Making Money In Today’s Market

Succeeding in SEO

2008-09-25T15:48:00.000-07:00

Your Keywords are Number 1!!

Use targeted keywords and take them to design your web pages around them using a 6% ratio. Long tail keywords for SEO are the ones that work the best. If possible incorporate them in your Title Page as well.

Your Content

Have good quality content. No fluff! Write articles and post them. Information is what drives the search engine. Always update your website on a weekly basis for maximum SEO. Products and informative articles that are on topic to your niche combined with your keywords equal higher rankings.

Article Marketing

Write articles and submit them to several places such as Ezine Articles, GoArticles, Articles Plus, Hubpages, and Squidoo. In the resource box, where available, add your links along with the description of what you offer .Don’t forget to use the power of social sites as well. Many places allow you to post your articles. Use the power of RSS feeds to add more exposure. Have your articles be informative with current up to date topics. Your word count needs to be at least 300 to 500 words. Check each site for their requirements.

Link Building

Use niche related sites to build backlinks that are related to your specific keywords. Be careful of your anchor text so that you links are clickable.

Google Analytics

Analytics is the measurement of those that visit your website. The reason that I have included this in here is because it is imperative for you to use this to increase your sales, visitors, and SEO. I decided to describe all factors that are of greatest importance here.

What do your customers do when they visit your website? Using this information can increase your sales and SEO rankings.

Where are they coming from? Understanding this will guide you in your niche efforts.

Are they returning? You need to use different technique in this process and if you are not receiving returning visitors, then you need to reexamine you SEO factors.

What actions are the visitors taking? Develop ideas and determine what goals you want to achieve. Follow through with a plan.

Keywords, Again Your Number 1!!! If your keywords are not producing results go back to the beginning and rework the process.

Author:
Sandi Baker
http://letusgetitdone.info

Website for Less Than $40.00!!

2008-09-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

Did my headline grab your attention? I know your thought is really how much is this going to cost me? I am going to go through all of the costs and break it down for you. Yes, you can start out for less than $40.00!!

Starting out isn’t as difficult as you may think. So how did I go about it and how do you do the same thing?

Find Your Niche
Determine what you want to do. Do you have something in mind or a product that you already have? Maybe you have a service or plan to do drop shipping.

Find Your Keywords
Use keywords that describe your niche with this free tool: http://adwords.google.com/select/keywordToolExternal.
From there you can find the Approx Avg Search Volume. Use that header to search Google and determine a success potential ratio for your keywords. You want to concentrate on the highest ratio.

Establish Your Domain
I used GoDaddy. They have a great plan and building web pages is a breeze. Now you may only want to register a domain depending upon what your final plan is. I recommend developing your website and also going further along with other techniques which I will mention later.

Use your keywords and create a catchy domain name. Go for a .com, .net, or a .info. With GoDaddy the domain name is $9.99 or less and the website is $4.49. The hosting is included.

Selling Products
Many places where you set up your website allows a shopping area for you potential clients to purchase your wares. Here is where you will add your product pictures and descriptions. There you can determine how they will be delivered and the payment options.

Once again with plan that I have, the process went very smoothly. Setting up my shopping area went quickly and they set up PayPal for you. The cost for this is $9.49.

Blogs
I recommend going with Word Press Blog This is free and Google loves blogs. Install Free Word Press plug in “All in One SEO Pack” by Michael Torbert. You can host your own blog at Wordpress.

There are more options to add which can increase your total but start out with the basics and get your feet wet. In most cases this will be all that you need. If not, you can always add on.

See that wasn’t that hard, was it?

Note: Prices as of September 13, 2008

Author:
Sandi Baker
http://letusgetitdone.info
http://shop.letusgetitdone.info

Excel Above Your Competition In Digital Products

2008-09-10T16:17:00.000-07:00

Digital products are a great consumable as your customer can access their purchase immediately. In this day and age everyone wants things right away. So this way they have it right away. Whether it is an ebook, an MP3 or software, it is in their hands as soon as the purchase is complete.

The question arises though as to how to arise above the other marketers out there with digital products that are similar, or the same. What do you do to stand above the crowd and rake in the sales? There are numerous alternatives. So let us explore them.

PLR Products
Most of us know about PLR products (Private Label Rights) and how we can take these and make them our own. Always check the rights first! Now take the product and make it your own. Remove passages, and add to it. Update facts and figures. Change the cover. Don’t forget to add your links inside of the product.

