.:RIMproInsider:.

Why would you want a linking strategy for your site? The most important reason is to drive traffic to your site, which in turn would increase visitors that would either purchase from you, make your web site more popular, or reach a larger audience to inform for your cause. The second reason to develop a linking strategy for your site is to help increase your rankings in the search engine. With Google this is very important for achieving high web rankings, and I expect the other search engines to follow suit relatively soon.

There are many ways to develop a linking strategy where the links to your site will multiply without any effort from you. This is the most effective way to generate links to point to your site. In this article we will discuss how to do this, debunk myths, and how to do this without unintentionally harming your site’s status.

Debunking myths:

Linking software

I personally don’t approve of linking software that does the work for you. Why? Because the software does not do a good enough job where it can tell if the site it has the same theme or relative content that matches your site. Many errors slip through the process when this is done, that can cause damage to the reputation and rankings in the search engine. Also each site that you would like to link to you should have a decent PR ranking from Google to help your site’s rankings. (PR ranking is a method that Google uses to put a value on the web site) If you have too many web sites pointing to you with a poor PR ranking it could actually make your site drop in the rankings. And in addition sites with excellent PR rankings would help your rankings a great deal.

Linking farms and automated link exchanges

Linking farms and automated link exchanges are not recommended for the same reasons as the linking software. Poor quality links and potentially harmful to your site. In addition these two methods carry another danger. If the site that links to has been put onto a black list for spam, and your site points to that site your web site will automatically get black listed and your rankings will go down as well. That is why I prefer one way links to your site instead of reciprocal links. It may sound hard to do, but it isn’t and I will show you a way to do it below.

The more sites pointing to your site the better. Right?

Wrong! In the past search engines would rank you higher in the search engines by judging the value of your site to the number of links pointing to it. But because people have abused and try to cheat this system, the rules have changed. Now they actually penalize you for too many sites pointing to yours if they are deemed suspicious. For instance many other sites pointing to you with the same IP address (caused by you putting up mirror sites to build links), links that point to that do not have the same content as you (”once I saw a web design site having a reciprocal link with a lingerie site”), and links that have low PR rankings pointing to your site (in this case the more the merrier does not work).

“I’ve seen a site with only 10 links pointing to it (links from government sites) do better with searches than a site that had over 10,000 links pointing to it.”

Another thing to consider: Google has just bought rights to register domain names. So, here is a theory of mine that may show up later. Google may update their algorithm to check links to see if the domain name those links are registered under contain the same registration information. This way it could penalize sites that register a bunch of domain names to point to their site and try to cheat the system.

“The only time you would like a lot of links pointing to your site is if they are from respectable sites, have a high PR ranking, and have relative content.”

Who links to your site now?

An easy way to find this out is to type in link:www.yoursite.com into a search engine and you will receive a list of web sites currently pointing to you.Are they quality links?You can use Google toolbar located at their site to read the PR ranking, an add-on extension for Firefox, or visit a web site that will tell you the PR rankings of sites that you type in. If you type in page ranking tool in the search engines you’ll find plenty of resources for this.Who links to your competitors that are high in the search engines?Examine and study the links to and from your competitors web site to learn more. And request links from the same people for your site.

How do I build links pointing to my site?

These are a list of ways to build links to your site that are one way links instead of reciprocal links. I highly recommend these ways to build a solid link foundation:

1) Content and more content. Content will increase your rankings in the search engine and people are more likely to link to you if you have valuable content. One time I had a large college link to one of the articles at my site for a research paper. The college had a high PR ranking and the link is in their archives. (This is a way to have your links multiply without the effort)

2) Add a link to us page to your web site. Where you can give the visitors to your site to apply a text link or banner. I recommend a text link to your site that contains keywords for your site. For example, web development contractor would point to my site via hyperlink. (This is a way to have your links multiply without the effort)

3) Start a blog on your site that people can go to and bookmark for the latest information in a category that relates to your site. (This is a way to have your links multiply without the effort)

4) Offer a free helpful ‘how to’ e-book to give away that has links inside of it that point to your site. (This is a way to have your links multiply without the effort)

5) Submit to online directories. Online directories usually have high PR rankings and get picked up by other directories and web sites to include on their sites.

6) Write a testimonial for a site you like that has the same relative content as yours. Chances are that if you praise their site and sign it with a link (to your site) of who praised them they will post it on their site giving you a free one way link.

