Do-It-Yourself SEO | A Beginner's Guide

Do-It-Yourself SEO | A Beginner's Guide
There are always do-it-yourselfers in any business, so it
should be no surprise that many successful web promoters
are doing their own SEO. Many web guru's started by
fumbling around the internet until they found the right
formula for success. The web itself has evolved as a result
of individual experimentation and the sharing their
knowledge.

The target for SEO continues to evolve, techniques that
once worked, now are less effective. New types of promotion
like social bookmarking are growing in importance. It is
not necessary to be an expert in SEO to promote your own
website, but you do need the basics of good SEO practices.
So, if you are looking to start "doing it yourself" keep
these points in mind as you develop your plan.

1.Unique Search Engine-Friendly Content

One of the most important aspects is your unique web
content that is laid out in a search engine friendly way.
Flash and text embedded within images are not read by
search engines. Make sure your images have alt image tags
and that you use your most important keywords in plain text
on the site. Highlight these important keywords in titles,
heading and hyperlinks. Use your keywords as anchor text in
links rather than using images. Never try to stuff keywords
on your site by making them too small to read, or making it
the same color as the background. Instead use your SEO
keywords frequently in the page copy, but keep it to 3-5%
on the page.

Once you have your copy, check to see if it is being
crawled by the search engines. On Google enter
"site:://www.yourwebaddress" to verify if your page has
been indexed. If your site is brand new it will take some
time for it to show up in the index. There are many factors
that play into being indexed including age of the site,
duplicate content (copy and pasting content, or cookie
cutter affiliate websites), Java script rather than HTML
links, bad site layout (too many sub-directories),long
dynamic URL's with special characters (question marks or
any other database characters, #, &, *, !, %) known as
"spider traps," or orphaned pages.

2. Do Your Keywords Homework Thoroughly

Keyword research is the most important step in the process.
If you get this wrong you could be wasting all of your time
and effort promoting your site. Start your research with
the broadest terms to describe your product or service.
Utilize the keyword research services that are available to
narrow the terms and find variations of those terms. I like
to use Google AdWords, Keyword Discovery, and Wordtracker.

Your goal is to find phrases that are highly searched and
optimize your site like the top sites in those keywords. If
the keyword is not used much, then you will not draw much
traffic by using them. Remember to use the most focused
keywords to optimize; because, general terms will be much
harder to gain in rank, and the traffic you get will be
less relevant.

3. Get In-bound Links to Your Site

There are many ways to get links to your site, some
traditional and others not so traditional. This may be
intimidating at first, but it is very important for your
SEO and PageRank. Google counts a link as a "vote" for your
website when calculating PageRank. The more links you have,
the more votes you have, and the higher your PageRank. Much
like any popularity contest, not all votes are equal, links
from higher ranking pages count for more than lower ranked
sites.

If you have taken the time to create unique original
content, you are already miles ahead of much of the
competition. If you are fortunate and create something very
unique, you may get many links, however, most webmasters
won't just link to your site for no reason.

You can try trading links, but the effectiveness of link
exchanges is decreasing, and if you are in a highly
competitive market they won't help much. Recently, paid
links have been looked down upon by Google, so save your
money. Volumes could be written on linking strategies, but
for the beginner, stick to these techniques to start.

Issue a press release and include a link to your site.

Comment on blogs, public forums and articles with content
related to your site.

Put links on your other sites leading to your new site, or
have a friend link to your site.

Submit articles relating to your niche and include a link
in the resource section to your site.

Use the many social bookmarking and social media outlets to
link to your site.

4. Ride The Social Media Wave

Online communities developed for networking and socializing
is at an all time high. Social bookmarking sites like
StumbleUpon, Del.icio.us, Technorati and others allow
members to store their favorite sites and share them with
others online. These sites can also be used to create
"buzz" about your own site.

If you are trying to generate sales from your efforts, then
you should avoid promotional hype on these sites. The
social sites are so powerful because they are based on the
public's interest. If you don't have anything unique or
interesting to share, these sites will not work for you.

Don't be shy on the social sites about the site you are
promoting. Network around with other users, share relevant
content, be creative with your bookmark title and tell
people you know in the real world about the content you
have on the social sites. Quality content that you simply
share with others will lead to your success on these sites.

Use these points as a general guide to plan your SEO. If
you are established or are just starting out in your SEO
efforts the advice will help, but remember that persistence
and patience are your biggest assets when it comes to
website promotion.

----------------------------------------------------
Rob Emmerson is a leading expert in SEO and has written
extensivly on the subject in articles and eBooks. He offers
a free step-by-step SEO Course at
http://www.theseosecretrevealed.com . In addition he writes
a daily SEO Blog at http://www.robemmerson.com where he
shares tips and tricks to improve your SEO.