Rebrand
There are many products that you can rebrand. Some allow you to change them around as well. Watch for them. Most of them contain the rebrander inside of them. You will have the ability to add you information and links inside of the item. It will have your name on it.
Now some of them will be through an affiliate program. Don’t let that stop you. That is a chance for you to make money as well, but the best bet is for you to make it your own and have the ability to sell it and keep all of the profits.

Make Your Own Product
Do you have a special skill in creating software or a similar item? Take a product and look at it closely. Can you improve upon it? Be creative here. There are many ways that you can do this. You can create reports and bundle them as an example. Take a survey of your customers and ask them what they are looking for to get some suggestions.

Write A Book
Many of us can a write a book on our particular niche or an aspect of it. Take your knowledge and apply it here. You can do some research on certain topics to aid you in this process. The internet is full of articles and books for you to gain more proficiency on your topic.

When you have it finished you can do several things. You can publish it in PDF form. I suggest copywriting it first! Another way is to put into a physical form. Amazon has a great program to do that. You pay a flat fee for set up and then a minimal fee (for printing, etc.) for each order placed. The revenue is very good. Their service is the best that I have found, (after extensive research). They deliver the best service and overall value.

When you have products of your own your name is on them and no one else’s. If you have made the product and thus created it, it is unique and no one else has it. This makes it more desirable and worthwhile for the consumer.

Author:
Sandi Baker
http://letusgetitdone.info

Profitable Selling Digital Products

2008-09-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

Digital products sell very well over the internet. You can use squeeze pages to entice people and have them download them immediately. They can also be used on your website for sales with ease. Your clients will find it convenient to access their purchase right away. In this day and age everybody likes to have things right away!

In a previous article that I wrote, “Easy Successful Sales with Ebay”, the topic in which I spoke about, was taking these digital products and turning into physical products. These types are great for selling on places on ebay and many other places giving you many other avenues of income. I invite you to take a look at that article so you know how to do this. It is a simple process that has great rewards.

Now let us take all of the above and profit further. Make the digital or physical products better sellers!

Add Bonuses
For added value insert bonuses such as reports or other books. You can add another ebook to a digital product. If you have a physical product, add another physical book or report within it. You could also add a link within it to the free ebook or report.

Courses
Does your website offer free courses? This is another great opportunity! Add the link to where they would sign up for them.

Add a Membership Bonus
This type of bonus is two fold as it is a bonus to the consumer. They are receiving something and it is a great promotional tool for you!

Now advertise these bonuses. You are adding value to the main product. Last but not least, always include your links in any products.

Now let’s take it a step further and increase your future sales.

Add Your Link
Insert the link to your website. I stated this above but this is something that you must do. To do this properly you should start off with your main title and statement. Tell them why they need to visit your site.

Insert Product Links
Here you want to show related items that the customer would be interested in, within the same or slightly higher price range. Show pictures and descriptions of the products.

Newsletter
Insert the link to your newsletter. When they sign up you will then have a new subscriber.

Adding these links will create the opportunity for many future sales. Don’t overlook this tactic.

Now you can take either a digital or physical product and turn them into a better seller!

Author:
Sandi Baker
http://letusgetitdone.info
http://shop.letusgetitdone.info

Google Insights and Entering the Market

2008-09-08T11:06:00.000-07:00

Entering the market should not be taken lightly. Google offer many tools for website builders. The newest is Google Insights for Search.

Region:
When you are entering a new market you enter the region, along with the specific category of your niche. This gives you the data of where the greatest interest is of your niche. You can do this over a broader area such as countries as well.

I entered diets and losing weight. These are those top results:

Top sub regions for diets+losing weight
Sub region
West Virginia 100
Mississippi 90
Arkansas 89
Alabama 85

Top Cities for diets+losing weight City
Orlando 100
Atlanta 99
Tampa 96
Phoenix 93

Top Searches related to diets+losing weight
diet 100
weight loss 35
lose weight 25

Top rising searches related to diets+losing weight
ulcer diets
purina veterinary diets
Nutrisystem

Geographic Distribution:
Using this tool you can determine where the customers are and how the topic of interest is distributed across certain areas.

Categories:
With this you can take your niche and condense the information. You can find this within days if you wish.