7) Create a free article directory asking people to submit articles to your site, and in exchange for posting their articles on your site have them post a link on their web site stating where their article can be found. (your site) I’ve seen people put a list of where there article can be found to impress the visitors on how popular they are. (This is a way to have your links multiply without the effort)

8) Lastly, and most importantly write articles yourself! When I wrote my first article I submitted it to 25 places. (places with higher traffic views) and the next day over 180 sites were pointing to my web site, because I had a nice keyword enriched link pointing to my site in the article. The next day the total was over 300. How do you find out if they are pointing to your site? Type in your article title in quotes into the search engines and then you’ll find out how many sites are posting your article on their site. (This is a way to have your links multiply without the effort)

One thing to do for sure is monitor your results. Who is driving the most traffic to me? Which ways of linking are producing multiplying links without any effort on my part? Which links are actually harmful to me? Do these links compliment my site? Do these things and I guarantee you that the links to your site will increase ten fold.

Be looking for more articles soon!

Copyright © Michael Rock Web development contractor (Web Design and Hosting) Internet Presence www.TheInternetPresence.com

The owner of this registered company has over twenty years experience with DOS, windows business applications, numerous programming languages, artistic development, and web design. Other areas of interest include web marketing, web promoting, and business marketing and development. After the persuasion of those praising his work, he decided to go into business himself and highly suggests everyone else to do the same.

Internet Presence was founded in 2003 from a desire to become independent. Less than 1 year later Internet Presence has had accounts in three different states ranging from a locally owned auto collision repair shop to a glass packaging industry that sells its product worldwide.

Reprinted from ValuableContent.Com

by Nick James

Have you heard the phrase - a person who DOESN’T read, is just the same as a person who CAN’T read!

Pretty insightful.

But, listen to this: of the people who do read, 90% of them (NINETY) do not even get passed the first chapter of a book!

Staggering, but true.

So, what can we learn from that?

For starters, the majority of people only read the things that really interest them, and, turn away from all those things that B-O-R-E them. (The number ONE marketing and advertising sin!)

What can we do to keep our communication, lively, interesting and compelling?

HIRE AN 11 - 15 YEAR OLD!

Here’s why: Children are pretty much switched on. Their minds are active, buzzing and… alert! Their curiosity feelers are on-the-go, 24 hours a day.

Just watch them playing a computer game or observe them watching a TV programme, listening to music. The slightest hint of boredom, and they’re off to find another game, another channel, another comic, another song.

Here’s how to take advantage of their particular skills.

EMPLOY THEM!

In fact, EMPLOY is a good word when it comes to kids. Pay them in order to help make your marketing messages sizzle!

Do it by the following: Give a letter, email or other promotional piece, to the youngster… and have them READ THE PIECE ALOUD.

The reason for that is for you to listen out for stumblings or bottlenecks over any words, sentences or clusters of thoughts.

The principle being; If the kid stumbles, so will your prospects!

It seems that no matter how sophisticated or educated we think our clients and prospects are, they’ve the attention span of a gnat. Confuse them, make them work too hard, and… they’re off!

The key to it all is to fix all those areas where the hiccups in the writing piece occurred, by either smoothing them out with alternatives or eliminate them all together.

Doing this regularly with all your marketing and advertising pieces will ensure that you send out clutter free, easy to read messages that your customers and clients will love.

And… your child would’ve been amply rewarded for helping your business, and, getting a feel for the EFFORT - PROFIT world.

So, that’s your task for the day.

Collar a kid, get them to read your stuff out… and pay them well. They could turn out to become your most valuable employee!

P.S. When you choose the kid to help you, MAKE SURE THEY CAN READ!

Copyright 2005 Nick James
About The Author
Nick James is a UK based direct marketer and product developer. During the last 3 years Nick has sold in excess of £1 Million of products and sevices. Subscribe to his Free Tip Of The Week email at: www.Nick-James.com.

Bill Haile owns and operates American Archives in Deer Park, New York. Bill recently sent me details on a unique approach he takes that has not only turned into a marketing and sales advantage but also a cash flow stream. Here is his story.

“Two years ago I received a frantic call from a records storage client regarding the air quality in their file room. It seems that staff were refusing to go into the file room due to dust, breathing issues and the smell within their basement level file room. I promised the client to look into possible solutions right away. After some initial questions and my own experience I suspected that paper dust and mold might be an issue.

