Although the concept of search engine optimization can be somewhat complex, there are a number of basic search engine optimization techniques you can use to improve your organic search results. Keep the following in mind when trying to achieve top rankings for your website.
1. Meta Tags.
Meta tags are simple lines of code at the top of your web page programming that tell search engines about your page. Include the title tag, keyword stag, description tag, and robots tag on each page.
2. Create and update your site map.
Developing a site map is a simple way of giving search engines the information they need to crawl your entire website. There are plenty of free software packages on the web that can help you generate a sitemap. Once you create a site map, submit it to Google and Yahoo.
3. Ensure that all navigation is in HTML.
All too often, navigational items are in the form of java script. Even though navigation technically still works in this format, it’s not optimized. Create your navigation in HTML to enhance internal links throughout your website.
4. Check that all images include ALT text.
Your image’s alt text is spidered by search engines. If you’re not including your keywords in alt text, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity for improved search engine result placements. Label all of your images properly.
5. Use Flash content sparingly.
Content generated through java script or flash is a big no-no. Some webmasters like to use flash because of the presentation. If you must, use it sparingly, but only after your site has been properly optimized with basic search engine optimization in mind.
6. Make sure that your website code is clean.
Keep in mind when optimizing a web page crawlers are basically only looking at your source code. When programming your web pages, having W3C compliant code can make all the difference. Run your code through a W3C validator before promoting.
7. Place keywords in your page content.
Search engines scan your website and web pages for keywords. Shoot for a keyword density of between two and eight percent. Google likes your page to be at the lower end of this scale and Yahoo at the upper end.
8. Submit your website to search engine directories.
It’s always a good idea to let large search engine directories know that you’re out there. Submit your website URL to directories like Google, Yahoo, and DMOZ.
9. Build links to your website.
Consider building a link exchange program or create one-way links to your site using articles or forum posts. All major search engines value the importance of your website based on how many others websites are linking to it.
10. Stay the course.
Good optimization takes time. People expect to see results immediately. You may very well see improvements in a short period, but reaching the number one position takes time. Be patient.
Learning to optimize your website for search engines takes time and patience. Start by applying basic search engine optimization principles. If you’re new to website optimization, or even a well seasoned veteran, begin by prioritizing which pages are most important to you and go from there. Soon you’ll find yourself moving up the rankings.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Articles Are The Quickest Way To Your Customers Wallet
One way of promoting your website and product can be achieved for free. As an additional bonus, this “free” method can boost your sites and sales, doubling and even tripling your income.
I’m talking about articles just like this one.
Utilizing articles are one of the easiest ways to promote your website in order to generate traffic and increase your earnings.
So, how does this work? Well, write an articles(s) relating to your website and submit them to “free content” submission sites. Easy to do, takes little time and can increase your website traffic, sales and of course, your income.
The article on the free content site contains a link to your own website. Readers, after reading your articles, may choose to click on the link and pay you an unexpected visit. Having them on the free content sites is also making these articles available to other webmasters who may wish to publish that article on their site.
If they do, your article will include a link back to your site. And anyone who reads the article on that site can still click on the link to visit your site.
As the list of your published articles grow larger, and more and more of them are appearing on different websites, the total number of links to your site increases also. Major search engines are placing a lot of significance on incoming links to websites so they can determine the importance of a certain site.
The more incoming links the website has, the more importance search engines attaches to it. This will then increase your website’s placement in the search results.
If you site is into promoting a product or service, the links that your articles have achieved will mean more potential customers for you. Even if visitors only browse through, you never know if they might be in need of what you are offering in the future.
There are also those who already have specific things they need on their mind but cannot decide yet between the many choices online. Chances are, they may stumble upon one of your articles, gets interested by the contents you wrote, go to your site and became enticed by your promotions. See how easy that is?
Search engines do not just index the websites, they also index published articles. They also index any article that is written about your own website’s topic. So once someone searches for that same topic, the list of results will have your site or may even show the articles that you have written.
And to think, no effort on your part was used to bring them to your site. Just your published articles and the search engines.
It is no wonder why many webmasters are suddenly reviving their old writing styles and taking time to write more articles about their site than doing other means of promotion.
Getting their site known is easier if they have articles increasing their links and traffic and making it accessible for visitors searching the internet. Since many people are now taking their buying needs online, having your site on the search engines through your articles is one way of letting them know about you and your business.
