When You Absolutely, Positively MUST Get That Job Done on Time
By Michael Masterson
You've got a nasty task ahead of you that you've been putting off forever. But now your procrastination has gotten out of hand -- and could have serious consequences. If raw fear isn't enough to get you started, here's one final, desperate step you can take. Withdraw a week's pay from the bank. Then give it to a trusted friend or colleague. His instructions: "Burn this money (or give it to charity -- whichever pains you more) if I don't finish the job by Friday." If this motivates you to finish, reward your money handler by using $100 of the money to take him to a nice lunch. And don't forget -- put the rest back in the bank. -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- Having Trouble Getting Motivated? - It happens to all of us. But if procrastination becomes a habit -- you're doomed! Success mentor Bob Cox has proven strategies that will break your procrastination habits for good. Let him show you how... plus lots more...
"Business has only two functions -- marketing and innovation." Milan Kundera Do You Need a Portal Site?
By Bob Bly
Do you need to create a "portal site" -- a main company website -- for your Internet marketing business? The short answer is yes. Let me explain... In the Agora Model of Internet marketing -- used by Early to Rise -- each product has its own dedicated landing page or "micro site." You drive traffic to the landing page using a variety of methods, including e-mail marketing and pay-per-click advertising. The primary role of the landing page is to get visitors to buy the product being advertised. The secondary role is to capture the e-mail addresses of those who do not buy. You can then add them to your subscriber list -- and attempt to sell them again via e-mail. Since each product has a dedicated landing page, there's technically no reason why you need a main company website. Yet I recommend that you create and maintain one. On your portal site, visitors can find brief descriptions of all your information products -- each with a hyperlink to a landing page. So why do you need that when you can drive traffic to the individual landing pages directly? Here's why: Landing pages are essentially sales letters. And Google gives higher rankings to websites that contain useful content. Since landing pages are sales copy, not content, they never rank very high on Google or the other search engines. To get higher search engine rankings and drive more organic traffic, you need a content-rich website optimized for the search engines. In other words, you need a portal site. My main portal site is my freelance copywriting website www.bly.com. There are a few things you will notice when you look at this site. The first is the large amount of useful content on the site. Go to www.bly.com and click on Articles. You'll see dozens of articles posted there. Many of them turn up in Google searches on various topics. And when searchers click on them, they are taken to the article as it is posted on my site. Of course, you could post libraries of articles on your landing page in hopes of attracting more organic traffic. But that would be a bad idea. The only choice you should give a visitor on the landing page is to buy the product or leave the site. As soon as you start adding articles, you risk having the prospect start reading the free stuff instead of purchasing the product -- and your conversion rates will suffer. Google likes original content, and so the content on my portal site is original -- my own copyrighted articles, not stuff I downloaded from free article sites. My site also has a blog on it. You can see the link to the blog at the bottom of the left margin. A blog gives you a mechanism for adding fresh content to your portal site on a regular basis without writing full-length articles. A lot of my blog posts are short items of just a few paragraphs. In the right column, I have a "What's New" box that helps visitors identify the new content I have added to the site recently. Like Google, visitors like new content. So when you add content to your site (whether your write it yourself or hire a ghostwriter), make it easy for them to find. Creating a portal site and putting a lot of content on it is just the first step in having a successful Internet marketing business. There are a number of other things you must do to improve your search engine rankings. These include: strategically placing keywords into the text on your Web pages... writing optimized title tags, description tags, and keyword tags for every page on the site... and getting respected sites in your niche to link to your site. P.S. You've just read why your Internet business should have a portal site. But that's just one aspect of making money online. As a member of the Internet Money Club, you'll learn search engine optimization, e-mail list building, Web design, and much more. Sign up here to be notified as soon the "Class of 2010" opens. [Ed. Note: Bob Bly is a freelance copywriter and the author of more than 70 books. To subscribe to his free e-zine, The Direct Response Letter, and claim your free gift worth $116, click here now: www.bly.com/reports.] -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- Search Engine Optimization in a Box - John Phillips revealed his top SEO techniques at Bootcamp a couple of weeks ago. There were plenty of strategies beginners could use right away. And we got it all on tape! You'll see John, plus a dozen other top Internet marketing experts -- including Clayton Makepeace, Michael Masterson, MaryEllen Tribby, Rich Schefren, Mike Koenigs... and many more.
