Get Your Link With These 5 Simple Tips

By Oliver Feakins (c) 2009

 As the online market place continues to warm up to the idea of SEO, link building has become center stage as it tends to be the most time consuming and crucial part of any internet marketing strategy. Link building services are the most commonly outsourced aspect of SEO. This process involves finding qualified and thematically relevant one-way linking partners who will link back to your website.

At first glance this sounds easy and there are hundreds of automated products out there that claim to add thousands of back links overnight. The truth is there are no short cuts in cultivating authoritative back links for a site. Link building companies spend many hours link building by hand in order to get the best results. Spammy automated products often don't cultivate valuable links and tend to do more harm than good. Here are a couple quick suggestions to help you get started.
 

• Know What Keywords You're Targeting 

Link building strategies are an extension of your current SEO practice. You'll want to reference the list of keywords you have selected to optimize your site. Make sure that the anchor text of the link has the keyword you are targeting. For example, if you're targeting the keyword "baby names" you'll want to place that keyword in the anchor text of the link. I've seen many companies go after links by using their company name. Although this does boost link popularity it fails to pass popularity for a specific keyword and can be seen as a failed attempt.

• Develop a Link Building Strategy

There are many strategies link building companies use to source qualified back links to their clients. The most tedious but often most rewarding method is manual linking requests also known as "cherry picking". This method allows you to obtain exceptionally qualified links which can really help boost your position in the search engine results page (SERPS). A good place to start with manual link building is to look at your suppliers, vendors, clients, related organizations associations and more.

Besides manual link requests other well known tactics include:

     1. directory submission (Dmoz, Yahoo Directory, Joe Ant)
     2. article submission (ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com)
     3. optimized press releases (PRWeb.com)
     4. social media outlets (FaceBook, Linked In)
     5. bookmarking sites (Digg, Reddit, Furl)
     6. Blogs (niche blogs)
     7. Forums (niche forums)
     8. Classifieds (niche classifieds)
 

• Identify Thematically Relevant and Authoritative Linking Sources

Search engines see links as votes of confidence for your site. The more relevant and authoritative the site, the more consideration is given to the link and the subsequent keyword in the anchor text. It really pays off to focus on the quality of your links rather than the quantity. It is also important for your link building to look natural and not an attempt to deceive search engine spiders in search of links. Try looking for sites within your industry rather than general, unrelated sites to get links from.
[First Page Ranking on Google for Your Choice of Keywords!]

A good example of this would be content creation and distribution. Try creating content on a relevant subject of which you can speak authoritatively. An example of this would be a SEO company writing a short article on 5 simple ways companies can start link building and placing it on an authoritative, industry relevant site like this one. Remember, before placing a link on a site (or making a request), ask yourself three questions:

     1. Does a link to my website belong here (does it look natural)?
     2. Is this site relevant and authoritative?
     3. Is there any benefit to my potential customers?
     4. Look for the onsite attributes of the linking site

• Determine Where Your Link Will Reside

Once you've nailed down a potential linking partner that represents the overall quality and thematic authority that your site deserves you'll need to see where your link will reside.
Here are a couple guidelines that I look for when placing links on a site. I try to get my links no more than a few clicks away from the homepage. The page must be thematically relevant and recently cached by Google's search engine (this lets me know that the page has been indexed by Google). I also take a look at the number of external (outbound) links leaving that page. I try to keep the number of external links below 50 as it will dilute the effect of the page. Lastly, I look at the page the link will be placed on. For some sites this is harder to control, but if you have the option you should know where the most valuable locations are. I always try to get my links in line with thematically relevant content, like an article or blog post. I've found this produces some of the best results. Try to avoid placing your links on a "sponsored" or advertisers section that runs throughout the entire site. Also avoid footer links as rumor has it Google has devalued links buried in the footer of the site. Links placed at the top of the page or inserted into the site's navigation also tend to do quite well. Bottom line is that your links need to look like they belong and provide value to the user and the site it is published on.

• Be Aware of "No-Follow" Links

Within the last 5 years Google developed the concept of the "no-follow" link. The "no-follow" code is inserted into your link and instructs the Google spider to ignore it. The "no-follow" link can be seen used most commonly in blog comments and forum posts. This initiative was set forth to combat spam and automated linking mechanisms that would throw links automatically on blog comments and forum posts.

There are a lot of SEO professionals that will only place a link if it is a "do-follow" link, meaning it doesn't have the "no-follow" attribute. I tend to disagree with this notion especially when the link in question is on a highly trafficked authority site. If it makes sense for the link to be there, then add your link. Even though Google won't give you any credít for it, it will be seen by thousands of people who may visit your site and link to you themselves because your site is highly relevant. I call this concept indirect link building. You are influencing and promoting your site to potential linking partners.

Link Building is a very time consuming process and link building companies spend a lot of time researching, testing and improving their techniques. Link building services are available for companies that don't have the time to invest in manual link building. The bottom line is that with a little help anyone can link build and move their site up the SERPS.

