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- How to Work with Your Web Designer to Get A Profitable Online Presence Even When You Are Time Starved
- How to Miss the Boat and Get Nothing Out of LinkedIn as a Social Media Platform
- 6 Ongoing Link Building Techniques You Should Be Employing – A SPN Exclusive Article
| Posted: 21 Sep 2011 03:30 PM PDT 
The truth is, you don’t have to wait till you get some time freed up, which might not happen for another decade. And you don’t have to settle for a half-baked website that looks pretty but doesn’t bring you clients, sales and traffic. You can get a new website up fast, when you apply just 3 strategies for working with your website designer. Strategy #1: Create your content – all your content – before you even think about developing your logo, color scheme or website layout. Many business owners call a web designer or even a web development company as their very first step. After all, most of us are conscious of what a website looks like. We’re often taught to associate “website development” with “web design.” My clients have been surprised to find how much time and money they can save by starting their website makeover by writing content, either as a DIY or by hiring a copywriter first. Here’s why. You can lose your place in the designer’s queue if you do not have your content ready. Your web designer can’t complete your project without content. When your designer has to wait for your content, he or she moves on to other projects. When you finally call to say, “Content is here!” your designer may be in the middle of another project. She needs more time to re-learn your requirements and you probably will be charged for the extra time. Besides, she can’t stop work on her current project. You may wait a month or more to get your project going again. Your designer relies on your content strategy to create a header graphic and choose the colors. Otherwise the design you choose will not support your message and may even clash with your USP (Unique selling Proposition). For example, I worked with a client who had paid for a high-end graphic of a relaxed beach scene. When we reviewed her niche, she realized she needed an image that was stark and strong. Mountain cliffs and stormy waves would have been more appropriate. My client was then faced with a choice to keep a graphic that didn’t fit her strategy or acknowledge that she had paid for an online presence that would be confusing rather than compelling? Strategy #2: Work with a copywriter to help you communicate exactly how your audience will benefit When it comes to websites, many business owners focus on eye-popping graphics and they agonize for hours over website colors and typefaces. Yes, when you stand out from the crowd, you earn more revenue with a whole lot less effort. You can command higher fees because prospects realize you are unique. However, they won’t respond if you just LOOK unique. Your prospects and clients want to be sure you haven’t just taken an old brown cow and slapped on some purple paint. That’s where expert copywriters make the difference as they can paint word pictures and introduce you as a 3-dimensional, standout professional. The truth is, your copywriter can set up the content so your designer can’t help developing a website that’s your own version of a purple cow. Strategy #3: Put your players in the best position to win the profit game. Often, business owners expect the web designer to win the whole online marketing game single-handedly with color, design, traffic and navigation. The truth is, if your website were a football game, the content would be the quarterback and the design would be your offensive line. On the football field the quarterback calls plays and makes sure the ball gets down the field to score points. The job of the offensive line is to make sure the quarterback gets through, unharmed, without interference. On your website, your designer’s job is to make it easy for visitors to read your copy. Just as good linemen protect their quarterback, your web designer makes sure your graphics support your message and your site is easy to read. Your copywriter calls the plays: How do you identify your niche so you know how to reach them easily (and motivate then to take action on your offer)? Which pages get featured on the main menu bar? What metaphors and stories will frame your content? Once these critical decisions have been made, your web designer can implement the technical and visual components of your site. Some copywriters will even guide your designer and manage the entire project, just as a football quarterback is the coach on the field. Now, Are You Ready to Work More Effectively with Your Web Designer So You Can Start Getting More Prospects and Clients? The simple strategies I described in this article will multiply your marketing efforts, whether you are a beginner who’s trying to develop a website while creating a new company or a seasoned veteran who is busy seeing clients but desperately needs an upgraded website to keep prospects in the funnel. Now you can skip the hassle and time-consuming detours that many business associate with online marketing. Master Copywriter Cathy Goodwin helps time-starved entrepreneurs and owners of professional service firms create a profitable website presence fast, even when they are short on time. Now, she invites you to grab her FREE 5 Point Website Profits Checklist – that should be used as a guide as you complete the website development process. Get your checklist now at: http://www.CopywritingWithCathy.com Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
| How to Miss the Boat and Get Nothing Out of LinkedIn as a Social Media Platform Posted: 21 Sep 2011 07:51 AM PDT  Guest Post by Karl Walinskas  LinkedIn is a rapidly growing social media platform that caters more directly to business people than do Facebook or Twitter; particularly, business-to-business (B2B) opportunities. You probably know that already. Most of those folks are looking to succeed with LinkedIn marketing and generate new leads, business, or career opportunities. What you may not know is how profoundly you can fail on LinkedIn as a super-busy entrepreneur or small business owner. It's easy! Just follow these 10 easy steps. 1. Don't fill in your Profile Summary section 2. Limit how many people can see you and contact you 3. Put your current job only 4. Don't post a photo 5. Avoid References 6. Be Picky About Connections 7. Don't show your work 8. Groups are for wussies 9. Once and done it 10. SPAM your contact list with mail The reality is, you're not trying to fail on LinkedIn. You want to succeed as well and generate more Linkedin business leads and use LinkedIn as a bona fide marketing took for your site, but maybe you just don't know how. If you're like a lot of small business owners, however, and can look yourself in the mirror and see any of the Top 10 LinkedIn Failure Methods listed above in your talk or actions, perhaps it's time to question assumptions and change your approach. It's opposite day and this ain't Seinfeld, so take a look at what NOT to do, and do something else and then notice your LinkedIn statistics rise and your phone start to ringing. If you actually want to SUCCEED on LinkedIn, check out LinkedIn Profile Optimization help by Smart Company Growth, a company owned and operated by Karl Walinskas to provide unique lead generation tools to white collar professionals. He's authored Getting Connected Through Exceptional Leadership and many, many articles published in print and online. Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
