Ranking well in the search engines is not going to happen by accident.  With thousands of new sites coming online every single day, you HAVE to be proactive if you want your site to perform well in organic search results over time.

Here are 7 things you can do immediately to get the best results:

1.) Invest the time in keyword research – or hire someone to do it for you.  Believe me, its time and/or money well spent.  This step will make the rest of your search engine optimization efforts so much easier because it will give you a clear idea of where you want to go.

2.)  Make sure you use your targeted keywords in your Title tags. In other words, be sure to incorporate your targeted keywords or phrases into your page names (or article titles). Many premium WordPress themes and some free plugins will allow you to customize these even further. (Contact me if you want more details).

3. ) If you are launching (or relaunching) a new site, select a domain name that includes your most important keywords.

Update: Google’s most recent update – October 2012 – is aimed at exact match domain names. My understanding is this is mostly targeting those long domains with lots of “-” in them. (The ones that are clearly trying to stuff keywords into the domain name.) Still, something you need to be aware of when choosing new domain names going forward.

4.) You will want to use headings and subheadings throughout your copy for a number of reasons. For one, headlines (and subheadlines) are meant to grab your readers’ attention and pull them into your copy. They also help break up large bodies of copy and make skimming the contents easier for your human visitors. 

Plus, keywords wrapped in H tags (h2, h3, etc…) are given more weight in search engine ranking algorithms. So, it definitely makes sense to include your keywords and phrases here, too.

5.) Optimize your  alternate text (or Alt Text).   All this means is if you have any photos or images on your site, you will want to take the extra step of adding appropriate “alt tags” to them. Search engine spiders can’t “see” images, so this copy allows them to “read” what the image is. 

6.) Of course, all this talk about optimizing your site has to flow through to the actual page content. One word of caution, though, is don’t go crazy! Remember, your content is PRIMARILY meant to appeal to and benefit human visitors. Keyword ‘stuffing’ hasn’t worked in ages (at least 8 years, to be more exact) and is frowned upon by search engines. More importantly, it is annoying to human visitors. 

Most sources recommend using a 1 – 3% keyword density, meaning if you have a 500 word page, your keywords should appear anywhere from 5 – 15 times. Personally, I think 3% is WAY too high, so I normally shoot for .5 to 1%.

7.) Add an XML site map. This will quickly and easily allow search engine spiders to find what your site has to offer. Using a free plugin, such as Google XML Sitemaps for WordPress, will also automatically ‘ping’ both Google and Bing when you make changes to your site. Very cool!

I’ve received a couple emails since my last post (3 Easy Steps to 3 Months of Fresh Content Ideas) asking what the difference was between categories and tags in WordPress – along with which I preferred and why.

In many ways, WordPress categories and tags are practically identical. They are stored in the same database and both were originally created to provide metadata relating to post content. However, neither offers any real benefit from a search engine optimization standpoint. Therefore, using one vs. the other won’t impact your search engine rankings.

However, at least one important distinction does exist between WordPress categories and tags:

Categories are a way to organize your content, while tags are a way to describe it.

This is because categories are hierarchical. This just means you can create sub-categories under each broad category. In fact, you can drill deeper down by assigning sub-categories to your sub-categories (and so on).

Tags, on the other hand, are considered “flat” – they are simply keywords used to describe your content in greater detail. They don’t allow you to group your content together in any meaningful fashion.

For this reason, many bloggers – myself included – use categories to establish the basic architecture of their WordPress sites.

I recently streamlined the number of top-level categories I have for this site. (I had gotten a little “Category Happy” without realizing it) Cutting back to 7 main categories (and re-assigning the rest as sub-categories) has been really helpful in a number of ways.

This week, we’ll take a look at why this was beneficial – and how you can do the same for your own WordPress site.

Til Next Time,

Finding the time to leverage Social Media for my business is a constant struggle. There just never seems to be enough time (or let’s face it, mental energy) left over to develop fresh content ideas for popular Social Media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

However, there is no question that an effective Social Media strategy is critical to your long-term success online.

To help with this, today’s guest post offers some quick and easy strategies you can put to use right away. Below, Susanne Myers of Daily Affiliate Tasks shares several tips to convert all that great content you’ve already created into valuable material for your various Social Media outlets.

