Watch How to Flip Facebook Live Video

Check out the short video I created below to reveal exactly how to horizontally flip Facebook Live videos to fix backward text on iPhones and iPads.

Tutorial – How to Fix Backward Text in Facebook Live Videos

Here is the easy way to turn Facebook Live videos horizontally so that people can read the words in your videos. Before you tap that pretty blue “Go Live” button, make sure you flip your video first. This will keep you from awkwardly pausing and tapping buttons during your live vid.

1. Magic Wand Icon – The very first thing you need to do is tap the magic wand icon on the top-left of your screen.

   

2. Tools Icon – Next, click on the “tools icon” located on the right edge of the screen.

   

3. Horizontal Flip – Now just click “Horizontal Flip” and you’ll immediately see the screen switch and show all of your words and text the way that it should look! Yay! No more backward text, no more apologizing, and no more awkward moments in your facebook videos (well, hopefully not..heh)!
   
4. Close Tools – Now just click the X in the top-left of your screen to close the tools.
   
5. Go Live! – NOW you can click that shiny blue Go Live button and start your video with a perfectly flipped Facebook Live video. You did it!

Please Share!

There are so many backwards Facebook Live videos still taking place every single day! Please share this fix on facebook and with your friends & followers to help people learn how to easily fix backwards text and flip their live Facebook videos!

If you love video tips like this, be sure to LIKE my facebook page and SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube channel because I have some great tips coming and you’re not going to want to miss out!

Let me know what you think in the comments below…hope this helped you!

The post How to Flip Facebook Live Video appeared first on SHANE EUBANKS.

Your bride.

Broken down, at the lowest point she has ever been in her life. She struggles to breathe…she has ran out of tears. Her world has stopped spinning, and for the first time it is not something you can “fix”.

You struggle for words. Saying “I’m sorry” feels like a bunt when you were hoping for a grand slam.

There are no cards, flowers, candy, jewelry, vacations, etc that will “fix” this.

You stand there, for at least once in your life, completely clueless. Confused. Heartbroken for her. Trying to stay strong, but also trying to stir up the strongest love you have ever mustered up in your life.

So there you are. Powerless. Frozen. Searching for an answer that doesn’t exist. Holding your girl…who just so happened to be the little girl of the person she just lost.

And this is where it begins.

The foundation of what happens from here on out is this: You cannot bring her “up” to you….you have to go “down” to where she is at…and come up together.

“Together” is how you began your marriage and “together” is how you are going to weather this storm. And, brother, it is going to be a storm. I won’t lie. It sucks.

She’ll be sobbing in your shoulder one minute, and pounding your chest and arms the next in anger…screaming “WHY?!”. This is one “beating” in your life that you’re going to have to stand there and take. And the “WHY” is a question you cannot answer…so don’t even attempt it.

Be her punching bag.

Be her shoulder to cry on.

Be the one that soaks up those tears.

Be the one that holds her tight…and tells her to just let it all out. Every bit of it. As long as it takes.

She doesn’t have to hold anything back with you…nor should she.

For better or worse…those words are for this moment.

She needs you…in a way that she has never needed you….and she doesn’t even know what she needs from you.

She wants the Mama or Daddy she just lost.

But she needs you.

So hold her.

Love her.

Cry with her.

Your arms speak louder than your words…so use them to shelter her through this storm.

Go through the anger, sadness, prayers, hunger, etc together.

And without her knowing…lead her.

Ease the stresses of life off her so that she can grieve. You’re going to be doing more laundry, grocery runs, meals, making beds, cleaning toilets, dusting, vacuuming, etc than you’ve ever done in your life.

And that’s ok…take as much weight off her shoulders so that she can breathe.

She’s going to be smothered with quotes, verses, scripture, and words from friends and family who all mean well…but those words will make her want to scream at some point.

Speaking of scream…she might. Don’t take it personal…her emotions are in uncharted territory. There were no warning signs and there definitely isn’t a manual.

Pray with her when she wants…but pray for her constantly.

While everyone grieves in different ways, she needs your love. She needs your time. She needs your attention. She’ll also need her space.

Over time, you’ll rise out of this valley together. No matter what people try to tell you, time doesn’t “heal” wounds…it changes the heart.

For the first year, it will be the “big” things that hurt the most such as the first Christmas, birthday, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, etc without their parent.

It’ll also be the little things. The smell of Mama’s perfume. Daddy’s old work boots in the garage. Johnny Cash on the radio. Someone else’s sweet potato casserole…and bless their heart, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Mama’s.

Together, you’ll cry…together, you’ll laugh.

Slowly, your bride will find herself back on her feet…with you by her side…out of the valley…together.

The post To the Husband Supporting a Wife Through the Loss of a Parent appeared first on SHANE EUBANKS.

So what changed? Why would I willingly choose to leave my career behind at the age of 35? Well, it probably started when I was about 7 years old.

An Entrepreneur Spirit

Looking back, I’ve always had a bit of an entrepreneurial drive in me. As a kid, I was always coming up with ideas to make money…most of which usually got me in trouble.

I once went to the local newspaper stand, put in one quarter, took out ALL of the newspapers, and proceeded to go around the neighborhood selling them for a profit. I thought it was a great idea…until a neighbor called my parents to fill them in on what I was doing. Yes, I had to march back to the newspaper stand and put in the rest of the papers and all of the money I had made. Busted. Lesson Learned.

Some time after that, I decided to have a yard sale…so before my parents woke up I managed to open our garage door and start selling stuff…their stuff. I don’t remember what all was sold or how little was paid for it, but let’s just say that I practically gave away some rather expensive things. Again, busted…lesson learned.

My childhood is filled with similar stories…fortunately none of these ideas are why I left the corporate world!

The Catalyst

Months before I began my career at Shaw in 2006, I had created a few websites in the travel industry niche to simply play around with and test out SEO strategies. Those websites grew slowly and when I began my career at Shaw, I would tinker with them at night from time-to-time testing out more strategies. Then something happened that would forever change my life.

In 2008, my bride (I always refer to her as my bride) and I welcomed our first child into the world…a baby boy. I had no idea how much that would affect my life, but he set in motion what would happen next.

The Spark

My bride was a 2nd grade teacher when our son was born, but wanted nothing more than to be a stay-at-home mom (which I now recognize as the most challenging, yet rewarding “job” in the world!). A deep motivation stirred in me at that point to get my “side-income” to a level where she could retire from teaching and stay home to raise our son. Some people do it for fancy cars, yachts, etc but I found that when your motivation and desire burns deeper than something “material”, the fuel burns hotter and keeps the fire going longer…at least for me anyway.