After many hours of searching and phone calls I came across an air sanitizing device that claimed to offer the solution to my clients problem. It also claimed to be able to kill mold, mildew, bacteria and eliminate dust, airborne particulate, odor and smoke! All for a cost that could easily be paid out of petty cash. I was skeptical to say the least.

But I wanted to solve their problem and most other solutions seemed outrageously expensive. So I bought a unit and delivered it to my client on a trial basis. The unit was about the size of a small stereo speaker, took less then five minutes to set up, and was supposed to be able to sanitize an area up to 3000 square feet. I crossed my fingers and left it with them.

Within two days the result was nothing short of miraculous. The unit not only lived up to all its claims, but the client called me and ordered two more machines. One for the office area and one to take home for her own house!

I realized that this client issue could be a great opportunity to give my records storage company a unique marketing edge and an additional revenue stream. I signed up to be a dealer of the system. Within the first month of marketing these units to my client base we generated over $3,000.00 in bottom line profits that our company would not have otherwise had.

Then another thought struck me. I could differentiate my company from my competition by installing these units within my facility. They had proven themselves to eliminate, kill and control mold, mildew, bacteria, dust and other airborne particulates.

So I did just that and set up a small area in my building to treat new records coming into the facility in order to sanitize them before placing them in the general archive population. If they come in from a moist, dusty, or infested client storage area we place these cartons in a small enclosed area for an extended period on high sanitize before placing them into the rack inventory.

Since we started utilizing this technology as a service extra within our facility, we have seen significant success in closing new accounts who were also looking at our competition. We are convinced that part of the reason is due to our sanitizing technology. This technology has raised us well above our competition and has separated us from the pack.”

In talking further with Bill, he told me more stories of success with his equipment. These units are just smaller versions of the type of equipment that BMS Cat might bring in to a water affected facility. We actually used them in my storage facility in London. They are quite impressive.

If you are interested in learning more about purchasing these units yourself or becoming a dealer so you can sell them call Bill Haile. He will give you the details you need. Bill’s number is 631-254-6990.

That’s right - I dreamt of a World Wide Web without the Googlopoly. And let me tell you - it was a scary place.

Well the thing is - at first I thought it was frightening - but as the nightmare went on it started feeling less scary as I began to realise that I no longer had to check my rankings every day, worry about how my website was built from a ‘Google perspective’ and constantly battle over positions with my online competitors. And this got me to thinking..

What Would The World Be Like If Google Didn’t Exist?

Exactly the same really. Okay - the world Wide Web would be different, but would it really be so bad? I think, that as website owners, we should behave as if Google doesn’t exist. It is only by doing this that we can free ourselves from some of the chains that it has on us. Just take a step back a moment and think of the number of times you’ve visited Google purely to see where in the rankings your own site is listed. Quite a few times right? What about all those hours your spent researching how Google works and what changes you could make to your website to effect a positive effect on your ranking.. Sound familiar?

Are You A Killer Google Zombie?

So instead of all this wasted Google-Gazing - what would your website be like now if you had spent that time creating excellent new content? Or what if you had spent that time finding key partners in your industry and launching affiliate arrangements with them? Or what about if you sat down and really improved your homepage so that your conversion rate from visitors into sales increased two-fold? Don’t you see? Your Google-tinted glasses are tainting your entire view of how to be successful on the web. Take off your GoogleSpecs - I urge you to smash them right now. From this moment onwards promise me that you will take steps to ignore the fact that Google exists and look for other ways of growing your website’s profile and improving its capacity to make you money. Don’t be a Killer Google Zombie!

“Michael - You Ignore Google At Your Peril!”

What? Wise up! I bet you there are thousands if not millions of hours wasted every single year by people Google-gazing, researching how it works, trying to beat the system, discussing it in online forums, trying to jump one position higher or pandering to the latest Google dance. Imagine how much better the web would be right now if these millions of hours had been spent on making websites more effective, more user-friendly, more informative, more enjoyable and more fun! The next time you find yourself being drawn into the Google-gazing trap just take a step back and think about how you could use the time to actually improve your website for those pink squishy things that actually buy from you - people!

Michael Cheney is Author of The Website Marketing BibleTM. Take the Free 7-Part Course “Internet Marketing Made Easy” and get your free sampler of ‘The Bible’ here: http://www.websitemarketingbible.com/marketing/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Click fraud is an unfortunate byproduct of the pay per click advertising business. Many people with an online business spend large amounts of money on pay per click advertising only to discover that many of the people clicking on their ads weren’t really interested in their products or services.

