BIG Reasons Why Facebook Is Brilliant For FREE Traffic

Feeling the need to improve your business profile & increase your revenue?  Thought about using more unconventional methods of doing this…places you were just spending time procrastinating, perhaps?

In many ways Facebook, is a closed community…a place to network in your own way, with who you choose, where the masses can’t see what you’re up to.  A place where you can get to know people you have met better through the pictures they post & the thoughts they share

People present a different side to themselves when the doors are closed & they can control who is observing what they do.  In this way, you get to know people on a more personal level on Facebook than you would through an email & learn how they interact.

So, what are the benefits of being a member of Facebook & why should you be using it to build your network of clients & customers beyond just chatting with your friends?

- You can be yourself more & still be professional or put the other way around, you can be professional but also more personable & approachable which helps in building relationships with your clients.

- There are ways you can engage with specific groups on Facebook that you wouldn’t try on your website either due to the corporate image you want to portray on your website or the conflict between the different audiences that would access that.

- It’s easier & faster to get to know people you are trying to reach without being as intrusive as with random emailing or calling them on the phone out of the blue.

- It helps you establish common ground to facilitate a trusting relationship.

- You have a lot more leverage to introduce yourself to someone if you participated in several of the same discussions.

- You have a greater connection with someone on Facebook than on your website as contacts are reminded of your profile changes regularly, whereas a person has to make a concerted decision to visit your business site.

Facebook has a system that reminds users to care for & feed their relationships with people in a way your website doesn’t & enables you to “bump into” your contacts within this reminder system encouraging them to take more interest in what you have to offer more often.

As another marketer (sorry, lost my source’s details!!!) put it recently – “it’s intimate…Facebook feels like a bunch of small gatherings, even when there’s a conversation in a big group taking place among hundreds of people”.

“This makes people feel comfortable, when they’re comfortable they relax, when they relax, they’re more open. Meeting colleagues, potential clients and your favorite gurus is a completely different experience than when you meet them in a more public part of the Net – for better or for worse, you’ll often get the most accurate version of a person you can online”.

Beyond this & because of the perceived trust, Facebook friends are more likely to help spread your content, your campaigns & your promotions.

In fact, being active on Facebook can get you mentioned on fan pages, events pages & in groups that get trawled by search engines & can get you on that elusive first page of Google…that’s free advertising!

Facebook enables you to display your expertise instead of just talking about it.  The bonus is that if your peers comment favourably on your content on Facebook, potential clients have their attention drawn to this in real time & in a way that wouldn’t happen on a niche website.

From a marketing point of view, which other platform can give you potential access to over 400 million people to share your campaigns with – 50% of whom will log in once on any given day!  You don’t even have to actively market to them or spam your list – in fact you are normally frowned upon for doing so!

For more stats click here Facebook Statistics

It seems that traffic you get to your websites from Facebook are more likely to interact & participate in your surveys…probably because they came from an interactive source in the first place…

So…opened your eyes to how YOU should look at using Facebook for more than just whiling away the hours?

Watch this space as I am looking to run a series of Webinars starting in the next month looking at ways of using social media & other media to improve your marketing strategies for your on & off-line businesses – so sign up now to get automatic notification of these when I post it

Manage Your Twitter Relationships

After Twitter cramped TwitterKarma’s style, there is a new site to help you build your Twitter following & manage your list of followers/following

www.refollow.com
To build your list, follow these simple steps once you have logged in:

-          Type in – people who are following certain users of interest (that are related to your business niche)

-          Select from their user list (sort by Tweet counts/friend counts)

-          <Select Page> – then <Block Follow>

Remember Twitter have a preliminary follow barrier at 2,000 users  & to break through this, your ratio of followers to following me has to be very close (ie. ratio of 100 followers : 110 following me)

The Great Webinar Debate…Service Provider Comparison

OK…so since GoToWebinar recently whacked its prices up from $99/month to $499/month, there have been a lot of unhappy Webinar users searching for  & comparing the players in the market.

It seems the debate rages on!  So here is my comparison…

After having done some pretty stringent testing on the Dim Dim format in comparison to the Adobe & GTW formats over the past few weeks, the feedback from my attendees is very positive.

We were able to set up 3 computers side by side to see what presenters & attendees were seeing respectively.

From my point of view, it is the case of getting used to a new format but it is very intuitive.

I’m signed up on the Pro Package & I can still email invitations out to potential attendees & reminder emails prior to the Webinar starting – you just have to play around with the preferences for that particular Webinar.

I also like that you can create simple widgets to import into your social media accounts

In terms of the private & public chat option, you can actually hide this by moving it out of the attendees screen & over to the right of your screen, which we didn’t realise initially.

Where GTW misses out is that you can’t upload your PowerPoint files into the system & so the video playback doesn’t transfer so well.

Where Adobe scores higher than Dim Dim in my view is that once you have uploaded the PowerPoint presentation, the presenter can see the main slide show view with the notes section for each slide by the side.  Dim Dim either doesn’t do that or I haven’t worked out how to do that yet.

However, Adobe’s PowerPoint slide viewing area is smaller than Dim Dim’s & one or two of my attendees complained that it was too small.

Where GTW & Adobe do really well is that you can have more than one presenter on all their packages – but in Dim Dim you have to be on the Webinar package to do that (which is still cheaper than the others anyway, so not really an issue).

