Almost all bloggers monetize their traffic with the help of PPC (pay per click) programs and systems, among which Google AdSense program is the most famous one. And, of course, one of the most important tasks of every blog owner who uses PPC program is to make more people click the ads: the higher percentage of clickers is - the better.


All these efforts come down to simple question: how to increase CTR level of my ads? Note: CTR is click through rate which shows the % of the people who click on the ads.


Try to put yourself into the shoes of blog visitor, and the situation gets clear. Only the person who is search hungry is very likely to click the ads of PPC program, because these ads are usually very good in giving more relevant results to the search hungry visitors of your blog. These people are happy to find as much info around their topic as possible, and their clicking habit at this very moment is extremely high.


So, search hungry people who came to your blog from the search engines are very likely to show better CTR and click on your PPC ads a lot more.


And this is the time when modern PPC Internet marketing solutions come to help.


Technologically it is possible to set up your ads to be displayed only to the traffic that comes to your blog from search engines. You are not dispersing the efforts any longer. If the solution "sees" that blog visitor A is a regular visitor to this blog - it is very likely that he or she is reading the content of this blog very attentively and will not be mentioning the PPC ads. When solution "sees" that visitor B came to the blog right from the search engine and has come here for the first time, this person should see the PPC ads.


Solutions that help to create this kind of scenarios greatly help to display the necessary type of ads to the necessary type of audience: affiliate offers for loyal blog visitors, PPC ads for the traffic that has just come from search engines to the blog. This increases the effect from your advertising and will give you very nice CTR on PPC ads which is also a nice record to be shown to other potential advertisers.

This content was originally posted on http://guidetomoney.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Which is the best direction to go when building up your online opportunity: focusing on a small niche or diversification? There are strong arguments for both sides of the coin and it can get pretty confusing because the decision you take will have a huge impact on the success or failure of your business.


There are those who strongly argue for diversification saying that with your finger in many pies, you will tend to considerably cut down your risks in case anything goes wrong. However on the other end of the spectrum are those who strongly support focus as the only way to succeed at anything. The rays of the sun are spread all over and are harmless in sharp contrast to a laser beam whose rays are much weaker that the sun's but because they focus, they become so powerful that they are able to cut through diamond.


It is best to reach our verdict based on success stories online and which particular policy seems to have worked best to transform opportunity into lucrative business.

In reality focus almost always seems to win the day.


When Sergey Brin and Larry Page were launching Google they focused on building the best search engine on the World Wide Web. They did this at a time when all other major companies like Yahoo! Who were involved in search were diversifying to supposedly maximize on their income and revenues. Today the figures speak for themselves because Google is much bigger than all the others. In fact there are more people using Google than those using all the other search engines put together.


There are countless other examples of how careful focusing on a tiny niche opened up an online opportunity beyond the wildest dreams of the founders. The truth is that the web is a huge place and failing to focus can easily cause you to disappear and drown in the ocean that is the web. Focusing on a tiny niche not only enables you to get an identity but also ensures that you dominate that particular niche.


Even when choosing which keywords to use for your site, it is best to focus your site on a single keyword phrase. The keyword should clearly define your narrow niche. This is in fact how you will succeed with search engines. Naturally you will sue plenty of synonyms and similar words to your single keyword phrase but they will all be closely linked to your main keyword phrase. Focus is powerful even in an online opportunity on the web.

This content was originally posted on http://guidetomoney.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

This is going to sound like a foreign concept to some of you reading this because so many people into Internet marketing simply create a product, pump it out there and wait for the money to come pouring in. No real effort to help their fellow marketer is ever made. It's just one big assembly line. Well, believe it or not, there is a better way. This article is going to share just a few of the many ways that you can make money online by honestly helping others.


One way, and probably the easiest and most effective, is to go to forums and offer your help. This can come in many forms. What I personally do, with the forums I frequent, is make regular posts outlining some step by step process related to Internet marketing. I make it as complete as I can, given the short amount of space I have, and expect nothing in return. What ultimately happens is that people thank me for my generosity and ultimately look down at my signature to see what products I am selling. I make a lot of sales this way and don't have to give a sales pitch. The more you give...the more you get in return.


Another way is by using traffic exchanges correctly. Most people don't know how to do this. They go there with their 40 page sales letter and expect people to buy their products. It doesn't work that way at these sites. What you have to do is educate people how to use traffic exchanges. So I set up a splash page with a free report to do just that. It works very well. After reading this report, that they have to opt in to get, they are now more open to buying one of my products.


Still yet one more way to help others and make money in the process is to put up a blog with tons of great content and articles. Give away as much free information as you can. Really educate people as to how to make money online. When they see what you are willing to give away for nothing, they will be inclined to think that what you are selling must be really special. Then watch the sales come in.


The point is simple, and it's as true in this business as in any other. The more you give, the more you get in return.


Don't you ever forget it.

