Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 14

Day 14: Build Free Traffic – part II

Reminder: Goal-of-the-DAY... Get familiar with the four-step process of…
1) Submitting
2) Spider-tracking
3) List-watching
4) Keyword-ranking

Then, if you are using SBI! (so important for easy tracking) become comfortable with the Search Engine HQ and its reports…
1) Submit-Spider-List Report
2) Keyword Ranking Report
3) Keyword Searches Report


7.2. Improve Your Link Popularity…Build Incoming Links

“Pleasing” the Search Engines and your human visitors is why it’s important for you to develop an effective linking strategy. Links are one kind of off-page criteria that measure human reaction to your content.

The more sites that link to your site, and the more important the linking sites are, and the closer the linking sites are to the theme of your site (even to the topic of individual pages), the more “popularity points” Search Engines award to your site (and page).

Search Engines consider the number of in-pointing links to a site as a way to…

1) Establish credibility. An in-pointing link from a quality, related site tells the Search Engine that another Webmaster thinks highly enough of a site to link to it.

See how the link becomes representative of human feedback? The link constitutes a vote of confidence.

And the more highly a Search Engine regards the site that provides the link, the more powerful that “vote” is! For example…

Suppose you have a Web site all about porcupines. The Web authority on porcupines decides to link to your site. In essence, this tells the SEs…

“This is a credible porcupine resource. As such, it deserves to be listed in your database.”

This recommendation carries weight because the Web authority on porcupines already has established credibility with the SEs. Obviously, there’s no better judge of the quality of a porcupine site than a porcupine expert. Links from lesser authorities or from sites with related themes or topics (i.e., zoo, or animal sites) are helpful they don’t carry the same weight.

And what about off-theme links? Do not attempt to solicit links from sites unrelated to your topic or theme. Why would a Web site about Viagara or online casino games link to your site about porcupines? Usually it’s because they want to artificially increase link popularity, and manipulate the SEs.

The SEs don’t like to be manipulated, as it jeopardizes the integrity of their search results. So you can expect them to ignore, and at worst, penalize you for off-theme links.

2) Formulate ranking algorithms. More and more, Search Engines are factoring link popularity and link credibility (i.e., where your in-pointing links originate from) into their ranking algorithms. That’s why it’s so important not to fall into the trap of continuously tweaking your on-page criteria.

Chances are, the key to an elusive top 10 ranking lies off-page, not on-page.

Without a few credible links, you may find it difficult to get listed in some of the major SEs (especially Google). And of course, your site won’t make it into the databases of SEs that do not permit site submission. Their spiders must find your site on their own.

The good news is that for most businesses, a very small number of credible links will do the job. 99% of most Web sites do not have many in-pointing links. (If the SEs were to weigh in-pointing links too heavily, they’d make 99% of the Net disappear!)

Of course, if your topic is much more general in scope (i.e., “e-commerce,” “computers,” “sports cars,” and that sort of thing), obtaining links becomes more and more important.

Questions?

“When do I start building my link popularity?”

That’s a good one! Don’t worry about link popularity until you have built at least 20-30 content pages. Why?

Webmasters will link only to sites of value. Quality content is the currency of the Web so you will need a sufficient amount of it before you go link hunting. To get a Webmaster’s “vote” of confidence, your site must provide some benefit to his/her audience.

Directories too, are only interested in adding Web sites of substance and value.

A more mature site will also help you impress a human editor and secure a major directory listing.

Once you have your 20-30 high value pages, build a simple inbound link program, sprinkled with a few high-quality value exchanges (be patient) and even a couple of super-high-quality outbound-only links.

Here’s how to get your link program rolling along…

#1) Get IN-coming links from the major directories, and second tier directories. (See the Directories chapter for full details in the coming weeks.)

#2) Get IN-coming links from theme-specific sections of the major free directories.

#3) Participate in SiteSell’s Value Exchange. It is the simplest, fastest, most efficient, and (most importantly) most real way to identify high-value sites that want to link to your site.

It's also a true ethical use of the Net, exactly the way Search Engines want you to do it -- relevant sites linking to relevant sites only. And did I mention that it’s also free?…

http://value-exchange.sitesell.com/resources2success.html

#4) OUTbound-link with high-quality theme-related, non-competing sites as you happen to discover them in the course of normal business or surfing -- exchange links with them, if possible.

Linkage counts both ways, IN-pointing and OUT-pointing. If your outgoing “linkees” go to an income-generating source for you, even better!

Links OUT count with the human editors of directories and your visitors, too. If directory editors see that you provide bona fide links to other quality sites, your site is more credible, a more valuable resource for their directory. Visitors appreciate being presented with quality, credible links to related material that further enhances their surfing experience.

On the other hand, nothing is more damaging to you, your credibility and your ability to build your business than linking to an inferior Web site. By providing a link, you are in essence placing your seal of approval on the linked Web site.

Should that site be of low quality, visitors will question your judgement.

The SE’s will not take a positive view of such practices either. Should you linkout to a low quality site that practices deceptive linking strategies, the SEs may penalize you. After all, you are in essence condoning such activity.

What’s the take-home message here?

While you can’t control which sites link to your Web site (and therefore cannot be held responsible for it) you must choose your out-pointing links wisely.

IN-pointing and OUT-pointing links are both important. In general, of course, you want to have far more in-pointing. And don’t make all out-pointing links purely monetary links. You want to show your visitors that you have their best interests at heart, not just yours!

By far, the easiest, long-term strategy for building link popularity is a passive one.

Simply build a site of such high quality that people want to link to it in order to increase the value of their own visitors’ experiences.

What could be easier? Your link popularity builds itself!


7.3. Build Word of Mouth Buzz

Building word-of-mouth buzz is a secondary traffic-building technique.

Depending on your situation, some of the strategies outlined in this chapter will work very well for you. Others will not.

Either way, wait to investigate secondary strategies until after your business has a solid foundation of quality content. In other words, until you have at least 50 quality content pages, your efforts are better utilized by focusing upon…

C -> T -> P -> M

… and building traffic from the major Search Engines. As far as “bang for the buck” goes, this approach yields a far better Return On Investment (ROI) for your time.

How do you build word-of-mouth buzz? First piece of advice, don’t bother with those “recommend-a-friend” scripts. Less than one visitor in a thousand fills them in. There’s a far simpler way to get “word of mouth.” Deliver great content.

Want an example? Let’s say that you have a wonderful theme-based site about succulent plants (i.e., cactus, euphorbia, etc.). You have a terrific page about all the tricks you have developed for propagating them.

Other aficionados find that page at the engines. Do you think they’ll tell friends, or forums, or cactus associations, about this terrific info? Sure they will. Just one more huge benefit of OVERdelivering! But one big warning…

Average content = near-zero world of mouth. After all, have you ever been excited by “average?”

Great content is the only way to go!

When the time is right, use the following techniques to seed word of mouth buzz, especially if you are selling your own product or professional service…

• write articles for e-zines or article distribution sites

• make posts in forums, discussion groups, mailing lists, newsgroups (depending on your niche and situation, these can be fairly effective… or totally useless)

• publish your own blog, a Web log/diary (will discuss in the coming weeks)

• use a signature file (i.e., contact information, including your URL and preferably your VPP) in your daily e-mail correspondence.

Depending on your circumstances, some or all of the above techniques could be effective in seeing an increase in your word of mouth buzz…

Circumstance 1) The “nichier” your site, the better. If your site covers a topic already well-addressed by a zillion other sites, it will be much harder to stand out from the crowd and make an impression with your visitors.

Circumstance 2) Your site should have over 50 pages. There must be substance.

Circumstance 3) Your content should be of outstanding value to targeted visitors.

If all three circumstances are present, then investigating “word of mouth” strategies makes sense. There’s no point in making a post or writing an article otherwise.

OK, suppose you’ve got a high-quality content-rich niche site that delivers outstanding content. You make a fantastic post at a relevant forum, including your conservative signature file. What happens next?

