The Business World

You’ll be shocked at how big an impact little things will do for your website

conversion rate once you apply them…

The sole purpose of this guide’s to point out these little things so you can act

upon them immediately. It’s a fast read and not some 300+ page report, it don’t

have to be.

This zooms right into target, powerful and concise without any fluff or fillers. I’ve

website conversion rate… and make it sell more - much more!

Look, though the Internet has developed a language of its own, we may always

find some offline predecessor to the terms commonly used.

For starters, the concept of ‘website conversion’ is tied to the idea of “response

rate” in the Direct Marketing industry. Simply put, the conversion rate of your

website measures how well you persuade your visitors to take the action you

want them to. This is normally measured as a percentage, so if out of every 100

In other words, if you want to double your sales, try doubling your conversion

rate rather than your traffic.

The whole irony of this situation is that most webmasters spend most of their

time trying to double traffic to their websites rather than improving their sites

conversion rate. But if you have a poorly converting website then you are simply

increasing your website conversion. They’re not compulsory to have but would be

In this section we are going to look at the mechanical side of your website that

needs special vigilance. These ‘principles’ should be basic to any website and

must not be overlooked. If you’re new to this or are struggling with getting a

You can simply use a dialup account to check this or the services available at

your links to make sure they are working and will point out graphics that need to

quality, this will go a long way to improve fast loading times.

If you navigate to a slow loading website, you'll often see that the entire site

does not appear for 20 seconds and then... BAM... it appears all at once. This

happens when you create ONE table and you put the entire salesletter in there.

(at least 2-3) so that the upper table loads instantly and gives the visitor

something to read while the rest of the page loads in the background.

Have a look at the very site you were given as part of the master resale license

You have to keep in mind that not every web surfer has a 21” monitor with 1024

x 768 resolution.

A rule of thumb is that you should always keep the ‘little guy’ in mind. I mean

fixed pixels, (say 700 x 600) then those surfers with smaller monitors will have to

scroll across just to see the entire breath of your page. This is a little annoying

mind that it’s more strenuous on the eyes to read from a computer screen than

to read the printed page.

Here you can learn a lot from those who do direct marketing by mail. They

On the point of font availability, if you use a font that is not available on the

readers computer then the default font for the browser will be substituted and

this may not look the way you intend it to.

A common online practice is to use a script font for signatures, but this can easily

backfire if the font is not available to the website visitor. A better method is to

use a scanned image of your actual signature.

You should also break up long passages of text into shorter paragraphs and

sentences. Long paragraphs without much ‘white space’ are discouraging to

read. Leave that for the sections of your website that the law requires but you

hope no one reads.

Another point to keep in mind is that your background image should not compete

would serve you best. Make sure that your background image or ‘water marks’

are not competing with the text. If you have gray colored fonts against a black

This is not a criticism of the Flash program itself. However, when this is the first

thing your visitor is hit with – “wait while your movie loads” … he can quickly lose

patience. The majority of web users are still using dialup connection; so don’t

insult their lack of bandwidth.

Except that the purpose of your website is to parade the latest web technologies,

avoid “show-offs” that delivers little else to your visitors. Ask yourself the

question: “Why does my website need an introduction?” If you cannot come up

page to page.

Simple underlined texts are just as effective as tabs used by sites such as

Amazon.com. The key here is that you must be able to predict what your

as the customer coming to that website; the only item you want to find is the ink

the brand and then model of your printer and so easily find the page about the

ink cartridge type.

science.

There really are no ‘standards’ and ‘controls’. At the same time if you go to

CNN.com, the website should say “NEWS”, and Disney.com should say “FUN”.

Did you ever notice the way that government buildings appear institutional and

cold? Maybe that’s because of the function that they perform. Be sure the

Have you ever heard the saying that it is the little foxes that spoil the grapes?

of your website. Some pointers:

how popular your site is you should keep your stats private. A BIG

number at the bottom of your website looks like you are still living in the

prefer to read long text from a printed page rather than the computer

screen. You may want to make a ‘printable’ version of your websites for

quick scan of your website before they are convinced that it is worth

reading. This means that you should emphasize (through use of bold,

colored, underlined text, and appropriate headings) the high points of

sees before he or she scrolls down the page. If your header graphics with

your company logo takes up too much space, then less is left for the text

So far we have only talked about getting your website opened and making your site

Excellent resources to turbo-charge your copywriting skills and to easily create your

Marlon Sanders has also released another automated ‘fill-in-the-blanks’ software

which churns out profit-pulling customized sales letters for you - literally in minutes!

A common temptation that many companies fall into is to present their entire

glowing resume to the customer—their size, history, achievement— and forget the

most important person: the present visitor!

You must show what you can do for the customer before you attempt to show off

your company. This does not mean that there is no place in exhibiting your

qualifications (e.g. to build credibility), but be sure to answer the question you’re

often confronted with when entering a brick-and-mortar store: “What can I do for

simply because something is well known doesn’t mean that it is well used.

listening to angelic heights.

This doesn’t mean that the shopper will not be concerned about the specs for these

right across from you.

The reader must feel that you are speaking to him, now, at this very moment.

sense his problems, you’ve been there and now you have found the solution.

So, write in a conversational tone. Forget about the dry formality of the

instructional manual type writing you did in school.

discover what the problems are and how they are normally talked about.

Don’t be afraid to use contractions (you’ll, it’s, we’ll, can’t) … ellipses to break up

long sentences and long and short sentences to develop rhythm. No need to use

big words. Let the simplicity of your vocabulary be prominently eminent. You

don’t have to break the rules of grammar but do not be a slave to it either. If

bending the rules allows you to get across your point more effectively, then go

Is your website about fishing? Don’t greet your visitors with the latest news on

golf. You have to deliver immediately on what you ‘promised’ from your

This works on another level apart from your Home page as well.

All your hyperlinks should deliver what they promise. What does this mean?

If a visitor clicks on your ‘About Us’ link, he expects to see a page describing

what you are about – here may be a good chance to show off – he asked for it!

He doesn’t expect to see a form asking him to subscribe to your newsletter. Far

worse is to discover that he has to click on two more links before he gets to his

running surveys.

What this does is that it gets the customer involved in your website and so they

to scratch, place a stamp, cut out coupons, and a myriad of other activities that

Because of the nature of the Internet and the fear of making credit card

benefit:

that you are upfront and have nothing to hide, and product graphics give

‘feel’ and ‘tangibility’ to what you’re marketing. Make the picture or

graphics appropriate, a professional site needs a professional looking

subject and a joke site … you get the idea. If you’re looking for ecovers,

not computers – we just use them. We have emotions and use them to

communicate. There is nothing that can communicate emotions like the

human voice. Many webmasters have discovered recently that adding

environment of the Internet. It is much like the sign on a brick and

mortar store – this is where I’m located. That is why just a post office

box number would not suffice. Can you be reached by fax, landline

phone, email, and mobile phone? This information adds to your

Using these services makes you appear too volatile. At the same time

your image is at stake. The question that looms in the customer mind is,

“Why should I buy from you if you cannot even buy a hosting account?”

synopsis of your company or yourself. Still keep the customer in

mind though. If you are selling computers, it doesn’t matter how long

you’ve been in the entertainment industry.

more sensitive to how their personal information is being used. This

makes it almost imperative for you to provide a page with your privacy

- Is the information shared with a third party?

- How they can opt out of any mailing list they sign up for.

