There are a few secrets that I’d like to share with you.  You may have been privy to a few of them before.  Actually you may have heard of all 4, but I can promise that you will finish each article with a fresh perspective.  I will show you how 4 simple secrets can create a powerhouse web business.  This is the first part of the 4 article series.

Before I divulge the vault of successful web business secrets I must warn you of one thing.  All the information in the world will not take the place of determination and persistence.  A web business is just like an offline business.  It takes hard work and resolve to succeed.  However working smart is heads and tails better than plain old working.  These 4 secrets will turn any smart working, dedicated average Joe or Jane into a successful web business owner.

Web Success Secret #1) Content is king.

Heard that before?  I know I have.  The thing I never knew was how to use content to my advantage.  Content is useless unless it is optimized for the search engines.  It must also be optimized for your reader.  You have two customers- readers and search engines.  You must satisfy both with the same exact content.

Content is king only if you have exact and highly specific keywords placed in correct locations.  Unfortunately the hard part is determining what keywords to use.  A keyword can be a single word or a phrase.  It is the term that web surfers use to search for information.  Place yourself in their shoes and try to discover what search terms they use.  You must then evaluate the search term.  How many people search using that term?  How many sites already deliver information on that search term?  Simple demand and supply rules.  The more demand with the less supply equals more profitability.

You have several options for determining keywords and their profit potential.  Search yourself, pay a company to search for you or have your hosting company do a complete keyword search for your niche or web business topic.  If your hosting company does not offer this service I recommend you switch to a plan that does.  This feature alone can make or break your business’ future.  If you would like my recommended hosting plan, please contact me.

Without a proper keyword search and analysis you may as well forget about becoming successful with an Internet business.  Investing in this one secret is literally the start of planning your website.

Your next action step is to plan your site layout based on the 50-175 high-demand and low-supply keywords. Your site should be structured in three tiers.  Tier one is your home page.  Tier two is made of all of your main topics and also constitutes your navigation bar buttons.  Tier three keywords are sub-topics of tier two pages.  Organize your 50-175 keywords into three tiers.  Doing this makes it easier for visitors to navigate through your site and it makes it easier for search engine spiders to find all of your pages.

Search engine spiders do not like to fish around for all of your pages and links.  This is why many sites offer a “site map””.  A site map is one page that contains links to all of the content pages.  This is a fine route to take; however most people agree that pages with a lot of links on it are valued less than content pages that casually link to other content pages.

Using three tiers allows you to go from topic to sub-topic to sub-sub-topic all by natural in-content links.  For example, tier 1 is the homepage on a fitness site.  Tier 2 is a page all about cardio activity and its benefits.  A tier three page off of that tier 2 page is about different treadmill routines.  Do you see how the site visitor would like this structure?  They click on “Cardio” and are given links to more specific pages about cardio topics.  Search engine spiders like the three tier structure too.  It means they do not have to dig through layers and levels of useless links.

There is even more to content than finding profitable keywords and structuring your site into easy-to-navigate tiers.  You must optimize each and every page on your website to perform well and rank high at search engines.  Many people devote their working life to optimization secrets.  A full length article just on optimizing is possible.  Heck, a full length book is possible.  My recommendation is to use a hosting company that automatically teaches you how to optimize web pages for the engines.  Doing that will cause less headache and frustration and it will keep you focused on building content.

A quick education in optimization: place your specific keyword in the file name, title, description and keyword section of your page.  Then sprinkle the keyword throughout the content.  Also provide a link using your specific keyword in the link text.  If all of this has you spinning your head, I recommend going the hosting company I use.  They literally teach you to build a website using blocks.  It’s all simple and easier than you think.

There is one last piece to content.  It must effectively pre-sell your product or service and position you as the expert in your field.  When your website has 50-175 optimized pages for your visitors to read through it will start to position you as the expert.  Your site will become known as the place for information about (insert your niche).

When visitors find your site through search engines they are seeking information about a problem or question they have.  If they land on your site and you try to sell them something right away one thing is sure- they click the back button and find another site that will give them information.  This is why pre-selling your product or service is paramount.  Give your visitors what they want.  Answer their question and in the process let them know about your services and products.

All of the information develops rapport and trust with your site visitor.  It positions you as an expert.  It keeps your visitor on your site longer since they are actually reading content.  Search engines notice this and rank you better.  How well your site can keep visitors is known as “stickiness.”  Your site must attract and keep visitors for as long as possible.

Provide content that pre-sells your products, positions you as the expert and focuses on highly profitable keywords.  You cannot go wrong with your web business if you do those things.  The secret to content is to satisfy both your visitor and search engines.  Lose one or both and you are doomed.  As I mentioned earlier, it is best to work smarter and not harder.  Your hosting company should be providing most of these services to you free of charge.  There are a small few that do this, but it is well worth the investigation.  Having a successful web business starts with effective content.

Download Here The FREE eBook “Make Your Content PreSell” (139 pages!)… and learn all about how to optimize the content of your web site…

I have to admit I’ve been slow to jump on board with the whole social marketing trend.

