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Friday, November 30, 2007

When Your Search Engine Marketing Doesn't Work

Friday, November 30, 2007


Often times I hear fellow Internet marketers tell me that their search engine marketing just doesn't work. Specifically, they're spending more on Google Adwords than they generate in revenue from the sale of products or services.

Companies who are large enough can actually work with Google to optimize their SEM campaigns. The problem is that most companies aren't large enough and are left to fend for themselves. If you're in this category, consider the following steps to optimize your Adwords.

1. Determine your optimization goals. What type of click through rate are you looking for? Would you be happy with a .2% click-through or a 2% click-through? How about your coversions. Based on other metrics, what would you consider to be adequate..3%, 5%, 10%, or more?

2. Research your website the your competitor's websites. What are the pros and cons of each targeted site? Can you improve your website to better focus on and enhance the purchase decision process? One thing you should focus on is determining the ideal keywords for your website or landing page. Google Adwords can help you with this. Simply visit the tools section and ask them to suggest keywords for you.

3. Create keyword suggestions. With the proper tracking in place, it's most adventageous to test as many keywords and keyword combinations you can. Add synonyms of exising keywords, add missing plurals and singulars of existing keywords as well as negative keywords. Experiment with match types and evaluate which keywords drive conversion.

4. Enhance text ads. Have your text ads been designed for ultimate conversion? Use your keyword in the title, multiple variations of ad text, and inter-capitalize display URLs. In addition, you want to experiment with your ad copy. An example of this is a client of mine who had a lot of click throughs but few conversions. After testing the insertion of price on his Google ad, clicks were greatly reduced and sales more than tripled. The result was more revenue at reduced cost.

Give these techniques a try if you want to boost the productivity of your SEM campaigns. With Google Adwords, you can only improve by doing. Follow these suggestions, test, and measure!

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Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Pay Per Click Helps Identify Keywords for Search Engine Optimization

Tuesday, November 27, 2007


There are many benefits to using pay-per-click advertising. One of the best, if you've implemented conversion tracking, is to see which keywords or keyword phrase leads to actual conversion.

Due to the fact that SEO campaigns take a lot of work, you want to make sure that the keywords you're optimizing for aren't those that simply generate the most clicks. Rather, you're looking for those keywords that convert clicks into sales. This is easily done through Google Adwords which allows you to manage your spend and track results. Free Google tools like conversion tracking help you better understand which specific ads lead to conversion.

Before starting your search engine optimization efforts, put a Google Adwords campaign into place with the keywords or keyword phrases you are considering. Next, implement conversion tracking on your thank you page. The Google Adwords interface will help you monitor performance over a 2 -3 week period and determine the highest converting phrases or keywords. Once you know which keywords produce the greatest retun, begin your seo campaign.

Simple, but highly effective for determining how to invest your time and energy when it comes to SEO.


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Monday, November 26, 2007

Taking Your Online Marketing... Offline

Monday, November 26, 2007


Whether you are an Internet marketer or generalist, turning prospects into buyers is a top priority. Many marketers are continually testing the success of various media and integrated campaigns. One of the most frequently asked questions is the effectiveness of "off-line marketing" as it related to driving traffic and conversions on your website of landing page.

With so many difference across products, services, industries, and price points, its hard to develop a simple yes or no answer when considering whether or not direct mail will drive online traffic for you. The key is to develop a compelling direct mail piece, choosing the right list, and creating an offer that resonates with your target market. Also, consider the following:

1. Package planning is essential for making your mail a success. Before you begin, plan your direct mail package. Will it include a letter, sell sheet, coupon, and business reply envelope? Perhaps you'll be using a postcard. How big? How small? What creative direction will you take?

2. Effective envelope creative motivates consumers to open your piece. Your offer is no good unless it is seen by your target market. Spend a lot of time on your envelope, giving consumers a reason to open it and learn more about your offer. Create a swipe file of other direct marketing pieces you've personally received and opened. What was it about these offers that compelled you to take the next step?

3. Alternative formats can help you qualify for lower postage rates. Manage your budget carefully as large mail campaigns can have a high cost and negatively impact your ROI. One great avenue for lowering costs and increasing response rates is by experimenting with alternative direct mail formats. Learn more at the USPS website.