The good thing with articles is that you can write about things that people would want to know about. This can be achieved in the lightest mood but professional manner, with a little “not-so-obvious” sales pitch added.
If you think about it, only a few minutes of your time is spent on writing one article and submitting to free content site. In the shortest span of time also, those are distributed to more sites than you can think of. Even before you know what is happening, you are getting more visitors than you previously had.
If you think you are wasting your time writing these articles, fast forward to the time when you will see them printed and wide-spread on the internet. Not to mention the sudden attention and interest that people are giving your website and your products or services.
Try writing some articles and you will be assured of the sudden surge in site traffic, link popularity and interest. Before you know it, you will be doubling and even tripling your earnings.
Nothing like getting benefits for something you got for free.
I’m talking about articles just like this one.
Utilizing articles are one of the easiest ways to promote your website in order to generate traffic and increase your earnings.
So, how does this work? Well, write an articles(s) relating to your website and submit them to “free content” submission sites. Easy to do, takes little time and can increase your website traffic, sales and of course, your income.
The article on the free content site contains a link to your own website. Readers, after reading your articles, may choose to click on the link and pay you an unexpected visit. Having them on the free content sites is also making these articles available to other webmasters who may wish to publish that article on their site.
If they do, your article will include a link back to your site. And anyone who reads the article on that site can still click on the link to visit your site.
As the list of your published articles grow larger, and more and more of them are appearing on different websites, the total number of links to your site increases also. Major search engines are placing a lot of significance on incoming links to websites so they can determine the importance of a certain site.
The more incoming links the website has, the more importance search engines attaches to it. This will then increase your website’s placement in the search results.
If you site is into promoting a product or service, the links that your articles have achieved will mean more potential customers for you. Even if visitors only browse through, you never know if they might be in need of what you are offering in the future.
There are also those who already have specific things they need on their mind but cannot decide yet between the many choices online. Chances are, they may stumble upon one of your articles, gets interested by the contents you wrote, go to your site and became enticed by your promotions. See how easy that is?
Search engines do not just index the websites, they also index published articles. They also index any article that is written about your own website’s topic. So once someone searches for that same topic, the list of results will have your site or may even show the articles that you have written.
And to think, no effort on your part was used to bring them to your site. Just your published articles and the search engines.
It is no wonder why many webmasters are suddenly reviving their old writing styles and taking time to write more articles about their site than doing other means of promotion.
Getting their site known is easier if they have articles increasing their links and traffic and making it accessible for visitors searching the internet. Since many people are now taking their buying needs online, having your site on the search engines through your articles is one way of letting them know about you and your business.
The good thing with articles is that you can write about things that people would want to know about. This can be achieved in the lightest mood but professional manner, with a little “not-so-obvious” sales pitch added.
If you think about it, only a few minutes of your time is spent on writing one article and submitting to free content site. In the shortest span of time also, those are distributed to more sites than you can think of. Even before you know what is happening, you are getting more visitors than you previously had.
If you think you are wasting your time writing these articles, fast forward to the time when you will see them printed and wide-spread on the internet. Not to mention the sudden attention and interest that people are giving your website and your products or services.
Try writing some articles and you will be assured of the sudden surge in site traffic, link popularity and interest. Before you know it, you will be doubling and even tripling your earnings.
Nothing like getting benefits for something you got for free.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
How to Develop a Marketing Strategy
Developing a strategic marketing plan takes work - a firm understanding of the markets you plan to sell to, the products you and your competitors offer, your business objectives, and budget.
Part One- Market:
Objective: Identify and learn about the market segments you currently target and wish to target in the future– what motivates them to consider your products, what is their buying process, how do they consume media and how can we leverage former customer into longer term value for the business.
Steps to Accomplish:
• Learn Current Market Segmentation- Geographic, Demographic, Psychographic, Behaviorial
• Profile Market Segments- Revenue potential, Market share potential, Profitability potential, Lifetime customer value
• Market Research- Primary (research you've commissioned on your own) and Secondary (industry research)
Part Two-Product:
Objective: Learn about the current portfolio of products and new product introductions being planned, primary and secondary uses, usage differences by market, core product benefits, competitors and competitive differentiators, seasonality, historical offers and measurement, lifecycle plan, profitability, complementary products in portfolio or outside portfolio, pricing and profitability.
