There is a certain assumption amongst small online businesses, a belief that search engine optimization is primarily for major players and websites with hundreds, sometimes even thousands of indexed pages. That couldn’t be further from the truth. We hear about long-term SEO strategies and conjure images of giant websites – online authorities offering value, great content, and of course, a rapid and gigantic audience.

The truth, however, is that search engine optimization is distinctly different from the common assumption. The vast majority of SEOs – professional or not – work with relatively small websites, capitalizing on the vast markets left untapped by major players with different priorities. It does not take much effort to uncover small, independent websites; traces of marketing worth left by SEOs with an eye for research and an ability to capitalize on other marketers’ ‘trash.’

It’s all about keyword research.

These small websites – known as SEO mini-sites to many – are the backbone of many online earnings efforts. There are a particularly popular starting point for marketers and would-be SEOs, and they are something that you can do right now. These four tips, tactics, and important factors will help you get a foot into the SEO mini-site world, and begin to capitalize on the huge amount of traffic available to savvy marketers.

Mix your templates.

There are hundreds of theories, schemes, and conspiracies surrounding the search engines. ‘Experts’ proclaim to know almost everything about Google, Yahoo, and others, claiming that the slightest imperfection could send your website to the bottom of the heap, often without a chance to climb the ladder again.

One such ex-rumor has turned out to be true: template usage. When your entire empire is build on SEO mini-sites, it is essential that you can differentiate each one in the search engines. There is no need to keep everything different between your websites, but variation in design and coding can help you escape the annoyances of a manual review or search engine sandbox period.

Research is vital.

Most SEO mini-sites are designed to cater to a single keyword, a tiny keyword set, or even a local search phrase. When your targeting is laser sharp – so specific that every last cent of revenue is dependent on it – it is essential that your research, findings, and statistics back it up. Spend the majority of your time searching for worthwhile keywords, allowing yourself to build a complete website only after you have located a worthwhile market.

Test with Adsense, then expand.

Adsense is not ideal, but it is simple. By outfitting your SEO mini-sites with Google Adsense, you will gain an understanding of your niche’s profitability, your website’s potential to grow, and an estimate of how much revenue you could generate independently. Analyze your Adsense clicks, earnings, and popularity and use the data as the basis for affiliate sales experiments, alternative advertising platforms, or even development of your own online product.

I can help with keyword research and SEO campaigns. Just let me know and we can get started.

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MATERIAL CONNECTION DISCLOSURE: You should assume that I, Andrea Kalli, have an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this page and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

Article by Andrea Kalli

Take a stroll over to my Facebook Page and become part of my community. I invite you to become a fan and participate in the conversation.
Certified Internet and Social Marketing Assistant

SEO Mini-Sites: Four Things You Need to Know to Make Money Online

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There are a hundred and one ways to build an opt-in email list, but one of the most effective methods is through video marketing.

Step 1: Build a Website or Landing Page

Any online business needs to have a website or at least a landing page to survive. While video marketing can be very effective in promoting products and services, websites or landing pages are important in providing more information to interested audiences as well as gathering subscriptions.

Website and landing page design and strategies to increase the likelihood of sign-ups are beyond the scope of this guide, but suffice to say you will want to inform the visitor with all the great benefits of subscribing to your email list and the value your online business can provide. Furthermore, it should include a form that visitors can use to sign up to your email list.

Step 2: Sign-Up for an Email Marketing Software or Service

To be able to send messages to subscribers and manage an entire email campaign, using an email marketing software such as Aweber is recommended. With an easy-to-use interface and a broad spectrum of features, Aweber is often the choice of new internet marketers and veterans alike. Other excellent choices include Constant Contact and Mailchimp.

While it is often recommended for online business owners to plan out and write at least six months worth of automatically broadcasted emails, doing so is not entirely necessary if you are new to email marketing and are just experimenting within a particular niche. It should be enough for you to write one welcome email for your new subscribers and, perhaps, one or two follow-up messages. Observe your results and continue from there.

Step 3: Create a video

Do a quick search on your favorite video site for keywords related to your niche. Just about anything you can think of will have results. Your video needs to come up in that list now! Think of important things you want to communicate to your potential customers and ways by which you can present them in a visually-stimulating and entertaining video. Just make sure that your video content is supported by the information you have on your website or landing page. Once you have it all planned out, all you need is a camera and a simple editing software to start shooting and create your video.

