Here is a brief list of things you want to avoid when creating and maintaining your website. Remember to always think from your visitors point of view.
1. Don't repeat the same content on your webpages. Make each and every one of your pages have fresh content. Make your content unique and appealing.
2. Don't use alot of animation/flash. You might think that you are impressing your visitor but in reality you might be making your visitor frustrated. Those without a fast internet connection or older computer might not be able to load all the high tech website tools you might want to add.
3. Don't change the size and type of your font on your pages. Keep to a normal size for your text content. I prefer to use size 2 and I make my headings a size 3.
4. Don't forget to add your title tag to your webpage. A majority of the search engines use the title tag in your search engine listing results. If you don't design your own webpages ask your webmaster to make sure your title tags are done.
5. Don't add a ton of images to your webpages. The more images you have the slower your webpage takes to load. This could cause your visitor to get frustrated and click off your site before it finishes loading.
6. Don't change your topics. Try to keep only one topic per webpage. If your webpage seems to be long you might want to try rewriting it and breaking it down into additional topics.
7. Don't use "Page Under Construction" signs on your site. If the page isn't ready, simply don't publicize it. Make sure to customize your 404.html error pages. You don't want to lose a visitor.
8. Don't change your links. As you build your site, people will begin to link to these pages on your website. If you change your links those links coming into your site will lead your visitors to a dead link, not good.
9. Don't misguide your visitors to your site. If you are selling products from your site, you will want targeted visitors, not visitors that thought they were coming for something else.
10. Don't put a hit counter on your webpage. Yeah put one on your ebay auctions for the fun of it but don't put them on your webpages, it looks tacky. The hit counters stats don't count as actual visitors. Each image on your page counts as a hit so if you have lots of images on each page its going to count each of those images as a visitor.
Hope you enjoyed these tips on things to avoid.
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
Mommy Portal
The Web Portal For The WAHM
http://www.mommyportal.com
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Saturday, December 04, 2004
Do you use Trafficswarm
There are so many traffic exchanges out there, how do you choose which one
to use? I have tried many with not much luck.
Some time ago an online friend of mine told me how she used these traffic exchanges to her advantage. She told me she sets her startup page as a rotator script. I asked her for the script
and have been using it ever since. Everytime I startup my browser, it will randomly open
one of my traffic exchange programs. So instead of just being able to start my browser on one program, I can actively use as many programs as I want. I currently am only using about 4 of the programs that are working the best for me. My friend also suggested putting your referral links in each of the other programs you are using, let your credits build up and then put your regular links in the programs. I hope I didn't confuse anyone. :)
Well as for traffic exchanges my favorite is going to have to be TrafficSwarm. Now this program is actually bringing a swarm of traffic to my links. I am a free member too. How TrafficSwarm works is you get your own unique TrafficSwarm link. You can either set your browsers startup page as this or you can put it in your favorites. When you visit this link, you will see a list of other sites, when you visit those sites listed you earn credits towards your links shown on other users screen. You can also upgrade to Pro and earn even more traffic. I have placed a few links and have created a downline underneath me now of 108 (87 1st level & 21 2nd level). As of now I have earned 10,010 credits just from my downline. I am going to have to give TrafficSwarm a thumbs UP.
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
Mommy Portal
The Web Portal For The WAHM
http://www.mommyportal.com
to use? I have tried many with not much luck.
Some time ago an online friend of mine told me how she used these traffic exchanges to her advantage. She told me she sets her startup page as a rotator script. I asked her for the script
and have been using it ever since. Everytime I startup my browser, it will randomly open
one of my traffic exchange programs. So instead of just being able to start my browser on one program, I can actively use as many programs as I want. I currently am only using about 4 of the programs that are working the best for me. My friend also suggested putting your referral links in each of the other programs you are using, let your credits build up and then put your regular links in the programs. I hope I didn't confuse anyone. :)
Well as for traffic exchanges my favorite is going to have to be TrafficSwarm. Now this program is actually bringing a swarm of traffic to my links. I am a free member too. How TrafficSwarm works is you get your own unique TrafficSwarm link. You can either set your browsers startup page as this or you can put it in your favorites. When you visit this link, you will see a list of other sites, when you visit those sites listed you earn credits towards your links shown on other users screen. You can also upgrade to Pro and earn even more traffic. I have placed a few links and have created a downline underneath me now of 108 (87 1st level & 21 2nd level). As of now I have earned 10,010 credits just from my downline. I am going to have to give TrafficSwarm a thumbs UP.
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
Mommy Portal
The Web Portal For The WAHM
http://www.mommyportal.com
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Link building
I find myself constantly finding other websites to exchange links with. I also have a great number of link requests in my inbox daily. I try to add at least one link to one of my sites per day.
I hope all of this hard work pays off in the future as so many things change so fast in the
SEO world. Right as I started to learn how to create my own tags to better my search engine
results, they change their algorithm on me. It seems hard for an average web designer to stay on top of the new trends of the search engines.
For the past year I have used Market Leap's Link Popularity tool to view the incoming links to my site. On Sept 27, 2004 I checked my number of links, it said 2,427. As of today I now have 3,110, not too bad huh.
Just shows that my strategy is working!!!
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
The Making Money Newsletter For Moms
http://www.mommyenterprises.com/newsletter
I hope all of this hard work pays off in the future as so many things change so fast in the
SEO world. Right as I started to learn how to create my own tags to better my search engine
results, they change their algorithm on me. It seems hard for an average web designer to stay on top of the new trends of the search engines.
For the past year I have used Market Leap's Link Popularity tool to view the incoming links to my site. On Sept 27, 2004 I checked my number of links, it said 2,427. As of today I now have 3,110, not too bad huh.
Just shows that my strategy is working!!!
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
The Making Money Newsletter For Moms
http://www.mommyenterprises.com/newsletter
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Linking Is Queen
Enjoy!
Linking is Queen
By Shawn Campbell
If content is king, then linking is the queen that shares his throne. We have all heard about adding content to your site to give the search engines fodder to consume. But the sëcret to luring the search engines is the links to your site. Today's search engines look very carefully and critically at who is linking to you, and what it is that they are saying about you. A link from a leader in your industry carries a lot of clout and means that your site is important. Two links from industry leaders means your site is even more important. 100 links from random web sites, from industries you are not even related with, means almost nothing. Thus, getting links is only the start; the important thing is getting good links from quality web sites.
Why Do Links Matter?
Since the arrival of Google and their PageRank, search engines have put a lot of emphasis on links to a site. There used to be simple ways to get good rankings: Meta tags, titles, keyword density, etc... Today, things have become more complex, with search engines using a very complicated algorithm that involves:
Linking is Queen
By Shawn Campbell
If content is king, then linking is the queen that shares his throne. We have all heard about adding content to your site to give the search engines fodder to consume. But the sëcret to luring the search engines is the links to your site. Today's search engines look very carefully and critically at who is linking to you, and what it is that they are saying about you. A link from a leader in your industry carries a lot of clout and means that your site is important. Two links from industry leaders means your site is even more important. 100 links from random web sites, from industries you are not even related with, means almost nothing. Thus, getting links is only the start; the important thing is getting good links from quality web sites.
Why Do Links Matter?
