7 Ways to Attract More Links

  1. Content – The first and most important way to attract incoming links is through great content. When you publish content that is entertaining, valuable and informative people will naturally link to your website or blog. Content can be video, audio, print or any combination. The essential element is that it is worthy of being linked to. If you are having a hard time coming up with great content, try outsourcing to someone who loves writing. Check out Happy Outsourcing by Rachel Rofe: a great step by step plan that anyone can use right away.
  2. Social networking – Once you have great content on your website you can use social networking to generate attention. Post links to your best content on your social networking site of choice. Interact. Generate awareness and attention for your website. People will notice your website and again they’ll naturally link to it.
  3. Blog (and guest blog) – Blogging is another natural way of creating content. When you publish guest blog posts then you are reaching a new audience. The more attention you generate for your website, the more people will link to you. Additionally, you can create a blog to support your website. This blog can link to relevant content and web pages to help increase incoming links.
  4. Online directories – There are a number of online website directories. Simply register with the directories. They can provide a few powerful incoming links.You can also list your business website with local search directories like Google Places. It’s free. It’s easy. And it’ll generate a few quality incoming links.
  5. Social bookmarking – Social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon and Digg can provide incoming links. Join a few bookmarking sites. Create a profile. Interact with others much like you would on a social networking website. Bookmark web pages that you like. Also, when appropriate and relevant, bookmark a few top-notch pages on your own site. This process boosts awareness for your website. Other people will bookmark your pages. And the pages you bookmarked will receive attention and incoming links.
  6. Content marketing – Publish articles on article directories and other people’s websites. This actually generates a substantial amount of incoming links. Also consider creating syndicated content. You might publish a newsletter. In each newsletter you’ll have an article or two. You can include a snippet that tells others they can publish the article if they don’t change it and if they keep your links and bio. When your content is top level, people will publish your articles on their site with the links intact.
  7. Press releases – Finally, consider publishing press releases when you have news to share. Use services like PRWeb to distribute them. It’s another great way to generate incoming links.

Incoming links help you climb your way to the top of the search engine rankings. They boost traffic. Create a plan today to start increasing your links and grow your business.

For more non-stop, viral traffic ideas, click here.

Giving Away 2 Aged Sites

In my quest for a more focused, less stressful life & business, I’ve been selling or giving away some of my sites, or just letting them go as the domains expire.

Today I have 2 sites that are well aged, have PR and are expiring soon, so I decided to give them away. They have been neglected for years, so they are ready for some action.

No need to delay it any further, so here they are, with a little bit of information about each:

http://www.yourvirginiahome.com/ – 9 year old, PR1 site. This used to be my husband’s business site when he first started in real estate. It was hacked a couple of years ago, and Google stopped serving ads, and I never tried to talk to them about it (it used to get really good payouts). I haven’t added anything to this site in a couple of years, and it’s not monetized. 1720 unique visitors for 2010. It has some very good links pointing to it, and with new content and some back links could turn a nice profit. There are good search numbers for “Virginia home” related key phrases.

Suggestions for improvement/monetization:

  1. You can change the theme and instantly make it look better
  2. You can start posting regularly and traffic will increase for sure
  3. Acquire some links: I never did anything intentional to get links, so this option is wide open

There are lots of searches for variations of Virginia home, and if you decided to go that way, you could probably connect with some real estate offices and sell leads.

virginia home

http://www.youwantthisstuff.com – 8 year old, PR2 site, great name: 1167 visitors in 2010!

If you want one of these sites, please comment below and tell me which site you want and why I should give it to you: what are you planning to do with it. On Wednesday evening I’ll decide who gets the sites.

Now here is the small print: the sites come “as is” (I’ll take off my ebay info form youwantthisstuff.com, so that will only have the link pages and site template/logo) . I’ll send you the files and the database and you take care of it. If you need help moving he site to your host, it can be arranged for $25 if your host has Cpanel.

One comment per person: please don’t spam with comments. I’ll choose someone who has a plan for the site, not based on how many comments you left. Good Luck!

Service-Based Businesses You Can Start from Home

There are a lot of people all over the world making a good living by providing quality services online. Here are five examples of service-based businesses you can start from home.

1) Content Writer

A content writer writes articles, blog posts and informational reports for website owners who choose to outsource their content creation.

Generally a content writer will make between $3 and $12 per article, depending on experience. To start, you may only be able to do one or two articles per hour, but in time you’ll be able to do three to four in an hour, for up to $40+ an hour.

2) Graphic Designer

A graphic designer’s job is to come up with designs that look great. They can design for web or for print. Jobs may be for logos, for brochures, for site layouts and any number of other things.

A graphic designer can make anywhere from $10 an hour initially to $80+ an hour after a few years of experience.

3) Website Builder

A website builder’s primary skill set is not design, but the ability to put together great web pages in a short period of time.

The primary skills you need to know are CSS and HTML, plus the basic principles of design.

Unless you’re incorporating high-end design with your website-building skills, you’ll generally be making $200 to $500 per site, which would usually take less than a day to build.

4) Link Builder for Site Owners

Website owners who want to rank well in search engines often outsource their link building.

Link building usually entails submitting sites to directories, creating Squidoo lenses, spinning articles, creating forum and blog posts, among many other techniques.

Depending on how much value you can bring to clients, you can make anywhere between $5 an hour to $40+ an hour through building links for clients.

