Internet Marketing Scams Explained

Internet marketing scams are as real as it gets – they lurk around every corner, waiting to rip off honest and unsuspecting people of their time and hard earned money.

The networks of scammers are too large and spread globally. They almost work like a big conglomerate, using various means.

Further, it is a common perception that Internet marketing scams are done mostly by unethical affiliate marketers. How true is this?

Below we dissect the most common types of Internet marketing scams and ways you can spot them. Next time you feel tempted to buy a so-called Internet marketing product, check its authenticity first. How will you check? We will discuss that at the end.

Let’s begin.

Types of Internet Marketing Scams

[1] Craigslist Insurance Scams

Suppose you want to sell a used car online and you post your offer on Craigslist. Among the replies you will receive, some will be genuine and some will be downright fake and some (this is important) will be seemingly genuine.

These seemingly genuine ones that are actually ways to gain insurance leads are difficult to understand. If you reply to them with an insurance quote, they will reply saying their net connection was bad and they could not see the insurance quote, and finally, forward you a link suggesting that you visit the site and check out the average insurance price.

The link that they forward is an affiliate link. When you visit there, you have to sign up to see the insurance quote. As you do, the affiliate earns commission.

I am not saying that the insurance company behind this is a fraud. It is possible that the insurance company is not at all aware of the ways and means employed by its affiliates to get them faulty leads.

This is a classic example of unethical affiliate marketing. Stay away from them.

Again, stay away from Craigslist requests that ask you to escrow / wire transfer funds before sending the purchased product or requested services. Most of them use the name of Amazon and eBay to scam people; however, both Amazon and eBay do not offer escrow services.

[2] Hundreds of Search Engines and Thousands of Directory Submissions

Sounds good, right? So where is the scam? The entire prospect of submitting your site to hundreds of search engines and promoting your site on thousands of directory submissions is an unbelievable offer designed to scam you.

First, there are five major search engines – Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL and Bing. Five years back, submission and indexing of websites was a time consuming job – but not anymore. In fact, you don’t have to submit your site manually sometimes.

If the incoming links on the website are many and of quality, the search engines will index the website automatically. Further, the indexing procedure is a matter of few days at the most, so there is basically no need for re-submissions, which is contrary to what SEO scammers love to claim.

Secondly, submitting the website to thousands of directories is a tall claim. Why would you need thousands of submissions? How can you be sure that the directories are credible and in good standing?

Yes, there are both free and paid directories out there but you have to be really careful before entrusting anyone with this job.

If the person is a scammer, he/she will submit your website to link farms which will definitely hurt the website’s search engine rankings. The best way to differentiate between a scammer from an original is to ask for a list of directories where the SEO person intends to submit.

[3] Black Hat SEO Techniques

These techniques include gateway, doorway, mirror pages, invisible pages, cloaking, page redirects and others. The term black hat implies a computer security hacker and to the act of spamming the Internet for making money online under false pretenses. A person who does this is called a Black Hat SEO.

Boosting the rankings of a website through black hat SEO techniques is a touchy and complicated issue. For all you know, you may be kept in the dark when you are not told of the techniques the SEO professional you hired is using for promoting your website online. Identifying Black Hat SEO spammers is difficult.

There are many SEO firms that openly claim to perform such services. However, do it at your own risk because the website may get banned. Who suffers? YOU! Not the black hat SEO guy!

[4] Social Games Subscription

Have you heard of games like Farmville and Cityville? These are popular social games on Facebook. If you know how to play them, you probably know that players need virtual cash to purchase “items” while playing.

Players have two options – purchase virtual cash by paying real money or complete offers. The second option can sometimes land you in real mess. You can be asked to complete online surveys or an online quiz to get social networking game cash. What is the scam here?

If you wish to view the survey or quiz results, you have to enter your phone number and confirm the number through the PIN texted instantly. Once you do, be ready to get billed every month automatically for “subscriptions.” The amount of the subscription is at the mercy of the scammer.

Stay away from “offers” that ask you to enter personal details / emails / contact details / credit or debit card details. They are scams all the way.

How to Spot Internet Marketing Scams?

I will not explain much in detail here. Just ask yourself these questions before you purchase or subscribe to anything online:

1. How realistic is the offer?
2. How much work are you expected to do?
3. Is the offered business model blueprint credible?
4. Does the company / website have a DMOZ record?
5. How the website / Internet marketer generates money?
6. What kind of offers am I subscribing to?
7. Are they offering insane amounts of cash for little work?
8. Do I have to give my bank details?
9. Are they asking for my PayPal account email to receive payments from other countries?

If you want to know more, read the Affiliate Marketing Scams.

Have you been scammed before? Share with us how.

Read More

Must-Know Lessons on Internet Marketing

Billions of people around the world log on to the Internet everyday for surfing social networking sites, learning Internet marketing strategies, seeking entertainment and news.

