Web Site Marketing Techniques Rated


There are many ways to market your web site, both online and offline. Which ones are worth it? This article will rate several popular methods on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the absolute most effective, and 1 being worthless.

High search engine rankings - rate: 7-10, depending on which search engines you list your site in and how your site's listing is presented. When choosing search engines to list in, choose from the most popular ones, and remember it's totally possible to get a free listing in a paid search engine. I wrote an ebook explaining how to accomplish this. Forget listing your site in "free-for-all" links pages, they are never visited by targeted traffic. Carefully word the copy for your site's listing, or search engine listings are worthless. Check out my ebook for more information on search engine optimization and marketing. This method does create name-recognition, which could be valuable in future marketing efforts.

Search engine sponsor links - rate: 6-10, depending again on how your listing is presented and what search engines you are listed in. Once again opt for the most popular search engines. Some search engines have sponsor links on the right-hand side of the page instead of the top; this is a very effective placement. Some search engines have effective top-of-the-page sponsor links that are very obviously separated from the regular search results. Make sure to use targeted keywords. This method does create name-recognition, which could be valuable in future marketing efforts.

Direct mail - rate: 1-9, depending on the method used and who it is sent to. Postcards are much more effective than envelopes, because you are able to immediately catch the reader's attention. Readers are too used to seeing advertisments in the form of envelope mailings, so only use postcards. Send your direct mail to targeted consumers, not just random people. This method does create name-recognition, which could be valuable in future marketing efforts.

Television commercials - rate: 5-10, depending on where and what time the commercial is aired. If you are advertising your web site with a television commercial, be sure to include your web address in text large enough to be visible by someone sitting 20 or so feet away from the television set. Leave it on the screen long enough so viewers may write it down or type it into the address bar if they are also online. This is most effective during prime time, when most people are likely to be online. Few will actually take the time to write down your address unless they have a deep interest in your products/services. This method does create name-recognition, which could be valuable in future marketing efforts.

Printing your company name, product/service line, and web site address on coffee mugs, pens, pencils, etc. - rate: 1-5, very ineffective at marketing your products/services, but leaves a good impression with your existing customers, you never know when that extra coffee mug will come in handy.

Good business ethics, high product/service quality, excellent customer service - rate: 10, positive word-of-mouth is very effective marketing. Keep your existing customers happy, and in return they will excitedly recommend your company to others.

About The Author

Sky Maya is the author of Best SEO Tactics - an excellent guide to optimizing your web site for high search engine rankings using proper and ethical tactics. Proven techniques! Buy it today and watch your site traffic explode!

This article may be reprinted freely as long as this resource box with all active hyperlinks remain intact.

[email protected]

Reciprocal Link versus Value Exchange


Most webmasters are familiar with the concept of reciprocal linking. Reciprocal linking is the exchange of links between webmasters with the hope of improving their site ranking with the search engine. However, as more and more webmasters use reciprocal links to increase their site ranking, the search engines are also getting smarter and more demanding.

Search engines are increasingly becoming more selective with the in-bound links to your website. They are looking not just for the number of in-bound links your site may have, but also for the quality and relevance of those links to your site. In other words, webmasters can no longer arbitrarily exchange links with others if they wish to improve their site ranking with the search engines.

Thus was born the concept of value exchange.

I first heard this concept from Ken Evoy, the author of "Make Your Site Sell" and the creator of the amazing All-in-1 "SiteBuildIt!" webhosting. Ken has always been in favor of building websites that are search-engine friendly. This means your website should aim for the same kind of criteria search engines look for in ranking sites. Instead of wasting time figuring shortcut ways to beat the search engines, design your website with quality content in mind. That, according to Ken, is the only consistent way to rank high with the search engines.

Ken should know what he was talking about. The websites his "SiteBuildIt!" hosted come with automatic periodic submission to the biggest names in search engines. He uses a unique submission system that is search-engine friendly, unlike most automatic site submitters. So successful was this that most of "SiteBuildIt!" websites consistently rank among the top 5%.

Thus it was no surprise that Ken saw the importance of value exchange - the term he used for link exchange between two quality sites with similar theme. He followed this up with a free value exchange program that is available to all quality websites. The keyword here is quality. He only allows quality sites to sign up.

So if you think your site qualify, try out his free value exchange program. You'll soon be getting requests from other webmasters with quality sites to exchange links with. You can check it out at theselfimprovementsite.com/ve

Tim Ong is the creator of The Self Improvement Site, a site that focuses on personal and financial growth as well as webmastering tips and tools. He is also the author of the ever popular "Build From Within" ezine, a series of 10 powerful transformational articles.

Test Your Website Marketing Knowledge


Here are 5 questions to flex your mental muscle to. The answers and explanations are at the end - no cheating now!

RULES:

There are no trick questions. You cannot ask the audience but I welcome you to 'Phone a Friend' (and forward this article onto them!).

*Question 1:

"What happens if you submit your website to Google more than once?"

A. Nothing.

B. You are at risk of being penalised for multiple submissions

C. Your submission is bumped to the back of the queue

*Question 2:

"According to a survey conducted by AC Nielsen in December 2004 what did people state as their primary reason for doing their Christmas shopping online?"

A. Saves time

B. Better prices

C. Ability to find a more personalized gift

*Question 3:

"In Internet terms, what is a 'spider'?"