About The Author
Oliver Feakins is the owner of WebTalent, a full service SEO company offering internet marketing services nationwide. Oliver is a frequent speaker at industry conferences as well as regional colleges and universities.

Search Engine Optimization Toolkit

Trellian SEO Toolkit v3.0 The SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Toolkit includes everything you need to optimize and promote your web pages, to increase your web site traffic and search engine visibility. Screen Shots SEO Toolkit Awards SEO Toolkit v3.0 Includes: SubmitWolf v8.0 - Automated Submission Tool Rank Checker Meta Tag Editor PPC Bid Comparison Bid Manager (*) Keyword Manager (*) Keyword Suggestion Tool Keyword Density Analyzer Keyword Explorer Reciprocal Link Checker Ranking Advisor Link Popularity & Saturation Monitor Google Site Map Generator Server Header Check Paid Inclusion Manager Competitive Intelligence (*) ROI Calculator and more... * These features rely on other online services and may require separate subscriptions Download | Overview | Order Live Support Upgrade from version 1.0. FREE Toolbar!! Download the FREE Trellian Toolbar

Useful Keyword Marketing Tools

After years of running websites and earning a full-time online income, I am constantly reminded that it all comes down to keywords. Actually, it all comes down to obtaining top rankings for your profitable keywords in the search engines, mainly Google.

And that statement has to be refined even further, it's all about obtaining top keyword rankings and keeping them at the top. You must consistently keep your keywords in the top spots on that all important first page of SERPs since your keyword rankings can make or break your online marketing.

If you're targeting extremely competitive and profitable keywords you will have your work cut out for you; unless you have tons of money to buy your way (links) into the top spots, expect to spend months if not years, getting to those top listings. Google has frowned upon link buying and has taken steps to fight it, but this practice is still widespread throughout the web.

Most beginning and honest webmasters want to take the proper route and earn those top rankings by providing good quality content that web users will actually find helpful and useful. They build those links the natural way by offering viral link bait in the form of videos, ebooks, articles, reports... all branded with backlinks to their sites.

Gradually over time, these links will build up and your keyword rankings will go up in the search engines. People will find your content and bookmark it in all the social bookmark sites like Digg, Facebook, MySpace... and your rankings will climb even faster.

However, since keyword marketing has become extremely competitive, you do need a little help with achieving those top rankings. Over the years I have tested and used many keyword tools and I have listed some of the best ones below. (Just Google to find links to these tools and programs.)

Internet Success Spider

One of the first keyword tools I ever used was The Internet Success Spider by Neil Shearing which is now free. The Spider is a very simple, yet powerful keyword tool because it shows you the major players in your keyword niche. It slowly works in the background to give you valuable information on your keywords. I realized very quickly, with marketing (like most things in life) that information is what separates the losers from the winners.

Brainstorm It - Site Build It

Another, perhaps even more powerful keyword tool is Brainstorm It! which is offered through the Site Build It marketing/hosting system run by Ken Evoy. This is a powerful keyword analyzer and finder, which is now in its third version.

SBI run by Ken Evoy creates many tools for webmasters and Brainstorm It, Version 3 is simply one of the best. This keyword tool will do both Vertical and Lateral keyword research to give the most comprehensive array of information for your marketing online. Only negative, you only get so many Wordtracker credits and you have to pay extra when those run out. Actually, Wordtracker should be at the top of any keyword tool list, but I have mainly used it in conjunction with other programs like Brainstorm It.

Google Keyword Tool

Then again, there is Google's own keyword system run through its Adwords program. Like everything Google does, this keyword tool can be very helpful especially for the novice online marketer.

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

MSN Commercial Intention Of Keywords

Not to be outdone, another helpful tool is Microsoft's Online Commercial Intention tool, which tells the probability your chosen keyword has a commercial value to it:

http://adlab.msn.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/Default.aspx

SEOBook Online Keyword Tool

For very quick keyword references, I like using Aaron Wall's keyword tool on his SEOBook site. It's quick and gives very good stats for your chosen keywords.

SEOQuake

Still yet another SEO (sort of related to keywords) is the SeoQuake Toolbar which you can run on Firefox. It will slow down your browser but it will cough up valuable information about your site and more importantly, it will give you valuable information on your competitors' sites. One feature that I find very helpful is the SEM Rank and SEM Price, which tells you how much your Search Engine keyword traffic is worth.

Plus, you must not ignore your website stats and traffic logs for they can supply you with your most valuable keyword information regarding your site. Closely examine which keyword phrases are bringing in the traffic and/or sales. Develop these keywords with your marketing, especially any "long tail" keyword phrases visitors are using to find your site or products. These longer keyword phrases have proven to be the most profitable because many times consumers using these phrases already have their minds made up on what they're going to buy.

Why Am I Using All These Keyword Tools?