Once you’ve made your video, you should include a link to your website or landing page so that viewers will know where to go to find out more about what your online business has to offer. Include your links to your video description as well. The best part of this whole process is that, once your video has been uploaded, it will generate opt-ins to your list without you having to lift a finger. This is just one version of the highly regarded autopilot marketing that many online entrepreneurs refer to.

Finally, if you see traffic and success with one video, consider creating more. Don’t limit yourself to just one video site either, there are tons! The more places you can spread your videos to, the more views and sign-ups you are likely to generate.

If you need help with video editing projects, just let me know!

WishList – Wordpress Membership Sites and Retention Strategies, Wordpress Support

MATERIAL CONNECTION DISCLOSURE: You should assume that I, Andrea Kalli, have an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this page and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

Article by Andrea Kalli

Take a stroll over to my Facebook Page and become part of my community. I invite you to become a fan and participate in the conversation.
Certified Internet and Social Marketing Assistant

How to Gather Email List Subscriptions Through Video Marketing

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Your videos may have plenty of views, but what do you do when, despite your efforts, the campaign isn’t yielding any return on your investment or any return at all? Take a look at some of these tips to learn how to transform idle viewers into actively engaged buyers.

Show the Viewer Benefits, not Just Details

The most compelling advertisements will illustrate the benefits of a product, not just the details and features. For example, take a closer look the next time you see a weight loss commercial on television. Generally you’ll notice that either through imagery or even spoken word, the benefits of the product are being described. Showing an attractive lady looking and feeling confident in a swimsuit tells you very little about the details of how the product works pharmaceutically, but it very clearly demonstrates the end goal and why the viewer should make a purchase.

This concept doesn’t just apply to the weight loss niche, it will improve your video marketing campaigns no matter what niche you are trying to target. Assume your campaign’s goal is to sell web design services to small businesses. The focus shouldn’t necessarily be on the technical specifications of the service such as what programs and applications the designer is proficient in. Instead, the focus should be on examples of other small businesses who have had a positive increase in sales, lead generation, or any other measurable data as a result of the web design service. In almost any niche you might promote, you should expect that the viewer wants to hear a little bit about how the product works, but will ultimately be more interested in buying if they are presented with the benefits.

Use Compelling Imagery

The use of shocking or unusual pictures to grab a viewer’s attention is nothing new in advertising, and video marketing is no different. This doesn’t mean that you should show your audience something disgusting or horrifying and then suddenly tell them about your product. That doesn’t exactly make for a smooth segue. Instead, you can use interesting, compelling imagery to captivate your viewers as well as inform them about the benefits of owning your product.

For example, think of truck commercials. Generally, the advertiser wants to instill the idea that with the vehicle on offer, the owner can travel through beautiful mountainous areas and confidently go anywhere off-road. This is more effective than showing the truck driving around an urban environment, which is most likely what most owners of the vehicle will use it for the vast majority of the time. It is the engaging imagery of the mountain terrain that gives the viewer the sensation of freedom and reliability, not the product itself.

Utilize Appropriate Audio Clips

Think of your favorite movie. It could be action, drama, or whatever genre you enjoy. Now try and imagine what it would be like without a soundtrack. The camera pans over a raging battlefield of warriors fighting for their lives, except the epic orchestral music underlining this exciting scene is suddenly absent – it takes something away from the scene, doesn’t it? Using music or audio samples in your video marketing can transform the lackluster into a blockbuster.

These are just a few simple tips to keep your video marketing content engaging enough so that your viewers will eventually want to purchase your product or avail of the services you are offering. Follow them and see the difference they can make to your campaign’s conversion rates.

WishList – Wordpress Membership Sites and Retention Strategies, Wordpress Support

MATERIAL CONNECTION DISCLOSURE: You should assume that I, Andrea Kalli, have an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this page and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

Article by Andrea Kalli

Take a stroll over to my Facebook Page and become part of my community. I invite you to become a fan and participate in the conversation.
Certified Internet and Social Marketing Assistant

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Blogging is a great platform for promoting a business, and one of the best ways to gain ultra-cheap online exposure is through a blog promotion or competition. With a reasonable amount of blog traffic and a proactive audience, it is possible to put your business in front of thousands, sometimes even tens-of-thousands of eyes, all with a simple special offer or potential prize.

