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No one can deny that you need traffic to your website in order to succeed online. And the best kind of traffic is free traffic. So where do we get free traffic? Google and other search engines.

How does free search engine traffic work?

This is something you’ve experienced first hand countless times. You load up Google or another search engine. Enter the words you’re interested in. And click one of the links that shows up. That website owner has just enjoyed the benefit of free traffic. What need to figure out is how to get you free traffic.

Most people only click results from the first couple pages. Actually, almost 100% of the free traffic goes to this first page of results. What’s even more amazing is the the first 3 links get more than 70% of the free traffic.

This means that to get any real traffic you need to be on the first page in Google. To do that, you need to be “ranked” in Google’s Top 10 results. Which brings up..

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization is a measure of how well Google and other search engines think your website matches the search terms people are typing into their search boxes. The intricate formula Google uses to figure this out is really only known by Google. There are several factors that we do know.

Getting indexed

First, before you can get ranked highly, Google has to know you exist. This is known as being “indexed.” This is when Google looks at your site and take notes about it, which are stored in their database.

To get indexed, you have to help Google find your site. Links from other sites are the easiest way to accomplish this. Because Google already knows about these sites, it will follow the new links to you.

Twitter and Facebook updates are great places to put links to your site. Google visits these sites many times every day. So your new link will get indexed very quickly.

Gaining ranking

After this first hurdle, you need to start gaining ranking. Just getting indexed does you almost no good, considering that Google has billions of pages in their database.

Here’s what’s important in ranking:

• Content
• Links
• Activity

Optimized content

This is the SEO you do on your site itself. It’s critical that your page content is consistent with the keyword phrases you’re targeting. Clearly this article is about search engine optimization. One way Google figures this out is from the fact that it contains the term SEO. But also because other related words like traffic generation show up in it, as well.

The title of the page, the domain name and other pages on your site are also important. These all play a part in helping Google determine what your website is about.

Link juice

The next thing to consider is your links. This includes both the inbound and outbound links. With inbound links, you want to have more coming in than going out. So the number of inbound links is important.

Article spinning is a super easy way to get a bunch of inbound links. To use this technique you write articles related to the topic of your websites. Then you have to create multiple versions of this articles. And then upload a different versions to a bunch of sites that allow you to add content. And the more you do the better.

Make your site active

And lastly, it’s seems clear that Google expects important pages to be actively updated. Static pages that just sit may rank at first, but will fall off over time. So you need to update your pages often. One way to keep adding new content it through RSS feeds.

But the best way is with active discussions on your page itself. This means you need to get real live people to your site, as well. One simple method for doing this is to use forums.

What you need to do is sign up with several forums in your niche. And post their often. And link back to yourself in your signature file. This will get your more inbound links. And it will also get real visitors to your site.

Conclusion

All of the above is important. But let’s face it, writing multiple versions of the same article. And creating a bunch of forum profiles. And posting your articles and comments takes a lot of time. And you’re already too busy, so you mostly likely will never do any of it.

However, rank builder software exists. And it automates everything we’ve just talked about. So, use your time wisely and automated to tedious tasks. And then you’re sure to get it done. By taking these steps you practically ensure you’ll get free traffic from Google.

Technorati Tags: free traffic, internet marketing, search engine optimization, seo, traffic generation

You’re dead wrong if you think you know anything about being an affiliate. The tactics of the past few years just don’t work anymore. You need to adapt and change or perish.

The promise

You’ve been told it’s easy to get started as an affiliate. This is partially true. There’s no doubt it’s easier than starting your own business. But starting your own business is really hard, so it’s all relative.

The cold hard truth

The worst part is that the information you’ve received is all wrong. The first thing you’re taught is to pick some great products. Next do some keyword research. Then to use keyword-based advertising to send visitors to the product. And sit back and collect the profits. But, it’s all wrong.

Keywords are dead

There was a time when this worked. But it’s just too competitive to use keywords now. It’s time for a paradigm shift.

A brand new formula

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Follow this method and win again…

• Do CPA marketing instead of product promotion
• Do demographics research
• Market on display networks

Do CPA marketing instead of product promotion

CPA means Cost Per Action. It’s far superior to product promotion. Because you don’t have to get people to spend money. You get paid when they take an “action”. Entering their email into a form, for example. And getting them to do this is so much easier.