Steps to Accomplish:
• Product management presentations on above
• Sample analysis and review
• Competitive analysis and technology trends
• Usage and satisfaction research- primary, secondary
Part Three- Business Objectives:
Objective: Understand key business initiatives, market conditions and revenue goals that will guide decision making.
Steps to Accomplish:
• This year's Business Plan – define objectives for the business in the short and long-term.
Part Four- Marketing budget, Prior efforts & results, other planned tactics & timing:
Objective: Learn the parameters of the marketing plan including budget, previous efforts and success measurements, planned tactics such as committed resources, major sales campaigns and tradeshow events.
Steps to Accomplish:
• Marketing meeting to review information and develop calendar of know tactics and market touch points.
Market Plan recommendation will include:
At the completion of this four step process, you should assemble a complete integrated marketing plan based on your business objectives, market segments, market research, product offerings, competitive positioning, and history of marketing success. This document should contain:
An overview of learnings, challenges and trends
Customer and prospect constituent groups
Key market touch points and communications strategies
Tactical recommendations
Measurement
Budget, Return, ROI
It is highly recommended that the plan incorporate a certain level of flexibility at the tactical level. As with any marketing campaign strategy, tactics should incorporate split tests, review and rework of marketing tactics. Budget should be repositioned to support marketing campaigns that show the greatest success.
Part One- Market:
Objective: Identify and learn about the market segments you currently target and wish to target in the future– what motivates them to consider your products, what is their buying process, how do they consume media and how can we leverage former customer into longer term value for the business.
Steps to Accomplish:
• Learn Current Market Segmentation- Geographic, Demographic, Psychographic, Behaviorial
• Profile Market Segments- Revenue potential, Market share potential, Profitability potential, Lifetime customer value
• Market Research- Primary (research you've commissioned on your own) and Secondary (industry research)
Part Two-Product:
Objective: Learn about the current portfolio of products and new product introductions being planned, primary and secondary uses, usage differences by market, core product benefits, competitors and competitive differentiators, seasonality, historical offers and measurement, lifecycle plan, profitability, complementary products in portfolio or outside portfolio, pricing and profitability.
Steps to Accomplish:
• Product management presentations on above
• Sample analysis and review
• Competitive analysis and technology trends
• Usage and satisfaction research- primary, secondary
Part Three- Business Objectives:
Objective: Understand key business initiatives, market conditions and revenue goals that will guide decision making.
Steps to Accomplish:
• This year's Business Plan – define objectives for the business in the short and long-term.
Part Four- Marketing budget, Prior efforts & results, other planned tactics & timing:
Objective: Learn the parameters of the marketing plan including budget, previous efforts and success measurements, planned tactics such as committed resources, major sales campaigns and tradeshow events.
Steps to Accomplish:
• Marketing meeting to review information and develop calendar of know tactics and market touch points.
Market Plan recommendation will include:
At the completion of this four step process, you should assemble a complete integrated marketing plan based on your business objectives, market segments, market research, product offerings, competitive positioning, and history of marketing success. This document should contain:
An overview of learnings, challenges and trends
Customer and prospect constituent groups
Key market touch points and communications strategies
Tactical recommendations
Measurement
Budget, Return, ROI
It is highly recommended that the plan incorporate a certain level of flexibility at the tactical level. As with any marketing campaign strategy, tactics should incorporate split tests, review and rework of marketing tactics. Budget should be repositioned to support marketing campaigns that show the greatest success.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Affirming Your Success
One of the keys to growing a successful professional practice is having a compelling vision - one that draws you towards success.
A strategy some people find of assistance is to use “affirmations” to “manifest their success” - you might have even hear this referred to as the “laws of attraction”.
Here are some tips on manifesting success through affirmations.
By definition, an affirmation is a statement repeated time and again either verbally or mentally - or written down.
The words of the affirmation statement - in themselves - when spoken, thought of, or written without visualisation or an emotional connection - make a very weak affirmation.
Affirmations, when worded correctly - and when emotionally charged - tap into the unlimited creative power of our subconscious mind, and manifest our desires.
For affirmations to be most effective they need to:
• be stated in the present tense.
