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Recently some promotional videos claim top ranking quickly, but the advice given is not quite right. This relates to several products I have seen recently on using video for Google ranking and the way they are being promoted.

Some of these promotions are been portrayed as a 5 minute push button solution to top search engine ranking, and in the example, they are correct but there is more too it than that. Warning rave coming!

Lets say you are playing a game of tennis against a 10 year old. You, as the adult, don’t need to work hard, just a few well placed shots and you are winning. Great for the ego, but not really any kind of achievement.

Now lest say your 10 year old runs home crying and brings back his brother, Sam. Now the brother plays some tennis, but you still achieve a win. (Bare with me I do have a point).

Now the win this time provides a much better feeling and you have achieved something over a similar opponent.

Now let say the brothers says his cousin also plays tennis and he is currently staying with them. He asks if you would be interested in playing him? ” Sure ” you say after all you have had success already and are feeling confident.

The cousin arrives and suddenly you don’t feel so confident- he introduces himself, but he really didn’t need too….”Hi, I am Sam’s cousin, Pete” - You shake his hand and you stutter….Pete Samapras?

He nods and you begin to play. Very quickly he wipes the previous smile from your face when each and every ball is sent past you for another point.

Now what’s my point here.

Now did the game change? No

Did the rules change? No

Did the standard of competition change? Yes

The competition playing field had changed creating different results.

People just love the fast quick fix. It is a video service product which allows you to upload videos to several places instantly and also create social bookmarks for you.

The video that is being shown creates ranking in Google in the top 5 in hours not months.

Here is where I have a problem….The example shows what I call an “ego keyword” - good for ego, not for pocket - not a money making keyword. The term that its shows rank for does not have enough people searching for it. (so what is the point anyway?)

Due to it being brand new content, Google would automatically rank it high, after a few days it would then suffer a “Google bounce” and it settle back down to a reasonable position. That really doesn’t matter because not enough people are searching for it any way

See this is the competition comes in. If it were a money keyword, then it would have competition, from at least some sites that know what they are doing. Who wants to be ranked high for something no one is likely to be searching on? I have yet to see anybody prove using video is a way of getting real money making top rankings. Please point me to someone if you know anybody!

You can get traffic from videos and viral marketing going on by putting the videos up and getting others to comment on them, making them top in Youtube which will bring you some recognition and more visitors- Really this is using a database to drive it.

The final point is to stop looking for the “microwave” search engine ranking results- The major search engines don’t allow it to happen. Anybody can achieve a top ranking if they have done the work to get it.

Author:  Paul Easton is an online marketing maven - who helps from an “in the trenches, doing it” point of view. Search engines and linking for long term traffic a speciality. Get a Plan for free web Traffic here: SEO Training

Why overlook the beautiful garden of latent links that are available from several of your very own buried internal pages? With a menial investment of time and a bit of pruning to remove a few semantic weeds, you can revitalize your website via deep links and give all of your pages a serious boost in the SERPs. Simply put, it’s like link insurance to procure additional sweat equity in your pages.

This better be good, for your sake

When it comes to building valuable inbound links for your site, don’t overlook older established (6 months and up) content for a current link building campaign. Older pages are well on their way for establishing Trust Rank, which can put your whole site over the top (if the spiders only knew).

Spiders and Deep Links a Pure Win/Win Strategy

Using your blog to create deep links can reinvigorate all of the content lodged deep within your pages. Why have a few pages in the lime light for search engines spiders when you can unleash the spiders to feast on all of your content. Deep links have a profound impact on rankings, they can (a) like a ping, invite the spiders to diner, if you have made changes to entice their appetite and (b) accelerate the indexing time for content deep in your pages tenfold.

Think of search engines spiders like amped up reporters with a tireless ambition to keep abreast of the the latest scoop. Fickle indeed, if they find one piece of code that does not ingest well, they will bounce to the next site in line for a better flavor of the day.

So, before you invite them to visit, set the table for your content by making sure you give your pages a quick touch-up to make them news worthy.

