Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide
Duct Tape Marketing is the small business marketing road map – A collection of proven tools and tactics woven together in a step-by-step marketing system that shows small business owners exactly what to do to market and grow their businesses.
This guide combines insights gained from over twenty years of successfully working, in the field, with real-life small businesses.
There are no theoretical complexities presented in Duct Tape Marketing – just simple, effective and affordable marketing that sticks.
CAREFUL! Duct tape is a serious tool… it sticks where you put it. So are the ideas in this book. If you’re ready to make a commitment and are willing to make something happen, John’s book is a great place to start. –Seth Godin, author of Purple Cow
For all those who wonder why John Jantsch has become the leading advisor and coach to small businesses everywhere, Duct Tape Marketing is the answer. I have never read a business book that is as packed with hands-on, actionable information as this one. There are takeaways in every paragraph, and the success of John’s blog is living proof that they work. Duct Tape Marketing should be required reading for anyone who is building a business, or thinking about it. –Bo Burlingham, editor-at-large, Inc. magazine, and author of Small Giants: Companies That Choose To Be Great Instead of Big
Duct Tape Marketing is a worthy addition to the growing library of how-to books on small business marketing — concise, clear, practical, and packed with great ideas to boost your bottom line.–Bob Bly, author of The White Paper Handbook
With the world suffering from depleted reserves of trust, a business that sells plenty of it every day tends to create the most value. The great thing about trust as a product feature is that it delivers exceptional returns. With this book, John Jantsch has zeroed in on exactly what small businesses need to sell every day, every hour. –Ben McConnell, co-author of Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force
John Jantsch has provided small businesses with the perfect perspective for maximizing all marketing activities – offline and on. Jantsch has the plan to help you thrive in the world of business today. Read it, all your competitors will.–John Battelle, cofounding editor or Wired and author of The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture
Duct Tape Marketing is a great read for anyone in business. It has fresh ideas laid out in a practical and useable way. I highly recommend this book for growing any business.–Dr. Ivan Misner, Founder of BNI and Co-author of the New York Times bestseller, Masters of Networking
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Cash Gifting SEO Tips for Your Internet Marketing Success
The role SEO plays in cash gifting programs is often misunderstood. SEO is a small but very important part of the internet marketing process for generating cash with cash gifting. Generating thousands of dollars a week with cash gifting is quite possible when all aspects of internet marketing are pursued with consistency.
While considering internet marketing strategies, it is an important SEO tip to always use targeted key words in the title of marketing material. This is a critical factor in Google algorithms that are used to analyze and rank web pages with Google natural search. The natural search is crucial in getting results. Since most people are searching for specific information, they tend to skip the pay per click ads and go directly to search results.
Although the focus of this article is SEO and internet marketing success, the response from properly done offline advertising should never be underestimated. A definite way to explode a cash gifting activity is to tap into the response received from direct mail and full page ads. These methods along with other offline techniques can give your financial future a whole new look.
Another important SEO tip is anchor text. It is always crucial to anchor text a specific URL with the target key words that are being used. Hyperlinked with anchor text to the desired URL is more beneficial than just putting “click here for cash gifting information”. The anchor text should be as specific as possible when posting your links. The only downfall is that most social networking sites block your link from search engine rankings, but the SEO benefits certainly outweigh this by a long shot.
The final SEO tip which is important for internet marketing success is do not overdo it. When it comes to cash gifting SEO, less is definitely more. Posting your URL all over the first day you start working on optimization will have adverse effects on your cash gifting website. Google can spot “deliberate” optimization techniques. Your cash gifting website could be banned for life from search engine rankings if you don’t appear natural to Google.
Search engine optimization won’t happen overnight, so be patient as it may take at least a week for your efforts to show up. The key is to be persistent and consistent. Cash gifting is an extraordinary activity which will allow you to wage war on debt and brighten your financial future. By applying these SEO tips, you will see results with your cash gifting activity and ultimately achieve internet marketing success.
