BUILDING THE PERFECT SQUEEZE PAGE AND WHY

Preparing the Perfect Squeeze Page:

Get a Grip on Your Buyers

When visitors come to your web site they don’t always land on the home page. They might enter via a landing page or zone page based on the query words they entered into the search box. Now, for smart on-line retailers, this isn’t a problem. If you sell tools on-line and a search engine user queries ‘hammer,’ it’s better that the visitor land on the hammer page then the home page and have to do a site search to find hammers.

The objective of a search engine is to not only deliver links, but relevance, too. So, by directing that visitor to your hammer page the search engine is providing the most relevant link within your site. (This assumes your site is optimized and that each page has a HTML tag describing its content.)

All well and good. Then, along comes the squeeze page. A squeeze page is the first thing a visitor sees when clicking on a site link. It asks the visitor to “opt in” for a newsletter, an e-book or access to the site.

So What Good Does a Squeeze Page Do?

A well-written squeeze page has one objective. To gather email addresses of visitors. And why are those email addresses so important? Because they’re added to the site owner’s database and can now be used for every email blast the site launches. As long as the visitor opts in and agrees to accept goodies from the site, it’s not spamming. But for a lot of web users a squeeze page is annoying.

The perfect squeeze page provides a taste – a taste of things to come. The copy should be informational and pique the curiosity of the visitor enough to offer up his or her email address in exchange for more of that same quality information – a bigger taste.

Once the visitor has opted in (A $99 VALUE – FREE JUST FOR SIGNING UP!), the email address is gold to the savvy marketer who starts sending free articles, the tip of the day, free downloads and other information. Some is good, valuable content, some not so much. Either way, it enables the site owner to keep his or her URL in front of the one-time visitor who elected to receive content by opting in.

So, the first objective of a squeeze page is to provide enough information to whet the appetite of the visitor who then opts in, providing an email address.

Second, the squeeze page provides solid, factual, useful information. No fluff allowed. This is a requirement for two critical reasons. A squeeze page that’s pure hype won’t do much for your opt in rate. Opt ins recognize the value of your offer because of the information contained on the squeeze page.

Also, that squeeze page will be indexed by search engines. Providing good information, with just a smidge of sizzle, won’t detract from how search engines view your site.

Types of Squeeze Pages

The first type of squeeze page gives the visitor two choices: opt in or leave. Visitors can read the squeeze tease, but if they want more they have to give an email address or hit the digital bricks. Which is what most visitors do when they see they’ve landed on a hard-sell squeeze page.

Most visitors will (rightly) think that, within weeks, their in-boxes will be filled with junk mail. (Remember, it’s not spam if the recipient requested the information.) These site visitors envision auto-responders week after week, each one a bit more desperate than the last.

They may expect that newsletter to which they subscribed, only to discover that the “newsletter” is nothing more than a bunch of sales hype disguised as informational content. Any decent web writer can create sales copy that sounds like news. That’s why the perfect squeeze page delivers good content, not hype. The sell is woven into the information. Same with the newsletter, press release or email. Think “content” when you think of the perfect squeeze page.

The perfect squeeze page also provides the visitor with a third or fourth option other than opt in or leave.  Provide a “learn more” option. No opt in required. Just a link that takes visitors to another page where they can learn more about the site, the offer, the information, and whether it’s something they want to opt for or click the back button of their browsers.

Squeeze Page Tips

• The ideal squeeze page should be laid out for quick eye scan. Don’t expect visitors to read through a ton of text to get to the deal.

• Use short blocks of text and single sentences.

• Talk directly to the reader, i.e., You know the aches and pains that come with age.

• Use bulleted lists to detail the benefits of opting in. Benefits differ from features. Tell the visitor how his or her life will be better, easier, happier, more productive or whatever. Describe benefits, not features.

• Use charts, graphs and illustrations to convey detailed information.

• Provide options. Lots of them. If the only choice is to opt in or leave, most visitors will leave. Use text links to draw in visitors to specific pages of your site.

• Use pictures. This is especially true if you sell products. Show your wares on the squeeze page. They’re a great draw.

• Provide more than one opportunity to opt in. If the only place a visitor can elect to receive email from you is the squeeze page, some visitors won’t be able to find it without reloading their browsers. So, provide an opt in box on the home page.