Do demographics research

Keywords are no longer relevant (you’ll see in a minute). Invest your research time into demographics. First you select your CPA offer. Then go to a site like Quantcast.com. And research what kinds of people will be interested.

Do image ad marketing

So far, you’ve got your CPA offer and your target demographics. You can advertise directly to them on display networks. And use images as your ads. No keywords required. The biggest advantage is price. Image ad clicks are much cheaper.

Summing it up

This is a great way to make money fast. Because getting started in CPA is free. It’s much cheaper to do image ads than keyword ads. You can laser target with demographics. And your commission is much easier to earn.

Technorati Tags: affiliate marketing, cpa marketing, internet marketing

Consider this: What’s the biggest reason millions of people log onto the internet each day? Simple. To get information. Google alone serves up 400 million searches per day! Why should you care? This quest for information is an opportunity for you to fill a need. And to earn some cash for doing it!

What is info marketing?

First of all, an info business is the least complex business possible. You develop a product that is nothing more than information. And people pay you for the information inside it.. Sounds simple enough, right?

How do you make it work?

You’ve got the basic concept – exchange info for money. However, to succeed you’ve got to provide information people want. So the key is to figure out what people want. How do figure that out?

A super simple trick is to just to check “answer” sites. Visit answers.yahoo.com or similar sites and look at the questions being asked there. You want to find something a lot of people are asking about. Something that most people don’t already know. Then just give them the answer in your ebook.

An encouraging word

If you’re concerned about information product development Put it this way: An ebook is just a series of articles. Writing a whole ebook can be overwhelming. Focus on one article at a time. And when you have a collection, expand and embellish them and voila! You’ve got an ebook.

So, what’s so great about ebooks? Funny you should ask . . . Here are 7 reasons for you:

1. Simplicity

Once it’s built it runs pretty much on it’s own. And your customers need very little support. Which means there nothing for you to actually *do*. It’s like having an automated cash machine.

You don’t have any inventory. You never have to deal with shipping. It’s all delivered online.

2. Repurposing

Once you have a few info products created. You can combine them together to create new high ticket products. It’s a simple matter to merge a few ebooks into one. And your new product will be able to carry a much higher sticker price. Your customers will gladly pay more for a single bigger ebook. Versus multiple smaller ones.

3. Resellers

Since it’s your product, you can offer other people the resale rights. Recently, resell rights have become extremely popular, because people just don’t want to invest the time and money into making their own. And the best part is you’re selling the same product . . . but for 3 times the price for the rights!

4. Leverage

Leverage your ebook by using the content in different ways. Take parts of your info product and turn it into a email training series. You can use this to build a list that you can marketing to again and again.

5. More leverage

You can also take parts of your ebook and turn it into smaller eBooks. These reports can then become lead generators for your ebook. They can be free or low prices. And you’re creating targeted leads for your main product all along. Taking this technique to the max, you can let your affiliate give the reports away for you. Wait, did I say “affiliates”?

6. An army of affiliates

This is one of the biggest reasons of all. If you’ve got products you own. Other people can become your affiliates. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a bunch of other people doing your marketing for you? You’ve got to have your own products to have affiliates.

7. JVs

OK, this is by far the biggest reason why. Setting up joint ventures is the fastest way to gain success. Period. That makes this is the biggest reason for creating your own info products. Because if you don’t have you own product, you’ve got nothing to JV.

Summing it up

If you don’t want to sell digital products by now, then you’ve probably been sleeping. You’ll become the ruler of your own fate. Because you’re the boss! So, decide to just start:

• Visit an “answers” site
• Find out what people need to know
• Write about the answers

Don’t make info product creation any more complicated than that. And in short time you’ll have the foundation for your own info product.

Technorati Tags: info product business, info product marketing, internet marketing

There is no doubt that web page audio significantly increases results. If you don’t have audio in your arsenal, you’re missing out. It will boost your opt-in rate. It boosts sales, too.

What makes it so effective?

There’s no real mystery. Most of the web is cold and impersonal. Audio adds a human quality to your site. It also makes your site feel more real. In short, it makes your site come alive. Which fascinates greater interaction from your visitors.