Here’s a few tactics worth noting:

1. Change relative links to absolute links - If you have any relative links (such as /filename.html vs. http://www.domainname/filename.html) on your site, make them absolute links to strengthen the internal site architecture and allow your pages to share their latent ranking potential with each other like a self referring dynamo. We have used this method (in less competitive markets) to secure long-term search engine rankings that just keep climbing and climbing and climbing…until you have time to build some external links.
2. Cap your outbound links per page - Perform a link audit (next tip) where you determine if (a) are you bleeding a page dry from using too many outbound links. If you cap it to 5-10 per page for a long page or 3-5 outbound links (even if they are to other pages in your site) this will produce relevance for the anchor text in the link on that page; and (b) if your not targeting the keywords in the anchor text in the h1, title or description of the page or for a site wide term, then don’t use it, as it only dilutes your SEO.
3. Perform a Link Insurance / Relevance Makeover - Perform an audit on your description tags for your pages you are deep-linking to (prior to linking). By keeping the descriptions succinct 10-18 words, each of those terms can rank in the SERPs when the spiders catch wind of your new changes. Try to use buzzwords or keywords that have traffic (using keyword research) for writing your descriptions (or adding a fresh paragraph). By this simple exercise, pages that you wrote off can gain exposure and search visibility as every page on your site can become a keyword with the right amount of links or with the right query.
4. Use Google Webmaster Tools to look at your internal links and make sure that your pages are somewhat proportionate, no reason to be stingy, pass the link love around. One idea is, if you see any pages under 10-20 links, even them out from using your blog to build some quality back links to those deep folders.
5. Finnigan begin again - Rinse and repeat with other aged pages after you have given them a quick make over with new content, a link audit and a fresh new (relevant) description. Also, if the title tags had irreverent keywords that were targeting the less competitive terms, take out the garbage and and go for the competitive keyword summits. As pages age, they grow stronger if you water them and feed them plenty of back links.

Author:  Jeffrey Smith is an active internet marketing optimization strategist, consultant and the founder of Seo Design Solutions Seo Company http://www.seodesignsolutions.com/. He has actively been involved in internet marketing since 1995 and brings a wealth of collective experiences and fresh marketing strategies to individuals involved in online business.

Whether you’ve decided to select a blogger within your company, or are outsourcing to a freelancer, the issue remains that you still have to actually pick a blogger. You’ve got to choose somebody who’s going to be personable and honest, with a unique perspective on your company and, of course, the ability to string a sentence together.

But don’t fret. Like any other job opening, it’s just the matter of finding the right person. Here are some things to look for when you’re hiring a blog writer.

Personable

Imagine walking in to a store and the first salesperson you see greets you formally. They answer questions if you ask, but seem kind of aloof and cold. They don’t go out of their way to help you find things, nor do they seem interested in making sure you get exactly what you’re looking for. Is this the kind of person you’d be interested in buying from again?

Now, imagine you walk into a store and the salesperson greets you enthusiastically with a “Hey! How ya doing? What can I help you with today?” They’re brimming with ideas and suggestions, but listen thoughtfully when you tell them what you need, and know exactly where to find it in the store, along with other things that fit with what you’re looking for. When you leave, they wave and ask you to come again. How would you feel about shopping at that store again?

A good blogger will be somebody who can write with personality. They’ll come across as friendly and approachable without being pushy. They’ll be able to engage the readers who come to your blog not only with the intention of giving them information, but with the intention of giving it to them in such a way that they want to return again and again.

A grasp of the English language

Obviously, the first point in a blogger’s job description is the ability to write. If you’ve spent any time at all on the Internet, you’ve probably come across writing like this: “hay guyz wuts up? u suxxor.” That’s not the image you want projected for your company, so that’s not the kind of person you want writing for your blog.

The writer you choose doesn’t have to be the next Tolstoy, but that writer should be able to put together a few interesting, informative paragraphs that don’t look like a 13-year-old fluent in leet speak wrote them. If you have a decent writer whose grammar and punctuation aren’t the best, give them a copy of Strunk & White’s “The Elements of Style” or even the AP Stylebook.

There are tons of resources out there for picking up the technical side of writing, like the difference between “affect” and “effect” or “whose” and “who’s.” Copyblogger (http://www.copyblogger.com) is a blog that regularly discusses some common mistakes writers make. These can help any writer build their knowledge on the finer points of grammar, spelling and punctuation.

Knowledgeable, or willing to become so

If you wanted information on how to pick a wedding dress, you wouldn’t go into a computer store, would you? By the same token, if you’re in the wedding industry, you don’t want to get a blogger whose life revolves around Apple computers. A business blog is supposed to provide information about your industry and insight into your company, and somebody who has no interest in either won’t be able to do that.

