s.e.o
TRANSCRIPT
Website Promotion&
Traffic Generation
How to let people know you exist and get them to come to
your website!
My Experience and Knowledge On the internet even
before it was public domain!
Several online businesses/websites, of which the two biggest are: LandlordMax.com and FollowSteph.com
3 years & 3 partners – CCE to Symbiotic
Own several hundred domains (Affiliate marketing, Deleted domains, Adsense, co-ventures, etc.)
LandlordMax.com Website Traffic
January February March April May June July
FollowSteph.com Website Traffic
February March April May June July
Resources & Links
All resources and links will be available at:
http://www.LearningCentre.com/webPromotions.html
Goal: to make $$$ on the Internet
1. Get lots of targeted traffic to your site
2. Ensure visitors enjoy your site & find it useful, so they come back & bring their friends.
3. Effectively monetize your traffic without sacrificing goal one or two.
(Concepts: Flowers , Bees , Honey)
The 3 Views
1. Visitors : What do they look for? 2. S.E.O. : Search bots for SERP3. Adsense : Contextual analysis
Adsense View Page content affects
the contextual advertising Keywords
Keywords have wide ranging bid values (BV)
Keywords have wide ranging variations in clicks
S.E.O. (Bot view) Search Bot reads
the site for content and how the content is found used. (T1, H1, link text)
Search Bot reports back its findings to Google to help determine SERP
Visitor View
1. Content Quality & Quantity
2. Flow / Navigation3. Site Aesthetics
Why is the Visitor View Important?
TRAFFIC !!!
Why is Traffic Important?
More traffic = more $$$
How Traffic Affects Revenues Exponential Growth
yourmoney2keep.com40-150% growth/month
Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net now makes over $1 million a year!
Why Does Traffic makes more $$$?
In business everything is a multiplier: Product * customer service * sales *
marketing * …
The same is true for websites: SEO * traffic * monetization * …
Traffic Over Time Exponential growth Less time and
energy is needed as traffic increases.
The larger your traffic is the less effort you need to increase it!
How Will Visitors Find You?
SEO = traffic from search engine (search engine optimization) Getting traffic from being found high up in
the search engines results pages (SERP’s) for one or more specific keyword search terms
Most people only look through the first few pages to find what they are looking for
Page rank Link popularity
Why is SEO so Important? Search rank is crucial for traffic
Why is Website Promotion Important?
You need both Multiplier effect Different websites have different traffic
sources
Type of Promotion to Use Determine your website goal to determine
the type of website promotions you will use Free service/product (Easiest to promote!) Blog … Business … Affiliate marketing Spammy Domain parking (hardest to promote!)
Types Of Free Promotions Content Free product, service, ebook, etc. Social Network Sites Linking
In your content Reciprocally One-way links
Commenting News Tips Directories Pinging E-zines
Types Of Paid Promotions Adwords Press Releases Buying domains Buying deleted domains
Quick Test: Which Type of Promotion Works With The Following Websites?
Google.com
CanadianHats.com
Layouts.com
FollowSteph.com
LandlordMax.com
Cnn.com
Reddit.com
ProBlogger.net
PayPal.com
Ebay.com
InfoWorkShop.com
Symbiotic.com
Free Promotional Methods
Free Service/Product - 1 Easiest promotional method
Everyone likes free stuff!!!
Examples: Google.com! Cnn.com SEOChat Internet Explorer (anyone remember
Netscape?) Symbiotic.com
What can YOU Offer for Free? Content!!! Ebooks (Seth Godin) Software (Internet Explorer) Service (Google, LandlordMax Real
Estate Analyzer) Resources (Layouts.com) Etc.
Content!!! Offering FREE VALUABLE content
IS the most effective way to generate traffic
Talking about your dog, cat, the food you ate today, etc. is NOT valuable content
Content
What Makes Good Content? Focused content
Be about something and not about everything
Be an industry leader, an authority on a topic you know well
Talk about things that interest you and others (if it doesn’t interest you it will show in your content)
How Specific Should my Content Be?
Niche Not to specific so you have nothing to
write about (1996 Honda Civic Model LX) Not to broad so that no one knows what
you’re talking about (everything)
You can sometimes (rarely) break these rules successfully (LifeHacker.com)
What Makes Great Content - 1 Talk about a specific topic Great headlines!!!