Forum visitors visit your site, tell their friends, put a link on their site to yours, and discuss your site at relevant forums and discussion groups. Talk about a homerun buzz!

Now, before you proceed to DAY 15, please complete your DAY 13-14 Goal-of-the-DAY at the beginning of this post, and take note of your Ongoing Goal...

Ongoing Goal... Create more relevant, quality content. Build a solid links program. Be patient and trust the process.

Next step? Paid Search Engine traffic…

Stay tune…

Enjoy A Music Video: "I Love My SBI!"

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Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course - Day 1
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Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 3
Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 4
Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 5
Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 6
Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 7
Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 8
Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 9
Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 10
Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 11
Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 12
Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 13

I have whatever that makes me feel great in my life

I have whatever that makes me feel great in my life.

Today, I do a mental housecleaning...

Today, I do a mental housecleaning, making room for new and positive thoughts.

Millionaire Mind

A message by Dr Clemen Chiang that I believe it is meaningful to share with my friends here:

TAKE POSSESSION OF YOUR OWN MILLIONAIRE MIND AND YOU MAY SOON MAKE LIFE PAY OFF ON YOUR TERMS.

Your mind is unquestionably your most valuable possession.

You may lose every material thing you own, but knowledge can never be taken from you. With it, you can earn a new fortune, build a new home, and buy anything you truly desire.

No one else can control your thoughts; even the cruelest tyrant cannot force you to think about something you refuse to accept.

When you make a deliberate decision to take control of your mind and feed it positive, constructive thoughts, you are on your way to taking control of your life. The thoughts you allow to dominate your mind will determine what you will get from life.

Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 13

Day 13: Build Free Traffic

“Build it and they will come.” -- Field of Dreams (1989)

You are building a solid Theme-Based Content Site. So how will you let your target group know about it?

The next three topics are all about Traffic-Building. The most time-and cost efficient way to draw targeted traffic to your site is through the implementation of the Big 3 strategies…
1) Free Traffic
2) Paid Traffic
3) Traffic Through Relationship-Building

Goal-of-the-DAY... Get familiar with the four-step process of…
1) Submitting
2) Spider-tracking
3) List-watching
4) Keyword-ranking

Then, if you are using SBI! (so important for easy tracking) become comfortable with the Search Engine HQ and its reports…
1) Submit-Spider-List Report
2) Keyword Ranking Report
3) Keyword Searches Report

Talk about a “field of dreams!” If you just simply build it, your content site might as well be a cornfield in Iowa, visited only by ghosts!

Yes, it’s true. This course has shown you how to develop a strong Theme-Based Content Site, completely loaded with HIGH-PROFITABILITY Keyword-Focused Content Pages. These pages OVERdeliver to your human readers, and at the same time, satisfy the Search Engines.

So you’re way ahead of 99% of e-business people on the Net. You have created a diamond, shining brilliantly with terrific content. Does that guarantee you success?

Sorry to say... nope! Why not? Because it’s just sitting there, buried in the middle of that huge cornfield, that field of dreams. What’s missing in order to turn your dreams into reality and build income through content? Free, targeted traffic.

If you can't attract free, targeted visitors via the Search Engines, you’re immediately at a huge disadvantage. That’s because you’re going to have to pay to drive traffic to your Web site. While paying for supplemental traffic can make sense for many online businesses, you definitely do not want this to be your primary source of traffic. There are a number of reasons why not…

1) Depending on your niche or topic, advertising can be very expensive. It also prevents you from ever really owning your own business. When you stop paying for advertising, your business disappears.

2) If you do not know what your ROI (Return On Investment) is or exactly what each and every visitor is worth to you, advertising can be a bit of a gamble. This is especially true for brand new sites that are still feeling their way around.

3) Visitors who arrive from advertising campaigns recognize that the relationship is purely commercial, and they expect to be pitched. Obviously, they will have their guard up and will be more difficult to convert into customers.

On the other hand, when you “get it right” at the Search Engines, the engines will deliver more and more targeted traffic on daily basis.

Take-home lesson?

Concentrate on ways that will consistently deliver the largest amounts of lowcost, sustainable traffic -- the BIG 3 above. Don’t try to “do it all” right off the bat.

OK. Let’s begin with the engines…


7.1. Work With The Free Major Search Engines

The Search Engines will provide you with lots of traffic as long as you work with them rather than against them. The process is not complicated. And as you will soon see, it keeps you moving forward -- building out your site so that you create even more ways for visitors to find you…

1) Build Keyword-Focused Content Pages according to the structure and on page criteria guidelines outlined in Day 10-12.

2) Submit those pages to the Search Engines. (Continue to build more Content pages.)

3) Check for each spider’s visit. (Continue to build more Content pages.)

4) Check for the presence of your pages in each Search Engine’s index (i.e., database). (Continue to build more Content pages.)

5) Evaluate performance of each page of your Theme-Based Content Site. (Continue to build more Content pages.)

6) Track your performance on a regular basis. (Continue to build more Content pages.)

7) Repeat the process for each page you create. (Keep your focus on building more Content pages.)

Now that we have the big picture of where we are going, let’s get down to business…


7.1.1. Submit Your URLs

Submitting your site to the engines is a necessary task. If you wait for the SEs’ spiders to find and index your entire site, you could wait forever. Submission hastens the entire listing process along, and guarantees your site doesn’t get lost “between the cracks.” Result? You gain maximum and controlled exposure.

~~ Tips: ~~
SBI!’s World Submitter automatically submits your pages to each SE exactly the way it likes to receive submissions. Better yet, it monitors submitted pages for a spider visit. If a spider does not arrive within an acceptable length of time, the page is queued for resubmission. (All pages are “queued” for submission. This ensures you never run afoul of an SE’s submission policies and keeps you from being banned.)

But World Submitter doesn’t stop there. Once a page is listed, World Submitter monitors that page to ensure it remains in an SE’s index. Should your page be dropped, that page is queued for resubmission. Talk about putting your SE traffic-building strategy on autopilot!

http://build.sitesell.com/
~*~*~*~*~

Four of the major free Search Engines will account, either directly through their own search services or indirectly through partner sites, for about 95% of your traffic. That’s right, just four!

What about the service I saw the other day offering to submit my site to 1,000 Search Engines for $29.95?

Avoid these services like the plague. There are only four main SEs, as I said above. “Submit to all 1,000 Engines” services submit mainly to free-for-all links pages. They are totally useless, and will do nothing for you but fill your inbox with an endless barrage of spam.

OK, let’s begin the submission process. I’ve included each SE’s current protocols here, but please double-check each one to ensure nothing has changed in the meantime.

Ready? We’re off to the top of the list…

Google
http://www.google.com/addurl.html

Their submission policy (from the same URL)...
“Only the top-level page from a host is necessary; you do not need to submit each individual page. Our crawler, Googlebot, will be able to find the rest. Google updates its index on a regular basis, so updated or outdated link submissions are not necessary. Dead links will 'fade out' of our index on our next crawl when we update our entire index.”

~~ Tips ~~:
Google has implemented a graphic challenge on their submission page to
distinguish between manual and automated submissions. Although it is not
currently a requirement, I recommend that you fill in the graphic challenge with
your submission. It’s possible that Google will give precedence to manually
submitted URLs.
~*~*~*~*~*

Yahoo! Search
http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request

Their submission policy (from the same URL)...
“Enter the full URL, including the http:// prefix (for example, http://www.yahoo.com/) of the site you would like to submit. Enter only the top-level page in your site, our crawler will explore the rest of your site from there. We will automatically detect and remove dead links on an ongoing basis.”

MSN Search
http://search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx?FORM=WSDD2

MSN’s submission policy isn’t clear. They say...
“Type the URL of your homepage. MSNBot follows links from your homepage to find other pages on your site.”

Although they do not say not to submit others, it would certainly appear that it is not necessary.

