Internet

A Few Tips for Building Links

Quality backlinks are what all websites target. Getting those backlinks is, however, another story. Here are a few methods that can help you in this venture.

1. Be active – Get onto some forums where you can contribute and start posting answers. Ensure that your link is contained within the signature section and you instantly have loads of backlinks. Do not spam and do not post stupid things – the admin will throw you off the site.

2. Spy – Pick a keyword and do a search. Note the URL’s of the top five results. Now type in the following – “link:website” – into Google, where “website” is the URL of one of the sites you noted. This command will show you all the sites that are linking to your competitors. Knowing where there links are coming from will give you a few ideas as to where you should go to get quality links.

3. Articles – Article marketing is another great way to build backlinks. All you have to do is write a few articles with your URL in the resource box area and you have instant backlinks. Ensure that the article has some quality to it and also keep writing regularly.

4. Directories – There are plenty of free directories out there. So go out there and register yourself in every one. Not only will this increase your backlink, it will also bring in traffic from those sites.

5. Blog – Start blogging and respond to other people’s blogs. This is almost the same as taking part in a forum. Once again, do not spam or post unnecessary things.

Article Marketing – The Backlink Builder

Article Marketing is viewed by many as a long time consuming process. This is of course one way of looking at it. The other is that Article Marketing is a goldmine in terms of SEO activities.

The simple reason for this second view is that, articles function as easy backlink opportunities. Backlinks are a very important component of your page rank when it comes to Google searches. This is because, Google functions on a simple premise – If you have lots of links pointing at you, you must be popular; and if you are popular you must be given a higher page rank. Of course, if your website reciprocates the link by linking back, then Google disregards the original link in its page rank considerations.

In that light it becomes evident why Article Marketing can be so lucrative for search engine rankings. When you consider that each article is like a mini website out there pointing back at your website, the number of backlinks you can have suddenly seems infinite. But again we seem to come back to the point of spending time writing this infinite number of articles. There is a solution for this.

Instead of writing five different articles a day, just write one. Now look for re-writers on the web. Good re-writers are capable of re-writing one article in six or seven different ways and the best part is that they are cheap. Once you get the re-written articles submit it to different directories and voila! You are done. Follow this process and explore how you can get more and more articles out there. That way you will soon come out top on any search result.

“About Us” – Why it is important for you (Part 3 of 3)

5. Delivery? – From the moment the customer enters their credit card details and hits the button confirming the purchase, there is always trepidation in them. You cannot blame them as there are thousands of malicious users out there who are always looking for a sucker. This is why you should show off your successful sales. You need to get testimonials out of your successful sales and display them. If you manage to get their permission, put up their phone number and email address as well. Having a long list of satisfied and prestigious clients will definitely elevate your status in the customer’s mind.

6. Connections? – Who are you connected to? Most businesses have associations and groups that vendors & producers can belong to. By displaying the logos of the associations you belong to, you will build up a further sense of trust. In the customer’s mind, this is another way they can find you in case something goes wrong. It also tells them that you are operating legally and that there is some accountability to your business.

7. Privacy? – As awareness grows, people are increasingly wary of submitting personal details over the web. You need to have a comprehensive privacy policy in place to explain how that information will be used or shared (if at all). Do not hide the Privacy Policy in some corner. Make sure that it is prominent, clearly visible and accessible at all times.

“About Us” – Why it is important for you (Part 2 of 3)

3. How? – You may be offering great deals. Most customers will wonder how you can afford to do this or how you can offer many products free of charge. This is where they will smell the non-existent rat. If you have nothing to hide, explain to them how things are done in your business. If you have deals with other vendors and suppliers, this is a good place to highlight them and show off your connections as well. Don’t give away trade secrets, but try and enlighten them on how you make money from the products. You should also be more positive in the message; for example using the word “Value” instead of “Price” will change the perception in the mind of the customer. An open and honest approach is always endearing and this will make you customer trust you more.

4. Existence? – Companies with a long or relatively long history are more likely to be trusted by customers. This is one of the main problems faced by startups of any kind. Overcoming this is particularly tricky and there is nothing much you can do about it. The best that you can do is talk about your past experiences. This can help you in two ways,

a. If you have been in the same industry that the website is about, your credibility in selling the product goes up

b. If this is a new industry to you, you customers will take into account the other industries you have been involved with and see how they relate to the current business.

Either way, you need to show your customers that you are capable of running this business and also that you plan to be around for a while.

“About Us” – Why it is important for you (Part 1 of 3)

One of the greatest factors in the completion of a sale is credibility. This factor can be very crucial in making or breaking a deal. Customers need to feel confident and safe when they are making a purchase and it is up to you to make them feel so. One thing you can do to build confidence in a customer is to have an “About Us” link displayed prominently.

However, you cannot have an arbitrary bunch of information in there without any thought. You need to clearly communicate the reason as to why they (the customer) should trust you. The page needs to answer a few simple questions.

1. Who? – Customers feel more comfortable knowing that there are human beings running the website. They have long since become tired with the robotic voices on the telephone that proclaim that the call is very important to the company. Putting down names, pictures and even messages from the people behind the business, will establish a link in the mind of the customer.

2. Where? – Even in this day and age, there is nothing like a physical address that assures a customer of a business. It does not matter where in the world you are, put down the address of the location you are running the business from. You can be assured that 99.99 percent of customers will never ever visit you, but they feel comforted in the knowledge that they can reach you.

4 Ways to Make Money Online

Making money online is both easy and difficult. Easy – because, once you get it right the money flows in; difficult – because getting it right is not easy and takes a long time. But if you are ready for the long haul, here are some methods you can engage in.

