Friends, as a postscript to our SEO series I wanted to share with you the most up-to-date version of Google's Developer Documentation Style Guide dated June 8, 2017 (https://developers.google.com/style/). Do not be misled by the phrase "Developer Documentation". This guide provides an invaluable description of what Google deems to be best practices for almost any type of Internet "Content" such as articles, white papers, blog posts, lead magnets and even video. To what benefit for IMers? You guessed it: Boosting search engine rankings and ultimately Traffic. A few very basic golden nuggests include: 1) Sound like a knowledgeable friend, 2) Use clear, concise, short sentences, 3) Include numbered lists for sequences of events, 4) Write in a friendly, conversational tone with a clear purpose ... and much, much more. If you found this post helpful kindly take a moment today to register for our Free Trial simply by clicking here (http://tidyurl.com/kr7hej). See you soon. Lawrence, Internet Digital Entrepreneur
Friends, as we conclude our SEO post series let's take a look at "Backlinks". So what are Backlinks and why are they vital to your success? Backlinks are links from outside ("referring") domains that point back to pages on your domain. Your backlink profile is made up of backlinks from external sites. They contribute to the overall strength, relevance and diversity of your domain’s backlink profile which boost your sites "Authority" and "Page Rank" among Google, Bing, Yahoo! Search engines assess both the number of Backlinks and the Authority of the "referring domains" - thus the quantity and quality of Backlinks are essential. "Do-follow" links pass on the SEO benefits of the website where it is built from to the hyperlinked site. "No-follow" links do not have any SEO value and will not add up to the link profile used by search engines. SEO gurus believe you should use both types of Backlinks, yet a much higher percentage of your Backlinks should be "Do-follow" links. If this was helpful please take a moment and register for our Free Trial 7-part video training program today by clicking here (http://tidyurl.com/uhxt8c). See you soon. Lawrence, Internet Digital Entrepreneur
Friends, this SEO series has focused so far on Domains, Hosting, Keywords, Content, Portals-Resources and the value of your own Blog. Let's now take a look at Guest Blogging. Why is Guest Blogging essential for successful IMers? First, Guest Blogging allows you to strengthen the "Value" of your "Content" and in turn generate incremental "traffic" from large pools of new prospects who read these 3rd party blogs. Second, assuming your "Content" is in fact valuable to the other blog's readers their blog owners are more likely to link back to your own blog ... which leads to a boost in the "Authority" of your blog from the perspective of Google, Bing and Yahoo. The more links to your blog from 3rd party blogs and portals resonate well with search engines. Bottom line: Guest Blogging on 1st and 2nd tier blogs which are in the same market or technology niche as your blog (or web site) is a vital SEO asset. While there are numerous blog directories I suggest simply performing a Google search such as "ABC blog portal" where ABC is your target avatar and/or solution area. Hopes this helps. If so, take a moment to register for our Free Trial today to access our 7-part video training by clicking here (http://tidyurl.com/7nhrbn). Bye for now. Lawrence, Internet Digital Entrepreneur
