Making Money from SEO-Built Websites: Don’t Build Around Profit; Build Around Your Interests

10/03/2011 by admin

When it comes to SEO-built websites, there’s some major variety, both in the value of content, design of the website, and overall income, awareness, and marketing goals. For some people, SEO is a quick way to rank low-value websites in the search engines, whereas for other it’s an endless fight towards building the next authority niche website.

No matter what their goals, almost all internet marketers are hit by boredom and difficulties in motivation from time to time. It is part of the nature of the job; when you can work from home, all reason for motivation can quickly slide out the window. This means that many marketers need extra reasons for motivation, not just the promise of an online income in exchange for dull work.

There are essentially three different types of SEO-built websites, all of which are listed below. Instead of explaining the purely financial benefits of each, these websites are listed with a different approach: their overall value. That is not just financial potential, but the ability to inspire you into working harder, their value to you on a personal level, and their lifestyle quotient; how enjoyable each type is to work on.

1) Low-value, thin SEO websites:

We have all seen the type of websites that pop up when you search for a term known for high-paying Adsense clicks. They are typically about five pages in size, packed with poorly written, keyword-stuffed copy, and driven by the promise of the occasional Adsense click, Google commission, or perhaps even an affiliate banner that brings in a commission.

There is income to be found in these websites, but it is certainly not long-term income. While they will quickly rank, they are uninteresting to work on, and not something that smart marketers should waste their time with.

2) High-value, authority websites designed for finance:

These are the high-value version of the above. Their built around niches that are valuable for Adsense users, typically packed with appropriate, human-designed content, and powered by Adsense advertisements, third-party ads, and affiliate offers. They are ultra-profitable, highly useful for visitors that are interested in the niche, but still utterly dull for webmasters. While they are a great long-term investment, they are not the type of SEO-driven website that can keep owners truly interested.

3) High-value, interest-driven websites:

Most high-value websites start as a passion project. From personal travel websites that spiral into major online publishers, all the way to small niche projects that turn into an ultra-valuable resource, the vast majority of truly remarkable web projects are driven by real human interests.

If you want to build a long-term, high-value SEO website, this is the type of project to go for. Web presences that are designed to bring in an income alone certainly do so, but in the process they rob you of your enthusiasm. Smart marketers do not just look for the most commercially viable SEO project out there; they look for one that combines their interests and a potential income. If you want to create a high-value, long-term SEO asset, it is best to do the same.

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Five Unconventional SEO Tips, Tricks, and Tactics

10/01/2011 by admin

When it comes to internet marketing, the most successful people are not always those that play by the rules. Some of the internet’s biggest moguls started out small, built their empires through unconventional practices, and now run the game with a different set of guidelines. Want to do the same? Then quit doing what’s in the books, and start innovative with unconventional search engine marketing tactics.

In business, there are only two kinds of people. The first are those that innovate. They build the big businesses of tomorrow, topple entrenched competition, and create the products, services, and businesses that lead us into the future. The others are imitators. They have successes, sure, but they rarely create anything remarkable. These five tips will help you push your internet venture into the first category, and avoid falling into the second.

1. Don’t just take advice, experiment for yourself.
Log into any online marketing forum and you will see hundreds of opinions. Some are valid, some are not-so-valid, and others are downright dangerous. There are thousands of people out there that would love to give you advice, but very little of that advice can help you create a long-term, sustainable online asset. Take advice by all means, but balance it with action and experimentation.

2. Guerrilla SEO is much more scalable than one-at-a-time link building.
It is always best to have other people doing your work for you. Thankfully, this is not too difficult a task for SEOs. Instead of laying down thousands of links on your own, give the general public reasons to do it for you. Sometimes all it takes to gather thousands of links is a well-titled blog post, a well-timed Digg submission, and a bit of viral growth.

3. Never submit your own content to social bookmarking websites.
Social bookmarking websites can smell spam a mile away, and will quickly delete or slap anything that seems too self-promotional. Fight the risk head on by having other people submit your content for you. It only costs a couple of dollars to have someone else submit and vote for your links, and it protects you from being directly accused of spamming social bookmarking websites for backlinks.