This content was originally posted on http://guidetomoney.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Are you about to embark on a tightly-focused marketing campaign? Do you need to support this effort with hard-hitting interactive creative? Have you come up with new and interesting ways of promoting your product or service, and need something better then yet another web page attached to your site?


In fact, are you tired of sending prospects to your main web site and just seeing really lame results? Not willing to navigate the politics of getting a mention on your corporate site's main page?


Then it's time to build a microsite. What's a microsite? Well, it's exactly what the name implies: a small web site that is tightly focused on a particular topic.

Why are marketers building them? Because they offer an easy way to craft, brand, and deliver a highly focused message that doesn't have to compete will all the rest of the initiatives at your organization.


Furthermore, it's relatively easy to optimize microsites for superior search engine performance, turning these little sites into hub destinations for any topic.

So how do you know if you need a microsite?

1. Is your existing web site already full of messaging? Does your company sell a lot of products and services? Do you feel that your particular marketing message might get lost in the shuffle?


2. Does your marketing campaign focus on a tightly-focused target market, topic, or action? For example, you may want your visitors to order a certain ebook or download a special report after they've progressed through a highly structured conversation about the topic in question. Perfect!


3. Does your marketing campaign require different search engine optimization characteristics or requirements from your main site?


4. Do you need something up quickly? Sometimes it's easier and less stressful to build a 10-20 page site than deal with how to fit your stuff into an existing site with many hundreds of pages.


5. Is your marketing message temporary or seasonal? If your marketing offer is here today and gone in six weeks, or is only live during certain parts of the year, then you know you're a good candidate for a microsite.


6. Are you willing to put in the time to track performance and improve conversion? If I may paraphrase a line from Spider-Man, "With great power comes great responsibility." Enough said.


7. Do you need to show your boss(es) a good return on your marketing dollars? Then yes, a microsite can deliver.

8. Are you willing to follow your organization's branding and identity guidelines? Showing them that you can play nice will go a long way toward making your microsite a reality.

This content was originally posted on http://guidetomoney.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Often times paid search advertising campaigns are launched by pay-per-click do-it-yourselfers without proper education or knowledge on just how important your landing page is. This is evident by the fact that so many of them use the homepage of their web site or another page on their site as a landing page. Only in certain instances can the homepage of a website act as a landing page.


Many do-it-yourselfers fail to realize two things. The first is that their landing page is the single most important page of their web site as it relates to converting a click to a desired profitable action and two, the success (or failure) of an paid search campaign rises and falls by the conversion rates and as a result, the utmost attention needs to be given to the landing page especially when it’s the recipient of paid traffic.

Tip #1: Do not use your index page (homepage) of your web site as a landing page. By using the homepage of your site as a landing page, you are giving the Internet user a palette of choices in the form of navigational links. This in turns encourages them to surf and explore rather than the desired action of converting them to make a purchase, opt in or sign up for a newsletter, etc.

Tip #2: You want to optimize your landing page for conversions by adding core keywords to the verbiage of your landing page. This will almost always raise conversion rates. Remember, the object is not to achieve a high page rank in Google, the object is to convert the user to your desired action whether that is to make a purchase, sign up, opt in, etc. You must create your landing page with that mind and not distract your visitors by offering links to other areas of your website.

Tip #3: Advertise a clear message on your landing page. Keep it simple, don’t bombard your visitor with too much word clutter. Be sure to use one or two simple ideas conveyed by large text and some images. Be sure to place things of importance near the top of the page and create your landing page with the assumption that people will be viewing your page with 800 x 600 resolution because this is the norm.

Lastly, you want your landing page to have a clear call to action. The words you choose for your landing page should reflect and entice them to that action with big bold colorful buttons. For example: “Buy Now” or “Sign Up Now”, “Start 10-Day Free Trial Now”, and so on. Your call to action should be prominent and repeated several times if necessary. Bottom line is you must make it easy for people to do what you want them to do or they will never do it.

This content was originally posted on http://guidetomoney.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

A landing page is simply a web page designed to convert clicks, sales or some other action. This is the first page a visitor sees when they click through to a website. But it doesn’t have to be the home page or index page of your website. In fact, often, it is better that it isn’t as you can focus your content to perform an action fine tuned to the visitor.


This page can be used to provide a sign up for your lists, to promote an informational course, promote an affiliate program, provide giveaways, to sell your own products or services and much more! Landing pages are used by Pay Per Click (PPC) advertisers and Affiliate Marketers to drive their clicks directly to a page where they can encourage the visitor to perform some kind of action.


But it is not limited to just PPC or affiliate marketing. No matter how you are driving traffic, you can use a landing page to help you direct traffic and increase conversions.


They give you an opportunity to control your traffic and it provides the visitor the information they need to make a decision to act. The information provided can be finely tuned and focused on exactly what that person was clicking to find out before they landed on your web page.