Friends, so far in our series SEO we have looked at domains, hosting, keywords, content (is "king") and Wordpress plug-ins. What comes next? Developing and managing your own blog dedicated to your target avatar(s), their needs and solutions to their problems is vital. Your own blog provides two important opportunities: 1) Establish an on-going "conversation" with your prospects and consumers, and 2) Build "authority" with Google, Bing and Yahoo! search engines. Note: Keep your focus on Google. A few tips - post frequently, include keywords ... but don't "stuff" your posts with them, understand your avatar(s) pain points (address them succinctly and offer high "value" solutions). Experts vary widely on the optimal "length" (e.g. word count) for blog posts. You can address a given need in-depth via one long post or via a series on posts on a precise topic. Bottom line: Best-of-breed blogging serves your prospects and helps convert them into customers, can dramatically boost traffic, and is largely free of charge. Thus, you are building free, organic traffic. For now take a moment to register for our Free Trial consisting of a 7-part video training by clicking here (http://tidyurl.com/jsb3lb) today. Be back soon. Lawrence, Internet Digital Entrepreneur
Friends, whether you are a Millennial, a Work From Home individual or Baby Boomer, Internet marketing offers many opportunities for generating extra income and even launching a second career. But do you know the single most important ingredient to any successful online business? Offering your target niche (or avatar) a product or service with high "Value" - both actual and perceived value - is what differentiates the winners from the losers in the global Internet arena. Download our complementary paper today which reveals the five success factors for establishing the "Value" of your product or service simply by clicking here. Bye for now. Lawrence, Internet Digital Entrepreneur
Friends, in our recent posts we have addressed SEO Basics along with KeyWords and Content. But why should Internet entrepreneurs be so concerned about SEO optimization? Simply put, because SEO optimization is truly the lifeblood which will ensure maximum free organic traffic to your web sites, blogs, videos and landing pages. We all need to be SEO "literate", yet may not have the time and/or resources to become gurus in this critical area. Thus, let me suggest a short-list of the best SEO portals on the web which will help you stay abreast of key trends and techniques which will benefit your business. Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal (SEJ), Tutorials Point - SEO page and the Moz Blog. These sites offer free newsletters, video tutorials and/or eBooks which will keep you up-to-date without having to invest large blocks of time to become and stay SEO proficient. So take a look. And to learn more about our affiliate marketing Integrated Product Suite register for our Free Trial (7-part video training) today simply by clicking here (http://tidyurl.com/uwden8). See you soon. Lawrence, Internet Digital Entrepreneur
Friends, in Part 1 of this series we stressed the importance of SEO basics - a custom domain, a reputable hosting provider, publishing "original" content and for WordPress users the value of SEO plug-ins. Let's now look at "Keywords" and "Content". Some of the best keyword discovery tools include Google AdWords (my favorite and the discovery feature is free to use). Bing Ads Keyword Planner is excellent, however, its is integrated into the Bing Ads "Campaign" management tool, and thus you need to have campaign in place to access this (paid) feature. SEMrush, SEOBook, SERPS also are well recommended. The identification and use of relevant, high demand keywords is vital in 5 components of your marketing materials - whether web, video, audio or print - including 1) Defining your target niche (avatar), 2) Describing their primary need, 3) Your solution, 4) Its benefits and 5) The Call-to-Action (CTA). If you own and manage a web site or blog also add the keywords into the HTML "meta tags". For a typical article, blog post or video, keywords should discretely be included in the Title, Sub-Title, Body Text, Summary and CTA. To learn more take a moment and register for our Free Trial which includes a 7-part video training. Bye for now. Lawrence, Internet Digital Entrepreneur.