Simply because obtaining and keeping top rankings for my chosen keywords is my livelihood. Unless I can keep that focused traffic coming from these keywords via the search engines; it's game over. Therefore, I use all the tools and information I can gather in order to keep those keywords at the top.

Google is always changing, you really have to stay on your game if you want to keep your keywords at the top. It all boils down to producing quality content web surfers need and want. The SEO pretty much takes care of itself as long as you keep promoting your keywords with good viral branded content like videos, articles, ebooks, PDF reports... and you must mix up your online link building to include links from such places as Facebook, Digg, Google Bookmarks, MySpace... I have always used the free "AddThis" button to all my important content and this has resulted in 100's of free links that your visitors will build for you!

I also believe you have to be careful when using viral articles to vary your anchor text (clickable part of a link) so that you don't have the same keyword phrase repeated 100's of times across the web. Just use different versions of your keyword phrase and if you can, get those keyword links in the body of the article, as near to the top of the page as you can. This will make your link building look much more natural in the eyes of the search engines, especially Google.

Overall, you must have hundreds, if not thousands of keywords that you're targeting with your marketing. You must constantly keep building links for those keywords from related sites on the web. Sometimes it is helpful to truly view your keywords as organic, something that keeps growing naturally on its own. But you must first build a solid foundation with good quality content and then keep nurturing those keywords with good quality link bait so that others will bookmark, recommend and link to your keyword content.

Over the years, if there is anything I have learned about keywords which always holds true, it is this: you must be persistent. You must keep at it: building links, building content... it will usually take months, if not years, to get those top rankings for very competitive keywords and it will take some further work to consistently keep those keywords in the top positions. But you will quickly learn keywords are well worth it since they can easily make or break your marketing.

Do you have a great idea to start a website or online business?

Do you have a great idea to start a website or online business, but lack the knowledge, experience or confidence in your technical skills? Or perhaps you've already created a simple blog or website, but you know it just doesn't look professional enough. There are effective solutions to these problems through outsourcing. The internet has opened up the global pool for technical talent that you can tap in to through the online work marketplace, Elance.com.

Elance has a huge database of skilled professionals to match up with your requirements for the work you need to get done. You can post a description of the project and allow for open bidding from talented professionals, or you can invite selected professionals to submit a proposal.

Elance is your one-stop complete solution for hiring experts, managing the work and paying for the results upon completion. Once a talented professional is found and business terms are agreed upon, milestones can be set within Elance to measure progress. Through Elance you're able to communicate and collaborate with the contractor and review status reports to track the project through completion.

Milestones or whole projects can be pre-funded using the escrow service built into the system. This gives piece of mind to both the provider and the employer that payment is available and will be made once the milestone or job is completed to satisfaction. Once the job is completed, you have the ability to leave a feedback rating on six areas of the service providers’ performance.

If you need to get work done, for example building or improving a website, shopping cart integration, marketing copy written, search engine optimization, database programming, or a host of other tasks, then there really is no easier, safer and more complete solution than posting the job on Elance and letting an experienced professional take the stress and work out of your hands.

Can You Put Elance to Work For You?

Elance is the world's largest marketplace for finding high quality professionals, creative experts and technology specialists. If you need specialized talent to complete a project for your business, Elance is the premier spot to hire, manage and pay for work online.

Consider all of the scenarios and types of businesses that are utilizing Elance right now. There are retail store owners who need new advertising created, content and articles written for a new catalog or brochure, or graphics created for a new product line. Impress your customers with high quality presentations and create the best possible retail experience for your customers, while sticking to your core competency.

Consultants who have long term engagements with existing clients are often asked to handle additional work that falls outside of their expertise. Why send this work elsewhere? Jump on Elance and find a talented professional that you can utilize to sub-contract the portion of work that fits within someone else&rsquos wheelhouse, and impress your client further with your ability to jump in and help their business.

Companies that are trying to stay lean and trim during the current challenging economic situation are still faced with large projects or looming deadlines. Talented administrative professionals are available on Elance to fill in and complete time consuming but temporary tasks like data entry, accounting, document preparation, presentation preparation, travel planning and more.

How does your company website look? Do you have a web designer and programmer on staff or a design firm on retainer? Many small and medium sized businesses are not able to afford such an expense, even though a professional web presence is as necessary as having someone responding to customers. Browse through Elance to find a professional to spruce up your site, or add functionality and enhancements to the catalog or checkout process.

Are you working at home or building your own online drop shipping or affiliate business? Focus on your core business while hiring an Elance professional to build your website, or help with your SEO efforts. A professional can deliver high quality results which will help you quickly build your business and profit in half the time. The end result being more money into your account faster!

Set-up an account today and see the wide range of jobs that other businesses are getting done on Elance. Read the great reviews and testimonials to see for yourself the overall positive experience businesses are receiving from the Elance talent pool.