- Why you track their IP address.

What you write about your own product or service is always viewed with

some skepticism. What carry the greater weight are the opinions of other

experts in your field and the testimonials of your satisfied customers.

These testimonials should be accompanied with the email address or

website and full name of the customer. The less information you give

about the customer providing the testimonial, the less believable it is.

customer at ease in knowing that he can secure a refund if he is not

satisfied with your product. This says that you believe in your product or

service and stand behind it 100%. (It is also a legal requirement in many

places.) If you are perceived as not standing behind your claims then you

lose credibility instantly.

the customer know that his or her information is secure and will not be

available to anyone else. For example if you’re selling digital information

payment processing.

for customer feedback. This will allow customers to air their grievances

difference if you are there when the customer needs you most – during

terms. It may require a number of tests before you find that perfect headline,

after reading the headline whether your site is for him or not. You don’t want to

After you have floored your visitor with your strongest benefit, you want to follow

this with your second strongest blow. Hopefully they are already on the sales

floor so it is not difficult to keep them there.

You have to always keep in mind that most people scan a website before they

rationalize their decisions based on facts…

When we are immersed in the decision process, we evaluate how we would feel if

we did make the purchase versus if we didn’t. It is not so much the ‘superior

engineering of the Germans’ that caused you to buy that latest BMW sports car

but how you thought owning that piece of steel will make you feel— important,

admired, safe. Of course this is not the explanation you give to your significant

other.

Do not be afraid to be audacious and provocative. Speak your mind. Give your

opinion. Nobody likes to read boring copy. Surprise the reader, make an

We are bombarded everyday with advertisements. We are pitched with ads on

television, in print, radio and now the Internet. Our brains are now trained just

to ignore commercials. If you show right up front that you are trying to sell your

more likely to be ‘trapped’ into a sale. This also allows you to develop some

This formula has been used for years as an outline for good copywriting.

needs and solve their problems. Do this in a user-friendly way and they will stick

on a link, register, subscribe to your newsletter or go to your order page. Here is

even more than you promised. You want to aim to delight not just please your

suggested outline for writing advertising copy:

- Open strongly by eliciting interest and excitement

- Develop drama

- Explain why the product or service is different

- Explain how to use the product or service

- Elaborate on the unique benefits

- Justify the purchase

- Identify the lasting value

- Address after sale concerns

- Ask for the order.

- Tell a memorable story.

- Call to Action.

- Show all the benefits to be gained by taking action.

The key here is not to mix whatever ‘structure’ you are going to use to frame

The offline field of Direct Mail Marketing informs us that the P.S. is often the first

section of a letter that the reader turns to after the headline!

Armed with this fact, you should include one or more P.S.’s. Make this a short

What do you have to offer that is unique to yourself? Other businesses may have

Simply because your product is the cheapest on the market, does not

automatically guarantee you more sales. If your offer appears too good to be

true, then this can be a potential turn off. In fact, some marketers have seen an

increase in sales when they raised their prices!

If you are making a special offer then an explanation will set the customer’s mind

at ease as to why they are getting away with this “steal”.

Some merchants have special sales every year where they sell ‘used or slightly

damaged’ products at a discount. If the merchant were to label these products

Instead of writing, “This diet can work great with your weight loss program,” you

write instead: “This diet can drop off up to 11 pounds in one week.” The second

Not “this fuel additive can boost your gas mileage” but “this additive can increase

Bonuses add value to your offer. The more value you extend, the greater your

chances on making the sale.

One note of caution though: If your bonuses valued at $1,000 and your product

$19.95 the reader would question the real value of these bonuses. Just seems

strange giving away $1,000 in value with a $20 purchase – just does not seem

credible – except you are running a charity!

take action now, then most likely they would put it off for later. This is especially

true on the Internet where there are so many ‘distractions’. (As far as you are

concerned anything that leads away from your order page is a distraction.)

Limited quantity offers provide more pressure to buy on the customer than

limited time offers. A limited quantity can disappear quickly whereas in a limited

We are all motivated by these two emotions. Then make the pain of what will

However, the place where you want to lay it on thick is just before you give the

price. Let them know how expensive it was to produce, how much it will cost

them if they had to do it all by themselves, how much time and money it will

your price … ONLY $X! By this time they should be giddy from the fall in price

sale. When your visitor has gone through all your copy and is about to make the

purchase you don’t want to hinder this. Not everyone is blessed (or cursed) with

a credit card. You can accept money order, check by phone, check by fax,

echeck, egold, phone order and whatever is feasible. If you omit just one

channel, you may never tell how many sales you are losing.

pictures. The process should be as smooth and pain-free as possible—like going

down a water slide. If you complicate this transaction unnecessarily, you will

A full year’s membership to your site may be $199. Well spread the payment

over the 365 days to show how much they are really paying per day – just 55

cents per day!

cents per day. Another way in which you can word this is to use statements such

as: ‘For less than the price of a piece of pizza’. You are reducing the perception

of the cost in the reader’s mind.

(By the way, this is a fantastic membership site that will save you tons of money. You don’t

After you have been selling for some time, you’ll have a pretty good idea of the

common objections that potential buyers may have. A great way to handle these

the time-saving benefits and the money-saving benefits to satisfy both groups.

After-sales concerns can prevent a potential customer from making the final

decision. You must include what the customer can expect after they make their

purchase. You have to build assurance that you will still be available after the

sale to provide support and answer questions.

After a purchase is also the perfect time to follow up with a ‘thank you’ message

and reassure the buyer that they have made a good decision. This will take care

It’s a fact. We want what we can’t have and bypass what we can. It all boils

You have to present your offer as only available to a choice group of people. The

more expensive your products are the more you must appeal to this side of

human nature. The reason why the rich buy certain products is because the poor

can’t. This sets them apart and so the wealthy feel special. Uniforms serve the

same function for armies and other forces—they are set apart from civilians by

their dress.

This strategy is borrowed from the world of direct mail marketing. Along with the

usual sales letter the mail order company includes another small envelope that

reads, “Open only if you decide not to order”. It’s that last ditch to make the sale.

Here you can link to a third party testimonial or offer a sweeter deal to seal the

your visitors it should be to get their contact information. This can be

be so annoying, but they produce results so we love them. Go to any well-known

marketer’s site and you will see them. Even a big company like AOL uses them.

In fact with popup killers so rampant these days, new popup technology using

You can use these emails to build subscriptions for your newsletter which will be

an ongoing sales arm for your website. The newsletter is also a critical tool for

relationship building. Even if you don’t offer a full fledged Ezine, you can just

If you want to build a huge profitable opt-in list the quick and easy way, Graham

If you are selling a product or service for over $500, you may want to make this

this on first contact. So maybe start by offering a free report, then a $47 ebook,

a $97 teleseminar and finally the $500 offer.

This works when asking your customers to fill out your web forms as well…

Don’t ask for too much too soon. For your subscription box all you need is a first

name and email address. If you try and ask for more detail than this you are

likely to see a drop in your subscription signups. Web surfers are becoming more

wary of their personal privacy and their email boxes, with the onslaught of all the

is in a frequently asked question document. You have all the questions listed at

the top and when you click on the question link it takes you directly to the

section where the answer is given. They are convenient and direct.

How can this help with conversion?

Well, remember we said that web surfers are scan readers? If you have a

content rich website, you can place anchor tags at the top of the pages which link

to your most popular sections. In this way visitors can find what they want as

already looked at one – the less detailed personal information you ask for the

solution.

