Leveraging payment gateway relationships to be a core part of business development strategies

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Leveraging payment gateway relationships to be a core part of business development strategies

Does a provider think outside-of-the-box?

A good payment gateway is able, from the outset, to illustrate how they can seamlessly fit into existing operator systems, structures and business processes, thereby enabling operators to focus on their core business and particularly their valuable players, while the gateway focuses on the business of payments.
If an operator is looking for additional payment processing capacity, or have been tasked for the first-time to find a reliable provider, consider the following points, many of which may seem obvious, but are not always on offer.

Payment Card Industry (PCI) Certified Payment Gateways

Ensure the payment gateway is PCI Certified. The PCI DSS is a multifaceted security standard that includes requirements for security management, policies, procedures, network architecture, software design and other critical protective measures. It requires merchants and service providers that store, process or transmit customer payment card data to adhere to information security controls and processes that ensure data integrity.
In particular, all data should be encrypted, and intrusion detection, responses, and systems monitoring should go hand-in-hand with formalized security policies.

Pricing and Settlement

Most payment providers offer pricing and settlement in all the major currencies, but confirm settlement currencies as some do not offer like-for-like processing; instead they facilitate settlement to say, three main base currencies, normally USD, Euros and GBP. Be sure to confirm the exact currencies available and make sure these coincide with the business objectives for geographic expansion so players are offered with the ability to pay in the currency of their own country. Also, consider long-term goals and adaptability – how easy will it be to add new currencies as these can be needed with this provider?
A big issue for consideration is processing settlement times, which are dependent on the acquirer bank relationships forge via payment providers. Some payment providers only have the ability to settle weekly, which may create cash-flow issues. Again, ensure the services on offer support the business objectives.  If not, look elsewhere.  There are payment providers that can arrange to settle funds daily (usually 3 days in arrears).

Fraud Management Solutions

A payment gateway provider should help protect operators from fraudulent transactions, chargebacks and unauthorized payments via a host of available fraud management solutions.  At minimum, Address Verification Services (AVS) and Card Verification match checks (CVV2/CVC2), Amex CID match checks, 3-D Secure solutions (Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode), and IP Geolocation services should be on offer from payment providers.

Merchants should automatically be able to screen and process transactions through their payment gateway platform in real-time. This allows them to react immediately, if need be, against potential card-not-present fraud.
AVS helps to screen fraudulent transactions by comparing the billing address provided by the purchaser to the billing address on the cardholder’s credit card statement. Card Verification validates the security code found on the back of the credit card, which can be used as a confirmation that the purchaser has the physical plastic in hand.
3-D Secure provides verification to the merchant that the buyer is the authorized owner of a card account, thereby reducing the number of unauthorized payments, resulting in fewer chargebacks. Also, both Visa and MasterCard offer chargeback liability shift for certain fraud related chargebacks, when transactions are authenticated through Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCode.
IP Geolocation is another screening layer of fraud control that allows merchants to evaluate the risk of an online transaction based on the geography of the customer (country, state or province, and city), and it can be used to automatically block customers from certain restricted countries, based on a merchant’s risk profile, with screening carried out before a deposit is taken.

Alternative Payment Options

Consistent research has shown that consumers want choice, and particularly in the gaming space, they want a range of options they can use to pay and play. Apart from multi-currency credit and debit card payment processing, operators need to ensure that their provider can offer alternative payment options as part of a single integration.
This might seem obvious in as much as it takes away the time and hassle of having to integrate directly with a variety of payment options. But the fact remains, time-to-market is critical and a single integration is less costly across a range of business considerations. In essence, a single integration, and one reporting interface, can (and should) mean several payment choices for customers.
Alternative payment solutions are not only convenient for consumers but can be far more flexible and inexpensive for operators. PayPal is a popular choice of payment for players and provides online merchants secure access to over 350 million worldwide PayPal consumer accounts – in local currencies.
This is an important consideration when targeting South American markets, for example. Implementing PayPal to be able to receive Reals transactions is far simpler than trying to set up an acquiring solution in Brazil.
Ukash is another alternative payment type that offers a unique combination of benefits to consumers. Players can get Ukash free from over 275,000 physical locations and it is easy to use at any site that accepts Ukash.

Customer Service

Customer Service is defined by Business Dictionary.com as “All interactions between a customer and a product provider at the time of sale, and thereafter. Customer service adds value to a product and builds enduring relationships.”
However, it is crucial to find a payment provider that truly believes in excellent customer service. Establish core requirements, and create a ‘desirable’ list outlining where a payment provider could make a real difference to the business.
It has been found that a lot of online merchants are not getting the “aftersale” care they require from their current gateway. Once they are signed up, they are often just pushed through an established and rigid system. But this is arguably the most important time in the provider/merchant relationship. This is the moment when those who truly believe in the value of strong business relationships will reach out, anticipate, provide direction, solve processing challenges – in essence, prove they have what it takes to be intrinsically involved in the success of the businesses.
Customization is often a mission critical requirement for operators, and over time, their reporting needs change.  All companies are different, and one size does not fit all.  A payment gateway should be able to easily and quickly customize reconciliation reports, for example, or provide detailed reports and data mining to operators. Timely reports are key as the operator is relying on their payment provider to provide them with the data they need to solve their customer’s problems.

