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The Importance of a Properly Designed Website

02 2008 Tuesday

By Keith Walden in Featured

You might not know it, but whether your business is online or off line, your website is one of the most important things that you have in order to be a success.

You want to be sure that you have the best website that you can possibly have, and that you are able to maintain it correctly. This is going to be what might get you your business, so be sure that you are working hard on it.

The first thing that you need to do is to have a good design for your website. Remember that this doesn’t have to be something that is the most complex possible.

When it comes to websites, lots of people want to be looking at a site that is neat and clean and that they can easily navigate. The best sites may seem to be very simple, but they will all be sites that you can navigate easily, which will make them very popular.

There are lots of reasons that you want to be sure you are able to get your website as clear as possible. It is important that you are able to have a website that you can run on your own, even if you have someone else design it.

Therefore, you should talk with the person that designs your website and see if they are able to show you how to update it on your own. That way you can have constant control over what is on your website and what you will be able to do with it.

The other thing that you want to be able to do is have enough web space so that you can get as much out of your site as possible. It is important that you are able to have a well organized site for this. It is important that you have a hand in the organization of your website, and that you are able to get as much out of it as you can.

Remember that it is important that you can easily navigate this site so that when you are ready to have it open and accepting for your customers, you want to be sure that you are able to do this easily.

Your website is going to be one of the most important things that you have for your business. Therefore it should be something that you invest in. Remember that you are going to have lots of competition with your business, no matter what type of business you have.

You have to be sure that you are able to get all you can out of the website, and you want to be sure that you are able to spend the money that it takes to make sure that this happens.

Even if you have to spend your time designing your website and the money that it takes, it will end up being worth it, if you are able to take advantage of the business that might come from a well designed web site.

Some quick dos and don’ts…

Don’t have music on your website unless you are in the music business. Especially if you plan getting repeat business. There is nothing more tedious than going to back to a website and hearing the same song or songs over and over again. Also, not everyone has the same taste in music and you run the risk of turning off potential customers.

If you are going to use videos, again, don’t go overboard and make sure they are relevant to your website and consistent with your message.

The same is true of a lot graphics and flash animations. They may look great, but if they take forever to load or are too distracting, they may cause your visitors to leave before really seeing what you have to offer.

DO ask your visitors make a decision and ask at least twice if not more. In order to get the sale, or have them sign up for your newsletter etc., you have to ASK them to. I know this seems basic but this is often overlooked.

It is a good idea to google search the terms “sales ad copy” or “sales letters”. In fact, if at all possible, you should have a advertising professional design the content of your site. Remember, just because someone designs websites for living, doesn’t mean they know how to craft a sales message that works.

Similarly, make it easy for your visitors to make a decision; make your offer clear and concise. Also you want to make it easy to purchase your products or services by accepting credit cards, online checks, paypal etc.

In closing, your website is the most powerful sales and marketing tool that has ever been created in the history of business. Make sure you are treating it as such.

Author: Keith Walden is a home based Entrepreneur who earns multiple streams of income and helps others do the same. Get a copy of his FREE E-book, which exposes the lies, myths and hype to help you make money online. http://KnowTheTruth.biz . Visit his Blog, The 20 Second Commute for more home business ideas and strategies . Note: You have permission to re-publish this article on your own website or newsletter.

Harnessing Marketing’s Awesome Power

02 2008 Tuesday

By Dan Lok in Featured

If you’re brand new to doing business on the internet, then you have an excuse for not knowing the sheer power of information marketing. If done right… it’ll make you as much as your heart desires. Among other things, information marketing is scalable.

What does that mean?

Here… say you have a pay-per-click campaign going and you’re selling an ebook, which is information. You’ve done your homework and your campaign is into profit. And you’re spending $10 a day on your clicks. What’s next?

Start selling another product? No, silly. You find ways to kick your existing campaign into high gear. You ’scale’ it up!

Reinvest… did I say, REINVEST? Yes, put your money back into your campaign and UP the voltage. Buy more clicks. Increase your daily budget. Find new keywords and phrases. Create more PPC campaigns for the same product.

How about taking your winning ads and moving into other search engine PPC marketing areas? How about taking those winning ads and doing some offline marketing like… classified ads! Hey…

Those ads work on humans at G, MSN, and Yahoo. Think they’ll work on humans reading a paper? YES!

