There’s no doubt about it… sex sells.

On the street, on the big screen, in books and undoubtably on the Internet.  And of course, when it comes to celebrities all around the world, being ’sexy’ is a very important part of the whole ‘package’.

But you may be a little surprised to be reading an article about making your marketing ’sexy’.

Most people don’t think of marketing as being ’sexy’. They usually think of marketing as a ‘necessary evil’.  Or as something that’s deadly dull and boring.  Or as something that makes them uncomfortable.

If that sounds like the way you feel about your marketing, I’d like to invite you to look at it from a different angle.

First of all, why do you market?

If you said ‘To get more work’, or ‘to find new clients’ or ‘to make more money’… imagine Simon just buzzed you off the stage of American Idol.

Marketing isn’t about getting more work, it’s about getting the right kind of work.

It’s about working on the kinds of projects you want to work on, with the people you want to work with.

Marketing isn’t about following cookie cutter tactics.

It’s not about trying to get people to sign up for your e-book, your special report or your autoresponder so that you can keep promoting your products or services from then on.

Marketing shouldn’t be about playing small.

Your marketing should be about who you are, what you stand for and what makes you – uniquely YOU.

And when it is… when you’re willing to step out of the shadows, to talk about the things you’re passionate about, and about why you’re doing what you’re doing… it’s sexy.  And it attracts the kinds of people who resonate with your message, and who are drawn to working with you.

And that’s what your offer should be all about.

Your offer needs to focus on what the ultimate value to your customer or client is.  It should be all about the light at the end of the tunnel. About giving the person buying it the end result they really want. Solving a problem, ending a pain, doing something better, faster, stronger tomorrow than they can do today.

It’s not about lies, or hype or making empty promises.

It’s about how you show up at the end of the day – and how you offer what you offer to the world.

See what I mean?  Sexy.

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If you’re one of the ‘tens of readers’ of  my blog, (as one of my favorite bloggers says), then you’ve probably got a lot of plans and hopes and dreams too for your business in 2010.

But do you have a plan to “Create Success in 2010″?

I’m asking because I’ve gotten 27 emails (among hundreds) in my email box since the first of the year with that particular sentence – or the variation “Creating Success in 2010″ -  in the subject line.

Out of curiosity, I opened each one.

• 3 were the same affiliate link, selling someone else’s products.
• 6 were people promoting their own products – everything from e-books and ‘how-to-do-something’ videos to high level coaching programs.
• 2 contained inspirational thoughts and law-of-attraction type messages.
• 7 were other people selling the same affiliate program in the internetmarketing/how to start a business niche.
• 4 contained some actual ideas for creating and measuring success.
• 5 were from clients with their ideas, questions and suggestions for projects I’ll be working on in the coming year.

So, gramps, it looks like I’m going to be busier than a one-armed paper hanger with the hives this year. (Whoo hoo!)

Luckily, I did my business planning at the end of the year, the way I always try to do. One of the things I like to do is look back over the results I achieved during the year.  I look at sales (of course), but also the individual elements that combine to make a successful internet business.  And then I also look at how much fun I had – because I honestly believe that if you’re not having a good time running your own business,  you might as well be working for someone else, collecting a paycheck, and putting fun into other aspects of your life.  And then I look at my ‘made a difference’ results.  Because, that’s one other area I believe is vital – in business and in life.  Are we making a difference to someone else?  Are we serving others?  Because again, if you’re not, what will people remember – what legacy will you leave behind?

If you’re curious, here’s a snapshot of my plans for 2010:

• Getting rid of two ventures that were not profitable in 2009.
• Adding three new passive income streams that, after initial research look promising.
• Only accepting 2 0r 3 ghostwriting book projects for the entire 2010 year (If you’ve decided 2010 is the year you’re going to write your book, get in touch with me now, and lets see if we’re the right fit!)
• Working with Dan (my business partner to launch two new niche ventures)
• Continuing my regular columns and writing about travel
• Planning for the next series in my radio show
• Working with my copywriting clients
• Doing some ‘pro-bono’ grant writing to help build a school in Africa

My business plan for creating success in 2010 doesn’t leave much time for slacking off this year. I’m committed to creating success in 2010 for my clients, and for my business.

