Author: WP Training Expert

  • How To Behave On Forums

    There is nothing which screams out ‘brilliant opportunity’ as does Internet marketing. That is why if one does not want to lose out on serious profit making chances then one should read the basic forum rules posted on each site.

    This provides guidelines as to what can or cannot be done on the forum, helping you draw your limits as to how aggressive your marketing can be on these forums. Lack of this often leads to carelessness leading to unnecessary bans, and black marking against a particular user’s name.

    So reading the rules before joining any forum is absolutely crucial, and comprises the first rule in successful internet marketing. The rules of the forum are posted right in the beginning under the guidelines or general discussion category and are not too detailed or tedious.

    They simply ban or disapprove of any kind of aggressive self promotion and untoward comments which may offend the sensibilities of the other forum members. But the degree of strictness in implementing these rules differs from site to site, so checking beforehand is the safest way not to get yourself in trouble.

    Remember you are a fellow forum member who has joined because you like the sound of the forum and the topics being discussed in it, you are not supposed to be here to market yourself. So do not start singing your own praises and that of your website and product the moment you enter, especially without context.

    Read what is being discussed, see how the forum is (formal or informal) and respond to it. Moreover get to know some of the people on the forum, build a rapport before broaching the subject of your website, that also subtly.

    Following threads also has another bonus. If you follow, then you can keep track of certain queries raised by members, and if this falls in your area of expertise then you can help them out and solve their problems, maybe even lead them subtly to your site containing matters about these issues.

    This not only gets you traffic to your site but also creates your reputation. This procedure becomes even more relevant for sites which let you to add the links to your websites along with your name. Thus in time, your credibility will increase and people will flock to your site to get help or buy your product, increasing your sales.

    So just go ahead and follow the etiquettes and all will be fine.

  • Discover The Power Of WordPress Blogging

    I am sure by now the term blog is well known by most people, if you don’t know it is essentially a style of website. It is a website platform that allows the quick and easy posting of content (blog posts) on a regular basis. They first gained popularity as a personal diary, but have since became one of the most popular platforms for a website period.

    Even your older traditional websites have moved towards at the least adding a blogging aspect to their website.

    This will be a controversial statement to some people but my favorite blogging platform is WordPress. I think that it is the most effective and user friendly blogging/website platform out there.

    Don’t take my word for it – try it out. Set up a free blog on WordPress.com. A WordPress blog hosted here isn’t as dynamic as hosting one yourself, but this is a great way to get used to the back end of WordPress and it is 100% free.

    You might be asking yourself why WordPress anyways? Why do I care?

    Well, when you are working online you will enjoy the power of WordPress.

    You will be able to build professional looking websites on your own through the use of themes.

    You will be able to easily add content from any computer that has internet access.

    The WordPress editor is similar in style to many word processing programs. Adding content to your site doesn’t require a web designer – it is so simple anyone can do it.

    You want to add fresh content to your site constantly, so having a platform that makes that easy is super important.

    Google loves WordPress and blogs in general. it also loves fresh content. If you want your website to show up higher in Google searches – then built it with something Google loves: WordPress.

    If you don’t have a website yet, consider building your first with WordPress. If you do have a website – consider adding a blogging aspect. It will make adding content easier on you, and the content will good for web traffic.

  • How to Resize Images with WordPress Media

    Video: How to use the WordPress Media tools to resize images you have imported to WordPress.

  • Things That You Should Know About Long Tail Keywords

    Keywords phrases, also called long tailed keywords, are any keyword that is made up of more than one word, usually 3 or more. This is very important for you to know since most of what you do online will most likely revolve around long tailed keywords.

    Most single keywords will just be way too competitive. They will literally have millions of online marketers all competing over that word. That is why the long tailed keywords make so much more sense.

    It will be much easier to rank for the term, “cheap golf balls” than it would be to rank for the term “golf balls”. Either way you will still have a lot of monthly searches but you may actually have a shot (pardon the pun) of ranking for the longer keyword phrase.

    Don’t get misled by the huge amounts of monthly searches some keywords get. If they are getting hundreds of thousands of searches each month you can bet that there are millions of competitors all fighting over the scrapes.

    Why bother? You can easily compile a long list of long tailed keywords. Each keyword can average over 1,500 searches a month. And the best part? You can rank high for most if not all of the keywords on your list.

    Just ranking high for one of those keywords might not get you a lot of traffic, but what if you had a list of 20 long tailed keywords, each receiving about 1,500 searches a month and you were able to rank high for all of them? That is a lot of traffic, traffic that you just wouldn’t get if you tried to rank for the much more competitive keywords.