Marketing is never-ending. Did you know that? You should do something to market your products every single day. And then…

You do the slightly tired and overused cliché… rinse ‘n repeat!

Yeah! R ‘n R is the operative phrase, here. That’s another thing about information marketing that is SO great. It’s great because there are so many products you can market as an affiliate. And now that you have a successful campaign under your belt, you start another one. R ‘n R, baby!

And if you’re new to all this, here’s a suggestion…

Why not try dipping into affiliate marketing first before trying to create your own product? Just an idea. But here’s why I suggest it.

So much is already done for you! Product? Done. Marketing materials? Usually done and available. Payment processing? Forget about it… done. All you need to do is market it. And it’s a great way to introduce your self to online business. And then?

It’s cool to start thinking about creating your OWN information products. Of course it’s entirely ok and up to you if you want to do that first. What else…

What about pricing for your own information products? Lets talk about that…

You have to think about the problem your info product solves. If it’s something that people want NOW because their problem is so great… so painful, annoying and awful, then your price point can be higher than usual.

But your product MUST deliver! Your products should always be good to high quality. Your product must make good on the promises you make in your sales material. If you have those items together, then test your pricing and find what the market will bear.

What else is so great about marketing information products?

You don’t need a warehouse to store them! Unless you’re selling info delivered via CD’s or DVD’s. Most info marketers like going with downloadable info products. And if you’re starting out, you may want to consider doing that. But again, it’s up to you! If you cut your marketing teeth on downloadable info products, then you can start thinking about serious profits with physical info goods.

Building a list for your products, even as an affiliate, is where your own personal gold lies. And I can show you how to build a list as an affiliate. But that’s another story…

You probably already know that info products delivered as books, CD’s, or DVD’s have a higher perceived value than a downloaded product. And it’s something you should remember and explore because very serious money can be made on the backend.

Author: A former college dropout, Dan “The Man” Lok transformed himself from a grocery bagger in a local supermarket to an internet multi-millionaire. Discover how you can maximize your website profits in minimum time. For a limited time, you can test-drive Dan’s Insiders Club for 30-days Risk-Free and get $1,165 dollars worth of bonus gifts. Rush cover to: http://www.websiteconversionexpert.com/testdrive.html

Making Smart Choices With Affiliate Programs

02 2008 Monday

By Stephen Wright in Featured

Before you jump into just any affiliate program there are a number of key questions and considerations you should address first. It can be complicated, but armed with some of the more important issues you will be able to avoid the more common pitfalls. So, before you sign up, consider these questions:

The time to ask questions is before you join an affiliate program. Especially, for those that charge fees or other miscellaneous costs. Do a little research about the choices of programs. Will it cost you anything to join? Most affiliate programs being offered today are free of charge. So why settle for those that charge you some dollars before joining, unless there is a crystal clear benefit for the investment.

When do they issue commission checks? Every program is different. Some issue their checks once a month, every quarter, etc. Select the one that is suited to your payment time choice. Many affiliate programs are setting a minimum earned commission amount that an affiliate must meet or exceed in order for their checks to be issued.

What is the hit per sale ratio? This is the average number of hits to a banner or text link it takes to generate a sale based on all affiliate statistics. This factor is extremely important because this will tell you how much traffic you must generate before you can earn a commission from the sale.

How are referrals from an affiliate’s site tracked and for how long do they remain in the system? You need to be confident on the program enough to track those people you refer from your site. This is the only way that you can credit for a sale.

The period of time that those people stay in the system is also important. This is because some visitors do not buy initially but may want to return later to make the purchase. Know if you will still get credit for the sale if it is done some months from a certain day.

What kind and type of affiliate stats available? Your choice of affiliate programs should be capable of offering detailed stats. They should be available online anytime you decide to check them out.

Constantly checking your individual stats is important. To know how many impressions, hits and sales are generated from your site is critical data. Impressions are the number of times the banner or text link was viewed by a visitor of your site. A hit is the one clicking on the banner or text links.

Does the affiliate program also pay for hits and impressions besides the commissions on sales? It is important that impressions and hits are also paid, as this will add to the earnings you get from the sales commission. This is especially important if the program you are in offers low sales to be able to hit ratio.