I’d love to hear about your plans for success… What are you going to be doing differently in 2010?  What will you be doing the same? Where do you want to be 12 months from now?

Also, if you’ve got advice for someone just starting out, some words of wisdom to help them make 2010 “their year” – please feel free to add your comments below!

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First of all, no matter what business you’re in, getting current publicity is vitally necessary… If you’re not entering into the conversation, if you’re not on top of what’s in the news as it relates to your topics of expertise… then you’re going to be left behind.

And this is especially true and important if you’re an author working on your book.

If you’re not staying out in the public’s eye, and talking about what’s going on from your status as an expert, and letting people know how what’s going on is going to impact them, then you’re going to become yesterday’s news – and the world will move on without you.

Look, publicity is an investment – because once you’ve gotten the publicity, doors will open for you, and other opportunities will fall into your lap.

So let’s look at the ABC’s of Publicity that will help you promote your book…

A is for “Advertise” your book… I’m not talking about taking out an ad in the New York Times or USA Today, I’m talking about getting creative and creating a kind of publicity matrix to help you promote your book in as many different ways as possible. (Some ideas to consider: Posters, flyers, postcards, media releases, newsletter – yours and other people’s, Website, email list, personal letters, networking, twitter, facebook, myspace, forums, local bookstores, book signings, book reviews, local and cable television bookings, etc.)

B is for “Bookings” – you need to talk about your book. So start thinking about radio (internet and traditional) stations, newspaper interviews, blog tours, speaking engagements, etc.

C is for “Creativity” - you don’t have to spend a lot of money – although if you don’t have any kind of budget for your marketing strategy, you’re going to need to plan on spending a lot of time to successfully promote your book. Here’s one way that’s been under-used, but is becoming more mainstream – find corporate sponsors of your book.

D is for “Direct Marketing” – don’t forget to send out notices that your book is ready for purchase.  You can use email (no spamming,please), postcards, personal letters, joint ventures, piggy-back marketing, etc.

E is for “Eye Catching” – My grandmother used to say, ‘Pretty is as Pretty does’… And in today’s hectic, over-advertised, busy worlds, people are getting slammed all the time with advertising. The problem is, too much of it is the ’same-old, same-old” – make yours stand out from the crowd.

F is for “First in Mind” – This goes back to having a platform, creating a brand and coming up with a way that when someone thinks about your topic, or your niche, or even your genre, your book is what pops into their minds first.

G is for “Giving it all you’ve Got” – When it comes to publicity, too many authors will send out a media release or two, maybe do a virtual book tour, and a book signing at their local bookstore – and then they’re done.  The problem with publicity is, it’s a process, and it’s something that happens over time, with continued effort.  If you don’t want to promote yourself, then do you and your book a favor, and hire someone to handle your publicity and promotion.

H is for “Hook” – What’s your hook?  A Hook isn’t a “big over-reaching idea” – it’s the one little thing that grabs people’s attention and helps to create a buzz about your and your book. This is a biggie, so make sure you take the time to find the right hook before your start your book promotion campaign.

I is for “Ideas” – When you’re looking for ideas for promoting your book, take a look at what’s going on in other industries, with other authors and with marketing campaigns for other products that catch your “eye”.  It’s a good idea to create a “swipe file” of advertisements, promotion ideas, posters, flyers, etc. Not to steal, but to help jumpstart your own marketing plans.  Sometimes just one idea can fan the flames of your creativity and result in a fabulous promotional campaign that nets you lots of ongoing publicity.

J is for “Jumpstart your Campaign” – When you’re ready to start promoting your book, create a multi-pronged campaign that hits in as many different media as possible – all at once.  This really can help to jumpstart your promotion and publicity efforts, because your readers – and potential readers – will start seeing your book everywhere.  And it’s necessary, because according to direct marketing experts, a consumer has to see your name or your advertisement at least 7 times before they’ll buy.  So you want to “go wide” at first, to help create a buzz.

K is for “Kick it up a Notch” – Once you’ve done the first promotion blitz, don’t stop there.  Kick things up a notch and do some more.  Remember promoting your book is a process. To do it right, it takes time and effort.  So create an organized plan. Start with pre-promotion. Then the first marketing campaign, and then the second wave. And then have a plan for what happens after that….