After so many years spent in marketing and frequently hearing about the “next big thing”, I’ve come to the decision that all these technologies are simply communication tools for building trusting relationships with prospective customers.

No one tool is going to make you a gazillion dollars.

But used with common sense and an understanding of where your customers hang out and what your customers are most wanting, I think social marketing technology is well worth learning to use.

Specifically, social marketing tools like Facebook, Twitter, and Linked extend your ability to make yourself known to prospective customers as well as people who may refer customers to you.

But it takes time and a focus on providing useful information and resources to others without any requirement for receiving in return.

I’ve always been a resource connector by nature (the one who is always emailing articles and snippets to you prefaced with an fyi”) so social media is a comfortable place for me.

If you are wanting results RIGHT NOW, either stay out of social media or hire someone who has a lighter touch. Social media requires a lower key approach. Hype and in-your-face sales tactics turn most members of Social Marketing Land off.

Success Strategies for Using Social Marketing in Your Business

Some strategies that work for cultivating profitable connections in social media.

Think Conversation; not Presentation

Most people hang out on blogs and social networks because they are engaging with others who have similar interests.

Social networks are informal gatherings, like going to your friend’s BBQ. You might talk business but if you do it will be a casual conversation. Not climbing up on a bench and bellowing, “Hey everyone, let me tell you about this great new service I’m offering.”

It is of course possible that a casual business conversation will lead to a “how about we set up a time to talk more next week?” in which case the result is a meeting in which a presentation is appropriate.

Remember the point is to share information and resources that may be helpful to others in a give and take conversation. 

Expect to reach out first

There’s a funny T-shirt that reads “More People Have Read This Shirt than My Blog.”

That about sums it up if you expect people to swarm to your blog or follow you on Twitter. Unless you’re maybe Ashton Kuchner.

Actions you can take to reach out include:

• Finding others who are doing something that is useful to you and your customers and making a point to comment on their posts in a way that adds to the conversation in progress.
• If you, yourself post to your own blog, include links to articles that support or enhance the points you’re making. Directing people to other blogs is not only helpful to your readers, it is very appreciated by the persons whose blogs you link to.
• They may even link back to you!
• Let people know about useful resources in all social media you participate in. I regularly post links to articles, statistics, and other bits of information my clients and colleagues may appreciate.

Be Yourself

Remember your mom telling you to be yourself when you were worried about being liked by people you didn’t know?

Your mom was right.

In addition to sharing information and resources with real, actionable value to my clients and customers, I also share observations, reviews (books, movies, electronics), and of course the occasional anecdote about my cats.

And I share in my own voice similar to how I might talk with co-workers or people I know casually at a party.

Pick Just One and Try it Out

The first explanation I heard about Twitter was “it’s microblogging.”

I still have trouble explaining blogging to a lot of people let alone microblogging.

“Microblogging” is actually a pretty good description but it’s also, in my opinion, somewhat geeky and intimidating if you’re not a social media buff.

So rather than try to figure it all out, I strongly suggest you get yourself an account with Twitter or Facebook or Linked in.

Not all of them, pick just one.

Then give yourself some time to poke around and get a sense of what’s going on.
 

Start with people you already know, trust and like

Once you get an account, invite people you know, trust, and like to join your network. Or follow them on Twitter. Or subscribe to their blog.

This way you start in a small box with others you may already be connected with. You can feel fairly confident that you’ll be interested in engaged in the conversations they’re having.

As you begin to feel more comfortable you can begin to check out their contacts or look for people interested in a particular topic you love to talk about.

Bottom Line

Once I began reaching out more and focused on hanging out with like- minded people, I got used to and even began to enjoy social marketing.

The most important thing to remember is social media is about connection and conversation. If people like what they’re hearing and find value in what you offer, you will begin picking up business and business-related opportunities.

But like any online strategy, it takes time and effort on your end to reach out and contribute first.

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           Ready To Work At Home?
Read How and Start Your Own Online Business!
       http://avcbi-businesscenter.com

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Wake Up – Your Clients Are Looking for You!

If you’re going to use the power of the Internet to try to find clients, you have to first understand how prospective clients are going to find you. You need to drop your preconceived notions about how you see your business, and start thinking about how potential clients are going to see your business. To do that, you need to try to put yourself in their shoes.

Understanding Web Searches

Let’s suppose, for example, your business is centered around providing consulting to customers who need help with back pain in New York. When you sit down to start designing your web strategy, you might hire a copywriter to create content with the keywords, “back pain consultant,” or “pain coaching.” However, those terms won’t likely bring you much in the way of good, solid traffic from potential clients.

In fact, the only people who are likely to search for “back pain consultant” are people like you whose business is helping people with back pain. People trying to solve a problem don’t typically search for things like “coaching” or “consulting.”

Instead, you need to consider how exactly those prospective customers are going to search. They might search for the rather generic phrase, “back pain,” or they might be a little more specific and search for something along the lines of “back pain help” or “treatment for back pain.” Other potential clients will use more of a question-based approach, such as searching for “how can I reduce back pain?” In the case of many niches, such as our back pain example, it’s likely that potential clients will also use a geographic or regional term. Most assume that they need to see someone in person for treatment. So “back pain help new York” might be a common search phrase.