You can answer specific questions that you determine might be on that visitors mind. You can provide an overview of the benefits or features of a product you might be promoting. You can do this with a few short paragraphs, an entire article, or an entire web of pages that the landing page leads to.


You can use these pages to pre-sell affiliate programs or your own products. You can fill in gaps in information that the customer needs to know to make a buying decision before you send them off to the purchase page. Having a review of a product or a number of products on a landing page can help a visitor tremendously as well.


By split testing landing page against landing page until we get the best conversions possible from our design and content, we can make our landing pages pull profits we couldn’t normally pull with a general or unfocused web page.


So as you can see, landing pages are a great tool to improve your conversions. Instead of driving traffic to your home page or a general page that isn’t focused at all towards what you are promoting, landing pages can be designed to take a visitor by the hand and lead them strategically towards whatever action you want them to take.

Making money with your website and the products you are promoting can improve greatly if you learn how to use the landing page to your advantage.


Landing pages can be very easy, a fun process and a profitable endeavor! Once learned, they don’t have to be a lot of work. They don’t have to be complex. Once you have a good system of creating these pages, there is nothing stopping you from incorporating them into almost everything that you do.

This content was originally posted on http://guidetomoney.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

If you want to build a successful website, do the following things. According to an ex-employee of Google, this will work good. Always!

1. Add content


Add content, add content, add content. Before you even register your domain, you should have enough ideas to build 100 pages on your site. Start brainstorming and see what you can come up with in 10 minutes. If that's not enough to fill 50 pages, consider not building the site at all. Having lots of content is important.

2. A simple design is better


The text content should outweigh the html content. Stay away from heavy flash, java, javascript, etc. Don't add to much stuff like 'best viewed with'... Your website should be viewable with any browser. Keep it clean and professional.

3. Keep the pages small


Smaller is better. Keep it under 15k if you can. Your site should be fast loading, or people will leave. Speed is everything. Next to content, that is. Keeping it under 10k or 5k if you can. Difficult, but people love fast sites. Throw away all the trash on your pages.

4. Content length


Put a new page online every day of about 200 to 500 words. Go to the overture keyword suggester to find ideas of what to write about. Spell check your content. Search engines can do it, and so should you. If you have a blog, go for article-like posts as opposed to the personal diary kinds of posts.

5. Use keywords


Use your keywords in the following places: title, description tag, heading, url, once bold, once italic and once high on the page.

6. Link to other sites

Put 2 links to other, high ranking pages on your site. They should be relevant to the content of that page and use keywords as your link. Don't add every link that's requested. Check their relevance first.

7. Link to your own site


Put links from one page to other relevant pages on your own site. Again: use keywords as your link.

This content was originally posted on http://guidetomoney.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

There is a lot of buzz online around web 2.0 especially around how webmasters can get fast results on search engines. Rather than contribute to the buzz, lets look into it closer and explain.


Web 2.0 is a really big topic, and in short, it means the move from static webpages- just text and images to interactivity, visitor contribution and the rise of video. These are all great ideas as it creates personal ownership, in the form of being able to voice and opinion in a subject.


Now what does this mean to * Your * business, after all that's what really counts ;)

Lets look at one area - Blogging

A blog is simple to use way of putting your own content up on line. It requires no knowledge to write articles and post them up on a site (if you are advanced, and have a blog already the real information is coming ;)


Blogs or weblogs have been put forward as the "quick free fix" for getting top rankings. The most professional blogging system is one called wordpress. Its free and has a load of support.


Now bloggers themselves are a weird bunch, and they are very web2.0 aimed and, most of the time not very business focused, more out just to make a few bucks online. However, creating a blog to use to drive traffic to your own site, and increase search engine traffic is something to definitely include in your plans.

Here is a few things to keep in mind:

1. Content - Blogs are a content tool, they are used to provide information to the user give valuable information (sometimes they cross over into opinion)

2. Time - they take time and consistent effort to contribute to get started and maintain

3. Integration -They need to integrate with your marketing plan which means, not just search engine ranking, but lead generation (collecting email addressees and first names) and can be a good form of pre - selling your future customers.

4. Outside Influence - Blogs will still need outside influence in the form of links to get traffic.


The wordpress free program is great however most bloggers do not set the site up to be 100% search engine friendly.


I will use my partners site which has had very little work done on it but is getting results. We started with the keyword research and settled on a core keyword of "Home Organizing" and secondary keywords of "home organizing ideas" and "home organizing tips"

This content was originally posted on http://guidetomoney.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Many people have been commenting on forums, blogs, and message boards about the recent Google PR changes. I'm actually surprised there hasn't been even more buzz about it, because it looks that a lot of web sites and internal pages have indeed changed in PR levels, but it doesn't seem like it was a stand alone "Google Pagerank Update". It looked to me more like a finish on what was left undone on the last update.


I found pages that went up and pages that went down. The pages that went down appeared to be pages I thought would have gone down last time, but somehow didn't, as well as some pages that I thought should have gone up, but had not gone up - now it seems they have finally gotten some PR like I thought they should have.