The writer you hire should already be knowledgeable about your company and industry, or at least is very willing to become so. You want a writer who can provide good information and commentary to your customers about the topics they are interested in, without looking like they just ran a search for “wedding dresses” and slapped a post together in five minutes.

Meshes with your company’s image

If you’re hiring somebody to design your website, you’re going to look for somebody whose style works well with your company’s brand and image. If you’re hiring a salesperson, you’re going to look for somebody whose sales philosophy matches your own. Likewise, if you’re hiring a blog writer, look for somebody whose writing style fits with the image you want for your company.

If your company is kind of laid back, then you’d want a writer whose style is more informal and conversational as opposed to somebody who’s very structured. Make sure to ask for writing clips and read them before you make a decision.

For more information about blogging for businesses, check out this article: http://www.xeal.com/blog/index.php/marketing/2007/10/16/blogging_101_eight_mistakes_that_are_kil Consider your blogger like another salesperson. Like salespeople, a good writer will keep readers and customers around, whereas a bad writer will anger them and drive them away. Find the right writer for your blog, and you’ll find that you have an excellent addition not only to your website, but to your company.

Author:  President and founder of Xeal Inc., Tony D. Baker is Oklahoma’s leading Internet marketing expert with more than 10 years of Internet marketing experience. You can catch Tony on the Xeal Radio Show on Sunday nights on 1170 KFAQ Tulsa. Sign up for a free 25-point website evaluation and pick up crucial tips at Xeal’s free Thursday webinar at http://www.xeal.com/webinar.

Has Google Trimmed the Fat in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages)?

All indications at this point would suggest so. In case you haven’t noticed, roughly over the past month, Google search results have been a little leaner than usual. Terms that were once in the hundreds of millions for competing pages are now showing results of two to three million results. Despite the algorithm shift, this restructuring has not impacted the pecking order, only weeded out and consolidated a bloated index for terms that may or may not have been as competitive as we suspected.

What the end result of this speculated shift will be still remains to be seen, is this the first step in personalization for search results whereby we will see more and more relevant 3-d search results that incorporate video, social media, Google maps and all of the other interesting platforms that are edging there way into the standard search results.

If we know one thing, it’s that change is a constant with search engines and search technology. How this impacts search engine optimization will depend on two factors, the first factor how susceptible is this platform to user based input? (such as link building, the flow of page rank and passing of link juice, networking, blogging, etc.) in reference to rankings. The second factor is, how can the SEO community adapt or will it even need to.

On a side note, will this mean different or new and unique penalties for link building (if you exceed a percentage platform of the total volume of searches) since the threshold has been lowered? For example, if a company had been link building for years to corner the market on a specific term, with the new revised ceiling being lowered, would that eject them from the rankings for such a term?

Could this in fact have been the reason to clear the clutter as a measure to minimize the affects of what they consider Search Engine Manipulation as opposed to Search engine optimization? At this point it is mere speculation (no reason to proclaim the end of the world for SEO), but as always when the changes subside, we will be able to conduct a thorough analysis to determine the impact of traditional methods and how they interact with the adjustment to the ranking and relevance component of Google’s search engine algorithm.

Does anyone really care about how many competing pages other than the ones optimizing the term?

Honestly, if you are an end user and you type a query in a search box, what is to say that the number of competing pages is even a consideration. A number 1 position is a number one position no matter how many ones or zeros are behind it, and regardless of the other pages, as long as the result is the most relevant, then people click it.

Perhaps on one level from the standpoint of ego gratification one may surmise that if the keyword or key phrase has 75,000,000 pages competing for it, well then it must be important, right? Unfortunately this concept may in fact be on it’s way out. Who knows if it was a ploy to dampen the SEO effect such as when paid links took a hit and lost the ability to pass rank, now, as it seems, keywords that have been abused or were once uber competitive how now been checked and put in their place.

Look at the term Search Engine Optimization for example, once a mighty over 100,000,000 strong, has now been consolidated to a mere 2,950,000 results. Or what about the short and sweet version SEO for example, once a term that had over 180,000,000 pages competing for it, now a mere 23,000,000. A restructuring on the relevance factor, perhaps a spring cleaning a bit early for automated scraper sites and other automated anomalies just lightening the load.

