When online Use it. Use it. Use it.
Google is our online friend, a tool, a Swiss army knife we carry with us while travelling on the Internet checking out the World Wide Web. Always here to shed some light the moment we think about something and need more information.
And what do we think while onlineSay we have a website about dog grooming and ...thinking about how to generate income from this site.....
GENERAL FACT FINDING (TOPIC)
(A) Finding out the What Is It
(1) the question above that comes to mind likely has keywords, so try googling generate income website
(2) and you see a number of hits with the words affiliate.. so you try affiliate programs
You realise there are many marketeers doing associate or affiliate programs.
(B) Twist And Turn What We Know
(1) are there any established suppliers with affiliate programs that you can link direct
Try google walmart affiliate or direct link affiliate
(C) Google For Alternative/Con/Disadvantage View
(1) are there any bad affiliate programs to bewaregoogle with keywords affiliate programs poor terrible s**t and look at the alternative views returned.
CLOSING IN - FINDING OUT MORE FACTS ABOUT TARGETS SPECIFIED
Say we have decided maybe Joe Average Petshop and Jane Pets Store may be are good affiliates to work with after looking at their commission program/etc.
(1) But actually are they fair in their business practice Do they pay on time
Try google Joe Average Petshop problems complaint or add poor service
On the internet today there are thousands of forum discussing all and sundry. If something or someone is popular there probably is a forum somewhere out there. So if Jane Pets Store has a popular or active affiliate program, there may just be the forum for this and we may read a complaint thread by forum participants.
FOR PRECISE INFORMATION SEEKING - THROW IN THE KEYWORD
(1) The internet is developed by those who love technology and also most used by them today. For example Google has a separate Google-Linux tool and huge community there. If we get a technical error say a ..403 Access Forbidden error.. and we do not know what is it - just throw (copy/paste) in the ERROR into googles search box. Its likely well get the hits with the answers.
(2) If working on a project about say company HiProfile Inc just throw in the COMPANYs name and add adjective to narrow further.
(3) Throw in the CEOs name and see if any announcement or opinions returned.
In practise, the viewing/surfing, fact finding, understanding and deeper(pause) reading or downloading are simultaneous actions with back and forth googling action - quick review/glimpses of article relevance, back action or going deeper with link(s), or opening more window(s).
By the way most people will not exceed 3 pages when flipping googles results.
James NK Khoo is the owner of Qwenkay Information a company providing support for content management systems software and accounting software. Contact
In the first part of this series on ranking at the top of the search engines, we discussed diversifying your Internet marketing efforts. We introduced several methods including RSS feeds, Link Popularity, Article Marketing, Blogs, and physically altering your pages to make them more target-able for select keywords. All of these share the key of great content in order to unlock success.
Think of each method as a vehicle that carries the greatest cargo in the world. That cargo is your business, your product, and the word you want to get out.
Now....
So youre thinking, show me how to set up these things and get traffic coming in! Well get to that, but imagine if you go to all the trouble of rewriting ten of your web pages, setting up a blog, writing some articles, buying some text links, syndicating your site over RSS, and you flip the switch and everyone hears you...
But then surprise! Your audience feels like theyre watching an old, dubbed Karate movie... the words come in English three seconds after the guy moves his mouth...in Chinese. Your new parade of eager visitors turns away and never comes back.
Then youd hate me, the Internet, your old first grade teacher... and we dont want that! So before we start adding marketing bells and whistles to your site, lets focus on the secret ingredient they all share, the solid foundation... super, juicy, colossal content! And, you can start drafting that immediately.
Great Content- What Makes It
Is there a site you visit nearly every day Why do you go there Do you learn something or take back some knowledge Guess what... the site has good content.
In terms of business, youre probably on the web researching, buying, or selling something. The Internet is all about information exchange. In whatever vehicle its delivered to you, if the information is simple to find and well packaged in easy to understand, bite size pieces, youre happy. And youll probably go back to the same place when you need more of that information.
In your case, content is information about/promoting/creating awareness about your business. To turn a new visitor into a new client or customer, you want to convey that information in a genuine, honest, no strings, down and dirty package.
So then, on the surface, your packaging should be:
Lets take this article... the layout, wording, sentence structure, and my personality package the content. The content is the underlying message I want to share with you-- that all of the latest e-marketing techniques wont help you one bit if you dont understand the ideology behind them first, how they work, and how to adapt them to attract people to your own, unique piece of the Internet.
Great Content- How to write it
Thats going to vary depending upon your audience. So lets start there! First, know who your audience is. Be yourself. If you are dishonest and pretend to be something youre not, it will show in time and youll lose all the work you put in.
Which brings me to another important point. Write with confidence. If you are confident in what you are writing and you arent attempting to deceive anyone (i.e. you are not selling seeds to an audience of botanists when your only skill is brick laying), you will earn peoples respect.
Trust goes a long way. You dont have the luxury of delivering your content in person. You have a very short time to convince people you are not the latest scam, you have something to offer that will help them, and they can feel safe doing business with you or at least willing to learn more.
Thats a pretty tall order! But you can do it. Lets start with some guidelines for writing your content. Remember... a web page, an RSS feed or a news article will all share these commonalities.
Great Content- Thematic Essentials
Great Content- Mechanical Essentials
How to keep it fresh and keep your audience
Concluding Thoughts...
Internet marketing takes time, perseverance, and practice. A ton of all three. If you are swamped with work and honestly cant commit, hire someone to help you or do it for you.
You wouldnt allow a brochure to be printed with spelling errors and bad photos. Your online presence is no different.
Now that youre working on writing, next time well learn how to encase your content in some of the latest Internet marketing methods. Ill show you how they really can increase links and get traffic flowing. In this series well delve into details about the pros and cons of each method, and how you can start using each right away to increase traffic and links. Start writing and revise, revise, revise! See ya soon!
John Krycek is the owner and creative director of . Learn more about search engine marketing and web design and development in easy, non-technical, up front English!