| In this section, we further discuss the second | | | | supposed SEO companies that will guarantee you |
| most important keyword mistake and then | | | | 10,000 links in a week. They can, but those links |
| continue our marketing plan by developing the | | | | will be virtually useless for getting quality, targeted |
| other key aspects needed to succeed on the | | | | traffic. They may also get you banned from the |
| internet. | | | | search engines. So be careful when you choose |
| We begin with: | | | | to have someone else help with your link building. |
| The Number 2 Keyword Mistake | | | | There are also those that will tell you that building |
| By using the above methods, you will avoid the | | | | links is not really necessary. Don't believe that |
| 2nd most common keyword mistake: Choosing | | | | either. They say you can do Pay Per Click (PPC) |
| keywords you think the customer is searching | | | | advertising to build traffic, which is true, as far as |
| for. Most businesses and even some developers | | | | it goes. There is a major difference between link |
| choose keywords based on what they know | | | | building and PPC. PPC has its value, but mostly as |
| about the business. The trouble is they are too | | | | support for other (organic) methods. PPC is like a |
| close to the business. It is very important to | | | | hungry alligator. You must feed it constantly for it |
| choose keywords based on numbers and that | | | | to grow. Therefore, it is a constant drain on |
| have a proven record or performance and not on | | | | revenue. And the bigger the alligator grows, the |
| guesswork. | | | | bigger its appetite and the more you have to |
| You want keywords that are relevant, have good | | | | feed it. |
| levels of traffic, acceptable levels of competition | | | | Links on the other hand cost you up front in the |
| and are known to be profitable. Follow these rules, | | | | form of time and labor, but they are effective |
| and you have a much greater chance of success. | | | | for years. When you stop building links, those you |
| Once you have your keywords selected, you | | | | already have will continue to draw traffic. When |
| want to use them in your: | | | | you stop PPC, traffic dies immediately and your |
| 1. Title tag | | | | business is dead in the water. |
| 2. Meta description tag | | | | If you have been careful to follow the keyword |
| 3. Meta keywords tag | | | | advice above and chosen well, you can use PPC |
| 4. Heading tags | | | | to build traffic while you continue building links. But |
| 5. Body content | | | | links are vital to your long term marketing |
| 6. Alt tags on images | | | | strategy, so don't ignore them. |
| 7. Links to other content pages | | | | Another important consideration with links is that |
| What you will do next is prepare a web page that | | | | not all links are equal. This is why it is important to |
| uses the keyword or related keywords as the | | | | get links with high Page Rank. PR is the |
| subject for the page. However, we still have to a | | | | importance assigned to each page. A page with a |
| bit of work to do before we actually start | | | | PR of 5 is 10 times more important than a PR 4 |
| designing and building the page. So now let's move | | | | page. And a PR 4 is 10 times as effective as a |
| up the list to the Unique Selling Proposition, or USP. | | | | PR 3 and so on. Most links are from PR 0 pages. |
| Unique Selling Proposition | | | | Thus, a PR 5 link carries about 100,000 times the |
| The USP answers the following questions: What is | | | | weight of a PR 0. The more links you get from |
| your USP? What makes you, your product or | | | | high PR sites, the higher you will move in the |
| service unique? How does it benefit the | | | | searches. Remember, your goal is to be number 1 |
| customer? | | | | on page 1 of the search engines so you can get |
| Usually this is a difficult item to define but it | | | | 42% of all the clicks. |
| becomes a bit easier because we now have a set | | | | You can also generate links in a number of other |
| of keywords to work from. The keyword helps | | | | ways. Some of the tried and true ones include |
| us focus on what is important to the customer. | | | | writing articles, like this one, contacting businesses |
| Try to define those things that make the product | | | | in businesses related to your own, vendors, |
| attractive, exciting or necessary in the customers' | | | | blogging, and social media. There are many |
| mind. Think of all the benefits they can derive by | | | | sources of good quality links. |
| owning or using your product or service. | | | | Linking also takes time to be effective. It takes a |
| And that brings up another important point. We | | | | while for them to propagate through the system, |
| are developing a landing page. This is the first | | | | sometimes months. You just have to be patient. |
