Honest advice about what works to get traffic
Print This Post
I am tired of hearing about the same old link development methods over and over again. Go to any seo forum you like and start a 2.301.991-st topic called: “What are good ways to get backlinks?”. I bet you will get told to go and submit your website to directories, write articles and exchange links. Come on! We are in 2008! You need to stand out from the rest in order to succeed at seo!
I have decided to sort this out once and for all and cover every single link development method known to man. (Probably not but if i miss something out please do leave a comment) I will keep this nice and sweet. Us seo-ers don’t usually have all day to read a blog entry
From now on I will simply point everyone asking about way to get backlinks to this post. Here we go…
This post is great because it debunks a lot of the tired methods and myths about SEO and target generation. Tired of beating your brains out without any results? Try some of Llia’s ideas.
Free Photo Editing Software - Paint.NET a Photoshop Alternative
Print This Post
I use Paint.NET because its easy to use for the graphically challenged among us. Paint.NET will accept Photoshop files. It will also edit, crop and save your images into different formats, all of which are necessary for getting pictures onto the web.
This is what the Paint.NET website says about the program:
Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins.
It started development as an undergraduate college senior design project mentored by Microsoft, and is currently being maintained by some of the alumni that originally worked on it. Originally intended as a free replacement for the Microsoft Paint software that comes with Windows, it has grown into a powerful yet simple image and photo editor tool. It has been compared to other digital photo editing software packages such as Adobe® Photoshop®, Corel® Paint Shop Pro®, Microsoft Photo Editor, and The GIMP.
.
Below is a screenshots of Paint.net in action. Another great tool that doesn’t kill your wallet, in fact it’s (can you guess what I’m going to say?) Free Quick and Easy. Cheers.
.
Keyword Brainstorming
Print This Post
Sometimes however we get stumped trying to brainstorm the effective keywords for our niche and our business. Kwmap in a free resource that will help brainstorm and link different keywords in an attractive and intuitive display.
.
As you can see from the website picture Kwmap will not only graph the keyword you search on but provide an entire list of associated keywords and relevent sites. You can drill down on the differnt keywords by clicking on them. Kwmap also allows you to link your site and url directy - in other words free publicity and networking for your business’ website.
.
Another Free - Quick - and Easy resource for those wanting to take the Business Web Step.
A Great Webhosting Choice
Print This Post
Therefore one of the first decisions that you’ll have to make is where to put it - that is what company will you pay to provide (HOST) this ‘virtual’ space for you. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of web host providers. Some are great and others are just good, with a few down right horrible. I know, I’ve used many of them. The company I’ve found that has the best value - features and price - is Hostmonster.com.
.
.
.
Everytime I use my site I am more and more impressed with Hostmonster. So impressed in-fact that I just wrote an article on why. To read more checkout this article: Choosing Your Webhost
A Great FREE HTML Editor
Print This Post
As you know I’m a big fan of Wordpress because you don’t have to be technical or be a programmer to use it. However recently I’ve come across situations where I need to have some information in html (the web language). For example, when publishing articles some sites want the article in html format so that the titles and margins are pre-formated for the web. MS Word doesn’t work because it puts in strange codes and has special characters. Using the Windows Notepad means having to learn html and code every instruction. No way.
Well for such a simple thing I didn’t want to spend a fortune for software. Sure website creation software such as Dreamweaver or Frontpage are great and powerful. However they cost hundreds of dollars and have pretty steep learning curves. Fortunately I just found a Free web page editor and creator and couldn’t wait to share it with you.
KompoZer is a complete web authoring system that combines web file management and easy-to-use WYSIWYG web page editing. It is designed to be extremely easy to use, making it ideal for non-technical computer users who want to create an attractive, professional-looking web site without needing to know HTML or web coding.
Oh and did I mention that it’s Free. Try it out here:
Get your Website & RSS feeds promoted for free
Print This Post
Name: Blogarama
URL Address: www.blogarama.com
Description: A small search engine that will give you a directory listing
Add your blog here:http://www.blogarama.com/add-a-site/
Name: IceRocket
URL Address: http://www.icerocket.com
Description: A quick one-step link for your RSS feed
Add your blog here:http://www.icerocket.com/c?p=ping
Name: RDF Ticker
URL Address: http://www.anse.de/rdfticker/findchannels.php
Description: A link for your RSS feed, news oriented
Add your blog here:http://www.anse.de/rdfticker/addchannel.php
Name: Readablog
URL Address: http://www.readablog.com/
Description: A quick one-step link for your a website blog or RSS feed
Add your blog here:http://www.readablog.com/AddFeed.aspx
Name: Technorati
URL Address: http://www.technorati.com/
Description: Have to register and confirm with an email. However one of the most important sites on the web right now
Add your blog here:http://www.technorati.com/account/signup
231) Best Directory
http://www.directorybest.info/
Best Directory Anyone can use this directory without signing up to any service. Feeds are divided in 14 main categories, which are divided in two sub-categories themselves.
If you want to submit your feed, all you need to do is to pick the appropriate category, select the sub-categories in which your feed will best fit, provide a feed link, name, description and email, and finally the submission method:
- Free: No registration needed, nothing to pay, but your feed won’t be high until it is rated.
