Google Knol Getting Preferential Treatment With Regards to SEO

For those of you out there familiar with SEO, this may not be surprising news. For those unfamiliar with Search Engine Optimization, here is a valuable tip to help get your site ranked well. Knol, Google's answer to Wikipedia, apparently awards a few points in their algorithm to sites related to Google. Aaron Wall, best known for SEO Book, did a little experiment, creating a Knol on SEO Basics which is identical to his Work.com Guide to Learning SEO and a piece that he did for Business.com.

Google cited the Knol as being similar to the Work.com and Business.com pieces, which isn't a surprise. The shocking part was when Wall searched for a string of text from the article, and found that the Knol was ranked above the syndicated and much older piece on Business.com. There have been many theories about Google's bias towards sites related to them, and I think this experiment just might give those conspiracies some credibility.

Bottom line: Whether you are familiar with SEO or not, creating a Knol about your field of expertise looks to be big help in getting your site to the top of the search mountain. Better hurry though - everyone witnessed how quick Wikipedia filled up once it became known as an authority site.

Free Resources That You May (or May Not) Know About

While it is easy to assume that most people know about the endless amount of free resources on the internet, I think all of us have suggested a site or tool thinking it is known to everyone, only to find that the person has never heard of it. Over the years, I have found several free resources that have saved me from pulling that last hair out of my head. Here is the short list of some of my favorites:

• Cooltext - One of the best (if not the best) logo and button creating tools on the 'net. Hundreds of fonts, huge selection of colors and button shapes, and extremely easy to use.
• Google AdWords Keyword Tool - Now that they finally decided to include search figures instead of that lame bar graph, this tool becomes one of the best free keyword research tools on the internet.
• Craigslist - Whether you have a new or existing online business, you always want to get the most bang for your advertising buck. While Craigslist's strict set of posting rules makes it difficult to market your business nationally, it is possible with a little creativity...or the help of one of the many posting services out there.
• Google Analytics (included with Adwords account) - The statistics this program puts out are crucial for increasing your conversion rate. Check out your site's bounce rate, where your traffic is coming from, your most popular pages, and much more. Start tracking your site with Google Analytics and you'll never stop.
• Imageshack - I am sure that there are many free image hosting companies out there, but this was the first one that I ran into where there wasn't any catches, and once I started using them, I stopped my search.
• W3 Schools - I am far from an expert, but most of the HTML, CSS and little bit of everything else that I know I learned from this site. Excellent tutorials that are written with the beginning coder in mind. Still hard to believe that it is free...

Obviously, there are tons of them out there...hopefully one of these will be new to you, and help relieve some stress in time to stop you from putting your foot through your tower.

5 Key Components to a Successful Website

When putting together your online business, most of us automatically think in terms of what colors to use, what the name should be, which products to carry, and so on. While these are important factors, there are five major ingredients that are essential to having a successful internet business.

1. Well written salescopy - When it comes down to it, your words are the most important part of your site. When written properly, they can be the difference between breaking even and having an incredible conversion rate. There are two key themes to implement when writing your salescopy - benefits and language style.

   Benefits refer to writing with the visitors' needs in mind. What do you have that they want? Why should they want it? The old school way of thinking pushed features and benefits, but over the years, research has shown that internet surfers have a short attention span. Let them know why they should stop their surfing and buy from you, but use words like "you" and your" instead of "we" and "I". After all...the sales process is about them, not you.

   Language style has to do with knowing your target market. How old are they? What are their interests? How do they speak? If your salescopy comes across like it is speaking down to the reader, or is not speaking their "language", your chances of them hitting the "back" button skyrocket. Get a solid idea of your target market, and write to them accordingly.

2. Come up with a compelling headline that sparks curiosity or attention - Studies show that you have an average of eight seconds to convince the reader to continue reading your copy or surfing your site. Make sure that your headline grabs their attention while trying to solve a problem or a need. Which sounds better to you? "20 Ways to get traffic to your website", or "Tired of getting little or no traffic? Double or triple yours with our proven methods!"
   
3. A rock-solid Unique Selling Proposition - In a nutshell, it is a slogan or philosophy that makes you different from your competitors. This is NOT your Guarantee - it is similar, yet more about the way you do business. Let's say that you sell NASCAR merchandise...you can use something like "Your merchandise will reach your home in 15 days or less, or we will take 50% off your next order". Take a peek at what your competition is doing, and top it or put a twist on it.
4. A straightforward, easy to spot Money Back Guarantee - Research shows that customers rarely take advantage of the money-back guarantee, yet it could be the difference when deciding between your store and the last one that they visited. Come up with a simple, clear guarantee statement that comes across like you would absolutely love to give them their money back (as painful as that is to type), and make it easily visible throughout your site. The more peace of mind and trust you can establish, the better. Which leads me to...
5. Your contact information - While this may seem like a step that isn't important, think about the way you approach a small business site when looking to purchase. Almost everyone knows someone that has been scammed online, and with so many sites out there, why should they trust you? Having detailed, easy to find contact info give the consumer confidence when they are asking themselves "What if I have a problem? Who do I contact?" The more information you offer, the less the consumer thinks you are trying to hide something.