    You can use the Google Keyword Tool, which is free, or many other online versions which are not, to find a great list of keywords associated with your niche market. Just start off by using a fairly broad term and then burrowing down to find a nice long list of highly targeted keywords that consist of 3 or more words.

    Once you have your keyword list you can then use those keywords for many things such as article marketing and on site search engine optimization (SEO). This will allow your website or your articles to show up high on the first page of Google for a particular keyword. That means a lot of highly targeted traffic to your website… all for free.

    Another important thing to keep in mind, you need to make sure that the keywords you choose not only have a decent number of monthly searches, and that they aren’t too competitive, but also that they are highly relevant to the content of your website.

    This is another parameter the search engines use to determine the rank of your site. If the keywords that you are targeting do not relate really closely to your website you won’t rank as high for that keyword. It’s not a big deal, just throw out any of the words on your list that don’t relate directly to your website.

    Finding the best keywords phrases for your online marketing is a very important step to take to assure your online success.

  • 3 Ways To Ruin Your Social Media Marketing

    There’s no shortage of information out there about how to do well with social media, I thought I would look at things from a different perspective. Here are three things you must not do if you wish to succeed in social media.

    You Try To Automate It.

    I see so many people who think using social media is about the right tools that automate the experience. If a family member invited you to their wedding would you automate your interaction with them and your presence at their wedding? Too often we get caught up in growing our numbers that we forget how important our impact with those followers is. Automating your social media experience will undoubtedly lessen your impact on your followers. Spending more time making real connections will build you up faster than any automation.

    You Pimp Too Many Links.

    We’ve all seen these people on Twitter and Facebook, every update is a link to their website and if you dig deep enough (most people don’t bother) you will see that they are actually repeating the same links over and over. While this might get you a few clicks here and there certainly won’t ignite anyone or make them want to suggest you to their followers. The people who do get away with link pimping are the ones who interact and offer value 9/10 times while pimping a link less than 10% of the time.

    You Follow And Unfollow To Try and Look Popular.

    One of the biggest problems with Twitter is that the common misinformation out there suggests that you build up your following by following people and then subsequently unfollowing them. All this does is make people dislike you. You may look popular from a numbers perspective but your followers think you’re a douche bag.

    The people who do well, follow those whom they respect and wish to receive updates from. Those people may or may not choose to follow you back, that should be irrelevant to you. The way to get more followers is to interact with the people you follow publicly as much as possible. Social media is here to stay and you should really consider what kind of reputation you are building for yourself online. Ask yourself this question every time you consider a new move. Would this fly at a party or business meeting? If the answer is no don’t do it on social media.

  • How to set up a capture form using your autoresponder software

    Video: Setting up a lead capture form using your autoresponder software.

  • Which Affiliate Program To Choose?

    Ask questions first before you join an affiliate program. Do a little research about the choices of program that you intend to join into. Get some answers because they will be the deciding point of what you will be achieving later on.

    Will it cost you anything to join? Most affiliate programs being offered today are absolutely free of charge. So why settle for those that charge you some dollars before joining.

    When do they issue the commission checks? Every program is different. Some issue their checks once a month, every quarter, etc. Select the one that is suited to your payment time choice. Many affiliate programs are setting a minimum earned commission amount that an affiliate must meet or exceed in order for their checks to be issued.

    What is the hit per sale ratio? This is the average number of hits to a banner or text link it takes to generate a sale based on all affiliate statistics. This factor is extremely important because this will tell you how much traffic you must generate before you can earn a commission from the sale.

    How are referrals from an affiliate’s site tracked and for how long do they remain in the system? You need to be confident on the program enough to track those people you refer from your site. This is the only way that you can credit for a sale. The period of time that those people stay in the system is also important. This is because some visitors do not buy initially but may want to return later to make the purchase. Know if you will still get credit for the sale if it is done some months from a certain day.

    What are the kinds of affiliate stats available? Your choice of affiliate program should be capable of offering detailed stats. They should be available online anytime you decide to check them out. Constantly checking your individual stats is important to know how many impressions, hits and sales are already generated from your site. Impressions are the number of times the banner or text link was viewed by a visitor of your site. A hit is the one clicking on the banner or text links.

    Does the affiliate program also pay for the hits and impressions besides the commissions on sales? It is important that impressions and hits are also paid, as this will add to the earnings you get from the sales commission. This is especially important if the program you are in offers low sales to be able to hit ratio.

