Small Business SEO Tips

Make Money Online Writing eBooks (5 Easy Ways)

admin — Fri, 25 May 2012 07:00:02 +0000

There are tons of ways to make money online. I get questions about this all the time: “how do you make money on the Internet, and what is the first step?”

When I mention that writing (content) is a great way to begin, I get blank stares and a bit of disgust thrown in for good measure. In truth, their own self-limiting beliefs is what is stopping them.

“I’m not a writer”, “I failed English in College”, “My writing is like an 8 year old, I could never do that”, etc.

I feel for them. I have been there too. It’s not easy. But then again, would you want that? The easy way out is the couch, TV, potato chips, beer and dessert first. Instead, challenge yourself, and think about this:

One of the best, long term, proven ways is by writing eBooks. If you enjoy writing and you are good at it – even better. Then, why not consider writing an eBook?

Not sure what you’d write on? Well the topics are endless. Write on a subject that you have expertise in and start selling.

In fact, if you don’t know how to write, but can speak – just dictate your notes and thoughts – and have somebody else transcribe it, and add a little writer’s pizzazz by their hand.

The traditional method of writing a book and finding a publisher is consuming and it can take a long time for your book to reach your target audience. An eBook offers far more flexibility.

Here are some tips to get your started.

Since an eBook is a digital book, you can easily publish yourself, advertise and sell online, or sell through sites like Amazon.

The internet offers you a global market, which means you have a market that is far reaching and readily available.

There are many self-publishing tools available too.

Let’s look at how you can make money by writing an electronic book or eBook.

1. Topic

To write your eBook you need to think about what you are going to write on. If you aren’t sure start researching topics online, in magazines, reviewing current events, etc. It must be a subject that you have adequate knowledge on. The topic you are going to write on should also be popular, in demand, and interesting. Before you start writing make sure you have adequate information to complete an eBook.

2. Draft

After you are sure you have adequate information it’s time to start to write your draft. You’ll want to proofread your draft or you can hire a professional to proofread it for you. Then you can decide if you want to add more content or if what you have is adequate. When you are happy your draft is the best it can be you are ready to move on to the final version.

3. Self publishing tools

For your eBook to be available for sale on the internet you will need to upload it using one of the self publishing websites such as Lulu or Amazon. You will not need to pay money to publish your eBook on these sites, which is a real bonus. You see you don’t have to have money to make money. Just a great idea and time. Oh yes, and let’s not forget about the writing skills.

4. Promotion

Next it’s time to publicize the eBook you wrote. Marketing through social networking has a lot to offer, as does publicizing through blogs, forums, etc. The goal is to have your eBook reach the widest possible audience online. While that’s good, make sure that you don’t “write for the world”. Try to niche your topic down, and make it compelling for a smaller group first. For example, “weight loss for women over 40″ is much better than “weight loss”. You can drill down even further.

5. Partners/Affiliates

You might also consider using affiliates to sell your eBook. There are a number of excellent affiliate marketing programs such as ClickBank that will promote your book on your behalf. When your book sells they keep a percentage of each of the sales.

CONCLUSION:

Writing an eBook is a great way to make money and to generate revenue over the long term. Once demand is established and your markets are in place your eBook can continue selling for a very long time especially if the subject remains popular.

The more eBooks you publish the more credible you will become as a writer and the easier it will be for you to sell your eBooks.

So what are you waiting for, my friend?

Small Business Bankruptcy, Crashing Economy And Depression Exploded These 3 Giants

admin — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:47:34 +0000

3 Business Stories of Courage, Determination and Passion

There is no crystal ball. (Defined: “A crystal ball is a crystal or glass ball believed by some people to aid in the performance of clairvoyance.”).

Or at least, not in the REAL world. There is simply no way to predict the future.

Except, for one area….

When it comes to the economy.

For example, the likelihood of next 20 years being similar to the last 20. It will share similar patterns, trends, and behave PRETTY MUCH the same. (not getting into the nitty gritty here, crash in the real estate sub-prime markets, etc). You can look at any trend line, even human history – and you’ll know that day turns into night, sun rises, falls, we are born, we die…

You get my drift, right?

