Category: Visitors

 
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Social Bookmark Traffic – Is It Useful?

In the very recent past, a friend of mine [Kate] was lucky enough to get her website listed (bookmarked) on Digg, a very popular social bookmark site. With her permission, I was given an excellent chance to overlook and analyze the traffic generated from these types of sites. Read on to discover the pro’s and con’s of social media site traffic, and how it could be utilised in your own website or online marketing efforts.

Firstly, it should be said that any sort of internet traffic, should not be considered useless. Visitors to your site should all be welcomed, as any visitor is a good thing. In saying that, however, it should be noted that traffic in all its greatness, is not created equally. Great differences become apparent when you start to analyze its source. The purpose of this article, is to take a much closer look at the traffic generated from social bookmarking, from the perspective of internet marketing.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 2 years, you’d notice a very big trend on the web–social bookmark and media websites have become “all that” on the web. Slashdot, Stumbleupon, Digg; any of these popular sites sound familiar?

This is where a lot of social bookmark traffic will originate from. In essence, these sites are driven and “controlled” by the users. Users or members choose which content they want to bookmark, and this will lead into viewing and discussing of said bookmarked content. Sites such as these are immensely popular, and flow traffic that the average website owner can only ever imagine having. Thats a lot of traffic, isn’t it? But is it really useful?

All this traffic and hype must be a good thing, right? But is it really worth your time? Should you integrate active promotion to these types of social media websites? What about concentrating all your online marketing strategies on these types of sites? The question more at point is, what are the real pro’s and con’s of getting your website listed on the front page of sites like Stumbleupon or Digg?

As a website owner myself, I wanted answers, and I wanted them quickly. In addition, I wondered if utilising these sites could benefit me; i.e, could they help me generate more income online?

Recently, my friends listing on Digg enabled me to have a upclose look at these sites, and the effects they brought to a website owner. This was a chance for a first-hand, upclose study; I was not about to pass this up.

However, this didn’t happen by chance. Kate took the action of placing the free “Addthis.com” bookmark to all her pages. You can also do this quite easily. Using this simple bookmark “button”, you can start to attract these sites. However, be warned; a site featured on the front page of social media sites can almost instantly generate 100,000’s of visitors to your website; this in essence is enough traffic that it may overload your server. Not good!

So be careful; active promotion to these social bookmark sites should only be taken upon if your servers or web hosting company can withstand the sudden influx of traffic.

With Kate’s permission, I utilised Google Analytics and started to analyze these types of visitors and social bookmark traffic generated. Interestingly enough, some very important factors were realised. The Majority of this traffic will:

– Simply bounce back.
– Very few visitors will stay on your site; even for a short period of time.
– Very few visitors will actually go into the depths of your site.
– If you have a newsletter or similar, you’ll notice that very few sign-up for these.
– If you utilise any type of marketing follow-ups, etc, very few will enter.

(In saying this, an unknown variable is the content of your site. Is it well written? Does it perform well? Is it useful or attractive to the visitor?)

Traffic from these sites does pose a very common problem, however; its temporary traffic, to say the least. The mass amount of traffic generated will usually only last a few days at most, that is, until your listing or bookmark is removed from the front page. Most of these visitors will rarely remain on your website for long, and the majority leave within seconds. In saying that, you may have a few sign-up’s to your newsletter or Ezine, or visitors that explore your site. But keep in mind, this number will not be very high.

Social media site traffic can be likened to customers in the drive-thru sections of fast food restaurants; they come and go as quick as they came. The visitors will basically view your content, and before you know it, have already left, surfing back to the main site to venture onto the next item or listing. Social bookmark traffic will always behave differently, to a large extent, when compared to organic search engine traffic, or your newsletter traffic, for instance. Very differently.

Visitors from Kate’s article posts will generally add up to 50 to a 100 new sign-ups a day; much different when compared to social bookmark traffic. In addition, readers and visitors to her articles are actually interested in her content, and therefore have been previously exposed to similiar content upon reaching her website. So in this case, there was no comparison.