Where Dim Dim does really well is their customer support.  GTW were accessible but didn’t carry through on their promises, whereas Adobe weren’t as accessible.

So after my recent weeks of trials, I would recommend…. (drum roll, please)…………… Dim Dim (click on this link to find out more):

www.dimdim.com

Cheers Olli

On-Line Video Products, Tips, Tricks & Methods

Following on from the previous post, I decided to post a whole new page dedicated to the best products out there to help you create your audio & visual content & then discuss some tips on where to use that content to maximum effect.

I have highlighted the hardware…so you can acquire the footage

I have highlighted the software…so you can upload the footage

I have highlighted the uses of the footage…so you can increase your sales conversions

& I have highlighted the methods…to show you how to do it!

So, click on my On-Line Video page in the page menu at the top of this page.

Enjoy!

Simple Videos – Check out the latest BIG player…

It is no secret that the way forward for peaking interest in content on your websites & blogs is to show short video content.

This can be in the form of interviews, short education clips or even just you voicing your opinion on camera.

Up to now, the “go to” equipment for doing this quickly & easily has been the fabulous Flip Cam

Flip UltraHD Camcorder, 120 Minutes (Black) (US Link)

Flip Video Ultra High Definition Camcorder With 8GB Memory – Black (UK Link)

But now there is a new player on the market, the Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera:

Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera (Black) (US Link)

Kodak Zi8 HD Pocket Video Camera – Black (UK Link)

It does exactly the same hassle-free, simple job as the Flip Cam but with the added advantage of having an external microphone jack.

This enables the user to plug in a high end microphone to enable professional sound quality in your interviews.

Check it out here:

Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera (Black) (US Link)

Kodak Zi8 HD Pocket Video Camera – Black (UK Link)

Let me know your thoughts & comments

Joint Venture Opportunity! (UK Only)

If you want to save money & make money at the same time, you need to speak to my good friend Robert Nugent.

Rob has a project promoting services & working with his sales team for Utility Warehouse – very successfully may I add!

Click on the link below if you are interested in an exciting & lucrative affiliate JV with Rob:

www.telecomplus.org.uk/robnugent (then navigate to the “earn with us” link)

But hurry as there is only a small window of opportunity as Rob is working to a deadline!!!

The Next Step! Marketing Genius in a Simple System…

What I am finding as I work on progressing my projects is that I work through several tasks & then hit a block.

I then speak to my mentors, bounce ideas around with my business partner & do some more research…before breaking through the block to take “the Next Step”.

When it comes to “the Next Step” in marketing, Perry Marshall has come up with a simple 6 step system that helps you:

• assess the effects of your marketing campaigns,
• understand what is going on in your client’s head (both  internal dialogue & core buying emotions),
• understand the power behind the  Adwords you choose to find the least expensive but highest converting ones of all the hundreds that come up in your searches

The system basically takes the guess work out of optimising your marketing strategy in order to dominate your niche.

This was recommended to me as “the most effective A-Z marketing blueprint available anywhere…Guaranteed”, so I thought it only right to post a link to find out more here:

http://www.perrymarshall.com/next-step

Enjoy!!!

Milestones!

Well, it’s been a busy last few days – more progress from our product designers; a time-line formulated with the patent attorney; our first test Webinar & our brand designers are really starting to refine the looks of our companies.

What I wanted to share is a method for keeping your brand design costs down & getting a larger than normal library of potential logos for your project.

Go to www.99designs.com & open a new contest.

What 99designs.com allows you to do is set up a contest for designing your logo – you put up a “prize”, which is “won” by the presentation you like the look of the most.

What I like about this is that whereas if you approach one design house, you will normally get 3 or 4 designs to choose from & all will have been developed by the same designer.  This enables you to get various designers’ interpretations of your tender proposal & if you put a reasonable “prize” up for grabs, you will get a large number of designs to vet.

Remember, your brand is the portrayal of you & your company that is seen by anyone that comes into contact with you – it stays with you forever, so take your time & invest some capital to get it right…

Free e-Marketing Techniques

If you own your own small business, your marketing budget is not an endless cheque, so any free marketing techniques you can use to supplement your paid marketing campaigns are worth exploring.

E-marketing can consist of several marketing strategies including anything from advertising to affiliate programmes & is evolving as one of the most powerful & scalable approaches to marketing.

E-marketing goes beyond just putting up a website & requires the business building a relationship with its customers, finding out what they want, using that information to give them what they are looking for & rewarding their loyalty for returning to purchase from you.

You can have the slickest website on the web but if you can’t drive people to see it, you are effectively keeping your business card in your pocket.

Here are some free or low-cost approaches & tools used in e-marketing that you can adopt immediately to increase your online profile, improve your search engine rankings & drive targeted leads to your website.

1. Post Quality Articles Online
Well studied & articulated articles are a good media to showcase your expertise in the field of your interest.

Write quality articles & post them on various article publishing sites like ezine.com etc. & ensure the articles contain your signature & a link to your website.

This tactic will increase your web presence, search engine ranking & in turn attract quality web traffic.

2. Create a Blog

Even if you only add a paragraph every few days regarding information related to your industry & add a link back to your website, you will drive lots of potential customers & traffic to it.