A. It's a virus that spreads using loopholes in certain web technologies

B. It's a software tool that search engines use to retrieve information from websites

C. It's another word for a person that browses websites

*Question 4:

"What is the industry average click through rate for banner advertisements? I.e. what percentage of all banner ads are actually clicked on?"

A. 0.39%

B. 1.39%

C. 2.39%

*Question 5:

"According to the latest research from the Computer Industry Almanac what was the worldwide online population in 2004? I.e. how many of the people, worldwide, accessed the Internet at some point in 2004?"

A. 934 million

B. 714 million

C. 579 million

**THE ANSWERS

Q.1 - "What happens if you submit your website to Google more than once?"

A. Nothing.

Google doesn't mind how many times you submit your website. However there are search engines out there that will penalise you for submitting too often. This is what Google says about submitting to its site:

"You are free to submit as often as you wish. However, given the nature of our inclusion process your time is better spent improving the content and links of your site."

Q.2 - "According to a survey conducted by AC Nielsen in December 2004 what did people state as their primary reason for doing their Christmas shopping online?"

A. Saves time

78% of the 1007 people surveyed gave 'Saves time' as their answer when asked their reasons for shopping online. The survey findings:

Reasons for Shopping Online:

Saves time 78%

Better prices 51%

More selection 43%

Easier shipping 40%

Ability to find a more personalized gift 28%

More information available about the products 20%

What this tells us is that people no longer view the Internet as a low-cost option. So perhaps you need to take a look at your own website and focus more on making the buying process as quick and simple as possible rather than trying to cut prices to attract buyers..

Q. 3 - "In Internet terms, what is a 'spider'?"

B. It's a software tool that search engines use to retrieve information from websites

When your website is submitted to a search engine the search engine sends out a 'spider' to visit your site and retrieve all the information from it. The spider then returns to the search engine with all the information that is then added to the search engine's database.

The results you see when you use a search engine are not live snapshots of websites. Instead, the results show the information that the spider collected the last time it visited each website. This is why it is sometimes possible to see a link that looks fine in the search engine results and then click on it to find it no longer exists.

This is because the search engine spider has yet to revisit this website and update the search engine's records.

Q.4 - "What is the industry average click through rate for banner advertisements? I.e. what percentage of all banner ads are actually clicked on?"

A. 0.39%

The latest studies indicate that only 0.39% of banners shown are actually clicked on. With powerful graphics and enticing offers this average clickthrough rate can be improved ten-fold or more. But the point remains that advertising by using banners alone no longer appears to be viable route unless, that is, the costs of using this method are exceptionally low.

Q.5 - "According to the latest research from the Computer Industry Almanac what was the worldwide online population in 2004? I.e. how many of the people, worldwide, accessed the Internet at some point in 2004?"

A. 934 million

It's predicted that this year the online population will hit 1 billion! Not all of these people will be your potential customers but no matter which way you look at - there has never been a better time to have a well-marketed website!

**SCORES - How Many Did You Get Right?

0 - 2: Don't forget - you learn more in this life from your mistakes than you do from anything else!

3 - 4: Well done! You obviously know your stuff or you're good at guessing!

5 out of 5: Outstanding! Top marks for you!

Michael Cheney is the Author of The Website Marketing BibleTM:"High five Michael! Your bible is superb! The world needs to read it and learn from it." - Jay Conrad Levinson, Author of "Guerrilla Marketing"http://www.websitemarketingbible.com

[You have my permission to use this article in your newsletter, on your website or anywhere else for that matter as long as it remains unedited and includes the resource box at the bottom.]

Website Marketer's Enemy No. 1

It's about an inch across by half an inch tall. It's quite innocuous and yet this silent killer reaps havoc every second of every day on your efforts to build your online empire.

What is it?

The DELETE key!

There comes a time in your efforts to market your website that you realise that it's no longer enough to tell your family and friends to visit your website - you need to get some people who will pay you in cash rather than compliments. You need to start approaching other website owners and start building an online network of contacts.

This is a crucial step to achieving online success. I once read a quote that applied at the time to conventional 'bricks and mortar' businesses but it just as pertinent if not more so for online businesses:

"You will not be successful by being a cave dweller."

Kind of obvious but there are so many business owners that are cave dwellers. Sitting in their offices staring at the phone day after day wondering why no new prospects ever phone them up. You have to stand up, open the door and get out into the world and shout from the rooftops about your business. If you're online you need to do the same for your website.

One of the best ways to do this is to establish reciprocal links with other relevant websites. But this is where Public Enemy No. 1 comes in - if you don't know how to bypass it all your efforts to contact the website owners and establish links with them will be in vain.

Those nasty spam monsters that roam the web harvesting email addresses from all web pages and then bombarding them with member enlargement hormones and get rich quick schemes have made it hard for you.

If you decide to try and email a website owner using the email address they make publicly available on their website you're already fighting an uphill battle. That email address is likely to be going through some form of spam filtering and if your email subject to this person has even a whiff of canned ham about it you'll be in that Trash Can quicker than you can say "$1million Ebay secrets".

So, what's the answer?

Well, for starters - don't be tempted to use software to do your links work for you. People like people. Not robots. Do your own dirty work. Also - try and find the name of the website owner and use that in your email to them.

One of the best ways to overcome the dreaded Delete Key when you are contacting website owners though is to use their online contact form. When they receive an email via the form they have on their website they know that a real, living, actual human being has filled it in and not some spam monster - hence - they're more likely to read it.

Good luck!