Techniques for Making a Successful Job Post

To initiate a successful engagement with an Elance service provider relies heavily on the initial job posting. Writing a clear job description, categorizing the posting correctly and maintaining reasonable expectations will profoundly impact your satisfaction and experience as a job poster or employer.

You need to have reasonable expectations. Asking for a clone of a complex site like eBay or Amazon for a few hundred dollars is definitely not a reasonable expectation. If your budget range is too low for the amount of work being requested, professional and experienced providers will not take your posting seriously, and you will receive a number of lower quality proposals. Choosing from those proposals may result in a project that will not meet your expectations.

If you have in mind a clear idea of what you want, and describe that idea in as much detail as possible, your results will stand a much better chance of satisfaction with no frustration. Having a project defined as, “I need a website to sell XYZ product” does not give the service provider enough information to really help building a proposal to deliver what you want. You have a better chance at winning in roulette than leaving so many details up to chance in a providers mind. Do the groundwork and put in some effort before making your post. Repeating an idea or requirement in a design specification or request will not hurt the effort, especially if the requirement is something critical or important to the project. Repetition is re-enforcement.

Next you will need to choose the correct categories and skill set when making your post. Choosing the right category is important since this determines what kind of providers will respond to your job posting. Listing the top skills your provider should have to complete the project will help a provider in determining whether or not they should respond to your post.

Expect a multitude of responses fairly quickly, often times within hours and certainly within a day. You will see a variety of prices, and of course it's not always the best route to go with the lowest cost provider. Review the ratings on each provider and take a look at their portfolio. One technique that many experienced job posters utilize is to re-word the job description and send it back out to your top choices as providers. This accomplishes two things, first it will verify that the provider clearly understands the project and secondly you can gauge their responsiveness to your query.

Once you select a provider and begin the engagement, be sure to keep the flow of communication active and frequent. Lack of communication is one of the top reasons of dissatisfaction and frustration with job engagements from both the providers and employers. Get status updates and provide feedback quickly, keeping the communication flowing and in the end you will get a great result!

Content That Search Engines Love

Ever wondered how to get the content that the visitors and search engines would love?

In fact, Revenue of your website, Traffic on your website, Popularity of your website, Return ratio of your visitors, and credibility of your website - all these largely depend upon the content of your website. Content is the King. It’s the heart and soul of any online business. Google loves good content. According to Google AdSense engineers - "Content that promotes industry of AdWords advertisers is the ideal content (so that Smart pricing doesn't hits you)."

Here is how to get quality content for your websites.

Article Websites

This is the fastest, cheapest, and easiest way to get the articles you need for your upcoming website. You can get a number of articles from these websites on almost any topic. Many professional writers post the articles on the "Article Websites." You can host these articles on your website by giving proper credit to these writers. Industry experts post the articles on "Article websites" and wait for great links to come in. As these articles are posted directly by the experts, they make interesting reading and have credibility. These articles are technically accurate and keep your visitors glued to your website. This increases the page views.

These articles are set on broadcast mode, and the duplicate content can be found at many other places on the net. Search engines like good and motivating content, but your visitors may get bored by reading the same information again and again. Though, it doesn't mean that you should not use Article Websites. According to me, Article Websites are a cool source of high quality content.

Write Your Own Content

If you are an expert of the industry for which you are searching the content, who else can write better than you? Articles in your own words are called unique articles. Search engines as well as your visitors love unique articles. If you have unique content, it will be easy for you to ask links from some high profile websites. This will increase the inflow of traffic to your website. Unique content also gets maximum bookmarks, and visitors return to your website again and again for more interesting information.

Here are a few tips on how to write your own unique content.

• Surf the Forums
Almost every topic on the web now has forums for the same. People discuss problems, solutions, tips, and tricks related to your industry. This provides enough material for you to write your own version of the story. Locate the problem that most people face, search for its solution, and write something useful. This is the best way to do it.

• Get the Inspiration
Surf the web, dig out your competitors, and know what content they are providing, and ponder over what makes their websites so good. Use the same data as inspiration, add your own comments, add negatives or positives (pros and cons), and add comments from forums. Ideal strategy is to jot down 5-6 articles around one topic only. While writing, keep in mind that the content of the articles should be easy to understand. Avoid lengthy sentences, difficult words, and unnecessary repetition. Remember, you are not displaying your mastery over the language, instead you are communicating with your potential customer. The effort should be on trying to make him understand what you want to say.

• Get Content from Your Visitors
Let the visitors post articles on your website. They can email the articles to you, or else you can put up a "Post Article Form" for their convenience. Let them post comments on your articles - like a small forum thread for each article. This will keep the search engines hooked to your page. Moreover, you are generating content without moving a finger.

Get the Content Written - Paid

Hire a content writer if you feel that you can't write the content. You can get many of them on freelancing websites. Ask the content writer to write unique content related to your industry. Specify some topics, if you can. If you can't, just specify the number of pages you want him to write for your website. You will get customized content.

