This video is A fun way to introduce the Finding your Niche concept ….
The key process for any business….
Showing posts with label keywords. Show all posts
Showing posts with label keywords. Show all posts
Thursday, 7 May 2015
Sunday, 26 April 2015
How to Maximize Your LinkedIn Profile to Find Potential Customers
n his book Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, Mitch Myerson introduces you to 22 innovators who have redefined the developing landscape of online marketing. Learn how to master proven strategies, avoid costly mistakes and grow your business. In this edited excerpt, contributing author and LinkedIn expert Viveka Von Rosenoffers tips on creating a LinkedIn profile, then targeting your searches, to find your target market.
Are you, like many professionals, still not convinced of the power of LinkedIn? Here are some stats that might change your mind:
- LinkedIn is the number-one social network for driving traffic to corporate websites.
- LinkedIn members are 50 percent more likely to engage with a company they engage with on LinkedIn.
- LinkedIn drives more traffic to B2B blogs and sites than Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ combined.
- Ninety-three percent of marketers rate LinkedIn as effective for generating leads.
- Sixty-five percent of companies acquired B2B leads through LinkedIn.
Your first step to attracting prospects on LinkedIn is to create a powerful profile. Start with your Professional Headline -- it's the area right underneath your name, the 120 characters that describe who you are and what you do. Most people just have their “Title” at “Company” (because that's LinkedIn’s default), but this is a great place for a tagline and a few keywords.
Because your picture, name and Professional Headline are usually what people see in most communications on LinkedIn, whether you're responding to a group update, sending a message, inviting someone to connect or using the introduction feature, invest the time to make it engaging.
A lot of people skip the description field of their Experience section, but I'd strongly urge you not to. You have 1,000 characters in this area to plant your keywords. As you describe what you do and what your company does, these keywords are going to naturally settle right in. And with LinkedIn’s search algorithm, the description section of your Experience is more important than ever!
In the Background section of your profile, make sure to use the most of the 2,000-character Summary field to expound on who you are and what you do. Keep the Summary section customer-facing, by being clear on how what you do benefits your prospects.
The Interests section, found at the very bottom of your profile under Additional Information, is the only section on LinkedIn into which I recommend you blatantly dump your keywords. You have 1,000 characters to add both personal interests (hiking, biking, walking, judo) as well as the list of the keywords you use for SEO. Just paste in your list, and make sure you separate each keyword or keyword phrase with a comma so the words are searchable.
If you get the right keywords in these four sections, you have a much better chance of your profile showing up when someone does a search on them. Since LinkedIn actually drives more traffic than Google+ and Bing, you need to make sure that you, not your competition, are being found by your prospects.
Now let's talk about the best ways to search and find prospects on LinkedIn.
1. Advanced search.
LinkedIn’s Advanced Search is found just to the right of the Smart Search box. (The tiny, light gray link that says “Advanced.”) The Advanced Search is available to everyone no matter what membership you have. Once you click on the link, a new page opens and you’ll now have the ability to search by:
- Keyword
- First name
- Last name
- Title or potential title
- Company
- School
- Location
When working with LinkedIn, it's so important to know who your target market and prospects are. You must be clear on your “buyer” or “purchaser persona.” Once you’re clear on who these individuals might be, it’s an easy cut and paste into these different search fields on LinkedIn.
- What keywords would your target buyer have in their profiles?
- What would their titles be?
- Where would they work?
- Where did they go to school?
- Where would they live?
2. Boolean search.
Even with the Advanced Search, we don’t always get as accurate a result as we'd like. To more fully refine a search, consider using Boolean logic or Boolean search strings.
Boolean search uses a series of “modifiers” to help you refine your search. These modifiers include:
- + and “ ” to hold search phrases together
- OR when you're not sure of a title or keyword
- AND to definitely include a search term or phrase
- NOT to exclude a search term or phrase
+ or “ ”
If you're doing a search for a Chief Executive Officer and don’t use the little plus sign (+) between chief and executive and officer (chief+executive+officer) or you didn’t put that phrase in quotation marks, then LinkedIn will search for a bunch of “chiefs” and a bunch of “executives” and bunch of “officers.” Your result is going to be much less targeted than if you'd used the + sign or the quotation marks around the phrase: “chief executive officer.”