Who is the online retailer? Find out whom you are doing business with to know if it is really a solid company. Know the products they are selling and the average amount they are achieving. The more you know about the retailer offering you the affiliate program, the easier it will be for you to know if that program is really for you and your site.

Is the affiliate a one tier or two tier program? A single tier program pays you only for the business you yourself have generated. A two tier program pays you for the business, plus it also pays you a commission on the on the sales generated by any affiliate you sponsor in your program. Some two-tier programs are even paying small fees on each new affiliate you sponsor. More like a recruitment fee.

Lastly, what is the amount of commission paid? 5% - 20% is the commission paid by most programs. .01% - .05% is the amount paid for each hit. If you find a program that also pays for impressions, the amount paid is not much at all. As you can see from the figures, you will now understand why the average sales amount and hit to sale ratio is important.

These are just some of the questions that need to be clarified before making the important program selection decisions. Hopefully, this information will help you in making good choices and getting your online marketing efforts into high gear!

Author: Stephen Wright is President & CEO of InternetMarketingUSA.com Do you own a work at home business opportunity website?! Already have a website, need more traffic and revenues? Visit InternetMarketingUSA today for information and techniques proven to make you successful. Get Started: http://www.InternetMarketingUSA.com/pips.html

List Building - The Two Key Elements You Must Have

02 2008 Monday

By Titus Hoskins in Featured

One of the most important factors to online success is list building. No matter what goals you’re pursuing with your online activities, building a good healthy contact list is vital for a successful outcome.

List building plays a major role in developing good relationships with your site’s customers, clients and visitors. It can be used to get more traffic, leads and sales for your site or business.

For these reasons contact building should be high on your list of priorities when you’re marketing or promoting on the web. Fortunately, list building is an easy process that any site or webmaster can quickly set-up as long as you understand two simple, yet well-proven principles of list building.

To be really successful, your list building must incorporate these two key elements. Without these two main ingredients you will probably find building your contact list difficult and slow going. So it is worth your while to fully understand and utilize these two factors in your list building.

Any list should have these two key elements:

VALUE

Your list should have value. It should offer something valuable to the one subscribing. It should offer important information, quality content, special deals/discounts, and more importantly, it should offer a valuable relationship or connection to an expert in the subject area of the list.

Subscribers join a list for the benefits it will bring them, whether it be valuable content, special deals or a connection to an expert in their area of interest; your list must have value for the subscribers. They must benefit from joining your list.

If you’re building a list, just write down all the benefits someone would receive from joining your site or list.

receive important information
get special valuable content
receive special deals/discounts
get training videos/workshops
get timely announcements or news

Make these benefits your main selling points when you’re building your list. Don’t forget there may also be a psychological reason for joining your list - many people like being part of a group or membership site. It’s human nature, we all want to be emotionally involved with certain topics or causes, so don’t ignore this aspect when building your list. Everybody likes to feel included - lists can fulfil this emotional need.

Simply give your subscribers something of value and you will build your list quickly and easily.

FREE

Whatever you offer - make sure it is Free. The quickest way to build any list is to give away free valuable content, information, videos, reports, ebooks, discounts, prizes… everybody loves a free gift. Just make them an offer they can’t refuse.

Some marketers argue that giving away free items will attract the “wrong kind” of customer or subscriber - people that will never buy anything because they will expect it to be free. But this has more to do with the nature of your gift and the kind of contacts you’re building - giving away free buying guides on how to purchase real estate, fast cars, LCD TVs, laptops… will definitely attract the right “buying customer”. If you’re into selling, you just have to adjust your marketing to incorporate the free element correctly.

Besides, giving away something free is the first step in starting an ongoing relationship with your subscribers. It gets the ball rolling. It is one of the most effective ways to build your list quickly and easily. Just make sure you’re giving away something of value to the person receiving it and they will turn to you, time and time again, to find what they’re looking for on the web.

So the next time you’re building a contact list make these two key elements the center of your activities. Just remember “give them value and make it free” and you should have no problems with list building.