Of course, running a blog competition is not as simple as posting what you want people to do. While there aren’t any rules, there are “best practices” that you should stick to. Whether you want to boost orders, increase your reader count, or simply gain new traffic for your marketing websites, these strategies are unlikely to fail you.

1) Incorporate Social Media
If you do not mind stretching the definition slightly, blogs are social media. However, while blogs offer the same connective features as other social media platforms, they lack the depth of a medium like Facebook or Twitter.

When you are piecing together your blog promotion strategy, incorporate social media platforms that allow a message to spread quickly. If your message can be summarized in 140 characters, make it a promotion that works effectively on Twitter. If it can travel through already established relationships, make it something that travels via Facebook. Running a great blog-based promotion is not just about attracting other bloggers, but about supporting your blog message with other promotional outlets.

2) Explain it in one sentence.
The kiss of death for any promotion is complexity. Whether it is a simple discount offer or a competition, the driving force behind promotional success is simplicity. If you can’t explain your promotion in one sentence, it is unlikely your audience will be able to, and as a result your message will fail to spread.

Remember, you should be designing your blog promotion with social media in mind. The vast majority of social media platforms favor short, snappy messages that don’t require excessive explanation. Craft a promotion that is easy to explain, not just easy to take part in.

3) Encourage other bloggers to spread the word.
The most successful blog promotions do not necessarily offer the best deals of feature the best prizes. Sometimes it is less about what is on offer, and much more about how it is offered. When you are creating a plan for your blog promotion, get in touch with other bloggers and let them know when it is going ahead.

Even a few small supporting blog posts can go a long way, not just from a direct promotional standpoint, but from an SEO standpoint. Every extra post, whether directly effective or not, is another link back to you, and every effective post is another source for direct, scalable promotion.

4) Make it relevant to your blog.
The most effective promotions offer something that can’t be found anywhere else. Successful businesspeople offer free consulting, authors and artists offer one-on-one interviews and lunches, and marketers offer potential marketing collaborations. Your promotion should not just be about attracting attention with a discount code or a free prize, it should be about bringing attention to your blog for the unique value that it can offer.

WishList – Wordpress Membership Sites and Retention Strategies, Wordpress Support

MATERIAL CONNECTION DISCLOSURE: You should assume that I, Andrea Kalli, have an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this page and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

Article by Andrea Kalli

Take a stroll over to my Facebook Page and become part of my community. I invite you to become a fan and participate in the conversation.
Certified Internet and Social Marketing Assistant

How to Run a Blog-Based Promotion

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The Birth of Podcast Production
Since this is my first guest blog post for VirtualAssist.net, I guess I should introduce myself and tell you a little bit about my company.  My name is Andy Robbins and I started my podcast production company, AudioFile Solutions, in 2002 after spending the previous 9 years in the audio production industry as an audio engineer.  During that time, the birth of the World Wide Web created a host of new opportunities in audio production.  One of them…you guessed it, Podcast Production.  We started a blog recently that covers tips and techniques of podcast production, telephone and conference call recording, and audio transcription services.  I hope you will check it out.

Today I want to talk about the basic types of podcast productions and which one may be right for you—especially if you are selling a product or a service.

1. Podcasting as a Commercial
In this day and age, we have all grown up on television, radio and now the Internet.  From day one we have been taught that bigger is better, flashy is finer, and louder is more desirable.

As a child, what was the birthday toy you wanted the most?  The one with the flashiest commercial, of course!  At six years old, we may not know the “why” of it all, we just know we “waaant” it!

This style of production is now a legitimate approach on the World Wide Web.  The thought being, produce the best podcast imaginable, and “they will come”.

This is usually your most expensive option as it requires hiring a full-fledged advertising agency, outside consultants and/or actors and actresses to get it just right.

2. Podcasting as a Talk Show
We’ve all heard podcasts where a wanna-be Phil Donohue is interviewing the next Steve Jobs.  Trouble is, both of these men have more talent and showmanship in one pinky than most of us have in our whole body.  Don’t get me wrong, there is a definite place for this type of production, but it may be the hardest of the three to pull off without looking silly or boring your audience to death.

