One of the ways you can improve your relationship with your clients and customers is to create information based products. While this is a common method of making money for professional speakers, authors, trainers and consultants, it also can be applied to all types of businesses.
Regardless of YOUR particular type of business or industry there are informational products that you could create and either sell or give away that positions YOU and YOUR business as the expert resource. The key is to identify the type of information that your target prospects and customers want to know more about and then create a product that answers those questions. If you think about it, you probably could come up with many different titles and types of products, but if you’re starting out with information products then pay close attention to these basic tips:
What I admire about this campaign is the simplicity of their viral marketing system. They make it easy to forward and I bet this is growing their marketing list by the millions.
Using Relevant Keywords is the Most Important Element to Increase Your Site Traffic
Everyone I talk to as an Internet Marketing Consultant wants to know how to get more site visitors from search engines. It starts with a basic understanding of how the search engines work-or rather what their responsibility is to their user-the searcher.
The search engine’s job is to provide the best and most relevant results to the person using their search engine to find solutions to their searches. To do that they need to catalog a site’s content and while there are every-changing algorithms for top rankings a critical element for search engine optimization (SEO) is the content, which of course is made of WORDS.
Those words when filled with your “keywords” make up your content. Knowing which words to use and where to put them on your site is a huge element of SEO to get more traffic. Keywords and keyword phrases are the same thing.
Here are a few tips for keyword success:
1. Make a list of the main types of prospects you want to attract.
Create a marketing profile for the typical prospect and customer for your business in a word doc. Get as specific as you can so you can put yourself in the “mindset” of the type of people you want to attract. Ask yourself and evaluate what keywords you think they would type into a search engine to find you, your products or services.
2. Do your research.
Look at your website statistics because that will show you what words people are using now to find you. It doesn’t mean they are the best words, but your stats will show you what keyword phrases they are using now. We use “Google Analytics” for sites. It’s a free service, easy to implement and offers a ton of benefits.
You want targeted traffic that will convert into customer leads and sales. Many years ago I optimized my Internet Marketing Speaker website for my name “Ford Saeks” but because my first name Ford is also a major automotive company I was receiving tons of spill over traffic for people looking for Ford cars and Ford car parts, and not my professional services to help people improve their marketing results and profits. The keywords we use now are related and relevant to what our prospects and customers are searching for to find our solutions. The research results, our site statistics and usage of the popular keywords research tools all help us optimize our sites for top rankings.
Think you’re secure when you’re traveling with your laptop using hotspots and wireless internet? Think again…
I just watched this Wireless Hacking Demonstration by IT Security Consultant, Mike Foster as he shows how easily your personal data and wireless traffic can be stolen even with a firewall, virus protection and spyware installed.
Watch the two videos now… The second video is the Mike’s demo showing the Laptop wireless hacking demo. You don’t need to be technical to understand how scary this is if you are traveling… and it can even happen at your business. His new book “The Secure CEO explains how to protect your computer and network in plain english. Get it today and get secure! You’ve been warned… so don’t call me when you lose your vital computer data.
How Safe Is Your Computer Data from Internet Hackers? Watch The Demo Below:
“The Secure CEO: How to Protect Your Computer Systems, Your Company, and Your Job” Packs Plain-English Security Solutions for Executives
The real power of Social Media Marketing (SMM) is the “social” part meaning that anyone with the desire can now become a publisher, host or broadcaster of content. There are new SMM sites popping up daily.
Just visit www.Go2Web20.net and you’ll find thousands of sites on every topic imaginable. Eventually, there will be a few winners and a ton of losers. It’s easy to get carried away and jump at every new site, but before you waste a ton of your time — think about the purpose and outcome of your efforts.
It’s a fact: People won’t use your website if they can’t find their way around it.
Yesterday’s Web looked far different from today’s Web, and tomorrow’s Web will look more different still. Amidst all of this change, however, one aspect of Web use remains the same: The sites that offer the best, easiest, most intuitive experience are the ones people visit again and again.
To ensure that your sites provide the best user experience, you and your web developer need the essential guide from Steve Krug “Don’t Make Me Think; A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability” (2nd Edition) that distills his years of on-the-job experience into a practical primer on the do’s and don’ts of good Web design. His book is a quick read and while there are a couple of points I don’t agree with for SEO reasons, I agree with his basic concepts outlined below.