You generally have 5-7 seconds to interest your reader
Make the text “scanable” bold points of interest
Have an opinion Short content
More than 2 paragraphs, less than 2-3 pages (this rule can be broken)
What Makes Great Content - 2 It’s not about you Connect with your reader emotionally first
then follow with logic Tell stories Corrret speling n’ gramar Use the active voice Help and Tutorials How to’s Lists
Top 10, Best places, 5 Quickest, …
What Makes Great Content - 3 Original content Timeless content (most valuable) Be real Use “power” words Be courteous Interviews with well-known people Use photos Use diagrams, images, things to attract
the eyes
What Makes Great Content - 4 Create your own identity Assume each day some of your
readers are new (don’t leave them behind)
Link to your other posts Point to amazing resources (especially
unknown ones!) Link to great sites for extra information Don’t be boring!
What Makes BAD Content Dear diary entries
Talking about your dog, daily life, etc. Talking about nothing Extraneous usage of overzealous
utterances and discourse Write so everyone can understand what
you’re saying! Use Bait and Switch in your headlines Regurgitate the same content Copy large amounts of content from
others.
How Often Should Content Be Updated?
Often enough so that people still think your alive but not too much so that you overload them
Once a month is too long between posts, you’ll lose they interest and people will stop checking in with you
10 times a day is too many because people won’t bother keeping up and will feel overwhelmed
Quality runs low as it’s hard to keep up this pace Threatens credibility because of the perceived decrease
in quality Test your particular audience
FollowSteph is about every other day but worked fairly well with once a week
Headlines VERY IMPORTANT 5-7 seconds to get attention 8 out of 10 people read the headline
2 out of 10 read the posts! Example
Exact same article posted on Digg.com First submitter: essentially ignored Second submitter: 300 diggs!
Don’t mimic, understand WHY a headline works
What Makes A Good Headline? Offers something useful Provides a sense of urgency A unique useful benefit Is specific Is credible (quantify – 7% of
readers…) Use swipe files for suggestions
Does Your Headline: Offer the reader a benefit for
reading the article? Can you quantify your headline? Is your headline believable? If not,
can you add specifics to quantify it? Does it provide a strong emotional
trigger? Can you make it more intriguing?
Example Headlines That Work The Secret of [blank]
The Secret of Getting Your Home Loan Approved Little Known Ways to [blank]
Little Known Ways to Save on Your Heating Bill Get Rid of [problem] Once and For All
Get Rid of That Carpet Stain Once and For All Here’s a Quick Way to [solve a problem]
Here’s a Quick Way to Backup Your Hard Drive Now You Can Have [something desirable] [great
circumstance] Now You Can Quit Your Job and Make Even More Money
[Do something] like [world-class example] Buy and Sell Real Estate Like Donald Trump
Social Network Sites
What is a Social Network Site? Sites where people share links Examples:
Digg.com (Technical until recently) Reddit.com (Anything) Del.icio.us (Anything) Furl (Anything)
How do Social Network Sites Work?
People submit content People vote on the content
up/down (Reddit.com) up votes only (Digg.com) number of bookmarks (Del.icio.us)
The most popular content goes to the front page and gets HUGE traffic!
How Much Traffic? MASSIVE SPIKES!!!
Digg.com
Reddit.com
Link Profusely
Why You Should Link Out Profusely
Isn’t this the opposite of SEO? YES!!!
Because people will find you through these links.
How Will People Find Me Through My Links?
Weblogs Search through your weblogs to see
where traffic is coming from
Would you check out who links to you? Especially if they send you lots of traffic!
Blog & Forum Commenting
Why Comment? SEO Traffic
Percentage of people click on the signatures Even higher percentage click on valuable
links (preferably to your website) within the comment!
Sometimes the bloggers themselves will find out about you and find something newsworthy to mention (HelpSpot)
Google PR may not always be a perfect indicator of which sites will generate you the most traffic.
Which Websites Should I Comment On?
High Google PR (SEO) High traffic (traffic for you) Targeted traffic (sites related to
your topic) A-List bloggers Authority sites (Problogger.net for
professional blogging)
How Not to Comment?
Comment Spam Automated Irrelevant Unrelated Simple Doesn’t bring any value Likely to be removed very quickly A-List Bloggers are now starting to follow
the signature to check for comment spam
How to Comment Be relevant, about the article (on topic) Be specific Offer value, especially for the author Follow the conversation Be courteous Propr spelingn’ grmar Make sure your posts make sense (re-read them) Don’t link profusely unless it’s appropriate Offer a specific compliment to the blogger Respond to responses to your comments, especially
from the blogger (no response might mean the comment gets removed)
News Tips
Why
Why? News is about your article/website Get mentioned Become a source of information for an
industry leader (which will lead to future exposure)
8 Months later:161 Unique visitors from the same article!
Who
Who? A-List bloggers in your industry Relevant and targeted websites News agencies (more details later) Influential people
What to Expect Nothing!