| page the visitor comes to when they click on | | | | From here on out, it is a no brainer. You have |
| your link from the search engine results and it is | | | | selected quality keywords that meet the four |
| ultra important. | | | | criteria of relevance, traffic, competition and |
| Don't try to sell anything on this page! I know that | | | | profitability as outlined above. You have a solid |
| sounds counter intuitive, but it is important to do. | | | | USP. You have developed quality content heavy |
| Just address the keyword phrase that brought | | | | with benefits that help your customer, and you |
| them here. Make the page very relevant to what | | | | have developed high quality links that will push you |
| the customer wants. Try to educate, solve a | | | | up in the searches. This will all result in: |
| problem, entertain them or give them whatever | | | | Targeted Traffic |
| they came for. Do it in a personal, helpful way. | | | | Targeted traffic is the result of all the hard work |
| Relate to them and they will always come back. | | | | you have put into your internet marketing plan. |
| It is proper to give them a link from this page to | | | | Now you begin to see how every part of that |
| your products page. That is where you sell. You | | | | plan depends on the step before it, and they all |
| can do that because by clicking on the link, they | | | | depend on how you chose your keywords. |
| have pre-qualified themselves as someone | | | | Without good keywords, nothing else will work. |
| interested in buying. That is the number one step | | | | When you have done all the hard work, the |
| in making the sale. | | | | traffic will qualify itself. Sometimes this process |
| On the landing page, you should also try to | | | | results in less traffic than you had before, but at |
| capture their name and email address and get | | | | the same time results in higher revenue because |
| them to opt in to your mailing list. You can do this | | | | the traffic is more targeted. Now we move on to |
| with a free offer of more information, special | | | | the next step: |
| reports, free software and so on. You need this | | | | Call to Action |
| list so that you can later make attractive offers, | | | | This actually goes along with the content, but it is |
| cross sell or up sell. | | | | here because if you don't compel your visitors to |
| Now things get a bit easier. We move on to | | | | take action, nine times out of ten, they won't. |
| Relevant Content. | | | | The action you want them to take is not always |
| Relevant Content | | | | to buy. You might want them to click through to |
| Many businesses get this one backwards. They | | | | your products page, or another, related |
| write content they think will interest customers, | | | | information page, or maybe download a report. |
| then pick keywords to match. Then they sit back | | | | Whatever it is you want them to do, ask them |
| and wonder why no one comes to buy. That is a | | | | to do it. Don't make them think and if possible |
| tough way to try to build a business. It is based | | | | don't let them leave until they have taken action. |
| on guess work and we don't like guesswork. This | | | | At the very least, get them to leave their |
| marketing plan takes the guesswork out of the | | | | contact information. |
| equation. | | | | Once you have done all this, you end up with the |
| So, why is this part easier? Because you now | | | | Sale |
| have a subject that is relevant to the customer's | | | | Now the real fun begins. You have made it to the |
| need. It is a subject you know, since it is part of | | | | top of the ladder. You are on the first page of |
| your business. And you have a great USP. All you | | | | the search engines, keywords are working for |
| have to do now is talk to your customer as you | | | | you and money is coming in. Now you have the |
| would your best friend. Just explain whatever it is | | | | opportunity to do the cheapest and most |
| they came for. No hype, no corporate jargon, | | | | effective selling you will ever get. If you have |
| just plain talk. Use the keyword phrase a few | | | | captured the email addresses from a good deal of |
| times in the content, but don't overdo it. | | | | your visitors, you can now make special offers |
| Remember, we are talking to people, not search | | | | for up sells, cross sells and additional add-ons to |
| engines. | | | | your original sales. |
| Make your content involve your customer, keep | | | | Now we come to something that is not on the list |
| it personal, appeal to ego, greed, fear, or | | | | above, but is also critical to your success: |
| whatever it is that brought this visitor to your | | | | Metrics |
| landing page. Remember, selling is an emotional | | | | Although I have put this one last, it is actually an |