- Exchange: You can get a higher place, for free, by placing a link to Best Directory on your page.
- Understanding of the Problem
- What to do to Solve the Problem
- How to Solve the Problem
- The age of the website linking to you
- The Page Rank of the website linking to you
Submit your feed to Best Directory.
230) Blogged
Blogged is an online blog directory that you can use to discover and promote interesting blogs
Currently featuring 200,000 blogs this is a very popular resource to get listed at. Blogs are reviewed, rated, and categorized by editors, but anyone with an account can review and rate a blog to help it rise in the rankings. You can browse them by topic, rating, or simply searching for any keyword.
If you want to add your blog to the directory, you will just have to sign up to the service for free, and provide the RSS feed of your site.
Sign up and submit your feed to Blogged.
224) Webloogle
Webloogle is a blog directory where anyone can submit his own RSS feed URL and keep an eye on how his blog is going.
Webloogle will offer you a dedicated page on which it’ll show information, ratings, statistics of your site, and also a link that other people can click to write a review about your site. Requires a bit more time than the other links - the site has an approval process and they’ll email you with the results. Worth the investment of time and effort
Feeds can be browsed by category, ordered by ranking, or simply searched through the search form.
Submit your feed to Webloogle.
Have you been ripped off Infomarketers?
Print This Post
I’ve read several hundred eBooks now, taken dozens of InfoCourses and well, frankly I feel ripped off. It’s not only the money but the time. Why is it so hard to get good information? Especially when you’ve paid for it?
Recently I listened to a course by Dan Kennedy, the Grand Puba of Marketing and Sales information products, where he said “The pitch page will never be as good as the product itself. How could it?”
Over promise and under deliver. That seems to be the motto of these internet sellers. What off-line business could operate that way? How many customers could we keep if every time they bought something they felt cheated? I suspect not many.
Their formula is simple – an openly taught by them – tell people the problem and even what the solution is – just don’t tell them how to fix it. For that you’ve got to pay the big dollars. Well unfortunately, even the big buck course are pretty light on the “How To” of getting anything accomplished.
For example the subject of how to use the internet. There are tons of websites and courses on this subject. They talk about all the money that is being made and give endless examples and techniques about Internet Marketing. I’ve taken these courses: how to drive traffic, how to optimize your website for search engines and on and on. However I’ve discovered a huge problem.
The problem is that making all of these things work – actually executing and implementing – is harder than they say. Plus they don’t tell you HOW! I know, they’ll argue with that statement and I’ll probably get flamed in comments and email. But its true. How many eBooks have you read that were worthless? How many free offers to you get that actually have any meat in them? Few I suspect. Its gotten to the point I don’t even open these emails anymore – I just ignore all of their nonsense.
I’ve discovered that there are three levels of knowledge needed to really have a working solution:
How often involves tools and the practive of skills learned in the ‘Understanding’ and the ‘What.’ For example to build a house I first have to learn a lot about building, architecture, legal and structural rules, etc. I then have to learn what a house builder does. I have to learn what tools and resources it takes. I have to learn about all of the skills and techniques that will be used when I’m ready to dig the foundation or put up the walls. Before a single nail gets pounded I have to know these fundamentals.
However none of that will do me any good unless I learn the ‘how to.’ What are the steps to putting in a foundation? Actually doing something is always harder and more time consuming than learning about it. Perhaps that is why for hundreds of years people apprenticed under other ‘Masters’ in their trade.
When it comes to Business and the Internet these same principles hold true. I know the understand email for example (the ‘why’ part of the problem). I also understand the ‘what’ of email: get a good email system or an autoresponder. What is lacking is the ‘how to.’ Sure we all know some of the how to: we type letters on a page and hit the send button, we already know programs like Outlook and Yahoo Mail. But…
Do we know how to do it right? And what about using an autoresponder or setting up our websites to accept email addresses so that we can write people? Those are the critical ‘how to’ details left out. If you don’t know how to use something you won’t use it. The same is true if you don’t know how to do something - it just won’t get done.
Ever ask an employee that you thought knew how to do something and then wonder why it didn’t get done. Often its because they really didn’t know how to do it and were simply too embarrassed to let you know. I’ve had this happen countless times (so much for my learning from my mistakes huh). I would ask my service guy for example to look into a problem and a week later find out that they hadn’t even called the customer. When I dug into it I found out that my computer guy didn’t really understand networking (strange I know) and avoided any kind of situation involving networks. But until I asked he was going to pretend he knew and just not fix anything.
The Backend of the Internet: how to get autoresponders working, how to get orders fulfilled, shopping carts, and the various bits and pieces of using the Web for Business can be overwhelming and complex. Unfortuanlity most of the courses don’t get into these nuts and bolts of the HOW.
Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting on these subjects because I believe the BACKEND is the most important part of taking the Web Step in a Business. We’ve got customer service, product ordering and all of the other business processes nailed down for our off-line businesses. If we can’t figure this stuff out for the internet we’ll be like my hapless computer guy forever not doing.