Seasonality:
This is important depending upon your product as different ones sell better at different time. With this you can plan ahead.

Examine Seasonality:
When do consumers look for certain consumables or terms?

Advertising Areas:

Choosing Advertising Messages:
Enter your messages into Insights. These are your features. You are entering these to determine which ones give the most distinctions for advertising purposes. This is most helpful in your marketing efforts.

Creating Brand Associations:
You must know your competition and their brands. What is the world looking for? Enter your search terms, dates, and locations. Looking at you competition and what they are offering can assist you in your own advertising.

Google Insights has a lot to offer besides the advertising arena. I have started using it on a regular basis now as part of my marketing tools but it is wonderful to assist those just starting out.

Author:
Sandi Baker
http://letusgetitdone.info
http://shop.letusgetitdone.info

Google’s Ranking System

2008-09-05T05:50:00.000-07:00

Google is the number one search engine. Are you aware of the technology aspect behind its ranking system? Fully understanding all of their principles is important to understand the ranking system.
The nucleus of their technology involving their methodology is devised for the field of Information Retrieval. This system is a foundation of mathematics, library science, information science, cognitive psychology, information architecture, linguistics, statistics, and physics.
How this retrieval system works is by the searcher requesting the information. The data requested is provided through a software agent that actually pushes that requested information.
The retrieval system may use a full test logical view but in most cases reduces it with a set of keywords. This is done with a process of exclusion of stop words, and the use of stemming, and by identifying noun groups.

Note that when this retrieval database is set up, it works in this manner:
The documents are ranked by relevance’s
Then by useful information
Then by a subset seen as of interest

This system is basically for ease of retrieving information and not being overloaded by it. This gives Google their groundwork for the formula which they have built on top of, link structure and numerous other innovations.
There are three components of the search process:
1. The first being the crawling and indexing of the pages but there are other important aspects. Another component is to understand a users search and the important concepts of their particular search even though they many not be obvious. In other words if you were looking for something specific with a place. The search result would pull up the homepage of that site even though the name was not mentioned in the title page.
Google makes other distinctions regarding wording and your updated information.
2. Best in-class spelling suggestion system asks if you meant a certain spelling to clarify what you are looking for.
Advanced synonyms system- The synonyms of the queries is related to where a user asks for an item such as dresses for a wedding, and automatically the results are wedding gowns.
Very strong concept analysis system-The algorithms understand what the user is looking for to return the results that they are looking for. There is differentiation in place and particulars in the search.
3. Google understands its users and localities. The results that a user is looking for is on “best locally relevant results served globally”.
Another feature is for those that have Google accounts and are actually logged into them while searching. While doing a query they “tailor” the results to the user.
Finally there is the Cross Language Information Retrieval technology. This translates language of another into English.

While word frequency and page structure always comes into play we may not think about all of the technology behind how the entire process works. It is important to understand this and Google’s philosophies.

End Note: Amit Singhal. Official Google Blog, July 22, 2008.
Author:
Sandi Baker
http://letusgetitdone.info
http://shop.letusgetitdone.info

Linking with Directory Submissions

2008-09-05T05:48:00.000-07:00

Not only should you submit to the search engines but you need to use directories. Using these is an excellent way to build your links as well as increase your rankings. I am going to discuss the different types of directories as well as give you a list of them.

There are free directories and paid ones. The paid ones last longer and the free ones are deleted after about a year. You also need to keep in mind though the latest news from Web Pro News as of August 20, 2008, which is that Google is “targeting paid link directories deemed to be in violation of the search engines quality guidelines.” Some of those included are Aivia, Alive, Big Web Links, ewebpages, Directory Dump, Elegant Directory, and Biz-Dir.

Aviva is one of the best paid directories to use but in light of the newest news I would recommend these. I use them and have had good results:
Yahoo! Directory
Best of The Web
Business.com

Then there are the free directories. These are very worthwhile and should be used as well. Just make sure that you resubmit them every eleven months.
Open Directory
Search Sight
Web World
Domain
World Site Index
Domaining.in
Mahalo

Don’t stop there. Look for niches. Go to the search engines for your potential niche. Use Yahoo, Google, MSN, and Dogpile. For your selections, use the top for results. I always look for the areas of my products and the classes that I offer.