The Internet is an open play field and you can see what your strongest

competitors are doing that you are not. Maybe they know something that you

don’t. Maybe what you discover is the very reason why they are doing so much

You can take your ebook and convert it into a physical product for increased

profits. This is because physical products tend to have higher perceived value

than digital ones primarily because of their bulk.

The same holds true if you convert your digital product into audio and video

downloads/tapes, manuals, CDs and seminars. Sometimes by just repackaging a

charge.

Many marketers have taken a simple ebook and convert it into a “course”,

“manual” or “seminar” and attach a higher price. Explore how you may present

your information products especially in a different form, be it audio, video or CDs

etc.

If you want to own physical information products (audiotapes, CDs etc...) that

resale rights to them (meaning that you can sell them for 100% profit!).

list of subscribers between The "Magic List Builder" Steven Quartermaine and

This may appear as an obvious but you will be surprised to know how many

entrepreneurs work so hard for that customer then ignore them after the sale!

Offer them added value to build their loyalty, not just more sales pitch. Delight

them, surprise them with an extra-added bonus and provide superior after-sale

support. You worked hard for them; this is not the time to turn your back on

them.

You can present products that are complimentary to what they have bought

before. First you sold a golf club set; do you think they will be interested in a

An important aspect of improving your website conversion rate is to continually

keep tweaking and testing your website.

You will need to keep one version as a ‘control’ copy and test new headlines,

different guarantees, even different prices to strike your maximum profit.

Sometimes only the market can really tell you what works and what doesn’t.

Practically all the ‘principles’ of great salescopy came out of marketing tests run

by different companies.

If you continue to listen to your customers you will learn over time what their

wants are and how better to satisfy these wants, thus improving your bottom

Thanks for reading through “Website Conversion Secrets”…

If you use this guide as a checklist and apply every technique in here, you’ll be

astonished at how your website conversion rate can improve dramatically very

quickly.

Remember, traffic plays a part but it’s just a small part of the total equation.

Increasing your website conversion rate is more important, and if you understand

this, you can make your website sell like crazy with the techniques revealed here!

to you immediately. This offer is only for people like you who have purchased this

George has also negotiated something very special for his subscribers and

friends. At the time of this writing, you can get a site review by Jason Anderson

is not a typo). However, there are only a few review certificates that can be given

31 Ways to Promote Your Website

How can you get more visitors to your website? What can you do to stimulate traffic? Here's a checklist of 31tems you need to consider. Many of these you're probably doing already; others you meant to do and forgot about; still others you've never heard of. Of course, a great deal has been written about this. You'll find links to thousands of articles on site promotion in our Web Marketing Info Center (www.wilsonweb.com/cat). While we're not breaking any new ground here, we've tried to summarize some of the most important techniques.

The most important strategy is to rank high for your preferred words on the main search engines in "organic" or "natural" searches (as opposed to paid ads). Search engines send robot "spiders" to index the content on your webpage, so let's begin with steps to prepare your webpages for optimal indexing.

Plan to use some descriptive keywords along with your business name on your home page. If you specialize in silver bullets and that's what people will be searching for, don't just use your company

name "Acme Ammunition, Inc." use "Silver and Platinum Bullets -- Acme Ammunition, Inc." The words people are most likely to search on should appear first in the title (called "keyword prominence"). Remember, this title is nearly your entire identity on the search engines. The more people see that interests them in the blue highlighted portion of the search engine, the more likely they are to click on the link.

When I prepare a webpage, I write the description first in a sentence or two, using each of the important keywords and phrases included in the article. Then for the keywords META tag, I strip out the common words, leaving just the meaty words and phrases. The keywords META tag is no longer used for ranking by Google and many other search engines, but it is currently used by Yahoo, so I'm leaving it in. Who knows when more search engines will consider it important again?

Search engines consider words that appear in the page headline and sub heads to be important to the page, so make sure your desired keywords and keyphrases appear in one or two header tags. Don't expect the search engine to parse your Cascading Style Sheet

(CSS) to figure out which are the headlines -- it won't. Instead, use keywords in the H1, H2, and H3 tags to provide clues to the search engine.

Search engines expect that your first paragraph will contain the important keywords for the document -- where most people write an introduction to the content of the page. You don't want to just artificially stuff keywords here, however. More is not better. Google might expect a keyword density in the entire body text area of maybe 1.5% to 2% for a word that should rank high, so don't overdo it. Other places you might consider including keywords would be in ALT tags and perhaps COMMENT tags.

Some webmasters use frames, but frames can cause serious problems with search engines. Even if search engines can find your content pages, they could be missing the key navigation to help visitors get to the rest of your site. JavaScript and Flash navigation menus that appear when you hover are great for humans, but search engines don't read JavaScript and Flash. Supplement them with regular HTML links at the bottom of the page, ensuring that a chain of hyperlinks exists that take a search engine spider from your home page to every page in your site. A site map with links to all your

pages can help, too. Be aware that some content management systems and e-commerce catalogs produce dynamic, made-on-the-fly webpages. You can sometimes recognize them by question marks in the URLs followed by long strings of numbers or letters. Overworked search engines sometimes stop at the question mark and refuse to go farther. If you find the search engines aren't indexing your interior pages, you might consider URL rewriting, a site map, Yahoo Search Submit Express (formerly SiteMatch), and targeted content pages.

SEO specialists don't recommend using external doorway or gateway pages any more, since nearly duplicate webpages might get you penalized. Rather, develop several webpages on your site, each of which is focused on a different keyword or keyphrase. For example, instead of listing all your services on a single webpage, try developing a separate webpage for each. These pages will rank higher for their keywords since they contain targeted rather than general content.

Next, submit your page to the important Web search engines that robotically index the Web. Look for a link on the search engine for "Add Your URL." In the US, the most used search engines are: Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL Search, and AskJeeves. Some of these feed search content to the other main search engines and portal sites. For Europe and other areas you'll want to submit to regional search engines. It's a waste of money to pay someone to submit your site to hundreds of search engines. Avoid registering with FFA (Free For All pages) and other link farms. They don't work well, bring you lots of spam e-mails, and could cause you to be penalized by the search engines. We'll talk about submitting to directories under "Linking Strategies" below. If your page is already indexed by a search engine, don't re-submit it unless you've made significant changes; the search engine spider will come back and revisit it soon anyway.

You may find some directories focused on particular industries, such as education or finance. Be sure to register with these. You probably belong to various trade associations that feature member sites. Ask for a link. Even if you have to pay something for a link, it may bring you the kind of targeted traffic from an info hub that you need. Beware of directories that solicit you for "upgraded listings." Unless a directory is widely used in your field, your premium ad won't help -- but the link itself will help boost your PageRank and hence your search engine ranking. Marginal directories come and go very quickly, making it hard to keep up. Don't try to be exhaustive here.

Find complementary websites and request a reciprocal link to your site (especially to your free service, if you offer one). Develop an out-of-the way page where you put links to other sites -- so you don't send people out the back door as fast as you bring them in the front door. Your best results will be from sites that get a similar amount of traffic to your site. High-traffic site webmasters are too busy to answer your requests for a link and don't have anything to gain. Look for smaller sites that may have linking pages.

You can dramatically increase your visibility when you write articles in your area of expertise and distribute them to editors as free content for their e-mail newsletters, realizing that most articles will end up being archived on their websites indefinitely. Just ask that a link to your website and a one-line description of what you offer be included with the article. This is an effective "viral" approach that can produce hundreds of links to your site over time.