Surfing from every corner of the world means that no two people are the same. Views differ so greatly from one person to the next that it can be difficult to find your target audience. And even more so to find the time to market your products to all of them! So without further ado, let’s see our first step – Time Management.

Time Management – Don’t Let Those Hours Slip Away!

In any type of Internet marketing, it is crucial to pace yourself. Finding out what works takes patience. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your online business be.

Make a schedule for yourself and stick to it! If you know you only have two hours per day to devote to your business, make those two hours count! Break up tasks by day. A sample schedule might look like this:

Monday: utilize those two hours by calling current customers to check in on them, find out if they need to re-order. Get feedback on the products they have purchased, give them suggestions on new products. Show them you care and appreciate their business.

Tuesday: contact folks who have shown an interest in partnering with you, that is, become an affiliate member for your business. Tell them about the company and assess their interest. Meet with them for coffee (if possible) to show how the affiliate business really can work for them!

Wednesday: network with other marketers online and study the market trends. Having others to bounce ideas off of can greatly enhance your motivation and productivity.

Thursday: surf the web and make a list of places you would like to advertise your business. There are millions of websites out there so this can be an ongoing project! Use an excel workbook to keep notes on the URL, their audience and cost of advertising.

Friday: place ads on a few of the websites on your list. And make sure to check on traffic and sales from those ads. This will tell you later if it is worth marketing on those sites again.

Saturday: visit discussion forums and become part of the conversation! Make sure to place your website and blog address in your signature line to optimize traffic and networking opportunities.

Sunday: write on you blog! Blogging is an essential feature of an online money making business. You can personally connect with a wider audience through your blog marketing.

Now that our schedule is in place, it’s time to really understand the relationships between advertising, blogs and networking in forums. This brings us to our next step in Marketing.

Ripping Apart the Secrets of Internet Marketing Success – Right at the Seams

The biggest mistake in Internet marketing is that people assume they will place an ad on one website and they will be rich overnight. This does not happen.

Internet Marketing takes time, patience and a real understanding of your target audience. For instance, you would not want to sell dog biscuits on a website that caters to cat lovers. While you might get a few lucky hits, the majority of the traffic on our fictitious website will only be interested in cat related items.

Do your Research!

While Alexa Ratings and Google can give you a really good idea of the number of visitors a website is getting; data will not give you a feel for the audience. Go to the website, join the forum, and make friends before spending advertising dollars there.

The visitors who feel like they know you will be much more likely to spread the word about your business and bring you new customers than simply going to a website, paying for an ad and moving on.

Sell Yourself, Not Your Products!

People buy from you because they like you! Personality is the key to making any network marketing venture work. Let’s put it another way: since this is a really important lesson to learn, it is of utmost importance that you understand why your personality is your best sales technique!

For example, you want to buy a new radio. You go to the nearest electronic shop and take a peek around. The clerk at the desk shows no interest in you, instead he is playing a computer game. You walk over to the clerk to discuss a radio that you are interested in purchasing and the clerk answers your questions quickly and returns to his game. How likely are you to buy from that shop? Not very likely at all!

There is another electronic shop around the corner. You walk in and the clerk immediately responds, asking what you’re looking for, complimenting your jacket and making general conversation while you look around. This is the store you are going to buy from!

The other store clerk only showed an interest in his computer game. He was clearly not interested in you or if you were interested in purchasing a radio. The Second clerk was much friendlier and was willing to invest in the time with you in order to make a sale.

Like this, your blog should be an extension of your website. It should sell you NOT sell your products!

Make your posts interesting and upbeat, giving the reader a good sense of your personality. If you do product reviews, do them from a personal experience of your own or a customer. Use your blog to open discussions with potential costumers. For instance, if you are interested in glassblowing, give lots of information on glassblowing. Allow for comments on your posts to let others share in their opinions.

Remember everything takes time! There is no magic that will make you rich over night, but with persistence, each day will bring you a bit closer to that goal. If you dream it, you can achieve it!

Leave a comment on how you schedule your time and get closer to your goals…

Read More

How to Set Up An Online Writing Business

Online writing is one of the most flourishing businesses of today. If you have basic technical knowledge, good grammar skills, ability to write for the masses and adhere to deadlines, you could become an online writer. Unlike other businesses that can have a saturation point in terms of market demand, a writing business will not go out of vogue.

As a writer, you will work for individual clients and businesses to develop  multiple varieties of content.

Now as much as this sounds to be fun, setting up an online writing business is not easy, primarily not because of the costs involved but because it takes time to create and maintain a steady source of clients.

Two types of online writing businesses:

1. An online writing business where you are the writer and handle projects solely

2. An online writing business where you get writing projects and outsource them to others

Both of the varieties above have its hurdles to deal with. We’ll  try to explain each aspect as clearly as possible. (If you think we missed any, kindly mention in the comments section or write to us.)