The choice of traffic will always lay in the visitors generated from search engines, atleast when comparing to the traffic from social bookmarking sites. A question still remains, however– is social bookmark traffic really all that useless?

Firstly, as previously mentioned, you need to remember that no traffic should be considered useless. Any type of visitor to your website should be counted as a good thing. Any website owner should realise that getting traffic and visitors to your website is a must; otherwise its game over.

When someone searches for a particular term in a search engine, and they end up at your website, this means that your visitor is there because you have what they’re looking for. This type of traffic is essential to your website. Visitors like these are considered to be “targeted traffic”; that is, they’re more likely to read your pitch-page, overlook your information, sign-up to a newsletter, or even buy a product. Additionally, they may also become repeat visitors. Traffic like this is ideal. These are the types of visitors you really want.

However, its not all bad news. Social media or bookmark sites do have a bright side.

How would you like the possibility of your website gaining exposure to millions of people? Sounds good, doesn’t it? Even though you may not get sales, for instance, this traffic can assist in getting your websites name out there; branding it, creating a buzz.

If your website appeals to a more mass market, then you are even more in luck. Social bookmark traffic in this case can be an excellent source of traffic and visitors.

Social sites such as these also have another added bonus; gaining a link on high PR7 and PR8 websites, with high traffic flow, can’t hurt your search engine rankings. After your website is featured on a social media site such as Digg, your link can also appear on a large number of secondary websites on the web, as much as 1000 or more. Much of this traffic will also be using the Firefox web browser, which is embedded with the Alexa toolbar– what does this do for you? Your Alexa traffic rank will be improved. As much as 50% of the visitors hitting Kate’s website we’re running the Firefox browser.

Something worth pointing out, is that the traffic generated from Stumbleupon was much different. Longer stay durations were the common thing in this traffic, that is, this traffic behaved more like organic traffic. This could possibly be attributed to the fact that Stumbleupon is a higher quality site, and this was reflected from the higher quality of the visitors originating from there. This also made me come to the realisation that not all social media/bookmark traffic can be measured with the same stick. This experience also pointed me out to something important; the content featured on Kate’s website is geared towards targeted visitors from search engines and articles, and is generally not suited to the mainstream net-surfer.

An idea to better take advantage of this type of traffic, is to gear your website and its content to more mainstream internet users. Whether or not this enables you to achieve a greater level of success, is largely dependant on what you offer and how it is offered. Another unknown variable, unfortunately.

In the near future, I hope to gain the chance to further study social bookmark traffic, and its long-term effects on websites. In specific, the effect it would have on keyword rankings and link popularity rankings in search engines; only then can I come to any type of real judgements. However, for now, my mind is being kept open, and the idea is being tossed up as to whether social media and bookmark traffic is actually worth the time or the effort. Is the time taken away from your usual day-to-day marketing efforts worth it?

Guess there is only one way to find out, really.

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Publicity From Thirty Thousand Feet

Sketching out your marketing campaign will also give you a chance to see what’s been leveraging you results and what hasn’t. Keep in mind that some things like bulk sales and national media might take longer than other items so you’ll want to keep putting forth effort toward those long-term goals.

We all know that marketing a book is a process. But sometimes the process takes longer than we’d anticipated. That’s why it’s nice every now and again to hop aboard the publicity jet and get a look-see at what you’ve been doing from the thirty-thousand foot level. Why? Well, first off this birds-eye view will reveal to you areas you might be overlooking or other options for marketing you hadn’t considered.

To accomplish this bird-eye view you’ll want to get yourself a big white board, or something else big enough to chart your flight plan on. Then, once you’ve gotten that start charting the course you’ve taken so far. Don’t leave a single thing out; it doesn’t matter what it is. What you want to end up with is a serious list of everything you’ve done from the time you held your first proof book in your hands.

One of the things this type of a project will do is give you a new perspective on what you’re doing. It will show you areas that you’ve possibly been spending too much time on or potential holes in your campaign. Sketching out your marketing campaign will also give you a chance to see what’s been leveraging you results and what hasn’t. Keep in mind that some things like bulk sales and national media might take longer than other items so you’ll want to keep putting forth effort toward those long-term goals. But let’s say you’ve been spending tons of time doing radio but nothing really seems to be happening in that area. You then look over to your speaking engagement section and realize you haven’t done a lot with that recently. Perhaps it’s time to pull back on radio and start pushing speaking events.

