What are websites? Are they sales tools for vendors and service providers, or are they electronic guidance for potential customers? Put simply, are you selling or are you helping? Your answer to this question may determine the success of your website. So think carefully. How we define what a website is all depends on which side of the fence we're on. I suspect that most - if not all - vendors and service providers would say their website is a sales tool. But this is a fundamentally flawed perspective. Adopt this position, and sooner or later you'll pay for it.
A website that helps them buy when they want to buy. Helps them understand when they want to understand. And - most importantly - a website that helps them decide when they want to decide. If you really want to build trust, credibility, authority, and site loyalty, helping visitors is the way to go. Of course, that's not to say you have to do it for free. We're all in business to make money after all. In fact, the main aim of many of your visitors will be to buy something. But it's important that you focus on them, not on you. For example, your visitors don't want to know what you have to sell. They want to know what they can choose to buy. If your primary focus is sales, your visitors will pick up on it.
The key to successful online help is to always try to answer one simple question: What does the reader want to know? Do they want reference information or how-to information? Do they want to know how to get started or how to get out of trouble? Sure, when you're writing for a website, the subject material is different, but the question is still the same. What does your reader want to know? Obviously, the answer to this question will be different for everyone, but there are some common questions you can ask yourself which might help you decide:
Whether you do some real research or just make some educated guesses, it's important that you know your visitor very well. Then, and only then, can you help them. And only when you help them will you start to realize the true sales potential of your website. Happy writing! Target Practice Pro is your go-to digital marketing solution for planting marketing seeds and boosting your business. Call us now or schedule a talk.
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While providing a service for people is good, it is often the most time-consuming of the three. For example, if you write resumes for people you only get paid if you work. But if you sell an already-made product, such as an information product or an affiliate product, after you are set-up you can set up your website on autopilot and make sales with little work on your part.
Your product does not have to be long, especially if it is a specialized product. For example, a well-written 5 page how-to article on grooming your dog could sell for $15-$20 dollars. Think about it: People are looking for your information because they do not want to go to the groomer’s (probably because they think it is overpriced). If they normally pay $40 per visit, and they visit once per month, they pay $480 yearly to the groomer. On the other hand, if they buy your information, even at $20, you will have saved them $460 (minus the cost of grooming equipment they will have to buy) and quite possibly gain a customer for life.
You have provided your customer with a very well-written explanation of how they can save money by grooming their dog at home. Even though they have saved money, they still need grooming tools and equipment. You can research the various grooming tools, looking for best price and best value, and add one or two pages to your booklet recommending these. Add value to your business by setting yourself up as an affiliate for those products, and recommend your affiliate link in your booklet. Then, when your customers click on the link to buy the grooming tools, you make a commission. Congratulations! You just experienced multiple streams of income, as you were paid twice: once on the purchase of your info product, and again on the purchase of the grooming tools you affiliated for. This is how to parlay your experiences into multiple streams of income online. Target Practice Pro is your go-to digital marketing solution for planting marketing seeds and boosting your business. Call us now or schedule a talk.
The million dollar question is: How can I do this and get the best results? I have prepared an article that will guide you through the process in 3 steps:
Before I go any further, it's important to understand that keywording is one of several important steps in your SEO strategy. This alone will help but it's not the final solution for ranking If you've already written several pages of content, that's alright, but the best course of action is to start with keyword research, selection and density. Trust me, this is time well spent. If search engines understand what you’re all about, it's easier to include your website in the results. Follow the steps I have mentioned below and your website will enjoy better ranking in search results.