Friends, do you want more high quality traffic to you web site, blog, videos, social media sites and landing pages? Yes, we all do. In this SEO series we will start by looking at the basics of SEO and then move into move advanced topics in later posts. For starters, define own your unique domain and use a reputable hosting service. Google Domains (my favorite) and GoDaddy are just two of many domain providers. Likewise there are countless hosting services. I use Hostgator. Bluehost, iPage, Domain.com and SiteBuilder are among the top-ranked domain providers. Creating and publishing "original" content - regardless the format and packaging - which solves tangible problems for a well-defined avatar is another SEO success factor. If you use WordPress use SEO plug-ins such as Yoast, SEMrush, LinkPatrol and All In One SEO to name a few. Finally, spend the time to build out robust social media "Profiles" (including your domain). Bottom line: Investing time, effort and modest budget is one of the best methods for generating long-term, low-no cost, organic traffic for your Internet business. For now, please take a moment to sign-up for our Free Trial simply by clicking here (http://tidyurl.com/tgzs7y) which consists of a 7-part video training series on Internet marketing. See you soon. Lawrence, Internet Digital Entrepreneur
Friends, thus far in this series we have examined YouTube's Creator Studio, other video marketing platforms including Vimeo, Wistia, Sprout Video, Vidyard and a host of third party video creation and editing tool vendors such as my favorite ... Kizoa. Two key takeaways about video marketing: 1) Video marketing is one of the fastest growing segments within the Internet marketing arena, and 2) Live streaming is the highest growth sector within video marketing. Not surprisingly, Facebook (Facebook Live!) and Youtube (Youtube Live) are the market leaders. (Note: We are referring to live streaming of your content ... not to be confused with live "TV streaming" from service providerss including NetFlix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, Sling Orange, etc.). Second tier players worthy of your consideration include Bambuser, Brightcove, StreamShark, Streaming Unplugged and Ustream. Most SPs offer a free 'no-frills' service along with premium upgrade packages. So review your options and select a service that offers the features and support consistent with your budget. To learn more try our Free Trial 7-part training program. See you soon. Lawrence , Internet Digital Entrepreneur
Friends, so far in this series on we have explored YouTube's Creator Studio along with some viable, yet second tier competitors Vimeo, Wistia, Brightcove, Vidyard and Sprout Video. As in any technology niche the feature set varies by vendor. Video hosting, management and marketing are all critical success factors. Given YouTube's recent decision to remove some of the video "Creation and Editing" features (another critical success factor) from Creator Studio, Internet Marketers are more likely to need a free- or fee-based 3rd party tool to create and edit their videos before uploading them to their hosting platform of choice. A short list of tool vendors worth your attention are Filmora Video Editor, Magisto, Loopster, Wevideo, Video Toolbox, Windows Movie Maker, iMovie and Lightworks. Take a look to determine which tool best fits your needs and budget. In the meantime, kindly register for our Free Trial 7-part video program on affiliate marketing today simply by clicking here (http://tidyurl.com/ooli0d). Bye for now. Lawrence, Internet Digital Entrepreneur
Friends, uncover the key to recurring Internet revenue streams through successful email list building. Most Internet entrepreneurs - millennials, work from home men and women, and baby boomers - building email lists which fail to produce the income they desire. Rather than simply push products over and over again to the same email subscribers the magic bullet is to provide a continuous stream of value and a unique lead magnet which helps your subscribers generate income. By prioritizing value-based "relationships" with your subscribers over pushing "products" your subscribers will likely become customers. Moreover, this free eBook describes our Integrated Product Suite, the Automated List Building Process and Sales Closing Model. So take a moment to register today on our Internet Digital Entrepreneur web site by clicking here (https://drive.google.com/file/ d/ 0B6jYVk0P1OWzLXR2WGVnYWZqcms/ view?usp=sharing) and download our free "List Building for Profit" report and feel free to share with a friend. Bye for now. Lawrence, Internet Digital Entrepreneur