Once you’ve spent a good long time in this birds-eye view mode, start developing a to-do list of items or add to an existing list to help reinvigorate your campaign. One of the many things you’ll learn from doing this thirty-thousand foot perspective is that we often become myopic in our campaigns, focusing too hard in one area and not hard enough in another. Stepping back from your work will allow you the breathing room you need to regroup and reset your goals. Then you can focus in on particular areas or tasks that might need a boost. ‘

It’s been said that a plane flying from Hawaii to Los Angeles is always off by three percent. If left to fly without any adjustments to the course, however slight, the plane would land up in Seattle instead (a difference of almost 1,200 miles!). But through corrections and readjustments the pilot eventually reaches his destination. As you pilot your own campaign, remember: don’t leave your marketing on autopilot. Realign, readjust, and refocus and eventually you too will reach your destination, wherever that might be.

Happy flying!

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One Author's Solution For Publishing Creative Writing Output

It has never been easy to have your creative writing output accepted by traditional publishing houses.

Witness these famous masters of fiction who were all obliged to take the route of shelling out hard cash to have their debut novels printed.

Alexandre Dumas
D.H. Lawrence
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Rice Burroughs
George Bernard Shaw
Gertrude Stein
James Joyce
John Grisham
Mark Twain
Mary Baker Eddy
Rudyard Kipling
Stephen Crane
Upton Sinclair
Virginia Woolf
Walt Whitman
William Blake
Zane Grey

John Grisham, incidentally, sold copies of his first novel A Time to Kill out of the boot of a car which at the outset was his sole ‘vehicle’ for distributionÖ

And it is getting tougher all the time ñ even for established authors.

It can be doubly frustrating when youíve written something that you are desperate to see in print; something you want other people to read.

There is always recourse to the expensive vanity publishing houses but I wouldnít take that route come what may.

Would you?

Imagine my surprise then when I stumbled across the perfect solution for publishing creative output that you cannot place elsewhere.

I have a string of traditionally published titles currently selling in bookstores world wide but I have an almost equal string that I have never been able to get into print.

That is until now

The little known but highly reputable POD (print on demand) source I have discovered requires an initial membership fee that covers UNLIMITED titles – perfect bound with ISBN and free shipping to customers

In a nutshell: Instead of requiring you to place an initial order for 10 to 100 books, this innovative publisher provides the first copy of your book free of charge and then prints-on-demand and ships when they receive subsequent orders from you and your customers.

This website featured in the resource box below is well worth a visit especially if you are still struggling to get your first book into print. You could have your own personal library up and running in next to no time.

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Search Engine Optimization And Why You need It

The web is a cut throat business. You have to arm yourself with the proper know-how and the tools to make your site a cut above the rest. Each day, more and more sites are clambering to optimize their rankings in websites and if you lose your guard, you may just get trampled on and be left in the abyss filled with so many failed e-commerce sites.

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a term widely used today by many websites. For the past few years and the next ten years or so, search engines would be the most widely used internet tool to find the sites that they need to go to or the product or information they need.

Most people that use search engines use only the ten top search results in the first page. Making it to the first page, more so to the top three is a barometer of a sites success in search engine optimization. You will get a higher ratio of probability in being clicked on when you rank high. The more traffic for your site, the more business you rake in.

But, it is essential to grab a hold of that spot or make your ranking even better. As I aforementioned, each day is a new day for all e-commerce sites to make them selves rank higher using search engine optimization. It is imperative to make your site better and better everyday.

So just what is search engine optimization and do you have to use it? The answer to why you have to use it is an easy one. You need search engine optimization to be number one, or maybe at least make your site income generating.

With search engine optimization you can get the benefit of generating a high traffic volume. Letís just say you get only a turn out of successful sales with 10 to 20 percent of your traffic. If you get a hundred hits or more a day, you get a good turn out of sales already. If you get only twenty to ten hits a day, you only get one or two if not any at all.