There are lots of payment gateways around the world collectively spending millions of dollars on advertising, marketing and conference attendance to win new businesses. As an operator the challenge is to find a provider (or providers) who can work in tandem with business teams towards a shared vision.  Reliable, scalable, secure multi-currency processing solutions are needed, and what else? The answer, put simply, is a blend of all of the above with a large dose of trust, integrity and innovation.

Keyword Research As A Part Of Your Marketing MLM System

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Keyword Research As A Part Of Your Marketing MLM System

I make articles about an Online MLM system that is designed for generating Home Business leads in order to be successful in Home Business and in the end live the life you deserve. In this piece we are going to discuss that how keyword research fits in the Online MLM concept. Firstly let’s see who could benefit from keyword research. Bloggers, article marketers, video marketers for instance.

We are going to take a closer look at article marketing within this Internet MLM system. The key purpose of producing articles is to get ranked on the top of Google. The result typically look like this: a lead types specific words in Google on the other side of the world and you come up among the first some results, so he clicks on you and you have just attracted a qualified MLM lead.

What does Internet MLM system have to do with keyword research?

Keyword Research is the tool that assists you uncover keywords that are relevant to your business offer and are worthy to target. Let’s suppose you have found a good keyword in your niche so you begin creating articles about that keyword and post those writings for instance on your blog as you want your MLM system to be found when a Network Marketing lead does a search on the actual keyword somewhere online.

How to scrutinize keywords to make it work together with the MLM marketing system?

Traffic is the primarily thing you should understand regarding to the keyword you are targeting. If your keyword does not have any traffic even if you get ranked on the first page of the search engines in that specific keyword you still would not make a dime. Not only does traffic mean that there are number of monthly searches on that actual phrase but it means that leads actually click on it too.

Competition is the next crucial thing you should know regarding your keyword. The lower the competition is the better. In spite of this, your selected keyword needs to have some competition for the reason that if it does not that means nobody is interested in dominating the search engines in the actual keyword phrase. It possibly means that the keyword does not have any traffic or even if it has leads don’t spend their money at all on that keyword.

The third weighty thing you want to seek is this: how much money people spend on the actual keyword. Let’s say you have a decent keyword relevant to your niche which has traffic and low competition but as soon as you do your research it turns out that prospects don’t spend their money on the actual keyword at all. It is pointless to target such a keyword phrase.

What else do you need to know to apply article marketing as a part of your MLM marketing system?

This is where article marketing starts: seeking good phrases applying a keyword research tool. Article marketing is a very complex strategy however combined with an Online MLM system it is a very effective technique to generate tons of Home Business leads and almost a Free strategy to rank in the search engines for highly profitable phrases. Keep in mind though, you would need a website, autoresponders, and training to make it work for your business (apparently you ought to understand regarding keyword research that how many daily searches you want to search for, how much is a good competition, and how much is the minimum money that prospects have to spend on the keyword you are going after to begin with this strategy).

Related Keyword Research Articles

Search Engine Keyword Research-Internet Marketing For Dummies Part 2-7

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Search Engine Keyword Research-Internet Marketing For Dummies Part 2-7

Search Engine Keyword Research is the lesson for today. Before we move on, if you are following the 7 part series,introduction to internet marketing for beginners and missed part 1-7, the link will be provided at the bottom of the article. So what you should  expect to gain from this article is a basic understand of a (SE) keyword.

Search engine keyword research what is it, and why do you need it?

The search engine (SE) for short, are places such as Google and Yahoo etc, for Google to pick up on your site or your articles you would need to have relevant keywords  that relate to the product you are selling, or advertising as an affiliate.

These words need to be placed through-out your articles, or site so they will pick up by the Search Engine “Google, Yahoo” when you publish them. This lets Google know what your page is about, and then helps him/her decide where your work should be placed.

This is how you get you page ranking. A site with a page rank of 5 and higher is brilliant. That is as simple as I can explain it. If you are still a little confused  about what search engine keyword research is, do not fear it will make sense after you do the exercise below.

Now  the exercise for today is will be on  search engine keyword research in Google, this will then give you an understanding on what to do. Grab your pen and paper and write down 2 words that relate to 1 of the 10 products you wanted to sell on-line that you initially wrote down  in part 1-7. Then follow instructions below to where to what to do next.