With cyclical patterns like these how can we turn them into positives? Assuming you are not watching the Situation Room, sensation-based news media, or any other stupid shows that provide NO value and positive attribution to your life, let’s look at:

3 HUGE success case studies that show how negative dips in business and life can make millionaires and impactful outomes from virtually nothing.

THE NO MONEY STORY

This young entrepreneur struggled for years, always in debt, understaffed and was on the brink of bankruptcy. In the 1950′s – there wasn’t much in terms of amusement parks, and it was a horrific industry to even consider to do business in. However, this man dreamed of a future place where families could truly enjoy their visits, happily eat the food, laugh and share stories. And much more. Even when people around him, his own family (!) said it couldn’t be done, he became more determined than ever. He moved ahead all on his own, and used all the money he had, emptied the savings and sold any assets lying around to make it happen. Disneyland opened in the early Fall of 1955 with 18 attractions. By the end of the first year, it had hosted more than 3.5 million guests.

THE GREAT DEPRESSION WIPED HIM OUT

The depression of 1929 devastated many people, businesses. Lives ruined, people died. However, one young man who had in previous years (starting in 1898) been such an enterprising worker that had started with just a couple of stores, grown to 34 stores by 1912, lost it all during the Great Depression. In fact, by that time, he had 1,400 stores across the USA. But, he was in financial ruin. Like so many, he lost so much to the stock market. He had kept some money behind, and used it to restart his business. He was able to meet the day-to-day expenses, and barely kept up with payroll. But, it was enough to grow. Today, the stores rake in about $18.5 billion each year. It was James Cash Penney, or as you know it – “JC Penney”.

CASH FLOW AND ECONOMY – ALWAYS THE SAME

A hard working gentleman (52 years old at the time) who had slaved away in machine sales most of his life, somewhat accidentally discovered a food joint in San Bernardino in 1954. There was a large line of folks outside, and the simple menu and food caught his eye. He convinced the two brothers to sell him the place, and to share their trade secrets with him. He opened the first store in 1955, but faced massive challenges with cash flow, competition and the economy in general. But, he was determined to stay with it, determined to be successful, and worked day and night to build his empire. He even pushed the boundaries of his own advertising and created a mascot to serve as the official ‘head’ of the company. He passed away in 1984, just 10 months before it’s 50 BILLIONth sale. Yes, it was Ray Croc, the founder of McDonald’s (Ronald McDonald is still the mascot today).

And, while you may have said: “well, it was easy for them” – it’s time to reconsider your own situation. Are you willing to step up, and do what it takes? Of course, the answer is yes, but you ought to consider just one more thing: time is marching on. How much time do you have left to leave your legacy and make an impact on the world? Think BIG, and start with the first step. And, it’s ok to fail. That’s the only way you get better. Others have done it many times before you. (see above, for example!)

It’s also true that a successful life is one where the health, finance, relationship, and spiritual realms are manifested in a way that works for you.

So – money is not everything, but it rates right up there with OXYGEN, as Zig Ziglar would say.

Americans worry about 8 financial matters the most:

(Recent study, Gallup Poll)

Not having enough money for retirement (66%)
Not being able to pay medicate costs for a serious illness/accident (60%)
Not being able to maintain your standard of living (58%)
Not being able to pay medical costs for normal healthcare (48%)
Not having enough to pay your normal monthly bills (43%)
Not having enough money to pay for your children’s college (41%)
Not being able to pay rent/mortgage/other housing costs (36%)
Not being able to make the minimum payments on your credit cards (24%)

Over time, these have remained about the same, but during this recent recession, numbers are up.

This post was written to educate you about the possibilities, and also the (negative) mindset that we all get into. It’s a protection mechanism ingrained in all of us, from ancient times. It’s important to learn and continuously grow. And, moving forward with a strong goal-oriented mind, is part of a great success strategy.

If you want to learn more about how to build a business during tough times, I will share more of my story, failures and success in an upcoming tele-seminar.

