Visitors

Monday, July 26, 2010

Please “Click” here……

Has anyone out there had any difficulties getting any response to the ads on their web pages? I know that I definitely have. It can be a frustrating experience to go to all the trouble of getting the ads and then getting some traffic, only to find that it doesn’t necessarily get you anywhere. After researching this countless times online, I have found that the advice given is pretty consistent.


First, make sure that the ads are relevant to you blogs subject matter, and to the audience that you are reaching. I know that this is difficult if you don’t have a lot of options regarding the ads that finally make it to your blog. I know that once an ad made it to my site, I was pretty excited, and the last thing I wanted to do was edit the ads making it to my blog, but it is solid advice that does make sense. It is also important to make sure that the ad is very specific to what it is offering. You do not want your readers to have to scroll through a lot of different options to “shop” for the right product. Make sure they are aware of precisely what “benefit” they are going to receive through your offer.

A prospective customer will only click once on the banner ad link, and if it doesn’t bring him to your site, you will have lost a visitor and a potential sale. Also remember that you have a limited amount of time to present your offer. A highly targeted ad will quickly inform the reader of the product, promotion, and benefit, and should direct them precisely to where they need to go.

It is important to remember that in order to make more money, the ads have to be more effective, which equates to a higher click through rate. Now, to increase your click-through-rate, what are the steps?

1. Well, testing the ads is always a good idea. Check out Google Adwords Content Network Google Adwords Content Network. This allows you to test traffic against specific ads to see what is working and what is not. The test will take about a week, but will help you out immensely in the long-run.

2. Focus your attention on sites that do not have a lot of ads. This effectively limits competition to your own site.

3. From the results in 1, start implementing the winning ads on you sites. You should realize an immediate improvement in traffic and measurable hits on your ads.

All the Best,
Mark

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Advertisers…stop by and visit

It seems that no matter what your blog is about and the reason behind it, making some money at it never hurts. Some blogs are strictly devoted to making money, while others have a specific message to convey. But regardless of the reason behind it, you need to attract advertisers to your blog in order to help achieve this goal.


First of all, you can attract their attention with an “Advertise with us” banner somewhere on your blog. These can be placed on either side of the top bar or side bar, and draw attention.

Include an advertisement page. This can reveal all the pertinent information regarding your particular blog niche. Additional relevant information would be blog ranking, traffic, advertisement rates, and payment method. A contact page would be good as well.

Focus on your specific niche, as advertisers will definitely want to reach the target audience associated with those that read and follow your blog. To market your blog, make sure that the articles are of high quality and quantity, as both are needed to draw in visitors and advertisers likewise. Some hints for this are to generate good likeable content. Write posts that say something worthwhile, even if they are somewhat lengthy. Don’t think that because your post is several paragraphs that you can post every few days. You need the content coming in frequently to keep your readers interested. Writing about something useful is always a good idea, particularly if it’s something the readers can implement or use immediately to solve a problem or satisfy a need.

Make sure that ads that find their way to your site are matched to your blog content. There are always some that are attracted to higher traffic that might not be the “best fit.” Remember, that this is a give and take situation, and you want the best fit for your blog in order to promote it and get higher readership.

The layout of your blog should also be considered. Bold formats can be just fine, but it should look professional. The blog page represents you but it also represents the advertiser’s products, so make it a good fit for both.

Success to you all in your endeavors!



Regards,
Mark

Monday, July 19, 2010

Blog vs. Email Newsletters

There are 2 items are usually associated with a web marketing campaign, email newsletters and business blogs. Both of these are forms of communication, and are useful in their own way, but having the time to put together both a blog and an e-mail newsletter can be daunting. So the question then becomes which of these options will be more effective for what you want to do.


In the corner of the newsletter, we have the fact that customers are showing less loyalty these days. By using permission based e-mails, this can be a way of reminding the customer that it is time to re-stock, renew, or check out new products that may have just recently come out. I t is also less of a time constraint and requires less dedication to publish a newsletter and send it out to multiple clients or customers.

Now, a blog is a better tool to use when you do not typically have multiple purchases and less research is involved. The blog is a great way to get information out to the general public, establish credibility, and send leads for site conversion, but is more driven by the subscribers, and what they are looking for. The “Push” for marketing results may not be as forthcoming.

A blog is more interactive if you like getting feedback and response from blog visitors. It also helps if you like to write and have a sense for what people are searching for. However, a sense of urgency may not necessarily be associated with blog posting s in creating marketing interest and sales conversions.

But that isn’t to say that they can’t be. There are definitely examples of blogs that generate massive interest and sales conversions daily, but it depends a lot on the individual site and what you personally want to accomplish.

Ultimately the best choice is to have both, but that will depend on the time and resources each individual has, and what their goals are.

Regards,
Mark

Friday, July 16, 2010

Search Queries and what is being used…

A recent review by Chitika published findings regarding the examination of search driven ad impressions. Their results showed that three–word search queries are driving the most traffic. The sample was based on 41,103,403 impressions of search traffic coming into their network between June 13th and June 19th. According to their findings, 26 percent of search-driven traffic was the result of search driven traffic. The full breakout of their findings was:

1. Three words: 26 percent

2. Two words: 19 percent Bold

3. Four words: 17 percent

4. One word 14 percent

It is believed by some that the percentage for queries over 3 words is growing, and that the two and three word queries are on a downward trend.
















