Take the Wheel - Drive Customers to your Website

By: Lori Quaranta

SO you own a small business and you have made the decision to build a simple website to gain internet exposure. Or maybe you already have a website that no one visits? You can be the proud owner of the slickest website you have ever seen, but if you aren’t getting any traffic because it’s not properly optimized you have wasted a good chunk of change and a lot of your valuable time. Weather you are building a site from scratch or tweaking one that already exists, consider these web hosting and marketing tips to help drive traffic to your website:

For Web Hosting:
1) Start with keywords - Think about terms potential customers would use to find you in a search engine. What would you type in if you were looking for your business?
2) Use a keyword selector tool - Type your keywords into a keyword selector tool to see how many people have searched on the term in the last 30 days. Look for terms in the 2k-10k range that are relevant to your site.
3) Use domain names which match your keywords – My client advertises products that are geared toward leadership skills development. In addition to leadingonedge.com he also has leadership-skills.info and a handful of others.
4) Use keywords throughout your web pages - Put your keywords in the title, description, keywords, graphics, and written text.
5) Use a keyword density analyzer - Check your website against a keyword density analyzer to see how frequently a specific keyword is used. Shoot for 3-15% density.
6) Slick and sexy doesn't get you traffic - Don't waste your money on slick graphics or things that fly across your screen. Most visitors find them annoying and search engines don't care for them.
7) Use Google AdSense on your website - Whenever someone clicks on a Google ad in your website, you get revenue. And the ads are relevant to your content. My websites now pay for themselves with ad revenue alone.
8) Advertise Amazon books and products on your website - Set up an Amazon Associates account and put relevant books and products on your website. When someone buys a product you get referral revenue.
9) Consider using a website starter package - If going it on your own, think about using a website starter package which can have you up and running quickly.
10) Decide where you want to spend your time - In any business, time is money! Small business web hosting is very doable, but it does take time. Decide if you want to do it yourself or have a professional help you.

For Marketing:
1) Get an automated eCommerce system - These can be really good, very comprehensive and very inexpensive. The good ones can do everything from customer base management to product management to shopping cart to newsletter broadcasts.
2) Get a cheap and reliable merchant account provider - You can get merchant account providers that do both the merchant account and internet gateway for you.
3) Put a link back to your website in your email autosignature - This doesn't need to be obnoxious, just a simple link that email recipients can click on to reference your website.
4) Do selective link trading - Link trade, but make sure the content on the other websites is similar to your own. Don't touch "link farms" with a ten-foot pole; search engines hate them.
5) Write articles and include your website address – Every business owner has something to say that someone would love to read about! There are a number of article databases out there that are researched for website content. Find some article databases which house content similar to yours and write a few articles. You'd be amazed at where your articles show up!
6) Write newsletters - Allow for customers and visitors to subscribe to a newsletter to get regular visibility to you and your company. This is also a great way to compile a customer email data base for your business.
7) Consider using a search engine submission services - These services submit your site to multiple search engines & directories. This can be helpful particularly if your website is new.
8) Set up an affiliates program - Allow for others to promote your products on a commission basis. Again a good eCommerce system should already have this built in.
9) Download the Google Toolbar – I am a Google toolbar fanatic! The Google Toolbar has a nifty feature which shows you the page rank (0-10 scale) of every site you visit; the higher your page ranking the higher your placement in search engines.
10) Set up multiple websites - Got three services you perform? Set up three different websites with domain names that match your keywords. Super cheap to do and can be very effective.

Oldest Blogger In The World

Aussie blogger Olive Riley was born on October 20, 1899, making her, it's believed, the oldest blogger in the world. For this achievement, Mrs Riley gets added to our growing list of late starters and late achievers. Lid dip to Nora from Extra! Extra!, which has had a makeover.

Welcome To 3rd Annual Podcast & New Media Expo

The 3rd Annual Podcast & New Media Expo is an annual convention that educates individuals and companies about how to produce high-quality audio and video digital content, grow a loyal audience, and market or monetize that content in creative ways.

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Welcome to BlogWorld & New Media Expo

THE first and only tradeshow, conference, and media event dedicated to promoting the dynamic industry of blogging and new media. If you are currently blogging, vlogging, podcasting, producing some other form of new media content, thinking about joining the exciting industry of new media or just want to know what this whole blogging phenomena is all about then you need to be at BlogWorld. The inaugural event will take place in Las Vegas November 8th and 9th at the Las Vegas Convention Center with an exclusive corporate only conference November 7th.

Who Should Attend?

Any Blogger, Vlogger, Podcaster, Internet radio broadcaster, or producer of any other form of new media content. If you blog about business, technology, politics, sports, lifestyle & culture, general news items, or celebrity gossip, If you are a Milblogger, or Godblogger, or advocate a social position you need to be at BlogWorld & New Media Expo. If you are serious about your blogging, If you want to increase your readership, improve the look or functionality of your blog, if you want to influence decision makers, sell a product or service, if you want to promote yourself as an industry expert, or build your brand using new media then you can not afford to miss BlogWorld & New Media Expo.
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How Google Video Search Engine Can Solve 2 Major Website Owner's Problems

By: Jeff Davis

WHAT is the solution to #1. Getting your site indexed in Google, and #2. Generating quality traffic to your website? Answer: Use the awesome power of video. When Google bought out YouTube for 1.67 Billion dollars, it was the shot heard round the world. Now I don't know if you realize it or not %70 of the USA has broad band access, and that is just the US, not to mention the rest of the world. I have been researching this heavily, and burning alot of midnight oil, and what I found out, is that when Google bought YouTube, YouTube was forced to dump half of it's content, due to liscening issues. I was dumbfounded. They paid out 1.67 million for half the content. Why would they do this? Simple. They knew the speed at which it would automaticaly regenerate itself. The beautiful thing is, they don't have to lift a finger, the public will regenerate that content and more, now that it is a part of the mighty Google. This is revolutionary, in the fact that video has morphed, or combined with social bookmarking sites, and YouTube and Google Video beta, get tremendous loads of traffic. The third site is Revver, which although not as famous as the other two, still is very poplular and recieves a large amount of traffic. What does this mean for you, the aspiring marketer? This means, that if YOU create your own infomercials, right now, and get them loaded to these high traffic sites, loaded with the right keywords in the title and description box, there is a good chance that you will be indexed very quickly. Google is like a Content Dracula, they love quality, people generated content. Google Video, is a search engine that does nothing but search for videos, 24 hours a day. This is a quantum leap forward for webprenuers that are just starting out. Why? It solves two huge problems that we face everyday as business owners. #1. How do you get your site indexed in the major search engines? and #2. How do you drive targeted traffic to your website? The great thing is, that you can create power point presentations, or screen capture videos, narrate them in your own voice, and viola! You've just made an infomercial, and you didn't even have to own a webcam. This solves 2 other problems, Fear of video "freezeup" and lack of equipment, such as a video camera, or a Sony camera capable of mp4 video capture, or a webcam. My favorite tool for this job is Camtasia. It has a feature that I just love, and that is when you use .swf as your medium, you can re-direct the viewer to your sales page, automaticaly. This is fantastic, because it empowers you to "steer" the viewer instantaneously to the sales page, while they are still in the "mindframe" to buy. So, fellow marketers who are struggling to generate traffic, and get your site indexed, so you can make some money to support your family, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is give Google what they want, be sincere, be yourself, and simply recommend your site to the viewer.