Portals such as Blogger.com & WordPress.com offer free blog services

3. Comment on Other Blogs

Leave quality comments on other blogs, which are also related to your field of interest – this showcases your knowledge & by putting a link back to your website underneath your comment, people will come back to your site to see what else you have to say.

4.  Keep in Touch With Previous Clients

Continue to provide quality to all customers both active & inactive by sending them regular emails.  The majority of business (around 80%) comes from clients who have already bought from you.  Build a relationship & offer quality & pertinent new offers

5.  Participate Pro-Actively in Networking Sites & Forums

Networking sites or social media sites are the fastest growing means of business marketing on the internet & by utilizing the major platforms such as Facebook, Twitter & MySpace, you can reach large groups of potential customers very quickly.

Keep a close eye on this website over the next few weeks as I am hoping to bring some live Webinars to my subscribers presented by experts in social media marketing

6.  Use Email Signatures

Use simple links or banner ads in your email signatures; add personalised greetings &  launch email campaigns (use autoresponders) to grow awareness of your site.

Web Browsers

Given all the recent issues that have been covered in the news regarding problems with Internet Explorer browser software, I have been doing a bit of testing of other browsers.

To be honest, whilst there are many aspects I like about Google Chrome I have found that it has been crashing a lot, which is really irritating.

As a result, I have just downloaded Mozilla Firefox, which is a browser I know many Internet Marketers already use.  To be fair, the early signs are positive & I can see why it is so popular.

Exploring the browser plug-ins, I have already found some other extremely useful tools that can really boost your Internet Marketing armoury too.

First up there is Keyword Spy – this is really cool & gives you a real insight into the techniques used by the most renowned Internet Marketers!

Keyword Spy lets you find out the keywords that the most successful PPC Adwords advertisers are using plus lots of other important SEO parameters  (such as Google Page ranks & Alexa ranks) of popular sites, either on the pages you visit or in the search engine pages.

You can download it for FREE here:

Keyword Spy Download Page

Secondly there is Seoquake – this is a Mozilla Firefox SEO extension, which as they describe is “aimed primarily at helping web masters who deal with search engine optimization (SEO) & internet promotion of web sites.”

This add on allows you to obtain &  investigate many important SEO parameters of any internet project you are studying, save them for future reference & compare them with the results obtained for other, competitive projects.

Mozilla suggest that “beginner web masters & seos will find SeoQuake useful for estimating effectiveness & competitive ability of their SEO efforts.”, whilst  more experienced users will find SeoQuake “a powerful & indispensable tool for analyzing optimization &  promotion level of internet web-projects.”

You can download that for free here:

SeoQuake Download Page

SEOpen is another gem for all skill sets & provides quick access to some web-based tools to help with search engine optimization.

You can quickly check inbound links, PageRank, http headers, amongst other things by right-clicking on an open area of a web page, or using the included toolbar.

You can download that for free here:

SEOpen Download Page

Keep your eyes open for an updated version of their Niche Watch Tool too!

Enjoy using Firefox & boosting your SEO skills!

Where to Host Your Website…Important Considerations!

Following on from the previous post, I have been looking into where to host your web site once it has been built.

It is easy to compare the obvious factors such as technology support, bandwidth, CPU, RAM & storage space between providers.  However, there are some not so obvious factors that should be taken into consideration which one learns only with experience. If ignored, These factors could lead to considerable problems, seldom appreciated until experienced.

Once again, I have turned to BrainBuzz Infomedia for some advice at www.BrainBuzz.co.in…

• 1) Type of hard drives

Using cheap hard drives may appear tempting from cost perspective but could be disastrous in the long run.

Crashing, corruption & burning of hard disks are definite possibilities if unreliable disks are used.

Avoid using SATA drives & use SCSI drives instead.

Pay more attention to disk speed rather than CPU speed. Typically processors are standard & their performance does not vary significantly.

The biggest bottleneck in the performance of a server is disk IO & is especially true for database servers.  For databases choose the fastest disk & controller solution.

<a href="”>

• 2) Robustness of controller

Controller malfunctioning could corrupt all the disks under it.  Controller malfunction can occur when a server is not properly tested.

Before accepting the server, ensure that it has been completely tested.

Dell server’s BIOS have test suites for testing the controller, CPU, disks, etc.

In addition, BurnInTest from www.passmark.com can be used to test endurance of the server under high disk & CPU load.

• 3) Type of RAID

Although not very common, RAID malfunctioning can corrupt the disk data.

Hardware based RAID solutions are generally more reliable than software based RAID solutions.  Windows Server has an inbuilt RAID but critical applications & data should not rely on it.

If possible, take a server with hardware RAID controller.

RAID means multiple hard disks clubbed together as a single logical disk.

RAID 1 takes two physical disks & represents them as one single disk to the OS. Consequently, all the write operations are performed on both the disks simultaneously.

If one of the disks fails, the other takes over & continues the operation seamlessly.  RAID 1 is suitable for web servers.

RAID 5 is faster than RAID 1 & is better for database servers.  RAID 5 is more expensive as it requires a minimum of 3 disks.

In case of a disk malfunction, the controller regenerates the lost data of the affected disk from other disks.

• 4) Using Firewall, file sharing & ports

Most hosting vendors provide Firewall but if it malfunctions, it could expose the web server.