OR
If you're just not quite sure about whom you're looking for, then OR becomes your best search friend. Maybe you want to work with the head of a company. What does the head of the company call him or herself? Did they choose CEO OR “chief executive officer” OR founder OR owner OR partner OR co-owner OR co-founder OR... . If you didn’t use OR and put the wrong title in the title search field, then you lose the opportunity of seeing everyone who might be a good fit. You can use the OR modifier in both the keyword and Title (and company) fields on LinkedIn.
AND
Use AND when you want to clarify an audience or a niche. If you were looking for a CEO OR owner OR founder OR partner AND you wanted to make sure to only search for people in the legal industry, you would simply add AND legal AND law AND lawyer AND law firm to your search. If you're not sure what keywords you want to add, you can always use parentheses to hold options together. Your search might look like this: CEO OR chief+executive OR founder AND (legal OR lawyer OR law).
NOT
I think the most important modifier is NOT. When you get your search results, you might see a lot of competitors show up (or employees or job seekers or consultants). If you're not interested in any of those folks as prospects, you can erase them from your list by using NOT. You might want to add: NOT consultant NOT jobseeker NOT . The use of NOT will definitely target and clarify your results.
Monday, 23 March 2015
Tuesday, 17 March 2015
The Psychology Behind Choosing a Killer Domain Name
Choosing a domain name is one of the most important decisions you will make for your business. Your domain name characterizes your business, labels your business, and will stick with your business for a long time.
In most cases, you should choose a domain name at the same time you choose your business name. When your domain name matches your business name, you have a far better chance of being remembered while at the same time keeping your branding cohesive and unified.
Make it memorable.
The brain has remarkable powers of memory, but the domain you choose should cater to these powers.
- Unique. The best domain names are not an ordinary combination of words or phrases. They stand out in the memory because they are unusual.
- Visual. The more areas of the brain affected, the more memorable something is. If your domain name suggests something that can be seen or touched, this enhances its memorability.
- Catchy. The easier it is to say, read, and repeat, the easier it is to remember.
- Ordered. The brain likes things to be organized. Memorization is basically the process of organization. The better a domain name is organized, the more memorable it will be. For example, “SellYourPhone.com” has order. But “PhoneYourSell.com” doesn’t make any sense.
Make it short.
Your domain name needs to be short if you want people to remember it or have the patience to type it in.
There are a few ridiculous examples of insanely long domain names:
- http://www.iamtheproudownerofthelongestlongestlongestdomainnameinthisworld.com
- http://llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogochuchaf.com
No business owner in his or her right mind would choose a domain name with that many characters. Unfortunately, some business owners do get greedy with keywords, and create domain names that are nothing more than a jumble of keywords -- lots of keywords and an agonizingly long URL. Don’t go that route. Choose instead a short and sweet name, even if it doesn’t have any keywords.
Make it relevant.
A domain name should reflect some aspect of what the company is or does. Good company names are unique and attention-grabbing, without being blandly declarative. For example, one company I helped start is called Kissmetrics. The name and domain has the word metrics, which describes the nature of the SaaS.
Blandly-named companies run the risk of being forgotten. Worse, they may not find an available domain name. For example, a business called “Window Washing” will probably have to pay a premium for the domain, "http://windowwashing.com/."
Here are some examples -- one positive, and one negative.
- LifeLock, Lifelock.com. LifeLock provides identity-protection services. Their business name and domain is a portmanteau of the two words “life” and “lock,” which describe exactly what they do as a business. Obviously, they could have chosen IdentityProtection.com, but as it is, their domain/business name is memorable and relevant.
- Screaming Frog, Screamingfrog.co.uk. Screaming Frog is a digital marketing agency which also provides a leading SEO spider tool. Their name, while creative, does not indicate either their service or the nature of their organization. Both the URL and business name don’t do much to advance their business’s online objectives.
If you are a little-known startup working in a crowded niche, relevancy is important. However, you don’t want to take relevancy too far. Keep in mind that some of the most valuable and dominant brands have names and domains that are totally undescriptive of their products or services -- Apple, Google, Bing, Yelp, Yahoo and Amazon, among other big-name brands.
You shouldn’t choose a business name simply on account of a keyword-dense domain name that happens to be available. Allow your business name to take precedence over keywords.