L is for “Lessons Learned”.  Keep track of what works – and what doesn’t. One of the best ways to do this is to get yourself a notebook – a publicity journal.  Some authors like a 3-ring binder so they can add pages or move them around as needed. Others prefer a diary-type book or day planner. Having a calendar is useful, and a place to put contact information or other people’s business cards is also good. Basically you want to track not only what you’ve done to promote your book, but the lessons you’ll learn along the way – what doesn’t work, or what you’ll do differently the next time.

M is for “Modeling is a Good Thing” – Don’t waste time, money or effort in reinventing the wheel. Those old sayings that “success leaves clues” and “Find someone who’s already successful and follow in their footsteps” are also true when it comes to promoting your book and getting publicity.

N is for “Networking”. You’ve got connections. The people you know have connections. If you’re networking from a place of honesty and integrity, and with the main goal of helping others, then use your connections. Don’t be shy about it. You might be surprised to find how willing other people are to help build a buzz about your book.  Warning: Don’t suddenly start networking and asking people to help you if they haven’t heard from you in over a year – first of all, they probably aren’t going to remember you. And secondly, it’s those kind of networkers who give everyone else a bad name.  Networking should be a part of your every day activities.  Build your network and keep it going – before you start promoting your book.

O is for “Open Mind” – Stay open to new ideas and always be on the lookout for ways to promote your book. Ideas can come from anywhere, anything and anyone.

P is for “Platform” – It’s one of the first questions an agent or publisher is going to ask.  In its most basic form, your platform is who you are and what you stand for.  It’s your “public face” if you want, and it needs to include what you’ve done – such as your credentials, your expertise, your most recent speaking engagements, previously published work, interviews, etc. – Basically everything that says ‘why you’ and ‘why this book’.

Q is for “Quick Start” – Sometimes you can get almost overwhelmed by trying to plan your entire campaign. If you have that “deer in the headlights” look, don’t let it stop you.  Choose one element of your publicity and promotion campaign, and just do it – move quickly and just get one thing done.  That’s usually all you need, and it will get things moving again.

R is for “Respect” – Like the song says “R E S P E C T” – First and foremost, respect yourself, your talent and perseverance in finishing your book.  Secondly, respect for the people who buy and read your book.  And respect for the people who are making an effort to help you promote your book.

S is for “Speaking” – Becoming a speaker – and even eventually getting paid for it, is one of the many ways authors can put ‘legs’ under their writing business. Not only is speaking an excellent way to promote your book and get scads of free publicity, but it can also become a source of additional income.

T is for “Tie-Ins” – How can you tie your book in with the latest news stories, current events, local happenings or buzz-worthing things that are going on? For example, is there a cause you truly believe in? What about doing a tie-in with one of their fundraising campaigns, and donate a portion of your book’s proceeds to the nonprofit?  It doesn’t matter if your book is fiction or non-fiction, there are ways you can get additional publicity by tying it in to what’s going on in the world, or your little corner of it.

U is for “Universe”. What’s yours?  This is about finding your niche or industry and making contacts with the people in it. Set up a Website, create a newsletter, get people on your list.  These are the people who will be most interested in buying your book. Start building your universe now.

V is for “Visibility”.  If people don’t know who you are, what your book is all about, – or why they should care, they won’t. Get out there. Be seen. Be heard.

W is for “Website”.  You do have a Website, right?  With an online news room?  And a publicity or media kit?  And a sign up box so people can find out what’s going on with you?

X is for “Xtra! Xtra! Read all about it!” (Ignore the spelling, I’m using a little artistic license here…) You need to learn how to write media releases – hire someone who does to start building a buzz.

Y is for “Yes you Can!” You can do this.  You can promote your book and get the publicity you need.  Getting publicity is a process. It takes time, and planning, and concerted effort.  But it can be done, and it’s not that hard once you understand the process.  And, like I said, if you don’t want to do it yourself, then surround yourself with a team who will do the heavy lifting for you.

Z is for “Zig Zag” – Don’t forget to stay open to changes and have a ‘Plan B’ in place for those times when Murphy’s Law steps up and kicks you from behind.  For example, are you willing to step in to be a last-minute guest on a radio talk show? Or if the projector suddenly quits when you’re about to give a talk – can you wing it? If something can go wrong, it often will.  But that doesn’t have to be  recipe for disaster if you just take the time to think about contingencies and have a backup.