BUT – there's definitely some pages that lost PR all together that I did not expect that to happen to. A lot of pages went gray, almost like their banned, but their still in the index, rank, and look fine. I can only guess that these are pages that may not have been linked to enough from internal link structures or pages that did not acquire inbound links from out side sources; or possibly, pages that did not change or update enough to retain their PR.


This could be a new sophisticated way of measuring whether a page that was once important, is still important. In my opinion, I don't think Google wants un-warranted PR just floating around on pages with all this stress on link and PR buying/selling on their to-do list. These are of course just guesses on my part, but educated guesses. Like everyone else, I'm trying to make some sense out of it so that I can feel like I have a glimmer of hope in knowing what in the world Google is up to. But it's all speculation right now. But again this is what I am seeing.


I really think it has to do with one or all of these factors:

• Not enough new links in

• Week internal link structure

• Not enough updates

All in all, I really don't see any drastic importance in any of this. The most important thing is that a site owners traffic should not change either way, but for those people who judge sites strictly on PR, these gray bars could be a bit confusing. Many people, one being a close associate of mine, reminded me that some people believe that the infamous gray bar is a sign of Google banned pages; a sign of what could be the worst penalty you could receive. I say, it's just a sign that what made since yesterday, may not make since today.  My advice still doesn't change much. Build a great site, with excellent content and value for both the search engines and your visitors, and you'll always find yourself in "good position".

 

This content was originally posted on http://guidetomoney.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Information technology news and technical information pertaining to certification intelligence for exam training is the main purpose of this article. Many people do not know the difference between computer training and certification exam training. I would like to inform everyone what the differences are. Computer training is classroom education with scheduled courses or online training about the career field pertaining to information technology. Let me explain! You may want to become a Server Administrator. To begin with you will need some education somewhere in order to be knowledgeable about the subject and maybe acquire a 2 or 4-year degree or receive some online training with a qualified instructor. You may just want to take a few courses and receive a certificate in this field. This would be considered computer training.


Information technology certification intelligence on exam training is what you need in order to be fully prepared to pass your certification exam. After computer training you may have a degree or a certificate but you still do not have a certification that is recognized by Microsoft, CIW and CompTia or any other. If you have computer training that qualifies you to be a Server Administrator then you will want to get certified in Microsoft, CIW or CISCO. Certification exam training concentrates on preparing you to pass your certification exam. An IT Certification exam is unlike any other exam that you have had in college or school. There are two very important things to consider when preparing for a certification exam. They are the proper study technique and having relevant material that pertains to the actual exam that is up to date with the current market.


There are only a handful of places online that offer Certification exam training. The reason I wrote this article is to provide news and information about the best resources on certification exam training. There are many students of information technology that want this information because they are serious about passing their certification exam on the very first try. This article is not about selling but about helping those who are not informed about Certification exam training.


Another purpose of this article is education concerning information technology certification. There are many colleges and online training about information technology that will prepare you for a particular subject or field but there are but a few places where you can find information technology certification intelligence on exam training.


Say you want to become a PC Technician and you study at a college or receive online training so that you are knowledgeable about that field and receive a diploma or certificate in that area but you still are not certified until you take a certification exam. Even after graduation you will need to schedule an IT certification exam with prometric or pearsonvue in order to be certified in the field that you desire.

How many places do you know where you can get training on how to pass your information technology certification exam? Exam training is not the same as computer training. You will need knowledge of how to study for your

This content was originally posted on http://guidetomoney.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Static vs. Dynamic Websites (CMS)


Gone are the days when you have a website built and have no control over the content. The arrival and popularity of Dynamic Websites (database driven Content Management Systems (CMS)) should have your "work from home" web designers concerned. I mean who wants to pay for a Static site when you can have an easy to manage CMS site that costs you nothing to maintain? Sure you may pay a little more for it but isn't your business worth it?

What is CMS?


CMS gives you complete control of your website. The easy self edit content management system (CMS) enables you to make changes to your website with ease. This keeps your website up to date without the continuous expense of a web designer. You can update your website content, add and delete images without the confusing web design jargon. Changes are made in simple English in a web admin template similar to Microsoft word.


With CMS websites (good ones as there are some dodgy ones out there beware!) you can now update most areas of your website yourself. Changes made to your website using the easy edit CMS are instantly and automatically reflected on your website.

Why CMS?


The need for Content Management Systems has grown in the last few years as the expense of maintaining web sites has hit home. Content Management Systems hand the control of a site back to the owners, saving many thousands of dollars in ongoing website maintenance and update costs.

CMS is designed in such a way that you don't need any specialized web development knowledge or expertise in html, graphic design or any of the other areas of web development expertise to maintain and update your web site.

If keeping your site punctual and up to date with your customers is important, then this tool is a must. CMS has been developed so that keeping your website up to date is made easy. CMS gives you the ability to edit the text, images, headings and style of any web page.

