Multiply Your Marketing Like a Virus
By Michel Fortin (c) 2009

In today's Internet, conversations are cropping up all over
the place. People are talking. They are talking about
products. They are talking about businesses. And they are
certainly talking about their experiences.

When you look at how blogs, forums and social networking
sites have exploded in the last few years, you can see how
powerful word-of-mouth is. But the question is, is it all
really important? Can it really help your business?

Yes.

And I'm not talking about traffic. And you don't need to be
controversial, either. I'm talking creating systems to
leverage, manage and profit from the "buzz."

Word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful lead and business
generation processes there is. Online, some people call it
"word-of-mouse." But we know it more as viral marketing.

Viral marketing is the process of implementing means or
tools through which the knowledge of your existence self-
propagates. Like a virus, your visibility spreads throughout
a network of people who refer you to each other.

Notwithstanding the power of backlinking, traffic and SEO,
viral marketing is key for a number of reasons. Success in
the offline world is "location, location, location." The
Internet is no different. Your success depends highly on the
number of locations you appear online - places on which your
site, link, company or product name exist.

In essence, to expand your reach, you need to be in as many
places as possible, talked about by as many people as
possible and be in front of as many eyeballs as possible.

With viral marketing, there are three ways of doing it:

Create content
Create applications
Create systems

The first is self-explanatory. Your content may be
controversial or buzzworthy. It may create raging fans - or
enraged enemies.

The second is simple: you create an application - whether
it's a video, audio, file, software, document, etc - that
people can pass around, and thus proliferates the knowledge
of your existence on the web through other people's efforts.

I might write about these two at a later time. But for now,
the one on which I want to focus is the third: creating a
system.

Before I give you some examples, let me explain why word-of-
mouth works wonders. Those who get to know you or to know
about you through a third party grant you a higher level of
confidence, credibility and loyalty. According to Dr. Robert
Cialdini in his amazing book, "Influence: The Psychology of
Persuasion," this is social proof in action.

Remember a dictum a mentor of mine once told me, which is:
"Implication is far more powerful than specification." In
other words, if you tell people you're the best, that you're
the leader in your field, or that your product is the best
solution to their needs, your self-serving promotional bias
makes it all suspect.

However, if someone other than you - whether it's on a blog,
in an email, on a social networking site or in person - says
to another that you are indeed the best or that you do have
the best solution to their problems, how much more
believable will that person's statement be? How much more
credible and trustworthy?

The answer is "definitely more."

Accordingly, word-of-mouth is not only important because it
creates an awareness of your business (let alone traffic),
but also it is important to the degree to which third party
marketing indirectly communicates greater credibility,
superiority and value of the products or services you offer.

In his book "The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding," Al Ries
stresses the importance of leadership and how that
leadership is communicated.

According to Ries, people never buy the best - they only
think they do. They usually buy the leader (or what they
perceive as being the best). And that perception is often
molded by what they are told and by what others do, not by
what is fact or by what is being advertised.

Coke, for example, outsells Pepsi. But according to Ries,
taste tests reveal that Pepsi is the better tasting brand.
So, why does Coke still beat Pepsi in sales? It is not
because it is the leader in the marketplace or promoted
itself as such but because it is known as the leader. And
the reason it is known as the leader is because Coke was the
first cola "in the mind" of the marketplace.

It is the one most talked about, even to this day. When a
person is introduced to cola for the first time, they are
often told to try Coke. Restaurant patrons still ask for
"coke," even when Pepsi is the only cola served. Why is
that? While other colas are bombarding them with marketing
messages, people have heard of Coke first, and most likely
from other people.

Consequently, if people hear about you from other people,
and not some advertisement or pitch, this social proof will
create not only a certain buzzworthiness about you but also
an almost instant trustworthiness.

How do you do that? The most significant method is to be the
first. If your business or website is unique, focuses on a
niche or is the first in some category, the knowledge of
your existence will spread quite naturally, almost like
wildfire. It becomes viral in and of itself, in other words.

Now, I'm not saying you need to be new. I'm only saying you
need to be unique. Or better yet, you need to be the first.
Whether it's catering an existing product to a new niche, or
adding a new twist to an existing product, you become the
first.

