Is Manual Link Building For You – It May Be

There are many different SEO (search engine optimization) methods out there. All of them have their own pros and cons, and manual link building is no exception. In it’s simplest terms, this is nothing more than finding the sites you would like to link back to yours, then adding them to that site (if it’s set up to take such submissions) or contacting the site owner directly and asking them to add your link.

A lot of people are convinced that hiring a backlink service to do all of the tedious work is the best way of getting backlinks. Then there are those who believe doing their own manual link building is the better SEO strategy.

The truth is that manual link building does have some advantages. Because you are, by definition, doing the work yourself, it is basically free unless you happen to purchase software to help you find the best sites to link to, but this often isn’t necessary. The other advantage is that because you have complete control over which sites are linking back to you, it can be a very effective method. It’s also a good option for site owners that only want backlinks from sites in their geographic area.

It’s safe to say that it’s not a smart move for small businesses to invest months and years to slowly build up a web presence through social networking and article publishing; waiting for enough of this content to be linked enough to see a boost in the search engine rankings. This applies even more so to brick and mortar businesses that don’t have a strong need to do business online, but still need an online presence. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try getting links this way, but that they need to do more because time is always of the essence.

A good place for local businesses to start are local online business directories. Request that your website be added to the directory, but beware that many of these directories will require payment to be listed with them. However, if there are levels of listings, and your business doesn’t have a lot of local competition, then you should be safe going with the most basic listing. But also remember to go with the larger paid directories such as Business.com, Yahoo and BOTW. The reason it’s important to cover all your bases is that Google likes the larger sites and it will increase the results of you manual link building efforts.

What about automated link submission tools? Well, they certainly can be used effectively, but they aren’t perfect. They can fill in submission forms automatically, but not all sites use the same input fields. And when there are unique fields that the automated software doesn’t recognize, it either won’t submit properly, or you will still have to do some of it manually. The main benefit is that when it works right, it is much faster than manual link building.

Affiliate Article Marketing – 4 Tips On Being Effective

Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to start an online business. It’s free to get started and if you take the time to learn a few simple skills you can make a lot of money pretty quickly and easily. Your main job as an affiliate marketer is to drive as much targeted (people who actually want to buy what you are selling) visitors to your site. One of the very best ways to do that is to use affiliate article marketing
.

The basic idea of article marketing is that you will find a list of 5 to 10 good keywords for your niche. A ‘good’ keyword is a keyword phrase that has at least 1,500 searches a month but less than 20,000 competition. Once you have your keywords you can write several articles per keyword phrase. Make sure your article provides some beneficial information for your reader.

When you submit it to the article directories you can provide a resource box. This is where you can promote your website. You can provide a direct link here so that when people read your article they can click on the link in the resource box and be taken to your website.

While you can’t do any blatant selling in your main article, you can use the resource box to do your selling for you. Each article directory has it’s own rules, just follow those rules and you’ll get published.

This method is so effective for several reasons:

1. It’s free. You can write an article and submit it for free. It won’t cost you a cent. You can even use a free keyword tool online. You can submit as many articles as you want to.

2.You will establish yourself as an expert in your field. Don’t let this freak you out. Some people, especially those who are just starting out, can get intimidated by this. But just remember, you don’t have to know everything to be an expert, you just have to know more than most of your readers.

3.If you write a good article and target the right keywords you can have your article show up online for months, or even years. So, it will take more than one article, but you can write a few articles and have them stay online and drive traffic for a long time to come.

4. Submit multiple articles to several article directories. Don’t submit all the exact same versions. Instead submit several versions of each article. As long as they are mostly different ( I understand that if you are using the same keyword there will be a lot of similarities).

There are a lot of great resources available online that can help you build your business. Many of them are free and most of them are easy to use. affiliate article marketing
is one of the best methods of driving traffic to your website. It’s perfect for anyone who is getting started online and doesn’t have any money.

A Combined Internet Marketing Strategy – Levels The Playing Field

Things have changed in the world of advertising. So, what has happened? To put it simply: internet marketing. The internet has changed how companies advertise. Well, that’s not entirely accurate. The principles that they use have remained basically the same, but how they deliver their message has been altered in a drastic way. In theory, the delivery method shouldn’t matter, but it does.

Plenty of big companies are still confused about what makes for an effective internet marketing strategy. They still try to use old delivery messages with the new market landscape in mind; and fail. Or, they think everything has changed and forget about some of the basic principles that drive sales; and fail.

Why does this matter? Because it has leveled the playing field overnight. All of sudden, the large corporations and the sole proprietor working from home can reach the same amount of people. Never before has everyone been able to derive the same benefit, regardless of how big or small their advertising budget is.

In fact, it could be argued that those with huge budgets are getting left behind in a lot of ways. The small internet business owner can make changes quickly and see the results in practically real time. Being able to try new things and react quickly are the areas where the “little guy” has the big name companies beat. But there is more to it than that, as you will see.