Since the arrival of Google and their PageRank, search engines have put a lot of emphasis on links to a site. There used to be simple ways to get good rankings: Meta tags, titles, keyword density, etc... Today, things have become more complex, with search engines using a very complicated algorithm that involves:
* links to your site,
* what is written in those links,
* who is linking to the site that links to yours,
* what are the keyphrases used in those links,
* what is the quality of the site that is linking to yours,
* how many other links does that site have,
* how many links out (and to what sites) does your site have,
* and other such criteria.
To use a rather appetizing analogy, these new criteria are added to the stew that is your site, along with the quality and quantity of the content. Left to simmer on the worldwide web, this stew is then eaten up by the search engines depending on how well your site matches the aforementioned criteria. Put differently, the king and queen must join together to turn your site into a number one result.
How Do We Get Links?
It all starts with content. No one will link to you unless you offer quality information about a particular subject. If you are in real estate, you must offer information about the area you sell. If someone wants to buy in your area, first s/he will want to learn about it, so you will need to have good resources about that area. The next step is to find new sites that would benefit from your site's information; new sites whose clients would potentially buy your real estate. For example, one of our clients (www.monlac.com) sells real estate in the Laurentians area of Quebec. Their site has content on activities in Quebec and the nearby Laurentian mountains. Thus, we will be soliciting links from web sites such as the nearby water parks and ski hills, nearby towns, lake and boating associations, and local construction web sites to name just a few. To these web sites, not only will linking to www.monlac.com make their customers happier, but it is in their best interest that the site sells real estate since it brings in more business for them.
How Do You Solicit Links?
To solicit sites you have to use a lot of elbow grease. Send out personalized emails to these sites. Don't send out mass emails or sp@m. Be friendly, and point out the benefits of linking to your site. If you are lucky, maybe 1 in 3 emails will get a response. It is frustrating and discouraging, but keep your spirits up. Many times a site is perfect but they don't ever update it, so your site won't get the link in because nothing ever changes on the solicited site. Don't waste too much time on sites that haven't been updated in years. It is also important to follow up. Until you get a flat out denial, keep saying "Hi", and keep it personal. Keep track of who you have contacted and what you have written or said because you have to make it seem like they are the only person you are contacting. As soon as they get a sniff that you are sending out a mass email, or that you are using the exact same approach with other sites, you will probably losë their respect - and their business!
Do not forget to submit to the directories such as the Open Directory Project, because getting listed at DMOZ counts for a lot in all the big search engines. Take your time and choose the right category to submit to. Also, read about how they want their descriptions and titles written, and write them that way. These are the keys to getting into the directories.
Soliciting links is a very time-consuming (and frustrating) venture, but it is essential to getting good rankings in the search engines. It takes a lot of patience and a lot of time. Getting your first link is like getting your first sale. It is just as hard - and just as satisfying.
Good luck, Shawn Campbell
About The AuthorShawn Campbell is an enthusiastic player in the ecommerce marketplace, and co-founded Red Carpet Web Promotion, Inc.. He has been researching and developing marketing strategies to achieve more prominent listings in search engine results since 1998. Shawn is one of the earliest pioneers in the search engine optimization field. Contact: shawn@redcarpetweb.com
Sunday, November 07, 2004
Guaranteed Ways To Build Up Your Ezine List
Hello everyone,
Sorry I haven't been posting much here lately but things have been crazy at home. I just became a broker for AmeriPlan®, which provides a great health benefit plan for only $11.95 a month by the way. This new business is keeping me quite busy, so much to learn. I read this article and thought it would be useful to those who have a newsletter or are in the process of creating one.
Enjoy!
Guaranteed Ways to Build Up Your Ezine List By Suzanne Falter-Barns (c) 2004
Here are tips gleaned from roughly 5 years spent building up an ezine list. I've also incorporated comments and tips from Jenna Glatzer, who successfully built her list up to 75,000 at her excellent site, www.absolutewrite.com.
1. 'Free' Stuff. Pick genuinely useful frëe stuff that you know your audience wants and needs. For instance, my brand new ezine, Expert Status, attracted 600 readers in just a few weeks by offering a report, "25 Top Self Help Literary Agents". The practical freebie works. Jenna Glatzer offers two frëe ebooks/reports to subscribers on agents who are receptive to new writers, and on writer's markets. She notes: "Before I did that, my subscriber numbers were in the hundreds, not thousands.
2. Put a subscribe box on every page of the site. This has worked for both Jenna and me. Mine is parked in the left hand column of the site. Experts advise putting a simple sign up box (with freebie mentioned) in the top left hand corner, as that's where the eye naturally travels first. A simple sign up box that requests only email address works best.
3. Ad swaps. Exchange plugs for your ezine with another website, to run in each other's ezines. Be sure to mention those freebies! Doing this on a regular basis with a rotating selection of web partners will keep your subscription page busy.
4. Cross-registration. I've found subscribers by having a plug for my ezine on the thank you page of a comparable (but not directly competitive) website. This offer is made to folks who just signed up for an ezine, and are therefore deemed 'in the mood for more.' Offer a swap with your site, and try not to list more than about two other ezines. Also, make a point of including only really good, reliable publications that reach your target market.
5. Give away a bonus for other sites to use, based on your ezine. A popular web marketing technique is the special one or two-day promo that offers big bonus lists when you buy a certain product on those particular days. (I cover this promo technique in more detail in my ebook/binder, Get Known Now; How to Build Your Platform as a Self Help Expert.) So collect some of your best ezine essays, pack 'em up in a downloadable PDF-based e-book, and offer it as a bonus these sites can use in their special promos. Don't forget juicy descriptive copy about your ezine, and a subscribe link at the end of your ebook. I've gotten hundreds of new readers this way, and much traffïc to my site.
6. Announce ezine 'events' on PRweb.com and other PR sites. There's an entire world of web-based press release distribution services out there, some of which are low cost or even frëe. So use them. But be sure to only plant press releases that are truly newsworthy, and thus likely to get press attention. Even if the media don't use your words this time, they'll hopefully file you as an expert for future use.
7. Use discussion boards or groups. These are sites frequented by gangs of people interested in the same thing. Avoid the unmoderated sites, because they're likely to be sp@m targets that generate little bonafide traffïc. Boards found on member sites are the best. Don't sp@m the board with your subscribe message. Instead, offer some genuinely helpful info. Then sign off with a signature line that includes ezine and subscribe info. You can find some of these groups at groups.yahoo.com, topica.com, and mail-list.com for starters.
8. Sponsor other people's contests. Jenna Glatzer gives away products like her paid newsletter, Absolute Markets Premium Newsletter, to writers' groups, contests, and conferences that request it, regardless of size. I've tried this too, to good effect. Simply run an announcement in your ezine that you'd be happy to sponsor comparable events. Ask them to provide a URL for an event description so you know it's legit. Then offer up your gifts, and ask for a plug for your ezine and for them to talk up your dazzling freebie, as well. Jenna notes that groups she sponsors "often send out ads for us to their lists... just as a thank you."
9. Run quality content. There's no substitute for heartfelt writing plus solid information about a subject that matters. Jenna writes: 'The main reason our list stays so big is our 'letter from the editor' ... Each week, I chronicle my writing life and my triumphs and failures ...when an article is killed, when I'm having trouble finishing a book ... And I share personal things, too, like when my grandfather died... . People write: 'I feel like I know you so well.' And I think that's why they stay on the list, even when their mailbox fills up with dozens of other writer's newsletters.