More Keyword Research Articles

A simple guide to search engine marketing (part one)

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A simple guide to search engine marketing (part one)

Search engine marketing is by far the most efficient and effective way to advertise your business. With over 86% of internet users using Google as their search engine, the need for your business to show on the first page of Google has never been greater.

Many people are unaware of search engine marketing and just take for granted the results that appear when they search for something on a search engine such as Google.

However, search engine marketing seems to defy to current doom and gloom of the recession. Think about this:

“The average Britain spends 164 minutes online everyday, compared with 148 minutes watching TV”

Over half the world’s population now has access to the web and nearly 90% of them find what they’re looking for using search engines. 36% of people think that the result at the top of the first page is the market leader and 80% of people make their choice from first page listings alone. With over 21 billion web pages wanting a first page position how can you get your website on the first page.

This is called search engine marketing and I have listed a few techniques and tips to get you started with optimising your website to rank well on a search engine. Remember that this is a basic guide to help to you on your way.

Link building

First we have to look at how search engines rank a website and decide which order to list them. The simple (very very very simple) version is, Google changed everything the way many search engine rank. The initial creators of Google (Larry Page and Sergey Brin) wanted to create a search engine that could rank a website for quality and list them in order of quality to the user. The way they decided to rank a website was to count how many other websites link to it. If other websites link to it then it must be good. So, essentially links mean votes. Like I said, this is the very simple version and there is so much more to it than this but it is a great place to start as it holds the most importance.

See who links to you and then see who links to your competitors and try to muscle in on some of their action. Simply go to yahoo.co.uk, then in the search box type “link:yourcompetitor.com”. This will bring up a list of websites linking to your competitors website. Then contact them and ask them to link to you too. Don’t be stingy. Make sure you have links going out from your website. Important though that you link to high quality websites, i.e. If your website is a property website, have links to the relevant governing bodies, Wikipedia or the largest property portals. Search engines will see your site as being a good place to get good content. Submit your website to online directories. This can be very boring and takes hours. But once you have had your site accepted in to a directory. You’ll have a link back to your website. Remember. The more the better. Subscribe to forums in your niche. You can include a link in your signature straight to your website. Remember though. Do not spam on a forum. Forum users will not like it and the moderator will probably kick you off. If you use a forum properly though you will find it quite engaging. Read blogs relating to you niche market. This is very educational as well as beneficial for link building. Read the blog then leave a comment about that blog. Don’t forget to include a link to your website though. Just don’t make it too obvious.

Social Media (web2.0)

“Facebook”, “YouTube”, “Flickr”, “Myspace” – These are all social media websites. They provide a means for people from all over the world to join online and share information. The way in which people communicate vary though. “Flickr” allow people to upload photos and share them with other users or even comment on pictures uploaded. “Youtube” allow people to upload videos etc. The number of people visiting these websites to share information is in the millions. So maybe you could use these social communities to spread the word about your website. Social media is a great way to connect with hard to reach people that share the same interests. There are a number of ways to do this.

Make your content interesting enough for people to want to view it. Then,unlike search engine optimisation, change the content often, This will make people want to keep visiting you. Make it easy for people to tag or bookmark your new content. Bookmarking is very fashionable at the moment. The most popular way of doing this is by getting an “addthis” button due to its ease of use, however, there are many buttons available. Use more than just text in your site. Create a video and submit it to a video sharing website like “youtube”, Create a PDF version of your content and create an audio version too. Submit it to appropriate websites. Don’t forget the link back to your site. Blog.Blog.Blog then blog some more. The simple truth is that the majority of internet users love blogs. So do search engines. Create a blog and use it. A lot. Submit it to sites like “technorati.com”. If it is good enough people will link to you and then share and tell others about your writings. Make friends. The social media community, are very social and friendly. They will want to talk to you and ask you questions. Make sure you are polite and take time to answer any messages. Negative feedback spreads faster than positive feedback.

Pay Per Click

This is a method in which you pay to get people to your website. Have you ever done a search on Google and found there are two columns. The Colum on the right is called sponsored links. They are adverts from businesses. They do not pay anything for appearing there but they do pay when you click on the advert (pay per click). This is a very fast way to get people to your website but you do have to pay. I would recommend getting a pay per click company to help here. It will save you a lot of money. However, if you must have ago your self here are some very basic tips.

Budget. Make sure you create a sensible budget and stick to it. Don’t get in to a bidding war. Don’t just rely on pay per click as the be all and end all for your business marketing. PPC is great for promoting specific products and services very quickly but you always have to pay for the result. Analyze your cost per click and cost per acquisition closely. Then compare it to your other marketing activities. See which one works best. Remember that sites such as Google take into account the quality of your website content being marketed more than how much you are bidding. PPC is my favorite part of search engine marketing due mainly to the sheer speed of return on investment BUT make sure it is done properly other wise it can be devastating. Always have two ads running at the same time for each product but with different ad text. Google will use the most successful advert for you and show that advert more often, helping you gain more traffic. Change to poorest performing advert and see if it improves. Keep repeating. This will eventually lead to you having the best possible advert showing.