Michael Cheney is Author of The Website Marketing BibleTM. Take the Free 7-Part Course "Internet Marketing Made Easy" and get your free sampler of 'The Bible' here: http://www.websitemarketingbible.com/marketing/

Submitting Your Website With Web Promotion Services


Once you have built and uploaded your home business website the next step is to start promoting it both offline and online. Offline methods include putting your web address on your business cards, stationary, brochures, flyers, pamplets, home sign, automobile or whatever literature you can. Online methods generally start with submitting your home business website to search engines and directories.

For those of you who either have a website now or are planning to have one in the future, you will obviously want your website to be found in these search engines and directories.

You will therefore have to at some point decide whether you want to submit your site to each individual engine and directory manually, pay a submission service to do it for you, buy site submission software, or use one of the free submission services on the internet.

Submitting to each individual search engine and directory manually is quite easy to do but can be somewhat time consuming. To do this, you simply visit each site individually and look for the "Add URL" or "add a website" link which is usually located at the very top or bottom of each site. Then just click the button and add your URL. In some cases you will have to add a title, description and possibly other information. For the directories such as Yahoo and Open Directory Project, also known as DMOZ, you will be required to visit the relevant category first. Be careful to choose the right category. If you pay a submission service to do this for you they can save you a lot of time and will usually do a slightly better job with the keywords and descriptions based on their know-how. If you choose to do it yourself, a good place to start is directoryguide dot com and searchenginecolossus dot com.

Another method is to buy software such as Submit Wolf. If you are only promoting a single site, I do not recommend purchasing this software because it is rather expensive and time consuming for a novice to learn. If you have an older computer this software will chew up a lot of resources while it is running and slow down your computer performance. On the plus side it does submit to a rather large number of sites. This can boost your page rank or popularity. That leaves us with the freebie submission services that exist around the net. There are number of them available, and they vary in quality. The way it works is you fill out one form and the service submits that information to all the engines on it's list. I do not recommend using them if your whole business is built around your site, but for many sites they are adequate.

The problem is that some search engines block these automated submissions automatically(they want you to personally visit their site), and they are ineffective for most directories which require that you navigate to the pertinent category first. Also, each engine allows a differing amount of keywords and requires different types of information. Some of the more popular services include submitexpress.com, which will submit your site to 40 search engines for free, addme.com which will submit your site to Google, Subjex, Alexa, Scrub The Web, FAST Search AllTheWeb, LookSeek, ExactSeek, Jayde, and a few others for free, addpro.com submits to 20+ top search engines using an automatic service that is easy to use, and quickregister.net which will submit your site to the major engines and directories if you put a small text link on your site.

If you go to ez2www.com there is a freebie site submission service there if you click "add url" at the bottom of the page. There are other free submission sites out there. Just go to your favorite search engine and type in "free search engine submission" and you will be presented with a list of such freebies.

About The Author

Aarons Freebies Search and Directory

http://www.aaronsfreebies.com/

To subscribe to The Freebie Update Newsletter send an e-mail to [email protected] with 'subscribe' in the subject line. Newsletter

Types of Keywords


Keyword can be classified into three categories :

-Single word Keyword

-Multiple word Keyword

-Keywords based on Theme

Keyword(s) are basic raw material used in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Keyword selection or Keyword Research as it is called technically, where in we use special tools to find out a list of Keywords (search terms) searched by targeted audience, is one of the most important step in SEO. Keyword can be single word, two or three words, multiple words and theme based.

Lets detail each of these one by one . Understanding these categories of keywords would also help one to decide as to their targeting on specific pages.

Keyword of Single word

----------------------

Keyword of Single word is used to target a large traffic but leads to highly competition category of sites. Keyword of Single word are known as generic Keyword(s) where we target general audience. Keyword of Single word does not help to target a specific page for a specific audience.

Although, Keyword of Single word helps in bringing huge traffic but these terms are mostly not relevant these days, as, searchers mostly use two or three keyword to find out their required information.

Instead single word keywords are good theme keywords.

We can use these primary keyword 5 to 7 times in a web page for good theming according of a site. The inside pages of the site can qualify these themes into product or service categories by adding qualifiers to these theming keywords.

Example:

Keyword "Services" will produce result of all the web sites related to Services which can be United States Department of Health and Human Services, The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services, direct Services, online Services, offline Services, Indian Services, American Services, food Services, agricultural Services, business Services, free Services, paid Services, etc.

Keyword of Multiple words

-------------------------

Keyword of Multiple words is used to target a specific traffic, which leads to high sale, top position in search result listing as well as improves page rank competition. Keyword of Multiple words are known as Specific Keyword(s) where we target a specific audience & not general searcher. Keyword of Multiple words helps to target a specific page for a specific audience.

Keyword of Multiple words, more often than not are location specific and related to geographic area of your intended services or products.

Keywords based on Theme

-----------------------

Keyword based on Theme are used to target a highly targeted audience, which leads to quick high sale, top position in search result listing as well as boosts page rank. Keywords based on Theme are known as Conceptual Keyword(s).

Keywords based on Theme consists all possible primary Keywords related to the web site therefore attracts high traffic of targeted audience. Keywords based on Theme add quality by providing Keyword Rich Text to search engines, which improve results and provide targeted search result listings.

Keywords based on Theme are used in each page of web site to focus on a specific topic correlated to a targeted topic or idea (theme). Keywords based on Theme effectively contribute in growth of informative pages for its site focusing on different related topics.

