How to use this Page

If you’re an expert, with lots of information and experience others can learn from . . . and want to learn about, a membership site is an online marketing tool you might be interested in.

A membership site is a site in which members pay for the benefit of learning from the owner of the site (the expert). The site owner on the other hand provides ongoing and valuable information based on his expertise.

This is usually a win-win situation. The members have ‘open’ access to the expert and his knowledge, and the expert has an in- place and often ready-to-act audience.

Membership sites come in a variety of sizes, formats, and prices. Pricing is usually based on the reputation of the expert and the problem being addressed.

Some experts offer the, what I call, ‘full service’ membership – its information packed and interactive.

The Full Service Membership Site

The full service site will take ongoing work and time. And, there is the other aspect of members who may want you to go above and beyond . . . of members who think you're their private coach.

While this type of membership site may seem like a bleak proposition, if it's well planned and well structured, and you have limits set in place, the venture can be a successful one.

The NO Interaction Membership Sites

There are also membership sites that have no interaction. The site has a number of tutorials or lessons that members simply have access to. As the site owner, you occasionally provide new content, maybe once a month. The members are usually kept happy through the new content and that’s about it.

The Bare-Bottom (Simple) Membership Sites
While this isn’t a proper name for it, this type of site offers a set number of tutorials or lessons. It’s kind of like an ecourse, but through a site where members can come back to read the material. The site doesn’t however provide any new content. Sites like this warrant a yearly membership fee.

Why a yearly membership fee?

If you have all your content on a membership site for members to partake of, what's to stop a new member from paying for one month (if it's a monthly fee site), downloading all the content, and leaving?

Unfortunately, if you're contemplating creating a membership site, you need to think of these things.

Benefits of Membership Sites

As with your mailing list, the focus of marketing is to make connections and bring visibility to your products and services. Membership sites are a vehicle to do just this.

The site creates an ongoing 'almost' one-on-one' atmosphere, which creates a closer and stronger member/expert relationship. It’s this ongoing contact and close relationship that affords you the opportunity to sell other products or services, while earning an income from the site.

Your members have already taken the plunge with their first YES to the offer of becoming a member. The first YES is usually the most difficult to get. This therefore, puts them in a 'more' YES mindset.

Keep in mind that there are many variations of membership sites and finding the format that works best for you will be a key element to its success.

This Part 2 of a 3 part series on membership sites. I hope you find it useful.

Check out Part One HERE.

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Part of your online marketing strategy is to create content and you'll need that content with or without a membership site. To create properly formatted and optimized content check out:

Article Marketing - Increase Website Traffic




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MORE ON ONLINE MARKETING

Increase Sales by Writing for the Web More Effectively
Creating Images – Simple and Quick
Using Video for Marketing

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To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars, join us in The Writing World (top right top sidebar).

Karen Cioffi
Multi-award Winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter, Editor, Online Marketer, Affiliate Marketer
Writer’s Digest Website of the Week, June 25, 2012

Online Marketing Ebooks and Ecourses:
http://karencioffi.com

Karen Cioffi Professional Writing Services
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/karen-cioffi-writing-services/

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Ten Ways to Know if Your (Internet) Marketing is Paying Off

Reprinted from Author Marketing Experts Newsletter

So you're out there marketing. You're doing all the right things (or so you think). You're following the book marketing advice of some leaders in the industry. You've got a checklist and you're methodically checking off your goals. But how do you know you're doing everything right? The fact is, most of us don't. Yet we forge ahead, keeping pace with our marketing plan, without ever knowing if it's paying off. We don't see it in sales.
Does that mean it's not working? Not at all. You could be seeing the effects in other places but just aren't keeping track of it.

I find that especially in social media you need to keep a close eye on what's working and what's not. If you've spent *any* kind of time online you know that you can be in front of your computer for what seems like 20 minutes and yet three hours have gone by. If the three hours of marketing is paying off, then it's fine to spend the time. But you need to know the difference. Here are a few things you can review to measure the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of your marketing.

1. Jumping in without a plan: Set clear, measureable goals because most marketing is invisible. Let's face it, you send an email and wonder half the time if the intended recipient got it or if it ended up in a spam filter, never to be seen again. That's the power behind goals. You need them and you need to run your campaign by them. So what are your goals? And no, you may not say sell books. Yes, that factors in - but there are a million small steps along the way before you even get to sales. Consider these goals and see if any of them fit your book, topic, and future:

a. Establish yourself as an expert or get known in your particular field. Hey, maybe you just want to be known as the go-to person for everything related to paranormal romance. That's great and it's a realistic, attainable goal.

b. Increase the visibility of your brand. OK, sort of the same as the bullet before this one but more geared to the non-fiction author.

c. Increase traffic and incoming links to your website. This is a great goal. Whether you are fiction or non-fiction, it's a great focus.

d. Do what makes sense for your book: If your followers aren't on Twitter then why have you spent the last month or so promoting yourself on there? Mind you, Twitter works for most of the books we manage, but there are a few that don't make sense. Twitter skews older than most people think so don't be surprised if your YA reader isn't on there. Before you launch head first into a campaign, make sure it fits your demographic.

2. Neglecting other marketing: I know it's easy to get all a-twitter about Twitter, but what else are you doing to promote yourself and your book? If you're good at events and speaking, are you still focused on that? Don't get too myopic on doing just one thing for your marketing. The truth is, you need to do a lot of different things, balanced out over a week or a month for your marketing to really make sense.

3. Set goals - be clear on what you hope to achieve in social media: What are your goals for Twitter? If it's just about gathering followers then you are missing a big piece of this social networking tool. For many marketing people it's all about the number, but numbers don't make as much sense unless they are driving interest to you and your book. If the numbers keep growing, along with traffic to your website, then you're on the right track. But if you're just growing numbers for the sake of being able to say that you have 10,000 followers then it makes no sense. That's like buying a fancy car you can't really afford. Eventually the debt of it will drag you down. It's the same with Twitter and Facebook and any other social media site. It's not about the numbers. It's about the activity.

4. Be clear on who you are trying to reach: Many of you say you're trying to reach readers, but is that really true? We all want to sell books, but who are you really going after? In all likelihood you will have a variety of different targets you are going after. Consider these: booksellers, speaking opportunities, interviews, bulk sale targets, reviewers, and readers to name a few.

5. Measure effectively: In order to know if stuff is working you'll need to measure effectively. As I pointed out earlier on in this article you may not want to do that by fans or followers - instead consider these ideas as ways to measure your success:

a. Retweets on Twitter: The best sign of success on Twitter is the amount of retweets. Are you getting them and if so, how often? If your tweets are good and your followers are active, you should see a few a week at least (depending on the amount of followers you have). If you're curious about the amount of Tweets that get RT'd - check out retweetrank.com. Twitter Analyzer (twitteranalyzer.com) is another great tool for determining how far tweets have traveled.

b. Site hits: Are the hits to your site increasing? Are you watching your analytics to be sure? If you're not, you should be. Watch your site stats closely and monitor the increase in traffic and where it's coming from.

c. Inbound links: How many new ones are you getting? Did you do a vanity search before you started this campaign? If not, do that now. Make sure you know how many new incoming links you're getting as a result of your efforts.

d. Sign-ups to your mailing list: Are they increasing? If you're doing the right stuff in your social media they should be increasing weekly.