I then spent numerous late nights, weekends, and any “down time” working on my travel websites implementing all sorts of SEO, email, and other internet marketing strategies to get as many visits to those sites to generate as much revenue as possible.

All of that work, lack of sleep, etc paid off in March of 2009. My websites were acquired by a large company for a six-figure, cash deal that was large enough to allow my bride to retire from teaching and fulfill her dream of being a stay-at-home mom.

Dream complete. End of story, right? Ohhhh no no. Remember, this was just the “spark”.

The Flame

After the acquisition, I got a LOT more sleep! We even took a 10 day trip to Hawaii just to catch up on some much-needed time together. She started staying at home, and I went back to completely focusing on my corporate career…or so I thought.

It turns out, that spark created a flame. Something in me had began to change. I had created something from nothing on my own and turned it into a financial windfall. I finally made money without getting in trouble – much to the appreciation of my parents!

I began to wonder…could I do it again? Could I do it bigger? Could I do it to a level that I could pursue it full-time and leave the corporate world? It was a thought that constantly tugged at me and wouldn’t let up. This time, though, I had support, advice, tips, etc from all sorts of people.

The Fuel

I began listening to internet marketing podcasts such as Internet Business Mastery by Jason Van Orden and Jeremy Frandsen, which provided all sorts of tips and strategies for internet marketing. It’s mostly geared toward people who are just getting started with creating an internet business, but there are great interviews and nuggets of info helpful for internet entrepreneurs at any level. I would recommend this podcast to just about anyone getting started with creating and online business of any kind. This is the podcast that help jumpstart the career of Pat Flynn. Speaking of Pat Flynn…

The Internet Business Mastery podcast introduced me to Pat Flynn and his Smart Passive Income podcast, which again had all sorts of tips and strategies for internet marketing. Pat has an inspiring backstory which involves him getting “let go” from promising architecture career and then prospering with his own business. He put his story in the form of a nifty interactive “book” which you can find at http://patflynn.me/letgo/. Be sure to also check out his great website at: http://www.smartpassiveincome.com.

The Smart Passive Income podcast then led me to Mark Mason and his Late Night Internet Marketing podcast which I became a guest on for episodes 23 and 24 where I shared numerous WordPress SEO tips. Mark and I shared the common connection of having a corporate “day job” and then working on our own internet marketing projects late at night. It’s important to find people who can relate to what you’re going through as you can help each other along the way! Simply listening to Mark’s podcast gave me comfort in knowing there were others out there who knew what I was going through!

Those three podcasts and those guys had a large influence in keeping my flame lit and pushing me further. I listened to every one of their podcasts during my drives to and from work to get ideas and simply stay motivated. I’d recommend each of them if you’re involved in internet marketing and looking to either make extra income on the side or pursue it full-time.

Quotes that inspired me

I have a little black moleskine notebook that I’ve jotted down quotes into over the years and here are some of the ones that influenced me along the way.

• “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” – Jim Rohn
• “If I’d have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me ‘a faster horse’.” – Henry Ford
• “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count but the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln
• “It’s not what you know, it’s what you use that makes a difference.” – Zig Ziglar
• “It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go.” – Jim Rohn
• “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” – Napolean Hill
• “An average person who develops the habit of setting clear priorities and getting important tasks completed quickly will run circles around a genius who talks a lot, makes wonderful plans, but who gets very little done.” – Brian Tracy
• “Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” – Carl Sandburg
• “He who thinks the idea owns nothing. He who executes the idea owns everything.” – MJ Demarco

The Fire

In 2012, another major event occurred. We welcomed our second child into the world…a baby girl! Just like with our first child, I had no idea at the level of motivation this would bring. This put into motion a fireball of motivation and desire. I began to want to spend more time with my family. I didn’t want to miss any more “firsts”. I didn’t want to miss a single t-ball game. I knew that the requirements of the corporate life would conflict with all of that and more and the only way to “fix” it would be to leave the corporate world.

So that’s what I set out to do.

In the last half of 2012, I replicated the success of my travel websites…but this time on a larger scale. I went back to working late nights, weekends, and any downtime I could find. I won’t lie…I hustled my butt off, but with an amazingly supportive bride and a LOT of prayer I kept pushing on toward my goal…this time with a LOT more fire than the first time.

Speaking of prayer, after a particularly tough day I prayed for guidance and strength as I began to be approached by other companies to take higher-level positions for substantially more salary. I was at a crossroads to either take my corporate career to the next level and be “comfortable” or continue pushing forward with my own business to be able to do exactly what I wanted to do each and every day.

I’ve had many answered prayers in my life, but I’ll never forget this one.

I received an unexpected phone call asking me a question that I hadn’t considered…I was asked if I would be willing to sell my websites. Wow.

Now, the first time that happened in 2009, I didn’t even think TWICE about it. This time, though, was different. I didn’t “need” the financial windfall and I was on a roadmap to turn these websites into a full-time business that would allow me to leave the corporate world and do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, from wherever I wanted.

It wasn’t an easy decision as the offer was tempting. But in the end, I said “no thank you”.

What happened next, though, changed everything.

The Inferno

After turning down the acquisition proposal, I was approached with the opportunity to form a partnership with someone in the same industry to take everything to the next level. Our areas of expertise complimented each other and so we decided to give it a go. And boy did it go!

After forming the partnership, we’ve made acquisitions of our own and have been building a network of websites that have been growing in popularity and revenue month-after-month…even with me only being able to devote a small amount of time on them during nights and weekends.

I knew that the time to transition from my corporate career to my own business was approaching fast and there is an immense amount of pressure when considering “stable” income, 401k, health insurance, life insurance, etc that a corporate career brings. It wasn’t an easy decision at all, but I got another nudge by an unexpected source.

I was listening to a podcast where MJ Demarco was the guest and talking about his book The Millionaire Fastlane. While the name sounds a bit “scammy”, what he was saying was resounding heavily with me and the decisions I was facing. Needless to say, I bought the book and can absolutely say it’s had the largest impact on my outlook on business than any other “business” book I’ve read. It completely put into words what I had been feeling and thinking for years…especially when it talks about creating systems that generate revenue as opposed to trading time for dollars, which was something I knew that I had to change.

Corporate life came to a close in 2013. It was a fulfilling journey that taught me all sorts of valuable lessons that I’ll carry with me.

Fanning the Flames

I’m “on fire” about my growing business and building value into my own asset that generates revenue even when I’m not working on it. I no longer trade time for dollars and am able to finally do whatever I want, whenever I want, from wherever I want. It’s a sweet mix of freedom as well as discipline that is new to me, but I’m loving every minute of it.

