Landing Page Guideline - 10 Keypoints

November 4th, 2009 Author: Aftab Aslam

1. Brevity
Keep it short and to the point. Paragraphs should be no longer than three lines, if they are used at all. One idea per paragraph is plenty of information fodder.

2. Relevancy
In the case of PPC landing pages you need to match the offer to your text ad copy. Keywords should be highlighted or displayed prominently. Keep it relevant to that person’s search query, because that’s all they care about.

3. A direct approach
Bullet points work well online, to help communicate the benefits of a product or service. Keep in mind that people skim read on the web. Use bold text to reinforce key messages.

4. A clear call-to-action
That potentially means a big Buy Now button, above the fold…

5. Fact over fiction
Stick to the key facts and be transparent, especially when the landing page is related to an ad campaign. Do not hide the price. Avoid flowery prose. This ain’t a press release. Product features, product features, product features.

6. Persuasion
Persuasion means removing any links that might distract, focusing the consumer’s mind on the end goal: the checkout. This means writing compelling copy. Persuade visitors not to drop out by limiting their options - remove link navigation, for example. Prominently display delivery options and costs. Sell the goddamned product…

7. Clear scent trails
How easy is it for a novice web user to get from A to B? You need to encourage visitors to walk / run down that conversion path. Conducting usability testing on your landing page templates may also provide you with some answers.

8. Grammatical accuracy
Its important, innit? Because people dont like spelling misteaks and stuff like that. First impressions count.

9. Reinforcing credibility
Testimonials, press, kitemarks, partners, visible customer support options. All these things convey trust and respectability. They ease the mind of the prospective buyer, who might not know your brand. Trust is very important.

10. Good use of images and colour
Presentation (eg: colours, graphics, icons) can play a big role in reinforcing purchase intent. Avoid clutter. White space and big fonts. Smart layout.

Intermediate Tips to Make More Money with Social Bookmarking

November 16th, 2007 Author: Aftab Aslam

Not a lot of people may be aware of the power of social bookmarking sites, and it is very much understandable. After all, the idea is relatively new and that there are only a few who can grasp its purpose.

Nevertheless, social bookmarking can actually help you in raising the popularity rate of your website and garner more traffic. Do you want to know how? Here are the various ways on how to make more money with social bookmarking:

1. Choose your social bookmarking sites. The common types are Digg, Furl It, and del dot icio dot us. If you’re going to start with your social bookmarking marketing method, then you better choose these three. It’s because they already have steady and large number of members that you can tap on as your target market for your bookmarking strategy.

2. Give more time in building up your profile. In case you don’t know, your profile matters when you’re in social bookmarking sites. Commonly, people are urged to identify who you are or at least get an idea of your characteristics if they don’t know anything about you. To compel them to link up to yours and hopefully share your contents by placing them in their own bookmark sites, make sure that your profile is attractive enough and can arouse curiosity.

3. Add tags. Tags can function like keywords, and when you’re in social bookmarking sites, it can make your page very easy to search. Think of your tags as your way of filtering the members. Definitely, those who will search for you through the keywords you’ve identified can become your potential target market.

4. Don’t forget to include links. One of your goals in social bookmarking is to promote the URL of your website. This way, you can increase traffic that is going into your site. What’s more, social bookmarking websites are great sources of inbound links for you.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to social bookmarking success, ‘Secrets of Using Social Bookmarking to Increase Online Profits’

Download it free here: Social Bookmarking Secrets

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.

Profitable Social Bookmarking - Learning the 3 Basic Steps of Social Bookmarking

November 16th, 2007 Author: Aftab Aslam

Learning the concept of social bookmarking requires a great deal of experience and interest in internet marketing and home based business or jobs. Primarily, these are required because the potential use of social bookmarking is well manifested on these two aspects. Social bookmarking is considered the easier way to earn more money online because what you basically need to do is to make sure that a website is bookmarked by people to share with other people publicly, thereby paving the way to generate more traffic for that site - very easy! So, what sort of steps should be taken in order to be part of this social bookmarking thing?

a. First that you have to do is to make sure that you have an account with the numerous social bookmarking sites that are very popular. Examples are Digg It and Delicious sites. When you have established an account with a social bookmarking site, your website then is already bookmarked and publicly accessible by many people who may find its contents very interesting. Of course, you will have to have catchy and enticing keywords so people can easily search your site.

b. After having your site bookmarked, you can ask your relatives and your friends to access your site and have it bookmarked on their end. By having this done, you are guaranteed another set of exposure, in public, thru these people who have accessed and bookmarked your site. This is a great deal for your popularity because your site is publicly opened to all people who are connected with the people who made connections with you.

c. Develop a good sense of creating relevant contents on your site. This will help you better attract and entice people to keep coming back to your site and eventually bookmark your site for easy access in the future.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to social bookmarking success, ‘Secrets of Using Social Bookmarking to Increase Online Profits’

Download it free here: Social Bookmarking Secrets

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.