Make it simple.
The most simple domains are the best. Two or three words and a dot-com extension make the most powerful domains.
Here are some things that you should always avoid in your domain name:
- Dashes. Few people will remember if or when to use a dash in your domain.
- Numbers. No one can remember whether they should spell “five” or use the number “5.”
- Any extension other than .com. If you are doing business primarily in another country (e.g., .co.uk), then a country-specific domain is appropriate. There are plenty of creative extensions you can use including .tv, .flowers, .biz, .info and .ink. These are useless. Some extensions that provide word completion domain extensions may be acceptable. For instance, youtu.be.
- Abbreviations. Abbreviations will only clutter up your domain name, making it ugly and forgettable.
- Ambiguous words. Make sure your domain doesn’t have any ambiguity. For example, ExpertsExchange.com might look okay as two words, but does it reflect what the company does? This domain could also be ExpertSexChange.com.
- Creative spellings. Some businesses like to tweak the common spellings of words in order to make their business name creative. For example, “Doug’s Holesale Digging,” “Kleen Machine,” or “The Dzign People.” Those may work in an offline world of signage and print advertising, but they don’t make for effective domain names.
Domain name affects every area of branding. It could be argued that today’s domain name is one of the most significant aspect of a brand’s identity. If you follow these simple rules of domain name selection, you will come up with an effective domain name for your brand.
Wednesday, 4 March 2015
Content Marketing Strategy Tips by Jo Sabin
Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post from Jo Sabin, marketing communications manager of DesignCrowd, a logo, web and graphic design marketplace. Sabin discusses the ways individuals can make the best use of content marketing — for which brands are increasingly turning to crowdsourcing platforms. As always, guest contributors’ views are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Crowdsourcing.org.
Small and medium-sized businesses need a profitable content marketing strategy if they are to remain competitive. If you have never done so before, though, knowing where to start can be very overwhelming and intimidating, especially in light of Google’s recent, crushing updates.
However, a strong plan will help you overcome the obstacles of digital marketing. The following are tips to get you started with a strong content marketing strategy so you can more easily keep up with (and even surpass) your competitors.
Create Buyer Personas
Most businesses already know their general target audience, but narrowing down to an ideal customer gives you a base from which tocreate a buyer persona, an audience segmentation model of sorts, around which you can shape your marketing strategy.
Most businesses already know their general target audience, but narrowing down to an ideal customer gives you a base from which tocreate a buyer persona, an audience segmentation model of sorts, around which you can shape your marketing strategy.
To find your ideal customer, start with your general target market, then choose one segmentation, and pick the best customer to build a persona from. For each persona, describe his or her income, goals, problems, home life, education, possibly region, and also why your company would appeal to this persona. Personas work best, too, if you give them a name and image. This helps you and your sales team ‘see’ personas as real people to whom you are trying to relate.
Define Conversion Goals
Before a buyer makes a purchase, he or she goes through several stages and at each point reaches a conversion point before moving to the final conversion of an actual purchase. Most businesses define the conversion process as first awareness of a product, next evaluation and research, and third the purchase. Your goal with content is to figure out how the buyer will move through the purchase process, and this starts with knowing their questions.
Before a buyer makes a purchase, he or she goes through several stages and at each point reaches a conversion point before moving to the final conversion of an actual purchase. Most businesses define the conversion process as first awareness of a product, next evaluation and research, and third the purchase. Your goal with content is to figure out how the buyer will move through the purchase process, and this starts with knowing their questions.
Ask Questions for Target Audience
When creating questions your buyer persona may have, start at the very beginning. For instance, let’s say a property management company’s list of personas includes a retired male who owns five or fewer rental properties. What questions may lead him to be aware of the need for property management in the first place? Then, when he is intent in searching for a property manager, what questions may he research?
When creating questions your buyer persona may have, start at the very beginning. For instance, let’s say a property management company’s list of personas includes a retired male who owns five or fewer rental properties. What questions may lead him to be aware of the need for property management in the first place? Then, when he is intent in searching for a property manager, what questions may he research?
A newbie rental owner may have no clue about what you offer. So, he may first research how to turn rental properties into passive income. From this search, he may read about property managers. Now he will want to know what services a property manager provides. He will want to know the cost of a property manager, and if the company offers more than one package of services. You can now create content that answers these questions for your target market.