How exactly does it Work?


CMS is designed to allow you to update the content in your web site with virtually no web skills or experience. Did you know, by having the skill to use Microsoft Word you would be able to edit, manage and update the content all by yourself, from anywhere in the World? You can login into the CMS admin area with your unique username and password.

Static Website - The Website Dinosaur?


Static websites (I call them old school websites) are websites sitting out on the web all on their lonesome; they are a conglomeration of singularly designed web pages all linked together. The site pretty much goes out of date the moment it is live and has no software driving it.

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Why do we always hear good and bad comments on certain web host, isn't a bad web host will always be bad for everybody ? why are there still people have good comments on them ? Well, I have to say, every human being is unique, and every webmaster will have their own set of requirements and expectation towards a service they pay for.


For instance, I am new to internet, and I need a web host that can help me when I am stuck with something or perhaps need help setting up my blog. Well, not all web host will be able to offer this kind of personalized service to their clients. This is especially true for large web hosts that hire hundreds of help desk staff servicing the huge client base, these help desk staff has standard operating procedures for them to follow, and they are given a standard set of answers for them to provide to clients.


Do you think I will be happy when I keep getting the same 'canned' replies that does not really help or apply to my hosting problems ? I don't think so, and I will likely end up joining the group of webmaster with negative feedback for this particular host.


What about those that like this particular web host ? what makes them feel good and keep them staying with this web host ? Well, it can a lot of reasons for someone to like or dislike another person.


For example, this person expect a 24 hour chat help desk service, and he is the type of person that is more of a Do-It-Yourself type, he has some knowledge about web hosting and he is able to fix some technical issue himself or look for a fix elsewhere on his own, he does not need so much of personalized service from the web host like myself, but he expect to have a chat help desk person to be available round the clock to answer his general questions. For example, questions like how to update hosting account billing info etc., which is able to serve well with those 'canned' answers I mentioned earlier. So, he has no problem with the web host and feels very comfortable hosting his website this particular web host.

OK, so every webmaster is unique and has their own set of requirements, so what is the best possible way for a webmaster to find a web hosting provider that fits ? Well, the answer is quite simple.


First, you should forget about all those web host reviews, discounts, offers etc., take out a piece of paper, and list down all your requirements one by one, go through them several times and prioritize them. For example, which requirement is more important than others to you, put them in a top down sequence.


After you have list down the requirements, write specific questions with these requirements. After getting your own list of questions drawn up, you can start looking around for web hosting providers. You can follow the usual method like visiting webmaster forums to check webmasters review of their own web hosts and pick those that have better comments, try limit yourself to about five web hosts in your selection.


Once you have the web hosts list ready, send your long list of questions done up earlier to each of them, and see how they response to you. You will be surprise how effective this method can help you filter out those that seems good but does not really meet your requirements, and you will be able to identify the web host that fits you most.

This content was originally posted on http://guidetomoney.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Many people do not contact a professional search engine marketing agency to discuss planning a solid marketing strategy for their business, as they are quite literally scared off just by the thought of huge agency costs. This is perhaps understandable for the small business owner who is struggling to get the money coming in and certainly does not want to even consider committing to spending large amounts of money on online advertising, search engine marketing and optimization services.


Perhaps it is time to think again! If you are not getting the results you need for success in your business, then why not consider a smaller spend on some top level consultancy to put you on the right track? When you have a detailed plan of the key elements that need to be addressed in your day to day business structure and you have an ongoing plan of action for the next 3 to 6 months then you will feel 100% more confident about the structure and strategy of your online business. The search engine marketing arena produces a minefield of conflicting ideas at times and it is therefore necessary to get some professional advice, preferably in the early stages of your marketing endeavours. Do not leave your online business to chance or practice a trial and error approach when a day or two of top level marketing consultancy can quite possibly put your business in front of your competitors a long way.


If the idea of paying for some marketing consultancy services is still a bit daunting then how about some free tips? Getting ahead online and establishing your web site in the search engines is now more important than ever before as many more business owners are now online. This also makes the whole process even more competitive. So where do you start?

Start with a marketing plan


Developing a solid marketing strategy takes time, expertise and a certain amount of financial investment. One of the best things you can do for your online business is to develop a marketing strategy right from the moment you get your first web page designed. Make notes of what keywords you want to target on each page, have a look at all the major search engines and see who your competitors are for each one of your keywords. What are they doing that is so great it puts their web site on page one of the search results? Do you start to see a recurring theme that the winners are using? If your target market sector is highly competitive then try going for some niche keywords that directly relate to your business.

Online Advertising and promotion 


When you have a new web site launched or you want to get some traffic for your existing web site and entice new customers to take an active interest in your products or services then make sure that people know about your online business. Make a small investment in online advertising and site promotion and monitor the results. See what works and focus on that area until you have developed your marketing strategy and gained some new customers. Then return to your marketing plan and see if you have followed your initial steps successfully.