Search engine optimisation

Remember the two columns we just mentioned. Search engine optimization is the are of optimizing your website enough for Google to rank it on the left hand column. This list is ordered on how relevant your website is. And you don’t have to pay for these listings. Ever noticed how all the big companies appear at the top of the first page. Now we should as “which came first – The chicken or the egg?”. Search engine optimisation is generally split into two categories onsite optimisation and off site optimisation. The first, when done property is very important but it will only get you to the starting line. Offsite optimization is the race itself. A good search engine optimisation campaign should include all the search engine marketing techniques mentioned and when you really get into it you can learn the more advanced techniques. Below are a few basics.

Include your keywords in your domain, title, meta tags. The first thing a search engine spider will read is your domain name. i.e www.yourdomain.com. This doesn’t mean anything to a search engine so ideally use www.yourdomain.com/your-key-words, or even better www.your-key-words.com . Then the next part is your title. Don’t just have “home Page” or “Front Page”. I would have “your domain – your key words”. This also matches the domain name. Then repeat the same in your meta data. And sprinkle it throughout your web page. Keep it readable though. Make each page different. This helps search engines differentiate them and should lead to them indexing each of your pages separately. Get a site map and submit it to major search engines. Don’t pay for this service though. It amazes me that people actually charge for this. Just type into Google “sitemap” and you should be presented with website that will generate you a sitemap for free. Keep going. Older sites generally rank better than new sites. It is believed that older websites must be more reliable. As there is nothing we can do about this just focus your time on other offsite optimisation such as link building, social media optimization and if you just can’t wait, Pay per click. Search engine optimisation is a long term solution but boy is it worth waiting for. Validate your HTML code. Visit “validator.w3.org/ “.This will ensure that web browsers show your website correctly and helps search engine to index your site. There is no point in optimising your website if it doesn’t work properly.

Other useful tips

Get Google analytics. It is one thing having a website but you need to know what people are doing when they are on it. Google analytics is very comprehensive and FREE but it does not report in real time. Woopra however does report in real time. The choice is yours. Before doing anything else you should get one of these other wise how will you know your efforts are paying off. If you decide to use a company to undertake your search engine marketing campaign (recommended) make sure you choose your search engine marketing company wisely. Don’t just go on recommendation. It is going to be a long working relationship so the important thing is that you get on with them. Do your own research on the industry. Think twice about search engine marketing firms that say they can guarantee a first page listing in a short time, the methods they use WILL end up in your website being banned. BMW found this out the hard way.

Search engine marketing is not an easy option but when done properly will bring untold rewards.

This is by no means an exhaustive list but it will give people new to the concept a few things to get on with and research. Look out for more articles that will start to break the subjects down into more detail.

Related Search Engine Marketing Articles

Avoiding SEO Brain Freeze Part Two – Creating a Keyword Phrase Map

admin    Web Marketing     Avoiding, Brain, Creating, Freeze, Keyword, Part, Phrase

Avoiding SEO Brain Freeze Part Two – Creating a Keyword Phrase Map

In part one of the Avoiding SEO Brain Freeze series, we looked at the 7 steps necessary to finding the most appropriate keyword phrases for which you will ultimately optimize your website. My hope is that you have spent some time compiling a whole slew of keyword phrase spreadsheets, and now you’re ready to start figuring out how to incorporate them into your website.

Through the years, I’ve developed a process of creating a keyword phrase map as the 2nd component to our clients’ SEO campaigns. If you follow the steps outlined below, it should keep you organized and help you avoid the dreaded SEO brain freeze when attempting to optimize your website on your own.

The 9 Steps to Creating a Keyword Phrase Map

Step #1: Create a new spreadsheet, and add headings across the top which correspond with your home page and each of your top-level main category pages. These should be pages that are in the main navigation of your website, which are linked to from every page of the site. This sheet will ultimately be your keyword phrase map.

Step #2: Review your keyword phrase lists you previously compiled and highlight the 3-5 of them that are the most competitive but also highly relevant to what your business and website is all about. These will be the phrases you’ll target on your home page. Copy and paste them under the home page heading of your new spreadsheet and mark them as “home page” in your old keyword spreadsheet.

Step #3: Look at the existing information/copy on your top-level main category pages of your website and check to see if they are already naturally using any of the keyword phrases from your keyword lists. These pages are the best candidate pages for those phrases, as they will be easier to edit than pages that aren’t currently using them the targeted phrases. Make note of which phrases exist on which pages by highlighting them and marking them on your keyword research list, then add them under the heading for that page on your phrase map spreadsheet.