Determine Placement and Promotion
Be sure to consider the best placement for content in each step of the conversion, and how you will promote this content. Placement of content could be on social channels like Facebook and Twitter, third party blogs, your company blog, landing pages, etc. Just make sure to fine tune each placement with the stage of conversion the buyer is at and take advantage of the free targeting tools social media sites offer to ensure your content is posted in the news feeds of the target audience. For instance, emails for those who have voluntarily signed up for your newsletter directly on your blog probably will already be past the awareness stage.
Be sure to consider the best placement for content in each step of the conversion, and how you will promote this content. Placement of content could be on social channels like Facebook and Twitter, third party blogs, your company blog, landing pages, etc. Just make sure to fine tune each placement with the stage of conversion the buyer is at and take advantage of the free targeting tools social media sites offer to ensure your content is posted in the news feeds of the target audience. For instance, emails for those who have voluntarily signed up for your newsletter directly on your blog probably will already be past the awareness stage.
Also, while an audience could just stumble upon your content in a search, this probably won’t be enough. Come up with a plan to direct them to your content with promotional emails, social media, texts, ads, etc. You’ve invested time creating the content and building a business asset, so make sure to invest in distributing the content through relevant channels.
Compile Content List and Timeline
Your entire content marketing strategy will fall apart without cohesiveness and a timeline. Create a list of content for the stage of awareness, for the stage of research, and for the final stage of purchase. You may also have separate content for different personas in each stage. Then create a timeline so that you can keep up momentum and keep track of results. The next level would be to tailor trigger emails to leads you capture via content so they start their journey towards purchase.
Your entire content marketing strategy will fall apart without cohesiveness and a timeline. Create a list of content for the stage of awareness, for the stage of research, and for the final stage of purchase. You may also have separate content for different personas in each stage. Then create a timeline so that you can keep up momentum and keep track of results. The next level would be to tailor trigger emails to leads you capture via content so they start their journey towards purchase.
Think Scalable and Repackaging
If you are worried about keeping up with the amount of content your target market may require of you, then consider creating scalable content that you can repackage. For instance, a series on a certain topic or even simply a group of articles on a topic could be repurposed in an ebook. Weekly email tips could be made into an article or, vice versa, an ebook could be made into short email tips. In 2015, video’s dominance will solidify as more brands use video to connect with their audiences. Facebook has invested in its video platform so expect to see it compete heavily with YouTube this year. There are lots of video making apps to help you turn your static content into short, low cost, engaging slideshows to drive engagement.
If you are worried about keeping up with the amount of content your target market may require of you, then consider creating scalable content that you can repackage. For instance, a series on a certain topic or even simply a group of articles on a topic could be repurposed in an ebook. Weekly email tips could be made into an article or, vice versa, an ebook could be made into short email tips. In 2015, video’s dominance will solidify as more brands use video to connect with their audiences. Facebook has invested in its video platform so expect to see it compete heavily with YouTube this year. There are lots of video making apps to help you turn your static content into short, low cost, engaging slideshows to drive engagement.
Include Keywords and a Call to Action
Every piece of content you produce should include a keyword related to that specific set of questions you are answering. Make sure you test your visual design content as well as text. When Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer was at Google she was famous for testing every design element, including 40 shades of blue to see what shade made users click the most. This decision generated the company anadditional $200M in revenue. Just be sure to write to the buyer persona, not the keyword, and only insert the keyword a few times when it sounds natural. And don’t forget to end with a clear call to action. Ask yourself what you want a reader to do once he or she encounters your content and then make this action clear to the reader.
Every piece of content you produce should include a keyword related to that specific set of questions you are answering. Make sure you test your visual design content as well as text. When Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer was at Google she was famous for testing every design element, including 40 shades of blue to see what shade made users click the most. This decision generated the company anadditional $200M in revenue. Just be sure to write to the buyer persona, not the keyword, and only insert the keyword a few times when it sounds natural. And don’t forget to end with a clear call to action. Ask yourself what you want a reader to do once he or she encounters your content and then make this action clear to the reader.
Once you have your plan in place, you are ready to start writing. Just be sure to use the above tips so that your content marketing strategy effectively turns curious prospects into buyers.