A-List bloggers rarely respond, everyone is trying to reach them. Be happy for anything because it’s worth it
Don’t pester Don’t be insulted if they don’t mention
you, it might not be worth it for their particular audience
But be PREPARED for the traffic if it happens!
Reciprocal Links
Why
SEO Until January 2006
Traffic Only if the link page is small and
highly focused
Who
A-List bloggers in your industry Relevant and targeted websites News agencies (more details later) Influential people
Is It Worth the Time? Until January 2006 yes, today it’s
debatable. A-List bloggers rarely use this Most link pages are overloaded,
untargeted, and useless Most link pages generate little to
no traffic
One Way Links High SEO value Easier to get Better quality, more targeted
How To Get One Way Links - 1 Offer new content, news Offer relevant information Only promote information or posts that are of
high quality Although it might be interesting to you, it might not
be of interest to others, so don’t be offended Focus on them, the benefit to them Personalize your email
Give a specific compliment Reference specific material from the website beyond
the current link
How To Get One Way Links - 2 Realize you might not be the only
information source Why it’s important to build relationships
Introduce yourself (very short and sweet)
Keep the email brief, no more than a few lines
Learn what works and doesn’t for different websites/bloggers Do A/B testing on B/C-List websites/bloggers
Offer free tool/software/resource/info
Directories
Why
SEO 80/20 rule
Traffic 80/20 rule again.
Who Money/Benefit (depends on your website). Test! Yahoo Directory ($299/year) Those with Google PR Niche directories with traffic and PR Free directories (lots of lists)
To avoid No Google PR Lots and lots of links Paid with no value Those that directly link your image in their directory (it
significantly inflates the value you think you’re getting from them and makes it almost impossible to gage)
Pinging
Who, What, When, Where, and Why
To tell people you have new content When you add new content Less useful with time due to abuses Who
Pingomatic.com Pingoat.com
E-zines
What is an E-zine
Publicly available content that can be republished You’re suppose to give credit to the
author with a link Many services provide this
ezinearticles.com
Benefits If you have a highly valuable article many
people will re-use it generating lots of traffic (author link)
Create authority in your domain SEO (through author links)
Tip 1: To avoid duplicate content penalization from Google publish a different version of the article, or none at all, on your website.
Tip 2: If you do affiliate marketing, a good review article may generate extra revenue.
Free Website Promotional Items NOT To Do!
DO NOT DO Duplicate content (SEO penalization) Content scrapping
SEO penalization and very little traffic Link blogs
Blogs that are only 1-2 line summaries with links to the real content
InfoWorkShop.com http://patrick.net/housing/crash.html
Link all your unrelated websites together Try to fraud Google Only display feeds
Paid Promotional Methods
Google Adwords
What is Google Adwords?
The Advertisers side of Google It’s actually larger and much more
complex than Adsense!
Bid on keywords and pay per click Bid on websites and pay per
impressions Soon to come: Pay per performance
Basic Google Adword Advertiser Goals
Multiple advertisers bid (CPC: Cost Per Click) on a keyword for example “Property Management
Software” Try to attain the highest CTR (Click
Through Rate) by testing multiple ads simultaneously
Try to attain the higher conversion (sale, traffic, etc.) from the ad
Google’s Adwords Goal Make as much money as possible!!!
How? Highest total revenue from a keyword.
How? Highest CPC? Highest Number of Impressions? Highest Number of sales conversions (so advertisers
spend more)? Highest CTR? ???
How Google Achieves Maximum Revenue
CPC * CTR
CPC * CTR Examples
Example 1 (competitor): CPC = $1 CTR = 1% CPC * CTR = $10 (per 1000 impressions)
Example 2 (you): CPC = $0.25 CTR = 10% CPC * CTR = $25 (per 1000 impressions)
What Does This Mean For You? Competitor (CPC $1, CTR 1%)
Less total traffic (10x less) Each click is more expense (4x more : 10 clicks for
$10)
You (CPC $0.25, CTR 10%) More total traffic (10x more) Each click is less expensive (4x less : 40 clicks for $40)
You will also rank higher in the search results!!!