One Simple Step You Can Take to Accelerate Your SEO Results
By John Phillips
There's no better way to get traffic to your website, and bring in the sales that come with it, than by employing sound search engine marketing practices. Tens of thousands of websites hang their entire businesses on it. One of the most appealing aspects of search engine marketing is that it levels the playing field. Small players can compete with the Big Suits -- and win. They just have to work smarter.
Today, I'm going to give you the pivotal first step. It's a simple strategy overlooked by the majority of website owners. But you can employ it right now to propel your site to "organic" search success. (And keep in mind that getting a top "organic" -- not pay-per-click -- search ranking for your website is free.)
All you have to do is give every page on your site a unique, "searchable" Page Title that includes a search-engine-optimized keyword phrase.
The Page Title is the first clue the search engines have as to what the page is about.
When crafting a Page Title, remember that it is actually two things:
1. It's the title you type in at the top of each Web page. And it should be in big, bold letters to distinguish it from the page's main body copy.
2. It's also the title you type into each page's meta title tag, within the html code. Very easy, and hardly technical.
So, how do you know which keyword phrase to assign to your Web pages?
Start by doing a search with Google's free keyword tool, which you can find here:
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Using a keyword-oriented Page Title is a simple way to get your website ranked at the top of the search engines. That will ultimately bring more traffic -- and more motivated buyers -- to your site. [Ed. Note: John Phillips cut his teeth in online marketing back in 1996, when he figured out that he could use search engines to convert tens of thousands of people looking for credit card debt relief into credit counseling customers. Since then, he has worked directly or consulted for major clients in the wireless/ telecom, non-profit, and financial publishing sectors. John was a featured speaker at this year's Info-Marketing Bootcamp. For more great SEO tips from John -- and dozens of other Internet marketing techniques from the other expert speakers at the event -- go here.] -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- Why Haven't You Heard About This Revolutionary Discovery? - If this were a drug, it would be hailed as the single greatest achievement of modern medical science. Its developers would be the recipients of a Nobel Prize. And the story would be front-page news across the world. Who is hiding it and why? Click here NOW to find out what it is...
In the early part of my career, I spent countless hours patiently listening whenever employees felt the need to update me on their personal problems. I felt that if they wanted to talk, the least I could do was listen. I was all ears. And I offered suggestions. But they reacted badly when I did that. They stared at me quizzically, or even angrily, and then went back to telling me more about their problems. What I eventually realized was that they when most people talk about their personal problems, they are not looking for solutions. They are looking for sympathy. But a boss is not a sympathy dispenser. These days, when an employee complains about a personal problem I deal with it quickly. I express sympathy, as sincerely as I can, and then I route the conversation back to business. It's flattering to think that your employees look to you for emotional support, but ultimately it's an unhealthy proposition. We all have moments when we need a shoulder to cry on -- but in the work environment, it's best to keep it to a minimum.
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"How cool is that?" "As always, I enjoy our morning time together, and this morning gave me a bonus: I have my 'One Good Idea' and it is just 6 a.m.! "The four questions are such good prompts, they made me want to write a testimonial about something. And I think I can use them to help write a better blog post on my blog! How cool is that? "So thank you, ETR, for such a great start to my day." Susan Barrett -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- What Would You Do With Financial Freedom? - The "dream" of many new Internet entrepreneurs is to sleep late, jet off to tropical destinations, work from the beach, etc. But I know one guy whose dream lifestyle includes spending time feeding chickens. And he still helps bring in millions for his clients every year. Find out all about this "off the grid" marketing genius here...
Today's Words That Work: Quizzical Quizzical (KWIZ-ih-kul) -- a word of unknown origin -- means queer or comical. The word suggests puzzlement. Example (as used by Michael Masterson today): "They stared at me quizzically, or even angrily [when I offered suggestions], and then went back to telling me more about their problems.]
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