So once again, what is search engine optimization? Search engine optimization is utilizing tools and methods in making your site top ranking in the results of search engines. Getting yourself in the first page and better yet in the top half of the page will ensure that your site will generate public awareness of your siteís existence and subsequently generate more traffic, traffic that could lead to potential income and business.

Search engine optimization requires a lot of work to be fully realized. There are many aspects you have to change in your site or add as well to get search engine optimization. These will include getting lots of information about the keyword phrases that are popular in regards to your sites niche or theme.

You may also need to rewrite your sites contents so that you could get the right keyword phrases in your site without making it too commercial but light and informative. There are certain rules and guidelines to be followed with making your siteís content applicable and conducive to search engine optimization.

You will also need to collaborate with many other sites so that you could get link exchanges and page transfers. The more inbound and outbound traffics generated by sites among others are one of the components search engines uses to rank sites.

Try to search the internet for many useful help. Tips, guidelines and methods for search engine optimization are plenty to be found. Read many articles that can help you optimize your site in search engine results. The more knowledge and information you gather the better. This will all help you in getting those high rankings. This may require a little time and effort in your part but the benefits will be astounding.

If you can part with some money, there are many sites in the internet that can help you in search engine optimization. There are many sites that help in tracking keyword phrases that can help your site. There are also some content writers that have lots of experience in making good keyword laden content for your sites that have good quality.

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Myths about Selling

Your online commercializing conflict will include a number of dissimilar methods in different arenas of the Internet. You may have a web site, use an auto responder, post classified ads, post articles, place banner advertisings, sponsor lists and newssheets, circulate press handouts, and much more. Keep in mind, though, that when you are first commencing, it is vital that you concentrate on one facet of your merchandising crusade at a time and elevate it to its fullest degree before proceeding on to the next.

It is more effective to slowly become profitable by concentrating on one event at a time, than to hardly be gainful because you are attacking all of the events halfhearted.

Broaden and spend little sums of money on advertisement for the first time. If you apply a conservative approach, you will not be exhausted financially if an ad doesnít return the sales you were going for. Just keep trying out advertisements as your fund permits until you discover the one that works most effective; then you can roll it out and be positive that you are going to earn money rather than lose it!

If you have a lot of contest, state that you will respect all of your competitionsí vouchers and/or rebates; use “theirî advertisement to your advantage.

An antique problem in business sector is accumulating final payment for services delivered. As a business possessor, you need to be tended for “difficultî customers and “moochesî by exercising such matters as

In your contract or sales arrangements, state the interest rates and late fees that will be assessed if payment is not received within 30 days of completion.

Compose form letters to be used for accumulating the remainder. There should be three letters in total — one after the payment is ten days late, another after twenty days, and a third that lets the client know that youíll be turning their account over to a collection authority (or taking them to small claims court).

The third letter should not be sent until 45 days after the payment is late. And of course, never bluff. If you say you will turn it over to a collection agency, do so.

The best way to protect yourself is to take payment thru credit card. State to your customer that you will bill their credit card one third of the entire cost as an initial down payment, another third just after you have passed the 50% closing period, and the final third on delivery. Or use the two-payment system – half at the introduction of the task and the balance upon completion.

One more thing. You are free to use this article on your website provided that it stays unaltered and the links in the resourcebox is live, search-engine friendly links.

DO NOT STEAL. IT IS NOT WORTH IT.

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Make Big Money On Your Book – 10 H*O*T Tips

Wouldn’t it be nice to write a book, get paid handsomely for it and be considered a top expert all at once? It’s possible–if you know the rules.

1. Study the publishing industry.

Today celebrity books rule. Books that catch a quick trend come in second. Take chick lit, for example. Nobody cared about hip books for women ten, or even five years ago. But women buy the majority of books–and actually read them. It’s not to say that other book genres aren’t viable. Of course they are. The big categories of fiction and non- fiction will live on forever. But even self-help is on the wane according to some sources. And, as a literature savvy friend of mine said, *Plots are passe.* There’s much more to know about the industry. Like what agents look for and how publishers decide on what will be profitable.

