Search Engine Optimization – 10 Common Mistakes to Avoid

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Search Engine Optimization – 10 Common Mistakes to Avoid

Every website, large small and in between needs traffic. There is absolutely no point in having the best looking, most interesting website in the world if nobody ever visits it. Your aim is to get a steady stream of visitors to your website and transform them into customers. To get the steady stream of visitors to your website, you need to make sure the website is visible to the search engines. This process is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Failure to attend to search engine optimization is the equivalent of opening an amazingly decorated, well-stocked shop and keeping the blinds down and the door locked.

Search Engine Optimization sounds as if it should be a task best reserved for a specialist. It is, however, something all webmasters should tackle as a matter of course. The first time webmaster will probably not have a natural ability to send his website to the top of the search engine lists in a matter of days. He should, however, do sufficient optimization to ensure that nothing on his website is actually working against his success with search engines.

As a first step in the search engine optimization of your website, check to make sure you are not making any of these common mistakes.

1. Failing to use the right keywords. Take advantage of the tools available online to research the right keywords for your website. You need to have keywords real visitors will be searching for. An example of good keyword/bad keyword is an airline using the keyword phrase “low cost tickets” when its visitors would be searching for their product using the words “cheap flights”.

2. Keyword Spamming. If you use the same keyword too many times, there is a danger the search engines will consider this to be spam and will penalize your website accordingly. Keyword spamming can relate to phrases used in your website meta tags as well as to the anchor text on your website.

3. Keyword Stuffing. This is similar to keyword spamming. The offence is frequently found in “alt” tags where the website owner places keywords in the tags instead of an accurate description of the graphic.

4. Using Keywords Unrelated To Your Website. Inserting popular keyword search phrases that have nothing to do with your website content into your meta tags is a sure way of getting dumped by the search engines.

5. Using Hidden Text. Unscrupulous webmasters have been known to repeat keywords on backgrounds the same color as the text so that the words are invisible to visitors but will be read by the search engines. Newsflash: search engines are not stupid enough to fall for this trick.

6. Using minute text. This is a variation of using invisible text. Instead of making the text and the background the same color, the text is reduced to a size too small to be read by human visitors. Adding a string of tiny keywords does not work, the search engines can recognise when keywords are being used naturally and not just placed on a web page in a list.

7. Having broken links. Make sure you regularly check all links on your web pages. A bad link is a sure way of upsetting the search engine bots when they come to visit. If you are marketing affiliate products, keep an eye on the links to the vendors’ sites. When you delete of move things on your website, remember that one small change can have all sorts of repercussions if your housekeeping results in a broken link on another page.

8. Not Using Alt Tags. The search engines cannot see graphics, they rely on text. Therefore, you should use an “alt” tag for every image. The tag should accurately describe the image. The “alt” tags are also beneficial to blind or partially sighted visitors who rely on audio assistance to “see” your web pages.

9. Not Using All The Meta Tags Correctly. Make sure you use each and every recognised meta tag and use them correctly. Search engine fashions are subject to change: at one time the “keywords” meta tag was vital, then the experts told us Google no longer relied upon it. Have all your tags properly completed in readiness for them coming back into fashion. Also remember that what one search engine ignores, might be vital for listing by other search engines.

10. Using Free Hosting. Free website hosting might be perfectly adequate for a hobby website but it will not impress the search engines. The search engines look at where your site is hosted. They also take note of the length of time for which your domain is registered. A professionally hosted site with a domain name which is registered for two years or more will be given greater importance than a site hosted free with a domain name registered for only one year.

These mistakes can all be rectified very simply. Don’t be afraid, search engine optimization is much easier than rocket science and assistance is readily available. There are plenty of resources online to help you understand what is required and there are also resources to help you check that your optimization efforts are taking you in the right direction. Many of these resources are free.

Two Common Ways to Get Backlinks to Your Site

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Two Common Ways to Get Backlinks to Your Site

When it comes to search engine placement and actually getting into the search engines, one of the most important things that must be done is the building of backlinks to your site.  There are many, many ways to go about doing this and two of the most common are blog commenting and forum posting.

Blog Commenting

This is really nothing more than simply searching out blogs that are relevant to your site and making comments on the posts of the blog.  It’s important that when you’re searching out blogs to comment on, you find those that are either in the exact same niche as your site or in a niche that is somehow related because in the eyes of the search engines this makes the your site even more relevant to what you’re trying to rank well for.