So there you have it – my ‘off the cuff” ABC’s of publicity. If you’ve got different ones, I’d love to hear what they are. Just post your comments in the box below!

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But I don’t want to talk about how busy you are, or how intimidating it can be to actually sit down in front of your computer and write your book, day in and day out, month after month… (Or sometimes, year after year…)

I want to talk about a different aspect of why you might need a ghostwriter… And why I think it’s one of the most important qualities of the relationship…

Ghostwriters are people who can write, yes (at least they should be)… if you’re in the market for a ghostwriter, you’ll want to check out their writing samples…

But you want a ghostwriter who’s more than just a good writer.

You need a ghostwriter who can take your ideas, your passions and your knowledge and experience… and use your words, your style and your “voice” and get it down on paper. You want someone who you’re comfortable with, who “gets” you… And of course, someone who has the skill of an impressionist – who can mimic your words, thoughts and feelings on paper.  You don’t want your ghostwriter to have too strong a “voice” of their own, because it’s not their book they’re writing, it’s yours… So you want to make sure they’ve got the ability to write in different styles, across different genres – which means they don’t necessarily have to have a lot of experience in your particular field of expertise.

When you hire a ghostwriter, you need to be prepared to develop a close, intimate relationship with them.  Part of my job is to get inside your head, and understand who are you, and what you’re passionate about.  It’s also to learn how you feel, and the way you communicate – both in writing and in person. A ghostwriter needs to understand “why you” and why “this book” in order to help ensure that it achieves your goals.

Which means your ghostwriter is someone who will be asking a lot of questions – and then really listening to your answers.  At the same time, it’s my job to keep the purpose, the platform and your audience in mind… and make sure the book stays on track – which again, means it’s got a better chance of success.

My goal, when I’m working with a client, is that no one knows which parts of the manuscript were written by me, and which parts were written by them.

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And even though I’m not in the states, we still celebrate Thanksgiving, and I wanted to take a little time out to do just that…

First of all, I’m thankful for my family – the French ones and the American ones… You are the most important people in my life, and if I don’t tell you often enough, I’m grateful to belong to such a crazy, wonderful bunch of people. (I especially want to say Thank You to my husband, Alain, my mom Louise, my sister Cathy and my cousin Mary Jane.  You are my strongest supporters, my fan club and the people I know I can always turn to, whether I want to share laughter or tears.  And I hope you know I’m there for you in the same way!)

Next, I’m thankful for my friends – you know who you are… You’re fabulous, fun and my life would be a little less colorful, a little less flavorful and a lot more boring without you in it…

And I’m thankful for my colleagues and my clients.  You make my professional life interesting, exciting and full of twists and turns that are never expected, but add to the adventure that makes my business so much fun.

And I’m thankful for Dan Shaw, my intrepid partner in business, who always knows exactly how to make technology work and who has made being in business more profitable, fun and rewarding.

And finally, I’m thankful for the technology that makes it possible for me to have the life and the business I have while living where and how I want to live.

If you’re in the states, I wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving too!

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The definition of a community means different things to different people… For example, a community could mean:

• a group of people living in a particular local area; “the committee was chosen from all areas in our community”
• common ownership; “in our gated community, we share common areas such as the pool, the clubhouse and the gym”
• a group of nations having common interests “they have applied to join the NATO community”
• an agreement as to goals; “the people in the neighborhood and the local police found they had a “community of interests”
• residential district: an area where all the houses were planned and built at the same time
• (ecology) a group of interdependent organisms inhabiting the same region and interacting with each other.

But when it comes to the online “world” – people often gravitate into virtual “social” communities – the most popular at the moment are probably communities like twitter, facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

And that’s what I want to talk about – building an online community to support your business.

Building a real community isn’t easy.  (Because if you want to build a successful community, it has to go deeper than just building a list of “followers” on facebook or twitter.) Sure, thanks to technology, it’s not difficult to build a list of thousands or tens of thousands of people.