Keywords Targeting Strategy

---------------------------

Keywords Targeting Strategy is a tactic, which guides in placing primary keywords like Keyword of Single word, Keyword of Multiple words and Keyword based on Theme according to their importance for successful optimizations of the site.

I'm an Online Marketing consultant at Mosaic Services- a SEO Company. I regularly write and submit articles on various SE specific topics.

To find more articles, please visit my site http://sem.mosaic-service.com

One Way Link Building Campaigns


This article explains in detail the various issues related to the linking campaign that you will need to mount, to establish your worth in the algorithms of search engines . Some of the issues that we will be tackling in this & subsequent articles are:

-Creating one way incoming links to your site.

-The identification of resources to link.

-Evaluation of the resources identified.

-How to approach others with your link requests( some samples).

-Where to put the link the link in your web site.

-Where should the incoming link to your web site be placed in others site.

-The almighty anchor text.

-Linking software evaluation.

-The donts of linking campaign.

-Sundry tips & trips.

-How to maintain the linking ledger.

Before we begin with the details of your linking campaign(LC) we are assuming that your site has some great content or some good tool or something which creates unique value(UV) for visitors. Remember to keep the UV as the lynchpin of your web site linking strategy. Think about is like this. Would you want to link to someone who doesn't have anything of merit on his or her site.

Hence the first step should be to set up your house properly before inviting others (SE, editors & web masters).

Now that you have created noteworthy inducements lets get started with the LC. Pls remember that one good quality incoming link is better than 100 inferior quality incoming ones. The quality of the linking campaign is very (allow me top add one more very) very important.

First item on the agenda is to generate & create one way incoming links into your web site. These links are at the highest priority as far as our LC goes. This is because the SE sees them as they are: one way links. This gives it a significant vote. In other words the SE knows that you have not traded a link Some one has found genuine merit in your web site & has linked to you. They value that link higher than others (all others remaining equal).

Hence our first effort should be directed towards creating these. Now some of the ways to do this is:

Get the directory listings first. There are numerous directories( Dmoz, Yahoo, Zeal) etc which one can submit a site to. With some one like dmoz you can aspire for more than one incoming link as well. You can try some of the paid options of URL inclusion if your budget permits it ( business.com, yahoo.com etc) Then there are multiple, regional & topical directories which one can look for & get the site submitted to. Then of course there are some portals which are hubs for the theme that your web site is on. Find them & submit to them( a great way to look for them is to go to Teoma & give your key search term in their search box .On the results page look at the resources sections. The hubs of your theme or domain area will be listed in there)

Once you have found & listed into these directories, hubs, portals etc what do you do. Take the next step for creating one way links.

That is become the internet guru on your subject matter. To get yourself to that status write articles & columns on your subject matter of expertise. These articles should be genuine content which adds value to the reader & are not just under cover publicity campaigns for your product or service. Once these articles are created include your bio ( obviously with your hyperlink into it- this is great place to control your anchor text so be judicious ) & submit that article to various online resources & content providers.

To find a listing of those do an online search for the keyword Article banks.( the most cited resource for this is http://www.coachmaria.com/articles/articlebanks.html) Choose you targets & start to submit articles.(Don't forget to host that content on your site as well). This is generally what people will link to.

Another place to contribute these articles is to the sites which are ranking ahead of you on your key search phrase. Most probably they will also have quality content on their site. So if you have genuine content, they will welcome your contribution.Another way to create links through your content is to give permission to other web masters to host your content on their site as long as they credit you for its creation by including your signature file.

A small play on this is to create teaser articles which brief your content & then link back to your site for detailed text & do the submissions as above. This is a great way to attract traffic.

I'm Online Marketing Consultant at Mosaic Services- a SEO Company based in India. I regularly write and submit articles on various SE specific topics.

To find more articles, please visit my site http://sem.mosaic-service.com

To The Next Level With Google Groups 2


If you haven't visited the Google Labs lately, they have released a beta of Google Groups 2 that you may want to check out. This is Google's answer to Yahoo Groups, and they've added some new features to make their service more useful.

For those who don't know, such groups allow anyone to easily and quickly start their own announcement lists and discussion forums. There is no need to install scripts or anything else on a web site, and no technical knowledge beyond email and posting to a discussion board is needed. If you want, you can use Google Groups to post to and read Usenet postings as well.

Of course, nothing is truly free, and Google Groups is no different. In exchange for making the technology available to host your group, Google displays relevant text ads on your group's home page on Google. "Relevant" is determined by the content of your Google Group discussions. This is the same type of technology used by Google to display AdSense advertising on web sites and relevant text advertising on their free Gmail email service.

The process to create a group is fast and painless. Just create your group's name and email address, and invite your members to join. You are able to make your group either public or private, and Google has provided a new interface so that you can see your group's postings sorted any of several different ways. The Beta 2 Google Groups also features dynamic conversations, with both Usenet and mailing list postings created within 10 seconds, and indexed within 10 minutes from post.

Families, old college running buddies, online communities, and many others may find benefit in using Google Groups, and the Beta 2 release is worth a try.

About The Author

Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.sitetube.com. Visit his website for the latest on planning, building, promoting and maintaining websites.

5 Totally Free Website Marketing Tools


I've collected some really cool free products for you that will help with your website marketing efforts. What do I want in return? Nothing!

Free Tool No. 1 - How To Keep Track Of Your Google Rank Without Wasting Hours

This is a very nifty tool that let's you keep track of where your website is listed in Google.com for your key phrases. You can also input other websites and keep track of them as well (you didn't hear me say 'competitors' did you?).