4. Value-added postcards can help mail get attention. To avoid the issues associated with unopened mail, test a postcard or two. Although much simpler than a direct mail promotion using an envelope and multiple response mechanisms, post cards can be great for driving people online at a low cost. Be sure to have a compelling reason for them to visit your website and a method for tracking results. Defining specific URLs to consumers, to help them locate a special offer, is a great way to track activity.

So perhaps you're still wondering if direct mail can help you achieve your online goals. Begin with a simple goal that is easily defined and measurable. Choose a preferred direct mail technique and test it. You may find that the best way to find consumers online is to drive them with your direct marketing campaign!


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Friday, November 23, 2007

Top Rankings on Google

Friday, November 23, 2007


Repetition truly is the mother of skill. For those of you who have been reading my blog on a regular basis, you know how focused I am on Google and the benefits of a proper link building campaign. In this post, you'll hear much of the same tips I've provided for succeeding on Google - but they only work if you apply them. If you want to improve Google rankings, begin here...

Google is by far the most important search engine on the net. To rise to the top of their search engine, you need to improve your link popularity and you need to understand how they measure your link popularity (over 50% of all search engine traffic comes from Google, and if you can rise to the top, you will likely rise to the top of all the other search engines as well).

Link popularity is defined as the number of sites that are linking to your site. Some websites have thousands or even millions of sites linking to them, while others might have only a few. The search engines use the number of inbound links your site has as a measure of how important your site is, which translates into your search engine ranking.

The actual number of links to your site is not the only variable used to calculate your link popularity. The search engines also examine the relevance of the links to the subject matter of your site. For example, if a website that sells vitamins has 4,000 inbound links, but the source of most of the links are websites that have nothing to do with vitamins, then the algorithm that search engines use to determine link popularity will take that into account, and the link popularity score will not be very good.

It is possible for a website with a relatively small number of quality inbound links to be ranked higher than a site with a bunch of irrelevant or insignificant links. If I have a website that offers quotes for auto insurance, and I have 800 quality inbound links, then I might receive a much higher search engine ranking than another mortgage site that has 3,000 links that stem from link farms or Free For All (FFA) pages.

If you try to acquire inbound by using link farms or FFA pages, not only will it hurt your search engine ranking, but you might get permanently removed from the search engine listings. Links farms are sites where you can instantly exchange links with all the sites listed in that directory. FFA pages are pointless link directories. The search engines usually discount any links that come from either of these sources.

Now that we understand what link popularity is and how it works, we need to look specifically at how Google measures it. They use a number of variables in their algorithm to calculate your overall link score. The higher your score, the higher you will be ranked in the search listings.

One factor that Google uses in their algorithm, obviously, is the total number of sites linking to you. The more links you have, the higher your score will be. However, their algorithm is a little more complicated than that, and it is possible for a website with fewer links to be ranked higher than a website that has more links.

The reason for this is because Google also measures the quality of your links. If your website is about vitamins, and the site linking to you is a video game site, then that is not considered a quality link. The link still helps your score, but the link would help your score much more if it were from a website whose subject matter is the same as yours.

Also, Google gives a higher score to a link if it comes from a page that has actual content that relates to your keywords. For example, if your site is about jewelry, and another jewelry website has posted a link to your site on their links page, that link is not as valuable as a link to your site coming from a blog or a message board where a lot of information about jewelry is being written or discussed.

Also, they give an even higher score to a link if it contains anchor text that matches one of the keywords that describes your site. For example, if I have a site that sells lawnmowers, and a blog about lawnmowers has posted a link to my site, it helps my score even more if the link text (also known as anchor text) is LAWNMOWERS. To learn more about anchor text, go to a search engine and look up ANCHOR TEXT and you will be able to learn about it.

Another factor used by Google to score your link popularity is the diversity of keywords contained on sites linking to you. For example, if you have a site that sells handbags, and all the links to your site are from other sites that contain nothing but the keyword HANDBAGS, Google considers that to be abnormal. To get a higher score, you need to have links coming from sites that contain a variety of keywords related to handbags, such as BUY HANDBAGS, LEATHER HANDBAGS, etc.

It is difficult to increase your link popularity, but now that you understand how your score is calculated, you can devise a plan to improve your score. You might want to consider posting to forums and blogs that contain information that is related to your site, and when you post, include a link to your site.