5) Online Personal Assistant

Business owners often times want to have PAs to answer their phones, respond to emails and handle their personal lives. Instead of paying $3,000 a month or more to hire a full-time in-office PA, business owners often choose to hire an online personal assistant instead.

The beauty of being an online PA is that you can generally manage several different clients at once. Although each client won’t pay you as much as you’d make if you were working full time, combined the income can be quite good.

How much you can make per client really varies depending on where you get your clients from. If you get your clients from eLance or Guru, you can expect to make $300 to $600 per client. If you get your clients through personal relationships and recommendations, you could make a lot more.

These are just five examples of service-based businesses you can start from home. If you find a business you love and build a solid client base, you can be making very, very good money in just a few months’ time.

How to Write Successful PPC Ads

Matt Levenhagen's campaign  blasts methodWriting successful PPC ads takes a combination of proven techniques, creativity and meticulous testing. Here’s how to write PPC ads that get high CTRs and conversions.

The Starting Point

The easiest place to start is to simply emulate your competitor’s advertising style.

If you’re in a market with a fair amount of competition, chances are your competitors have already spent thousands of dollars testing what converts and what doesn’t. Why start over?

In general, copying the general principles behind your competitors’ ads is a good starting point. The downside to doing this is that your ad looks like everyone else’s ad and don’t stand out.

The idea is to use this as a starting point and then test out ads that stand out from there.

Taking Advantage of Keyword Bolding

Whenever an ad has the exact keyword in the ad text, that ad is bolded. For example, if you type in “campaign blast,” ads with the exact text “campaign blast” will be bolded. So, having the exact ad text in as much of your ad as possible is a good idea.

The best way to do this is to do one keyword per ad group. This will allow you to write a different ad for every keyword, which means every time someone types in their search term, they’ll see their full keyword bolded in your ad.

One keyword per ad group is easy to do if and only if you use AdWords Editor and Excel to create your ads. If you use the online interface, it will take far too long to be practical.

Things That Stand Out

One simple way to stand out is to use either symbols or specific numbers.

For example, which stands out more?

New York movies
Movies @ New York

The latter, naturally.

Another thing that stands out is specific numbers. Which of the below stands out more?

Increase Opt In 20%!
Avg. Opt In Up by 19.7%!

The latter – because it seems more real and precise, rather than a generic claim.

Use symbols and specific numbers wherever possible. Little things like these can drastically increase conversions.

Split Test Meticulously

Nobody is asking you to write a superstar ad right from the get go. Even the best players in PPC can’t do that. The idea is to throw wildly different ideas against the wall until you have a clear winner. None of your ads should look remotely similar in the beginning.

Once you have a clear winner on the specific style of ad, then start refining the ad by split testing different words, punctuations, call to actions, capitalizations, etc.

A mediocre copywriter who is meticulous about split testing will do better in the long run than a great copywriter who’s sloppy about split testing.

Here’s the bottom line: Start out by copying the general principles behind what others are doing. Split test wildly different ideas, with an emphasis on things that make your ad stand out. Sooner or later, you’ll have an ad that’s a clear winner. When you do, refine it to get the highest CTRs and conversions possible.

If you want to skip all the mistakes and bad decisions most people do when they start PPC, check out Matt Levenhagen’s Campaign Blasts Report. He is taking it off the market at the end of the month, so don’t postpone it, or you’ll lose.

How to Choose an Autoresponder Service

AWeber - Email Marketing Made Easy

Autoresponders are a must have for every internet marketer. However, not all autoresponders are created equally. Some offer more than others, and some are quite expensive. If you don’t need the bells and whistles, your money is probably better spent elsewhere. Choosing the right autoresponder for your business needs is important.

How Many People Are on Your List?

Many autoresponder services are free until your list reaches a certain number. For example, they might be free to use until you have 1000 subscribers. They then charge a fee per 500 or 1000 subscribers. So you’ll pay the same amount whether you have 1100 or 1900 subscribers. Once you go over 2000, then you hit the next fee level.

While you may be comfortable with the first few fee tiers, look ahead. Make sure the fees for that large list you’re going to grow won’t be exorbitant. Make sure the per subscriber fee makes sense for your business and your budget.

How Customizable Is It?

Some autoresponder services are very basic. Others seem to be infinitely customizable. Being able to customize the look and feel of your email messages helps brand. However, you might not need all those bells and whistles. Take a look at what you really need to grow your email list and profit. Then compare services based on those features.

Does It Offer the Features You Need?

Some autoresponder services are newsletters only. Others offer the ability to deliver digital files. Outline the purpose for your AR. Make a list of the things you need it to be able to accomplish. Do you need to deliver files with your autoresponder? If so, then look for one that has that capability.

Is the Autoresponder Compliant?

It’s important for the reputation of your business to be CAN-SPAM compliant. Most AR services respect that need. They offer the email list management tools and features to ensure you’re compliant. However, it pays to double check. Make sure they offer automatic unsubscribe. Make sure they also offer a double opt-in procedure.

Is It Easy to Use?

Take a look at some autoresponder interfaces and you feel as if you need a tech degree. They can be quite confusing. Others are simple and straightforward. Make sure, before you pay good money, that the interface is easy to use. Take a free trial. Watch the video demonstrations. If you need help or have questions, call customer service.

Finally, triple check the reputation of the service. You want to make sure the autoresponder service has a good reputation. You want to make sure they have good customer service. And you want to ensure they’re going to be around ten years from now. To your success!

No list yet? Check out these quick reports to learn how to grow your list.

List Building Renegade

Easy Autoresponder Cash

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