See you then…Russ
Directory Submission Software to Drive Traffic
Print This Post
and harder to get top search engine rankings.
The search engines now, highly favor, websites that have a large number of
quality, one way links pointing to them. Because of this, it’s absolutely critical
that we consistently try to get other websites to link to us, WITHOUT us linking
back to them.
Yes, reciprocal linking is becoming less and less valuable. Submitting your
website to website directories is an excellent way to get, quality, 1 way links
pointing to your websites. You see, many of the website directories online have
a high amount of page rank and have been online for several years.
These are 2 of the most important criteria for determining what a good link
is, vs what a bad link is. These two criteria are:
With that said, many of these directories have both a high Page Rank AND are
old websites, giving them more authority and power in the search engines.
Not only that, but there are literally thousands of website directories on
the internet that are absolutely free for you to submit your website to! While
it does take time to find these directories and then manually fill out all of
the required criteria to submit your website, it is an excellent way to help
increase your search engine rankings.
There are some good website directory submission software products on the market.
The best of which is a product called Directory Submitter created by Brad Callen.
Esentially you simply enter your website details into the software program 1
time, and then click on any of the 1600+ website directories in the software
and it wil automatically fill in all of the submission criteria for you. Click
the submit button and then your site has been instantly added to the website
directory.
So, not only does it save you time in finding all of these directories, BUT
it saves you an incredible amount of time filling out each and every website’s
submission criteria. To learn more about Directory Submitter, visit the link
below:
Seven Tips for Designing a Customer-Friendly Shopping Cart
Print This Post
Tip One: Make It Easy to Use
Shoppers want to view information, add products to the cart, review selections, make changes, and pay simply by clicking buttons. The “add to cart” button should be prominently displayed. Navigating between product pages and the cart should be easy. Modifying the cart should be simple. Conversion is more likely when the cart is easy to use.
Tip Two: Make It Interactive
What colors and sizes are available? Is it in stock? How much money will they save if they buy in quantity? What will shipping cost? Building interactive features into the shopping cart allows consumers to explore options and be assured they are getting exactly what they want.
Tip Three: Give It Time
Making the customer’s cart savable lets him build his order over time. For example, eBay’s half.com site lets customers save selections to a wish list. They can return later to purchase selected items. If a sale is not completed in a given period of time, the shopper receives an email reminding them to update their wish list.
Tip Four: Automatically Calculate Totals
Keeping the consumer informed of total costs will build his or her confidence in shopping through the website. The shopping cart should show the product total, tax, and shipping costs. Many sites show a summary page as the final step before the consumer completes the transaction.
Tip Five: Allow Multiple Payment Options
Accepting payment through a number of methods will increase the likelihood that the transaction will be completed. Some customers prefer using credit cards. Some use PayPal. Still others use echecks. Providing a variety of payment options makes purchasing possible for a wider range of customers.
Tip Six: Keep It Secure
Consider becoming a member of a third-party privacy seal program, which verifies the credibility of ecommerce sites. Ensure encryption of personal data. Display the website’s privacy policy. Assuring consumers of the site’s trustworthiness eliminates concerns and encourages a mutually beneficial business relationship.
Tip Seven: Confirm the Purchase
An automated email confirmation following the sale assures the customer that his or her order is in progress. As added assurance, many etailers find it a good practice to include contact instructions so the consumer can keep tabs on the status of the order, make inquiries, and track shipping.
Consumers look for ease of use, efficiency, and security when purchasing online. A well-designed shopping cart can meet these needs and increase conversion rate and revenue for retailers in a highly competitive market.
Fortunately there are many services that making adding a shopping cart to your site relatively easy. cPanel, the website management tool of many web hosts has several shopping cart choices built in, such as Oscommerce. 1Shoppingcart and Ultracart are two third party shopping carts that will integrate into your website. Any way you get a shopping cart it is simply smart business to have one. Good shopping…
Sign In
Print This Post
Membership and Contact Information
Every month BusinessWebStep members get a book summary of one of hottest business books being sold. Members also get exclusive articles, audio interviews, and a newsletter. Personal coaching and teleconferences happen every month. For details click here.
For Further Contact
BusinessWebStep coaches people on how to use the web to increase business. For further information or to discuss how BusinessWebStep can assist your company please feel contact us at russ@businesswebstep.com. Or call us at 719-481-0876
Todays Challenge for Small Business
The Internet can be a powerful tool for a local business prospecting, lead generation and relationship building. Using Internet Marketing all types of businesses can use the Web to grow revenues and get more customers.
Did you know that 70% of all buyers buy from the web and 36% of all customers use the web to find local businesses?
There are three interlocking strategies for growing a business using the Internet: improving a business, growing a business, and expanding a business. Read more about them here:
Profit with the Internet
How To Sell More in a Down Economy
How would you like it if your business earned a five-figure income every month-even while the economy is on a downsizing?
Imagine what your life would be like if all your debts were paid and your business operated in the black month after month.
Using the Web To Get More Business
Will show you how to get new customers and do more business with your existing customers, with or without your own website. You'll learn how to use technology to leverage your time and efforts in 30 days or less!