Not sure these tips will work for you? I've applied them to my own websites including MarketingScoop.com and The Marketing Blog over the last 3 years and currently rank #1 on Google for "Marketing Services Directory", "Marketing Blog Directory", "Free Marketing Articles", and #2 for "Marketing Expert" and "Marketing Blog".
About the Author: Jim Pretin is the owner of http://www.forms4free.com, a service that helps programmers make an HTML form.

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Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Keywords: The Most Important Part of Your SEO Campaign

Wednesday, November 21, 2007


Everyone knows the importance of SEO (search engine optimization). But did you know that choosing the right keywords to optimize for are the most important aspect of SEO? Here are some tips for choosing the right keywords...

Targeting Keywords

A top position for any keyword won't suffice. In order to increase your ROI, it is vital to ensure that you target the most appropriate keywords for your pages, and for your business. While generic, or very general topic keywords, may have the highest number of searches conducted in a month they are also the most competitive and typically least productive.

Competitive Keywords

The more competitive a keyword the more pages that you need to compete with in order to benefit from an SEO campaign. Many of the pages that appear at the top of the list will also be well optimized and have a powerful link profile, making it difficult to rank highly.

Improved Conversions With Targeted Keywords

General topic based keywords have also proven to have lower conversion rates compared to more specific keywords. Targeted keywords generate targeted visitors, and targeted visitors are much more likely to be active while on the pages of your website.

How Keyword Research Helps

Keyword research helps you to identify keywords that are relevant, targeted, and preferably less competitive. By finding the right blend of these factors you can minimize the time it takes to rank well, actually increase the number of visitors, and improve your conversion rates. Targeted keyword research leads to better profit opportunities and improved ROI.

Tailoring Your Keyword Research To Your Needs

Every page of a website needs to be treated as an individual project, especially in terms of marketing. Each page will usually attract different visitors in different stages of the purchasing process. Deep product pages will often catch visitors while they are at their most profitable - when they're ready to buy. General pages and even product category pages can be used to attract more general terms, but they should still be properly researched and targeted very precisely to your target market.

Niche Keywords

Niche keywords are often talked about as being the ideal variety of keywords for a page. A niche keyword is a highly targeted, very specific keyword. It is geared towards a corner of the market in which you operate and typically has very few competing pages. Niche keywords don't usually create much in the way of traffic but the traffic that they do create is highly targeted and very active. It attracts excellent conversion rates ensuring that you get a good return on your marketing investment.

Long Tail Keywords

Many web pages will gain visitors from natural keywords within the text. These long tail search terms again produce highly targeted visitors and while each individual term will not produce more than one or possibly two visitors over the space of the month, they do all add up. It is virtually impossible to research long tail keywords because of their infrequency, but by using popular keywords you heighten the chances of seeing more on your website.

Why Keyword Research Is Important

Keyword research is an important aspect of SEO because it helps to identify the terms that surfers use to access sites similar to yours. This, in turn, enables you to optimize the pages of your site and your link profile in order to attract those visitors. By doing so, you may also improve the number of long tail searches that lead to your site, and these product highly targeted visitors for little optimization effort.
About the Author: Omaro Ailoch is a senior software engineer, an entrepreneur and the founder of OC IT Services a highly skilled California based web development, design, and SEO firm.

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Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Coupons... Yes of No?

Tuesday, November 20, 2007


Now more than ever, coupons are alive and well - with a slight twist. Anyone shopping online or at a physical retail establishment has a variety of options when it comes to acquiring a coupon. Coupon websites are very popular today and offer discounts on most products.

Should your product be one of them?
Have you thought about offering coupons but don't know how? Or maybe you're wondering if a coupon is the right marketing approach to get your sales moving. I've had similar thoughts and questions and have come to the following conclusions.

1. Offering a coupon isn't necessarily a bad thing. After doing a variety of testing I found that a $ off coupon generated more sales than a % off coupon.

2. Coupon sites provide a lot of exposure for your particular offer. However, because you most likely have to pay an affiliate fee to the coupon site, orders are less profitable. To make the most of your coupon strategy, offer $ savings above a certain price point. This encourages consumers to upgrade to a higher priced item in order to take advantage of a discount.

3. Keep it manageable. Don't go coupon crazy! I often see sites that have a coupon for just about every product they offer. Only coupon those products you have excess inventory of or that have the greatest profit margin (so you can afford to discount).

4. Make the use of coupons part of an overall marketing strategy which includes other non-monetary promotions. If you start discounting your prices all the time, consumers will only shop when they can get a coupon!

