Search Engine Ranking Factors

It is always a good idea to be updated on the factors that search engines use to determine search results and rank websites. SEOMoz released a very detailed document titled “Search Engine Ranking Factors V2”, which outlines the views of 34 SEO experts regarding how Google’s algorithm works. Below you will find the Top 5 positive and negative factors on the study:

Top 5 Positive Factors

1. Keyword Use in Title Tag
2. Global Link Popularity of Site
3. Anchor Text of Inbound Link
4. Link Popularity within the Site
5. Age of Site

Top 5 Negative Factors

1. Server is Often Inaccessible to Bots
2. Content Very Similar or Duplicate of Existing Content on the Index
3. External Links to Low Quality/Spam sites
4. Participation in Link Schemes or Actively Selling Links
5. Duplicate Title/Meta Tags on Many Page

Email Marketing BasicsAll You Need To Get Started

Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing channels on the Internet. You can use it to promote your websites, to interact with your customers, to make money with affiliate offers and so on. Yet, the vast majority of bloggers and website owners still neglect email marketing.

That is why I decided to write a quick guide with all you need to know to get started on email marketing. Enjoy.

What Is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is a form of direct marketing that uses email as its communication channel. Direct marketing is an umbrella term used to describe all marketing forms that go straight to the end user, thus not passing through the traditional advertising channels, which include television, print and radio.

Companies using email marketing basically collect the email addresses of prospects and clients, and then send email messages to those subscribers, containing information about the products, special offers and so on. The company must explicitly ask permission to collect the email address and send future messages, and this is usually done with a double opt-in process (where the subscribe must fill a form with his name and email address, and then click on a confirmation link sent via email).

Why You Should Use Email Marketing

Over the last years email marketing started being used by a wide range of individuals, including bloggers, website owners, affiliate marketers and small business owners. This happened because email marketing proved to be one of the most effective marketing channels online.

Email messages get delivered straight to the subscriber (as opposed to blog posts, banner ads or online articles, which require the person to visit your website). Secondly, if you craft the content of your email newsletter carefully, you’ll be able to build a solid relationship with your subscribers, which will yield really high conversion rates (i.e., your subscribers will pay attention to what you recommend to them, and will actually take action based on it).

Finally, email marketing is very flexible, and it can be used for a wide range of purposes. You could use it to drive more traffic to your website, to promote affiliate offers, to build a relationship with your existing customers, to launch new projects and so on.

Email Marketing is NOT Spam

Many people are reluctant to start using email marketing because they associate it with spam. In other words, they believe that email marketing is the art of spamming other people and trying to make money while doing it.

This is obviously a confusion between the tool and how you use the tool. Email marketing is just a marketing tool. How you use it is a completely different story. Sure, some people use email marketing to spam, but you’ll find that most use it legitimately and ethically.

In fact if you subscribe to the email newsletter of any reputable company, blogger or online marketer I am sure you’ll be surprised by the quality of the content you’ll get from it.

It is perfectly possible, therefore, to use email marketing without annoying your users. You just need to make sure the content of your email newsletter will be top notch and relevant to your subscribers. If you do that they will actually thank you for your newsletter, and that is what modern marketing is all about.

The Effectiveness of Email Marketing In Numbers

Let’s use an example to illustrate why email marketing is such an effective marketing channel.

Suppose there are two bloggers, Mark and John. Mark focuses exclusively on growing his traffic and RSS readership, while John focuses on growing his traffic and his email list. After six months or so Mark is receiving 1,000 unique visitors per day, and has 3,000 RSS subscribers. John, on the other hand, also is receiving 1,000 unique visitors, but he has 3,000 email subscribers instead.

Now suppose both bloggers launch a paid eBook. The content and price of the ebooks is very similar. Mark promotes the launch of his eBook by writing a post on his blog about it. John, on the other hand, writes a post about the eBook but also sends an email to his list, encouraging the subscribers to purchase the eBook.

Who do you think will get better results? I am ready to bet that John would sell at least twice as many eBooks as Mark. Why is that? Because John has a much stronger relationship with his 3,000 email subscribers (provided he sent them quality content over time) when compared to the relationship Mark has with his 3,000 RSS subscribers. On top of that, once John send his email message he is sure most of his 3,000 email subscribers will read, while only a fraction of Mark’s 3,000 RSS subscribers will do the same.

Getting Started in 4 Steps

Are you convinced that email marketing rocks? Good. Below you’ll find four simple steps that you must follow to get started with it.

Step 1: Getting an Email Marketing Software

The first thing you need is an email marketing software. That is, a software that will let you collect email addresses, send a messages to them, create an auto-responder, get statistics and so on. There are basically two types of email marketing software: self-hosted and hosted.

Self-hosted means that you’ll need to install and host the software yourself, on your own server. This option is only recommended to people with technical skills and time available.

Hosted solutions are a better option for most users, as the company will host the software for you, and you’ll just need to login on their website to manage your email lists.

When choosing an email marketing company you need to pay attention to two factors: the deliverability rate, which is what percentage of the emails they send actually reach the end user, and the features available (e.g., pre-made web forms, auto-responder options, scheduling options and so on).

I use a company called Aweber.com, and I recommend them exactly because they are very good at both factors I mentioned above. Their deliverability rate is considered by many as the best in the industry, and their control panel has more features than you could ask for. The basic plan starts at $19.90 per month.

If you research around you’ll find that this is the standard price. It is not cheap if you are just getting started, but it should be worth it. Remember that apart from the deliverability rate factor, there is also the compliance with the anti-spam laws. By using a company like Aweber you are sure that your email lists and messages are compliant with everything.

Step 2: Getting Subscribers

Once your signed-up with an email marketing company you’ll just need to login into your account, create your first email list, and then create a web form that your visitors will use to subscribe. Most companies have very simple graphic interfaces to help your create your forms, and you’ll just need to drag and drop the fields around. Aweber also has a wide range of pre-made forms you can choose from. The result will be a piece of code (either a JavaScript or HTML) that you’ll need to paste on your website.

You should consider displaying your subscription form in two spots: on top of the sidebar and at the bottom of single posts. These two spots are very visible, and usually they have highest conversion rates. The spot below single posts performs particularly well, because people will look for something to do after they are done reading your content.

Aweber also offers a feature called “Light box,” which will display your subscription form like a pop-up. This feature is a bit intrusive, but usually it has a very high conversion rate, so it is worth a try. You can also specify how often visitors should see the light box, so you won’t need to annoy your visitors permanently.

There is one thing you can do that will drastically increase the number of subscribers you’ll get, regardless of where you’ll display your web forms: to offer a freebie as an incentive for people who join your list..

The most common freebie is an eBook or a report that you give away to people subscribing to your email list. But depending on your niche it could be something else, including a software, a collection of icons or images, audio or video files and so on. It just needs to be something valuable to your audience, as to encourage them to subscribe.

Once your freebie is ready you’ll just need to adapt your subscription forms accordingly. For example, you could include an image of the freebie (e.g., the eBook or software cover), and you could use the headline to call people to action (e.g., “Subscribe to my newsletter and get a free eBook!”).

Delivering the freebie is very easy. All you have to do is to upload it to a secret folder inside your website, and them to create an auto-responder sequence on your email software, where the first email is sent to new subscribers right way, containing the download link for the freebie. Note that on Aweber the auto-responder found under “Messages” and then “Follow-Up.”

Step 3: Building Relationships

The value of an email list is a consequence of two factors: the size of the list, and its responsiveness. In other words, focusing on growing the size of your list alone is not enough. You need to make sure that your have a good relationship with your subscribers as well, else they will just ignore your messages. How do you achieve this? By sending top quality content to your list.

It would be a good idea to create an auto-responder sequence that all your new subscribers will go through. The first email on the sequence will be sent right away, and it is just an introductory message with the download link to your freebie.

The second email should be sent 2 or 3 days after the first one, containing something really useful to your audience. It could be a tip that will help them solve a problem, a tool that is available online and that they will find useful, and so on.

The third email should be sent 7 days after the second one, and it should contain another really useful piece of content. These first 3 or 4 emails are really important because they will set the tone of your newsletter, and build an initial trust with your audience. If you fail to deliver value right away, many of your subscribers will unsubscribe (after all they already got the freebie they were looking for).

Step 4: Promoting Your Stuff

After the third or fourth email you should have already have a good relationship with your subscribers, so you can start promoting your own stuff (e.g., your products, posts on your blog, affiliate offers and so on). Just make sure to make it with moderation, else people will unsubscribe.

For example, you could send one promotional message every two or three content messages (e.g., messages with valuable stuff). This way your subscribers will keep getting value from your email messages, and they will actually look forward to receive them every week.

As for the frequency of the messages, there is no right or wrong, but weekly tends to be the standard around the web.

That is it! If you have any questions or doubts let me know through a comment below and I’ll be glad to answer them.

7 Reasons Why Google AdSense Rocks

If you ask bloggers and webmasters what they think about Google AdSense, you’ll probably hear all sorts of answers. Some love it, some think it’s OK, and some hate it because they can’t seem to be able to make any money with it. I fall in the first group.

AdSense certainly is not suitable for all types of sites, and there are other monetization strategies that can be more profitable in some situations (e.g., selling your own products). That being said, and as far as monetizing your site with ads goes, I think AdSense is the best advertising network on the Internet. Here’s why:

1. It’s Easy to Setup and Get Started

Most ad networks require a minimum traffic level before you can join, and the application and setup process can be a pain.

AdSense, on the other hand, can be used even on small websites, and it has very few restrictions regarding where you can use it.

2. Huge Number of Advertisers

AdSense is by far the advertising network with the largest amount of advertisers. This means that you’ll get your units filled with ads pretty much every single time a visitor comes to your site.

On many other ad networks this is not true, and your earnings tend to get negatively affected.

3. Ads Are Really Targeted

Most advertising networks claim to only display ads that will match the content of your site, but few actually do it.

This is connected with the previous point. In order to be able to display targeted ads the network must have a huge collection of ads to choose from, and most networks don’t have it.

4. You Can Monetize Global Traffic

Another problem with most ad networks is that they tend to focus on US traffic. Some will pay pennies for impressions coming from outside the US, and others will not pay at all. If 50% or more of your traffic comes from other countries, you can guess that you’ll be losing money.

It’s true that on Google AdSense you also have some advertisers targeting US traffic exclusively, but there just as many targeting visitors from other countries and parts of the world.

5. The Earnings Are Pretty Good

I have seen ad networks that occasionally offered very high eCPMs (i.e., how much you actually earn for each page view on your site) but on average AdSense tends to beat most networks.

Another advatange is that AdSense earnings tend to be consistent all over the year (and over the years), while the rates you’ll get from CPM networks vary both with the season and with the overall economic climate.

6. The Ads Blend Well

Some people don’t like text links, but I think they are actually less intrusive than flashy banner ads, and it’s possible to integrate them with the design of your website without making it look ugly.

Some time ago AdSense started working with banner and video ads as well, but most of the ones you see around look very professional too.

7. Payments Are Always on Time

I had my share of problems trying to receive the money ad networks owed me. Sometimes they would pay 30 or 60 days late, other times they would pay only half of the money I was supposed to receive.

With Google AdSense I never had a problem in this regard. The payment is always sent directly to my bank account at the end of every month, and the amount is always accurate.

Over to the Readers

What is your relationship with Google AdSense? Do you love it? Hate it? Explain why with a comment below.

Two Steps To Build A List of Proven Buyers

It’s a very bad kept secret that the money is in the list. Yeah, I know, I know…You’ve heard it all before.

However, that doesn’t change the fact that the money really is in the list! You can’t get away from that fact, so if you’re really serious about making money online and building a business, you need to start your list TODAY.

And even though you may not have a list yet, you’ve probably heard the whole process on how to do it before. Create a product yourself or get someone to create it for you, set up a squeeze page/sales page and start to generate lots of traffic to that page, and then give away the product as an incentive for people to subscribe. That’s how the process is, in short.

But while building your list you should also start building relationships with your subscribers. “But how do you connect and build relationships with your list right away?”.

1. Deliver Massive Value

Oone way you can do it is to simply bring MASSIVE value to the table. If you over-deliver like crazy, people will start to notice you and get their eyes up for you. If you create a product and you think it’s well worth over $50 bucks, give it away for free. Yes, you read that right – FREE! That’s how you over-deliver…Getting people to subscribe to your list, won’t give you much money.

Then again…It’s called “The Money Is IN The List”.

Not in the process on getting people to subscribe TO your list. That’s the difference. Because what you should focus on is to build relationships before you even think about making some money. Take it slow, take your time and build your list day by day.

2. Don’t Be Afraid To Sell Things

That said, you CAN make some money and at the same time actually solidify your relationship. And if you ask me, this is the best way to build a list – not because of the money you’ll make, as it won’t be a lot, but because of the kind of subscribers you’ll remain with in the end.

