Which Website Platforms are Best for Non-Technical Type Websites
There are dozens of different website platforms out there from which to choose. Today, HTML is still a common platform, but many are learning towards other platforms like Drupal and WordPress. These programs all have different features and benefits, and some are better than others. The use of HTML, Drupal, Joomla, and other web platforms are great for technical websites, and very popular among those who use them. However, the platform of choice for any website that is non-technical is WordPress. There are many reasons to use this platform and many benefits that come along with it.
WordPress benefits include:
- Ease of Use
- Dynamic Content
- Affordability (FREE)
- Powerful SEO Tools
- Social Media Plug-Ins and Support
When building a website, something you actually need more than the website itself is search engine rankings. Getting the best rankings includes using the right platform to get your message out there. Having an advantage by using WordPress is something that you should think about because search engines love WordPress. The reason that it is such a popular tool is because search engines can depend on content to be fresh, which is what keeps them and your visitors coming back time and time again.
You can choose from a variety of professional themes for a WordPress site that allows you to get away with no one even paying attention to the fact that you’re using the platform unless they take the time to look around. If you choose, you can even pay for better themes and designs. If the only investment that you make in website development is less than $500 for a professional, high-end WordPress theme, you’re actually doing better than most people who create websites. Aside from these themes, however, this is one of the few website platforms that are actually free to use.
Another way that you can spend a few dollars investing in your website platforms with WordPress is to buy a domain that is more businesslike than “yourbusiness.wordpress.com” so that your users can find your website and feel like they are visiting a business and not a personal blog website. Uploading content and utilizing SEO with this platform is easy because of all of the built-in tools that are on your dashboard and ready to go when you need them, and the wide selection of plug-ins that you can choose from will give you more functionality and better features to create a professional, successful website from a simple platform that anyone can use.
How to Legally Build Back Links and Stay on Google’s Good Side
Link building is like skating on thin ice. If you do it well, you can be successful. If you don’t tread lightly, however, you can wind up underwater. You can thank spammers and scam artists for the complications and thin line between good and bad with link building because Google has had to create a huge set of rules, guidelines, and things that you can and cannot do with link building in order to make sure that the playing field is level for all internet marketers. If you’re feeling confused, here are some things to keep in mind to stay on the good side of back linking:
- The purpose of backlinking was always to promote a website and bring in visitors from other sites. However, only high quality back links can actually provide that to people today. Another benefit of building links is to increase search rankings. In both cases, quality links are better than the quantity of links that you have.
- Utilize forums, blogs, and social networking sites to create links to your business. However, make sure that you are selective, tactful, and practical in your approach. Don’t comment on a blog about auto repair with your back link for home fitness, for example.
- Link exchange can still be effective, but not in excessive amounts. Avoid doing a link exchange with every single website with which you interact. Choose only the highest rated sites to exchange links.
- Make sure that you never pay for directory listings that are excessively general or that claim to build you hundreds of back links in “no time at all.” Google doesn’t like these over-polluted directories created for the specific purpose of link building, so you shouldn’t bother.
- Industry-specific resources are a great place to share links and create interest in your business with link building. You are showing that you are carefully placing your links where they matter and that you aren’t overdoing it by posting anywhere that you can find a ‘submit’ button.
It’s all about building quality links for your website in the end. People who have 5,000 mediocre or low-quality links are actually going to look worse to Google and other search engines than people who have even just 100 high-quality links that they have established through link building. Remember that less is more and your reputation is on the line, and consult search engines for their specific rules or guidelines about link building.
Article Marketing: Tips, Benefits and Where to Distribute
Article marketing is a great way to increase your search ranking, visibility, and authority on a particular subject area. There are so many different ways to go about marketing your articles online, but there are rules and guidelines that you have to follow for the best results. Figuring out where to put your articles and how to make the biggest impact is going to be the most difficult part, but it really just takes a little bit of research to get things right the first time.
The benefits of article marketing include:
- Instant increase in website traffic
- Presents you as an authority on a particular subject
- Provides readers with a reason to trust you as a salesperson
- Improves search engine visibility and rankings for your business
- Creates back links for your website
- Gives you another forum to reach out to potential customers and get their attention
Of course, there are many different benefits of article marketing that anyone can find if they truly take the time to look. When it comes to creating articles, you need to utilize keywords and implement them correctly so that your articles can be searched with ease. You also need to make sure that you choose the best places to distribute your articles. To help with that, here are the top five online article directories where you can submit articles:
EzineArticles.com
ArticlesBase.com
HubPages.com
ArticleAlley.com
Goarticles.com
These five article directories are among the best from which you can choose. However, there are plenty of other directories where you can submit articles, in addition to these, if you want more variety or visibility. Just make sure that you distribute different articles to each directory. Submitting duplicate content is a very bad idea in something like article distribution.
Duplicate content can be intentional or unintentional, but it is bad news either way. Search engines like Google will penalize people extensively for using duplicate content, although they are smart enough to differentiate between intentional and unintentional use. Therefore, you owe it to yourself to invest in something like CopyScape to make sure that everything you write or have written for article marketing is 100% original. This will give you the best results for your campaigns every single time. There is a lot more to creating an effective strategy for internet marketing than just having a product and a website. Marketing yourself and your website with articles is just one of the areas where you need to focus in your campaign to increase visibility and traffic.