Put A Google-Type Ad Box on 7 Search EnginesYour Keywords - Top 10 Placement
All for $12/URL or Less, PLUS Sign Up Today and Receive FR-E-E Bonus Software
10. Allow reprints. Allow any newsletter that wants to reprint your articles do so. I like to have an email requesting permission, so I can enter their info into a big database I use to track where I can send more articles in the future. I end each article with the line: You may reprint this article in your own ezine or website. Simply send an email requesting permission to Email Address. Please be sure to include our full bio box at the end.
11. Create a survey or contest. This would be one of those newsworthy 'ezine events' I mentioned above in point # 6. Make it a fun, relevant question that you could really develop a good, newsy story from. I did a survey asking people what they fought with their spouse/partner/boy or girlfriend about. The results made for the kind of reading offline media enjoy running short, 100-word pieces about (fillers.) I made sure to attribute the survey to my ezine, The Joy Letter, with a mention of the site's basic URL. You can get the technology to run your own survey and collect responses at surveymonkey.com (for a fee) or bravenet.com (for frëe.)
I think I could actually go on and on. The possibilities seem to be endless. If you try even half of these techniques on a regular basis, you'll find your subscriber rates double and even triple. Here's to building your list... the foundation that much of your traffïc and success rely on.
About The AuthorSuzanne Falter-Barns' website, The Self Help Salon offers tips and tools that help you build your platform and get known as an expert in your field. Sign up for her frëe ezine, Expert Status, and receive her frëe report, "25 Top Self Help Literary Agents"
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
AmeriPlan® Independant Business Owner
http://www.mommyenterprises.simpleasabc.com
Sorry I haven't been posting much here lately but things have been crazy at home. I just became a broker for AmeriPlan®, which provides a great health benefit plan for only $11.95 a month by the way. This new business is keeping me quite busy, so much to learn. I read this article and thought it would be useful to those who have a newsletter or are in the process of creating one.
Enjoy!
Guaranteed Ways to Build Up Your Ezine List By Suzanne Falter-Barns (c) 2004
Here are tips gleaned from roughly 5 years spent building up an ezine list. I've also incorporated comments and tips from Jenna Glatzer, who successfully built her list up to 75,000 at her excellent site, www.absolutewrite.com.
1. 'Free' Stuff. Pick genuinely useful frëe stuff that you know your audience wants and needs. For instance, my brand new ezine, Expert Status, attracted 600 readers in just a few weeks by offering a report, "25 Top Self Help Literary Agents". The practical freebie works. Jenna Glatzer offers two frëe ebooks/reports to subscribers on agents who are receptive to new writers, and on writer's markets. She notes: "Before I did that, my subscriber numbers were in the hundreds, not thousands.
2. Put a subscribe box on every page of the site. This has worked for both Jenna and me. Mine is parked in the left hand column of the site. Experts advise putting a simple sign up box (with freebie mentioned) in the top left hand corner, as that's where the eye naturally travels first. A simple sign up box that requests only email address works best.
3. Ad swaps. Exchange plugs for your ezine with another website, to run in each other's ezines. Be sure to mention those freebies! Doing this on a regular basis with a rotating selection of web partners will keep your subscription page busy.
4. Cross-registration. I've found subscribers by having a plug for my ezine on the thank you page of a comparable (but not directly competitive) website. This offer is made to folks who just signed up for an ezine, and are therefore deemed 'in the mood for more.' Offer a swap with your site, and try not to list more than about two other ezines. Also, make a point of including only really good, reliable publications that reach your target market.
5. Give away a bonus for other sites to use, based on your ezine. A popular web marketing technique is the special one or two-day promo that offers big bonus lists when you buy a certain product on those particular days. (I cover this promo technique in more detail in my ebook/binder, Get Known Now; How to Build Your Platform as a Self Help Expert.) So collect some of your best ezine essays, pack 'em up in a downloadable PDF-based e-book, and offer it as a bonus these sites can use in their special promos. Don't forget juicy descriptive copy about your ezine, and a subscribe link at the end of your ebook. I've gotten hundreds of new readers this way, and much traffïc to my site.
6. Announce ezine 'events' on PRweb.com and other PR sites. There's an entire world of web-based press release distribution services out there, some of which are low cost or even frëe. So use them. But be sure to only plant press releases that are truly newsworthy, and thus likely to get press attention. Even if the media don't use your words this time, they'll hopefully file you as an expert for future use.
7. Use discussion boards or groups. These are sites frequented by gangs of people interested in the same thing. Avoid the unmoderated sites, because they're likely to be sp@m targets that generate little bonafide traffïc. Boards found on member sites are the best. Don't sp@m the board with your subscribe message. Instead, offer some genuinely helpful info. Then sign off with a signature line that includes ezine and subscribe info. You can find some of these groups at groups.yahoo.com, topica.com, and mail-list.com for starters.
8. Sponsor other people's contests. Jenna Glatzer gives away products like her paid newsletter, Absolute Markets Premium Newsletter, to writers' groups, contests, and conferences that request it, regardless of size. I've tried this too, to good effect. Simply run an announcement in your ezine that you'd be happy to sponsor comparable events. Ask them to provide a URL for an event description so you know it's legit. Then offer up your gifts, and ask for a plug for your ezine and for them to talk up your dazzling freebie, as well. Jenna notes that groups she sponsors "often send out ads for us to their lists... just as a thank you."
9. Run quality content. There's no substitute for heartfelt writing plus solid information about a subject that matters. Jenna writes: 'The main reason our list stays so big is our 'letter from the editor' ... Each week, I chronicle my writing life and my triumphs and failures ...when an article is killed, when I'm having trouble finishing a book ... And I share personal things, too, like when my grandfather died... . People write: 'I feel like I know you so well.' And I think that's why they stay on the list, even when their mailbox fills up with dozens of other writer's newsletters.
Put A Google-Type Ad Box on 7 Search EnginesYour Keywords - Top 10 Placement
All for $12/URL or Less, PLUS Sign Up Today and Receive FR-E-E Bonus Software
10. Allow reprints. Allow any newsletter that wants to reprint your articles do so. I like to have an email requesting permission, so I can enter their info into a big database I use to track where I can send more articles in the future. I end each article with the line: You may reprint this article in your own ezine or website. Simply send an email requesting permission to Email Address. Please be sure to include our full bio box at the end.
11. Create a survey or contest. This would be one of those newsworthy 'ezine events' I mentioned above in point # 6. Make it a fun, relevant question that you could really develop a good, newsy story from. I did a survey asking people what they fought with their spouse/partner/boy or girlfriend about. The results made for the kind of reading offline media enjoy running short, 100-word pieces about (fillers.) I made sure to attribute the survey to my ezine, The Joy Letter, with a mention of the site's basic URL. You can get the technology to run your own survey and collect responses at surveymonkey.com (for a fee) or bravenet.com (for frëe.)
I think I could actually go on and on. The possibilities seem to be endless. If you try even half of these techniques on a regular basis, you'll find your subscriber rates double and even triple. Here's to building your list... the foundation that much of your traffïc and success rely on.
About The AuthorSuzanne Falter-Barns' website, The Self Help Salon offers tips and tools that help you build your platform and get known as an expert in your field. Sign up for her frëe ezine, Expert Status, and receive her frëe report, "25 Top Self Help Literary Agents"
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
AmeriPlan® Independant Business Owner
http://www.mommyenterprises.simpleasabc.com
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Get Your Web Visitors Off the Couch!