1) Think about what keywords you would choose while you search for certain products or services. Think from a customer point of view and not from a search engine or SEO point of view. Collect and write it down. I suggest using a spreadsheet so that it will help you in the stages as well. 2) Another option is to ask your customers and friends how they search on the net to find your business. People think differently and might not use the same keyword phrase to find that product or service. This will be a source of target keywords. Collect and store them. 3) Keyword suggestion tools. There are 100's of tools on the web some of them are free and others charge a fee. This link will help you out to select the one that works best for you. Type in your keywords and phrases into these tools and you will find 100's of keyword suggestions for a particular product or service along with monthly search stats. They also indicate how much competition there is for that particular keyword phrase. It's always more challenging to rank for high search volume keywords. Choose keywords that are less competitive, so that your website will rank well for that particular keyword phrase in search engine results. Try to include long tail keywords (4 words or more). They are often less sought after and can provide a competitive edge. Once these steps are done, use your spreadsheet to determine the ideal keywords. Google likes websites with more content. Why do you think Wikipedia is usually the #1 result in any search? Build a spreadsheet that will list the relevant keywords for your business compared to the search volume and competition it faces to be well ranked. As mentioned before, try to choose less competitive keywords. After this stage is completed, it's time to start building content for your website. 4) If you’ve already published your website, check your web logs and gather keywords that people use to find your site. This will guide you to adjust your content. Make sure to register your website with Google Search Console as it captures the queries used to find your site.
Density Search engine robots are very intelligent spiders they can determine when you're trying to cheat them. They index web pages to determine how many times a keyword has been used on a particular page and can flag a website if it identifies word stuffing. Now you see now why keyword density is so important - it can hurt your ranking! An ideal rate would be between 10-15 % of keyword density on the page (based on the total amount of words). Use different keywords related to a phrase so that the words are picked up by search engines. If the job is well done, search engines will determine a page or website as relevant and identify it as authoritative content. For example, a search for the keyword "dog supplies" shows numerous related terms like "dog supplies online" "dog supply store" etc. Select words and related expressions that will help better identify your website within the market it represents and build your content avoiding keyword concentration.
Use your spreadsheet with the selected keywords to place them in your article as links to make them your anchor text. These will eventually be picked up by search engines and become keywords related to your website. Also consider including your site in relevant business listings. Search for the term "business listing {name of city where your business is located}". Some are free, others are paid and several of them provide DoFollow links to your website. The more external links pointing to your website from relevant websites (content and rating) the better. Search engines read this as authority and reward it with a better ranking. And remember, this is not a sprint, it's a marathon. If you are well prepared slowly but surely your website will increase in importance and start showing up in search results. Make sure your design is user friendly, the content is easy to find and you offer several contact options. Visitors don't spend time on websites that they can't find what they're looking for. Happy keywording! Target Practice Pro is your go-to digital marketing solution for planting marketing seeds and boosting your business. Call us now or schedule a talk.
Most bloggers love when their traffic is high and they have a great deal of fans. Getting to that popular point can be a little difficult however. If you want to have a successful blog, you will need to make sure all of the components are there. One of the most important components to have within your blog is scanability. This really means that your blog is scannable, or easy to go through quickly while still capturing the main points of your posts. Use these seven tips to make sure your blog is scannable and you will see an increase in traffic to your site.
2. Create Interesting Headlines The way you set up your posts has a lot to do with them being scannable. Your posts should always have an interesting headline. It should be catchy and attention grabbing with its wording. It should also be done using different style elements such as bold print, colored print, and italics. The more attention you get to the headline, the easier it will be for a reader to go through your posts and read the ones that interest them most. When you make it easy for the readers, they will read more.
4. Cut Out the Big Words You should never feel the need to use enormous words that very few people understand or can even pronounce. The best thing you can do is keep the grammar very simple on your blog. By doing so, you are making your blog easier to scan and to read. Most people will only look through the blog for phrases and headings, so these big words can really be distracting. With less than 20% of blog readers going over word for word, you should not waste your time trying to impress. Instead, write in the manner that you would talk to a friend. Making it casual is a great way to gain a lot of interest.
6. Graphics Work Graphics were once things that bloggers thought got in the way of their content. Today, however, the opposite is true. When done appropriately, graphics can really add to your content and make your readers more interested. You can make your site scannable by adding a few graphics to your blog. Try adding graphics that go along with your posts for an efficient approach. 7. Be Clear When you have something to say on your blog, just go ahead and say it. Some bloggers tend to let their opinions or main points drift in and out of their posts subtly. The most effective way to get your point across in a blog is to come out with blazing guns. You should keep your main point close to the beginning. This is a great way to know readers understand what you want to say. Target Practice Pro is your go-to digital marketing solution for planting marketing seeds and boosting your business. Call us now or schedule a talk.