At this point, it looks like the SERPs may have lost a zero or two at the end of the total number of results. This could be them simply trimming the fat from the top 1000 pages to a more manageable number. While the reason is elusive, one thing is certain, I can assure you that most SEO firms are paying particular attention to this phenomenon scouring the SERPs for insight into this recent search behavior. All I can say is, buckle your seat belts and prepare for an interesting ride as the data centers, buck and toss millions of pages to the wayside in the largest housecleaning a search index has ever seen, courtesy of the Big G.

Diversification can insulate your business, blog or website against dependency on one marketing channel alone

The whole concept and analogy of putting your eggs in one basket comes to mind and surprisingly Yahoo and MSN are upping the ante with their new and improved search engine algorithms. Who knows at this point what the shake down will be, with viral marketing and social media garnering the attention of the masses, search engines which used to dominate the entire traffic equation are also taking on a less important role in the grand scheme of things. Traffic comes in many shapes and sizes, finding the right marketing channel and the right delivery method to find the highest conversion for your business model is now the bottom line.

Author:  Jeffrey Smith is an active internet marketing optimization strategist, consultant and the founder of Seo Design Solutions Seo Company http://www.seodesignsolutions.com/. He has actively been involved in internet marketing since 1995 and brings a wealth of collective experiences and fresh marketing strategies to individuals involved in online business.

Do you ever hit a slump when you’re trying to come up with new content for your web site? Do you get blogger’s block on a regular basis? It happens to the best of us.

Yet it seems like everyone around you is a marketing genius. Search engine marketers are churning out articles and blog posts day after day and what about those multi-level marketing gurus promoting seemingly endless products and e-books? Do you ever think “How do they find the time to come up with all these new ideas?”.

The answer is simple: content recycling. Yes, the secret behind many of the Internet’s most successful marketers is the recycling of content in different ways to appeal to different audiences. Let me give you an example:

The original Search Engine Optimization 101 course that I created for Search Engine College was based on a brief training manual I wrote for web design staff of an ex-employer many years ago. When it came to writing a full course for the first time back in 2004, I took the original training manual content, checked it for accuracy, expanded on it to bring the content up to date and then divided it into logical lesson plans. Then I added case studies, examples, 3rd party references, diagrams and coding samples. Then I devised suitable assignments and quizzes for the lessons that would test a student’s knowledge of the material. Voila! I had my finished course.

But my use of the material didn’t stop there. I noticed that some of my lessons had sections that would make excellent stand-alone articles, so I pulled out the relevant sections and re-worked the content into suitable article context and added broader appeal for my target markets. These articles were then circulated using various article distribution channels and social media communities. The more popular ones became feature articles in our monthly newsletter and offline marketing magazines. Some became marketing tools for our Search Engine College affiliate network to help drive more sales.

When I receive comments and feedback on the articles, these in turn generate discussion and ideas for blog posts for my search engine advice column. But that’s not all! Occasionally I am asked to give in-house training or presentations on search engine marketing. Depending on the subject matter, I often take my original SEO lesson notes and my articles and rework the content into MS PowerPoint slides and handouts.

The marketing and affiliate gurus are expert content recyclers and they make a LOT of money using this system. But guess what? You can apply the same principle to your own web site content. Here are some ideas:

• Documentation such as training manuals and client case studies make great web page content.
• Web page content such as product reviews and descriptions make great fodder for “how to” articles.
• That silly staff Christmas video might make a terrific viral marketing tool.
• A set of FAQs would make for an interesting webinar or video blog.
• A group of case studies could be made into a free white paper or auto-responder email series.
• A collection of articles or bookmarked tools could easily be converted to a downloadable e-book or give-away CD.

Get the picture?

The more ways you can re-package your information, the wider audience you will reach because not everyone responds to the same medium in the same way. Some people like to read articles, while others prefer a structured training program. Some people absorb material better if it’s presented in-person and others like e-books and YouTube videos.

The more ways you make your content accessible, the better. The Internet’s current love affair with social media offers even more opportunities to get your content and brand circulated. But there’s an even bigger incentive to recycling your material: Google’s Universal Search.

The Universal Search Model that Google rolled out in May this year incorporates web search results with related results from Google Images, Google News, Google Video, Google News and Blogger in the one search interface. The new search model boosts the importance of non-text content within web sites so that image and video content have become major marketing channels in their own right, rather than tools to attract visitors to text content.

It makes sense then that if you offer your site information in a range of formats such as video, audio, news releases, PDF and images as well as general text or HTML content, you provide more potential channels for it to appear in Google search results.