This style may take even more preproduction preparation than #1.  Talent (think talented people) is key here, both in the writing and in the production.

3. Podcasting as an Infomercial
This is without a doubt the most popular in the business community.  Here, an executive with WidgetsRUs goes to his VP of Marketing and says, “Wouldn’t it be great to record our next sales meeting and broadcast it on the Internet?”

The answer to the above question is very often, “yes”.  Why?  Because it is easy, quick, and cheap while still getting the content out to your customers.

Content is King
In B2B and B2C podcasting, just like in many other industries, content is king.  If the toy in example #1 is considered cool by all the 12-year old focus groups—a million dollar commercial would be money well spent.  If the talk show host in example #2 is talking about the latest and greatest iPhone, it will have a greater following than if they are chatting about rocket science (let’s face it, most of us would not be able to comprehend that stuff).  And finally, if a business expects people to sit for 45 minutes and listen to their executives talk, they better have something good to sell, right?

Think of the classic children’s tale The Four Musicians of Bremen.  These four executives, eh-hem, I mean animals, went out into the marketplace thinking that they would perform their latest musical number and consequently sell a million copies of their next album.  Instead, what they thought was a performance of beautiful music turned out to be an amalgamation of obnoxious noises that nobody could stand to listen to.  Don’t let this be how your audience feels about your next podcast production.

Which Approach is Right for Me?
Here are a few considerations that can help you decide which style to use for your next podcast production.

Who is your audience:  the consumer, military brass, kids under 25?  These are all groups that expect high-end, commercial-type productions.  You may want to consider the million dollar podcast.

Who is your competition:  software vendors, equipment manufacturers, Microsoft?  In this case, you may want to have a Phil Donohue-type discussion about your latest product—discussing its merits and how it can be differentiated from your competitors.  This style may be more common in these industries and customers may be more willing to listen to this type of podcast.

What is your content:  Software as a Service?  Life coaching?  Security solutions?  In these examples, your audience may have no interest in a flashy production, and a no-frills 45 minute conference call might make perfect sense—not to mention, save you a ton of money.

Each of the above styles is only to stimulate your thinking and not meant to accomplish much more than that.  There is no possible way a podcast consultant can tell you what podcast production approach is right for your industry 100% of the time.

The one take-away would be this, spend plenty of time developing great content; don’t expect your customers will listen or watch your podcast for any other reason than this.  Then hire a professional podcast production company, consultant or producer to create a great podcast for you.  After all, as the expert in your field, you’ve spent countless hours developing your content, now let the podcast production experts produce a podcast that is worthy of that content.

WishList – Wordpress Membership Sites and Retention Strategies, Wordpress Support

MATERIAL CONNECTION DISCLOSURE: You should assume that I, Andrea Kalli, have an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this page and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

Article by Andrea Kalli

Take a stroll over to my Facebook Page and become part of my community. I invite you to become a fan and participate in the conversation.
Certified Internet and Social Marketing Assistant

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Marketers, entrepreneurs, and web developers are in agreement: SEO is one of the most profitable, stress-free, and effective forms of marketing. The last five years have seen some remarkable SEO success stories, from Markus Frind’s ultra-popular PlentyOfFish online dating website all the way to unique location-dependent auction websites and trading posts.

And yet, despite SEO’s immense value and potential for businesses, it is a remarkably hard sell for marketers and search consultants. Despite the prevalence of search engine optimization agencies and freelance SEOs, the service itself is quite a hard sell; of the hundreds-of-thousands of businesses pitches on SEO services annually, the vast majority just are not that interested.

It is a combination of fear and uncertainty, and it is one that is often counter-intuitive for business owners. As marketers, it is easy to see the immense power that SEO can hold for local entrepreneurs and online businesses; a single keyword can triple business, while a top-ten ranking can transform a company from a no-name storefront into one of the most important players in their industry.

Offering a service is one thing – explaining your service is the most essential part. These three tips will not help you get better at ranking websites, they will not help you improve your own revenues, and they are unlikely to generate more links for you. What they will do is help you demonstrate the value of SEO to others – business owners, offline marketers, and struggling entrepreneurs.

Pitch results, not SEO services.