Online Writing Business Where You Are the Writer and Handle Projects Solely

In this first category, you work as a freelance writer from home and your task is to market your skills, contact potential clients, take assignments, complete them on a deadline and take payments. Sound easy?

Well, don’t jump to conclusions yet! Before jumping the hurdles you might experience, let’s see the advantages of such a work-from-home situation:

Advantages:

• There is no time barrier, that is, you work according to your own schedule. In a full time job, you have to work certain hours to justify your salary but with an online writing business, you take only those projects you prefer and can finish according to your own schedule. There is no pressure of deadlines even if you work a few hours daily.

• If you can prove your writing skills, there is no limit to the amount of money you can earn. In a full time job, your earning is restricted to your fixed salary. As a work-from-home freelance writer, there are no such limitations. With good writing skills and marketing attitude, you can easily make more than $3000 per month.

Now the flip side…

Disadvantages or Hurdles:

(This category includes technical and non – technical hurdles of online writing – explained with possible solutions)

1.Writer’s Block – This is when your mind draws a complete blank, not knowing what to write. Believe me; even great writers like Charles Dickens and Shakespeare had writer’s block.

Writer’s block can happen due to stress, overwork and inactive imagination. This can pose a serious problem as compared to other hurdles of an online writing business because when you cannot write, how can you earn even a penny?

Therefore, the best solution is to give your mind sufficient rest. Restrict your work to only 5 days a week and take weekends off to refresh your mind. Also, just because you are working from home doesn’t mean you have to burn the midnight oil and ridiculously tire yourself out. Okay, you are a workaholic! Don’t work 8 hours… but 10 or 12 hours daily but that’s it!

2.Experience – It doesn’t matter if you have written beautiful essays and poems during school or you could write a play for college cultural function; these do not count as experiences when you are trying to set up an online writing business.

It can help you to polish your writing skills, but does it meet your client’s requirement on writing content for web pages or articles about a certain product or service?

As a work-from-home freelance writer, you can come across work proposals for various kinds of writings such as – articles, blogs, product reviews, resume writing, personal statements, academic essays, thesis writing, technical writing, tutorial production and lots more.

While it is obvious that you cannot have experience in all fields of writing, it will be beneficial if you choose the fields where you do have expertise.

Moreover, since this is your first time as a professional writer, your lack of experience may not win you high paying writing projects at the start but that is something you have to deal with until you do.

This takes time  – patience and understanding…but don’t give up as difficult as it may seem.

There are clients who hire new writers but with much less pay. For the first few months, you have to settle for less payment and work hard to gain experience. If experience is not on your side, it will be really difficult to get your online writing business going.

3.Getting Clients – Even after you get fairly comfortable beating writer’s block and start to gain some experience, getting new clients is hell of a job!

You want to keep in mind there are thousands of other writers like you who are at par with your writing skills or maybe even better, so you have to work hard and be persuasive to win clients. Getting clients is a big hurdle if you don’t know the correct way to approach them. In the online world, it works in two ways –

In the first way, you have several online platforms where you contact potential clients on a one-to-one basis. You apply with a resume, cover letter and writing samples.

This is similar to applying for a conventional job. The employer evaluates your resume and reverts back to you if you suit their company’s needs and negotiate payments. This choice is comparatively easier than the second one.

In the second way, you have several online writing platforms where employers post their projects and requirements publicly and writers are invited to bid on them. The winning bidder is decided on three factors – writing skills, payment expected and turnaround time.

Many times employers sway in favor of those writers who charge less even when they realize that you are more suitable. Nevertheless, in a bidding kind of writing assignment, never take rejection seriously, it is all part of the process.

Payments – This hurdle ties up with the “Experience” and “Getting Clients” aspects explained above. There are two hurdles you need to cross if you want to remain in an online writing business for the long haul:

1. You need enough experience to get high paying projects. For instance, writers with 10 years experience can easily charge $300 for a 300-400 word press release but with no or little experience, you are not given more than $5 for the same press release. See the difference between the payments? Similarly, if an experienced writer charges $1 per word, a newbie writer is given $1 for 400-500 word articles in certain countries.
2. You need to stay away from biased clients. There are clients who can reject your writing just because you are not a Native English writer or pay you even less although you have outstanding writing skills. The same client can pay exorbitant if you are a Native English writer even if your quality of writing is very average. Stay away from this mentality – no matter whether you are a Native or Non – Native English writer. You should get paid for the quality of work you provide and not for your ethnic background. Unfortunately, it is really prevalent in the online writing business world.

Techie Savvy – An online writing business involves working with both technical and non-technical writing. Many writers prefer to remain in the non-technical writing domain because of a lack of knowledge in technical subjects like mobile technology and computer equipments.

However, as a writer, you have to acquaint yourself with the slightly ‘technical’ side of ‘non-technical’ writing. There are clients who not only expect you to write but also upload the content online.