I said it before: don't be the best, be the first. But more
important, as Ries pointed out, "Don't be the first in the
marketplace, be the first in the MIND of the marketplace."

That said, there are ways to use systems that will leverage
the spreading of that message, on the other hand, which
helps to multiply your marketing punch. Such systems both
simulate and stimulate word-of-mouth advertising.

Networking systems, for example, include strategic marketing
alliances, joint ventures, and affiliate programs. And
unlike the more traditional traffic generators such as ads
and search engines, these specific tools are much more
effective since they are used by third parties and not by
the original advertiser.

===

In these cases, people don't find you. They are told where
you are because someone told them about you - especially if
that "someone" is a person whose opinion they value.

If you received a call, letter or email from someone you
know (and especially trust) referring you to a particular
company, how much more credible will that referral be when
compared to a blatant advertisement coming from the company
itself?

You got it. A lot more.

When we think of viruses, we remember when "Melissa" and "I
Love You" hit the scene in the late 90s and early 2000s. No,
they weren't some kind of adult-oriented websites, but
computer viruses (or is that virii?).

But here's why they were so effective: the devious (or
perhaps even brilliant) way these viruses worked was that,
after opening the email attachment, it sent more virus-
infected emails to the first fifty people in your address
book without your knowledge.

While we are bombarded with spam and phishing attempts, and
anti-virus warnings telling us to never open an attachment
from an unknown person, how can we resist doing so when the
email apparently comes from someone we actually do know
(since the virus uses address books to multiply itself and
even personalizes the email with that person's name)?

We can certainly learn the way viruses work - and, in the
same way, apply that process to online marketing.

How? Remember that good ol' fashion process called
"networking"? According to Jill Griffin's wonderful book
"Customer Loyalty: How to Earn it, How to Keep it," we are
more open, trusting and loyal when doing business with or
being marketed by people we know - and we certainly refer
them to others more often as well.

Networking grants you the ability to reach corners untapped
- areas that would have been unreachable otherwise. I
personally don't advocate traditional networking (the
simple, "I'm open for business" kind) because, in my
experience, it hasn't brought me anything substantial in
return. While it can be a fantastic marketing tool, the way
in which networking is conducted is often the reason why it
does not produce any favorable results.

When you're only networking, more often than not people will
want something in return - otherwise, they will lose
interest or stop sending referrals if you don't take the
time to recognize their efforts. A way to consistently
reward others is to turn your networking efforts into
systems - in other words, to develop strategic marketing
alliances.

There are many ways to accomplish this. But the most
effective forms of networking are those that are
systematized.

A traditional network is one in which qualified leads that
you can both share, or information about each other that is
promoted to each other's market, clientele or subscribers.
This way, you can effectively cross-promote or share markets
with each other. As long as your alliance logically shares a
same target market but without directly competing with you,
it could be potentially rewarding.

On the Internet, this technique is one in which a
systematized method of cross-promotion between you and your
alliance through a unique, joint marketing effort is
created. It is also often referred to as a "joint venture."

For example, this includes the coupling of complementary
products or services in a single offer that's exclusively
marketed to each other's market. While different, these
offers are combined and marketed under the banner of a
single promotion.

Whose product or offer can you bundle with yours to create
an entirely new and distinct package?

In its simplest form, if your alliance sells a product to a
market that matches yours, they can add to their offer
additional products, services or bonuses from you, which may
include an exclusive special offer for one of your products
as an upsell.

But the best method I've found is when you create an
entirely distinct product with those from two or more
strategic alliances, amalgamating existing products from all
companies into a single offer that's sold simultaneously
from your partners' sites.

For example, you sell cookware online. You can easily team
up with a publisher specializing in cookbooks and throw a
book in the mix. While you raise the price and split the
profits with the publisher, you instantly raise the
perceived value of the cookware through a co-branded
approach or a combined package of non-competing products or
services.

Best of all, each of you market the "new" product separately
while sharing in each other's traffic, market, lead-base and
referral-sources (i.e., your own respective networks,
including affiliates, "fans" and even suppliers) - thus
doubling the reach with the same marketing effort.

If they have their own distinct affiliate program, network
of affiliates and fan base, including their own blogs for
instance, they can leverage the knowledge of your existence
quite rapidly. And vice versa.

