I wish someone would have told the Newbie this...

When I started online I was given a few bits of advice and I would like to pass them on to you.

Number 1) Keep items, documents etc., relevant to the project you are working on, in one place.

It is with this in mind, that I suggest you keep all of your Log-in details & passwords in one place.

Personally, I use a Word document but Notepad will suffice. When I start work on anything this is the first thing I open.

As a Newbie, there is nothing worse that making the effort to, get up early, in the morning, to work on something then waste 20 minutes or more trying to access relevant websites, that you don’t have the details for, needing to get new passwords, because you thought that you would remember them at the time you set them up. This, also, requires access to your email account, which, all takes time…

This discipline will help later on when getting your website online and you really use a Project Folder.

Number 2) Save your Password document to an external source, such as a Flash-Drive, so if disaster does strike you can access your work from another computer and keep it updated, regularly.

Number 3) Whenever you make a change to anything, remember to SAVE it before moving on to something else, or closing the App, program, document, etc,. I know that computers are supposed to auto-save, but in case lightening does strike twice!

Number 4) Concentrate on one subject at a time.

You may need to understand SEO, Social Media, Ad words, Blogging, but pick one and become proficient at it before trying to tackle the next topic. The tendency to hop from one thing to another can be great, but it should be resisted until the present subject is understood well enough to explain it to a friend over a pint…

5) Be prepared to INVEST in yourself – MONEY & TIME, learning and educating yourself.

Things change quickly on the Internet, so if you want to keep on earning, Keep on learning.

6) Be prepared for things not to work, for mistakes. We become conditioned to failure be something negative. Remember, it was what you were trying that was the failure, not you. History proves that successful people accept that something didn’t work and try something else. It’s called The Change of Approach.

Number 7) Give yourself enough time to carry out the tasks you have set yourself. Nothing is more demoralizing than finding you have made a mistake after hours of hard work and study.

Email Signatures Explained…

In the latest article on getting traffic to your squeeze page I am looking at an underused resource – the Email Signature.

So what is it?

It is simply the practice of putting a link to wherever you want a visitor to go in an email, so that when it is clicked on this link they open the window to your squeeze page, website etc,.

This is done by placing the link on your blank email page.

Most Email providers are basically the same.

In Yahoo, you click on OPTIONS which is at the top of the screen. This opens a dropdown box and we click on MAIL OPTIONS which opens another window, to the left of which is, a menu containing several options – We are looking for SIGNATURE.

In this window you will be presented with a simple word processor document which allows your name to be typed.

You can perform all the usual functions of a word processor, such as change the size of font, the color, the style etc. There is, also, the option to include a HYPERLINK, indicated by the link symbol.

By positioning the cursor where you want the hyperlink to appear(usually under your name) and clicking the link symbol a further window opens with http:// already included and highlighted – All you have to do is to supply the rest of the address of your site and press OK.

It is also possible, on some email accounts, to add an Image or a photo to attract the recipient to your signature.

If your design skills aren’t up to much, you can always outsource the image design to a company of which there are many...

  

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Are Newsletters The Thing For You?

A Newsletter may not come to mind when thinking about getting traffic to your website. After all, you are new - What do you know to pass on to anyone?

Worry not!

Newsletters could be as simple as a short report, or a page on the web that can be sent to your list, once it has started.

The frequency of mailing it is entirely up to you and you don’t need many copies, anyway. You could go for one a week but for how long? – One Newsletter publisher I know of provides over 52, delivering one per week. But how about one a month for a year making twelve, obviously. Let’s be fair, if someone hasn’t bought off you in that time they are probably not going too!

Of course, there is also, the advantage of once it is written, its’ written FOREVER or until you decide to make changes.

Still where does your content come from?

Well, one source could be the course you took to get your website on line in the first place.

Presumably you took notes, or you have videos you can refer too? Well these can be used as reference material.

Then there are forums where people go to get information, help and advice.

All you have to do is to find one or two in the niche you have chosen and find out what questions are being asked. There maybe issues associated with your niche, in the first place.

You can bet your life, if one person is having a problem in a particular area then others will have the same difficulty.

One thing you should seriously, consider doing, is adding an optin form to your newsletter so if it gets passed around, which often happens, it  gives others the chance to join up to get their own copy.

Pick an exciting name, one that grabs attention is extremely important. Brainstorm with someone, may be a mate, your husband/wife or partner to find a name that is exciting, sets the tone of what you want to say and what you want to do.

Your newsletter will have many benefits, not least the ability to maintain contact with your list and one already discussed regarding the optin box.

Of course, the content will have to be good to make it attractive to others.

