Internet Marketing Strategy That Works

Why Erik Rides a Limo: His Internet Marketing Strategy In 2003, Erik brought his first laptop home without a hint of what he exactly wanted to do, except to follow what others have been doing: chat online. He was sold to the idea of online dating, and believing that chatting online is a cheaper alternative than downing bottles of beer at the local pub, at exactly 9 AM, Eastern Standard Time, he hit off his first key:

The rest was history. Today, Erik owns 120 websites and a vibrant company employing 12 people in a plush condominium he also calls "home". His online dating was a success, having found Jane, but he hit "jackpot" with online marketing. What turned out to be a pastime became a lucrative endeavor for a guy who was not computer savvy to start off with, and whose only concept of a mouse was that little pest chewing up his shoe lace.

Jason, also hit his keyboard in 2003, precisely with the same line of thought, but with a little twist: to charm an Asian. He has a leaning towards Asian women because his mother was half Taiwanese. However, when he got online, he found something he loved to do, so he ventured into online marketing, too. Four years later today, Jason is still driving his old and weather-beaten pick-up truck, while Erik drives around town in a shiny limo. Did Erik hit the online lotto? Of course, not. Erik merely uncovered a marketing truth, which Jason and his peers saw, but dismissed as something less relevant. They followed the trail where all others have gone, while Erik stayed and pondered on what was already there, until he found an Internet Marketing Strategy that works! Common mistake in marketing online is in believing that traffic is the end-all and be-all of online success. Nothing can be farther from the truth! Long queue of online visitors to your site is a good indication that you have struck the right formula in getting them there where you want them, but becoming popular is NOT the way to go. At some point it can help a lot, however, the litmus test on real online success is on being profitable (while remaining popular). WORK ON YOUR CONVERSION. Combine traffic competitiveness with high conversion results and it is game over – in your favor. Unless you learn how to convert as high as you invite traffic to view your site, you won't rake in success like Erik did. Conversion is leading your online visitors from point A (just viewing your site) to point B (deciding to make a purchase). The initial challenge is on how to get them over to your site, but the killer punch is on making them buy!

This is the surest way to make money. Erik shares these two easy-to-do steps to Internet Marketing for Online Business:

1.) BUILD TRAFFIC REGULARLY. Get more people to view your site; by law of numbers, more viewers = the greater is the possibility for online conversion. Building traffic however is not a spur of the moment activity. It should be a life-long (for as long as you want to build and develop your online business, that is) process. It should have a well-thought of plan - a master plan.

2.) CONVERT AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY. Present your website in such a way that leaving it becomes difficult. Enthrall your online visitors with your designs, but do not be carried away too much. No matter how attractive your graphics are, it's content that can sustain your online viewers' interest, which will make them pay you another visit.

Content however must not only be entertaining but persuasively interesting. It must drive home the point that it is to your viewers' advantage if they follow your "calls to action".

Build trust. Your website should not "oversell" its message, as this gives rise to skepticism. Provoke interest by providing facts they can check out with other online sources.

Is your site easy to navigate? Nothing else can drive your online visitor away faster than not being able to accomplish a particular task on your site, because of navigational problems.

Track improvements on regular basis. You will only know how far you have gone if you compare yesterday's performance to today's gain. Adjust when necessary. Flexibility has its own power. In the final analysis, unless you convert effectively, you cannot expect to create a lucrative source of income from online business. Traffic alone, though very helpful, cannot cut the chase from online obscurity to online success. Best Internet Marketing Strategies proven by successful people who cracked their own online success, dictate that every factor should interplay harmoniously with one another, like strings of a guitar. To focus on traffic alone won't help; in the same token, conversion can't be helped without traffic. That's how Erik did it, which Jason had to learn, unless he loves to drive in his beat-up truck a little longer.

How To Get Blacklisted By The Search Engines - Black Hat SEO Techniques

Black Hat SEO is a real problem as more and more SEO companies are set up every day. Just as a reminder, Black Hat SEO is to be opposed to White Hat SEO. Black Hat search engine optimization can be defined as the practice of using unethical techniques to make your search rankings go up.
Here is a list of the bad techniques that would get you blacklisted by the search engines.

Cloaking

As a general rule, websites designed for ease of use by visitors will attract search engine spiders. That doesn't stop some less than reputable individuals from disguising their pages in an attempt to gain an unfair advantage. What you see is most definitely not what you get.
The information presented to the search engine is not the same that the human visitor gets to see. One example is to put in some text the same colour as the background. In this way, the spiders but not the human eye can pick up keywords. This enables the website owner to present well written content but give the search engine the impression that the copy is filled with keywords, thereby attracting searches for those keywords.
Rest assured though, that if the offending site were holding a high search engine position, it would be spotted, reported and banned from search engines.

Duplicate Sites

Search engines would prefer to find unique content throughout the net. When affiliate schemes first became popular, some web owners would post duplicate sites in an attempt to outrank the site being promoted and siphon off sales from the original. Subsequently, the search engines now have procedures in place to stop duplicate sites. Sites that may have been altered slightly to avoid detection can be spotted by competitors, reported and banned.

Keyword Stuffing

The easiest to spot and most common example of "black hat" methods, keyword stuffing relies on targeted keywords being placed en masse on a web page in the anticipation of being picked up and indexed by the search engines. Usually found written in a tiny font size at the bottom of a web page in order for the main content to make sense.

Link farms

Link farms have evolved from the strategy of building inbound links in order to raise search engine rankings. Sites have been built specifically to provide links, which are not particularly relevant to the site concerned.
Search engines expect links between websites to be based on relevant content. Sites that build links of no relevance, purely for the sake of search engine optimisation, can be banned from search engines, maybe for life.

Doorway Pages

Probably the easiest way to get blacklisted and lose even genuinely earned rankings, doorway pages are appended to a website, giving no value to a visitor. The page exists solely to attract search engines to the targeted keyword or phrase. These pages are usually mass-produced and posted automatically by software.

Redirects

Used in connection with doorways, redirects automatically move the visitor to a genuine page. Illegal methods are constantly being devised to beat attempts by search engines to detect this practice. The search engines do generally catch up with them and ban the sites. If not, competitors do pick up what's going on and report the offenders.

What colour is your hat?

Many of these practices are blatantly in use today. Some webmasters tread the thin line between illegality and shady practices. Search engine rankings can still be achieved by operating a "black hat" strategy. Generally though, any gain is at best temporary and offenders do face the prospect of being blacklisted by the search engines. SEO agencies that operate legitimately and provide good seo services, will not tolerate competitors getting an unfair advantage and will report offenders. Some bans can be permanent, but even in cases where a site is only banned for a temporary period; it is increasingly difficult to get back up the ladder.