EZ4NewbiesBlog.png)
Making Useful Websites: Getting First-time Visitors to Come Back
Hi, this is Don. Welcome back to the EZ4Newbies Blog. Thanks for coming by again!
Whether it is to shop online, to book a plane ticket, to check movie schedules, or to pinpoint your current location via GPS, the Internet has become a one-stop shop for almost all the needs for daily activities ? and then some.
And yet, despite all functionality many websites offer, there are still a huge number of websites that simply do nothing but take up space, particularly on a SERP or search engine results page. What happens is that even with the most stringent of filters employed by powerful search engines, Internet users still need to wade through websites that are practically dead ? dead because they offer no real information and are therefore useless.
But should it necessarily be that way? Do functional and effective websites come into being by simply throwing money at it? Does it mean that small companies cannot produce useful and practical websites? The answer to all three questions is a resounding NO.
With just a little bit more effort, small websites can offer just as much information, if not more, than the high profile websites maintained by media giants and conglomerates. And it doesn?t necessarily entail needing to break the bank.
There is a fundamental rule in designing websites and that is Content is the number 1 consideration.
You could spend a fortune on producing glitzy and flashy animation and special effects, but if your target user is not getting anything useful from the site, then all the bells and whistle will be for nothing. Remember that the Internet paved the way for the Information Highway and as such, content ? useful content ? is the heart of this medium.
Just what constitutes useful content?
When you first set out to create your website, you had to think about your target user. These vary with the kind of audience you wish to reach. Some target young people, others go for the yuppies, still there are others who wish to cater to household moms and dads. There is practically a market for everything. It?s simply a matter of identifying what to present to whom.
Focus on Your Target Audience
And this is where you need to do your homework: You need to focus on your target audience and determine what kind of information and content material will capture and sustain their interest.
For example, if your target audience is women in their early retirement years, then you should probably be creating and posting content that has to do with hobbies taken up by your target market, which could be garden, golf, or maybe even both. The same applies to young teenagers if that is your target. You will most likely need to gather content about teenaged stars, fashion tips, sports news and / or the like.
Identify Your Website?s Goals
What should your target audience get out of visiting your website? This is the core question you need to ask to determine a website?s usability. Will it be able to answer or given solutions to problems commonly faced by your audience? The answer you should strive for that question is a big YES.
Sourcing Your Materials
Now that you have an idea what you want to give your website?s target audience, you need to find legitimate and reliable sources of the content you wish to present.
Of course nothing beats writing and producing the material yourself, or hiring someone to do it, because you can claim the material is uniquely yours and you do not need to worry about copyright issues. However, should you be unable to spare the resources of producing your own website content, there are still solutions around that.
The Internet is full of articles written by people of varied expertise, which very likely include your website?s line of interest. And the best part of it is that, very often, these articles can be published on other websites (including yours!) for free. The small trade-off is simply including the writer?s name and credentials before or after the article.
Nifty Knick-knacks
In addition to informative (and free) articles, there are all sorts of mini-programs (usually Java-based) that come in the form of games, quotation estimators, body fat counters, weather report update, etc.
The idea is to give your target user more tools to use that will help them with what they need to accomplish on and with your website. Once again, you have the option of programming these yourself and making it available on your website, or you can copy a code from a third-party programmer and integrate it with your own website?s code. Very often the only trade off again is reference to the creator ? which is only just right. Other more interactive elements such as surveys, quizzes and the like may be enjoyed and appreciated by your audience (especially if prizes are available afterwards).
In providing useful content for your website?s target audience, you may not have to look very far or to pay prohibitive professional fees. All it takes is an attentive mind to what your audience wants and needs and the patience and resourcefulness of looking around and assessing what options are out there. Once you?ve got those down pat, it simply a matter of time when visitors will come by regularly and repeatedly because your site offers current and useful information.
6 Tips To Harness The Power Of Blogging To Increase Your Search Engine Ranking
If you really want to succeed in internet marketing and increase your online profits through blogging, then you need to follow these tips that will help you to make your blogging a success.
Several factors determine how powerful your blogging can be in improving your search engine position. Blogs get picked up by search engines quickly, but you need to make sure that your blog is optimized for search engines.
1.First, your blog title and URL structure must be just right! Your URL must be search engine friendly and user friendly. Your blog URL must be short and concise. It is also important for the name of your blog URL to be related to your online business niche.
2.Blog everyday! This is the most important tip. Powerful blogs that attract large volumes of traffic and bring results are those that are updated regularly. Search engines will pick up the new content and this will increase your ranking on search engines.
