Do you know what links you already have? Your analytics application is a good place to start. If it doesn’t show incoming links, then try http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com and www.alexa.com.

Next, review your competitor’s sites for ideas on external links applicable to your site. A site with over a hundred relevant links will rank much higher than a similar site with only three links. Not only do the links rate high with search engine crawlers, it obviously draws more traffic to your site from many other sites rather than just through search engine queries.

Think about existing relationships with associations and other membership organizations and get listed in the directories and in relevant content areas of those sites. Rather than a passive listing, make sure the organization creates a link back to the best page on your site. The link does not have to connect to your home page. Get creative.

Depending on the context in which your links appear (directory vs. web content), see if other sites will let you use keywords for the link. Avoid the dreaded Click here link as these will not be helpful with organic search results.

Articles and press releases posted on other sites, linking back to your site, allow good quality links and the ability to include keyword oriented links within relevant content. If you don’t have an electronic media relations program in place, today is a great day to begin.

High quality directory submissions such as Yahoo! business directory and dmoz.org carry a lot of weight with search engines.

Be discerning when you choose websites and directories for your linking campaign. Some search engine optimization services will offer to create hundreds of links for you, but they are not high quality. Many of the links will be to link farms—sites that exist only for the sake of posting links to other site. External links should be developed one by one and, like other elements of your business strategy, they must add to your overall goals and objectives. Bringing hundreds or thousands of unqualified prospects to your site, does nothing to further your success. You want qualified prospects coming to your site to take action.

To learn more about search engine optimization and Internet marketing, visit www.strategywriter.com.

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Of all the business skills you can master, persuasive marketing is the one that will return more on your investment than almost any other expense.

Take a look at marketing from the customer’s perspective. Most people buy things, not because they need them, but because they want them. The secret to selling, however, is a sales pitch so strong the desire to buy feels more like a need than a want.

So, how do you create strong sales messages to drive your customers to your online shopping cart?

To attract even lukewarm prospects, you have to make a big promise and make it vivid. Help your prospects see the benefits of buying your product or service and help them visualize how it will make their lives better, easier, more fun or whatever you’re offering them. Turn the features into irresistible benefits.

Next, support your promise with proof. This is where many marketers start to lose their prospects because once drawn in, there isn’t enough to keep the prospect engaged in the sale. Why should someone buy from you? What facts, evidence or testimonials do you have to support a purchase decision?

Are you using basic persuasion principles on your website? Does your home page start to set up a sale right away by assuring prospects they’ve come to the right place? Does your home page help draw them further into the site? Does every product have its own sales page detailing the benefits, the promise and a risk-free guarantee? Does every message on your site move prospects closer to a sale?

When I arrive on a client’s site, I make an immediate assessment of what a prospect will experience. Will they understand what’s even being sold or what they’re supposed to do once they get there? One site I consulted on was for a new lodging company that had a unique selling proposition. The owners were sold a beautiful website by a highly credentialed ad agency. The site was the epitome of a classy branding campaign. As soon as I got on the site, however, I noticed a major flaw. No where on the home page did the content, navigation or graphics indicate it was a lodging company.

This was a new company with a different approach to nightly lodging. How much effort do you think prospects, even qualified ones, will put into figuring out why they should care? Zero. They will put no effort into figuring out the new concept when what they’re looking for is reasonably priced lodging for a week’s vacation. I’d rather build a simple site that leaves no doubt in the prospects’ minds than a gorgeous site that is confusing.

The most important skill you can focus on right now to improve your electronic marketing efforts is writing more powerful website content incorporating the basics of persuasion. Go through your site with the eyes of your prospects. Ask yourself, “Why would someone care about this statement or this message?’ “Have we really positioned ourselves in the most desirable way so the prospect simply feels the need to buy?” “Do we talk features instead of benefits?” “Are the benefits strong enough to entice someone to buy?”

If your content isn’t powerfully persuasive, then keep at it until you really understand your prospects and can deliver messages so appealing your prospects feel they must buy what you’re offering.

Learn more about Internet marketing and search engine optimization by signing up for Strategy Writer News, a free monthly newsletter loaded with proven tips and techniques to improve your electronic marketing efforts.

How are you doing?

It’s been a somber couple of weeks with Ed McMahon, Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and now, BILLY MAYS! Billy was one of my all-time favorite people, and he will truly be missed.

For the next three months, we are moving into a series called, The Marketing Mindset. This past weekend, I had an awakening to what my readers really need after getting the same exact email from one of my readers that I received five years ago from the same person!