| process. People buy what they perceive as a | | | | integral part of the internet marketing plan. Metrics |
| need, even though it is actually a desire. Make | | | | refers to the ability to quantify our successes. |
| your content compelling, build suspense and most | | | | We have the ability to see and understand things |
| of all make sure it is benefit driven. Show them | | | | in a way we never could before the internet |
| what they get when they do business with you. | | | | came along. |
| And stay away from telling them what features | | | | When we run a television ad, hand out a brochure |
| are in your product. If you must show a feature, | | | | or put an ad in a magazine, we have no way to |
| stress its benefit. Always stress benefits. Your | | | | measure how many people actually saw or read |
| customer only cares about what they want, so | | | | it. Nor do we have any really effective way to tell |
| show them the benefits of your products and | | | | how many people responded to it. Sure, we can |
| services. | | | | ask them, but that is a notoriously inaccurate way |
| Even though you are not directly selling on the | | | | to find out. |
| landing page, the same rules apply. Respond to | | | | With the internet, we can tell exactly how many |
| the customer's needs as stated in their keyword | | | | people were shown our ad, how many saw our |
| search and give them reason to click through to | | | | page or our link and we know exactly how many |
| your products page. | | | | people clicked on that link. We can tell which links |
| The SEs have gotten very sophisticated and | | | | were used and which were not. We can tell which |
| know when the subject of the page is closely | | | | content has the most appeal and which content |
| related to the search phrase. So keep it simple | | | | led to sales and even how long they spent |
| and clear and make sure it answers the question | | | | viewing our wonderful videos. |
| your customer asked. Then provide a link to your | | | | The first thing you want to do before you start a |
| products page or to other relevant content. | | | | new web project is to measure where you are |
| And this brings us to | | | | now. This sets a baseline by which you can |
| Links | | | | measure all other progress. This is especially |
| Remember when I said that the SEs don't see | | | | important if you are going to hire a marketing |
| websites, they see documents? Well, those | | | | firm or consultant to help with your marketing. |
| documents, or web pages, are all tied together. All | | | | After your new pages have been launched, it is a |
| of them! That's why it is called the web. The | | | | constant process of improvement. You must |
| documents are tied together by links and the links | | | | measure, make changes, test and measure again. |
| all contain keywords relevant to the content of | | | | Nothing will help you improve performance like |
| the destination page. | | | | measurement. |
| What we need is lots of other pages linking to our | | | | Summary |
| landing pages. The best way to find them is to do | | | | In this article, you have seen the major elements |
| a search for our best keywords. You will be given | | | | of developing a solid internet marketing plan. You |
| the top ranking (most relevant) pages. We want | | | | have seen the importance of selecting the correct |
| to get links from the same sources as those top | | | | keywords and how everything depends on them. |
| competitors. This is not too difficult as it turns out. | | | | We have also looked at the Unique Selling |
| Like keywords, it just takes a bit of time. | | | | Proposition, Content, Links and link building, Traffic, |
| At the bottom of each listing is a link to the | | | | Call to Action and Sales. |
| landing page. Copy this link. Then from any search | | | | This has by no means been a comprehensive |
| engine, in the search field type: Link: and then | | | | how-to manual (there are whole books on the |
| paste in the web page address you want to see. | | | | subject), but it highlights the importance of the |
| You will get back a list of pages that link to the | | | | major components and what you can expect |
| competitor's site. You want to get links from | | | | when developing your own marketing plan. |
| those same sites. The theory is that if it works | | | | We have also seen that for the small to medium |
| for them, it will work for you. | | | | sized business (SMB), it may be faster and |
| Like keywords, link building can be a difficult and | | | | cheaper to hire professionals to provide certain |
| often time consuming task. If you don't have the | | | | pieces of the plan rather than try to do them in |
| resources to do it yourself, it is money well spent | | | | house. This is especially true for the keyword |
| to have a reputable service do it for you. Notice I | | | | research process. |
| said reputable. There are any number of | | | | |