3.Categorize the content on your blog, making sure that you use your keywords, as this will increase the search engine ranking of your blog and website. If your website blog is about starting a home business, you can have categories like ?home business opportunities?, ?home business tips for success?, ?secrets for making money online? and ?make money online examples?. Be creative and have interesting categories for your blog. Using various keywords for your niche improves your search engine ranking for all these keywords.
4.You must tag your content. If you want your blog posts to get high visibility and exposure, it is important that you tag your content. You can do this by using pre-installed plug-ins in your blog script.
5.Ping every time you add new content to your site. Whenever you add new blog posts, ping your blog to alert search engines that you have added new content on your site.
6.Submit your blog to blog directories and niche directories. This will help you to get traffic directed from these directories and also create one way links to your site from these directories. All this increase your search engine position.
Use the tips outlined above to boost the power of your blogging and improve your position on search engines.
Making Useful Websites: Getting First-time Visitors to Come Back
Whether it is to shop online, to book a plane ticket, to check movie schedules, or to pinpoint your current location via GPS, the Internet has become a one-stop shop for almost all the needs for daily activities ? and then some.
And yet, despite all functionality many websites offer, there are still a huge number of websites that simply do nothing but take up space, particularly on a SERP or search engine results page. What happens is that even with the most stringent of filters employed by powerful search engines, Internet users still need to wade through websites that are practically dead ? dead because they offer no real information and are therefore useless.
But should it necessarily be that way? Do functional and effective websites come into being by simply throwing money at it? Does it mean that small companies cannot produce useful and practical websites? The answer to all three questions is a resounding NO.
With just a little bit more effort, small websites can offer just as much information, if not more, than the high profile websites maintained by media giants and conglomerates. And it doesn’t necessarily entail needing to break the bank.
There is a fundamental rule in designing websites and that is Content is the number 1 consideration.
You could spend a fortune on producing glitzy and flashy animation and special effects, but if your target user is not getting anything useful from the site, then all the bells and whistle will be for nothing. Remember that the Internet paved the way for the Information Highway and as such, content ? useful content ? is the heart of this medium.
Just what constitutes useful content?
When you first set out to create your website, you had to think about your target user. These vary with the kind of audience you wish to reach. Some target young people, others go for the yuppies, still there are others who wish to cater to household moms and dads. There is practically a market for everything. It?s simply a matter of identifying what to present to whom.
Focus on Your Target Audience
And this is where you need to do your homework: You need to focus on your target audience and determine what kind of information and content material will capture and sustain their interest.
For example, if your target audience is women in their early retirement years, then you should probably be creating and posting content that has to do with hobbies taken up by your target market, which could be garden, golf, or maybe even both. The same applies to young teenagers if that is your target. You will most likely need to gather content about teenaged stars, fashion tips, sports news and / or the like.
Identify Your Website?s Goals
What should your target audience get out of visiting your website? This is the core question you need to ask to determine a website?s usability. Will it be able to answer or given solutions to problems commonly faced by your audience? The answer you should strive for that question is a big YES.
Sourcing Your Materials
Now that you have an idea what you want to give your website?s target audience, you need to find legitimate and reliable sources of the content you wish to present.
Of course nothing beats writing and producing the material yourself, or hiring someone to do it, because you can claim the material is uniquely yours and you do not need to worry about copyright issues. However, should you be unable to spare the resources of producing your own website content, there are still solutions around that.
The Internet is full of articles written by people of varied expertise, which very likely include your website?s line of interest. And the best part of it is that, very often, these articles can be published on other websites (including yours!) for free. The small trade-off is simply including the writer?s name and credentials before or after the article.
Nifty Knick-knacks
In addition to informative (and free) articles, there are all sorts of mini-programs (usually Java-based) that come in the form of games, quotation estimators, body fat counters, weather report update, etc.
The idea is to give your target user more tools to use that will help them with what they need to accomplish on and with your website. Once again, you have the option of programming these yourself and making it available on your website, or you can copy a code from a third-party programmer and integrate it with your own website?s code. Very often the only trade off again is reference to the creator ? which is only just right. Other more interactive elements such as surveys, quizzes and the like may be enjoyed and appreciated by your audience (especially if prizes are available afterwards).
In providing useful content for your website?s target audience, you may not have to look very far or to pay prohibitive professional fees. All it takes is an attentive mind to what your audience wants and needs and the patience and resourcefulness of looking around and assessing what options are out there. Once you?ve got those down pat, it simply a matter of time when visitors will come by regularly and repeatedly because your site offers current and useful information.
How To Write A Convincing Sales Letter For Your e-Book
Have you ever been in a situation when you are so convinced in an ad that you are already convinced to buy after just a few minutes of reading it? That ad must be so effective to have persuaded you immediately in buying the product. Don’t you want to have that same convincing power for your e-book?