Easy Ways to Add an Audience without Spamming
Creating a successful product and following for that product is never a simple task. You are truly drawing a very fine line in the sand with what you can and cannot do. Thanks to spam and scam projects that have taken the internet world by storm, the rules today are much stricter in regard to what you can do with your website and what you can’t do, as well. In order to have success with list building, you have to avoid spamming at all costs. It might seem like a great idea to send 5,000 unsolicited emails just because you can, but that is a good way to get in bad with your potential customers.
If you are looking to add an audience and be successful with list building, here are some ideas that you can use to get the job done.
- Have a contest. People love winning things, even if the ‘thing’ is intangible. You will have better success with actual prizes, but theoretical winnings are often just as glorifying for people. It is a way to generate interest and make people feel special, all while building your list.
- Give something away. Whether it is a free trial of a product or service or just something that you can get “on the cheap” to promote yourself, people love free stuff. Exchange a cool logo pen for an email signup, or even a trial of your product/service so that they will give you their information.
- Write a free ezine on your product or industry. Again, people like free things and when they can get free information that is really important and relevant, they will jump at the opportunity. You can also offer free success articles and other free written materials to get people on board.
- Remember that quality is more important than quantity. Getting 500 people who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer is far better than getting 1,000 people who might have an interest, but just wanted whatever you were giving away. With the larger group, you have more people on your list but you are basically taking a craps shoot to see if anyone will bite. With the smaller more targeted list, you will have higher conversion rates.
You CAN succeed with list building without spamming anyone if you are willing to invest the effort. These days, a lot of people are skeptical about giving out their email address but if you show them that they are getting something in return, you will have a much more successful time with list building.
Pros and Cons of Cleaning Email Lists
Everyone wants to know about cleaning out their email lists. It’s like spring-cleaning for internet marketers, and it’s hard to avoid the urge to scratch the itch. Everyone wants to talk about how big their list is and who has the most subscribers, but the reality of the situation is that it isn’t the number that matters. Whether you have 200,000 subscribers or 5,000, you need to make sure that you have quality subscribers who actually want and utilize the emails that you send. Otherwise, you are wasting your time and energy.
Cleaning out email lists has its rewards and disadvantages. You will be able to whittle down the list and make sure that every single address is a quality one that you can benefit from, but you will also lose some subscribers that might be more valuable than you realize. Here are some basic benefits and disadvantages of cleaning up your email lists:
Pros:
- Less to keep track of
- Updated, fresh information
- Actual users kept
- Corrected email addresses
- Eliminates errors
- Helps locate missing data
- Increased profits
Cons:
- Loss of possible subscribers of value
- If you use software, you might lose valuable information if errors occur
- Takes time or money depending on whether you do it or use software or professional services
- Potential annoyance to customers who have to “click here to confirm” information and their involvement in the list
- Might ward people away when you request ‘more information’ or ask for verification
As you can see, having a clean list goes both ways. Ultimately, it is a great way to brush up your business and keep things fresh. However, it might not always be ideal in every situation. Look at your timing, the way that you will clean up the list, and how you want to go about things before you decide what is best for your needs.
With a clean email list, you will only be marketing to people who actually desire your marketing. However, if a genuine customer missed that ever-important email, you might lose them forever because they never heard that they needed to re-confirm their subscription to the list. It really all depends on how you look at it, but having a higher quality list with fewer inconsistencies or wasted addresses is always going to give your email marketing the boost that it needs. In the end, you will have to decide what your business needs.
Basic Layout of a Sales Page
When you are creating your sales page, every single detail matters more than any other page on your website. The sales page is where you will turn browsers into buyers, if you are successful. You want to appeal to people so that they become intrigued and are compelled to invest in whatever it is that you have to offer. There are many different elements to consider when you are creating the perfect sales web page, but the most critical things are listed here for your review.
You must have a compelling headline. If people aren’t pulled in by the big title at the top of your page, they’re not going to keep reading.
Keep it short and to the point. If you want to provide extra information, make sure that everything important, including the conversion link, is seen on the top of the page without the individual needing to scroll. Then, provide continued information below so that they can carry on if they would like, but they aren’t forced to scroll for days to find the purchase button or link to convert.
Make sure that your pages don’t exceed the standard website width. If you have pages that are wider than a normal window, people will have to scroll and this will make them miss information. It will also cause some frustration because people don’t like to work hard to find things or get the information that they are looking for.
Colors can kill your page. They can also turn browsers into buyers with ease. Some marketers report great success with orange, which is a warm, inviting color that isn’t too cold or too bold at all. Of course, there are other colors, such as blues and greens that can be inviting as well. Perception is most of the issue with colors, so it is best to choose a warm, inviting palate that is simple and doesn’t distract from the content.
Have videos if you want, but do not allow them to auto-play. This is something that annoys most buyers. If they want to watch your video, they will click on it. Auto-play functions just make people feel bombarded, at which point they leave.