Bill Browne “The Illini Dude”
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-marketing-articles/cash-gifting-seo-tips-for-your-internet-marketing-success-705264.html
The Ten Important Steps for Optimizing your Website for Search Engines
“The Ten important Steps for optimizing your website for search engines:
In these ten steps we will know ten basics and important steps to optimizing a website to perform better on major search engines. If you will follow these steps correctly your website search engine position website will be surly improve depending on you industry competition.
Step 1 – Keyword Selection
Step 2 – Creating optimized Content
Step 3 – Site Structure
Step 4 – Internal Linking
Step 5 Submissions
Step 6 Link Popularity Building
Step 7 – Title and Meta tags
Step 8 Monitoring
Step 9 social bookmarking
Step 10 Testing
Step 1 – Keyword Selection
Selecting Keyword is the single most important factor in the entire search engine optimization (optimisation) process. Choosing the right and relevant keywords will not only help you in getting good search engine position and targeted traffic but it will also increase you return on investment (ROI).
Example: If you are a company based in UK providing search engine optimization (optimisation) (SEO) services. The first keyword in your mind would be definitely
Keyword Competition
SEO : 73,000,000
Search engine optimization : 63,600,000
Seo Company : 26,800,000
It is possible to get good ranking on these keywords but it will take lot of time and money instead you can target “”Seo Company Uk” and “Search engine optimization company Uk’ this way you are targeting two keyword at a time with less competition that means more chance of targeted traffic and good Search engine positions.
Keyword selection and research tools
The Overture Search Term Suggestion Tool
Site: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
Word Tracker
Site: http://www.wordtracker.com/
Step 2 – Creating optimized Content
There has been lot of changes in the search engine algorithms but there is no change in the importance given to quality content. In this step we will focus on how to create optimized and unique content for high search engine positioning using the keywords we have selected in the first step.
Unique and well written content will both grab your visitor’s attention and at the same time, make them want what you have to offer. So write in keeping mind what your audience are looking for and targeted keywords.
First ask yourself some questions:
What services you offer
Do you provide the services your visitors are looking for
Do some research
Provide as much as possible information on the subject. Provide useful and unique information about your industry / subject area it can entice your visitors to visit your website in future. It has found that most of the online visitors search for information about their interests.
Content Optimization
Four important factors for optimizing content
1. Heading Tags – (H1 to H6)
2. Special Text – (bold etc.)
3. Inline Text Links – (Anchor text and alt tags for images )
4. Keyword Density – (number of occurrences of your targeted keywords in a page)
Heading Tags
By default text in these tags appear too large than standard text in a browser. We can customize it by using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).
Tip: Do not use the same tag more then once on a page.
Special Text
It can be used in bold, colored, “”In quotes”" or (in brackets). Using special text will help draw the attention to important information and also add weight to your keywords.
Inline Text Links
Example: We provide seo services and web hosting.
You add a link to related page on your site to these bold words. it gives the reader a way to find the information you are referring to.
Keyword Density
Keyword density is the no. of occurrences of targeted keyword in the content of the page. You should not spam the targeted keyword in your content; recommended keyword density is between 4% to 10%.
Step 3 – Site Structure
You must structure your website to attract the visitor as well as the search engine spiders. The site structure will help spiders read your site. Keep the code as clean as possible so search engine spider can get to your content, where you want them to be.
Use CSS to cut down code extra code like for font style, tables, images etc…
Things to remember while planning site structure
Keep URL Short and close to Root of the site
While creating folder and files use keyword
Eg: for a page in web hosting packs www.domainname.com/web-hosting/website-hosting.html
Use Hyphens (-) while splitting name in to 2 instead of underscore (_) as shown in above example.
Step 4 – Internal Linking
Internal linking means linking to your pages within the website by way of sitemap, navigation bar, footer, header etc. The sitemap should be linked on all pages of your website to get spidered by search engines from anywhere. You should also include Google sitemap on your site to get indexed easily by Google. It adds relevancy to the linked page which directly helps in getting high rank for the linked page
Using text based links with anchor text, footer navigation and use inline text link will improve Your Internal Linking Structure. So spider can crawl it easily add relevancy to the linked page. The closer a page is in clicks from your homepage. The higher the value the page rank is assigned.