Download it, install it, run it. Simple.

http://www.cleverstat.com/google-monitor-query.htm

Free Tool No. 2 - How To Check For Broken Links

One of the things that can really annoy visitors to your website is if you have links that simply do not work. Well worry no longer! You can now insert the web address of the page you want to check and this brilliant little tool will run off and check every link on your page to make sure that it works okay ? how cool is that?!

http://www.siteowner.com/badlinks.cfm

Free Tool No. 3 - How To Check The Speed Of Your Homepage

It's essential that your homepage is optimised so that it loads up on people's screens as quickly as possible. You can use this handy tool to simulate how long it takes your homepage to load up at different connection speeds. The tool will also provide you with some handy tips on how you to speed up your homepage.

http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze

Free Tool No. 4 - Free Web Tutorials, Reference Materials and Resources For Your Website

Whether you have created your own website or someone else has built it for you the following resource is a great place to learn more about web development. Even if you don't develop your own website you can access the free, simple tutorials to grasp the basics of web design.

The site has lots of free tools you can just copy and use straight on your website, tutorials on different aspects of web design and bulletin boards where you can discuss problems with other website owners.

http://www.bignosebird.com

Free Tool No. 5 - Seven Part Internet Marketing Course

Get a free training course on website marketing that includes a one hour audio seminar, special reports and more here:http://www.websitemarketingbible.com/marketing/

Enjoy the freebies!

Michael Cheney is the Author of The Website Marketing BibleTM:"Your bible is superb! The world needs to read it and learn from it." - Jay Conrad Levinson, Author of "Guerrilla Marketing"http://www.websitemarketingbible.com5 Totally Free Website Marketing Tools


I've collected some really cool free products for you that will help with your website marketing efforts. What do I want in return? Nothing!

Free Tool No. 1 - How To Keep Track Of Your Google Rank Without Wasting Hours

This is a very nifty tool that let's you keep track of where your website is listed in Google.com for your key phrases. You can also input other websites and keep track of them as well (you didn't hear me say 'competitors' did you?).

Download it, install it, run it. Simple.

http://www.cleverstat.com/google-monitor-query.htm

Free Tool No. 2 - How To Check For Broken Links

One of the things that can really annoy visitors to your website is if you have links that simply do not work. Well worry no longer! You can now insert the web address of the page you want to check and this brilliant little tool will run off and check every link on your page to make sure that it works okay ? how cool is that?!

http://www.siteowner.com/badlinks.cfm

Free Tool No. 3 - How To Check The Speed Of Your Homepage

It's essential that your homepage is optimised so that it loads up on people's screens as quickly as possible. You can use this handy tool to simulate how long it takes your homepage to load up at different connection speeds. The tool will also provide you with some handy tips on how you to speed up your homepage.

http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze

Free Tool No. 4 - Free Web Tutorials, Reference Materials and Resources For Your Website

Whether you have created your own website or someone else has built it for you the following resource is a great place to learn more about web development. Even if you don't develop your own website you can access the free, simple tutorials to grasp the basics of web design.

The site has lots of free tools you can just copy and use straight on your website, tutorials on different aspects of web design and bulletin boards where you can discuss problems with other website owners.

http://www.bignosebird.com

Free Tool No. 5 - Seven Part Internet Marketing Course

Get a free training course on website marketing that includes a one hour audio seminar, special reports and more here:http://www.websitemarketingbible.com/marketing/

Enjoy the freebies!

Michael Cheney is the Author of The Website Marketing BibleTM:"Your bible is superb! The world needs to read it and learn from it." - Jay Conrad Levinson, Author of "Guerrilla Marketing"http://www.websitemarketingbible.com

Generating Inbound Links


Content

One of the best ways to encourage website owners to link to your website is to provide good quality, relevant content on your website. As the content contained within your website grows, more and more website owners will consider your website a good source of information. As they add content to their own sites they may refer to related information on your site and therefore create an Outbound Link (OBL) to your website.But what content should you add? It is important to keep the content relevant to the overall concept of the website. Most websites however have a core subject matter about which the website owner should have a certain level of expertise.

    * Writing short articles explaining the basics of the core subject is often a good starting place.
    * How To? Articles are often easy to write and useful.
    * You could write 'review' articles.

And the list goes on. Once you have some good quality content, you then need to encourage other website owners to link to you. The first thing you could do, although it sounds counter-productive, is to allow other websites to publish your article.

Publishing Articles on other Websites

Writing good quality articles and getting them published on other websites can be a good way of generating inbound links and increased traffic. There are many websites dedicated to publishing articles on all manner of topics. Almost all of them allow you to include a brief biography about the author or the authors' business which also allows for a link to your website.

Publishing articles in this way is good for your website for many reasons:

    * Good quality articles will establish you or your business
    * The article pages usually have few other links on them so the IBL to your website is better for your Page Rank than a link from 'links' page.
    * Websites publishing articles often have high levels of traffic so publishing articles on them is a good advertising method.

Provide a Service

Providing a useful service on your website is not only a good way of encouraging repeat visits to your website but is also a way of encouraging other website owners to link to that service.

Getting Reciprocal Links.

