on the web, you must in some way differentiate
your marketing from the rest on the web. Establishing your own brand
starts with your own website which will become your main drawing card.

Many times this is simply picking a little known marketing niche and
becoming the dominant site in that niche. This is something I didn’t
learn until I was well into the marketing game, but becoming or being
perceived as an expert in your niche is vital to your success. It will
open up marketing and linking opportunities for you and your site.
It will help build your reputation as an authority site or figure in
the eyes of everyone, including the search engines. I found concentrating
on a few lucrative niche markets is very manageable if you’re a one-man
outfit and you don’t want to hire employees which is another option,
but will result in a totally different lifestyle.

I like affiliate marketing because it comes with fewer responsibilities…
all you have to do is refer the potential customer to your clients and
they do all the rest. They do the real selling, they do all cash transactions,
they deal with all refunds and support issues… all you have to do is
cash your affiliate commission checks each month. Regardless of which
route you take, you must choose your market niche and establish your
expertise in that area.


Pick Your Associates & Products Carefully


Along those same lines, picking the companies and products you decide
to promote is vital to your success. This is something I got very wrong
at the very beginning of my online work, I picked the wrong things and
I wasted years trying to sell worthless products which should never have
been marketed in the first place – at least not in the way they were marketed.
I am talking about those silly multi-level sales opportunities (which will
remain nameless) where you try to sell a product by recruiting a sales
force under you. Never worked for me and I wished I had stayed well away
from these types of schemes.

More importantly, I soon learned that picking the proper companies and
associates will play a major role in your success. Finding quality companies
and products to promote is essential to building a solid reputation on the web.
I later found some well-established marketers and started promoting their
products which helped me tremendously, especially when I started promoting
products and services which gave me residual income, make one sale and get
paid repeatedly for years. I also concentrated on top brand name companies
like Sony, Dell, Toshiba, Apple, HP… which also helped me in building a
solid reputation and gave me credibility. Actually, selling a million dollars
of product for a company will get you noticed, even online.

Another marketing strategy which has proven very successful for me is simply
selling something which can ONLY be bought online, or which can more easily
be bought online; you will sell more products this way. I also found promoting
well established merchants like Amazon worked very well because online buyers
trust Amazon and are USED to buying from them. Regardless, you must pick quality
products and companies to promote, I found using well-established Affiliate Networks
like Commission Junction, LinkShare, Shareasale… extremely helpful in finding
those quality products and companies. Just wished I had used those at the very
beginning of my online marketing.


Marketing Funnels and Automation


I never started making a regular income from the web until I set up my
automated marketing funnels which kept sending a steady flow of willing
buyers to my promoted affiliate products and companies. These marketing
funnels are not that difficult to put into place but they make all the
difference in the world. For example, here’s how many of them are set-up,
I first find a niche product or service, I build a keyworded domain site
around this product. I usually offer a free guide, course or ebook on the
product in exchange for the potential customer’s email. I follow up with
6 or 7 helpful emails on the promoted product or service, offering quality
information along with some special deals/coupons where the prospect can
get $100’s off the price of the item if they buy through my affiliate links.
Make them a deal they can’t refuse.

This is a simple list-building process where you build a large group of
potential customers. All of this can be automated through an autoresponder
service such as aWeber or GetResponse, your emails are automatically sent
on a regular basis. In order to feed this autoresponder and bring potential
customers to my sites, I use article marketing, video, blog posts… to draw
traffic and to build my top rankings in the search engines, mainly Google.
All this brings free targeted traffic to my sites and into my marketing funnels.

Another marketing funnel I use is through the PPC or paid traffic, this
advertising from Google Adwords and Microsoft Adcenter supplies potential
clients to my landing pages and onto my autoresponder lists. Again creating
a stream of customers for my affiliate products and companies. All of which
can be automated and run without any more work once they are set up.

And if you really want a hands-off lifestyle, I found it helpful to automate
all my monthly payments and renewals (hosting, domains…) by using Paypal
or by credit card. Plus, many other aspects of your online marketing can be
automated such as article distribution, blog posting, Twitter accounts, Facebook…
and don’t forget to regularly back up all your sites and blogs.
Believe me, $%*& happens and you will need those backups.


Persistance Is The Key


Most of the things listed above have to do with actual marketing techniques
or automated systems you have to set up with your online marketing. However,
there is another rather intangible element to all this online marketing stuff.
That has to do with your own mind-set and determination. Building an online
business and income takes some time, you must have the patience to go the
distance. Especially when it comes to SEO and building your keyword rankings
in Google, you must give yourself some time for all your marketing to fall
into place. Truth be told, I was three years before I saw any serious money
from my online marketing. Of course, I was totally new at this game and even
had to learn HTML from scratch. Back then, I really didn’t know what kind of
marketing strategies worked and what kind of automated systems I needed to
put into place.

However, all the knowledge which I now have, still wouldn’t have worked if
I didn’t have the persistence and stubbornness to stick to my plans. If you
start on the same road of building an online income, make sure you have that
same persistence and stubbornness to give all this marketing stuff time to work.
Like many things in life, your online marketing needs time to grow and mature,
just make sure you’re of the right character to make that happen. Needles to say,
the rewards are well worth it.



P.S.

And if I really had to start all over again, I would
go with something like Ken Evoy’s SBI because it
would have cut years OFF my journey to becoming
a full-time online marketer.

To learn more about SBI, go here:
Marketing Courses




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!