Tags |
|
|
Links |
|
|
Answer Upon - Building Web Site Popularity
A big challenge for every small business owner is the need to 'find time' for marketing.I can relate. None of us are full time marketers. We're all providing services to clients. And when you're serving clients too, it's hard to fit in sales calls and marketing activity. It's hard to maintain momentum.One thing is for sure, whatever shape our business is in right now, we all have the same 365 days in 2006.Will you use that time to create a structure that supports you and brings in clients automatically, or will you still be complaining about 'lack of time' when 2007 rolls around?Despite being one of the most disorganised people on the planet, and someone who was earning all my income from selling my time just 18 months ago, I have managed to create an 'autopilot' marketing machine, generate passive streams of income, and I now earn more than I ever have, whilst working less hours. I truly believe that you can do the same, so in this article I want to share with you a few ideas that may help if you've been having trouble 'finding time'.1. If you don't enjoy it, you'll never 'find the time'If the idea of marketing and selling your services leaves you with a yucky feeling in the pit of your stomach, then let me assure you, you'll never 'find time'. As long as you feel like this, there will always be a more attractive activity pulling your attention. Even if your fairy godmothe
Newsgroups
Now we get to more valuable actions. If there are any newsgroups that at ALL relate to your site, make it a habit to read and post therein (see http://groups.google.com/googlegroups/posting_faq.html if you don't have direct Newsgroup access ). ALWAYS have your web site mentioned in your signature. If you can possibly work in a mention of a specific page on your site that would be helpful to someone posting, do so. But don't just post blatant advertising; people get annoyed by that.
There may also be mailing lists related to your business. Read them, and contribute when you can. Take a look at http://www.webcom.com/impulse/list.html#Search for mail lists.
Too often I hear experienced businesswomen putting forward the idea that the best quality women bring to business is our nurturing ability, and it makes my blood boil. Worse still is when this ‘pearl’ has the usual ‘be assertive not aggressive’ rule tagged onto it. Does anyone really believe that the individuals advocating this blah got to the top by cuddling competitors, playing coochie-coo with a disgruntled colleague or by soothing a grazed ego with an Elastoplast and a kiss?More likely is that the job of nurturing is so familiar to females that whether at home or in business, women accept it as their lot. But nurturing is a quality that both men and women are equally capable of; it’s just that this attribute has been assigned a female face for so long that it has become habitual for women, not for men. In itself nurturing is a splendidly generous act but it is behaviour more suited to being a spouse or a parent rather than being a forceful influence in the boardroom.Now this is not to say that by dispensing with ideas about nurturing, every woman risks becoming a hard-nosed ball-breaker. Although this is what both men and women fear, complex issues like behaviour cannot be simplified down to such clear-cut black or white terms. So occasionally nurturing a distressed colleague may be appropriate but if someone’s trying to screw you out of a mega-buck deal, aggression is probably far more effec
What you want is links to your site. Links equal traffic. Links come from two places: other pages, and search engines. The more links from other pages, the more the search engines like you. The more the search engines like you, the more people will click through (choose the link the search engine presented). Some of those people have their own sites, and if they like your site, they may add links pointing to you. That, of course, generates more search engine attention- it's a closed loop that feeds on itself and continues to grow. The art of getting more links is known as Site Promotion.
You don't believe it? You think you have to pay money to get noticed? I started my http://aplawrence.com site in 1997 and never paid a dime to anyone.
Well, actually recently I did, just to see whether there was any point in it. I did two things: one, I bought 15,000 "hits" from one of those redirection services that take over abandoned domains and redirect any traffic to you. The 15,000 extra hits increased my visitors for one month, but did not increase my income one dime, and the increase disappeared the following months, which means none of the 15,000 became regular visitors. Secondly, I paid an web site promotion and optimization expert $100.00 for a half hour evaluation and advice session. The advice he had was good and accurate, but again, nothing you could not learn on-line for free by yourself.
Current site stats are 170,000 to 200,000 unique visitors per month, and this was done entirely by self-promotion as described here. Even more importantly, if you search for "SCO Unix" or similar searches at Google and other search engines, you'll often find my pages listed near the top- which is the place you want to be.
("Unique visitors" means individual visitors. That is, you might visit my site two times this month and look at 5 pages each time. That counts as 10 page views, but only one unique visitor. It's not a completely accurate figure; the actual number could be more or less (there might be more than one person behind one ip address, for example), but it's still a statistic that people use to measure popularity.)