Just because "old media" strategies aren't on the Internet doesn't mean they aren't effective. A mixed media approach can be very effective.

This is a no-brainer that is sometimes overlooked. Make sure that all reprints of cards, stationery, brochures, and literature contain your company's URL. And see that your printer gets the URL syntax correct. In print, I recommend leaving off the http:// part and including only the www.domain.com portion.

Don't discontinue print advertising that you've found effective. But be sure to include your URL in any display or classified ads you purchase in trade journals, newspapers, yellow pages, etc. View your website as an information adjunct to the ad. Use a two-step approach: (1) capture readers' attention with the ad, (2) then refer them to a URL where they can obtain more information and perhaps place an order. Look carefully at small display or classified ads in the back of narrowly-targeted magazines or trade periodicals. Sometimes these ads are more targeted, more effective, and less expensive than online advertising. Consider other traditional media to drive people to your site, such as direct mail, classifieds, post cards, etc. TV can be used to promote websites, especially in a local market.

This helps potential customers get in touch with you. Most e-mail programs such as AOL, Netscape, and Outlook allow you to designate a "signature" to appear at the end of each message you send. Limit it to 6 to 8 lines: Company name, address, phone number, URL, e-mail address, and a one-phrase description of your

unique business offering. Look for examples on e-mail messages sent to you.

While it's a big commitment in time, publishing a monthly e-mail newsletter ("ezine") is one of the very best ways to keep in touch with your prospects, generate trust, develop brand awareness, and build future business. It also helps you collect e-mail addresses from those who visit your site but aren't yet ready to make a purchase. Ask for an e-mail address and first name so you can personalize the newsletter. You can distribute your newsletter using listservers such as:

We abhor "spam" -- bulk untargeted, unsolicited e-mail -- and you'll pay a very stiff price in a ruined reputation and cancelled services if you yield to temptation here. But the direct marketing industry has developed targeted e-mail lists you can rent -- lists consisting of people who have agreed to receive commercial e-mail messages. These lists cost $40 to $250 per thousand or 4¢ to 25¢ per name. Do a smaller test first to determine the quality of the list. Your best

Banner exchange programs don't work well these days. But consider exchanging e-mail newsletter ads with complementary businesses to reach new audiences. Just be sure that your partners are careful where they get their mailing list or you could be in trouble with the CAN-SPAM Act.

None of the approaches described above is "free," since each takes time and energy. But if you want to grow your business more rapidly, there comes a point when you need to pay for increased traffic. Advertising is sold in one of three ways: (1) traditional CPM (cost per thousand views), (2) pay per click (PPC), and (3) pay per action, otherwise known as an affiliate program or lead generation program. Do some small tests first to determine response. Then calculate your return on investment (ROI) before spending large amounts. Here are some methods:

Essentially, a retailer's affiliate program pays a commission to other sites whose links to the retailer result in an actual sale. The goal is to build a network of affiliates who have a financial stake in promoting your site. If you're a merchant you, need to (1) determine the

commission you are willing to pay (consider it your advertising cost), (2) select a company to set up the technical details of your program, and (3) promote your program to get the right kind of affiliates who will link to your site. Consider affiliate management software such as:

We certainly haven't exhausted ways to promote your site, but these will get you started. To effectively market your site, you need to spend some time adapting these strategies to your own market and capacity. Right now, why don't you make an appointment to go over this checklist with someone in your organization, and make it the basis for your new Internet marketing strategy?

Business

Contents

Where Else Can You Use Content?

Where Can You Get Content?

How To Write Your Own Content

What NOT to Use for Content

How to Optimize Your Content Pages

(Special note for PPC Users)

Are you new to online marketing? Or are you one of the millions of frustrated

website owners watching helplessly as your site fluctuates up and down (even on

and off) the search engines?

Is your traffic suffering as you try to stay on top of the most current methods of

finding traffic, only to find that they are ineffective for bringing targeted traffic or

stop working soon after the search engines catch on?

There is a reason that staying in the search engines is vitally important. The

An Ipsos-Reid poll showed that people are starting to rely more heavily on the

internet with increases in the frequency of internet usage in North America the

UK and Asia. At the time of the poll 72% of Americans were online within the

previous month, and that number continues to rise.

How are they finding information on the internet?

According to research published by GVU (Graphic, Visualization and Usability

Center), most users – novice, expert, young, old, male and female – find new

websites from two main sources: hyperlinks and search engines.

Pew Internet & American Life Project also published statistics about search

engine use which indicated that “84% of online American adults have used search

engines. That amounts to 108 million people. On any given day, 56% of those

online use search engines.”

How many of these potential visitors are finding YOUR website? More websites

are created each day leading to increased congestion and competition for the top

spots in search engine results. How are you able to compete? Well first of all, how

do search engines bring you traffic?

Two of the most popular methods of getting traffic from search engines include

PPC – Pay Per Click – and SEO – Search Engine Optimization.

PPC:

Pay Per Click is advertising provided by the search engine providers (Google,

Yahoo! and others) where you PAY for top placement. Their strategies for

placement differ slightly. Some search engines will give you higher placement if

your ad has a higher click-through rate (meaning more people click on your ad in

ratio to the amount of times your ad was shown), others give top positions to the

In either case, you PAY. It is a quick way to get listed in the search engines and a

smart way to get your traffic flowing – but it is not the cheapest AND you could

spend far more than is profitable for your business if you don’t know what you’re

doing.

SEO:

There are a lot of companies working ‘behind the scenes’ to help website owners

get plenty of traffic from the natural search engine listings. Natural listings mean

the search engine has ranked you according to the value it believes your site will

offer an individual searching for a specific word or phrase.

Understanding exactly WHAT the search engines want to see when ranking sites

requires knowledge of the algorithms. These algorithms change all the time as

search engine providers try to outwit the search engine optimizers trying to find

loopholes in the ranking system.

Some SEO companies will promise you top spots for a certain cost. Some are

honestly creating optimized websites – others may be using techniques that could

possibly get your site BANNED from the search engines entirely (once the search

engine catches on). However, optimizing your website for better placement in the

search engines is a technique that you should become familiar with and use to

your advantage.

Both of these traffic methods have their pros and cons for generating traffic from

the search engines. You will find out more about using them properly later on.

But first you need to know what REALLY works…

work depending on the current algorithms of the search engines, think about it…

EVERYTHING on the internet is CONTENT.

The internet is a veritable treasure trove of information. Good, bad, valuable or

not, the internet is all about providing information to people. That is why smart

internet marketers know that people want information from their websites – not

just SEO enriched pages of advertising.

The loopholes that search engine optimizers have been trying to use for high

ranking in the search engine has created a plethora of sites that boast high

keyword ratios, thousands of irrelevant hyperlinks and sometimes even

redirection. These redirected websites try to create an optimized web page that

the search engines will rank high but actually redirect the viewer to a less search

engine friendly site.

Well, the search engines caught on. The websites that were getting the highest

placements weren’t always providing quality information or useful content. In

fact, they not only lowered the ranking of these sites – they even removed them

from the listings completely.

This sent a shock wave through the internet community and smart marketers

realized that there is only one sure way to convince the search engines that they

were meant to be at the top: Quality Content.

Not only do the search engines love content, but visitors do too. By providing

visitors with useful information and relevant links to other sites, they come back

again and again! And that’s not the only benefit.