I can give you three perfect examples of people who did just that – in fact, they’ve each built a list of millions of followers:

First, actor Ashton Kutcher (and husband to actress Demi Moore) did it on April 16.  He did it by using streaming online television called Ustream.  (And we’ll be talking about Ustream and how you can use it in your business in an upcoming article.) (Click this link to see the article by Pete Cashmore which includes part of the video.)  Something you might also find interesting is the fact that it only took him a month and a half to gain 3 million followers – you can read more about it in  this article by Ben Par .

Someone else who’s currently got over 3 million twitter followers is Ellen Degeneres.  And Oprah is a close second, having 2,700,000-something.

So there are the three perfect examples I talked about above.

And we can all see why this is a good thing or an actor, or a television talk show host, or even an author, who wants to spread the word about their latest movie, upcoming shows or soon-to-be-released book, right?

The question is, do you want to spend the time, energy and work to do the same thing or your business? Is it even possible, let alone advisable?

It depends.

It depends on what your over-all social media goals are.

What results do you need  - or want – to achieve?

What purpose does your social media marketing strategy serve in the “big picture” of your business goals, and how does it relate to your mission statement, vision statement and exit strategy?

And, by the way, (in case you’re curious), if you haven’t already added social media to your business and marketing strategy, I think you should be. Here’s why:

We are riding the crest of a very exciting and very fundamental wave of new technology that’s already changed almost every aspect of our lives – everything from the way doctors are going to be able to test for and treat diseases, to how we communicate with each other, to how we learn and work.

And we’ll talk more about that in an upcoming article, but for now, lets focus on what this means to your business – and what it could mean if you don’t have a voice in the social media community…

First of all, it means you’re missing out on an opportunity for your customers to meet you, get to know you, and trust you.  And after that, their next step is to buy from you.

Why?  Because consumers go online to do research about products or services they’re interested in buying.  BUT that doesn’t necessarily mean they just go to your Website to see what you’ve got to offer.

A March 2009 study by Knowledge Networks, for example, found that between 10% and 24% of US social media users turned to social networks when making purchase decisions about various categories of products and services. (eMarketer, October 2009)

And according to a study reported in the September 2009 issue of Manage Smarter – “Eighty-three percent of online shoppers said they are interested in sharing information about their purchases with people they know, while 74 percent are influenced by the opinions of others in their decision to buy the product in the first place.”

Are you wondering what that means in terms of actual profit – money that goes into your pocket?

Well, according to a study Yahoo.com did with comstudy (from April 2006 to January 2007) that measured the impact of search marketing and display advertising on consumer shopping behavior…it resulted in a $10.5 b (that’s billion dollars) total revenue – with $2.4b (again, read billion dollars) in incremental revenue.

According to BIG Research, 89& of consumers making in-store purchases in “key retail categories” conducted online research before making those purchases.

So can you see how you might be missing the boat and leaving money – maybe a LOT of money – on the table – if you’re NOT creating your own social media community?

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If so, you probably know that twitter was recently the victim of a DOS (Denial of Service) attack.  Earlier today I read a blog post by Michelle MacPherson – an expert in social media networking – called Why Social Media Sucks, which got me thinking about it – especially because right now it’s the “next big thing” and it seems like everyone and their brother is on the bandwagon about how social media can make or break your business.

It’s no secret that the world of media and marketing has changed.

Television viewing is down, subscriptions to newspapers and magazines are down – and ad revenues are in the toilet – to the point that even some of the biggest have announced they’re closing their doors…

• Time Inc. recently announced they’re closing the doors on “Southern Accents”

And according to Newspaper Death Watch, the following papers have closed their doors since 2007.

• Claremont Eagle
• Tucson Citizen
• Rocky Mountain News
• Baltimore Examiner
• Kentucky Post
• Cincinnati Post
• King County Journal
• Union City Register-Tribune
• Halifax Daily News
• Albuquerque Tribune
• South Idaho Press
• San Juan Star

And people are moving to social networking sites like twitter and facebook by the thousands.

But what does that mean to you and your business?

If you look at some of the information that’s out there, you may think you’re supposed to get out there and get as many followers as possible.