2. Understand that publishers don’t buy books, they buy ideas.

Many new authors think they need to write a book to sell it. Not so. You develop an idea (fiction excluded) and give publishers a taste of what’s to come. They decide whether your idea has a large enough market for them to make money on it. You must prove, without a doubt that they can. Lots of it.

3. Think of your proposal as the business plan for your book.

Map out the life of your book in the marketplace for the next five years. Plan on devoting at least that much time to promoting it.

4. Have a huge platform.

A platform is simply YOUR ability to sell books to the audience that you have said will buy–from you. Are you already a *personality* people recognize and love? How many organizations, companies, groups do you speak to every month? Do you write regularly for newspapers, magazines or the Internet? Do you have prestigious clients who can sell your books in bulk to their corporations? You get the idea. You must *look* like a mover and shaker in your field.

5. Be a media star.

If you’re not already a familiar face on TV, a vivacious voice on the radio or a person who appears in print often, not to worry. If you can show you have the potential to become a star, that’s a start. Maybe you’ve been on local TV and had rave reviews. If so, mention that.

6. Speak.

A major publishing house hired me to media coach one of their rising star authors. Her book was getting major national press–but she was dull. And they were worried that her lackluster personality would effect her book sales. We worked until she got comfortable on camera while talking vividly in 15 second soundbites.

7. Get media coached.

With some media coaching you can morph into a mediagenic maven. But it does take practice and sincere commitment. You can work on your pizzazz factor by studying great interviewees and modeling the behaviors you liked. If you canít afford a media coach, get out that video camera and do mock interviews with friend. A lot can be revealed and ironed out just by seeing how you appear to others on the big screen.

8. Develop your platform.

When I interviewed editors at top New York publishing houses like Simon & Schuster & HarperCollins they told me repeatedly that the most important thing a writer can have today is a strong *platform.* A platform is a plan of how you are going to reach your audience to sell books.

Prove you have a following. Publishers want to know who has bought your books or products in the past– and they want to know how many. Can you show that you have a track record of selling your goods to people across the globe, or at least in your community? Maybe youíre not as far along in your career as one of my clients who is a $12,000 an hour speaker who put in his proposal the fact that his audiences range from 100-10,000 people, and he speaks 250 times per year.

His speaking bureau typically sells his video and audio tapes to those audiences in advance when they book his talk. What you want to show is how you can secure sales in large quantities to people you know will buy from you–because they have bought already. Or how audiences similar to the ones who have purchased are primed to buy your book.

9. Get high profile endorsements.

To instantly establish your stature put these accolades on page number one so theyíre the first thing an agent or editor sees. Endorsements need to be from celebrities, best- selling authors and well-known experts in your field.

Show that youíre respected in the world. Endorsements show that high-level people believe in you, that youíre a good bet. They also go on your book cover jacket and help sell your book–and in todayís competitive marketplace itís essential. Donít say youíre *actively seeking endorsements.* Leading with the endorsements makes sure an agent or editor gets that youíre a big shot–or soon will be.

One secret that many authors donít know is the best blurbs are written by the writers themselves. Donít expect famous people to read your tome. They donít have the time or the desire. And please donít send it to them unsolicited. Ask permission. Then do the work for them and ask them to sign off on that perfect gem–the one youíve written–touting the marvels of your work.

10. Your sample chapter.

Once youíve established that the author has some sort of a platform, that they have some voice in the world beyond their circle of friends, I go straight to the sample chapter.

Prove you can write. *I want to know if they are a good writer, because an agent can tinker away with the rest of the proposal and make it sound really good,* says Kelly Notaras, a Senior Editor at Hyperion.

What if youíre not a great writer? Hire a ghost writer. Remember platform is non-replaceable. You, the personality, the presence, is what theyíre investing in. Good writing can be bought. Star quality canít

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Marketing to Marketers

Marketing to other marketers to make it easier to make money is great but many of the buyers never use the products and just try to pawn them off on other marketers. So you wind up with all these people selling scripts, programs, eBooks, and more to other online marketers and they profess how great they are without ever using them. They are just trying to make a buck as an affiliate of someone else’s idea.