Step #4: Once you’ve completed step #3 for all your top-level category pages, you may also want to branch out into your deeper, sub-category pages if you still have a number of unhighlighted keyword phrases from your original keyword list.

Step #5: Take the phrases that you haven’t already found pages for, and search your website to see if they’re naturally being used on any deeper pages of your website. You can do this via your website’s own site-search feature (if you have one) or you can use Google to search your site.

To use Google simply type the following command into its search box:

“your keyword phrase” +site:www.yoursite.com

This will show you all pages of your site that have the exact keyword phrase contained on them already. Make note of these in your keyword spreadsheets and add the additional inner pages to your keyword phrase map spreadsheet, as well.

Step #6: Review the keyword phrases for which you have not yet found a related page, and decide if they are indeed important for your website to be found under in the search engines. Cross-out or remove those from the list that you determine may no longer be necessary.

Step #7: For the keyword phrases you have left, redo your site searches using your phrases, but this time, without quotes. This will bring up the pages of your site that have the individual words from your keyword phrases on them, rather than the exact phrase. These may very well be good candidate pages for those phrases, as well. Read through them carefully to be sure, and if they look like a good fit, adjust your spreadsheets accordingly.

The above steps should have helped you easily identify pages that are already using your keywords or phrases. Most likely, you will still have a number of keyword phrases from your original spreadsheet that still haven’t found a home on your website. This will be especially true if your existing website doesn’t have much copy on it to begin with.

The next steps will require you to use your brain a bit more in order to decide which of the keyword phrases that you have left make sense on the which pages of your website.

Step #8: Carefully read through each page and decide what its ultimate theme is.

Step #9: Review your remaining keyword phrases and look for those that fit in with the theme of each page. Ideally, you’ll be able to find a good home (page) for most of the rest of your keyword phrases.

Step #10: For any remaining keyword phrases that you simply cannot find an existing corresponding page, once again, decide if they are really important to be found for in the search engines, and remove any that you can live without.

Step #11: For those keyword phrases you have left, which you have determined are indeed important to your website, think about why you don’t have any existing pages of your website where they fit into. If your website is structured correctly, there should be pages available for all relevant keyword phrases. At this point, you may have found the hole in your website that needs to be plugged. That is, you probably need to create some new pages that can naturally support the keyword phrases that don’t currently have homes.

Step #12: Think about how you can create new content for your website which will naturally be able to utilize those last keyword phrases. This may be as simple as adding some articles to your website that naturally use them. Or you may need to add some new top-level or sub-level pages to your website to support these phrases. In this case, you’ll also need to redo your site architecture and its overall navigation. But if those keyword phrases are indeed important to you, they really should have a place on your website, so it’s really important to perform this last step.

That’s it! You should now have all your important keyword phrases mapped to the existing pages of your website on a nice, neat spreadsheet. In the next article in this series, I’ll explain where you go from here!

••••••>Keywords – the Most Important Part in SEO

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••••••>Keywords – the Most Important Part in SEO

Keywords are the most important SEO part for every search engine – actually they are what search strings are matched against. So you see that it is very important that you optimize your site for the right keywords. This seems easy at first but when you get into more detail, it might be a bit confusing to correctly determine the keywords. But with a little research and thinking the problem of selecting the right keywords to optimize for can be solved.

When selecting the Keywords and Keyword Phrases for your Website, seeking to achieve high rankings in Google and Yahoo and the other search engines, you need to consider how the spiders view your web site. Rarely is the search engine spiders reading single words, every sentence on your Website are composed of multiple words or phrases.

Keywords Density – How many times is your keyword mentioned on your site? If it’s too much, you’ll look like a spammer; if it’s too little, you won’t look like a relevant match and the search engines won’t consider your site. Keyword Variation – Altering versions of your keywords will help you capture hidden search engine traffic. Similar Keywords – These are closely related topics to your keywords that will aide the search engines in correctly categorizing your traffic.

GetMeOnTop provides keyword services research and keyword pay per click research to businesses looking to take full advantage of effective search engine optimization techniques. Selecting the proper keywords that will draw traffic to an established business can be a difficult and daunting task. Selecting keywords on your own to market your website can be a process that proves unsuccessful. The keyword generation process is one that is based on different techniques. If you are not fully aware of how keywords function in terms of search engine marketing, you may wind up selecting keywords that are rare or that web users just aren’t using. GetMeOnTop understands the science behind keywords and we put our knowledge to work for you.