As a safeguard, it would be better to keep Windows Firewall activated on the external network card which is connected to the hardware Firewall. Windows Firewall is not a heavy resource consumer & has negligible effect on the performance.

File sharing & NetBIOS protocol should be disabled on the external network card. Ensure that all unused ports are not left open.

So, there you go!  Hopefully you’ll not make the costly mistake of choosing the wrong server for your site after that…all you need to do is let people know about it now!

After having done my research I chose to host with GoDaddy.com as they satisfied all the criteria above – have a look for yourself:

www.GoDaddy.com

Good luck…

Planning Your Web Page? Top 10 Considerations for Building a Site…

At the moment I am spending a lot of time working on detailing the specifications for a website my business partner & I are launching later in the year.

If you are going through the same process, you will understand what a challenging process it is & how important it is to do a thorough job to avoid getting ripped off by designers, to ensure the designers can interpret what you have pictured in your head accurately & to ensure that the quote you received is as tight as possible.

Here are the Top 10 Website Considerations courtesy of BrainBuzz Infomedia – an Indian SEO Company (www.BrainBuzz.co.in) with some great advice:

1) Design Aesthetics, Layout And Colour Palette
Imagine your website was a person.  How will he look, dress up & communicate. Design & colour scheme of the website should represent your or your company’s basic character & values.

It makes a difference as to how a visitor perceives you on the basis of visual representation of your site. You need to ensure that your target audience is able to relate to what they see.

2) Clear And Direct Communication
Many sites are very lean on the content, at times to the extent that it is nowhere close to truly representing the capabilities & achievements.

In many other cases the content is so exhaustive that the specific message intended for the visitor gets lost.  Users rarely bother to go through so much text.

Ensure your site has optimal amount of text content, articulated in a manner which is quick for a user to read & communicates the message directly & clearly – just what the user would expect to read or might be looking for.

3) Simple & Intuitive Navigation
Structure the navigation & content hierarchy in a manner which is easy to use for a human user as well as search engine.

Try not to have web pages deep down in a directory hierarchy.  Any page of the site should be accessible in not more than three clicks.

The site must have at least one text link to all the important pages on the site.

Categorize the content to place them in appropriate buckets, which can be identified intuitively – having a comprehensive sitemap page containing the links to all the important pages could be really useful for user navigation.

4) Using Content Management System (CMS)
If your site has content which requires frequent updates then use of CMS is definitely worth considering.

Generally many corporate sites have sections like ‘News and updates’, or ‘Press Releases’ or ‘Job openings’ or product catalogs, which may require update on a regular basis.

Having a custom CMS catering to the management of these sections will give you a significant level of independence. You will not have to go to the development team for every small detail that needs to be changed.

While creation of CMS is a one time additional development effort, it gives a complete control over information management.

5) Considerations For SEO
Any business, whether small scale or large scale, local or global, is now becoming increasingly dependent on its presence on the internet & how well it fairs in the search engines rankings.

Best practices for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) must be taken into account right from the technical design phase of the website.

A well developed website will not only be the most effective enabler for the growth of your business but will also save a significant amount of rework in the future.

In case the site is not good from a technical standpoint, you are bound to realize it at a later point that there is no other option but to do the technical revamping of the site, which at times could be no less than the creation of a new site.

Remember the saying ‘A stitch in time saves nine’.

6) Considerations For Security
Security considerations must be taken into account at the time of technical design of the website.

Database driven features must be capable of avoiding SQL injection attacks.

All the interactive features must be safeguarded against the cross site scripting attacks.

Sensitive information must be encrypted before storing.

Secure Socket Layer (SSL) should be used on web pages containing sensitive information.

Robust role based authentication must be enforced if some parts of he site have restricted access.

7) Optimal Use Of Flash / Multimedia Content
While Flash/multimedia can create rich & interactive graphics & could be excellent in visual appeal to general users, they completely disregard the search engines & people with disability.

If you want to make the site search engine friendly as well as accessible to people with disability (it is a legal compliance requirement in some countries), then Flash/multimedia should not be used for any important content.

It should be used only to add a flavour & not as a key ingredient.

8 ) Adding Sticky Features
Think about innovative features which could create interest among your target audience.

These are referred as sticky features as they tend to engage the users for a longer time & provide motivation to revisit the site.

Generally features offering interesting data analysis, quick interactivity or food for thought are excellent sticky features.

9) Considerations For Maintainability
Technical design of the website must provide the flexibility to re-brand, enhance and upgrade the site.

Most of the details which can possibly change with the hosting environment, domain name or technical considerations must be parameterized to have minimal impact on the code.

Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) should be used to render easy to configurable look and feel.

Settings like database access information, mail server information, domain name, etc., must not be hardcoded within the codebase.

Wherever possible reusable building blocks should be used for creating the web pages, so that making any change at a later point of time is not a nightmare.

10) Considerations For Scalability
If you expect number of users of your site to increase significantly (surely you would want to) ensure that the database design is optimized with various considerations like relationships, data integrity constraints, appropriate indexing, special considerations for resource exhaustive database operations, etc.

Technical components must provide multi-threading & safeguards for concurrent operations.

Web forms must not contain data elements, e.g. drop down lists, which can grow to an unmanageable size with the data or number of users.

There are other important considerations as well, that I will endeavour to touch on in subsequent posts – but in the meantime, good luck with your new site!!!

