20 Ways To Increase Website Traffic and eBook Sales

Keywords: Ecommerce

Here's a fast, easy list for you. Use it as checklist to see what you need to do to increase traffic. Or use it as a review list if you have already been working on improving your website traffic. It will help you find ways that you might have known or forgotten.

1. People love to receive free or win free stuff, whether they really need it or want it. A free eBook is perfect to satisfy those needs over the Internet. They will visit your website to get the free valuable information.

2. Give away the full version of your eBook in exchange for testimonials. You can use these customer statements to improve your ads' effectiveness.

3. When you create an eBook, you change your image to "Expert." This will gain people's trust and they will buy your main product or service quicker.

4. Publish your website in eBook format. Put the eBook on a disk or CD-ROM then include it with your direct mail packages. This can increase the number of people that buy your product or service.

20 Website Mistakes That Cost Me Three Years and $22,000

Keywords: Websites

"Learn from other’s mistakes," my Mom always advised me. Learn from mine, save three precious marketing years, tons of frustration, energy, and come out way ahead of the game. Best of all, you probably didn't lose thousands of dollars like I did.

1. If you use a shopping cart, check if the zip code request appears before the city and state on the order form. Most carts don't to this. Why is this important? Because if ordering is not easy, I mean real easy, for your buyers, they drop out in the process. Ordering should be as effortless as possible for the purchaser.

If the zip code is before the city and state and is set to drop their city and state into the next two fields automatically, it saves the purchaser's time. Believe it or not, this one "little" item leaves a memory chip and they will remember the experience in the future. Did you know that 60% of buyers opt-out and don't complete the transaction because of the little things.

2. Do you have boxes or radial buttons that they need to check off in the ordering process? Yes, then go ahead and fill-in the checkmark in for them. Let them uncheck it if they do not want the choice you are gave them. Again, making it easier to buy from you and reduce the chance of them leaving before completing the transaction.

How Bad Search Terms Can Booby Trap Your Content

Keywords: Search Terms

Web users type in some pretty far-out search terms when looking for information online. People are in a hurry and often don't bother with spelling, correct syntax, or logical phrasing. So they enter terms like:

"girl sport shorts" "car used for sale" "copywriting engine optimization search services"

Those terms end up in lists of keyword phrases churned out by keyword suggestion tools such as Overture's. Hard to believe but Overture claims that last term is queried over 5 times a day... respectable numbers but how on earth do you write a term like that into copy that flows and makes sense?

Those of us who write search engine optimized copy have to face this dilemma regularly:

Do we use a slightly bent phrase that is frequently searched on? Or do we opt for a safer, more correct term? The answer can be found simply by looking at the mangled copy that results from using offbeat or grammatically garbled search terms.

Google Proof Your Site with Links

Keywords: Websites

Let me try reading your mind. You're thinking, "What? Google proof my site with links? I thought links helped Google rank my pages higher?"

And you're absolutely right. They do.

But links do something else. They give you a backup source of traffic for those days, weeks, or months when Google spasms out. Something content alone can't do.

So while content and on-page optimization count, to me links are what separates the men from the boys.

Now links come in three flavors:

• Directory Links • Reciprocal Links • One Way Links

Let's briefly cover each.

====> Directory Links
Unlike some, I'm not especially enamoured with directory links. For me their role has been to serve as the initial link(s) for a site so Google can find it. Other than that I find them more trouble than they're worth. Unless they're specifically targeted to your niche.

Attracting Traffic with Banner Ads

Keywords: Website Traffic

Internet is an ever evolving business platform. Doing business on the Internet differs in a number of ways from every day brick and mortar business. Change here is more frequent, more dramatic and may have greater impact than in a conventional business. Success in this climate can only come from quick response to the changes. Look at web advertisement! Just in a few short years, we have seen rise and fall of banner advertisement, email marketing, pop-ups, pop-unders and number of other marketing tools.

Consider banner advertisement. In the beginning of Internet era, banner advertisement was one of the primer methods of online marketing. There were not many quality sites in those days. In search of good feature and content filled websites visitors were clicking through banners aggressively. Today, things are totally different! Over using of banners on the web pages forced to train our eyes not to notice banners any more. Visitors tend to avoid clicking through the banners unless there is a very compelling reason to do so. Does that mean the banner advertisement is dead? Not so soon!

Although, banner click through rate is quite low in comparison to what it used to be, depending on your objectives banner advertisement can still be very effective. Banner ads are used today, either for creating brand recognition or for bringing in more traffic to the website and consequently generating more sales.

Google's Trap, DMOZ's Nap, And Yahoo!'s Crap

Keywords: Search Engines

Anyone may use this article free of charge, provided the article is not altered and the resource box remains intact.

On November 16th, 2003, Google commenced an update (the Florida update) which had a catastrophic effect for a very large number of websites and, in the process, turned search engine optimization upside down. It is common to give alphabetical names to Google's updates in the very same way that names are given to hurricanes, and this one became known as "Florida".

In a nutshell, a vast number of pages, many of which had ranked at or near the top of the results for a very long time, suddenly disappeared from the results altogether.