Page Ranking
Ranking high in the search engines is everyone’s goal. I strive for it everyday always working on my text, descriptions and Meta tags. However you need to know how many links you have. To do this you need to go to Yahoo Site Explorer.
You must have a Yahoo account to use this but it is very worthwhile. The next thing to do is sign in. It will show you all of your feeds. On the right hand side there is a column to authenticate it, click on that. It will take you to another page. Follow the directions. It is a simple process.

Now get to work and submit to directories and more links going. Raise yourself higher in the search engines.

Author:
Sandi Baker
http://letusgetitdone.info
http://shop.letusgetitdone.info

Desirable Alternatives to the Big Three

2008-09-05T05:47:00.000-07:00

Most of us know how difficult it is to get into the high rankings of Yahoo and MSN, much less Google. You submit your sites to these but are you taking advantage of all available listing niche areas?
Keep this in mind. The niche market is for those who are looking for specific products. They are consumers with their wallets open. These are the ones that you want!
While they are slightly harder to attain through some search engines, they all do link together in some form. So let us look them all over and the value of each.

Blogs (For those writing blogs or articles):
When someone is looking for a niche subject or article these are the sites for those particulars.
Articles Base: Has over 400,000 free articles by almost 50,000 authors. You can submit articles while others can find articles for content to use for their newsletters or websites.
Article City (au): This site is similar with their community numbering in the thousands. Those that use the articles must publish them in their complete form with all of the links included.
Ezines: Ezines prides itself with being a matching service of experts (authors) and publishers. This site is widely read and gives you maximum exposure to many “loyal” readers.
Go Articles: This site is another free content directory of articles where authors submit to. Searching is through keywords (niches).
Blog Search: A place that lists blogs and feeds including: Google Blog Search, Ask Blogs and Feeds, IceRocket, BlogPulse, Technorati, Blogdigger, and more weblog search engines.

Directories:
The directories are pages that are people powered search engines, those that compose the pages. They are collected of pages with links and information for the most relevant content. The great part about these is the high page ranks.
Mahalo: This is a human powered search engine as well one that organizes its results for the most relevant links to the search query. Topics are in sections for ease and convenience which is also better for us.
The Open Directory Project (dmoz): Known as being the only 100% free major directory, it is also the largest and most comprehensive human directory. Like mentioned before, they link up to services with portals for Netscape Search, AOL, Google, Lycos, HotBot, DirectHit, and hundreds more.

Meta Search Engine:
This type of search engine compiles results from multiple engines. The point here is higher ranking, especially with Widow. Dogpile tends to have too many sponsored results at the beginning of their lists as opposed to Widow but should still be utilized. There are two others listed that also are noteworthy.
Widowsearch: Their results are not full of sponsors. You will find relevant niches quickly within the desired parameters.
Dogpile: As mentioned earlier this is a Meta search engine but you will find sponsor ads. What you must keep in mind with Dogpile is that it combines its results with Google, Yahoo! Search, Live Search, LookSmart, About and more. You must submit your site to them!
Clusty: A much overlooked Meta search engine that combines with it directories. This site searches a number of places but it does not include Google or Yahoo. I would still look into it.
SurfWax: Depending upon your niche this engine may be for you. It contains a mix of news sources, Government tools, and many other resources.

It is always a good idea to never rely on only one source, especially the niche market. Expand upon your opportunities to reach your market.

