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Internet Marketing

How To Turn Site Visitors Into Paying Customers

By Susan Rice Lincoln | January 19, 2011

I had a meeting the other day with a painter who has a Number One Listing on Google and gets a whopping 6,000 visitors a month to his site. When I asked him what happens to the visitors who come to the site, he simply shrugged his shoulders.

Does this ring a bell? Do you know what happens when prospects come to your site? Read More »

3 Simple Marketing Resolutions To Make In 2011

By Susan Rice Lincoln | January 5, 2011

The presents have been opened and there’s no more eggnog. Instead of having the cheery holidays to look forward to, the only thing that’s coming up is snow, winter, and spring…and that’s a few months from now.

This is THAT time of year. The time of year when resolutions are made…and broken.

4 Ways To Get Traffic-Boosting Reciprocal Links

By Charlie Cook | January 3, 2011

Reciprocal linking is exactly what it sounds like – linking to someone’s website and having them link back to yours in return. Although reciprocal links don’t rank as high on search engines as one-way links, you’ll still notice an increase of traffic from having your link in various places.

8 Local Search Links That Will Get You Traffic

By Charlie Cook | December 27, 2010

Here’s the good news about local search: If someone is new to your town (i.e. recently relocated or visiting, for example) they have no idea who your competitors are. The yellow pages are a thing of the past – consumers now go to the internet to find new resources in a city. Read More »

The Key To Becoming An SEO Matchmaker

By Susan Rice Lincoln | December 17, 2010

Keywords– The Ultimate Matchmaker

When all is said and done, online marketing is really about matchmaking.

On the one side of the relationship is YOU. Very simply, you run a small business and you are trying to find qualified prospects who are interested in your services. On the other side of the matchmaking equation are your potential clients. And, while most small business owners don’t think about this, it is important to emphasize that there are hundreds—if not thousands of people—looking RIGHT NOW for you to help them solve their problems!

So how to connect? Who does the matchmaking?

A large part of the ‘connection’ happens through the humble keyword. An optimal keyword is a word or phrase which describes precisely the service or benefit you provide.

So, if you are a graphic designer in Toronto, your prospect will be typing in something like ‘graphic designer Toronto’ or ‘graphic designers in Toronto’. And you want to be absolutely sure that when they type in that term that YOUR name pops us first (and not the name of your biggest competitor!)

Keywords matter. Big time. They are paramount to online gold.

But not all keywords are created equally. Your goal is to find keywords that have the following qualities:

• the maximum possible searches

• the lowest possible competition

• high commercial viability (in other words, when people type that term in they are ready to buy rather than just ‘seeking information’

So how do you figure out which keywords you need to grow your business?

One of the best tools out there to find keywords is a piece of software called Market Samurai.

Market Samurai will not just help you find the right keywords, it will show you how competitive they are, how often they are being searched, their commercial viability as well as which sites currently rank for them. It is a comprehensive and easy-to-use tool.

Focusing on keywords is an absolute essential first step in successful online marketing. Go to http://www.marketsamurai.com/ (this is NOT an affiliate link) and grab a free trial of Market Samurai today and get going!

Here’s to your blogging success,

When all is said and done, online marketing is really about matchmaking.

How Google Local Marketing Helped Me…

By Charlie Cook | December 16, 2010

It’s 1:30 in the morning and I can’t sleep. There’s this loud chewing noise coming from over my head and it’s keeping me awake.

What is it? Watch the video below. Read More »

14 SEO Tools That Will Get You Better Rankings

By Charlie Cook | December 13, 2010

Keyword Optimization

What do marketing and advertising have in common? In the land of keyword optimization, absolutely nothing! If you don’t know what words your potential clients are using to search for your service, they can’t reach you. And if they can’t reach you…well you know what happens then. Absolutely nothing! Save yourself time and money by getting keyword optimization down and prevent your other initiatives from falling flat.

The Free Dictionary

www.thefreedictionary.com

I consider this to be one of the most valuable resources out there for keyword optimization. In addition to just showing you the meaning of a word, the dictionary also shows words of the same root and thesaurus entries. Use it to approach your keywords from more than one angle.

Google Trends

www.trends.google.com

Google tends to make software that is easy to use, extremely helpful and best of all, completely free! Their Google Trends service is no exception. It analyzes Google search data and shows you how popular that search is over a period of time. and while they don’t claim to be 100% accurate, having a general idea of the popularity of your search terms will help you whittle down your SEO terms.

Google Blog

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/

Add this blog to your regular blog roll now and thank me later!. These masters of SEO clearly know a thing or two about search. Learn tips, tricks and go behind the scenes with the geniuses behind the service that has taken the world by storm.

Keyword Discovery

www.keyworddiscovery.com

This service is on the expensive side, but has some decently priced plans. If you need help with optimizing meta tags, beating out the competition or maximizing your PPC campaigns, Keyword Discovery can help.

Keyword Mutation Detector

http://adlab.msn.com/Keyword-Mutation-Detection/Default.aspx

Did you know people often misspell San Francisco as San Fransisco, San Franscisco, and even San Francsico. Don’t miss out on results because of searchers’ spelling errors. Microsoft’s Ad Lab is a helpful tool that shows you the most common misspellings for search phrases by mining actual searches so you can boost your SEO practices even further.

Keyword Research FlowChart

http://www.seobook.com/keyword-research-strategy-flowchart

Ever wonder how to determine if your SEO efforts will pay off. Use this flow chart to help navigate the SEO waters with easy to follow instructions each step of the way. Larger version and downloadable PDF available on the site.

Keyword Typo Generator

http://www.selfseo.com/keyword_typo_generator.php

Enter your keyword of choice and then enter the type of error you want to search. Wrong key? Missed Characters? Double Characters? This keyword Typo Generator has them all covered.