We all want to believe that you have the best "gadget & widget" out there. We want to believe it because you said so. But the harsh reality is that we simply can't just take your word for it. For instance, just for an example, let's use "Company Logo Design". Here is the difference between facts tell and stories sell.
Ex #2 (Story + Facts) "PERFECT, that's the only word I can use when describing this company's logo design service. They not only saved me a lot of time but they also spent most of their time finding out what I wanted. In the end, they provided EXACTLY the type of logo I was looking for, thank you so much!!!!" We are here to help you succeed and want to deliver something you're looking for, not only what our designers want to create. Get a logo you are looking for with these extra features attached:
It's all about "Fear Of Loss" Fear of loss is a powerful tool to use. Don't tell people what they need. Have them fear the fact that if they don't have it, nothing will work out for them. A good industry to follow is in "Make-up" companies & Beauty Products. The industry has used "fear of loss" to its fullest. They consistently insert into young female minds that, if they don't use their products, they will never be as beautiful as they hope to be. As mentioned before, we all want to believe that you have the best product out there, by simply inserting a testimonial, this will ultimately help your visitors to further believe that you do.
If you've accomplished this correctly, your visitor could go looking at another company for the same services but, they will likely have problems concentrating on anything else. Around 8/10 people go with company from a gut feeling, not facts. This is a very high number to lose by simply failing to appeal to feelings instead of just facts. I'll put it to you another way. When you look at a web design company. They may have the best price out there, but your main concern is to view their work. See their portfolio in action. Adding testimonials to each website in their portfolio would be a powerful venture for any web design company. Why do we always want to see their work? Fear of loss.
The more you can grab someone's attention and keep them interested online, the more they will learn to like you, trust you, and call you for your services, no matter the price. In Conclusion: Spice up your piece of the pie by spicing up some stories and grabbing people's attention through fear of loss & success stories. Hope this article helps you out! Target Practice Pro is your go-to digital marketing solution for planting marketing seeds and boosting your business. Call us now for a free quote.
Submitting articles for publication creates links to your website resulting in higher ranking on the search engine result pages. The higher a site ranks, the bigger slice of the traffic flow pie they receive. With increased traffic to your website comes more profit and potential for producing other income streams as well. It is not enough to just stuff your site with articles; there are other elements to be considered as well. You need these additional elements to obtain the maximum benefit articles can provide. A well-written article will peak the interest of site visitors and keep them coming back for more. These added elements can also prompt visitors to recommend your site to others. Here are four tips to help you spice up your articles to produce more traffic that will result in increased attention to your site.
You need content on your website that has keywords that are related to what visitors are searching for. For example, if you maintain an auto parts site, you must have the auto parts listed in your article. Look for tools on the internet that can help you determine what keywords and keyword phrases are mostly sought after. You can use these tools to determine what keywords to use and write about.
Keyword density is the number of times a keyword or keyword phrase is used in an article. The number varies depending on the number of words used in an article. An effective article must have a keyword density that is not too high or too low. With a very high density, the essence of the article is lost and may turn off a reader as well as search engines. It comes off as overeager, and a low number may be ignored by the search engines.
People respond well to figures, facts and statistics. Try to get great information and as many facts as you can. A good and well written article will boost your reputation as an expert in your chosen field or topic. As more people believe in you. They will be able to trust you and your products.
Target Practice Pro is your go-to digital marketing solution for planting marketing seeds and boosting your business. Call us now for a free quote.
The style for the web, especially in the case of marketing, must be much more succinct and effective. Remember that it is the reader, not the writer, of the content who will determine the sequence that will be followed for the content. To do this, there are a number of things that you need to keep in mind as you write your web content:
3. Apply more of a journalistic-type writing style. This means that your wording will be simple and direct, and any complex sentence structures should be avoided. Don't use any unnecessary words or "fluff".
This can be done by using the second person, that is, writing "you", so that the reader will feel as though he or she can personally relate with what you are trying to say. 6. Always tell your reader the benefits of whatever you're saying. Copy should be written in order to directly inform readers of "what's in it for them". This means not only saying the features of any given product or service, but also why these features are good for the reader's needs and desires.