Author: Get a Step-by-Step Guide that will show you How to Start, Build & Manage your OWN HUGE Opt-In List! Click Here: www.bizwaremagic.com/opt-in.htm Or Our List Building Toolkit: www.bizwaremagic.com/List_Building_Course.htm The author is a full-time online marketer and has used list building to produce a very comfortable online income. 2008 Titus Hoskins.This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

Recession Marketing Part 1: Beating the Recession

02 2008 Monday

By Jonathan Cox in Featured

An unspoken air of tension hangs over the populace. Whispers spread back and forth…”The market’s down, hard times are coming.” Sound familiar? There’s a lot of negativity about the state of the market right now, but let’s look past the gossip and examine the facts.

All markets fluctuate to varying degrees. Economic cycles come and go, businesses rise and fall. But look at companies like McDonalds, Johnson & Johnson and Colgate that have survived and even grown in periods of economic recession. What’s their secret?

If you’ve ever been busy and on a budget, you’ve probably eaten at McDonald’s. What makes them worthy of the title of “largest fast-food chain in the world?” Ba-da-ba-ba-ba, I’m luvin’ it! Ever had that stuck in your head, followed by a slight tinge of resentment because you’re now craving a burger, fries, and a Coke? Super-size it!

And after that, don’t forget to brush your teeth. How do you protect your teeth for 12 hours after brushing? Colgate!

If you’re a parent, you’ve probably used Johnson’s Baby Powder at some point; it’s almost a conditioned response. Why? Because we hear that warm, maternal voice articulating how smooth and clean it leaves our skin feeling. We see the happy, giggling baby laying in the sunlight, clutching her parent’s finger after a changing.

All of these companies have one thing in common, and this is their secret:

They all understand the value of marketing. Each of these companies continued to market and even expanded their marketing during past recessions.

Marketing during a recession

A series of six studies conducted by the research firm of Meldrum & Fewsmith showed conclusively that advertising aggressively during recessions not only increases sales but increases profits. This fact has held true for all post-World War II recessions studied by American Business Press starting in 1949.

With that being said, marketing can be a costly enterprise, and there’s never been more information to absorb or avenues to choose from. How do you make the right choice?

What are my options?

A combination of marketing techniques is the most effective strategy.

Here are the four major categories of marketing media you can focus on:

Internet
Television
Radio
Print (newspaper, magazines, journals, etc)

Be aware that each category is generally more effective within different age groups. Internet marketing has the highest impact on the 18-35 age group. Television is more effective with the age 35-50 crowd. Radio reaches a fairly broad age range, but doesn’t always grab attention as effectively as the other venues. Print media marketing is generally more effective for an audience of ages 35-75.

So how do you get the most out of your marketing dollar?

Tailor your marketing mix based on your client demographic
Get better results and save money with traditional advertising (by cutting excess spending and integrating your website with traditional marketing)
Shift spending towards more traceable marketing venues (internet, track, capture info/etc)

Here are a few tips for recession marketing that will save you money and keep your company at the head of the pack:

Know Your Clients

Consider your own client base. What are the average ages for the top 20% of your clients? How many of your clients are over 50? How many of them are over 35? This will help you narrow down where your clients go for information. Identifying the strategic ground is crucial to winning market share.

No matter what form of advertising you use, everyone’s favorite radio station, TV station or blog is W.I.I.F.E, “What’s In It For Me?” That’s what everyone’s tuned in to. Make sure your ads answer that question in 10 seconds or less.

Run a Lean, Focused Campaign

Look for ways to cut excess spending while still maintaining visibility. Focus on results by driving marketing and traffic to your website. Then you can convert those visitors into leads and a database of contact information.

Waste not, want not. A ¾ page ad in the yellow pages can be just as effective as a full page. Rather than running a full page sales letter in a magazine or tabloid, offer a free report that people can print out online once they visit your web site.

Negotiate with your stations to buy filler inventory. Often radio stations will have 10 to 15 seconds where they have to push filler in order to start a show on time. Those 10 to 15 seconds could easily be your ad at a significant discount. The station gets the extra dollars they need during a recession and you get the extra exposure.

Invest in a Strong Web Presence

Think of ways to drive people to your website. Consider using an easy-to remember URL with your promotions, like “KFAQLovesPizza.com.” Make sure your URL is easy to spell and contains no symbols. This strategy makes it very simple to track your promotions.

In addition to your phone number and URL in your advertisements, offer a free report, a free newsletter, coupons, or some other free information of value to your target market. This is always appealing to customers, even more so in difficult times.