When you’re using this strategy to get backlinks there are a couple of things to take note of.  The first is that blog doesn’t have ‘no follow’ tags in their URL’s.  These tags tell the search engines to not follow the link, effectively making it useless for the purpose of getting links back to your site.  The other thing to make sure to NOT do, is spam.  Spamming will either get your comment not accepted, deleted or could cause the link itself to do you more harm than good.  Not only that, but spamming will also turn your name and your site into something people in your niche will want to shy away from.

Forum Posting

Similar to blog commenting, forum posting is all about finding forums and discussion boards that are relevant to your niche and posting.  The most common way to get links back to your site with this strategy is by placing your links in your signature on the forum, thus, every time you post your signature and your links are shown.

You can also place links in your posts, however, it’s important to make sure that the link you’re putting in a post itself is extremely relevant to the topic you’re replying to otherwise, it’s little more than spam and on most forums you’ll quickly get reported or booted.  In addition to that, spamming a forum with your links in any way is just as similar to spamming blog comments.  More than likely your post will be deleted and your account banned, essentially costing you a probably very useful resource for not only building links but also building relationships with others in your niche.

Again, these are probably two of the most common strategies to use in your attempt to get more links to your website, however, there are still many other ways for you to get backlinks so you shouldn’t rely solely on these two.

More Backlinks Articles

Want to Increase Your Page Rank? Avoid These Common Backlink Mistakes

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Want to Increase Your Page Rank? Avoid These Common Backlink Mistakes

The best way to increase your page rank is to get backlinks.  After all, your backlinks can mean the difference between a number one ranking and a site that doesn’t rank at all.  But there are plenty of internet marketers out there that are making huge mistakes when it comes to backlinks.

Are you one of them?   If you’re trying to get backlinks, avoid these common mistakes:

1.  Looking for quantity, instead of quality.

This is the biggest mistake that internet marketers make when they’re trying to get backlinks.  If you think that you need to get thousands of backlinks, no matter where they come from, you’re wrong.  A site that has 50 quality backlinks will outrank a site that has 1,000 backlinks from low-quality pages.  Your time is much better spent looking for quality backlinks, instead of trying to link to anything and everything.

2.  Buying backlinks.

There are plenty of offers out there, guaranteeing thousands of backlinks for just a few dollars.  It seems like a great shortcut, right?  Wrong!  The search engines do not like sites that buy or sell backlinks.  To them, it devalues the entire concept of page rank.  Buying backlinks does not mean your site is actually popular, and the search engines will not reward you for it.  Instead, the search engines have created filters that can figure out which websites are selling backlinks.  Those sites are no longer considered trustworthy, and if you buy from them, your site will not be considered trustworthy, either.  Bottom line – get backlinks the old-fashioned way, like great content, instead of shortcuts.

3.  Not linking to relevant sites.

As you try to get backlinks, you need to look for links that will be deemed relevant by the search engines.  Depending on your niche, this can take some work.  Be on the lookout for forums, blogs, or article directories that relate to your site.  If you get backlinks from a ton of sites that have nothing to do with your niche, it will not help your page rank.  In fact, it could even damage your page rank.  The search engines want to see you build quality backlinks, which includes links from relevant sites.

4.  Ignoring your content.

It is not good enough to just find relevant sites; you also have to give them quality content.  You may have found the best article directory in the world, but if you submit bad content, you are never going to get quality backlinks.  Why not?  No one is going to link to your content if it doesn’t provide anything new or fresh.  It may take some time, but quality content will make it around the internet, generating backlinks for you in the process.

5.  Only linking to your home page.

Once you have that quality content, you need to link to other pages on your site.  After all, each page should target different keywords.  That means that any page on your site is capable of getting its own page ranking.  Plus, the search engines like it if you link to different pages around your site; it shows them that you have a lot of substance, aside from your home page.

If you publish an article or a forum posting that is relevant to a specific page inside your site, link to it, instead of your home page.  Not only will it help boost your ranking for that particular page, but it makes it easier for visitors to find information if you send them to a specific page.  Let’s face it – no one wants to come to your site and search; they want you to make it easy for them!

Some Useful Ways To Use Twitter, The Most Common Social Media Networking Site

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Small business owners have formed a group in Twitter and are seen in large numbers than big business owners. This is a social media marketing tool that was known to very few people till last year and in less than a year it has risen with amazing versatility. There are number of ways and everyone using Twitter has his own reason behind it. Restaurant owners want to advertise about their specials and they are using this platform to drive customers to their restaurants.