Here is a list of a few websites where you can find the people to write content for you.

- www.elance.com
- www.rentacoder.com

Keep posting the content on your website. New content on your website keeps your website fresh and tasty - both for visitors and search engines.

Benefits of Unique Content

There are numerous benefits of writing eye opening, unique content.

1. It builds web presence. People bookmark your website, and you get more returning visitors.
2. It gets you links easily.
   
3. If the content is posted on Article Websites, you get good links. If you have compiled good article website, your potential link partners look at you with respect. I have never seen an email shouting at me while I run my link partnering campaign, even if I drop them 15 continuous emails with the same content, accidentally making it a spam. I get links from the websites that are the masters of their industry.
   
4. Source of free advertising.
5. Search Engines look at you with more respect.

If you are beginner in this game, Article Websites are the best way to start with. Unique content may have more respect, but there is no point in writin content if you don't know the ins and outs of the industry you are targeting. And for God's sake, don't create confusion over internet! It's better to have duplicate content on your website than give wrong information to your visitors.

Content With Higher AdSense Payout

Content development can be tough and time consuming. For whopping fast returns, it's better to create websites either on the industries that are high paying or on the niche keywords.

Twitter Marketing Explored

By Trey Pennewell (c) 2009

Twitter is growing by leaps and bounds as people begin to appreciate its clean and easy-to-use interface. Twitter, at this point, does not look like one of the many flash-in-the-pan Internet applications that we have seen in times' past.

Twitter's 140 character micro-blogging platform has gained a lot of traction, as individuals and business people have learned to bring together their friends, family and customers under a communications platform that all users find useful.

Mom and dad find it easier to keep up with the lives of their grown children through Twitter. The fact that Twitter allows people to link to other web pages makes Twitter a simple platform to share thoughts, ideas, and links to stories and pictures. Grandma and granddad find it easy to check in on the kids' Twitter account and to maintain daily contact with those across town and elsewhere in the world.

Friends can make plans and share common interests through the Twitter world. One can reply to a message publicly, or if the message is a bit more private, one can send a Direct Message (known as a DM) to anyone who has agreed to follow you also. Through the DM system, lovers can share flirts that no one else can see, but the persons intended to receive the message.

If you let your kids use Twitter, it may be best to set up their Twitter Account Settings to "Protect The Tweets". In the description of this feature, Twitter says, "Only let people whom I approve follow my tweets. If this is checked, you WILL NOT be on the public timeline."

The Public Timeline is the messages/tweets that everyone can see. Anything not on the Public Timeline is private, with restricted access.

Business People Are Working To Tap Into Twitter Marketplace

Twitter was born in March of 2006. But most of us never really heard of it or even understood it, until this last year (2008-2009). A few of the Internet gurus started talking about Twitter in 2008, and as 2009 got underway, more online marketers started talking about the Twitter community on a nearly daily basis.

We have accounts in Twitter that are a couple of years old, but we didn't get involved with Twitter really until about April of 2009. In April of 2009, we had 12 Twitter Followers.

In May 2009, there was not a single online business in the Top 100 of Twitter, but those numbers are starting to change. Through May of 2009, the Top 100 accounts on Twitter were dominated by TV and Movie celebrities, a few media companies such as @cnnbrk, politicians and sports figures.

Most online marketers hadn't given Twitter much thought until "The Great Ashton Kutcher vs CNN Twitter Race" that ended on April 17, 2009 with Ashton (@aplusk) getting the privilege to declare victory. Even now, three months after the end of the race, Ashton is still the champion - Number 1 in the Twitter Follower counts with 2,975,032 Followers. Ashton is followed by @TheEllenShow - 2,610,357; @britneyspears - 2,553,668; @cnnbrk - 2,431,783; and @twitter - 1,930,821.

When the Great Twitter Race was concluded, I did a backlink check on Ashton's @aplusk account. Literally, Ashton had bought a ton of advertising on websites, blogs, forums, etc. Ashton was also getting tons of free press in print and online in the Great Twitter Race.

Of course, we marketers should not feel bad if we are getting on this bandwagon a little late in the game, because @google has only had their account since Jan 09. Google is currently the 23rd biggest Twitter account with 1,244,976 Followers.

A surprise for me was seeing @WholeFoods, an Austin Texas based grocery store, sitting at #38 with 1,094,093 Followers. According to TwitterCounter, Whole Foods had only 322,820 Followers on April 4, 2009. A quick look at the Whole Foods profile indicates that they are using the account to share with their customers: company news, customer support, and available specials.

An honorable mention goes to @kevinrose, celebrity and founder of Digg.com. Kevin Rose is the 40th most popular person on Twitter, with 1,092,920 Followers.

Once you get into the Top 100 List below #40, you finally start to see a few online businesses in the mix. @zappos CEO is #45. @woot is #46. @TechCrunch is a web media site at #55. @dooce is at #60. To see the full Top 100 List, go here: http://twittercounter.com/pages/100

Who Is In Your Target Market and What Do They Want To Know?