Structuring Emails to Your List (Part 2)

Following on from Chuck Mullaney‘s words of wisdom, Daniel Wagner stepped up to the plate to offer his advice on writing emails to your clients & once again, I was impressed with his approach.

Daniel emphasises the importance of building trust with your list as he underlines the most important factor in getting someone to open your email before hitting <delete>, is your NAME!

When writing the subject content, Daniel writes at least one word in capitals; uses a variety of punctuation; asks a question & always keeps it long enough so that the end follows on beyond the inbox description – all techniques are aimed to draw the eye to some characteristic that stands out from any other email in the inbox.

Daniel likes to link to a video landing page, with the video still shot capturing a subject in an “awkward state of position” – people apparently feel the urge to click on the video to “release” the subject from that position!  Great theory!!!

When using email to launch a product, the advice was to send an email with no link or sales pitch a couple of days prior to the launch, telling the list to expect the subsequent sale – this builds curiosity.

Check out Daniel’s coaching group at www.myinternetmarketingtutor.com

I hope those little gems help improve your conversions of subscribers to sales!!!

Enjoy the Journey!

Structuring Emails to Your List

Back to last weekend’s seminar & three presenters provided some fantastic advice on how to communicate with your clients by email.

Chuck Mullaney prides himself in the relationship he has built with those subscribers to his list & not only that but his peers are also full of admiration for his approach.  After listening to him speak, I can see why – I was impressed.

Chuck really aims to “care & feed” his list, focussing on quality of content & reliability  to build a trust with those he communicates with.

Chuck veers away from the traditional ad copy techniques & doesn’t try to sell to his subscribers in the first 3 emails he sends to their inbox.

He uses different techniques for emails used to provide his subscribers with TIPS (less than 35o words; space between every sentence; no links; big sign-off) & OFFERS (cliff-hanger sbject line; 1/2 a sentence to make the offer obvious; small sign-off).

I personally really like this approach as it fits my persona better & I am more comfortable having this sort of interaction.

Check out Chuck’s learning approach at http://www.pajamaexecutive.com/ & if you want to tap into Chuck’s self-confessed geek know-how to maximise your keyword approaches you will be well-rewarded by purchasing his KeyWordEsp software - http://www.keywordesp.com/

Another presenter that shares a similar view about building relationships in your emails is Daniel Wagner…make sure you come back tomorrow to read the tips I learnt from Daniel!

Here’s to your success!!!

Want to Learn the CHEAPEST & Most Targeted Ways to Use Google AdWords? It’s FREE!!!

I just downloaded a fantastic guide whilst I was researching more about optimising Google AdWords campaigns & the best thing about it was – it was FREE!!!

It’s called The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords & you can download it for FREE here:

http://perrymarshall.com/cmd

Basically, for those of you new to Internet Marketing, Google has a system that makes it possible,  to deposit five bucks, write a couple of ads, & instantly get access to over 100 million people – in  less than 10 minutes.

It’s called Google AdWords & it’s probably the first & best thing you should do to get traffic to your site.

But it’s not always as easy as I just made it sound – AdWords has some nuances, & most people have a tough (as well as expensive) time at first…even seasoned pros end up spending far more than they have to.

Well, the AdWords “Go to Guy” & “Knowledge”, Perry Marshall, has written an invaluable guide to taking on Google AdWords called “5 Days to Success With Google AdWords“.

It is simple to follow, will save you lots of time & cash on you AdWords campaigns & what’s more, it’s FREE!!!

Click on the link below to download it:

http://m171.infusionsoft.com/go/

12 Steps to Google Love!

As promised here is the first of some killer tips & tricks that I picked up at the List Building Masterclass at the weekend – first up some great pointers from Simon Leung.

Simon is an ex-Google advertising mastermind, having been involved in their advertising department from the early days before leaving to embark on an incredible solo-career as an Internet Marketer.

12 Steps to Getting your Site Google Love!

STEP 1)

Impress the Google reviewer with high quality content on your landing pages

Don’t rely on software/system designed to trick Google

Reviewer has the final say so be nice!

STEP 2)

Users are the ones who contribute to the bottom line

Think like a USER

The site should be designed to improve the user experience

STEP 3)

Do not put ads on landing pages

Maximise your quality score by focussing on providing relevant & valuable content

STEP 4)

Layout tips

Your site must look corporate

Avoid website templates

Include high quality graphics

Graphics should look professional

STEP 5)

Keep the copy short on the main page

Sales letter scripts are associated with scams

The page should have short copy & a professional look & feel to maximise your quality score

STEP 6)

Each keyword should have its own landing page

Maximum relevancy to the end user during the research process

Higher conversions are based on maximising the chances of landing on a relevant page

STEP 7)

Use navigational links to make the site easy to navigate

Outbound links should be part of the content

Give users options & other valuable content & information

STEP 8)

Graphics

Include a studio photograph head shot of yourself

Professional photography is encouraged

Action shots on stage & photos with other experts in your industry add credibility

STEP 9)

Content Pages

Provide information about yourself, your company & your team members

Give an easy way to contact (helpdesk/email/number/customer support)

Legal disclaimers (terms of service/privacy policy/©/earnings disclaimer)

STEP 10)

Aim to maximise your customer satisfaction, with quality content, information, over the top customer service,

Google seeks feedback randomly from users of your website

STEP 11)

Quality score criteria

Products must be perceived as quality

The whole package needs to appear professional both textually & graphically

STEP 12)

Lead Generation Elements on Landing Pages

Provide visitors a preview of member benefits & a reason for collecting information

Don’t advertise a product as free if registration is required.