So re-package your knowledge into articles, e-books, webinars, training courses, podcasts, white papers, CDs, videos, blog posts and web pages and recycle that content!

Author:  Article by Kalena Jordan, one of the first search engine optimization experts in Australia, who is well known and respected in the industry, particularly in the U.S. As well as running a daily Search Engine Advice Column, Kalena manages Search Engine College - an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and other Search Engine Marketing subjects.

A well-written article generates 0 ROI if it doesn’t see the light of day. Hopefully you’ve crafted your article with best practices in mind. It’s focused, informative, and sales-free. Unfortunately writing is only half the battle. Now you have to find a market for your article.

Luckily, if you’ve written a good article, there are a number of places that might be interested in publishing it. With a little work, you can gain exposure far beyond the usual article directories.

Consider your audience

Think in terms of demographics. You’re looking for groups here, preferably groups with websites, newsletters, and knowledge bases dedicated to serving them. Soccer moms, chief information officers, mountain climbers, and plant managers all have publications catering to their needs. Make a list of people who are most likely to be interested in the topic you cover in your article (which should relate to your business).

Your name in print

Once you have identified your audience, you need to find out what they’re reading. Trade magazines, consumer magazines and other publications abound, reaching business and consumer audiences alike. Organizations publish journals or newsletters to reach their members. Online magazines and knowledge bases across the Internet are serving up articles just like yours every day. If you are having trouble finding publications that serve your audience, you may have to expand your sights to include larger groups.

Look beyond the traditional media outlets

The Internet has opened the floodgates on information tailored to specific groups. Writing for Internet audiences allows you to target niches that would have been extremely difficult to reach before. There are several unique areas that may accept articles.

Link partners could benefit from publishing helpful articles. An offer to submit helpful content to their website comes as a much more attractive offer than a traditional link-swap. Visitors are more likely to click the link at the bottom of your article if they enjoyed reading your piece as well.

Directories are another non-traditional distribution point. These can be an excellent target, as they are already favored by search engines and could be looking for a way to entice more visitors to their site with helpful content like yours. Your article

Ezines offer access to prospective clients via email, in a format they know and trust. This is a great way to build credibility and get your name in front of clients. Ezines often have online archives too, so you can get double the exposure for your article.

Read the writers’ guidelines

Many publications have writers’ guidelines available. These invaluable documents describe the kind of topics, tone and length the publication prefers for its submissions. These guidelines also let you know what format you should be taking with your article, and how to contact the appropriate editor.

Pitching editors: What’s in it for them?

Always, always, always send a query letter before sending your article. Explain your topic and several points you cover in your piece. If you have relevant credentials that make you an expert author, go ahead and mention them.

Depending on your audience, you can pitch your article to several publications. However, it is crucial to tailor your query letter to each editor.

You want to show the editors how your piece would benefit the specific audience of their publication. Look over the publication to get an idea of the kind of pieces they typically run. If your article seems like it would fit, then you have a good target. If not, you may need to tweak your piece to work more seamlessly.

Numbers game

Don’t distribute your article to only one publication, then sit back and congratulate yourself while you wait for the response email to grace your inbox. Editors are very busy people. It can take anywhere from several days to a month to hear back from them, maybe more, depending on how big the magazine is.

Send your article to several publications and see what response you get. If you get a response from more than one publication, see what their policy is about simultaneous submissions or if they require exclusive content.

For more information about article marketing, check out this article: Article Marketing 101: Writing Your Article (http://www.xeal.com/blog/index.php/Publicity/2007/11/29/article_marketing_101_writing_your_artic)

Article marketing done well can be challenging, but ultimately rewarding. If you’ve written a good piece and pitched it well, you have a good chance of getting your name into print. Follow these guidelines and your company could gain free publicity that paying advertisers could only dream of.

Author:  Jessica Cox and Michelle Pierce are graduates of the University of Oklahoma’s College of Journalism with a background in Internet marketing and writing for the Web. They currently provide PR services at Xeal Precision Marketing. Sign up to get crucial Internet marketing tips at Xeal’s free Thursday webinar at http://www.xeal.com/webinar.htm.

You finally realize that you need a good opt-in list. After reading countless articles and sought expert advices and have read many success stories of people creating a small fortune with opt-in lists you finally decide to have one of your own. Then it happens, you think you have known everything there is to know about opt-in lists and have followed their advices to the T and you still weren’t able to make a profit.