As you look around at those people who are successful building their own little communities on Twitter, you will notice that each one gives people what their Followers want.

For example, @cussy is an online marketer, and he has nearly 10,000 Followers. His secret to growth: quotes. He gives his followers some of the best quotes about business and reaching goals of anyone on Twitter. I follow him and Retweet him often.

@dave_carpenter advertises himself as a Success Partner For High Achievers. Dave shares quotes and tips, and he retweets others who give good advice also. More importantly, Dave encourages the people he follows. He has nearly 9,000 Followers at this time.

@MattLevenhagen is a professional marketer. His 13,000 Followers follow because he runs a mix of marketing tips, links to great articles, and retweets for great advice. He even uses his Twitter account to give his customer's support.

@SocialMedia411 is a Social Media expert who offers social media tips, links to social media articles and news. With more than 56,000 Followers, you can bet that the advice given here is worthwhile to its audience.

When you learn to talk to the people most likely to buy from you, you have completed the first and most important step to enable you to develop strong Twitter Marketing habits.

Learn How Others Are Successful With Twitter

As always, when you want to learn to be successful, you should look to those who are already successful and try to reverse-engineer the steps that they used to become successful. Once you have taken the time to study many who have been successful in the way that you want to be successful, you may note that success comes from giving people what they want and doing it in such a way that you provide good value to your customers.

Those who have been successful with Twitter have done so, because they put the needs of their Followers ahead of a personal desire to be boring or silly.

The good news is that other business people have started to find success on Twitter and you can too. When you learn to provide the people in your target market with the information that they need and want, you will have started down the path to building a Twitter Follower list to envy.

How to make money from AdSense through Adwords?

I have a site that makes more than 14 times its Adwords spent in AdSense earnings - and it gets absolutely no SE traffic. Now you do the maths, if you have 10 such similar high quality, high paying websites.

Now great news for you: Google promotes this money cycle. No it’s not a fraud! And I have a solid proof for that - https://www.google.com/adsense/medicalcoding
The above case study will prove that. Google itself has published a case study of a publisher who bought Adwords traffic and is earning through AdSense.

I am going to tell you exactly how webmasters do it and make thousands out of it. And if you do it properly, sky is the limit to your earnings. Turn your mobiles off now, get some glue, and apply to your seats. I am whispering this only to you, don’t tell it to anybody else. It’s a great idea - how to make AdSense money through AdWords. First you will need to visualize AdWords as a traffic source (which is paid). For creating a cycle of making money from Adwords through AdSense, you will need the following ingredients.

• High CTR
• Traffic from AdWords
• High paying keywords
• Targeted Content
• SmartPricing explained: Never violate almighty Google
• The last and ultimate secret tricks
• Illegal stuff?

Now let me explain to you the quality and quantity of all the ingredients you will need to get the green cycle that gets you AdSense money through AdWords.

High CTR

There is a reason why you should have high CTR. It should be NOT LESS THAN 10% even in the worst cases. Now, how did I reach at this figure? Suppose you are buying traffic for 5 cents per click from Adwords, and at the end of the day, you get 100 visitors. Now, out of these 100 people, if 10 people clicked your AdSense ads, then the payout of those 10 clicks should be more than $5 (that you spent on Adwords) to earn you any profit. Or you can say, EPC should be at least 0.50 cents.

Let’s use some more valuable stats. Generally, highly qualified traffic clicks are more on AdSense blocks, depending upon your content and placement of your AdSense blocks. I have managed to get up to 20% CTR on Content Websites.

100 visitors from Adwords
20% CTR
20 clicks
Spent – $5
Earned - $14 on a particular day
EPC average was $0.70

Traffic from AdWords

Traffic from AdWords is easy to get. All of us know how to opt for an AdWords account. But it needs to be managed properly so that we may get maximum traffic with minimum investment.

Tip 1 – Include as many low paying keywords as possible. Get to overture, Get to WordTracker, or any other site you know. Get creative and make your own too. Keyword Country database can suggest you millions of such low paying keywords along with the high paying keywords.

Tip 2 – Don’t pay more than 5 cents to Google AdWords initially. No matter how much traffic you get, just do not pay more than 5 cents in the beginning. Wait for a few days. One week is the best time to draw the average of how much you were in profit. If you feel you can do better by increasing the CPC on AdWords, go ahead!

Tip 3 – Optimize your ads till they have the highest CTR. Use more and more COMMONLY known GENERALLY spoken keywords. Try including search keywords in the ads in such a way that Google shows them in bold when someone views your ad.

Tip 4 – Use suggestive low cost keywords to further boost the traffic on your website. This tip is a bit risky, so it should be wisely used. In certain cases, it can be a deciding factor - Double or nothing! For more tips on Adwords.