Many people tell you that you need to submit new pages as you add them. I've found that not to be true for my sites: Google's Spiders usually pick up new pages here within a few days. That may be because I constantly add new material and the Spiders know to return more often than they would otherwise. Also, Google has recently added its Sitemap protocol which lets you tell Google when you have updated content.
To get links and visitors, there are a number of things to do. Most of these apply no matter what the purpose of your web site is, though some work better for some types of sites.
Suggest a link
Go to Google and search for "suggest". You'll get about about 85,900,000 matches (yes, I'm serious) , most of which are search engines or other web sites that will let you suggest a link to you from them. Fill out as many of these as you can. Ignore any suggestion (like Yahoo will give) that asks you to part with money in exchange for quicker placement (unless, of course, you are able to just throw around money freely- in that case, have you visited my Contributions page?).
Next, search for "site promotion". These are less valuable, but some of them are free promotional thingies that will submit your site to some other sites. What they do is a small number for free, and then try to get you to buy a larger submission. Don't. Just take the free stuff. Most of it is useless, but it will at least get a few search engines to visit.
Nowadays you'll also find blogs and web sites that offer tips on web site promotion. Some of them are just thinly veiled fronts trying to sell you expensive courses or books. Pay no attention: everything they would charge you for is available on line for free. It may take a little more effort to find it all, so if you are in a big hurry, some of the courses or books could be useful, but don't spend a lot of money - it's not worth it.
Newsgroups
Now we get to more valuable actions. If there are any newsgroups that at ALL relate to your site, make it a habit to read and post therein (see http://groups.google.com/googlegroups/posting_faq.html if you don't have direct Newsgroup access ). ALWAYS have your web site mentioned in your signature. If you can possibly work in a mention of a specific page on your site that would be helpful to someone posting, do so. But don't just post blatant advertising; people get annoyed by that.
There may also be mailing lists related to your business. Read them, and contribute when you can. Take a look at http://www.webcom.com/impulse/list.html#Search for mail lists. I
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the essential tools to a successful online business. You will be surprised how simple SEO techniques can lead traffic to your website and get more hits that would later on lead to a more profitable business.Here are the 5 immutable laws of SEO which applied can help you make it to the top of the list of search engines,Law 1. Use the existingIf you have an existing web site and domain, just optimize the one that you currently have instead of purchasing a new domain.It will take some time before your web site will show up in a particular search engine, like Google, so it better to use the one that you currently have instead of switching to a new one.Law 2. Know who your target audience is and aim for them.If you are in the manufacturing industry and a user types in your product in a search engine, then you would immediately have your target right in front of you. As soon as the user hits the Enter button or clicks on 'Search', then the person will be lead to your web site. Make sure that your target market will get 'hooked' on your web site. Once the search engines show the link to your web site, their job is done.What you should do next is to make sure that your visitor will not leave your web site without them trying out your products or services, or at least leaving some pertinent information so that you can contact them i
You don't believe it? You think you have to pay money to get noticed? I started my http://aplawrence.com site in 1997 and never paid a dime to anyone.
Well, actually recently I did, just to see whether there was any point in it. I did two things: one, I bought 15,000 "hits" from one of those redirection services that take over abandoned domains and redirect any traffic to you. The 15,000 extra hits increased my visitors for one month, but did not increase my income one dime, and the increase disappeared the following months, which means none of the 15,000 became regular visitors. Secondly, I paid an web site promotion and optimization expert $100.00 for a half hour evaluation and advice session. The advice he had was good and accurate, but again, nothing you could not learn on-line for free by yourself.
Current site stats are 170,000 to 200,000 unique visitors per month, and this was done entirely by self-promotion as described here. Even more importantly, if you search for "SCO Unix" or similar searches at Google and other search engines, you'll often find my pages listed near the top- which is the place you want to be.
("Unique visitors" means individual visitors. That is, you might visit my site two times this month and look at 5 pages each time. That counts as 10 page views, but only one unique visitor. It's not a completely accurate figure; the actual number could be more or less (there might be more than one person behind one ip address, for example), but it's still a statistic that people use to measure popularity.)