Does This Affect The Adsense Keyword Value? Yes. Absolutely! But in a good way. Like Google, you will get the BEST
performing ads, NOT the highest. Assuming 50% payout:
Competitor ($10) = $5 to you as an Adsense Publisher
You ($25) = $12.50 to you as an Adsense Publisher
This is also why it’s important to have market depth, more than 20 advertisers
Ok, So What’s a Good High CTR?
Depends on the industry Range from 1% - 20%
Depends on the keyword Specific: “property management
software” Generic: “real estate”
5% or higher is generally exceptional
How Can I Increase My CTR?
A/B Testing Google offers A/B testing directly in
Adwords Allows you to run more than 2 different ads
at the same time for the same keyword Gives preference to the better performing
one Small text difference have huge
performance impacts
Example of A/B Testing
0.44%
0.77%
0.88%
0.92%
0.97%
1.14%
1.19%
1.48%
1.62%
1.62% (higher sales conversion!)
Always Try to Beat Your Baseline!
Never be satisfied, always try to beat your baseline
Even 1 single word can make a significant difference
Tricks to Help You Get a Higher CTR
Ads generally composed with the following format work better:
KeywordBenefitFeature/ActionURL (doesn’t have to be your home page!)
Example:
General Adwords Tips Look at what works for your competitors Bid on your competitors names Upper Case the Different Words in your URL
http://www.landlordmax.com versus http://www.LandlordMax.com
Test outside of the Content Network (Google only) first until you figure out what works
Being first is not always the best for Adwords (in terms of sales conversion)
Look for alternative keywords (the same research as the Adsense keyword search)
Determine your goal/object (sales, lead, view, etc.) then target accordingly
Test Test Test!!!
CPC And Adword Minimum Bids Up until 2006, if you didn’t get a minimum
amount of traffic the keyword you bid for was banned for life
Now (2006+), if you don’t get a minimum amount of traffic for the keyword the minimum bid keeps going up indefinitely!
You don’t lose it but it becomes uneconomical to bid on You can bid as high as you want Google suggests that it tries to get you the best
price for your bids which should generally be lower than your Max CPC. I’ve found this to be true.
Adwords Account Manager
Managing Your Adwords Account
Each keyword as it’s won Campaign
Test different daily budgets Test different CPC’s Monitor your conversions
So I do I Start?
Bid high initially to get listed and get some test traffic to test with Remember CPC * CTR so if you have little to
no CTR than increase your CPC until CTR decreases!
Slowly lower your bid as your CTR increases
Have a higher initial daily budget to get faster metrics because Google tries to spread your budget throughout the day
Couldn’t I Make Money Bidding on a Low Keyword And Up selling it?
Yes. But it’s very difficult (generally small margins) and time consuming
This is not passive income. You need to be on top of it all the time and you can very quickly lose money rather than just not make any money at all.
If you do, pay per impressions is probably the most effective way
What About Using Adwords For Affiliate Marketing
Yes you can and it’s a little easier since the margins are higher, but it’s still active income and time consuming.
Google has in essence stopped Affiliate Adwords (having the ad directly link to your affiliate product) because it devalued the searches
What the Deal With the Google Checkout And Adwords?
VERY NEW! Google is essentially offering up to
a 20% discount on Adwords to websites using Google Checkout
The information is out but the results of how effective this is are still to be determined
Adwords Potpourri and Conclusion
Sales conversions are only tracked for up to 30 days
Test Test Test!!! This could be offered as a full week
course and still barely touch the surface!
Press Releases
Who Should Use Press Releases?
Sites that have something newsworthy to tell
Sites that can make more money then they spend sending the press release
How Much Does it Cost?
Press release can range from Free to thousands!
For free don’t expect much For thousands expect a lot
(assuming newsworthiness) A decent press release can cost as
little as $100!
What Services Should I Use?
3 main services I suggest: PRWeb.com
Free to several hundreds Mainly focused online Decent readership Helps with SEO
PR News Wire / Business Wire Major services Mainly offline media (tv, newspapers, magazines,
etc.) Very expensive (PR News Wire: $125/year + $500
average press release)
Which is Better?
Depends on your budget and conversions (sales, Adsense, affiliate, etc.)