There is nothing to buy, but it might help you:

====> YOU CAN REGISTER FOR THIS SPECIAL TELE-SEMINAR HERE <====

10 Reasons Why Law Firm Marketing Is Doomed From The Start (Warning – Read At Your Own Peril)

admin — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:14:24 +0000

Is all law marketing doomed for failure? The author says YES.

Lawyers and attorneys are a dime a dozen. Especially when it comes to their legal marketing initiatives.

How many attorney based Yellow Pages ads exist that is simply incestuous? (“Incest-marketing” is the practice of copying other legal marketing ads, letters, brochures and more.)

Try this: Open the Yellow Pages. Turn to the legal/attorney sections and see for yourself. What is the difference between any of them?? They all look the same.

Who can you trust? Everybody says the same thing, pretty much. Everybody got suckered into advertising that doesn’t work.

What does the legal industry at large share as the perception from the public side? (Malpractice suits and cases like the Hammer don’t help a pervasive negative view.)

What reputation have lawyers created for themselves? Not great.

And, while funny, perhaps – it’s serious: how many lawyer jokes exist already? (there are almost 15 million results in Google for it!).

How do you create your name as the MOST TRUSTED ATTORNEY IN TOWN?

If you asked just a small sampling of say, 10 people in your local market: “who is the top, or best legal counselor or legal firm that you know of, and that can be trusted”? The answers would be many, but a common thread would be “I don’t know, I’m not sure (or… I don’t care, don’t need one)”.

And here is what NOT to consider at this time: See, I can share with you the latest awesome online widgets, shiny objects, tools, ads, landing page samples, website designs, search engine tactics and social media strategies for the legal profession, but that too is a dime a dozen. It doesn’t matter.

Attitudes matter.

In fact, it’s your own stinkin’ thinkin’ that is the main reason why it won’t work for you. And, I’m not including external factors like thousands of marketing messages ‘bombarding’ your audience each day, intense competition, ethical advertising rules imposed by state bar advertising committees, lawyer directories, blog directories, etc. That’s not the issue.

But, if you get it right – it will… well, it just might work for you this time. We’ll dig into this some more next.

A bit abrasive?

Oh, and I understand that some will not like this post. That’s OK, I’m only writing to the the professional legal community who look to create value, profit and quality, and want to build “differentiation” (even when they realize it may be hard initially).

Your mountain-top battle.

But first, at the core of this law firm marketing model lies a hidden challenge: your audience only needs somebody to handle legal matters when something “bad” is about to, or has happened to them. It’s similar to selling life insurance: you use scare-fear-trust tactics to assume (and try to solve) a future problem. You begin to acquire clients in “non-reality worlds”. It’s that whole discussion around “needs and wants” in marketing. People NEED water, food, shelter. They WANT a new car, a new house, etc. Do they need or want you? Time will tell.

This is the fact.

The truth is – most of the legal businesses I’ve seen and interacted with share one thing in common: they are lawyers (duh) – but not marketers (a big DUH). My strong recommendation is this: you need to quit thinking like an educated & successful attorney, degrees from top universities, blah, blah, blah…. You must shift to the more entrepreneurial mindset now.

See, you were taught in law school to think like a lawyer. This must stop, or your legal practice new case acquisitions and revenues will continue on a downward trend.

Get inspired (again).

You are now entering into a new, exciting world to make this change for you, your business, your family.You can become the enlightened one, the legal guru that all business (naturally) come to, the trusted authority that DOES NOT spend millions on radio and TV. Your own spiritual self will be lifted out of the doldrums and current day negativity. (Incidentally, studies have shown that the depression scale among practitioners in the legal industry is unnaturally high… think about that.)

Your health, relationships, productivity is more important. How are YOU feeling right now? Are you down, or up? Excited to see another day? Let’s explore together as we build out your abundance mentality… (but let’s dig a little deeper first)

Here is the list of NO-NO’s: (things you should not do, think or say):

I don’t like that ad. An ad or copy/page with lots of information will not be read. That’s “the other kind” of marketing. It doesn’t work for me.
I must sign on the dotted line today, or my competition will get them. At all cost!
I must be seen as a full-service firm, whether big or small. I must be available via my personal cell-phone, email and optional chat 24/7. Clients need me to.
I must run my TV and radio at last 7-10 times for it to be effective.
I must change and update my contract with the Yellow Pages representative, and ahead of time.
I must spend a lot of time at networking meetings, committees and avail myself to boards, so that I can get referrals. I’ll take some of the ‘low-end’ cases too.
I just follow the others in my market, because if it’s working for them (they are ‘everywhere’), it will work for me.