4. Turn negative publicity into positive power.
Some businesses are built on brand power; others are not. If your business is a one-time transaction business — an affiliate sales business, for example — you can use negative publicity to your advantage. If you can craft an email, press release, or product summary that’s so bad it gains attention in the blogosphere, you could end up with thousands of properly labeled do-follow links.

5. Spend a lot for authority, and people will spread you for free.
It is difficult to get a link to a commercial website from Wikipedia, but it is worth it. Not only to you get a link from one of the world’s most popular websites, but you also get top placement in an area that is frequently linked to from blogs, papers, and online resources. Get in the footnotes on a major website and you won’t just get direct link juice, but second-level link juice from people that use your website as a reference point.

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SEO: Five Tips for Generating Maximum Backlinks with Articles

09/29/2011 by admin

Articles, blog posts, and feature writing are all great ways to generate powerful backlinks for your online commerce websites, affiliate-based sales sites, and online business presences. From article directories to ultra-tailored linkbait, there are hundreds of ways to get your articles out there, and even more ways to help other people spread them.

However, for all the opportunity that’s out there, very few marketers really know how to optimize their articles for maximum targeted links. There is more to a good promotional article than just good content — from promotional methods to link format, a lot is required to make an article SEO-friendly and ready to distribute. These five tips will help you master SEO with articles and blog posts, leaving you to focus on monetizing the incoming flow of traffic.

1. Always incorporate keywords into your title.
Nothing is more frustrating than wasted opportunity, and blowing the chance at an ultra-targeted title text is the big-daddy of online promotional mistakes. Once you have completed keyword research for your website, make a list of keywords and phrases that would work effective in promotional article titles. Once you have found something that fits, incorporate it into the title for your next linkbait article.

2. Use lists to gain people’s attention.
Studies have shown that online readers are much more responsive to list-type articles than they are to essay-style writing. Online readers are natural skimmers — they would prefer access to something that can be partially over a more in-depth article. Lists allow readers to skim read, which is of paramount important for ensuring that your article gets read by as many people as possible.

3. Incorporate links into your article’s body text.
When you are writing an article for purely promotional purposes, there is a good chance that it will have some recurring keywords inside. Instead of leaving them in there unlinked, why not add targeted links to each? You have already got targeted anchor text there, so it is simple, discreet, and non-intrusive to add a targeted link to each included keyword.

4. Give your articles an initial push on social bookmarking websites.
It is incredibly difficult to orchestrate a front page takeover of Digg, Reddit, or any other social bookmarking website. The algorithms that those websites use to calculate rank and value are highly complex, and brute-forcing an article to the top of the ranks rarely evades spam detectors and link moderators.

Instead of pushing for the top by yourself, only ever push for enough exposure to appeal to other people. Once your article is off the ground, it’ll be picked up naturally, allowing you to minimize input and reap the rewards of other people’s efforts.

5. Capitalize on controversy.
Online drama gives you an incredible opportunity to generate backlinks and SEO juice. From celebrity scandals to online copyright debates, a huge amount of current events have been exploited to power SEO-built websites. If you are after an innovative SEO solution, try monitoring Google News and Alerts for article ideas, and not just your keyword list.

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Five Things Social Media CAN’T Do For Your Business

09/27/2011 by admin

Social media has occasionally been touted as a cure-all solution for businesses that are failing to meet expectations. While we have all seen incredible social media success stories — Gary V’s awesome Wine Library TV comes to mind — there is little doubt that social media is not enough to save every business out there.

When planned correctly and implemented intelligently, social media can be a huge tool for your business. From Korean food carts to awesome online design workshops, the amount of companies that have been pushed into the public eye thanks to social media is truly astonishing. However, with those successes come some rules for what social media can’t do.

These five things are expectations that a lot of businesses have when they enter the world of social media, many of which come tumbling down. If your business is looking to invest in social media for long-term success, it is important to be realistic and flexible. Adopt these situations into your plan, realize that social media can’t solve everything, and implement a marketing strategy that is built on realism, not false expectations.