In fact, you may be losing money. You maybe hiring writers to help you out, or there are some expenses incurred, even if you have a big list, but only a very small percentage actually buys from you, your still losing profit. You’ll realize that after a few months when you see your statistics and sales figures.

So what could have gone wrong? Why have others succeeded where you have failed? The most common mistake is that you dived straight right in. You chose a topic where you think could be quite popular and would earn you money. This just not the case. Just because you wrote people from the list doesn’t mean they are going to buy instantly.

Here I will offer more advice, for those who have started an opt-in list and have failed, you can rejuvenate your failed venture. For those who are starting, here are three quick and easy ways to build a profitable opt-in list.

1) Get your customers to trust you and your products first. Just launching your opt-in list would not make you an expert and a believable seller. Put many articles first before you start an opt-in list. Write about the topic you know and have started and used for your site. Try to put forums first to gain knowledge about your customers about their wants and needs and target those wants and needs.

Join forums from other sites as well. Provide expert advices and recommendations. When you feel that people trust you already, you will be able to start your own opt-in list. You can build a base as well with other forum users. You can ask them to join your list. Friends are always good customers. Put up a link to your site so that they may be able to see what you’re business is all about.

The certain truth is, the money will only come in when the consumers and subscribers believe and trust in you. They want a product or service that could be a good exchange for their money. People are not going to buy something out of your recommendation if they don’t know you.

2) Find a product or service that people want and need. Although it may not be your forte, if you provide a service and product that you have researched and learned about well, you can carry it on forward. Invest your time, effort and money that you could sell as well as the buyers or subscribers of your opt-in list can use.

While it is true that it is best to sell something that you have interest in, there are not many people who have the same interest as you if you decide to sell something that is not entirely popular or profitable. Do your research well and you would see the profits come in. Also provide your subscribers with promotional material that they could actually use and spread around.

3) Make friends with other opt-in list users. This is basically beneficial especially if it is someone who has already launched a successful opt-in list. These are people that have the experience in this venture and experience is still the best teacher. While there are many articles available for you in the internet to use, there is nothing like getting a first hand account from someone you trust.

Experienced opt-in list users will be able to tell you what to do and what not to do because they have gone through it. While different situations occur for different people, the general concept can still be very helpful. There are many things to avoid and these people will be able to tell you which ones.

Building a profitable opt-in list don’t just happen overnight. There are many preparations and effort to do. Opt-in lists are built from scratch, as your list grows, you should also maintain the quality of your list. Keep it organized and manageable. Get or hire help if need be, just make sure that your subscribers are happy and satisfied and they will be willing to buy from you.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? Make sure you pick up your FREE REPORT on how to build your opt-in list by attracting them to you.

Author:  Ontarian Hawkins is a marketer and business coach that teaches entrepreneurs how to build a list with the use of branding techniques. He also teaches how to attract customers and quality business partners to any business. Download your free report here => List Building Techniques

One of the biggest questions I get from authors is: “I have a blog but how do I get people to it?” Well first off, you want to keep blogging, but there are other things you can do too and we’ll discuss two of the most powerful ones here.

If you’ve spent any kind of time online you’ve probably heard the terms: tag or social bookmarking. But what *exactly* do these terms mean?

Well if you think of the term “tagging” like you would a name tag at a party or networking event it will start to make much more sense. Generally when you post a blog, it’s recommended that you “tag” it with various terms appropriate to the message of the blog. The Wikipedia definition of “tag” is: A tag is a keyword which acts like a subject or category. This keyword is used to organize webpages, subjects, and objects on the Internet.

When you think of it this way, what you’re really doing is organizing each of your blog posts so that folks can find and search them. By tagging each of them with specific keywords you’ll come up faster when someone searches those keywords than if you left your blog blank. Make sense? Ok, then let’s get started learning how to tag. (I promise, it’s very easy)

When creating tags, there are two types that you can create. You can imbed your blog with tags using services like Technorati (more on that in a minute) or you can go to social networking sites and tag your blog as well. Honestly, I recommend a combination of both.

Social bookmarking is a way of “bookmarking” favorite sites (i.e. yours) so you can easily share them (via tags) with the Internet community and especially folks who are searching on your search term. I’ll explain how to get your site bookmarked but for now take a look at sites like digg and delicious – these are the top two social bookmarking sites you’ll want to use. There are others but we’ll discuss these in a minute.

Ok, here we go!

Simple steps to tagging:

1) Create a blog post: just write your blog, don’t worry about doing anything different.