By Sandi Smith
You've built your Web site, you've implemented your SEO ideas, and people are actually visiting your site. Are your visitors turning into clients? Perhaps some are, but surely you'd like to have more. Here are some tips to get your Web visitors off the couch and calling you, sending you emails, and buying your products or services:
1. Make sure every page of your Web site has a call to action listed at least once.
Your pages should be carefully designed to drive the visitor into taking the action you want them to. That could be buying a product,calling you, setting an appointment, signing up for your newsletter, or taking a quiz.
Calls to action look like the following:
--For more information about our work, please call or email
--Sign up for a free information session
--Register for our newsletter
--Read more
--Click here
--Add to Cart
--Register now!
--Get started today by contacting __ at __.
It might be a no-brainer to have these calls to action listed on yourproduct or service description pages, but what about your other pages?Do you have them listed on your articles pages? Right after you'vedemonstrated your incredible knowledge is a perfect time to mentionthings like "Do you have questions? Email us at ___." Or better yet,say "This is a tip from our ebook. Want more?", then send them toyour ebook product page.
Take a look at all of your pages and see what calls to action area ppropriate for each one.
2. List enough information to let the visitor make a decision about your business.
You want to list everything you can think of when you're developing your products and services pages. Here is a generic list:
1. Describe the product or service physically if possible, and includea photo.
2. Include benefits, value, features, and what's different about your product that other products don't have:
--What pain will it ease?
--Who usually buys it?
--What type of customers benefit from it?
--Is there a guarantee?
--What will the buyer experience when working with the product or service?
--Are there instructions?
--How does a customer get started with it?
--What results will it produce?
--Is there a methodology or philosophy?
--How can a visitor learn more
There's a reason why those long sales letters work. In addition to evoking emotions, they confront every objection a buyer has by givingthem more information -- enough to make a purchasing decision.
3. Create a sense of urgency with a deadline or special offer.
If visitors feel like they'll be missing out by not acting now, they will be more likely to get off the couch.
4. Mention pain.
I just wrote an article last week called "Avoiding Major Pain in Web Design." Years ago, I wrote an article similar to "Twelve Steps to Recovery for Executives in Denial of the Internet." For some reason, I get the most reader response to these negatively worded titles. Mentioning pain that evokes guilt or greed gets people off the couch.
5. Create actionable content.
As you write your Web copy, use phrases like "Have you thought about___?", "You owe it to yourself," and other language that invokes interaction on the part of the visitor. Include lots of "you" statements, making it about the reader. Your reader should relate towhat you're saying and even empathize with your words. It's all about getting your visitor to take the first step towards starting a relationship with you. Then you'll have a chance down the road to turn them into a customer.
These ideas on getting more business from actionable content havecertainly helped my clients, and I hope they will help you as well!
Sandi Smith
http://www.sandismith.com
Hope You Enjoyed This Article!
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
http://www.mommyportal.com
By Sandi Smith
You've built your Web site, you've implemented your SEO ideas, and people are actually visiting your site. Are your visitors turning into clients? Perhaps some are, but surely you'd like to have more. Here are some tips to get your Web visitors off the couch and calling you, sending you emails, and buying your products or services:
1. Make sure every page of your Web site has a call to action listed at least once.
Your pages should be carefully designed to drive the visitor into taking the action you want them to. That could be buying a product,calling you, setting an appointment, signing up for your newsletter, or taking a quiz.
Calls to action look like the following:
--For more information about our work, please call or email
--Sign up for a free information session
--Register for our newsletter
--Read more
--Click here
--Add to Cart
--Register now!
--Get started today by contacting __ at __.
It might be a no-brainer to have these calls to action listed on yourproduct or service description pages, but what about your other pages?Do you have them listed on your articles pages? Right after you'vedemonstrated your incredible knowledge is a perfect time to mentionthings like "Do you have questions? Email us at ___." Or better yet,say "This is a tip from our ebook. Want more?", then send them toyour ebook product page.
Take a look at all of your pages and see what calls to action area ppropriate for each one.
2. List enough information to let the visitor make a decision about your business.
You want to list everything you can think of when you're developing your products and services pages. Here is a generic list:
1. Describe the product or service physically if possible, and includea photo.
2. Include benefits, value, features, and what's different about your product that other products don't have:
--What pain will it ease?
--Who usually buys it?
--What type of customers benefit from it?
--Is there a guarantee?
--What will the buyer experience when working with the product or service?
--Are there instructions?
--How does a customer get started with it?
--What results will it produce?
--Is there a methodology or philosophy?
--How can a visitor learn more
There's a reason why those long sales letters work. In addition to evoking emotions, they confront every objection a buyer has by givingthem more information -- enough to make a purchasing decision.
3. Create a sense of urgency with a deadline or special offer.
If visitors feel like they'll be missing out by not acting now, they will be more likely to get off the couch.
4. Mention pain.
I just wrote an article last week called "Avoiding Major Pain in Web Design." Years ago, I wrote an article similar to "Twelve Steps to Recovery for Executives in Denial of the Internet." For some reason, I get the most reader response to these negatively worded titles. Mentioning pain that evokes guilt or greed gets people off the couch.
5. Create actionable content.
As you write your Web copy, use phrases like "Have you thought about___?", "You owe it to yourself," and other language that invokes interaction on the part of the visitor. Include lots of "you" statements, making it about the reader. Your reader should relate towhat you're saying and even empathize with your words. It's all about getting your visitor to take the first step towards starting a relationship with you. Then you'll have a chance down the road to turn them into a customer.
These ideas on getting more business from actionable content havecertainly helped my clients, and I hope they will help you as well!
Sandi Smith
http://www.sandismith.com
Hope You Enjoyed This Article!
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
http://www.mommyportal.com
Monday, October 11, 2004
Google Page Rank - Important or Just Another Number?
Here is a article I got in my inbox today that I thought I would share.
Google Page Rank - Importantor Just Another Number?
By Richard Grady (c) 2004
In my last newsletter, I wrote about how your website's Alexa rating is not actually that important to the success of your online business. In this issue, I want to look at another popular statistic - Google Page Rank - and ask a similar question - is it that important?
First a quick overview as to what the Google Page Rank actually is...
Google Page Rank (or PR as it is often referred to as) is simply an indication of the number of websites that link to a specific website. It also attempts to indicate the quality of those links. PR ranges from 0 to 10 (with 10 being the 'best' PR and 0 being the 'worst'). The vast majority of small business websites will usually find they have a PR of between 0 and 5.
To calculate a particular sites PR, Google uses a fairly complicated algorithm based on the number of web links that it is aware of that link to the site in question. This algorithm will also take into account the PR of the page that is providing the link. Thus, a link from a web page that has a PR of 7 will be considered more valuable than a link from a page with a PR of 4.
Because of the way in which links from higher PR-ranked sites are considered more important, many people are choosing to buy links from websites with high PR's just so that they can increase their own PR. I have seen sites selling a simple text link on their home page for over $700 a month purely based on the fact that they have a PR of 7 or above. This may seem like a lot of money but when you consider that the website owners who are buying these links often have websites that are in no way relevant to the content of the site linking to them, it is absolutely ridiculous.