According to social media expert, if you want to think and achieve big, you need to broaden your use of Twitter. You need to do few things and keep in mind some points so that you are able to market your business in a successful way on Twitter. Post often because short and frequent posts work best. It is ideal to tweet at least once a day and if you have something new and relevant, you can add more to it. You can use the various tools available on social media sties that are free and extremely brilliant and outstanding.

Twitter is basically a place where you can have conversation with many people. So, it is good if you try to converse in a natural tone and convey your message very naturally. Make your self as simple as possible and try to speak in one person. Do not hit people by straightforwardly asking them to buy your widget or so. Try to be subtle and yet convey your message smartly. Be natural even if there are few people who understand your tone initially. Last but not the least tip is to have fun in all these things. Do not take life seriously and think only about business and its development. If you will enjoy this social media way, you will be benefited in the long run.

There are some smart people already in the field of social media marketing and also understand about twitter advantages. They are the real social media guide and always ready to help you and you can make a clear difference between what works on twitter and what not.

Common Mistakes On Twitter

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Common Mistakes on Twitter

Twitter is an exciting, cool, and extremely profitable social network site. Millions of people are now using the site to talk about various subjects. Indeed, it is a micro-blogging site for those who can’t stop talking. There are also common mistakes that most new users commit on Twitter. Before you start sending tweets, you must be aware of these common mistakes.

Mistake number 1 – the picture on your avatar is not yours. Most new users don’t post their real picture. They often use cartoon pictures, company logos, or their pet’s pictures. Although the pictures are quite cute, most Twitter users will appreciate a real picture of you. When you post your true picture on Avatar, others will think that you’re real and that you’re confident enough to let others see you. If you’re going to upload a photo, choose the ones where you give a beautiful smile. A smile can easily brighten the day of others.

Sending direct messages automatically through the AutoDM; direct messages are often impersonal and pushy. If you send this type of messages, you can lose your followers. TweetLater is another tool that sends automatic messages. When you use these tools, messages are automatically sent to those who follow you. A message saying ‘thanks for following me’ is fine but sending automated messages promoting your business or product is not a good idea and most people will just frown at them.

Do you have any followers? If you want to have followers, you need to follow people or you can at least create an interesting profile page. You can get followers by regularly posting updates. If you keep on following people and yet you don’t make updates on your page, you can’t get enough followers.

The 140-character tweets should be used to answer the Twitter question. Answering that question once a day may be enough to let others know that you’re interested in the community. You can post what you’re doing for the day or where you plan to go for the night. Tweets are great for starting conversations. You can also re-tweet other users or send them comments.

Check your numbers regularly. It’s not good to follow many people when you have very few individuals following you. Try to achieve balance. Make sure that the one you follow will also follow you back and you should also appreciate the ones who follow you. This is the easiest way to make friends on Twitter.

Use tools like Tweetdeck so that you don’t need to stay online all the time. Through this application, you can divide your followers into groups. Now, you can easily track them especially when they send direct messages and replies.

If you keep on promoting your business all the time, everyone will ‘unfollow’ you. No one likes a person who talks about his business or product most of the time. You must learn to respect others. As you may have forgotten, Twitter is a social network.

You must learn how to communicate and build good relationships before you start bombarding them with promotions. Even if you already have a god list of leads, it is still not a good idea to barrage them with promotions. Promotional tweets should be sent in limited numbers only.

These are the common mistakes committed by new and old tweeters. Take note of them and don’t commit the same mistakes.

Twitter: Common Marketing Mistakes

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Many internet marketers join Twitter for the purpose of promoting their products, for building their mailing lists, for keeping in touch with their customers or prospects, etc.Nothing wrong so far …However, if you don’t take care HOW you use Twitter, you may just waste your time or even worse … you can even damage your reputation.You don’t want this to happen, do you?Then … take care and avoid these mistakes …MARKETING MISTAKE # 1Letting your followers know EVERY LITTLE thing you do. Like “Drinking my coffee”.Decide what you are. Are you a marketer or not?Who do you think that cares when you drink your coffee? I bet that not even your mom!If at a certain moment in time you have nothing important to say or you cannot help anyone, then … don’t say anything.Sometimes silence is better.If you want to show a human, friendly face instead of a corporate one, that’s a good approach, no problem. But …Do it not by telling your followers when you drink your coffee but by trying to help them when they need and by offering them free tips & resources.MARKETING MISTAKE # 2Setting up automatic direct messages that are sent to ALL your followers but contain a message that is targetted to a very narrow niche that excludes many of your potential followers.Here is one of the funniest DM I received:”Free ebook ‘Internet Marketing Essentials for Newbies’ with subscription at …(link removed)”Well, if you bother to read my short Twitter bio, then you find out within seconds that I’m the CEO of an ezine advertising network, not a newbie.What someone may think about you when receives such message? “You’re ridiculous.” Or … “You’re a newbie”, or “You’re not professional”, or “You’re not polite”.Is this the result you were looking for?MARKETING MISTAKE # 3Not responding to direct messages or replies that require an answer from you.When you do this … it’s like saying, “I don’t care what you say or what you need, I only want you to signup for my mailing list and buy my products”.If this is how you understand that a prospect has to be treated, you better try something else other than internet marketing.MARKETING MISTAKE # 4Don’t understanding that your tweet is actually a headline.If your tweet is “Check this out: …(link)”, you have just wasted your time by writing that tweet.Any marketer should remember what David Ogilvy said: “When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”To Your Success!Adrian Jock