2) Identify some keywords you’ll want to use: just pick some keywords, as many as you want. Don’t worry about getting too scientific with this, just be thorough.

3) Create your tags: head on over to http://www.egmstrategy.com/ice/tag-generator.cfm and generate tags (this will be choice #1). Once you input the keywords make sure the default button is checked at Technorati. Then go to the bottom and click “generate code” – this code will get posted right into your blog. It’s that easy! (tip: always post this code at the end of your blog) When you’re done you’ll see code in your blog.

4) Social bookmarking: simply put, you want to tag each of your blog posts in one or all of the following social networking sites. The one slightly time consuming piece is that you’ll need to set up accounts for each of these but once you do, it will take you a minute or so per post to add a social bookmarking tag to each of them. Here are some of the most popular social bookmarking sites you’ll want to use: Digg, delicious, yahoo(this is still in beta but I recommend using it anyway), blinklist, spurl, reddit, furl, and stumbleupon.

5) Nuts and bolts: each of these sites has a different set of criteria for bookmarking your blog post. If you’re blogging everyday this might seem pretty tedious. If it’s too much work to tag and bookmark each of your posts, handpick a few each week and focus on those. The idea is that you want to get these keywords out in cyberspace so folks can find you.

Ready for a final tip? If you want to impress customers with your endless list of resources why not share your delicious page with your readers/customers? Delicious gives each registered member their own page with all of their bookmarks. Ideally you’ll want to include other resources besides your own blog but a link to this page could be a fantastic way to gain additional exposure not just for your blog, but to your wealth of resources as well. (here’s my page: http://del.icio.us/bookmkr).

Author:  Penny C. Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., is a book marketing and media relations expert whose company has developed some of the most cutting-edge book marketing campaigns. Visit AME

Do you hesitate to send email to your subscribers and customers?

If you’re one of the people who worries that your customers will think you’re spamming if you send them email, no matter HOW useful the information is, I urge you to reconsider.

The truth is, when you do your email marketing right, not only is it an excellent source of income for you, but your subscribers and customers will actually appreciate hearing from you!

Here are three tried and tested ideas for successful email promotions:

Damaged or returned stock promotions: Offer damaged or returned stock for 50% off! Everyone gets returns, it’s a part of doing business. And of course damaged stock is unavoidable.

Why not take advantage of email to clear out your stock that’s otherwise going to take up space, while at the same time offering your customers deals that they’re sure to appreciate?

Limited time offer: By offering a great discount on your products for a limited amount of time, people who receive the email feel like it’s urgent they respond, so there’s less chance they’ll close the email to “think about it” and never come back.

Limited quantity offer: Similar to the limited time offer, the people who receive this email will also feel a sense of urgency.

If you go with “limited time or quantity offer” stick with the offer. If you write in your email that a product is available for a …. time, stick to it.

Sometimes you see that a product is available till midnight, 14 days later it’s still available till midnight. Doesn’t look right to me.

And those are just a few to get you started. Use your imagination, and I’m sure you’ll come up with all kinds of things to send your list that they’ll really ENJOY having.

Do you panic at the thought of writing your own promotional email?

Here’s something you should know: writing an email is 95% rules, and only 5% creativity.

So as long as you stick to the rules, you’ll write an email that’s suitable for sending to your customers every time!

Hypnotize the reader with compelling benefits: The most effective email promotions grab readers’ attention with compelling benefits that speak directly to the readers’ deepest desires and greatest fears.

Benefits build the value you need to drive people to act when presented with your call to action.

Write your email like you were talking to a friend.

Be informal, use contractions, and don’t be afraid to start a sentence with “and” or “but.”To transfer ownership, you want to make sure your reader can actually picture themselves using your product.

Use automation to create personalized offers: Nothing is more appealing to people than the ’sound’ of their own names, and nothing grabs someone’s attention faster than something that affects them directly!

We don’t recommend you try to get yours subscriber to purchase directly from your email. Instead, you should ask them to “click here now to learn more,” or something similar.

How it LOOKS makes a big impact on readers, too. Here is how to format your email.

Width: Be sure to format your email message in a table that is not over 60/65 characters wide. If you exceed that, your message may be cut off on the right side of the screen or, at the very least, not print properly

Images: Try to avoid using graphics whenever possible. People with slow connections will have trouble downloading them, and people reading your message offline won’t see them at all.