Because website owners are now hungry for content, there is a huge market for

informative articles that other website owners can use on their sites. By offering

even more exposure, both to search engines AND customers.

So, how do you harness the power of content? How do you pull the most benefit

and profits from your information?

Find out right now…

21 Ways Content Drives Your Traffic

So you recognize the need for content in order to satisfy both the customer AND

the search engines. But how does content actually bring your web site traffic?

Since it’s been established that the main methods of driving traffic are from

search engines and hyperlinks from other sites, most of these suggestions will

contribute to one method or the other and occasionally both. Some suggestions

include offline activities that can attract another audience altogether. By

diversifying your tactics you are creating a well-rounded game plan to drive

traffic to your site.

Search engines are the main source for internet users to find the information they

are looking for. Being listed high in the search engines means more people will

find you when looking for the product, service or information you provide. Search

engines use different methods for determining your position in the listings.

Understanding how they work and what they’re looking for can help you get the

best listings.

Hyperlinks are links that direct a visitor or search engine to another website or

page. When websites provide a link to your site it tells the search engines that you

are valuable and thus affects your position in the listings. In the right place it can

direct human traffic to your site as well.

engine position and create hyperlinks to your website. Which methods will work

for you depend on your website, writing abilities and determination.

Keywords

Keywords have always been important to search engines. People use search

engines to find information on a topic by typing a word or phrase and receiving a

list of the most relevant sites (as determined by the search engine).

Not using keywords properly is where many have gone wrong. Filling a page with

keywords will NOT get you a good rating with the search engines. However,

writing content that uses popular search words WILL.

By researching the popular keywords for your topic or product, you can create

information that places these words into the context of an article for your

website.

By creating an article and optimizing each page for a separate keyword you can

easily get the search engines to include you in the results when users search for

that word or phrase. Depending on the competition you may find yourself

surprisingly close to the top position after the search engine finds you.

Information

Information is the basis of the internet. By providing search engines and visitors

with plenty of information on your topic you will provide plenty of opportunities

for the search engines to list you in the search results.

By creating information you will also become a resource for other websites that

may link to you, providing your site with valuable hyperlinks. Information is a

great way to show your visitors that you have something worthwhile to impart

Information can be news related to your topic, updates, commentary or tips and

hints. Everyone loves a ‘how-to…’ format, so consider creating one for your site

for the most attention.

Web Pages

Websites NEED pages. The more, the better.

Having a website filled with keyword-filled, template style pages will not impress

the search engines or your visitors. However, websites with pages of real content

and relevant links to other sites will become a feeding ground for the search

engines.

Slowly but steadily adding pages of real content will help your site attract the

search engine spiders on a regular basis. This is the ‘tortoise wins the race’

philosophy to making friends with the search engines!

Creating content for these pages is crucial. Your visitors may land on a page of

your site that is not the main page. Having information on every page that

focuses attention on your main product or service will generate more interest and

sales.

Newsletters

Have you heard that ‘the money is in the list’? What list are they talking about?

contact it is imperative that every website have a newsletter when possible. The

percentage of sales goes up with each contact – the highest percentage being

made after 5 to 7 contacts.

together and write those newsletters. Set up your website to attract subscribers

and wait for the follow up of traffic as they open their email and come back to

your site.

By giving your subscribers relevant and valuable content, you can build trust and

can offer suggestions to promote your products, services and affiliate links. Your

visitors will judge you based on the value of the content you send. If you only

advertise without giving beneficial information for free, your subscribers may

soon start deleting your emails without reading them.

Develop a series of brief but informative articles. Perhaps the bulk of the

information can be created on an optimized webpage and an introduction be

presented in the newsletter while directing them to your site for further

information.

Getting your subscribers back to your site should be the primary objective.

Free Reports

Free reports are a great way to attract subscribers to your newsletter. These

reports can also be given away by other people (on related websites) with a link to

YOUR website inside. You provide them something to give to their customers for

free and you get the traffic that follows!

By including a free report on a topic that is relevant and of interest to your

visitors as a subscription bonus you can entice hesitant visitors to sign up for

your newsletter. Make certain the report has value for the subscriber or they may

feel it was simply a bribe to capture their email address.

Identify a problem or question that might attract your visitors. Write a two or

part of the solution, but do not necessarily make it sound like an advertisement.

To create your report you can provide more details to your service than is listed

on your webpage (ie: ‘Find out how YOU can save money on home repairs with

this special report…). You might also try one that warns of a danger (Are you

putting YOUR family at risk? Find out with this special report…).

Send the report via an autoresponder or manually send it to your subscribers as

soon as possible so they remember to open their email.

Submission to Article Directories

If you are writing content for your own website then you don’t want to overlook

the benefits of sharing your efforts with others.

By writing short articles on the topic related to your website, you can offer these

articles for other website owners or newsletter publishers to use by submitting

them to an article directory.

These directories get spidered by the search engines on a regular basis because of

the high value of the content they provide. If you have not yet been picked up by

the search engines this is the easiest way to get them to find you. You also get

exposure to those who look for articles in the directories for use on their sites.

When they make use of your articles on their websites or in their newsletters, you

will get the credit as the author along with a link to your website. Not only will

you gain visitors, but you will benefit from the hyperlinks that are created.

Submission to Relevant Websites

Another beneficial use for articles is to offer them directly to sites you would like

This is not only a great way to gain credibility for your topic, but will provide

useful hyperlinks all over the internet. Sometimes you can even get links from

sites that would not agree to a formal link exchange request. If the site which uses

your article is a high traffic site you will also gain invaluable exposure to the

visitors reading your article.

Forums

Forums – groups of internet users that discuss common interests online – are a

fantastic way to share information.

Search for a forum that discusses something related to your website. Be sure to

spend time ‘lurking’. That means reading the posts and becoming familiar with

the style of discussion and written (and unwritten) rules. Most forums forbid

spamming. What is considered spam by one forum is perfectly acceptable by

another, but blatant advertising rarely is appreciated.

In most cases you can either post a link to your website in your signature or share

information that arouses questions about your website from other posters. Some

forums permit you to post your articles (if the forum is business related). If you

are unsure about the policies, be careful. Offering free advice can sometimes be

enough to establish credibility and if you have a blog or other non-marketing site

you may be able to send traffic to that first and encourage visitors to visit your

website from the blog.

Linking Pages

Are you creating linking pages to impress the search engines? How much more

value would they have if you offered quality, optimized content for each of your

categories?

to gain more credibility AND provide more content for the search engines.

Create a separate page for each link category and write 200-400 words of content

on that subject. Offering your recommended links at the end will make you a

source for information rather than just a catalogue of links.

Optimizing each page for a popular keyword will draw more traffic to your site

than links alone. It will also be more beneficial for your visitors who are searching

for related resources.

Press Release

If you thought you were starting to grasp the importance of content, you haven’t

even started to see the potential yet.

Press releases should become an important part of your marketing. What do you

need to create a press release? Content.

Press releases are notices to the media about newsworthy events,

accomplishments or information. By creating a press release to announce a new

product, results of a poll or related news event, you can get free advertising in the

media.

News media is always looking for new content for their readers. Learning how to

compose and deliver a press release will give you access to this pool of willing

advertisers.

the releases that are posted there. When you are familiar with the format you can

write your own and submit it. Just avoid advertising copy and be sure to highlight

to use. If you want to invest the extra money you can hire a press release writer or

have your release reviewed by a PRweb specialist.