Take this example, let's say you have a website about health and fitness and you buy a link for $500 a month from a random website because it has a PR of 7. This random website has no relevance to your health and fitness site so what is going to happen? Well, your own PR may increase as a result of the link. You may get a bit of extra traffïc but probably not much since people don't click on links that that they are not interested in. You will definitely be $500 poorer at the end of the month!
Instead, why not spend the $500 on pay-per-click advertising and benefit from some quality, targeted traffïc?
Of course, there is a bit more to it than that and the reason that most people want to increase their PR is because Google takes this statistic into account when determining where a website will be displayed in their search results. Many people assume that a high PR automatically equals a high search engine placement for their chosen keywords. Not so....
PR is just one of over 100 different factors that Google takes into account when deciding where your website will feature (and these factors and the main algorithm change on a very regular basis). It is perfectly possible for a website with a PR of 5 to get a higher ranking than a PR 7 site if it has better content or is more relevant for the search term in question.
Remember that relevance is all important with Google and a link from a website that is not relevant to your own site will be considered far less important than a relevant one (which makes buying links from random sites primarily because they have a high PR even more crazy).
I have read several rumours lately that Google hasn't updated PR's for a couple of months and they are considering phasing PR out or modifying it in some way. This is pure speculation but it wouldn't surprise me in the least. PR is easily manipulated (for example by purchasing links as described above) and Google doesn't like to have their calculations or search results manipulated. It stands to reason that they are looking at ways of preventing this.
Google Page Rank - Importantor Just Another Number? By Richard Grady (c) 2004 In my last newsletter, I wrote about how your website's Alexa rating is not actually that important to the success of your online business. In this issue, I want to look at another popular statistic - Google Page Rank - and ask a similar question - is it that important?
First a quick overview as to what the Google Page Rank actually is...
Google Page Rank (or PR as it is often referred to as) is simply an indication of the number of websites that link to a specific website. It also attempts to indicate the quality of those links. PR ranges from 0 to 10 (with 10 being the 'best' PR and 0 being the 'worst'). The vast majority of small business websites will usually find they have a PR of between 0 and 5.
To calculate a particular sites PR, Google uses a fairly complicated algorithm based on the number of web links that it is aware of that link to the site in question. This algorithm will also take into account the PR of the page that is providing the link. Thus, a link from a web page that has a PR of 7 will be considered more valuable than a link from a page with a PR of 4.
Because of the way in which links from higher PR-ranked sites are considered more important, many people are choosing to buy links from websites with high PR's just so that they can increase their own PR. I have seen sites selling a simple text link on their home page for over $700 a month purely based on the fact that they have a PR of 7 or above. This may seem like a lot of money but when you consider that the website owners who are buying these links often have websites that are in no way relevant to the content of the site linking to them, it is absolutely ridiculous.
Take this example, let's say you have a website about health and fitness and you buy a link for $500 a month from a random website because it has a PR of 7. This random website has no relevance to your health and fitness site so what is going to happen? Well, your own PR may increase as a result of the link. You may get a bit of extra traffïc but probably not much since people don't click on links that that they are not interested in. You will definitely be $500 poorer at the end of the month!
Instead, why not spend the $500 on pay-per-click advertising and benefit from some quality, targeted traffïc?
Of course, there is a bit more to it than that and the reason that most people want to increase their PR is because Google takes this statistic into account when determining where a website will be displayed in their search results. Many people assume that a high PR automatically equals a high search engine placement for their chosen keywords. Not so....
PR is just one of over 100 different factors that Google takes into account when deciding where your website will feature (and these factors and the main algorithm change on a very regular basis). It is perfectly possible for a website with a PR of 5 to get a higher ranking than a PR 7 site if it has better content or is more relevant for the search term in question.
Remember that relevance is all important with Google and a link from a website that is not relevant to your own site will be considered far less important than a relevant one (which makes buying links from random sites primarily because they have a high PR even more crazy).
I have read several rumours lately that Google hasn't updated PR's for a couple of months and they are considering phasing PR out or modifying it in some way. This is pure speculation but it wouldn't surprise me in the least. PR is easily manipulated (for example by purchasing links as described above) and Google doesn't like to have their calculations or search results manipulated. It stands to reason that they are looking at ways of preventing this.
So, in summary, is Google Page Rank important to your business?
Well, it is a good indicator of how many other sites link to yours and how important Google considers your site to be, but I personally don't place too much importance on this statistic and I certainly won't be paying out for a link from a website just because it has a high PR.
As I said above, Google changes it's rules on a regular basis and I see little point in chasing a particular PR on the basis that it might get you higher search engine rankings. If Google does decide to do away with PR, all your work will have been for nothing.
Instead, concentrate on building quality, relevant links from sites that are connected in some way to your own site content. This will ensure that any traffïc you receive via these links will at least have an interest in your site. Building links on this basis will automatically increase your PR over time (without the need to pay out for overpriced, irrelevant links). If you do things this way and Google does scrap the PR indicator, it shouldn't affect you in any way and the links you have in place will continue to benefit you.
Remember, in the same way that a low Alexa rating doesn't guarantee traffïc or sales, neither does a high PR. Sure a high PR is a 'nice to have' but lots of traffïc and high sales is even nicer :-)
About The AuthorRichard Grady has been helping people earn online since 1998. Find out more about Richard at: TheTraderOnline.com.Fr-e-e wholesale search engines: UK- Wholesale 118and US- TheWholesaleTrader.com
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
Mommy Enterprises
http://www.mommyenterprises.com
Google Page Rank - Importantor Just Another Number?
By Richard Grady (c) 2004
In my last newsletter, I wrote about how your website's Alexa rating is not actually that important to the success of your online business. In this issue, I want to look at another popular statistic - Google Page Rank - and ask a similar question - is it that important?
First a quick overview as to what the Google Page Rank actually is...
Google Page Rank (or PR as it is often referred to as) is simply an indication of the number of websites that link to a specific website. It also attempts to indicate the quality of those links. PR ranges from 0 to 10 (with 10 being the 'best' PR and 0 being the 'worst'). The vast majority of small business websites will usually find they have a PR of between 0 and 5.
To calculate a particular sites PR, Google uses a fairly complicated algorithm based on the number of web links that it is aware of that link to the site in question. This algorithm will also take into account the PR of the page that is providing the link. Thus, a link from a web page that has a PR of 7 will be considered more valuable than a link from a page with a PR of 4.
Because of the way in which links from higher PR-ranked sites are considered more important, many people are choosing to buy links from websites with high PR's just so that they can increase their own PR. I have seen sites selling a simple text link on their home page for over $700 a month purely based on the fact that they have a PR of 7 or above. This may seem like a lot of money but when you consider that the website owners who are buying these links often have websites that are in no way relevant to the content of the site linking to them, it is absolutely ridiculous.
Take this example, let's say you have a website about health and fitness and you buy a link for $500 a month from a random website because it has a PR of 7. This random website has no relevance to your health and fitness site so what is going to happen? Well, your own PR may increase as a result of the link. You may get a bit of extra traffïc but probably not much since people don't click on links that that they are not interested in. You will definitely be $500 poorer at the end of the month!
Instead, why not spend the $500 on pay-per-click advertising and benefit from some quality, targeted traffïc?
Of course, there is a bit more to it than that and the reason that most people want to increase their PR is because Google takes this statistic into account when determining where a website will be displayed in their search results. Many people assume that a high PR automatically equals a high search engine placement for their chosen keywords. Not so....