Jeeves/Teoma
No, you cannot submit your site to Ask Jeeves, or the Teoma crawler that powers it. The only way to make it into this SE’s database is to ensure the Teoma crawler can find your site on its own by following an in-pointing link. This further emphasizes the importance of obtaining a few good links for your site. (A link popularity discussion is coming up shortly.)

OK, now what about all the other valid search services like AOL, Netscape, AltaVista, and so on?

There is really no need to submit to or track certain engines because they are either “aggregators” or have become insignificant in importance (although you may still recognize the name).

For example...
AOL and Netscape Search -- these “aggregators” draw from one or more of the above proprietary SEs.

AltaVista and FAST/AllTheWeb -- now owned and powered by Yahoo!. HotBot -- now a minor player, it merely offers a choice of proprietary engines.

So submit to the big 4, and forget the rest!


7.1.2. Track The Engines’ Spiders

Even after you do submit, some of the engines take weeks, even months, to send their spiders over to your site to “bring back the goodies.”

No problem. A real business takes time, unlike those get-rich-quick schemes floating around on the Net. So while you’re waiting, build more content pages and obtain some quality in-pointing links. These efforts will hasten the listing process along.

How can you tell when a spider visits your site?

The answer is simple. Each SE’s spider has a name, which shows up in your log files when it visits your site. For example, Google’s spider is called “Googlebot”. Yahoo!’s is called “Slurp”. MSN’s spider is called “MSNBot.”

So keep your eyes peeled for a visit from one of these friendly little creatures in your log files. Although a spider visit does not mean your page has been added to an SE index, it does mean that the SE has not forgotten about you! Your site is probably queued for addition.

If you don’t see an engine’s spider within a certain amount of time after submitting (varies for each engine), you can resubmit according to each engine’s acceptable limits. Generally though, if you haven’t been indexed and listed with 6-8 weeks, do the following…

1) Resubmit according to each SE’s protocols.

2) Build your link popularity. Quality in-pointing have a credentializing effect.

Without a few to validate your site, some SEs may be hesitant to list you in their indices. If you have no links, and you can’t seem to get listed, this is very likely the issue.

Even if you aren’t listed immediately, don’t lose heart. Every new Web business has to go through the hassle of establishing itself with the SEs.

That’s true whether you have $100 to invest in your business, or $10,000. Keep your focus on the “C” of…
C -> T -> P -> M
… and making your site THE authority on your theme.


7.1.3. Check And Monitor Presence

First, the good news… you’ve been spidered! That means you’re in, right? Not necessarily. However, it does mean that the Search Engines know about you.

Yes, you are on their radar, but you may not yet be included in the databases from which they draw their results. So that leads you to your next mission…

Monitor each engine to ensure it lists your pages. Once your pages start showing up in each SE’s database, they are ready to be delivered to an eager search audience.

Hooray! Targeted traffic!

The best way to check your listings is to use Search It!…

Search It! > Indexed Pages (STEP 1) > Pages in Google (STEP 2)…



This query will show you every page of your domain that is listed in Google.

Repeat this search to check your presence at each of the other engines.


7.1.4. Evaluate The Performance Of Your Pages

At this point, your pages are spidered and indexed. But there is one small catch.

In order for people to visit your site, they must find it first. Being indexed is not enough. Ideally, you need to have a Top 10 listing on a SE’s search results page to get any exposure at all. Most surfers will not check out more than ten listings in their search for information.

Luckily, you are way ahead of the curve, and miles ahead of your competitors due to this course. By building a comprehensive list of niche-focused, profitable and “in-demand” keywords, your ranking potential gets off to a roaring start and can only go upwards!

Now let’s see how you can evaluate the performance of your pages…

1) Manually -- Surf to each SE, and search for each of your KFCP’s Specific Keyword (just as a prospective visitor would). For example, let’s use this keyword, “dangers of high cholesterol,” to illustrate. Check to see where it shows up and in what position. Keep track of your results in a simple database.

2) Automatically -- Use specialized software like Web Position Gold to automate the evaluation process. Be forewarned, though. Web Position Gold is fairly complicated to use.

Webmasters and consultants, however, use it heavily. As a result, some engines ban or block its page-query function. Imagine thousands of Webmasters doing hundreds, even thousands, of automated position checks daily, and you can understand why. It clogs up an SE’s bandwidth tremendously!

Site Build It!’s SE HQ provides ranking reports for all your KFCPs. And for any poorly performing page, SBI!’s Analyze It! tool shows you how to optimize it better.
http://buildit.sitesell.com/resources2success.html

3) Through the use of log files -- Use log file analyzer software (server or client side) to identify the keywords that people used to find you. Check with your Web host to see what kind of online traffic statistics they can provide. More than likely, though, they will not give the keyword stats that you need.

Tracking your rankings can be a long and tedious affair. If you’re not careful, it can eat into a lot of time. Instead focus your attention on those efforts that will bring your affiliate business the best results, the fastest.

While it is OK to get a feel for how your pages are fairing in the SEs, it is important not lose sight of the big picture…

C -> T -> P -> M

Do not allocate more than a half-hour or so per week to monitor page performance. The creation of quality relevant content always serves your business best. It is the engine that drives traffic!


7.1.5. To Tweak or Not to Tweak? How to Avoid the SEO Quagmire

Many Webmasters, experienced and otherwise, fall into the trap of excessively adjusting or tweaking their Web pages in order to improve SE rankings. (I use the term “tweaking” to refer to the constant experimentation with keyword density and keyword placement in the various page elements.) It is absolutely essential that you avoid the quagmire of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and focus instead on building your business.

Never, except in extreme circumstances, tweak your low-performing Web pages.

If a page isn’t ranking for its Specific Keyword, don’t worry about it.

Follow the guidance outlined so far in this course and get your on-page criteria correct (Analyze It!’s job). As you build pages, you might try experimenting by increasing or decreasing keyword presence. But once you have optimized your page as best you can, it's time to move on. Focus on creating new pages.

In the “good old days” (circa 1996-2001), the SEs were relatively simple to reverse-engineer. Tweaking efforts were generally rewarded with higher rankings, and an accompanying surge of visitors. Today, however, it’s a different story altogether.

Due to the SEs’ increasingly complex ranking algorithms, and a heightened focus on off-page criteria (which collectively form an important indicator of human approval of a Web page), the practice of “tweaking” has become a low-yield affair. The key to top rankings lies off-page (ex., credible in-pointing links from recognized authorities in your field) and not on-page with the manipulation of keyword densities.

Bottom line?

Tweaking diverts you from more fruitful efforts -- the creation of more optimized content, the acquisition of some credible in-pointing links, the establishment of joint venture partnerships, building some word-of-mouth buzz, and so on. Keep in mind that each new optimized Keyword-Focused Content

Page that you create represents another opportunity to rank well at the SEs.

I'm going to repeat that last sentence because it’s such an important concept...

Each new optimized Keyword-Focused Content Page that you create represents another opportunity to rank well at the SEs.

What do you think an engine ultimately is going to prefer? 200 “Analyzed” pages
that humans love or 50 pages that you've tweaked like mad?

Important Tip… We are finding evidence that the sheer size of your site counts as an “off-page” criterion. The total body of your work counts. It’s a waste of time to tweak your pages when the key to a top ranking may lay off-page, not onpage.

Trust the process. Build a content-rich site, and deliver great information about the theme related topics (keywords) that your brainstorming has found. Create Content, Content, and more Content. If you do that, your pages will deliver all the off-page criteria you need!

It always boils down to the same four letters, and “C” starts it all...

C -> T -> P -> M

Leave the tweaking to your competitors. Let them “fiddle while Rome burns.”

Your main priority is to build a vibrant, profitable business!