How To Create An Attractive Social Bookmarking Profile

November 16th, 2007 Author: Aftab Aslam

The Internet is a truly vast repository of information and knowledge. It’s far too large for anyone to effectively negotiate by themselves. Whenever someone starts to look for information online, very often the first place they turn to are the search engines, which help to bring home web pages that will fit what you’re looking for.

The sad thing is that, search engines are not always the best or even the most efficient way of locating great online content, as anyone who has ever waded through page after page of Google results, and hoping that they can hit on that elusive keyword, can vouch for that.

Bookmarking Brings The Human Touch To Searching For Info Online

The art of social bookmarking brings to the equation something that search engines cannot compete with, which is the human touch. As the Internet has millions of pages, it also of course has millions of users, and if even a fraction of those users share the sites they’ve found interesting, relevant or simply funny, with each other, suddenly there is a vast resource created for anyone searching the web to tap into.

Bookmarking Helps People Share And Tag The Same Interests

The services of social bookmarking make it possible to give users the opportunity to quickly and easily ”tag” web pages, efficiently bookmark them as they would for themselves, and sharing them through a service provider, as well as leaving useful notes and other information for other users to come across. As sites are tagged, large collections of these user generated tags, over time, are gathered, and could then be searched by anyone who enlists in social bookmarking services.

For example, if you wish to find relevant content on the subject of ”online marketing”, you could type this term into a social bookmarking search, and would then be shown all of the latest pages tagged under this term by hundreds of thousands of users across the web. You are therefore tapping straight into the web-browsing experiences of other people, and these people would be more than likely to share interests with you, and not just rely on a search engine algorithm to pluck out keywords from vast online fields of text.

Well-Planned Strategies Help To Generate More Bookmarking Interest

A coherent, well-structured marketing strategy helps to efficiently promote your site, along with the products and services you offer. Bookmarking links to your website will redirect larger volumes of traffic to your site from your target niche, or market.

Generating and maintaining interest is extremely important in attracting more Web users to your site. You definitely need to make the right connection with your target niche in order to sustain their levels of interest. This means that you should generate a fictional profile of your target customer base and include relevant information and features that would be appealing to them.

How To Create An Attractive Bookmarking Profile Or Strategy

Here are a few, of many, good tips to help individuals have an attractive bookmarking profile or strategy, as these could also help you gain more traffic for your online business or activity, and help in generating interest as well as profits.

- First, create single accounts on social bookmarking sites. Individuals who may be neophytes to this segment, and do not fully understand it, may feel that multiple accounts is the effective way to go. Well, according to experts, It isn’t. Most likely, you’ll get caught, banned, or have your links deleted.

- Modify your anchor text, or submission title and use attractive, descriptive keywords. There would be no need to make them interesting on bookmarking sites, so submit terms that you want to move up on in the search engine results.

- Be an active member. Don’t just submit and run. Make it a habit to leave comments, add friends, join groups, and other socially relevant stuff. The goal is to create a link, however the higher objective is to get more people to bookmark your website.

- For best results, acquire the services of a professional SEO expert. Social bookmarking has a lot of benefits that go beyond the simple SEO perks. It helps to pay someone who knows how to do it.

http://conbuzz.com

Vanessa A. Doctor from Jump2Top - SEO Company

6 Key Ways to Excel in Email Marketing

November 16th, 2007 Author: Aftab Aslam

E-mails are one of the most personal ways to get in touch with your clients. After all, not everyone has all the time to surf your web pages and take note of the latest products you have in your catalog.

Here are 6 key ways to excel in e-mail marketing:

1. Use your name in the From field. Don’t sugarcoat your e-mail; it will only raise suspicion from your customers. Emails look more credible when they are coming from reputable business or persons.

2. Test your e-mails. It’s essential that you can send your message across even if you are only sending it through e-mails. That’s why you have to test them before you send to check that all features, including images are properly loading on your recipients’ end.

3. Personalize your e-mail. You can customize your message by using your potential’s full name. It’s actually a very old trick, but it always works. It’s because it never fails to capture the attention of your customers.

4. Don’t send e-mails to unsubscribed members. Once someone has unsubscribed to your list, make sure you remove him/her in your database. Otherwise, they will get annoyed thinking that you don’t respect their personal choices.