One crucial aspect of your website marketing mix is capturing your visitor’s information. A simple contact form tastefully placed on your front page with places for name, e-mail address, and phone number will dramatically increase the amount of leads you receive.

Join me next time for my article on how to beat the recession and grow your business through the first of the four categories, Internet Marketing.

Author: Jonathan Cox is a marketing analyst and consultant for Xeal Precision Marketing. He has ten years experience in the marketing, design, and IT industries. www.xeal.com

Searching for Better On-Site Search Usability

02 2008 Friday

By Stoney deGeyter in Featured

Not every site needs, nor should have, an on-site search feature. But those that do must be sure that the search isn’t just an after-thought. It needs to be more than something to add because you think visitors want it. Adding a search function is not necessarily good for on-site usability. Implementing a search function improperly is often a greater source of frustration than not having one altogether.

For this reason your on-site search function should not be taken lightly. In fact, it’s better that no search option be present than one that potentially gives the searcher a “false impression” as to the availability of products/information on your website. Much time and consideration (and development) needs to go into the search option to ensure that it not only returns accurate results, but is fully comprehensive in interpreting the searchers intentions.

Location

Website search boxes are most often located in the top right corner of the website. This creates an expectation from shoppers, so make things easy for them and place your search box where they expect to find it.

Search options

The search box should default to a “simple” search. If warranted, provide a link to “advanced” options that allow visitors to fine-tune their search helping them find what they want more quickly.

Case sensitivity

The basic or “simple” search should not be case sensitive. If case sensitivity is an issue then this option should be made available through the advanced search option.

Search labels

The search box and/or button should be clearly labeled. Using words such as “go” or “start” are not inherently obvious for search. The word “search” should absolutely be used on or near the search box.

Results query

The original search query should be presented on the results page, both in the search box and as a headline above the search results. This ensures the visitor knows what exactly was searched and allows them to refine it without having to retype the entire query.

Misspellings

The search feature must be intuitive enough to recognize all possible common misspellings. Searchers who mistype their search and don’t realize it will otherwise be told their product is unavailable on your site, causing them to leave for another site.

Result matches

Results should display exact matches first, with close matches second. This provides visitors with enough information that a second search may not be necessary. Get them what they want sooner, rather than later.

Result highlights

It’s beneficial to highlight (or bold) the words on the results page that were used in the query. Even better if you can continue the highlighting of search words as the visitor clicks through a link into the content page.

Titles and descriptions

Each result should display a clear title and description. This information should be pulled from page titles and meta descriptions or on-page content.

Number of results

Results page should display 10-20 search results at the most, however it’s a nice benefit to add an option to increase/decrease the number of results per page.

Number of result pages

Links to additional search result pages should be provided as necessary and located at both the top and bottom of the page.

Zero results found

If no results are found, you must provide clear messages to visitors suggesting alternative searches, refinement options and links to important areas of the website. You should never leave them with “no results found.”

Author: Stoney deGeyter founded Pole Position Marketing in 1998 working from a home office and has since turned it into a leading search engine marketing business with a small team of seasoned Reno SEO marketing experts. Stoney pioneered the concept of Destination Search Engine Marketing which is the driving philosophy on how Pole Position marketing helps their clients expand their online presence and improve online conversion rates.

The Next Evolution of Social Media

02 2008 Friday

By Jennifer Osborne in Featured

If you aim to establish your site as a serious ecommerce player, here are 3 things you need to do:

Create and put up a privacy policy.
Process orders on a secure server.
Get 3rd party verification to increase credibility. Each is easy to do - but many ecommerce newbies underestimate their importance.

These 3 elements are important because they help build trust at the most critical point of the visit -at the point where the visitor is about to complete a checkout and convert into a customer.

1. Create and put up a privacy policy

If you don’t have a good online privacy policy, it’s time to get to work! Clear and easy to read privacy policies are essential in building customer trust. They essentially tell the customers what you will do with their information. A good privacy policy will therefore calm any customer fears in that area.

A lot of visitors read the privacy policy in detail before they decide to submit any of their information.