I’ll be sharing all sorts of strategies and tips on this website about how I made all of this happen, so be sure to either subscribe to the RSS feed or signup for the newsletter (below) to get updated. I’ll also be sharing my journey into the full-time entrepreneur world to help others who may be on that same path. I’ve still got a lot to do and I’m looking forward to sharing it with you!

Also, I’ve been kicking around the idea of starting a podcast to share all sorts of internet marketing tips and strategies that can be used on sites of all sizes (small to enterprise) in numerous ways including e-commerce, content publishing, B2B, social, email, etc. If you’d love to get tips through a podcast, please drop a comment below to let me know!

I asked my son (who is now 5) what he thought if I worked from home tomorrow, and the next day, and every day after that. The smile on his face sealed the deal and brought everything full circle. At least now I’ll be home if he ever clears out the local newspaper box or tries to have a yard sale!

The post Farewell Corporate World – How and Why I did it appeared first on SHANE EUBANKS.

However, there is definitely an internet marketing strategy that can grow market share and sales during a down economy. Arguably, there are many strategies that could be used, but I’ll just focus on one foundational method that I have used with great success over the years.

Note – While the graphs below represent real data from one of my projects, I cannot reveal the actual numbers or keywords associated with them due to NDA’s…but the strategy used will be clear…I promise.

Ok, moving onto the good stuff.

Research

All effective strategies begin with research and planning. Don’t skimp on this phase because everything else relies on it. Gather all available data you can about your business, industry, website analytics, etc.

Use sites like Google Trends and Yahoo! Clues to view trends, news volume, demographics, etc. Are certain products or services in your field getting more popular over time? Is there a seasonal spike for anything you offer?

Research your top-selling items over the previous number of years…is there noticeable growth in certain items? If so, note them. Other than actual sales data, do customers ask about certain items more than others? Do they ask for products/services you don’t carry? The goal is to determine what the market is hungry for. The fact is, there are most likely people wanting to buy what you are already offering or could very easily begin to offer.

Research competitors. If you sell similar products or services, check out their website and see if they have “top-selling items” featured somewhere. If nothing is listed or if they don’t have a website, try giving them an anonymous call and simply asking what products/services most people prefer.

Use competitive intelligence websites such as Compete, Alexa, or Spyfu to see what keywords/phrases people are searching to end up on competitors’ websites.

Here’s the point…you need to hone in on specific products or services that you already offer or can easily offer. MOST IMPORTANTLY, focus on products or services that are absolutely relevant to your business (website) and that you do not currently rank in the top 5 in search engines for them.

Result: You should now have at least one product or service that you know people are interested in…preferably you found multiple items you can offer so that you can diversify or choose among. You should also not rank in the top of search engines for that product or service, but your business should already sell it (and you just need better rankings) or at least be closely related to it so that you can start offering it. You don’t want search engines throwing flags if your website sells car parts and you suddenly start selling toaster ovens.

Attack

Alright, it’s time to throw off the gloves and start knocking off competitors…in search engine rankings that is. This is where you flex your best (and most legitimate) search engine optimization skills both on-site and off-site.

Start with “head terms” for your products/services and then branch off to long-tail versions of those terms to determine which keywords/phrases you could start ranking high for.

Some people like to start optimizing for the head term right off the bat. The theory is that, while it may take a bit longer to rank #1 for, it could help to start ranking the long-tail versions of a term as well.

For example, let’s say the head term is kitchen sinks. Done properly, a site could also rank for long-tail versions of that term such as:

• big kitchen sinks
• stainless steel kitchen sinks
• porcelain kitchen sinks
• cast iron kitchen sinks
• undermount kitchen sinks
• top mount kitchen sinks

You get the idea.

The other school of thought is to go after the niche, long-tails first as there is typically less competition. So using the examples above, let’s say the phrase started with is “top mount kitchen sinks”. While targeting that specific phrase, it also leaves the ability to eventually start ranking for the head term “kitchen sinks” later down the road since it is included in the long-tail phrase.

The decision to start with either the head term or long-tails simply depends on the competitive analysis. It’s crucial to determine which phrases offer the fastest path to the top of search engines as well as the biggest ROI.

I won’t get into actual on-page optimization such as page titles, descriptions, headings, bold, image alts, anchor text, etc. I also won’t go over link building, social marketing, etc. There are so many strategies regarding those, and this article is meant to be a foundational blueprint on a strong strategy for those techniques to be used on.

Growth

The following chart shows the Google Trends data over the past 4 years for a head term that I targeted. Keep in mind that Google Trends shows the trend in the number of total searches on Google for specific keywords…this has nothing to do with individual website traffic. The head term is for a very popular product a client provides, yet they were not ranked well in search engines for it. As you can see, the trend has slightly declined along with what is said to be the “down economy”. This was expected, yet we wanted to get ranked high for the term to a) increase sales during the “recession” and b) be in prime position once the economy rebounds.

However, the chart below shows the traffic to the client’s website from search engines for that single, targeted head term during the same four year period. As you can see, despite the “down economy” and the declining trend in Google, the website steadily grew traffic (market share) which then led to more sales simply by dialing in on a specific product/head term and increasing search engine ranking positions. It also puts the website in prime position for when the economy recovers and more people start purchasing the product once again.

Conclusion

When this strategy is used correctly, it works. I’ve used this exact strategy over the years in numerous industries to climb to the top of search engines, gobble up market share, and grow businesses. It simply comes down to knowing what your customers are looking for and filling that demand with your products, services, and customer service better than your competitors.

Make sure you utilize this strategy before your competitors do. This is how the best companies stay ahead of the competition year-after-year!

The post How to Grow Business in a Down Economy appeared first on SHANE EUBANKS.

If you blindly follow what works for others, you may get lucky and have great success with open and click rates…or your email marketing may be a bust. It’s a gamble that can be made and fine-tuned with testing various days and times until you get it just right. But who wants to waste time and valuable campaigns testing various days and times? I doubt you do…so let me share a super simple way to determine the best day and time to send emails to your subscribers!

The question you need to be asking yourself is “When is the best day and time to send email campaigns for my audience“. Knowing your audience is the key to easily figuring out exactly when to send email newsletters and communication to them. Here’s the simple technique to reveal your best day and time to send emails.

Super Simple Step 1

The very first (and most important) step is to have some sort of analytics tracking installed on your website. I use Google Analytics and will show you how to use it to find your best day and time. Ideally, you will have had Google Analytics installed and tracking for at least a month to get some decent data…the longer you’ve had it installed, the more accurate your best day and time will be.

