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By Titus Hoskins in Featured

increase-conversionsIf you’re into affiliate marketing or earning revenue from your site, it’s not so much the amount of traffic you get, but how well that traffic converts into a sale. Needless to say, as a full-time affiliate marketer, I am always looking for ways to get higher conversions.

Which led me directly to Amazon!

I have been a long-term associate for Amazon, as well as other major affiliate networks like Commission Junction, LinkShare, Google, Clickbank… but over the years, none of these ever converted like Amazon.

My Amazon links and clicks often get 5% to 10% conversion rates which means if I send 100 customers to Amazon – 5 to 10 of them will buy something. Usually, these Amazon customers buy more than one product and this varies somewhat depending on the season.

However, if you’re into any kind of selling on the web, those conversion numbers are huge. Most affiliate programs and networks have much lower conversion rates – unless it is some hyped up product launch by a major online marketer.

What is Amazon doing right?

First, I know one of the major reasons for Amazon’s success is its superior REPUTATION for offering a fast, reliable service with reasonable prices. It has earned so much customer loyalty and respect that buyers don’t hesitate when purchasing something online through Amazon.

In other words, repeat customers could be the major reason why Amazon conversion rates are so high.

However, if you stop there, you may be losing valuable pointers as to how Amazon is getting those higher conversion rates. Examining just how Amazon has designed its pages and presented its products will give everyone a better idea of how online marketing is really done.

A company like Amazon has tested every design, layout and color scheme you can imagine. They have done all the testing and they know which presentations offer the greatest conversions.

Some common elements on every Amazon page:

- Plenty of images of the product you’re buying

- Full accurate description of the product

- Customer Reviews are prominently featured

- Related products showing what customers also bought

- Easy to use search boxes

- Related products or accessories

- Solid money back return policy

- Price slashed and discount price presented

Looking a little deeper, don’t know about you, but when I shop Amazon (because of all the points listed above) I get the feeling that I KNOW everything about the product I am buying. I have all the information I need to make my purchase without worrying about my choice.

This psychological key may play a big role in Amazon’s higher conversion rates. Peace of mind and satisfaction with your buying choice could be the real clincher or closer.

However, we must not ignore some other simpler design elements which could also deliver the higher rates. Did you know that tests have shown that the color “orange” on call-to-action buttons or links will offer the highest rates or get the most attention.

Just look at how Amazon uses the color “orange” on all its pages? Look how it has used “blue” fonts… simple stuff but an online page and text which is very easy to read will obviously convert better.

So too, is the overall “look and feel” of your website, you must keep everything consistent and even throughout your site because you don’t want to confuse or lose your visitors. Obviously, the longer they stay on your page, the better your chances of getting a sale.

Lastly, the next time you’re on the Amazon site, put away your wallet and look at Amazon from a marketing perspective. Closely examine the layout and design, notice all the features which attract your attention or make you want to buy the product featured.

Take notes if you have to, but let Amazon show you how to get those higher conversion rates and it will make all the difference in the world.

Titus Hoskins is a full-time online marketer who has numerous websites. For the latest web marketing tools try: http://www.bizwaremagic.com If you liked the article above, why not try this Free 7 Day Marketing Course here: http://www.marketingtoolguide.com Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

By Daya Mukherjee in Featured

virtual_officeA virtual work environment is not an uncommon one, given today’s increasing we-are-a-global-village scenario. As employment spans geographical boundaries and employees working for a single organization could be doing so from anywhere in the world, the shifting nature of work does present its own set of challenges. One of them, and arguably the most pertinent of all, concerns the sticky issue of communication. A virtual work environment is another form of outsourcing and communication can be said to be the lifeline of any Outsourcing success.

Which brings us to the crux of the matter – lack of communication is unacceptable in a virtual employee environment. This refers to both parties involved – the outsourcing service provider as well as the virtual employee who is working for the client.

Lack of Communication from the Vendor

The choice of an outsourcing partner plays a crucial role in determining the success of any outsourced venture. Since both parties are sitting hundreds or thousands of miles away from each other, the only connecting bridge is that of communication. So, it is essential that the vendor has access to technology that ensures a smooth communication system, particularly if you have hired a remote employee from them to work for you.

Is it difficult or next to impossible to get your remote employee on the phone? Do the phone lines get disconnected every so often, even when you do manage to get your employee on the phone? Do Skype chats turn into duds due to fluctuating or constantly-interrupted Internet connectivity? If you find yourself hitting such constant roadblocks every time to communicate with your remote employee, due to the vendor’s crumbling Internet connection and other forms of technical problems, then maybe its time to review the possibility of finding another better-equipped vendor.