1. Middle man – Many companies nowadays need online tasks done for them. This includes article writing, posting, social bookmarking, website designing etc. Ideally they are looking for contractors to take the jobs on and deliver results. By being the middle man, you can make a lot of money. Do not try to make big margins off one job. Rather, look to make large sums out of the volume of work you do for multiple companies.

2. Service provider – If you can’t handle being the middle man, be the “end man”. You can be the person who writes the articles or designs the website. You stand to earn more per job than a middle man, but it is time intensive and therefore you are limited on the number of jobs you can do.

3. Affiliate marketing -This is where you set up you website and refer your visitors to other people’s products. Essentially you function as a salesman and make money on the commissions given by the owners of the product.

4. Sell your own product – This is more difficult to do, but the returns are great if your product can hold its own. Once you build up a good reputation, all it takes is a well worded ezine to keep the sales rolling in for your new products.

Don’t Buy That Tool!

Internet marketing is an ever evolving subject. For newcomers it becomes a daunting task to get to grips with all the concepts and methods that are being used. This is why everyone resorts to the advice and tools doled out by the internet marketing gurus.

While this is more or less the way to go, newcomers must be very cautious when doing so. There are many fake gurus out there who have nothing of substance in their advice. Spotting these is not too difficult; with a few searches and some time spent on forums, the legitimacy of these gurus can soon be found out. But there is a different threat that is difficult to spot.

This is where a guru puts a spin on an existing method or tool and puts it up for sale. In the desperation to stay ahead of the game, most newcomers will jump and buy the tool just because it’s new and “hot”. Unfortunately this happens because it is about a subject that is somewhat alien to them. A similar situation in the physical world is easier to spot.

For example, when Sony Ericsson releases a new mobile phone, the first thing people do (after going gaga over it) is to take stock of the features. Then they compare it with their own phones and decide whether they really need it. But the bottom line here is that they know and understand that it is a phone that has been released. Even if the company calls it a “human-to-human multipurpose multimode communication device”, people still know that it is a phone.

In the online world these types of things are difficult to spot. The first thing to do is to pick the gurus to follow. Picking known and established gurus is a safe way to go about it. This can be achieved with a fair bit of research online. Purchasing a tool from them means that it is proven and also that it comes with support. This way, updates about new products come only once in a while and the users can be safe in the knowledge that they can contact the guru for advice at any time.

Before you get into Internet Marketing

Internet marketing is a huge buzzword these days. This is because plenty of people have made millions of dollars from their online businesses. However, for every person who has found great success there are a hundred who have had moderate success and several hundred who have failed. So you can see that internet marketing is not for everyone.

So before you get into internet marketing, ask yourself a few basic questions.

1. What do I know about internet marketing? Get into the basics first and then experiment with one or two websites. Using the knowledge gained out of this venture, start getting into more advanced techniques.

2. Do I have the experience? If you are planning on being a guru or mentor, you should have a fair amount of experience in the subject of your choice. Don’t do a shoddy job with a subject you know very little of. This will only get you labeled as useless or worse, as a fraud.

3. Do I have the time? Internet marketing is a long process. Do not expect the money to roll in the day after you put up your website. Sometimes it can take over a year before things stabilize. You will need to put in a lot of work consistently to get good results.

4. Do I have the necessary people skills? Internet marketing has a very important interaction factor. With article marketing, social bookmarking, social media marketing, forum marketing, etc you will need to be able to converse well with people. Not only that, you will need to win them over. This is especially important when it comes to being a mentor.

Viral marketing with Articles

Viral marketing is not a new concept; in fact it has been around for a long, long time. However the concept became prevalent in the online world only a few years ago. Understanding the core value of the concept is simple if you look at the meanings of the two words. Viral, refers to the nature of a virus, i.e. spreading fast and wide unprompted. Marketing refers to the process of promoting and creating awareness of a product. When you put these two broad definitions together, you can see what an effective process Viral Marketing can be.

Article marketing is a subset of viral marketing. It may not be an obvious example, but if you think about it Article marketing does fall into this category. Writing a good article which is picked up by a couple of publishers can then be further picked up by others from them and so on until it spreads far and wide. As long as the reproducers stick to the conventions and mention you name as the author, you will get recognition.

The trick to getting this process going is to get the content right. Good content is essential for people to recognize you as an authority and to keep coming back for more. Two things that enhance your content are good writing skills and good headlines. If you get all these components together, your articles will automatically become “Virals” and spread all over the web. If you wish to learn more about article writing or if you want to brush up on your writing skills, look online and you will find plenty of resources that will help you do just that.

Give Them a Real Bonus

When you are operating an online business you have to everything you can to bring in the customers and make a sale. From time immemorial one factor that has always influenced a customer is a freebie or in our context, a bonus. Offer a bonus with your product, this will help your sales a great degree. By not offering one, the customer has no compelling reason to buy from you. When you have worked hard to get traffic flowing to your site, why would you do something that would lose it?

But the crucial thing is what you offer. If you sell information products such as “buying your first car”, offering a companion bonus product titled “10 easy salad recipes” is really a stupid thing to do. Make the offer relevant. Offering “10 easy ways detail your car” is more along the subject line that you should be looking at. This is because first time car owners want to look after their car and keep it looking as good as the day they bought it and for them, the a bonus product that helps them do that will make a lot more sense.

Now place a value on the bonus you are offering. You can inflate it a little if you like, but not by too much. As long as people see a price placed next to the bonus, their perception changes positively toward buying the main product. In addition to this you should also display a picture and a description. This way the customer is not left in the dark about what they are getting.

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