You need to have sufficient knowledge of WordPress blogs, text hyper links, image insertion and SEO. SEO is another important aspect to know as an online writer. We will discuss this in detail in the next post.

Online Writing Business Where You Get Projects and Outsource Them to Others

In this business category, you essentially act as the ‘outsourcer’ or the ‘middleman’ where you get projects from clients, send them to a team of writers and earn your profit in between. Here, you are not essentially working as ‘writer’ (you can if you want to) but you won’t get any time because outsourcing and project management will take your whole day. A typical day is spent in marketing your services on various platforms, negotiating deals and collaborating with writers to get the project done on time. In short, see the diagram below:

Client —————— Outsourcing Agent —————— Team of Writers

The advantages of this working system are pretty much the same as in the first category – you have flexibility and no limit to earning profits. Let’s see what the disadvantages or hurdles are.

Disadvantages or Hurdles:

(This category explains the hurdles in setting up a client interface module and managing a team of writers with possible solutions)

Client Interface – Ideally, it will be helpful if you create an online writing service website where you can take orders from clients, complete and submit them.

Take for instance websites like kpwriting.com and asiawriters.com – these websites serve as a point of contact for clients and writers as well. Interested writers can sign up on your website, post their resume and writing samples and clients can become paid members and hire your writing services.

The hurdle here is the cost of setting up a website and managing it. As a starter in this business, you have to hire a web designer to get the site ‘live’ and functioning. Before that, you have to see what kind of writing you want to offer – web content development or academic paper writing.

You not only have to justify the cost of setting up website but also invest much in advertising the website. You have to provide favorable rates to clients and writers alike, and also make your profit in between.

Along with advertisement comes the hurdle of optimizing your website. This is all the technical aspect of web development; therefore, you need a professional web developer unless you are willing to take the time and have access to the resources needed to set it up yourself.

Here your primary hurdle is investment. Think twice before jumping into this kind of online writing service provider business. If you want, you can work along the lines of the first category of an online writing business for a year or two, learn the ins and outs of the writing market, develop client contacts, save for the investment and then go for it.

Team Management – Freelancer.com, Elance.com, Guru.com, Craigslist.com, ifreelance.com and yahoo network of writers are some websites where you have to search for new writers to join your team.

You are the ‘employer’ now and you have to exercise your judgment in hiring them. If you are a writer yourself, there is no problem in assessing writers’ applications but, if you are not a writer, perhaps an editor will help you.

Therefore, to begin with, you need to search for an editor and build a basic team, minimum of 2-3 writers. You can expand the team when work pressure increases.

Now, the main hurdle with managing a team of writers is to collaborate with them, getting the work done on time and dealing with unprofessional attitudes of writers.

When working with writers online, you have to consider the time difference. If you have projects with longer deadlines, this is not a problem but in projects due within a 24 hour deadline, checking the time difference is a must.

So when you take care of time and prepare deadlines accordingly with correct project instructions, you can safely get the work done on time for clients.

Many times in your online writing business, you will come across writers with an unprofessional attitude. Such writers will have no importance of deadlines, try to sell you copyrighted content or resell sold content, will constantly be after you for payment ahead of time, will not communicate with you, will not provide quality content, will be averse to revision and editing and will vanish one day suddenly leaving you holding the bag.

Now it is difficult to predict how every writer is going to turn out, so do your homework. It’s ultimately your reputation that is on the line.

If you want the best writers, you need to pay the best and simply weed out unprofessional writers. You are not under any obligation to keep them hired.

Summing Up – As a writer or an outsourcer, an online writing business is profitable. Setting up an online writing business needs patience, both as an author and outsourcer.

The core of this business is “writing”; evidently, either you have to be an excellent writer to handle projects singularly or hire a team of excellent writers. Either way, both writing businesses are extremely profitable.

Read More

Must-Know Lessons on Internet Marketing

Billions of people around the world log on to the Internet everyday for surfing social networking sites, learning Internet marketing strategies, seeking entertainment and news.

Surfing from every corner of the world means that no two people are the same. Views differ so greatly from one person to the next that it can be difficult to find your target audience. And even more so to find the time to market your products to all of them! So without further ado, let’s see our first step – Time Management.

Time Management – Don’t Let Those Hours Slip Away!

In any type of Internet marketing, it is crucial to pace yourself. Finding out what works takes patience. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your online business be.

Make a schedule for yourself and stick to it! If you know you only have two hours per day to devote to your business, make those two hours count! Break up tasks by day. A sample schedule might look like this:

Monday: utilize those two hours by calling current customers to check in on them, find out if they need to re-order. Get feedback on the products they have purchased, give them suggestions on new products. Show them you care and appreciate their business.

Tuesday: contact folks who have shown an interest in partnering with you, that is, become an affiliate member for your business. Tell them about the company and assess their interest. Meet with them for coffee (if possible) to show how the affiliate business really can work for them!