What Twitter and the Brady Bunch Have in Common

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Twitter, Twitter, Twitter! Twitter is like Marcia Brady. It gets a lot of attention from its popular friends, fans and followers, and a lot of complaining from its insecure counterparts (AKA: Jan). Whether you love it or hate it – you NEED to know how Twitter works, how it can improve your company’s communication AND bottom line.

So, what’s it all about? Classified as micro-blogging, Twitter is a site that allows users to post “Tweets” of 140 characters answering the question, “What are you doing?” Businesses are leveraging Twitter to inform clients, customers and other target audiences of important company news, discounts, special promotions and events. Businesses are also using Twitter to monitor conversations about themselves, competitors and industry trends, and to interact with current and potential clients.   

On a scale of 1-10, the difficulty of creating a Twitter account is about a three. (Maybe that’s why 55 percent of people who create an account never Tweet?) Simply log on to www.twitter.com and click on “Get Started – Join!” Twitter will then prompt you to enter your organization’s name, username, password and e-mail. From there, Twitter will search the given e-mail to see who you already know on Twitter, allow you to invite friends to join and will provide suggestions on interesting people to follow. You can then click on the settings tab to provide your organization’s URL, description and location; and add a custom profile and background.  

Perhaps, the most difficult part about Twitter is interacting appropriately and making your organization interesting enough to follow. More on that later! In the meantime, check out the following following tips from Kevin Rose, Twitter investor and Digg founder, to get you started.

Common Twitter Marketing Mistakes You Need To Avoid

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Many online marketers get on Twitter with the intention of making big profits by using it to create marketing lists, contact existing customers and use it as a new place to market products. It’s a great strategy that may possibly yield incredible profits. However, you can seriously damage your reputation and waste lots of time and effort if you don’t know what you’re doing. You need to keep from making a few basic mistakes to make things go your way on Twitter.One of the most common problems people have when they use Twitter to begin marketing a product is having an exaggerated opinion of themselves. The other thing that people have to learn is that not every person who sees their marketing campaign even cares about what the business is about. The people you are trying to reach don’t really care about “you” at all but they’re a whole lot more interested in “ME.” Everyone wants the best for themselves. Even if you created a revolutionary software program that would make Bill Gates jealous, it doesn’t matter. What the really care about is how it can benefit them. In order for you to make this product important to them, you have to figure out how to make them believe that their life would be worse off if they don’t purchase your product. If you have a good answer for them and deliver it right you’ll get results from a Twitter campaign.On the other hand some people try to market on Twitter with a little too much mystery. If people can’t easily see who you are, they will ignore you. Make sure that your Twitter page has pertinent information like a well written ad about yourself and a nice photograph. You shouldn’t waste a first contact with any prospect because your photo is impossible to make out. But always remember to keep things light in your biography. Taking your product or your business too sternly can be a death knell to your business and any chance of having a successful marketing movement. People log on to Twitter to socialize and have fun. Don’t complicate the lives of your potential Twitter following by being too serious. Write your tweets with some spice and add a little humor if it is appropriate. When you Tweet, your are officially in the business of “Infotainment”. This is where you are giving out information but in a fun-filled way. Try not to be drab or boring.You will probably receive direct direct messages or replies from your customers; be sure to answer them personally. It tells your audience that growing your business is your only focus, with no genuine care for building relationships or long term commitment to your followers. It is important to show real interest in a prospect’s questions, and to take care in answering them. You don’t want to put a black mark on your reputation by ignoring direct messages. If you don’t get back to people when they tweet you they’ll lose respect for you. Your main concern should be creating an impression of trust and esteem. Finally, be sure to actually take action. The steady growth of your business by making sales with a Twitter account is your ultimate goal. Know the precise moment to recommend your business to your audience- when it will provide the greatest benefit to them. You have to make sure your prospective customer finds your product interesting before you’re going to make a sale.