Be More Social: Re-purpose Your Articles

by Susanne Myers

I don’t know about you, but I struggle a bit at times with Social Media. They can be quite a time sucker, but at the same time, they are a great source of traffic for our affiliate sites… if we can manage to add great content on a regular basis and start a conversation with people in our target market.

One thing I’ve started doing recently that’s been working very well is to reuse some of the content I’ve already written as Facebook posts and tweets. Let me explain…

Start with an article that includes 5 to 10 tips on a particular topic. Now take each of these tips and use them as individual Facebook posts or tweets. If needed, you can shorten them up a bit. This is especially important for Twitter.

Create A Series Of Tips

You can also create a series of tips to encourage your friends and followers to consume more of your content. Here’s an example:

Quick Tip #1 – Drink more water to lose weight.

Quick Tip #2 – Start dinner with a big salad to consume less calories.

Quick Tip #3 – Do pushups during TV commercials to get more exercise.

Each of these tips could come straight from a 7 Tips for losing weight article. If you have a whole bunch of related tips, create a twitter hash tag for them (i.e. #quickweightlosstips).

Make It Interactive By Asking Questions

Another great idea is to take some of these tips and turn them into questions. “Drink more water to lose weight” becomes “Does drinking more water help you eat less?”

Another option is to take the overall theme of your series of tips and toward the end of it ask your readers for their favorite way to do something. Going back to the weight loss example we could simply post on Facebook or tweet: “What’s your best weight loss tip”.

And since we’re all about reusing content, you can take the replies you’re getting to write future articles, blog posts etc.

Another option for Facebook is to take a few of the tips and create a poll from them. This gives your friends another way to interact with you and give you feedback on what works best for them.

Now that you have all this extra content that you can use on social media sites, you have to get it out there somehow. I find it hard to remember to log in twice a day and post some stuff.

I use a website called Hootsuite to help me manage my Social Media accounts. It allows me to access all my accounts in one easy to use dashboard. But my favorite feature is the fact that I can schedule posts to go out at certain times. This means that I can take one of the articles I’ve written, grab 5 tips from it, rewrite them into short tweets or Facebook posts and add them all at once. The software will then make them live at whatever date and time I specify.

And now I would like to invite you to learn more about affiliate marketing and how you can grow your own niche site in as little as 30 minutes a day using the strategies and checklists I’m using each day.

Susanne Myers – http://www.DailyAffiliateTasks.com

What’s Lazy Content?

Great Resource!

Lazy content can take many forms…

It can be that in-depth blog post you put hours into researching and polishing to perfection…

Lazy content can also be that inspired newsletter article you sent out to your list, but never got around to sharing anywhere else…

Or, it might be that great PowerPoint presentation about your business you put together for your local networking group – and never looked at again.

Bottom Line: Lazy content is any piece of valuable, unique content you invested your time, money or expertise to create, but didn’t fully leverage.

Content can – and should – take many forms. The sooner you master this concept, the more successful you’ll be!

Did you realize that one article can be transformed into several different products and marketing tools?

It’s true. In fact, here are a few digital products you can create from just one well-written article:

• eBooks
• Special Reports (Here’s my review on an easy-to-follow short report writing format)
• Presentations
• Audio products
• Video products

The best part? When you know a lot about a particular subject, it’s pretty easy to crank out great content relating to that topic (once you discipline yourself to sit down and actually do it, of course).

Here are e a couple quick examples…

eBooks and Short Reports

Short reports ranging from  five to twenty pages in length are an excellent – and profitable – way to share a wealth of information with your readers.

In addition, you can use shorter reports as a free giveaway in order to build your mailing list or help close the sale on longer reports and eBooks. (The key is to offer genuinely helpful – but incomplete – information in the shorter, free report, then go into a lot more detail in the paid product).

And yes, all this can be sparked from creating just ONE great piece of content or a pack of articles on the same subject.

Business Presentations

Let’s say you have an opportunity to give a presentation about your business… how can you put some of your lazy content to use?

For starters, you can cut prep time significantly by leveraging the information you’ve already created (in the form of articles, blog posts, short reports, or eBooks).

You can easily transform some of your key points from this material into PowerPoint slides for the presentation – and then upload the presentation to a slide-sharing site, share it on your website, and even convert it into video.

Audio and Video Products

Audio and video products are always a popular option. Create an audio version of your eBook and provide a written transcription which allows you to add workbook questions that readers can answer after they listen to the audio. Your video product can operate the same way.