Many people tell you that you need to submit new pages as you add them. I've found that not to be true for my sites: Google's Spiders usually pick up new pages here within a few days. That may be because I constantly add new material and the Spiders know to return more often than they would otherwise. Also, Google has recently added its Sitemap protocol which lets you tell Google when you have updated content.
To get links and visitors, there are a number of things to do. Most of these apply no matter what the purpose of your web site is, though some work better for some types of sites.
Suggest a link
Go to Google and search for "suggest". You'll get about about 85,900,000 matches (yes, I'm serious) , most of which are search engines or other web sites that will let you suggest a link to you from them. Fill out as many of these as you can. Ignore any suggestion (like Yahoo will give) that asks you to part with money in exchange for quicker placement (unless, of course, you are able to just throw around money freely- in that case, have you visited my Contributions page?).
Next, search for "site promotion". These are less valuable, but some of them are free promotional thingies that will submit your site to some other sites. What they do is a small number for free, and then try to get you to buy a larger submission. Don't. Just take the free stuff. Most of it is useless, but it will at least get a few search engines to visit.
Nowadays you'll also find blogs and web sites that offer tips on web site promotion. Some of them are just thinly veiled fronts trying to sell you expensive courses or books. Pay no attention: everything they would charge you for is available on line for free. It may take a little more effort to find it all, so if you are in a big hurry, some of the courses or books could be useful, but don't spend a lot of money - it's not worth it.
Newsgroups
Now we get to more valuable actions. If there are any newsgroups that at ALL relate to your site, make it a habit to read and post therein (see http://groups.google.com/googlegroups/posting_faq.html if you don't have direct Newsgroup access ). ALWAYS have your web site mentioned in your signature. If you can possibly work in a mention of a specific page on your site that would be helpful to someone posting, do so. But don't just post blatant advertising; people get annoyed by that.
There may also be mailing lists related to your business. Read them, and contribute when you can. Take a look at http://www.webcom.com/impulse/list.html#Search for mail lists.
Would you like a top Google ranking? And not only that... but would you like to KEEP your top ranking for many years after you get it?See, that's the problem with many search engine tactics these days. If you finally did manage to get a top ranking, you'll likely lose that ranking shortly thereafter.To be quite frank, this sucks. This is not what anyone wants to happen to their website and business, especially after putting forth all that work to get the top ranking in the first place.Now, let me let you in on a little secret. It's actually not that difficult to get a website to the top of the search engines AND keep it there, with very little, if any "maintenance work" after you claim the #1 position.The secret is to get lots of high quality, high page rank websites to link to your website. While that in and of itself isn't really a huge secret, what I can tell you is that we've figured out a way to easily, and almost instantly get over 1,700 super high quality, 1 way links to point to our website(s) in less than an hours time. No kidding!And best of all, it takes very little work. To learn more about this incredibly easy way to get TONS of quality, one way links, visit the link below:
("Unique visitors" means individual visitors. That is, you might visit my site two times this month and look at 5 pages each time. That counts as 10 page views, but only one unique visitor. It's not a completely accurate figure; the actual number could be more or less (there might be more than one person behind one ip address, for example), but it's still a statistic that people use to measure popularity.)
Many people tell you that you need to submit new pages as you add them. I've found that not to be true for my sites: Google's Spiders usually pick up new pages here within a few days. That may be because I constantly add new material and the Spiders know to return more often than they would otherwise. Also, Google has recently added its Sitemap protocol which lets you tell Google when you have updated content.
To get links and visitors, there are a number of things to do. Most of these apply no matter what the purpose of your web site is, though some work better for some types of sites.
Suggest a link
Go to Google and search for "suggest". You'll get about about 85,900,000 matches (yes, I'm serious) , most of which are search engines or other web sites that will let you suggest a link to you from them. Fill out as many of these as you can. Ignore any suggestion (like Yahoo will give) that asks you to part with money in exchange for quicker placement (unless, of course, you are able to just throw around money freely- in that case, have you visited my Contributions page?).
Next, search for "site promotion". These are less valuable, but some of them are free promotional thingies that will submit your site to some other sites. What they do is a small number for free, and then try to get you to buy a larger submission. Don't. Just take the free stuff. Most of it is useless, but it will at least get a few search engines to visit.
Nowadays you'll also find blogs and web sites that offer tips on web site promotion. Some of them are just thinly veiled fronts trying to sell you expensive courses or books. Pay no attention: everything they would charge you for is available on line for free. It may take a little more effort to find it all, so if you are in a big hurry, some of the courses or books could be useful, but don't spend a lot of money - it's not worth it.
Newsgroups
Now we get to more valuable actions. If there are any newsgroups that at ALL relate to your site, make it a habit to read and post therein (see http://groups.google.com/googlegroups/posting_faq.html if you don't have direct Newsgroup access ). ALWAYS have your web site mentioned in your signature. If you can possibly work in a mention of a specific page on your site that would be helpful to someone posting, do so. But don't just post blatant advertising; people get annoyed by that.
There may also be mailing lists related to your business. Read them, and contribute when you can. Take a look at http://www.webcom.com/impulse/list.html#Search for mail lists.
Panic could grip you when you first hear that you are fired. Although it is the most natural reaction, panicking, especially when you need to think rationally, could potentially rob you of the opportunity to turn tables in your favor.No Job Loss Is a Sudden DevelopmentIf you look back at the events that led to your firing, you would see that it was not a sudden event. However, this is not to suggest that you had to have done something to save your job as in most cases it is a futile exercise once management decides on who stays who goes.On the other hand, as things become clear, you should realize that panicking only leads to self-pity and skepticism. These are the few things you need to avoid if you want to look forward and get going quickly.Do not Panic! We Are Living In the 21st CenturyThe biggest advantage to living in this day and age is that it you can forget losses more easily than ever. Along with advances in technology come new opportunities, either with other companies or work at home opportunities.Lets see what you should do during this time. While gathering your courage is the first thing you need to do, things begin to become clearer gradually as you come to terms with the situation at hand:1. You are not back to square one. You have lots of experience gained through your previous job, of which you can use to find the next.2. Your job termination
Suggest a link
Go to Google and search for "suggest". You'll get about about 85,900,000 matches (yes, I'm serious) , most of which are search engines or other web sites that will let you suggest a link to you from them. Fill out as many of these as you can. Ignore any suggestion (like Yahoo will give) that asks you to part with money in exchange for quicker placement (unless, of course, you are able to just throw around money freely- in that case, have you visited my Contributions page?).
Next, search for "site promotion". These are less valuable, but some of them are free promotional thingies that will submit your site to some other sites. What they do is a small number for free, and then try to get you to buy a larger submission. Don't. Just take the free stuff. Most of it is useless, but it will at least get a few search engines to visit.
Nowadays you'll also find blogs and web sites that offer tips on web site promotion. Some of them are just thinly veiled fronts trying to sell you expensive courses or books. Pay no attention: everything they would charge you for is available on line for free. It may take a little more effort to find it all, so if you are in a big hurry, some of the courses or books could be useful, but don't spend a lot of money - it's not worth it.
Newsgroups
Now we get to more valuable actions. If there are any newsgroups that at ALL relate to your site, make it a habit to read and post therein (see http://groups.google.com/googlegroups/posting_faq.html if you don't have direct Newsgroup access ). ALWAYS have your web site mentioned in your signature. If you can possibly work in a mention of a specific page on your site that would be helpful to someone posting, do so. But don't just post blatant advertising; people get annoyed by that.
There may also be mailing lists related to your business. Read them, and contribute when you can. Take a look at http://www.webcom.com/impulse/list.html#Search for mail lists.
If you have good genes, you are blessed. If they are exceptional, you might be successful on that alone.Add work ethic and you will be successful and remarkable.On Thursday, Sept. 9, 2004, Linda Green retired after 23 years as a dancer in “Jubilee!” the longest-running production of its kind in Las Vegas.At 51, Green was the oldest continually working showgirl.A local columnist dubbed her the “Cal Ripkin Jr. of showgirls,” after baseball’s record holder for most consecutive games played.In certain respects, her achievement is more remarkable.In her profession, where a 15-year career is unusual, Green has auditioned ever six months to keep her job. She kept that job despite her competition of 18 and 19-year-olds.Yet, at 5’10”, and 130 lbs. for decades, she is still graceful and stunning.In part, she credits her longevity to “good genes,” remarking, “I’m Scandinavian.” But that’s where genetics ends and Linda Green begins.The show’s associate producer credits Green with being “the utmost professional.”Green is "highly trained technically and she has an absolutely marvelous work ethic," says Fluff Le Coque, the show’s associate producer.“She loves it, and that's what shows. That's what you see across the footlights. She really loves what she's doing."A dancer half her age would find Green’s daily routine of exercise and stretching d
Newsgroups
Now we get to more valuable actions. If there are any newsgroups that at ALL relate to your site, make it a habit to read and post therein (see http://groups.google.com/googlegroups/posting_faq.html if you don't have direct Newsgroup access ). ALWAYS have your web site mentioned in your signature. If you can possibly work in a mention of a specific page on your site that would be helpful to someone posting, do so. But don't just post blatant advertising; people get annoyed by that.
There may also be mailing lists related to your business. Read them, and contribute when you can. Take a look at http://www.webcom.com/impulse/list.html#Search for mail lists. If your site is technical, see OpenITx (http://www.openitx.com) for listings of technical mailing lists etc.
Try to post intelligently. While the search engines that index the articles don't care if you say stupid things, the people who really read the newsgroups do. If you are helpful, polite, and all the rest (brave, loyal, trustworthy and true), folks will visit your site as a result of your posting. If they find something they like, they'll tell other people- maybe they'll even put a link to you on their own site.
Put your web address on EVERYTHING
Mention your web site on EVERYTHING you do: mail, invoices, pens, coffee cups, business cards- anything you do should mention your web site. I have a rubber stamp and I even stamp bills I'm paying- it never hurts.
I'm fortunate in having a short enough site to get a PCUNIX license plate (that redirects to aplawrence.com) - that's probably not an option for you, unfortunately, but if you have signage on vehicles, make sure it mentions the site.
ALWAYS USE "http://yoursite.com", not just "yoursite.com" in email or newsgroup postings- that makes it CERTAIN that it will be a clickable link for the person reading it- otherwise it may not be.
The site itself
WRITE as much as you possibly can and post the articles on your site. The articles don't have to be great, but the more informative they are the better. If you are an accountant, you can write about accounting and business issues. Your artist mother-in-law can write about brush techniques, color sense- whatever- just write, write, write. The more you write, the more traffic you get. Cross-reference everything as much as possible- with links to your other pages. Your own links make search engines happy, too. Not quite as happy as links from other sites, but still happier than no links at all.
Think about what the people you want to attract to your site are interested in and write about those things. If you are a head-hunter, anything HR related is valuable: legal issues, salary surveys, hiring tips etc. If you sell dog food, pet health and grroming, training techniques, reviews of related books, notice of upcoming shows and so on. Whatever your field is, there are dozens and dozens of things you can and should write about.
LEARN about using meta-tags to help search engines properly index your site. Metatags have been abused so much that many search engines ignore them now, but it can't hurt. Make sure that whatever your article is about gets repeated whenever appropriate in the text. For example, this article is about "web site promotion", so you'll see that I use that and similar phrases throughout this article. Take a look at the meta tags I used here (do "view source"). The more the search engine thinks that the article is about site promotion, the more weight it will get when it is indexed. An excellent place to learn about how search engines work and site promotion in general is Search Engine Watch ( http://www.searchenginewatch.com ).
DON"T do stupid things like repeating "web site promotion" a zillion times in a teeny font or with a background color the same as the text. Search engines are much smarter than they used to be: such tactics will not help and may even be held against you.
Consider allowing other people to use what you have written. If you look at the bottom of any article I've written (including this one), you'll notice that I give free permission to copy it for any purpose- as long as you give credit for where it came from. Quite a few web sites do the same thing, which means that you can "steal" from other people to flesh out your own site and make it more attractive to search engines. It is of course better to have your own material, but when you are getting started, you can have a much more comprehensive site. PLEASE pay attention to copyright notices: for example, not ALL the material on my site allows free copying- other sites may have similar restrictions on certain material.
The advantage to me and the other people you borrow from should be obvious: more links back to us, more publicity, more site promotion and popularity.
Do book reviews- and provide links to Amazon or Barnes and Noble so you even get a little income from people who buy as a result of reading your reviews- I get about $50.00
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.hubyou.info/article/80368/hubyou-Building-Web-Site-Popularity.html">Building Web Site Popularity</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.hubyou.info/article/80368/hubyou-Building-Web-Site-Popularity.html]Building Web Site Popularity[/url]
Related Articles:
Setting Realistic Goals For Sales
Wholesale Products: Finding the Best Wholesale Products
Here Are 6 Ideas To Improve Your Dropshipping Website
Bookmark it:
|