If you want to be considered a credible online business, an excellent privacy policy is a definite must. Some of the interesting findings of the a survey of internet users and trust by Stanford University include:

Americans appear to place greater trust in sites that provide valid content and respect privacy than their European counterparts. Americans gave much higher credibility rankings to websites that offered privacy statements, sent emails to confirm transactions, indicated the source of site content or provided credentials for its authors.
Women attached greater credibility to websites with privacy policies, email confirmations of transactions and contact phone numbers than men. Notice the emphasis on privacy policy? Web users are getting more and more concerned with privacy and many will refrain from buying anything from a website unless a privacy policy is stated. If you don’t have one, here’s how to create one in 20 minutes. Just visit the Direct Marketing Association’s website and fill in the form to have a privacy policy customized for you. Privacy policies should be clearly stated and conspicuously posted. We recommend that you link to one in your footer. You might also want to test the effect of linking to your privacy policy at the bottom of your sign up form such as in the example below.

2. Allow secure ordering

We used to run a site that offered customers only one way to order - PayPal. PayPal has a trusted name and allows credit card and echeck transactions. Morever, millions of Americans have PayPal accounts. So is PayPal enough? As an experiment we offered credit card processing on our own secure server in addition to PayPal. We were astonished by a whopping 20% increase in sales!

The conclusion: If you’re just starting out and offer only Paypal as a quick and easy payment system - get a merchant service and a secure server ASAP.

A merchant service is an online credit card processing facility. You can sign up for a merchant service through a variety of different companies. The largest is Authorize.net, But you can’t approach them directly, you’ll need to go through a reseller of their service.

We use e-online data. They are a reputable Authorize.net reseller and we’ve been very satisfied with them.

Once you get a merchant service, you need to set up a shopping cart software that can process credit cards and is compatible with your merchant service. (Most shopping cart software programs that are sold or open source are compatible with Authorize.net.

To protect your customer’s sensitive credit card information you need to run your shopping cart software on a secure server.

A secure server is recognizable by the fact that domain names running on it start with https rather than http. To set up a secure server, you need to buy a secure server certificate and install it on your server. Don’t let

the technicalities of this bother you. Your web hosting company should be able to do this for you. You can purchase a low cost secure server certificate from Free SSL.

A secure server requires a little bit more of an explanation. A secure server runs on a technology called SSL. Basically SSL is a protocol that encrypts any communication between a server and a client. The communication is therefore not readable for anyone outside this relationship. It’s secure.

Use 3rd-Party Verification

A very effective way of convincing your visitors of your credibility and top-end security policy is by having outside independent entities vouch for you. You can show this on your website through seals of approval from these organizations.

Outside reinforcement will convince your visitors that you have put in an effort to earn their trust. Research into approval seals shows that online business that do use this method of reinforcement have higher conversion rates, lower shopping cart abandonment and a higher amount of loyal customers.

Well-established providers of approval seals include:

Truste (focus on privacy issues)
ValidateSite (focus on accurate corporate information)
Thawte (focus on security)
BBBOnline (focus on handling of complaints)
Bizrate.com (gathers and shows ratings of users)

If no vulnerabilities are found, the site is marked with a hacker-safe certification seal.

Author: Jennifer Osborne writer and marketer for Search Engine People.

WordPress SEO Tip: Implementing the Power of Theming and Siloing

02 2008 Friday

By John Lamansky in Featured

This is one of many other WordPress SEO Tips and is a follow up to 20 Practical SEO Tips to Super-Charge Your WordPress Blog!, another great resource for WordPress users looking to unleash the power of such a pliable CMS platform.

Let’s face it: Search engines really want to know what your blog is about in order to give relevant results to searchers.

Siloing is the technique of theming your site’s directories to increase search engine relevance in a natural and logical way. It is great for sites, such as blogs, that have quality, topical content for which high search engine rankings are desired.

This step-by-step guide will help you implement the powerful siloing technique on your WordPress blog through a combination of plugins, settings, and strategies.

Step 1: The Preliminary Status Check

Does your blog as a whole have a clear, distinguishable theme? Do your categories logically break your blog topic into subtopics?

I’ll use my blog as an example: The WordPress Expert is, of course, focused on the WordPress niche. Since my content is focused on one topic, the search engines should have a clear idea of what search queries my site is relevant for. My categories (SEO, Social Media, Tutorials, etc.) break the content down into logical subtopics, which further aids the engines in understanding and cataloging the content.