Meta Glossary

www.metaglossary.com/

Stop searching for your dusty physical copy of the Dictionary and start using MetaGlossary. They scour the internet to provide you with current definitions for any word you can imagine.

Ranks

www.ranks.nl

From a company with 10 years of solid SEO experience, comes a great keyword density tool. Check to see what keywords your competitors are using and use the results to boost your business. This is a great resource!

SEO Workers Analysis Tool

www.seoworkers.com/tools/analyzer.html

Don’t know the ranking potential of your web page? This tool is a great one because it provides you with keywords, all urls located in the page, keywords found in anchor tags and more! And it analyzes not only meta tags but the same places internet spiders check as well to ensure all bases are covered.

SEO Tool Set

http://www.seotoolset.com/tools/free_tools.html

Multiple useful tools in one place make this site a go-to for anything SEM. From a SEM tool bar, a server checker (that lets you know if something in your server is erroneous) and competition research, you’ll find yourself using the resources on this site regularly.

Similpedia

http://similpedia.org/

As its name suggests, this site helps you find similar content on…you guessed it – Wikpedia. Just enter a URL or paragraph of 100 words and you’re given all of the wikipedia articles that are related to that content.

Tip of My Tongue

http://chir.ag/projects/tip-of-my-tongue/

What was that word? It starts with Q and has an I in it…and an R, I think… No more guessing! Tip of My Tongue Enter partial words, letters or meanings to get that word off the tip of your tongue and into your keyword cache.

Traffic Travis

www.traffictravis.com

Besides the fact that Traffic Travis was highly rated by CNET (4.5 stars), this program combines a bunch of useful tools: keyword and competition searches, your site’s ranking amongst the top four search engines, and a point-and-click advertisement tracker. Add all this to the fact that the layout is simple and the program is easy to use and Traffic Travis is an online marketer’s dream come true.

WordTracker

www.wordtracker.com

Has a free keyword suggestion tool. Known as the Grandfather of SEO sites, but they also have linkbuilder and strategizer tools. Perfect if you need continuous (versus sporadic) access, high level details about a niche, and a few projects at a time.

7 Secrets to Internet Marketing Success

By Susan Rice Lincoln | December 9, 2010

The Seven Secrets to Successful Online Marketing

Almost every single day I have conversations with small business owners who honestly don’t know which way to turn. What tools should they use? How well is their website working? Should they concentrate on email marketing? Or SEO? Or social media? Or NOTHING?

To answer these questions, I drew up what I consider to be my top Seven Secrets for successful online marketing. Implement these and you will start to see some major transformations both on and offline.

1. Remember that marketing online is marketing. The same old rules apply. Make sure before you do ANYTHING online that you are crystal clear about your products and services and the true benefit they bring your customers. Define clearly your ideal client. (Hint: ‘everyone’ is never the right answer.) Be clear. Be specific. Meet a pressing need.

2. Make sure to walk before you run. A simple, streamlined approach is always better than being scattered, seduced by every new shiny object. In this ADD world of ours, less is still more.

3. To benefit fully from the power of the New Net, tap into what I call the ‘Golden Triangle’: search engine optimization, social media and email/website marketing. Each are strong in and of themselves. But put them together and you have a powerful package which will propel your business into another orbit.

4. SEO optimize. In simple English, make sure that when your prospective client goes to Google and types in your market and your geographic area that it is YOUR company (not your competitors’!) that shows up on the top of the page. Remember if you are not on the first page (or actually one of the first three); you are simply not a player. Make sure that the website you have invested time and money in is being shown in the best light in the search engines. (Oh, and by the way, the person who designed your site is not necessarily the one who can help you get it ranked high in Google.)

5. Tap into the power of social media. Social media brings many things to the party: one-on-one contact with clients and prospects, increased traffic to your site, SEO benefits and authority. Social media’s power grows exponentially when used alongside your SEO efforts and email marketing.

6. Go back to basics. Email is still a powerhouse. Put an opt-in box on the upper right hand side of every page of your website. In exchange for their email, give away something of real value (a written report, a video, an audio tape).

Why do this? What is the point of driving traffic to your site if you have no way of ‘capturing’ interested prospects? And once you have these names, begin a dialogue with them through emails and/or an e-newsletter. Without a simple opt-in box, you will have hundreds coming to your site-only to lose them forever. Ouch.

7. The best secret I’ve kept for last. Because if all of the above just got you more confused (or discouraged), the good news is you don’t have to do ANY of it yourself. Find a great partner to work with you on your online marketing. They do exist (although there are a lot of charlatans too so make sure you select wisely). You are simply too busy and I am assuming your goal in life is not to become an online marketing expert.

Stick with what you do best. Outsource your online marketing to a knowledgeable expert. And then concentrate on handling all the new business that will inevitably come your way.

To answer these questions…

The Key To Making Money Off Of Google Maps

By Charlie Cook | December 8, 2010

If your business is a local brick & mortar shop, you should pay attention to this.

There’s a finite window of opportunity right now for getting free organic listings – absolutely premium real estate on Google Maps.?? This listing is actually superior to a regular #1 organic listing. Or an AdWords ad, for that matter.

At this point in time, these are fairly straightforward to get if you follow… Read More »

7 Real-Time SEO Links That Will Boost Your Web Traffic

By Charlie Cook | December 6, 2010

Real time searches are becoming increasingly popular – you’ve got Twitter feeds showing up in Google searches seconds after they’re posted.

With real-time feeds from Twitter and Facebook and other social media platforms showing up in search results, every link and mention of your website or blog is directing people to your site so utilize these to the fullest!

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