What you want to determine is when is the most popular day and time that people are visiting your website. And guess what? This is when your target audience is most interested in what you have to offer on your website, which means they would also be most interested in your email campaigns as well during that time. Easy, right? Eureka? Perhaps.

Since there are three primary sources of traffic (direct, referral, and search) I tend to only pull search traffic since referral and direct can fluctuate depending on news stories, links from other sites, social media, traditional media, etc.

Super Simple Step 2

So how do you find the most popular day and time of search traffic to your website with Google Analytics? Easy! Well…sort of. Google doesn’t have a standard report to show this, so you have to build a custom report. The custom report should have two tabs, one that ranks the most popular days for search traffic and one that ranks that most popular hours for search traffic. The good news is you don’t have to create this report on your own…I’ve done it for you and you can get it through the link below!

Clicking on the link below will open your Google Analytics and allow you to add this custom report to your website profile. Once added, all you have to do is click “Custom Reporting” and you will see the new report labeled “Day and Hour Report” to find the best Days and Hours for search traffic on your own website.

Get the Day and Hour custom report for Google Analytics

Super Simple!

Here’s an example of what the Day tab looks like. Google labels days as numbers (don’t ask me why) and 0 is Sunday, 1 is Monday, 2 is Tuesday and so on. So looking at this report, you can easily see that Monday is the most popular day for search traffic in this example:

The Hours tab is a bit easier to read, though it’s in 24 hour format. Keep in mind that these hours are based on what you have your timezone set as in your website’s profile settings. Looking at the example below, you can see that 11:00am is the most popular time. However, study this a bit closely before settling on your optimal time. Look for a “cluster” of hours in the top 5 or so times to see if there’s a block of time that is best to send. In the example below, you can see the consecutive hours of 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, and 1:00 are in the top five times. Based on this, I would choose to send email campaigns around 10:00am to ensure that it lands in inboxes for that popular block of time.

Final Result

Based on this super simple method, we quickly found out that Monday at 10:00am is a great time to send emails in this example. This is perhaps the quickest and easiest way to find out when to send email newsletters and campaigns to your subscribers. You can further optimize your day & time of course by testing it against other times…perhaps slightly earlier in the morning to see if you get better results, but this method provides an excellent starting point to make sure the most people are seeing your emails when they are most interested in reading what you have to offer!

One again, here’s the link to get your very own “Day and Hour” Google Analytics custom report:
https://www.google.com/analytics/web/permalink?uid=0LZ8XZ15RXqeT4pNvQTFog

Your Thoughts

I’d love to hear what you think about this method. I’ve used it over the years and have had great success with it in finding the best days and times to send emails to subscribers in numerous industries with all sorts of different days and times. Did this method help you? Do you use another method? Would you further customize the custom report in Google Analytics? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Easily Find the Best Day and Time to Send Emails appeared first on SHANE EUBANKS.

During the podcast, I provided 23 WordPress SEO tips that I currently implement and personally recommend. The following is a rundown of the items I mentioned along with links to each plugin, framework, website, etc that was discussed. There is nothing “black hat” or “questionable” in these tips…just solid, legit things to implement and consider when creating a wordpress website. I know this list may leave out details, so please feel free to ask questions in the comments section and I’ll be more than happy to clarify anything for you!

1. Register with Google Webmaster tools. This should be one of the first things you do when setting up a website to get a clear picture of how Google sees your website.
2. Register Google Analytics. It’s free and fantastic…get it!
3. Install a wordpress plugin specifically for Google Analytics. I use and suggest the Google Analytics for WordPress plugin by Yoast.
4. Install a plugin that will automatically create and submit updated XML sitemaps for your website. I use and suggest Google XML Sitemaps by Arne Brachhold.
5. Use a premium framework with built-in SEO such as The Thesis Theme for WordPress or the Genesis framework (both affiliate links). I personally use the Genesis framework on my projects and can vouch for it. The reason to use a premium WordPress theme is that professional designers/developers/SEO’s have already done the hard part and made a solid framework that is optimized and ready to go. It saves time and headaches and is better than most people can do on their own.
6. If for some reasons you choose not to go with a premium wordpress framework, at least install a plugin such as the fairly simple All in One SEO Pack or the more advanced WordPress SEO by Yoast to handle the SEO of page titles, descriptions, noindex, nofollow, etc much better than WordPress does out of the box.
7. Make sure urls are canonical…non-www URLs should redirect to their www version or vice-versa depending on which you choose. New versions of wordpress do this automatically, so just make sure your URLs are redirecting properly.
8. Optimize page title tags – Page titles should have keywords, but make them *interesting*. The name of your website/brand should only be used if branding is important…people will act on actionable keywords rather than brand names, especially if they don’t know the brand.
9. Use noodp noydir tags in your header…some themes such as Genesis have this option built in. If your website is indexed in the Open Directory or Yahoo! directory, these tags keep search engines from using your site title as the title listed in search results and will instead use the page titles that you have specified.
10. Meta descriptions should be informative, but actionable…make people want to click…think of a book where the description on the back makes you want to buy it.
11. I use meta keywords…why not?
12. Change permalink structure from default date format. I use a custom permalink with my sites /%category%/%postname%/ but many suggest /%postname%/. If you change this on an existing site, make sure your old permalink urls 301 redirect to the new ones.
13. h1 should be site name on homepage…post title on post pages…category title on category pages…etc
14. h2 is good for sub-headings within posts
15. I typically nofollow certain site wide links that I don’t care to rank in search engines…examples are privacy policy, terms of service, etc
16. Use images throughout website and name the images with keywords…use alt tags with keywords…use the images as links with keywords in the title element of the link. Make sure, though, the keywords are related to the actual picture and you’re not just spamming keywords in irrelevant images.
17. Optimize images for speed and only use rich media such as flash if absolutely necessary (or not at all…). Mark suggested WP Smush.it, which does a great job of optimizing images.
18. Give attention to anchor text throughout site and interlink articles together with keywords where appropriate.
19. Do keyword research before naming categories & tags! The words you choose affect anchor text, content, url structures, etc…VERY important
20. Create a site-wide widget on your sidebar to link to most important articles…give them the most “authority” as possible.
21. Create STRONG, QUALITY, STICKY content…keep users from hitting the back button when they land on your site! Embedded video helps users stick.
22. Google’s secret sauce is FRESHNESS, STICKINESS, SOCIALNESS…keep quality content FRESH, STICKY, AND SOCIAL. Update your website regularly, make it engaging so that users stay on the page/site after they reach it from a search result, and create content that people would want to share. Simply adding share buttons isn’t enough…give them a reason to share your website.
23. Microdata & Author tags for rich snippets are being used more and more by search engines. Find a way to utilize the info provided at http://schema.org/

Whew! Hopefully there was a nugget or two in those 23 WordPress SEO tips for you to implement on your website(s). I’ve seen great success when utilizing those steps along with quality content and some sort of unique value proposition. If you have a solid, optimized foundation then everything else you do will fall into place making it more likely to rank better in search engines. Just remember, keep your content fresh, sticky, and social!