When it comes to creating an effective sales page, these are some helpful tips to keep in mind. It doesn’t have to be the Picasso of sales pages, by any means, but it should be something that will produce results.
Autoresponders- Writing Autoresponders that Get Opens, Clicks and Sales
When it comes to using autoresponders, there is no doubt that they can get your business the attention that it needs and make your life easier. There are plenty of different products out there to choose from and it will be up to you to find the one that works best. Once you have an autoresponder service, however, you will need to learn what to say and how to deliver the message so that it gets opened, clicked, and creates sales for your business. Otherwise, the investment that you are making will be essentially useless.
When you are writing autoresponders, there are many things to keep in mind. You can use this service for:
- Introductions
- Reviews of products and services
- Distribution of articles
- Advertising
- Reports about your business
- Free trials and other offers
- Basic email communications
- Soft and hard sells
- Newsletters
No matter what type of autoresponder you are writing, you have to get the right message across. If you want to generate sales and create better business for yourself with this tool, here are some things to keep in mind.
It’s okay to get personal. Email is your one-on-one communication tool that you have with your potential customers. You need to get in touch with them in a format that is personal and connected, not stale and scripted. Get their attention, and speak to them on an individual level. Even if you are sending the message to 200 people, each one should feel special.
Always focus on the end result: the sale. Even in something like a newsletter or product review, you need to make sure that people are getting your message. Your message is to buy your product, and you need to make that very clear.
Start off with a soft sell, or a letter that gives information and suggests your products and/or services for the consumer. When you do this, it makes them feel important and allows them to make a better decision.
Finish with a hard sell. This is where you really need to push the sale and let people know exactly what you want them to do. You need them to buy your product and they need your product in their life. Make this known in your message without coming off as a pushy salesman if you truly want the best results.
If you can keep these things in mind, you will have great success with autoresponders and increasing your click-throughs and sales no matter what type of products you have to sell.
Time Management: Five Tips for Staying Organized in Your Time
Time management is something that many people struggle with. It can be difficult to figure out how to schedule yourself, how to make your time more effective, or how to get the most from your day when you have decided to start an internet marketing business or other business where you can enjoy working from home. Working out of the home is a great experience for many but often causes more trouble than people realize because it allows them to manage themselves and that doesn’t always go well.
In order for you to be effective in managing yourself and your time, here are five great time management tips to keep in mind:
1. Allocate every single task with a priority. If you need something done today, mark it accordingly. If you have three deadlines on Friday, make a note of it. Prioritize your list of things to do so that you feel less overwhelmed and can cross the list off as you complete tasks.
2. Never allow interruptions if you can help it. Working from home is always more of a challenge because you have instant access to family, television, chores, pets, and other elements. Make sure that you and others know when you are working and that you are not to be disturbed.
3. Never put off anything that isn’t interesting or that seems like a challenge. Get the boring stuff done first and make sure that you give yourself enough time by starting on hard tasks sooner instead of later. Master procrastinators are not known to be very successful.
4. Keep things organized and neat. If you know where everything is at, you will spend less time digging for that perfect pen or that report that you printed last week. You will be able to focus more on work and less on finding the tools that you need to work.
5. Schedule breaks and work hours. If you have to, schedule your daily routine down to the last detail. If you want to go to the Post Office at 2:00, pencil it in and allocate enough time to get there and back. By keeping yourself on a schedule, you will have a much better chance at being productive and managing your time effectively.
Time management is never an easy task. It takes practice, commitment, and an understanding of just how valuable your time really is. Make sure that you prepare yourself and keep these tips on hand to help you get more from your time.
Basics of a Squeeze Page
Squeeze pages are basically pages that call people to take action. Just like salesmen of decades past used to “put the squeeze on” potential buyers, you are doing the same with your website squeeze page. This page needs to have the ideal content and layout so that your visitors can be enticed to carry on and either sign up for an email list or purchase something that you are selling. Engaging the reader with this type of page is generally for the purpose of email address collection, however, not sales. There is a completely separate page that you need to create to generate sales. That will come later.
For now, you need squeeze pages to get people interested. Your squeeze page needs to be compelling enough to draw people in and make them give you the email address that you are looking for. This page should:
- Be direct. If you take too long to get to the point, people will leave. Let them know what they need to know and keep them intrigued so that they will continue.
- Include information about why the consumer wants more from what you have to offer. They are asking you why they should care. It is up to you to tell them.
- Have color. People don’t want boring black text. They need to see colors in order to be interested and keep reading. Use red for alerts or warnings, blue for calm text, green for motivational text, and yellow for things to which you need to call attention.
- Be broken up into sections. No one wants to read a boring page-long paragraph of information. Utilize the white space to get your point across and make what you DO say count even more.
- Use images and videos only if it won’t slow the loading of the page. If you have slow loading, people will walk away quickly. However, images and videos can help grab attention, as well.
- Include SEO that focused around the message that you are trying to get across. This way, when people search for the topic of your page, they will find it in the search results.
These are all of the basic elements that you need to think about and include on any squeeze page. It doesn’t matter what you are trying to sell because you have to get people interested in the same way that everyone else does. Use these tips to make your squeeze pages a success.