I am all for new marketing ideas especially the ones that automate tedious tasks. I love submitting articles and use an auto submitter. RSS feeds provide news to my sites. Automatically creating links to Clickbank items based on keywords in my blogs is a godsend.

But, to me, if people donít use these products and just pimp them to others, they are missing out on the long term benefits for a quick buck.

I admit that I have done this in the past and may do it again in the future ñ but ñ I only sell products that I actually use and approve. That way I can actually vouch for them since I have used them and can speak from personal experience.

Personally, I prefer to market to the average Internet Joe. I market to people who are looking for a deal on a credit card (and I use a super script to keep my site current). I recommend hotels in Thailand and can speak from first-hand experience. I post links to hotels in Thailand forums and also have 6 Thai affiliate hotel sites.

I also write articles about Thailand and list my hotel affiliate links in the author’s resource box. These are pretty easy to write since I have been traveling to Thailand for over 30 years.

I also write the occasional marketing or credit article to get some traffic to those sites. I have about 10 article sites and advertise on those sites that others submit their articles to.

I would rather make a few bucks marketing a product to people who are actually going to use it instead of marketing to someone who is only going to try to sell it to someone else.

All of this is just my personal opinion. There is nothing morally wrong or illegal of marketing to marketers. I use many of the items that are up for sale, especially those that make my life a little bit easier.

The one thing that I do object to is the folks that market to others and make false or misleading statements indicating that they use the product and how wonderful it is when they have never used it and just want to make a buck.

Anyhow, keep coming up with all those great products that marketers can use to make our lives easier. Just market them honestly.

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Increasing Link Popularity the Gateway to the Internet

Search engines are the gateway to the Internet; they are
the first tool that potential customers use to find the
products and services they need. This is why link
popularity is so imperative. If the customers do not find
your website, you have no possibilities of making any
sales.

You’re probably wondering what the blazes is popular about
a link! Well, in a word – plenty! Link popularity refers to
the ranking assigned to your website by the search engines,
and it determines the ranking your page gets when keywords
are entered into a search engine. So, you’re probably
wondering, how do I make my link popular?

Search engines are discretionary, giving status and ranking
to sites that have links to their pages from related,
quality sites. It’s a simple formula, but a very important
one. Google created the system, and now virtually all the
most popular search engines employ it to rank your web
pages in their indexes.

The more commonly used your keyword is, the harder it will
be to achieve link popularity, but without achieving this
step, it is almost certain your site will never rank highly
on any search engine. But don’t be discouraged; there are
tried and true ways of achieving link popularity using the
most competitive keywords.

There are a few things you should be aware of. The first is
that just linking up with a large number of other websites
will not achieve link popularity. In fact, it may have
quite the opposite effect. This is particularly true when
pertaining to websites that are nothing more than “link
farms” – pages containing line after line of indiscriminate
links. Search engines may aggressively discriminate against
your website if you are associated with a link farm, so
steer clear of them!

The next thing to bear in mind is the quality of the site
you are linking to. Never link to a page you have
reservations about your visitors seeing. The last thing you
want your website to appear as is indiscriminate and cheap.
Linking to sites of poor quality will only lessen your link
popularity, if not completely destroy it.

So let’s get to what you need to do to achieve supreme link
popularity and improve your rankings to stellar status on
all the popular search engines.

The first step, and the fastest way to get your foot in the
door, is to get a listing in a popular directory, such as
Open Directory Project and Yahoo. If your site is
business-related, you will want to be listed on Yahoo, and
despite the fact that it will cost you around $300 a year,
it will be money well spent. If your site is
non-commercial, the listing will be free, but it will take
time and follow-up to actually get it listed. Open
Directory is gives you a free listing whether you are
business-related or non-commercial, but be prepared to make
a lot of follow-up inquiries before you see your site
listed.