Bolding: Use bolding just to emphasize the biggest and best benefits in the offer. You should be able to scan the message and instantly understand the biggest benefits

Bullets: Using bulleted points is one of the best ways to break up your copy and make some of your key points really stand out. As will all formatting techniques, make sure to don’t swamp your email with bullet points.

Finally, once you’ve written the letter, give it a final “scan test.” Set it aside for an hour, then return to it with fresh eyes BUT don’t read it word for word. Scan over the letter and see which sections jump out at you. Make sure that those sections contain the key benefits.

Stick to these few simple rules, and you’ll have no trouble turning out emails that get a response, because your customers actually WANT to receive them!

Author:  Scott Oliver offers free video coaching to help you build a profitable home business FAST. Get an hour of “Website Traffic Secrets” and “Minisite Creation Tactics” for FREE — immediate access here: http://www.InstantWebsiteBusiness.com

Having a website puts your business out there for all the world to see, but any savvy business owner knows that the best customers are going to come from your own city. As expansive as the Internet is, there’s been a marked increase in the use of local search, and even big search engines are branching out into local guides.

Integrate your local offline efforts with your online marketing to help draw in the people around you. Here are eight tips to start you on your way with local marketing.

1) Optimize for local SEO.

Recent studies have shown that people are turning to the Internet rather than the phone book when they need to find something local. Optimize your site by having a page that has a map and driving directions, as well as a physical address. This way, you’ll make it easy for the people doing local search to find you.

2) Promote in-store events via email.

Don’t just leave the promotion of your in-store events to fliers and newspaper ads. If you’ve been collecting customers’ email addresses on your site, such as in a newsletter sign-up, send them an email detailing the upcoming event. You’re guaranteed that your promotional efforts will at least hit those people on the mailing list. Plus, you’re practically inviting them to step off the Web and become in-person customers.

3) Printable coupons on website

Give the people who visit your website a good excuse to come into your store. What better way to do that than offer them a coupon that gives them a discount on the very product that they’re searching for? Printable coupons that are redeemable in-store will encourage site visitors to make an offline visit.

4) Link exchange with other local businesses

If you know of other local businesses that you trust and respect for their work, why not do a link exchange with them? Both of you get an extra link for the search engines, and your customers get a recommended local resource for whatever they may need. It’s best to partner up with businesses that are in a similar industry as you. For example, if you’re a bakery that specializes in wedding cakes, link to local florists and formal wear shops.

5) Include website on all marketing materials.

Business cards, offline ads, brochures: no matter what your other marketing materials are, make certain that your URL is on every single one. A simple URL will be easier for people to remember than a phone number, and they can check out your business via the Internet at their convenience.

6) Collect email addresses at in-store events for a mailing list.

In-store events are great. You’ve got a lot of people coming in, including a lot of people who may not have been to your store or your website before. Even if you’ve got a newsletter or mailing list sign-up on your site, have a sheet at your in-store events where people can leave their email addresses for more information. You’ll be able to add a lot to your mailing list, and hopefully keep some of those people who showed up to the event as repeat customers.

7) Get into local directories and city guides.

Find out if your city has local directories and city guides online and make sure your business gets listed on them. You’ll not only have tourists or new people who’ve moved to town searching those to find businesses they need, but also local residents who’d rather use a city guide as opposed to using a regular search engine and getting results from Anywhere, Michigan, instead of Anywhere, Montana.

Get into national local guides.

Major search engines are branching into the local industry. Yahoo! Local, Insiderpages.com and Citysearch.com are just a few. With the sudden upsurge in local search, local guides like this will likely become more and more popular. Make sure your business gets listed in them to ensure that your online marketing fingers are stretching into as many pies as is prudent.

For more information about local marketing online and off, check out this Work.com article: http://www.work.com/marketing-in-your-local-community-497/

Making the most of local marketing isn’t hard. You’ll find just as much local business online as you would in offline marketing efforts, as long as you know what to do and where to look. Integrate your online and offline marketing today to give customers the best chance at finding you.

Author:  President and founder of Xeal Inc., Tony D. Baker is Oklahoma’s leading Internet marketing expert with more than 10 years of Internet marketing experience. You can catch Tony on the Xeal Radio Show on Sunday nights on 1170 KFAQ Tulsa. Sign up for a free 25-point website evaluation and pick up crucial tips at Xeal’s free Thursday webinar at http://www.xeal.com/webinar.