High Paying Keywords

High paying keywords are the key ingredient of the entire recipe. It’s the heart of the entire system. Don't try this without High paying keywords. Make several web pages around a topic that contain high paying keywords, and link them with one another. Don’t try it on low paying keywords, as you will be spending away lot more on AdWords than what you earn from AdSense.

More the advertisers bidding on a keyword, higher will be your EPC - and of course, broader will be your smile. When I say "high paying keywords," I don't mean the ones with Higher CPC. It's a big mistake to judge a keyword as a "high paying" one just on the basis of CPC. Only Keyword Country lets you predict your earnings per click before even targeting keywords.

Try using keywords that have low competition with advertisers paying high on it. You can find thousands of undiscovered niche keywords in Keyword Country’s Database. Don’t worry much about the traffic, it’s the job of AdWords to send the traffic to your website. But don’t get too easy on that either. You can learn how to choose the best AdSense keywords.

Target Your Content With High Paying Keywords

Here is how to target the pages for high paying keywords.
Internal Optimization : Internal Optimization includes Meta tags, Title Text, Optimization of content, and internal linking of your website. Here we will learn how to increase relevancy of ads and how to inject keywords that will help you get high paying ads. Internal Optimization has a high impact on the relevancy of ads and CTR.

External Optimization : This includes the web pages that are giving links to you (external profile of your website), anchor text being used to link your website, and many more variables that search engines use to evaluate the authoritative importance of a web page. External Optimization helps bring relevant traffic to your website and enables you to earn more by getting more CTR (Click Thru Ratio). Here is how to apply high paying keywords in your webpages.

If you want to apply high paying keywords on existing web pages (already crawled by Mediabot), please don’t expect the increase in income the next second. Google takes time to refresh its ads (maximum 15 days).

So, don't just log on to adwords and start a campaign right now. Make sure that you are getting high paying ads, and that you have implemented high paying keywords correctly. Creating new optimized pages on the website can show you immediate results (if your website is being crawled by Google regularly). Keyword Country lets you predict your EPC (Earnings Per Click) before even targeting a keyword with its Average CPC. That's the best way to find out if the keywords are really high paying or are just artificially inflated keywords.

The Last and the Ultimate Secret

Hold your breath. This is a never-told secret.

The whole reaction starts from AdWords. What is AdWords? – Source of paid traffic. You are bringing in paid traffic. But, is Adwords the only way to get paid traffic? BINGO! You got my point.

Discover other cheaper ways to buy traffic. There are many other smaller PPC engines that can collectively give you as much traffic (or sometimes more) as you want, giving you more returns than you can handle.

Tackle Smart Pricing

You need to take special care of SmartPricing here.

Here is what Google says what SmartPricing is: “How smart pricing works
We are constantly analyzing data across our network, and if our data shows that a click is less likely to turn into business results (e.g. online sale, registration, phone call, newsletter sign-up), we may reduce the price you pay for that click. You may notice a reduction in the cost of clicks from content sites.
We take into account many factors such as what keywords or concepts triggered the ad, as well as the type of site on which the ad was served. For example, a click on an ad for digital cameras on a web page about photography tips may be worth less than a click on the same ad appearing next to a review of digital cameras.
Google saves you time and hassle by estimating the value of clicks and adjusting prices on an ongoing basis. With improved smart pricing, you should automatically get greater value for clicks from ad impressions across our network, all with no change in how you bid.”

The major factor: NEVER EVER TRY TO CHEAT GOOGLE. Don’t host content that your visitors don’t want to see. They came on your website in good faith that you will give them quality information, exactly what they are looking for. Just putting crap there, and stuffing the search results of a search engine is what Google hates.

If the visitors are given carp information, they will never be good buyers, or will become resistant to the convincing power of the advertisers where your AdSense code is directing them to. Google will sense that the traffic form your website is of poor quality, and you will get a shock of SmartPricing.

Is All the Above Stuff Illegal?

Who said that? I happened to make a very informational site, and then to help bring some visitors to my highly informational site, I used the adwords to promote it. Of course, since this site is just sprouting, I don't have the capital to bid on the $X keywords, so I am starting out slowly, and bidding on terms with lower volumes of searches.

Currently, in order to help supplement the income of my informational site, I have chosen to use Google's excellent AdSense program while the site begins to show up in the search engines.... who knows, maybe I'll just keep on using Adsense and Adwords for the foreseeable future.

There should be no issue as long as your site is decent and does not say "click my ad." Google must have thought about this trick already and it must be silently happy to see the advertisers run such money loops. But Google can't shout it loud to the community. Webmasters who are buying ads from Google and boosting their AdSense are actually helping Google to make more money from high paying advertisers. It’s a win-win game for Google. Will you take action against a person who is paying to help you?

Yes, it is illegal if you bring Adwords traffic on poor content. Google will curse you with its SmartPricing phenomenon, and will limit your earnings. Google wants your help, but not at the cost of its own reputation. Never ever try to cheat Google.