Coupons serve a purpose, and when used carefully can boost sales in a profitable way. Learn more about offering coupons and experiment. As always, monitor results closely and see if the additional sales warrant the additional expense.

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Sunday, November 18, 2007

Improving Customer Loyalty

Sunday, November 18, 2007


With the holiday's fast approaching, online retailers have a greater opportunity than ever to generate sales and improve customer loyalty among site visitors and purchasers. In today's post, you'll learn how to build loyalty among your consumers, and as a result, increase the lifetime customer value of everyone you do business with. In the following article, Omaro Ailoch provides some great advice on improving customer loyalty...

Online shopping has quickly outstretched traditional shopping for popularity and overall spend. One of the big advantages that consumers gain online is the ability to comparison shop across multiple vendors (in different areas) for the best deal. However, for the e-store owner or service provider, this can make it difficult to survive without offering the lowest prices and the greatest deals. Decreasing prices has an obvious effect on your revenue and profit so it is vital that you aim for the right target market and attempt to build customer loyalty.

Customer loyalty means repeat business and repeat customers offer the lowest marketing spend requirements. As such, improving customer loyalty can vastly reduce your spend and increase your ROI. Many of the methods of retaining customers for your website are developed from tried and trusted methods used by large organizations and businesses offline.

Know Your Target Markets

By really getting to know and understand your target markets you will have a much greater understanding what it is that they're after. By learning this kind of information you will be better placed to send out relevant after-sales communication and entice your buyers to buy more.

Know Your Competitors

Knowing what your competitors are selling and for how much will help you determine the best prices for your own products. If you have a good customer retention rate it is often possible to increase the amount you pay for a new customer or reduce your prices without affecting your overall profit too much.

Customer Service

Perhaps the first aspect that many of us consider when looking at customer retention rates is customer service. You must supply a high level of customer service. If you go the extra mile for your customer, they will go the extra mile to come back to your site. Being polite in all communications is only a very small part of good customer service. Everything from your website content to complaint responses need to be well thought out and geared towards retaining customers.

Branding

The more synonymous your website becomes with the products or services you sell, the more likely that people will return to your site. Make sure that all of your web pages, emails, newsletters, invoices, and other forms of communication include your web address at the very least. Make it memorable and don't chop and change designs and logos unless a re-branding is deemed absolutely necessary.

After-Sales Communication

There is an art to after sales communication, and it is an art that you need to learn to master. So, your website operates online, but that doesn't mean that the whole of your business has to. If you sell digital products that are downloaded then ensure that emails and all online communication includes your branding. If you sell physical products, then your paper invoices, and everything down to your packing labels should also be branded.

Get Your Visitors Involved

Involving your site visitors will help to bring them back to your site time and time again. Web 2.0 applications provide a plethora of ways to involve site visitors. Blogs, forums, and any interactive tool will help to make your site bookmarkable. Even for visitors that don't take action while on your site, you will attract them back more frequently, and the more exposure a visitor has to your website, the more likely they become to make a purchase.

Why Customer Loyalty Is Important To Your Business Website

Return visitors or return customers are one of your greatest assets. You've already done a lot of the hard work with your preliminary marketing campaigns. Ensure that everything from your website to your email newsletter to your packing slips are effectively branded with your website details and always uphold the highest level of customer service and communication. If you can get your site visitors more involved in your site then you stand to profit even more from customer loyalty.

About the Author: Omaro Ailoch is a senior software engineer, an entrepreneur and the founder of OC IT Services a highly skilled California based web development, design, and search engine optimization firm.


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Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Promoting Your Products with Search Engine Optimization

Wednesday, November 14, 2007


I’ve heard it time and again, “Paying for online marketing is killing my business.” Many of the small businesses I consult with, and even some of the larger ones continually complain about the cost of online marketing and advertising, especially when it comes to pay per click advertising.

Why is online advertising so painful?

Many small business owners do not have the resources needed to effectively manage online marketing or the experience to implement productive pay-per-click advertising campaigns. All too often the common result is an abundance of clicks and few if any sales. This happens because pay-per-click advertising can be very expensive and it’s only half of the equation.