Bryan Halverson is the owner of the search engine optimization company Search Summit SEO, and also writes for Online Success 101, a blog devoted to helpful advice for new and existing online businesses.

5 Big Ways to Bring Free Traffic to Your Website

For both new and existing online businesses, the bottom line is HUGE. While it would be great to have an endless amount of money for advertising and marketing, the reality is that most of us are on a tight budget, and need to spend our time and money wisely. One of the great things about the internet is that there are plenty of ways to get your name out there for little or no money. Here are ten free ways that I consider to be the most effective...

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - You may or may not be familiar with SEO, but whether you realize it or not, it defines most of your search engine choices. In a nutshell, SEO is various strategies used in order to achieve a search engine high ranking. Most SEO techniques involve optimization of meta tags and content, sitewide link themes, and link campaigns in order to obtain inbound links.

   While it is not brain surgery, a working knowledge of HTML and CSS is strongly recommended, and depending on the complexity of your site, knowledge of other languages may be necessary as well. If you are computer savvy, implementing SEO is not very difficult but can be extremely time consuming.

   The benefits of SEO far outweigh the cons. Consider these statistics: The top ten listings on Google receive 78% more traffic than those in positions 11-30. 99% of all search engine visitors do not go beyond the top 30. 92% of all search engine clicks occur on the first page of the search engine listings. Bottom line: You need to get into the top ten, or your site is practically invisible. But once you do...your traffic will skyrocket.

   Search Engine Optimization is essential for online success - optimize your site as soon as possible, or have a Search Engine Optimization Specialist do it for you. Google will show its appreciation in the form of more traffic and sales.

2. Craigslist - While there are many hoops to jump through, Craigslist is still a powerful way to advertise your business. Start regionally, then test the waters to see what is acceptable and what is not. In the long run, you may end up being confined the city nearest you, but it is free, and it is one of the most visited sites on the internet. While you are at it, hit any other free classified sites out there - the more visibility, the better.
   
3. Write an article or two - The popularity of submitting articles has exploded over the last few years. Why? The answer is twofold: the benefit of more traffic and a quality link to your site (which goes back to the importance of SEO). Write an article about your products or service and how it will benefit the reader, and submit it to any or all of the article directories out there (Go Articles, Ezine Articles, etc.). Over time, you will see more and more links pointing to your site from the various sites using your article. Not a writer? No worries - there are plenty of copywriters out there (see Craigslist for starters) that will write an article for you for a very reasonable fee (e-mail me if you need a few).

   **Don't forget to write a short bio at the end of your article with a link back to your site - this is crucial to this tactic working!

4. Signatures in your e-mails, forums, and blog postings - While this may seem like a lame idea , I have spoke to several people that have seen their signatures bring a decent amount of traffic (and more importantly sales) to their site. Get in the habit of setting up a signature for all of them and you should see some activity in your analytics program of choice. Be sure to make your link intriguing - i.e. I lost 80 pounds in 4 months - find out how .
5. YouTube - The idea of making a video or just being on camera may horrify you, but don't worry about camera presence. The goal is to do anything that will get people to check out your site (anything legal and moral, anyway). Think about the videos that rack up the huge numbers - what do most of them have in common? Notoriety. Come up with an outrageous idea, run with it, and put your website in huge letters at the end of it. If you film it, they will come...

Implement these ideas for your business, and you are sure to bring lots of free traffic to your business. Do nothing, and your odds of online survival go down drastically.

5 Hot Tips To Increase Traffic Using Free Ads

Unless you are completely new to the internet, the odds are pretty good that you are familiar with a free ad site or two. While Craigslist gets the most attention, there are plenty out there to help get your name out there when trying to promote your business. Here are a few more...

1. Kijiji
2. Backpage
3. Gumtree
4. Yahoo Classifieds
5. Recycler (L.A. area ads)
6. OLX

There are many others as well, but these the sites that are currently getting the most traffic. While it can be time consuming, posting ads to these sites is free, which is an important word when starting an online business.

Posting to these sites is only half the battle; now, you must find a way to sell them on what you are offering. The following 5 tips are essential when creating an ad that will either make the viewer click on it or move on.