Ultimately, by leveraging the efforts of others you not only
propagate the knowledge of your existence on the web, but
also you create trust and credibility. And if you cater to a
new market, or offer a new product by taking an existing
product and giving it a new twist, you also give yourself an
extra dose of buzzworthiness, too.
===========================================================
Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, marketing
strategy consultant, and instrumental in some of the most
lucrative online businesses and wildly successful marketing
campaigns to ever hit the web. For more articles like this
one, please visit his blog at http://www.michelfortin.com/
and subscribe to his RSS feed.
===========================================================

Using Social Media to Boost Search Engine Results
By Lauren Hobson (c) 2009

Most of us are well aware that the search engines frequently
change their algorithms to improve search results for users (and
foil spammers), which can make it challenging for small
businesses just to keep up. But as web technology continues to
evolve, it also creates new opportunities for small businesses
to improve their SEO strategies and boost their rankings as
well. Social media (sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
Technorati, Digg, etc.) provide an excellent opportunity for
small businesses to not only promote their products and services
online, but also to gain significant ground in the search engine
results.

One of the most critical components to getting top search engine
rankings is the number of inbound links and link popularity a
web site is able to build. Although there are several existing
link building strategies available to small businesses (e.g.,
press releases, directory submissions, article syndication,
etc.), social media can help create additional high-value,
on-target inbound links that are essential to achieving top
placements in the search engines.

For example, each time you use Twitter to publish a link to new
content on your web site, that link gets "planted" on the
Twitter page of each person following you, and has the potential
to spread even further as your followers share that information
with their own network of contacts.

Integrated Social Marketing (ISM)TM

If you have properly integrated your social networking profiles
together, that same Twitter "tweet" could then be fed via RSS to
your Facebook business profile, your corporate blog, your
LinkedIn account, and any number of other social sites that you
have set up for your business. It's not a far stretch to imagine
the link you broadcast on Twitter could reach dozens, hundreds,
or even thousands of other places on the web, all pointing back
to your web site! By integrating your social networking
profiles with each other, with your web site, and with your
existing marketing initiatives, you can easily make one single
marketing action (such as a tweet) show up in multiple places
online, each containing a new, relevant inbound link to your
site.

Quantity AND Quality

In addition to the sheer number of inbound links that are
created through social marketing, the value of the links that
are created is another important criterion that search engines
consider. To be valued by the search engines, inbound links must
be from relevant, "quality" web sites, and search engines today
give social sites like Facebook and Twitter great value. These
sites are highly visible to the search engines, and are
constantly taking updates from users. Links tend to be shared
according to subject matter, which means the search engines will
see them as being relevant and on-target. All of these factors
combine to create high-quality inbound links in the eyes of the
search engines.

Online Visibility and Branding

Creating visibility for your business and your "brand" is really
key when using social media for building links. The power of
social media is realized when other users see your links or
content, then share that information with their own network of
contacts. Simply adding a bunch of links to your social profiles
is not enough; you need to have a strong reputation and a brand
that users trust so they will feel comfortable sharing your
content with others. Brand recognition typically leads to
natural link building anyway, which means your inbound links
will end up coming from bloggers, colleagues, customers, and
other people who are exposed to your links and find them useful
enough to share with their own contacts.

The Proof is in the Rankings

A recent example from Website Magazine explained somewhat
surprising results when they searched for their publication's
name in Google. As expected, their web site came up as the
number one listing on the results page. But what was not
expected was the number three listing on the results page was
the magazine's Twitter page. They then performed a number of
Google searches for the terms "Chicago Tribune," "Chicago Public
Golf," and "Daily Career Tips," all with similar results in
Google - the Twitter page for each of these terms came up near
the top of the search engine results every time.

The conclusion was that given these results, Google must be
giving serious weight to Twitter content, and I happen to agree.
The search engines of course keep their ranking algorithms
top-secret, so there's no way to know how much weight (if any)
is really given to Twitter or other social media sites. But
results like those in the example above are hard to ignore!