1. Social media can’t stop global trends.
There are groups out there that are, paradoxically, trying to fight globalization through social media. Similarly, there are outdated businesses trying to preserve an old business model by adding the newest, hippest marketing method into their strategy. While social media can generate short-term results for outdated businesses, it can’t slow the turn of the earth and turn back trends for them. You need to adapt and invest in social media, not just one or the other.

2. Social media can’t erase bad PR.
Even the world’s most positive social media presence couldn’t promote a toxic waste disposal company. When your company is already in the public eye for negative reasons, the best way to fight is not with ultra-positive social media efforts. Fight negative publicity head on with fact and reason, then use social media to create discussion that is real, non-accusative, and valuable.

3. Social media can’t help an uninspiring business.
Social media is all about one thing: attention. You need attention before discussion; you need attention before promotion; and you most certainly need attention before you start selling directly. What is the best way to gain attention through social media services? Make your business interesting and inspiring. Start by creating conversation, then invest in long-term social media strategy.

4. Social media can’t erase uncertainties and insecurities.
In fact, it tends to raise a magnifying glass to them. Before you invest in social media for your business or yourself, remember that it is going to put everything into the public arena. If your business does not scale with extra attention, or simply is not something that performs through the press or online media, it might be worth rethinking your strategy.

5. Social media can’t stomp your competition.
But it can raise you above them. The world of business is not about your competitors going down; it is about you going higher than them. Invest in social media like you would a long-term investment in a business — with intentions to get higher and more valuable, no matter where the rest of the market is going.

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Five Tips for Advertising on Social Media Websites

09/26/2011 by admin

Social media websites present a great opportunity for marketers to generate free traffic. From Facebook fan groups to Twitter communities, traffic comes cheap on social media and for some marketers it is an absolute blessing. However, with that free traffic comes a distinct lack of quality, particularly for affiliate marketers and direct-response marketers.

The clearest problem to pinpoint is that social media users simply are not in a ‘buying’ mood. When the average user logs onto Facebook, they are doing so to talk with their friends and view photos, not to invest in the latest opportunity or online product. This makes it difficult for marketers to make scalable income from organic social media traffic.

There is an answer, and although it is not free, it is remarkably powerful. Social media advertising platforms, particularly PPC platforms, are packed with potential for marketers that understand social media but can’t monetize it directly. These five tips are perfect for crafting a profitable campaign using self-serve social media advertising.

1. Plan for low click-through rates.
The clicks that you will get from social media users are not the same as those that come from Google Adwords. Social media platforms are not search engines, and users simply are not looking for things to buy all the time. As effective as your advertisements may be, the audiences that are available are not as buy-friendly as search engine traffic is. Plan for low click-through rates, and do not panic if your advertisements are seen but left unclicked.

2. Images are everything. Use them.
Social media advertising is all about drawing attention away from peoples’ profiles. It’s difficult at first, particularly as most social media users are focused on their friends and family, rather than commercial opportunities. As you experiment with advertising platforms, you will quickly notice that the most effective social media advertisements are those that use a clear, attention-grabbing image to their advantage.

3. Demographic and keyword targeting is essential.
Social media traffic does excel at one thing: targeting. While search allows you to target ‘action’ keywords specifically, social media platforms allow you to easily target ages, locations, and even alma maters If your product could be particularly effective amongst a certain audience, focus on targeting them and reap the rewards of an effective campaign.

4. For affiliates, aim for ‘convenient’ offers.
There are two types of offers in the affiliate world: offers that require users to pay, and offers that only require an action. For social media networks, it is best to stick to the second type. Social media users are rarely in a buying mood, and are generally unresponsive to pay-per-sale offers. For maximum effective conversions, focus on offers that are lead-based or action-orientated.

5. Create quality ads, as they will be rewarded.
Generally, social media advertising prices depend on several factors, namely click-through rate and audience approval. For Facebook advertising especially, it is important to get a balance of the two. Focus on creating ads that you know your audience will love, and you will be rewarded with high click-through rates, great approval ratings, and as a result, ultra-low click prices.