PR is just one of over 100 different factors that Google takes into account when deciding where your website will feature (and these factors and the main algorithm change on a very regular basis). It is perfectly possible for a website with a PR of 5 to get a higher ranking than a PR 7 site if it has better content or is more relevant for the search term in question.
Remember that relevance is all important with Google and a link from a website that is not relevant to your own site will be considered far less important than a relevant one (which makes buying links from random sites primarily because they have a high PR even more crazy).
I have read several rumours lately that Google hasn't updated PR's for a couple of months and they are considering phasing PR out or modifying it in some way. This is pure speculation but it wouldn't surprise me in the least. PR is easily manipulated (for example by purchasing links as described above) and Google doesn't like to have their calculations or search results manipulated. It stands to reason that they are looking at ways of preventing this.
Google Page Rank - Importantor Just Another Number? By Richard Grady (c) 2004 In my last newsletter, I wrote about how your website's Alexa rating is not actually that important to the success of your online business. In this issue, I want to look at another popular statistic - Google Page Rank - and ask a similar question - is it that important?
First a quick overview as to what the Google Page Rank actually is...
Google Page Rank (or PR as it is often referred to as) is simply an indication of the number of websites that link to a specific website. It also attempts to indicate the quality of those links. PR ranges from 0 to 10 (with 10 being the 'best' PR and 0 being the 'worst'). The vast majority of small business websites will usually find they have a PR of between 0 and 5.
To calculate a particular sites PR, Google uses a fairly complicated algorithm based on the number of web links that it is aware of that link to the site in question. This algorithm will also take into account the PR of the page that is providing the link. Thus, a link from a web page that has a PR of 7 will be considered more valuable than a link from a page with a PR of 4.
Because of the way in which links from higher PR-ranked sites are considered more important, many people are choosing to buy links from websites with high PR's just so that they can increase their own PR. I have seen sites selling a simple text link on their home page for over $700 a month purely based on the fact that they have a PR of 7 or above. This may seem like a lot of money but when you consider that the website owners who are buying these links often have websites that are in no way relevant to the content of the site linking to them, it is absolutely ridiculous.
Take this example, let's say you have a website about health and fitness and you buy a link for $500 a month from a random website because it has a PR of 7. This random website has no relevance to your health and fitness site so what is going to happen? Well, your own PR may increase as a result of the link. You may get a bit of extra traffïc but probably not much since people don't click on links that that they are not interested in. You will definitely be $500 poorer at the end of the month!
Instead, why not spend the $500 on pay-per-click advertising and benefit from some quality, targeted traffïc?
Of course, there is a bit more to it than that and the reason that most people want to increase their PR is because Google takes this statistic into account when determining where a website will be displayed in their search results. Many people assume that a high PR automatically equals a high search engine placement for their chosen keywords. Not so....
PR is just one of over 100 different factors that Google takes into account when deciding where your website will feature (and these factors and the main algorithm change on a very regular basis). It is perfectly possible for a website with a PR of 5 to get a higher ranking than a PR 7 site if it has better content or is more relevant for the search term in question.
Remember that relevance is all important with Google and a link from a website that is not relevant to your own site will be considered far less important than a relevant one (which makes buying links from random sites primarily because they have a high PR even more crazy).
I have read several rumours lately that Google hasn't updated PR's for a couple of months and they are considering phasing PR out or modifying it in some way. This is pure speculation but it wouldn't surprise me in the least. PR is easily manipulated (for example by purchasing links as described above) and Google doesn't like to have their calculations or search results manipulated. It stands to reason that they are looking at ways of preventing this.
So, in summary, is Google Page Rank important to your business?
Well, it is a good indicator of how many other sites link to yours and how important Google considers your site to be, but I personally don't place too much importance on this statistic and I certainly won't be paying out for a link from a website just because it has a high PR.
As I said above, Google changes it's rules on a regular basis and I see little point in chasing a particular PR on the basis that it might get you higher search engine rankings. If Google does decide to do away with PR, all your work will have been for nothing.
Instead, concentrate on building quality, relevant links from sites that are connected in some way to your own site content. This will ensure that any traffïc you receive via these links will at least have an interest in your site. Building links on this basis will automatically increase your PR over time (without the need to pay out for overpriced, irrelevant links). If you do things this way and Google does scrap the PR indicator, it shouldn't affect you in any way and the links you have in place will continue to benefit you.
Remember, in the same way that a low Alexa rating doesn't guarantee traffïc or sales, neither does a high PR. Sure a high PR is a 'nice to have' but lots of traffïc and high sales is even nicer :-)
About The AuthorRichard Grady has been helping people earn online since 1998. Find out more about Richard at: TheTraderOnline.com.Fr-e-e wholesale search engines: UK- Wholesale 118and US- TheWholesaleTrader.com
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
Mommy Enterprises
http://www.mommyenterprises.com
Sunday, October 10, 2004
Free traffic for your blogs
I was looking at my stats for one of my blogs on BlogPatrol and seen that one of the top referrers on my visitors stats was BlogExplosion. BlogExplosion is a traffic exchange program for blogs. I signed up last week and been doing a little surfing here and there.
I just logged into my BlogExplosion account and I already have a downline of 15 under me. That is exciting! Looks like a few in my downline haven't surfed with the program yet but a pretty good percentage of them have. Everytime anyone in my downline surfs up to three levels deep, I earn credits towards my blog on someone elses screen.
Just an idea on getting a few extra hits to your blogs!
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
I just logged into my BlogExplosion account and I already have a downline of 15 under me. That is exciting! Looks like a few in my downline haven't surfed with the program yet but a pretty good percentage of them have. Everytime anyone in my downline surfs up to three levels deep, I earn credits towards my blog on someone elses screen.
Just an idea on getting a few extra hits to your blogs!
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Mom's Traffic Tip ~ ~ #2
Looking for a way to drive some extra visitors to your site?
Place a "Tell A Friend" script on your website and let your visitors advertise for you. I know I have used these in the past and I am sure lots of other people in this BIG world do too.
There are many websites that provide free scripts to do this for you. I have found a pretty neat looking one called TellaFriends.com. I am installing it on MommyEnterprises to give it a try. The TellaFriends program allows a visitor to enter in the email addresses of their friends or family that they would like to tell about your web site they have just discovered. It will then send that person an email inviting them to your website. Most of these programs you can customize the email that is sent to the people you invite.
This is a great way to get some word of the mouth referrals :)
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
http://www.mommyportal.com
Place a "Tell A Friend" script on your website and let your visitors advertise for you. I know I have used these in the past and I am sure lots of other people in this BIG world do too.
There are many websites that provide free scripts to do this for you. I have found a pretty neat looking one called TellaFriends.com. I am installing it on MommyEnterprises to give it a try. The TellaFriends program allows a visitor to enter in the email addresses of their friends or family that they would like to tell about your web site they have just discovered. It will then send that person an email inviting them to your website. Most of these programs you can customize the email that is sent to the people you invite.
This is a great way to get some word of the mouth referrals :)
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
http://www.mommyportal.com
Sunday, October 03, 2004
A Tip To Get Others To Publish Your Aticles
Do you write articles but wish you had more places publishing them? You need to offer them with an incentive. Make them have a reason for wanting to publish your article on their site or newsletter.