| 6 Ongoing Link Building Techniques You Should Be Employing – A SPN Exclusive Article Posted: 20 Sep 2011 10:00 PM PDT 
1 – Directory Submissions Directory submissions should be considered a staple part of your link building campaign. While directory links offer less value than they did several years ago, they do still provide benefit. What’s more, while there is a finite number of directories online the number is massive and you can submit to one or two hundred directories a month for at least the first year or so of your link building strategy. There are location and topic specific directories as well as general category ones. There are also those that will only accept home page links and those that will take deep links to other pages of your site. Combining these and using them accordingly will help generate the best results. 2 – Article Marketing Article marketing is another age old link building technique and while directory submissions offer finite, albeit extensive, opportunities, article marketing offers infinite possibilities. There are hundreds of article directories, including a good number that can be considered search engine friendly. Write appealing and relevant articles, include an author bio with one or two keyword optimized links to your own pages and submit them. Some marketers prefer to stick to a handful of the best directories while others opt for mass submissions to hundreds of article repositories at a time. 3 – Press Release Submissions Press releases can provide good links and a great sense of authority for your website. Readers will be more inclined to trust a press release than they will a blog post or article, but the number of press release directories that accept HTML links, with keywords in the anchor text, is limited so you will have to look around. Ensure that the press release is properly formatted, not written in the first person, and is not simply a thinly veiled advertisement for your website or business. Sticking to the rules and best practices of press release submission will help ensure that your release has a greater chance of being accepted by a good number of websites. 4 – Guest Posts Blogs continue to be one of the most popular forms of website. Individuals, companies, and organizations, as well as marketers, maintain their own blogs with regular, good quality content. They also link to one another and this helps blogs to attain high rankings in relevant search engines, but it also means that blog owners have a major requirement for regular content. Some blogs fulfill this requirement for content by opening up their blog to guest posters. Find blogs in your industry and on a topic relevant to that of your own site and then determine those that actively seek guest posts. If you’re building links to aid in your SEO then do ensure that the blogs you post to are search engine friendly – primarily, this means ensuring that links do not use the nofollow attribute. 5 – Link To Authority Blogs Another great thing about blogs is the sense of community that they attract. Blogs within the same industry will regularly link to other blogs on a similar or related topic. This offers the blogger a unique opportunity to essentially acquire advertising from competitor websites; something that simply doesn’t happen with standard business related websites. Link out to other blogs in your industry that carry a lot of authority and have a lot of readers. Encourage your own readers to click the link and visit that site. When the blogger checks their site statistics and notices a lot of traffic all emanating from your blog then they may well provide a link back on a topic that you have covered yourself. Repeat regularly to get links from a number of the most authoritative blogs in your topic. 6 – Full Social Media Marketing Social bookmarking, social networking, video and content sharing; these are all a part of a social media marketing (SMM) campaign. They can be very time consuming but effective SMM can generate a lot of viral interest in your blog, website, forum, or other online publication. Get involved in the networks you join in order to create a real community around your website. Post your content to your social network profiles and encourage your readers to follow you, fan you, and bookmark you. This will help you gain even more followers and it will increase the traffic to your web pages. Link building is an essential part of SEO and it should be considered an ongoing process if you want to enjoy the best results. Find other methods to build links and try to get links from a good variety of website types in order to enjoy the best results. The above are just a few methods of building links that you can benefit from. Matt Jackson is founder of Ethical Link Building, which provides a range of link building campaigns to websites and businesses. Improve your search rankings and increase traffic with press release submissions and article marketing services. Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
Many business owners find themselves putting “website makeover” (or even “website development”) on the back burner because they just don’t have time – even though they know they are leaving money on the table. Others are too busy working with their current clients to develop their own compelling online presence.
Finding effective and sustainable methods of building links to your website can prove challenging. However, with some effort or investment on your part, it is possible to enjoy an increase in direct traffic as well as a boost to your link profile and search engine rankings through an ongoing link building strategy. There are tried and tested techniques that have been used for years that help build links in volume, as well as techniques that aim to build a smaller number of links but of much higher value – the perfect combination for a natural looking and effective search engine link profile.| You are subscribed to email updates from SiteProNews Recent Articles To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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