You are aiming to get listed in the highest level of
appropriate category, and this just takes some common
sense. For example, if your company ships Alpaca wool from
an Alpaca farm located in the middle of Nowhere, Tiny
State, do NOT submit your listing to “Retailers from
Nowhere, Tiny State.” BIG MISTAKE! All you have to do is
look a little deeper – and submit your listing to the “Fine
Alpaca Wool” category. You will not only associate yourself
with culture and quality, but you will be listed in a
national category.

The next step after you have attained directory listings is
to locate other quality sites that will increase your link
popularity. Try to find sites that are in some way related
to yours, so not only will your link popularity increase,
but your customer base may also be expanded. You want to
avoid your competitors and look for sites that are useful
to your site’s visitors. Let’s look at the Alpaca Wool site
example. Linking up to a site that sells knitting supplies
would be helpful to your visitors, and the chances of the
knitting supply site wanting to link up to your site are
also greater. By linking to a related site that will be
relevant to your website’s traffic, you are increasing both
of your site’s business prospects – and both of your sites’
link popularity.

Not all sites want to link to other sites, so you will have
to do some research when you are looking for possible
linking partners. Google is an excellent starting place for
your search. Make sure you enter keywords that you think
quality customers will also enter to find your own site.
Remember, your criteria are quality, highly ranked,
non-competing websites that have a links or resources page.
Go to these sites and objectively assess them. Look at the
quality of the product, the graphics, and the ease of use.
Then check out the other sites they are linked to, and
determine if your own site would fit in with the crowd.

When you decide you have found a good prospect, you must
set out to woo them. The first thing to do is to add a link
on your own links page to their site. This is an essential
first step; it shows good faith, and ups your chances
significantly of their reciprocity. After you have added
their link, you must contact the webmaster of their site.
Since this is almost always done by email, you want to make
sure it is immediately clear that your message is not junk
mail. This requires that you tell them right off the bat
that you have added a link to their page on your site. A
hook like this almost always insures the reader will read
on.

Next, be sure to be flattering and let them know how much
you appreciate their website. Make sure you emphasize that
you have actually visited their site, and that their site
is not just a random pick. Give them the address of your
links page, and ask them to check out the link for
themselves. It’s a good idea to mention that they will not
only benefit from the increased traffic your website will
direct their way, but you will also increase their link
popularity. Briefly, explain why link popularity is so
essential, but do this in a sentence or two so you don’t
sound like a professor! Finally, tell them you would
greatly appreciate if they would reciprocally add a link on
their own links page to your website.

Go through this process with as many appropriate sites as
you can find, bearing in mind the criteria of quality and
non-competitiveness. After you have emailed all relevant
sites, be sure to check these website frequently to see if
they have added a link to your page. Give it about a month,
and if no link appears, try another charming email. Then
give it another month, and if your site is still absent
from their links page, it’s time to remove their link from
your own links page. The only time you want to pursue a
link further than this is if you believe a site is crucial
to your link popularity and your business needs. Just
remember to keep all your communications complimentary and
cordial.

Then set up a schedule to check your ranking in search
engines frequently to see if your link popularity has
improved. This is not achievable in the blink of an eye. It
will take some time and a good deal of work. There is no
way around the labor-intensive quality of improving your
link popularity, which is why search engines regard it with
such importance.

By the way – make sure you have a beautiful, streamlined
site or you will never persuade anyone to link up to you.
Be prepared to keep plugging away at this process, as long
as it takes, until you achieve link popularity stardom!

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How To Sell Your Books On Radio

When my book was published I participated in eleven 15-minute live interviews on local radio over a period of just five days.

The results were highly encouraging; the book leapt from nowhere on Amazon.co.uk to position 194 out of 3123 competing titles and eventually grabbed the No.1 spot for its core keyword (retirement) where it remained for nine months.

I am shortly to repeat the broadcast exercise for my newly published tome but before doing so I am already off to a head startÖ

Although this title does not hit the bookstores until Monday 8 May 2006 it already ranks at No.47 out of 3453 competing titles on Amazon.co.uk ñ which means of course that the book is already selling in big numbers online ñ thanks largely to the success of its predecessor and the initial boost it got from radio promotion.

These promotional interviews are arranged by my publisherís media consultancy and I do not require to visit a single studio to take part; they are all conducted over the telephone, sitting at my desk at home.