Newspaper

Press releases can work just as well in your local paper as they do in online news

websites.

Submit your press release to the editor or the writer for the section of the

newspaper you want to target.

You could also try to submit your own column, giving tips and related

information to your topic, as a free form of advertising. Smaller newspapers may

find this idea more appealing since larger newspapers would not be likely to

publish your works without formal working arrangements.

Magazine Articles

Just like online magazines, printed magazines need fresh content all the time. If

you are writing articles you may be able to submit them to magazine editors for

review.

Be sure to follow their policies which may be listed on their website or you can

email or phone for instructions. Just like newspapers, you will have a greater

chance for success if you target smaller publishers first.

Classifieds

Online classifieds have gone through some fluctuations of their own. Originally

touted as one of the best methods to get traffic, the inundation of ads by internet

marketers nearly flooded the market and made it impossible for readers to find

However, using classifieds can still send you some traffic and will also help your

site get listed in the search engines. Use keyword phrases in your ad and include

a hyperlink. You are not putting a lot of content in these ads, but what you do put

needs to be effective.

Offline Brochure

Do you promote a product, information or service that can be used locally?

Consider creating a brochure that gives information on a question related to your

topic. Include reference to how using YOUR service or product will assist them in

solving the problem. Give some brief answers and point out your website as a

source for more information.

Offer to leave your brochures in places that might attract your audience or post

them on community boards. Pass them along to friends and family who might

pass them along to others for you.

Traffic is people – whether they come to your site or directly to you, they all

count.

Newsletter Exchange

Are you having success with your newsletter? Perhaps you’d like to approach

another website owner and offer to write a short article for his subscribers – or to

exchange articles to promote one another to each other’s list.

If the newsletter isn’t competition, but complimentary to your market, they

should be equally interested to talk to your list of subscribers.

Article Announcement Lists

will be placed before an audience of webmasters and publishers who may choose

to use your article on their website or in their newsletter.

The advantage of article announcement lists is that the members sign up to

receive new articles by email. Your article will be directly sent to members who

are interested in the topic of your article based on the list description they have

subscribed to.

Yahoo! has a ‘Groups’ area where you can browse the lists and sign up to receive

announcements. By following the guidelines for posting, you can submit articles

relevant to the topic (for example there are groups for home, business, internet

etc.)

The individuals receiving your article have already indicated an interest in

articles on the chosen topic and this creates the perfect audience for your

material. You may find traffic coming directly from the members of the list or

from their websites when they publish your article with your link.

Publish an E-course

Create a multi page tutorial that can be given to subscribers or given away by

other businesses.

Like a report, the ecourse can be offered as a freebie by yourself or others. The

readers receive valuable tips and information all while being directed to your site

at the end of each lesson. You may find that a tutorial delivered over the course of

several weeks allows you to develop a relationship with your reader whether they

originally received it from you or someone else.

By providing valuable instructions on a related topic to your business you are

Affiliate Programs

Help your affiliates drive traffic to your site by giving them letters or reports to

post on their sites or in their newsletters. Your affiliates are also in need of

content to provide their customers and if you are providing that content for free

they will have more success in sending their subscribers or visitors in your

direction.

Your Blog

Creating a blog that is related to your business or niche will allow you to attract

an audience that may not respond to a sales page. Providing content and news

about your topic with hyperlinks to your various articles or sales pages is an

indirect way to send traffic to your site. You can set up a free blog at

If you have valuable content and offer subscriptions to your blog (subscription

turn to you first when looking for your product or service. You can also make

your blog available for others to publish on their websites by creating an RSS

feed. This will allow other websites to automatically run your new content on

their websites every time you update your blog.

services when you post updates.

Other Peoples’ Blogs

Your content can be just as valuable to other bloggers who may have a difficult

time finding content to share with their readers.

to your site with the use of a hyperlink in your author credit.

Be a Contributing Writer

If your writing skills or expertise are truly impressive you may be able to offer an

online or offline magazine or newsletter your services as a contributing writer.

By writing a column on your topic or service and having it regularly published in

a magazine that caters to your audience, you will have the opportunity to place

yourself as an ‘expert’, leading to loyal readers and customers.

With all these suggestions to use content for building traffic, what kind of content

should you be using?

What Kind of Content Do You Need?

Going back to some of the SEO methods used in the past, some website owners

were happy to fill pages with keywords that attracted search engines, but turned

visitors off. Now even the search engines are learning to ‘read’ like a human. If

the content has too many keywords and unlikely sentence structures, it may

consider the site to be manipulated and not list it.

If you want a site that attracts search engines AND keeps people on your website,

you need to have information that is relevant, informative and well written.

However, when using methods that are designed to attract search engines, the

content still needs to be keyword-rich. What does that mean?

Keyword-Rich Content

Keywords are very important to search engines. The words you think that people

called ‘keywords’. The search engine acts like a Yellow Pages phone book. People

look up a topic by word or phrase and find the related entries listed.

Your traffic will depend largely on if you choose the right words. If you use words

that no one is searching for – or words that are highly competitive – your chances

of being found through the search engines goes down dramatically.

One way to find the right keywords is to find out what words are most popular for

searches. Using a word harvester like the Keyword Selector Tool (found at

many searches have been made for your selected keywords. You may find some

similar words or phrases that have even higher amounts of searches than your

first selection.

The key to finding the best words for your content is to use the most general term

first and then find more specific words or phrases that relate to your website. For

example; if you are looking for words for a children’s education site, you might

first look up the words ‘children’ or ‘education’ to discover the most searched

term related to your topic. Perhaps you’ll see ‘child education’ or ‘teaching

children’ are more commonly searched terms than ‘children’s education’.

When you’ve found words or phrases that are commonly searched for you can

find details on the competition for these words in the PPC area by using the View

Bids Tool, also in the Overture Resource Center. If the word has high bids or

many bidders you can consider that the competition will also be high in the

natural search engine results. Check it out for yourself. If the natural search is

bringing up sites that lack appropriate content you may be able to top them with

your own keyword-rich content.

The algorithms are constantly changing, but currently it has been stated that the

search engines don’t like duplicate content. That is why many affiliate businesses

that set up new websites for each member are often unable to make a top showing

in the search engine results. Too many of the same thing.

Writing your own content or hiring a ghost writer to write it for you will work

better. Using free to reprint articles may work, depending on the amount of times

that work has been reprinted. In every case, do not duplicate the webpage of

another site – both for ethical reasons and the fact that it will not bode well for

your search engine status.

If you are using a template site you will need to change a significant amount of

the information in order to create a site that the search engines will consider as

unique. You can do this by changing your web page title, meta tags, introducing

paragraph and by inserting links or editorial blocks within the article body.

Unique content is also important to visitors who may be viewing other related

websites and are looking for fresh information on the topic. By providing unique

content you will stand out from the crowd.

Informative Content

As mentioned before, getting traffic is not valuable to you if people leave your site

right away. Providing informative content is not only more beneficial to your

visitors it is important to ‘smarter’ search engines which also pick up on the

content.

If the content is made up of keywords and phrases strung together the search

engine may discount it. There are grammatical rules that some search engines

may use as a basis for weeding out optimized sites from the truly informative.

Obviously the search engines won’t really know if the content is of any value to

information you’d do well to make it of value to the reader.

