3 Simple (And Free) Marketing Tactics That Can Grow Your Traffic & Sales

by Kenneth Byrd | Follow Him on Twitter Here
Web Marketing

The people who want to sell you marketing services want you to believe that marketing is a complicated thing. They want you to believe that it takes special knowledge and experience to be able to market something effectively. While there is some truth to this idea, the one thing you need to know is that there are some very simple and free tactics for marketing your product. While any marketing strategy eventually needs to have some investment, the following three tactics have been proven to be effective and won't cost you a dime. Facebook It might seem weird to consider Facebook a marketing tactic, but that is exactly what it is. Facebook has driven the success of more businesses than any other website aside from Google search. When properly utilized, Facebook can be a phenomenal marketing tactic that will generate not only increased website traffic but also higher rates of customer conversion. While some people may dismiss Facebook as being too crowded, the truth is that it can still be used quite effectively. The best part about using Facebook is that it is free. This means you have one of the most powerful marketing tools on the internet without having to spend a dime. Twitter While there is some evidence to support the idea that Twitter traffic isn't worth a whole lot, the truth is that it can still generate income. While you do have to be a bit more careful about how you go about getting traffic from Twitter, it is still one of the best free social media sites … [Read more...]

Planning Your Website Features

by Kenneth Byrd | Follow Him on Twitter Here
Web Design

When you first devise your website concept, you might have a vision of cool things your website will do and a general idea how it will work, but making a comprehensive list that includes every little thing is not as simple as it sounds. In the mind of the programmer, your vision is broken down into features that will come together to make your website work the way you want it to. Your list should include features that you might not implement right away, but would like to in the future. One example is a chat feature; when a website is new, the chat is inactive, but when it has more traffic, it can be a great feature to have. If your list covers everything, the website can be designed to enable those features to work easily when you are ready for them. Implementing them after the fact is more work and will cost more later than if planned for before the website is built. If planned for, a click of the button can make them active when you are ready. Figuring Out What You Need The easiest interface is some type of content management system. The webmaster can control all of the visible content, access member or subscriber information, etc. without touching anything related to the server or database.  Most are very easy to learn and use a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) feature so you can type as you normally would in a word document without worrying about code to bold, underline, etc. throughout your text. Your content management system can tie together many … [Read more...]

Building Your Squidoo Lenses

by Kenneth Byrd | Follow Him on Twitter Here
Squidoo Guru

Note: This is part 3 of a series called "Squidoo Your Way To Success". Click here if you haven't read part 1 or part 2 of this series. Now that you have used Long Tail Pro to create several long tail keyword phrases, it's time to create your lens content. Let's Start Planning Your Squidoo Lens Look at all of your long tail keywords that you've decided to use. These keywords will be used as the titles of your modules in Squidoo. Be sure search for and use several (at least 5) long tail keywords in your lens Create and enter a title for each Lens module. Building the Lens Now you're ready to build your lens and include affiliate products. There are only three methods of doing this: Method #1 - Use your own Amazon affiliate links. Using your own Amazon Associate ID is allowed on Squidoo. Method #2 - Use Squidoo's Amazon modules. For those who can't obtain an Amazon Associate account or don't want to create custom links. Method #3 - Combination of methods #1 and #2. When you use the second method, you're going to receive 50% of the Squidoo commissions for all of the sales that are made through your lenses. When Squidoo reaches the 8.5% commission level on products that are eligible for that particular rate, you'll be entitled to half at a commission rate of 4.25%. Be aware that commissions do vary for categories. For instance, Electronics offer a lower rate of commission. However, also keep in mind that you're still going to get half (50%) of … [Read more...]

How to Create Squidoo Lenses that Get Traffic and Make Sales

by Kenneth Byrd | Follow Him on Twitter Here
Squidoo

Note: This is part 2 of a series called "Squidoo Your Way To Success". Click here if you haven't read part 1 of this series. There are many ways that you can make money with Squidoo lenses, but first you will need to learn exactly how to go about choosing keywords and creating a profitable niche. We will discuss the best ways to create your lenses, and check how you can insert Amazon products that you want your customers to buy. The following guide will teach you precisely how to go about converting traffic and making money with your Squidoo lens. To start, let's take a look at some actual examples of the types of Squidoo lenses which you can use to promote Amazon products. The main website to have a look at can be found here: http://www.squidoo.com/types-of-hair-extensions-review The first thing you can see is that this lens promotes specific products and uses specific keywords to do so. If you look closely, you will also see that these products have been specifically selected based on how popular they are and on how much competition there is for them. The main keyword for the lens above is: types of hair extensions. There are also secondary keywords that are included in the lens which are: Types of Hair Extensions and Prices (Costs) Human Hair Clip In Extensions Best Selling Human Hair Extensions Clip On Hair Extensions African American Hair Weave As you can see, these are all long tail keywords, that consist of 4 or more words. They are very … [Read more...]

Squidoo Your Way To Success

by Kenneth Byrd | Follow Him on Twitter Here
Squidoo

I have outlined a well thought out and tested strategy that makes use of a very high page rank (PR7) Web 2.0 site known as Squidoo. This strategy has been developed throughout the past year by reading every ebook imaginable on Squidoo and by actually using the site and testing these techniques. Squidoo is a free Web 2.0 site where you can write content and incorporate affiliate links into your content. On Squidoo each page is called a lens and I have developed a step by step guide to walk you through how to make these great looking web pages. By including your Amazon affiliate links inside these pages you will have a great opportunity to build a strong portfolio of quality website articles (lenses) on Squidoo all linking through to Amazon. There is no need to know anything about HTML, FTP, hosting, buying domains or video marketing, as Squidoo does all of that on your behalf. Strategic Objectives and Plan To build a single page on Squidoo with the following specific characteristics: Each lens will target: 1. Finding a low competitive keyword that will meet very specific criteria for both competition and also for product definition. 2. To complement this strategy we will then add other long tail keywords that complement your main keyword and increase natural search volume. 3. Incorporate into these keywords great selling products at Amazon using your affiliate links. This simple three prong strategy will create an attractive and high ranking web page … [Read more...]

An Introduction to Affiliate Marketing

by Kenneth Byrd | Follow Him on Twitter Here
Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a technique that many bloggers use to make money on the internet. The simplest way to explain it – is that you as the marketer are compensated for helping a business make sales by advertising their product, good, service or website. Those who have a website or blog can post advertisements for products on their website (see the ads in my sidebar) and can make money when site visitors purchase a product using your affiliate link. How Do You Make Money From Affiliate Marketing? The amount of money that you make from affiliate marketing depends on the structure of the affiliate program that you’re participating in. For example, I’m a member of the ProBlogger Affiliate Program because I promote the eBook “31 Days to Build a Better Blog”. I earn 40% commissions each time I sell a ProBlogger eBook. ProBlogger pays a straight 40% commission, while other affiliate programs – like Amazon.com – have a tiered commission structure based on the amount of volume that you produce each month. Pay careful attention to the structure of an affiliate program that you’re evaluating prior to joining. If necessary, reach out to the affiliate program manager to have any outstanding questions addressed. If most cases, your sales as an affiliate are tracked by using a unique link to the product that you’re promoting. I have seen some instances where advertisers are provided with a unique coupon code that can be used to track affiliate … [Read more...]