While this post is not a guide on how to market your law practice, I hope it’s becoming clear that between your mindset and positioning (USP = Unique Sales/Selling Proposition), you’ll begin to separate yourself head of your competition. In fact, by doing the opposite of everybody else in your legal industry, you’ll be moving ahead.

AND – testing new marketing avenues without worrying about failure is not only refreshing, but it is important. (and, in marketing – you’ll see that we use the word “TEST” a lot. It may take some getting used to. Fair warning.)

Finally, here is the list – a framework to consider before spending any more money on your legal advertising strategies.

WARNING – YOUR LEGAL PRACTICE MARKETING IS DESTINED FOR FAILURE IF YOU DON’T READ, STUDY AND TAKE ACTION ON THIS ADVICE:

1. HEADLINES

Use strong copy and headlines that attract and differentiate in all your advertising. Try to enter the conversation already going on in the prospects head.

2. OFFER

What is a unique, compelling offer that you can make right now? What will make the visitor or reader stand up and take action? (And, I’m not talking about just a sales pitch for services. This might be for an educational course, download of special guides, free tele-course, webinars, etc)

3. CURRENT FANS

Implement growth strategies for your existing fans and clients. What is it in your practice that they keep coming back for? Think 80/20. What 20% of efforts and products bring in the most revenue?

4. GET REAL

Admit and recognize that marketing at this level is not easy. It’s not an ‘over-night’ thing. Any theory-based, charlatan-driven, and non-experienced leadership for building your marketing plans and funnels must be avoided. Get the best information, and apply it steadily over time. A multi-approach is best, not “one after the other”. While simple, it’s not easy. You must face that fact.

5. WHO IS IT?

Find and decide on your best client types. Who are they? Where do others find them? Where did you find yours? Where can you find more? Finally, write down the attributes of your ‘perfect’ client. Who and what cases is it a pleasure to work with and on?

6. SEARCH

Understand and apply the best SEO (search engine optimization) strategies and tactics to get found in search engines. And, if you are local attorney firm (very likely), ensure that you are well positioned in the local search engines. Start with Google Places. (it’s free)

7. TOP CHANNELS

Find out the top destinations for advertising – both online (Google, SEO, PPC) and offline. Test and validate. Impact and profits over “branding”.

8. NEWS!

Create a newsletter. Make this at least a monthly outgoing piece. Make this available offline (earth-mail). Make it exclusive to your audience.

9. AUTOMATIC

Create and build out an auto-responder. Make sure you capture information on all your online materials. Use a service like Aweber.com to start. Send relevant information to your audience, and stay in touch regularly. Build trust, authority and likability through multiple channels. Be information, educational. 80% content, 20% sales-pitch is a good rule.

10. SYSTEMATIZE

Build out your own ‘marketing system’. Think like a marketer, follow and sign up for others in your market that seem ‘different’. Read their stuff, but don’t copy. Continue to grow and cultivate your followers. (And no, it doesn’t mean a high Twitter follower count, or a bunch of Facebook Likes. Develop social media PAID followers.)

I hope this helps you to think differently this time. And, it’s OK to become a marketer and an entrepreneur. In fact, your legal practice, family and clients depend on YOU for it.

What cases are you looking for RIGHT now?

What can you take away and implement from the above list that would impact that the fastest? (You probably already know!).

P.S.
By the way, you may think – “I don’t have time to do all this“. Shoot me a note, and I’ll be happy to share why you’re wrong. You may also be interested in the upcoming 2-day legal workshop and seminar. (If you qualify, it can change your life.)

Domain For Sale? 12 Domain Finder Tools For Faster SEO Traffic

admin — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:46:07 +0000

Great Domains Get Attention!