Examples of what to expect:
PRWeb.com
3 Tips to Increase a Website's Revenue From Google Adsense
How Interest Rates Can Drastically Affect Real Estate Prices
PR News Wire
LandlordMax Free Real Estate Analyzer Press Release
What’s Newsworthy? A new competing product is NOT newsworthy unless its from
someone big like Google A new unique product IS newsworthy A different angle on something An event Free stuff is often newsworthy
Free gas to the first 200 customers when we open Results from research Awards and recognitions Human interest stories People and interesting characters
Something the media can get interest from so that they can sell their products (newspaper, etc.)
How to Write a Press Release
Most of the same rules as writing an article apply Great headline (2 of 10 readers get
past it) Active voice Interesting information Unique information Interesting angle
Flow of a Press Release
Sub lead / first paragraph is a teaser that reveals something exciting without going into detail, the hook
Second paragraph explains why the news in the first paragraph is important and why it’s beneficial to the reader
Third paragraph should include quotes from powerful industry leaders, well known characters, etc.
Fourth paragraph is the wrap up
Are Press Releases Actually Worth It?
Depending on your type of website you have they can be
It’s generally a hit or miss, but a hit is phenomenal!
1 hit can pay itself many many many times over Imagine the traffic from being on the
first page of Cnn.com for 1 full day
Buying Domains and Deleted Domains
Why Would I Buy a Domain? - 1
You are buying/leasing traffic without having to work for it
Accelerates the growth process Buy type in traffic
Core word Typo Relevant search term (people will type in their
search terms in the URL) Many domains can point to your core
domain LandlordMax has over 50 different related
domains pointing to it right now
Why Would I Buy a Domain? - 2
Based on the ROI Important Tip:
Which would you rather do: Spend $500 on Google Adwords EACH
year for 500 clicks a year Spend $500 ONCE for a targeted domain
that generates 500 clicks a year for infinity!
How Do I Buy Domains? Find them online
Digital Point.com DNForum.com Sedo.com DomainParking.com
Contact the owner directly
Things to look out for: Faked traffic Trend based traffic (short lived traffic)
Pet Rock, short-lived tv show, etc. Trademarks
What’s a Deleted Domain?
Deleted Domains are domains that have expired and not been renewed
Why? Company is bankrupt People forget (I’ve lost many myself) People don’t bother Accidents
Legend has it that Hotmail was accidentally lost for 1 day until it was given back freely
How Can I Tell Which Are Good?
That’s the hard part! Most people can’t You can guess-estimate how much traffic it gets
Is it a core dictionary word? Is it something popular? Is it a future technology? Is it future term? Are there many links to it right now?
Tip: avoid domains that have been banned or used for spam purposes
Are Deleted Domains the Same Price As Regular Domains?
Yes and No Yes if:
No one is interested and you’re willing to wait until they’re expired and are on the free market
No if: If there is competition to buy it
How Are Key Deleted Domains Sold?
They are released at a specific time. First Registrar to buy it gets it
How can you guarantee your registrar will get it first? You can’t!
Deleted domain services (many registrars work together as one trying continually, many times a second)
Delete domain services auction off domains that are purchased to the highest bidder
These start at $40 and can easily go into the thousands Deleted domain services include:
Pool.com NameWinner.com
Tip: avoid using normal registrars as the probabilities are extremely low
Promotional Potpourri
Small Promotional Tips
Always sign your emails with your URL Well written testimonials of products you
believe in can generate lots of traffic Property management company gives a testimonial
to LandlordMax Reviewing competing products can sometimes
have the same affect if you let the company know about it
Example: Customer service system Google Sandboxing
2-9 months to be indexed Buy your domain now and get it live Put up at least 5 pages of content now
RSS
Great to increase readership and keep people coming back
Other Sources of Revenues
Affiliate programs Amazon.com everytime you reference
a product/book Direct affiliate programs from
companies (some pay double-digit percentages)
For example LandlordMax CJ.com for large companies
Wal-mart, etc.
Soldier Sites
What is a soldier site? A site that promotes another site
for example: FollowSteph.com is a soldier site to LandlordMax.com
Often used by companies Blog from key company members Behind the scenes of the company New and upcoming information Industry/domain expert Industry news and information
Can be used with multiple blogs
Conclusion
Compatibilities and Incompatibilities
Website promotion is often in conflict with SEO and Adsense monetization however the more you grow it the higher the total $$$ you will earn.
You need to determine the goal and strategy of your particular website to decide which balance you want “Sell to the classes dine with the masses” “Sell to the masses dine with the classes”