Friends, in our previous post we looked at market leader YouTube and its Creator Studio. But which other video platforms are available if you want to go beyond or simply do not care for YouTube? Well, Internet marketers do have other options particularly if you need some speacialized functionality or need to reach a niche market. Your video platform options include Vimeo, Wistia, Brightcove, Vidyard and Sprout Video to name a few (not to be confused with "live streaming" which we'll cover in our next post). Each of these platforms offer their own customized features, packaging and pricing. Some such as Vimeo offer free 7-14 day video hosting ... then charge for additional hosting time and features. Bottom line: If you want to keep things simple and are risk averse then stay with YouTube. By contrast if you want to the broadest possible market reach you might go with YouTube plus one or more of their smaller competitors. Hope this helps. Till we connect again I recommend signing-up for our Free Trial 7-part training program for Internet marketing simply by clicking here (http://tidyurl.com/xwx5vx). Lawrence, Internet Digital Entrepreneur
Friends, do you want to expand the reach and coverage of your Internet marketing tactics? Of course you do. Video marketing is one of the fastest growing elements on Internet marketing and YouTube is to video as Google is to search. I see three options with YouTube, perhaps more. You can create a one-time video for a specific marketing campaign, develop a dedicated channel for your brand, post a paid video-based lead magnet on YouTube via Google AdWords (paid advertising) or a combination of the above. YouTube's Creator Studio recently removed some of the "creation and editing" features from Creator Studio and thus you likely will need to use a free or fee-based 3rd party tool. While their are many such tools on the market I suggest trying "Kizoa" which closely matches the features removed from Creator Studio. Give it a try. And finally, why not take a moment to sign-up for our Free Trial which includes a 7-part video training program on Internet marketing simply by clicking here today (http://tidyurl.com/uvue3u). Lawrence, Internet Digital Entrepreneur
Friends, thus far we have examined best practices of a great "CTA" including Urgency, Wording, Color, Location, Scarcity and Size. As we conclude this series let's take a brief look at Wording, Location and Links in further detail. The key for CTA button "Wording" is to keep it short, clear and sweet. Examples include "Buy Now", "Add to Cart" and "Sign Me Up". Previously we metioned you may 'discretely' include more than one CTA in different "Locations" on your web page, video or marketing materials. The key here is to keep all (or at least most) of your CTAs "above the fold" for optimal visibility by your Visitors. And third, ensure (and test) your embedded "Links" to ensure they not only function properly, but moreover that they take the Visitors directly - in one click - to your desired Landing Page. No rocket science here, nonetheless, mastering the basics pays big dividends over the long-term. Hope this helps. Please take a moment to register for our 7-part video training Free Trial by clicking here (http://tidyurl.com/3zlzpu) today. See you soon ... Lawrence, Internet Digital Entrepreneur
Friends, in our first post in this series we looked at the "CTA" best practices of Urgency, Color, Location, Size, Wording, Scarcity and Contrast. Now let's take a closer look at "Urgency". Bottom line: Urgency increases conversion rates ... with two preconditions: Your Internet marketing business has establsihed both 1) "Value", and 2) "Trust" in the mind of your target niches (avatars). Urgency explicitly or implicitly sets the expectation that your visitors are missing out on something they value. Here are just a few key words (phrases) you can add to your marketing copy which imply Urgency: Only 5 left at this price!, While supplies last, Offer ends at Midnight, Last chance! and Today only! Proper use of these key words and phrases on a consistent basis will help boost your conversion rates ... ultimately leading to more "opt-ins" and higher "revenue". Learn more about CTAs and conversion rates in our Free Trial. Sign-up today (http://tidyurl.com/zd9kin) to gain access to this 7-part video training series. Bye for now. Lawrence, Internet Digital Entrepreneur
Friends, creating simple and high-impact "Calls to Action" in your online marketing properties and materials is yet another critical success factor for Internet marketers. You may have the best lead magnets, email list builder, auto-responder and sales funnel, yet without the right "CTA" you are likely to have a low "Visitor to Lead" conversion rate ("lead" defined here as someone who chooses to "Opt-In" to your email list or access a free offer). We all want higher conversion rates. So what are they basic elements of a great CTA? We suggest using one or more elements in each CTA: Urgency (e.g. a limited time offer), Color, Location (on your page), Size, Wording, Scarcity (e.g. only a few free copies left) and Contrast (with the rest of your page). Moreover, it is fine to 'discretely' include mutiple CTAs in different locations on your web site, vidoes or marketing materials. So if you want to begin building or expanding your online business today why not register for our Free Trial simply by clicking here? See you soon. Lawrence, Internet Digital Entrepreneur