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Why Social Media Doesn’t Tolerate Spammers

09/24/2011 by admin

For online professionals, definitions of spam can range from deviously loose to incredibly tight and specific. Some, particularly those in social media and new media, take a direct and anti-spam approach, branding almost every online commercial interaction and marketing campaign as ‘spam.’ Others, particularly marketers themselves, feel that spam is limited to unwanted email, direct marketing messages, and social media solicitations.

Who is right? Neither. Spam is as subjective as anything can be, and each and every person out there has different priorities for marketing and being marketed to. However, for the purpose of this article, spam will be referred to as unsolicited and unwanted marketing that comes from a person, not a banner advertisement or pop-up. Defining spam as anything marketing is not accurate, as many marketers operate through email and social media with the full consent and support of their audience.

Why does social media reject spam so clearly? It starts with the nature of the service. Television ads are interruption marketing — your attention is directed to them, and whatever you were watching in the meantime is suspended. There is essentially no way to skip them and go back to your show — they are there, and they are there to stay. Online, this is the most annoying advertising possible for social media, but on TV, it is no big deal.

The reason that they are accepted is that TV is not dynamic. When you are watching TV, you are not conversing — at least not with the content that you are directly paying attention to. Sure, you could be chatting with a friend at the same time, but your focus is directed towards the TV. On a social media platform, the conversation is the entertainment. When that conversation is interrupted, there is nothing else to turn to.

Why are Facebook’s advertising click-through rates so low? Because interruption marketing fails when the platform that it operates on is just a dynamic conversation. Online advertising works, but it is much less effective when pushed on social media traffic. Just like banner advertisements and pop-ups, spam messages are simply pushed away when the focus of attention is elsewhere.

The flip side to this, of course, is that spam works elsewhere. As much as we may like to think that humans, as a species, are immune to spam advertising, the reality is not so. For every email that you avoid, others might click through and buy. But why don’t they do so in social media spam?

Again, it is down to the platform. Email is an invitation to look for things that interest you. Whenever messages appear in your inbox, they command your direct attention, much like a social media conversation might. When you give direct attention to spam, you allow it to sell, and that allows it to convert.

Social media is not immune to spam itself, but it is certainly ineffective for spammers. As with many factors of social media marketing, the results come down to the platform’s nature. Social media is about building relationships, and marketers that go out of their way to connect with customers will be rewarded with sales. Spammers, however, better stick to email.

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Social Bookmarking: How to Make it Work for Sales Generation

09/22/2011 by admin

For years, SEO experts have been using social bookmarking services as a great way to get free links and potentially explosive viral traffic. Thanks to dedicated communities, content gets pushed around and linked to by hundreds, if not thousands, of people, allowing master search engine marketers to push their site right to the top of the rankings.

Of course, that promotional value is not limited to SEO professionals alone. Social bookmarking, an extension of traditional social media services, is also hugely powerful to community marketers as well. From ultra-simple submissions and brands built on social bookmarking traffic, the potential for great growth through social bookmarking is very real.

However, there is one thing that social media marketers have not been able to achieve using social bookmarking tools: direct sales. For the most part, social bookmarking communities have shown to be incredibly resilient to potential sales attempts. From ultra-relevant products to free trials, very few social media marketers have been able to extract a purchase, let alone a single lead, from social bookmarking websites.

That raises the question; how do you convince social bookmarkers to buy? There are companies out there with great potential amongst social bookmarking communities — particularly those in the technology industry — that are failing to generate sales from their ideal audience. These tips, tricks, and strategies could be the difference between hundreds of hours wasted on social bookmarking, and hundreds of daily sales through the services.

1. Don’t hard sell, pre-sell.
Social bookmarking websites are rarely going to provide traffic that makes it all the way through an affiliate sales or landing page. People visit social bookmarking websites to come in touch with interesting content, not great opportunities or deals on products. If you want your product-related content to make it onto the front page of a top social bookmarking website, focus on the pre-sell, not the direct sale.

2. Appeal to your audience.
A technology website typically is not going to be interested in great deals on ponies. Then again, there could be the occasional tech geek that’s a six-year-old girl at heart. Provide the type of product that your audience likes, and even if you can’t sell directly through social bookmarking services, you will get your brand inside their heads, leading to potential future sales.