Author:
Sandi Baker
http://letusgetitdone.info

Marketing Yourself on Social Sites

2008-09-05T05:45:00.000-07:00

There are numerous social sites on there on the internet. Most we are familiar with in way or another. We know about the younger generation using MySpace and the big hit now is Facebook but there are so many more which I will list. Take advantage of these sites and market yourself. Use it as an advertising platform!
I get many emails a day asking me what the benefits of these sites. Most people think of them as just a place to get on and connect with others. That is true and the basic concept of the system but there is so much more.
Reaching out to people we know, or once knew can spread the word regarding our business enterprise. However there are so many other benefits to these sites.
Join!
Join these sites and have a look around. You will see some people with a huge list of friends. Mind explosion! How did they get so many friends? That is an easy one. They were invited by someone else. Don’t panic. I will explain that one too. We need to build your page first.
Your Page
Remember that you are a business person. You want friends, you want contacts, but you have a business to run. Begin with the facts about who you are. Where were you born? What schooling, certifications, or degrees do you have? What are your accomplishments? List your business and link.
Build a page describing your website detailing what it entails, the products (services) that you offer, and any special deals. Entice others to go visit it.
Don’t stop at one page. Some sites offer the ability to add more pages where you can add blogs, articles, special deals you have coming up, or mentoring programs you may have. Other sites have areas for you to post your blogs in full form adding more exposure for those who can view your writing quickly.
Places like MySpace have Bulletins. These Bulletins allow you to post special information to your group of friends.
The point is to build upon these sites and add to them allowing you more opportunities. Profiles and blogs can be viewed by anyone. They do not need to be a friend to see these. However building a network of friends is paramount to your success. As mentioned before this is not as difficult as it may seem. One friend can lead to many, many friends. Each site is different but we will look at Facebook and how easy it is to acquire these friends.
Acquiring Friends
Start with the one friend. Now look at their friends and view their profiles to see if they are like minded people. If they are someone that matches your interest send a request to them with a note telling them why you would like to be their friend. Keep doing this.
This snowballs over and over and before you know it you have many of them but just having them is not enough! Establishing repose with them is what you want.
Sites You Need To Use:
Del.icio.us
This site is great for businesses with networking. One can publish items of interest.

Technorati
This is a must for blog writers. This site will increase your readership in many categories with the top ones being in business and technology.

Squidoo
Squidoo’s site has been the major platform for many others. Share your blogs and build your profile page.

Digg
This site is used widely to submit articles in many categories for your business.

Redditt
Add your articles and submit them as often as you can. Doing so will gain you more traffic. This site is readily used.

You Tube
Not just for the younger generation. This is great for business too. Make a commercial about your business. What a great free advertising arena.

Wiki How
Here you add your business with all of your pertinent information which is another great free advertising area.

Ziggs
This sites organizes and connect professionals, therefore you can increase your contacts and your online business.

Facebook
It is a wonderful place for business opportunities to meet others, promote your site, advertise, and add events. It is the place to be!

Mixx
This site is for submitting your writing and news. It states that it is “your link to the web content that really matters”.

Gather
Gather is a network of many categories for you to submit to and read more on your specific target audience.

MySpace
This site is not just for the younger generation. A place to add your blogs, items of interest, and more.

Author:
Sandi Baker
http://letusgetitdone.info

Making Money In Today’s Market

2008-09-02T15:35:00.000-07:00

Many people are wandering how to survive in today’s market. As internet marketers do we have an edge over the sales market? Looking at the entire picture can give us the answer to this.

Most of us have found ourselves struggling with the ever increasing prices, more specifically the price of gas. This is keeping many people from going places and thus affecting many markets. Stores are cutting back on their employees, which we have all seen, such as in Wal-Mart. If you have been to this store lately you will find the many lines available but very few are manned by cashiers. Many stores are cutting back on their hours of operation.

GM recently announced that they are filing bankruptcy. Many analysts predict that the price of gasoline will reach $7.00 a gallon with 2 years.

So how does all of this affect us as internet marketers?

Many think that this will be a negative impact but the exact opposite is true. People are looking towards the internet to make purchases. Instead of driving to the stores they are using the convenience and savings of using the internet for their purchases.

We can all benefit greatly from this trend. No matter what your product is you can take advantage now!

As we all know to grab those sales we need to have exposure. It is best to have placement as high in the search engines as possible. We all strive for this. Keep in mind these numbers as recently reported:

According to the latest news, just reported, from a study conducted by Yahoo!, Prospect, and Jupiter Research, viewers are quickly changing their changing their search queries or the search engines themselves!
The results show that the rate is 23% after a first few search results. In 2002 this rate was only 14%. Another finding shows a bleaker view that after three pages of search results 15% left. Back in 2002 the figure was 22%. As we can see the want for immediate results calls for the best placement.

There is the advantage of Yahoo having the categories which enables visitors to pick from several different choices. The visitor enters the information request and the category is shown with suggestion categories. However, Google does not offer this.

It is advisable to continually work on your website and your search engine ranking which includes all of the factors associated in this process.

However you should focus on advertising as well for maximum exposure. Those advertisements on the right hand side, when you are viewing search results, are very important. They will bring you sales.

Invest in Adsense in Google and Yahoo. Also try other forms of advertising such as local ads and other avenues. Take advantage of today’s market and make some money!

Author:
Sandi Baker
http://letusgetitdone.info