3 Common Misconceptions About Internet Marketing Revealed

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Back in the 1980’s in the health industry, the belief was that eating a high carbohydrates, low protein, and low fat diet was the healthiest way to go. Most carbohydrates were considered good. And ALL fats are bad.

Unfortunately when the carbohydrate rage was going on, we see an increase in obese people and diabetes. Not too healthy is it? Now, a balanced diet and eating healthy fish fats is accepted as the healthiest way to go. The carbohydrate myth is now debunked. (That is the fact as I see it, anyway)

The same thing goes on with internet marketing and today I’m going to help you debunk 3 common myths about internet marketing:

Myth #1

Internet Marketing takes no effort to build!

This is probably the most popular myth about internet marketing. Although internet marketing is in fact the lazy person’s way to wealth (legally and morally), the truth is that you still have to put out work in the front end before any real money is made in the backend.

Once you put enough work in the front end to develop a solid internet marketing foundation, you can then relax on the beach while the residual comes pouring in all without lifting a finger!

Myth #2

All you need is a great website with all the best graphics and animations!

You can’t just put up a website, tell your brother and sister about it, sit at home and watch TV all day and expect to have the cash magically appear in your bank account. You will still have to distribute, develop and market your product or service to people before anything significant will happen.

Many people spend tens of thousands of dollars having their websites developed without even thinking about the market they are selling their product and service to. They have all the flashy and colorful images and cute animations to impress visitors. Unfortunately, without a market, the only person that will look at their website and be impressed with it is themselves.

It’s like setting up your own professional practice or retail store and only telling your friends and family. No advertising and no marketing. Unless you have a HUGE family and have thousands of friends to support you, you’ll be out of business in within months!

Myth #3

The BIG money in Internet Marketing is all hype and bullshi*!

People who believe in this garbage probably believe that the only way to make money is to go to school and earn wages at their cubicle. Although these people are half right, they get what they believe, all of the hype and bullshi*, and none of the BIG money.

When an internet marketing ‘guru’ promises that his program will make you a millionaire in a month, he is a fraud and that’s why internet marketing is sometimes viewed by some people as scams.

But don’t take financial lessons from wage earners, it’s like taking hockey lessons from Michael Jordan; you are learning from people who don’t know what they’re doing on those subjects. In our case, broke wage earners giving us their opinions about internet marketing!

If I told you how much a successful internet marketer makes, you wouldn’t believe me. Do your investigation and interview some top internet marketers. Find out his lifestyle and if it’s a lot better than yours, you’d better listen up

In conclusion, remember that an internet marketing business (like any business) requires effort and a marketing strategy in order for you to make the big bucks. Throw out all the myths that are now debunked and embrace the realities of internet marketing.

3 of the Most Common Questions About Affiliate Website Marketing

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Affiliate marketing is an interesting industry because of how easy it is to get involved with. There are a few common questions that do come up about how to make money as an affiliate marketer. Here are three of the most common questions about affiliate website marketing that you may have.

1. The most common question is how do I make money? This makes sense because most people do start their affiliate business with the goal of making money.

With affiliate website marketing you get paid to sell products for a merchant that you represent. You join that affiliate merchant and then are given your own affiliate website to promote.

Most everything you need is provided for you up front and it is done at no cost to you. Your one real job is to get traffic to come to your affiliate website and purchase a product from it.

You earn a commission every time you make a sale and the affiliate merchant pays you either by check, direct deposit, or a payment processor such as PayPal. Each merchant has their own payment schedule and some will pay instantly, weekly, bimonthly, or monthly.

2. Another common question is how hard is it to make money as an affiliate marketer? This is a good question and the honest answer is unless you learn how to drive traffic to your affiliate website you never will make any money.

You can even increase your odds of earning money by creating your own pre sale page and driving traffic to it.  Another way that people make money as an affiliate marketer is to build a mailing list and follow up with it and make sales in the future.

3. Do I need my own website, is another common question! You do not actually need your own website because you will be given an affiliate website to market with.

However a better strategy is to build your own mailing list and to send your visitors to a landing page where you can capture their name and email address for future follow. Then by following up you increase the odds of making sales. Therefore whether you have your own affiliate website or not is up to you.

In summary this is three of the most common questions asked about affiliate website marketing. There is no real right or wrong way to do affiliate marketing, but to make money you will certainly have to learn how to get traffic to your moneymaking website.