This content was originally posted on http://guidetomoney.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

It’s a simple question, but plenty of people get confused by this one.  There’s a huge difference between outsourcing your link building and buying links.  One is a simple exchange of cash for particular links.  It’s a straightforward transaction – you pay for a particular link; that’s it.  I’m not saying that there aren’t many different types of links you can buy – there are. 


Link buying is generally a pretty standard transaction.  In most cases, you are renting text links from websites, but you could also be buying reviews or sponsoring a website theme.  The key is that you are making an out-and-out purchase.  There’s a cash transaction specifically for the link itself.

Outsourcing Your Link Building

Outsourcing isn’t about buying links at all.  When you outsource your link building campaign, you are hiring someone to do all of the dynamic link building work you would do if you had the time and resources to do it yourself.  It doesn’t mean making credit card transactions to buy static links or put up banners.


Outsourcing your link building means you trusting your campaign to a link building service who will take the time to learn about your business, your goals and your vision.  They will do in-depth research about your industry, your competition and your company so that they can create dynamic links that aren’t purchased.  They’ll be doing the kind of interactive link building that creates real buzz in your industry. 


If you find the right company to outsource to, they will invlove an industry researcher and a professional copywriter familiar with your industry who can develop articles, blog postings and press releases about what you do that will capture the attention of visitors to your own website and countless others.


They will be familiar with authority sites, industry sites, education pages and quality news feeds that you just wouldn’t have the time to research or the access to if you were trying to build links yourself.  It’s this unique combination of skill and access that makes outsourcing your link building campaign a good idea for many businesses.

What Sets Link Building Apart from Purchased Links?

Link building is inherently content-rich.  It isn’t about just the link – it’s about what surrounds the link.  Because the link is imbedded in some kind of content that has to justify its existence, it naturally has to be something interesting enough to be of value.  It may be an interesting how-to article, a thought-provoking response on a popular blog, a press release that’s been picked up on an industry news wire, a YouTube video…it really doesn’t matter where the link is.  What matters is that the content is valuable to the reader, which makes the link more credible than a typical purchased link.  It’s also why outsourcing your link building can be such a great investment – you aren’t buying links; you’re buying a team of researchers, bloggers, writers and industry experts who are doing what you would do if only you had the time and energy! 

 

This content was originally posted on http://guidetomoney.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Do you ever wonder what others are doing and what else you need to do to achieve success with an internet based business? Jumping from one opportunity to another searching for internet based business success is not the solution!  Success comes from within so do not waste any more time searching elsewhere for it.


Many fail to achieve success online not only because they are unaware of what is involved and required but also because their expectations are far too high and as soon as they realize that they are not going to make a profit immediately they just quit.


So what do you have within you that, if put into action, can lead to internet based business success?


1. You need to have a very strong reason for wanting to make a success of your internet based business.  What is the driving force that will get you through the good and bad times until you do succeed?  You will break all the commitments you make even if you possess all the qualities discussed in this article if your reason or driving force is not strong enough.


2. Having established your driving force you then need to make a commitment to yourself that you will never quit your internet based business.  Take it seriously and treat it like a proper business.  It is your business that you are going to work at until you achieve success as opposed to something you are just going to try out for a couple of months to see if it works. 


3. Starting a home based internet business while still working a full-time job you will require that you make some sacrifices.  Dedicate time on a daily basis to attend to your business even though this may mean getting up earlier and retiring later at night or giving up some television or video viewing time.


4. You need to be determined to succeed and have the strength to overcome the challenges that come along from time to time if you want to improve your financial situation.  All businesses have their ups and downs.  Face the challenges and overcome them and not only will your business grow but you will gain so much knowledge as well.


5. You certainly need to be persistent.  Persist and press on through the times that you feel as if nothing is really happening and you will achieve home based internet business success.


6. Have the courage to ignore others who say it will never work.  Believe in yourself and never give up.  Be determined to make it work and prove them wrong.


7.  Self-discipline is important as it will ensure that you still make the time to work on your online business when you get home from a long hard day at work.

This content was originally posted on http://guidetomoney.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Truth in Marketing - Customers Demand It, Even Online

Social media is fast becoming an integral part of marketing campaigns.  The more the internet pushes the boundaries of communication and how fast it can deliver multimedia such as videos and photos, the more it becomes ingrained into the very essence of everyone's day to day activities.  People communicate in much broader ways now than they every have.

We used to have the pony express, then it was the telegraph, then the phone brought us even closer even though were hundreds of miles apart.  When the computer started to be a way to communicate (think ARPANET here), that's when things really started to expand - emails, message boards, then instant messenger soon came along.  Forums & message boards never went away, they just began to morph into communities, soon enough you had intricate profiles, as well as blogs and now even multimedia can be added in.

So where am I going with this? 

This content was originally posted on http://guidetomoney.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Conversion Rate: What's Your Website Tracking As A Conversion?