A great domain name by itself is powerful. It can and will create attention quickly, if you have selected and built it out well. And in social media environments (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) – the link and domain name (if seen) will give us a high click propensity if friendly, relevant and not spammy looking.

So, are you looking to buy a domain? Are you trying to sell an existing domain, or several?

We’ll cover 12 powerful tools for finding and selling domains for your search engine optimization benefit.

And yes, finding and building out the perfect domain for your business is key. Both for users and search engines.

There are ongoing conversations about the value of a domain for exact matching keywords for SEO.

I remember several years ago, there was an ‘outcry’ from the SEO experts that it should not be so easy to rank for an exact
matching domain.

The truth is – it works, and it will continue to play a big role going forward.

Let’s take a look at these domain tools to help your SEO efforts.

So, if you had a choice between these two business scenarios – which one would you choose? (and, I’ll reveal the answer most chosen by businesses)

BUSINESS PROBLEM:

“We need to create and build out a domain and website for our business to drive more relevant traffic from organic search engine results (SEO). We have not been getting the attention and traffic we deserve. The web site is considered non-existent in the search engines.”

SOLUTION OPTIONS (SEO consultants comments):

1. Use your business domain with a brand name nobody’s heard of and create the SEO strategy and tactics from there. (research, analysis, keywords, content, links, etc). The cost is in the 3k-5k monthly range, 6 months minimum.

2. Research and buy an existing domain with history, content and “equity” acquired – both in users and search engines’ eyes. Fund this to use as “front-end” traffic driver, and send “buffer” traffic to specific landing pages with special offers on the primary domain (brand name web site). Consultant further states: Oh, and it’s going to cost you approx $1,000 to $10,000 to get it, and 1k monthly to ‘manage’ it.

ANSWER TYPICALLY HEARD:

VP of marketing or CEO: “yeah, we’re going with option #1, that way, we have more control”

Most of the time, the answer is chosen because of a combination of the HIPPO (highest internal paid person (in the) organization) syndrome and lack of understanding, as well as ‘brand pride’. (In bigger organizations, legal departments get involved, and can seriously slow things down.)

Sure, it’s a little scary to consider buying into (literally) a seemingly untested online business model.

But, In truth, if you do this right, your SEO efforts and results can and will sky-rocket. Imagine going from virtually nothingness — to tens-of-thousands of visitors in less than 30 days? And allowing that traffic to be filtered to strategically (and tested) placed landing pages? Not only can you build traffic fast from organic results, but you can immediately start testing for conversion to leads for your business.

So, we’re going with answer #2 – what tools can you use to discover where the ‘SEO gold domains’ are?

Let’s review the most popular domain research, buying and selling websites and tools:

Sedo – http://sedo.com/us/buy-domains/buy-domains-overview/
Domaintools – http://www.domaintools.com/buy/
eBay - http://www.ebay.com/sch/Domain-Names-/3767/i.html
Snapnames (downloads) – https://www.snapnames.com/download.jsp
Namepros – http://www.namepros.com/domains-for-sale-auctions/
Afternic – http://www.afternic.com/buy.php
Dnforum – http://www.dnforum.com/f5/
Flippa – http://www.flippa.com
Goddaddy domain auctions – https://auctions.godaddy.com/
Registercompass – http://www.registercompass.com/domains/auction/
Domainface – https://domainface.com/tour
Digitalpoint – http://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=59

An existing web site and domain is like good wine, it gets better with time, typically. It has acquired more links, and hopefully a natural attraction of visitors over time.

Also, outside of these free and paid tools, you can search for FREE in Google with keywords like: “this site for sale”, “domain for sale”, etc. Also, watch for “related” searches in Google, and dig deeper there.

Of course, negotiation and exchange of money is a topic all by itself. But, if you work with somebody who has this experience, and make sure you use an escrow service like escrow.com (partner with Domaintools) – you should be fine. There are a lot of ways to determine value. (Cost to build out your own, time to get these, current revenue of the website, web analytics, stick rates, keywords used and currently ranked, technology platforms, etc.) And, you must make sure you don’t get caught in ‘fake’ sites. There’s a lot of scammers out there. Domain buying and selling is a multi-billion dollar business.