Smaller, more manageable and more inviting paragraphs of no more than two or three sentences are easier to read and scan. You can also use subheadings and bullets to make scanning easier and more appealing.
SEO (search engine optimization) is one of the most effective online marketing efforts you can make. Furthermore, scanning your content becomes much easier when keywords are there to be spotted. None of these points are very difficult, however, they are somewhat time consuming. Fortunately, they are worth every moment you can put into them. Whether this means hiring a professional, or doing it yourself, these techniques provide you substantial results that youíll be able to see growing over time. Just donít forget to keep up those efforts as you add new pages to your website, or if you change the siteís design in the future! Target Practice Pro is your go-to digital marketing solution for planting marketing seeds and boosting your business. Call us now for a free quote.
Your brand is you. It's everything that your business is, encapsulated in a name, and sometimes in a slogan. But naming your business and creating a slogan isn't enough. You've got to build your brand by showing what your brand stands for. Here are the top five ways to build your brand online:
Aim to add something to your website every day, even if it's only one blog post (see below). Building your website is the easiest, cheapest, and fastest way to build your brand, online or offline.
Your blog can help you to build your brand as nothing else can. Spend a few minutes today checking out the websites of others in your industry. You may be surprised, and even shocked, to discover how many of your competitors are blogging.
This has huge benefits for your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) activities. Can you imagine what this could do to build your brand? Once you've written the articles, post them to your website, and to article directories, of which there are hundreds online. When you post these documents to article directories, people are made aware of your brand, and your brand's message spreads virally, as other people promote your material on their Web sites.
Tip: your local media, newspapers, radio and TV, are always desperate for stories -- send your releases to your local media, as well as posting them online.
Integrate it with a payment gateway and they'll be able to purchase your content online. Branding is a function of marketing, and whether your business is brand new or well-established, branding your business makes your business memorable, so it's essential. These top five activities will create a strong brand for you, much sooner than you think possible. Target Practice Pro is your go-to digital marketing solution for planting marketing seeds and boosting your business. Call us now for a free quote.
therefore, content is still the most important aspect of your website. Great design, flash, graphics, and a cool banner will not get you ranked well for your keywords and phrases. Great content will! Let's first look at the content in your website. Images are great with alt tags. That helps. But it is the text on the pages that, when done correctly, will help your search engine results. This text is also what will convert your customers into sales.
to your website if they read and like the articles you write or have written for you. Just having your articles in thousands of article directories is not the goal of article marketing, although there are article-marketing gurus out there who think it is. The goal is for webmasters to find those articles and place them in their blogs and websites. If they use your article, their website or blog is likely related to the same topic as your website. You are looking for these quality links. The links for just being in the article directories do not hurt you, but they do not help nearly as much as those from related websites do.
The reverse is also true in the reader's mind. If the articles are written poorly, then likely your products and services are of little or no value as well. It is not only about the number of keywords and phrases placed into the article folks. With all of that being said, I still find all over the web, especially at freelance websites, people going in and saying things like; "I need 400 articles written for SEO and I'm willing to pay $1.50 per article." Or they say something like; "I need someone to write content for my website and I'm only willing to pay $10 per page." I really try to refrain from telling people they are, well... stupid, but I am finding it harder and harder each day when I read this stuff.
writers and paying for text that converts sales, you will begin to be successful on the web. That cheap content is not going to make you any money. A website that is beautiful but gets no traffic and sales may as well be an ugly website. An ugly website that ranks well in the search engine and that makes sales gets more beautiful by the dollar. Target Practice Pro is your go-to digital marketing solution for planting marketing seeds and boosting your business. Call us now for a free quote.
It provides meaningful content for the individual searching the web for good information. And It provides an avenue whereby the article writer can be noticed on the web.
classifieds, and traffic generation programs are not as effective. The mass advertising forms are much more effective, cost-wise, when promoting a product that has wide market appeal.
Sometimes article writers will write generic articles that really don’t provide any real benefit to the reader, thinking that an article is an article. That is simply not true. Think about yourself. When you read an article, if you do not learn something new when you read the article, are you disposed to learning more about the person, company, or products represented by the article writer?