But let’s suppose that not a single one of your pages is ranking at the SEs for any of your keywords. Is there a time when tweaking your pages is appropriate?
Sure but please do run through this short checklist first before you tweak…

1) Review your keywords. Have you targeted generic, highly competitive terms (ex., health, travel, or worst of all, “Web marketing”)? If you've done your research and brainstorming well, you should have a nice blend of keywords -- from the more general, “bigger-topic” keywords (ex. “Anguilla”) which are generally best used for a home page to a range of keywords appropriately planned for TIER 2 and 3 pages (ex. “best Anguilla restaurants”).

Do not expect to rank highly for the most competitive keywords at first. They will be the last to rank well. Generally, the most focused, specific keywords will start ranking first. And that first trickle of traffic, combined with securing a few inbound links, is what starts momentum building.

OK, you have a good mix of keywords and over 20 pages, yet not a single keyword is ranking yet. What to do?

2) Double-check that you heeded all the recommendations outlined in this course. Assuming that you have and all is OK...

3) Build your site's link popularity by securing some quality in-pointing links from related credible sites. (Full discussion on this in the next chapter.)

Still not ranking? Not even for your easiest keywords? Now's the time for tweaking... but do not tweak existing pages. It’s still not worth it.

Instead, experiment as you build new KFCPs for easy keywords. Add an extra keyword to your Title. Increase the keyword density of your page copy. Vary the keyword prominence somewhat. Don’t be afraid to push the envelope a bit -- add here, subtract there.

Every site concept sits in its own “microenvironment.” You are not competing against every Web page in the world, just those in your particular niche. So it may take a bit more or less to “find your sweet spot.”

Before long, you will begin to rank well. Stick to the easier keywords and experiment until you do. It’s critical that you do not veer away from...

C -> T -> P -> M

Do not let SEO dominate your thoughts. The CTPM process simply works.
http://proof.sitesell.com/resources2success.html

Some businesses start the traffic trickle within a month’s time. Others may take six months. Certain businesses take longer to mature in the SEs. What does it matter? You are building a long-term business.

Simply keep doing what you are doing. Patience rules. Every business has a hump stage... a period where you seem to be stagnating. But it will pass.

To sum up everything… Content drives the C -> T -> P -> M train.

Content builds authority with the SEs, garners in-pointing links from Webmasters, and builds your credibility with your visitors. Every newly optimized page offers another opportunity for top rankings.

Tweaking diverts you from creating new content. It is a low-yield, time consuming process that derails your business, is frustrating, and puts your focus on all the wrong things.

Your business is not SEO... it’s generating revenue from something you know and love!

Stay tune for more…

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Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 12

I receive whatever that I desire to bring me more joy and freedom to my life

I receive whatever that I desire to bring me more joy and freedom to my life.

How Can I Achieve My Good In The Shortest Period Of Time?

Today and everyday, I ask myself, ‘How can I achieve my goal in the shortest period of time?’

Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 12

Day 12: Build A Site That Gets The Click! - Part III

Reminder:
Goal-of-the-DAY... Build a home page, and one TIER 2 Keyword-Focused Content Page.

6.3. Question and Answer Period

Whoops! What’s that? Some hands are up. Questions?...

“How is this different from gateways or doorway pages?”

Tons of people use gateway or doorway pages. In general, these low-value pages fail to deliver good content, and do not address the best interests of the SEs or prospective visitors. Worse still, such sites are in danger of being banned by the SEs. The engines take a dim view of any Web page that has no inpointing links, even from its own domain (a tell-tale sign of a doorway page). As a result, people who use such pages are constantly in jeopardy of losing their businesses overnight.

Your Theme-Based Content Site, on the other hand, creates real content, easily accessible from your home page or TIER 2 pages. You’re creating value, not simply spider bait! You’re addressing the needs of the visitor and of the SEs. Those are huge differences.

Another question?...

“What do the Search Engines look for?”

Answer…

So glad you asked! DAY 13 will examine this question more closely but for now, here’s a quick answer…

Search Engines want to satisfy a visitor’s need by delivering the best possible results for his/her search query. And why does a Search Engine care so much about this? The Search Engines must satisfy its clients.

To determine who the SEs’ true clients are, just follow the money. Advertisers pay the SEs, not surfers. Therefore, advertisers are the true clients!

So the #1 goal of a Search Engine is to provide lots of exposure to their advertisers’ ads. If search results are relevant and of good quality, satisfied surfers will return to search another day, generating more ad impressions. If they are not, the surfer will leave to search somewhere else. If this happens enough times… well, you see where this is going. Ad revenues fall, advertisers go elsewhere, and the SE slowly dies or fades away.

Bottom line?

The SEs’ primary mandate is to deliver relevant and quality search results to surfers. It’s WIN-WIN-WIN all around…

The surfer wins by finding what she needs. The advertisers win by getting lots of exposure to prospective new clients. And, the Search Engines win when they generate the revenue they need to survive and remain competitive.

And how does a Search Engine recognize relevance and quality?

Except for the top executive and a few select professionals at each individual SE, nobody knows the exact algorithms used to evaluate page relevance. However, we do know for certain that on-page and off-page criteria form the backbone of any SE’s ranking algorithms.

Much of what we’ve been covering so far in this course has to do with on-page criteria. Now for a brief note about off-page criteria…

Obviously, an SE will always have to examine the elements of any Web page to determine its context. A page about porcupines, for example, would have the word “porcupine” in the TITLE and heading tags, in the META keywords, and sprinkled throughout the page text. The word “zebra”, on the other hand, would be conspicuously absent from such a page.

And what about off-page criteria?

As Search Engines become more sophisticated, they track more external factors to determine a page’s relevancy. For example, if a high-value, topicrelated site links to your site, the Search Engine considers your site more credible by association. If a dozen sites do the same, your site appears even more so.

I’ll talk about link strategies in much greater detail in the next chapter. For now, recognize that credible links are an important measure of human behavior. Any Tom, Dick, or Jane can use software to create a perfectly optimized page about porcupines, for example. But only a high-quality, relevant document written by a porcupine expert will garner in-pointing links from credible porcupine authorities. It is this combination of off-page criteria that reflect human behavior and on-page criteria (as outlined earlier) that most SEs use to determine relevance.

I was just about to call it a day, but let’s go with one more question…

“Just how important is design?”

Hmm. This changes the direction of our discussion a bit but it’s a good question all the same!

Design is not as important as most folks think. Words do the PREselling, not graphics or colors or font styles.

Start with a clean and welcoming Look & Feel. Add a simple but professionallooking logo. Make your site easy to navigate. Then get out of your own way and let your words do the talking.

(The role of design in PREselling is well covered in Make Your Content PREsell!.)

Geez, I’ve really got to leave. My wife is conceiving a baby tonight, and I wanted to be there. (Actually I stole that from a guy who got off a speeding ticket with that line!)

“Can I follow the C -> T -> P -> M approach on a free Web hosting service?”

Answer… Absolutely. But remember that success is much more than just putting up a site. Don’t be caught by the “cheap-quick-easy” advertising lure…
http://www.sitesell.com/index-advertise.html

Free sites have two huge strikes against them. They’re treated with disdain by both the visitor and the engines.

Let’s talk about humans first. When I notice that a site’s URL is at a free hosting service, I don’t bother clicking to visit. If I have a special reason, I might go – but I arrive at a free site with doubts. Most folks harbor the same kind of bias.

And what about the engines? Free sites don’t get treated with much respect by the Search Engine spiders, and below zero respect by the directories like Yahoo!.

Here’s what Danny Sullivan, the most well-known Search Engine guru on the Net, once said about free hosts…

“...get your own site, under your own domain, rather than doing it within Tripod.com or any place offering "free" home pages. Sites offering free home pages are often looked upon with suspicion by search engines, because search engine spammers also make use of them.

It's like sharing a house with bad roommates. Move out, get your own house, and you'll probably do better with search engines.”

Even on the Net, there's no such thing as truly free. Think about it... a company has to make money to survive. One way or another, hidden or not, the service costs you. But the low credibility of free sites costs you way, way too much… your time.

If engines don’t spider you, or if customers don’t respect the site, or if advertising lures your customers away and hurts the sales-effectiveness of your site, you’re wasting your time. And that’s way more valuable than less than $25 per month to host your own site. You must put a value on your time if you want to succeed. All successful people will tell you that time is their most precious commodity.

A non-free site with your own domain is a prerequisite to building credibility with your readers and with the Search Engines. So find a good Web hosting service and put up a real site. For the $25 or so per month, it’s worth it.

Arrrgh! OK, one last question...

“Geez, Ken. You seem to be convincing folks not to market marketing programs. Rather, they should build sites of passion, write about what they know, and then marry that to profitable affiliate programs. Doesn’t that leave you and SiteSell out in the dark?”

Answer… No, not really. I encourage 5 Pillar Affiliates not to erect Web marketing sites. One thing the Net does not need is another Web marketing site!

But here’s a neat little twist for you to think about. You think that only consumers search for “fashion model” or “fashion designer” or “fashion design”?

Nope! After all, investors are not the only ones who would search for “penny stocks.”

When I was marketing my first product, PennyGold (a penny stock investing software), I must have done thousands and thousands of searches on “penny stocks”... all on the major engines.

Why did I do that? Because I wanted to see how PennyGold was doing on these engines, and I wanted to see who was beating me! And in fact, that’s exactly how I found lots of competitors!

Let’s say that when I was doing my searches for “penny stocks,” you had already created a Theme-Based Content Site that was all about aggressive forms of investing... “theaggressiveinvestor.com.”

After doing your DEMAND and SUPPLY research, let’s say, too, that you had dedicated one of your site’s pages to “penny stocks.” You wrote it to provide high-value content and to also appeal to the Search Engines (more on this in DAY 13).

What would have happened? I surely would have found your page sooner or later, likely several times, on one or more of the engines. Really, there’s no magic involved. After all, you simply followed the basic principles of how to please the Search Engines.

This is not rocket science. Nor is it spam -- you have simply created good content that is of high-value to me, your potential visitor who was searching for your info, and that the engines have ranked highly. So I would have found you listed in the engines’ search results pages, no doubt about it.

You can do exactly the same thing. Except do it for a topic that you know and love... like “fashion.”

If you write a wonderful page about “fashion design,” lots of merchants will find your page. After reading your excellent content about fashion design, you lead into a recommendation about SiteSell products, especially SBI!.

So not only does your “fashion-passion” site generate income for you by sending fashion consumers to a select group of fashion merchants, you can also send fashion merchants to SiteSell, creating an additional income stream!

For example, here’s how your “fashion design” page could do this...

First, you write your content. This content must deliver good “information value” about fashion design. Since this is your area of expertise, that’s a snap. Your content closes by leading to in-context text links (those caught using banners will have a detention!) for small business owners and consumers...

For fashion small business owners...

“Are you a fashion design consultant? Or are you a designer looking to sell your fashion designs on the Web?
The best way to expand your client base is with a Web site that works. Site Build It! has proof of success!
Click here for more information... ”

For fashion consumers...

“Are you looking for a top-notch school of fashion design?
Click here for the best school in the US Northeast.
Click here for the best one in the US Southeast.
Click here for the top institute in the US Southwest.
Click here for excellence in the US Northwest.
Click here for the Fashion School Directory.
(Please contact us if you feel that your fashion school or college belongs in the directory.)”

Each of the “best school” links sends the visitor to a school that you represent as an affiliate!

This is just an example, but I hope you get the idea. You’ve created multiple streams of income from both small business owners and consumers in an area that you love and know.

Try not to fall for the lure of the Web marketing field. It’s too competitive. You would be up against very ambitious marketers who are extremely good at writing to please Search Engines. The outcome is predictable. They would win.

You’ll do far better by working your “niche of passion” and creating your “brand of one.” It’s a flexible strategy that anyone can do. Bend it and twist it. Add your own ideas just like these successful Webmasters have done…

http://case-studies.sitesell.com/resources2success.html

Here’s the bottom line. Every single success story has focused on a niche that the affiliate knows and loves… finance, insurance, children, etc. That’s the fastest road for you, too.

And while you are on this road... if I can have just a small piece of your attention, I’d be most delighted. Our WIN-WIN 5 Pillar Affiliate Program treats affiliates well financially, and provides them with outstanding tools, support, and education. I’d love to have you as a partner-in-sales. To register, please go to…

http://affiliates.sitesell.com/resources2success.html

Before proceeding to DAY 13, please complete your DAY 10-12 Goal-of-the-DAY, and take note of your Ongoing Goal...

Ongoing Goal... Create one Keyword-Focused Content Page per day. Start with the TIER 2 pages. Then keep adding TIER 3 pages, 1 per day. Create 50- 70 maximum. Then start a new Theme-Based Content Site.

If your time is limited, reduce the goal to a page every 2 or 3 days. Even then, you’ll have a traffic-building, income-earning site in three months. Consistency and discipline are the keys, not speed. It’s OK to be the tortoise…

http://tortoise.sitesell.com/resources2success.html

… as long as you stay the course.

What’s next?

More visitors, more traffic… the lifeblood of your business…

Stay tune for more tips…

A Day In My Life As Mom (And Everything!)

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Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 4
Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 5
Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 6
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Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 9
Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 10
Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 11

I have the knowledge and the resources to meet what I need each day

I have the knowledge and the resources to meet what I need each day.

I build my wisdom from everyone...

I build my wisdom from everyone that I come across and every experience that I go through.

Quotes Are Nothing But Inspiration For The Uninspired!

Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 11

Reminder:
Goal-of-the-DAY... Build a home page, and one TIER 2 Keyword-Focused Content Page.

6.2.3. 80-20 SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

The next several pages will introduce the 80-20 best practices of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Effective SEO improves the likelihood your submitted page will obtain a Top 10 to 20 ranking position for your Specific Keyword on a Search Engine’s results page. The higher the ranking, the better are your chances that a surfer will see your listing and click over to visit your site!

Please follow these recommendations but be careful not to go overboard. Some online marketers fall into the trap of constantly experimenting with on-page criteria in order to obtain better rankings. There are so many criteria factored into the SEs' ranking algorithms that such efforts are extremely low-yield. The key is to build your pages properly the first time, and then focus on the “C” of…C -> T -> P -> M

SEO is comprised of two elements…
• On-page ranking criteria -- This refers to ranking elements occurring directly on the Web page you are creating. For example, the Title of your article as it appears on the <> tag of your page is an on-page criterion.

• Off-page ranking criteria -- This refers to ranking elements that do not occur on this page but yet affect its ability to rank well and obtain listings. Off-page ranking criteria are important indicators of human behavior. Visitor reaction reflects the quality of a page.

An example of such a criterion would be an in-pointing link (i.e., another site has your URL on its site). While your first priority will be to create and optimize your pages, obtaining a few credible in-pointing links should be a close second.

This is known as building link popularity. (We’ll see how to do it in the coming session.)

Both on-page and off-page criteria are necessary for success. Let’s begin by highlighting the most important standards for on-page ranking criteria. To rank well at the SEs, your page’s Specific Keyword must be integrated in all the right places. Where, exactly?...

1) TITLE tag
2) META keyword tag
3) META description tag
4) H1 and other header tags
5) Body copy
6) Link tags
7) File name/domain name
8) Image ALT tag and name of image

Let’s look at each of these “on-page” criteria quickly...

1) TITLE tag = WORLD’S BEST Fashion Factory Outlet Stores,
The Cream of Cyber Discount Fashions

• Must contain your Specific Keyword at least once, no more than twice, and with some kind of variation or synonym. Try to include your most important General Keyword, too.

• Use up to 70, even 80 characters. Get your most important message in, right at the beginning. If the engine cuts your title off at 60 characters in its listing, you would have been able to fire your “big gun.” Meanwhile, some engines will show up to 90 or so characters.

• Remember, the title appears as the link in Search Engine listings. It must “get the click” -- so make sure it’s attractive, without being misleading. Getting your Title right for both your reader and engine is the single most important thing you can do.

The TITLE tag is the key on-page elements. Make sure every single one of your pages (yes, even your TIER 3 pages) contains a relevant, keyword-rich TITLE tag.

2) META keyword tag = < meta content="”factory" name="“KEYWORDS”" >

• Consider adding a common synonym that has a nearly exact meaning
(ex.,”outlet malls”) but don’t dilute your META tag with a million synonyms.

• You could add a few General Keywords that people might add when they search (ex., “discounts, shopping”).

• If you do put more than one keyword in this META tag (separated by commas), always put your most important one, the one that this page focuses upon, first.

Here’s an example of an expanded META keyword tag...
< meta content="“factory" name="“KEYWORDS”" >

Don’t lose sleep fretting over your META keyword tag. It is rarely factored into ranking algorithms these days. Just include your most important keywords and a couple of variations, and move on.

3) META description tag = < content="“Ever" name="“DESCRIPTION”">

• The META description often comprises a portion of what searchers see in the Search Engine’s listings (SEs display their results slightly differently). So, like the Title tag, make sure it’s attractive, without being misleading. Your goal is to entice the prospective visitor to click through to your site. A gentle, good-natured tease, like the above, will do well.

As with the META keywords tag, most SEs do not place much ranking weight on the text inside META description tags. So focus on getting the click through, and don’t worry too much about just the “right” blend of keywords for this tag.

• Use 150-200 characters. Some engines cut off the Title listing at as little as 140 characters. So again, make sure you get your “#1 benefit statement” up front. Remember, a “benefit statement” does not have to be “in your face” – read the META tag above.

• Should contain your Specific Keyword at least once (try twice if it fits and see how it ranks). Include one or two of your most important General Keywords. Also, use common synonyms 2-3 times more (ex., “outlet” and “mall”). (Synonyms will work better and better as engines become more and more sophisticated. But your first priority is to place sufficient focus on your Specific Keyword.)

• Remember, do not repeat the TITLE in this tag. The reader will just see the same phrase twice in the Search Engine’s listing, once in the Title and then again in the description. That’s wasting valuable “word real estate.”

4) H1 and other header tags = Fashion Outlet Stores Nirvana. The headlines are more important than your regular body copy. That’s true for both human readers and for the engines. As far as ranking criteria goes, it is likely that the <>tag is second only to the <> tag in importance. Please keep in mind that some engines don’t use the META description tag to form the second part of their listings (i.e., after the Title) in their search results. In those cases, they will usually use the first words on the page -- your H1 tag (first headline), and the first words in the body copy after that.

Here are the key “musts” for your H1 tag...
• Contains your Specific Keyword at least once. Try to include an important General Keyword, too (different from the one you used in your Title).

• Does not exceed 80 characters, 40 is better. Long headlines feel rather “hypey.”

• Helps to “get the click” -- so make sure it’s attractive, without being misleading.

• Does not contain your Title. Otherwise, if the engine uses your H1 tag, your listing and H1 tag will both say the same thing... needless repetition.

Consider this strategy…

Take your META description tag and chop it into two pieces -- one part for the headline and one part for the opening paragraph of your body copy. If a single discussion warrants more than a single headline, use a smaller headline (<><>) containing variations of your page’s most important keywords.

Special Note… Every single content page must contain a <>or <>tag for maximum ranking relevancy. If you are not using these tags, you are missing out on free Search Engine traffic!

5) Body copy

We started the body copy at the beginning of DAY 10. Let’s see what our search result listing would look like for those engines that don’t use the META description tag. First of all, the Title appears as a link...

WORLD'S BEST Fashion Factory Outlet Stores,
The Cream of Cyber Discount Fashions

This is followed by the H1 tag and the beginning of the body copy...
Fashion Outlet Stores Nirvana
Ever been on the road, far from home, when what do you see? A mall jammed with fashion outlet stores!

Yes, that would pull me through to your page! So you see how important it is to start your body copy strongly, as we did above. Now don’t blow it!

OVERdeliver great content in your body copy.

Your intro paragraphs establish your VPP while quickening the pulse of your reader. After that, you’ll deliver the benefits of your site by answering the “what’s in it for me” question that every visitor asks when arriving at a site.

And you’ll do it while blending in your keyword. You should work not only “factory outlet stores” into your copy, but also common synonyms and variations like “outlet stores” and “fashion outlets” and “fashion malls” and “discount fashions” and “discount outlets” and “discount malls.”

And also work in General Keywords that would likely be associated with your keyword (ex., shopping, shops, savings, discounts, etc.). If someone searches with part or all of your Specific Keyword and one of these General Keywords, you’ll have a good shot at being found. And you’ll have a high-quality, interested and motivated visitor!

Remember, though, that synonyms and variations should not reduce your main keyword (factory outlet stores) to near invisibility. Establish your main keyword and then sprinkle in the synonyms and variations.

How many times should you use your specific keyword in your body copy? As I said before, do use your Specific Keyword more than your high school teacher would have liked -- keyword density is of some importance for the SEs.

However, don’t overdo it, either. Don’t cross over the line between properly optimized content and spam. The best rule of thumb is to read your page aloud, and ask yourself…

“Does this sound natural?”

If too many incidences of your Specific Keyword are making your page sound a little odd, then replace these with appropriate synonyms. Surprisingly enough, top ranking SE pages have keyword densities a lot lower than you think -- varying from as little as 1-4%.

What about keyword prominence (i.e., the location in your page text where your keywords appear)? Yes, keyword prominence has a role to play as well. Make it a point to use your Specific Keyword more heavily in the opening two paragraphs (it must be in your opening sentence), and also in the closing paragraph. And then, like a good chef, sprinkle throughout!

Your keyword scatter pattern should look like an hourglass... bigger (i.e., more frequent usage) on the top and bottom, and less (but still present) in the middle of the page.

If you like, you may experiment with different numbers, frequencies and patterns of keywords as you build new pages. But again, don’t waste much time on this keyword density or prominence. The growing importance of off-page ranking criteria makes such efforts a low-yield effort.

Follow the 80-20 best practices approach to SEO (which, as you will see later, also includes a good links program), you’ll be fine. In the meantime, you know what to do…

C -> T -> P -> M

How long should a page be?

As long as it needs to be, but no longer!

Don’t worry about what the Search Engines think about length -- that’s important only to your reader. It makes no sense for an engine to score a short page any better than a long one. If length is of any importance, it’s minor.

One caveat…

The longer you make an article, the greater the chance you will wander off-topic and dilute the importance of your Specific Keyword. Slice-and-dice lengthy articles into smaller ones. This improves readability and gives you additional opportunities to rank well with the Search Engines.

Bottom line?

Use common sense, and avoid abuse.

Keep your content focused to a single theme per page. Do not ever get offtarget and introduce a second topic to a page -- you’ll dilute the effectiveness of your Specific Keyword. And that goes for your site as well. The more you laserbeam on a single theme, the better you’ll do with the Search Engines.

6) Link tags

Links create the TIER 1-2-3 structure. They must flow naturally and smoothly within the content.

Think of your links as providing a service to your readers. You are giving them beneficial recommendations or tips. So don’t just save your links for the end of the page. Add an in-context link within the body of a paragraph where appropriate.

It’s not just your readers who see your links. The engines do, too. So include your Specific Keyword, and variations and synonyms thereof, in visible, blueunderlined text in your links to your merchants.

Don’t just say… “Click here.” Say… “Click here for the best outlet malls, region by region.”

This format clearly telegraphs the link’s ultimate destination, making it easier for your user to decide whether to click or not. Using a Specific Keyword within each link will help the SEs determine relevance for each page and for your site.