Step 5 Submissions
Where to submit:
o Search engines
o Web directories
Major search engines to submit
Google.com | yahoo.com | Msn.com
Major web directories to submit
1. Yahoo (paid)
2. Dmoz.org (most important)
http://www.about.com/
http://www.incrawler.com/
http://www.jayde.com/
3. http://www.wowdirectory.com/
Step 6 Link Popularity Building
There are 2 ways of building Link popularity
o Reciprocal link building (2 way link building)
o Non-reciprocal link building (1 way link building)
Reciprocal link building
There are some basic rules to follow when exchanging links:
Relevancy is more important
Check and make sure the reciprocal link aren’t being blocked and pages are indexed
Link pages with more than 50 links aren’t worth exchanging with
Non-reciprocal link building
It can be in form of paid link, directory listings, social bookmarking, article publishing ,blogs and press releases
Step 7 – Title and Meta tags
Once you have planned and completed the site structure and content integration. Its turn for Title Meta and Description. Unique and optimized title and Meta tags are really helpful in achieving higher search engine positions
Title:
this tag represents information of page this can be in browsers header bar
Meta keywords:
This include the targeted keywords for that particular page
Meta description:
The Meta description shows on the SERPS (search engine results page). It is used in describing the products / services you offer to your customers, you can describe specific pages within your website that shows in the search results page.
You can describe your pages the way you want them to be seen by your visitors in the SERPS (search engine results pages)
Next is alt tags, Alt tags is a white hat SEO practice used very commonly by search engine optimizers
Step 8 Monitoring
There are three basic things in the monitoring process. They are:
Monitoring your search engine positions:
You can go through the searches manually, you can use software like IBP to check your rankings or you can use online. There can find many related Seo tools listed here http://www.seocompany.ca/tool/seo-tools.html
Monitoring Back Links
Schedule weekly checks of how many backlinks you have and are your link partners still linking to you
Monitoring Changes in the Search Environment
The last thing you will have to monitor is for changes with the search engines themselves.
Visiting forums and subscribing to newsletters to keep yourself updated about search engines algorithm changes
Step 9 social bookmarking
The social bookmarking is used by many people to bookmark their pages and websites. Using the social bookmarking visitors can bookmark the sites listed in the social networking websites. The popularity of the websites in the social bookmarking world gauged by most favorites websites among the visitors. The most bookmarked website obviously will get more traffic than others and it can also help improving your search engine ranking in major search engines.
How does it work?
In a social bookmarking system, users store lists of Webpage Urls, which they find useful. Often, these lists are publicly accessible, and other people with similar interests can view the links by category, tags, or even randomly. Some social bookmarking systems allow for privacy on a per-bookmark basis.
Most bookmarking websites allows to enter multiple tags for your web pages in order to be searched by the visitors that helps social bookmarking visitors to get relevant and accurate search results for their keywords.
Advantages
1. Social bookmarking helps in promoting your website users market your site.
2. It indirectly helps by building a brand.
3. Generates targeted traffic.
Some important social bookmarking sites
Dig.com | Blink |Del.icio.us |Digg |Furl |Google |Simpy |Spurl |Y! MyWeb
Step 10 – Testing
You have created a great design and added SEO elements to your site. Now its time to see if all that hard work done has achieved the main goal of reaching the visitor and to convert them to a customer.
o Check for broken links :
o Other script errors
o Ease in navigating site
o visual appeal of the site
o placement of content
o are you able to find what u are looking for
You have created a great design and added SEO elements to your site. Now you should test your website for errors (i.e. 404 not found error, script errors etc.).
Check for broken links :
Other script errors
Ease in navigating site
Visual appeal of the site
Placement of content
Are your visitors able to find what they are looking for?
“
Sandeep Tyagi
http://www.articlesbase.com/seo-articles/the-ten-important-steps-for-optimizing-your-website-for-search-engines-67620.html
Why is Search Engine Optimization Important for Online Traffic?
What is search engine optimization?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via ‘organic’ or ‘algorithmic’ search results. The process of optimizing a web page or a website in order to gain higher positions or rankings in search engine results (SERP’s) for different keywords or phrases. SEO can also target different types of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.