But as Michelle points out in her article, “Social media sucks when it’s all you’ve got.  400,000 Twitter followers doesn’t mean jack if you can’t reach them when Twitter is down.(I’m picking on Twitter here, but this applies for any social networking platform. Facebook fan pages with 5k fans suck when Facebook is down.  And so on). The goal with social media isn’t just to amass large numbers of subscribers. (If they’re untargeted subscribers, perhaps people who are just following you so that you follow them back, they’re pretty much worthless anyway)…”

So what is the point of using Social Media, and is it worth the time and effort in your business?

I think the answer is yes.

Social media is the new media.  It’s us as consumers deciding who, deciding when and deciding how – we want to get news, information and messages.

It’s here to stay – and, according to Seth Godin, in his latest ebook, “Who’s There – Seth Godin’s Incomplete Guide to Blogs and the New Web” – “… Social media, blogging especially, is social. Not antiseptic or anonymous or corporate. This means that the writing skills you and your organization have honed aren’t going to help you very much. When you write at your audience, or even to your audience, you’ve made it really clear that you think that they are the other, and you think that they are yours. It is not your audience, of course. The audience belongs to itself. And if you talk as if they are not like you, then it’s awfully difficult to keep up your position of power…”

So getting back to the question of how you should use social media for your online business, here are my thoughts.

Your Website should be the main place your customers and prospects come when they’re ready to buy your products or services.

You can and should be driving traffic to your Website in a variety of different ways – remembering, of course, to go where your customers are already at and talking to them in their language, answering the questions they want answered.

And use social media or social networking as a tool to personalize the conversation.  To create a community, not followers.

And we’ll get into what “community” means from  your business’ perspective in the next post.

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This is the third and final article in this series on What You Need to Know About SEO.  If you missed part 1 or part two, click the links.  (What You Need to Know About SEO Part 1) or (What You Need to Know About SEO Part 2).  Now with Part 3, we’re going to go more in depth about what basic SEO strategies you can do on your own, before having your Web guy do the more in-depth stuff, or outsourcing the rest of it.

Let’s talk about your Website Structure

No matter how create you consider yourself to be, or how creative your business is, when it comes to the structure of your Website, it’s important you follow one important rule: Always make sure visitors to your Website find what they’re expecting to find, in the places they expect to find it.

What that means is:

• All your links should be blue and underlined.

• You have a “Home Page” and “About Us” page and a way for your visitor to contact you. For your own protection, you need a privacy policy, and a CAN-SPAM compliance page.

• Having a photo on your site has also been proven to raise conversion rates and increase credibility.

A Warning About Flash, Frames and the Latest Technology Like Dynamically-Generated Sites

Also, no matter how good you are at building Websites (or how creative your Website designer is) – don’t build your site with frames or extensive use of Flash – because most of the time, these design options can’t be spidered by the search engines’ robots. (There is an exception to this rule.  I know of a fabulous Website designer whose designs flash sites for his clients that consistently get ranked in the search engines.  So if your designer really knows his [or her] stuff, then go for it!)

Also, while dynamically-generated sites that use technology like ASP, Cold Fusion, and PERL can have an impact on your Website’s functionality, they often cause problems when it comes to search engine placement. (Believe it or not, the page doesn’t exist until your visitor triggers it)… And because a search engine spider doesn’t trigger the page when it crawls the code – as far as it’s concerned, there is no page there.

And the other problem often caused by this type of technology is that it puts question marks into the URL – and most spiders can’t read a link beyond the “?” in a link. And sure, there are technological ways you can get around this – but it can be tricky. So be sure you or your Webmaster have addressed all of these issues first.

You will want to limit the use of graphic representation of text as well. Remember that spiders can’t index images – so don’t use them to represent your keywords on the page.

When it comes to the structure of your Website or blog, remember this: Don’t make your visitors search for anything (always have links back to your home page on every other page, for example), and give them the kind of high quality content that will keep them on your page now – and coming back for more later on.

The Definition of High Quality Content

Here’s mine: High quality content is measured by how useful the information is to the visitors who come to your Website or Blog.

Which means the quality of your content is determined by: How well you have processed, interpreted and acted on the information you gathered to write your content in the first place.

How Content Relates to Your Meta Tags, Page Titles, Descriptions and Keywords

If you remember in articles 1 and 2 of this series, we discussed what the best SEO strategies are, and also how to use meta tags, keywords, page titles and descriptions to your best advantage.