Sunday, 22 February 2015
Saturday, 21 February 2015
Sunday, 15 February 2015
How to find your Profitable Niche in 2015
A short video with some basic tips on how to find your profitable Niche using social media and proven steps of research and Stats about finding the niche that suits you. Taking into account the current market and the demands.
Thursday, 5 February 2015
Tips to Produce Viral Content That Drives Enormous Traffic To Your Site
image: http://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/download-1-300x217.png.png
Image Courtesy of shutterstock.com
Have you ever seen a post that looks like it was written by keeping SEO in mind? Was it great? Did you see lumps of keywords just stuffed for no reason and it provides a dull effect?
True! Writing for just stuffing keywords may seem like a good idea, but it will not end up with success. You can better opt on writing for humans!Image Courtesy of shutterstock.com
Writing exciting stories for humans will of course make it likable and sharable right? Here are a few ways I like to let you know about how to write viral content that will get sure likes and shares.
Recommended for YouWebcast: Why, What, and How to Do Social Selling
- Always focus on targeting an audience on writing great stuff what they exactly want to read. The search engine robots will in turn recognize you when people read and share your content!
- Stuffing keywords or copying content does not work, though it may seem to be great for you. But actually it will harm you more than as you think!
- Make use of your own words and styles! Search engine bots will like people those who utilize grammatical variations and synonyms of the actual keywords.
- Answer yourself on your prospect questions! This will definitely help you out and do wonders.
- Copywriting is not an offense. But one must know how to use it effectively to be on a safer side. Here are a few tips and tricks that might work for you:
Content Matters:
It is a vital fact as you all know “Content is King”. Content has always the potential to reach you out to the audience. Creating a well-written copy that favors on interesting gossips which is related to your niche will make you go beyond increasing your popularity and rank you to the top.
In this emerging world of SEO it is important to make people read your content. Hence, writing for humans is essential. The search engine will prefer natural and quality content that is more readable and sharable. With the help of keywords make search engine bots to identify your content but never forget to write for readers!
Compelling Title Tags and Snippets:
It is always the topic i.e., the title that grabs attention of the visitors to read your content. Provide an exciting title that tempts readers to make a look over your content. Title tag is always the first thing people will see to measure your content. Use appropriate tags that are professional and well-structured. Don’t miss to make use of H1 and H2 tags.
Snippets are nothing but the meta description that are displayed on the search results page of the search engine. Provide optimized content on the meta description that provides a great way to get yourself recognized by search engine bots!
Don’t Cram Keywords:
When you are stuffing keywords in the article or a page of your website will make it look like all the keywords that are related to your niche are running together on your page making
Writing exciting stories for humans will of course make it likable and sharable right? Here are a few ways I like to let you know about how to write viral content that will get sure likes and shares.
Recommended for YouWebcast: Why, What, and How to Do Social Selling
- Always focus on targeting an audience on writing great stuff what they exactly want to read. The search engine robots will in turn recognize you when people read and share your content!
- Stuffing keywords or copying content does not work, though it may seem to be great for you. But actually it will harm you more than as you think!
- Make use of your own words and styles! Search engine bots will like people those who utilize grammatical variations and synonyms of the actual keywords.
- Answer yourself on your prospect questions! This will definitely help you out and do wonders.
- Copywriting is not an offense. But one must know how to use it effectively to be on a safer side. Here are a few tips and tricks that might work for you:
Content Matters:
It is a vital fact as you all know “Content is King”. Content has always the potential to reach you out to the audience. Creating a well-written copy that favors on interesting gossips which is related to your niche will make you go beyond increasing your popularity and rank you to the top.
In this emerging world of SEO it is important to make people read your content. Hence, writing for humans is essential. The search engine will prefer natural and quality content that is more readable and sharable. With the help of keywords make search engine bots to identify your content but never forget to write for readers!
Compelling Title Tags and Snippets:
It is always the topic i.e., the title that grabs attention of the visitors to read your content. Provide an exciting title that tempts readers to make a look over your content. Title tag is always the first thing people will see to measure your content. Use appropriate tags that are professional and well-structured. Don’t miss to make use of H1 and H2 tags.
Snippets are nothing but the meta description that are displayed on the search results page of the search engine. Provide optimized content on the meta description that provides a great way to get yourself recognized by search engine bots!