“Free access”, “Free sign up”

Have legally binding privacy policy linked from the opt-in box “click here”

Respect the privacy of your subscribers – send only relevant information

So there you have it, follow these 12 straight-forward steps & your website will be ranking higher than ever before!

Thanks Simon, great presentation!

www.JVme.com

Ok – first tip of the day for all you Internet Marketers – www.JVme.com

Join it now – Facebook on Steroids for internet entrepreneurs

Created by Chuck Mullaney (that guy is slightly on the verge of genius, whilst being totally genuine to boot!), it really is a great place to network & set up some JV opportunities

See you on there

Busy Weekend – Lots of Tips

Well, it turns out the the Ultimate List Building Masterclass was indeed all it promised to be!

Great speakers that I know (Steven Essa tore it up on stage!), others I had seen speak before (Raymond Aaron was his polished best, Brian Koz was showing just how good Lead Evolution software is again & Mark Anastasi was indeed the host with the most), some I had heard of  (Reed Floren had some good info, Simon Leung was just working through diamonds like they were cookies & Daniel Wagner made a big impression too) & others that were new to me (Chuck Mullaney was fantastic, Jim Graham packed in the content & Saj P was Mr Generous with his tips & tricks too).  I unfortunately missed seeing Tracy Repchuk but heard great things about her presentation.

So what I endeavour to do over the next few days as I digest my notes from the conference is to share some tips with you right here too.

Watch this space!!!

Ultimate Listbuilding Seminar

Friday 29th January – Sunday 31st January, 2010

Want to be there? What would you offer me for a ticket?

Leave your comment here & I’ll choose the best offer to join me for the weekend!

Want a Ticket?

So this weekend I’m off to Mark Anastasi’s Ultimate List Building Seminar in London.

There is probably nothing else about building a list that the guys presenting there aren’t going to be sharing with us.

Here’s the Schedule:

Mark Anastasi – “The Power of Millionaire Listbuilding”

**********************
Friday 29th January
**********************

10.25 – 11.55   Chuck Mullaney – “Financial Fre edom Through Listbuilding”

13.00 – 14.30   Keith Wellman – “6 Ways To Build Your List Fast!”  

14.50 – 16.20   Simon Leung – “The Google Insider Strategies”

16.40 – 18.10   Steven Essa – “Webinar Strategies for Listbuilding Profits!”

**********************
Saturday 30th January
**********************

09.00 – 10.00   Mark Anastasi – “The Secrets of Email Marketing”

10.10 – 12.40   Tracy Repchuk – “Recurring Riches for Life:
How to Turn your List into Automated Streams of Income!”

13.30 – 15.00   Raymond Aaron – “The Secrets To Business Success”

15.20 – 16.50   (TBC)

17.10 – 18.40   Reed Floren – “Joint Venture and Email
Marketing Secrets”

**********************
Sunday 31st January
**********************

09.00 – 10.50   Tellman Knudson – “Secrets of The List Building Millionaire”

11.10 – 12.40   Daniel Wagner – “Your First 10,000 Subscribers in 30 Days!”

13.30 – 15.00   Brian Koz – “The Automated List Building Machine”

15.15 – 16.45   Saj P. – “Listbuilding Secrets of The CPA
Traffic Millionaire”

17.00 – 18.00   Mark Anastasi – “From Zero To Millionaire
In 3 Years – List Building & Monetization Secrets Revealed!”

This promises to be DYNAMITE, LIFE-CHANGING seminar!

REMEMBER! The Ultimate Listbuilding Masterclass is a UNIQUE,
ONE-OFF, never-to-be-repeated event!

Now the demand for these tickets has, as ever, been massive…but I have one going spare!

So what can you do to get your hands on it? 

Easy, just email me here with your offer & contact details (email & phone)…& tomorrow afternoon, I will decide on the best offer, contact the bidder & give you all the information you will need!

Sound good?  Act NOW!  Email me immediately.

If you want to read more about the event, CLICK this link:

   http://www.ultimatelistbuildingmasterclass.com/mainSite/

Want to Learn the Latest Tip to Keep You at the Forefront of the Marketing Game? Read on…

As per usual, Google are pushing the facilities available on their Search Engine forward to help the customer find the site & product they are looking for.

What does that mean for the business owner & the marketers amongst us? It means we have to look at the latest changes & see how we can use them to improve how we target our customers.

So, welcome to Google’s Wonder Wheel – it is basically a facility that the searcher can use to find specific topics from a more general niche topic.

For the marketer, that means we have a great new facility for keyword research – basically Google does it for us, whilst it tells people what to search for.

This gives us, the marketer or business owner the opportunity to position ourselves in front of that traffic.

So how do you find the Wonder Wheel & how do you get the most out of it?