    Who is the online retailer? Find out whom you are doing business with to know if it is really a solid company. Know the products they are selling and the average amount they are achieving. The more you know about the retailer offering you the affiliate program, the easier it will be for you to know if that program is really for you and your site.

    Is the affiliate a one tier or two tier program? A single tier program pays you only for the business you yourself have generated. A two tier program pays you for the business, plus it also pays you a commission on the on the sales generated by any affiliate you sponsor in your program. Some two-tier programs are even paying small fees on each new affiliate you sponsor. More like a recruitment fee.

    Lastly, what is the amount of commission paid? 20% – 80% (and some cases, 100%!) is the commission paid by most programs. .01% – .05% is the amount paid for each hit. If you find a program that also pays for impressions, the amount paid is not much at all. As you can see from the figures, you will now understand why the average sales amount and hit to sale ratio is important.

    These are just some of the questions that needed answering first before you enter into an affiliate program. You should be familiar with the many important aspects that your chosen program should have before incorporating them into your website. Try to ask your affiliate program choices these questions. These can help you select the right program for you site from among the many available.

  • Story Telling in Copy

    Any successful copy is going to tell a story. Just how well that story is told makes all the difference in whether or not a prospect turns into a customer. Here are a few tips to help you tell your story in a way that will hold the attention of the prospect and keep it all the way through to the close of the sale.

    First, set the stage for your story. The idea is to grab the interest of the reader by presenting a situation that he or she can relate to. Ideally, the situation will form the basis for your story by creating a conflict that must be resolved. The more your prospect can identify with the conflict, the better your chances of enticing him or her to keep reading.

    Next, offer the ideal solution for taking care of the conflict. In a sense, this is your shining knight that comes over the horizon to save the day. This is your chance to work in all the good qualities that make your solution the perfect way to deal with the conflict and thus restore order to the kingdom, which is the life of your prospect. Use this element to start building confidence that the solution really will work.

    Third, demonstrate how the solution does in fact resolve the conflict. You can use case studies, testimonials, or a number of other devices to back up the claims you previously made. Again, make sure this proof is reasonable and will appeal to your audience in a way that helps them to envision using the product or service themselves.

    Last, go for the sale. Inspire in the prospect a burning desire to possess this product by recapping all the great things it will do, and also note how reasonable the cost will be. Imagine, heaven can be had for such a low price! Once you have established this sense of urgency to own in your prospects, they will quickly become loyal customers who will gladly share your good name far and wide.

  • Tips on How To Build a Top Notch Keyword List

    When doing your keyword research it’s very important that you don’t overlook a very obvious, but frequently overlooked fact: you don’t just want traffic to your site, you want targeted traffic. You want to draw the people to your website who are most likely to buy the product or service you are selling. For that reason you cannot forget to consider the relevant keyword when evaluating your keyword list.

    Make sure that the keywords you are targeting are relevant to what your website is promoting. If you find that you have kind of missed the boat you can either renew your keyword list or change some of the content on your website to make it match up more closely with your keyword list.

    All the search engines consider relevance very highly. If you target keywords that are not closely related to your website, the search engines will find that you have very low relevance and won’t rank your site as high.

    Do not get too caught up on one or two word keywords, in almost all cases they will be much too competitive and you will have a very hard time ranking for them. Instead, find a large list of keyword phrases. When you have a 3 or 4 word keyword phrase you may not get quite as many searches but you also won’t have nearly as much competition.

    Longer keyword phrases can still deliver a lot of searches, probably not as many as the more popular one and two word phrases, but they will also be much less competitive.

    When you first start your keyword research you can use many tools online, some of them are free, some of them are not. If you have a limited budget you should start with the free Google keyword tool. This one tool can give you all the information you need to compile an excellent keyword list.

    Again, the basics of a good keyword list is to have keywords that get a lot of monthly searches (around 1,500) and few competitors (usually anything less than 20,000, though this can vary, you have to find your own parameters).

    It may take you and little trial and error to find the highly relevant, well searched for keywords that also don’t have a lot of competition. This process can sometimes get a little tedious, but remember a good keyword list is like money in the bank. When you have a highly targeted keyword list you can get a lot of quality traffic to your website and that can relate directly into sales.

    To recap, in order to build a top notch keyword list that will allow you to get a ton of very targeted traffic you will need to consider several variables. One of them is to find only the most relevant keyword possible. The keyword must relate directly to the subject of your website. If it does you can have a much higher conversion rate and you can also get a lot more organic traffic.