Let me explain…

Instead of (or in addition to) creating a product you think will be well worth over $50 that you give away for free on your squeeze page, you can create a product you think will be well worth over $200 bucks and put it up on your sales page and sell it for $27 bucks, for example. Again, this will make your customers LOVE you, because they won’t believe the kind of value you’ve given them for the low price of $27 dollars!

So, again, you’ll immediately start to connect and build relationships with your list, and my guess is that they like you and want to stay on your list to see you provide them with more high-value content and products. And that’s a really good spot to be in when you’re an Internet Marketer!

Another thing most people don’t really think too much about is that by building your list this way you’ll remain with people who are willing to spend money and buy things that might help them. That is, you’ll get a list of proven buyers, and that is one of the most profitable assets you can have.

Good luck with your list!

4 Internet Marketing Strategies You Must Know

The post basically lists four Internet marketing strategies that few bloggers are aware of. In fact one of them was completely new to me as well, and I have been working in this industry for many years. The idea is simple but pretty clever: to put a customer testimonial on your Paypal checkout page. Here is a quotation from the article:

Strategy Three: The Paypal Checkout Testimonial

One thing I’ve noticed with product launches – especially the Cloud Blogging launch – is that a lot of people will click on our Buy Now button, but not actually purchase the item. There is a measure for this called the “Cart Abandonment Rate” and our CAR was as high as 90% on some occasions.

I spoke with a few people on this topic, and watched some relevant marketing material, and was told that I should add a step between the sale and the Add to Cart screen. The reason people are more likely to click on an Add to Cart button in the first place is because it doesn’t imply commitment compared to words like Buy Now!.

Therefore, if you’re sending that traffic to an instant payment page, they often back out of the deal. The step, they told me, was a good place to insert product testimonials so further convince people that your offering is good.

Instead of adding an entirely new page, I took advantage of a little known feature in Paypal. The ability to add your own header to the Paypal payment pages. In this header I used a testimonial from one of our customers. Thanks to this, our cart abandonment rate has decreased dramatically.

Search Engine Optimization SEO Checklist

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Checklist Google SEO Checklist Googe Ranking Factors

SEO Factor
Brief SEO Checklsit Information

Keyword in Domain Name/URL

MainKeyword(s) should always appear in the URL and if possible in thedomain name.

Keyword in Title

Main keyword should be as close to the beginning as possible. Don't stuff your title though! Don't use special characters.

Keyword in Meta Description Tag

Use1 to 2 reasonable sentences in your meta description and use yourkeywords at least once.

Keywords Meta Tag

Main keyword should be as close to the beginning as possible. Don'tuse more than about 10 keywords. Don't repeat any single word more thantwice!

Keyword Density in the body

There is no recommended or perfect keyword density, but don't use more than 15% to 20% per main keyword.

Keywords in header tags

Most important isH1, then follow H2, and H3. The others are proably not that important.

Keyword proximity

The closer the keywords are, the better they might rank.

Order of key phrases

Try to order your keywords so that they form key phrases that might be queried for more often in search engines.

Keyword frequency

The most important main keyword should be repeated more than the others. However, don't spam the keyword in nonsensical points.

Keyword prominence

The earlier the main keyword appears on the page, the higher its relevance.

Keyword in ALT and TITLE tags

Describe the image and if possible with one of the main keywords, however, never spam the ALT tag, this is a common SEO mistake!

Keyword Anchor Text

Try to have keywords in your inbound anchor texts, that are links that direct to subpages of your site.

Keyword Stemming

Stem your keywords. Use singular, plural, past forms, etc.

Keyword Semantics

Make use of synonyms and don't spam your site with one and the same keyword.

No excessive deep linking

Check that all your pages can be reached with no more than 3 or 4 clicks!

Page to Page Linking

Try to link to appropriate subpages from a related subpage.

Domain Name Extension

.EDUand .ORG seem to be very important. For any .COM domain it is a littlemore difficult to prove trustworthiness and relevance due to the hugeamount of spamming sites.

File Sizes

Never exceed more than 100kb per page. Try to keep below 40kb per page.

Hyphenate file names

Do never use more than 4 words in the file name, as this indicates spam.

Fresh and new contents

Google loves new and regularly updated contents, so do your visitors!

Total length of URL

Keepit at a minimum. That does not mean that you should not use mor than 60characters.