3. If you can’t sell, look at alternative value.
Even if you can’t sell a single product using social bookmarking, there are alternative values to look at. The first is branding, which is a very possible and potentially very lucrative opportunity given the amount of traffic that most social bookmarking websites can dish out. Should your website make the front page, even a no-sale day is worth it when you are generating a great deal of brand exposure.

The second valuable effect, as mentioned earlier, are the links. Social bookmarking tools are great for organic SEO, and even a link that generates no sales could be enough to push you up the search engines. Great search engine positions mean potentially explosive sales, so use these social bookmarking side effects to your advantage.

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How to Respond to Social Media Criticism

09/20/2011 by admin

It is often said that there is one great thing about blogs and social media, and one equally bad thing. The great thing, obviously, is that they have given a voice to thousands of intellectuals, remarkable people, and revolutionaries that would have otherwise gone unheard. Thousands of new ideas are out there, millions of people are joining the conversation, and new relationships are being created every second of every day.

Of course, the bad thing is that every idiot, every incompetent businessperson, and every malicious internet user has a voice. From abusive blogs to outright hate speech social media groups, the issue of abusive and malicious content on social media networks is one that’s attracted a lot of strong opinions and a lot of discussion.

This quick guide is about balancing the two parts of social media for your business. While social media is a remarkable tool for connecting with your fans, customers, and brand evangelists, it is also somewhere that opens your business up to criticism and abuse. How do you respond? Well, it is really up to you.

Some brands do not tolerate negative discussion, especially when it is public. We have all seen PR meltdowns, whether as part of the mainstream media or through a candid industry blog. From celebrities that lose their cool in public to businesses that issue slightly bizarre and mean statements, the world of poor PR is packed with examples of criticism gone wrong.

If you find your business being talked about in a forum, social media group, or blog, the natural reaction is to become defensive. Fight this urge, as it is quite often destructive for online businesses. Focus on what the key issue is –– what is it that’s caused this problem? — and respond directly, publicly, and in an accommodating manner. A lot of the time, groups will just to mob justice when presented with only one opinion, leaving a biased and one-sided argument. Your job is not to fight back, it is to extinguish and mediate the discussion.

If all goes well, it is possible to convert skeptical, often passion-filled discussers into real fans. The internet, by and large, loves stories of small-time businesspeople toppling giant companies. As such, criticism and complaints from the small and relatively powerless often end up gaining a massive amount of support. Your goal should not be to fight criticism head on, but to work inside the discussion to minimize problems, resolve issues, and leave everyone feeling happy. When people walk away from a discussion pleased with your input, they walk away with a highly positive impression of your brand.

So next time you see your business attracting negative attention, do not investigate with an eye for conflict and personal attacks; approach the situation with conflict resolution and real solutions on offer. Sometimes all it takes to heal a situation is public contact, either through a social media network or a blog post. Approach PR with solutions in mind, minimize the potential for communities to act in groups, and treat every social media criticism as an opportunity for positive word of mouth.

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Outsourcing Social Media Activities: Is it Worth It?

09/18/2011 by admin

Social media marketing has taken the online business world by storm over the last two years. Inspired by the guerilla PR success of major brands, more and more small businesses are looking to establish themselves as social media powerhouses – businesses that leverage social media to build their brand, connect with customers and clients, and create powerful word of mouth marketing resources.

However, there is a growing gap between the influential businesspeople and the online influencers. While major companies are adapting to social media, few have it built into their core marketing structure and strategy. It has come to the point where social media is often viewed more as an unrelated series of tactics than a whole, usable strategy. Instead of prioritizing the effects that social media can bring, businesses are often prioritizing social media itself, ignoring the fact that it might not be effective for them.

This is where social media outsourcing can come in very handy. As social media marketing has grown, more providers and popping up offering to provide companies with the opportunity to leverage social media and establish themselves as online authorities. As is expected, thousands of companies are jumping on these chances, doing everything they can to ensure that they are not left behind in what could be the most fundamental and important marketing change of the last decade. Social media budgets have increased, and companies are quickly putting their trust in ‘experts,’ all the while ignoring any long-term adaptability options.