And most important of all: you must ensure that Google doesn’t RESET your domain equity by doing the domain transfer incorrectly. Don’t change all the information overnight! Patience is a virtue in life and business.

Are you willing to try it on a smaller domain (cost) first? Look at .com, .net and .org extensions.

Let me know your story, and please leave a comment below. I would love to hear from you!

Your Adwords Account Scam-Banned By Google? Here is Why.

admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:23:16 +0000

Here is why Google Banned 800,000 Advertiser Accounts in 2011

24 hours a day, when you are awake and sleeping – both software and humans at Google are working to figure out if you are scamming Google with your Adwords account(s). The results can be devastating.

The software and related systems scan information – from ads, webpages, links and much more — while hundreds of Google Adwords Spam/Scam Police watch (yes, humans) and monitor any red flags sent by the software agents.

This may and will have implications for you.

Even if you are legit.

You can get inadvertently get caught in it.

Here’s why.
Google wants to protect you (the advertiser/publisher), but it sure doesn’t feel like it at times, right?

However, it may simply come from your lack of understanding of how they work. This post should help you learn more why and how they ban Google advertiser accounts. It may even seem counter-intuitive. (read: “lost revenue”).

In 2011, the Google quality control teams shut down 800,000 advertiser accounts. May of these are likely Adsense (the ‘flip-side’ to Adwords) related. If you are making revenue (legitimate money) on your Adsense sites now, that’s good. ‘Click-bombing’ whether real or not, can suddenly make Google turn off your account – never to return. But, since there are automated monitoring going on, errors can and will occur. And, banning versus suspension are two different models to deal with.

Here is the official Google advertiser “banning” video. It will give you some interesting insights, albeit not all useful.

If you are having issues with your Google account being banned or at least suspended, you can get it unsuspended.

Go ahead, send me a note - and I can probably help you. And, if you are in Los Angeles…

Google Click-to-Teleport Extensions Adwords

admin — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:45:17 +0000

Google New Teleport Product April 2012

Google creates and makes improvements to products all the time, and in the case of the search engine, pretty much every day.

In one of my Adwords accounts, I noticed a new feature which is sure to below many businesses away (literally). It’s the new “Click-To-Teleport” feature.

The benefits? While there are many, the one standing out is the “driving in-store sales”. Customers will literally simply appear.

Here’s how it works.

“Click-to-Teleport extensions allow potential customers to instantly teleport to your business location directly from a search ad. Forget CTRs, conversion tracking and call metrics – one click and a customer is instantly standing in your business location and ready to shop.” – Google

This is sure to be a winner for brick-and-mortars, but online businesses win too. It’s amazing to see so many innovative products from Google, especially on a Day Like Today.

What do you think? Will you use it?

How To Become A Small Business Authority

admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:00:26 +0000

How To Become a Trusted Authority

How can you become an authority in your small business? And, perhaps more importantly, why should you?

I’ll break down the 3 strategies to consider on the process of starting in this post.

But first, why should you consider becoming an authority in the first place?

Let’s use an example.

Let’s say you had a bad knee and started to look for somebody to help you. Where would you begin? You’d probably start asking friends, family first. Then, you’d continue by searching online (search/social), visiting bookstores to read more about it. You might ask more questions in a social community (like Facebook). You’d search on Twitter to see others with similar symptoms, etc.

While waiting for answers, you’d also visit specific niche verticals and directories, forums, blogs – to find out more.

Next, you’d start by making some calls to various doctors and health institutions and find out more about their experience, perhaps cost and potential down-time issues, etc, etc.

After all information was compiled, you’d make a decision on which doctor or health expert to choose. Ultimately, your referrals from friends would come high on the list.

Experience matters?

But, nothing says “I do” more than “competence and character”. See, you would want to know that your final selection was based on knowledge, trust and authority. A smart medical professional who had leveraged the Internet, social media and his network of peers would likely get your business by a) getting your attention (being visible) and by b) showing experience and authority from books, videos, news releases, referrals, testimonials, trusted partner networks, endorsements, etc. It would be an easy choice for you, as compared to the other options available to you. His/her unique value proposition was so strong that you had no problem going to visit their office.