Don’t Cram Keywords:
When you are stuffing keywords in the article or a page of your website will make it look like all the keywords that are related to your niche are running together on your page making it unprofessional. Though it’s important to use keywords in your content in order to optimize it, do it naturally. Placing keywords inappropriately will harm you adversely!
Instead take advantage of the long tail keywords that makes more sense. Since they have lower search volume it is much easier to gain quality traffic. You can also try using related synonyms and providing grammatical variations on to your keywords helps you content to look natural and more relevant too.
Provide Interesting Images:
There are many tools that provide wonderful images that are relevant to your search query. They provide copyright-free images that lower the risk of spamming images. Choose eye-catching images that match your content which attract lots of visitors and in-turn website traffic.
Get Your Content Shared:
Once you publish your article, do post in on social media websites like Twitter, Facebook, etc. so that readers who like your content will share it and spread your presence everywhere. Don’t forget Google+ as it’s getting viral to grow bigger on SEO. The Author rank and Authorship is getting smarter to connect the ranking factor which boosts your content regardless of where it is posted.
Hope the above tips will help you out in increasing tour strategy towards content writing in a new way!
http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/tips-produce-viral-content-drives-enormous-traffic-site-01142690
Wednesday, 4 February 2015
3 Affiliate Tools for Content Marketing
Banner ads are best used for branding, not to drive clicks. Affiliate marketers realize this. Increasingly, affiliate marketers are relying less on banner ads, and more on their affiliates’ content. For example, instead of giving a food blogger a banner ad featuring a retailer’s food products, that retailer could provide the blogger a recipe where each ingredient is pre-coded with links back to specific product pages.
Several affiliate networks have developed tools that provide affiliates with ad banner alternatives. In this article, I’ll review three of them.
AvantLink Affiliate Link Encoder
With AvantLink’s Affiliate Link Encoder, AvantLink affiliates can place a few lines of JavaScript on their site, and the script will automatically detect and change keywords and URLs into affiliate tracking links via the browser. This is useful for bloggers and online forums, because any time a specific word is mentioned, that word can be converted into an affiliate link.
For example, say someone mentions “North Face Denali jacket” in a blog comment. Affiliate Link Encoder can identify that phrase and convert it into an affiliate link. This is an easy way for bloggers and online forums to monetize user-generated content.
However, perhaps even more interesting for retailers is the search engine benefit. Since the redirect is created via the browser, retailers could gain direct links from affiliates, as those links would be in the source code, for maximum SEO gains. When a consumer clicks on the link, the browser would convert it into an affiliate tracking link, and the affiliate would earn commission on any resulting purchases.
Additionally, the tool provides affiliates with control over what keywords and keyword phrases are converted, and what landing pages each goes to. Retailers can help their affiliates by teaching them how to use this tool.
AvantLink Affiliate Link Encoder will automatically detect and change keywords and URLs into affiliate tracking links via the browser.
SnapLinker
Another tool developed by AvantLink is SnapLinker. It is a bookmarklet that enables AvantLink affiliates to generate a custom link to any page on the retailer’s site, right from the browser. If an affiliate is writing a review on different fleece jackets from different retailers, for example, it could easily generate tracking links by going to the relevant product page and clicking the bookmarklet.
SnapLinker also enables affiliates to share the link not just in their posts, but also in social media channels, such as Facebook and Twitter. Moreover, this tool is accessible via the AvantLink App Market, which enables third-party developers to create tools using the AvantLink API. Apps such as SnapLinker are available to affiliates, and the developers earn commission on any sales resulting from that tool.
Take the “North Face Denali jacket” example. If the affiliate were to drive a sale from a blog post related to that product, the affiliate would earn commission, as would SnapLinker’s developer, Justin Hall. There is no additional cost to the retailer, however. The retailer pays the affiliate commission as with a standard transaction; AvantLink pays the developer’s commission.
Thus, the tool enables retailers to insert links to their products into the content portion of an affiliate’s website, — at no additional cost. To make the most out of this tool, affiliate managers need to educate their affiliates on how to use it. Wade Tonkin, of Fanatics.com, does an excellent job in this YouTube tutorial that he created for his affiliates.
Note that the concept of a bookmarklet to generate deep links is not unique to AvantLink, though it was one of the first use it. Similar solutions are available at ShareASale and CJ by Conversant.