So now you understand that everything is interrelated and all things connect to each other to help you achieve a higher ranking on a search engine’s results page when someone types in one of your chosen keywords or keyword phrases.

Keep the Content Real, Keep it Updated and Keep it Focused

Finally, the content on your Website or blog has to be real. If you’re giving answering someone’s questions, or providing them with new information, it needs to be accurate, useful and to the point.

You need to update the information – or add to it regularly – for both the spiders and the people who are visiting your site. Since your home page is the first place to be spidered, it makes sense that it shows the latest news or information. (And if this isn’t possible then this is where having a blog that links regularly to your home page can be an excellent SEO strategy.)

And remember when you’re writing the content, it’s important to think about what the spiders are seeing – and write accordingly.

For example, don’t use links that say “click here” – because otherwise the spiders will think at least part of your page is about the words “click” and “here.”

And if you offer a service – be specific. For example, don’t just say “our copywriting services” – say “direct mail packages” or “travel articles” or “Website copy.”

Creating Your Own Link Strategy

Remember in Article 1 when we touched on having an onsite and an offsite SEO strategy for your Website or blog? This is where a link strategy comes in.

The search engines give your site more credence and a higher ranking for having multiple links pointing to your site – as long as they’re from RELEVANT third-party sites.

So if you’ve been trying to get as many links as possible – stop wasting your time. It’s not a popularity contest anymore.

The Way Search Engines Decide Which Links Are Most Important

No one knows the exact strategies used by the major search engines, but we know that they use a link analysis for search ranking placement.

So they looking at the importance of each link that points to your Website or blog, and they may also be looking at the context of the link. That’s why it’s a good idea to use anchor text with your keywords or keyword phrases.

Getting quality links from authority sites or sites that relevant to the content on your site can be a time-consuming process – but it’s worth the effort.

How To Create An Effective Link Strategy for Your Website or Blog

You don’t have to do everything at once, but a continuous and dedicated effort will go a long ways.

Step 1: Set up a link page where you can put links to other relevant Websites or Blogs.

Step 2: Decide what constitutes a “relevant” link to you. For example, it might be links from authority sites, or links from pages with a certain page rank, or links from sites that sell to your target market. (It’s a good idea to put your link strategy and guidelines in writing)…

Step 3: Do your research and figure out who you want to get links from. You might want to create a database so you can keep track of your efforts.

Step 4: Send a request to the site owner or Webmaster and ask for a link from their site. Make it interesting and relevant for them – and explain up front what’s in it for them. If you don’t hear from someone within a week to ten days, send the request again.

You should also decide if you want to pay for links – although this is a tactic that’s continually coming under fire.

When you’re posting your links on other sites, it’s important to include text links if you’re using a logo or other graphic, and use your keyword or keyword phrase as well in the “alt text” section.

And don’t forget to use a cross-linking strategy between pages or posts on your Website or blog. If you use “anchor text” for each link – such as using the title of a post or article, most robots will follow the links to the other pages and index them as well. You might also want to add a sitemap to show all the text-only links on your entire Website or blog. And again, make sure that you’re using your main keyword or keyword phrases for each page of the Website or blog in those text links.

Submitting Your Website or Blog to the Search Engines

The final step to optimizing your Website or Blog is to start submitting your site to the search engines and directories. Start with the three major players – Google, Yahoo! and Live. One of the advantages of this is that most of the other search engines will pick up your site automatically once it’s listed on the Big 3 – saving you a bunch time and effort.

If creating an effective search engine optimization strategy – and carrying it out – sounds like it’s going to be more work than you want to undertake, you might want to outsource it to an SEO expert.

Although it’s a time-consuming process, and you won’t see sustainable results overnight, I hope you see that it’s not that hard, and it is something you can choose to do for yourself.

To make it even easier on you, we’ve created a checklist you can use as you’re going through your SEO process – so you don’t forget any of the vital steps.

Want your own copy of the SEO for Writers and Authors checklist? I’ve written one for writers and authors on my Writer’s Business Academy site – and although you may not be a writer or author, the process is the same, so go ahead and download your copy today.

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Let’s start with the the importance that Meta Tags, Page Titles, Descriptions and Keywords have in optimizing your Website or blog for the search engines…What Happens When A Search Engine Visits Your Website

When a search engine comes to visit your Website – it sends something called a spider – and the first thing it does is look at your Page Title, Description, and Keyword Meta Tags.