Bigger companies have an upper hand in one area of internet marketing. That area is market research. Some of the larger companies have entire departments devoted to researching who their customers are and what they’re buying. That advantage means that even when they don’t quite get the internet marketing right, they can still generate profits. Does market research take effort? Yes, it does. But it’s not time spent, it’s time invested.

How does this impact you and your business? Now that’s a question worth asking! The answer is simple, but the execution takes some doing. The key is to combine the best of both worlds. First, you need to be ready, willing and able to make changes quickly and track the results of those changes. Second, you need to do as much market research as you can. The more you understand your market, the better.

What you need to do is think like the bigger companies, and act like a sole business owner. Once you are able to apply that mindset to your internet marketing, the results will be noticeable. That being said, none of this information means a thing if you don’t follow through on it. You need to take action and apply what you have learned. That is the difference between failure and success.

Google Keywords – Can Make Or Break You

Using Google keywords tools makes your online life a little easier. You don’t have to pay monthly subscription to get accurate, up to date keyword information. This free keyword tool can help anyone with their online marketing efforts.

No matter what type of online advertising you are doing, having a great list of targeted keywords is imperative. If you don’t, you will either have ineffective campaigns or you will waste a lot of money on pay per click campaigns, or both. There is a fine line between a good keyword and a keyword that simply has too much competition.

You need to find the keywords that land somewhere in the middle between a decent amount of searches and too much competition. That is a rookie mistake: thinking that a keyword that gets a ton of searches every month is a good keyword to target. The truth is that any keyword like that will be hugely competitive.

Even if you can afford to spend the money on that keyword, why? In virtually every niche online there are many, many keywords that aren’t so competitive that it will cost you an arm and a leg to advertise with them yet you can still get a lot of monthly searches. Unless you’re a glutton for punishment I would steer clear of the overly competitive keywords and focus more of your attention on those keywords that fly under the radar.

A good rule of thumb is to target keyword phrases that have three or more words, get at least 1,500 searches a month and have less than 20,000 competitors. These parameters will be a great place to start. You will be able to tune it in more as you go along but you need somewhere to start, so use this guideline.

When doing your keyword research make sure that you carefully consider the parameters for the exact type of campaign you are planning on running. For example, if you are running a pay per click (PPC) campaign, you’ll want to have a ball park idea of how much each keyword will cost you when it’s clicked on.

The average cost per click is one of the details you can include in your keyword research. Of course, this is just an estimate, but it gives you a place to start. Another thing you may want to consider is the amount of competition. This too can be found (an estimate only, it’s not a ‘solid’ number) when doing keyword research using the Google keyword tool. All of this can be put together to give you a snap shot of what keywords are good ones to go after and which ones will most likely be a waste of time.

Out of all the major search engines: Google, MSN and Yahoo, Google is the top dog. You can benefit from their knowledge about the people who are using their search engine to find information online.

Using Google keywords will give you a unique insight as to what words and phrases people are looking for when doing a search online. Finding these keywords can be like finding a treasure map. If you put together a great campaign using great keywords it’s just a matter of time until you’ll find internet treasure.

Affiliate Marketing Video – Drive Targetted Traffic

You can actually use affiliate marketing video in one of several ways. For one, you can use these videos to drive traffic to your website. Once there you can offer them an affiliate marketing course if they join your email list. Once on your list you can send them emails that will show them how to do some task that is directly associated with affiliate marketing.

Getting traffic is job #1 for your online business but what you do with that traffic is of equal importance. Did you know that upwards of 98%PRCTG% of the people who come to your site won’t buy and they won’t come back? All those marketing efforts down the tube.

But what if you could contact all those people again, as many times as you wanted to? Well, you can. Just add an autoresponder opt in to your site and they will give you permission to send them emails. That way you can have a lot of chances to convert those visitors into paying customers.

When that happens you can create a series of videos that can teach your subscribers a valuable skill. You can then send those out over a period of time building trust and rapport. If you include a P.S. at the end of the email that recommends a product or service that can help them, they will be much more likely to buy.

Using video in this way creates a great win / win situation. Your subscribers are getting some valuable, and helpful, knowledge and you are getting the chance to show them that you are an expert and someone who can help them achieve their goals.

This approach can work for pretty much any niche market around. Use the video’s to drive traffic and then use them to get visitors to sign up to your list, and last, use videos to teach them something of value and interest to them.

When making your videos, make sure that you speak clearly and slowly and keep the visuals to a minimum. Just use the video as a way to supplement the audio. Don’t make it so splashy that it’s distracting. Keep it simple.

Also, keep it short. Generally 3 minutes or less (you can make it longer when you are putting your training course together, just not a whole lot longer).

If you are the one who is recording the audio you don’t need to sound like an actor, you just need to be clear. Keep the hemming and hawing to a minimum. I’ve honestly gotten videos where there was more stuttering than talking. It made me angry so I clicked away and didn’t watch them. I figured my time is too valuable to be wasted on someone who can’t take the time to make a decent video.

As an affiliate marketer, there are many ways you can use an affiliate marketing video. You can use one to drive traffic, to sign up to your list and even to keep those on your list informed and interested. Video is the wave of the future online, catch it for yourself.