1. Go to niche on Google
2. Go to left hand side of screen & click on “Show Options”
3. Go to “Wonder Wheel”
4. A wheel will come up with the niche being in the hub & the spokes off that hub being the relevant related areas that Google have worked out that people will be looking for
5. The spokes are the 8 most searched for things
6. These spokes are your first level of keywords that you put into your Google Adwords campaigns, your PPC campaigns, your content network campaigns, your Bing/Yahoo/Ask campaigns & also in terms of SEO for your main keywords aswell
7. Click on any one of those spokes & the topic of the spoke becomes the hub of another wheel & 8 further spokes branch of from that to give the 8 most searched for topics around that keyword
8. These are the next levels of keywords that you have to put into your articles, your advertising campaigns or your SEO
9. Click on any one of those spokes & the same thing happens again, giving you your next level of keywords to use – note though that these are now longer tailed keywords
10. You can then use all these terms & input them as an exact match keyword when you put them into your Google Adword campaigns by putting them in parenthesis e.g. [sharp abdominal pain] – you’ll then be aligning yourself with Google to help people find what they need

If you want to learn more, click on the link below:

Google Wonder Wheel

Hope this helps push your marketing campaigns on & keep you at the head of the game!

Spreading the Word – How to Increase Your Brand Exposure

So who wouldn’t love more traffic & exposure to the marketplace, whether it’s to promote your on-line business or your off-line business?

I’ve mentioned a few little tricks already on how to increase your following & how to drive traffic to your website or other business & there are plenty more that I have yet to cover.  Some are free, some are well worth a bit of investment in order to reap the rewards.  Remember, it’s not what you spend, it’s what you make!

One of the well publicised means of promoting yourself is by using press releases…now that may sound daunting for those of you that are new to this or run an off-line business & have never even thought of this – but in reality it is a really simple & efficient methods of marketing.

But like anything, there are tips to making sure that when you do something, you do it properly & gain the biggest benefits from the time you invest.

So click on the link below for a whole load of free Webinars on how to make your press releases successful, from one of the best resources on-line that you can use for the purpose…www.PRWeb.com

www.prweb.com/go/webinars2009

Watch & learn…& then reap the reward!!!

Need to Learn How to Make £17,000 in ONE HOUR? That’s What One of My Colleagues From www.InternetCoachingSchool.com Did On Her FIRST Webinar!!!

It’s been a hectic day or two in the “Off Line” world & hence you may have noticed that I have been a little quiet on the blog!

Apologies & back to it!  Tonight was the first Webinar of the year for our coaching group that I am a member of run by Steven Essa & www.InternetCoachingSchool.com – & it was good to touch base with these guys again.

Some of our group have been doing some great Webinars & earning as much as £17,000 in one hour…on a first Webinar!  Can you believe it?  Would you like to earn that sort of money?

Believe me, Webinars are a great tool because people have to click a link to go there (so they’re targeted) & they’re interactive, so people can ask questions too.

If you want to learn how to use Webinars to  help market your business, sell your products or even set up a Joint Venture to sell someone else’s product, then learn how to structure your presentations for maximum impact!

If that appeals, then I can recommend no one better than these guys – they’re personable, approachable, enthusiastic & what’s more they REALLY REALLY know their stuff.

Steven’s coaching programme shows even complete beginners how to host their own Webinars & structure their business to take advantage of this medium.  The same structure that saw him make $38,000 sales in ONE Webinar!

If you would like to hear Steven speak, he is scheduled to be presenting at the World Internet Summit in February 2010.  Click here NOW to reserve your place!

Click Here for Information & to Reserve Your Seat

Gary Halbert (12.06.38 – 08.04.07): Copy Writing Genius

Well, after discussing the people that have influenced advertising so much & researching the “Father of Advertising”, David Ogilvy, CBE, discussions then moved onto other individuals who have revolutionised their field of marketing.

The “Prince of Print”, Gary Halbert is undoubtedly another one of those marketing icons whose work still shapes the methods of marketing used today despite his untimely death in 2007.  Gary Halbert was unrivalled in the profession of copy writing &  it has been claimed that he single-handedly changed the nature of modern direct response marketing.

I have included some links to some of his presentations on various copy writing topics below…well worth a watch:

Gary Halbert – Gun-to-the-Head Marketing

Gary Halbert – Triple Your Response

Gary Halbert – Human Engineering

Gary Halbert – I Don’t Care About Search Engines

Gary Halbert – How to Sell Emu Oil (Part 1)

Gary Halbert – How to Sell Emu Oil (Part 2)

Gary Halbert - How to Close a Sale (Part 1)

Gary Halbert – How to Close a Sale (Part 2)

Gary Halbert – Gary’s Shortest Letter

Gary Halbert – The Biggest Mistake (Part 1)

Gary Halbert – The Biggest Mistake (Part 2)

Gary Halbert – Carbon Copy Letters

Gary Halbert – Rave Review Ad Copy

Gary Halbert – Copy Writers Success Trait

Gary Halbert – Refund Strategy (Part 1)

Gary Halbert – Refund Strategy (Part 2)

Gary Halbert – The Power of Snail Mail

There are many more short clips along these lines, many taken from the Live at the System Seminar.  All are well worth a watch & I’m sure you’ll modify your copy writing techniques accordingly!

David Ogilvy, CBE (23.06.11 – 21.07.99): Advertising Genius

I was recently talking to a friend about advertising – an area he is relatively knowledgeable in & he suggested I research one of the legends of the advertising world, David Ogilvy, CBE.