Lack of Communication from the Remote Employee

This is obviously the more worrisome possibility, and justifiably so. If your virtual employee working remotely thousands of miles away and in conflicting time zones, chooses to ‘go incommunicado’ so to speak, then these are the warning signals to look for:

1. Do your emails go unanswered?

2. Do your emails, asking for specific job details, work targets achieved and status of the project, elicit vague and ambiguous responses or no straight answers?

3. Is this employee unavailable on the phone even though the vendor has a sound telecommunication system in place?

4. When you do get your virtual employee on the phone, is the conversation less than illuminating? Are your direct questions answered with evasive or ambiguous responses?

Remedial Measures to Handle the Uncommunicative Remote Employee

1. To avoid communication breakdowns between you and your virtual employee, it is best to be clear in what you have outlined right at the beginning of your association. Be clear and consistent about what types of communications are best suited to your purpose; how often this communication is needed and other expectations.

2. When the remote employee does not meet the communication expectations, a review (either via phone or face-to-face through video conferencing) is essential to reinforce the expectations. However, if the employee continues be uncommunicative, then you need to involve the vendor’s management to intervene in the matter.

3. Try discussing the employee’s worrying conduct with the HR executives of the outsourcing service provider. Set a time limit by which the errant employee should be showing some signs of improvement.

4. Keep all the records of your efforts to establish communication with the virtual employee. These will serve as valuable proof should you ultimately do decide to stop working with such an employee.

5. Sacking such an employee outright may be tempting but try other tactics first and let termination of services be your last resort.

Communication is crucial to establish a smooth working association with any employee, but more so when the employee is a virtual one, working remotely some thousands of miles away. Keep these handy points in mind and pay heed to warning signs to nip the problem of non-communication in the bud.

Daya is an experienced former journalist who has written extensively for the UK gift industry till recently. Now, she brings her considerable creative writing experience to the exciting world of Outsourcing, offshoring and in particular, PHP Outsourcing.

By Christine Kane in Featured

gravatarGravatars 101

If you’ve been blogging for long enough then you’ve undoubtedly noticed that some users have small pictures that show up next to the comments that they leave. They may have a picture of themselves or it may be a custom picture that they’ve created. Either way, these little pictures are affectionately known around the online world as “Gravatars,” a clever play off “avatars,” and have become staples around successful bloggers and casual bloggers alike.

Gravatars: Defined

A Gravatar, as defined by en.gravatar.com, is an acronym for “Globally Recognized Avatar.” In layman’s terms, it’s a picture that you’ve uploaded onto the Gravatar website that, once uploaded, becomes associated with a certain email address. Anytime you use that email address – for example when you’re filling in the required fields on a blog commenting form, or participating in an online chat forum – that picture will show up next to your name and help to identify who you are and set you apart from everyone else that is also commenting.

Setting up a Gravatar

When you go to the website you are given two options for setting up your personalized Gravatar: one way will set it up so that it will be tied in with your WordPress account and the other way will allow you to create and activate your Gravatar even if you don’t have a WordPress account by linking it to your email address.

By Karl Walinskas in Featured

localseoNever has there been a more overused and often less understood term than Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. Millions (I am not kidding) of freelancers are in front of their PCs across the globe with the shingle out that says “SEO Specialist.” And you know what? Some of them really are. If you’re a business owner with a site on the Internet, unless this is your game, SEO specialists are likely better than you at optimizing your site. But how do you find someone who will make a difference for your business?

Why You Need to Be Optimized

First, let’s define Search Engine Optimization as all the on page things you can do for your website to increase its Page Rank (PR) on the major search engines, Google being the biggest kid on campus with upwards of 65% of all worldwide searches. Your efforts should be designed at getting you to page 1, and if possible, in return results 1-5 which tend to show up above the fold, or before the user has to scroll down. It is conservatively estimated that less than 5% of online searchers ever get beyond page 1 when finding a source. That means if you’re not coming up on page 1 for your keywords, you are a tree falling in the forest with no one around to hear it bud. If your business being “found” on the internet via search engines is important to your lead generation strategy, you simply cannot afford to ignore top tier SEO strategies.


What Makes Good SEO

Here is what the experts bring to the party for exceptional SEO:

1. Good Written Copy – Readable, enticing, conversion-producing, with just the right blend of keywords on the page that gets high rankings without getting the dreaded Google slap.