At the end of the podcast, we mentioned possibly doing another one where we talk about competitive backlinking strategies, which would walk through steps on how to acquire many links that your competitors have. If you’d like to hear those strategies, let me know in the comments section below!

The post 23 WordPress SEO Tips appeared first on SHANE EUBANKS.

Email marketing, when utilized “correctly” can be the most crucial part of your entire business as it can allow you stay connected to your customers and build solid relationships with them. Aside from actual in-person interaction or phone conversations, email is one of the strongest mediums to stay on customers’ minds and build yourself as an authority in your industry.

The following tips are the email marketing best practices and tips that I’ve seen to be the most effective over the years. I compiled this list before speaking at Digital Summit 2012 in Atlanta on a panel about Email Marketing Best Practices knowing I’d never be able to talk about all of this on a panel in 60 minutes! I’ve broken these tips into five primary areas:

1. Email Marketing Foundation
2. Increase Subscriptions
3. Increase Open Rates
4. Increase Click-Through Rates
5. Increase Conversions

Email Marketing Foundation

• Put Email First – Many times I have seen massive marketing campaigns or product launches that take weeks or months to develop only to have an email thrown together on the last day just to meet a deadline and get it out to customers. Keep in mind that emails are often the very first impression that customers see of that entire campaign. You only get one shot at a first impression and if your email is it, then it pays to make it count. In fact, email could be considered the most crucial part of the entire marketing campaign. Treat it as such!
• People – Focus on the best people before focusing on the best technologies. You wouldn’t buy a million dollar sports car and stick a kid behind the wheel, so make sure you have the best possible minds driving your email marketing campaigns. A great email marketer can do more with a small, inexpensive email service provider than a novice using a large enterprise ESP.
• Integration – Integrate your email service provider wherever and however possible whether it’s connecting to website registrations, CRMs, social media, etc.
• Build Relationships – Email has been around for decades and has remained an extremely strong interactive marketing channel. Why? Because it’s personal. It’s that last bit of “privacy” that online users have today. With social networks sharing anything and everything, people still turn to email for that “this is my life, and my life only” piece of their lives. Email has a sense of “trust” with a “by invitation only” aspect to it. Because of this, it is crucial to respect subscribers and cultivate a relationship with them. Don’t treat email marketing as a “one-size-fits-all” campaign for the masses. To be truly effective, you must add value for your recipients and give them content that they can benefit from.
• Track Everything – Add annotations in your analytics programs to note the days/times of email sends. Track open rates, click rates, subscribe rates, unsubscribe rates, all the way down to conversion rates (more on that later). Email marketing provides some of the clearest data to help you optimize subject lines, design, calls-to-action, landing pages, etc. Use it to your advantage!
• Split Test – Split testing or even multivariate testing helps to craft the most-likely-to-be-successful email campaigns by optimizing subject lines, design, layout, colors, landing pages etc. You know that whole “track everything” we just mentioned? Well this is why. Find an email service provider that has fantastic A/B split testing tools and use them to your advantage. As an example for subject lines, send subject line A out to 20% of your list, send subject line B out to 20% and then send the one with the highest open rate to the rest of the 60% of your list. Email service providers such as Mailchimp do a great job of taking care of this automagically for you. Really, it’s fantastic.
• Stay Visible – People don’t see your emails unless you send them. I know, newsflash right? It’s easy to get “out of sight, out of mind” when your email campaigns are spaced too far apart. On the other hand, sending them too close together can increase unsubscribe & spam rates. Each industry/niche is slightly different, so keep in mind to just stay consistent with sending emails and remain visible. Don’t, however, send out lame content just for the sake of getting an email out. Make it count.
• Segment – Segmenting is one of those areas that you may not know you need, until you need it. So start off on the right foot by collecting as much info about your subscribers as possible without being annoying. This way you can send emails based on city, state, interests, purchase history, etc whenever you need to. Again, a great email service provider will have numerous ways to segment. Do you want to resend an email to everyone who didn’t open it the first time? How about sending an email to all subscribers who have never opened an email? Perhaps you only want to send an email to subscribers who open emails on mobile devices. Mailchimp offers all of these and more…no, this isn’t a Mailchimp ad…I just use them and love them.
• Scannable – Many people recommend keeping emails short and to the point. I say it really depends on the industry/niche/message/etc. The biggest thing to remember is to keep it scannable meaning it should be easy to read with a clear call to action. Make sure the subject line accurately gets the user started on coming to the resolution or goal you have planned for them. It’s okay to be a bit “mysterious” in the subject line, but don’t make it difficult for users to figure out what the email is about.
• Autoresponders – I hesitate to add autoresponders or “drip campaigns” to a list of “genuine email marketing” tips simply because of the perception they have. Most people think of these as generic campaigns triggered to go out after an action is taken such as someone subscribing to a newsletter. If you implement autoresponders or drip campaigns, just keep in mind the whole “build relationships” aspect mentioned above. Make sure the message builds upon why they first gave you permission to email them in the first place. Don’t hard sell them right away. If you met a girl (or guy) and they gave you their phone number, you wouldn’t get very far if you called them up and asked them to have your baby right away…they’d no doubt unsubscribe…hopefully. Same goes with follow-up emails. Build a relationship…build their trust…earn them as a customer.
• Double Opt-in – This is pretty much an industry-standard by now, but I feel that it should be mentioned anyway. Make sure your email signups require a double opt-in. This is where someone signs up for your email list, they get a confirmation email to verify their address is correct in which they typically click a link to verify it, and it then adds them to the list. This reduces fake signups and spam complaints. Definitely worth doing.
• Thank you and Welcome – Many email service providers have a default “thank you” landing page after a user verifies their email address and sometimes a default “welcome” email that is sent when the user verifies. Take advantage of these and make them personal to your website/business. Give the users more info and value. Perhaps it’s links to whitepapers or most popular articles. Maybe it’s a free download of something. It could be a special discount of some kind. Whatever it is, brand it. Give them a reason to feel happy about joining your list. They just gave you permission into their private little digital world. Cozy all up with them and take advantage of the opportunity to get them to know you better!
• Make Unsubscribing Simple – If you don’t do this, your risk of spam complaints increases, which also increases the risk of your email service provider banning your account. It’s a lose/lose for everyone involved. If someone wants to unsubscribe, don’t hide the unsubscribe link in a faded color in the footer mixed with paragraphs of text with ambiguous anchor text such as “86 me”. No no, make it simple and clear on how to unsubscribe. It keeps people happy and your list as clean as possible.
• Mobile – More and more people are using mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to check email. While the technology and capability of mobile email clients is improving, there are still ways to enhance the experience of viewing emails on mobile devices. Again, keep in mind the goal you want users to reach via your email campaign and determine the best way a mobile user would get to that goal. Also, see if your email service provider gives data on what email clients and devices users open emails with. Litmus.com is a great provider of this type of info and more (mentioned below).
• “Best” Practices Change – One thing to keep in mind is that “best practices” for email marketing change over time. What worked a few years ago may not be as effective today. Don’t let your subject lines, design, layout, type of content, etc grow stale. People like new things and often prune the old ones…same goes with email subscriptions. If you start seeing declines in open rates and click rates, then you know your email marketing is due for a much-needed facelift.
• Email Calendar – In order to stay consistent, create an email calendar to plan out what content you will distribute and when. This helps to stay consistent and also helps push along content creation and everything else necessary that will support the email campaigns.
• Don’t use Lotus Notes – The only way you’ll find Lotus Notes on a list of Email Marketing Best Practices is to have a line that says not to use it. So here it is. I will point out, however, to make sure you know what email client the majority of your subscriber list uses and to test your emails in that client. The next tip helps with that.
• Litmus – Litmus is an incredible service that is integrated into many popular email service providers. It has many features including the ability to see what your email campaign looks like in 30+ email clients. It also provides spam filter testing and analytics that show you what email client your subscribers are opening your emails with. Super power stuff especially if you’re sending emails to lots of people. Highly recommended!