Here are the benefits

There are actually two profit boosts from using audio. First, you’ll make more sales. And second you’ll save money on the sales letter. You won’t have to hire someone to write your sales letter. Simply record an audio message yourself. An authentic message from you will do more than the best ad copy.

And you will increase your subscriber opt-in rate. People need to be told exactly what to do. Just add a short audio message saying: Fill in your name and email and click submit. Just this one simple thing will boost opt-ins up to 315%!

How to use website audio

Put a welcome message that plays automatically on your site, A warm welcome can be the deciding factor. Grabbing their attention like this helps you keep them on your site.

Step-by-step instructions. It’s the same as when you use audio to increase your subscribers. Use an audio message to lead your visitors through a process. That includes filling in your order form!

Get testimonials for your services and products. A written testimonial is good. But what’s even better are audio testimonials. It’s pretty easy to fake a written testimonial. Audio adds a level of higher believability. And that increases your results.

Here’s a bonus tip

Did you ever think of making a product just by recording some audio? Audio is faster to produce than anything else. And your customers will be very happy with the product. Think about how popular podcast are. And you can get someone to transcribe them for very little money. This is the easiest way to “write” an eBook!

Is it hard to add audio?

It’s not hard at all. There are quite a few audio streaming software programs out there. You don’t actually have to do anything yourself. The program records and then converts the recording and generates an audio button. Just paste the code you copy from the software. There’s nothing to worry about.

Summary

Let’s take another look at the benefits. Using website audio will increase your conversion rates. No doubt your sales will go up. And your opt-in rate will increase. And don’t forget that you can easily create sales pages and products in a flash. It’s a less often used medium. But you’ll save a lot of time and money. Get started right now and realize instant results.

Technorati Tags: conversion tips, internet marketing, marketing, sales, web audio

Yes affiliate marketing rocks, but it’s really hard to get started. This is because there are already a lot of people doing it. In order to survive you have to beat your competition. There’s also a lot of information out there about how to do affiliate marketing, so it can be confusing. Well, here’s on simple thing you can do that will put you ahead of the game.

Video marketing

The power of video is undeniable. People love watching videos and that’s why they’re everywhere. It’s so much easier to keep people’s attention with video. So why wouldn’t you use it in your affiliate business?

Examples of how to use video for affiliate marketing:

• Record your testimonial
• Walk-throughs
• Ordering
• Record a preview of the members area

Testimonials

This one is super simple. Just turn on your web cam and talk. It does not need to be polished or pro. Listening to your honest endorsement makes your viewers feel comfortable buying. And honestly, if you mess up it just makes it seem more authentic. You can literally just press record and talk. If you don’t want to be in front of the camera use one of the other methods.

Record a walk-through

This technique works slightly more subconsciously. You’re taking the role of teacher and showing how to use the product. And in the process you’re actually selling the product. If the product is useful, watching the tutorial makes them want to buy it. So just make sure you’re demoing a good product.

Do an ordering video

This could be the most powerful method of all. Record yourself placing an order. Watching you make a live purchase will inspire your viewer like nothing else. First, it’s social proof. In general people are more likely to something they’ve seen other people do. It also build your viewers trust. Your advice is easier to trust if they can see you’re doing what you tell them to do. And don’t forget about the need to “keep up with the Joneses”. They see you getting the satisfaction of making the purchase and that makes them want it. To really cap this one off, end your video with: You’re gonna have to place your own order if you want to see the members area.

Do a preview video

Here’s an easy way to show the value of the product. You do a tour of the members area. And show them everything they get by ordering. It also reduces the reservations of skeptics. It’s much easier to trust they’re getting something if they actually seen it.

Anyone can do it!

You don’t need any special training for this. Anyone can create stunning videos with some easy-to-use software. Really, the software does all the work. So please don’t let technical worries slow you down. Just focus on the benefits:

• Make more money You’ll earn more affiliate commissions when you add video. People like video, so start using it.
• Reduce refunds You’ll lose less of the commission your earn. Thanks to you people know what’s inside before buying. So less of them will ask for refunds.
• Rise above the competition! This is a really easy thing to do. And almost no one is doing it. This puts you out in front of the rest.

