Easy SEO Tip
October 12, 2009
Here’s a quick tip for you – and it works nearly every time (although, it wouldn’t if everyone does it, so I’m wondering why I’m telling you!).
Anyway – I’ve written about Product Comparisons as a content generation strategy before. Here’s a really simple way to ramp up your results from that:
Just put a “Vs.” in the title. As in “Red Widgest Vs. Blue Widgets” – you’d be shocked how important that “Vs.” is to search engines, and how few people have optimized for that.
Just don’t do it for any niches I’m working in. Please.
Interesting Marketing Articles
October 7, 2009
Despite my already mentioned disdain for a lot of agency blogs – there are a lot of brilliant folks out there that are sharing lots of great information. I tend to scan this information, bookmark it, and occasionally come back to it during brief spurts of downtime. I draw on it and provide info to Academy members, but rarely just link out from my blog.
It is also a lot easier just to link you out to folks that are much better than me at sharing this info :)
Here are some good articles to check out:
Turning non-customers into customers (SEO specific, but still good theory for anyone)
SEO for Public Relations – Good info on how SEO and PR interconnect
PPC Copywriting for Quality Clickthroughs – Vital for PPC Conversion Rates
I could seriously go on all day – but you’ll have to join the Academy to get more.
My “Secret” SEO Toolkit
September 23, 2009
Recently – I’ve been pushing out some sites that are doing very well in the search engines (and doing it very quickly). Now, while I can’t give away EVERY secret for this, I can let you know some of the tools I’m using to make this happen.
We’d all like to think that we can manage on our own without any help – and, eventually, maybe you can. But, if you want to move quickly – and get your site out there and ranking (or make some drastic improvements to your site) it helps to have several tools at hand to make life a bit easier. The beauty of it is, none of these things are all that expensive, and they aren’t garbage “Secret SEO Software” that will rip you off for a couple hundred bucks. Each of these tools has paid for itself in time saved and results.
Be forewarned though – you still have to put in some work to make things happen here, but this is a really good start. Here’s the cocktail I’ve used to get to the top 5 in several competitive categories:
Shoemoney PPC/SEO Tools. Hands down the best deal in intensive niche research. Jeremy is letting you try this out for $3.95…so it’s cost effective way to test it out.
Thesis Wordpress Theme. Wordpress is the best blog engine out there, and Thesis is the best way to leverage it. I credit the super-SEO readiness of this theme with about 60% of my recent success. Watch the video and see for yourself.
Nichebot Keyword Research. It’s not the prettiest, but it’s the best value. Lots of ways to generate more, and better, keywords for SEO and PPC.
Cheap/Awesome Hosting Services – Hostgator has provided me with incredible customer service – and more importantly, has a push button Wordpress Installer that is second to none. You can’t beat $4/month for high-quality hosting.
Lastly, you want to makes sure that you get active in Google Webmaster Tools – it’s great intelligence for further optimization, and is a huge benefit in getting your entire site indexed.
(disclosure – I should tell you that if you purchase any of these products, I’ll be paid a small affiliate fee. If you’re not cool with that, just take the affiliate code out of the link…I’d recommend them anyway, because we’re friends)
Just get it started already.
September 23, 2009
I’m a planner. In a big way. I’m also a perfectionist. This makes launching new affiliate campaigns difficult (client campaigns have deadlines, so that makes it easy). I want everything to be 100% before it goes out. On one note, that makes a lot of sense – I have no intention of throwing a thousand bucks away on a product/offer that isn’t going to work.
On the other hand – this often leads to lots of potential money making projects left to die “on the vine.”
So, how do you force yourself into action?
Well, if you’re a business owner, you set goals and create a system to make yourself accountable for them. If you happen to be an Internet marketing geek whose most regular work day contact is with his dog, you blog about it. Nothing sets you up for success like the risk of abject public humiliation.
So – what is my goal? It’s pretty simple – I have $2,000 to use over the next 6 weeks. I have to turn that into $3,000 in 6 weeks, using absolutely nothing that is currently in existence. (I’m making a small exception for a couple sites that already exist, but aren’t generating revenue, as those are the stimulus for this whole idea).
Let me break it down – no campaigns are set up, no SEO foundation has been built for these sites…with the exception of already having a couple domain names purchased, and a glimmer of a plan – I’m starting from scratch.
I have to choose my next steps carefully – more importantly, I have to move forward – no way I reach that goal from scratch without making some big time progress early on.
By the way – did I mention I’m getting married next week? HA.
I’ll update my progress here – several posts describing more in depth what I’m doing will be protected…so you’ll need to join 7xo Academy to get access to those. (see the signup box in the upper right?)
Where can I find the time?
April 9, 2009
One common question I field from business owners is – “Where do I find the time to do all this stuff?”
That’s a fair question, because, as a business owner, you have a lot of things going on. First and foremost, you’re likely having to service your customers – you may be cleaning their air ducts, returning a package, or tailoring their suit. There’s not a lot of time to agonize over search engine rankings while you’re doing this.
Unfortunately, you also don’t have time to ignore online marketing – and especially search engine marketing. Why? Because your competitors sure aren’t ignorning it.
You have a couple options when it comes to managing your own online marketing – there are some tools out there that can make it a lot easier:
- PPC Management Software – There are several good options out here, all running in the $300-$500/month category. You may need a little help getting started, but you’ll be able to quickly manage your PPC campaign after a few months of getting used to it.
- SEO “Systems” – I may be being unfair here, but as a resident expert on SEO, I’m telling you there isn’t a system out there worth anything. Save your money.
- Off-shore outsourcing – This can be cost effective, as some companies will work with you for less than $300/month. However, every time I’ve done it, the results have been less than optimal (at best), to ridiculously bad (at worst).
- 7xo Media – Hey, I wouldn’t be fair to myself or your business if I didn’t plug 7xo here. You can get affordable, expert, top-quality service and results – all put into a no contract, no obligation system that makes sense for your business. From $150/month to $15,000/month – we’ve done it all!
Email me if you’d like more info on what we can do. We’ll start with a free analysis of your business, and talk about a plan that is custom built for your business.
Welcome to 7xo Media’s Online Marketing Blog
April 6, 2009
We are excited to get this blog up and running on our new site, 7xomedia.com.
We just started a new online marketing newsletter, that goes out the first Monday of every month. You can sign up for that here.