Increase Subscriptions

• Incentives – People love incentives. Period. Better put, people need a reason to give you permission to email them. Maybe it’s to get an exclusive coupon, access to a free report, insider tips, entry into a giveaway or contest, etc. Find ways to offer an incentive that is relevant to your business that people will benefit from. Then over-deliver.
• Provide Benefits – Beyond incentives, how would people benefit from your emails. Will you be giving them valuable resources, tips, inspiration, insights, etc? How will their daily lives benefit by getting an email from you? Tell them that up front. Show them the benefits of what you will be providing them.
• Peace of Mind – Will their email address be shared? If not, tell them that…if so, tell them that too and give them options to opt-out of 3rd party emails. Give the user the peace of mind that their email address will be kept private and not shared by you with anyone else. Gain their trust from the start and honor it.

Increase Open Rates

• Best Day/Time to Send – Each industry or niche most likely has an optimal time to send emails out to increase open rates. For emails that are business related, this may mean sending out emails during the morning early in the week. Emails for restaurants and bars may get better open rates when sent later in the day or on weekends. The point is to try different days/times and track the open rates. If your subject lines are pretty much the same, you should get a fairly accurate idea of when your subscribers are most likely to be opening emails.
• Preview Panes – Many email clients, especially those on smartphones, have preview panes that show a certain number of characters from the email. Make sure to have a handful of words at the very top of your emails briefly stating what the email contains in a way that would make users want to open and get the full details. Do not simply put “view in browser” as the first text…unless you don’t want people to open your emails.
• Personlization – Again, this is something that should be tested and used tactfully. Simply throwing someone’s first name in the subject line has been a bit abused over the past couple of years and users aren’t as apt to open those sorts of emails these days…they’re more likely to be creeped out by it sometimes! However, if you have a type of email that comes across as more personal such as a “thank you” or “welcome” email, then it may make sense to add personalization such as names. Like everything else, test it…but be smart about when you add personalization and don’t do it every time or else it will lose its effectiveness.
• Localization – Just as with dynamically inserting names in subject lines, you can also merge in locations such as city, states, etc. An example would be something like “Check out what we just launched in [user city]”. Again, this should be done tactfully and not often, but it works and can boost open rates when used properly.
• From Address – Use some sort of “realistic” reply-to address…not “dontreply@”. Again, this comes back to the whole “build relationships” bit. Many ESPs have ways to filter replies so that only legit emails pass through to you. Mailchimp’s Replyto is a great example. Utilize these along with an actual reply-to address for a more personal connection to your subscribers.

Increase Click-Through Rates

• Clear Call-to-Action – This goes along with the whole “scannable” tip from above. User scan through emails and quickly decide whether to click or delete. If you want people to click something in the email, make it obvious. No, not flashing, scrolling marquees with animated fireworks, but make it stand out in the email. Whether it’s font color & size, a graphic, or the actual text used just make sure it’s clear. As painful as it may be to grasp, some industries actually see better results from adding “Click here” to the links…I know, facepalm, hello ’90s and all that stuff. But once again, test your links…test the colors, sizes, text, etc to see what works best. If someone tells you that green buttons with size 14 white text works best, by all means give it a whirl but be sure to test it against what you’re doing. Don’t just take it as scripture and roll with it.
• Consider More Options – If your email is about only one thing and links to only one thing, you’re putting all your eggs in one basket and rolling the dice just hoping all of your subscribers are interested in that one thing. Consider adding multiple features in an email, or navigational links to the most popular pages of your website. If you sell products, maybe list the top 5 rated or sold items from your website. People have different interests and some people’s interest changes daily…sometimes by the minute. The key is to not give too many options, but just enough to keep the email easily scannable with clear calls-to-action.
• Scarcity – We’ll dip back into marketing 101 for a reminder that scarcity works. Yes, it’s an old tactic, but it is just as effective as ever. If it weren’t, sites like Groupon wouldn’t be so popular. If you have a limited time offer or limited quantities of something, this can be a major psychological trigger to get people to click-through. Without this, many people will often open an email and think “Hmmm, this sounds interesting but I’ll come back to it later” and chances are they never do. Informing people that something is only available that day or for the first number of people can definitely spur clicks.