Once you get the appropriate traffic to your website, you need to focus on converting that traffic into paying customers. Improving on-site conversions can be a full-time job, and in most major companies it is. Many website owners have little knowledge or interest in creating and testing dynamic content, continually reinventing the purchase decision process, or evaluating their website’s deficiencies. All they’ve succeeded in doing is spending a lot of money to drive people to an ineffective website. The result is a large expense and nothing to show for it.

Changing the equation.

Improving conversions on your website is important, make no mistake about it. However, if you can reduce the cost associated with driving traffic to your site, the equation can shift in your favor. Enter organic search. My feeling is that instead of spending money on pay-per-click advertising; invest that money in improving your organic search results.

To enhance your organic search results, start with the basics of on-page optimization and off-page optimization. For complete details, you can learn more in my SEO guide available at http://www.webmastersbookofsecrets.com. As a top-level primer, let me highlight some of the key factors for both areas of optimization.

On-page optimization factors.

When we talk about on-page optimization factors, we’re referring to the proper use of HTML to signal the search engines what your site is about and what keywords best define your offer. On-page optimization, when done correctly, provides a strong platform for enhancing your natural search results.

The most important on-page factors include meta tags, keyword placement, keyword density, and link text. By using the proper meta tags in the proper format, placing keywords in your content using the right styles, and optimal page placement, results in improved organic search results. When working on your website, make sure that all code is WC3 compliant and you’re using style sheets for formatting purposes. Placing java script or unnecessary code on your site can make it difficult for search engines to best understand your content.

Off-page optimization factors.

Factors like link popularity and page rank all have a significant impact on your natural search results. Coupled with the competitiveness of other websites seeking optimal placement for your keyword or keyword phrase can also add a layer of complexity.

A great place to start your off-page optimization effort is through link building. Find other websites who are willing to exchange links with you, place a one-way link on their site to yours, or perhaps provide a link to unique content or tools you offer. By getting other websites to point to your website, you are well on your way towards enhancing organic search results.

Generating traffic to your site can be accomplished via online advertising, pay-per-click marketing, and organic search results. All too often, individuals believe that pay-per-click advertising is a quick way to Internet riches but quickly find out that the grass is always greener on the other side.

If you use SEM to promote your products, consider it to be only part of your overall marketing strategy. Invest your time in improving organic search results and the Internet marketing equation shifts in your favor. This method costs less and can drive significant traffic to your website resulting in a positive return on your time and marketing dollars.


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Craig's List... Useful Marketing Resource?

Wednesday, November 14, 2007


If you live in the United States you've heard of CraigsList. This is, for lack of a better term, Classified Adverting. Imaging the classified section of a newspaper for each major city posted on a single (or multiple) websites. The result, Craig's List.

I've been asked by a number of people whether or not CraigsList posses any possible marketing benefit. That's an excellent question and one that I've begun to explore. The limitation with CraigsList is that some postings expire in 7 days which requires you to log in on a weekly basis. The second limitation is that to publish an add effectively, you'd have to login to multiple, city specific CraigsList's.

Other services, identical to CraigsList are beginning to appear. Many of these sites like WebCosmo, USfreeads, etc., have eliminated the before mentioned limitations and may provide some traffic/conversions for marketers looking to target specific product categories. There is no doubt in my mind that websites who mirror the same business model as CraigsList will continue to appear and improve upon and already good idea.

As with any marketing tactic, the key is to segment, time your offering appropriately, and TEST, TEST, TEST! If you're a marketer and have begun using CraigsList or similar type of free classified service, let me know what type of results you seem to be getting!


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Monday, November 12, 2007

Generate One-Way Links to Your Website

Monday, November 12, 2007


I often receive GREAT comments and feedback from the readers of The Marketing Blog. In a recent comment, Sharon wrote me regarding reciprocal linking. It is true that reciprocal links do not hold as much weight as one way links, but do create some value. To that end, she pointed me to a post by Saptarshi Roy Chaudhury on his blog at http://seo-kolkata.blogspot.com/2007/07/free-back-links-how-to-get-links-for.html. I've posted the highlights here... thank you Sharon.

There are actually more than one ways to get good quality free back links to your website.

a) Directory Submission : Submit your website to good quality directories.

b) Blog & Social Media: Create a blog of your own.

c)RSS Feeds: Generate a RSS feed and submit it to the RSS directories.

d) Article Marketing: Write short articles about your product / service / industry and submit it to the various article directories.

e) Press Release: A press release would always contain a link back to the website.

f) Website Review: There are various websites and forums that conducts review of website/product/services.

g)Freebies: For those webmasters who can afford or are technically very strong; offer free widgets, templates and other freebies.