Wednesday: network with other marketers online and study the market trends. Having others to bounce ideas off of can greatly enhance your motivation and productivity.

Thursday: surf the web and make a list of places you would like to advertise your business. There are millions of websites out there so this can be an ongoing project! Use an excel workbook to keep notes on the URL, their audience and cost of advertising.

Friday: place ads on a few of the websites on your list. And make sure to check on traffic and sales from those ads. This will tell you later if it is worth marketing on those sites again.

Saturday: visit discussion forums and become part of the conversation! Make sure to place your website and blog address in your signature line to optimize traffic and networking opportunities.

Sunday: write on you blog! Blogging is an essential feature of an online money making business. You can personally connect with a wider audience through your blog marketing.

Now that our schedule is in place, it’s time to really understand the relationships between advertising, blogs and networking in forums. This brings us to our next step in Marketing.

Ripping Apart the Secrets of Internet Marketing Success – Right at the Seams

The biggest mistake in Internet marketing is that people assume they will place an ad on one website and they will be rich overnight. This does not happen.

Internet Marketing takes time, patience and a real understanding of your target audience. For instance, you would not want to sell dog biscuits on a website that caters to cat lovers. While you might get a few lucky hits, the majority of the traffic on our fictitious website will only be interested in cat related items.

Do your Research!

While Alexa Ratings and Google can give you a really good idea of the number of visitors a website is getting; data will not give you a feel for the audience. Go to the website, join the forum, and make friends before spending advertising dollars there.

The visitors who feel like they know you will be much more likely to spread the word about your business and bring you new customers than simply going to a website, paying for an ad and moving on.

Sell Yourself, Not Your Products!

People buy from you because they like you! Personality is the key to making any network marketing venture work. Let’s put it another way: since this is a really important lesson to learn, it is of utmost importance that you understand why your personality is your best sales technique!

For example, you want to buy a new radio. You go to the nearest electronic shop and take a peek around. The clerk at the desk shows no interest in you, instead he is playing a computer game. You walk over to the clerk to discuss a radio that you are interested in purchasing and the clerk answers your questions quickly and returns to his game. How likely are you to buy from that shop? Not very likely at all!

There is another electronic shop around the corner. You walk in and the clerk immediately responds, asking what you’re looking for, complimenting your jacket and making general conversation while you look around. This is the store you are going to buy from!

The other store clerk only showed an interest in his computer game. He was clearly not interested in you or if you were interested in purchasing a radio. The Second clerk was much friendlier and was willing to invest in the time with you in order to make a sale.

Like this, your blog should be an extension of your website. It should sell you NOT sell your products!

Make your posts interesting and upbeat, giving the reader a good sense of your personality. If you do product reviews, do them from a personal experience of your own or a customer. Use your blog to open discussions with potential costumers. For instance, if you are interested in glassblowing, give lots of information on glassblowing. Allow for comments on your posts to let others share in their opinions.

Remember everything takes time! There is no magic that will make you rich over night, but with persistence, each day will bring you a bit closer to that goal. If you dream it, you can achieve it!

Leave a comment on how you schedule your time and get closer to your goals…

Read More

Using AdWords for Business Promotion

Google offers AdWords or pay-per-click system on its search engine and other advertisement partnership websites like Netscape and AOL Search for advertisers to display their website ads.

You are aware that a website does not become popular automatically. You may have created the best website but if it does not receive any traffic, you won’t earn anything. It is also a fact that small business owners cannot spend thousands of dollars on internet marketing and for them, AdWords is the next best option.

AdWords – How It Started?

The basic idea of creating and developing Internet ads for promotion was invented by Bill Gross from Idealabs. Google showed interest in buying the idea but a mutually satisfying deal could not be reached.

However, Google realized the immense potential behind the idea and launched its own advertisement revenue model in 2000, known as AdWords.

For the next five years, Google took the responsibility to manage advertisement campaigns of small business owners who paid a monthly amount to Google.

In 2005, the company launched Jumpstart, a self servicing platform that would allow small business owners create and setup their own advertising campaigns.

To help such advertisers, Google created a program called GAP (Google Advertising Professional) through which the company certified other companies and agencies who passed the AdWords training program.

These companies’ works as independent professionals who would help small business advertisers launch and manage their online campaigns.

Why Do You Need An AdWords Account?

There are four main reasons:

1. AdWords campaign is inexpensive than other marketing methods. Being a small business owner, you cannot afford to spend thousands without worrying about getting return on investment. Since AdWords for pay-per-click program, your credit card is billed only when someone clicks on the advertisements.
2. AdWords will help to bring traffic to your website. After the Google’s Algorithm Update, the search engine analytics have begun to keep track on natural traffic and automated traffic. AdWords bring you natural, organic traffic. You don’t need to buy paid traffic.
3. AdWords is like your contingency plan which will help you build your website’s search engine rankings. For a new online small business, it takes anywhere between six to nine months to see the search engine position. In the meantime, a small business can make use of AdWords to bring in natural traffic and in the process, help increase search engine rankings.
4. AdWords give you complete control over your advertising account. You have the liberty to create your ads and decide where you want them placed. If you can understand the complete AdWords process, you need not take any help from third-party agencies to manage your advertising account.