5. Avoid using dollar signs. This is a classic hint that you’re only trying to sell, not really giving them valuable information. Focus more on the benefits that your e-mail brings to your customers, and sales will simply follow.

6. Encourage your customers to view you as Trusted Sender. Your e-mail may end up in Junk Mail folder and thus deleted without being read. Encourage them instead to add your address in their Address Book. This way, your message will surely go to their inbox.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to email marketing success, ‘Secrets of Email Marketing’

Download it free here: Email Marketing Secrets

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.

Top 10 Email Marketing Tips

November 16th, 2007 Author: Aftab Aslam

Email marketing is tougher than it used to be but it’s really just a matter of using “best practices”. In today’s spam filled In boxes it is getting more and more difficult to avoid the delete key. By offering relevant, useful content and maintaining permission based privacy standards, you can not only keep your customers informed of your latest sales or company news but also build relationships that keep them coming back. All it takes is a little respect and responsibility.

1. DON’T SPAM!

If you use email you know what a pain it is to start your day deleting a bunch of garbage. The only responsible way to run an email campaign these days is use permission based lists. Depending on your site’s traffic and how compelling you make the sign-up form, this could take a while but don’t risk ruining your brand and your customer relationships.

2. Optimize the Subject Line

Ok, you have their permission but that doesn’t mean you’re in just yet. You’ve got one line of about 50 characters between “Open” and “Delete”. The subject line should quickly let them know what the email is about. Personalize it if you can. Don’t use the same subject line for all of your emails. Experiment and run A/B tests to see what works best. Make it interesting.

3. Send Something Useful

Don’t send an email just because it’s that time of the month. OK, yes you should (see number 4) but give them something worth opening. Tell them about a new product, teach them how to do something, offer them an exclusive discount. You get the idea. Most people aren’t interested in an advertisement in their inbox anymore than they want pop-up ads while they surf. Think about the value from their perspective.

4. Make sure your mails get through

Before you send your actual campaign, send a test mail to as many different email clients as you can(Outlook, Hotmail, Gmail, Thunderbird etc.). Send them to different networks as well to check for ISP blocking, blacklisting, and various anti-spam efforts. You should make the required adjustments before you send out a large number of mails and wind up on several blacklists.

5. Use the “Preview Pane”

More and more email clients are using a preview pane so the recipient can see the content before it is opened. This is why you want your most compelling content right up at the top. If you are covering more than one topic, such as a newsletter, this is a great place for a table of contents.

6. Mind your P’s and Q’s

Use a spell checker, but don’t rely on it. Proofread your content for errors, then have someone else do it. Also look for HTML errors, broken links or anything else that might irritate readers or just make you look incompetent.

7. Use graphics sparingly

Once again anything that slows down your message is not useful. You should use your branding and maybe one or two well optimized graphics, but don’t use two when one will do. Rely on color and contrast (and of course your well written content) to create interest.

8. Provide a “Call to Action”

What’s the point? Make it clear to the reader that you want them to got to your site or download the latest white paper. Make them want to, tell them how to, and don’t forget to ask them to.

9. Create a Landing Page

A “Landing Page” is a page within your site designed specifically for the readers of your email. This is where you provide the solutions they came clicking for. If they land on your home page and have to hunt for whatever you offered in the email it will probably end badly for both of you. Make it easy on them.

10. Test, Measure, Test again

Track your results, pay more attention to conversion rates and revenue-per-email than to opens and click-through rates. Test a variety of subject lines. See which ones are not only getting opened but are actually generating revenue. Test different font sizes, different colors, different word totals. Find out what works for your customers, in your industry and make the most of it. Have fun with it.

Chip Simons is an internet marketer from Little Rock, Arkansas. He is the owner of http://www.AsgardMedia.net. Chip has been working on the web since 1996.

List Of Customers vs List Of Prospects

November 16th, 2007 Author: Aftab Aslam

Database management is an essential part of marketing. It requires the collection of information and the development of statistics about customers and prospects that, when analyzed, permits marketing to carefully target each with the most effective messages possible.

There Is A Difference Between A Customer And A Prospect

A customer is someone who has already reacted to your product or service offering by purchasing from you. A prospect is someone who has demonstrated some degree of interest by seeking information, but has not yet become a paying customer. Herein lies the difference between the two that must be addressed with the proper messages.

