How to Optimize Your Blog to Bring in Traffic
If you want your blog to get good traffic, you need to apply some Search Engine Optimization tricks to entice the search engine spiders to visit your blog and rank it highly in the results pages.
Many people avoid using SEO techniques because they think SEO is complicated and difficult. There are some simple things you can do, however, to help optimize your blog.
Keyword Research
Any kind of optimization needs to begin with keyword research. Keyword research is easy to do thanks to several online tools like Wordtracker or Google Keyword tool. Simply type in a word or short phrase describing your business function or features. If you are selling doghouses, for example, type in “doghouses” and let the keyword tool go to work. It will show you how often the word is searched for on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. It will also list dozens of related keywords used in daily searches.
The next step in choosing keywords to optimize your blog is to choose the top five or so keywords and run a Google search on them to determine how much competition there is for each one. If a keyword is searched for 1,000 times a day, but there are 4,000,000 websites showing in the search engine results for that particular word, you may want to consider a different keyword without quite so much competition. By creating more specific keyword phrases, you can narrow down the search possibilities.
Once you have your list narrowed down to about five keywords, it is time to start using them strategically in your blog. Ideally, your main keyword should be in the domain name of your blog. If you already have an established domain name that doesn’t include your keywords, it doesn’t mean all is lost. There are several other places you can add your keywords to help optimize your blog for the search engines.
Your post title: The search engine spiders will check you title first, so plug your keywords into your title as often as you can.
Your headings: Headings and subheads are also excellent places for your keywords to get picked up when your site is scanned.
Meta Descriptions and Meta Tags: Use your keywords in the Meta description and the Meta tags for your blog for additional SEO.
If you want to know more simple and cheap ways to get your online marketing started then visit this site for 3 FREE reports:
http://www.CheapMarketingMethods.com
God bless,
Clint
How to Get the Most Out of Free Banner Exchanges
Free banner exchanges are one of the many ways a business can promote themselves without having to shell out any advertising resources at all. The only thing you have to worry about is creating an attractive banner to use in the exchange.
Most are based solely on you being able to host banners on your site for other people as well. Not all free banner exchanges are exactly the same. While most exchanges are free, others will charge you after your banner has been clicked on a certain number of times. Be sure to thoroughly read the terms and conditions of each banner exchange site before joining.
To prepare for a free banner exchange, you will need to create a few banners in different sizes, shapes and colors so they are ready to go when needed. The banner should be simple and to the point with enough eye catching material to draw the attention of the viewer. Too much information on the banner causes confusion and may lead the potential customer to avoid you completely.
You will also need to set aside space on your website to host other people’s banners. For each banner service you join, you will have to host a banner on your site as well. You do have the option to specify that you do not want ads similar to your business running on your site. After all, you don’t want to advertise your competition.
Look for free banner companies who also offer a reward for using their service. Some free banner exchange services allow you to actually make a little money while advertising through them- spreading your marketing dollars even farther for no extra effort… Free banner exchanges can be a great way to drive traffic to your site. Just make sure you check out all the details before signing on the bottom line.
If you want to know more simple and cheap ways to get your online marketing started then visit this site for 3 FREE reports:
http://www.CheapMarketingMethods.com
God bless,
Clint
How to Create a Word of Mouth Campaign
You just found a 75% off sale at your favorite clothing store. What do you do now? Hoard all of the clothes, speed home and lock yourself inside your house until the sale is over? No way! Before you know it, you are on the phone with ten of your closest friends and they are on their way over to shop with you. Here are a few different ways to create a word of mouth campaign that will effectively work for your business.
1) Give them a reason to talk about your products and services. Make it easier for their conversations to take place and make them want to share their experiences with others.
2) Be honest. Let them know what the real purpose of your word of mouth campaign is. They are smart enough to tell anyway, and feel as though they are being lied to otherwise.
3) Treat your customers well and commit to providing superior customer experiences in order to improve credibility.
4) Honor your word. After all this is a word of mouth campaign and if your word means nothing, neither does your campaign.
5) Offer incentives to customers to help spread the word either by a percent off of their next purchase or by a percentage of the sales earned through their networks. People know people and you want everyone to know about your business.
6) Get organized. While you may already be doing all or most of these things, a campaign is an organized set of activities designed with a specific purpose and desired outcome in mind.
Businesses know word of mouth advertising is the most cost effective, fastest spreading and best way to advertise on the planet. Think about it; if your friend tells you a movie is good, how often will you actually take their advice and either go see the movie in theaters or at least rent it when it comes out on DVD? Word of mouth advertising worked.
If you want to know more simple and cheap ways to get your online marketing started then visit this site for 3 FREE reports:
http://www.CheapMarketingMethods.com
God bless,
Clint
How to Create a Viral Marketing Program
The term viral marketing may have you wondering just what exactly it means. It’s called “viral” marketing because it is a strategy to promote your marketing to one person and another and another, much like a virus spreads itself. Perhaps a better term to use instead of “viral” would be “word of mouth” because this is simply what viral marketing is in essence.