6. Increasing the contacts in your industry: Remember that social media marketing is just like going to a networking meeting. You want to expand your reach and get to know others in your industry. If you're not increasing your reach and contact base, then you need to be. This is another great way to gauge how effective your marketing is.

We always want to make progress in our marketing but we're not always sure how to do it or if what we're doing is making a difference. Follow these steps and see if it doesn't help your marketing momentum. If it's paying off, you'll know sooner rather than later and you can keep doing the good stuff, and punt the bad.

Bonus: additional tools for tracking marketing

Bit.ly: This site serves as both a URL shortener and also as a measurement tool. Bit.ly can help get you real-time results on clicks to links you are posting to Facebook and Twitter.

Google Analytics: If you don't have any back end web analytics (and even if you do), Google gives you a lot of valuable data.

Trackur: This is a great monitoring site to see what's being featured on you online and off. It's not free like Google Alerts, but much more comprehensive. Their basic package is $18 a month.

Reprinted from "The Book Marketing Expert newsletter," a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

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RECOMMENDED TOOL: TURN WORDS INTO TRAFFIC

Turn Words into Traffic with pro marketer Jim Edwards. Jim will show you his quick and easy techniques for pumping out high-quality, persuasive, and professional articles, along with getting great guest blogging spots. He even goes into PLRs, articles written by someone else that you can claim as your own.
Check it out for yourself HERE.





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To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars, join us in The Writing World (top right top sidebar).

Karen Cioffi
Multi-award Winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter, Editor, Online Marketing Instructor, Affiliate Marketer
Writer’s Digest Website of the Week, June 25, 2012

Online Marketing Ebooks and Ecourses:
http://karencioffi.com

Karen Cioffi Professional Writing Services
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/karen-cioffi-writing-services/

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For those of you who aren't sure what a membership site is, it's a website where members pay to be a part of it, usually to get help in a particular area.

Depending on the gravity of the topic (how specific and severe a problem the site is focusing on) the prices vary drastically. There are some memberships at $5 annually, some at $5 per month, others are at $397 annually, and some thousands per month. As you can see, prices vary drastically.

Another factor in the pricing is the reputation of the owner (expert). Then there is also the amount of information and the services offered.  This all plays a part in membership pricing.

I just subscribed to a site that offered WordPress training (just to see if I could pick up a couple of tips), it was $10 a month or $24 per year. Being a former accountant, I did the cost efficient thing and opted for the $24.

The site consisted of around 20 videos, about 10 minutes each. They were on the very basics of WordPress – that was it.

Two Lessons Learned:

1. It might be a good idea to opt for the monthly fee, even if it's just for a month, so you can determine if the site has what you need. If it does, opt for the long-term, cheaper rate. If it doesn't, unsubscribe.

2. Don't underestimate your skills. There are a number of worthwhile programs, sites, and courses online that warrant the investment, but, before you jump in know exactly what you'll be getting. There will be those membership sites, programs, etc., that teach less than what you already know (sometimes much less).

Finding a ‘Good’ Membership Site

There are loads of experts out there vying for your ‘dollar.’ So, how do you pick a membership site that will provide you with what you need? A membership site that will move your forward in your area of choice.

First thing is to determine if you need a membership site. Can you get by with the information in an ebook, or maybe an ecourse? This is something you’ll need to figure out.

A lot of people like the connection and access to the expert/s, and want the ongoing and updated information. They also like the community of members who are like-minded and struggling to the same end. This allows for a much wider ‘help pool.’ Members often end up helping each other. There are also big organizational membership sites like the National Association of Professional Women – women join for the networking aspects.

Once you’ve decided you want to be part of a membership site, the first action step is to ask around for one that’s worth the cost. A good place to ask is ‘big’ sites in the topic or area you’re interested in. For example if you’re looking for writing and online marketing you might visit WOW! Women on Writing. Send a message asking for help through their contact page.

Site’s like this deal with a lot of professionals and will probably be able to recommend someone.

You can also do an online search.

Once you find a membership site you’re interested in, check out what’s being offered:

•    Is it member interactive – is there a member forum?
•    Is the information updated regularly with new helpful content to keep you moving forward?
•    Is the ‘expert’ active on the site – will she respond to hot topics and questions?
•    Will there be bonus content, like screen-sharing webinars or videos?

In her promotional material, the ‘expert’ should have a detailed outline of what you can expect. Then of course find out the cost. Many sites offer a monthly and yearly option, the yearly being less expensive.

Do your homework if you’re interested in a membership site to find one that’s right for you.

What do you think of membership sites? Would you join one?

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RECOMMENDED TOOL

Want in depth online marketing help. What to create and build your author online presence? Check out my Author Online Presence eCourses today.

~~~~~
 MORE ON ONLINE MARKETING

7 Elements of an Effective Landing Page Designed to Increase Your Mailing List P1
4 Tips to an Effective Subscriber Opt-in Email Box
Article Marketing – Reprint Strategies Pros and Cons

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To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars, join us in The Writing World (top right top sidebar).

Karen Cioffi
Multi-award-winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter, Editor, Online Marketer, Affiliate Marketer
Writer’s Digest Website of the Week, June 25, 2012

Online Marketing Ebooks and Ecourses:
http://karencioffi.com

Karen Cioffi Professional Writing Services
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/karen-cioffi-writing-services/

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As an instructor of online classes that teach how to create and build an author online presence, of all the lessons, the most popular one, and the one that sparks the most questions, is how to create an effective author website.

While some marketers still lean toward the effectiveness of long copy, especially for sales pages, some heavy hitters like Mike Volpe of Hubspot.com say, simple works best. And, as time passes, this ‘simple’ strategy is gaining more and more ground.

Why is this so?

The answer is time.

Have you landed on pages, especially sales pages that go on, and on, and on? I have and it’s actually kind of annoys me. If it’s a product I’m interested in I’ll scroll down, skimming, looking for highlights and the price in particular.

Have you scrolled down these pages and not been able to find the price? As crazy as it sounds, there are landing pages out there that you have to click on the BUY button to find out how much the product you’re interested in costs. This takes additional time.

You and everyone else are strapped for time today. We live in a faster and faster and faster world, a world that never sleeps, and this causes us to work more and more and at a faster and faster pace. According to the latest statistics, you have around FIVE seconds to grab a visitor, to convince or motivate him to pause long enough to move past the title and read your first and, hopefully, your second paragraph.

Time matters. Give the reader what she wants up front. And, what does she want?

The visitor to your site wants to know who you are and what you have to offer. Again, give the reader what she wants.

Keep your site simple, easy to read, and with a clear and simple call- to-action. And, if you have a product or service for sale, make the cost visible. Don’t make your landing page a Hide and Seek game. The visitor won’t appreciate it.

Okay, now that that you have the reasons for keeping your site simple and your call-to-action simple, here is one reason marketers may use the Hide and Seek strategy.

There is a marketing philosophy that uses a succession of Yeses to trigger the mind of the potential client or customer, or motivate him, to say YES to the offer. According to pro marketer Clay Collins, this is considered ‘micro commitments’ or the YES ladder. Each time the visitor responds to the request, the conversion possibility increases.

While this might be a useful strategy for high-end products, for lower-end products, like your books or products under $50, this strategy could back-fire, especially with time factored in the equation. It’s not a good thing to make visitors jump through hoops to get the information they need.

So, bottom-line, for your author website, keep it simple and to the point.

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MORE ON MARKETING

Do You Really Need an Author Website?
Ebooks are a Must
Creating Images – Simple and Quick

