Sunday, May 30, 2010

An Introduction to Keyword Research

An Introduction to Keyword Research.

If you’re reading this article, then you probably already know you want to set up your own online business. But it can be difficult (and a little overwhelming) to know where to start. In fact, once you start doing your own research on where to begin, you may come across advice that could seem contradictory.

The fact that there is so much advice out there (some of which is sometimes contradictory) shouldn’t be surprising. Keyword research is as much an art as it is a science, and the Internet search engines that use keywords have very complicated (and proprietary) processes for determining which web pages show up in search results, and in which orders.

Although some of the inner workings of search engines are not made public (which leads to a number of different “experts” claiming that they have discovered the secrets), it’s generally accepted that one of the immutable truths for search engine success is the importance of keyword research. And despite the cacophony of viewpoints, keyword research, and the entire keyword optimization process, is a skill (or ability, depending on how you look at it) that anyone can learn.

Key Components of Keyword Research

Keyword research is ultimately designed to help you find highly targeted traffic, position yourself well in search engine results, and find a niche market that you can build your business around. Key components of keyword research include understanding:

* The definition of keywords and keyword phrases in the context of Internet search engines
* How Internet search engines use keyword phrases to provide the search results to their users
* The concept of “targeted visitors”, and how this is an essential part of your keyword research process
* Finding a niche market to focus your keyword research efforts
* The concept of competition for search engine traffic
* The various tools that you can use to perform quick, accurate, and generally free research
* Promoting your business and website by using the basic keyword concepts

Keyword research means your prospects will be able to find you when they’re searching for your valuable information. The search engines will position you in the top pages of their results. Your competition will be sidestepped, and eventually shoved aside, and you’ll be able to build a profitable business from the get go instead of struggling, throwing the metaphorical spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, and losing money along the way.

Keyword research, when conducted with a specific strategy, can lead you to a online business that sells. It doesn’t matter what your business model is, what you’re marketing or who your audience is, you and your business will profit when you integrate keyword research into your business building strategy from day one.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

A “KISS” for Profits and Cash Flow

A “KISS” for Profits and Cash Flow
Simple Marketing Tactics that Drive Sales

The “K.I.S.S.” method has been a tried and true rule forever in many areas in life and business. For this article, The KISS method stands for: Keep It Simple for Sales!
Marketing tactics can be extremely complex or quite simple. Ironically, the simple tactics are the ones that are most effective and successful. Value-added headlines, informative content, and visual appeal are simple tactics that can drive conversions and sales.
For example, one simple tactic is to make it quick and easy for web visitors and customers to view information on your website. Allowing adequate white space, creating short sentences, and keeping enough space between words, sentences, and paragraphs will make your site more appealing.
In addition, the strategic use of keywords and keyword phrases will attract search engines and keep site visitors scanning your content. Words that demonstrate how your product adds value will capture attention and focus the reader on “what’s in it for them”.
And these are also valuable search engine optimization techniques that will drive visitors to your website.
Simple marketing tactics
A very important tactic is to make everything simple. Some recommended options include:
1. Bulleted or numbered lists (like this one)
2. Use of bold to highlight keywords or important benefits (use sparingly to ensure emphasis without over-use)
3. Subheadings to create a logical flow and to break large blocks of content
4. Titles and subheadings in ‘sentence case’ since capitalizing most words tends to break attention span and create confusion
5. Graphics or pictures that are clearly relevant to the product and that showcase benefits and value
6. Highlighting unique information, benefits and value by using ‘call out boxes’, ‘pull quotes’ and other design elements
7. Since people tend to scan web pages rather than read them, snippets or short phrases with important information become vital for website content. People need to get the message quickly without having to think hard about what is being presented. Making sentences overly long or complex tends to be a distraction and you’ll lose the site visitor’s attention quickly.
These are just some of the recommended options when creating website content.
Not only is it important to integrate many of the basic and advanced marketing tactics into your marketing plan, it is also vital to include methods of testing their effectiveness. Watching and monitoring statistics that indicate how long visitors remain on your pages, among other measures of success, will help you refine marketing tactics and improve your marketing strategy.
Once you deploy some of the more advanced marketing tactics that are proven effective you will begin to see conversions increase quickly. And increased conversion rates lead to higher sales and repeat business.
Advanced marketing tactics include options such as the use of powerful copy that attracts readers, inclusion of questions that help you lead customers toward sales, and using authority positioning to increase site integrity and credibility.
If you’re searching for ways to grow your business, you don’t want to miss an opportunity to evaluate marketing tactics that will put you on the super-highway to success. Evaluate what others have already tested and proven successful. Create the winning formula for your website and enjoy the success that comes from hard work and vision.

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