Few business owners are interested in the internet. Even fewer are interested in search engine placements. What business owners are interested in is improving their revenue, boosting their profits, and building a marketing mechanism that generates clients and sales without costing them hundreds of hours every month.

SEO is all of that, but it is useless when pitched as what it is. Pitch the results of your service to potential clients and you will gain interest, questions, and long-term contracts; offer nothing but technical details and you will end up confusing and alienating potential business partners.

Lose now, gain later.

Pitching results is not enough – you need to demonstrate results in order to win long-term business. The vast majority of business owners live in fear of risk, especially when it is mysterious and difficult to understand. Pitch them results and technical details and you will end up with an interested client, albeit one with slight reservations to spending money straight away.

Sometimes, it is best to build your rankings first, optimize your websites, and then pitch to your prospective clients. The difference between a failed contract and a long-term partnership is almost always in the risk; prove that your service is already worthwhile and you will gain instant business, while avoiding the dull development period that can plague from-scratch projects.

Acquire professional overhead.

Despite being skilled, successful, and attentive, the vast majority of SEOs lack the corporate structure to gain a meeting with large businesses. Many search experts work from home, rent a small office space, or even work remotely while they travel.

While these situations have obvious lifestyle benefits, they are often difficult to explain to major clients and potential business partners. The difference between a gained contract and a missed opportunity is often in the presentation; prove that you are big enough to get things done and you will end up gaining more clients, handling significantly more accounts, and generating more day-to-day revenue.

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MATERIAL CONNECTION DISCLOSURE: You should assume that I, Andrea Kalli, have an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this page and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

Article by Andrea Kalli

Take a stroll over to my Facebook Page and become part of my community. I invite you to become a fan and participate in the conversation.
Certified Internet and Social Marketing Assistant

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Once upon a time, massive archives of low quality content was the standard amongst bloggers. Blogs were monetized with Adsense and affiliate products, and what mattered was not the quality or relevancy of the content, but the amount of space which was available to plaster with Adsense advertisements and sponsor information.

Now, things are remarkably different. The vast majority of money-first, quality-later blogs have disappeared from the popular blogging world, in turn replaced with high quality blogs with a relentless focus on smart monetizing. Adsense is no longer the winning blog formula, and bloggers have taken a completely new approach to generating valuable, marketer-friendly content.

These five tips will help you make that same change — from low quality and mass quantity, to high quality and low maintenance. If you want to establish yourself as a high quality blogger, be sure to incorporate them into your plan before you start.

1. Quit caring about frequency.

Blogging frequently is not the goal. When you have a choice between mid-level daily posts and high quality weekly posts, take the second. Not only does quality survive longer as a blogging tool, but it ages much more effectively as an informational resource. While it might sound appealing to share a daily thought or reflection with your audience, most people will be much more interested in your long-term plans and high quality knowledge.

2. Do not live in the moment; live for the future.

Short-term trends and fads will always plague the blogging world, churned out by low quality bloggers looking for instant exposure and success. Ignore them. Your blog is more than just an outlet for information, it is a personal branding tool. If you are not interested or convinced by what is going on today, do not invest your time in it. Instead, invest in the future, and look for trends that have potential to grow.

3. Offer in-depth information, not speculation and rumors.

There are thousands of blogs churning out speculation and pushing rumors, and they are all virtually indistinguishable from one another. The path to blogging success isn’t built on repeat content and mindless speculation, but on concrete information and forward-thinking insight. Leave speculation to other bloggers and focus on information that’s both real and worthwhile.

4. Product pitches are gone, unless of course they’re good.

Blogger audiences, for the most part, are not stupid and will be able to see through a product or service pitch almost instantly. Not only is pitching through a blog ineffective and a poor use of time, but a major blow to your credibility should things go wrong. Think about the long-term marketing potential of your blog, and leave mindless product pitches to other bloggers.

5. Monetize through value, not through hustle.

Hustle and quick sales will only take your blog so far. Sure, you might get a couple of nice Adsense of affiliate checks, but it is unlikely to become something that works long-term. Rather than focusing on hustle and instant income, shape your blog around helping people achieve their long-term goals. When your blog is aimed at success two years down the line, your audience will stay with you, ready to buy your products and use your services.

WishList – Wordpress Membership Sites and Retention Strategies, Wordpress Support

MATERIAL CONNECTION DISCLOSURE: You should assume that I, Andrea Kalli, have an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this page and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

Article by Andrea Kalli

Take a stroll over to my Facebook Page and become part of my community. I invite you to become a fan and participate in the conversation.
Certified Internet and Social Marketing Assistant

Authority Blogging: Five Tips for High Power Blog Posts

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Internet marketing, despite being a massively lucrative industry, is not particularly old. While the internet was developed and released on a mass scale to the public in the early 1990s, today’s major internet marketing methods did not develop until close to the turn of the millennium. Affiliate programs popped up in the late 1990s, search engines developed and hit their current value early in the 2000s, and the vast majority of CPA-based programs only started development within the last five years.

Despite this relatively lack of age, internet marketing has developed incredibly within the last ten years, particularly when it comes to SEO. The initial big wins for SEO practitioners were major terms, particularly highly valuable keywords. However, the major winners amongst SEO practitioners today aren’t mass-searched terms, but valuable local and regional keyword matches.

With more and more SEOs looking to establish a presence in local search listings, it has become increasingly important to follow strategies and best practices for local ranking. These rules won’t push a business to the top of the local search results immediately, but they will certainly help businesses boost their rankings and become more visible.

1. Pick terms based on value, not just search frequency.
‘Cheap products’ might get 10,000 searches per month, but that does not mean it’s worth more than ‘high-end products’ at 7,000 searches per month. The best way to market locally is to pick search terms that are valuable to your business, not just your website’s traffic statistics.

2. Make sure you get a Google Maps listing too.
How good would it be to have not just one, but two local listings in your search results? Rather than spending all your time on acquiring a top-ranked search result, it is best to split time evenly between acquiring a visible search result and ranking for a local map result. Set up a Google Maps presence for your business and you will see increased traffic from two different search sources, not just one.

3. Aim for regional ranks, not just local.
It is certainly valuable to become the default search result for your city, but it is even more valuable to become the default search result for your county, province, or even state! With the right degree of keyword targeting and link generation research, you can master regional ranks and local ranks at the same time, vastly increasing your market size.

4. Test your SEO value with in-store signals.
It is one thing to predict your SEO value, but it is another to actually test it out. Why not offer a special 5% discount for online customers, just to see how many customers or clients actually discover your business online? With a quick addition to your website’s homepage, you could have a foolproof in-store SEO checking scheme, ready to analyze and record the value of your SEO campaigns.

WishList – Wordpress Membership Sites and Retention Strategies, Wordpress Support

MATERIAL CONNECTION DISCLOSURE: You should assume that I, Andrea Kalli, have an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this page and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

Article by Andrea Kalli

Take a stroll over to my Facebook Page and become part of my community. I invite you to become a fan and participate in the conversation.
Certified Internet and Social Marketing Assistant

Four Rules for Local SEO Marketing

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Who says internet marketing is easy work? For all the stories out there – the tales of marketers working three hours daily, earning tens-of-thousands-of-dollars weekly, and enjoying a relaxing lifestyle – there are thousands of marketers slaving for hundreds of hours monthly to ensure that their visions of an online empire become reality. Simplicity has invaded our goals, and it is unlikely to leave any time soon.

What is remarkable, especially for business owners accustomed to working ten-plus hours daily, is that it is very possible to minimize your workload, cut down on stress, and enjoy more free time. In fact, SEO is one of the best ways to achieve such a goal. These four tips will help you make your business empire less tiresome, less stressful, and significantly more per-hour profitable.

Research is everything.

Spend only ten minutes researching keywords, niches, and opportunities, and you will end up producing a website that is loaded to the brim with stress and frustration. Poor markets yield poor returns, and hundreds of marketers fall into the trap of picking a poor niche, domain name, or product daily.

Instead of spending your time building, spend it researching. Two hours spent researching keywords is often time well spent – time that would otherwise be invested in improving poor search keywords, working against the disadvantage of a bad domain name, or rebuilding a poorly planned website.

Own your links, content, and PR.

Never rely on third-party websites and hosted content. Your goal as a business owner should not be to merely rise to the top of the search rankings, but to rise to the top of the search rankings while remaining in control and secure. Owning your links, content, and page rank allows you to enjoy stress-free rankings – rankings that are not likely to be hurt by off-site actions or new indexing standards.