Relevant Content

Keeping to a theme will help your website both with the search engines and

visitors. Keyword-rich articles will likely be relevant or you wouldn’t choose

them. If you are posting information on various topics, you just won’t have the

opportunity to optimize your site to its greatest potential.

Amount of Content

The more pages you can say something on the better. Keep information pages

short (400-800 words) or the search engines may not ‘read’ all the way through.

Creating many web pages and optimizing the content and the web page will allow

you to target more keywords then if you try to cram them all onto one page.

Be careful when using systems which create hundreds or thousands of web pages

automatically. Creating content for each page is important and many of these

programs create cookie-cutter sites that are simply keyword-rich without any real

content. In fact, not only may it not help you with your position in the search

engines – it may even hurt you. With many individuals using the same programs

the search engines can read the ‘finger print’ and may consider the web pages to

be invalid for inclusion in the search engine.

Content is useful for creating traffic, pleasing the search engines and offer

valuable information to your visitors.

What else can you do with content?

No. Content is very useful for marketing and attracting customers, but that is

certainly not the only thing it’s good for.

We understand HOW content helps you bring traffic, but what USES can you

make of the content you have? Here are a few ideas:

Create a Website

You can CREATE a website with content.

Yes, if you are just starting out with your business, or are starting a new business

online you are in dire need of CONTENT. As explained previously, websites

should be based on relevant, informative, engaging content. By creating

information and converting it into an optimized website you can easily build a

website that has value both to your visitor and to the search engines.

Write a Book

One of the most popular products to sell online is electronic books, or ebooks as

they are commonly called.

Ebooks combine the best of the online experience by providing information

(which is what most internet users are looking for) with the ease of a

downloadable product. That means no inventory, packing or shipping. Also you

capitalize on the internet users’ demand for instant gratification. Wanting the

information and being able to access it immediately are big draws for your

customers.

If you’re not selling the book, you can still use your content to create a free giveaway

for your subscribers. Not only do they get a valuable item for free (which is

relationship for other business offers.

Build a Blog

If you don’t know what a blog is then get ready…

Blogs began as personal entries, similar to an online diary, which allowed

individuals to voice their opinions or discuss a favorite hobby, idea or topic.

Now blogs are used by many online businesses as a way to attract an audience

through an informal source. Blogs are generally content-rich and give advice or

news about an industry, product or service related to the business of the blogger

(the term coined for those who write blogs).

Blogs are often used to indirectly attract an audience by providing valuable

information for free. Some bloggers permit readers to subscribe to their blog or

even add comments to their postings. While not as interactive as a forum, those

who follow a particular blog are not necessarily interested in the business, but

because they are receiving information on a topic of interest they are kept in

contact with that business by choice, making blogs a good way to develop

customers.

By posting articles as often as possible, you can write a blog on nearly any subject

imaginable. For instance, if you are selling model planes you will likely find a

willing audience that wants to hear about competitions, new products and

personal antidotes on the topic. A blog created for that purpose will engage your

market without directly advertising to them – creating a ‘warm’ market that will

turn to you first when purchasing model planes.

Promote Affiliate Programs

commission!

Whether you are submitting articles to directories with your affiliate link attached

or are writing a free report on the product, or even creating a webpage that

directs your visitors to the affiliate site, you can make excellent use of content.

Promoting affiliate programs by putting your own ‘stamp’ of authority will help

you to drive qualified traffic to the affiliate site. With content you can compete

against other affiliates representing the same product by giving your customers a

personal recommendation or further information that will convince them to buy.

Don’t stop there – content can be configured in any way you can imagine. You

may find even other uses for your content than those listed here.

Where Do You GET Content?

There are three main sources for you to get the content you need.

They are:

Write it Yourself

Hire a Ghostwriter

Use Other Writers

There are pros and cons to each source but by using a combination of sources you

can accumulate a well-rounded body of content for your use. Here are some of

the points to consider when using the different methods for creating content.

What works best for you will depend on your level of writing ability, what the

content will be used for and your budget, among other things.

Write it Yourself

inflect your personality into the content. This can be very useful in attracting a

loyal customer, especially through newsletters and articles.

Writing content yourself can also be beneficial when writing about a topic of

which you are particularly knowledgeable about. If you can inform your

customers on a topic it may be difficult to find another writer who can impart the

same information accurately.

However, if your writing skills are extremely poor you may need some assistance.

Whether you simply need to hire a proofreader to catch grammatical errors or an

editor to rearrange your thoughts and point out where your information needs

clarification, you may still be able to create your own content for less cost than

hiring a writer while maintaining the originality of your content.

Hire a Ghostwriter

When you need more than just a little assistance, whether it’s because of time

restraints, lack of writing abilities or you need a writer with knowledge of a topic

you aren’t familiar with, you should consider hiring a ghostwriter.

Ghostwriters are individuals who will write content for you (website, articles,

ebooks, press releases etc.) and give you all the rights of the original author. You

pay them for their time and abilities and in exchange you claim ownership of the

material.

Ghostwriters are valuable to businesses that need quality content on topics that

are easily researchable by the ghostwriter. You may also find ghostwriters who

are experts in their own field but hire themselves out as writers as a side

business.

knowledge or research and compose the information in a manner which reflects

your own ‘voice’. The ghostwriter will need to work very closely with you and

develop a style of writing that will emulate the way you express yourself.

Ghostwriters have often been hired by famous people to assist them in compiling

their autobiographies.

The cost of hiring a ghostwriter is variable depending on the level of expertise

required, the amount of research needed and the nature of the assignment. When

hiring a ghostwriter you should make a ‘work-for-hire’ agreement which means

that the writing cannot be resold to another buyer or used by the ghostwriter for

other purposes.

If you regularly need access to a variety of information you can use a service such

written by ghostwriters. This service also permits you to request articles on

specific topics that one of their professional writers may undertake writing for

you. While the content may be used by other members you are entitled to use

them without crediting the original author. You may also change the information

or add to it without special permission as would be required if using free to

reprint material.

Use Other Writers

There are really two categories of other writers you should consider. Writers who

offer their content for free and paid writers.

Paying for a writer to create content for you is not common for small businesses

unless the expertise of the author is needed for the material to be useful. Secular

magazines often pay writers for their work which can vary in cost depending on

the background of the writer and the size of the publication. Fees for writers can

be found in the ‘Writer’s Market’ book which is a resource for writers looking for

Writers can be found through associations, recommendations by other people

should ask for samples of their work and have them make an agreement for

permission to use their work or the exclusive rights to the work. Without an

agreement in place you may be facing copyright infringement claims or find the

writing published in another place without your knowledge.

Working with writers, proofreaders or editors is just another part of doing

business online. Making use of these services can help you project a polished,

professional appearance to your visitors and readers while still giving you control

of the information presented.

As with any contract work you should be careful to choose individuals who

respect your needs and deadlines and can provide quality work while at the same

time recognizing the value of the services these individuals are providing to you

by giving them enough time to finish your projects and adequate pay.

If you are planning on writing your own content, where do you start?

How to Write Your Own Content

If you have a small budget or you are very interested in creating your own content

you should make yourself familiar with the necessary steps required when writing

content for business use.

Create a Draft

When you start writing you should begin with a draft of your information.

Regardless of whether you are writing a paragraph or a book you should write

down the basic thought or information that you are trying to put across to your

Many times a writer will go back to the draft for reference or as a starting point if

the first efforts are not satisfactory. By preparing a draft you will not need to

worry about whether you remembered the points that needed to be covered or

what the purpose of the writing was.