How to Setup AdWords Account?

Unlike AdSense, your AdWords account needs Google’s approval, that is, you cannot create ads instantly after signing in. First, you have to fill out the application form giving your name, country, website address and company name. Google’s representative will contact you within 3-4 business days for further information and details.

You can apply for AdWords immediately after creating a website but its worthwhile to wait for 3 weeks to one month. During this time, your website will receive some kind of traction, thereby increasing chances of Google approving your account.

Exercise Caution with Ads Creation

Suppose your business is about ‘handmade woolen clothes.’ Now, it is not necessary that every time someone types ‘handmade woolen clothes’ in the search engine bar, your ads will be displayed in the sponsored listing section. In other words, your ads will only be visible or trigger when the search engine identifies keyword pairs or the keyword matching configuration.

There are four keyword matching options –

Broad Match: Your default option in AdWords. Most Internet marketers prefer this option because of the traffic variety it offers. For instance, in the keyword ‘handmade woolen clothes,’ the search engine results will trigger your ad when anyone searches the same with other keyword clusters or variations. See the layout below:

Broad Keyword: handmade woolen clothes

Visible in Searches for: woolen clothes handmade, handmade woolens, woolen cloths, woolen sweaters, buy handmade woolen clothes.

Broad Match keywords do not have any representative symbols.

Phrase Match: This method will display your ads whenever anyone searches for the exact phrase – handmade woolen clothes. There are no variations but the search result will contain other words before or after the keyword phrase.

Phrase Keywords: handmade woolen clothes

Visible in searches for: buy handmade woolen clothes, blue handmade woolen clothes, used handmade woolen clothes

Not Visible in Searches for: handmade woolen clothe, woolen clothes, woolens for winter

Phrase Match keywords are symbolized by double quotes – “handmade woolen clothes.”

Exact Match: This method will display your ads only when someone searches for the exact phrase only. Less number of Internet marketers use this method because the number of clicks and conversions are less. It is unlikely that people will figure out the exact keyword always, especially when the keyword is less common. However, use this method only when you have a very specific targeted market.

Exact Phrase: handmade woolen clothes

Visible in Searches For: handmade woolen clothes

Not Visible in Searches For: buy handmade woolen clothes, woolen clothes, blue woolen clothes

Exact Match keywords are symbolized by brackets – [handmade woolen clothes]

Negative Match: This method allows you to specify those words for which you don’t want your ads to be displayed in search results. Through this, you can eliminate keyword variations you do not want. The negative match keyword is added after the main keyword.

Suppose your company does not sell ‘used’ handmade woolen clothes, then you will write it as:

Negative Match: handmade woolen clothes – used

Visible in Searches for: buy handmade woolen clothes, woolen clothes, handmade woolens

Not Visible in Searches for: used handmade woolen clothes, buy handmade woolen clothes used.

Creating ads is a tricky business. Anything goes wrong, your competition get the advantage at your cost. Hence, if you are using Google AdWords for your business, spend lots of time studying the free AdWords guide on Google and understand how its words.

Remember to always perform a test run before making the ads ‘live’ and select the keyword matches very carefully. At most, you are allowed 2-3 lines of advertisement space; you have to be creative and comprehensive with advertisement creation.

Read More

The DO’s of Internet Marketing

Internet marketing or digital marketing has evolved in the last decade as one of the primary methods for gaining visibility online. It’s not wrong to say that internet marketing is the backbone of today’s business.

Not only small businesses but established multinationals and corporate also turn to internet marketing…the biggest human traffic resource of the 21^st century.

With the development of digital marketing,  certain rules or strategies have evolved which can be used as a pathway. These Do’s of internet marketing are briefly explained below:

Believe in Hype Creation

When you have a fantastic product or service to sell and you know people are bound to purchase them once they know its uses and benefits, it is not wrong to create hype around the product. There are thousands of people who use internet marketing as their sole income source and of course, not all of them are fraudsters. Believe people when they say internet marketing is truly effective when channelized properly, and hype creation is one of them.

Join a Forum

Forums like MoreNiche or Affiliate4U are some of the best places to join and learn a few tips and tricks from expert internet marketers. Novice marketers can join these and other forums free of cost, create their profile and start interacting with fellow marketers.

Talk to people about their experiences and ask for references to other established internet marketers. If you already have a site then use these forums to spread the word about the product or service you are selling.