An affirmation is more effective when stated in the present tense. For example; “I now have a wonderful job.” Avoid affirming something in the future tense, e.g. “I am going to have a wonderful job” or the results will always be waiting to happen.
• express a positive statement.
Affirmations need to be stated in the most positive terms possible. Avoid negative statements. Affirm what you do want, rather than what you don’t want. For example: “I am no longer sick.” This is a negative statement. Instead, affirm: “I am now perfectly healthy in body, mind and spirit.” This statement is much more powerful as it is positive and reinforces your desired goal and doesn’t confuse your subconscious mind with the mention of the undesirable condition.
• be short and specific.
Short affirmations are easy to say, and have a far greater impact at the subconscious level than those which are long and wordy. Keeping them specific and to the point adds power as the idea is uncluttered by extraneous elements.
The mechanics that make affirmations powerful are:
1. Repetition
The importance of repetition cannot be over emphasised. It embedds the affirmation into your subconscious mind.
2. Emotions
Get involved, be passionate, and use your emotions. Think carefully about the meaning of the words as you repeat them rather than just writing, typing or saying them.
3. Persistence
Practicing affirmations with persistence achieves results much sooner than practicing them periodically. Successive sessions will have a compounding effect.
4. Belief
You don’t necessarily have to believe your affirmation initially, in order for it to work. Belief will grow with your forthcoming successes. What you do need is the ability to “feel” what it would be like when the desire you’re affirming is fulfilled, or your need met.
Every time that you have a need - and that need is met - a certain “feeling” is produced in you. You need to evoke that same feeling when you state your affirmation. In other words, you need to feel that what you desire has already happened. Without this feeling, your affirmation is powerless.
Remember to personalise your affirmations. They need to resonate for you. The stronger your connection with the affirmation, the deeper the impression it makes on your mind, and the sooner you will experience positive results.
So there you have it - the simple formula for creating affirmations that work.
Based on the above, why not try creating your own affirmations and create your own success.
A strategy some people find of assistance is to use “affirmations” to “manifest their success” - you might have even hear this referred to as the “laws of attraction”.
Here are some tips on manifesting success through affirmations.
By definition, an affirmation is a statement repeated time and again either verbally or mentally - or written down.
The words of the affirmation statement - in themselves - when spoken, thought of, or written without visualisation or an emotional connection - make a very weak affirmation.
Affirmations, when worded correctly - and when emotionally charged - tap into the unlimited creative power of our subconscious mind, and manifest our desires.
For affirmations to be most effective they need to:
• be stated in the present tense.
An affirmation is more effective when stated in the present tense. For example; “I now have a wonderful job.” Avoid affirming something in the future tense, e.g. “I am going to have a wonderful job” or the results will always be waiting to happen.
• express a positive statement.
Affirmations need to be stated in the most positive terms possible. Avoid negative statements. Affirm what you do want, rather than what you don’t want. For example: “I am no longer sick.” This is a negative statement. Instead, affirm: “I am now perfectly healthy in body, mind and spirit.” This statement is much more powerful as it is positive and reinforces your desired goal and doesn’t confuse your subconscious mind with the mention of the undesirable condition.
• be short and specific.
Short affirmations are easy to say, and have a far greater impact at the subconscious level than those which are long and wordy. Keeping them specific and to the point adds power as the idea is uncluttered by extraneous elements.
The mechanics that make affirmations powerful are:
1. Repetition
The importance of repetition cannot be over emphasised. It embedds the affirmation into your subconscious mind.
2. Emotions
Get involved, be passionate, and use your emotions. Think carefully about the meaning of the words as you repeat them rather than just writing, typing or saying them.
3. Persistence
Practicing affirmations with persistence achieves results much sooner than practicing them periodically. Successive sessions will have a compounding effect.
4. Belief
You don’t necessarily have to believe your affirmation initially, in order for it to work. Belief will grow with your forthcoming successes. What you do need is the ability to “feel” what it would be like when the desire you’re affirming is fulfilled, or your need met.
Every time that you have a need - and that need is met - a certain “feeling” is produced in you. You need to evoke that same feeling when you state your affirmation. In other words, you need to feel that what you desire has already happened. Without this feeling, your affirmation is powerless.
Remember to personalise your affirmations. They need to resonate for you. The stronger your connection with the affirmation, the deeper the impression it makes on your mind, and the sooner you will experience positive results.