Without question, there is a wealth of digital products that can be gleaned from a few articles. Taking the time to fully leverage your content creates a lot more opportunity for you as an online business owner!

So, What Are Your Plans for Your Lazy Content?

Whatever it is, your results will increase exponentially once you start putting it to work for you!

Til Next Time,

I read an article last night that has been buzzing in my head ever since.

In it, the author talks about how how Social Media “voting”… liking, sharing, tweeting, pinning, etc… has become the new backlink building.

The article then goes on to explain how this evolution has leveled the playing field somewhat by allowing everyone – not just those who operate their own websites – to cast votes in terms of what content is valuable, relevant and/or newsworthy.

(You can see the full article here)

As business owners – aka “Content Creator”s – we can’t afford to ignore this trend.

Except I have.

Social Media is simply not “my thing.”

I’ve never been shy about that – to me, it’s an enormous time suck that would gobble up my productive working hours if I  let it. (Probably because it’s a lot more fun to post cute pictures of my dogs and horses on Facebook than it is to talk about… well, work).

However, I clearly need to start embracing Social Media. I need to expand my “Content Promotion” efforts beyond the more traditional backlink building endeavors of article marketing and guest blogging – and develop an actual Social Media strategy I can live with.

I’m working on that road map right now… and will share my results and findings here as they relate to Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. I’ll also look at Pinterest and Tumblr – but probably more for my home and garden site than for this one.

In the meantime, I welcome your thoughts and ideas on this topic. What’s working for you? What isn’t? Please leave your comments below.

Til next Time,

Owning your own online business can be a lot of fun. Becoming an online entrepreneur is a fulfilling way to create an income on your own terms… You get to be your own boss, set your own hours… and do work you find interesting and rewarding.

What’s Not to Love?

Well… you’re going to have to write – A LOT.

For some, this is part of the appeal. For others… not so much.

If you fall into this second category, let me ask you this…

Is it because you think you’re not a good writer – or is it because you already have a thousand other things on your plate?

Regardless of how you answered that question – there is help available. You can’t get away from the written (or spoken) word in business, so here are a few ways you can make peace with this reality.

5 Ways to Get More Writing Done!

1. Block Out Time in Your Schedule. Think of writing as exercise for your fingers (and brain) – and get it on your calendar!
   .
   An online business is like any other business – you need to schedule important tasks if you want to get everything done. So, when you create your weekly schedule, be sure to set aside dedicated blocks of time for writing.
   .
2. Keep an Idea Notebook. The biggest complaint people have about writing is knowing what to write about. Inspiration seems to hit at the strangest times, so have a small notebook and pen with you to capture all those brilliant ideas when they hit you.
   .
3. Share Your Mistakes. As a business owner, you’ll learn what to do – and what not to do – to boost sales and increase your credibility. When you make a mistake, don’t be afraid to write about it. Your mistakes can become an inspirational learning experience for your audience.
   .
4. Stay Motivated. Remember why you started writing to promote your online business in the first place. Then, make a list and keep it posted near your computer.
   .
   Here’s a couple ideas to get you started:
   .
   ~ Writing regularly (maintaining a blog) will keep your readers coming back
   ~ Sharing your expertise can help establish you as an expert in your niche or specialty area
   ~ Creating well-written content (combined with some basic copywriting skills) can significantly increase your conversion rates
   .
5. Write What You Know. Simply by tapping into what you already know, you can start writing a ton of great articles for your online business. For example, if your online business is built around your own love of gardening, you can probably write about that without breaking a sweat. Simply share personal experiences in your own garden to connect with you readers.

When it comes right down to it, writing can be a lot of fun – especially when every piece of content you create is helping to build the kind of life you want to live. 

Til Next Time,

PS What’s my favorite tip to get more writing done?

# 5 – Writing what you know makes it easy to get started – which is always the toughest part of the battle.

Looking to bring more traffic to your blog or website?

Creating fresh content on an ongoing basis is only part of the battle.The next, and most important step, is to get out there and let the world know about the great information, products or services you have to offer.

As a writer, creating new content isn’t a huge challenge for more me – but  promoting it off-site is an entirely different matter. When I decided to revive this blog, I knew I needed to focus a lot more time on the promotion side of equation – and Article Marketing will play a major role.