You may only need a few words or brief sentences for your draft. Writing your

thoughts as well as your references or quotes down ahead of time will free your

mind to create compelling content without trying to hold all the important details

in your head as you work.

If you are writing an article or report you should just write the thoughts down as

they come to you for your first draft. You can go back and edit it when you’ve put

everything on paper. If you’re writing longer content, such as a book, you need to

create a table of contents along with a brief summary of each chapter as a basis

for getting started.

Do not be concerned with proofreading or accuracy on your first draft. If you

need to do more research or check a fact you can go back and do it later. Getting

started can be the hardest part for most writers. Avoid getting caught up in

making it perfect the first time and you will find it much easier to progress from

beginning to end without too much stress.

Make it Clear

When you’ve finished your first draft you will need to read it over from start to

finish and make notations of areas that need clarification or rewording.

Sometimes the information you write down makes sense to you but is not clear to

others. This can easily happen when your writing is based on information you

if your readers SHOULD have some knowledge of your topic, if you don’t clarify

the basis for your comments they may find the information confusing or

misleading.

Carefully read over your information or ask for an objective opinion. If you must

do the final check for yourself it is easier to catch mistakes if you leave the

information for a while and go back to it later for a fresh look. Try to look at it

from the perspective of your reader and determine if they would understand the

language or explanations easily.

Accuracy and Proofreading

When your writing is finished it is important to check it for accuracy. Are dates,

statistics or facts accurate? Are you using proper spelling, especially for names

and places?

It is very easy for readers to double check your information when they are

browsing the internet. If something strikes them as being ‘off’ they may actually

go see if what you state is referenced somewhere else on the internet.

Proofreading should always be done before publishing your content. Using a spell

checking program on your computer will catch most spelling errors but you

should try to have a second party review the final copy to catch mistakes that you

may have overlooked.

Writing your own content can give you a great sense of accomplishment and

ownership. While trying to maintain a professional writing style can be very

important, it is also effective to allow your own personality and style to shine

through and permits your audience to connect with you.

As interesting as the writing process is, there are some warnings to keep in mind

What NOT to Use for Content

At this point you not only understand the benefits of using content, but you

realize that accessing content is fairly easy.

However, the written word is used by humans worldwide as both a means of

communication and as a powerful tool to control others. Legal documents and

contracts, as well as other forms of records and statements carry a lot of weight in

our society and what you put on paper can come back to hurt you if you do not

follow some simple guidelines.

Copyright Law

If you are writing your own content you need to be aware that written work and

art are both protected by copyrights. The authors and artists do not need to file

official documentation to enforce their rights to the works they’ve created and

you can be liable for copyright infringement for any works that you use without

the proper authority or permission.

Copyright law is not simple and can be interrupted differently by individuals.

However there are some basic points to consider when using another work as a

reference or in full.

You are NEVER allowed to publish any amount of another writer’s words

verbatim without the permission of the author to do so. It is wise to have the

written permission unless you are otherwise granted permission by the author

such as when using free to reprint articles that are submitted to article

directories.

The reprint permission is usually listed on the article or on the website where the

you do not edit it in any way and you list the author and their personal bio in the

resource box they provide along with the article.

Terms for Using Others Writing

When you hire a writer you must agree in writing to the terms of usage. If the

work is purchased outright and the original author has no copyright claims, or is

providing the work for your use only, you must state that it is a ‘work-for-hire’ or

that you have purchased exclusive rights to the work.

If you have limited or single use rights to the work than you will not be permitted

to use the content for more than the specified time or place of publication. The

article may also be resold to other individuals for their publications or websites.

If you are simply quoting a reference source you are usually safe to do so as long

as the reprinted information is shown within quotation marks and the source or

author is listed along with the quote or with a symbol indicating the source in the

appendix.

The rules for copyright infringement can be a bit murky but you can be assured

that if the content you’ve duplicated is questioned, more often than not the courts

will rule in favor of the original writer.

Now that you know what kind of content you need and where to get it – how can

you optimize your website with the content you provide?

Optimizing Your Keyword Content

many different opinions on how to best optimize your web pages.

Outlined here are some simple techniques that will do well with any content page

and especially well with keywords that are not being commonly used by other

sites. If you can locate keywords related to your website that are not being

currently focused on by bigger sites you may find your pages easily placing high

in the natural search engine results.

First add your keyword or phrase in the <title> tag.

Next add the words or phrase in the <meta keyword> tag as well as a short

descriptive line in the <meta description> tag. Do not become overly repetitive or

advertising with your wording, although using words that incite curiosity is fine

since they may appear as the description used for your listing.

When writing your headline be sure to use the keyword or phrase and place it in

Header 1 tags which will appear as <h1> and </h1> on either end of your title.

Try to use the word or phrase several times in the first few hundred words that

appear on your webpage. If your site has columns, be sure to count the first

column as your starting point as the search engines will read left to right just like

you do – down the first column before moving to the next.

Make use of the keywords or phrases by integrating them into your content as

naturally as possible. It may be possible for the search engines to determine if a

word is not fitting into proper grammar usage and is only being used for

optimization.

In the same regard you should be cautious about over using the word or phrase

which may also ‘tip off’ the search engines.

research used to select keywords or phrases as well as other factors, known and

unknown, which the search engines apply to determine your position in the

listings.

Optimizing several pages with different keywords can allow you to test this out.

Words or phrases that have high competition may be less likely to make it to the

top, but if the competition didn’t do their homework (especially if you’re working

in a niche area) you may be very surprised by the results.

A Quick Note for Pay Per Click Users

As promised at the outset, here is a simple guide for getting started with PPC

advertising. You should find it to be complimentary to your overall marketing

program and a good start to finding traffic while you continue to build your

natural search engine placement with the methods outlined earlier.

Research Your Keywords

Don’t waste your money bidding on words or phrases that will attract the wrong

audience or too broad of an audience or you will quickly go through your

advertising budget with very little results.

creating a list of keywords and phrases that will relate to your topic. You can also

easily find out which words have large amounts of competition as well as the

current bids for those words.

When you have made your keyword and phrases list, develop a simple ad that is

both clear and descriptive. Use proven advertising copy words like “how to…”,

“learn”, “save”, “free” and “easy” in your description. Create curiosity while still

providing enough specific information that you will not attract under qualified

Use each keyword or phrase you are bidding on in its own description rather than

giving the same ad copy to every word. Test your campaigns and keep to a

budget.

Figure out how many customers you need to make a sale and based on that figure

you can work out how much you are willing to spend to attract customers through

pay per click advertising.

If your product sells on average for $20 and it takes 100 visitors to make a sale

you can afford to spend 20 cents per visitor to make a sale. Obviously you would

want to spend less in order to make a profit, so by bidding 10 cents per word or

phrase you would spend $10 to make a $20 sale.

Don’t forget, pay per click is only one piece of your marketing strategy, so while

you may spend more using pay per click when you first start, eventually your

content and hyperlinks will attract free visitors which will offset the cost per sale

ratio.

Make use of content to its fullest potential. Respect your readers and writers by

presenting accurate, relevant content in a way that truly informs or entertains.

Learn more about your chosen topic or share your knowledge with others by

communicating with CONTENT!

Dr. John E. Neyman, Jr

www.LeadersExcel.com

www.UniversityofAuthors.com

PSS. If you want to make money through adsense, but not sure where to start

here is everything you need to get started: