by Tinu AbayomiPaul
If I comment on your blog, it’s NOT for the sole purpose of getting a link.
I can buy links, earn them, submit for them, write articles, win awards, be written about, publish a press release, create a podcast…. so what the heck do I need you to link to me for?
It would be nice but…
A link is a consolation prize, not an end in itself.
If I comment on your blog, it’s my way of saying hi, a precursor to a relationship. If we were to use the metaphor of dating, the first comment is the stage where I decide if you’re worth asking out.
Step One - Stalking.
I read a blog for at least a week, looking for common ground, and seeing if the blogger writes in a style that leaves a place for replies other than “good job”.
The content has to speak to me, so that I want to say, “fantastic job”, “thank you”, or “and you know what else”, or “I respect you but you’re SO WRONG about this.”
You can’t expect people to write their most compelling work every day, but if I don’t see at least one memorable shot after a week or so of hanging around and reading archive posts, I’m off.
Because if I’m not electrified, and I’m looking to market to people like me, well, they’re not going to be electrified either.
Sometimes I ignore this rule if their audience loves them for some reason I don’t understand- because some of my readers have the same mercy on me.
Step Two - Introductions.
I comment once, leaving my full name, and making a concerted effort to truly contribute to the conversation. (I make an effort every time, but this first time, I want to be noticed, maybe even impressive.)
Usually the first comment is without leaving my link unless the browser fills it out for me.
If comments are moderated, I may come back if it’s really important to me and I remember. Which is why, if you want more people to comment, it's smart not to moderate comments until your blog is so popular that it attracts multiple spam entries a day.
Step Three - Flirting.
I comment again. This time I’m looking for a response from the publisher within a few days.
Having a busy company outside of my business blog, I know that not every blogger will respond quickly, or even at all. So what I'm also looking to see that each commenter gets treated the same way. If the blogger answers me a week later, is he responding to all responses a week late? Or have I been singled out?
Regardless of the response, I’ll probably still read though, because you can’t fairly judge the sum total of a person on what you perceive to be their flaws.
If the person doesn’t comment at all, either because they have a high traffic site which always produces 25 or more comments per post, I will cut them a little slack.
But I’ll probably read less often, and stop bothering myself to comment, unless I observe interaction between commenters.
Step Four - Yes, I’m asking you out on a date.
I comment a third time.
With this third comment, if I make it this far at that site, and they respond or their community responds, I’m moving them up to my priority list to read, link to, write about and reference.
Step Five - I Talk About You All the Time
I share my favorite reads with my audience at some point. I may share their posts on del.icio.us, Digg, Sphinn, PlugIM, BUMPzee, StirredUp, Stumble Upon, Facebook, anywhere I’ll see them more often.
And I keep doing it. I might dedicate a blog post to them, or promote their newsletter. I'm not looking for reciprocation at this point, though that's nice.
I'm sharing your resource to up my own brownie points with my audience - which, if you think about it, is a bigger compliment.
Step Six - We Fall In Like
I bond with my new friend. We might poke each other on Facebook or email each other. (Rare for me because I Loathe email.) We may have our own inside jokes on each other’s blogs. We're likely to end up talking on the phone, or I may drop by when I'm in town.
My motives are simple - make a new friend.
If anything else comes out of it, that’s great. If there is something I can do for them, even better. If one day, they do something for me too, that’s awesome. It doesn’t always happen that way, and that’s okay with me.
If it doesn’t, I still get credit when I comment, which I’ll do in bursts of frequency, and at the minimum, traffic and/or links will come from it.
And the community that posts there often may post over at my blog, and if they do, I’ll mention those people from time to time on my blog and add them to my links.
Who knows, that friend might lead me to another friend who wants the same serious business relationship I’m looking for.
If it does work out, it’s magic.
They’ll write about me, they’ll link to me, they’ll reference my posts, they’ll add me to their Blogroll, they’ll thank me in public, they’ll write me privately to set up partnerships, and I'll reciprocate or initiate the same.
Which results in much more traffic, much better links, an increase in both our audiences and in sales, as well as the primary benefit, a new friendship.
Step Seven - The Mutual Appreciation Party Begins
I Repeat steps Five and Six as much as time allows.
Again, thinking about this logically, what would you be willing to do for a person who was doing that for you? When people do the smallest thing for me that I notice, I tend to bend over backwards for them anytime, even if they only got to step five.
But folks who ask me a favor out of the blue, as if I somehow owe them something because they know of me? Not so much. Don't get me wrong, I do my best to be nice to everyone.
At the same time, when a person's motives are purely based on what they can get out of you, can't you tell? If you knew a person only wanted to know you because you have a car, would you really be enthusiastic about driving them to the airport?
Sure, if you're a kind person, you might still do it. That one time. Grudgingly. If they paid for gas. And you had nothing else to do.
But for a loved one, or a good pal, I bet you'd change your whole schedule just to help.
Relationships aren't magically different in the business world. If anything they are just as important.
Successful businesses are built on good relationships. You don’t have to be best friends with everyone. In fact, I’m really big on not working with people who expect something for nothing, or abuse my time.
However, every good blog traffic method is built on being a good neighbor in the blogosphere. No blog is an island.
It's not just about getting the traffic. It's HOW you get it. It's the experience people have from getting to your site. For massive traffic, learn what's behind the ethos, not just the technique. We can teach you both at http://trafficreality.com/ today.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
How to get indexed by Google in ONE hour
by Jamie Munro
If you’re not familiar with how some people accomplish getting their web sites submitted to Google quickly, you are going to absolutely love this article.
I’ve bet you’ve heard from many people that it can take days, weeks, even months to get indexed by Google. If you have heard that, you’re now thinking, “OK Jamie, you must have had a really stressful day at work today and you’re now hallucinating that this is possible!”.
If I read this blog title a while ago, I’m sure I would be thinking the same thing as you! Ok, let’s move on to how to get indexed by Google within one hour.
The secret is quite simple. Almost every site in today’s Internet world uses the social network sharing buttons. On my blog, http://www.endyourif.com I include it on every article page. I also include it on the main listing pages underneath my article summary.
If you don’t already have one of these on your sites, get one now, just search “Share This” or “Add This” and you will find a ton of web sites that tell you to put a few lines of Javascript code on your web site and it does the rest.
Ok, so now you have this button added to your web site? Perfect, I would suggest going to a page on your web site that you think will be the most valuable to other users and submit it to a couple of those sites listed in the button.
I have personally found excellent success with both Digg and Reddit. I launched a web site about 1 or 2 months ago, submitted two links to Digg. I waited about an hour or so and searched Google with keywords that I felt I targeted well and lo and behold there it was, my page was found and indexed with Google. Not only was it found, it was in the top 10!
Don’t just stop here though. Submitting to the above sites will provide you with some quick traffic. It won’t last long if people don’t like your site. Plus, it won’t cause your other pages to be indexed either. It really is just a start.
The next step is to create an XML sitemap of your content. Once you’ve done this, create an account on the Google Webmaster Tools. You will need to add your domain and verify your site before continuing.
Once you’ve completed this, add your sitemap that you previously created. Within a few minutes (some times longer), Google will validate your sitemap and queue all of your links to be indexed.
This of course is not a guaranteed solution to be indexed any faster. But Google certainly seems to crawl your sitemap on a regular basis and check the links. It also checks how often your site is updated, the more frequently it is updated, the more frequently Google will crawl your content!
If it’s possible, you should try to perform some kind of daily updates to your site. Ideally if you allow users to comment, hopefully there will be several new comments per day and this will cause your data to be considered new.
I hope you’ve found this article useful. Happy Googling! If you would like more tips and techniques, visit my blog at http://www.endyourif.com
I have been developing web sites for over 10 years and 6 years professional. I recently have decided to begin sharing my knowledge through articles and my blog:
http://www.endyourif.com
If you’re not familiar with how some people accomplish getting their web sites submitted to Google quickly, you are going to absolutely love this article.
I’ve bet you’ve heard from many people that it can take days, weeks, even months to get indexed by Google. If you have heard that, you’re now thinking, “OK Jamie, you must have had a really stressful day at work today and you’re now hallucinating that this is possible!”.
If I read this blog title a while ago, I’m sure I would be thinking the same thing as you! Ok, let’s move on to how to get indexed by Google within one hour.
The secret is quite simple. Almost every site in today’s Internet world uses the social network sharing buttons. On my blog, http://www.endyourif.com I include it on every article page. I also include it on the main listing pages underneath my article summary.
If you don’t already have one of these on your sites, get one now, just search “Share This” or “Add This” and you will find a ton of web sites that tell you to put a few lines of Javascript code on your web site and it does the rest.
Ok, so now you have this button added to your web site? Perfect, I would suggest going to a page on your web site that you think will be the most valuable to other users and submit it to a couple of those sites listed in the button.
I have personally found excellent success with both Digg and Reddit. I launched a web site about 1 or 2 months ago, submitted two links to Digg. I waited about an hour or so and searched Google with keywords that I felt I targeted well and lo and behold there it was, my page was found and indexed with Google. Not only was it found, it was in the top 10!
Don’t just stop here though. Submitting to the above sites will provide you with some quick traffic. It won’t last long if people don’t like your site. Plus, it won’t cause your other pages to be indexed either. It really is just a start.
The next step is to create an XML sitemap of your content. Once you’ve done this, create an account on the Google Webmaster Tools. You will need to add your domain and verify your site before continuing.
Once you’ve completed this, add your sitemap that you previously created. Within a few minutes (some times longer), Google will validate your sitemap and queue all of your links to be indexed.
This of course is not a guaranteed solution to be indexed any faster. But Google certainly seems to crawl your sitemap on a regular basis and check the links. It also checks how often your site is updated, the more frequently it is updated, the more frequently Google will crawl your content!
If it’s possible, you should try to perform some kind of daily updates to your site. Ideally if you allow users to comment, hopefully there will be several new comments per day and this will cause your data to be considered new.
I hope you’ve found this article useful. Happy Googling! If you would like more tips and techniques, visit my blog at http://www.endyourif.com
I have been developing web sites for over 10 years and 6 years professional. I recently have decided to begin sharing my knowledge through articles and my blog:
http://www.endyourif.com
Friday, May 22, 2009
5 Things You MUST Check Before You Buy the New SEO Software or Trust a Google Expert
by Tinu AbayomiPaul
Here's a trick people fall for all the time. It's so common the really scuzzy people have a name for it - it's called "False Proof."
The one that has been chapping my behind is when a supposed search expert will say, "I'm number one out of 33 million results." And you think, really? 33 MILLION?
Then you get their software, ebook, or system, and you find out that even though you're also able to rank number one for a term that gets 33 million results, none of it sent you any sales, or leads - and really, not much traffic either.
Don't get me wrong - it's not that this ranking isn't an achievement for some people. It's just that it HAS to be put into perspective. If someone is telling you - hey, I'm kind of a newbie to search, and I figured out how to do this. Let me share my research with you - that's information to trust.
The same person claiming it makes them an expert? Not so much.
If you don't want to get hustled by this little trick, remember that proof has to be MEANINGFUL.
It's fine to profit from a JV deal with a friend or colleague, I'm not knocking it. I've done it and when I have, I've slept great, because I make a conscious effort to only promote the highest quality products from my peers.
So I think endorsements are okay.
What's NOT Okay is when the testimonials of friends are the Only testimonials a person has for their product.
What did their peers think?
What did their clients think?
What do people who didn't know them before they tried it think?
If a person selling you an SEO product or search consulting is a layperson, and they figured out how to get results better than the next guy, and they say so, that is completely above board.
But if they're claiming to be a guru or expert in any way, and they're using keyword rankings or number of links generated, or anything else to prove their results, make sure they stand up to closer scrutiny.
Here are some things to look for:
1- The number of results doesn't always tell you how comparatively difficult the keyword is to rank for. A good keyword difficulty check like the one at SEOmoz.org will help you figure this out.
2- If the keyword phrase is 4 or more words long, a monkey could probably rank for it under the right conditions.
3- Even if it is hard for a newbie to rank for, and the software tool/person will help you get to the next level of expertise, if the terms you would rank for are those that don't send any traffic, or won't help you build up to terms that will send traffic, it's a waste of time.
4- If just one keyword ranking is their claim to fame, they aren't an expert if they're saying they are, or that their tool is worth paying for, based on this, be wary.
You do NOT really know what you're doing with search until you have been able to maintain hundreds or thousands of rankings for a few years.
You can get to number one by cheating in the short term - until they catch you and ban your site.
Luck or cheating doesn't make you an expert.
5- If the number one or first page result they got is one of many, and passes all the difficulty and traffic tests - is the result they have in Google or Yahoo for their own site? It if it, and that's all the information they're selling, don't buy it. I'll tell you how to do that for free in a minute.
First let me explain one thing: it's not that it's a bad thing to get to number one using Ezine Articles or Hub Pages. It's that you don't control the ranking when it's not on your site.
It's that you don't need someone to teach you something fancy to get that ranking.
Anyone can get a popular site to rank at the top for an article they've contributed - there are free articles for how to do this around the Net. If I'm not mistaken, Chris Knight wrote about it last year on this blog.
That's not some coveted secret worth the price of a large pizza or a fancy dinner.
How do you do it? You use your keywords in the title of the article you're contributing, and make your article semantically relevant enough to out rank whatever listing is presently number one. It won't work with every keyword, but when it does, that's how it happens.
The real trick is getting that ranking to mean money for you. That ranking doesn't automatically mean they'll click the link to visit your site.
(How do you do make sure they do? That secret takes way more room than one article.)
So again, this Can be a good technique. But knowing that doesn't make you an expert.
Now, I won't sit here and say that every expert trying to get you to buy a search or traffic related product is full of it. There's a lot of good programs out there. But the instant you're being promised outlandish results with a minimum of effort, it's right that your BS radar should go off.
The second you're being peddled a quick fix that is meant to supersede or replace good knowledge, you have to ask yourself if what you're paying and the results you're getting are worth the risk.
It's not that there isn't good stuff out there - it's that you have to really look at whether what you're paying is going to yield results worth your investment.
There are a bunch of great experts and great sites that can help you get better search results in Google and Yahoo. I could name ten off the top of my head. Just remember, in order to see what's worth your money, scrutinize your expert, and investigate the promises of your favorite search tool.
You may be surprised at what you find.
Great product, no traffic? I'll teach you every web site promotion technique from search to social media, all that I've tested and used myself. No hype or unrealistic promises. Just real-world techniques that actually work. Come to http://freetraffictip.com/really to see video proof.
Here's a trick people fall for all the time. It's so common the really scuzzy people have a name for it - it's called "False Proof."
The one that has been chapping my behind is when a supposed search expert will say, "I'm number one out of 33 million results." And you think, really? 33 MILLION?
Then you get their software, ebook, or system, and you find out that even though you're also able to rank number one for a term that gets 33 million results, none of it sent you any sales, or leads - and really, not much traffic either.
Don't get me wrong - it's not that this ranking isn't an achievement for some people. It's just that it HAS to be put into perspective. If someone is telling you - hey, I'm kind of a newbie to search, and I figured out how to do this. Let me share my research with you - that's information to trust.
The same person claiming it makes them an expert? Not so much.
If you don't want to get hustled by this little trick, remember that proof has to be MEANINGFUL.
It's fine to profit from a JV deal with a friend or colleague, I'm not knocking it. I've done it and when I have, I've slept great, because I make a conscious effort to only promote the highest quality products from my peers.
So I think endorsements are okay.
What's NOT Okay is when the testimonials of friends are the Only testimonials a person has for their product.
What did their peers think?
What did their clients think?
What do people who didn't know them before they tried it think?
If a person selling you an SEO product or search consulting is a layperson, and they figured out how to get results better than the next guy, and they say so, that is completely above board.
But if they're claiming to be a guru or expert in any way, and they're using keyword rankings or number of links generated, or anything else to prove their results, make sure they stand up to closer scrutiny.
Here are some things to look for:
1- The number of results doesn't always tell you how comparatively difficult the keyword is to rank for. A good keyword difficulty check like the one at SEOmoz.org will help you figure this out.
2- If the keyword phrase is 4 or more words long, a monkey could probably rank for it under the right conditions.
3- Even if it is hard for a newbie to rank for, and the software tool/person will help you get to the next level of expertise, if the terms you would rank for are those that don't send any traffic, or won't help you build up to terms that will send traffic, it's a waste of time.
4- If just one keyword ranking is their claim to fame, they aren't an expert if they're saying they are, or that their tool is worth paying for, based on this, be wary.
You do NOT really know what you're doing with search until you have been able to maintain hundreds or thousands of rankings for a few years.
You can get to number one by cheating in the short term - until they catch you and ban your site.
Luck or cheating doesn't make you an expert.
5- If the number one or first page result they got is one of many, and passes all the difficulty and traffic tests - is the result they have in Google or Yahoo for their own site? It if it, and that's all the information they're selling, don't buy it. I'll tell you how to do that for free in a minute.
First let me explain one thing: it's not that it's a bad thing to get to number one using Ezine Articles or Hub Pages. It's that you don't control the ranking when it's not on your site.
It's that you don't need someone to teach you something fancy to get that ranking.
Anyone can get a popular site to rank at the top for an article they've contributed - there are free articles for how to do this around the Net. If I'm not mistaken, Chris Knight wrote about it last year on this blog.
That's not some coveted secret worth the price of a large pizza or a fancy dinner.
How do you do it? You use your keywords in the title of the article you're contributing, and make your article semantically relevant enough to out rank whatever listing is presently number one. It won't work with every keyword, but when it does, that's how it happens.
The real trick is getting that ranking to mean money for you. That ranking doesn't automatically mean they'll click the link to visit your site.
(How do you do make sure they do? That secret takes way more room than one article.)
So again, this Can be a good technique. But knowing that doesn't make you an expert.
Now, I won't sit here and say that every expert trying to get you to buy a search or traffic related product is full of it. There's a lot of good programs out there. But the instant you're being promised outlandish results with a minimum of effort, it's right that your BS radar should go off.
The second you're being peddled a quick fix that is meant to supersede or replace good knowledge, you have to ask yourself if what you're paying and the results you're getting are worth the risk.
It's not that there isn't good stuff out there - it's that you have to really look at whether what you're paying is going to yield results worth your investment.
There are a bunch of great experts and great sites that can help you get better search results in Google and Yahoo. I could name ten off the top of my head. Just remember, in order to see what's worth your money, scrutinize your expert, and investigate the promises of your favorite search tool.
You may be surprised at what you find.
Great product, no traffic? I'll teach you every web site promotion technique from search to social media, all that I've tested and used myself. No hype or unrealistic promises. Just real-world techniques that actually work. Come to http://freetraffictip.com/really to see video proof.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Top 20 Google Ranking Factors
Websites are quickly becoming one of the most popular ways of advertising. Whether it be a business, its product or service or something completely different, everyone of all ages are turning to the web as a method of getting their message out there. With the popularity of this marketing medium increasing and the number of websites always growing, it is obvious that everyone wants to appear at the top of Google's search engine rankings. Achieving such a task is never an easy feat, however with a bit of perseverance, one can definitely increase their chances of reaching that glorious first page result.
Given that there are a heap of websites out there who are on the first page, what is their secret? It is a little industry term called "SEO" and it stands for Search Engine Optimisation. SEO basically consists of the customisation of your website, its content and its internal and external links to assist in the overall indexing and ranking of your website in popular search engines. There are many contributing factors that are used in determining a website's ranking and every search engine is different. This makes trying to optimise your site for Google, Yahoo, Live and the many others quite a pain staking task.
As most of us are aware, Google is currently the most popular search engine for the majority of Internet users. As such, it is only normal that we'd want to focus our sights on achieving a higher ranking within Google first with a hope that the rest will follow. To do this, we must start a journey that could potentially take months before we start seeing any real change, however we have to start somewhere.
Our journey begins by defining some of the key contributing factors that Google uses to determine a website and webpage's ranking within its results. These factors range from keyword use to manipulating internal and external links and the list goes on. To get you started, we have listed the top twenty factors that you should focus on in order to help get your website that little bit closer to the top of the search engine results listing.
The following components relate to the use of the user's search query terms in determining the rank of a particular page.
Top 20 Factors
1. Keyword Use in Title Tag - Placing the targeted search term or phrase in the title tag of the web page's HTML header.
2. Keyword Use in Body Text - Using the targeted search term in the visible, HTML text of the page.
3. Relationship of Body Text Content to Keywords - Topical relevance of text on the page compared to targeted keywords.
4. Keyword Use in H1 Tag - Creating an H1 tag with the targeted search term/phrase.
5. Keyword Use in Domain Name & Page URL - Including the targeted term/phrase in the registered domain name, i.e. keyword.com plus target terms in the webpage URL, i.e. seomoz.org/keyword-phrase.
6. Link Popularity within the Site's Internal Link Structure - Refers to the number and importance of internal links pointing to the target page
7. Quality/Relevance of Links to External Sites/Pages - Do links on the page point to high quality, topically-related pages?
8. Age of Document - Older pages may be perceived as more authoritative while newer pages may be more temporally relevant.
9. Amount of Indexable Text Content - Refers to the literal quantity of visible HTML text on a page.
10. Quality of the Document Content (as measured algorithmically) - Assuming search engines can use text, visual or other analysis methods to determine the validity and value of content, this metric would provide some level of rating.
11. Global Link Popularity of Site - The overall link weight/authority as measured by links from any and all sites across the web (both link quality and quantity).
12. Age of Site - Not the date of original registration of the domain, but rather the launch of indexable content seen by the search engines (note that this can change if a domain switches ownership).
13. Topical Relevance of Inbound Links to Site - The subject-specific relationship between the sites/pages linking to the target page and the target keyword.
14. Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community - The link weight/authority of the target website amongst its topical peers in the online world.
15. Rate of New Inbound Links to Site - The frequency and timing of external sites linking in to the given domain.
16. Anchor Text of Inbound Link.
17. Global Link Popularity of Linking Site.
18. Topical Relationship of Linking Page.
19. Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community - The link weight/authority of the target website amongst its topical peers in the online world.
20. Age of Link
Negative Crawling/Ranking Factors
There are also some points we should make before you start getting your hands dirty. With any type of SEO marketing, there are some things that can actually have a negative impact on your ranking. These following components may negatively affect a spider's ability to crawl a page or its rankings at Google.
* Server is Often Inaccessible to Bots
* Content Very Similar or Duplicate of Existing Content in the Index
* External Links to Low Quality/Spam Sites
* Duplicate Title/Meta Tags on Many Pages
* Overuse of Targeted Keywords (Stuffing/Spamming)
It's now time to get busy! Start prioritising your tasks, modifying your content and building your internal and external links to meet some of the above guidelines. Keep in mind that improving indexing is mostly a technical task, improving ranking is mostly a business/marketing strategy, what might work now may not work in the future and finally, it takes time. Loads of time. Still, with a bit of trial and error and a good dose of persistence, you can achieve the search engine ranking you're after.
Given that there are a heap of websites out there who are on the first page, what is their secret? It is a little industry term called "SEO" and it stands for Search Engine Optimisation. SEO basically consists of the customisation of your website, its content and its internal and external links to assist in the overall indexing and ranking of your website in popular search engines. There are many contributing factors that are used in determining a website's ranking and every search engine is different. This makes trying to optimise your site for Google, Yahoo, Live and the many others quite a pain staking task.
As most of us are aware, Google is currently the most popular search engine for the majority of Internet users. As such, it is only normal that we'd want to focus our sights on achieving a higher ranking within Google first with a hope that the rest will follow. To do this, we must start a journey that could potentially take months before we start seeing any real change, however we have to start somewhere.
Our journey begins by defining some of the key contributing factors that Google uses to determine a website and webpage's ranking within its results. These factors range from keyword use to manipulating internal and external links and the list goes on. To get you started, we have listed the top twenty factors that you should focus on in order to help get your website that little bit closer to the top of the search engine results listing.
The following components relate to the use of the user's search query terms in determining the rank of a particular page.
Top 20 Factors
1. Keyword Use in Title Tag - Placing the targeted search term or phrase in the title tag of the web page's HTML header.
2. Keyword Use in Body Text - Using the targeted search term in the visible, HTML text of the page.
3. Relationship of Body Text Content to Keywords - Topical relevance of text on the page compared to targeted keywords.
4. Keyword Use in H1 Tag - Creating an H1 tag with the targeted search term/phrase.
5. Keyword Use in Domain Name & Page URL - Including the targeted term/phrase in the registered domain name, i.e. keyword.com plus target terms in the webpage URL, i.e. seomoz.org/keyword-phrase.
6. Link Popularity within the Site's Internal Link Structure - Refers to the number and importance of internal links pointing to the target page
7. Quality/Relevance of Links to External Sites/Pages - Do links on the page point to high quality, topically-related pages?
8. Age of Document - Older pages may be perceived as more authoritative while newer pages may be more temporally relevant.
9. Amount of Indexable Text Content - Refers to the literal quantity of visible HTML text on a page.
10. Quality of the Document Content (as measured algorithmically) - Assuming search engines can use text, visual or other analysis methods to determine the validity and value of content, this metric would provide some level of rating.
11. Global Link Popularity of Site - The overall link weight/authority as measured by links from any and all sites across the web (both link quality and quantity).
12. Age of Site - Not the date of original registration of the domain, but rather the launch of indexable content seen by the search engines (note that this can change if a domain switches ownership).
13. Topical Relevance of Inbound Links to Site - The subject-specific relationship between the sites/pages linking to the target page and the target keyword.
14. Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community - The link weight/authority of the target website amongst its topical peers in the online world.
15. Rate of New Inbound Links to Site - The frequency and timing of external sites linking in to the given domain.
16. Anchor Text of Inbound Link.
17. Global Link Popularity of Linking Site.
18. Topical Relationship of Linking Page.
19. Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community - The link weight/authority of the target website amongst its topical peers in the online world.
20. Age of Link
Negative Crawling/Ranking Factors
There are also some points we should make before you start getting your hands dirty. With any type of SEO marketing, there are some things that can actually have a negative impact on your ranking. These following components may negatively affect a spider's ability to crawl a page or its rankings at Google.
* Server is Often Inaccessible to Bots
* Content Very Similar or Duplicate of Existing Content in the Index
* External Links to Low Quality/Spam Sites
* Duplicate Title/Meta Tags on Many Pages
* Overuse of Targeted Keywords (Stuffing/Spamming)
It's now time to get busy! Start prioritising your tasks, modifying your content and building your internal and external links to meet some of the above guidelines. Keep in mind that improving indexing is mostly a technical task, improving ranking is mostly a business/marketing strategy, what might work now may not work in the future and finally, it takes time. Loads of time. Still, with a bit of trial and error and a good dose of persistence, you can achieve the search engine ranking you're after.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Why It's Smarter - and More Profitable - to Market Like You Date
by Tinu AbayomiPaul
Imagine this.
You see a beautiful woman in a grocery store. She smiles at you suggestively. So you move in closer to flirt with her.
You stand next to her in front of the ice cream cooler and make eye contact. She smiles, looks away, your eyes meet again in the reflection from the glass. She turns and says, “Hi, I’m Candy.”
You yell “MY NAME IS ANDY. WILL YOU MARRY ME? I’M ONLY GOING TO BE STANDING HERE FOR A LIMITED TIME, SO YOU MUST ACT QUICKLY. LOOK, ALL YOUR FRIENDS ARE DATING ME, AND SOME PEOPLE YOU REALLY RESPECT, HERE ARE THEIR NAMES AND COMMENTS.”
She rubs her ears and says, “Uh, hi.” And starts to back away.
Stalker that you are, you follow her and continue your pitch.
“IF YOU’RE NOT READY FOR MARRIAGE, LET’S TRY A TEST MARRIAGE DURING A TRIAL PERIOD CALLED A DATE! IF YOU GIVE ME YOUR PHONE NUMBER, I WON’T SELL IT TO MY FRIENDS, HONEST. ACT NOW AND I’LL TAKE YOU TO FRIDAYS.”
“Maybe we should start ov-” She’s willing to give you another chance but you just can’t shut up.
“OH YOU WAITED TOO LONG, NOW ONLY SUBWAY IS AVAILABLE. HURRY OR WE'LL GO TO MCDONALDS. BEFORE YOU GO, CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHY YOU’RE NOT MARRYING ME RIGHT NOW? WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN MARRYING ME LATER?”
Okay, that's an extreme example, but think about it. How many of us either market that way, or have bought something from someone who markets that way?
I don't know about you, but I automatically don't trust people who market like they are used car salesmen. I am on my guard instantly even if I'm really interested in what they're selling. Then I start thinking of all the reasons why I absolutely do NOT want what they have.
Honestly I never thought about it before I wrote this article - but that's so true. If a person makes claims it doesn't appear they can prove, I'm instantly wary of them.
Think about how often you use some similar marketing tactics in your sales copy, on your site, or in your blog. Think maybe if you flirted a little with your audience and readers first, did something nice for them, paid attention to their needs, you’d be more popular?
Now, I know you need to sell the sizzle and not the steak. But it helps dramatically if the steak is actually the one you're cooking, and not one you hope to make some day!
I've tried both ways. Turns out you need only a dash of flash in your sales letter if you take your desired customer for a steak dinner prior to bumping uglies the first time. And just like in dating, if you maintain a good benefits balance in your relationship, they’ll be back.
Of course, if you think it’s smart to have a series of one night stands, more power to you. Me, I’d rather be up front and serially polygamous with my customers than fake monogamy just to get them into bed the one time. Don’t know about you but I’m building a business not a brothel.
So I don't market like that either. Maybe it costs me customers in the long run, but it also scares away the fence-dwellers, lookie-loos and people who aren't serious about their business. People who want a lot of hype and are allergic to actual work rarely buy my products.
So having realistic expectations ends up carving me out a nice little niche. The payoff is better customers, who more often become clientele. I'm popular in my little area, though no, I'm not a household name.
But I also have a loyal, almost fan-like following of business people who continued to solicit my services even after I semi-retired.
So am I some kind of genius for having figured this out? Heck no!
What, you think I came up with this stuff? People have been trying to tell you this for years. They just lack the finesse of someone as conceited and charming as I. :)
The biggest lesson I learned in marketing products I created online was that it doesn’t always have to be the invention of something new and ground-breaking - if you wait for the most divine intervention, you’ll never make any money.
In the meantime, it might help to think of it this way: you have knowledge your clients want, and you’re doing them a disservice by not giving them the chance to snatch it up. When you lead off with that knowledge, the way you com across to your clients totally changes. For the better.
This is true whether you create your own products, resell other people’s products, are an affiliate marketer, or sell advertising on your site.
To apply this concept to marketing, remember that there is a point of merging between your style of attracting a potential customer and making a sale, a point at which you take your own style and join it with what you’ve learned from other people.
If you want to be a lady’s man, do you study someone who never gets a date? That would be dumb. If you want a relationship, do you ask other single ladies for advice on how to handle your man? Equally stupid.
Decide what your identity is, and think about what works on You.
Learn about it. Take all those elements and then add you. The same way Andy in 40 Year Old Virgin took the best bits of all the advice from his friends and through trial and error, found what worked for him.
You'll find that there's no need to follow the way of the hype machine.
Okay, you've got a great product and a great sales letter that converts. But how will you get people to see it without breaking the bank? I'll teach you every web site promotion technique from search to social media in my traffic generation course at http://trafficreality.com . No hype or unrealistic promises. Just real techniques that really work.
Imagine this.
You see a beautiful woman in a grocery store. She smiles at you suggestively. So you move in closer to flirt with her.
You stand next to her in front of the ice cream cooler and make eye contact. She smiles, looks away, your eyes meet again in the reflection from the glass. She turns and says, “Hi, I’m Candy.”
You yell “MY NAME IS ANDY. WILL YOU MARRY ME? I’M ONLY GOING TO BE STANDING HERE FOR A LIMITED TIME, SO YOU MUST ACT QUICKLY. LOOK, ALL YOUR FRIENDS ARE DATING ME, AND SOME PEOPLE YOU REALLY RESPECT, HERE ARE THEIR NAMES AND COMMENTS.”
She rubs her ears and says, “Uh, hi.” And starts to back away.
Stalker that you are, you follow her and continue your pitch.
“IF YOU’RE NOT READY FOR MARRIAGE, LET’S TRY A TEST MARRIAGE DURING A TRIAL PERIOD CALLED A DATE! IF YOU GIVE ME YOUR PHONE NUMBER, I WON’T SELL IT TO MY FRIENDS, HONEST. ACT NOW AND I’LL TAKE YOU TO FRIDAYS.”
“Maybe we should start ov-” She’s willing to give you another chance but you just can’t shut up.
“OH YOU WAITED TOO LONG, NOW ONLY SUBWAY IS AVAILABLE. HURRY OR WE'LL GO TO MCDONALDS. BEFORE YOU GO, CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHY YOU’RE NOT MARRYING ME RIGHT NOW? WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN MARRYING ME LATER?”
Okay, that's an extreme example, but think about it. How many of us either market that way, or have bought something from someone who markets that way?
I don't know about you, but I automatically don't trust people who market like they are used car salesmen. I am on my guard instantly even if I'm really interested in what they're selling. Then I start thinking of all the reasons why I absolutely do NOT want what they have.
Honestly I never thought about it before I wrote this article - but that's so true. If a person makes claims it doesn't appear they can prove, I'm instantly wary of them.
Think about how often you use some similar marketing tactics in your sales copy, on your site, or in your blog. Think maybe if you flirted a little with your audience and readers first, did something nice for them, paid attention to their needs, you’d be more popular?
Now, I know you need to sell the sizzle and not the steak. But it helps dramatically if the steak is actually the one you're cooking, and not one you hope to make some day!
I've tried both ways. Turns out you need only a dash of flash in your sales letter if you take your desired customer for a steak dinner prior to bumping uglies the first time. And just like in dating, if you maintain a good benefits balance in your relationship, they’ll be back.
Of course, if you think it’s smart to have a series of one night stands, more power to you. Me, I’d rather be up front and serially polygamous with my customers than fake monogamy just to get them into bed the one time. Don’t know about you but I’m building a business not a brothel.
So I don't market like that either. Maybe it costs me customers in the long run, but it also scares away the fence-dwellers, lookie-loos and people who aren't serious about their business. People who want a lot of hype and are allergic to actual work rarely buy my products.
So having realistic expectations ends up carving me out a nice little niche. The payoff is better customers, who more often become clientele. I'm popular in my little area, though no, I'm not a household name.
But I also have a loyal, almost fan-like following of business people who continued to solicit my services even after I semi-retired.
So am I some kind of genius for having figured this out? Heck no!
What, you think I came up with this stuff? People have been trying to tell you this for years. They just lack the finesse of someone as conceited and charming as I. :)
The biggest lesson I learned in marketing products I created online was that it doesn’t always have to be the invention of something new and ground-breaking - if you wait for the most divine intervention, you’ll never make any money.
In the meantime, it might help to think of it this way: you have knowledge your clients want, and you’re doing them a disservice by not giving them the chance to snatch it up. When you lead off with that knowledge, the way you com across to your clients totally changes. For the better.
This is true whether you create your own products, resell other people’s products, are an affiliate marketer, or sell advertising on your site.
To apply this concept to marketing, remember that there is a point of merging between your style of attracting a potential customer and making a sale, a point at which you take your own style and join it with what you’ve learned from other people.
If you want to be a lady’s man, do you study someone who never gets a date? That would be dumb. If you want a relationship, do you ask other single ladies for advice on how to handle your man? Equally stupid.
Decide what your identity is, and think about what works on You.
Learn about it. Take all those elements and then add you. The same way Andy in 40 Year Old Virgin took the best bits of all the advice from his friends and through trial and error, found what worked for him.
You'll find that there's no need to follow the way of the hype machine.
Okay, you've got a great product and a great sales letter that converts. But how will you get people to see it without breaking the bank? I'll teach you every web site promotion technique from search to social media in my traffic generation course at http://trafficreality.com . No hype or unrealistic promises. Just real techniques that really work.
Online Reputation Management Leveraged with Social Media Optimization
by Julie Ann Ross
Online Reputation Management, ORM, is the practice of managing an individual or business reputation within online media. Online media, including search engines, are managed to make positive information visible to the public and downplay any information which could negatively affect the individual or business. Reputations are earned. Years of hard work and building trust can be destroyed online, often anonymously. In this article you will learn why building, maintaining and protecting reputations has become as important online as it is offline. Learn how to manage your online reputation with social media optimization.
The advent of social media, communities, and networking sites, has been useful to many companies. They have positively affected the majority of businesses by allowing them to directly communicate with consumers about products and services they offer. However social media has also opened doors to malicious behavior of the minority, which has proven to be damaging to individual and corporate reputations. Individuals and the small business to the fortune 500 companies have been harmed by malicious online postings. Part of this pain is self inflicted and some is the handiwork of unhappy customers, disgruntled former employees or chronic complainers. There are several rules to remember while posting online, which assist with online reputation management:
- The positioning of a company or individual within social media, communities, and network profiles and comments, is indexed by search engines. Indexed pages can be cashed in search engine files infinitely. Any text associated to your name can be found now and for years to come.
- The content and images posted become public domain. On many websites, including Facebook, when signing up, you grant the social community site the right to use your photographs. The following text is listed in Facebook Terms of Use: "By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sub license) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sub licenses of the foregoing."
- Never post photographs or content that you would not want the world to see. Remember the world includes current and future employers, parents, and current or future spouses. It is not as easy to delete this information as you would like to believe. This is also from the Terms of Use on Facebook: "You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content."
After interviewing prospective employees, it has become a standard practice to go online and Google the applicant. It is also the practice of individuals interviewing to research the employer. Negative information associated to an individual name or corporate entity could cause a prospective employer or employee harm. In a 2007 survey conducted by Execunet, an online community of C-level executives, 83% of recruiters used search engines to learn more about candidates. Of those, 43% were eliminated based on information found online. "For better or worse, the Internet provides recruiters and employers with a wealth of unfiltered information that's used to help evaluate candidates," says Dave Opton, CEO and Founder of ExecuNet. "From a candidate's perspective, there's no question that managing your reputation online is as important as it is offline."
Due to the number of people who use search engines as a research tool, online reputation management is becoming a big industry. Ruthless competitors and angry clients now have open access to blogs and web sites. They can define a person or company's online identity. Their words have far reaching effects- whether they are true or not.
This is why ORM is necessary. Because it is difficult, if not impossible, to eliminate traces of thoughtless actions or malicious attacks on the web, online reputation firms disseminate positive information on their clients. The goal in online reputation management is to bring public attention to positive blogs, articles and other online media written on behalf of the company. The positive online publicity takes the higher search engine result rankings, thus minimizing the damage of any attack.
Julie Ross is Principal of Rostin Reagor Smith, ORM Experts in Public Relations Online. With 20 years in public relations, advertising and 10 years in internet marketing, Rostin Reagor Smith has refined the SMO Expert Formula. Social Media Optimization is used for higher search engine ranking in Online Reputation Management for public relations online. http://www.rostinreagorsmith.com
Online Reputation Management, ORM, is the practice of managing an individual or business reputation within online media. Online media, including search engines, are managed to make positive information visible to the public and downplay any information which could negatively affect the individual or business. Reputations are earned. Years of hard work and building trust can be destroyed online, often anonymously. In this article you will learn why building, maintaining and protecting reputations has become as important online as it is offline. Learn how to manage your online reputation with social media optimization.
The advent of social media, communities, and networking sites, has been useful to many companies. They have positively affected the majority of businesses by allowing them to directly communicate with consumers about products and services they offer. However social media has also opened doors to malicious behavior of the minority, which has proven to be damaging to individual and corporate reputations. Individuals and the small business to the fortune 500 companies have been harmed by malicious online postings. Part of this pain is self inflicted and some is the handiwork of unhappy customers, disgruntled former employees or chronic complainers. There are several rules to remember while posting online, which assist with online reputation management:
- The positioning of a company or individual within social media, communities, and network profiles and comments, is indexed by search engines. Indexed pages can be cashed in search engine files infinitely. Any text associated to your name can be found now and for years to come.
- The content and images posted become public domain. On many websites, including Facebook, when signing up, you grant the social community site the right to use your photographs. The following text is listed in Facebook Terms of Use: "By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sub license) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sub licenses of the foregoing."
- Never post photographs or content that you would not want the world to see. Remember the world includes current and future employers, parents, and current or future spouses. It is not as easy to delete this information as you would like to believe. This is also from the Terms of Use on Facebook: "You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content."
After interviewing prospective employees, it has become a standard practice to go online and Google the applicant. It is also the practice of individuals interviewing to research the employer. Negative information associated to an individual name or corporate entity could cause a prospective employer or employee harm. In a 2007 survey conducted by Execunet, an online community of C-level executives, 83% of recruiters used search engines to learn more about candidates. Of those, 43% were eliminated based on information found online. "For better or worse, the Internet provides recruiters and employers with a wealth of unfiltered information that's used to help evaluate candidates," says Dave Opton, CEO and Founder of ExecuNet. "From a candidate's perspective, there's no question that managing your reputation online is as important as it is offline."
Due to the number of people who use search engines as a research tool, online reputation management is becoming a big industry. Ruthless competitors and angry clients now have open access to blogs and web sites. They can define a person or company's online identity. Their words have far reaching effects- whether they are true or not.
This is why ORM is necessary. Because it is difficult, if not impossible, to eliminate traces of thoughtless actions or malicious attacks on the web, online reputation firms disseminate positive information on their clients. The goal in online reputation management is to bring public attention to positive blogs, articles and other online media written on behalf of the company. The positive online publicity takes the higher search engine result rankings, thus minimizing the damage of any attack.
Julie Ross is Principal of Rostin Reagor Smith, ORM Experts in Public Relations Online. With 20 years in public relations, advertising and 10 years in internet marketing, Rostin Reagor Smith has refined the SMO Expert Formula. Social Media Optimization is used for higher search engine ranking in Online Reputation Management for public relations online. http://www.rostinreagorsmith.com
Unusual Things May Influence Ranking
by S. Housley
You may not realize the impact the following items have on your search engine ranking but they are worth considering when developing a plan for your website. While Google provides a whole host of great tools, their motivation may be more selfish than you believe. Google uses the information they gather in these tools to make determinations about websites. The information they gather may impact the ranking of your website in organic searches for important keyword phrases.
1. Low Traffic
Google collects a vast amount of information using the Google Toolbar, Analytics, Google Search and now Google Chrome. Google can track click-throughs, and the amount of time a visitor remains on a website. If the website is not sticky, meaning that visitors do not stay on the web site for any length of time, or does not attract visitors Google may view the website as being insignificant or less important than a competing website that attracts similar website visitors.
2. Low Value Links
The proverb "you are who you hang with" can be attributed to search engine linking. If you consistently link to what Google perceives as low-quality websites, your website may be perceived to be of the same ilk, and Google may devalue your website based on the linking scheme you use.
3. Incoming Links not Trusted
A website that has a large number of incoming links from websites that are not considered trusted sources by Google, could impact your search ranking. Incoming links have long been known to be a component in organic search ranking, it was previously believed the more links the better. What may now be true is that web sites may be penalized for links from untrusted sources.
4. Unreliable Hosting
If Google is frequently unable to access your website when they attempt to spider it, they will perceive that the website is unreliable and may devalue its importance in their algorithm.
5. Spam Techniques
Using techniques that are widely known to be considered "black hat" or "spammy" like keyword stuffing, or cloaking pages may cause your website to be penalized by Google as well as other search engines.
6. Duplicate Titles
Avoid using duplicate titles and meta tags on all web pages within your website. Google prefers unique titles and descriptions on all pages within a website.
7. Unnatural Links
The links coming into your website should vary. If you have an unnatural linking structure where the same term is always used to link to your website, it will appear to Google that you have attempted to "game" the system and as a result your site could find itself penalized.
It is safe to assume that Google in its infinite wisdom evaluates the historical performance of a website and considers the information they collect when assessing the importance of any website.
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.
You may not realize the impact the following items have on your search engine ranking but they are worth considering when developing a plan for your website. While Google provides a whole host of great tools, their motivation may be more selfish than you believe. Google uses the information they gather in these tools to make determinations about websites. The information they gather may impact the ranking of your website in organic searches for important keyword phrases.
1. Low Traffic
Google collects a vast amount of information using the Google Toolbar, Analytics, Google Search and now Google Chrome. Google can track click-throughs, and the amount of time a visitor remains on a website. If the website is not sticky, meaning that visitors do not stay on the web site for any length of time, or does not attract visitors Google may view the website as being insignificant or less important than a competing website that attracts similar website visitors.
2. Low Value Links
The proverb "you are who you hang with" can be attributed to search engine linking. If you consistently link to what Google perceives as low-quality websites, your website may be perceived to be of the same ilk, and Google may devalue your website based on the linking scheme you use.
3. Incoming Links not Trusted
A website that has a large number of incoming links from websites that are not considered trusted sources by Google, could impact your search ranking. Incoming links have long been known to be a component in organic search ranking, it was previously believed the more links the better. What may now be true is that web sites may be penalized for links from untrusted sources.
4. Unreliable Hosting
If Google is frequently unable to access your website when they attempt to spider it, they will perceive that the website is unreliable and may devalue its importance in their algorithm.
5. Spam Techniques
Using techniques that are widely known to be considered "black hat" or "spammy" like keyword stuffing, or cloaking pages may cause your website to be penalized by Google as well as other search engines.
6. Duplicate Titles
Avoid using duplicate titles and meta tags on all web pages within your website. Google prefers unique titles and descriptions on all pages within a website.
7. Unnatural Links
The links coming into your website should vary. If you have an unnatural linking structure where the same term is always used to link to your website, it will appear to Google that you have attempted to "game" the system and as a result your site could find itself penalized.
It is safe to assume that Google in its infinite wisdom evaluates the historical performance of a website and considers the information they collect when assessing the importance of any website.
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Top 5 Ways to Attract and Keep Customers in any economy
by Barry A. Densa
I have a friend in Florida who owns six Subway franchises.
He's rolling in dough, whole wheat and greenbacks.
He loves the recession. He's remodeling his house (stimulating one South Florida contractor to keep swinging a hammer).
Dollar stores are also doing a gang-buster business.
The healthcare industry is thriving, too, but they're in a world of their own (as long as there's no cure for sickness and aging.)
Supermarkets are packed. People are cooking, not dining out in restaurants.
In fact, anyone selling a staple of life, or offering a low-ticket product or service, they're just happier than a pig in... you know what.
For the rest of us...
This economy sucks
But only if, during the long-gone good-times, your business had been on cruise control and you got complacent, fat and lazy, and saw your customers as dollar signs and not people.
Without naming names, some marketers are clearly suffering far less than others, because they cared to look deep into their customer's eyes and not just plumb the depths of their wallets.
Call it relationship building, call it caring about your customers, or just call it staying in business, making a great income, taking vacations, and buying new cars (Japanese or German) even in a recession.
While I can't offer you, for obvious reasons, a precise 5-point strategy to achieve this type of recession insurance for your particular business...
I can give you the general blueprint.
The top 5 ways to keep your prospects loyal and their wallets open
First, a note of caution: Reducing your prices may help, of course, and may even be prudent. But that's a short-term fix, which commoditizes your service. In fact, by reducing your prices, what you're doing is training, even forcing, your customers to price shop.
Remember, price is what your customer pays, value is what you customer receives.
Accent the value, and the customer will pay your price.
And you do it this way...
1. Allay your customer fears:
Right now your customers are looking more and more like deer in the headlights. They're watching way too many doom and gloom news shows. They're hearing about once-upon-a-time giants of industry filing for bankruptcy, shutting doors and putting thousands of people out of work. They may even know a few.
And, quite frankly, they're afraid they may be next.
So they're holding on to their money; worried the good times will never return. Frugal and conservative defines them. Food and shelter are their biggest concern to the near exclusion of everything else.
Your job then is to lift their heads, open their eyes and sing, "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow."
Help them understand that change is the only constant in life—and this economic melt-down, this too shall pass.
Show them that the light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer—give them hope, and put your arm around their shoulders.
Then infuse them with some good ol' time religion, lift their spirits and get them dancing in the aisles—put excitement and happiness back in their lives.
2. Confirm their suspicions:
Conspiracies, real and imagined, abound in times of economic stress.
Your customers see danger everywhere they look, and they wonder who is really there to watch over and protect their best interests, and who is there to fleece them of their shrinking income.
Don’t deny the reality your customers perceive. Don't argue with or ignore their fears. Place yourself on their side. Put yourself in their shoes.
Recognize that the quickest way to bond and, most importantly, become an advocate on behalf of your customers is to first accept and validate (within reasonable limits) their viewpoint.
Then, once you've shown them you understand and agree with them, you'll find it so much easier to persuade them of your viewpoint.
Switch their allegiance from fear and suspicion to that of fearlessness and confidence and you'll immediately become their champion and protector.
After all, it's so much easier to close a deal, make a sale, even to a skittish and suspicious customer, when they trust you—and see in you a like-minded and kindred spirit.
3. Justify their failures:
Don't make your customers feel like losers.
If they've yet to reach their goals, pat them on the back and then show them why.
There's a big difference between criticizing and critiquing. Be a coach, a mentor, help them to see why they stumbled and fell, and how they can pick themselves up and still reach the finish line.
Never put the blame solely on their shoulders.
Show them that many factors, often beyond their control, contributed to their failure, just as other factors, equally beyond their control will determine the shape of their eventual success.
And yet with your expert help, show them how you can decrease the number of failures they will face, and how you will increase their odds of success, however defined.
4. Throw rocks at their enemies:
This is too easy, and a cousin of number 3, above.
Identify the immediate threat or obstacle confronting your customer's well-being, happiness and success. Join them in a justifiable hate fest. Heap scorn, ridicule and bad intentions on the perceived roadblock.
And then quickly move on. Don't wallow in that shallow pool, but splash there just long enough to gain your customer's attention and confidence.
Then, once you have made common cause with your customer—sharing the same enemy and holding to shared goals—and working together to achieve them—you'll be accepted on their team, and into their inner sanctum—a trusted confidant.
5. Encourage their dreams:
Isn't that what it's all about? Dreams and their fulfillment.
Without dreams what are we? Our dreams define us. Our dreams are our life's work.
Some dreams are large, some are small, but all need more than just wishful thinking. They need the mechanism to make them come true.
What you market and sell are not made of metal, wood, plastic, gigabytes or an intangible service—they are dream-makers. They are magic and they are real.
And for your customers, your products or services are their best chance of reaching for the stars.
Do not deceive your customer into believing they can accomplish the impossible, or that the impossible is achievable.
But if your product or service can indeed make your customer's dreams come true, do not hide the truth—but rather proclaim it, prove it and deliver it.
And when you do all of the above, with style and grace, truth and honesty...
Your business will thrive in any economy.
Barry A. Densa is one of America’s top freelance direct response copywriters. Visit www.WritingWithPersonality.com and see how easily and quickly Barry converts prospects into buyers using “salesmanship in print”. And while there, sign up for his highly regarded FREE ezine: Marketing Wit & Wisdom!
I have a friend in Florida who owns six Subway franchises.
He's rolling in dough, whole wheat and greenbacks.
He loves the recession. He's remodeling his house (stimulating one South Florida contractor to keep swinging a hammer).
Dollar stores are also doing a gang-buster business.
The healthcare industry is thriving, too, but they're in a world of their own (as long as there's no cure for sickness and aging.)
Supermarkets are packed. People are cooking, not dining out in restaurants.
In fact, anyone selling a staple of life, or offering a low-ticket product or service, they're just happier than a pig in... you know what.
For the rest of us...
This economy sucks
But only if, during the long-gone good-times, your business had been on cruise control and you got complacent, fat and lazy, and saw your customers as dollar signs and not people.
Without naming names, some marketers are clearly suffering far less than others, because they cared to look deep into their customer's eyes and not just plumb the depths of their wallets.
Call it relationship building, call it caring about your customers, or just call it staying in business, making a great income, taking vacations, and buying new cars (Japanese or German) even in a recession.
While I can't offer you, for obvious reasons, a precise 5-point strategy to achieve this type of recession insurance for your particular business...
I can give you the general blueprint.
The top 5 ways to keep your prospects loyal and their wallets open
First, a note of caution: Reducing your prices may help, of course, and may even be prudent. But that's a short-term fix, which commoditizes your service. In fact, by reducing your prices, what you're doing is training, even forcing, your customers to price shop.
Remember, price is what your customer pays, value is what you customer receives.
Accent the value, and the customer will pay your price.
And you do it this way...
1. Allay your customer fears:
Right now your customers are looking more and more like deer in the headlights. They're watching way too many doom and gloom news shows. They're hearing about once-upon-a-time giants of industry filing for bankruptcy, shutting doors and putting thousands of people out of work. They may even know a few.
And, quite frankly, they're afraid they may be next.
So they're holding on to their money; worried the good times will never return. Frugal and conservative defines them. Food and shelter are their biggest concern to the near exclusion of everything else.
Your job then is to lift their heads, open their eyes and sing, "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow."
Help them understand that change is the only constant in life—and this economic melt-down, this too shall pass.
Show them that the light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer—give them hope, and put your arm around their shoulders.
Then infuse them with some good ol' time religion, lift their spirits and get them dancing in the aisles—put excitement and happiness back in their lives.
2. Confirm their suspicions:
Conspiracies, real and imagined, abound in times of economic stress.
Your customers see danger everywhere they look, and they wonder who is really there to watch over and protect their best interests, and who is there to fleece them of their shrinking income.
Don’t deny the reality your customers perceive. Don't argue with or ignore their fears. Place yourself on their side. Put yourself in their shoes.
Recognize that the quickest way to bond and, most importantly, become an advocate on behalf of your customers is to first accept and validate (within reasonable limits) their viewpoint.
Then, once you've shown them you understand and agree with them, you'll find it so much easier to persuade them of your viewpoint.
Switch their allegiance from fear and suspicion to that of fearlessness and confidence and you'll immediately become their champion and protector.
After all, it's so much easier to close a deal, make a sale, even to a skittish and suspicious customer, when they trust you—and see in you a like-minded and kindred spirit.
3. Justify their failures:
Don't make your customers feel like losers.
If they've yet to reach their goals, pat them on the back and then show them why.
There's a big difference between criticizing and critiquing. Be a coach, a mentor, help them to see why they stumbled and fell, and how they can pick themselves up and still reach the finish line.
Never put the blame solely on their shoulders.
Show them that many factors, often beyond their control, contributed to their failure, just as other factors, equally beyond their control will determine the shape of their eventual success.
And yet with your expert help, show them how you can decrease the number of failures they will face, and how you will increase their odds of success, however defined.