So Many Affiliate Programs! Which One Do I Choose?

So Many Affiliate Programs! Which One Do I Choose?
Ask questions first before you join an affiliate program.
Do a little research about the choices of program that you
intend to join into. Get some answers because they will be
the deciding point of what you will be achieving later on.

Will it cost you anything to join? Most affiliate programs
being offered today are absolutely free of charge. So why
settle for those that charge you some dollars before
joining.

When do they issue the commission checks? Every program is
different. Some issue their checks once a month, every
quarter, etc. Select the one that is suited to your payment
time choice. Many affiliate programs are setting a minimum
earned commission amount that an affiliate must meet or
exceed in order for their checks to be issued.

What is the hit per sale ratio? This is the average number
of hits to a banner or text link it takes to generate a
sale based on all affiliate statistics. This factor is
extremely important because this will tell you how much
traffic you must generate before you can earn a commission
from the sale.

How are referrals from an affiliate's site tracked and for
how long do they remain in the system? You need to be
confident on the program enough to track those people you
refer from your site. This is the only way that you can
credit for a sale. The period of time that those people
stay in the system is also important. This is because some
visitors do not buy initially but may want to return later
to make the purchase. Know if you will still get credit for
the sale if it is done some months from a certain day.

What are the kinds of affiliate stats available? Your
choice of affiliate program should be capable of offering
detailed stats. They should be available online anytime you
decide to check them out. Constantly checking your
individual stats is important to know how many impressions,
hits and sales are already generated from your site.
Impressions are the number of times the banner or text link
was viewed by a visitor of your site. A hit is the one
clicking on the banner or text links.

Does the affiliate program also pay for the hits and
impressions besides the commissions on sales? It is
important that impressions and hits are also paid, as this
will add to the earnings you get from the sales commission.
This is especially important if the program you are in
offers low sales to be able to hit ratio.

Who is the online retailer? Find out whom you are doing
business with to know if it is really a solid company. Know
the products they are selling and the average amount they
are achieving. The more you know about the retailer
offering you the affiliate program, the easier it will be
for you to know if that program is really for you and your
site.

Is the affiliate a one tier or two tier program? A single
tier program pays you only for the business you yourself
have generated. A two tier program pays you for the
business, plus it also pays you a commission on the on the
sales generated by any affiliate you sponsor in your
program. Some two-tier programs are even paying small fees
on each new affiliate you sponsor. More like a recruitment
fee.

Lastly, what is the amount of commission paid? 5% - 20% is
the commission paid by most programs. .01% - .05% is the
amount paid for each hit. If you find a program that also
pays for impressions, the amount paid is not much at all.
As you can see from the figures, you will now understand
why the average sales amount and hit to sale ratio is
important.

These are just some of the questions that needed answering
first before you enter into an affiliate program. You
should be familiar with the many important aspects that
your chosen program should have before incorporating them
into your website. Try to ask your affiliate program
choices these questions. These can help you select the
right program for you site from among the many available.

----------------------------------------------------
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Internet Based Affiliate Marketing: Do not Make These Common Mistakes

Internet Based Affiliate Marketing: Do not Make These Common Mistakes
Many affiliates fail because of their ignorance of how the
entire business operates. Internet based affiliate
marketing is not as simple as promoting products through
your sites and get rewards by doing so. It is also about
knowing the market and the customers. Understanding the
most common mistakes will help you avoid making the same
mistakes.

The first common mistake affiliates make is their lack of
knowledge of how search engine works. Affiliate marketing
involves advertising. Online advertising could not have
been better without the existence of search engine. It?s
important to learn how to optimized your website to be
search engine friendly.

The second common mistake is overfilling the website with
banners that do not provide enough information about the
product at hand. Providing good content hand in hand with
such banners will avoid this common mistake. Good content
also will help customers understand the features of a
product.

The third common mistake is promoting only a single
product. By promoting only one product, customers do not
have enough option to choose. Consequently, with only one
product you will likely generate fewer sales. It is always
better to give customers alternatives than to give them
only one choice.

The fourth common mistake is promoting too many products.
This mistake could result confusing customers. In the end,
they may not be able to make up their mind. It is better to
give them fewer best choices. Ultimately, they can decide
which best product to patronize.

The fifth common mistake is choosing the wrong product to
promote. It is not a wise decision to promote products just
because they are high demand. Instead, consider choosing
products that you are truly interested, then do some
research to find out whether there is market for the
product. It is easier to promote product that you are
passionate about than promoting them just for the sake of
earnings only.