A Great Opportunity

Social media is here to stay, and small businesses are beginning
to use it to effectively promote their businesses, reach their
customers, find new leads, keep customer mindshare, and
instantly communicate with customers. But maybe one of the
biggest benefits of adding social media to your marketing mix is
the creation of high-value, on-target inbound links that can
help improve visibility in the search engines and boost your
business to the top of the search engine rankings.
================================================================
Lauren Hobson, President of Five Sparrows, LLC
(http://www.fivesparrows.com/), has more than 16 years of
experience in small business technology writing, marketing, and
web site design and development. Five Sparrows provides
professional web site and marketing services to small businesses
and non-profit organizations, giving them access to high-quality
services at affordable prices. To read articles or subscribe to
Biz Talk, please visit http://www.FiveSparrows.com/biztalk.htm.
================================================================

When most people think of press releases, they think media attention. Press releases can also be used to gain quality inbound links to your web site, though.

As part of your overall link building strategy, there are a few reasons why press release writing can be beneficial: get one way links from quality sites, earn links from sites that find you via a press release, and get placed on relevant directories that re-distribute press releases.

To write an optimized press release, start with these steps:

Define Keyword

When writing a press release, identify one keyword that you want to rank for. There are a few free tools that you can use to determine which keywords receive the most traffic, including Google Keyword External, SEO Books Keyword Tool, and ActualKeywords.com.
Pick a keyword that is relevant to your site, receives a considerable amount of monthly traffic, and that will be used on the page that you are trying to rank. The keyword should ideally be in the Title of the page, in an H1 tag, included in the body, and used in your internal linking structure.

Include Keyword Throughout Release

Once you’ve identified a keyword, write out a rough draft of your press release, making sure to include the keyword throughout your release.

The keyword should be included, at minimum, in the header of your press release, one to three times in the body of the release, and at least once in the “About” section of your press release.

Hyperlink Thoughtfully

For press release services that allow you to include hyperlinks within the release, make sure to hyperlink from the keyword you identified instead of using non-optimized keywords like “click here.”

While not all press release services allow html or hyperlinking, most will allow you to at least include a link back to your site in a resource or contact box, or once in the “about” section.

Consider the Upgrade Option

If presented with the opportunity to upgrade, in most cases, do so. Upgrades generally offer you the opportunity to specify the anchor text of a hyperlink or in some cases, include a hyperlink that a free package doesn’t allow.

Not all upgrades are created equally, though. Consider the page rank, traffic volume, trust factors, and cost when determining whether to upgrade or not.

Distribute to a Variety of Services

When submitting press releases for link building purposes, don’t submit to just one service – instead submit to a variety. Some press release sites will check to make sure that your release is unique, however, so make sure to distribute to those sites first.

Start with the quality sites that have a number of links and tend to be picked up by the press; also re-write some of the verbiage in your release so as to avoid duplicate content.

Simple things like re-writing the header or a few sentences within the release can make sure that your release will be picked up by a number of services.

About the Author: Rachel Kuptz – Karrak Interactive provides press release writer and article writer services to small businesses and startups at cost efficient prices. Receive a full list of free press release distribution sites or inquire about services, pricing, or monthly packages, visit Karrak Interactive.

Blog Flipping: 10 Important Factors When Selling Your Weblog Or Website
By Chuck Crawford © 2009

The market for blogs has exploded. Many companies do not want
to invest the time in developing a blog in their respective
niche, which has given rise to a whole new cottage industry,
blog flipping.

Blog flipping is done in a few different ways. Some flippers
buy an existing blog that has potential, but is not currently
producing. They take that blog and build the traffic and sales
up to a level productive enough to reap a profit from their
investment, and then sell it.

Or, more common in today's blog flipping market, is to research
a specific niche, develop a domain / blog, and then sell it.

But what does "developed" really mean? It depends on the
flipper. So buyers really need to do their homework (read due
diligence) before investing in an "established" blog or website.
Because "established" is in the eyes of the beholder, and means
many different things depending upon who you consult.

In my opinion, established means that the site, or blog, is
profitable. Now profitable can be defined very differently for
different companies. It doesn't mean that the site has to be
making money, though it does help justify the investment when
purchasing the blog. It can mean to a prospective company only
that the site has traffic that company believes it can convert
into sales. Not everyone can convert website traffic in the same
way. So there are companies out there looking to buy blogs that
have a certain, specific reader demographic that fits their
market. However, these types of sales are few and far between.
Companies that are buying blogs normally want to see one thing.

Profit.

Not just income, because a blog's gross monthly income and it's
actual profit margin can be two very different things as well.
We've all seen the advertisements screaming that you can make
ten thousand dollars a month blogging, or with Adsense, or
whatever. But the part usually left out is the investment it
takes to get that income. Sometimes the cost is far greater than
the income, making the blog or website a LOSER.

So what steps should you take to sell your blog if you are a
would be website flipper? Here are a few factors your blog or
website should have in order to get top dollar:

1. Real Web Property

Your blog needs to be a real web property. What I mean by this
is that it needs to be a real domain, on hosting you are paying
for. Free hosted blogs are not a viable investment for most
companies and corporations. There are exceptions to every rule
and I'm sure that there have been a few sales of extremely
popular Blogspot blogs, but unless you have a million visitors a
month, you're probably not going to sell a free hosted blog
anytime soon. Buy a domain, pay for some hosting, build
something that has value.

2. Professional Appearance

Your blog or website needs to have a professional appearance.
Custom design is always better, but at the very least, it needs
to have a template or layout that fits that blog's readership or
market. If you have poor graphics, even if your blog has monster
traffic, you'll sell it for much less than you could have if you
had professional web design. It's sort of like house flipping or
selling a used car. If you can afford it, a fresh coat of paint
usually brings the resell value up substantially.

3. Developed Traffic Sources

Potential buyers want to see traffic. Not just any traffic will
do for most serious investors. They want to see solid, search
engine traffic and a solid bookmarked reader base. StumbleUpon
and other social bookmarking websites are awesome traffic
sources, no doubt. But when it comes to someone buying your
blog, they want to see more than just a few traffic spikes from
a front page listing on Digg. They want to see that the traffic
is going to keep coming for months and years to come. Without a
lot of work if they can get it.

4. Documented Traffic Statistics

It is going to take more than just the summary of "hits" screen
capture from your webalizer stats to make the sale. You are
going to need at least three months history of actual traffic
statistics. Unique visitors, tracking cookie info if you have
it, Google Analytics, etc. Numbers, numbers, numbers.
Corporations want numbers in order to convince their board of
directors that your blog would be a sound investment. Private
investors are no different for the most part and they want to
know exactly what they are buying when it comes down the actual
traffic your blog has.

5. Profit and Loss

Lots of income statistics. If you are looking to sell your blog
or website for real money (read more than a few bucks nabbed on
EBAY) then you are going to need to show your buyer some stats
about money. P&L statements (Profit and Loss) for as far back as
you can go will help your buyer make his or her decision. It is
one thing to tell a potential buyer what the gross income per
month is, it's a completely different thing to show them exactly
what the net income is and how it is obtained each month. Keep
good records of your website expenditures and what the income
received from those investments are. Include every cost. Website
hosting, design, redesign, employee or outsourcing costs,
whatever. Include everything and show them the real bottom line.

6. Set a Fair Price

I know you love your site, I love all of mine too. So it's easy
to attach an emotional value to your blog and inflate the price.
It's also really easy to confuse a blog's actual value with your
vision of it's potential value. What you think the site will
make someday and what it's making now are two very different
things. Sorry, but what you think it will make someday has zero
value to a would be investor. They only want to know what the
net profit is, right now. Yes, you can take some long term
income growth statistics and make profit projections, but unless
you have these statistics going back a year or more, most buyers
are going to dismiss them entirely.

Set a real price. In the bricks and mortar world most companies
sell for 2 to 3 years of the total net income. Online, this
number is usually cut down to one year. So if your website is
netting $300 per month, the actual value of your blog is
probably somewhere around $3600. Once again, it's easy to add an
emotional price tag for all the hard work you've done to get
that blog making $300 clams a month, but your sweat equity
doesn't mean much to a buyer.

Neither do website values created with online calculators.
These sites are traffic magnets and are built totally to obtain
webmaster traffic. If you search long enough and hard enough,
you'll find a website value calculator that comes up with a
number you like. It still means nothing to a buyer. It's not
what your site is really worth and should have no bearing
whatsoever on your sale price.

7. Where to Sell your Website

Where and how you sell your website is super important. The
profit you make will be directly related. Try to stay away from
auction type formats if at all possible. If your site has some
real value, use a website broker. A broker will help you
determine the real value of your blog or website and then help
you find a qualified and interested buyer. You would call a real
estate agent (read professional) if you were selling your house,
right? So why would you rely on your "for sale by owner" plan
when it comes to your web property? Call a professional.

Sadly, one of the main reasons most flippers don't call in a
pro is because deep down they don't really want to know what the
site is worth. They want to live in their imaginary world where
their holdings are worth millions. They can put a site up for
sale on Sitepoint or Ebay for whatever price they want. Creating
the illusion that they are worth substantially more than they
really are.

8. Pie in the Sky Promises (magic beans)

Stay away from "Pie in the Sky" promises to potential buyers.
When it comes to buying a website or blog, 99% of the buyers out
there are from Missouri (the "Show Me" state) and only want to
see the cold hard facts. Offering to take them to some new level
of income at a later date is only going to make you look
unprofessional and like an amateur.

There are sales contracts that require you to assist the new
buyer for a set period of time. But these are normally for sites
that are currently making money and allow time for you to teach
the new owner just how that income is made. These clauses in
sales contracts are not designed for you to hatch your half
baked plans or for time to realize "what you think" the site's
potential might be someday.

9. Accessible Communication

You need to be extremely accessible to both your broker and
potential buyers. They are going to have questions. So you need
to have a cell phone number and an office number where they can
reach you. You need to check your email often and respond
quickly. Slow response can be a red flag signaling uncertainty,
and that's something an investor just does not want to see when
they are thinking about laying some cash on you. Be available to
talk to them.

10. Know the Details

Communication is only effective if you have answers. If you
have to stumble and stutter with your answers, it's going to
have impact on the sale. You need to have done your homework and
you need to know the answers to the questions in advance.

There you have the basics for flipping your blog or website. Of
course there are many more points that can increase the actual
dollar amount realized when you sell your blog, this only covers
some of them.

But if you follow these guidelines and are realistic with
yourself and your buyer, you can sell your website for a profit.
So take the time to prepare your web property for a real sale.
Writing a good sales pitch is fine, but it's not going to be
sufficient for most investors. You're going to need to have
these bases covered.

Good luck. I hope you sell your blog for what it's worth.
================================================================
Chuck Crawford is an established expert in web design, traffic
development and website financial analysis. He has been helping
people design and develop their internet business since 1995.
Visit http://www.business blogs.us/blog/
================================================================

Copyright © 2009 Jayde Online, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

Top 5 Signs That Your Website Sucks
By John Metzler © 2009

Small business owners may not have the resources to invest
heavily in their web presence and finding solutions to problems
can be like finding a needle in a haystack. You know
something's wrong but don't have the faintest idea how to fix
it. Is it a technical issue? Are your ads not performing well?
Don't know what kind of traffic you're getting? Website
problems can fall into a myriad of categories. So if you think
your website sucks, a) it probably does, and b) you should read
on.

1. You Aren't Getting Traffic

You're excited about the big, expensive job the design team
just finished on your site. It looks like a million bucks! Well
it's a shame it isn't making you a darn cent. Just because it
exists doesn't mean people know about it. Announce it to the
world by submitting it to reputable directories and sharing your
useful content with others on social bookmarking sites (you do
have useful content, don't you? If not, I'll cover this
later). You can even do some link exchanges -- provided the
sites you exchange with are reputable -- just to get your site
crawled early on. Further optimize it for search engines by
following good SEO practices, building quality content and
generating inbound links from other sites. Once you do that,
you'll need to monitor progress with web analytics software.
Google Analytics is free and it has a slick interface. And we
know you like pretty things seeing as how you broke the bank on
your web site design.

If you're looking for high ROI, invest your own time in
learning search engine marketing. Better yet hire a qualified
SEO firm if you have the budget for it. Don't settle for
quick-fix promotional ideas. Build long-term exposure and a
solid reputation by attaining high rankings, keeping
email/newsletter lists, targeted ad placement and social media
participation.

2. You Have Worthless Content

What defines worthless content? Without knowing what topic your
web site covers it's tough to say, but if you have nothing that
sets you apart from your top competitors then I'd say you
aren't in good shape. If you don't know what kind of content
people are looking for on the Internet today, take a peek at
what's popular on social bookmarking sites. Observe some of the
story titles on the front page of Digg.com:

"Guinness Stout Beef Stew Recipe for St. Patrick's Day"
"In Move to Digital TV, Confusion Is in the Air"
"Kim Jong-Il Interprets Sunrise As Act Of War"
"Automatic bacon dispenser?"
"The 5 Best Obama Photomosaics on Flickr"

Words I would use to describe these topics, in order, are:
seasonal, informative, satirical, comical, and trendy. This
information is popular because it's appealing in its uniqueness
and is relevant to today's market. To set yourself apart from
your competition, you need to get creative. If you're the kind
of person who had trouble painting by numbers, then hire someone
creative. Professional copy writers can be well worth the
investment. Create free tools your customers will want to use;
write funny or interesting commentary in a blog about your
industry; put a new spin on a traditional product or service or
offer seasonal discounts. Create a comprehensive F.A.Q. on your
site that covers topics your competitors don't.

Take the time to beef up your content. Be innovative - don't be
afraid to think outside the box. Use the top competitor in your
field as a measuring stick.

3. You Have No Call-to-Action

Poor promotional language can have a sabotaging effect if
visitors aren't drawn to your conversion pages. A conversion
page is any page that acts as the final step in a visitor
submitting a form, making direct contact or purchasing a product
online. Obscuring those pages or confusing the visitor on where
to go next can make them leave your site. Internet users have a
short attention span - give them a clear direction when
navigating your web site.

Use your web analytics software again to find out what pages
visitors are landing on first. If your home page gets the most
traffic, make sure there are clear links to your sub-topics. If
inner pages are your most popular landing pages, find out if the
traffic is targeted. Once you know the type of visitor and the
specific page they land on, then you can start marketing your
content more accurately.

The bottom line is to always make clear why, and how, visitors
can buy your product. Don't get too cute with multiple steps,
options or convoluted language.

4. You're Getting Traffic But No Sales

Are you sure the traffic is relevant? If you're running a
pay-per-click campaign, ensure your ads are geo-targeted
properly and your ad text or landing pages appeal to your
customers. For organic search engine placement, have you done
keyword research and analysis before optimizing your content?
Look at your web stats and see where your visitors are coming
from. What keywords were they searching for when they landed on
your site? Are the referring sites relevant to your industry or
topic? How much time does the visitor spend on each page? Sales
won't come if your visitors aren't interested in what you're
selling. This is why preliminary keyword analysis is so
important to search engine marketing.

If you're running ads, it's always good practice to experiment
with different ad campaigns. If you put all your eggs in one
basket you run the risk of losing out on potential revenue.
Elements of your ads that you can change are:

- ad text
- landing page
- specific network your ads are shown across
- topics on which you focus the campaign
- geo-locations targeted

Remember, it doesn't pay to skimp on initial product/market
research and analysis.

5. You're Getting Relevant Traffic But No Sales

This problem could signal a technical error or navigation
problem with your site. Make sure you thoroughly test all
functionalities on various web browsers and systems. Submit test
forms. Do a link check to spot possible broken links. Is your
web hosting service reliable?

If you've ruled out technical issues as the cause then turn
your attention to the content and customer base. Has your market
taken a downturn? Can the lack of sales be attributed to the
poor economy? Have you fallen behind your competition in product
quality, selection or pricing? Does your web site's navigation
system confuse users? Your web site is the first line of contact
between the business and potential customer, but it's not the
only step you need to worry about. Telephone operators or online
payment systems can present their own issues.

This is moving away from web site problems but if any part of
the sales process takes place away from the site, investigate
those areas of your business as well.

If you're pulling out your hair over a problem with your site
and these tips still haven't helped, feel free to post a
comment and I'll personally have a peek at your site.
================================================================
With eight years in the search engine marketing industry, John
Metzler of FreshPromo knows what works and what doesn't
regarding website success. His strong grasp on visitor usability
and analysis, along with a highly-skilled SEO perspective, can
be seen through his professional SEO services
(http://www.freshpromo.ca/). Read the FreshPromo blog
(http://www.freshpromo.ca/seo_blog.html) for more free tips
and commentary.
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