Keyword research is the most important element of integrated SEO campaigns. It is also the most challenging task that an SEO developer will face. If your site is optimized with poorly researched keywords, your readers will never find you, and you certainly will not be at the top of Google or Yahoo. Knowing the right keywords allows you to target a specific market(s), ensuring that readers that come to your website are those that will do what you want your consumers to do. Here are some basic tips for effective keyword research.

1) Do not assume that you know what the customers type in the search field. If you know what you do not know, you have a better chance of bagging the keywords that will rake in visitors.

2) Create a list of potential keywords then slowly weed out the good ones from the excellent ones.

3) Learn how to use keyword research tools. If you know how the tools exactly work, you can come up with a better analysis.

4) Only put up to four related keywords on one page. Use them wisely.

5) Monitor the viability of your keywords and tweak them as needed.
Following this and our other Free SEO tips will help you in getting top rankings on Google and Yahoo. To assure you are #1 on Google, #1 in Yahoo, and #1 on Live.com

For more information:

http://www.getmeontop.com

APSense Guide Pro – Part 1

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APSense Guide Pro – Part 1
APSense is a remarkable Social Marketing site. However, there are so many features, you need a guide written by an ApSense expert to teach how to use the site to get the best results. The APSense Guide Pro will show you the way.
APSense Guide Pro – Part 1

Astral Travel Online
Provides information on how to achieve an out-of-body experience. Easy to read and understand, it provides simple techniques for anyone who wants to safely practice astral projection.
Astral Travel Online

Optimizing and Monetizing Social Media – Marketing and Sales Part I

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Optimizing and Monetizing Social Media – Marketing and Sales Part I

The merging of a comprehensive social media marketing strategy, also referred to by many as Web 2.0 marketing, with an overarching, inbound marketing campaign is crucial if our goal is to fully optimize advertising and marketing strategies online. The Internet marketing campaign, both in terms of monetization and branding, must reflect an understanding as well as a synthesis, an integration of the various tools, applications, and platforms available and necessary for an effective inbound marketing campaign. In order to achieve the ultimate Internet image, in other words, in order to effectively brand yourself and your product, you must pursue and implement a program designed to optimize the best Web 2.0 has to offer with various other “new media,” Internet marketing techniques (e.g., email marketing, on-site marketing, affiliate marketing, free advertising, etc). In order to fully exploit the growing popularity of social media generally, and certain social networking and video-sharing sites specifically, it must be understood that there is a major sift underway, a transition taking place on the Internet today. While I have addressed this transition at some length in previous articles, I will review and also discuss the various usage trends evident on the web, particularly as they relate to new media and online business.

Social Media and the Twitter Hawks’ Promise!

Social networking sites are myriad, with more popping up every day. Social bookmarking and video-sharing sites are just as plentiful. That being the case, it is imperative we understand the transition and the trends underway and ongoing if, as Internet marketers, we wish to take advantage of the veritable gold rush underway on the web today. However, a word of caution! While I use the phrase gold rush, I must add a caveat. Without the proper understanding, preparation, and an intelligent, well thought out inbound marketing strategy, the online campaign will come up bust every time.

Vanishing: Attrition and Social Media

There are marketers disappearing as fast as they appear, 60% attrition from Twitter at last report, because they simply do not understand the intricacies, the balance, and the psychology underlying this rush to gold. Certainly it is true that not all of the 60% are or ever were marketers but the drop off is illustrative of just how fast the attraction and the luster fades. Interestingly, certain social media sites have come, and others gone, while you read this article, some fading into oblivion and others popping up to take their place.

The Twitter Gold Rush

Many of the Twitter marketers (i.e., Twits, Twitterers or Tweeple) find out quite rapidly that a simple link doesn’t convert as well as the Twitter Hawks, I term I coined to label those individuals selling the dream, the “picks and shovels” to Tweeple looking to cash in on the Internet version of the California Gold Rush or was it the Alaska Gold Rush? Many soon discover it takes more than a metaphorical pick and shovel, meaning the latest load of rehashed and replayed Twitter marketing “stuff,” a lot nicer than the four letter word I was considering for a lot of it, from one of the myriad of Twitter marketing “gurus,” some with almost no followers and following even fewer…but they are experts? The Twitter Hawks out there are just waiting for the next 49er to come along, dreaming of gold and panning for it on Twitter, Facebook, or perhaps YouTube.

Twitter and Four Letter Words

I mention Twitter because it is illustrative and symptomatic of a much deeper problem on the web generally, and within social media specifically. I am speaking of what rests at the very base, in fact is the basis of any effective marketing campaign, online or offline traditional brick and mortar, anywhere in the world, and in any field. The problem has to do with a clear lack of understanding of the sales process. Yes, we call it all kinds of fancy names in order to avoid saying the “S” word, that four letter word everyone hates. You see, S…E…L…L…is the ultimate four letter word! “I can’t SELL!” “Do I have to SELL anything?” “Will it involve having to SELL something?” “I didn’t know I’d have to SELL anything!” The best one, “He just wants to SELL me something!” The list goes on and the italicized emphasis placed on the four letter word doesn’t do the disdain, the utter contempt, the revulsion and/or the fear associated with the word justice. But it the best I can do.