~~~~~

RECOMMENDED TOOL: 
TURN WORDS INTO TRAFFIC

As part of your author marketing strategy, article marketing is high on the list and Turn Words into Traffic by pro marketer Jim Edwards is a excellent way to learn the ropes. Jim will show you his quick and easy techniques for pumping out high-quality, persuasive, and professional articles, along with getting great guest blogging spots. He even goes into PLRs, articles written by someone else that you can claim as your own.

CHECK IT OUT HERE!

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Boost your writing and marketing efforts with online marketing instructor Karen Cioffi and The Writing World newsletter. Get weekly tips and guidance, plus updates on free webinars, and TWO FREE ebooks! Sign-up today (top right sidebar)! 

And, if you need extra help creating and building your author online presence, check out Karen’s ecourse at: http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/book-marketing-ecourses/

~~~~~

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A new year is in front of us. Hopefully, we learned a thing or two over the past year and are ready to move forward. One of the things I learned is that focus is an important element of any online marketing strategy.

But, what has focus to do with your online marketing strategy?

Plenty.

You must be aware of all the marketing courses, programs, ebooks, and numerous other learning tools that the heavy hitter marketers sent to your email box on a daily basis. Buy this now to make thousands selling your books – invest in this new course to get the best marketing program to date – get this ebook today and learn everything you need to know about creating ebooks and making money. The promotional emails go on and on.

If you’re like me, you’ve bought into a number of the new ‘flavor or the week’ marketing promotions. The goal for this year is to STOP. Don’t buy another product or service until you actually take advantage of (use) the ones you’ve already purchased.

You might be thinking that you don’t have the time to invest in the products you already bought and that new one being promoted looks simple . . . and it doesn’t cost that much. Again, STOP. This is most likely what you thought about the other marketing products you bought. Make this year a year of accountability. If you bought it or buy it, use it.

Okay, so you have your marketing direction. Go over the marketing strategies you bought into and determine which are doable for you. This step is essential. If you take on a marketing strategy that you don’t have the skills to succeed at or is too time consuming, you’ll become discouraged and possibly waiver in your online marketing strides.

So, choose one or two strategies that you feel comfortable with. Maybe it’ll be using social networks more, maybe it’ll be posting regularly to your blog, maybe it’ll be guest blogging. Whatever it is start working at it today and be consistent.

A key element to this marketing focus is to stay with these specific one or two strategies. Work them until you feel very comfortable with them and you begin to see results. Don’t add any other strategies until the ones you’re currently working on are on autopilot, or close to it.

This is online marketing focus.

The main idea behind it is to keep from grasping at shiny objects and wasting money. The next reason to use this strategy is to be focused. Focusing on one or two online strategies will enable you to stick with it and it gives you a clearer picture of what’s working for you.

Along with your one or two marketing strategies, add reviewing and tweaking your website to the mix. This action step should be done on a regular basis, maybe once a month or every other month. Make sure your website is current, focused, and has the needed elements to make it effective. This will help bring focused traffic to your site.

HAVE A HEALTHY, HAPPY, AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!

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Need help with your online marketing strategy? Need help tweaking your author website to be focused and effective? Check out this ecourse:

Creating and Building Your Author Online Presence
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/book-marketing-ecourses/
From creating an effective website to beyond book sales – you get a free basic website critique with it.

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MORE ON ONLINE MARKETING

Book Marketing – Learn How to Create Your Author Online Presence
Book Marketing – 9 Quick Tips for Being a Guest Blogger on Blogging Sites
What is an Author Platform and How Do You Create It?

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To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars, join us in The Writing World (top right top sidebar).


Karen Cioffi

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What is an effective color combo for a website?

Marketers agree that black (very dark) text on a white (very light) background is the way to go. This has been the proven tested strategy for quite a while now, but I still see websites that have very dark backgrounds with light text.

Another ineffective color combination, according to MarketingExperiments.com, is a grey background with dark grey or black text. And, red is a negative color.

Your author website should be easy to read and easy on the eyes. Simple always works best.

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RECOMMENDED TOOL - WordPress Subscribers Plugin

Since we're talking about websites, if you have a WordPress site, this plugin is a must. It offers lots and lots of features, including a ‘lightbox’ opt-in form; footer and header bar opt-in forms, commenting opt-in form; and exit popups. Find out what this marketing tool has to offer.





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To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars, join us in The Writing World (top right top sidebar).

Karen Cioffi

Karen Cioffi Professional Writing Services
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/karen-cioffi-writing-services/

Author Online Presence and Book Marketing Ecourse:
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/book-marketing-ecourses/

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In Part One of 7 Elements of an Effective Landing Page Designed to Increase Your Mailing I covered elements one (A Specific Opt-in Landing Page) and two (The Sign-up ). In Part Two, elements three (Convey the Benefit) and four (Your Ethical Bribe - The Free Gift) were discussed.

Now on to elements five, six, and seven:

5. Clarity

Putting it all together, clarity rules. Your opt-in page should be an easy read and easy to understand. And, it should answer all potential questions.

In addition, the sign-up wording you use should be visible and near the top of the page. And, what you’re offering, including the benefits and freebie, needs to be clearly stated. Bullet points are a good way to give the visitor a quick look at all your offering.

If a visitor has to guess or search for what you’re offering, or wonders what you’re about, you’ve lost that subscriber.

6. Images

Images are an important element to a website and landing page. I’m sure you’ve heard it before, people are becoming more and more ‘visual.’ This means images are a needed component of your opt-in page. But, the image MUST be relevant to what you’re offering. The visitor needs to be able to quickly make the connection, otherwise it may be distracting.

Along with this, you need to keep your landing page simple, clear, and easy to navigate. This means don’t clutter it with too many images.

Having your picture, along with your logo, or other relevant image should be sufficient.

The purpose of having your picture on the landing page is that people connect with people. The feel reassured when they see an actual person – it helps foster trust.

7. The Mailing List

You might have heard that only 1% of first time visitors will buy a product.

The first reason for this is because first time visitors don’t know you, which means they don’t trust you. Why should they buy from you?

The second reason is that during an initial visit, your visitor may not have the time to spend browsing your site for information that will entice him to make the decision to purchase your book or product.

This is where your specific opt-in page and sign-up text comes in. It gives the visitor a quick and easy decision-making nudge. If conveys the benefits and highlights the valuable free gift the visitor will get for taking action. With everything in place, including a clear call-to-action, you’ve made the visitor’s sign-up decision even easier.

The mailing list is your connection and opportunity to develop an ongoing relationship with the subscriber. It’s this relationship that will convert your reader into a customer or client.

If you haven't read Parts 1 and 2 yet, go to:


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RECOMMENDED RESOURCE:

Speedy Web Video

Video marketing is one of the most effective conversion tools. Speedy Web Videos is an ecourse that teaches you, with step-by-step instructions, to create your own videos. Check it out!