Database Marketing Addresses These Differences

When marketing to people who are already customers, larger and more sophisticated marketing people often build elaborate databases about their customers. These are usually made up of a variety of data starting with the customers name, address, demographics, review of prior contacts and, of course, a history of the customer’s shopping habits and purchases. Marketing to people who are still just prospects depends on having third-party information assembled from various sources. Ordinarily, this information is limited to name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and available demographics. Some of this data can be extracted by using contests, sweepstakes programs, online registration data and other sources used for developing leads.

Business-To-Business Marketing Is Somewhat Different

Databases for business-to-business marketing are a bit more difficult to assemble and the databases are generally far smaller than those used in business-to-consumer marketing programs. This is due to the fact that business-to-business marketers have numerous contacts within a single company and it’s often difficult to accurately determine who is the right person to reach by direct marketing. However the databases for B-2-B marketing frequently include data that can be used to segment markets by using special, dedicated software programs for each segment identified. Customers in B-2-B often have specific loyalties due to their need for after-the-sale service for the products they purchased as well as new information such as available updates and refinements for those products.

Prospects Must Be Motivated To Become Customers

All marketers really know about a prospect is that he exhibited interest by asking for additional information or simply by visiting their website. Now the challenge is to convert prospects into customers and that usually requires highly targeted mailings designed to increase interest and promote further action on the prospects part. Marketers use a wide variety of techniques to do this including free offers, bonuses and others.

Keeping Customers As Customers

Part of a good marketing mix also includes making an effort to spur existing customers into purchasing anew. There are several ways this is achieved. The contention used is that existing customers will always be prospects too. In fact, many marketers have methods designed to increase what a customer is buying during the initial purchase. This is referred to as ‘upselling’ and is a well-established marketing practice. Offering on-the-spot upgrades, or adding another item that is discounted if the customer buys right now accomplishes it. Many customers are quite receptive to this type of offer since the company’s credibility has already been established with the first sale. Even websites have upselling offers that get results. Marketers also employ ‘backend selling’ or selling other related products or services to customers who have purchased before. Statistics show that customers who have already purchased from you are significantly more likely to purchase again.

Referral Selling Is Another Marketing Technique

If a marketer has an effective system to develop referrals from satisfied customers, he has another good source of business. These prospects are a step-up from un-referred people since they have at least some credibility for the company when someone they know who has had satisfactory personal experience refers them. Marketers utilize customer surveys as one method for developing referrals.

Database Management Is Essential

When a company is on a growth cycle and their lists are growing as well, database management becomes essential. Doing his is much easier today thanks to computer technology and the ready availability of virtually every type of list management software. Highly detailed statistics about customers and prospects permits the savvy marketer to precisely target people with dedicated marketing messages that are customized based upon the statistical analysis of detailed database information.

For more resources check out our email marketing page. If you want to make money online then visit our work at home website.

Write an Ebook - Anyone Can Do It ?

November 13th, 2007 Author: Aftab Aslam

If you have spent any amount of time researching opportunities to make money on the internet, you will have noticed a number of recurring themes. One such theme is the need to write your own ebook. The theory is that if all you ever do is sell other peoples books, then all your marketing efforts are helping to make other people more wealthy, rather than yourself. If you are the author then you will benefit from other people marketing your work. In simple terms, there is more money to be made by writing and selling your own book, rather than just re-selling another persons’ work. I suppose it is obvious really. However, there is an obvious problem here. It is all very well advocating that you write your own book, but the average person in the street is not capable of writing a book. Or are they?

If you are reading this article, then a number of assumptions can be made. You are equipped with a computer, a link to the internet, and basic I.T. skills. You are also, at least, curious about the possibility of making money on line. If you agree with these assumptions, then I am certain that there is an ebook within you, waiting to be unleashed on the world.

One simple method for creating a book would be for you to set your self a target. For example, the target may be to make $1000 in one month by clearing your house of unwanted clutter, and selling it on. Another target could be to set up a fully functioning web site for less than $25. Make sure your target is realistic, achievable and time constrained, and make sure you are able to quantify what success will look like.

The next step is to keep a diary of your efforts to achieve your target. You could write down on paper, details of the actions you have taken that day. Try to write a paragraph a day. The target of a paragraph a day will also help focus you on actually “doing something” each day, towards achieving your goal.

An even better idea would be to write a Blog. I am assuming that you will be aware of what a blog is, and that you know that you can set on up for free in a few minutes. By keeping your diary as a blog, you will also be increasing your knowledge of a media, which you may use in future to help you make money.

If we go back to our first example, at the end of your month of selling on ebay, you will have created at least 30 paragraphs of useful, detailed information. In effect you have created the backbone and structure of your very first ebook. The information will need editing and tidying up, but in essence your book has been created and the majority of the hard work has been done. Your title could be ” How to make an extra $1000 in one month”. I have only really scratched the surface of this subject, but hopefully I have demonstrated that perhaps anyone can actually write an ebook.