By David Hurley in Featured

onlinereputationThe Internet has become one of the first places that potential customers turn to for businesses and product reviews. As a result, it is imperative that your home business avoids negative online product reviews, especially now that social media has become the backbone of online communication. So, here are 6 quick tips to help you avoid getting negative online product reviews.

1. Dominate the Top 10 Search Engine Results

The best long-term solution to this is simply to create a strategy to control as many properties as possible that appear on the first page of Google for your particular keyword phrase, product name, or business name. Many people may think this is an unrealistic goal. However, those properties do not have to be all your own. You can easily leverage other popular websites, such as YouTube, free blogging platforms, and article directories to fill in the rest of the results.

2. Make It Clear to Your Customers that They Should Contact You Directly

Another strategy is simply making sure that your customers bring any problems that they have directly to you, instead of sharing them with the world online. The easiest way to do this is to simply have a set of follow-up e-mails delivered to them incrementally for the first week or two. By including your contact information in your emails your odds of getting contacted directly and getting the problem resolved dramatically increase.

3. Add an Area for Complaints on Your Website

One of the easiest things to do is simply add an area to your website where customers can complain. In many cases, setting up a small forum is the easiest option. Not only does this give you an opportunity to address customer concerns quickly, but it also demonstrates to potential customers that you respond and are willing to help fix any issues.

4. Do Not Post Fake Positive Reviews on Other Websites

It has become common for some online profile management companies to post positive reviews for their businesses and products on popular review websites. The problem with this is that they often come off sounding insincere and scripted. As a result, these overly positive reviews will often get flagged. Not only will this NOT provide you with the benefits that you want, it will actually do more harm than good to your reputation.

5. Stay Visible on Social Media Platforms

You should make sure that your company is always visible on popular social media platforms, especially Twitter and Facebook. For some reason most people are more likely to complain when they don’t think that the company they are complaining about is actually listening. By staying visible, many people will avoid leaving negative feedback without first contacting you.

6. Reply to Any Negative Reviews

If you do find negative reviews popping up in the search engines, then it is important that you reply to them. As long as you sound reasonable and make an honest attempt to find a solution then you can turn a negative review into a positive experience for that particular individual, your company, and potential customers. This is because it shows people that you are actively trying to ensure that your customers are satisfied, even if they don’t come to you directly.

Read David Hurley’s online business product reviews at: http://www.grasp-the-nettle.com/reviews/

By Brent McCoy in Featured

socialmedia2When you go about marketing your online business through social media, there are a few basic guidelines you should aim to follow. These can be applied to forming connections in social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter, as well as in social bookmarking services like Digg, StumbleUpon or Reddit – although, perhaps to a slightly lesser extent.

Being a success through social media is all about leveraging connections, and accepting the fact that no website is an island. If you are completely self-absorbed and only socialize with others for your own benefit, then you will have a hard time building a loyal following. These next few tips will help get you moving in the right direction, so you can grow your network much faster by using social media.

1. Get To Know The Culture: Before you get too trigger-happy and start sending friend requests or following people all over the place, get comfortable with how people interact in your chosen network. Find out what people respond to and get a sense of the language and etiquette people use when communicating to each other. Generally people will sense a spammer from a mile away, and most often it’s because spammers don’t interact in the same way as normal people do (or most times, not at all). If you want to avoid looking like a spammer, then learn to follow this communication etiquette.

2. Don’t Grow Your Network Too Fast: Another thing that could make you look rather bad is attempting to grow your friend or follower count too quickly. Having 10 followers when you follow about 500 will make people think twice about what you’re on the site for, and they probably won’t want to know you. If you grow your friend count at a more natural rate then it’ll look a lot better, and you’ll get many more people interested in connecting with you in the long run. Also, another key to being successful with social media is having a good quality following – not just quantity. Having 50 friends that you’ve taken the time to become closely acquainted with (and turn into loyal followers) is better than a few hundred that only serve to clog up your list.

3. Show Interest In Others: One way you can grow your network really quickly is to simply show that you’re interested in what others are doing – not by sending out a stock email, but by reading a person’s profile, visiting their website and sending them a personalized message to show that you care about their ambitions. This will get the majority of people you send requests to accepting them, or people you follow to follow you back – hence, avoiding too much of a hit-and-miss approach for growing your network.

4. Respond To Comments: If someone writes on your wall, or mentions you in a tweet, take the time to write back to them. This reassures people that there is an actual person sitting behind your account, and helps grow the trust that followers have in you. Obviously it can become a little difficult to keep up with everyone once your network gets really big, but in the initial stages you should try to do what you can to make each of your followers feel extra special.