Outsource almost everything.

If anything separates good marketers from great marketers, it is their ability to outsource tasks and manage employees. Consultants and business experts like to throw around the word ‘team,’ and for good reason – marketers and entrepreneurs with management experience tend to be more effective than those without.

Structure your SEO efforts not around difficulty or intensity, but around manageability. By grouping tasks into ‘outsource’ and ‘do-not-outsource’ categories, you will be able to manage your workload more effectively, build a successful work team, and get significantly more work done.

Not sure where to turn for SEO help? Look no further! I can work out a Keyword Research/SEO/Backlink Strategy and Action plan that will bring results and ease your workload for the things you enjoy more in your business.

Stick to a long-term plan.

All marketers fail. Some experience major failures, investing thousands of hours into a project before having it fall down in front of them, often quite publicly. Others fail cheaply, building a small website and watching as it fails to gain any traction. Failure is an essential part of success, and it is one that can be particularly difficult to understand as a marketer.

So do not worry too much about your failures. You will build websites that do not rank, and you will occasionally lose your rankings for certain websites. Stick to a long-term plan, focus, and always remember that for every hour spent on something other than long-term goals is another wasted opportunity.

WishList – Wordpress Membership Sites and Retention Strategies, Wordpress Support

MATERIAL CONNECTION DISCLOSURE: You should assume that I, Andrea Kalli, have an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this page and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

Article by Andrea Kalli

Take a stroll over to my Facebook Page and become part of my community. I invite you to become a fan and participate in the conversation.
Certified Internet and Social Marketing Assistant

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Writing content, particularly online marketing content, is no easy task. There is a reason that only a few of the thousands of article marketers out there actually end up breaking through and making it big. Content is dynamic and variable, and without a dedicated strategy and game-plan for ensuring that your content is quality, it is unlikely that you will ever see any positive marketing results.

However, while great content is difficult to produce, learning to create great content is not. From imitation strategies to sheer determination and one-after-another article creation, learning to become a great content marketer is something that takes time and willpower. The payoff, however, is definitely worth it. These five tips will help you take your marketing content from something that is passable but ineffective, and hone it into a dedicated and proven marketing tool.

1) Minimize fluff and padding.

If there is one thing that separates great writing from amateur scribbles, it is the amount of fluff and padding that separates the content from the piece itself. Think of writing as a high quality whisky – the most water, cola, or ginger ale that gets added, the less visible the original taste is. While newbie writers often think they need to piece together their marketing content in an accessible way, the best way forward is by creating writing that quickly gets to the core of the issue.

2) Write with a purpose.

Do not linger on thoughts endlessly and end up getting nowhere. Writing marketing content is not an exercise in thinking and pontification. If you need to validate yourself with endless writing and purposeless debate, make sure it’s in a piece that is not sales-driven.

3) Remember that marketing content is a tool, not a solution.

Your goal as a content marketer is not to have the best and most intriguing content around. Sure, it might help if your goal is to write for Time magazine, but it is unlikely to help you sell products. The most effective writers are not always perfect with grammar and syntax. What pushes them ahead of other writers is that they view their writing as a piece of the sales puzzle, not the end solution.

4) Don’t overwrite, underwrite.

Just like fluff can alienate an audience and diminish the value of your main points, overwriting can lead your audience on for too long and end up rendering your message ineffective. Whenever you are stuck between taking a short and simple writing option or a long and arduous second paragraph, pick the first and spare your audience the annoyance of reading something that does not go anywhere.

5) If you are pitching, give it structure.

Your article should not be built on a one-paragraph introduction, four-paragraph body, and one-paragraph pitch. When your goal is to sell a product or service, your entire article should reflect it. Whenever you are pitching a product, service, or action, do so in a way that is weaved in and out of your article, not stuck at the end like an unscheduled advertisement.

WishList – Wordpress Membership Sites and Retention Strategies, Wordpress Support

MATERIAL CONNECTION DISCLOSURE: You should assume that I, Andrea Kalli, have an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this page and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

Article by Andrea Kalli

Take a stroll over to my Facebook Page and become part of my community. I invite you to become a fan and participate in the conversation.
Certified Internet and Social Marketing Assistant

Effective Content Marketing: Five Tips for Writing Great Content

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