So there you have it - the simple formula for creating affirmations that work.
Based on the above, why not try creating your own affirmations and create your own success.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Article Banks are Internet Marketing Gold
Summary: It's more than possible to market your business and become an expert using articles. In the process, you gain links back to your web site, and the articles you write can be placed in a booklet, ebook or your future book, too! Now, if you need articles for your ezine, website, magazine, or newspaper, you can request articles at no cost to you through article banks. It's a win-win-win! (win for you, win for the writer and win for your subscribers!)
What's the difference between an article directory and an article bank?
Article directories are one-way places on a web site where the site's owner lists their articles. Here you can read the articles and sometimes these articles are available as free or paid content for publishers.
Article banks are two-way web sites or pages within a web site. They are places where authors "deposit" articles to invest and where lenders "take" the article to use. The "interest" someone pays for using an article consists of a bio or resource box. Each article bank site includes guidelines for authors and potential publishers. Authors retain first rights - retain ownership - to articles placed on article banks. Some article bank sites publish ezines that include recently submitted articles, ad swap requests and/or an "articles wanted" area, too.
For Business Owners
Article banks are a way to advertise your business and gain link popularity, ezine subscribers and new clients. At the end of each of your article, place a 5-6 line bio, with a link back to your web site!
For Authors
Are you a new writer? Gifted writer? Business owner who enjoys writing? Writing can be an excellent way to market services or products with little capital outlay. Articles posted to an article bank include a short bio (sometimes called a resource box) about the author. This would include a copyright year, the name of author, and a link to the author's web site at the end of each article. Some article bank sites or publishers may request an authors' picture and/or logo, too.
A few words of caution for authors:
Never give blanket permission to anyone to use your articles. Not an article bank, web site or author. Instead, set boundaries and your articles will appear in places you'd enjoy visiting. When someone requests to use your article, check their web site or request a copy of their ezine. If you don't like the web site, the product or whatever - remember to say "no"!
If you don't always catch your own writing mistakes consider hiring a Virtual Assistant or Copywriter to assist you with proof reading, submitting articles, or even keeping track of places your article appears.
Place your articles on your web site as a way for your potential clients or publishers to get to know you better. If you provide your articles for free, make sure that your bio includes a link to your web site or ezine information. Also include an easy way for anyone to request permission to use your article as text or to copy the code directly from your web site (if you allow that).
If someone wants to use your article and they'll receive compensation, you deserve compensation, too. Money, ad's in newsletters, paid membership, yearly subscription, a copy of an e-book for you to use and send your clients, these are all ways for you to be paid. If the way someone suggests you'll be paid, doesn't agree with you, well, here is another place you can say "no".
For Publishers
Article banks are for you if you don't enjoy writing or are looking for some extra content for your ezine, magazine, web site, e-book, etc. With the permission of an article's author and sometimes the article bank owners themselves, you will be provided with free content. In return, the author will provide you with copyright information, a brief bio and link to their web site. Many of the sites below contain both article banks and ezine directories. When you visit article banks, look for the other services that the site owner provides for you as a publisher and utilize the other helpful services, too. If you find yourself using an article bank over and over again, consider providing a link from your site to their site - maybe on a "recommended links" page. It's an excellent way to thank the site owner for providing such a valuable resource.
What's the difference between an article directory and an article bank?
Article directories are one-way places on a web site where the site's owner lists their articles. Here you can read the articles and sometimes these articles are available as free or paid content for publishers.
Article banks are two-way web sites or pages within a web site. They are places where authors "deposit" articles to invest and where lenders "take" the article to use. The "interest" someone pays for using an article consists of a bio or resource box. Each article bank site includes guidelines for authors and potential publishers. Authors retain first rights - retain ownership - to articles placed on article banks. Some article bank sites publish ezines that include recently submitted articles, ad swap requests and/or an "articles wanted" area, too.
For Business Owners
Article banks are a way to advertise your business and gain link popularity, ezine subscribers and new clients. At the end of each of your article, place a 5-6 line bio, with a link back to your web site!
For Authors
Are you a new writer? Gifted writer? Business owner who enjoys writing? Writing can be an excellent way to market services or products with little capital outlay. Articles posted to an article bank include a short bio (sometimes called a resource box) about the author. This would include a copyright year, the name of author, and a link to the author's web site at the end of each article. Some article bank sites or publishers may request an authors' picture and/or logo, too.