Bogus “visitors” to a pay per click ad represent click fraud. This is a serious scam that threatens the viability of the pay per click advertising business which has become enormously profitable for all of the major search engine operators, namely Google, Yahoo/Overture, and MSN.

Click fraud has different forms, but the end result is generally the same. Advertisers are billed for fruitless traffic generated by someone who repeatedly clicks on an advertiser’s ad without any intention of ever buying anything.

The search engine advertising market is currently about $3.8 billion per year and estimates vary widely on how much click fraud is actually going on. Clearly, the search engine operators would like to downplay the extent of this problem. Some industry experts claim that a little click fraud exists but that it is overblown by advertiser paranoia, while others estimate that ten to twenty percent of all clicks are false (made by someone with
no legitimate interest in the ad itself).

Virtually everyone involved with pay per click advertising sees click fraud and knows it’s there, but no one is quite sure what to do about it.

Both Google and Yahoo/Overture acknowledge that the click fraud problem exists, but claim improved internal controls will prevent the problem from escalating. Their stated position seems to be that they are concerned about click fraud, but that it is not a material issue so far. Both of them are touting their increasing internal actions aimed at detecting and combating click fraud.

Such reassurances from search engine companies certainly aren’t surprising, given how much they stand to lose if advertisers cut back on advertising spending. The stakes are huge and the search engine companies are actively involved in public relations campaigns. Industry research firm eMarketer expects $7.4 billion to be spent on search engine advertising by 2008, up from only $108.5 million back in 2000.

The incentives for click fraud have increased along with the money devoted to search engine advertising. Advertising on search engines has turned into a fast-spreading craze as more and more marketers have realized substantially higher returns on search engine ads than on more traditional marketing campaigns conducted through print media.

Most pay per click advertisers set a spending limit and once the spending limit is reached, the ads cease to appear in the search results. Click fraud is a very unethical competitive tactic where someone repeatedly clicks on a competitor’s ad until the spending limit is reached and the ad then disappears from the search results. It seems that it’s only a matter of time before some advertisers become so exasperated with click fraud that they file a class-action lawsuit against a major search engine.

The success of search engine advertising has substantially raised prices that advertisers pay for top spots. Unfortunately, these higher prices have turned click fraud into a dark little industry of its own. Some crooks have hired cheap overseas contractors to just sit in front of computers and constantly click on targeted ads and others are developing sophisticated software to help automate and conceal click fraud.

If you use pay per click advertising it would be wise to carefully monitor your traffic to determine if you are the victim of click fraud. In any event, it’s probably safe to say that pay per click advertisers are going to have to accept a certain level of click fraud as just a cost of doing business.

Kirk Bannerman operates his own successful home based business and also coaches others seeking to start their own home based
business. For more information visit his website at Legitimate Home Based usiness

“There is only one way to judge the effectiveness of a marketing piece, and that is by the number of responses you get.” - Heidi Richards -

Multi-step marketing is a simple yet extremely powerful strategy when you use it to its full potential. Multi-step marketing is selling people who have contacted you and asked for information about your product or service; a great way to build your own mailing list of prospects and customers.

You are able to send multiple mailings to those same people from which you have created your own mailing list. The key to multi-step marketing is following up with the prospects using an intensive direct mail campaign. How do you develop your multi-step marketing campaign? Follow these four simple steps… click here to read the entire article.

Step One
Use some sort of direct response advertising to obtain your “leads.” Your ads should have a powerful headline directed at your target audience that causes them to read the rest of the ad and respond. The purpose of your ad is to arouse the reader’s or listener’s curiosity, getting them to call. Always offer them something for free. Your goal in step one is to generate leads.

Step Two

Your prospect reads the ad and calls - leaving her name and address or she writes to you for more information. Using voice mail almost always generates more leads because people want things quickly and easily. Thank the prospect for calling, state a couple of major benefits, and end by asking for her name and address. The message should be between one and two minutes - no more. The goal in step two is to record your leads.

Step Three

Send your direct response offer to the prospect. These prospects fall into one of three categories. We’ll call them cold, warm and hot prospects. A Cold prospect is slightly interested; she is looking and will not buy. These prospects represent a small percentage of your inquiries. A Warm prospect is very interested, but not ready to buy. They represent the majority of your inquiries. A Hot prospect is very interested and ready to buy. They also represent a small percentage of your inquiries.