I’ve been really hesitant to invest much energy into this aspect of online marketing since the big Google Panda update last year. However, everything I’ve read (from names I know and trust) indicates that it still works – but you have to be in it for the right reasons AND do things the right way.

Without question, Nicole Deans knows a thing or two about what it takes to be hugely successful online. In the following article, she shares her thoughts on Article Marketing and what it can do for your business.

Is It Really This Easy to Get Free Advertising?

by Nicole Dean

One of the best ways to get free advertising is to simply write articles and give them away. It’s a foreign concept to many in online business, but it’s one of the best ways to get traffic, improve your search engine ranking, and sell more products.

Why Should You Write Articles?

Newsletter and website owners are desperate for content. As someone who owns websites and publishes several newsletters, I can vouch for this. I regularly search article directories, looking for quality information that will help my readers. And, every article I use from these resources gets published with the author’s information and a link to their site.

Why Give The Articles Away?

How much would you pay to include your ad in a newsletter or popular website? Anywhere from $5 to $80. Wouldn’t you prefer to have your ad placed for free? It’s easy to see the financial reward. Look at the bottom of this article. Right there, plain as day, you can see a resource box with my website included, so you have proof that this method works.

How do you write an article?

Take another look at the article that you’re reading right now. It’s short. It’s simple. I’m not a Literary Genius. I’m just being me.

Start by picking something you know about, or a problem that you can solve, and start writing. Just do it!

What should you include in the Author Bio?

Your Name
Something interesting about you or your website
Your website link – Don’t forget this one!
Special offer – Mention a freebie or special offer if you have one.
Don’t use this area to *sell.* Just get them to your site.

May you have lots and lots of free advertising!

About the Author: Nicole Dean is published all over the web, under numerous pen names. She welcomes you to visit EasyArticleMarketing.com to get started using article marketing to boost your business today.

Stumped for article or blog post ideas? 

Most online business owners (aka “Content Creators”) struggle with this issue from time to time.

Fortunately, I have a handful of tried-and-true article writing templates that help me overcome the dreaded “blank screen” syndrome. In today’s post, article writing and backlink-building expert Susanne Myers shares five of her favorite article writing templates.

(If you haven’t had a chance to do so, be sure to check out Susanne’s Daily Affiliate Tasks for easy-to-follow, yet highly effective steps toward building your online affiliate income in just 15 – 30 minutes a day).

5 Quick and Easy Article Writing Templates

~ by Susanne Myers

Writing and submitting articles is a great way to get traffic to our affiliate niche sites. They also help you establish yourself as an expert. Needless to say that writing and submitting articles on a regular basis is a good way to grow your business. The only problem is that you’ll eventually start running out of ideas. Often the hardest part is to get over that blank screen staring at you.

I find that the best way to get over that is to start with a simple little template. Below you’ll find five of my favorites. They will work for any type of niche and are a great way to come up with fresh article ideas. They also make writing the article much faster because you already have some structure and at least the beginnings of an outline. Give them a try.

The Tips Template

The tips template is probably the best know and most used article template out there. And there’s a good reason for that. It’s very versatile and easy to use. You simple share a certain number of tips. The actual number really doesn’t matter, but 3, 5, 7 and 10 tips to do xyz seem to be used the most.

Just open your text document or grab a piece of paper and a pen and list several related tips. Then briefly explain each. This article uses the tips template.

The What Is It and How Do You Use It Template

Here’s another quick template that works well for any type of product – be it a physical or a digital product. You start by introducing the product and letting your readers know more about it. From there you move into how to use it, focusing on the features and benefits of the product.

Of course you can also adapt this template to work for concepts and ideas. If you are in the self help industry for example, you could use it to write an article about meditation, explaining what it is and then giving some simple meditation exercises your readers can try.

The Question and Answer Template

I also like to take a question and start my article with that. The basic question can be your title and then you can go into a little more detail in the introduction. The rest of your article is simply your answer to that question.

Where do you find those questions? Start by looking through your emails. Have you gotten some good questions from readers? You can also browse popular message boards or go to sites like Yahoo Answers to get good questions.

The Biggest Mistake Template

Starting out with a big mistake is another great way to start an article and get your readers attention. Explain what the mistake is and if it’s something you’ve done, share your own story. Let your readers know what the results of the mistake were (i.e. did you lose money, waste time etc.).