A few words of caution for authors:
Never give blanket permission to anyone to use your articles. Not an article bank, web site or author. Instead, set boundaries and your articles will appear in places you'd enjoy visiting. When someone requests to use your article, check their web site or request a copy of their ezine. If you don't like the web site, the product or whatever - remember to say "no"!
If you don't always catch your own writing mistakes consider hiring a Virtual Assistant or Copywriter to assist you with proof reading, submitting articles, or even keeping track of places your article appears.
Place your articles on your web site as a way for your potential clients or publishers to get to know you better. If you provide your articles for free, make sure that your bio includes a link to your web site or ezine information. Also include an easy way for anyone to request permission to use your article as text or to copy the code directly from your web site (if you allow that).
If someone wants to use your article and they'll receive compensation, you deserve compensation, too. Money, ad's in newsletters, paid membership, yearly subscription, a copy of an e-book for you to use and send your clients, these are all ways for you to be paid. If the way someone suggests you'll be paid, doesn't agree with you, well, here is another place you can say "no".
For Publishers
Article banks are for you if you don't enjoy writing or are looking for some extra content for your ezine, magazine, web site, e-book, etc. With the permission of an article's author and sometimes the article bank owners themselves, you will be provided with free content. In return, the author will provide you with copyright information, a brief bio and link to their web site. Many of the sites below contain both article banks and ezine directories. When you visit article banks, look for the other services that the site owner provides for you as a publisher and utilize the other helpful services, too. If you find yourself using an article bank over and over again, consider providing a link from your site to their site - maybe on a "recommended links" page. It's an excellent way to thank the site owner for providing such a valuable resource.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Give Your Website A Makeover
Before you start worrying about marketing your website on the internet it always pays dividends to look at the website itself and get the fundamentals right before looking to shout about it from the virtual mountain-tops.
You may already have thought about the following 3 ways and some of you may already have them in place on your website. If so - congratulations - you’re well on the way to having a website that will bring you more business. So here they are then - the 3 Simple Ways To Dramatically Improve Your Website.
1. You’re Fishing For Visitors - You’ll Need This To Hook Them.
Ever been surfing on a website that held your attention and then the phone rings? You take the call, take some notes, get distracted, visit another website and before you know it you’ve forgotten all about the website you were viewing. It happens all the time and if you don’t have a Bookmarking tool on your website it will be happening with the people that come to your website. A Bookmarking tool is just a simple link or logo that your visitors can click on in order to bookmark your website or add it to their favorites. It is best to have the button located on the homepage but an even better option is to have a bookmarking button on every page so a visitor can actually bookmark each specific page of your website for safe-keeping.
2. ‘X’ Marks The Spot.
Visitors come to your website and if you’re lucky - they like it and click beyond the homepage. Excellent. But they can’t find what they’re looking for. Uh oh, you could be in trouble. There’s a lot of information on your website and Mr. Visitor doesn’t have time to sift through it all to find what he’s looking for. You’d better hope that he’s either very patient or that you’ve provided him with a simple map to help him get to the ‘treasure’ he is looking for. A Site Map is an essential item - particularly on larger websites.
There is nothing more frustrating than hunting around for something and wasting time when just a simple one pager that presents a summary of all the information on your website could be used. A Site Map should be reachable from all pages of your website in just one click and should have clickable links on it so that a visitor can zoom straight through to their desired location without having to hunt around. If you don’t give them a map your visitors may become frustrated searching around for that desired piece of information and they may leave your website never to return.
3. Don’t Make Your Visitors Have To Write An Email To Contact You
If you are inviting enquiries or contact from visitors to your website you need to provide them with a way of doing this that is as easy as possible for them. Just posting your email address on the website is not the best solution. Why? Because when they click on it they need to then create an email from scratch. Do you know how busy your visitors are? They hardly have time to read the content of your homepage - never mind create an email from scratch. The solution? You need to use a simple form. A form enables you to standardize the responses that you receive and it also makes it very simple for your visitors to get in touch with you - all they need to do is pop in their name, email address and tick a few boxes and that’s it.