So what if you self-publish your output and you donít have a publicist to arrange radio interviews?

Does that mean you are excluded?

No way; I have self-published several books in the past and managed my own promotion.

Wherever you live in the world youíll find that the majority of local radio stations are banded together into a single network for cost-effectiveness.

Here is what you do

1. Identify the controlling network;
2. Visit the corporate website containing links to all subsidiaries;
3. Pick out those stations within a 500/1000 mile orbit;
4. Visit each local station website individually;
5. Scan the daily programming schedules;
6. Highlight those programs that might identify with the topic of your book;
7. Note the presenterís name;
8. Email him/her with a well-couched request for a live interview;
9. Follow that up with an identical snail mail request;
10. Follow that up with a telephone call (youíll get to speak to someone in authority).

You know your topic inside out; speak up with confidence and youíll get your interview; maybe not straightaway but, if you sell yourself and your project professionally, youíll be logged into and up-and-coming slot in the station scheduling.

Go for it is free!

I will be reporting in a subsequent article on the outcome of my latest batch of broadcasts.

In truth though there is more to creating bestselling books than spieling about them on radio and if youíd like to learn how I manage to produce bestsellers consistently, visit the website featured in the resource box below.

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Leadership Is Based On Values – Abilities of a Bigger Leader

When we study on abilities we learn, of well simplist form, that ability is the set of knowledge, abilities and attitudes. If we go to the dictionary we can verify that the attitude is the way to proceed, to act, the behavior.

Thus being, we can affirm that the part most important of the ability its in our position. When the companies elaborate its pictures of abilities essences, those that represent its mission, principles and values, there see a series of earnings of the organization in relation its collaborators: enterprising capacity, focus in results, taking of decision, negotiation, leadership, creativity and as much others.

But, an important question fits: it will be that these abilities are really essential? If to consider the attitude as basic principle of the ability, the waited behaviors would not have more to be valued? Evident that we need professionals with focus in results, skillful negotiators, creative, enterprising, that they know to work under pressure, but we urgently need leaders with behaviors that impactem more significantly in the businesses or, at least, to give to the abilities accented connotations more.

We would have to try, in our companies, people capable to be:

* Humble

Humble not just to learn, unprovided of arrogance that the learning, humble only blocks to hear and to understand, humble to focus main and accessory, humble it not to share the knowledge, humble to understand that the weight biggest of the existence not to be in HAVING and yes in the BEING. And is good that if it does not forget that humbleness is a virtue.

* Intelligent

Intelligence that goes beyond the capacity diagnosising, to foresee scenes future, to analyze situations for different angles, that go even though beyond the ability interacting with the most diverse people, controlling impulses, to express feelings. She is necessary to sharpen intelligence spiritual, not in the direction of religiosity, but the intelligence that searchs the illumination, that searchs the wisdom, a directed intelligence to be better. As Mahatma Gandhi it wrote: “When an only man arrives at the fullness of the love, it neutralizes the hatred of many millions”

* Responsible

Not it responsibility demanded for the companies, who we are not more of the one than obligation, but responsibility for each said word, for each revealed gesture, each taken action, commentaries made for the coasts, would say more, responsibility even for our thoughts. We learn in the science that no energy if loses, all are changedded. Then, why not to place in our daily relations something that is not taught in books and nor in the schools, a little of pleasantness in the behavior, all the moments, all the levels, daily and for the entire life?

* Human being

We are human beings, we possess intelligence that in them makes superiors to other beings livings creature. The proper word human being always is associated with the goodness, to the benevolence. Then, a great leader must HUMAN BEING.

Somebody that either capable to love fully without being servile, somebody that the pardon understands and practises, that either capable to fully hear the other in a delivery attitude, that can act for internal certainty, to be sensible without to be piegas, capable to act with ethics and respect, capable to celebrate the victories and conquests unconditionally and for an obligatory one not to have, capable to review its values, capable to change its thoughts, capable to carry through a intramudanÁa, capable to give to the light itself exactly. It is important to know that the attitude, crucial point of the ability, depends exclusively on the individual.

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