From Information to Solutions

Something else you need to think about in terms of how potential clients are going to find you on the web, is what stage of searching the potential client is at. Understanding whether or not the potential client is ready to buy is key to your marketing strategy.

There are several stages a person goes through before they’re ready to buy:

Identification

This is the earliest point at which a potential client can identify a felt need. It might be back pain, for example. It could be a desire to make money from the comfort of your home. It might be that the person wants to learn a new skill, take up a new hobby, or just improve their overall well-being. At this stage, the person isn’t usually ready to buy. They’re still feeling their way through the problem, and putting words to it.

Web searches at the identification stage tend to be information-based. The objective isn’t to solve a problem, it’s to understand the problem. At this stage, a person might search for “types of back pain” or “back pain symptoms,” but they aren’t as likely to search for “back pain help.”

Clients at this stage are the least likely to buy. However, if you can hook a potential client at this stage, you may get her to come back later on when she is ready to buy. Some remain in this stage; once they learn about the topic they want to learn about, they simply leave it alone forever. They decide that it’s not a problem they want or need to invest any more time and energy trying to solve.

Information

Once a person has identified a need or a problem, they usually set out to learn about it in-depth. They start seeking the advice of experts. This is a transitional stage, where it is more likely that they’ll buy than at the identification stage, but where most people don’t rush into anything. At this stage, web searches tend to be information-based again. However, these searches tend to focus on the other end of the need or problem: how to fix it. So here a person might search for “back pain solutions” or “back pain treatment options.” This is where real value-added content comes in handy on your website.

Being able to provide usable and reliable information helps to position you as an authority in your niche. Once the customer is ready to buy, they’ll remember your expertise and come back to you.

Purchase-Ready

At this point, the potential client is ready to buy. They understand the problem or need, know what can be done about it, and are ready to pay someone to get their solution. These are your best prospects, and the easiest people to convert into a sale. People who are ready to buy can get very specific in their search terms. They might search “back pain treatment in New York” or even “back pain physiotherapist.” Their search terms indicate that they don’t just want to know about a problem or a need, but that they’re ready to fix it.

Many potential clients don’t search the web at this stage, however. During the first two stages of their web search process, they have probably identified a reliable source of information. At that point, they’re more likely to go back to that reliable source than they are to search randomly for someone else. If that authoritative source doesn’t offer a direct solution, that’s when the potential client will start their search.

Marketing Across the Stages

Effective marketing for your coaching business will at least touch on each of these stages. While the details and specific tactics may vary from one niche to another, most coaches will want to spend their time in the second stage. By providing useful information to potential clients, you build your image as an authority in your field. Not everyone will seek your services, however most will. By adding real value, you create a positive experience for the client and engender a certain degree of trust. When the time comes for a solution, they’re going to come to you rather than randomly searching on Google (or flipping through the Yellow Pages, for that matter).

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           Ready To Work At Home?
Read How and Start Your Own Online Business!
       http://avcbi-businesscenter.com

==> ———————————— <==

There is nothing more frustrating than checking your website’s analytics and realizing that, although a visitor has just spent over 10 minutes reading through a single webpage, they have not made a purchase. Sometimes it can be almost heartbreaking, because no matter how hard you try to increase sales, turning a prospect into a customer can appear to be a near impossible task.

Sometimes the key to turning a prospect into a customer is not a change in your website content, but rather a change to your purchase page:

• Is it easy to find?
• Is it easy to use?
• Can your visitors trust you with their credit card information?

One of the reasons that it is difficult to turn a prospect into a customer is because the customer may have a difficult time locating the final sales page, gets frustrated, and eventually leaves your website to search for a better purchase elsewhere.

In order to increase sales, you will first need to check and make sure that your order form is easy to locate. Sometimes the best way to do this is to write a small paragraph that tells your visitors exactly where and how to find the order form. Also, try placing the link to your order form in an attractive, noticeable box at the top and bottom of your webpage, so that no matter what part of the page the visitor is looking at, they can find it easily.

Offering multiple payment options is another way to increase sales. Some visitors to your website may be uncomfortable providing their credit card online and may instead want to pay with PayPal. Others may not trust PayPal and instead choose to pay with check or credit card. Whatever the reason, the more payment options you have available, the easier it will be for you to continue turning your prospect into a customer.

It is also a good idea to improve your website’s credibility. One of the ways to do this is to offer secure encryption technology on your website’s order forms. In addition, offering a money-back guarantee (and sticking to it – something that many merchants have a problem with) is a good way to increase sales and offer a better user experience.

Finally, increase your credibility by offering a method of contacting you, whether it be by email or phone number or both. And make sure that this method is easy to find on your webpages and is easy to use. Providing your contact information can be doubly effective, because if a visitor sends you an email asking you a question about your product, you will be able to remind them of your product when emailing back. Reminding a visitor of your product is an effective way to increase sales.

Turning a prospect into a customer is no easy task. If you have noticed that although you are continuously tweaking the sales pages, but you are still not getting sales, following these guidelines can help offer another way to effectively complete the transactions you’ve been waiting for.