If your blog lacks organization and clarity, consider niche-hunting and/or restructuring your blog’s categories.

This is the critical, foundational step for an effective siloing implementation, so don’t skip past it!

Step 2: Setup Category-Based Permalinks

Go to your WordPress administration panel, then go to Options > Permalinks. Select the “Custom” option and type in:

/%category%/%postname%/

Tip: If you’re using a WordPress version prior to 2.3, install the Permalink Redirect plugin to make sure your old permalinks redirect to the new ones.

Step 3: Install the Top Level Categories plugin

By default, WordPress will setup your category archive pages like this:

www.example.com/category/seo/

In this example, we’d rather have the SEO category show up at this URL:

www.example.com/seo/

Achieving this is very simple: just install the Top Level Categories plugin, and voila!

Since we just set up category-based permalinks in the previous step, then posts in the category “SEO” will appear as subdirectories of the category’s URL. This is perfect for siloing purposes.

Step 4: Install the sCategory Permalink plugin

An annoyance with WordPress’s category-based permalinks system: When a post has more than one category, the category with the lowest ID will be used in the permalink URL.

Fix: Install the sCategory Permalink plugin, which will let you choose which category (silo) each post should go in.

Step 5: Show Excerpts in Your Category Archives

We want the category archive pages to be linking to the posts in the silo, not outputting the full posts themselves.

Whether or not your category pages display the post excerpts or the full content is up to the theme you have installed. Here’s how to check: In your WordPress admin, go to Presentation > Theme Editor > Category Template. See if the code has the text the_content and if so, replace it with the_excerpt

Step 6: Interlink Within Silos

Your silo-ed categories are now set up! Now you need to reinforce your silos by linking your posts to other posts in the same silo.

For example, if your silos (categories) are “SEO” and “WordPress,” then the goal is to have your SEO posts interlinking with each other and your WordPress posts interlinking with each other.

Here are some strategies:

Deep-link to other posts in the same silo.
Try to minimize links that don’t lead elsewhere in the same silo. For example, try adding rel=”nofollow” to external sidebar and/or footer links.
Install the Similar Posts plugin, which inserts a list of related posts you’ve written to the bottom of each of your blog posts.

For an added silo boost, go to your WordPress admin, go to Options > Similar Posts, and then set “Limit matches to same category” to “Yes.”

Conclusion

Siloing is a powerful tool for your WordPress SEO toolkit. It’s easy to implement thanks to the flexibility and extensibility of WordPress!

For more WordPress SEO tips, check out my 20 Practical SEO Tips to Super-Charge Your WordPress Blog.

Author: John Lamansky is an up-and-coming web developer who has building websites for 7 years and has been working with WordPress for almost 3 of its 5 years of existence. He is experienced with XHTML, CSS, PHP, WordPress, and much more, and looks forward to providing WordPress tips, services, and resources to the blogging community.

Your 7-Point Annual Website Tune-up

02 2008 Thursday

By Donna Gunter in Featured

Every time you take your car in for an oil change, most shops give you a 15- or 30-point checkup when they change your oil to alert you to any other potential problems you might experience in the future. In the same way that your mechanic conducts a regular inspection of your automobile, you need to conduct an annual checkup of your website.

Here are 7 critical areas that need to be checked yearly on your site:

1. Copyright notice. In years past it would take me until March or April to update my copyright notices primarily because I had to go in and update every single page of my site. More recently, however, I’ve used an includes file, which is one file that can be inserted in many pages to hold my copyright and contact info. Consequently, when I need to update the copyright info, I open this one file in my HTML editor, update that file, save and upload it. Once it’s revised, the new information miraculously appears on all the pages in which it’s included, updating them all at once.

2. Opt-in forms. The beginning of each year is a great time to ensure that all of the opt-in forms are working on your site. Do you need to add additional fields to the opt-in form to collect mailing addresses, for example, or to ask how visitors found your site? Is the information contained on your confirmation page (the page to which a visitor is sent upon her initial request to opt into your list) still current and relevant? How about the thank you page (the page to which your visitor is sent when she has confirmed her desire to join your list)?

