Google’s latest keyword tool leaves a little to be desired. Is it just me or does it feel like the data is inaccurate, incomplete, or even completely wrong at times? [Read more...]
KEYWORD DATA: HAVING TROUBLE GETTING IT?
January 28, 2012 by
LEARN THE SECRET TO WRITING POWERFUL MESSAGES
October 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Writing tends to be a daunting task for many but doesn’t have to be. If you want to give your message a powerful edge, capable of stirring up action in your market then keep reading.
Despite popular belief, crafting content on the web isn’t really about how good of a wordsmith you are or even how good of a speller you are. The most important feature of your message is how effective it is at finding the right audience.
THE DIGITAL AGE: CONSIDERING A READERS PLATFORM
August 23, 2011 by Leave a Comment
THE ART OF WRITING INTERNET COPY
June 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Filed Under: ARTICLES, CONTENT WRITING, EVENTS, PRESENTATIONS, STRATEGY, VIDEO, WEB MARKETING
10 WAYS TO MESMERIZE YOUR AUDIENCE
May 4, 2011 by Leave a Comment
GET IDEAS ON HOW TO STIR UP ACTION AND BUILD AUTHORITY 
1. MAKE AN EFFORT TO URGE SUBSCRIPTION TO YOUR BLOG
RSS Feed Subscriptions remind subscribers each time you create a new post which keeps them coming back to your site and keeps you/your brand – fresh in their minds. [Read more...]
TOP 10 CRITICAL MISTAKES STARTUPS MAKE ONLINE PART 2
April 29, 2011 by Leave a Comment
If you missed the first part of this post be sure to Read Part 1 which covers 1-5.
6. LEAD CAPTURE – DOESN’T EXIST, LACKS APPEAL, OR ASKS TOO MUCH
Think like a searcher. When you are browsing the net and come across an interesting offer, how much are you willing to do to get it. Personally if the form asks for my address, they don’t get my info at all. [Read more...]
10 CRITICAL MISTAKES MADE BY STARTUPS (PT 1)
April 18, 2011 by 1 Comment
1. DOMAIN NAME SELECTION – (LACKS KEYWORD)
Exact match keyword domains are worth their weight in gold. It’s the sure thing to acquiring a top spot. The second best is getting one that has the keyword somewhere in it. I don’t recommend buying a domain name that doesn’t have your keyword in it. You will be making things a lot harder on your self. Many people think they have to buy the domain name of their company? Why, so people who have never heard of your company can find you? That was a joke. Unless your company name is Coca Cola or unless your company name already contains your keyword sure buy the domain but also buy a keyword domain related to your business. This will be the domain your site is hosted upon and you will direct the other domain that is your company name to the keyword domain. So when all your fans and customers type your business name into the browser “yourcompanyname.com” they will be taken to your site at “yourkeyworddomain.com” So those who aren’t familiar with your site/business ie, YOUR MARKET, can find you easier when they search using keywords related to your industry.
2. SITE IS NOT BLOCKED DURING THE DEVELOPMENT STAGE
I learned this the hard way. When you are in the developmental stages of your website design it is very important to block all search engine access to it using either a robots.txt file or if using wordpress you can do it from the backend under “privacy.” Failure to do so could negatively affect your performance long term in the SERPS. It will make an already difficult project even harder.
3. TARGETING GENERAL KEYWORDS WITH MASS SEARCH VOLUME
This is fairly self explanatory and very popular mistake. Here is an example. Someone searching for “shoes” probably doesn’t know what they want, or have any intentions of buying, they are “browsers” also known as “tire kickers”, “time wasters” or in this landscape “bandwidth wasters” Sure you may drive more traffic to your site targeting general keywords, but it’s useless traffic and will probably cost you more in the long run, since their presence on your site is not completely cost free. These tend to be the ones that like to call and ask you thousands of silly questions. They start eating into your soft costs after a while, and your nerves. Someone searching for “high heels” is a much more targeted market and maybe still a bit on the general side. You get the idea.
4. POORLY WRITTEN OR NON EXISTANT META TAGS
I cannot stress enough how important Meta tags are for many different reasons. How they are written can also heavily influence your ranking. Don’t attempt to do these yourself, and don’t look to the internet for information on how to write them. It’s an unsolved mystery as to why there is so much inaccurate info on Metas or why no one has stepped up and announced the correct way except for me and maybe one or two others. Understanding the dual purpose of Meta tags ie what they are used for, will help you to better understand how to write them.
5. FAIL TO DO COMPETITIVE RESEARCH
Chances are your competitors know something you don’t if they have been online for more than a season. Use that to your advantage. Mostly, just learn how to do it better.
Yep I know, there is supposed to be 10 critical mistakes….and there is! Stay tuned for Part 2. Want a reminder sent when the next post is published? Subscribe to my feed.