Step Four

Follow up with mailings to prospects who didn’t buy. Repeat this step again and again. According to “Sales and Marketing Magazine,” 80% of all people who inquire about a product buy that product within one year, but not from the company that made the original contact. Why? Because the company didn’t follow up. It generally takes at least five contacts with a prospect who showed interest in the product or service you offer before they will buy from you. If you are successful with the initial mailing, you can expect 30 to 70 percent in leads turning into customers with follow up mailings.

You don’t have to change the entire mailing each time. Generally changing the cover letter and making minor changes to the mailing is sufficient. Remember that one of your biggest expenses is getting the prospect. By following these four steps you can watch your sales and profits sky-rocket!

Excerpted from The PMS Principles - Powerful Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Business © 2005 - Heidi Richards

Heidi Richards is the author of The PMS Principles, Powerful Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Business and 7 other books. She is also the Founder & CEO of the Women’s ECommerce Association, International http://www.WECAI.org (pronounced wee-kī) - an Internet organization that “Helps Women Do Business on the WEB.” Basic Membership is FREE. Ms. Richards can be reached at http://www.HeidiRichards.com. or Heidi@wecai.org

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

You want to market your business but you don’t want to spend a lot of money. You may be just starting out and have precious little capital or you may have a successful business but want to spend as little as possible for the greatest results. Or, you may just be cheap. How can you create a marketing strategy that results in a steady stream of new clients on a shoestring budget?

The key is having the KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, SYSTEMS and TOOLS to create and implement your marketing plan.

KNOWLEDGE

While service professionals and small business owners are experts in their business, they often don’t have the marketing knowledge they need to grow their businesses. If you aren’t attracting dozens of new prospects each week and converting at least one of them to client status, you need to learn what to do to market your business.

Depending on your budget, you can:

Visit your local library and read a dozen books on marketing.

Spend one or two hundred dollars on a couple of marketing manuals from the marketing masters on the web.

Hire a marketing coach or consultant to help you learn what to do and how to do it.

Pay a marketing expert to do your marketing for you.

SKILLS

Once you have a marketing plan you’ll need to develop some marketing skills, no matter what your role is in your organization. The three most important skills are:

1. Asking the Right Questions

Open-ended questions are the best way to direct prospects to engage prospects, direct their thinking and learn what they want. Do you know:

What your prospects care about?

The problems your prospects want to solve?

What information your prospects want?

Use questions to get the answers. Put together 5-10 questions to ask your prospects.

2. Listening

Listen carefully to understand, provide a synthesis of their responses and use a problem-solving approach to provide the link between symptoms and causes.

3. Writing Compelling Copy

The copy in your marketing materials and the copy you use for your “elevator speech” will make the difference between attracting or boring prospects. Demonstrate to prospects, that you understand their concerns and their business context, and that you are the expert they need. Start by regularly giving them an idea they can use.

SYSTEMS

Establish systems to support your marketing plan. Setting up the systems to market your business costs little and make an unmanageable task a clerical function you or your assistant can do. You’ll need to set a schedule for marketing activities, define responsibilities and use your computer to automate tasks. The most important systems to develop and implement are a way to collect leads and stay in touch with prospects and clients. You’ll need a centralized database and a schedule for staying in touch with prospects and clients in order to do this.

Automate functions where possible so you can focus your time on delivering products and services. There is simple and easy to use software that can help you manage contacts, add prospects to your database and send out broadcast emails to the people who are interested in getting your ideas. Once you’ve put these marketing systems in place, you can focus on handling the growing number of inquires you will receive.

TOOLS

The tools you need to market your business will vary depending on your target market and the products and services you offer. The basics include:

1. Marketing materials, the finished copy you use on everything from your business card, to your brochures, or online.

2. Questions, the questions you use when people call about your services, or when you meet with clients, or to find out what information they want so you can write the perfect proposal.

3. Communication tools, such as a phone, email and website.

Take a look at your marketing and determine if you have the Knowledge, Skills, Systems and Tools to attract a steady stream of new clients. Identify the gaps and fill them. You may need to invest a few dollars to make many, but with frugal marketing strategies you can limit marketing expenditures and maximize profits.

Copyright 2003 In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

About The Author

The author, Marketing Coach, Charlie Cook, helps independent professionals and small business owners who are struggling to attract more clients. He can be contacted at ccook@charliecook.net or visit www.charliecook.net to get a copy of the free marketing guide, ‘7 Steps to Get More Clients and Grow Your Business’.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/