To so many on the Internet, Google has become the omnipotent "hand of God" and it's sickening! Why are so many people falling into the trap of optimizing their website's to cater to Google's ever-changing algorithms? I refuse to play that game! I personally could care less about my search engine rankings. I never have. My search engine rankings go up and down like a yo-yo! They have for years. Yet, I'm still able to comfortably support myself and my family.

5 Tips To Explode Your Site Traffic

Keywords: Website Traffic

One thing you can never have too much of online is web site traffic. If you're looking for ways to drive more visitors to your site, try these traffic generating tips.

TRAFFIC TIP #1: Develop Several Pages Focused On Particular Keywords

Search Engine specialists don't recommend using external doorway or gateway pages, since sites are being penalized for having duplicate pages. Instead, develop several webpages on your site, each of which is focused on a different keyword or key phrase. For example, rather than listing all your services on a single webpage, try developing a separate one for each. These pages will rank higher for their keywords since they contain targeted rather than general content. And since not many people are doing this yet you'll find it's possible to get several top 10 rankings.

TRAFFIC TIP #2: Pay Super Affiliates To Promote Your Site

Hand pick webmasters with popular sites or list owners with large, responsive lists and offer them $100 just for signing up for your affiliate program and promoting your link. With this approach you'll definitely get their attention and ensure that you sign up real affiliates who will actively promote your products and services. Even just 3 or 4 of these affiliates can cause a substantial increase in your site's traffic (and your sales!).

Nine Advance Networking Skills for Seasoned Networkers

Keywords: Network Management

A seasoned networker knows the real meaning of networking --being organized, efficient, effective, and, of course, work the event to its fullest. Attending networking groups after so many years can tire and drain anyone’s excitement. Especially since these situations are not social events. It is easy to have one foot in the event and the other some place else. A major challenge for all networkers is to be there with both feet.

What propels someone to advance networker? Is it the number of events or the number of years they attend? No. Is it the delicate balance and expertise on how they work the event? Yes.

Here are nine techniques that raise networkers skill level:

1. Business cards. If you are networking for a new job or career, there is nothing inappropriate about having a business card with a tag line of what type of job or company you are seeking.

Basic networkers learn that wearing an outfit with two pockets is important for the business card shuffle. Advance networkers think of those pockets as their in-box and an out-boxes.

Aware networkers hand business card exchanges differently. They don't ask for the card until they know something about the person’s functionality and there is a match. No match, no card. When you receive someone’s card; receive it gently with both hands, stop and read it. This shows respect. Respect to who they are and what they do.

How To Dramatically Improve Your Website's Conversion Ratio

Keywords: Websites

Anyone may use this article free of charge, provided the article is not altered and the resource box remains intact.

According to the so-called experts, a decent conversion ratio is right around one percent. In other words, one out of every one hundred visitors to your website converts to a sale.

Personally, I think a one percent conversion ratio sucks! My website consistently converts right around ten percent. And so do a lot of my Internet marketing collegues. I can assure you, the websites of superstars like Marlon Sanders, Terry Dean and others convert a lot higher than one percent.

Why? Well, besides knowing what we're doing, we're also ultra-competitive and don't settle for mediocre results. And with very few exceptions, a one percent conversion ratio is mediocre.

Unless you're selling a big-ticket item and making $100 or more per sale, it's extremely difficult to make any real money with only a one percent conversion ratio.

How To Implement E-Business Solutions Successfully

Keywords: E-Business

Getting your business processes online is not an easy job! According to Gartner Group, a renowned research firm, a full 75 percent of all e-business projects fail due to poor planning and unrealistic expectations of new technology. The productivity gains and cost savings promised by e-business solutions are often lost not because of the technology itself but because of improper management of their implementation. In most of the cases, when a massive e-business solution installation goes wrong, the management of the business is to blame. Failure to understand the scale of the project, oversimplification of the project, inappropriate expectations and lack of resource commitment are few of the mistakes made by management that debilitate the implementation and use of the systems.

Pitfalls of E-business solutions installation process

A large distribution company has decided to use a new online supply chain management solution. The people – those who were supposed to use the system – were quite skeptic about the ability of the system, as they did not have enough knowledge and had very little or no training in using a similar system. As a result, it took over a year for the company to bring the solution to its full operation. Productivity suffered severely. The final implementation cost came out to be several times more than initial budget. A large number of companies are reporting to face similar difficulties with the implementation of their e-business solutions.

A Fundamental Overview Of Pay Per Click Search Engines

Keywords: Pay Per Click

Forbes magazine has reported that pay per click ad sales are expected to increase to at least $8 billion by 2008.

The three fundamental core elements that form the basis of a successful pay per click ad program are constant monitoring, analysis, and refinement.

Pay per click search engines offer a way to buy your way to the top of search results for any term you wish. With proper management, and a clear focus, pay per click search engines can offer some of the most well targeted and economical advertising on the Internet.

Pay per click advertising works through a bidding process, and the ads appear prominently on the results pages of search engines such as Google and Yahoo. The highest bidder for a particular word or phrase receives top placement, and depending on the engine, the top three to five bidders also generally also receive placement on the first page of unpaid search results.

Fundamental questions to be addressed when formulating a pay per click search engine strategy include the following:

When is the top pay per click bid necessary for highest conversion, and when will bidding for a second or third place position create a more attractive return on investment (ROI)?