When you  hear the word "conversion" do you automatically think "shopping cart", "secure server", or "SSL"?  It's O.K. if you do, most people think along those lines when they hear talk about converting visitors to buyers.  When people first started talking about successful websites and how to measure the success of a website, conversion rates went hand in hand with retail sites.

The world of online marketing and being held accountable for the bottom line has advanced quite rapidly in the past few years.  It is no longer the retail site that is concerned about the "conversion".  Just about every site on the internet can track some kind of conversion.  Now you are probably scratching your head and thinking "what's she talking about"?  Well lets take a look at the different types of conversion rates you can track - and help to prove the success or the failure of your online marketing efforts.

• Purchase Conversion:
  This is the type of conversion that most equate with the term "conversion".  This is where a visitor comes to your website or web page and then eventually, either in that visit or a subsequent visit depending on your analytics tracking, purchases a product or service that your website offers.  This type of conversion is pretty clean cut as you can clearly tie back advertising spend, resources and product/service costs to the conversion.
  
  
  
• Email Sign-Up Conversion:
  Signing up for an email newsletter is a conversion?  You bet!  You have engaged the visitor enough for them to check that box, fill out that form and hit the submit button.  Although not quite a clean cut to tie back resources too, some companies assign a specific value to each sign up, in order to be able to track the success or failure of the campaign.
  
  

This content was originally posted on http://guidetomoney.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Why Blogging Is A Lot Like Karaoke

You laughed!  I know you did! :)

Yesterday, as I was driving to Via Roma which is my usual Friday night hangout with friends, I was just thinking about the different aspects of blogging, and it really hit me that it's actually a lot like Karaoke.  Of course in most cases, this is without the music and a mic, unless you are podcasting or vodcasting.

There's a lot that you have to overcome in karaoke, just as you do in blogging.  You have to be able to take the criticism with the applause.  You need to realize and know what works and what doesn't (honestly, I really just can't do rap!), and there's likely a few other thousand minute things that can compare blogging with karaoke.  So maybe I'm just a little odd, but hey - I like to have fun and I figured it could be fun comparing my two passions - if anything this could give you a little weekend humor.

It Takes Practice... American Idol Doesn't Come To You

It's rare that even with the words on the screen, do you get a song right the first time you sing it.  You could hit a certain part of the song off key, hold a note too long or mess up the words.  Overnight sensations in Karaoke really don't happen (regardless if Kenny Chesney sings about it or not).  American Idol doesn't sit in karaoke bars, so it's ok to be "off" on somethings, until you get it right.  The same is with blogging. 

It's rare that you have a overnight success in blogging, or that a post hits digg within the first few minutes of posting.  Both karaoke and blogging take practice.  With karaoke, when you finally know a song well because you've practiced a few times, your confidence builds and your voice can just shine through.  The same goes for blogging, when you start getting comments, when people start submitting your posts to stumble upon or reddit or sphinn, you know your practice has helped.  It's true you know, practice makes perfect!

Cheer Others On!

There's one rule with my friends Terri & Glen, who run the karaoke where I go, have and that's you cheer others on.  Now, that may sound a little forced, but honestly it's not.  It also helps a heck of a lot to build up some confidence.  There are those who are first time singers, or maybe they are veterans who've just had a bad day and those few rounds of applause can ease the nervousness or pick up their day.

The same is true in blogging.  Sending a link to a blogger who you thought had a great post.  Leaving a comment because their post touched you in some way.  Subscribing to their feed.  Sending and email or a tweet and saying "hey what you wrote, really rocked!" are all tiny ways of cheering others on. 

These are simple things that can go a long way to encourage others or pick up their day.  It can boost the confidence of a new blogger or it can re-ignite the passion of someone who's wondering "why the heck am I doing this?".  Cheer someone on, it can also put a smile on your own face.

This content was originally posted on http://guidetomoney.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Online Content Strategies: One Hit Wonders or Writing for Your Audience?

While I was at Unleashed, I got the opportunity to sit in on Matt Bailey's Analytics presentation.  If you haven't gotten the chance to see Matt speak, you should make it a point to do so in the near future.  Matt has a passion for relating information to an audience in a very enthusiastic way.

During SES, I let Brian Cosgrove have the honors of blogging about his session at SES NYC.  Brian's got a great summation about Matt's session at SES, which people were spilling out into the hallway to hear him speak.

Why I mention Matt's presentation, is because another post on Seth Godin's blog really got me to thinking.  Add that together with all the furor over Jason Calacanis' reported comments at SMX Social, (by the way Danny has clarified and I also got some clarification on this direct from Jason and he has promised a video response).  It really got me to thinking, seriously thinking.

Do you know, truly know who your audience is?

Are you creating content for your audience, or are you creating content for the search engines, or for the hopes of getting to the top of Digg, or maybe making it big at StumbleUpon?  Sure, these sites (search engines included) bring in, as Matt stated in his presentation, "butt loads" of traffic an links, however, is this really who you want coming into your site?