Believe in Research

You can buy hundreds of proven marketing reports and strategies online but nothing matches self research and self learning. Every internet marketer has their own “proven” marketing strategy and you need to create your own.

Spend a few days researching online about various concepts and marketing models used by established marketers. Think not about copying their blueprint but modeling them… creating your own original plan.

An example of copying others ideas would be the site Fiverr.com and other cloned sites. Fiverr.com was a new concept of an online marketplace that sold several gigs for $5. Fiverr.com became popular overnight.

In a bid to copy its success, several cloned sites like GigBucks.com, TenBux.com, UpHype.com, Gigme5.com and many more started. All of them had the exact layout, script, payment method and way of working. While Fiverr.com continues to prosper, others are no where near the competition. Therefore, research and develop your own- unique marketing idea and do not copy others.

Build Links and Exchange

If your website contains useful information or resources, by all means share it with other websites and internet marketers. Connecting your website to others and sharing will help you to gain higher Google rankings. To build links, visit other websites and link your website to theirs. Your link building strategy should begin as soon as your website shows an increase in traffic.

Target Quality Traffic

There is a difference between general site visitors and those visitors who visit your site with the purpose of buying something.

The second category of visitors is unique visitors. In other words, you need to research about a particular market to sell your goods and services. For instance, if you deal with wedding gift items, you will target women internet users of a certain age group and not promote your products in say casino websites. Does that make sense to you? When you market specifically to a specific section of internet traffic, you gain better response.

Build an E-Mail List

Every site has a sidebar for email subscribers to sign up for a newsletter and recent updates. Use this sidebar to create your special members list – this is known as ‘list building’.

In the beginning, you can give away free e-book or weekly newsletter to attract subscribers. When you build a big list, you can use the subscriber list to sell products and services.

Create a PayPal Account

PayPal is by far the safest method to receive payment online for goods and services sales. PayPal is accepted globally. All you need is an account, link your credit card or bank account and you are done! As an internet marketer, having a PayPal account is beneficial because you need a platform to receive and make payments on a daily basis.

Easy To Remember Domain Name

People find it easier to remember short and simple domain names versus the long ones. Short and memorable domain names need to be specific about what it is your selling and should be able to stand alone.

To gain prominence, publish your web address on all marketing platforms like social media pages, advertisements, business cards, stationary items, emails, forum signatures and any place else where you can mention your website address.

Keep Website Simple

Researches have shown websites that take a long time to upload tend to lose traffic. Website visitors do not have the patience to wait for web pages to become visible.

Therefore, resist creating websites that take too much of bandwidth in graphics. It should be appealing enough to encourage visitors to pay repeat visits. You can make websites appealing by keeping the design simple, easy browsing features and publishing excellent content. Moreover, make your website interactive. Put up an online feedback form, publish informal polls and provide free online tools.

Blogging Equals Promotion

Create a separate blog to promote your website. Blogging these days has moved beyond being a platform of expressing your personal feelings and stories. The blogging of today is a leading strategy and offers multiple advantages of static websites.

Through blogging, you can develop content about your main websites, publish and market them. Blogging is a proactive method of internet promotion and undoubtedly, the results are worth your time and efforts.

Affiliate Marketing

If you are an internet marketing beginner, you should consider starting your online business by becoming an affiliate before you go out there with a product of your own…just to get your feet wet and build confidence.

By becoming an affiliate, you are entrusted to promote other brands, generate sales and receive a commission bonus. Stick to affiliate marketing and learn the ropes of online marketing and then when you are comfortable, switch over to your own personal products and services.

As affiliates, you receive immense exposure, develop contacts with other marketers and can easily create a list of potential buyers that can be utilized later on.

Engage in Social Media Promotion

Recent surveys reveal that people are more willing to buy ‘recommended’ products more so than those products they receive information about from other sources.

Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter is the haven for internet marketers if they utilize it effectively. Almost all brands today apply Facebook pages to promote and generate sales which allows you to interact and connect with professional – like minded people.

Find a Mentor

If you have a mentor for guidance, your journey on your e-marketing efforts is much more focused and much easier. Mentors are professional-experienced people who have been in the business for a very long time and can guide you over the hurdles you face. Find someone who can realistically help you and not encourage false expectations.

If a mentor says you can make $10,000 within 15 days, you should be wise enough to stay away from his mentoring. There are no ‘get rich quick’ programs on internet.

You must work hard, just as you would in an offline business. Find a mentor who can be honest with you, aligns with your morals and values and sincerely encourages you to succeed.

Content is King!

Definitely! If you do not have interesting and engaging content on your website or blogs, you cannot entertain or spark your visitor’s interest. Of course, internet marketers may not be great writers but there are hundreds of experienced writers out there who are willing to write for you.

Follow these fourteen must-do internet marketing ways and you’re on the path towards a successful online business. As you move along, you will learn many new things. Be receptive to changes and you will do well!