~~~~~
MORE ONLINE MARKETING


Beyond Book Sales Income: Book Marketing and Diversification
Creating Content: 10 Online Repurposing Formats
4 Simple Steps to Web Videos That Sell

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To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars, join us in The Writing World (top right top sidebar).

Karen Cioffi

Multi-award Winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter, Editor, Online Marketer, Affiliate Marketer
Writer’s Digest Website of the Week, June 25, 2012

Karen Cioffi Professional Writing Services
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/karen-cioffi-writing-services/

Author Online Presence and Book Marketing Ecourse:
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/book-marketing-ecourses/

Add a Comment

I was recently asked about having a marketing niche. The writer wanted to know what a niche was and if it was important.

My reply:

A marketing niche is simply a specific topic you’re focusing on. One writer may write for children, another may write business content. Then there are also more specific niches: writing children’s picture books or writing specifically on business incentives in the business arena.

And, there are niches within niches. In the writing arena, you can be a children’s author, a romance author, a nonfiction writer, a biographer, a ghostwriter, or copywriter, among a number of other niches. So, to say you’re a writer, while it may be true, it’s not specific enough. It doesn’t give the listener, reader, or viewer enough information about you and what you have to offer.

Having a specific niche is important so you can create the element of expertise in it. This doesn’t mean you can’t have more than one niche, but you do need to keep them separate and promote each separately.

For example, I’m a children’s writer of picture books and middle grade books. I’m also a nonfiction health, business, and marketing writer.

If I had one website for all these niches, it wouldn’t be focused. And, when marketing who would I market to? You wouldn’t want to bring people looking for health information to a children’s book site or vice versa.

You can’t market to everyone; you need to decide exactly who you will focus your marketing efforts on. And, that audience needs to be brought to a site that focuses on that niche.


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MORE ON BOOK MARKETING

Commenting on Blogs Still Works
Plan a Virtual Book Tour: The First Steps
Book Promotion: The Foundation

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RECOMMENDED TOOL

7 Day Ebook by Jim Edwards

Don't have a book yet? Don't fret. You can have one in a week with 7 Day Ebook by ebook and marketing pro Jim Edwards. This ebook provides step-by-step details spelled out quickly, by a real-world expert who can teach you the ropes.

Check it out HERE!



~~~~~
To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars, join us in The Writing World (top right top sidebar).
Karen Cioffi Professional Writing Services
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/karen-cioffi-writing-services/

Author Online Presence and Book Marketing Ecourse:
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/book-marketing-ecourses/

~~~~~

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LOL. I'm so glad you asked!

I have a 8 week ecourse on how to create and build an author online presence / platform.

CREATING AND BUILDING YOUR AUTHOR ONLINE PRESENCE - Website Creation to Beyond Book Sales

THE COURSE OUTLINE:

1. The Beginning – Creating a Quality Product

2. The Bare-Bottom Platform Basics: Creating an Author Website and Blog Content

3. Article Marketing: 10 Steps to Writing for Article Directories with Properly Formatted and Optimized Content

4. How to Create Ebooks for Freebies and for Sale, Including Creating a Cover with Microsoft Office 2010

5. How to Create PayPal ‘Buy Now’ Buttons for Your Site/s

6. How to Create a Product Line and Attracting Customers Through Information Marketing

7. How to Create Your Own PowerPoint Webinars

8. More Marketing Strategies

To check out the full Table of Contents go to:
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/book-marketing-ecourses/

But first, here's a quick tip: the first step for an author, after creating a quality product/book, is to create an effective website. Having an effective site means it needs to have the necessary optimization elements, pages, and content. The website is the foundation of your platform. And, simple works best.

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I'm back with Part Two of 7 Elements of an Effective Landing Page Designed to Increase Your Mailing List.

Part One covered elements one (A Specific Opt-in Landing Page) and two (The Sign-up). Now it's on to elements three and four:

3. Convey the Benefit

Simply having the sign-up wording in place isn’t enough. According to MarketingExperiments.com, you need to provide the visitor with a benefit. The benefit is the incentive to say YES to the sign-up step.

People are getting more and more gun-shy about opting into yet another newsletter or ezine. You need to give them something of value for their valuable address. Think of it as an exchange.

With the above in mind, you need to word your sign-up text to convey the benefit. You might use something like, “Sign up now for instant access to the powerful ebook, 10 Steps to Increase Your Website Traffic.”

This wording not only establishes the ‘benefit,’ it also gives a time element: “now” and “free instant access.”

The landing page should also list what’s included in the free gift and the value of the newsletter. Using bullet points is recommended.

4. Your Ethical Bribe - The Free Gift

To make the sign-up even more appealing, you should change the benefit to: “Sign up now for free instant access to 10 Steps to Increase Your Website Traffic.

This is your ‘ethical bribe.’ Obviously, you will need to make the free gift relevant to your site and valuable to your target market. And, you want the visitor to know that your offer, your opt-in, is free. You don’t want him wondering about this – make it clear.

The reason for ‘sweetening the pot’ and making the offer as irresistible as possible is because you need to build your mailing list. You need that visitor to say YES. You need conversion.

To get that YES, you’re benefit and free gift need to be valuable.

So, how do you decide if your gift is valuable enough to grab that email address?

The answer to this question is easy: you know who your target market is.

Think about it . . . what does your target market want? What would you want?

If your site and product is about writing, guess what…your visitors would probably appreciate an e-book on that topic, maybe a ‘how to write guide.’ Or, if you’re into marketing…offer an e-book of marketing tips and guidance. If your site is about cooking, offer recipes or an instructional cooking e-book.

The idea is to establish yourself as an expert, someone your reader wants to learn from. They need to want what you’re offering, whether it’s for instructional value, information, entertainment, or other.

Now for a word of caution: make sure your new subscriber is able to get his free gift. Occasionally, you may come across a site that you’ve signed up to, specifically for the free gift, and then had trouble with the link or the download itself. This isn’t a good way to start a relationship. Most subscribers will get annoyed and unsubscribe to the site.

If you haven't read Part 1, go here:

For Part 3, stop by next Monday!

~~~~~



RECOMMENDED RESOURCE:

Design Your Own eBook Cover in 10 Easy Steps - it includes step-by-step directions for creating your own ebook also!

This is a great tool for creating your ethical bribe.

Check it out: http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/books-on-marketing/design-your-own-ebook-cover-in-10-easy-steps/



 ~~~~~
MORE ON ONLINE MARKETING

Creating Images – Simple and Quick
SEO and Website Ranking – Inside Website Visit Lengths
Using Video for Marketing

~~~~~
To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars, join us in The Writing World (top right top sidebar).

Karen Cioffi
Multi-award Winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter, Editor, Online Marketer, Affiliate Marketer
Writer’s Digest Website of the Week, June 25, 2012

Karen Cioffi Professional Writing Services
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/karen-cioffi-writing-services/

Author Online Presence and Book Marketing Ecourse:
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/book-marketing-ecourses/

~~~~~

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CREATING AND BUILDING YOUR AUTHOR ONLINE PRESENCE:
Website Creation to Beyond Book Sales

I'm conducting another online class through WOW! Women on Writing that will definitely benefit you if, you want to:

• Create or increase your author online presence
• Build or tweak your website
• Learn to blog for success
• Learn how to do effective article marketing
• Learn how to create an ebook and cover
• Learn how to use PayPal buy buttons
• Learn how to create your own product line

CHECK OUT THE LESSON TITLES

1. The Bare-Bottom Platform Basics: The Foundation and Creating an Author Website

2. Blogging for Success: Creating Effective Content

3. Article Marketing: 10 Steps to Writing for Article Directories with Properly Formatted and Optimized Content

4. How to Create eBooks for Freebies and for Sale, Including Creating a Cover with Microsoft Office 2010

5. How to Create PayPal ‘Buy Now’ Buttons for Your Site/s

6. How to Create a Product Line and Attracting Customers Through Information Marketing

This class is for authors and those who are trying to get a foot in the online visibility door, and those who want to become more effective marketers, so be sure to check out the WOW page for the details. You'll find out exactly what each Lesson includes. And, there are two bonus lessons and at least one screen-sharing webinar!

The class size is limited, so SIGN UP FOR CREATE YOUR AUTHOR ONLINE PRESENCE TODAY!

~~~~~

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This is the first part of 7 Elements of an Effective Landing Page Designed to Increase Your Mailing List. Since it's a bit long, it will be divided into three parts.

Off we go.

The nitty-gritty of your landing page is to create an effective, engaging, and appealing website that is designed with focus and that will motivate the visitor to say YES to your opt-in or other call-to-action.

Getting traffic is great, but if that traffic doesn’t convert, doesn’t take action on your site, there’s really no point to it. Your opt-in landing page should convert visitors into subscribers.

Here are seven elements to an effective opt-in landing page.

1. A Specific Opt-in Landing Page

With attention spans dwindling and competition increasing, the main goal of your
opt-in landing page is to get email addresses that will convert into sales.

You might be wondering why a separate opt-in landing page is a necessary step. The answer is: distraction.

Most visitors and readers today are scanners. There’s just too much information online for people to read everything. And, in addition to this, attention spans are shrinking.

If you bring a visitor to your blog for the purpose of having her sign-up for a newsletter, she may first glance over your interesting post and scan for more information. Maybe she’ll glance over all the gadget/widgets you have on your sidebars. This is distracting and dilutes focus.

When you drive traffic for the purpose of increasing your mailing list, your intent, your call-to-action, needs to be deliberate and clear, with NO distractions. 

This is the purpose of a specific opt-in landing page.

2. The Sign-up

According to a number of marketers, the most essential words on your site are: SIGN UP or other text prompting the visitor to subscribe to your newsletter.

Getting subscribers onto your mailing list is the first and most important element of an effective website. It should be the purpose of your opt-in landing page.

The sign-up text is the building blocks of your empire. It is the link to developing a relationship with the visitors to your site.


Stop by next Monday for elements 3 and 4.

~~~~~


RECOMMENDED RESOURCE: 

To learn the ‘ins and outs’ of creating and building an Author Online Presence check out the ecourses Karen offers:
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/book-marketing-ecourses/






~~~~~
MORE ON ONLINE MARKETING

Book Marketing – 9 Quick Tips for Being a Guest Blogger on Blogging Sites
Commenting on Blogs Still Works
What is an Author Platform and How Do You Create It?

~~~~~
To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars, join us in The Writing World (top right top sidebar).

Karen Cioffi
Multi-award Winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter, Editor, Online Marketer, Affiliate Marketer
Writer’s Digest Website of the Week, June 25, 2012
“This site from Karen Cioffi should stand as a model for other freelance writers.”
~ Brian A. Klems, Online Editor for Writer’s Digest

Karen Cioffi Professional Writing Services
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/karen-cioffi-writing-services/

Author Online Presence and Book Marketing Ecourse:
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/book-marketing-ecourses/

~~~~~

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Social Media Connections - To Endorse or Not to Endorse

What’s Your Marketing Integrity Philosophy

In one of my Linkedin groups, a member asked, “What does integrity mean to you?”

In our fasted paced, condensed internet world, where you really never know who you’re connecting with, integrity is an important issue.

Integrity to me means being honest and having 'high' moral standards in all aspects of life and business. It really boils down to the 'do unto others' biblical philosophy.

A commenter in the group mentioned that she doesn’t endorse people she doesn’t’ know, but wasn’t sure if this was appropriate, since others who don’t know her endorse her.

This issue just came up last week for me again. A new Linkedin connection who I don’t know messaged me that he recommended me in seven areas and asked if I would reciprocate in only two for him.

Two things went through my head: (1) it’s an awkward situation and (2) why would anyone recommend someone they don’t know.

I don't endorse people I don't know. To me it's unethical and would be doing my subscribers and connections a disservice if I did.

I, as nicely as I could, thanked him for the recommendations, but had to decline on the reciprocation. I explained why and he replied back that he understood.

This situation holds true for connecting with someone also. I always check the profile and related sites before accepting. Unfortunately, there are scammers and others out there who I prefer not being associated with, in part because of my values and in part as respect to those who I'm connected with.

I do this for all my social networks. I always check who I’m going to be connected with.

As a writer and book marketer, with connections and subscribers of your own, being considered honest and forthright are key relationship elements. If you want to create and build strong and long-lasting relationships, you need to take your ‘connections’ into account in all your online actions.

What’s your marketing integrity philosophy?

~~~~~
MORE ON BOOK MARKETING

Book Marketing – 9 Quick Tips for Being a Guest Blogger on Blogging Sites
Commenting on Blogs Still Works
What is an Author Platform and How Do You Create It?

~~~~~

RECOMMENDED TOOL

Want to earn money while marketing your books?

How to Start Your Own Virtual Assistant Business from Home offers easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions on just how to get your business up and running.

Check it out at: How to Start a Virtual Assistant Business




~~~~~
To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars, join us in The Writing World (top right top sidebar).
Karen Cioffi Professional Writing Services
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/karen-cioffi-writing-services/

Author Online Presence and Book Marketing Ecourse:
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/book-marketing-ecourses/

Add a Comment

If you’ve written a book, you know that marketing the book is more important and more difficult than actually writing it. And, an effective book and author platform marketing strategy is article marketing. Article marketing involves posting to your site on a regular basis, submitting to article directories, and it seems more important lately, being a guest on quality blogging sites.

As you may know, guest posting on a quality site in your niche does at least four things:

•    It affords you a wider audience and often this leads to clicks back to your site.
•    It allows you to cement your expert status.
•    It provides the host site with fresh content.
•    The host site will get additional traffic from your promotion efforts.

Keep in mind that quality content is what counts!

With your quality content in hand, the first step is to find a blog that gets good traffic and offers quality content. If you’re not sure about a site, you can go to http://alexa.com to check the site’s authority.

At this point, you have the content and you have a website that will accept it. Now, it’s on to the tips.

9 quick tips for being a guest on blogging sites:
1. Check the host blogging site’s guidelines carefully. And, be sure to know what type of content the site publishes, along with what’s already been done. You don’t want to offer to guest post about Google’s Penguin when it’s been done before.
2. Provide a brief bio with a link to your site or landing page (do not embed the link – provide the complete URL). If you don’t have a website set up yet, use your Twitter or Facebook URL.
3. Provide relevant tags for your host to use. A minimum of three tags should be included with your submission.
4. EDIT your content before sending it off.
5. Ask if the host would like you to send a relevant image for the post. A number of sites are requesting images accompany the posts to save time.
6. Thank the host for allowing you to be a guest blogger.
7. Once your post is published, promote it, promote it, promote. And, in you promotion, ask for visitors to leave a comment. Bringing traffic to the hosting site is nice, but getting comments is even better.
8. Stop by throughout the day to respond to any comments.
9. Stop by periodically for the next week to see if there are any other comments.

The most important tip is to be professional and courteous. These qualities go a long way in building relationships.

~~~~~
RECOMMENDED TOOL




CREATING AND BUILDING YOUR AUTHOR ONLINE PRESENCE: Website Creation to Beyond Book Sales

An information packed 8 week ecourse by Karen Cioffi. Check out the course outline HERE!






~~~~~
MORE ON ONLINE MARKETING

What is an Author Platform and How Do You Create It?
Creating Images – Simple and Quick
Increase Sales by Writing for the Web More Effectively

~~~~~
To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars, join us in The Writing World (top right top sidebar).

Karen Cioffi
Multi-award Winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter, Editor, Online Marketer, Affiliate Marketer
Writer’s Digest Website of the Week, June 25, 2012

Karen Cioffi Professional Writing Services
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/karen-cioffi-writing-services/

Author Online Presence and Book Marketing Ecourse:
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/book-marketing-ecourses/

~~~~~

Add a Comment

CREATING AND BUILDING YOUR AUTHOR ONLINE PRESENCE - Website Creation to Beyond Book Sales

I'm instructing a six-week online workshop through WOW! Women on Writing.

It'll be six-weeks of learning how to create and build your author online presence, from creating a website right on through beyond book sales.

The course will be information packed and will have at least two live screen-sharing webinars to help with understanding. Because it's so comprehensive, students are limited to 10, so if after reading what the course will cover, and you'd like to be on board to learn effective book marketing strategies, click on the link.
http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/WOWclasses.html#KarenCioffi_AuthorOnlinePresence

HERE'S A BREAKDOWN OF EACH LESSON:

Week One: The Bare-Bottom Platform Basics: Creating an Author Website and Blog Content

Lesson One is divided into two sections:

14 Steps to Creating an Effective Website, which includes:

•    Choosing a domain name
•    About the site’s subtitle
•    Basic differences between Blogger and WordPress
•    The various website pages you’ll need and what should be on them
•    The basics of website optimization

Effective Blog Posting, which includes:

•    The importance of posting regularly
•    Keyword basics
•    Anchor text basics
•    Tags basics
•    Using images and video in your posts

If you don’t yet have a website or blog, this is the time to create one. The information provided in Lesson One will give you the tools needed to create a website that’s reader friendly and SEO ready.

Since Lessons One, Two, and Six refer to search engine optimization (SEO), information on SEO, SEO marketing basics, and Google’s latest update will be included in week one.

Note: Each lesson has an assignment.

Week Two: Article Marketing: 10 Steps to Writing for Article Directories with Properly Formatted and Optimized Content
`
Week two is an A – Z lesson on article marketing. It explains what article marketing is and its importance. This lesson discusses:

•    How to find article ideas
•    How to create an effective title
•    Types of articles you can write
•    The parts of an article and word counts
•    Using outlines or templates
•    Summaries needed for article directories
•    The resource box
•    Where to submit your articles

To take it further, we’ll discuss how to properly format and optimize your content, so search engines will easily find and index it and readers will value and share it.

Week Three: How to Create eBooks for Freebies and for Sale, including creating a cover with Microsoft Office 2010

This week offers a step-by-step lesson showing how to create your own ebook and cover. The lesson is divided into two sections:

Creating an ebook:

•    Creating an eBook: 5 Simple Steps
•    Offering an eBook for Free
•    Offering an eBook for Sale
•    About the ISBN, Copyright, and Creative Common License

Creating an ebook cover:

•    Basic Instructions for Microsoft Office Features
•    Design Your Own eBook Cover in 10 Easy Steps Using Microsoft Office 2010
•    Additional Tips for Designing Your Own eBook Covers
•    Things to Watch For
•    Sample Example One with Step-by-Step Instructions
•    Sample Example Two with Step-by-Step Instructions

In this lesson you will actually create an ebook and a cover to go with it. We’ll also discuss the benefits of creating an ebook to offer as a freebie on your site.

Included in Lesson Three is a live 30-45 minute screen-sharing webinar that will demonstrate how to use Microsoft Office to create a cover.

Week Four: How to Create PayPal ‘Buy Now’ Buttons for Your Site/s

Lesson Four provides step-by-step instructions on how to create a PayPal Buy Button and how to upload the code onto your site.

Week four covers:

•    The need for ‘Buy Now’ buttons
•    Creating a PayPal account
•    The steps required to add an ebook to PayPal Merchant Services
•    The pros and cons of having the ebook sent automatically to the purchaser or sending it personally
•    Uploading the HTML code onto your website or blogsite

The lesson also goes over the eight elements needed to create an effective landing page for your ebook, if you choose to sell it.

Week Five: How to Create a Product Line and Attracting Customers Through Information Marketing

Through lessons Two and Three you will have the foundation for creating a number of products within your market. Lesson Five is divided into two sections and discusses what products you can create and how to get visitors (potential customers) to your site. It includes:

How to Create and Sell Information Products:

•    What is an information product and product line?
•    What’s the benefit of creating information products?
•    Types of information products you can create
•    Types of content you can provide
•    What topic should you focus your product on?

Attracting Customers (Generating Visibility) Through Information Marketing

The importance and primary purpose of attracting visitors to your site
Effective strategies to generate visibility and attract visitors
The mailing list
The most effective strategy to use to increase your subscriber list

Week Six: How to Create Your Own PowerPoint Webinars

Presenting webinars is one of the top marketing tools. The final lesson will have you creating your own webinar. This lesson explains:

•    What a webinar is
•    Six reasons why you should offer webinars
•    What exactly is a PowerPoint webinar
•    What webinar service you should use
•    Some technical elements of webinars
•    How to prepare for a PowerPoint presentation
•    How to present a PowerPoint webinar
•    A bit about enhancing your conversion rate

Lesson six will also has a 30-45 minute live screen-sharing webinar to help demonstrate the basics of creating a PowerPoint document.

Note: A replay of the webinars will be available.

AND, THERE'S A BONUS LESSON THAT GOES OVER EVEN MORE MARKETING INFORMATION.

I'll be answering questions and checking the assignments, so if you're interested please sign up today:
http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/WOWclasses.html#KarenCioffi_AuthorOnlinePresence.

~~~~~~~~~~

To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars - signup for The Writing World newsletter on the right top sidebar!

Karen Cioffi
Multi-award Winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter, Editor, Marketer
Writer’s Digest Website of the Week, June 25, 2012
“This site from Karen Cioffi should stand as a model for other freelance writers.”
~ Brian A. Klems, Online Editor for Writer’s Digest

Karen Cioffi Professional Writing Services
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/karen-cioffi-writing-services/

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It's guest post Wednesday, and I have another great post for you. It's about the combination of text and images, adding comprehension and enhancing the message, as this post's image conveys.

Text and Images -- The Perfect Combination

By Rob Toledo

Imagine this: in your search for a simple chocolate chip cookie recipe, you click on a link that looks promising only to find a wall of text. There’s no photo to showcase those oozing chocolate chips, and there are all kinds of text-rich asides on topics you have no time for, like where chocolate comes from and how margarine and butter fundamentally differ.

Sound familiar? If you’ve ever loaded a site from the Internet’s infancy when designers took the term “database” a little too literally, you’ll know just what I mean. And yet, websites that rely too much on imagery can be just as difficult and unappealing to navigate. We’re looking at you, restaurants that bury your menu beneath five layers of graphics.

 So, what’s the answer? Balance and a little forethought.

Understand text, imagery and their primary talents.

First and foremost, it’s important to understand what both text and images can do. Text can frame a conversation, whether it’s through a catchy headline, a witty caption or an opening sentence that (e.g. warning, high school English term coming) is a road map to the rest of an article. Once readers are hooked, text helps a writer dig into an issue, clearly spell out necessary action steps, and expand upon a confusing point. What’s more, text is more search engine friendly than images, easier to change and store in a database, and easier on coders.

At the same time, the right image can also frame a conversation, especially when it evokes a clear emotion. It can break up blocks of text making content more fun to consume and easier to process, while also illustrating points, so they’re more concrete and memorable.

But, more than anything, where images really beat text is in branding and in basic site navigation. No one is going to remember a mission statement as well as they’ll recall a top-notch logo; nor will they return to a site that’s organized like a bulleted list with no attention paid to basic visual logic.

Know the downsides.

Flashy images and bright colors do nothing to capture a user’s interest or to increase conversions if there’s no compelling content beneath the flare (cough MySpace cough). And no one will bother scrolling to the bottom of a text-rich site if they’ve fallen asleep on their keyboard. Even those users who force themselves through either type of site will have a great deal of difficulty in piecing information together. The result: aggravation; anger; no conversions.

Know the content. Know the user.
Finding balance for a site doesn’t necessarily mean breaking even. In fact, it’s fine to lean more heavily on one than the other, just as long as that balance is calibrated to the user, the content, the tone, and the intent of all three.

As an example, take a look at Pinterest. Here, images are employed as a tool both for visual organization and as a means of capturing instant interest. Yet, the site never fails to be neat, crisp and clean, and elucidating text is just a picture click away.

Contrast this to Wikipedia users, who generally have already had their interest piqued through concepts or subjects they’ve stumbled on elsewhere or within other Wikipedia pages. They arrive not looking to be tantalized, but to get the content they need. They want no-nonsense images that are directly relevant. If either one of these sites was to strike the image-text balance in the manner of the other, they’d get in the way of their own content and lose their users.

Go professional.

Whether it’s a blurred photo or a string of typos, there are few things less appealing than amateurish content and imagery. If you’re updating your site regularly and don’t have enough visual content of your own, both stock photography and stock footage are a must. They’re relatively inexpensive and allow for a range of creative options. It’s far better to choose a single captivating professional shot than to rely on a photo or video that looks homemade.

Above all, your choices should be about communication.

No matter how visually appealing or information-rich a site may be, if the user can’t understand what the site is trying to say, it’s not doing its job. Don’t write your users a novel, but don’t go for the images unless you’re absolutely sure text can’t get the job done. The key to balance is experimentation. Try it one way, try it another, and keep on tweaking until images and text are working hand in hand to communicate your intended message. That, after all, is what a website is meant to do.

Rob Toledo is a designer, writer and dog lover. He lives in the pacific northwest and can be reached on Twitter @stentontoledo

~~~~~~~~~~


 Robert Earle Howells has been a successful freelancer for 30 years. He writes for top national magazines and websites. And, now he’s written WRITE WHERE THE MONEY IS

It's an inside-the-biz guide that steers you clear of the shark-infested waters that gobble up and spit out most wannabe writers. Howells shows you the shortcuts to earning good money quickly. His hard-learned secrets and stealth tactics will save you a ton of pain and frustration.

 ~~~~~~~~~~

More Reading

Freelance Writing Work: The Possibilities
Creating Images – Simple and Quick
Using Video for Marketing

~~~~~~~~~~
To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars - signup for The Writing World newsletter on the right top sidebar!

Karen Cioffi
Multi-award Winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter, Editor, Marketer
Writer’s Digest Website of the Week, June 25, 2012

Karen Cioffi Writing Services
A Team of Professionals for Businesses and Individuals
http://karencioffifreelancewriter.com/karen-cioffi-writing-services/

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 Today I have a great two-part marketing guest post by freelance writer Clare Evans.

Monitoring Marketing Success - 5 Things to Track on Google Analytics

By Clare Evans

You invest a great deal of time and money into online marketing. Everything from your Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising to your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts can cost you both time and money. So you want to know that your hard work is paying off.

Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics/) is perhaps the most popular way to track your online success. With a comprehensive, user-friendly interface; the software certainly has that ‘all under one roof’ feel.

Whether you’ve had your website 5 minutes or 5 years, setting up an analytics account is the best way to monitor your marketing success. Tracking your conversions, visitors, and much more has never been easier or more important. Here are five things you should be tracking on Google Analytics:

1. Customer Engagement

Engaging with your customers is an essential part of your marketing strategy. Tracking this is made easy with the comprehensive features on Google Analytics. GA will track everything from your bounce rate and time on site statistics, through to comparing your site visits to the number of unique visitors.

This is important because you need to know how well your site is performing. If your bounce rate is above 50%, and your average pages visited is low, you know there’s something not quite right with your landing pages. It’s also useful to know how many returning visitors your site has, compared to the number of unique visits.