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SATISFY YOUR AUDIENCE
March 31, 2011 by Leave a Comment
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW
There is so much information on the net, sometimes finding quality content becomes challenging. For every yes, you can find a no, and for every do-a don’t. The bottom line is the answer to your question on the internet is- whatever you want it to be. But is it just an answer people you are looking for, or is it the argument that backs up that answer.
For most, it is the argument. Sometimes I like to search for opposing view points or discussion on the net that disagree with my current theory. Besides adding an element of excitement, it’s educational and is helpful in forming an opinion or deriving a conclusion on a particular topic. So it isn’t really about the answer. It’s about the argument.
A LOGICAL ANSWER
In a business of internet marketing there are thousands of discussions and do’s and dont’s and even more opposing view points then you can imagine. There probably isn’t a more controversial topic as popular as this one nowadays. Because of this it becomes important for readers to decipher and sift through the content to form their own opinion. As with just about everything in life, you begin to apply logic to form conclusions.
When writing content, we tend to know our subject so well it’s easy to assume our audience knows too, and maybe they do, but that’s not what they are looking for -especially consumers. For example: Many people know that you should use your keyword in a Meta Tag. But if you asked them why, I doubt even 1/2 of them know why. Now if I told you why - you would see so much logic behind that practice. It would make perfect sense. After that, I will have just satisfied your taste for knowledge to the fullest extent. Keep saying to yourself as you are creating your content ….Why? Why? Why? That’s really what your audience wants to know.
Filed Under: ARTICLES, CONTENT WRITING, WEB MARKETING Tagged With: content writing, strategy
IMPORTANT ELEMENTS OF INTERNET COPY
March 12, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Writing content for the internet has taken on some characteristics that in the “politically correct” journalism world, may cause quite a stir. The good news is, you get to let your hair down a bit. Your focus for writing virtual content is flow, much like a conversation has. So have one -with-your virtual audience
FLOW
BREVITY
VISUAL PRESENTATION
Give Flow to Exciting Content
This particular element may, for some, may be the most difficult one. By organizing your thoughts into an outline beforehand will have an enormous effect on your flow. For a quick review on composing an outline see “Content is King“ If some of your topics lead up to a larger main point, then those should be arranged in the beginning and middle, pulling the reader along to the “big bang”. This is a great technique for keeping your audiences attention, which can be a difficult task on the internet landscape. The internet provides thousands of distractions on any given web page to direct their attention away from your dialogue. Leaving hints of what’s to come, along the way, is another great tip for capturing and keeping your readers attention all the way through.
Brevity is Your Best Friend
Content on the web should be brief and to the point. Pack as much rich information as you can into one article and one sentence. But try to keep your sentences short. Long sentences will tire people out, exhausting them before they make it all the way through. Short sentences for short attention spans. Try to make your content easy to ingest by requiring the least amount of effort from the reader in order to follow.
The Winning Visual Presentation
Unlike a book or other hard copy material the internet provides a challenging landscape for content writers. There are many aspects of it that can draw the readers attention away from your article or web site. Not to mention the ease of a simple click to take them on another journey is all the more inviting. Your content has to be not just good-it has to be great!
Visual appeal can be the difference between good and great. Leave enough white space between paragraphs. This is soothing to the eye and makes your content easier to tackle. One long clump of words on a page looks painful to a reader. Split your content up and use paragraph headings that describe what that paragraph is about. Most people first scan web content before deciding to read in more detail. This is your chance to snag their interest so make these clear, concise, and helpful to someone seeking information quickly.
INCLUDE A WEB MARKETING PROFESSIONAL IN YOUR WEB DESIGN PROJECT
August 28, 2010 by Leave a Comment
It happens on a regular basis. A client comes to me with his finished site, proud of its spectacular look with moving graphics and fancy navigation that spins around when you hover over it with your mouse. After he proudly proclaims of his readiness to do internet marketing, I watch the deflation occur as I tell him his site will need to be entirely rebuilt if being found on the internet is important to him.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to include a marketing professional in your web design project. Moving graphics require coding that is not read by search engines. Too much of it surrounding your HTML (the content that is understood by search engines) is likely to be missed or skipped over. As a rule of thumb, keeping all moving graphics or text within the header of your site is the best policy for providing a “content rich” website that will have a much better chance at being found or ranking in the SERP’s
This is just one of the very important reasons you should include a web marketing professional in your web design project, however there are thousands of others. Often people lump web designers in with internet marketers and vice versa. What is important to remember is that although their services may overlap in relation to that website, their purpose is very different. A web designer is interested in two things 1. The way the site looks, and the client satisfaction in how it looks. Internet Marketing professionals care much less about how a site looks and more about its functionality for users and marketability to search engines. Asking or expecting your web designer to make your site “SEO Friendly” is like asking an electrician to build a house.
The biggest downside of excluding a marketing professional in the web design process is that trying to make changes after the fact is sometimes more difficult even impossible without a complete redesign. Internet marketing has a huge focus on code/content that is the framework of your website. Just like a house, if you take the frame away the entire house comes crashing down.