These are all elements in the “code” of your page.  If you didn’t design your page yourself,  and you want to see what’s written in those elements of your Website or blog, just look at the tabs along the top of your browser. (It usually starts with the word “File”.)  Look for the word “view”.  Click that, and scroll down till you see the words “Page Source” – and click it to see what your Website looks like in html or other “technical” language.

Scroll down until you find the “Page Title,” “Description,” and keyword “Meta Tags.”

If you have a blog, you can find these things in “settings” on your dashboard.

The SEO Steps You Need to Take Before Submitting Your Website to the Search Engines

Meta Tags

Before submitting your website to the search engines, make sure that your Meta Tags for each page accurately describe each page’s content.

In other words, don’t use the same keywords on all pages, and don’t fill the Meta Tags with every single keyword you can think of.

Right now, less is more. Only focus on the one-to-three keywords that accurately describe the content visitors will find on your Website or Blog.

Page Title

Make sure the page title describes what the visitor is going to find – and include your most important keyword or keyword phrase. Remember, you can always add lots of subtitles, to keep visitors moving through your content, but each page title should give them the big overview. In most cases, it’s best to keep titles to under 10 words.

Description

You want the description (this is what humans read when your site shows up on a Search Engine Results Page [SERP]) – to be interesting and enticing enough that a searcher clicks on your link to get more information.

Keywords

Your keywords need to be in your meta tags, in the description and in the page title. Use it in the first sentence, or at least in the first paragraph. Make sure you’re not just repeating your main keyword phrase.

Why?

Because search engines have gotten a lot smarter. If all you’re doing is using your keyword over and over again, you’re going to get penalized for what is known as “keyword stuffing” – which is a practice of lazy Webmasters (or Webmasters who can’t write real content) of using their main keywords in the hopes of getting people to click the link to their page.

The problem is – while this used to work for the search engines (and it doesn’t any more) – it has a tendency to tick off the human visitors to a site – and rather than clicking another link to try and find the information they need – these days people just click the back button and look elsewhere.

Instead, think about what information your visitor really wants… What questions or problems do they have and what kind of information can you give them that helps them find the answers?

Are Meta Tags Still Important?

You may have heard that meta tags aren’t important anymore when it comes to optimizing your Website for the Search Engines. There is some truth to this, because in the old days, as I said, you could just slap up a whole bunch of keywords in the meta tags, and you were guaranteed to get listed in the search engines. These days, it’s not so easy. For one thing, you’ve got a whole lot more competition than in the old days.

For example, while researching this article, I found 4,170,000 Websites for the keyword “copywriter.”

And for the keyword phrase “How do I make money from a writing business” Google shows 143,000,000 results. Which is why you have to use a different SEO strategy when it comes to using Meta Tags on your Website or Blog.

How You Can Use Meta Tags Effectively for SEO Optimization

So what’s the most effective SEO strategy for writers or authors when it comes to meta tags? Make sure that each page includes only the most important and relevant keywords listed in the meta tags. Don’t go overboard. Keep it simple. Choose one or two at most.

You also want to put that same keyword or keyword phrase in the content.

The search engines give your keyword or keyword phrase more importance when they find it in the beginning of your content. (And doesn’t that make sense? After all, if I called you on the phone and told you that I had to tell you about this new restaurant I found, and then start talking to you about my new pair of walking shoes… You’re going to be a little confused.)

So that means to make your SEO strategy for getting the most out of Meta Tags today goes – include your main keyword or keyword phrase in the headline and in the first paragraph of your content.

Just Remember: You need to make sure that all your keywords or keyword phrases are included in the content on each Web or Blog page.

But now I want to give you another piece of advice about optimizing your Website or Blog for the search engines: Don’t obsess about it. Because the other thing you need to remember is that as important as your SEO strategies are – at the same time you’re writing for people – real people who are trying to find the answer to a specific question or problem.

Getting someone to your Website or Blog because of your keyword strategy is really only half the battle. Once you get them there, you’ve got to keep them on your site.

And that’s where content and structure come in. If you want to know exactly why high-quality content and your Website’s structure are so vital, read the third and final article in this series.

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