The best way to create your own viral marketing program is to create an offer relating to your business that will make someone want what you have to sell. A simple way to do this is to offer something for free. Free sells, well not sells, but it will get people to your site for sure and that’s what you want, attention. This will bring hoards of people to your site where they will sign up for your newsletters and presto; you have an instant database of leads.
The next step is transmitting this virus - make it easy for the people who signed up for your “free” item to pass the information along to other people. If they are happy with the product then they will pass your link to someone else and so forth. This is the “virus” being transmitted.
The best way to get your viral marketing plan off and running is to promote and use social media to place links to your special offer. Affiliate programs and social media sites can bring you the exposure you need to stay in the public eye. They also put your message in front of hundreds of potential customers who you can then use to promote yourself even further.
If you want to get some great exposure for your website, create a free product as a “teaser” and get out there and start spreading your viral goodies!
If you want to know more simple and cheap ways to get your online marketing started then visit this site for 3 FREE reports:
http://www.CheapMarketingMethods.com
God bless,
Clint
How to Advertise without Being Pitchy
This is a tricky topic because you cannot sell something without having the perfect pitch. The problem with the pitch is not whether you will do it or not, it’s a question only of when you will use it. The best way to do this is by taking it slow and letting the customer get to know you and your product or company first before launching a pitch.
How to do this? This is where newsletters and social marketing come into play. Once you get people to join your newsletters and email lists you have to set up a schedule of mails they will receive from you. Those emails should start off letting them know about you and the company. Build a relationship with your subscribers and send out emails and newsletters that have nothing in them about selling them anything.
After a few emails, you are building trust with your subscribers and you have a potential lead. Now, the time is right to lay out the pitch. Up until then, you are marketing and doing it semi-aggressively without seeming to do it at all.
Once it is time to pitch, it should be a no-holds-barred pitch; remember you are talking to someone who is listening to their friend and not a salesman. The key to avoid being pitchy, however, is to focus on benefits to the customer, not just features of the product. Keep your pitch centered on how the product makes the prospect’s life easier or how it makes the prospect feel better. Identify the problem your product solves and build your pitch around the solution your product provides.
The difference there is immeasurable as people are more prone to listen to and trust their friends as opposed to a stranger trying to sell them something. Coming on to strong will most likely drive your potential customer in the other direction, so slow and easy is key in getting the pitch across.
If you want to know more simple and cheap ways to get your online marketing started then visit this site for 3 FREE reports:
http://www.CheapMarketingMethods.com
God bless,
Clint
How to Advertise on Niche Forums without Being Pushy
A great way to get your business name out in the world is by social networking through the use of forums in the niche of your company and products. There are so many forums on the Internet you can easily find 10 right in line with your company’s direction in no time at all.
Before you join a forum, spend some time looking them over to find one that is a legitimate and solid forum with lots of traffic and activity. When you find an active forum in your niche, create an account. After the account is created introduce yourself. Most forums have a place for introductions and they are not the spot to go into sales mode quite yet. You need to make yourself known on the forum by being helpful and insightful about the topics there.
You have to make a lot of posts on these forums so your reputation and your post count goes up. When people see someone with a lot of intelligent posts on a forum, it lends a certain level of respect, as long as you aren’t rude or nasty on the site. Keep being a good member of the forum and the marketing will start working itself for you.
When a post comes along that fits right into what your company does, offer assistance in the post and mention how your company actually can help as well. This will encourage the person, who may already value your opinion, to look at your site and services along with others who are reading the forum.
Lastly, every forum allows for a signature. Your signature should include your name and the name of your company’s website, along with an active link back to your home page. That way every post you make is a link to your company’s website. This is absolutely free marketing, taking only some time and dedication to make it work for your business.
If you want to know more simple and cheap ways to get your online marketing started then visit this site for 3 FREE reports:
http://www.CheapMarketingMethods.com
God bless,
Clint
How Internet Marketing Makes Advertising Easy and Cheap
Traditional marketing plans have you select a target area and distribute flyers, mailers or place an ad in the newspaper telling a potential customer who you are and what you offer. The drawback to these styles of marketing is they can be very expensive for an ad that is seen only once and can be easily forgotten.
Marketing on the Internet; however, is very different. Through ad programs you can target a much wider and geographically larger audience, by using interactive ads, which tend to perform much better than a static picture in a newspaper. Associate programs can be established where other people put the advertisements up for you and you pay them a small sum of money to host the ad on their site.
There are also services that will seed your ad into the website based on the content of the site itself. There is no reason to send an ad for car tires to a video game website and this type of service ensures that doesn’t happen. You can even choose a graphical ad or an even cheaper text only based ad. By using this type of pinpointed advertising, you can get the most targeted traffic for your money.
The possibilities on the Internet for marketing anything are boundless. The only thing stopping you is your own imagination, drive and how serious you are about getting your brand out there. If you are willing to put in the effort, you can be assured your business brand will get noticed by buyers who are looking for your services or products.
Looking into cost effective ways to market, such as social marketing, is the best way to pursue a frugal advertising plan. Social marketing can lead to more customers coming to your website virtually free. The only thing you will need to do is put in the time and the effort.