If you have additional ideas and creative ways to generate one-way links, let us know about them. We're always looking to share the best Internet marketing ideas, tips, and strategies on the Internet!

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Friday, November 09, 2007

Promoting Your Product With Search Engine Marketing

Friday, November 09, 2007


Do you have a new product or an existing product that you'd like to promote? Search engine marketing can be an effective technique if you know how to optimize your online campaigns and manage your marketing spends effectively.

Most major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN offer pay-per-click advertising. Additionally, you can find search engine marketing opportunities that are associated with an annual fee such as ExactSeek. You can expect less traffic from second tier search engines like ExactSeek simply because these engines reach a much smaller audience. None-the-less, using second tier search engines can be a great value depending on how competitive the keywords are that can be associated with your product.

Search engine marketing is largely focused on using pay-per-click advertising to promote and sell your product. There are generally two approaches that you can take to best utilize this marketing method. The first approach is to use common keywords associated with your product or service. The second method is to use long-tail keywords or keyword phrases.

Search engines like Google make it very easy to find appropriate keywords to promote your website. Once you set up a Google Adwords account, you can have Google spider your site and propose relevant search terms. When evaluating the list, look for those search terms that are frequently searched for but face little competition. This results in a list of targeted keywords that you can promote.

You can also use the Overture keyword search tool which is available online. Simply enter the common search term or phrases associated with your website and evaluate search traffic results. The only downside to using this method is that you will only know how popular the search terms are but not the competitiveness of the terms.

Long tail keywords involve searching for common search phrases that have little traffic but also very little competition. Again, you can use Google or other tools to find these long-tail keywords. Taken in isolation, a few long-tail keywords won't generate significant clicks or revenue for you. However, when bidding on dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of these long-tail keywords, you may find that you can generate significant traffic and conversions.
One of the key aspects of search engine marketing, regardless of which search engine you choose, is measuring the effectiveness of your keyword campaigns. With the help of Google tracking, this is easier than ever. By placing a small block of code on your payment confirmation (thank you) page, Google conversion tracking can tie the sale back to the specific text link or display ad that generated the sale.

Evaluate this information on a regular basis and fine tune your online search marketing campaigns. You should also set daily spending caps for your keyword related efforts. Depending on the keywords you choose, the quantity of those keywords, and so on, your costs can be significant. Daily caps protect you by setting a maximum spend for your campaign.

Search engine marketing is a great way to promote a new or existing product or service if you carefully select your keyword phrases, place caps on your daily spend, and track conversions. When using this form of online marketing, pay attention to your successes and failures and reinvest where returns are positive.

To discover how to improve search engine rankings on Google and other major search engines vist http://www.webmastersbookofsecrets.com/.

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Wednesday, November 07, 2007

10 Ways to Make the Most of Your Email Marketing

Wednesday, November 07, 2007


Email is a great tool for moving your prospects through the purchase decision process. Check out these great tips from Justin Palmer...

1. Diversify your Content: If your entire email focuses on one product, service, or topic, you risk alienating all but the few people who will be interested. Unless you have segmented your database based on previous behavior, do not send an email on only 1 topic. I consistently find that the click through rate increases in proportion with varied content.

2. Don't Stress about Spam Words: Many experts will tell you to avoid words like "free" or "sale". In my opinion, ISPs tend to be moving away from content based spam filtering in favor of reputation based filtering. In other words, your sending IP address and from email are more important than whether or not your email contains certain words. Personally, I've used words like "free" in the subject line without any affect on delivery rates.

3. Make it Readable with Images Disabled: Always take into account the appearance of your email with images disabled. For email clients such as Outlook, this is now the default feature. Even popular web mails like Hotmail now disable images unless the sender is in the address book of the recipient. The best tactic to create readable emails with images block is use an alt description.

4. Create an Online Version: Always provide an online version of your email for users having trouble viewing images. I've calculated from emails I've sent in the past that around 5% of users will use this feature.

5. Remove Inactive Subscribers: Inactive subscribers are the most likely to get you in trouble by clicking the spam button. Consider automatically removing a subscriber that hasn't opened an email in several months.

6. Proofreading: Always have every email proofread by at least 2 detail oriented people. There's nothing more embarrassing than a typo in an email blast.