Increase Conversions

• Beyond Opens and Clicks – Pretty much everyone tracks open and click-through rates…but many people stop there. And this is where they fall short of the whole point of email marketing. To truly make email marketing an integral part of your business you have to think and track far beyond opens and clicks. You have to consider conversion rates as well. Is the point of your email to get people to buy something? Then track the number of people that clicked through to your website and actually purchased something. Was the conversion rate low? Perhaps the landing page needs tweaked. Perhaps the subject line or content of the email didn’t successfully prepare the user on what to expect or make a purchase. When you start considering your end-goal and conversions, it also helps you to prepare the most effective subject lines and content for emails. So think beyond opens and clicks!
• Ask “Why?” – Anytime you set up an email, just ask “Why?” What is the point of the email? What is the end-goal? What do you want users to get out of it? How will it benefit them? What do you want out of it? Answering questions like this helps to setup the whole funnel of what you intend on the user to do and will make your email marketing much more successful. Keep the end in mind!
• Establish ROI – When you get conversions rolling and are tracking everything properly, you can accurately evaluate the ROI of your email marketing. You’ll know what an open is worth, how much a click-through is worth, etc. Executives love these sorts of numbers and will pay much more attention to your reports!
• Consider Social – Social media is slipping into email marketing more and more with ways to like features, share newsletters, pin images, etc. More than likely, there’s a way to integrate social media into your email campaigns…just don’t blindly add 50 social sharing icons to the bottom of your emails. Be creative and think like a user. Consider what social media your users actually use and how they use it. Some ESPs offer insight into what social media your email subscribers use based on their email address such as Mailchimp’s SocialPro. This way you can quickly get an idea of what they use and even who is the most influential users in your list. It can be quite powerful stuff!

Final Thoughts about Email Marketing Best Practices and Tips

If you have anything to add to the list, questions, or thoughts about something listed above then please share it in the comments below! Many people approach email marketing in different ways and this just happens to be my take. As I said, if anyone (including myself) tells you something is a “best practice”, it may not work as well for your industry and subscribers. Just test everything and roll with what works best. Even then, continue to test…don’t let your design, layout, content, subject lines, etc grow stale. Stay fresh and interesting to your subscribers and they’ll have that same perception of you. Remember, email marketing is often the first and lasting impression that people will have of you and your business. Earn their trust, give them value, overdeliver, and don’t use Lotus Notes.

The post Email Marketing Tips and Best Practices appeared first on SHANE EUBANKS.

That was my major thought after the first conference I attended years ago. I left feeling as though I had been cheated out of hundreds of dollars for information I either already knew or could have easily found online. I mean, sure, there were a few “golden nuggets” of info here and there, but I just didn’t “get it.”

As I went to more conferences, I soon realized that it wasn’t the conferences’ fault that I left feeling slightly empty. I wasn’t being cheated…I was cheating myself.

I simply missed out on the most beneficial part of attending conferences…networking!

Think back when you went to school…or maybe you’re still in school. Did you enjoy the lessons, textbooks, homework, etc? Or did you enjoy the friends, jokes, sports, games, and everything else that came with socializing?

That simple realization completely flipped my opinion of conferences. Networking for me has become far more valuable than the info I learn sometimes. Even if you’re not a social butterfly (trust me, because I’m not), you can still apply these easy tips for networking at conferences to get the most out of your conference experience!

Before the conference

1) Check the agenda

The very first thing you should do when registering for a conference is check the agenda. Make notes of the sessions that you absolutely don’t want to miss, but also be sure to note any speaker you don’t recognize. You’ll need those names for the next tip.

2) Do your homework

Homework? Who wants to do homework? Well, this homework can make or break your conference experience. This is where you check out those speakers you didn’t recognize to see who they are, what they do, where they work, what they’ve done, etc. This will help you narrow down the sessions you want to attend.

3) Shout out

If you have a decent social following or can target a hashtag, forum, blog, etc then shout out to people asking if they’re attending the conference and who their must-see speaker is or the session they’re most interested in. Not only will this help you decide, but it also creates a connection to someone else going that you can build on when you get there.

4) Register for everything

Okay, so you have your list of sessions. Get registered for them! I’ve been to conferences where sessions were “sold out” so be sure to get this taken care of as early as possible. Also sign up for any special breakfast, lunch, dinners, parties, breakouts, etc that may be offered. Basically, get your schedule out of the way so you can relax. Nobody likes trying to figure these things out at the last minute only to hear everyone in the session next door laughing, clapping, etc. It’s that, “crap…I picked the wrong session feeling.” Bets10

5) Know where to find food and fun

Everyone eats…and a lot of people drink. Check out the places around the conference to get an idea of what’s available and what’s good. When you find yourself with someone or a group at a conference that wants to head out for appetizers, dinner, drinks, etc then you can avoid that blank stare & shrug when someone says, “what’s around here?” You can jump in with “I hear there’s a great Italian restaurant right around the corner..sound good?”

6) Pack some essentials

Make sure you come to the conference with business cards or something you can give people to remember you by and contact you. Oh…and bring mints…or gum…pretty self-explanatory.

7) Know who you are

Most everyone at conferences are all about the what you do and where you work. Be prepared to answer those as interestingly as possible. Do you sell cow manure? Well, tell people you’re #1 in the #2 business. Find a way to make it stick out. Also, talk about things on a “relational” level…where are you from? Do you like sports? What team do you like? Any hobbies? Be a human…not a business card.

8) Get an idea of who they are

If there are people you want to meet, find out a bit about them…not on a psycho-stalker level though! Do they have an odd name? How is it pronounced? Have they helped you succeed in any way at all such as a tip, tutorial, plugin, etc? Be prepared to thank them…sincerely. Most people love knowing what they’ve done has helped someone in some way. It’s about the easiest way to break the ice there is and can build a connection much faster.

During the conference

9) Step up and speak up

This may be the most difficult hurdle for you to overcome. When you get past this, though, your conference-going experience will completely change and you’ll never view conferences the same. Trust me…it happened to me.

P.T. Barnum once said, “You know I had rather be laughed at than not to be noticed at all.” Step up..speak up…lean over and say something…don’t interrupt, but jump in conversations when appropriate. Giving and receiving business cards is fine, but listen and at least act interested…people like to feel interesting!

10) Take notes

Sure, you’re going to take notes during sessions, but some of the most important notes you’ll take will be on the backs of those business cards you just took. Don’t necessarily take notes in front of the person, but when you find a moment jot down some tidbits about them. Did someone have a family? What were their names? Were they about to change careers? Use these tidbits to reach back out to them later after the conference..again, not in a psycho-stalker way…but in a sincere “I’m not trying to sell you something” way.

11) Social networks

Many conferences make heavy use of twitter and hashtags. Some conferences have their own social networks. Whatever is being used…use it. Use it before, during, and after the conference. If people see your tweets, posts, pics, etc then your name will stick out to them…again making it easier to break the ice. Retweet people, respond, and be social…don’t just lob random tweets out and expect interaction.

12) Current profile pics

This is something I’ve seen a few people do at conferences that’s simple yet effective to do. Just change your social profile pic on twitter, Google+, etc each morning of the conference so people can see exactly what you look like. They’ll see your tweets and will easily be able to pick you out of a crowd if they run into you! So leave the 50 gallon pink cowboy hat at home.