1. Create a headline that stirs up emotion and screams for attention - Think in terms of filling the need of your potential customer. I always like to start with a question like "Are you tired of living paycheck to paycheck?" or "Could you use more traffic for your website?". Another good tip is to try to use words that stir emotion like free, guarantee, limited-time, amazing, etc. Check out this list to give you more ideas.
2. Keep the ad copy short and sweet - Make your ad copy too long and you risk boring the visitor into hitting that back button. Leave any long salescopy for your website - your job is to get them to click on it to either order or get more detailed info.
3. Stress the benefit to the customer - Too many ads focus on "We" and "I" when writing their ad copy. Think about how your product or service will benefit them, which means using more "you" and "your". A good example would be "Never get another harassing call from a bill collector again - Try our guaranteed Credit Restoration program today."
4. Post to as many relevant categories as you are allowed - Many of these classified sites are extremely strict when it comes to their posting policies. Figure out what you can and can't do, and squeeze everything you can out of each site.
5. Borrow from your competitors - DO NOT steal or plagiarize...just do something similar to what is working for your competition. If you are seeing the same ad for months on end, chances are it is working pretty well for them. Learn what you can from it, and make changes to your ad accordingly.

For new or existing businesses, the bottom line is extremely important to your success. Taking advantage of as many free opportunities as possible is key to getting your name out there to the public and your bank account a bit healthier.

3 Cool Tools You May Not Know About

One of the great things about the 'net is the abundance of free tools out there to help with your online business. This post could cover hundreds, but for now, I will only cover three. If you have a business on the internet, these may come in handy today, tomorrow or sometime in the near future.

1. SpyFu (Spyfu.com) - Are you currently using AdWords? Ever wonder what words your competitors are using? Wonder no more. Type in the name of your competition into the search box, and SpyFu will kick out a list of keywords and/or keyphrases that your competitors are bidding on. This can come in handy if you are trying to come up with a list of words to use for AdWords, and want more choices to bid on. Pick the brain of the guys that have been around the block a few times...they have already done the homework for you.
2. InFormEnter (Firefox Plug-in) - If you are set on using only Internet Explorer, then this tool isn't for you. For those that do use Firefox, this is a must-have. This tool is like your MS Word clipboard on steroids. Basically, you can designate whatever info you want to be available at the click of your mouse - usernames, passwords, your URL, your name, etc. - and a clipboard will pop up so you can enter your designated info into any form on the web. This is especially handy for SEO work - I have several client profiles set up with all their info, which enables me to do link submissions extremely fast. Search Google for it today and make life easier.
   
3. HitTail (Hittail.com) - Over the last few years, searchers have become more savvy when looking for something specific. Instead of starting their search with NASCAR merchandise, it has evolved into more targeted searches like NASCAR kahne touch lamp. Phrases of this nature are known as long-tail keywords or keyphrases. This is where HitTail comes in. Paste some code into your website or blog, and HitTail will track what long-tail keywords visitors are using to get to your site, along with whether or not your site is optimized for that keyword. Over time, this becomes a valuable tool to optimize your site for what people are looking for.

Hope these tools help you as much as they have helped me in your quest for online success. I will fill you in on more killer tools in the near future. Happy selling...

Starting an online business - Step 2: Purchase your piece of internet real estate

Now that you have your niche market picked out, it is time to start thinking about your website. The first order of business is purchasing your domain name. There are hundreds of companies out there that sell domain names, so a search of Google or Yahoo will yield plenty of results for the keywords cheap domains. When choosing your domain name, try to think of something short, catchy and/or easy to remember. People are lazy - the less work, the better.

Your next action is to purchase a store for that dream of yours. If you are not knowledgeable in web design, no big deal. There are plenty of e-commerce solutions out there such as Yahoo store, Network Solutions, Prostores and ProductCart that are extremely user-friendly and require little or no HTML or web design experience (although learning some is very beneficial and recommended).

If you do have web design experience, or know someone that does, you can save yourself a lot of money and just have your website pages hosted by one of the many hosting companies out there. Even if you don't have any web design know-how or connections, there are many ways to find web designers that will design your site for a very affordable price through classified ad sites like Craigslist or job sites like eLance. Many designers are looking to make a name for themselves, and will give you a great deal in exchange for a referral or a link on your site.

One thing that you don't want to forget is some sort of merchant or payment solution. For a site that is just starting off, I would recommend Paypal. Their transaction fees are cheap, it is easy to sign up, their Website Payments Pro accepts credit cards, and practically everybody out there is familiar with Paypal. You may also want to look into Google Checkout, or one of the merchant companies that can do your credit card processing for you.

Hopefully this food for thought will get you brainstorming on the birth of your website. Check back soon for Step 3...