Good, well-written, articles are the key to niche marketing in today’s Internet marketing environment. Write articles, submit them to the most-used article databases, and watch your website traffic grow. Target Practice Pro is your go-to digital marketing solution for planting marketing seeds and boosting your business. Call us now for a free quote.
These words, or content, should provide tons of information in small, bite-sized chunks of text. No one likes to read 8 pages of content on a website. On the flip side, no one likes to buy a product without knowing more about it. You need to find the perfect balance between having no information and providing too much.
During that time you are positioned as an expert. Any soft recommendations that you make will be considered by your visitor.
Pre-selling and content (part 1 of this series) are closely related. You must provide information to your site visitors. You must be viewed as the expert and as a helpful friend making a recommendation. People will not feel sold by that. People will respect that you are providing answers to their problems and making a recommendation for a product that can provide even more helpful info. It's seen as a favor instead of a hard sell. Having a successful web business starts with effective content. Stay tuned for part 4! Target Practice Pro is your go-to digital marketing solution for planting marketing seeds and boosting your business. Call us now for a free quote.
Free traffic is harder to attract, but it costs you absolutely no money. Almost all free traffic is the result of users finding your site on the search engines. We talked about using content as your ultimate search engine ranking booster in the last article.
Post in forums. Many forums will not allow you to market your product or services. That’s totally understandable. What we recommend doing is finding a really great forum that you can participate in. When people have questions, provide top notch and comprehensive answers. No selling. Almost all forums allow you to post your website in your profile. Take advantage of that.
Create joint ventures with non-competing websites. Work with a company that compliments your product or service. Also be sure the joint venture is a win-win-win for you, the other company and your customers. Joint ventures can be a pain to set up and complete, but well worth it if done correctly.
What page did they enter into your site? What page did they leave your site? What keywords did they use to find you? You must know your visitor inside and out! Google Analytics and Search Console are very handy tools to gather this kind of information. Target Practice Pro is your go-to digital marketing solution for planting marketing seeds and boosting your business. Call us now for a free quote.
All the information in the world will not take the place of determination and persistence. A web business is just like an offline business. It takes hard work and resolve to succeed. However working smart is heads and tails better than plain old working. These secrets will turn any smart working, dedicated average Joe or Jane into a successful web business owner.
A keyword can be a single word or a phrase. It is the term that web surfers use to search for information. Place yourself in their shoes and try to discover what search terms they use. You must then evaluate the search term. How many people search using that term? How many sites already deliver information on that search term? Simple demand and supply rules. The more demand with the less supply equals more profitability.
Without a proper keyword search and analysis you may as well forget about becoming successful with an Internet business. Investing in this one secret is literally the start of planning your website.
Search engine spiders do not like to fish around for all of your pages and links. This is why many sites offer a ìsite mapî. A site map is one page that contains links to all of the content pages. This is a fine route to take; however, most people agree that pages with a lot of links on them are valued less than content pages that casually link to other content pages. Using three tiers allows you to go from topic to sub-topic to sub-sub-topic all by natural in-content links. For example, tier 1 is the homepage on a fitness site. Tier 2 is a page all about cardio activity and its benefits. A tier three page off of that tier 2 page is about different treadmill routines. Do you see how the site visitor would like this structure? They click on "Cardio" and are given links to more specific pages about cardio topics. Search engine spiders like the three tier structure too. It means they do not have to dig through layers and levels of useless links.
teaches you how to optimize web pages for engines. Doing that will cause less headaches and frustration and it will keep you focused on building content. A quick education in optimization: place your specific keywords in the file name, title, description and keyword section of your page. Then sprinkle the keywords throughout the content. Also provide a link using your specific keyword in the link text. If all of this has you spinning your head, I recommend going to the hosting company I use. They literally teach you to build a website using blocks. Itís all simple and easier than you think.
they are reading content. Search engines notice this and rank you better. How well your site can keep visitors is known as "stickiness." Your site must attract and keep visitors for as long as possible.
Target Practice Pro is your go-to digital marketing solution for planting marketing seeds and boosting your business. Call us now for a free quote.
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