Jason isn't far off the mark, and neither is Seth, and Matt's right on the money.  Creating content for your audience is what website owners should be doing.  Now, don't get me wrong here, I'm not in the slightest way saying "SEO is bullshit", you still need the SEO to have that content found.  However, if all you are doing is constantly creating "Top Ten Lists" or insane videos, and these really don't reflect your brand, product or service - you are just going to get that spike in traffic and nothing more.

One hit wonders in viral marketing and linkbait tend to create nothing in the way of decent targeted audience members.  While viral marketing can be great and wonderful for that bounce in traffic and maybe to get a new site discovered, can you sit down and analyze that segmented traffic and see if it was truly successful?  Did these visitors just come and view one page (your linkbait or viral piece) and leave?  Did they navigate any further in your site?  Did they subscribe to your newsletter or blog?  Did they read another article on you blog or even leave a comment?  Did you even have a goal for that viral strategy to begin with, because honestly "just getting hits" really isn't enough these days.

If you can't see that your content isn't appealing to your true audience, and is only being a one hit wonder to sites like Digg and Stumbleupon, maybe you should be rethinking your online content strategy.  Do you even have one to begin with or are you just hoping that with each launch of a viral campaign, this will be the "thing" that launches you into stardom on the internet?

Write content for your audience first, they are the ones that will buy what you are selling - not the "one hit wonders."  If you don't believe me, take a look at your analytics and see how high your bounce rate is for that segmented traffic.

This content was originally posted on http://guidetomoney.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Building Communities in Social Media

Wendy Piersall started her blog as a hobby, the blog was an extension of her business, a tool to compliment it.  Within three months, Wendy’s eMom's at Home blog became its own full time job.  She had to rethink her strategy about the business.  Within 2 years Wendy had a thriving community on her hands, with thousands of readers and subscribers. How did this happen?

Conversation.

Communities thrive on it, we humans crave it.  Unless you are a hermit or a person on a religious quest that requires seclusion and not speaking, we seek out human interaction.  We want to hear other people’s thoughts, we long for interaction to know if our own thoughts are in line with common thinking or if we are out of line, or are we rebels (with or without a cause).

Communities are nothing new.  Communities bond upon a single or a few commonalities.  It was how this nation (the United States) was formed, a common bond of the wish to have freedom of religion.  Later on for immigrants coming through Ellis Island, the bond was the dream of a better life.  It is no different even with all of our gadgets, speed and technologies, we as humans still need to bond, and it is why we seek out communities online.

Wendy’s community grew and thrived because she fostered a great conversation.  She listened and she also conversed with her audience – she never spoke "at" them.  She constantly listened and she participated in the conversation, always keeping in mind “what would her audience get” from each conversation she would invoke with her blog posts.

Wendy was also wise enough to realize the conversation wasn’t just going on, on her blog.  There were other blogs out there having similar conversations that she felt helped or contributed to the conversation.  Wendy wisely not only sought them out and commented about on their blogs she included them in her own conversation as well.  By doing this,  she was eventually pulling in their audiences to participate in the conversation.

Now a little over 2 years later, realizing that what started out as her “hobby” has grown into this enormous community and her original thoughts for the blog my limit the potential for the conversations growth, Wendy reached out to her community.  Wendy asked and the community overwhelming responded and now eMoms at Home is opening to an even wider community by becoming SparkPlugging, focusing on the entrepreneurial community.  Wendy's own blog is getting renamed to Sparkplug CEO, as well.

When you recognize that a conversation is happening and you embrace it and foster it, a community can grow around that conversation.  Hard sells, preaching a message, and advertorials just don’t work, those methods do not foster and grow communities.   You really have to have a love, a passion for your conversation, you have to care about it, if it is going to even have any shot at succeeding in this new online social world. 

It’s why companies who really do care about what people think about their brands, or their products or services succeed in overwhelming ways in social media.  If you only care about selling a soda (think Sprite Sips on Facebook ), or getting people into your store (think Walmart Flogs) you likely won’t get very far since your conversation is only one way and isn’t really genuine.  However, if you are like Wendy, or BlendTec or even Lionel Menchaca from Dell, your community grows at astounding rates.

The key to building communities?  Conversation and realizing that as much as they involve speaking to someone, building communities involves a lot more listening and understanding.  So, stop and think – are you preaching or are you conversing?

I said yesterday that Mack Collier inspired me to love Blogging again.  Wendy also inspired me about communities and she made me excited about the potential of building a great community. To read about Wendy's presentation at SEG's Unleashed Conference for Small Business Marketing, check out David's take on Wendy's session.  Hop on over to SEG to get all the coverage of what happened at SEG's Unleashed Conference in Houston.

You can also find Wendy on Twitter, Mack on Twitter and even me on Twitter, too. Why not start a conversation with us?  :)

This content was originally posted on http://guidetomoney.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog