A1 Web Promotion Tips

By Tuks Engineer

Google Adsense is a highly popular method of “contextual advertising”. With Adsense, website owners can display text or image ads that are closely targeted to their site content. The site owner gets paid each time a visitor clicks on any Adsense advert displayed on the website. The amount that is paid per click depends on what the advertiser is willing to pay per click (minus Google’s commission). The Adsense publishers commission can be just a few cents or several dollars per click. There are certain keywords available where advertisers pay over $100 for a single click.

This matching of content to ads is done automatically by Google, so for example, a website that has content about travel to the Maldives will bring up adverts about holidays in the Maldives – such as flights, resorts and other travel/holiday advert displays. The website owner benefits because they do not need to do anything aside from insert some simple code onto their site.

Google Adsense is closely related to Adwords. If you have searched through the Google search engine you have probably seen the sponsored ads that are found on the top and to the right of every page. Google Adsense just takes this concept a step further by allowing ads from the same advertisers to be displayed across billions of web pages & blogs. It’s a simple yet highly powerful concept that has revolutionized online advertising. It allows grandma to make some residual income while sharing her apple pie recipes. It allows sports enthusiasts to set-up a blog following their favorite football/cricket/basketball team and make some money in the process. And it allows serious website content owners to make a significant stream of income by displaying adverts on their website network. Everyone has something to gain by using Adsense.  Keep reading →

One of the most respected directories is the Open Directory Project, www.dmoz.org . It uses a large team of volunteer editors to look at sites and then place them in appropriate categories. The importance the ODP or DMOZ is that Google values this directory a great deal, and if your site is included in the ODP then your PageRank gets a boost.

The great problem with the ODP during the past few years is that it has taken months and even years to get listed. There are not enough editors to handle all the submissions, and there had also been accusations that some of the editors were adding sites to their categories only upon receiving a bribe.

This is a pretty dismal situation, but a situation that seems to have gotten even worse in recent months. During the last months of 2006 it became impossible to even try to make a submission and there were reports that the data base of the ODP, which is now part of AOL, was damaged and the survival of the project was in doubt. As of today, it is still impossible to make a submission.

But as the ODP in its current form nears death, there is a new possibility for the future. The originators of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia are interested in building a search directory that would be built along the lines of Wikipedia with contributions and suggestions coming from Internet users. This will be something to watch in 2007. If the proposed directory can gain the credibility that Wikipedia now has, then it will be a good balance to Google’s monopolization of online search.

I know that I have written an article not so long ago asking whether reciprocal links are still worth the effort. I largely concluded that this promotion method is not very useful any more. Now I take a stronger stand. I am fed up with the spam-like email that comes every day asking me to link to low quality sites that have nothing to do with my websites. But it is not all gloom and doom, I think there are some good alternatives to reciprocal linking and have offered the alternatives in my latest article. You can read Why I am sick of Reciprocal Links here.

It’s not that difficult to optimize your website. The problem is that without any guidance many web designers, webmasters and web owners often overlook opportunities to get the best performance from their websites. I wrote an article which could be helpful if you want to make sure that your website has a fighting chance to come up in search engine queries for your important keywords. If you are interested in getting higher search engine rankings then take a look at my article: Seven Often-Missed SEO Opportunities

I want to increase the readership of this blog and one way to do it is by becoming a member of technorati (one of the most popular blog search engines). This posting is a technical requirement (proving to Technorati that I am the owner of the blog)Technorati Profile

If you have a reasonable knowledge of website construction you can probably optimize your own website and increase your traffic without hiring search engine optimization specialists (like me!). And, even if you are not ready to muck around with your site’s meta tags, headlines and copy alone, my article on Do it Yourself Search Engine Optimization Tip should be interesting reading as it will give you a background on how search engine optimization is done. So whether you want to do it yourself or just learn more about SEO then I hope you will read my article.

by Donald Nelson
The Internet is developing at a fast pace. In the last few years blogs and then social book-marking became a rage, and to confess to you honestly I still haven’t gotten the hang of how to use either of these two for marketing purposes. However, I am not such an old geezer after all, because I really am into Myspace.com.

Myspace.com is a tremendously interactive medium which is most frequented by teenagers who like to share their photos and exchange messages with each other, and with pop music bands, who set up online presences that attract thousands of new listeners. In the last year Myspace has become one of the most visited web destinations around. (Alexa currently ranks it as the sixth most visited site.).

If you are not a teenager and you are not the lead singer in a rock band, is there any chance that Myspace could be useful to you? Large businesses such as Jack in the Box, Nike and Walmart have Myspace.com presences, all kinds of advocacy organizations have Myspace profiles, and even local real estate firms are opening up sites on Myspace. This is in a sign that there must be something in it for a wide variety of businesses and organizations.