Why is search engine optimization important?
The main purpose of search engine optimization is to increase the traffic generated by a website. Websites are built to be seen by Internet users and search engines can help it achieve this goal.
SEO has two main part:
1. On Page Optimization
2. Off Page Optimization
1. On Page Optimization:
On page Optimization is executed at the web site itself. Getting improved search engine result start with the website. The first paragraph on every pages needs to be keyword rich without repeating the title of the page. Meta-descriptions and Meta-keywords are important, too. Updating these on a regular basis is beneficial.
2. Off Page Optimization:
Off Page Optimization are strategies for search engine optimization that are done off the pages of a website to maximize its performance in the search engines for target keywords related to the page content. Examples of off-page optimization include linking, and placing keywords within link anchor text. Methods of obtaining links can also be considered off-page optimization.
These include:
* Public relations
* Article distribution
* Social networking via sites like Digg and Slashdot
* Link campaigns, such as asking complementary businesses to provide links
* Directory listings
* Press Releases Distribution
* Link exchanges
* Three-way linking
* One-way linking
* Blogging
* Forum posting
* Multiway linking
Neha Singh
http://www.articlesbase.com/seo-articles/why-is-search-engine-optimization-important-for-online-traffic-702487.html
Social Media and SEO 2.0 Explained
http://members.seo2020.com
See a visual representation of how content is propagated through social networks which increases search engine visibility and enhances rankings through social presence.
Duration : 0:6:48
Outsource SEO; it’s getting just too complicated for small businesses to do it right themselves
What is exactly is Search Engine Optimization or SEO? Simply put, it means doing everything it takes (of course optimizing in “white hat” fashion) to get your small business website found by those who need your goods and services. This could be for example in the case of optimizing a search engine keyword search.
Many people have typically just equated SEO with being indexed in Google and the major search engines. But it actually goes beyond this. Your site may be indexed but in order to rise to the top, you will need a lot more. In this sense, the internet truly is a web. All sites with traffic which are linked to your site and/or provide a way to list your small business’ profile (including your small business URL) for free will contribute to the cross-linking value of your main website. Your site’s presence “grows” with these links and profiles and social media mentions all across the cyberspace universe.
One of the Internets most well knows standards for measuring a website’s stature has been Google Page rank. In the last few weeks, many websites have seen their page ranks take a dive. As many SEO experts are discussing the possibility of yet another Google algorithm change, some SEO experts are talking about whether Page Rank will continue to matter. Consider this:
Google’s Page Rank patent runs through 2011. At this appoint other search engines will be able to license and use the famous algorithm. What does this mean? It means that other search engines will be able to integrate it into their products as well. Google in the meanwhile will continue to innovate and grow and reach out; adding even more dimensions to what it means to have a powerful online presence.
Microsoft may continue to try to chip away at Google (e.g. Bing) but Google, the innovative giant that it is, never rests (e.g. the recently announced Chrome OS). Industry watchers continue to study and predict what Google will be up to next. Here are some industry speculations: Google continues to reach out…Google 411, Google indexing material from books (past and present), and greater numbers of ever improving cloud applications for ecommerce and more.
The prediction of some industry experts is that Google’s domination and loyal following (note that in a recent survey, Bing shows weakness against Google simply because Google users are happy and see no reason to switch) will be so integrated in so many daily operations that it will be hard for anyone (Microsoft) to challenge it (even when equipped with the Page Rank algorithm).
While onsite and offsite optimization remains a critical part of SEO, there is going to be so many more factors to consider for optimization. It will continue to expand as Google continues its outward reach. Yes, the Internet is still in its infancy and with the guidance of Papa G, it is primed for changes that we can still hardly fathom.
Currently Social Networking is one arena that offers alternative marketing opportunities. These take a lot of energy and commitment on the part of small business owners, and thus the may well be worth outsourcing SMO and well as SEO.
Lori Olson
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/outsource-seo-its-getting-just-too-complicated-for-small-businesses-to-do-it-right-themselves-1086570.html
