Get the latest articles from Web Profits. Subscribe to our RSS feed.
There are so many topics to write about it is sometimes difficult to know what you want to read about. So, to help us out, please take this quick poll:
If you are currently implementing search engine optimization (SEO) for your website or are thinking about it, then this article will be worth tens of thousands of dollars for you.
Conducting effective keyword research from an SEO perspective is critical, because the next 12 months of SEO activities and investment will be focused on the words you identify before you start optimising.
The key to a successful SEO campaign is selecting keywords where a top ranking will earn you more profit per month than the cost of achieving and maintaining those rankings.
If you get it wrong, you could spend tens of thousands of dollars on achieving a top 10 ranking, only to find that the top ranking is not making you any money!
As an online marketing agency we get a lot of small businesses contacting us to help them make money on the Internet. One of the core services we offer is PPC setup and management, with a focus on Google Adwords. Yet one of the most common statements we hear is:
“I’ve already tried pay-per-click advertising and it doesn’t work”
Immediately this sounds warning bells, as PPC advertising is one of the most profitable methods of advertising available (in fact, we’ve been able to generate more than 1,000 sales per day for some companies using PPC advertising).
After further questioning we find out that they have setup a Google Adwords campaign themselves (because Google makes it so easy) and have invested $500 or $1,000 in advertising, only to find that they could not achieve any results… and based on this they say PPC advertising doesn’t work!
If you are only just starting to think about creating an online business for yourself, it’s understandable if you feel intimidated by the sheer number of people already out there doing exactly the same thing.
How can you compete with people who have already set up shop and have a good base of customers?
Everyone has something to offer, and the key to success online is to build a business around something you enjoy – something you have a natural affinity for. It’s easier to become an expert in this kind of subject, and becoming an expert is what will get you noticed and established.
Take the time to build a business of real worth. You don’t have to dive in the deep end and build your own website. Why not start with your own blog instead? If you don’t have any products of your own to promote then join a website which grants free access to the best affiliate programs out there. People often start earning an income online by becoming affiliates for programs that interest them.
It’s possible to make a lot of money from a blog, but if that’s your goal you need to be thinking long term and have a good base from which to start.
Firstly you need a subject for your blog. Many people make the mistake of writing about anything and everything, but if you are serious about getting your blog indexed by Google, showing up in search results and getting plenty of visitors, then you need to focus on a specific subject.
It stands to reason that if you are going to write about something every day or two for what could prove to be many months and hopefully even years, it needs to be something you are very interested in. There are two main reasons for this:
• If you don’t have a passion for your subject you will find it hard to constantly think of new things to write
• You will instinctively know what other people who like the subject are looking for, and will be better able to provide it for them
If you’re trying to sell something online it would make sense to target as many people as possible in the hope of making lots of sales, right?
Actually no – nothing could be further from the truth. Your best bet is to target a much smaller group of people with an offer which is specifically tailored to meet their needs.
Consider this. If you had a new golf club you wanted to sell, you would go and find someone who plays golf to see if they wanted to buy it. You wouldn’t try and sell it to just anyone, and exactly the same principle applies online.
The good news is that niche markets are smaller, easier to target and generally present much less in the way of competition. If you can target a niche audience in the right way you’ll have a much better chance of making some significant sales than if you try and reach out to anyone and everyone.
But in order to make those sales you need to make sure your site is found by the people who want to buy what you have to offer. To do this it’s very important that you have the right kind of content on your site.
A good solid email list can be worth a lot of money to you as an internet marketer. With this in mind it’s obviously in your best interests to get as many people signed up for your list as possible – legally and legitimately.
But people won’t add their names and email addresses to your list unless you have something to offer them in return. This is where free offers, free newsletters and free downloads come into play.
It should be noted however that simply offering something for free won’t persuade everyone to sign up. You need to provide something that has value, and preferably something that they cannot get anywhere else.
Many internet marketers offer a free weekly newsletter to keep in touch with their customers, and send an extra bonus when someone signs up. This is typically a free report or e-book which is targeted specifically at the type of customer the marketer wants to have on their list.
A successful brand is the marriage of your own strengths with what your customer base wants. That’s why it’s essential that you don’t rush into any kind of business before you decide what your brand is all about.
So what exactly is a brand?
Put simply, a brand is essentially something that you can offer to your customers that no one else can. They say there’s nothing new under the sun, but you need to find a fresh spin on something that is already being offered by other people. Think about the difference between the brands of Pepsi and Coca Cola, for example. They are both unique, very different brands for a very similar kind of drink, but most people would agree they look for one or the other when they go shopping to buy that drink.
So you need to start with what you want to sell, and research that market thoroughly. What can you offer that isn’t already being done? It may be a specific way of selling the product. It may be a unique recipe or way of presenting the product. It could be the fact that you supply a free gift with each purchase. You might decide to market your offering in a different way, to reach a slightly different audience.
All these factors can influence how you create your own brand – and they are just the beginning.
We always hear that the content of a website is the key to its success. Without good articles, news, blogs and similar items, a website is doomed to fail.
But what about the graphics? How important are they to the overall success of a website?
Let’s look at an example. When you are surfing the internet and you come across a website, what makes you decide whether to stay or carry on surfing? If a website uses neon colors and flashing banners to try and catch your attention, the chances are you will click away quickly. But if that site is well presented, with a good mix of graphics and text, you may well stay for a closer look.
Content is important, but the graphics help to balance out the text, breaking it up and making it more readable. They also support the text – so they shouldn’t just be there for the sake of it. All good graphics have a purpose, which is to draw the casual surfer in and get them involved in the site – and preferably encourage them to order something.
Graphics can create a compelling image and persuade a surfer to buy your product. Think of ‘Buy it Now’ buttons, for example. These sometimes appear with the graphic of a mouse arrow over the top of the button, prompting the surfer to click onto the next page to make their payment.
Have you ever tried a product and recommended it to other people? That, in a nutshell, is what a viral marketing campaign is all about.
In order to create a successful campaign, you need to create buzz around your product. You need to give it the wow factor, so much so that when people read about it they will automatically want to tell their work colleagues, their friends and their family about it.
If you have an email list already, think about how you can spread the message beyond that list by getting the recipients to do your work for you. You should ensure that you find a good strong angle to promote as your wow factor, as it’s usually something unusual, different or quirky that gets the message to other people beyond your immediate circle of influence.
Don’t underestimate the power of using forums either. Be careful here though – don’t advertise your product or you’ll be kicked out. But you can generate some curiosity by adding a quirky signature line to every post you make.
 |
 |
Web Profits is a full service online marketing agency providing search engine optimisation, web design and pay per click advertising services.