If you want to know more simple and cheap ways to get your online marketing started then visit this site for 3 FREE reports:
http://www.CheapMarketingMethods.com
God bless,
Clint
Free Advertising Resources
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of advertising resources on the web today. Some you can write a post for and forget about until the calls start coming in and others you have to actively work at and promote yourself in order to see the return. Some of the resources you could tap into are listed below.
• Forums - These are usually free to post on if you are a member. They are great resources to meet people and connect with customers who are looking for products similar to yours. Some also allow limited advertisements in the signatures.
• Craigslist - Craigslist has become a standard go-to for almost any individual looking for a product or service. It is also a free resource for people needing to advertise.
• Social Networking Sites - From Facebook to Twitter and many in between, social networking is a growing phenomenon taking over the lines of communication. More people are connecting on social networking sites than almost any other way imaginable. Once connected, it is a free resource for people to advertise their products to other like minded people.
• Email - This is a widely overlooked tool. Email is everywhere. We use it every day and yet almost no one thinks to advertise in the signature box on an email. If you have a new product or service, make sure you include a link to your website or blog. Think of how many people you send email to who don’t get a chance to look at your web page or blog. Well, now they can.
Advertising resources are everywhere. These are only a few suggestions. Any search on free advertising resources will provide numerous results, which are all decent options. The best tip is to read reviews on them and ask people questions to see which ones have given them the most success with the fewest problems. Since they are free, try them out yourself. If they don’t work, you haven’t lost anything, just pack it up and go somewhere else.
If you want to know more simple and cheap ways to get your online marketing started then visit this site for 3 FREE reports:
http://www.CheapMarketingMethods.com
God bless,
Clint
Cut Costs by Being Your Own Graphic Designer
Once you have your company ready to go you will need a website and graphical ads for placement on other websites. Normally you would hire someone to do this for you but graphic designers can cost a pretty penny. If your budget does not allow for this type of expense at this time, you will want to look into other options.
One option is doing the work all by yourself. All you really need for this is an idea and a graphic design software program. These types of software range from $30 up into the hundreds, depending on which one you get and the features it offers. You can also find some free programs online just by doing a search for them.
You will want to look at the competition and get an idea what they are doing. Check out their sites to see what the graphics and the ads look like. This will give you an idea of where you need to start. While you don’t necessarily need the prettiest site on the web, you don’t want yours to look amateurish or thrown together. Notice the layout on sites you like. Pay attention to the spacing of graphics, text, ads and white space. One of the biggest keys to pleasant, effective graphic design is layout. Take some time and look around.
Graphics should tie in seamlessly into the rest of your website. Take your time when designing it all. A bad first impression is a lasting impression. One thing that cannot be overstressed is to avoid using animated gifs. Most animated gifs are copied from other sites and appear everywhere. They tend to be overdone and can look tacky.
You can save yourself some money by being your own graphic designer. Keep in mind; if you can’t picture the end result and your attempts begin to fall flat you may need to re-think this piece of your budget. Keep it simple and save for the time when you can afford a professional graphic designer. Saving yourself some money on graphic design only works if you have some talent at it. If you have no idea how to do it at all, then don’t do it. You will only hurt yourself in the long run.
If you want to know more simple and cheap ways to get your online marketing started then visit this site for 3 FREE reports:
http://www.CheapMarketingMethods.com
God bless,
Clint
Creating Win-Win Partnerships to Help You Build Business on the Internet
Whoever said “anything with two heads is a monster,” obviously didn’t know anything about partnerships. Getting a group of people together in a collaborative effort can be beneficial to all parties involved - as long as you remember why you came together in the first place. A collaboration pulls the best talents of each person, throws them together in a blender and pours out a delicious end product for all to enjoy. Here are some things that can be shared between two, or more, in a web-based setting.
• Communities - Each person has the ability to introduce others to their friends; double the readers, double the fun.
• Link love - Go ahead; it’s OK to show a little love. Trading links back and forth can open the passage ways between niches and help people realize their enjoyment for other types of tasks or products.
• Guest posting - Share the workload, this will also aid in reducing burnout.
• Brainstorming - Let the creative juices start flowing. When people start throwing ideas around the sky really is the limit. Questions start popping up like, “Why can’t we do this project?” or “What if we tried this instead?” The new doors that open might just be the next big thing to hit the market.
• Motivation - When one is down, pick him up and keep on moving. Help each other fight of fatigue and the work-related blues by taking 5 minutes and putting together a goofy project or going out to get a bite to eat, just do something to break the monotony and anything is better than working alone.
Partnerships share the best traits of all people involved. Just think about it. You might be the best web designer out there but can’t compose SEO articles to save the Queen. No worries, John can write SEO in his sleep but can’t design or shoot video. Pam has done some serious video editing for National Geographic in the last 6 months. Pull everyone together to work on a project, share ideas, talents and come up with a finished project to pass around to demonstrate pure brilliance. Not only do you get credit for your portion, you have people knocking down your door to get their latest project in your team’s lap.
If you want to know more simple and cheap ways to get your online marketing started then visit this site for 3 FREE reports:
http://www.CheapMarketingMethods.com
God bless,
Clint