7. Monitor Replies: When you send out thousands of emails, you're bound to get a few replies. Occasionally, you'll get some good feedback from your subscribers. In addition, some people reply with unsubscribe requests.

8. Unsubscribe at Top: I know what you're thinking, "At the TOP!?" Yes, at the top. Lazy unsubscribers have a tendency to click the spam button instead scrolling down to find the unsubscribe link. By placing the link at the top, you might increase your unsubscribe rate, but that's better than an inflated spam complaint count.

9. Don't Over or Under Mail: If you send too much, you'll get deleted or marked as spam. Oddly enough, if you send once every 3 months you may have the same problem. Keep your brand top of mind for your customers by finding the perfect balance between over and under mailing.

10. Forward to Friend Feature: Many users automatically do this, but it doesn't hurt to ask. First time potential customers can be very open to a company when it is introduced by a friend or colleague.

Justin Palmer offers expert eCommerce consulting services and Do It Yourself search engine optimization lessons. In addition, Justin is the eCommerce director for C28.com, which sells Spiritual t-shirts and Witness wear.


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The Importance of Links

Wednesday, November 07, 2007


Link Exchanging is the process of exchanging text links between websites. Webmasters exchange links to improve traffic through numerous inbound links or link popularity. Exchanging links is normally a free process (unless you choose to a fee-based link exchange program), making link exchanges cost effective. Another benefit of using a link exchange program is that it helps improve search engine result placements.

There are various ways to initiate a link exchange with other websites. The most popular method of initiating a link exchange is to email the webmaster of a targeted site and ask to exchange links. You can also find websites looking to exchange links by visiting discussion boards hosted by webmasters. These websites might have link exchange forums or link exchange directories where you can request link exchanges from a specific category or select potential link partners based on other factors such as Google PR or content relevance.

Recently some webmasters have stated that search engines like Google are no longer placing significance importance on reciprocal links. The consensus is that popularity of a website is now measured by the number and value of incoming one way links. Relevance is also a key factor. Webmasters do not have to link directly with competitors, but should link with websites that have industry relevance. Having a link from a website with no relevance could potentially negatively affect Search Engine Result Pages.

Types of Link Exchanges

There are essentially 3 types of link exchange; reciprocal, one-way, and 3-way links. Each has its merits, but one-way links are ideal.

1. Reciprocal Links: When you place a link on your website to another's website, and they provide a link back, it is referred to as reciprocal linking. This is a basic link exchange and a great way to get started with your link building efforts. Just make sure that you are linking with an industry-relevant website.

2. One Way Links: Receiving a link to your website from a third party site is referred to as a one-way link. This is the most beneficial link you can receive, especially if its from a site that has an adequate Google PR and is relevant to your website.

3. 3-Way Links: Providing a link exchange between multiple sites, but not directly to the two primary sites is referred to as a 3-way link exchange. To illustrate, imagine sites A, B, and C. In a three-way link exchange, site A would place a link to site C, and site C would place a link to B. Sites A and B are owned by the same webmaster.

Regardless of which method you use, reciprocal linking provides value to your website. Websites that have completed many link exchanges will usually experience increased traffic through direct clicks and improved search engine rankings. There are various ways for webmasters to find linking websites through direct contact with Webmasters or link exchange directories. The use of link exchanges by webmasters will continue to be an important and useful means of marketing websites and improving search engine placement for many years to come.

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Monday, November 05, 2007

What Are You Willing to Pay For: The Fundamentals

Monday, November 05, 2007


You've all heard about the 4P's of marketing (product, place, price, and promotion). Today, some marketing gurus talk about the 5 Ps of marketing... the additional "P" is for people of some derivation thereof.

Regardless of what textbooks pronounce as marketing basics, I'm here to say that it all comes down to Value. The value of your product, the value of the user experience, the value that consumers derive from consuming your product or service.

Another way to think about value is, "What are you willing to pay for?". I was recently reminded of this on a recent trip to the airport. I have a number of options available to me. Each of these options had certain costs associated with them both tangible and intangible. For example, long term parking costs less per day but has a number of intangible costs to be considered such as taking multiple forms of transportation to reach the terminal, the extra time it would take to catch my flight, and the concern of getting to my car very late at night after my return flight.