Conclusion

Choosing such high value keywords on which you can bring paid traffic is quite critical in this entire trick.

Choose Keywords that have -
1 - High CPC
2 - High Number of Advertisers
3 - High number of Clicks
4 - High Average CPC

Get access to 6.5 Million High paying Keywords on which you can bring Paid Traffic, RIGHT NOW!

Social Media Puts Fortress Journalism Under Siege

By John Sylvester (c) 2009

In a recent report by Peter Horrocks, Director of BBC World Service, it is clear that as society becomes more networked, the fortress mentality of the mainstream media is increasingly under siege by social media, but they are adapting. There's a lesson for us all in this.

For so long now, Web 2.0 has been working in the background to subtly but unwittingly undermine mainstream media, especially in America where, for example, RSS is understood and used far more readily than in most other nations. In this, the role of the "fortress journalism" is being steadily eroded as the nature of RSS feeds allow you to choose the BBC for video news, the New York Times for international news, the Guardian for ecological reports and ESPN for sports - so storming the gates of the fortress has been around for some time, but it is only now that publishers are seriously looking at new dissemination models in a more integrated and enlightened manner.

The main problem for the newspaper industry is that journalists have been very slow to recognise the changes that have been happening under their noses, and whilst the major players have all installed news feeds on their websites, they still continue with the assumption that their news product provides a complete set of information for their readers.

However, in the world of Web 2.0, the choices available for a total news information set is beginning to change journalists' collective mindset: as Jeff Jarvis, Professor of Interactive Journalism at the City University of New York, described it: "Cover what you do best. Link to the rest."

Social media websites now have millions of users using Web 2.0 platforms such as Facebook and Twitter and, with the immediacy of Twitter alerts, this is now what news consumers are tuning in to.

In a recent article by the Economist, Twitter 1, CNN 0 on the protests in Iran, 10.5 million American TV viewers turned to CNN, but instead of protests many of them saw a repeat of Larry King interviewing "burly motorcycle-builders". The article went on to illustrate a typical post: "Iran went to hell. Media went to bed".

This realisation is already transforming the face of journalism, which means building public participation in generating user content and making a paradigm shift from being a "manufacturing industry" to becoming a "service industry".

But this too has its drawbacks as, without moderation, blog commenting can often descend into a low common denominator that is sometimes determined by tasteless or asinine comments. In one such instance, a group of aboriginal leaders from Canada requested that hate charges be laid against CBC because of some poorly-moderated user comments which escaped into the public domain.

However, it is all too easy to sit back and mock the fortress mentality as outdated but these organisations have always protected good journalism and have also sheltered and given legal protection to journalists from the likes of powerful businessmen and politicians.

So, simply replacing fortresses is not how it is being thought through. As modern society becomes ever more highly networked, the fortress is opening up and is lowering the drawbridge to allow the public inside its walls.

The BBC's Peter Horrocks states in a recent 92-page document, The Future of Journalism: "Reducing effort in any journalistic section is anathema to the old fortress mindset. Even more disturbingly, it might also mean co-operating explicitly. If the BBC is best in news video and the Telegraph best in text sports reports, why shouldn't they syndicate that content to each other and save effort?"

By better understanding the medium of change, journalists have their role to play: while the public are still demanding diversity and choice, they also want powerful features and editing that journalism provides best.

What we cannot do away with is investigative reporting and analysis. Now, more than ever before, news organisations need to invest their talents intelligently in and amongst the new media web platforms, or they risk being ignored by an ever-growing number of young people for whom television and newspapers are irrelevant.

So journalism is changing and with it, social media: it is now about being permeable, interactive, 24/7, multi-platform and converged. The best approach and leverage for businesses using Twitter is by providing valuable information to your consumer base via links to relevant articles and helpful advice. And in time your "followers" may well make up your real "customer base"; it is far too early as yet to predict.

New media and Twitter in particular is a wake-up call for all mainstream media outlets and as SEMs, we lead the charge in that we inhabit their world to the extent that we blog, write articles and tweet.

So, on a regular basis, we should aim to:

• Write about your industry in a way that is useful to your audience, especially with articles. Keep on subject and submit it to the major article sites. If your blog has an associated RSS feed, such as WordPress, all the better. Enter it in the major social media sites as well. Then Tweet it.


• Twitter is in its infancy, albeit a precocious little chap, and you may see no point in publishing your story as your "followers" are mainly unknown to you and therefore unlikely to read about what you have to say. Do not be deterred as this is the wrong approach: Twitter is here to stay and develop. If the Economist is backing Twitter against CNN, this medium has to be taken seriously.


• Blogging and article writing should be done regularly. Just writing the odd story on a casual basis is not good enough. You should be consistent in the posting your articles and thorough with your research.

About The Author
John Sylvester is the media director of V9 Design & Build and an expert in search engine optimization and web marketing strategies.