Friends, now that you have your Lead Magnets, Low-Mid-High Ticket products or services along with customer Testimonials and Evangelist(s) in place, how can you take your Internet business to the next level? Internet Digital Entrepreneur recommends you seriously consider creating your own "Affiliate Program." Many companies that do business on the Internet have affiliate programs. The primary benefits of having your own affiliate program include expanding the market reach of your brand, increasing your Internet points of presence and ultimately growing your revenues. Yes, you can join a myriad of programs to sell other company's products via Amazon Associates, eBay Partners, CJ, ClickBank, Affilorama, Warrior Plus, etc. By contrast, here we are referring to your own affiliate program whereby other Internet entrepreneurs sell "your" products and services. Companies such Acceleration Partners, Ambassador, Tapfiliate and LeadDyno offer "affiliate program in a box" solutions. So take a look. To learn more about own affiliate program kindly click here (http://tidyurl.com/degh8k) and sign-up for our Free Trial today. Much success. See you soon. Lawrence, Internet Digital Entrepreneur
Friends, so far in the series on your Internet Sales Cycle we have looked at using a combination of relevant "lead magnets" and "low-mid-high ticket" products or services to bring prospects into and through your sales funnel. You may wish to add additional steps in your funnel (e.g. more lead magnets and corresponding products or services) for your customers ... always seeking to offer more "value" while creating additional income streams. Nonetheless, once you have a pool of loyal customers it's time to seek "Testimonials and Evangelists" to help grow your business. Going back to basics ... the more "value" your customers have received and the higher the level of "trust" they have in your business the more willing some of them will be to provide a verbal (video-based) or written "testimonial" which you can add to your web site or email marketing materials. Moreover, if you reach the point of hosting webinars (e.g. via Facebook Live) and/or a dedicated YouTube channel you can conduct an interview with one or more of your customers who basically serve as Evangelists for your product-service and brand. To learn more why not try our Free Trial today simply by clicking here (http://tidyurl.com/jjpmk0). See you soon. Remain blessed ... Lawrence, Internet Digital Entrepreneur
Friends, once a sub-set of your "low-ticket" customers have made their "mid-ticket" purchase it is time to focus on marketing them a "high-ticket" (e.g. $1000-$2000 USD) product or service. Similar to MT marketing I highly recommend providing your MT customers with yet another relevant, congruent and valuable "lead magnet". By offering this 3rd lead magnet you are demonstrating your desire to strengthen your relationship with your customers ... as they have an increased level of trust in you and once again, realize even more "value" from your business. No rocket science here, nonetheless mastering the basics of the sales cycle will differentiate you from the competition. A couple vital things to keep in mind with HT marketing. A LT/MT customer's level of trust is increasing, but so are their expectations that their HT purchase will tangibly help them achieve a specific goal ... whether greater financial freedom, improved health and fitness, or an improved quality of life. Your messaging needs to clearly and accurately (based on our principle of "full disclosure") describe how the HT purchase will help transform some important aspect of their life from point A to B. I hoipe this helps. Try out our Free Trial today by clicking here (http://tidyurl.com/stlj7j). More to come. Remain blessed ... Lawrence, Internet Digital Entrepreneur
Friends, now that your prospects have made an initial purchase and become customers ... what comes next? First, as part of your auto-responder set-up you want to send them a thank you message reaffirming that your business values them as trusted customers while offering any support they made need with their initial "low ticket" purchase, thus strengthening the bond and laying the foundation for a long-term relationship. While our next goal is to present a high value "mid-ticket" product or service I suggest one important interim step which all ties back to providing "value" (or as some Internet marketers would recommend "massive value"): Send your "low ticket" customers a second high-value lead magnet. An item which directly complements their original purchase. For your customers this interim steps reinforces your commitment to serve them ... and yes, continues this stream of "value" in their minds. Once this is done you are ready to present these customers with a "mid-ticket" (e.g. $300-$600 USD) product or service which is congruent with their "low ticket" purchase". Strive for a 5% or greater conversion rate for your MT offer. Our Free Trial will show you the details - why not sign-up today by clicking here (http://tidyurl.com/0meuvc). See you soon. Remain blessed, Lawrence, Internet Digital Entrepreneur