If you have followed the advice above and provide quality, relevant content and services then encouraging website owners to link to your website should be relatively easy. You will find that many website owners link to your website without any encouragement, but a little pro-activity will go a long way.E-mail webmasters of websites which compliment your website and ask to exchange links with them. Most webmasters will agree to exchange links as it will be mutually beneficial. It is often useful to add a link to their site before e-mailing them and then in the e-mail you can direct them to the page that contains their link. You should also mention the connections between the two sites and the mutual benefits of reciprocal linking.Generating, adding and checking reciprocal links can be time-consuming. It is however possible to add automatic reciprocal link pages to your website. These programs allow other webmasters to automatically add their link to your website. A good reciprocal link manager will allow you to verify the links before adding them to your site, will check that the website has included a link back to your site and will also periodically check the links to ensure that they remain active.

Submit your Website to Web Directories.

There are literally thousands of web directories out there, some like Yahoo and DMOZ are very generic in their coverage, others may be small and very specific. You will be able to find directories related to your websites particular subject as well as regional directories. Most allow you to submit your website free of charge, although some will require you to add a reciprocal link to their directory from your site.

Post in relevant forums.

One really good way of generating traffic and inbound links is to become a member of and contribute to web based forums. Once again there are forums on almost every subject imaginable. Some forums are very specific in their subject matter others more generic. Find some that are relevant to your website and post in them. You may even find you enjoy the online 'banter'. Most forums will allow you to enter a 'signature' that will be shown at the bottom of every post you make. Make sure that you include your website address in this signature to create an inbound link on every post you make to the forums.

Post in relevant Newsgroups.

As with forums, there are newsgroups on every subject imaginable. Many newsgroups are also published on the web and can therefore be used to generate IBL if you include your web address in your signature file.

Use your e-mail Signature File.

Use your e-mail program to set up a signature file that includes a link to your website. Whenever you send an e-mail the recipient will then be able to click on the link to access your website. This won't increase your Page Rank, but is a useful way of encouraging real visitors to your website.

Webrings.

The importance of IBLs means that there are now many websites dedicated to nothing other than the sharing of links between websites. Webrings work by connecting relevant websites. Each member of a webring displays a small banner on their site which includes a link to another relevant site. In return for displaying this banner a banner directed to your website will be displayed on the websites of the other webring members. If you can't find a webring relevant to your particular subject, it is possible to start your own.

Alan Cole runs http://www.pixelwave.co.uk, a one-person web design studio. His aim is to provide cost effective website design production and maintenance by offering professional web solutions that stand out from the crowd.

Avoid These Common Mistakes With Your Links...


Links are the main pillar of your website. To navigate from one page to another page in your website or to another website, you need to keep the links.You can also create page jumps in the same page or different pages of your website.

If your links are not working properly, it is difficult to navigate and your visitors get '404 File not Found Error'.

If your visitor wants to buy your product and clicks on your order link to found this '404' error, how would that be?

If you keep a free demo on your site for demonstration purpose to your visitor and your link doesn't work means, you are losing a potential customer.

So why don't you take a little bit more interest in creating your links?No matter where you are keeping them-your website,your emails,Autoresponder courses, banners etc.

***

1.Proper html format for the link:

Order here!

This is the basic format for keeping a link.

The URL is case sensitive.Though the 'www.yoursite.com' is not case sensitive, the 'order.html' part is case sensitive.So one typo...That's it. Nobody goes to your order page.

***

2.Always keep good content pages in first level directories.This keeps you in good ranking in search engines.

http://www.yoursite.com/one/two/page.html has less chances of crawled by search engines than http://www.yoursite.com/one/page.html.

***

3.Always check links by going to that pages.If you keep them in emails, then send them to your email address and check the link by yourself.

***

4.Participate in link exchanges:Search engines think that your site is popular when other sites point to your site.This keeps you in good positioning in search engines.

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5.One common mistakes most people do is when they update the website and changed the html pages to another directory, they will forget to keep some sort of redirection to the new page.Especially true with important pages that has many links in it.

So people who bookmarked the old page can be redirected to new page.

***

6.Affiliate links:Most people are reluctant to click on the affiliate links.You have to hide them sometimes to get good click thru ratio.

Check out here: http://www.webmasters-central.com/t/siteprotection/affiliatelinks.shtml

***

7.Long URLs in the links:These tend to break when you send them in emails.When you click on them they don't send you to the page that you are supposed to.

You can use the above redirecting technique with short URLs.

***

8.If you are advertising about a particular product use the link that lands the visitor on the products page.Don't use your main website URL for everything.

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9. Track your links in your ad campaigns: Well you want to know which campaign brought you profits. For this you should know howmany people clicked on your URL and how many bought your product. Here is a little, free script that you can use to track your urls in your campaign. http://www.scripts4webmasters.com/clicktracking/index.shtml

About The Author

Radhika Venkata - Subscribe to 'EbookBiz Magazine' which is completely focused on ebook business and Internet Marketing. Receive FREE Ebooks with Resale rights every month!

http://www.ebooks-world.com/freetosell.shtml

Webmaster Resources: List Your product, ezine or web site free! http://www.webmasters-central.com/

Website Promotion Ideas: 8 Simple But Effective Tips To Get People To Visit Your Web Site Often


If you have a website and desires to attract traffic and and to make your visitors visit you again and again, then listen up, buddy.

Below are a few website promotion ideas and the secrets:

1. Polls

Hold an interactive poll on your web site. Ask visitors a poll question. Have them e-mail their vote or opinion. People love to give their 2 cents worth. They would also like to read the results the next day or week on your web site.

2. Prize Drawings

Hold an ongoing prize drawing on your web site. The prizes should be something of interest or value to your subscribers. Most people who enter will continually revisit your web site to get the results.