3. Autoresponder followup. Next, review the content of the autoresponders that you’ve set to follow up the opt-in. Are they still current? Do they mention offers or upsells that are still available? Do you need to update any copyright or contact information contained within them? Are they making it through spam filters? Use this tool to ensure that every email gets into your contact’s inbox, SpamCheck from SiteSell, http://spamcheck.sitesell.com/

4. Signature files. Does your email signature file contain a call to action that’s still working for you, or does it need to be updated? Have you changed any portion of your contact information? After you review your signature files in your email client, do the same check of your email signature file in your shopping cart program or autoresponder program.

5. Client attraction device. Take a look at the free giveaway you provide to your visitors in return for them opting into your list. Whether it’s a document or an audio or video file, update the copyright and content information in it and review any biographical/profile information that you list about yourself or your business. Is the content you provide in this giveaway still valid and current? Do you want to keep the current call to action, or does it need to be updated to better fit with your current business model?

6. Missing images and dead link check. When your website fails to properly display images, your business appears unprofessional. Tour your website to ensure that all images are displaying as they should. If you link to or make reference to many resources on your site, run a dead link check annually to weed out or update those that no longer work. You may be able to do this with your HTML editor. If not, try the free weekly link checking service offered by iNetDog, http://www.inetdog.com/link_checking.php

7. Order forms. Be sure that your order form works all the way through. Most online business owners, when checking order forms, stop at the point where they need to enter credit card information. If your merchant account agreement prohibits you from using your credit card to order from your company, ask if they have a test card number you can use, or have a reciprocal agreement with a colleague to check each other’s forms. Check your followup autoresponders that are set to go out after someone makes a purchase, as well, to ensure that they are still up-to-date.

Websites that are obviously out-of-date or aren’t working properly are a huge deterrent to doing business with you. Check these 7 key areas yearly on your site to convey to your visitors that your site is regularly updated and maintained.

Author: Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at OnlineBizU.com . Ask Donna an Internet Marketing question at AskDonnaGunter.com .

Creating Trust Online (Method 4)

02 2008 Thursday

By Bjorn Brands in Featured

If you aim to establish your site as a serious ecommerce player, here are 3 things you need to do:

Create and put up a privacy policy.
Process orders on a secure server.
Get 3rd party verification to increase credibility. Each is easy to do - but many ecommerce newbies underestimate their importance.

These 3 elements are important because they help build trust at the most critical point of the visit -at the point where the visitor is about to complete a checkout and convert into a customer.

1. Create and put up a privacy policy

A lot of visitors read the privacy policy in detail before they decide to submit any of their information.

Americans appear to place greater trust in sites that provide valid content and respect privacy than their European counterparts. Americans gave much higher credibility rankings to websites that offered privacy statements, sent emails to confirm transactions, indicated the source of site content or provided credentials for its authors.
Women attached greater credibility to websites with privacy policies, email confirmations of transactions and contact phone numbers than men. Notice the emphasis on privacy policy? Web users are getting more and more concerned with privacy and many will refrain from buying anything from a website unless a privacy policy is stated. If you don’t have one, here’s how to create one in 20 minutes. Just visit the Direct Marketing Association’s website and fill in the form to have a privacy policy customized for you. Privacy policies should be clearly stated and conspicuously posted. We recommend that you link to one in your footer. You might also want to test the effect of linking to your privacy policy at the bottom of your sign up form such as in the example below.

2. Allow secure ordering

The conclusion: If you’re just starting out and offer only Paypal as a quick and easy payment system - get a merchant service and a secure server ASAP.

We use e-online data. They are a reputable Authorize.net reseller and we’ve been very satisfied with them.

To protect your customer’s sensitive credit card information you need to run your shopping cart software on a secure server.

the technicalities of this bother you. Your web hosting company should be able to do this for you. You can purchase a low cost secure server certificate from Free SSL.

Use 3rd-Party Verification

Well-established providers of approval seals include:

Truste (focus on privacy issues)
ValidateSite (focus on accurate corporate information)
Thawte (focus on security)
BBBOnline (focus on handling of complaints)
Bizrate.com (gathers and shows ratings of users)

If no vulnerabilities are found, the site is marked with a hacker-safe certification seal.

Author: Bjorn Brands is a successfull enterprenuer who transitioned from having his own building company to a great online business. Check out his site and see for yourself how he can help you do the same at http://www.moneyacces.com

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