The email went something like this:

Kit – I’m a newbie. Tell me where are the most effective advertising places and how do I get started.

I thought for a long time how I wanted to answer this. Do I give them the top 10 places that I get my top conversions or do I let them know that they are missing the key ingredient to all this: The Marketing Mindset?

I started out five years ago, and I never really considered myself a newbie. I don’t even know that I have ever used that word. I believe it’s the law of attraction. If you say it – you attract it. By saying that you’re a newbie – you attract this, “I’m stuck” attitude and that rarely translates into profits.

Let me show you one example of marketing in action.

Do you think you can get rich selling newspaper subscriptions?

YES or NO?

I say: YES! And I’ll tell you how…

The newspapers pay an average of $80 per referral. That’s easy. The newbie will signup as an “affiliate” and try to advertise or go door to door or create PPC campaigns.

The person who is in The Marketing Mindset will do this:

Go to the nearest Grocery Store like Kroger. You can make a deal with the Kroger’s manager, and ask them if you can sell subscriptions in their store. In return, you would like to buy some Kroger gift cards and give out to the customers who subscribe to the newspaper.

The gift cards are $40, but if you buy in bulk – you get a major discount.

The manager will usually say HELL YEAH because you’ll be buying the gift cards and giving them to customers who will spend even more money at their store.

The newbie would get to this point and setup a table and start the selling process. They would sell 10 subscriptions per day.

$80 referral fee x 10 = $800 per day. Great money!

Take that – subtract the gift card fees and any extra expenses and you have a decent business.  Of course – you would save the “bonus” gift card for those who are on the fence.  You wouldn’t offer that to everyone.

The person who is in The Marketing Mindset will do this:

Instead of sitting at the table working all day trying to sell subscriptions – they would look for sales agents to do it. You would require that the sales agents sell 10 per day ($800 per day).

Out of the $800 – you subtract gift card and now, sales agent commissions, and you keep what’s leftover. While you’re off sitting at the beach or working poolside – your sales agent is working for you and you’re making a lot of money by design.

The person in The Marketing Mindset would scale this. How many Krogers, Albertsons, Tom Thumbs, Walmarts are in your area and surrounding?

You take one simple idea – scale it – and now, you’re a multi-gazillionaire doing one thing: Selling Newspaper Subscriptions!

This is The Marketing Mindset.

And the point:  You can use this same concept for ANY business or product!

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I had explained a few strategies that they can implement quickly to see a fast profit.   I had also told them that the one strategy that I quickly picked up was promoting products and services that pay a residual.  A residual = An expected amount of money coming  in every single month.  There are many people on my list who would just like to work from home and create their own life like a “paid vacation”. We both know that you need a certain amount of money for you and your business to survive.  Once you meet that amount, then, you can work from anywhere in the world!   And there are many services that pay a residual: autoresponders, hosting, cable, satellite TV, cell phone service, and MY NEW NETWORK MARKETING COMPANY – WealthWorld!

At the end of the day – everyone got in on the ground floor during pre-launch.  At $2 – it’s a no-brainer.

Having said that – I have two more stops in California and Nevada before I’m back in Dallas.  When I get back next week – I am revamping this site, and I’m going to start a new series called:

Marketing Systems that Work!  These are step by step systems that work to create a huge list of targeted buyers and leads.  Over the last five years, I have studied and copied different marketing systems that work.  And since most of my readers need help with one thing: MARKETING!  I think it’s time that we get this website rocking!

Give me one week to give the site a mini-makeover, and then, please join me in one of the most revealing “free” information sites out there.  You’ll quickly be able to implement these with a little effort and a little programming (from RentaCoder.com or Guru.com) and be on your way to creating a true “paid” vacation!

I read somewhere that Amway started with 500 people.  After a year, there were only 11 people left out of the 500 working.  Those 11 people made Amway into a 100 Million+ business.  Those 11 got in on the ground floor during pre-launch and stuck around.

I have a new saying:  Are you one of those 489 people who hopped to the next program, or are you one of the 11 people who stuck around.   When you visit www.megalevelbonus.com – you can see how long it will take you to make the money you want and how much effort you need to put in.

Let me put that on my to-do list – create a “goals” blueprint when you join so you can keep track of your “amount needed” versus your “effort put in”.  You can also keep your own checklist with a “goal” in mind and work towards that.

Are you one of the 11?

or

Are you one of the 489?

Onwards and Upwards,

Kit