Get started right now and take your affiliate marketing to the next level. The bottom line is that if you’re not using video, you’re losing money.

Technorati Tags: affiliate marketing, internet marketing, video marketing

You need a list. That’s a given. This is the most important factor in your long-term success. Because you can market to your list whenever you want. It’s like a renewable resource that allows you to make money on demand.

Now you now why. Here’s how:

There are 3 factors in list building you need to consider:

• The Squeeze Page
• The Incentive
• The Opt-in Success Page

Your Landing Page – The squeeze page is the first thing your visitor is going to see. It’s the page where you ask them for their email address. That’s why it needs to look like a professionally designed page. It’s also got to be free from distractions. And have a clear call to action.

Failure to include a great “call to action” will result in failure. This “close” tells your visitors what you want them to do. You opt-in rates will take a dramatic nose dive without it. Oddly, if you don’t make it clear, people will be confused and end up doing nothing.

If you want to add some extra juice to your opt-in page make it a video squeeze page. You only have a few second to get your visitors attention – video helps! It also allows you to tell them what to do several times. And after the video, you can make it just say “fill in the form now”.

It’s OK, if you’ve never made a video before. It’s very easy to hire people for a couple hundred bucks to make one for you. There are also list building systems that include video squeeze pages.

The Bribe – Next, you’ve got to figure out what your bribe is. People won’t give you their email for nothing. Email privacy is very important to most people. So make your “bribe” a good one!

You have to provide value in your bribe for it to be good. That means you make it something people would actually want to receive. And will be able to actually benefit from it. For example:

• A free report
• A piece of software
• A video
• An email series

It all boils down to content. It’s got to be something helpful for your new subscribers. It goes without saying it must be free. If you make it good enough, they will give you their email in exchange.

If you’re worried about creating this content, don’t be. You can just pay someone else to make it for you. You just pick the topic and they create the training. A 5-part email series is a good freebie. Each email will cost between $20 and $25. So, a great premium will cost you around $100 – $150.

There are also list building products that include the follow up email series. There are two important things about the email series. First, it must provide value to your subscribers. And it’s nice if it earns you some money, too. One very easy way to make some money from your list is with affiliate marketing. Affiliate products are easy because you don’t have to do anything at all. And it enables you to generate cash right away from your new list.

Your Confirmation Page – The “thank you” page is the final piece of the puzzle. This is the page your subscriber sees after they opt in. A great thing to do here is provide some immediate value. That way, they feel glad that they gave you their email address. It also helps to build the relationship. It also makes them more likely to open your emails.

This is another case where you can get a complete marketing package. You can also put the whole thing together on your own. And do your own writing for this content. Or hire ghost writers to write them for you.

In closing

Whether you decide to build your email funnel yourself. Or if you hire people to do this for you. Or if sign up for a “complete package” solution. The important thing is that you build your own list starting now. Once you’ve got it built. You’ve got a license to print money!

Technorati Tags: email marketing, internet marketing, list building

Presell like a pro

If you want to make more money as an affiliate, you must presell.

Before we begin, we need to first define what preselling is. Well, it is an art. And it’s also a science. It’s a process of taking your reader and getting them ready to buy. Then sending them to the product sales page to make the purchase. If you do it well, it’s completely invisible.

In a nutshell, you provide value. And then refer them to the product website. We’ll get into how to do it correctly in a minute. But before we do, you need to know why it’s so important. Here are a few benefits of preselling:

• It helps your reader trust you – Once you have your readers’ trust, they will click your links more readily. And the more clicks you get the more sales you’ll make.
• It takes your reader out of defense mode – Nobody likes to be sold something. By not doing that to them, your reader is less defensive. And in turn they read to understand what you’re saying. So your content get absorbed.
• It puts them in a buying mood – Now they’re open to hearing what you’re telling them. Being open means, they are open to everything you give them. This includes the sales website you send them to! Being open to a sales message is what it means being in a buying mood.
• You make more money – You’ve prepped them and referred them in the right state of mind. With the guard down and trusting your recommendation. The only possible result is more sales!
• Your customers are happier – Your referral now feels like they decided to buy. Instead of being manipulated into buying. And this leads to greater satisfaction with the product.
• It boosts your profits – A satisfied customer doesn’t ask for a refund. Less refunds means more affiliate money stays in your pocket.