Armed with all this information, you can tailor your marketing efforts accordingly. For instance, you can work to get people to stay on your site longer, or give them an incentive to return. This means you can rework your SEO, PPC, and other marketing campaigns efficiently.

2. Goals

If you’re using GA to monitor your marketing, you should be setting up custom goals. What do you want to achieve with your website? Are you looking for people to visit a certain page? Stay on the site for a certain length of time? Sign up to your newsletter?

Whatever your goal, set up GA to monitor and track your success. For instance, say you want to see how many people have downloaded your eBook. Set up your goal to monitor the number of people that reach the ‘thank you’ page after downloading. Only these visitors will be able to access this page, so you’ll be able to track downloads.

This is the same for enquiry forms and newsletter sign ups. Once you know how successful your current site is, you can make the appropriate changes to improve your goals. You should always aim to improve both the user-experience and success of your website.

Stop by next Wednesday, August 8th, for Part Two of this article. It will have tips three to five, plus a bonus tip - you won't want to miss it. 

This guest post has been supplied by http://birdandcocreative.co.uk. The UK based graphic design agency can help you boost your online marking efforts with a new website, and some SEO tips.

~~~~~~~~~~

Turn Words into Traffic with experienced marketer Jim Edwards. Jim will show you his quick and easy techniques for pumping out high-quality, persuasive, and professional articles, along with getting great guest blogging spots. He even goes into PLRs, articles written by someone else that you can claim as your own.

Check it out for yourself by clicking on the LINK.

~~~~~~~~~~

Headlines That Increase Website Traffic and Website Conversion Rates
Using Video for Marketing
Beyond Book Sales Income: Book Marketing and Diversification

~~~~~~~~~~
To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars - signup for The Writing World newsletter on the right top sidebar!

Until next time,

Karen Cioffi

Multi-award Winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter, Editor, Marketer
Writer’s Digest Website of the Week, June 25, 2012
“This site from Karen Cioffi should stand as a model for other freelance writers.”
~ Brian A. Klems, Online Editor for Writer’s Digest

Add a Comment

Part 1 of Demystifying Google Penguin and SEO Strategies went over the new Google update, along with questions it raises and their answers. Now it's on to Part 2.

Demystifying Google Penguin and SEO Strategies Part 2

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Demystifying Google Penguin and SEO Strategies Part 1

In light of Google Penquin, the latest update, I’ve been reading a lot about the new marketing strategies that should be used for effective search engine and content optimization, or as Scott Frangos of WebDirexion.com puts it, “social environment optimization.”

I think Frangos hit the nail on the head – the new marketing strategies to be used, to appease the marketing gods (search engines), is all about social networking, connections. SEO was always kind of a popularity contest, but now even more so, but on a somewhat fairer playing field.

Before, search engines simply connected searched keywords to related websites. Simply put, the more links back to your site, the higher your status. Quality links were always better.

Now, while keywords offer a ‘pointing finger,’ it’s the content itself and its shareability that matters. The more quality ‘like-minded’ sites and visitors you get the more Google will like you. The quality and relevancy of the links matter.

The new update is a good thing for writers who provide useful information for their readers. The content itself is ‘worthy’ and packs the ‘ranking punch.’ It doesn’t need lots of special optimization tricks. 

But, Google’s new update does raise some questions:

•    Do effective titles and content still matter?
•    Are keywords still needed?
•    What about ‘tags?
•    What about anchor text?
•    What does Google penalize for?
•    How do you rank with Google?

Let’s go over each one:

1. Do effective titles and content still matter?

Yes they do. It’s the title that will attract a reader’s attention and help turn attention to interest. Having a relevant keyword in the title helps the search engines categorize it and lets the reader know if it’s what he is looking for.

It’s the content that will keep the visitor on your site and motivate her to SHARE. This is the social connection.

2. Are keywords still needed?

Again, yes. Keywords help search engines categorize your content and help searchers find it, as mentioned in number one.

But, the keywords should be content relevant and not used primarily for money-making optimization. Sites that heavily use ‘money keywords’( keywords specifically used to make money through strategies like PPC), will most likely be penalized.

3. What about tags?

Yes, to this also. Tags, like keywords, help search engines categorize your content.

4. What about anchor text?

According to MicrositesMasters.com, “Google has issued a link over-optimization penalty (or at the very least over-optimization link devaluation).”

This pertains to anchor text linked primarily to ‘money keywords’ and that brings incoming links specifically to make money. These sites usually lack valuable content.

Using anchor text to give your reader more bang-for-the-buck, a broader reading experience is a good thing. Along with helping your reader, if you’re linking to other valuable

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How and Why to Guest Post by Heather Smith

Guest posting can be a very rewarding experience, believe it or not. You would think that writing for other people’s blogs would be boring or frustrating, but, on the contrary, it is actually useful and fulfilling. After all, how many times have you wished to branch out and write something that didn’t fit with the theme of your blog? How many times did you think: ‘I wish there was a better way to drive traffic to my blog’? Well, with guest posting, you get the best of both worlds.

WHY:

•    You get to write fun, new stuff – Let’s say your blog is about flowers, but you really love purses as well. Unfortunately, your blog just won’t take a post about purses. However, your friend’s blog is all about them. Tada! A perfect opportunity.
•    You get links back to your blog-Which brings your blog up higher in Google rankings. Instantly, you’ll get more hits to your site.
•    You get more readers – More hits equal more readers, and who doesn’t love that?
•    You get more exposure – With these readers on her blog and on yours, you get increased exposure, which means still more readers coming in!

Now we get down to the nitty gritty. This all sounds great, but how do I start guest posting? I’ve never done anything like this before! Well, it is actually very simple. There are just a few steps to successful guest posting.

HOW:

1.    Contact bloggers you love to read – If you love to read it, chances are you share similar tastes. The blogger would probably love a break and a fresh set of eyes on her blog, and would be more than willing to share her readers. It is a win win!

2.    Ask if they will allow you to write a guest post – Guest posts are great for both of you. They get free content they didn’t have to write, and you get more readers without taking away any of theirs. Tell them all about the positives and they’ll be bound to allow you to post.

3.    Give them a choice of topics you can write on - If you can, make a connection between your blog and theirs. Maybe you can write about using purses as vases for flowers, or three floral printed purses every woman must own, or something that makes a connection between your focus and theirs. That way, the readers will understand what you have to offer and you’ll get more long-time readers and fewer curiosity seekers only.

4.    Write in a way that is similar to the blogger’s style – Do their posts all have numbers? Are they essay format? Do they have pictures or video clips? What audience is she trying to reach? It is important to keep these things in mind as you create your guest post. The closer it is to the current style, the more likely it is to be posted.

5.    Include an author summary with a link to your blog – This is so, so important. This is the whole point. You want to let people know who you are, what you write about, and, most of all, where to read more!

6.    Wait for the readers to pour in!

There you have it. Now, wasn’t that so simple? You will be surprised how great this works. With a little effort, you can grow your blog by leaps and bounds, and expand your writing repertoire. You can also make lasting connections with your blogging friends. Now, isn’t that a win win?

Author Bio
Heather Smith i

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