YOU want to create this level of authority and trust within your small business niche. And with social media and using a certain sales framework, you can do it too. How can you start? Take a look at these 3 options and read a recent social media sales book on the topic.

Now that you recognize how important it is to become an authority, the challenge is how to accomplish this goal. To begin, you have a choice of 3 strategies, each with its own benefits and shortcomings, the tools that you use are dependent on the strategy you select and defining your goal. The power of social media marketing is unlimited when you consider the impact of all of these components combined.

Strategy Number One:

Choose a particular niche and become the best source of information about it. This requires your topic to be broad enough to avoid type casting and without overextending your reach, which would make it next to impossible to establish yourself as an expert.

Strategy Number Two:

Select complicated industry issues, simplify and explain them. Publish “How-To” materials, books and videos. Make it visible in search engines and social media.

Strategy Number Three:

Bring a fresh perspective to a subject or break new ground with new concepts.

For each one of these strategies, the key word here is communication: your audience must be able to relate to your contributions and be able to understand your knowledge for your reputation as an expert to benefit.

It’s important to be honest with yourself in choosing a strategy.

Ask these questions of yourself:

Are you especially knowledgeable about a particular niche?
Have you discovered something revolutionary about a specific industry concept?
Do you have an exceptional ability to simplify complex issues and communicate in a way anyone can understand?

Become a “Super-Friend”:

Be genuine and share your knowledge freely and openly without any expectations. Creating an authority presence by becoming a super friend requires extraordinary interpersonal skills. When a person is a great friend with a large circle of industry peers, it helps to create an affinity between the individual and members of the group. This opens the door to showcase your knowledge and earn their respect.

Choose your company wisely:

The saying goes: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” Emulate the authority you most admire and associate with other authorities. (Note: but, be yourself!) In social media marketing, your associations form part of the public perception of your website. Everything associated with your Internet presence is important to consider in terms of the value they relay to your website authority quotient. Choose inappropriately and it can impact the perception in a negative manner.

Be alert to opportunities:

In many cases, timing really is everything; many fortunes have been made by individuals who were at the right place at the right time. Although you cannot predict with certainty when a turning point event will occur, many individuals have successfully “struck gold” by pursuing their instinct about a theory or developing their concept into a material reality at the opportune moment. Let software and tools help you. (i.e. Google alerts)

Choosing a specific niche and using a combination of these methods is the surest way to become an authority for more quality sales from social media communities.

The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing your SEO

admin — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 05:49:37 +0000

Outsourcing Search Engine Optimization? Read this.

We all know how important it is to have a well-established presence for our business on the Web.

SEO is a huge industry, and businesses regularly take advantage of it to boost their sales.

Well-done and well-maintained SEO will correlate to a direct increase in sales, visitors and fans of your brand.

The problem is, SEO takes time and effort. Some businesses can afford to keep their SEO in-house, while others prefer to outsource.

So what are the pros and cons of hiring an SEO agency?

Pro: It Saves Time

Outsourcing your SEO will save you a lot of time. You don’t have to deal with it yourself, if you run a small business. In larger businesses, you won’t have to go through the interview process and hire someone to do it in-house. You’ll still need to contract an SEO agency to do the work, but once they know what the goal is, you don’t have to monitor them. It’s largely a fire-and-forget method of search engine optimization.

Pro: It’s Done Professionally

Pretty much any agency you can hire to do your SEO will be professional. They’ll have significant amounts of experience doing exactly that. Just like substandard businesses fail, substandard SEO agencies quickly fold. You can trust that the agency you hire is going to show you the results you want.

Pro: It’s Cheaper than In-House

SEO Agencies are expensive, but they’re tried and tested. They wouldn’t be around if they weren’t. Hiring an in-house employee full-time can be even more expensive, and you don’t necessarily know the credentials of the person you hired. They may be experts and you may be very happy with the results. On the other hand, they may not be all they’re cracked up to be, and result in a loss.