Clearly preselling makes sense. You increase your profits. And produce happier customers. It’s a win-win-win!

OK, so how do you do it?

You’ve learned the importance of preselling. And hopefully you’re convinced you need to start doing it. You’re ready to learn how to do it properly. Remember, there are two components – art and science.

Mastering the art

The first step is in getting your readers to trust you and open up. Honestly, the only way to do this is to provide real value in you content. Now, providing enough info to be useful, but still making them want more – that’s the art of it. So you send them to the product website with a hunger for more of what the product provides. And since they’re more open, they are more likely to make a purchase.

Part 2 – the Science

There are also several key elements that need to be included.

One of these key elements is the presentation of the information. You need to know where you’re going before you begin. In the end, you want to sell a specific product. How can providing information accomplish this goal? First, you can provide useful but incomplete information. The second way is to provide all the information and let your reader discover how hard it is to actually implement it. Whichever method, you send them to a product website that solves the problem you just created.

You also have to link to the product you’re promoting discretely. Instead, you use a direct link to the product website. That’s because nobody likes to click on affiliate links. But, without your affiliate link, how do you get credit? There’s a trick to make this work… You “pre-cookie” your reader before sending them to the sales page.

Next, you want to make sure you’re linking on related words and phrases. Hyperlinked words are clicked more than anything else. Plus, if you link on relevant words, it only makes sense to click on there.

Using this system, you’re virtually guaranteed to increase your affiliate business success.

Unfortunately…

This process is not easy – at all! Let’s talk about everything required to put this plan into action: Great content. First of all, you actually have to write great articles and give value to your readers. This means you have to be able to write well, and have enough knowledge to be useful. Strategic writing. First, you have to give good information. But, you also need to know how to present the information in a way that give value to the reader. And somehow also make them want to learn more. Or make the information so overwhelming they realize they can’t do it on their own.

Choosing your products. You also need to determine what products you’ll be preselling. Even if you get the article written. You’ve wasted all your effort if the product doesn’t sell well.

Techy stuff. One of the keys to this system is using “covert cookies” for the tracking. This is actually pretty simple – just embed a 1 pixel X 1 pixel image and set your affiliate link as the “source” of the image. (But if you mess it up, your referrals won’t be tracked.)

In closing:

Now you know exactly how to presell effectively. And doing this increases your affiliate commissions by over 500%! The important thing is to use these techniques for everything you promote as an affiliate. Please don’t be lazy. Put in the effort to reap the greater rewards.

Technorati Tags: affiliate business, affiliate commissions, internet marketing

If you’ve got traffic coming to your site, you’re 99% there. Of course you also need to have a valuable offer for your visitors – a reason for them to transact with you. After getting the traffic you just need to convert it into subscribers and customers . . . but that’s the easy part. The most crucial aspect of this process is getting the visitors to your site.

How, then do you get traffic to your site?

Here’s a short list of great, free traffic generating methods:

• Web 2.0 Methods
• Article Websites
• Video

Let’s talk about each of these.

Web 2.0 Sites

Web 2.0 simply means the new family of websites that have user-generated content. The exciting thing about Web 2.0 sites is that you get to add your own content and it becomes part of these sites. Because these sites get so much traffic, Google and the other search engines treat these sites with greater importance in their algorithms. And that’s important to you because it means that Google and the other search engines treat links from these sites as more meaningful than links from other sites. By placing links to your websites in this content you’ve created, you get traffic from the site and search engine ranking for the keywords you choose. The direct traffic from the Web 2.0 sites themselves is only part of the benefit. There are many more web 2.0 traffic tactics we don’t have time to get into here, but this will get you started.

Article Websites

The next thing we want to talk about is article marketing. This is because article websites are really web 2.0 site. In typical web 2.0 fashion, article sites rely on user-generated content (i.e. your articles). Just as with the other web 2.0 sites, having your content included gives you immediate traffic and search engine ranking. But you also get the extra benefit of other users taking your article and putting it on their site. And because the terms of the directory say they have to include your “resource box” you get links back from all these other sites, too. If you want to generate traffic from articles follow these steps:

• First, spend the time to determine your keywords
• Tailor the content of your article for the keywords
• Use anchor text links in the article and the “resource box”

Video

The last of this group is video marketing. Here to we’re really looking at a web 2.0 sub-category. And just as article directories give you great SEO benefits and allow others to redistribute your content on their sites. video sharing sites give you all these same benefits. And in addition to this, because Google and the others love video so much, you can get listed for highly competitive keywords much more easily.