For those that write articles about your own products you could offer them the right to replace your affiliate link or your link with their own affiliate link. This is a win, win situation. You get your article published with your bio at the bottom with your link and the other person gets great content plus the posiblity of making a sale.
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
Mommy Portal
The Web Portal For The WAHM
http://www.mommyportal.com
For those that write articles about your own products you could offer them the right to replace your affiliate link or your link with their own affiliate link. This is a win, win situation. You get your article published with your bio at the bottom with your link and the other person gets great content plus the posiblity of making a sale.
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
Mommy Portal
The Web Portal For The WAHM
http://www.mommyportal.com
Monday, September 27, 2004
Link Popularity
Link Popularity - Pretty popular phrase these days!
I have been slowly but surely gaining inbound links to Mommy Enterprises through link exchanges, advertising, etc.
On 09/19/04 I checked my link popularity with Market Leaps Link Popularity tool. On the 19th this tool told me that I had 1,954 links to Mommy Enterprises. Eight days later, I check to again see how popular I am!!
Wow, as today Mommy Enterprises now has 2,427 links to it. Pretty impressive huh? That is 473 more links in just eight days.
How am I doing it you ask? Well I am always looking for ways to get my link out there. I have signature files in all my mailing lists, discussion groups, forums. I also have a link directory for link exchanges.
Want to build your link popularity? A few things you might want to try are:
I have been slowly but surely gaining inbound links to Mommy Enterprises through link exchanges, advertising, etc.
On 09/19/04 I checked my link popularity with Market Leaps Link Popularity tool. On the 19th this tool told me that I had 1,954 links to Mommy Enterprises. Eight days later, I check to again see how popular I am!!
Wow, as today Mommy Enterprises now has 2,427 links to it. Pretty impressive huh? That is 473 more links in just eight days.
How am I doing it you ask? Well I am always looking for ways to get my link out there. I have signature files in all my mailing lists, discussion groups, forums. I also have a link directory for link exchanges.
Want to build your link popularity? A few things you might want to try are:
- Add a link directory on your site. Make sure to add a page just with a variety of image and text links for your site that other webmasters can use.
- Join a few discussion groups/forums and become an expert in your area. Make sure to include your signature file, if permitted on these forums you join.
- Write your own articles and include your website info in your bio. After writing your articles, submit them to related websites to be published.
- Browse related websites and sign their guestbook if they offer one. Most guestbooks include an entry for your website url.
- Take advantage of free advertising. Some webmasters will offer free advertising spots when they are new to the web.
There are many more ways to increase your link popularity out there. The methods I mention above are the methods that I have tried and are proven to be working for me.
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
Mommy Enterprises
http://www.mommyenterprises.com
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
$110.00 in FREE PPC Advertising Money
Hope all of you have been using PPC advertising to drive targeted traffic to your websites. Most that do use PPC advertising use either Google or Overture. But there are thousands of other PPC engines out there that everyone is missing out on.
I have heard that advertising on Overture can be expensive. I myself have not tried Overture but am in the process of experimenting with Google and the smaller engines to test the waters. As some of these smaller PPC search engines don't provide the large amount of traffic that the search engine giants provide, the smaller engines give you free advertising money. Some give you $5.00 to open account where I have seen others offer $25.00 in free money.
I found a few of them that offer free advertising money just for opening an account. There is no money required to open an account. This money is completely FREE.
A1 Search - Offering $25.00 free
911 Search - Offering $5.00 free
Combustive.com - Offering $10.00 free
Federacy - Offering $10.00 free
KwickSearch - Offering $20.00 free
My Town Search - Offering $10.00 free
Below are a few offering free money but you have to put a deposit money first before you can receive your free bonus.
$10.00 free with Dot Surf. This one requires a $10.00 deposit
Jumpfind is also offering $25.00 free with a $25.00 minimum deposit.
Wow, that is a total of $110.00 in FREE PPC advertising money for you to practice with. Have fun!
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
Mommy Portal
http://www.mommyportal.com
I have heard that advertising on Overture can be expensive. I myself have not tried Overture but am in the process of experimenting with Google and the smaller engines to test the waters. As some of these smaller PPC search engines don't provide the large amount of traffic that the search engine giants provide, the smaller engines give you free advertising money. Some give you $5.00 to open account where I have seen others offer $25.00 in free money.
I found a few of them that offer free advertising money just for opening an account. There is no money required to open an account. This money is completely FREE.
A1 Search - Offering $25.00 free
911 Search - Offering $5.00 free
Combustive.com - Offering $10.00 free
Federacy - Offering $10.00 free
KwickSearch - Offering $20.00 free
My Town Search - Offering $10.00 free
Below are a few offering free money but you have to put a deposit money first before you can receive your free bonus.
$10.00 free with Dot Surf. This one requires a $10.00 deposit
Jumpfind is also offering $25.00 free with a $25.00 minimum deposit.
Wow, that is a total of $110.00 in FREE PPC advertising money for you to practice with. Have fun!
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
Mommy Portal
http://www.mommyportal.com
Sunday, September 19, 2004
Want to build your list of subscribers
Do you have a newsletter but don't have the subscriber list you once imagined having? Going a little extra out of the way may bring in a few extra subscribers per week. Those few new subscribers per week can add up, leading to more advertisers and more sales.
Here are a few ideas to get you going to build your subscriber list.
* Free Stuff - Offer your subscribers a free gift for joining. Heck, you might want to offer them several free gifts. Some free great gifts are free ebooks, free reports or maybe free advertising in your newsletter. There are a ton of ebooks online that you can download and brand with your website name to give away.
* Ad Swaps - Look online for newsletters that have an audience that would enjoy what you have to offer and ask the publisher to swap newsletter ads. There are forums/boards online just for this ad swap purpose. Here is a forum on Internet Based Moms that serves just for ad swaps.
* Contests - Offer a monthly or weekly contest for your newsletter. Make the prize available to those who are members of your newsletter. You can also ask others to sponsor your contest and provide the winner with the prize. Of course you would give the contest sponsor free advertising somewhere but I heard contests bring in lots of new subscribers.
* Ezine directories - Get your newsletter listed in as many online ezine directories as you can.
* List Building Services - There are services online that can help with adding to your subscriber list too. One of the services I recommend is ListInferno. How these services basically work is you put a line of code on your site. This line of code produces a list of newsletters. As you receive hits to your page with that code on it, your newsletter is then shown on others list of newsletters, easy enough!
There are plenty of other ways of gaining subscribers to your list. Just practice with different methods and find the ones that work for your newsletter.
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
Partyswap
Direct Sales Resources
http://www.partyswap.com
Here are a few ideas to get you going to build your subscriber list.
* Free Stuff - Offer your subscribers a free gift for joining. Heck, you might want to offer them several free gifts. Some free great gifts are free ebooks, free reports or maybe free advertising in your newsletter. There are a ton of ebooks online that you can download and brand with your website name to give away.
* Ad Swaps - Look online for newsletters that have an audience that would enjoy what you have to offer and ask the publisher to swap newsletter ads. There are forums/boards online just for this ad swap purpose. Here is a forum on Internet Based Moms that serves just for ad swaps.
* Contests - Offer a monthly or weekly contest for your newsletter. Make the prize available to those who are members of your newsletter. You can also ask others to sponsor your contest and provide the winner with the prize. Of course you would give the contest sponsor free advertising somewhere but I heard contests bring in lots of new subscribers.
* Ezine directories - Get your newsletter listed in as many online ezine directories as you can.