I am certain you can hear people in your mind as you read the quotes, these are real and I have heard them all, so have most of you. Have you ever uttered any of the above quotes? Certainly! We don’t like to be S…O…L…D…we like to buy! The irony here should be immediately apparent. In order for you to buy anything, someone else has to do that four letter word to you. Interesting!

The S…A…L…E…and the Sales Process

We refer to the sales process, selling and sales, in many different ways, some are: online business; Internet marketing; inbound marketing; new media marketing; old media and/or outbound advertising; and, just about anything else but what it is, a S…A…L…E!

Significantly, what many are talking about when speaking of sales and marketing is getting someone to take out their wallet and plunk down some cash. Interestingly, a sale is more than just an action and a transaction, much more! You see, you are selling when you get someone to donate their time, listen to your teleseminar, follow your tweets, check out a favorite quote, read a book you recommend, click on your link, join you on LinkedIn or facebook or friendfeed, etc.

It’s About Selling!

So, whatever you do, wherever you do it, most of it is selling. Sometimes sales is about cash, occasionally a lot of cash! And that may actually retard the selling process, we will talk about why in a upcoming article, but selling is not about the cash, it never is, never has been. Cash is a byproduct of the sale, small letters and no emphasis. Sales is about what makes sites like Twitter and Facebook and the hundreds of others popular, it’s about the connection, the relationship, the bond that forms before most sales are ever made. Let me say that again…

…it’s about the connection, the relationship, the bond!

Tweeple, the S…A…L…E…and Self

Unfortunately, many Tweeple, in fact most people new to sales, advertising, and marketing simply do not have what it takes to make a sale, much less a S…A…L…E! There is a secret to selling and I am going to share it with you here. I’m going to share it with you so you too may have the success I have had over the years, as a direct result of selling. Yes, selling! You see, life is a sales and marketing process, all of it. If you are successful at selling your self, you will find a mate. If you are successful at selling your self, you will get a good job. If you are successful at selling your self, your kids will listen to and respect you. If you are successful at selling your self, the youth soccer team you coach will listen to you…and they may even win a game or two. Get the idea? Life is a sales process, every hour or every day…sales!

The Other Four Letter Word!

Did you notice something else? S…E…L…F…is also a four letter word, one just as detrimental to the sales process as the word S…E…L…L! So, get your S…E…L…F…out of the sales process and make your prospective client’s self-interest your focus!

The Secret and The Close…Another Four Letter Word

Oh yeah! The secret? The secret is two-fold and you have the answer above. The secret is that there is no sales process! If you attempt to S…E…L…L…anything, you will fail. Yes, you may close the S…A…L…E, and close should be another four letter word. A lasting relationship, one built on a connection and a bond, means you will have a steady client, referrals, and repeat business. The close? Closing someone leads to cancellations, an unhappy client, and clients focused on one thing, price! The price fixation is never a good situation, always a bad S…A…L…E!

It’s About 3 Things!

Selling is about what? Yes, that’s right! The sales process is all about the connection, the relationship, and the bond. I have always been an unconventional salesman. I have never followed a sales script, never. If an employer wanted me to follow a script, the script I followed was an exit script. Why? You already know the answer! I made a connection, that connection led to a relationship, that relationship led to a bond, and the bond allowed for trust, the trust enabled the sales process to culminate in another relationship, one based on a relationship combined with self interest, the client’s self interest…not my S…E…L…F, and certainly not because I made a S…A…L…E!

Internet Image and Social Media

Inbound marketing is a process, it begins with a connection, the connection leads to a relationship, the relationship leads to a bond, and once a bond is formed, another type of relationship builds, a mutual one, one profitable to both parties. Social media is an integral component in the connection/relationship/bond building model, but just one aspect, one ingredient. In fact, there are several key components, all necessary if a traditional brick and mortar business is making the move to an online presence or an Internet marketing concern is stepping up its Internet image. In either case there is one absolute, social media is about the connection and the beginnings of a relationship, to achieve the next component, the bond, the business, offline or online, will require additional steps to ensure its success. In the upcoming three articles we will deal with the various aspects of social media, social bookmarking, and video-sharing sites. Next, in Part II, we will discuss the various social media platforms and how to best integrate them into what will become the ultimate Internet image!