When I started to read about David Ogilvy (23.06.11 – 21.07.99), the first thing that jumped to my attention was nothing to do with his work but the fact that he went to school at Fettes College, which is about a five minute walk from where I live in Edinburgh!

Throughout his career he pushed the boundaries of advertising practice & repeatedly emphasised the importance of researching your topic & setting your sights high.  The standards he set prompted Time to describe him back in 1962 as “the most sought-after wizard in today’s advertising industry” & he was often referred to as “the Father of Advertising“.

I did a YouTube search for David & found the following interview conducted back in 1977 by John Crichton:

David Ogilvy: A Conversation About Advertising

The sound quality isn’t great but the quality of what is said beyond question!

Well worth a watch…enjoy!

Want to Get Above the Top Rated Free Site Links in Google the Quick, Easy & FREE Way?

Here’s Olli’s tip for today!

Do you have products you are wanting to promote & sell but need to get a greater Google audience.

This tip:

• takes you above the free ranked Google ads on the first page
• is quick to action
• is easy to action
• is FREE!!!

Sound good?

Step 1: Go to Google & type in “Google Product Search Information for Merchants” or click on this link Google Product Search Information for Merchants

Step 2: Create a Merchant Account

Step 3: Set up a text file in excel following the format & headings given in the example.  Click the link below for help:  http://www.google.com/support/merchants/bin/answer.py?answer=160054&hl=en

Step 4: Follow the instructions to start a data feed

Step 5: Stipulate the Country you want to sell in

Step 6: Upload the data feed by going to the link Set Up Text Feed

Step 7: Put products in with Title (Keyword); Description (Keywords); Link

Simple, quick, effective & FREE!!!

Twellow.com & Twitter Karma- today’s discovery!

So, I set up a Twitter account for the website & was wondering how to make the most of it to build some traffic.  Then I found Twellow.com & had a tip that I’m going to share with you to increase your followers & then in turn your website traffic.

Obviously you first of all need to register an account on Twitter if you haven’t already done so…then you need to go to Twellow.com & register the Twitter account there.

Once you’ve done that you can use the Search window to look for other Tweeters with similar interests to you…once you’ve found a person that you fits the bill, click on THEIR followers to begin to follow them.

A word of warning here…if you click on too many per day, Twitter will mistake you for a spam bot & could suspend your account.  So limit your activity to around 300-400 per day until you reach your limit of 2,000 Tweeters that you can follow.

Now, if you wait a day or so, then go to Twitter Karma – you can log in directly, or I chose to log in via Twitter (just follow the instructions).  This site shows you of all the people you are following, who is following you back.

You can then make the most of your maximum limit of follows by removing those that aren’t following you before going back to Twellow to repeat the process.

All you have to do then is start making sure you’re interesting enough for them to take notice of & your site is interesting enough to keep visiting!

I’ll let you know how I get on over the next few days!!!

A New Look

Well, this afternoon I have been updating the website…a new look, with a Twitter banner & have been working out how to put more images on & embed them into my posts.

Check out the previous post for the awesome Lead Generator below & you’ll see what I mean!

Click On the Banner Above For An Amazing Demonstration

Incidentally, the new generation Lead Evolution is here & it’s even more impressive than the last programme.

LeadEvolution 2 literally finds you customers that are waiting to buy your products & services – globally or locally…you decide!  You can then email them all directly at the click of a button, linking them to your site, promoting your product or service, or giving them an offer to buy…

Unbelievable targeting!

Domain Name Deals

So, I’ve been away for a while…setting up my other businesses. SO the blogging took a bit of a back seat, due to a lot of off-line activity…meeting product designers, accountants, lawyers, brand designers, e commerce experts etc etc etc. But I’m back doing some more web-based stuff & have just found a great deal as I was looking to buy some more domain names…check this link out for up to 30% off & great discounts for buying in bulk:

GoDaddy.com – World’s No.1 Domain Name Registrar

Remember, when you are choosing your domain name, try & summarise what your business does in two or three words & use that as your domain name. Steer clear of tricky spellings & use the “radio test” (i.e. imagine you were trying to tell everyone your site name in a quick radio plug).

Research Research Research!

The last two days have been filled with research driven by a further session with my mentor, Steven Essa & his enthusiasm for what he is teaching.  It is a really exciting time & made all the more rewarding because everyone my business partner, Stephen & I share our ideas & intnetions with gets just as enthused by what we are aiming to do.

Last night & this morning I have been working on defining our businesses & building on the work the Brett (McFall) did with me on identifying & defining our USP.  It’s such an important part of the process & really helps focus the mind & ask searching questions of your business plans.  The best thing is, we are coming up strong as I work throught the exercises.

After that I have been researching website platforms.  I have been looking through hundreds of examples & being guided by awards handed out to websites in different areas of business.  Any ideas or recommendations, please feel free to post them here!

Steven has suggested that WordPress sites are a great platform & so to this end I followed up the insirational presentation that Nicola Cairncross delivered at the World Internet Summit & emailed her.  Just as with the other presenters from the WIS I have been privilieged to chat with since the weekend, Nicola was no different – she had returned my email in ten minutes with my questions answered.  It really does go to show that these guys are different class both in terms of knowledge but also in terms of ability to give back to those just starting out in the field.

So the platform that seems to come out on top from my research so far is the WP Wishlist.  We’ll see where we go from here!!!