* List Building Services - There are services online that can help with adding to your subscriber list too. One of the services I recommend is ListInferno. How these services basically work is you put a line of code on your site. This line of code produces a list of newsletters. As you receive hits to your page with that code on it, your newsletter is then shown on others list of newsletters, easy enough!
There are plenty of other ways of gaining subscribers to your list. Just practice with different methods and find the ones that work for your newsletter.
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
Partyswap
Direct Sales Resources
http://www.partyswap.com
Friday, September 17, 2004
Mom's Traffic Tip ~ ~ #1
Mom's Traffic Tip #1
Get as many links as you can to your site. Im talking thousands and thousands of links.
I would suggest adding a link directory on your websites and exchange as many links as you can with other sites in your niche.
I love Google! So I am always trying to find Google tips. If you are looking rate high on Google and you want your site to get indexed more frequently work on getting more links to your site. Google's bots are going from webpage to webpage via hyperlinks. So the more links you have going to your site, the more likely you are to be found by Google. Make sense?
You can use MarketLeaps Link Popularity tool to keep track of your incoming links to your site too!
Have a great weekend
Stefani Partin
Mommy Portal
The Web Portal for the WAHM
http://www.MommyPortal.com
Get as many links as you can to your site. Im talking thousands and thousands of links.
I would suggest adding a link directory on your websites and exchange as many links as you can with other sites in your niche.
I love Google! So I am always trying to find Google tips. If you are looking rate high on Google and you want your site to get indexed more frequently work on getting more links to your site. Google's bots are going from webpage to webpage via hyperlinks. So the more links you have going to your site, the more likely you are to be found by Google. Make sense?
You can use MarketLeaps Link Popularity tool to keep track of your incoming links to your site too!
Have a great weekend
Stefani Partin
Mommy Portal
The Web Portal for the WAHM
http://www.MommyPortal.com
Thursday, September 16, 2004
How many people are linking to you?
Do you ever check on who is linking to you? I have been using a free online tool for about a year now from MarketLeap. It is a link popularity check.
Check your link popularity free here:
http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/
You put in your website as well as three other websites you want to compare against. So therefore, put three urls to your competitors.
I just put in my url of http://www.mommyenterprises.com compared to http://www.wahm.com. Wow, I got quite a long ways to go before I have as many
links as http://www.wahm.com.
The results that are given back from the link checker are from AllTheWeb, AltaVista, Google/AOL, HotBot and MSN. So these are not all the links to your site but you can a pretty good feel on how many people are linking to you just from one quick search.
As of today 09/19/04 there are a total of 1,954 links to www.mommyenterprises.com. I hope to increase this by the hundreds within the next month. It takes a long time to build up good link popularity.
Make sure to check out this neat little free online link tool and save it in your bookmarks.
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
Mommy Enterprises
Helping Moms Make & Save Money From Home
http://www.mommyenterprises.com
Check your link popularity free here:
http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/
You put in your website as well as three other websites you want to compare against. So therefore, put three urls to your competitors.
I just put in my url of http://www.mommyenterprises.com compared to http://www.wahm.com. Wow, I got quite a long ways to go before I have as many
links as http://www.wahm.com.
The results that are given back from the link checker are from AllTheWeb, AltaVista, Google/AOL, HotBot and MSN. So these are not all the links to your site but you can a pretty good feel on how many people are linking to you just from one quick search.
As of today 09/19/04 there are a total of 1,954 links to www.mommyenterprises.com. I hope to increase this by the hundreds within the next month. It takes a long time to build up good link popularity.
Make sure to check out this neat little free online link tool and save it in your bookmarks.
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
Mommy Enterprises
Helping Moms Make & Save Money From Home
http://www.mommyenterprises.com
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Great Tool ~ Google Alerts
I stumbled across a new tool the other day called Google Alerts. I have heard of Google Alerts before but really paid no attention to it. Then, the other day I read how these alerts can help you with bringing in traffic to your website.
Google Alerts are updates that are delivered via email of the latest Google results (web, news, etc.) based upon your search terms.
There are two sites from which you can create these alerts:
http://www.google.com/alerts
http://www.googlealert.com
I myself created my alerts at http://www.googlealert.com/. This site allows you to choice three different search queries free. You can also upgrade if you prefer more alerts. I set my three search terms to my name, my website name and my link.
Now, after setting up these alerts I will receive a daily email from Google with new results of my search terms that were indexed by Google. I now can find out when people are linking to me, using my name or using my website name. This is great for you that write articles because you can find out when someone is using your articles.
To help increase your traffic with these alerts you can create alerts for your competitors and find out when and who is linking to them. With that information, you can then email the person who linked to them asking for a link to you as well.
Google Alerts is also a great way to keep up with web pages that get indexed with specific content you are interested in. A great way to find other sites to ask for a link exchange!
I started a thread on Lynn Terry's forum on Google Alerts here: http://selfstartersweeklytips.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2405
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
Mommy Enterprises
Helping Moms Make & Save Money At Home
http://www.mommyenterprises.com
Google Alerts are updates that are delivered via email of the latest Google results (web, news, etc.) based upon your search terms.
There are two sites from which you can create these alerts:
http://www.google.com/alerts
http://www.googlealert.com
I myself created my alerts at http://www.googlealert.com/. This site allows you to choice three different search queries free. You can also upgrade if you prefer more alerts. I set my three search terms to my name, my website name and my link.
Now, after setting up these alerts I will receive a daily email from Google with new results of my search terms that were indexed by Google. I now can find out when people are linking to me, using my name or using my website name. This is great for you that write articles because you can find out when someone is using your articles.
To help increase your traffic with these alerts you can create alerts for your competitors and find out when and who is linking to them. With that information, you can then email the person who linked to them asking for a link to you as well.
Google Alerts is also a great way to keep up with web pages that get indexed with specific content you are interested in. A great way to find other sites to ask for a link exchange!
I started a thread on Lynn Terry's forum on Google Alerts here: http://selfstartersweeklytips.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2405
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
Mommy Enterprises
Helping Moms Make & Save Money At Home
http://www.mommyenterprises.com
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
My new website traffic blog
To Whom It May Concern,
I am now starting my second blog. This blog is going to be about driving traffic to our websites. Daily, I look for more and more ways to increase the visitors coming to my website. As I found new tips, techniques, ideas, etc, I plan to share some of them with you.
I currently have a section on Mommy Enterprises that I update regularly called "Free Ways To Generate Traffic To Your Website". So far I have 29 different ways but I plan to add more. In my journeys I have came across way more then 29 different ways. I learn new traffic stuff daily, I just choose to add certain ways to this section.
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
Mommy Enterprises
Helping Moms Make & Save Money At Home
http://www.mommyenterprises.com
I am now starting my second blog. This blog is going to be about driving traffic to our websites. Daily, I look for more and more ways to increase the visitors coming to my website. As I found new tips, techniques, ideas, etc, I plan to share some of them with you.
I currently have a section on Mommy Enterprises that I update regularly called "Free Ways To Generate Traffic To Your Website". So far I have 29 different ways but I plan to add more. In my journeys I have came across way more then 29 different ways. I learn new traffic stuff daily, I just choose to add certain ways to this section.
Until Next Time
Stefani Partin
Mommy Enterprises
Helping Moms Make & Save Money At Home
http://www.mommyenterprises.com
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