Granted, writing your Newsletter will take some time, but as already mentioned – Once done you don’t need to do it again, which is working smart not necessarily hard. So, if it took you two or three days per copy they are reusable, as already mentioned.

Finally, there are HTML templates available to help you speed up the process if this is something you would like to do…

Ever thought of Forum Marketing

One method of building your list with targeted traffic is Forum Marketing.

It is targeted traffic, because they and, you have gone to a forum that covers the market or niche that you are in and is known as a warm market.

OK, so what is a Forum, in the first place?

Well, a forum is an online discussion site where conversations take place. It's where Internet Marketers go for help and advice. So you need to be involved, to ask questions and to answer them as well, if you feel able.

Forums are found by typing your niche, plus the word forums into Google's search bar. Adding Beginner or 'Newbie' to your keyword will define your search further, them click search.
As mentioned in an earlier post if you add speech marks before and after your keyword the search engine will look for that keyword string specifically.

There is an etiquette to forums. Complete you profile, with a photo if allowed. You should introduce yourself at the outset, so other users get to know you. It is probably wise to browse at first, and then jump in with questions...And answers.

Every comment you make, on a forum, will allow you to link back to your squeeze page and you won't be surprised to find that this is the reason you are forum marketing in the first place.
The link that appears below your comment is called your signature and will be seen every time you interact. So a good signature is important.

What makes a standout signature?

Well, assuming you have something to give away, promoting it is the first step. You should make your signature sing...Of course, there are probably some restrictions to the size of your signature, so do the best with the space allocated to make it standout.

Another point about etiquette in forums - Always be positive! Even if you don't agree with the person you are 'conversing' with. No name calling, etc.
Remember people like positive people. Also, have suggestions and solutions when you reply. Writing something inane or unhelpful is seen as a way of getting your signature displayed without contributing and could be deemed as Spamming.

You will see Threads and Posts. Threads are the start of a new topic and posts are replies. As mentioned, once you have introduced yourself start replying.
It is good to open a new thread now and then and not just answer questions; this is deemed to be giving something back. This can be done by, simply, asking a question and as someone new you will have plenty!
There is the ability to Personal Messaging (PM) which is like emailing someone and helps with rapport and relationship-building.

Remember you can't break anything. If you want to change something, maybe in your signature, edit it...Don't be afraid...

I'm Keith Donnelly. It wasn't so long ago that I was new to Internet Marketing and it is my experiences during this period that prompted me to write this article.

To get your Free copy of my eBook, which shows the exact steps I took to build my website. There's also a FREE weekly magazine, and a FREE video course. You can find it at - http://www.keithdonnelly-online.com/ - Join me, I look forward to seeing you there, Regards, Keith

Opportunity Knocking Twice? I Think Not!

Anyone searching for a business on the Internet cannot fail to be impressed by the range of markets available.

What may not be obvious, at first, are the two differing philosophies about how to attract prospects.

One says to build your list – offer FREE ‘stuff’, direct the prospect to a squeeze page, get them to sign, then build a relationship, rapport, even…and they will buy your product.

The other appears to say – Get a sign-up form in front of the prospect as soon as possible, get them to part with their money and onto the next prospect…

The former takes time, patience and belief.

The latter I’m not so sure about…

If that sounds a bit cynical, I apologise…The thing that prompted these thoughts is my receiving an email from someone I hadn’t heard of for well over two years.

Our first contact was due to me replying to an offer for he had for me…In his email, he phrased it as an ‘opportunity’, and I duly parted with my money.

This most recent contact also included an ‘opportunity’. Long story, short, it started by telling me how he had made $20,000 in one weekend and how I could as well!

Wow! I read further…

He had made the $20,000 and a further sum, I can’t remember how much, but it had zeros, many zeros after it. His associates had done the same…I was, almost, hooked once again – Almost.

The alarm bells started ringing when I reread the email, it brought back memories, of what I now know, are the subconscious tactics used to unsettle the reader, the “buy now before its gone! For a limited time only!” You know the sort of thing.

The emails continued. The next told me how many of his associates had also made thousands, again, over night.

One included an attachment to be emailed to everyone name on my email list (Spamming, surely).

Was I naïve to join in the first place?

Possibly - I prefer to think I was a novice and didn’t know any better. (Experience can be expensive…)

Then the memory of why I quit, in the first place, came back to me. It revolved around me having a problem, one that I needed help with… I had assumed there was Support as part of my membership; I emailed him asking for help.

I can’t remember all the details of the reply, but I do remember the bit where he wrote that “he didn’t get paid enough to train me”.