There is a major error in this strategy that seems to go unnoticed. While social media is no doubt a powerful marketing form, provided it is given enough time and attention to succeed, there is no reason to invest in short-term consulting options. We have seen businesses rise and fall in social media, largely due to short-term approaches to a domain that feeds on long-term investment. While consulting and outsourcing are perfect approaches for short-term social media growth, they leave the possibility of long-term brand success still on the table.

If a forward thinking business wants to really establish themselves in social media, they should make their social media marketing an ongoing effort, not a one-off outsourced event. Social media is, by its very nature, built on long-term relationships – building the type of customer relations that are conductive to long-term business. Investing for the short-term gives you the same kind of return as other short-term investments; a bubble, and then a long and slow crash. You generate attention for a minute, but it is quickly over.

Businesses that want to truly succeed as a social media presence need to invest in more than just outsourced efforts and selective consulting. Start by hiring an in-house social media marketer, and have them work on dedicated, long-term, social media efforts. 100 friends per day are valueless if they are not tied to any long-term plans. Document and record your social media ROI, focus on future growth and valuable feedback, and make social media marketing a core pillar of your marketing strategy, not just a quick addition.

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Top Six Social Media Marketing Mistakes

09/16/2011 by admin

Social media, in its current form, has been a major part of the internet since the early 2000s. While MySpace and Facebook pioneered what we now consider modern social networking, the ideas that drive social networking have been present for almost a decade, mainly through services such as blogs, IRC and instant messengers, and even peer-to-peer software. While social networking has given chat and networking a public face, it certainly did not invent online communications.

Given that this technology has been around for a relatively long period of time (at least in internet years) you would expect that companies, individuals, and brands have adapted to the mediums and worked out how to succeed on these platforms. Well, unfortunately, if you really expect that, you would be wrong. Despite years of social media, there are still just as many incompetent and clueless companies as ever.

These six social media mistakes are ones that we see all the time. From companies that are simply unfamiliar with the platforms, all the way to individuals who just won’t listen to feedback, these social media errors pop up continuously, making navigating social media difficult, frustrating, and just a little humorous. Read through, take notes, and make sure that your social media presence is mistake-free.

1) Responding negatively to feedback.

If a customer gives a negative testimonial about your business online, the absolute worst thing to do is respond in anger. Even if your response is justified, the internet – social media circles particularly – will quickly dish out mob justice to those that respond with ad-hominem attacks, intimidation, and poor customer service. Remember, social media is 100% public, and before you respond to anything online, check with your PR and marketing professionals for information on how to succeed.

2) Using automated customer communications.

“Thank you for your response. We’ll get back to you in three months.”

Social media gives businesses the ability to contact customers immediately, and that is what you should be doing. Nothing hurts more than a lost long-term customer, and without a clear and quick feedback process, that is what’s going to happen. Your social media team should be monitoring the discussion for your business name, responding to queries, and trying to set things right before customers have to go through support systems.

3) Trash talking competitors.

Don’t do it. Companies that do so look unprofessional, and looking unprofessional is the first step towards losing customers, clients, and online support. Your reputation is everything, and using it to tarnish someone else is poorly planned and very short-term.

4) Running ill-conceived contests.

Please, for your reputation’s sake, if you are running a contest, ensure that it will go smoothly. Quiznos, the sandwich chain, ran an online promotion offering customers free sandwiches in exchange for a simple online coupon. Stores turned down the coupons, customers got angry, and a wave of negative feedback flooded social media networks in response.

5) Being too promotional.

As much as customers like to hear about great deals, they prefer when it is mixed up with the DNA behind your company. While it may seem strange to full time employees, fans and customers love to hear about how your company operates, what you are currently working on, and how you are planning for the future.

6) Practicing spam.

Having someone as a follower is not an excuse to spam them. In many ways, social media inboxes are a more developed and dynamic email inbox. Just like email, social media users hate spam with a passion. If every one of your tweets or status updates is a promotional offer, merchant link, or affiliate sale, do not expect people to hang around long.

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