When comparing options to say short-term parking or valet parking, the same analysis applies at either a subconscious or conscious level. You pay more cash for these options, but with that additional value comes other benefits that you may weigh more importantly in your mind. Even if the cost is slightly more but you place a higher value on time, safety, or some other factor, you might be willing to pay the higher price.

Have you thought about your products and service and what your customers might be willing to pay for? More personalized service, faster delivery, or some type of insurance? You need to consider what would be relevant for your product or service. You may also consider asking your customer and prospects... what would you be willing to pay for? The answers may surprise you.

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Saturday, November 03, 2007

The WORST Hosting Service on the Internet

Saturday, November 03, 2007


Did you ever have a really BAD experience online... one that you wanted to tell TENS OF THOUSANDS OF BLOG READERS! Unfortunately, I just had one of those experiences. And thanks to the power of the Internet, I'd like to share it. If you don't want to be bored with all the details, just know that you should NEVER use DreamHost.com for any hosing services - EVER!

I recently launched a new website that teaches individuals how to improve search engine rankings for their website(s). To do so, I bought a domain, found a host (DreamHost), and built a website to promote the product. Within a couple of weeks I received an email - I thought it was SPAM - from DreamHost. Out of curiosity, I emailed them back to get clarification on the issue. Turns out that someone made a SPAM complaint regarding my new website. Personally, I find this hard to believe because:
  • I never send out any emails regarding the new site.
  • I use a third party to manage my emails, providing an opportunity for individuals to opt-out with each message.
  • My personal email lists have been built using a "double opt-in policy"

The takeaway here is that if someone wants to make a SPAM complaint, they are barking up the wrong tree. As a marketing expert for more than 12 years, I know more about CAN-SPAM legislation than just about anyone. In fact, I'm one of the few people I've come across in the last ten years who has even read the actual legislation... and follows it to the letter.

Anyway, after providing all of my information to DreamHost, I received nothing but RUDE responses, terse replies, and empty accusations. After the third email exchange, I even gave them access to my personal email marketing account (I use and recommend MailChimp.com). I know I didn't have to do this, but wanted to prove the point that I have nothing to hide.

The customer service representative (who gives all CSRs a bad name) got back to me and said that he couldn't find the email that this individual who filed the complaint was referring to. YEAH idiot, the reason is because I never sent it! As a result of HIS inability to find a smoking gun, he was shutting off my website...without warning. Great way to treat a customer!

So, he shut off my hosting account and my website was down. What did I do? Only what any reasonable person who's been treated unfairly would do. I complained... I sent a letter to his boss - we'll see if that does anything, asked for an apology, and refund. Of course DreamHost isn't going to provide any reconcillation. And quite honestly, they can't ever make me whole for the disrespect and unpleasantness I experienced.

As a result, I'm doing the next best thing. I'm telling my more than 10,000 daily readers NEVER to use Dream Host and I've placed a formal complaint with the Better Business Bureau. So I guess you could say that today's marketing lesson is this. You can have the best marketing in the world, but if you don't respect your customers, you'll never succeed! Thanks for listening.


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Thursday, November 01, 2007

The Link Exchange Decoded

Thursday, November 01, 2007


Link Exchanging is the process of exchanging text links between websites. Webmasters exchange links to improve traffic through numerous inbound links or link popularity. Exchanging links is normally a free process (unless you choose to a fee-based link exchange program), making link exchanges cost effective. Another benefit of using a link exchange program is that it helps improve search engine result placements.

There are various ways to initiate a link exchange with other websites. The most popular method of initiating a link exchange is to email the webmaster of a targeted site and ask to exchange links. You can also find websites looking to exchange links by visiting discussion boards hosted by webmasters. These websites might have link exchange forums or link exchange directories where you can request link exchanges from a specific category or select potential link partners based on other factors such as Google PR or content relevance.

Recently some webmasters have stated that search engines like Google are no longer placing significance importance on reciprocal links. The consensus is that popularity of a website is now measured by the number and value of incoming one way links. Relevance is also a key factor. Webmasters do not have to link directly with competitors, but should link with websites that have industry relevance. Having a link from a website with no relevance could potentially negatively affect Search Engine Result Pages.

Websites that have completed many link exchanges will usually experience increased traffic through direct clicks and improved search engine rankings. There are various ways for webmasters to find linking websites through direct contact with Webmasters or link exchange directories. The use of link exchanges by webmasters will continue to be an important and useful means of marketing websites and improving search engine placement for many years to come.


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