The number-one usability rule, most often expressed by users…
1. Don’t Make Me Think. Basically your website visitor doesn’t want to venture into a site that requires them to figure it out. It should be self-explanatory. Web pages should be obvious and self-explanatory. Buttons should have short text and look ‘clickable.’ The default search for your site should be simple.
2. Design for scanning not reading. By observing users Krug found that people glance, scan some text, and click on the first reasonable option. People scan Web pages, they don’t read them. We don’t make optimal choices, we click on impulse.
** In our copywriting courses (Ford Saeks), I express that there are two main types of people reading your copy (text in print or online) and those are “scanners” and “readers.” You should write your copy for both types of readers. Give enough headlines, subheads, and bullets along with limited use of bold and color to help the scanner get the gist of the main benefits or message, and then enough information for the reader to get the necessary details. Formatting is just as important as the copy. **
The beauty of blogging is that if you can send e-mail, you can blog. Blogs make it easy for the non-techie person to add new content to their site and build relationships with new prospects and customers. Every site we build now includes a blog as part of the actual domain.
Q: Why do I want my blog to be part of my site when I can set one up for little to nothing at sites like BlogSpot.com or WordPress.com?
If you’ve read the book or watched the movie “The Secret,” you know that the secret is the law of attraction. In a nutshell, what you focus on most, you’ll manifest in your life. Without exception, every human being has the ability to transform any weakness or suffering into strength, power, perfect peace, health, and abundance. The law of attraction works both ways, positively and negatively.
So what does this have to do with marketing and making more money? Plenty. Often clients will tell me that a certain form of marketing, say direct-mail postcards, doesn’t work for them. It’s not the marketing method that doesn’t work, it’s the application of the method combined with a benefit message to a target market. Their expectations and beliefs can influence the results. They focus on their preconceived beliefs.
People see what they want to see.
Don’t believe me? Just check out this short video clip about awareness.
In marketing it’s your job to communicate the value of your products and services. To do that effectively and profitably requires 100% belief and the ability to help your prospects focus on what you want them to see. It’s the same with web design, print design and copywriting. Over the past 25 years I’ve worked with many talented graphic designers. In each case or project, I have to help guide them not to lose the message in the creative design. The message is my focus, the design is their focus. It’s a delicate balance, and when we get it right, everybody wins — including the client and the prospects.
Recent headlines: NEW YORK SUN — “Talk of the Worst Recession Since the 1930s”
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - “The U.S. economy is now in a recession, according to a poll of economists published Thursday, March 13th by The Wall Street Journal.”
What do you think? Are you worried about a recession?
I was speaking to a group of commercial customers in Ohio last week, and I asked them what their biggest challenge was in growing their business.
They said things like the economy, the recession, the competition, the weak value of the dollar… but no one in a room of over 200 people said anything about their own businesses.
Then I said something really shocking… I said, “there is no such thing as money problems…” (and paused for about five seconds) and added, “there are only idea problems. If you want to make more money, then generate more ideas and implement them!”
Want to grow your business, and increase your sales and profits?
Then think about your business and how you can add more value. More value means more profits. While statistics and the media may show the country in a recession, it’s hardly going to stop people from spending money over the long term. Just visit your local shopping mall, department store, or highway, and look at the traffic. Where are all of these people going? Either to work or to spend money… no doubt.
Hey, I’m a marketer… not an economist. My goal is to make sure you focus on your business and take care of your customers. You attract new prospects with compelling benefit-driven marketing messages, and you keep them by delivering value through your products and services.
My peers and the many people in the media consider me as one of the top experts in direct and Internet Marketing. Just type my name “Ford Saeks” into Google and check out the results. But there is always more to learn, especially in my areas of expertise.
I like to read blogs, newsletters, and magazines to stay up to date. I realize everyone has an opinion, but I would think a publication like “BusinessWeek” would be more diligent in checking the content they publish.
Information Product Development Tips
One of the ways you can improve your relationship with your clients and customers is to create information based products. While this is a common method of making money for professional speakers, authors, trainers and consultants, it also can be applied to all types of businesses.
What do you think? Are you worried about a recession?