I would like to invite you to my newest blog, The John Zajaros Blog. I am attempting to develop a central hub, a single place from which people can jump off to my various web properties, my Internet real estate. So, whether you are looking for information about Internet marketing, online business in a variety of niches, back pain and sciatica, online or in-home tutoring, soccer training tips, football training information, the coolest new stuffed animals and innovative, novel toys on the market, addiction information, the ultimate weight loss plans and more You can go there through The John Zajaros Blog.

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The SEO Keyword Research Series – Part Six: ‘The ‘Key’ Word Is Traffic?’

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The SEO Keyword Research Series – Part Six: ‘The ‘Key’ Word Is Traffic?’

In Part five of the SEO Keyword Research Series we looked at ‘Is this Keyword Commercially Viable?’ This showed you how to measure whether your keyword is commercially a good enough for your site. The fourth important ‘Key ‘element considers if the keyword or phrase will provide you with the suitable levels of traffic to your business. After all, if you do not get the traffic then you will never make the sales you want.

Each keyword or phrase generates a different level of traffic. Some will provide a high level whilst others will provide a low level. Unfortunately, over 90% of keywords have almost insignificant levels of traffic to them. Additionally, people will pick random keywords for their site when they first establish resulting in poor traffic levels. It is therefore important that you find the right keywords to ensure that you do get the traffic.

Few people fully realise the difference between finishing first and seventh on the first page of Google. The majority of people will choose to pick the number one ranked site. Less people will choose to pick the other websites on that page. The breakdown is as follows:

· Number 1 – 42%

· Number 2 – 12%

· Number 3 – 8%

· Number 4 – 6%

· Number 5 – 5%

· Number 6 – 4%

· Number 7 – 3%

So, how do you measure the amount of potential traffic you will receive from a keyword? This is relatively easy to do through Google Adwords. Here you can add the keyword or phrase and then hit search. This will show you how many searches are completed on a particular keyword or phrase OR derivatives of those keywords. You can then change the search criteria depending on the geographical requirements or competition levels. You could then work out how many hits a keyword could produce if you were number one on the search results page.

For example, say you were selling camping stoves. Globally there are 18,100 monthly searches for ‘camping stoves’. If you were number one on the search for this you would receive 42% of that number. This is over 7600 hits. If you were fourth you would get 4% of the traffic which equates to approximately 724 hits. This is a massive change of 1049%.

Alternatively, there are 49,500 global searches for ’stoves camping’. These are the same two words in teh opposite order but could improve your traffic by over 273%.

You can see how using this tool could prove useful in assessing which keywords are ‘key’ to you generating targeted traffic. Additionally, there are software packages that you buy that will provide the information you require although it may be beneficial to manually do this initially.

I hope you can see that this, in conjunction with the other three ‘key’ elements, is essential for you get the ranking and success you require in your online business.

Thank you for reading and I hope that this series has provided you with some good foundations from which to build from.

Good luck.

Jon-Marc

The SEO Keyword Research Series – Part Three: ‘Relevant Keywords’

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The SEO Keyword Research Series – Part Three: ‘Relevant Keywords’

In Part two of the SEO Keyword Research Series we looked at the four ‘Key’ elements that you need to consider each and every time you pick a keyword for your business. This is to ensure that you are driving the right traffic to your site, providing you with the sales and income you want (nah, deserve!!). These four elements were Relevant, Competition, Commercial and Traffic. We will be looking at the first of these in more detail – ‘Relevant Keywords’.

More often than not, people will over look the need to ensure that their keywords are relevant. They will often choose random keywords and hope that it brings in the numbers. These may even prove successful to a degree, often providing high levels of traffic or a high ranking in the Google keyword search. This high level of traffic is useless if it does not produce sales. No sales. No income. This is all because the people coming to your site are not interested in your content.

The secret is not just ‘traffic’. It is ‘Targeted Traffic’!!!

To avoid this, the content on your website needs to be directly relevant to the keywords that you are targeting. So, you can do one of two things. Change the content. Although this seems like a laborious option. Alternatively, you could change the keywords you are using.

To ensure you are using relevant keywords you need to consider the following:

· See what sites come up when you are entering in your keywords into a search engine. For example, Google.

· Ask yourself – Bearing in mind your key search words would you find this site useful?

· Remove irrelevant keywords from any phrases that you are using.

· Think of the order of the words you are using – What order would a searcher put these into a search engine in?

· Think of some positive phrases that you can use. Focus on different lay outs of words in these phrases that are directly relevant to your niche or market. For example, ‘dog train’ and ‘train dogs’ will come up with completely different replies from a keyword search in Google.

By using these techniques, along with the other 3 ‘key’ elements, you are able to pan through the keywords and obtain a more definitive set of words that are highly relevant to your product, business or market place. Ensuring that the traffic you get is accurate, relevant and targeted to provide you with the sales you need.#

Thank you for reading and see you in Part Three – ‘Evaluating the Competition’.

Jon-Marc

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