While the use of internal links is unlikely to affect your site’s link popularity, it makes it easier for the SEs to accurately categorize your site.

7) File name/domain name

Include your Specific Keyword in the filename of your html page. This action might also add a relevancy point or two with the engines.

So if your Keyword-Focused Content Page is that TIER 2 page about “outlet mall” that we discussed earlier (“Top Factory Outlet Malls Where You Can Shop Via The Net”), let’s name the file...“outlet-malls.html”

The full URL, therefore, would be...
http://www.WORLDSBEST-FashionFactory-outlet-stores.com/outlet-malls.html

The only exception to this, of course, would be your home page. The home page must be named “index.html” -- but that’s OK. We already have its Specific Keyword included in the domain name, because it is your Concept Keyword!

8) Image ALT tag and name of image

Although this is probably the least important in terms of ranking relevancy, it’s still a worthwhile strategy to follow, especially now that the major SEs (Yahoo!, Google, and MSN) all offer an “image search” option. Depending on your unique niche or topic, image search may be a significant generator of traffic.

What should you do?

Name a graphic on a page according to its keyword focus. For example, on your outlet-malls.html page, name its photo “outet-malls.gif”.

And make its ALT tag “outlet malls,” too. This is a bit complicated so ask a techie friend for help if necessary.

OK, that’s basically how to put together a high-value content page that hits both key points...

***************************************************
Deliver valuable content to your readers...
... AND tasty content to your spiders.
***************************************************

The essential strategy is simple. Aim to get on-page criteria within an acceptable range for the Search Engines to rank you well. A good ranking is critical for pulling in free, targeted traffic.

More importantly, though, don’t sweat the small stuff. If you’ve done your homework and built a list of profitable, niche-related keywords, achieving top rankings won’t be a difficult task. And remember what I said earlier…

The SEs are placing more and more emphasis on off-page ranking criteria (human reaction to your site, for example). On-page ranking criteria are important, but they are only one part of the picture. To achieve the rankings you desire, both on-and-off page criteria must be addressed. (Off-page criteria will take center stage in the next chapter.)

Use the same approach for the TIER 2 and TIER 3 Keyword-Focused Content Pages. While the home page focuses upon the fundamental Concept Keyword, the other pages each focus upon one of the HIGH-PROFITABILITY keywords that your MASTER KEYWORD LIST has identified.

Ultimately, you create Keyword-Focused Content Pages that...

• fit with your Site Concept and VPP

AND...

• have a good SUPPLY/DEMAND ratio

AND that...

• you enjoy writing about.
Each page wraps a high-value topic around each Specific Keyword, following the guidelines outlined above.

To be continued soon…

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Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 10

Everything I have Is A Blessing!

I never take anything for granted as I come into this world with nothing, so everything I have is a blessing.

Be Positive And New Opportunities Will Come To You

A meaningful and inspiring sharing by Dr Clemen Chiang...

WHEN YOU CLOSE THE DOOR OF YOUR MIND TO NEGATIVE THOUGHTS, THE DOOR OF OPPORTUNITY OPENS TO YOU.

It is the nature of opportunity that it simply refuses to attach itself to negative thinkers.

Negative minds cannot conceive exciting new business opportunities, invent innovative new products, solve difficult problems, or create beautiful music or works of art. All of these activities require a positive belief in yourself and your abilities.

When you approach every challenge with a Positive Mental Attitude, you will always discover opportunities that others have overlooked.

Relish your achievements and recall them when the going gets tough. Take comfort in the knowledge that you have succeeded in the past and you can do it again. You can do it if you think you can!

Achieve Financial Freedom Thru Affiliate Masters Course – Day 10

Day 10: Build A Site That Gets The Click! - Part I

Rome was NOT built in a day!

Yes, finally! We’re ready to start building!

Let’s just take a look back at what we’ve done…
- examined PREselling and its effect on Conversion Rates (DAY 1-2)
- identified a potential niche concept (DAY 3)
- brainstormed a list of profitable keywords (DAY 4-5)
- researched quality affiliate programs and other income streams (DAY 6-7).
- chosen a domain name that reflects your VPP (DAY 8-9).

Impressive work! You truly do have a rock-solid foundation to build upon.

During DAY 10, you will create a structure for your site. This is where you start the C -> T -> P -> M snowball rolling by writing content designed to “get the click!” Let the construction begin!

Goal-of-the-DAY... Build a home page, and one TIER 2 Keyword-Focused Content Page.

Don’t know HTML? Intimidated by FTP and other Web technologies? Relax.

Site Build It! (SBI!)’s “through-the-browser” site-building tools can help both the seasoned pro and the complete “newbie” build a vibrant and profitable online business easily! SBI! makes the technology invisible so you can focus on building your business!

New features are constantly being added to SBI! at no added price...
http://buildit.sitesell.com/main/home.html#NEWFEATURES


6.1. Follow the Winning Formula

Showtime! Like any great show, whether it’s baseball, or the theatre, or the Olympics, a successful outcome is all about preparation. And boy, have you prepared!

And all that preparation has convinced you that your show should be... WORLDSBEST-FashionFactory-outlet-stores.com

Yes! What started out as “fashion” has turned into a site about fashion factory outlet stores. After all, you yourself love buying clothes and shoes at a great price. Oh the thrill of stopping by a new freeway-side outlet mall and finding beautiful, cheap buys at a Tommy Hilfiger outlet!

Now it’s time to build income through content (i.e., to build a site that “gets the click.”) Since I’m still in “2-line-summary mode,” let’s boil down the essence of “building income through content”...

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Deliver valuable content to your readers...
AND tasty content to your spiders.
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Your site must be a WIN-WIN-WIN-WIN proposition for four parties...
1) your visitor
2) the Search Engines
3) your merchants, and...
4) YOU!

Let’s look at each WIN...


6.1.1. Your Visitor Wins

Your visitor must get what she is looking for -- outstanding information. OVERdeliver with original, high-value info. If you don’t do this, she simply clicks the BACK button to the Search Engine and says... “Next!”


6.1.2. The Search Engines Win

The Search Engines are in business. Their product is the quality of their search results. Help them make their product better, and they’ll love you.

Search Engines use computer programs called spiders to go out and bring your site back to its home (i.e., the Search Engine’s database). Then when someone looks up, let’s say “factory outlet stores,” another program decides whether your site or a site with a similar theme is more relevant.

You must honestly convince each Search Engine that you are the most relevant (at least in the Top 20 search results, preferably in the Top 10) for the keywords that you target. Trick the engine and your success won’t last long. When the Search Engine discovers your game, it will ban you.

Why? Tricks hurt a Search Engine’s product instead of helping it.

Help the searcher -- your potential visitor and your merchant’s potential customer. Solve her problem or her quest. Satisfy the whole reason why she is doing the search.

Do this and you add value to the Search Engine’s product.


6.1.3. Your Merchants Win

Your merchants want sales. As we have seen, the best way to deliver that is through outstanding content that gains your visitor’s confidence and increases your credibility. Then use “in-context” text links to refer/recommend/direct those visitors to places that you believe will deliver great value.


6.1.4. You Win

YOU must win, too, of course. How?

Ah, that’s the easiest part. If you get the first three WINS right, you will succeed.

Think about it...

OVERdelivery to your visitor ensures repeat visits, confidence and ongoing sales.

The Search Engines will never ban you. And, as you become a superaffiliate, your merchants will pay you more and more, perhaps even giving you special bonuses and deals!

I call the road to your WIN this special name...


6.1.5. FIND-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-KACHING

Follow the sign-posts along this winning road…

1) FIND -- Your potential visitor must find you in the Top 10 (no worse than top 20) of the search results for your keyword. If your potential customer does not find you on the first or second page of the Search Engine’s search for your keyword, well, you simply don’t exist for that word.

Game over.