The sixth mistake is joining too many affiliate programs.
Because joining affiliate program is easy, you might be
tempted to join multiple programs as fast as you can in
order to maximize earnings. However, promoting numbers of
program simultaneously will prevent you from concentrating
on each one of them. The best way to get excellent result
is by joining the program that pays substantial amount of
commission, and then promotes the program aggressively. You
might want to join another affiliate program after you are
successful promoting the previous one.

The seventh mistake is promoting the product you do not buy
or service you do not use. As an affiliate, your goal is to
promote products or service effectively and convincingly to
your customers. It is difficult to recommend products or
service if you have not tried them yourself. By trying the
product or service, you will be able to give your customers
credible information truthfully.

Understanding the path step by careful step will be
beneficial in Internet based affiliate marketing. There is
no other way to succeed than to go through the path slowly
but surely. In the end, people fail because they do not
exert enough effort to understand everything involved in
the industry they are involve in.

----------------------------------------------------
Free website and newsletter set up for you to start your
Internet based affiliate marketing at: =>
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Do You Have Entrepreneur Characteristics?

Do You Have Entrepreneur Characteristics?
It is often said that in order to become a successful
individual in whatever endeavor you wish to pursue, you
must have the right attitude and characteristics. The same
holds true for becoming a successful internet entrepreneur.
Not everyone who sets out to start a business online will
be successful. In fact, most people who enter the internet
marketing business never make a dime or quit before ever
making a sustainable income. So before you take the
plunge, take a closer look at yourself and see if you have
any of the characteristics of an entrepreneur.

What are the characteristics of an entrepreneur? Are they
really important? Well, of course the characteristics are
important because if you don't possess them, you will have
even less of a chance of succeeding in business. The
characteristics are as follows:

1. Risk Taker - this is a very important characteristic of
an entrepreneur. If you're not willing to take any risk,
then you will not succeed as a businessperson. In the
everyday course of the business, you will encounter a lot
of problems and challenges which will require you to think
outside the box and make on the spot decisions. Not all
decision making will be based on careful evaluation and
research. If you're not a risk taker, then you're not an
effective entrepreneur and you're bound to fail in your
business undertaking.

2. Savvy and Creative - being business smart and creative
is another characteristic of an entrepreneur. You have to
be clever, keen, and witty in all your business dealings.
You have to show mental alertness and intelligence so that
you can win the respect and trust of customers and other
clients.

3. Leader - leadership is a characteristic that is hard to
find among individuals. Not many individuals have the nerve
to take the lead. To become a good entrepreneur, you must
possess leadership qualities. These qualities allow you to
guide, influence, and direct people. This way, you can
handle all your business activities with ease and fewer
worries.

4. Passion - another important characteristic is being
passionate about your business. You have to maintain your
enthusiasm and interest in the business. As long as you
have the right drive and passion, you can run the business
for a long time.

5. Persistence - being persistent goes hand in hand with
having passion. If you're truly passionate about what
you're doing, you won't give up when faced with adversity.
Failures and challenges hold lessons to be learned and help
develop character.

6. Honest and Trustworthy - some say that eighty percent of
an entrepreneur's time is dedicated to pooling and
attracting customers. This may be true because without the
customers, the business will not exist. You have to be
honest and trustworthy so that you can develop good will.
People buy from those they like and trust.

While there are other characteristics that an entrepreneur
should possess, the aforementioned characteristics make a
good checklist to see if you have what it takes for
business success.

Possessing these characteristics gives you a definite
advantage over the person who lacks in these areas. Be
thankful if you already have the characteristics of an
entrepreneur. All you need to do now is to study the market
carefully, look for a good business venture, and provide
for the capital and you're all set.

----------------------------------------------------
Andrea Chin is an Internet entrepreneur and invites you to
look at this great business opportunity
http://www.cre8cash.com
For more on Internet Marketing, visit
http://www.TheBuzzAboutMyBiz.com

Residual Income Opportunity Successes

Residual Income Opportunity Successes
Multi-level marketing can be the most exciting way to earn
a residual ncome, and has the potential to push you forward
to becoming financially independent. MLM marketing combined
with residual income systems can help you achieve all your
financial income goals. More millionaires created via MLM
marketing in the United States so, it truly is a system to
investigate.

Let's look into what is multi-level marketing, and what
exactly are residual income opportunities.

MLM marketing is a system which is based on a product or
service which has an amazing principle to earn you
residual income. MLM marketing is different in that it
allows you to eliminate the middleman, in effect you become
the wholesaler and retailer. With this added incentive of
not using these people, which in the real world aren't just
1 or 2 wholesalers. When you get your coca-cola from a
store, it usually goes through many wholesalers before
reaching you.