5. Share Content From Other People: Re-tweeting or sharing content that other people post can do a lot to increase the trust and interest that your followers have in you. First, it indicates you are on the site to participate as a normal person would, and are not just there to send people to your own web links. Any relevant content you share adds value to those you share it with, and most of the time they will love you for it as much as if you had created the content yourself. Secondly, it hints to your followers that if any of them created a quality piece of content, then there’s a chance that you might take the time to share that as well.

6. Learn From Others: If you are still unsure about what you should be doing to succeed in social media, then one of the best things you can do is take a look at those who are already successful to see how they do it. Visit the people in your niche who have loads of friends or followers and watch how they interact with their network. Get to know the various techniques they use and you’re likely to find a way you can use them to grow your own following as well.

Article by Brent McCoy. Millionaire Studio is an online entrepreneurship blog that features articles on online business, blogging, marketing and social media: http://millionairestudio.com/

By David Jackson in Featured

spn_exclusiveThe debate is over – well, at least in my mind it is. What debate am I referring to? The debate over whether or not the age of a domain plays a significant factor in website rankings. Some SEO experts say it does, while others say it doesn’t. Count me on the side of those who say it does matter.

Frankly, I don’t see why there’s a debate about this at all. I mean it’s hardly a secret that Google gives preferential treatment in the search engine results pages (SERP’s) to long-established businesses because of the trust factor. Meaning, the longer a domain has been registered and active, the more trust it will be given by Google – provided, of course, the domain has a good reputation and quality inbound links.

Just to be clear, I’m not talking about a domain that has been registered for 10 years, but has not actually been indexed by Google. Because in Google’s mind, a domain that’s been registered for 10 years, but has no actual website, is exactly the same as a domain that was purchased yesterday. It has no juice. No, I’m referring to domains that are both registered and indexed – active domains.

Does Domain Age Really Matter?

Two years ago I wrote an article titled Domain Age: Does It Really Matter When It Comes to Rankings? In the article, I talked about how I conducted an experiment with hundreds and hundreds of domains in dozens of different categories… cakes, candy, balloons, fruit, cars, books, auctions, insurance, pets, stuffed animals, restaurants, seo, beaches, real estate, marketing, etc., etc., etc.

My conclusion at that time: The age of the domain is a significant factor in the ranking of websites.

By Charles Kiyimba in Featured

videomktgWhen I wrote the article “10 Proven Benefits of Converting Your Articles into Videos” the first comment I received from one of my followers was “How do you turn your articles into videos?” This prompted me to come up with this simple explanation on how to go about it.

There are several options of converting your articles into videos. For instance you can use PowerPoint to create animated slides and convert them into a video format. You can use a flash program to create your videos. But these options really require technical know-how and most people may find it a little bit difficult.

The easiest way to convert your articles into videos is by using an article-to-video-converter software that turns them into videos in the shortest time possible. It is user friendly and it doesn’t require much technical know-how. But you need to select a good program that allows you to edit your article in any way you want. Secondly, you need to spend some money to use the service.

Normally a good program will have a variety of free images you can choose from to use as a background for your videos, with an option to upload your own images. A good program should also have a variety of free background music and a provision to distribute your videos to major video sharing websites like YouTube, MySpace, Yahoo Video, Daily Motion, Metacafe, Revver, Sclipo and many others at no extra cost to save you time and money.

Converting your articles into videos, using an article-to-video converter program, is a three-step process that involves copying and pasting your article into the program, converting it to video and uploading it for distribution to video sharing websites. It’s as simple as that.

Copying and pasting your article into the program takes just a second. After pasting it into the program, the software automatically separates the paragraphs, which then become your video screen descriptions. Each screen description corresponds to a specific paragraph.

To effectively convert your articles into videos, you need to edit the article. Editing entails making changes on your video descriptions. When you add so many words, you risk having very small words on the screen. It entails transforming your text into audio, using the voice-over tool. The program already has prerecorded voices of varying tones for both men and women. You just have to pick the voices that best meet your needs and use them. You also have the option of uploading your own voices.

The process of converting your articles into videos also entails adding background images and music that you consider to be good for your videos. After inserting the background image and music, make sure you preview your video to see whether it’s showing properly and is as you want it to be. If there are any changes to make, you can always go back on specific paragraphs to make your changes.

After converting your articles into videos, you are left with the task of uploading and distributing them to video sharing sites. There is an option of uploading them to your blog and to your Twitter and Facebook pages. If you have a website, you can still copy and paste the HTML code to your website. You can also adjust the settings to resize the width and length of your video on your site.