OK, so I’m older now, wiser - not as naïve, sorry, I meant new…I was able to see through the tactics he used and was still using, and then it struck me… He HAD built his list…Not in the way that I’m building mine, but he had built it. His associates had used the same methods, presumably (birds of a feather flocking together).

How long it had taken him, I’m don’t know, and I must admit, I don’t care – His way is not my way…

If you enjoyed reading this article, you can find more at www.keithdonnelly-online.comhttp://www.keithdonnelly-online.com/ including a FREE eBook, a weekly magazine and how-too video’s, again all for FREE

Just what would you tell a 16 year-old YOU if you could?

The question was prompted by a snippet of a TV programme I saw recently.

Now, as you may know, we don’t watch much TV here, due, mainly, to it being rubbish but it did raise an interesting question.

Personally, I would tell my 16 year-old self that cookery isn’t women’s work at all and to take advantage of the training offered to me whilst serving in the British Forces! Crickey, I could have been a Jamie Oliver or a Gordon Ramsey…!

Seriously, I would tell him to work for himself and not working for someone else.

Robert Kiyosaki has much to say about being an employee, suggesting that it’s just more risky than being a business owner or an investor.

I can’t think of a skill, trade, or profession that cannot be undertaken without being an employee. The benefits of one over the other are there for all to see.

Amongst some there is the feeling that employment with the security of a ‘regular’ wage coming in is preferable to the riskier world of self-employment. But is that so, especially in the economic climate we are now experiencing?

The idea that a boss, working miles away, in another city, country or continent, can dispense with your services, after what might be half a lifetime of serving seems not so secure, after all.

OK, so discipline will be needed, as you will not have anyone to tell you when you have to attend, how much you will receive in wages, how much time-off you will be entitled too, etc.

You will, also, be told how much will be taken from you in taxes and for social security. Promises will be made with regards to the benefits you will receive but will in all probability not be honoured despite you being forced to keep to you your part of the bargain.

That’s not to say, that as a self-employed business person you will have much more input but, maybe a little more and that must be a good thing, surely. Not only that, if one does have to live on ones own resources, and talent, as a person of business does, one never knows where it might lead.

In closing, I would say to anyone considering the Internet as a way of earning money to give it a go, give it a year! What have you got to loose?

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This is how Google works...

As you are probably aware Google is a Search Engine. It’s where people go to search for things on the Internet. Google isn’t the only one but it’s the biggest, most well-known and the one that will be using here.

As an Internet Marketer one method of getting traffic to our Website or Squeeze Page is know as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It’s not the only way – Many people choose to use other methods to drive traffic to their site, but more of that later.

Google uses a system where it ranks pages from a website – Not websites themselves, but pages – So a website with hundreds of pages might have, only a few ranked by Google.

So using Google we can search for something, using what is known as a keyword – In this context, a keyword is actually a string of words we use for the search. When you press search results will be provided – This results page is known as SERPS, which stands for Search Engine Results Pages.

SERPS pages are actually two sets of results – The ones in pale pink, at the top and down the right hand side of the screen are what is known as sponsored results, meaning someone has paid for them, not for them to appear, but when they are clicked on the owner has to pay Google. These sponsored or paid results amount to about 15% of the page.

The remainder, the majority, are known as organic in as much as the search engine, in this case Google picked these pages from their relative websites as they matched the keyword we entered in the first place. They, also, happen to be the most popular for people click on.

Being placed on page one of a search is what everyone wants – And who wouldn’t when it can mean thousands of visits to your website per month…So how do we get on to page one?

Google wants people to trust them, they want the customer experience to be a good one…It’s no good for Google if someone searches for holidays and the results pages for clothes, say, comes back.

Google uses algorithms, to determine, which pages appear at the top of any search. Parts of this algorithm start with good Content – Google reward good content with a high ranking in SERPS.

They, also, reward Backlinks – Backlinks are links from the page selected back to the website or to another page of the same website…

If the site that presented the page, is a popular site, so much the better, as it adds to credibility, the page and to Google’s.

So Google like Content and Backlinks (Now for the bombshell) Google do NOT like squeeze pages.  All we have is a squeeze page. Does that matter where content is concerned, I hear you ask? Why waste out time trying to get our page on to Google if they don’t like them?

OK, so your squeeze page might not get onto page one of Google, but there is a way you can…not for your squeeze page itself, obviously…and the way of appearing on page one of Google is…by writing keyword-rich articles (keyword research is covered in a separate article), which you then post to an article directory, such as E-zine articles which, already has fresh content to it and links it, both helping with Google’s requirements…what, really, could happen? You could be on a page at E-zine with Google’s liking for pages…and you have an article accepted and with Google’s love of this site you could be swept along…too a successful page one showing…And shows how Google works…

Signature…

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