3. Original Content

Give your visitors content they can't read anywhere else. I'm not saying all your content has to be 100% original, but a portion of your web site should have original information. People will usually read information they haven't read before.

4. Quizes

Give your visitors a quiz or a series of trivia questions. Post the correct answers weekly on your web site. The people who participate will want to come back to your site to see if they were right.

5. News

Supply news stories related to your web site topic. People want current and up-to-date news. If you can be their first source, they will become repeat visitors to your web site.

6. Jokes

Give your visitors a little humor now and then. Don't be so serious; tell them a joke. If they associate your web site with being happy they will visit again and again.

7. Free Stuff

People love to get free stuff. List free stuff on your web site. It could be software, services, sample products, e-books etc. The freebies should be related to your web site topic. Keep the freebies coming and your visitors will return regulary.

8. Directories

Tell your subscribers about Web sites related to your web site topic. The web sites should be interesting and helpful. Become your readers web site directory and they will come back.

May these website promotion ideas and secrets help you to make a lot of money.

Warmly,

I-key Benney, CEO

I-key, a Millionaire CEO from New York City is the creator of "Mscsrrr: Millionaire Secret Cash System",(investing online ) program, which has helped thousands of ordinary people from all over the world to attain financial security and shining success during the past 2 yrs.

Mscsrrr Millionaire Cash System helps you to generate $1,500+/Week for life, from home or office, part time or full time. No large investment or hassles. Win $1000-$2000 free "cash"?

Web Site Promotion: Use Web Site Awards To Increase Your Credibility


Web Site Awards are given from other sites to reward your site for a specific reason.

They will usually give you an award graphic or text link to include on your site if you win.

Awards are great to display on your Web site because they will give your business more credibility to your visitors and customers.

Webiste award is one website promotion that you can use tomake your website popular.

Some things your Web site could be awarded for are:

Web Design

Content

Load Time

Web Features

Ease of use

Originality

If you think you have a chance to win one of these awards submit your Web site to the sites that give out web awards.

Visit other peoples Web sites and see what awards they have won.

Only register for awards that are related to the content of your Web site; this helps promote your site to your targeted audience.

Before you register to win an award, make sure your Web site is ready. Your sites content spelling and grammar should be correct.

It should be easy to navigate through your Web site. Graphics should be related to the content on your page.

Create your own awards site for other Web sites. Give the winners a graphic or text link to place on their Web site when they win.

This will link your Web site to theirs and draw more traffic to your Web site.

May this website promotion secret help you to make a lot of money.

Warmly,

I-key Benney, CEO

I-key, a Millionaire CEO from New York City is the creator of "Mscsrrr: Millionaire Secret Cash System",(investing online ) program, which has helped thousands of ordinary people from all over the world to attain financial security and shining success during the past 2 yrs.

Mscsrrr Millionaire Cash System helps you to generate $1,500+/Week for life, from home or office, part time or full time. No large investment or hassles. Win $1000-$2000 free "cash"?

Web Advertising: Hold An Online Contest Or Sweepstakes And Make Your Website Magnetic To Visitors


Contests and Sweepstakes.

They are web advertising magnets that draw hugenumbers of visitors to your website.

This is because people love to win things for free.

Holding a contest or sweepstakes can draw a lot of traffic to your Web site.

You can announce your site to hundreds of Web sites that list free contests and sweepstakes.

Send out a press releases about your contest or sweepstakes.

Ask entrants to your contest or sweepstakes if they would accept offers from your business in the future by e-mail.

The prizes should be something your target audience would need or want.

Try to be as original as possible with the prizes you are offering.

Always offer more than one prize, a grand prize and runner-up prizes.

Use your products or services to give away as prizes.

Make sure your prizes have some value, nothing cheap.

Give enough information about all the prizes, so people will be interested in entering.

Make it easy for people to enter your contest or sweeps- takes.

I feel the easiest ways online are from an entry form on your Web site or by e-mail.

Capture as much info. as you can when they enter your contest or sweepstakes like:

Company Name
First/Last Name
Street Address
City, State, Zip
Day/Evening Phone Number
E-mail Address
Web Site Address
Purchasing History
Survey Questions

Give your contest or sweepstakes a professional look and feel. Provide an "Official Rules" Web page for your contest or sweepstakes.

Include a time period of how long your contest or sweepstakes will be held.

Tell visitors how you will deliver the prizes.

Include pictures of the prizes on your site.

Tell visitors who will judge your contest.

Check out other contests and sweepstakes Web sites to get more ideas.

May these web advertising secrets help you to make a lot of money.

Warmly,

I-key Benney, CEO

I-key, a Millionaire CEO from New York City is the creator of "Mscsrrr: Millionaire Secret Cash System",(investing online ) program, which has helped thousands of ordinary people from all over the world to attain financial security and shining success during the past 2 yrs.

Mscsrrr Millionaire Cash System helps you to generate $1,500+/Week for life, from home or office, part time or full time. No large investment or hassles. Win $1000-$2000 free "cash"?


Contests and Sweepstakes.

They are web advertising magnets that draw hugenumbers of visitors to your website.

This is because people love to win things for free.

Holding a contest or sweepstakes can draw a lot of traffic to your Web site.

You can announce your site to hundreds of Web sites that list free contests and sweepstakes.

Send out a press releases about your contest or sweepstakes.

Ask entrants to your contest or sweepstakes if they would accept offers from your business in the future by e-mail.

The prizes should be something your target audience would need or want.