The nice thing of the system is that if structured
correctly you can have a residual income opportunity of a
life time. Though this is not about get rich quick schemes.
Any system which markets it self as get rich quick is not
something that you would want to get involved with.

Though many have said that multi-level marketing is a bad
way to go to create residual income, it isn't true for the
people who do make a good income from them. There are more
millionaires through multi-level marketing then any other
business model.

This is where people stay away because they think pyramid
scheme. However look at any corporation you will see the
pyramid in full effect. The only complaints usually come
from people who try once or sometimes never and think it's
a scam.

What is a residual income?

Residual income is the ability to be able to earn recurring
income month after month. Your cell phone provider does
this. And the nice thing is with one effort you could get
years of residual income from that first effort!

With your bank account you are likely get interest once a
year or more. That's residual income, the same thing as
dividends from shares and stocks. This is where your
initial effort will produce you long term returns. Imagine
the feeling of going on vacation for 6 months and when you
come back, and you have checks waiting in the mail box. All
this is attributed to residual income.

When combined and worked properly, you will have an amazing
and powerful system to make you financially independent.

First find something that your interested in. If you're a
vegetarian don't go marketing beef burgers! If you do what
you love, then selling 1 million items will all be done in
love. How do you think actors, top business people do it.
Don't look at the dollars look at doing what you love to do
first.

This is a bonus as it allows you to go forward with your
business faster. For the simple fact that you very likely
know people interested in such a product or service.

The internet can be an amazing great thing! You don't have
to deal with physical products, which is truely incredible.
That's one of the reasons I've gone with the program I'm
with. I love every moment, the learning and leading my team.

----------------------------------------------------
The author is a professional internet marketer that uses
several quality affiliate marketing programs and has
achieved residual income success through this method.
Check-out his website Residual Income Opportunities for
more details and get your FREE tips and residual income
opportunity newsletters so you to can realize your dreams
while working in the comfort of your home based business.
--> http://www.DynamicInternetProfits.com

Why You Don't Need to Advertise to Get New Customers

Why You Don't Need to Advertise to Get New Customers
Generally speaking, advertising is one of the least
effective ways to grow your business. Surprised? MBA's
graduates and ad reps will never understand this unless
they were spending their own hard earned cash, which of
course they never have.

So if you shouldn't advertise, how can you generate
customers or sales?

There is seldom any MAGIC BULLET in marketing, rather it's
a series of many automated systems that come together to
produce a steady stream of customers. There you have it
there's the secret right there. Just don't go throwing your
money around and hoping for the best.

You should be using a combination of up to at least ten
other marketing strategies and you must test and measure
each one, continuously.

Wrong Question - Wrong Mindset

A marketing expert in New York back in the 1960's (I can't
remember his name) who said he always got asked the same
question everywhere he went.

The question was "What is the single biggest thing you do
that generates most of your customers". His reply was "I
don't know of any one thing that brings in most of my
customers. I do know however of 48 things I can do, and I
will do, to bring in one customer"

This is brilliant advice. In other words, you should be
using a combination of up to at least ten other marketing
strategies. It might take a bit of work at first but
there's no other way around it. Implement these 11
strategies below into your business, sit back and watch the
sales come in.

Here are some examples of the top 11 marketing strategies:

1. Direct Mail - the most effective strategy when done
properly

2. Well Organised Website -With a clear objective

3. Email Marketing -Becoming more and more difficult

4. Telephone Marketing -Only when following up on leads
generated by other marketing strategies

5. Press Releases -Why spend money on advertising when PR
gives you coverage for free

6. Affiliate Programs -Get others to sell for you by
offering a generous commission

7. Auto-Responders -Not the reply thank you message but a
series of timed messages sent to your list over 6-12 months
or longer

8. Free Reports/Guides - that offer valuable advice and
help people solve problems

9. Magazine/Newspaper Articles - The best form of
advertising.... and it's free!

10. Pay Per Click, PPC - Unlike most other forms of
advertising, PPC is highly targeted and highly effective.
Unfortunately most PPC advertisers don't know how to write
good ads, (you do now) and they waste their leads with a
poorly arranged website which doesn't convert clicks into
leads and therefore customers

11. Sell to Your Existing Customers - The single most
underused resource in any company

----------------------------------------------------
Jimmy Krangol is becoming quite a buzz in the marketing
world. You can sign up to Jimmy's Free 7 day marketing
course "How You Can Make £4,297 Per Day Sitting at Your
Computer In Your Underwear" at
http://www.topsecretmarketing.com/courses