OK, so how do you do effective video marketing?

• Get a YouTube account
• When people view your videos, you want them to visit your site, so turn all the other modules in your profile off
• Use the tags in your profile to enter the keywords you want to rank for
• Make sure to include in your profile a link to your site
• Add 1 or more videos to your profile
• Include your keywords in the title, description and tags

Putting it all together.

If you take action on the items listed here you’ll have free traffic in no time.

Technorati Tags: free traffic, internet marketing, traffic generation

This article explains how to select a profitable niche for your membership business.

Step 1 – Find a Fanatical Market

The first step in developing a profitable membership business is to find a market with fanatics in it. Fanatic is defined as someone with an irrational enthusiasm. These are the people you’re looking for because they are so enthusiastic they’re willing to spend money on their topic of fanaticism. Here’s how to find fanatics:

• Here’s something you may not have considered – magazines! We’re so internet-based these days, it’s easy to forget about them. In today’s economy, running a magazine is tougher than ever – some of the best ones are going out of business. So if it’s on the shelves, it’s making money, which means there is a big market interested in this topic. That doesn’t mean definitely that it will make a good membership business, but it’s a good starting point.
• Pay attention throughout the day in your regular activities. See what people are talking about on the radio, TV, at parties, in public, etc. If people are talking about something, they probably want to know more about it. And this means there may be a market for information about it.
• Don’t forget about clubs and organizations. If there are enough people to to build a club, there are certainly enough people to start a membership site on the same topic. Likewise, if there are enough people to hold a convention, there are definitely enough people to fill your membership website.
• And of course there are all the things you have an interest in, too! There’s a good chance that others are interested in these things, as well. Making money is fun and it’s even more fun if you can do it in a niche you’re excited about.
• Google Trends. This is a great way to figure out what people are interested in. This service shows you the current most popular search terms. The reason people are searching Google for info on these topics is because they are interested. And the fact that it’s made it into Google Trends tells you LOTS of people are interested. Hot topics that people are excited about make great niches for your membership website.

Second – Analyze the “commerciality”

OK, so you’ve got a great idea for your niche membership business with lots of fanatics. But will they actually spend money? One way to figure this out is to see if other are making money in it.

Here’s a punch list for figuring out if anyone’s making money in your niche:

• Find out if there are blogs or forums related to it. Just search Google for “YourNiche blog” & “YourNiche forum” and see what comes up. This lets you know there is a market (a group of people actively interested in the niche.)
• Search Amazon, Google shopping and eBay to see if people are creating and selling products in the niche. It’s a good sign if there are because it tells you people are making money here.
• Monitor Google Adwords to determine if people are running the same ads for weeks in a row. If they are, this means they’re making money on these ads – otherwise, they’d stop running them. Which means there is money to be made in your niche.

Finally – Figure out your barrier to entry

Once you’ve found a niche and figured out that there is money to be made in, you need to determine if you can break into this niche. How do you gauge the ease of entry?

• Look at the product types in this niche. You want to find a niche where information products are being sold as the norm. Membership websites based on information are the easiest to start and maintain.
• The last thing you want is a marketing filled with tons of competitors. A few means it’s a profitable niche, but too many means you won’t be able to take a piece of it.
• Compare the size of the market versus the number of competitors. Some competition is a good sign – just make sure the market is big enough for you to join in.
• Market readiness. Are people ready to buy? Are the receptive to marketing messages? Depending on the market it can be anywhere from a couple minutes to a many months between when someone starts the investigation process to when they actually make a purchase.

In Summary

OK, now that you’ve figured out what niche you’re going to go into. Determined there is money to be made and that the competition is not too strong to break into it. You’re ready to start your membership business. Now that you’ve prepared properly, you’re success is 99% guaranteed. How to actually run your membership website is the only thing left to talk about…

Technorati Tags: internet marketing, membership business, membership website, online marketing