So, how does it work and how could it be useful to a business or organization? Basically, you have to go to Myspace.com and open up an account.  If you are indeed a musical group or artist then you should be sure to open up a music or band profile. There are also distinct accounts for comedians and filmmakers. If you need a specific type of profile then go to Myspace music, film or comedy and click on the artists sign up, otherwise just open up a new account at Myspace.com .

Once you have your profile set up. You can add an “about me” section, put up photos, and post blog messages. The Myspace blog is quite effective, and posts are quickly picked up by the Technorati blog search engine. You can also display your favorite song. If you have a basic knowledge of html you can modify your Myspace site and make it quite distinctive. You can also use online editors such as those found at www.Myspacetoolbox.com

The key to Myspace as a marketing tool is the Friends section. A “friend” is another Myspace user who has agreed to accept your request to be in contact with him or her. By building up a large list of friends you are effectively building up a large mailing list, and as marketers are quick to point out, “the money is in the list.”

You can build up a targeted list of friends by making searches on Myspace for specific keywords, or by browsing using all kinds of demographic criteria: age, marital status, zip code etc.

Once you get a list of friends, you can send bulletins and messages or make comments on your friend’s website. You can’t make a comment on another Myspace website unless you are already a friend, and I think this is the key factor that makes Myspace so interactive. Every time you make a comment on another Myspace website you are in effect making a link back to your site. Every time you are becoming a “friend” of another Myspace user, you are making a link back to your Myspace site.

Build up your links and you will get traffic. Build up your mailing list and you can advertise your events and offerings.  Make a profile that is interesting and informative and you will build up your online credibility. It sounds like a winning formula to me.

Can it be effective for your business purposes? I can’t answer that question, you will have to try it and see if it works for you. One more thing, it is a lot of fun, and can be addictive.

By Donald Nelson

You probably would like to have the maximum amount of traffic to your website, and you may be looking at your website statistics to see how many people are visiting your site each day. But before you jump for joy over an increase in traffic, you should consider whether you are getting targeted traffic or not. Targeted traffic means that you getting visitors who are in interested in your product. If it is not targeted traffic, then you will not see any corresponding rise in orders, inquiries and sales and when you consider it, these are the most important statistics for your website.

If you want to get the kind of traffic that can be converted into some tangible results then there are two steps to take: Optimize your site for the right search engine keyword or keywords and promote this site in places where your target audience frequents.

Who is your site speaking to and who is it attracting? You can find out by looking at your website statistics and seeing what kind of searches people are finding your site with. If you are selling used cars, then you want your site to be found by people looking for a used car, not a new car. Whatever your site is about you have to be careful that your unique selling proposition is clearly identified and emphasized clearly. Your copywriters have to make sure that the search engine keyword that people use to search for products such as yours is prominent in headlines and in the body text as well as in the link text on the page.

If you are not sure how the usual Internet surfer does his or her surfing, then go to the www.overture.com site and use the search term suggestion tool, and you will see approximately how many people searched for a particular term and what variations they used during the past month.  If you get your search engine keyword or keywords right, and if your site is properly optimized for that keyword, then the people who visit your site will be more likely to follow through and buy your product or sign up for your newsletter, or take the actions which you most desire them to take.

Also, once you have your proper keyword or keywords selected and properly blended into your site you can get highly targeted traffic via pay per click advertising. This can be expensive, but if your site can really convert visitors to buyers then it is the fastest way to get results.

Another way to get targeted traffic is to actively promote your site in places where your target audience is located.  Imagine what your average customer looks like, how old she or he may be, what they wear, where they live, and most importantly, where they hang out on the web. What kind of websites do they visit? When this is clear in your mind, then you have to bring your site to the notice of this target audience.

Maybe you will have to advertise on sites where they visit, or place your link on such sites or in such directories. Do they visit certain forums? If so, then you should make some postings on those forums. Do they read electronic newsletters? if so then you should advertise in those newsletters or write articles that are published in newsletters and the websites where these people “hang out.”  A well directed promotion campaign will bring the kind of traffic that is useful for you.

To sum up, targeted traffic combined with a persuasive website equals Internet success.

It is getting harder and harder to conduct a meaningful reciprocal linking campaign. The Internet has become flooded with reciprocal linking requests sent out by people who think that a ton of links will bring them success. In this climate I have wondered whether it is still worth the effort to exchange links with other sites. Read my article posted at reciprocal links and let me know what you think