Regards,
Mark

Google Adsense Secret: Google’s Referral Programs

I'm always looking for more information for better utilization of Google Adsense, and I'm providing a link to one that looks good.  If you have some time I would recommend checking it out.

Regards,
Mark

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Affiliate Marketing – Simply what is it?

I’m sure you’ve heard this term over and over. It’s linked into just about every site that has anything to do with making money online or monetizing your blog or website. Simply put, Affiliate Marketing is when you take a service or product found on the internet and then promote it to someone else using a special link.

When a visitor reads your website, article, or blog and clicks on your special link or advertisement, they are taken to a page on the internet where they can purchase the service or product you recommended.

When someone uses your link to purchase a product or service you receive a certain percentage of that sale.  The adverisements will pay based several different options.  There is CPM (Cost per thousand) which is the amount the advertiser will pay to show their ad 1,000 times.  These could be unique or repeats depending on the program.  CPC (Cost per click) is the amount that will be paid per click of the ad or banner.  CPA (Cost per action) can be simply clicking on an ad or link, filling out a form or survey, and possibly making a purchase.  CTR (Click thru rate) is the percentage rate at which people click thru your banner.

And there are people out there that have this as their full time job. I still work a 60 hour week at a corporate office, but I could definitely dream about doing this full time.

The real problem is that there are a whole lot of different programs out there, so what are they and which ones should you use? Well there are sites that compare the different programs, and list them by popularity, product category, and by overall rating.

One Site is Top Affiliate. Now, I would definitely recommend doing further research before signing up with anyone, and a great source come from other blogs that you follow, that have their blog set up the way you would like, but their a few years ahead.

For some of this information, I go to Problogger to get information and insight. Thru that site I learned about the partnering of Amazon and Google to create the Amazon Associates Program. You can learn more about it from Amazon Associates Amazon Associates.

Again, this is just one option that is available, and there are a number of them out there. I will definitely be following up with more posts about this subject matter and the different programs that are out there. But for now, this is it.

Take care,
Mark

Monday, July 12, 2010

Graphics are just a click away....

The best way to communicate any idea in the world of web design is a good and a subtle straight-forward design. It helps to showcase, when a website is launched with a creative and unique layouts. It does not stop at having a great content, the entire layout and how it has been structured, decides its readability and influence on the reader. Content is always important, but the first impression means a great deal to whether the reader will take a personal stake in contributing to the success of the website or blog.


More and more effort is being put to take inspiration from the print world, which is accompanied by headlines, quotations, multi-column text, highlighted quotations, indented text, supporting imagery, side notes and footnotes. Greater emphasis is being placed on the eye-catching properties of the message or advertisement.

Graphics and the different software used to produce and manipulate images allows for greater flexibility and more creative options. One free available tool out there is GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). GIMP is a popular open-source image editor originally developed for Unix/Linux. it does have an interface and features similar to Photoshop, but with a steep learning curve to match. Because it's volunteer-developed beta software, stability and frequency of updates could be an issue; however, many happy users report using GIMP for Windows without significant problems.

Other free applications available are:

1. Paint.net

2. Photo Pos Pro

3. Photoscape

4. IrfanView
5. Adobe Photoshop Extended (free Trial)

6. FastStone Image Viewer

Please take a moment at some point to check out the incredible resources that are available at no charge, that can bring life and invigorate old blogs, and help create facinating new ones.
 
Regards,
Mark

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Mashable

Anyone that hasen't heard of Mashable should definitly check it out.  It is an internet news blog started by Pete Cashmore in July 2005.  With a reported  7.0M + page views, it ranks as one of the largest blogs on the internet.  Regular articles are featured regarding YouTube, Facebook, Google, Twitter, MySpace, Apple and startups.  It regularly reports on current events that are shaping the social dynamics of the World and can definitly give insight to trends in the blogging community that are growing and helping to inprove online networks.

Top social networking websites and the list of the fastest growing websites are just some of the items you will find on their site.

I am always looking for new and relavent sources of information, both in the fields of online marketing and social networking. 

Please feel free to add any recomendations for other good sources, and I will definitly check them out.

Regards,
Mark

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Back Links, What are they and how do I use them

Backlinks are nothing new, and many blogs are already utilizing them, but they are quite helpful in building traffic for your own blog. They enable you to keep track of other pages on the web that link to your posts.
Lets say that one person (Jim) writes a blog entry that another person (Ron) finds interesting. Ron might then write a post about Jim's post and actually link to it. Jim's post will reflect the link and possibly a small snippet of text. This helps to relate discussions that occur on different sites.

The backlinks setting can be found under the Settings Comments tab, and consists of a single, simple option to turn it on or off:

If you click the link, you will then be taken to the actual post page.
Hope this is helpful,

Regards,
Mark