While turning your articles into videos, you need to optimize your keyword phrases in your video titles and high to enjoy the benefit of getting organic traffic. Secondly, you need to be creative enough to spice up your videos and to make them unique. When you do that then you are assured of getting a steady flow of traffic to your website. Does that help you?

Charles Kiyimba owns http://www.CashWithGoleza.com and http://www.golezadesigners.com where popular home business ideas and opportunities are tested rigorously to find out what works and what doesn’t. Visit today to discover the secrets behind building a successful home business.

By Chris Bucholtz in Featured

crmYou can make the most of the opportunities presented by social CRM (SCRM) and social media by avoiding these four common mistakes.

Social Media — It’s Not A Broadcast Network

Many companies fail to grasp the two-way nature of social media. So they use sites like Facebook and Twitter to saturate their audience with messages while making no effort to listen to their customers and respond appropriately. It’s the social media version of “shock and awe.” This is understandable given the evolution of marketing as outbound communication only. But today, such behavior is seen as loutish and clueless.

Your Customers Might Misbehave — You Can’t

You should behave as a peer with your customers, not a pal. Your customer community may be fairly rambunctious, even coarse on line, but that doesn’t mean you should match their behavior. You shouldn’t. Remain the professional, especially in situations where a detractor becomes aggressive. You can respond to comments and answer concerns without engaging in a verbal brawl. Remember, most social media is not real time. You always have time to craft a response that addresses an issue and reflects well on you and your business.

Don’t Sabotage Your Efforts

Be patient. Social CRM is a new discipline. It will require time for your business to develop effective SCRM processes and for those processes to evolve and take root. If you attach unrealistic ROI goals or timelines to your social CRM efforts, you’ll waste the opportunity that SCRM represents today and dampen enthusiasm for it in the future.

Don’t Be Short Sighted

Skepticism and timidity about social media at a time when its growth continues to outstrip projections almost daily seems incredibly short sighted. Yet, the 2011 Capgemini Executive Outsourcing Survey revealed that 13 percent of executives interviewed at Fortune 1000 companies believed that social media was just a fad and not important to their companies’ success. Not so long ago, the Internet was viewed in the same way. In 1993, none other than Bill Gates said, “The Internet? We are not interested in it.”

Social media and the changes that it promotes are unlikely to disappear. Businesses that ignore this do so at their peril. There will be market share to gain for companies that excel in using social media. Does that mean you should “bet the farm” on social media and SCRM? No, it means that like any business tool–ERP, traditional CRM, business intelligence, supply chain management, and so forth–you should keep an open mind and make strategic investments in SCRM that will enable you to evaluate it thoroughly in the context of your business.

Social Media: The Long View

Since social media is ubiquitous, CRM has no other course but to accommodate and use it. Yes, in the short term, it can strain resources and disrupt the business routine. Most innovations do. But social media, and by extension SCRM, is an opportunity to make sales and service processes more effective, get closer to the customer, and make businesses more productive, responsive, and profitable.

SCRM is not a replacement for traditional CRM; it’s an expansion of its scope. SCRM takes traditional CRM principles and applies them to a new set of data sources. It has the potential to support product creation, revamp old service processes, deliver rich sales and marketing data, and foster peer-to-peer relationships with customers. Social CRM is an opportunity to improve your business and the experience your customers have with it.

Chris Bucholtz is Editor in Chief of CRM Outsiders, a founding editor of both InsideCRM and Forecasting Clouds, and a recognized influencer in customer relationship management. To find out more about how to empower your employees with Social CRM please visit http://www.sugarcrm.com

By Kausik Dutta in Featured

SEO2When most people start planning SEO for their website I can bet you a large proportion of them get stuck when it comes to really understanding what part social media has to play in SEO.

Social media often lags further down the priority list behind SEO for a variety of reasons, mainly a lack of clarity as to what benefits it will actually bring and the fact that it’s often difficult to relate a tweet or Facebook message to a return on investment whereas with SEO, for example, website owners can more easily attribute a growth in sales to new rankings for key-phrases.

However, the way that social media has evolved means that it now plays a much more important role in search engine optimization. Searches are now taking into account the reputation of websites as reflected in social media sites to determine rank.

What Content do Users want to Share?

A more common occurrence nowadays is the placing of social networking buttons alongside pages and various pieces of content within the website.

That’s all fair and well, but it’s only an issue if people actually bother to click on them.

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