Try to be as original as possible with the prizes you are offering.

Always offer more than one prize, a grand prize and runner-up prizes.

Use your products or services to give away as prizes.

Make sure your prizes have some value, nothing cheap.

Give enough information about all the prizes, so people will be interested in entering.

Make it easy for people to enter your contest or sweeps- takes.

I feel the easiest ways online are from an entry form on your Web site or by e-mail.

Capture as much info. as you can when they enter your contest or sweepstakes like:

Company Name
First/Last Name
Street Address
City, State, Zip
Day/Evening Phone Number
E-mail Address
Web Site Address
Purchasing History
Survey Questions

Give your contest or sweepstakes a professional look and feel. Provide an "Official Rules" Web page for your contest or sweepstakes.

Include a time period of how long your contest or sweepstakes will be held.

Tell visitors how you will deliver the prizes.

Include pictures of the prizes on your site.

Tell visitors who will judge your contest.

Check out other contests and sweepstakes Web sites to get more ideas.

May these web advertising secrets help you to make a lot of money.

Warmly,

I-key Benney, CEO

I-key, a Millionaire CEO from New York City is the creator of "Mscsrrr: Millionaire Secret Cash System",(investing online ) program, which has helped thousands of ordinary people from all over the world to attain financial security and shining success during the past 2 yrs.

Mscsrrr Millionaire Cash System helps you to generate $1,500+/Week for life, from home or office, part time or full time. No large investment or hassles. Win $1000-$2000 free "cash"?

How to Write Effective Web Copy


Writing effective web copy begins with an understanding ofwhat the goals of your web site are. Are you trying to getyour visitors to purchase something or have them sign upfor your newsletter? Remember you are trying to get someoneyou can't see and have never met take a step towardsbuilding a relationship with you or your company.

1. Create a customer profile ? try to find out what are theneeds and desires of your visitors. Here are some examplesof questions you could ask:

Are they young, middle aged or senior?

Are they primarily male or female?

Are they financially secure or budget-minded?

What gets him or her excited?

What are his or her most pressing concerns?

Try to brainstorm a list of topics that might interest yourtarget audience.

2. Create a Unique Selling Position (USP) ? This is a statement of 2-3 sentences that explains why you aredifferent from everybody else. This is the unique factorthat sets you apart from your competition. Make this thefirst thing your visitor sees when they arrive on your homepage.

3. Focus on benefits ? most web users want to find theinformation about the product or service they need as fastas possible. If they land on your site, they want to knowhow they will benefit from buying your product orsubscribing to your ezine. You will need to answer thatquestion as clearly and concisely as possible or you willlose that visitor.

4. Use the inverted pyramid style ? provide a summary of your information by clearly communicating the direction ofyour discussion. Use informative headings and subheadingswith a paragraph of 4 to 5 lines that supports them. You only have a few seconds to grab your visitors attention. Most will simply scan for the information they are seeking.

Use bulleted or numbered lists, boldface or colored font to emphasize the points you wish to make. Include linksat the end of your paragraph (or within the text) to direct visitors to other pages of your site for more in-depth information.

5. Write in an informal or personal style ? write in aunique way that differentiates you from other smallbusinesses in a similar business or niche. It doesn't haveto be elaborate or super-creative. You simply provide astyle that gets the attention of your visitors.

6. Keep your sentences simple ? you are not writing toimpress. You are writing to communicate. You want topre-sell your product or service, therefore write as if youare talking to a 13 year old.

Don't use large words but opt for strong verbs over weakones. Use the active voice instead of a passive one. i.e.Instead of "a good score was achieved by the team"?say "theteam scored a season high". Speak "to" but not "at" yourvisitor. Keep your sentences short and snappy.

7. Include searchable keywords ? use targeted keywords inyour web copy that will allow the search engines to find yoursite. Include these keywords in your meta tags, links andfile names also.

8. Eliminate the fluff - don't waffle on in your writing.You will only bore your visitors and they will clickelsewhere. Try to remove filler sentences that containphrases like "for those of you" and "all of you".

9. Proof read your web copy ? errors in your web copy givethe impression of being unprofessional or sloppy. Read thecopy aloud to yourself or get someone else to proof readit. Often they will find more errors because they are moreobjective.

Use the spell checker but don't rely on it. Often itdoesn't pick up all incorrectly spelt words. Print acopy of your content. It's easier to find grammatical orspelling errors on a hard copy.

10. Take a break ? revise your web copy after taking abreak from it for several hours or a few days. This allowsyou to see it from a different viewpoint. You may find abetter way to say something to further improve your copy.

11. Use images sparingly ? images should only be used ifthey relate and support your web content. If not, they willonly distract the visitor from reading your web copy. Toomany images will slow down the time it takes for yourvisitor to load your site in their browser.

12. Use effective navigation ? your navigation bar shouldhelp visitors easily find the main sections of your site.Read: "How to Create an Effective Web Site NavigationStructure" (http://www.isitebuild.com/navigation)

Writing effective web copy is the key to converting visitorsinto buyers. Getting 1000s of visitors to your web site doesn't guarantee sales. Reading your web copy should pre-sell your product with the words you use. Once you achieve this, your web site will become very profitable.

Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)owner and author of http://www.iSiteBuild.com - Affordable Web Site Design and Web Hosting

Pick up your copy of the 159 page ebook TODAY titled: "Make Your Content Pre Sell" by going to the bottom of this page :http://www.isitebuild.com/web-copy.htm