Paul Bridge

For more information visit: http://www.blogger.com/

If you are interested in taking things a step further, far more detailed information can be found by visiting http://www.theoperationebook.com/

Best Audio Streaming - 4 Ways on How to Stream Audio on Your Site

October 31st, 2007 Author: Aftab Aslam

With the prevalence of multimedia and the emerging technology in audio streaming, more and more business sites are being goaded to incorporate and embed audio streaming on their own business sites to be able to catch and entice more potential clients. Being it as such, audio streaming has become the latest business technique adopted by numerous businesses on the net. Now, as everyone else begins to audio stream, the problem about where the audio stream is supposed to be positioned on the site is becoming a bigger problem. Below are some of the different ways on how you can use audio streaming to your advantage:

a. You can audio stream some parts of your site like your “contact us” or the “company profile”. It is appropriate to make an audio streaming on this page portion as this is one portion that a lot of visitors are not so eager to read about. By having this transformed into what is called audio streaming it gets a little livelier and more pleasing to listen.

b. You can also add audio streaming on the testimonials that you have received. You can request from those people who are giving their personal testimonials to record their voice instead of giving it in written for to you. The recorded testimonials will sound like more believable than the written form.

c. If you have a recorded TV or Radio appearance you can include those as part of your audio streaming. It helps and basically to entice and appeal more people as the clip may be used as a form of establishing the image of your business.

d. You can also add your personal favorite music files for your potential clients to listen to. However, as a word of caution, do not overly do the adding of these audio files on your site as they become irritants at a certain point. Besides that, people have diverse liking for music and some people may not like the choice of music that you have.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to audio streaming success, ‘Secrets of Audio Streaming‘

Download it free here: Audio Streaming

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.

Multiple Uses For Multiple Suppliers - Avoid Conflict And Make More Money

June 23rd, 2007 Author: Aftab Aslam

Anytime you are setting business relationships up, you try to do everything you can to keep everyone happy, right? What happens when you find yourself in a situation that does not seem like anyone will ever be pleased? Something interesting happened to one of my Internet businesses in the last week that involved a couple of my drop shippers, so I wanted to talk about it, and hopefully provide some good information for anyone who could find them self in the same situation.

Most of the time, I would say probably 90% of the time when you are working with a supplier you will not have to worry about conflicts of working with multiple suppliers. Most of them really do not care as long as you continue to sell their products. I had a situation with one of my suppliers that telling me I had to drop my other supplier, and work with them exclusively.

Let me give you a little more background to better understand the situation. On this specific site (I am talking about) I currently work with 4 suppliers, and two of them are pretty much non-existence (Long story, I won’t bore you with those details). However, I do have two main suppliers that I use quite often for all of the sales that come through on the site. Both of them are amazing, and I do not want to lose either one. Here is the deal - The one supplier telling me I have to drop everyone else is going to be doing some pretty amazing things for me if I drop everyone for them (I mean, the stuff really is pretty impressive what they will be doing for us) so I do not want to make them mad and risk losing them, or having them think I am not serious. Are you starting to see my very difficult situation yet?

The solution -

Find a way to keep both, and please them both. No really, DO EVERYTHING you possibly can to keep both, as it will help your business grow in the long run. Plus, you never have to worry about having product if one company goes under one day. In the situation I gave you above, here is what I figured out that I will do - I will keep one supplier as my “eBay” (or shopping/buying solution sites) supplier, and the other one will be my main (and only) supplier on the website. I do big business on both fronts (website and buying solution sites), so the one supplier that is no longer a part of my website (as a drop shipper) will never even realize. The main (and now only) supplier on the website will be happy because that is the only area they care about. The other supplier that I will use for just eBay, (or the other buying solutions sites) does not care where I sell their products, just as long as I am selling their products and making them money!

It is always a good idea to have a back up plan. I would never expect one of my suppliers to go belly up one day, but I have been in business long enough to know that kind of stuff happens (and I have seen it happen too). When you have multiple suppliers, you know you have a back up plan and that your business will keep making money. That is why I recommend never tossing to the side, a supplier that you have a really good relationship with. I came across a really great “ezine article” yesterday that gives more tips about keeping good relationships with your Dropshippers.

Matt Siltala has been consulting Internet business owners since 2003, and has owned his own Internet businesses since 1999. Matt Siltala also works hand in hand with the drop ship company - The Shipper. Matt Siltala wants to do everything he can to help The Shipper better educate the businesses that use their services.

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