4. Throw rocks at their enemies:
This is too easy, and a cousin of number 3, above.
Identify the immediate threat or obstacle confronting your customer's well-being, happiness and success. Join them in a justifiable hate fest. Heap scorn, ridicule and bad intentions on the perceived roadblock.
And then quickly move on. Don't wallow in that shallow pool, but splash there just long enough to gain your customer's attention and confidence.
Then, once you have made common cause with your customer—sharing the same enemy and holding to shared goals—and working together to achieve them—you'll be accepted on their team, and into their inner sanctum—a trusted confidant.
5. Encourage their dreams:
Isn't that what it's all about? Dreams and their fulfillment.
Without dreams what are we? Our dreams define us. Our dreams are our life's work.
Some dreams are large, some are small, but all need more than just wishful thinking. They need the mechanism to make them come true.
What you market and sell are not made of metal, wood, plastic, gigabytes or an intangible service—they are dream-makers. They are magic and they are real.
And for your customers, your products or services are their best chance of reaching for the stars.
Do not deceive your customer into believing they can accomplish the impossible, or that the impossible is achievable.
But if your product or service can indeed make your customer's dreams come true, do not hide the truth—but rather proclaim it, prove it and deliver it.
And when you do all of the above, with style and grace, truth and honesty...
Your business will thrive in any economy.
Barry A. Densa is one of America’s top freelance direct response copywriters. Visit www.WritingWithPersonality.com and see how easily and quickly Barry converts prospects into buyers using “salesmanship in print”. And while there, sign up for his highly regarded FREE ezine: Marketing Wit & Wisdom!
Friday, May 1, 2009
5 Ways to Instantly Increase Your Opt-in Rate
by Alicia Forest
Whenever someone new visits your website, your #1 goal is to get them on your email list. That way you have a method of keeping them up-to-date on your latest offerings, so when they're ready to hire you or buy your product, you're right there in their inbox.
And having a way for them to join your list that is both simple and effective will dramatically increase both your list numbers and your sales.
Here are the three biggest mistakes I see regularly on business websites:
1. Not having a way to capture your visitors. Most people don't bite on the first pass, and once they click away, it's unlikely they'll be back. Don't lose them by not having a way for them to sign up for your list.
2. The opt-in box is buried. If your visitor can't find the form to sign up, then how can they?
TIP: Testing shows that the upper right-hand corner of your webpage is one of the best spots for your opt-in box.
3. The sign-up form says something unenticing like "click here for mailing list" - ugh!
So, here are 5 proven ways that you can instantly increase your opt-in rates:
1. Give your visitor only one choice.
You may have heard of a 1-banana website, or single action website, or what I call an Invite Site, which is exactly that. You're giving your visitor only one option - the invitation to sign up for your list via your free ezine, special report, checklist, ebook, etc. They get their freebie in exchange for giving you their email address.
One of my clients recently implemented this idea for her coaching business, which was a big leap of faith for her. I just got a joyful email from her saying that she's noticed a substantial increase in her opt-ins since!
It works, so don't be afraid to try it. And by the way, a testimonial or two on your Invite Site doesn't hurt either.
2. Write enticing copy.
Remember that people tend to skim what they read online, so make sure you have an attention-getting headline and some additional brief copy describing the benefits your visitor will receive by signing up for your list. As always, make sure it answers the most prominent question in your visitor's mind, "what's in it for me?"
3. Have only two form fields: First Name and Primary Email
If you capture someone's name along with their email address, you can easily personalize any future correspondence with them, which is proven to increase open and response rates. In other words, if you address something to someone individually, they feel more connected and are more likely to respond well to your mailings.
If you ask for a Primary Email address, many people will give it to you, as opposed to a back-up email address that they hardly ever check. And you'll get higher quality email addresses simply by asking them to give you their primary one, which means you'll have less bounce-backs and your emails will actually get through to the people who asked to receive them.
Only having these two form fields makes it a snap for someone to sign up, so you've made it as simple as possible for your visitor to do so.
4. Have a clear submit button.
Like having a single action website, you want to make it very clear what it is that you want your visitor to do. Have your submit button say something like, "subscribe" or "sign me up now" or "send me the ecourse".
5. Share your privacy policy.
Share your privacy policy on the same page, and keep it simple. Something like, "We will never share your email address, period." will work wonders for alleviating your visitors' fears of getting lots of spam.
Follow these 5 easy-to-implement strategies and you will dramatically increase the number of websites visitors who sign up for your list!
Alicia M Forest, MBA, Multiple Streams Queen & CoachT, founder of ClientAbundance.com and creator of 21 Easy & Essential Steps to Online Success SystemT, teaches professionals how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create abundance in your business, visit http://www.ClientAbundance.com .
Whenever someone new visits your website, your #1 goal is to get them on your email list. That way you have a method of keeping them up-to-date on your latest offerings, so when they're ready to hire you or buy your product, you're right there in their inbox.
And having a way for them to join your list that is both simple and effective will dramatically increase both your list numbers and your sales.
Here are the three biggest mistakes I see regularly on business websites:
1. Not having a way to capture your visitors. Most people don't bite on the first pass, and once they click away, it's unlikely they'll be back. Don't lose them by not having a way for them to sign up for your list.
2. The opt-in box is buried. If your visitor can't find the form to sign up, then how can they?
TIP: Testing shows that the upper right-hand corner of your webpage is one of the best spots for your opt-in box.
3. The sign-up form says something unenticing like "click here for mailing list" - ugh!
So, here are 5 proven ways that you can instantly increase your opt-in rates:
1. Give your visitor only one choice.
You may have heard of a 1-banana website, or single action website, or what I call an Invite Site, which is exactly that. You're giving your visitor only one option - the invitation to sign up for your list via your free ezine, special report, checklist, ebook, etc. They get their freebie in exchange for giving you their email address.
One of my clients recently implemented this idea for her coaching business, which was a big leap of faith for her. I just got a joyful email from her saying that she's noticed a substantial increase in her opt-ins since!
It works, so don't be afraid to try it. And by the way, a testimonial or two on your Invite Site doesn't hurt either.
2. Write enticing copy.
Remember that people tend to skim what they read online, so make sure you have an attention-getting headline and some additional brief copy describing the benefits your visitor will receive by signing up for your list. As always, make sure it answers the most prominent question in your visitor's mind, "what's in it for me?"
3. Have only two form fields: First Name and Primary Email
If you capture someone's name along with their email address, you can easily personalize any future correspondence with them, which is proven to increase open and response rates. In other words, if you address something to someone individually, they feel more connected and are more likely to respond well to your mailings.
If you ask for a Primary Email address, many people will give it to you, as opposed to a back-up email address that they hardly ever check. And you'll get higher quality email addresses simply by asking them to give you their primary one, which means you'll have less bounce-backs and your emails will actually get through to the people who asked to receive them.
Only having these two form fields makes it a snap for someone to sign up, so you've made it as simple as possible for your visitor to do so.
4. Have a clear submit button.
Like having a single action website, you want to make it very clear what it is that you want your visitor to do. Have your submit button say something like, "subscribe" or "sign me up now" or "send me the ecourse".
5. Share your privacy policy.
Share your privacy policy on the same page, and keep it simple. Something like, "We will never share your email address, period." will work wonders for alleviating your visitors' fears of getting lots of spam.
Follow these 5 easy-to-implement strategies and you will dramatically increase the number of websites visitors who sign up for your list!
Alicia M Forest, MBA, Multiple Streams Queen & CoachT, founder of ClientAbundance.com and creator of 21 Easy & Essential Steps to Online Success SystemT, teaches professionals how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create abundance in your business, visit http://www.ClientAbundance.com .
Brand Building Is A Journey
by S. Housley
Brand building is indeed a journey. Branding is all about how your product or service is perceived by customers and potential customers. A brand marketer attempts to manipulate brand awareness by associating traits they would like consumers to associate with the brand.
Building a brand has everything to do with capturing the hearts and minds of consumers. Building a brand is much more than just promoting an image. A brand incorporates and conveys the values and traits that a company wants associated with their product or service. It sounds like building a brand is a simple task, but the marketers must do more than just create a brand image. The magnitude of branding encompasses all aspects of a product. With this in mind, we've put together a guide for marketers on the journey of brand building...
Protect Your Brand
Regardless of whether there are current brand expansion plans or not, it is a good idea to register the brand domain in other countries (like .eu). Registering the brand in foreign markets, even if you don't use them, will help protect the brand. Additionally, be sure to register the brand as "account" names on the various social networking sites, if for no other reason that to prevent someone else from doing so and taking advantage of (or misrepresenting) your brand.
Defend The Brand
Monitor popular blogs, news feeds, and other online resources for any mentions of your brand. If there is a mention, such monitoring will allow you to react quickly if the need arises. Use ego feeds and Google alerts to receive instant notifications when the brand is mentioned in the social media.
Develop A Brand Image
Develop an image that can be associated with your brand. Brands tend to be iconic, and consumers will often associate an image with a brand. Providing that image will assist consumers with brand recognition. Small business owners often wear multiple hats, but graphic design is not for amateurs, so this is an area that is often worth spending money on. The graphic image associated with your brand should be professional and visually appealing.