13) Be quotable

Okay, so you’re using social networks and perhaps your pic looks exactly like you. All of that is fine and dandy, but being quotable, retweetable, shareable, etc is often the quickest way to stand out at a conference. Perhaps you simply post a stat or insight from a session that other people love and start retweeting & sharing. They probably heard it too, but you just saved them from having to wear out their fingers posting it also.

The first time I attended the ExactTarget Connections conference (which is awesome by the way), I posted a small tweet about a feature request I was hoping they would launch. During the keynote, the COO of ExactTarget showed my tweet in front of the crowd of about 1,500 and called me out. At first, I had the “oh shoot, what did I tweet?!” feeling. But that mention in the keynote opened a lot of doors for me during the rest of the conference…all because of one little tweet.

As you start getting retweeted & shared, your name starts becoming more and more recognizable. Maybe you whipped up a list of twitter & Google+ links for all of the speakers…people at conferences often eat this sort of thing up and will share it in a heartbeat. Be useful and quotable.

14) Grub together

Don’t eat alone. Don’t make excuses. Your smartphone can wait. Sit with people you don’t know and strike up a conversation. Who knows who you’ll rub elbows with. If everyone is on their own for dinner and you don’t know anyone, just hit up twitter to head out with others who are in the same boat as you…there ARE others. My longest-lasting connections have been made this way. It works!

After the conference

15) Put those business cards to use…tactfully

So the conference is over and hopefully you’ve had a blast learning tons, meeting new people, and all that fun stuff. Now you have a bag full of swag and a gazillion business cards. What do you do with the business cards? I can tell you what not to do with them…don’t hit the people up and immediately try and sell them your product or service. You’ll just get lost in the blah blah blah of everyone else contacting them right after the conference.

What I like to do is gather the business cards of people I want to remain in contact with and then try and connect with them on LinkedIn, twitter, Google+, etc. If I add them on LinkedIn, I always include a personal message about it being nice to meet them and then try to include something funny or memorable from when we met at the conference. When I met Matt Cutts for the first time, it wasn’t in a crowded line with everyone else…it was in a lobby hallway with about three other people. I mentioned how relieved I was that he (as the head of spam at Google) had no idea who I was! He got a good laugh out of it and I mentioned it later on twitter…to which he replied. I wasn’t picking his brain for tips or asking why Panda hates me…I just had fun with it..and so did he.

Other tips

Here are some other great resources for tips on networking at conferences:

BlueGlass’ 7 Ways to Network and Be Social at Conferences
Todd Malicoat’s 15 Ways to Be a SEO Conference Douchebag
Todd Malicoat’s SEO Conference Tips & Tricks
Jim Boykin’s Conference Tips and Conversation Starters
Lynn Terry’s post on Attending Live Events with an Objective in Mind

Bonus tips

Do you have some tips you’ve picked up from going to conferences? Please share them in the comment section below!

The post 15 Tips for Networking at Conferences appeared first on SHANE EUBANKS.

I was going to do a screencast of this, but wasn’t sure what data would violate any Google terms of service agreements. So, as much as I love all ya’ll I’m taking the safe route and will just list the steps necessary.

First off, you need to have a Google Analytics account and the analytics tracking installed throughout your website. If you don’t have Google Analytics, just click the link above to go sign up. The next step (if you don’t already have this) is the most important step: you have to link your adsense and analytics accounts together. If you don’t have them linked, you can go to Google’s Adsense Blog and click the link that says “interest form” at the top of the article on the page. Fill out that form and you should get linked up fairly quickly. Once you have adsense, analytics, and they are linked together you will need to wait at least 24 hours for Google to start providing some decent data. Once you have some data to look at you’re good to go!

So here’s where it all happens…here is exactly how to dramatically increase your adsense revenue.

The Research

1. Login to Google Analytics, choose your website profile, and then click on Content on the left side of the page and then Adsense and finally Top Adsense Content. Here is where the magic happens.
2. At the bottom of that table, choose to show 25 or 50 rows so that you get a good sample of pages
3. Next, sort the rows by eCPM (estimated cost per thousand impressions). This shows you the pages that earn you the most money…in order. That rocks! While this is awesome, don’t stop here! You’ll miss a very important step!
4. Now…take a look at the next column over…CTR (click through rate), which is the percentage of clicks those ads get. You need to find the pages with high CTRs…as well as a decent number of page impressions. The page impressions are important as higher page impressions mean more accurate data for the eCPM and CTRs.
5. Jot down your #1 page….the one with a high eCPM, high CTR, and decent amount of impressions. This is your money-maker and the golden egg of your research. Well done! Now the fun stuff…

You can grab a couple of the next highest pages with high eCPM, high CTR, and high impressions, but picking just one page will yield great results…and choosing just one will help you get something implemented right away and see how it works.

The Implementation
Ok, so you have your bread-winning URL…the MacDaddy of all the pages on your site. What do you do with it? This is where it gets crazy cool, so buckle up.

Think of your website as a funnel. All of your pages are the top of the funnel. What you want to do is take everyone that lands on your pages and funnel them into your “Big Kahuna Page”. To illustrate it, I put together this incredibly detailed and fancy graphic.

Ok, so now you see what I mean by “funnel”. The graphic may not be fancy and detailed, but you get the point. Simply put, no matter how a user gets to your site you want them to end up on your money page. Here are some tips to make that happen.

1. 1. Sitewide links – This is an obvious and easy action to take, which is where you can immediately increase your adsense revenue. To make it even stronger, think of it as more than a standard “link” on all of your pages. Consider featuring it as a cool graphic or an obvious “button” that entices the user to click. Also, if it is a sitewide link then it has the added benefit of looking more important to search engines, which can help your money page rank higher…double sweet!
   2. Share the URL in your social networks (you are social…right?) or on any other website/forum/ect where people visit. Don’t spam it, though…unless you want to kiss your money page goodbye.
   3. Consider guest posting on another blog/website and pointing a link back to your money page
   4. Do some keyword research to see if you can rank your page higher in search engines. Is the page about a certain topic that is highly searched? Is there much competition? I’ll get into keyword research methods in another post, but I use a combination of Google Adwords’ Keyword Tool and Nichebot. That should lead you down the rabbit hole.

There are many ways to get visitors to your money page, but those few should help increase adsense revenue dramatically.

So there you have it. Basically, find your high eCPM/CTR page(s) and funnel your traffic to those pages. It really is that simple. That’s my google adsense secret. If you have other methods to increase visits to a single page or have anything you’d like to add to this, please share it in the comments below.

The post How to Increase Your Adsense Revenue Dramatically appeared first on SHANE EUBANKS.