The main part of your article will then be about avoiding the mistake or how to rectify it. Focus on the positive here and give your readers some helpful tips.

The Step-By-Step Template

One of my favorite articles to read is a step-by-step tutorial. It often starts out with “How do …” and then simply walks you step by step through the process of doing things. For example, I may create an article on “How To Write A Great Article in 5 Easy Steps.” It would cover coming up with an idea, crafting a compelling title, jotting down an outline, writing the article and last but not least writing a great resource box.

Ready for more tips on how to grow your affiliate income? Join Daily Affiliate Tasks for $10 per month and work on things that actually work to bring you more traffic, more subscribers and make more affiliate commissions working as little as 30 minutes per day. Learn more and join today at www.DailyAffiliateTasks.com

A couple days ago I asked if it’s possible to revive an old blog and take it to new heights…

It’s a question I’ve been tossing around a lot lately. For a long time, this site was my creative outlet online. It gave me an opportunity to share my love for online marketing, business development and the written word, while helping me connect with like-minded individuals – and potential customers.

Then, I changed my business model to focus more on offline clients (October 2010) – and found I lost my voice as a blogger in the process. I suddenly felt very self conscious about what I said… so I all but vanished online.

First Things First

In my last post, I tossed out the idea of running another Content Marketing Challenge – similar to the original 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge I created when I first launched this site back in 2009.

And I will… but not just yet.

I’m not ready to put myself under that kind of microscope right away. Instead, I’ve taken a careful look back to reevaluate what worked and what didn’t in the previous challenges – and am going to challenge myself behind the scenes to focus on my own opportunities for improvement. (Namely, actively promoting the content I create).

Then, I’ll report back here with my results – and share ideas and resources on how you can breathe new life into your own neglected blog.

The Game Plan?

The goal is to keep things pretty simple and easy to follow:

• Stick to a Consistent Publishing Schedule
  .
  The goal is 3 new blog posts a week. Consistency is going to be key…
  .
• Focus More on Content Promotion than Content Creation
  .
  I’ve always been much stronger at creating new content than promoting it. Therefore, I need to focus much more on activities like guest blogging, article marketing and social media involvement to achieve the results I want.
  .
• Develop a Clear Monetization Strategy
  .
  Let’s face it – driving more traffic to your website is great… but it doesn’t mean much if that traffic doesn’t translate into increased revenue, right?

Wrapping Things Up

WebCopyResults.com will be 3 years old on June 17, 2012. At that time, I’ll publish a thorough update on the results of this little experiment – and will release a set of detailed worksheets and step-by-step instructions to apply what worked to your own blog (as I’ve done with earlier challenges).

Of course, I’ll also write about different aspects of my beyond-the-scenes activities here throughout the process.

That’s it for now. See ya back here on Monday!

Til Next Time,

Well, the sound of crickets here at WebCopyResults.com has been deafening… at least to me, anyway.

I used to update this site every day – or at least several times a week. However, I haven’t been blogging here regularly for quite some time…

The main reason for that is that my offline service business grew much more quickly than I ever expected it would.

If you’ve ever found yourself in that position, you know that it can be both a blessing – and a curse. While I am VERY grateful for all the awesome clients who’ve come into my life, the flip side has been I haven’t had as much time to work on my own online businesses as a result.

…and you know what?

I REALLY miss it.

I am truly passionate about working online – and love investing time in projects that will continue to yield results for years to come. I also love teaching – in this case, writing about and sharing cool tips and ideas about using online content to grow your business.

The Big Question

But the big question I find myself asking is… is it too late? Can you really pick up on an old blog and grow it to new heights?

In my heart, I believe you can… which is why I’ve decided to ignore that nagging voice (fear?) that says otherwise.

The Good News?

Even though I haven’t updated this site in nearly a year – traffic (unique visitors, total visits and number of page views) to it never dropped off. So, the steady stream of organic SEO traffic I developed before my hiatus hasn’t taken a nose dive in my absence.

Which means I’m not really starting over – just picking up where I left off.

What’s Next?

I think it may be time for another Content Marketing challenge (similar to 90 Day Content Marketing Challenge)! Would love to see what can happen with a focused effort on a neglected – but well-aged – site.

Be back Friday with more details…

Til Next Time,