Brand Consistency
Every contact that you have with a customer or potential customer should reinforce your brand. Branding should be consistent in all aspects of your business and promotion. Present the same image and colors in all aspects of a consumer experience, from business cards to invoices to web design and so on, so that they all remain consistent.
Global Brand Concerns
The world is much smaller than it use to be, and this offers businesses an opportunity to breach new markets. But it also poses a challenge to small businesses who are unaware of how their product, logo, slogan, or brand will translate or be perceived in foreign markets. Be sure to consider and investigate the global implications of any text, slogans, or images that you associate with your product or service, and be aware of how it might impact your brand in the global market.
Establishing a strong brand can have significant value, and truly is a journey that companies should embark upon in their quest to be successful.
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.
Brand building is indeed a journey. Branding is all about how your product or service is perceived by customers and potential customers. A brand marketer attempts to manipulate brand awareness by associating traits they would like consumers to associate with the brand.
Building a brand has everything to do with capturing the hearts and minds of consumers. Building a brand is much more than just promoting an image. A brand incorporates and conveys the values and traits that a company wants associated with their product or service. It sounds like building a brand is a simple task, but the marketers must do more than just create a brand image. The magnitude of branding encompasses all aspects of a product. With this in mind, we've put together a guide for marketers on the journey of brand building...
Protect Your Brand
Regardless of whether there are current brand expansion plans or not, it is a good idea to register the brand domain in other countries (like .eu). Registering the brand in foreign markets, even if you don't use them, will help protect the brand. Additionally, be sure to register the brand as "account" names on the various social networking sites, if for no other reason that to prevent someone else from doing so and taking advantage of (or misrepresenting) your brand.
Defend The Brand
Monitor popular blogs, news feeds, and other online resources for any mentions of your brand. If there is a mention, such monitoring will allow you to react quickly if the need arises. Use ego feeds and Google alerts to receive instant notifications when the brand is mentioned in the social media.
Develop A Brand Image
Develop an image that can be associated with your brand. Brands tend to be iconic, and consumers will often associate an image with a brand. Providing that image will assist consumers with brand recognition. Small business owners often wear multiple hats, but graphic design is not for amateurs, so this is an area that is often worth spending money on. The graphic image associated with your brand should be professional and visually appealing.
Brand Consistency
Every contact that you have with a customer or potential customer should reinforce your brand. Branding should be consistent in all aspects of your business and promotion. Present the same image and colors in all aspects of a consumer experience, from business cards to invoices to web design and so on, so that they all remain consistent.
Global Brand Concerns
The world is much smaller than it use to be, and this offers businesses an opportunity to breach new markets. But it also poses a challenge to small businesses who are unaware of how their product, logo, slogan, or brand will translate or be perceived in foreign markets. Be sure to consider and investigate the global implications of any text, slogans, or images that you associate with your product or service, and be aware of how it might impact your brand in the global market.
Establishing a strong brand can have significant value, and truly is a journey that companies should embark upon in their quest to be successful.
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.
Monetize Your Site or Blog by Connecting to Advertisers
by V Divya Sai
With so many social networking websites like StumbleUpon, Digg & Reddit and other microblogging services like Twitter, Tumblr & FriendFeed and of course not to forget the traffic exchange sites like BlogExplosion and EntreCard, there are lots of ways to bring traffic to a blog or site these days.
But as any expert, or even a newbie blogger may know, the real question is: is that traffic getting converted into earnings? If you're thinking 'no', this article is meant to help you change that to a 'yes'.
The problem: Although you're getting thousands or maybe millions of page views and visitors every month, nobody knows exactly how much traffic you're getting. Thus no advertiser contacts you despite those clusters of 125x125 "Advertise Here" banners already placed on your blog.
Reason behind it: People know the value of blogs/websites which receive huge traffic every month. However, they seldom care to download the entire list of the top 100K websites from Alexa for example and check which ones allow for advertising, nevermind contacting them to check their 'real' traffic statistics and finally placing their ads. It's the natural tendency of all humans to get things done the easy way. Instead they usually try to look for simpler methods of filtering these websites according to their requirements.
Finally the Solution: As hinted in the reason above, we need a solution which brings your blog/site to the attention of advertisers in an 'easy' manner. The solution is actually a list of websites, which are the meeting places for publishers (bloggers/webmasters) and advertisers. Here goes:
BuySellAds.com (recommended)
TechnoratiMedia.com
AdEngage.com
DigitalPoint Forums
Sites like these have always been around, so what's so special about the above?
For advertisers: It simplifies the the selection process by categorizing all member blogs/sites according to different criteria like Impressions/month, CTR (click through rate), CPM, Alexa ranking, etc. So advertisers can easily select where to advertise their products.
For publishers: As a publisher (specially true to BuySellAds.com) you are given total control to set specs such as the advertising dimensions, number of banners on your blog/website, etc. You can also set different prices for different ad zones (remember that a 25% commission is charged by BSA and around 40% by Technorati Media & AdEngage, so you may want to make your prices slightly higher than usual)
Moreover these ads will be banners and NOT text-link-ads so there's no risk of getting penalized by Google. Also the banners appearing on your site/blog are all controlled by JavaScript which further avoids any SEO issues.
With AdEngage and TechnoratiMedia (relatively new), the choice of ad sizes are quite limited, but of course the most famous 125x125 ad size is present. TechnoratiMedia, being new, doesn't have many advertiser accounts right now, and the response time taken by AdEngage is much more than that of BuySellAds.
In the DigitalPoint forums , as other forums you can only place your ad as a thread which may/may not come in to the notice of advertisers. If your thread doesn't get frequent replies it will easily get lost in the ever-coming stream of new threads. Digital Point is being referred in this post as it is one of the most famous forums among webmasters.
NOTE: As of now there are no 'exclusive' restrictions from any of these sites. Hence you are free to use several advertising networks on your site/blog at the same time and diversify yourself between these advertising programs.
V.Divya Sai is a Scientist and Biotechnologist with a keen interest in Blogging. He has founded the blogs Bikers Blog and Blogger Templates & Widgets with the main aim of helping other bloggers to uplift and optimize their blogs. BloggerStop.Net is mainly beneficial for people who blog on Google’s Blogger platform. A list of important tutorials can be seen here: Blogger Help.
With so many social networking websites like StumbleUpon, Digg & Reddit and other microblogging services like Twitter, Tumblr & FriendFeed and of course not to forget the traffic exchange sites like BlogExplosion and EntreCard, there are lots of ways to bring traffic to a blog or site these days.
But as any expert, or even a newbie blogger may know, the real question is: is that traffic getting converted into earnings? If you're thinking 'no', this article is meant to help you change that to a 'yes'.
The problem: Although you're getting thousands or maybe millions of page views and visitors every month, nobody knows exactly how much traffic you're getting. Thus no advertiser contacts you despite those clusters of 125x125 "Advertise Here" banners already placed on your blog.
Reason behind it: People know the value of blogs/websites which receive huge traffic every month. However, they seldom care to download the entire list of the top 100K websites from Alexa for example and check which ones allow for advertising, nevermind contacting them to check their 'real' traffic statistics and finally placing their ads. It's the natural tendency of all humans to get things done the easy way. Instead they usually try to look for simpler methods of filtering these websites according to their requirements.
Finally the Solution: As hinted in the reason above, we need a solution which brings your blog/site to the attention of advertisers in an 'easy' manner. The solution is actually a list of websites, which are the meeting places for publishers (bloggers/webmasters) and advertisers. Here goes:
BuySellAds.com (recommended)
TechnoratiMedia.com
AdEngage.com
DigitalPoint Forums
Sites like these have always been around, so what's so special about the above?
For advertisers: It simplifies the the selection process by categorizing all member blogs/sites according to different criteria like Impressions/month, CTR (click through rate), CPM, Alexa ranking, etc. So advertisers can easily select where to advertise their products.
For publishers: As a publisher (specially true to BuySellAds.com) you are given total control to set specs such as the advertising dimensions, number of banners on your blog/website, etc. You can also set different prices for different ad zones (remember that a 25% commission is charged by BSA and around 40% by Technorati Media & AdEngage, so you may want to make your prices slightly higher than usual)
Moreover these ads will be banners and NOT text-link-ads so there's no risk of getting penalized by Google. Also the banners appearing on your site/blog are all controlled by JavaScript which further avoids any SEO issues.
With AdEngage and TechnoratiMedia (relatively new), the choice of ad sizes are quite limited, but of course the most famous 125x125 ad size is present. TechnoratiMedia, being new, doesn't have many advertiser accounts right now, and the response time taken by AdEngage is much more than that of BuySellAds.
In the DigitalPoint forums , as other forums you can only place your ad as a thread which may/may not come in to the notice of advertisers. If your thread doesn't get frequent replies it will easily get lost in the ever-coming stream of new threads. Digital Point is being referred in this post as it is one of the most famous forums among webmasters.
NOTE: As of now there are no 'exclusive' restrictions from any of these sites. Hence you are free to use several advertising networks on your site/blog at the same time and diversify yourself between these advertising programs.
V.Divya Sai is a Scientist and Biotechnologist with a keen interest in Blogging. He has founded the blogs Bikers Blog and Blogger Templates & Widgets with the main aim of helping other bloggers to uplift and optimize their blogs. BloggerStop.Net is mainly beneficial for people who blog on Google’s Blogger platform. A list of important tutorials can be seen here: Blogger Help.
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