CJ by Conversant Widget
Another tool for retailers to be familiar with is the CJ by Conversant Widget. This is a simple drag-and-drop interface that enables the affiliate to search for any keyword, and then drag and drop images into a simple grid storefront.
For example, the affiliate could search for “cable knit sweater,” and the Widget tool would search all product data feeds within the CJ network for that keyword phrase. The affiliate could browse the results, and select which products to include in a storefront. Once the storefront is complete, the affiliate clicks a button, and the tool provides a quick line of JavaScript to copy and paste onto the affiliate’s site.
Site visitors clicking on the product images would be taken to the product page via an affiliate link, and the affiliate would earn a commission on any resulting purchases. This is a useful tool, especially for fashion, beauty, and style bloggers. However, for products to appear in the results, retailers need to have a data feed that is accurate, complete, and that contains relevant keywords in the product title and product description.
CJ by Conversant Widget is a drag-and-drop interface that enables the affiliate to search for any keyword, and then drag and drop images into a storefront.
Remember, for an affiliate program to thrive, affiliates need guidance on how to use these tools. An affiliate manger should educate and support their affiliates accordingly — as she would any sales team
Monday, 2 February 2015
How to find Keywords People Use
Winning at SEO calls for outmaneuvering the field.
Let’s examine how to find keywords your competitors aren’t using—with tactics they don’t even know about.
“Keywords don’t matter much anymore.” You find it written everywhere lately.
I asked a friend who eats analytics for breakfast and snacks on SEO all day long, “Whatcha’ think about that man?” He smirked. Then he turned toward his massive monitor, typed “g-o-o-g-l-e-(.)-c-o-m” on his keyboard. The ubiquitous page with the crude, but familiar multi-color logo and single blank field popped right up.
He turned back to me and said, “What do I do now Barry?” His point was pretty clear. However all-powerful the search engine that changed the world may be, it can’t yet read your mind. Whether you choose to type or talk, you tell it what you’re looking for with a string of words.
Notice I wrote, “string of words.” I meant to suggest three, four, or more, words. These searches have come to be known as “long tail” and represent the majority of searches. It’s also important to note long tail keywords, being more specific than one or two word searches (or “head” keywords), have proven to deliver superior conversion
To illustrate, consider “acoustic guitar” vs. “Used Taylor 12-string acoustic-electric guitar.” It seems intuitive the longer, far more specific term suggests the searcher has a better idea of the product he seeks and is therefore closer to reaching for his wallet. Research consistently provides confirmation.
Perhaps an even more important reason long tail keyword enters the SEO discussion so often is because as an online marketer you have a remarkably higher chance of earning page one search results by developing content targeting the lengthier phrases. The “big fish in a small pond” metaphor applies.
By strategically implementing long tail keywords, you’re far more likely to rank high, attract the audience you desire, and show motivated prospects the way to your website.
Your challenge is to identify the right long tail keywords
How do you do this?
Almost anyone you ask will immediately cite Google Keyword Planner, a tool made available for free to anyone who registers for an account. As advertised, Keyword Planner will provide keyword ideas and traffic estimates. However, it’s a safe bet to assume your competition will be using the very same tool, get served the same data, and are likely to make similar decisions.
Consider the advantage you’ll seize if you’re able to identify untapped long tail keywords the competitors in your niche don’t know about or use.
The roads less traveled
Understand, Google Keyword Planner isn’t all that great about delivering new keyword ideas. The keywords you’re shown are of course tied to the term you enter and that’s that. However, if you want to explore the roads less traveled by competitors, it’s time to try alternative and smart ways to find niche keywords.
According to Keyword Research: The Definitive Guide by Backlinko, your goal is to identify niche markets, subsegments of larger markets. The eBook explains you begin by creating a niche cloud map. You create “clouds” that float around your industry.
image: http://cdn2.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/basketball-cloud.png.png
Maybe this cloud floating (or mind mapping) type of exercise will come easy to you. Maybe it won’t. The good news is there are quite a few useful hack-like approaches that will serve you well. And in fact, while niche hunting, you’ll find you’re conducting market research and getting inside the minds of your customers.