Having a killer sales letter is a plus in promoting your e-book. But how do you do it especially if you do not have the writing skills required?
Steps in Writing a Sales Letter
1. Before starting to write anything on your sales letter, you must first determine your target audience. Who do you think are the people who will be interested in your e-book? Let us admit that not every person in the world would be interested in your product.
Knowing your target market will make your letter more effective. Also, you will be able to write your letter as if it is talking directly to your prospects, thus, gaining you more profit.
2. You have to know what sets your product apart from its competitor. Determine the edge and the advantages of your product from others. Make this your selling point.
If you can tell your potential customers that your e-book offers several desirable benefits that others do not have then there is a huge possibility of you making that sale.
3. You should make your potential customers believe you. It might be difficult to it because of the many scams and false information in advertisements right now. You should tell them every single reason why they should believe you.
Adding more data and statistics to back up your statements will add to the credibility of your letter. Prove to them that what you are saying is true from the beginning.
4. Provide your potential customers all the benefits your e-book has to offer. Even the not-so-obvious benefits should be included.
After you have identified your target market, the next things that you should determine are the issues and concerns your target audience may be having. Make a list of these problems and determine the benefits of your product that will solve each of these problems.
Problems are always there, it is the solution to the problem that is lacking. So if you can show them that you have the right solution to their problems, then you will be in for huge sales. Having a long list of benefits that your product offers gets you better chance of turning these readers into buying customers.
5. Write your sales letter in the way you would want it as a reader. Once you think that you are almost done with it, read it from the viewpoint of a potential customer. Ask yourself if you would say yes to the offer.
As much as possible, try to find a loophole or something in your letter where your potential customer would probably say no. If you find one, then you may want to consider revising your letter in such a way that it would address that objection. By answering all possible objections by customers, you will definitely have a killer sales letter. Needless to say, it will also bring huge profit.
6. The last thing that you have to consider is getting your potential customers to take action as soon as possible. Give them the reason why they should buy from you now. If you miss this step, you may have just missed a sale altogether.
Provide a realistic reason for them to act immediately. Offering special discounts or bonuses for a limited time period is one way to make them buy your product now. Telling them that your product is limited and would not be offered anywhere else once sold may get them to make the decision now. You may come up with other strategies but just make sure that your sense of urgency should still sound realistic.
These steps are just the basic ones to get you started writing your sales letter. It may not be perfect at first but it is alright. Learning to write a very good ad or sales letter may take some time. But starting now with the basics may be your first step on becoming a professional sales writer.
Hidden Content Sources for Your Website
by Kim Roach
As I travel through the Google search engine, there is one element that defines almost all of the top-ranking websites. It’s great content. People come online for information and those that offer the best content reap the greatest rewards.
Unfortunately, this type of content is hard to come by. In most cases, you either have to spend hours in front of the keyboard or outsource the job to others. Both of these options are very costly. One requires your valuable time and the other requires an investment of around $10 – $20 per article.
That’s why I have scoured the net in search of valuable free content sources. I’m still not quite sure why I’m revealing my treasured piles of free content, but I certainly hope you enjoy them.
One of my favorite sources of content is public domain. This comprises the body of knowledge without a copyright. Anyone can use this material for commercial or non-commercial purposes. Below are some excellent sources for public domain material.
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is a library of 18,000 free ebooks whose copyright has expired. “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”, “Pride and Prejudice”, “The Time Machine”, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, and “The Canterbury Tales” have all passed into the public domain.
This means that you can put these on your website or even sell them in electronic or book format.
Explore a wealth of free content at Gutenberg.org.
Archive.org
At Archive.org you can find thousands of works that are currently in the public domain. Want to put some cartoons on your web site? Check out the “Film Chest Vintage Cartoons”, which is full of classic animated cartoons from the 1930’s and 1940’s. The collection includes Popeye, Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, The Three Stooges and Betty Boop. They also provide tons of other reproducable content including:
Brick Films: Commonly called “LEGO Movies”. Brick films are dedicated to the art of stop motion animation.
SabuCat Movie Trailers: The world’s largest collection of theatrical trailers.
Feature Films: A large number of classic feature films and shorts.
Universal Newsreels: Newsreels were shown before every feature film in the pre-tv era.
Computer Chronicles: Was the world’s most popular television program on personal technology during the height of the computer revolution.
Net Cafe: Television series covering the revolution during the height of the dot com boom.
All of these content sources are available for you to put on your website. check them out at Archive.org.
Another popular public domain destination is Wikipedia.org. Here you will find over 1 million articles ranging from Greek mythology and Egyptian history to business, health, and technology.