2) CLICK -- Your potential visitor must read the Title and Description that the engine uses in the search results, and must find them sufficiently compelling to click to your site. If your Title and Description are boring or tacky, your potential visitor will probably not click to your KFCP (Keyword-Focused Content Page).

Game over.

3) CLICK -- Your visitor finds high-value content, learns to trust you as someone honest who delivers, and so follows your recommendations... CLICK again! If your page delivers poor, low-value info (or even worse, a sales pitch), you still get the click... on the Back Button to the Search Engine’s results page.

“Who’s next?”

Game over.

4) CLICK-kaCHING -- Finally, your visitor arrives at your merchant in a “feeling smart about myself” and open-to-buy mood, ready to click that buy button!

Did I just hear a cash register?... kaCHING!

Ahhh... if you get the FIND-CLICK-CLICK right, that last CLICK-kaCHING is almost in the bag!

FIND-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-kaCHING...

To accomplish that, all you have to do is...

Get the first three WINS right. The fourth WIN, your WIN, must follow automatically. And all you have to do to nail down those first three WINS is...

****************************************************
Deliver valuable content to your readers...
AND tasty content to your spiders.
****************************************************

OK. Let’s start with the physical layout of your new site...


6.2. Think “Pyramid” For Your Site

Your Theme-Based Content Site is made of a home page that gives the “what's in it for me” about your site. It elaborates on the VPP (Valuable PREselling Proposition) and delivers the major benefit statements (more on contentbuilding in the next section).

Think of your site as a pyramid…



6.2.1. The Structure of Your Site As A Pyramid

The home page crowns the pinnacle. It’s a Keyword-Focused Content Page (KFCP) that focuses on your Site Concept keyword. Your home page should never link out of your site -- it’s too early. (The only possible exception would be for Google ads.)

Its job instead is to link to 5-15 KFCPs that you expect to be most profitable. It must get the click to at least one of these pages. This is important for two reasons...

1) Your visitor hits a “money page” -- Your HIGHEST-PROFITABILITY Keyword- Focused Content Pages weave “in-context” text links to your merchantpartners while OVERdelivering great content. This is how you make your income, so you want to lead your visitors to your highest potential pages ASAP.

2) Your spider-buddy follows the links and indexes (i.e., brings back to the Search Engine’s database) your most important pages first, and most reliably… the deeper a spider has to go, the more likely it is that he misses and fails to bring your bacon back to his database home.

So we want to structure the site so that the HIGHEST PROFITABILITY pages have the best chance of being dragged back to all those spiders’ homes.

These 5-15 pages are called TIER 2 pages because they are on the second TIER below the home page.

Each TIER 2 page should…
• focus on a keyword that has a high PROFITABLITY score
• fit with your best monetization opportunities
• be a good “hub” page, working well as both a good link from the home page, as well as naturally linking to several TIER 3 pages. (TIER 3 pages are related but are more specific in nature. They are often a subset of a TIER 2 page.)

Time to use all that research…

Review your MASTER KEYWORD LIST and select your seven best keywords. (Select on the basis of profitability and fit.) You will link your home page to these seven, both within the body copy, as you outline what the site is all about, and from within a text or graphic navigation bar (navbar).

Each TIER 3 page should relate to the TIER 2 page that links to it. For example, let’s say that “outlet malls” is one of the most profitable keywords that your research has found. What do you do?

Create a TIER 2 Page (“outlet-malls.html”) called...

“Top Factory Outlet Malls Where You Can Shop Via The Net”

This page links to TIER 3 pages...
• a page that ranks the top shoe outlets that allow you to shop via the Web
• another that rates the top clothing outlets
• another to the best fur discount malls, clothing outlets, Nike outlets, etc.

Here’s a key point about TIER 3...

Your main TIER 3 keyword might not be so profitable. There is not much
DEMAND for “fur discount malls.” But that does not mean that your “best fur discount mall” page has to suffer. Find a stronger, more in DEMAND, related keyword.

For example, I would focus on “fur coat” (use your DEMAND window to verify, of course). Offer great content about fur coats… and then lead into the best places to get great bargains on these expensive items.

The formula is the same... OVERdeliver great content. Then “get the click” to your merchant partners.

FIND-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-kaCHING!

So, your TIER 1 home page links to 7 TIER 2 pages (not more, because your NavBar starts looking pretty congested). And your TIER 2 pages each link to 5-10 TIER 3 pages.



This clean, 3-TIER approach yields an easy, navigable site... for both your visitor and your spiders. Spiders always come in through the front door, as long as you submit the home page to them. (More on SE submission later). From there, you’ve left a nice trail to follow so they can easily index the rest of your pages.

Humans, however...

They may find any page, TIER 1, 2, or 3, via the engines. So each TIER 3 page should provide a link back to its related TIER 2 page. And the same goes for TIER 2 to TIER 1 pages. Otherwise, keep internal linking only to what’s really necessary and relevant.

Remember that your real goal is for your visitor to click to your merchants or your other income-generating source.

After 3 TIERS and 50-70 pages, it gets tougher to get pages indexed. By this time, however, you should pretty much own this little niche. And your time will yield greater returns if you set up your next niche site. For example...
WORLDSBEST-ElectronicFactory-outlet-stores.com

As the spiders gather up your TIER 1, 2, and 3 pages, the computer programs that analyze them are getting smarter and smarter... and theme-focused. What does that mean to you?...

1) They’ll analyze all your pages in their databases and decide upon the overall theme of your site. So none of your pages should be off-theme, or you’ll confuse the spiders. If you have a great idea for a HIGHLY PROFITABLE

Keyword-Focused Content Page that is off-theme, save it for your next niche.

2) Have you already created a bunch of “gateway pages” by simply duplicating one of your pages and then replacing one keyword with a different one? Search Engines look across all your site pages and penalize duplication. Ditch the tricks.
Seek to please.

So much for the structure of your site. Now let’s fill that structure with content that accomplishes our critical two goals…

****************************************************
Deliver valuable content to your readers...
AND tasty content to your spiders.
****************************************************


6.2.2. The Content of Your Site As A Pyramid

Your home page introduces your theme and your Valuable PREselling Proposition. It answers the “what’s in it for me” question that a visitor is probably asking herself about your site. It can make or break that important “first impression” of your business.

Focus on your Concept Keyword. Always, always, always remember you have two audiences -- your visitor and your spider. There’s no point in creating a fantastic home page that no one will find.

As you write each Web page, use a specific keyword slightly more than your high school English teacher taught you as “good English.” This is the keyword that you want the Search Engines to rank highly. We’ll refer to this as a Specific Keyword from now on.

OK, back to our home page. For your home page, the Specific Keyword is your Concept Keyword... “factory outlet stores” in our example. That does not mean that you should start like this example...

“Welcome to WORLDSBEST-FashionFactory-outlet-stores.com, your home for news and information about fashion outlets.

I have spent a lot of time researching and will now share all the best information right here.”

No-o-o-o-o-o...

Keep it fun, bright, intriguing! Bring out the appropriate emotions for whatever your topic happens to be. For example...

“Ever been on the road, far from home, what do you see?...

A mall jammed with fashion outlet stores!

Clothes outlets by the dozens. Shoe discount stores. Tommy Hilfiger. Polo. Other big names, and some intriguing ones you’ve never seen
before...

Nirvana, right? The pulse quickens in anticipation. The wallet tingles in fright!

Is that you? If so, welcome! You may be reading this at home, but you’re on the road...

a cyber-road to Outlet Heaven.”

Yes, you can write like that. Really, it’s a snap since you have lived this stuff.

First, just feel the emotions that you feel. What are they? How do you feel?

When do you feel them? You know this, right? Now put yourself into the skin of your reader. Put those emotions into your page.

From here on in, you’ll deliver the benefits of your site. As you do this, you continue to work in your Specific Keywords (and, to a lesser degree, your General Keywords) everywhere and often... but not too often.

To be continued…

Webby the Tortoise

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