Start with Wikipedia
Maybe you curse Wikipedia for dominating page one Google results the way it does, but check this out. I entered “antivirus software” in Wikipedia.
image: http://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Wikipedia-Antivirus-Software.png.png
The table of contents shows a plethora of related terms the Keyword Planner is unlikely to: “signature-based detection,” “rogue security applications,” “hardware and network firewall.” These could be niche keywords worth considering.
And that’s just the table of contents. The long and detailed article on the topic introduces hundreds of related terms, most of them linked to additional resources. For instance, I clicked “intrusion detection systems” and related ideas came flying at me.
Find common questions on forums
When your goal is to crawl inside the mind of customers and gain insights into topics being discussed in your niche, snooping around in industry forums can be enormously informative.
I did a search for “digital printing +forums” and selected the first listing, “Digital Printing Discussion – Print Planet.” Bingo. The forum site presented 408 threads.
image: http://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Forum-Questions.png.png
I’d consider the titles (or at least, ideas extracted from them) from three of the four discussion threads above to be potential keyword possibilities: digital printer for rapid prototyping; high quality prints on a used color digital printer; color press on textured stocks.
Many forums are subdivided into a long list of niche markets. Print Planet, for example, included forums specifically for prepress and workflow, post press and binding, ink and substrates, wide format, etc. Each niche within the niche included a ton of threads likely to be ideal for mining ideas.
Just start typing in Google
Google and other search engines attempt to anticipate your search needs based on user history. As you see here, “home remodeling” invoked a trio of related ideas.
image: http://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Google-Search-Keyword-Suggestions.png.png
Bing was even more prolific.
image: http://cdn2.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Bing-Search-Keyword-Suggestions.png.png
After performing your search, be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page where you’ll find an additional, usually longer, list of suggested keyword strings. Some are related ideas, but don’t include the exact words entered, such as “bathroom” and “additions.”
image: http://cdn2.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Home-Remodeling-Related-Search.png.png
eHow is a keyword epicenter
eHow, a popular site from Demand Media, can be a keywords goldmine. The website attempts to find long tail keywords it can rank for with highly targeted content. I put myself in the mindset of a massage therapist and simply searched “massage.” The following is a small sample from the many pages served.
image: http://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/eHow-Search-Results.png.png
You might say, “Yeah, but with the might and technology behind the eHow site, I’ll lose the battle to them.” Perhaps not. In a helpful eBook from Wordstream, How to Find Your Most Cost-Effective Keywords, the author explains the content tends to be produced on the cheap and therefore, is often lame. Considering the many changes Google has made in recent years to favor deep and informative content, it’s possible, even with minimal domain or page authority, you can create superior content to rank on the first page.
Try Q&A sites
The keyword hunting strategy I explained above where you tap into forums can also be applied on question and answer websites including:
- Quora
- Yahoo Answers
- Answers.com
- Askville by Amazon
image: http://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Quora-Example-Search.png.png
On Quora, I searched for “Facebook advertising” and found questions about “advertising mobile apps” and “ways to track conversions” among a very long list of questions. The answers too, provide helpful hints. For instance, the first answer for the first question above included “promoting app downloads” and “algorithms for the optimization of ad programs.”
If you like this strategy, check out these tips for using Quora an SEO idea source.
Übersuggest is free and fab
At ubersuggest.org you’ll find a free tool that suggests a massive list of keywords for just about any term you enter. I tried “bifocals.”
image: http://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/ubersuggest-example-search.png.png
The list here is for keywords where bifocals is followed by an “f.” The tool covers the entire alphabet. You can create a “basket” to collect the ideas you like. Also, you can click any phrase to invoke more. I clicked the plus sign for the first one above and got “bifocals fun facts” and more.
A similar tool, also free, simply called “Keyword Tool,” gives you up to 750 suggestions for every keyword and is free.
Happy hunting
If you take just one idea away from this post, let is be this: long tail dominates Google search activity and every form of search. In fact, CNET reported 15% of Google queries have never been seen before. That’s 500,000,000 searches per day.
Armed with an understanding of this reality, take a smart approach by finding niche keywords. Dig deep aiming to uncover real-world jargon. Try some or all of the six approaches I’ve suggested. Identify long tail keywords to inform your content development. Publish the best page on the web for the phrases you’ve chosen and we’ll see you on page one.
HERE’S A FREE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO SEO.
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