Go to Wikipedia.org for a huge collection of articles you can reprint on your own website.
Creative Commons
Every creative work receives copyright protetion as soon as you put pen to paper, hit save, or press record. Because of this, no one can use that work without express permission from the author.
Creative Commons provides a new content license that allows you to share your work with others. If you want, you can even allow other people to expand upon your existing work. This allows for creative co-authorship.
The Creative Commons license has made piles of content available for use on your web site. Whether you are looking for audio, images, video, or text, you can find an abundance of reusable information within the creative commons.
To search for content to put on your own web site, go to CreativeCommons.org.
Government Web Sites
Works produced by the U.S. Federal government are not copyrighted. If you obtain a government document from the net, you are free to copy and distribute the document. I have found plenty of great content about finance, retirement, health, business, and traveling on government websites.
To search for content offered by the United States government, go to http://www.google.com/unclesam.
Article Directories
There are thousands of writers on the internet and many of them would love for you to reprint their articles on your website. You can find thousands of free web articles at the following article directories.
GoArticles.com
EzineArticles.com
ArticleCity.com
Interviews
I consider interviews to be one of the best sources of quality content for your site. Simply interview industry professionals and post the recording and transcript on your website. This allows you to create original content very quickly.
Don’t be afraid to ask for an interview, most experts would be delighted to speak with you. Remember, this is probably one of their greatest passions. If you ask them politely, your chances for landing an interview are good.
You can conduct an interview in person, over the phone, or even through an e-mailed questionaire.
RSS Feeds
RSS is changing the way we consume information online. In addition, it has also provided thousands of new content sources for the online publisher. RSS is simply a file format similar to XML that is used by publishers to make their content available to others in a format that can be easily understood by web publishing software and content aggregators.
By using RSS feeds, you can enhance the content on your site without ever writing a single word. And remember, on the Internet, content is King.
Want to put Amazon products on your site, updated news from the New York Times, financial advice from Motley Fool, or press releases from PRWeb?
This is all possible with RSS. No matter what type of information you are looking for, RSS can provide you with a constant stream of updated content for your web site.
To search for an RSS feed to enhance your own website, go to Syndic8.com. You can even mix and match a variety of rss feeds at RSSMix.com.
Facts & Statistics
Looking for facts or figures to put on your website? Take a look at some of the sources below. You’ll likely be surprised how many facts, figures, and definitions are available in the public domain.
The CIA World Factbook provides a number of statistics on countries, territories, and dependencies. Each profile tracks such demographics as population, ethnicity, and literacy rates, as well as political, geographical and economic data.
http://www.census.gov/: One of the largest repositories for data and statistics related to the U.S.
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Main_Page: One of the best encyclopedia’s ever written was published over 90 years ago. Search over 40,000 articles, all of which are available for publication on your own site.
http://www.bibliomania.com/2/3/257/frameset.html: A searchable interface of the 1913 public domain Webster’s dictionary.
Private Label Articles
Private label articles can be bought for pennies per article. This is possible because they are sold in bulk.
Many people criticize these articles and have declared them as worthless. However, I am here to tell you that private label articles can be very powerful when used appropriately.
Unless you have hours of free time every day, it is unlikely that you are going to be able to create the amount of quality content that your web site deserves. This is where private label content enters the picture.
You can use private label articles to:
- Add content to your web site.
- Acquire hundreds of inbound links by syndicating the articles to article directories.
- Create a free report for your visitors and other website publishers.
- Create an information-packed RSS feed.
However, the key to using private label articles effectively is to optimize them. Straight out of the box, these articles are near worthless. To give them value, you must add your own touch.
Inject your personality into the article. Combine multiple articles and do some additional touch-ups to ensure that the article is in top shape for your readers.
Once you are finished you can add your resource box and send it off to article directories and website publishers.
If you are looking for one of the top private label article providers, go to InfoG oRound.com.
Images
Quality images can make your content much more inviting and keep people at your site for longer periods of time. Fortunately, there is a site that offers thousands of pictures completely free of charge. Find it at Stock.XCHNG.
Quotes
Quotes can give your website a special touch. Quotes provide interesting content in addition to an element of credibility. I often like to add related quotes to my web site simply to engage the reader’s attention.
To find some quotes for your website, go to QuoteGarden.com.
In the end, you always want your content to be unique. Not for the search engines, but for your visitors. With quality content comes quality links. Once you have built up a reputation for delivering unique content, you will never have to worry about having an audience eager to visit your website.
About The Author
Kim Roach is a staff writer and editor for the SiteProNews and SEO-News newsletters. You can contact Kim at: kim @ seo-news.com