Con: It’s an Expense

What you save in time is made up for in cost. SEO agencies overall are not cheap, because in such a competitive industry you get exactly what you pay for. The premium you pay goes towards high quality work from professionals, but it’s still a business contract and it will still cost you.

Con: It’s Hands Off

If you’re the owner of a small business, or if you like to have a hand in every aspect of running your business, outsourcing your SEO is not for you. Hiring an SEO agency to do it for you takes it out of your hands, and means you won’t be able to dabble in the process yourself. However, a good agency should keep you in the loop.

Con: It’s Not Comprehensive

At least, basic packages fall short. SEO is a constantly evolving field and putting SEO into practice is as much an ongoing thing as it is a site makeover. Sometimes the SEO agency you contract will only do a makeover of your site to optimize it for your keyword, and leave the rest to you. This is good, in that it lets you manage your own brand once the initial starting work is done. It’s bad in that you end up having to put time into it anyway. It’s possible to completely outsource your ongoing SEO presence, but then you risk losing touch with your customers because of the extra intermediary.

In the end, whether or not you choose to outsource your SEO depends on personal preference. If your business can afford it and you won’t want anything to do with it, outsourcing may be the best option. If you want a little more hands-on approach, or more direct control over your brand presence, you’ll probably want to keep it in house. Just think carefully before you make your choice.

Sam is a marketer and likes learning and writing about SEO as well as landing page tweaks and improvements that can increase conversion rate.

7 Tips To Increase Web Traffic To Your Financial Business Site

admin — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 13:03:41 +0000

Need More Web Traffic For Your Financial Services Web Site? Learn How To Start It Up!

When financial service firms, advisors and funds build websites and starting their online business, the focus is on offerings and not how to bring in more web traffic.

There is a quiet assumption that SEO is not important because people will automatically know the company by name and reputation.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

SEO (search engine optimization) for financial websites has resulted in a higher level playing field for brokers, hedge funds and other firms related to finance.

The following list outlines seven simple ways to increase site traffic. It’s easy to start building your online business and more quality web traffic.

“On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.” – Ogilvy

1. Add a Blog
Blogs with a financial focus are a great marketing tool, especially when authored by a fund manager or even the CEO. It positions the company as a leader willing to share its ideas, and encourage feedback from investors and visitors. A blog also adds a personal touch, making the company appear more human instead of just an entity pushing services. Make sure that each blog post has keywords that describes the post (like this one) and that they draw attention to the reader. Remember, blogs can be consumed in many different ways, devices and feeds.

2. Add a News Feed
A carefully curated newsfeed is an excellent way to keep site content relevant and bring in new visitors. Relevant news stories can be put on social media to extend reach even more.

3. Add an Industry Calendar
Placing a financial industry calendar on a site will add authority and provide visitors with valuable information about conferences and other events.

4. Add Finance Tools and Widgets (i.e. Calculators)
It may be obvious, but you have not thought to place tools in easy reach for the consumer. Not only will they use these (and thank you for it) – but they are sharable (if you set it up right), and they can bring about ’viral’ traffic. If you can create your own, even better. Then, let others use it (the code) on their sites too – just add a link back to you.

5. Make the Site Gobal
A number of financial firms are looking to international traffic to increase ranking. Offering the site in different languages will increase global visibility and give the company a friendly, flexible reputation.

6. Add Partner Biographies
Another way to lend a human touch to a financial firm is through the use of biographies. Visitors and clients will be more likely to place their trust in a company where names are matched with faces.

7. Optimize (SEO) Keywords
A proper SEO strategy includes the use of multiple keywords that are tied to what the company offers. The best way to approach keywords is to imagine doing a search. It is also helpful to research competitors and see what SEO approach is bringing in traffic for them. Make sure you have a strong landing page that matches the query. Add a “call-to-action” to download your financial planning whitepaper, special report, etc. You must provide value here, it’s not just about getting the email via a form (which I’m sure you have set up, right?)

BONUS TIP:
Use videos both in your blog and on YouTube (set up your own channel). Then, on a weekly basis if you can (pick a certain day), post a financial training video with information that helps, informs, entertains & engages them to come back to your site.

Using these tips can go a long way toward increasing traffic and your financial company success.