Read More

Google’s Farmer Update – Is It a Nightmare for Internet Marketers?

Google just dropped a huge bomb on your head with its Farmer Update 2011. Major news organizations like CNN to small news forums are discussing this Farmer’s Update big time.

According to Google’s new algorithm shift, Google is targeting those websites that have poor or low quality content and shifting them way down in Google’s Page Rankings.

On the other hand, Google is promoting those websites with excellent content (useful content for readers) and raising them up in the rankings.

A typical high ranking content website will have original content and information that is not copied from anywhere and content websites will have high SEO rankings that have depth and thoughtful analysis put in.

Reacting to media comments and intense speculation, the official Google page published this statement:

“We can’t make a major improvement without affecting rankings for many sites. It has to be that some sites will go up and some will go down. Google depends on the high quality content created by wonderful websites around the world and we do have a responsibility to encourage a healthy web ecosystem. Therefore, it is important for high quality sites to be rewards, and that’s exactly what this change does”.

The Farmer’s Update has created problems for Internet marketers mostly because Google has sought to target “Content Farms” and reduced their SEO rankings.

As we all know, Internet marketing depends on content writing and promotions. Article directories like Ezine and eHow are used by Internet marketers to submit articles directing links to their own websites.

Internet experts feel that this kind of promotional activity is in danger if Google continues to update their search system every few months.

Within 48 hours of the Farmer’s Update, the SISTRIX Visibility Index finds that popular article directories and content websites are experiencing the algorithm change in their website ranking. According to SISTRIX, the 15 biggest losers were:

1. Wisegeek.com: -77%
2. Ezinearticles.com: – 90%
3. Suite101.com: – 94%
4. Hubpages.com: – 87%
5. Buzzle.com: – 85%
6. AssociatedContent.com: – 93%
7. FreeDownloadCenter.com: – 90%
8. Essortment.com: – 91%
9. Fixya.com: – 80%
10. AmericanTowns.com: – 91%
11. LoveToKnow.com: – 83%
12. ArticleBase.com: – 94%
13. HowToDoThings.com: – 84%
14. Mahalo.com: – 84%
15. Business.com: – 93%

Most of the websites listed above are content farms.

Is Google particularly targeting content farms? What are content farms by the way?

Google has maintained their silence on defining content farms but the buzz going around the web suggests that content farms are those websites which contain keyword-rich content and they are optimized more than is necessary.

By this off-hand definition, content farms would include the hundreds of article directories that Internet marketers use to promote businesses.

Take Ezinearticles.com for instance. SISTRIX reports 90% drop in traffic flow. Why? Those who are familiar with Ezine directory will agree that not all content published there is of high quality.

While some content is excellent, others are below average. Still, the content is published on Ezine and one look at the number of unique visitors to those below average articles will tell you one important thing – the reason being below average articles also get traffic because of their SEO.

Such articles climb the SEO rankings while other useful articles go down – this is what Google’s Farmer Update hopes to remedy.

Another reason why Google is targeting Ezine and other directories is because they have topics on which information has reached a saturation point – there is nothing “new” to write but still… Internet marketers keep on publishing content on those topics.

The Ezine Blog says that there are 7 topics which have gone beyond saturation point and they have no idea what to do about those topics or content.

Get Your Ex Back, Penis Enlargement, Acai Berry, Reverse Call Phone Lookup, Credit Card Debt Relief, Male Enhancement Pill and TV / PC are the 7 categories.

What can one possibly do?

Either they block these categories for the next few months or do a complete re-edit of published articles to weed out useless or fluff content and then reopen these categories for further submission.

But, can Ezine do this? 90% of Ezine search traffic comes from those categories only!

From here on, there are two possible scenarios for Internet marketers:

• If you are an Internet marketer who used to purchase and publish cheap content and didn’t devote much time to make your website high in content quality, your business is in danger!

• If you are an Internet marketer who was committed to publishing high quality content, both on your website and article marketing directories, you have absolutely nothing to worry about! Just sit back and let the Google change take place.

If you fall into the first category, you have to definitely rethink your article marketing plans. No more buying cheap or PLR articles because they are posted online at several other forums.

If you want good SEO ranking, you have to invest in getting high quality content – both for your website and for directory marketing.

Moreover, you need to publish promotional articles in good directories. By good directory, we mean a directory with high SEO ranking and a directory that has high quality content.

What’s next?

Its time to make an adjustment to your business promotional strategies! Whether you have been publishing high quality content or not, take a break and assess the situation you are in.

You may have to rethink your budget for online article marketing or you may have to switch accounts to high quality article submission blogs from low quality article submitting directories.

Or, you may have to come up with new ways to promote your website or business better so that your SEO ranking is higher in the upcoming months.

Don’t let Google’s Farmer Update 2011 slow down your business. Just follow the new update clauses and your business will be back with a bang!

Read More