Making it easy for your visitors to contact you isn’t the only reason that using a form is a great idea. Doing so means you can get some information back from each person that fills in the form. You can ask them how they discovered your website, which other websites they like to visit - you can ask them anything! Anything that is going to help you learn more about them, more about who they are and more about what will make them buy from you. You think they would tell you all this if they were creating an email from scratch? No - of course they wouldn’t! That’s why you need a form.
You may already have thought about the following 3 ways and some of you may already have them in place on your website. If so - congratulations - you’re well on the way to having a website that will bring you more business. So here they are then - the 3 Simple Ways To Dramatically Improve Your Website.
1. You’re Fishing For Visitors - You’ll Need This To Hook Them.
Ever been surfing on a website that held your attention and then the phone rings? You take the call, take some notes, get distracted, visit another website and before you know it you’ve forgotten all about the website you were viewing. It happens all the time and if you don’t have a Bookmarking tool on your website it will be happening with the people that come to your website. A Bookmarking tool is just a simple link or logo that your visitors can click on in order to bookmark your website or add it to their favorites. It is best to have the button located on the homepage but an even better option is to have a bookmarking button on every page so a visitor can actually bookmark each specific page of your website for safe-keeping.
2. ‘X’ Marks The Spot.
Visitors come to your website and if you’re lucky - they like it and click beyond the homepage. Excellent. But they can’t find what they’re looking for. Uh oh, you could be in trouble. There’s a lot of information on your website and Mr. Visitor doesn’t have time to sift through it all to find what he’s looking for. You’d better hope that he’s either very patient or that you’ve provided him with a simple map to help him get to the ‘treasure’ he is looking for. A Site Map is an essential item - particularly on larger websites.
There is nothing more frustrating than hunting around for something and wasting time when just a simple one pager that presents a summary of all the information on your website could be used. A Site Map should be reachable from all pages of your website in just one click and should have clickable links on it so that a visitor can zoom straight through to their desired location without having to hunt around. If you don’t give them a map your visitors may become frustrated searching around for that desired piece of information and they may leave your website never to return.
3. Don’t Make Your Visitors Have To Write An Email To Contact You
If you are inviting enquiries or contact from visitors to your website you need to provide them with a way of doing this that is as easy as possible for them. Just posting your email address on the website is not the best solution. Why? Because when they click on it they need to then create an email from scratch. Do you know how busy your visitors are? They hardly have time to read the content of your homepage - never mind create an email from scratch. The solution? You need to use a simple form. A form enables you to standardize the responses that you receive and it also makes it very simple for your visitors to get in touch with you - all they need to do is pop in their name, email address and tick a few boxes and that’s it.
Making it easy for your visitors to contact you isn’t the only reason that using a form is a great idea. Doing so means you can get some information back from each person that fills in the form. You can ask them how they discovered your website, which other websites they like to visit - you can ask them anything! Anything that is going to help you learn more about them, more about who they are and more about what will make them buy from you. You think they would tell you all this if they were creating an email from scratch? No - of course they wouldn’t! That’s why you need a form.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
What marketing activities should you use to market your business?
Everywhere we turn, we’re being told “just do THIS” and we will instantly start making tons more money and getting all the clients we can handle. Everyone is promising the same thing. Use their marketing technique and in no time, clients will be beating down your door to buy your products and services. The problem is there are literally hundreds of ways you could market your business. You could easily spend years trying to find the ways that work best for you. Not to mention all the money you'd waste in the process. It's like trying to find that proverbial needle in a haystack. Please note that several of these marketing activities require that you have website. If you do not currently have a website I would recommend you make that job one in your marketing plan. Below are a variety of activities that you can utilize to effectively market your business:
Advertising
Affiliate Programs
Article Marketing
Auto responders
Blogging
Brochures
Direct Marketing
Email Marketing
Guerilla/Grassroots Marketing
Networking
Partnerships & Joint Ventures
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Podcasting
Public Relations
Publishing an Ezine
Referral Program
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Speaking Engagements
Teleseminars
Advertising
Affiliate Programs
Article Marketing
Auto responders
Blogging
Brochures
Direct Marketing
Email Marketing
Guerilla/Grassroots Marketing
Networking
Partnerships & Joint Ventures
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Podcasting
Public Relations
Publishing an Ezine
Referral Program
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Speaking Engagements
Teleseminars
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