When used properly, a well-developed squeeze page can work wonders in building up your database. And, if the opt ins receive good information from you each day or week or month, you’ll quickly build a loyal following – visitors who become buyers.

Expand your presence with the perfect squeeze page and get a grip on your buyers.

Get  a GRIP.

Later,

Webwordslinger

THINKING OF SHUTTING DOWN YOUR WEBSITE OR BLOG? DON'T!

About to Give Up On Your

Web Site OR Blog?

Don't Stop Now!

Let’s say that you built a great looking website, you hung out at webmaster sites and blogs like this one, and you did everything you read. You followed the “Five Tips to Web Success” and even paid $395 for a book on how to optimize your site. And, after a year, your digital doorway is covered in cobwebs.

Is it time to quit, cut your losses, throw in the towel? Well, if you’re selling the Ebola virus, probably. It wasn’t a good business model in the first place.

But, if you think your business model is sound, it hasn’t been replicated 1,200,000 times and you’ve already invested the time (and money?) to give this online dream a chance, don’t quit.

First, you’ve already put in the time – the most expensive component. Second, if you’re like most new businesses, you’re using a shared hosting service – less than $7.00 a month – so that’s not going to break the bank. No, instead of pulling the plug, rethink your business and marketing strategies and start employing some guerrilla marketing tactics.

Analyze the Site’s Problems

There are like a billion site metrics programs you can buy or get free (OSS) but trying to make sense of this jumble of numbers is like trying to read a foreign language. One way to simplify metrics analysis and actually make them useful is to buy software that provides GUIs – (that’s gooies) – graphical user interfaces.

Some produce heat maps that show site page hot spots, some offer percentage overlays showing how many visitors went here or there, and some provide numerical listings that don’t require a Harvard MBA to analyze and put to good use. Forget the number crunchers. Go gooey. Check out Crazy Egg for an example.

Two important points about metrics analysis. Metrics show you what’s already happened. It’s old news as soon as you get it. It doesn’t tell you what’s happening now or what will happen. It’s an important point to remember when planning your comeback assault.

The second point is this: metrics are very easy to misinterpret. You make a change, see an improvement (or decline) and assume the change was the cause. Post hoc ergo propter hoc: After this, therefore because of this. Simply because you see a specific result doesn’t mean it was caused by any changes you made. Heck, Goggle might have hiccupped.

Simplify, simplify, simplify. – Henry David Thoreau

The man had the right idea. Go through each page of your site and find ways to simplify – simplify the text, graphics, animations, navigation, objective – anything and everything. Most site owners optimize for search engines. Optimize for humans, who by the way, look for very different things than search engines look for.

Cut All Unnecessary Costs

If you’re paying a drop shipper to ship three units a week, do it yourself until you can justify the cost of the shipper. You don’t need a bookkeeper (though you should have an accountant for tax purposes), you don’t need fancy office furniture and you can store inventory in the spare room (unless it’s that Ebola; store that in the garage).

If your site is up and running (as in fully functional and secure) your only cost should be hosting costs and that’s loose change. Cut it to the bone, even if you really do want that new Blackberry. (“But honey, I need it for business!”)

BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE

The online gurus want you to believe that there’s some magical, mystical formula that you can follow to build your site to success. If there were one formula, we’d all be driving Ferraris.

Ecommerce is no different than any other commerce going back to when cave clans swapped shiny rocks. The same principles apply.

For example, the ‘experts” like to toss around the term “viral marketing” like it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. Well, viral marketing has been around since the hula hoop craze. It’s just a digi-geek term for word of mouth (WOM) marketing. A single video on You Tube got over 1 million hits in less than 24 hours. Why? Word of mouth. Media exposure. It was everywhere and everyone wanted to see it for themselves.

Conversion ratios? Nothing more than how many visitors turn into buyers (and hopefully you can figure out why).

Your marketing, on site and through remote or PPC marketing, should appeal to basic human emotions – love, fear, belonging and so on. Humans haven’t changed. Just the way they access marketing.

Conventional Wisdom is… Conventional

Hey, do those flashing links telling you (and a million other visitors) that “You’re the 10,000^th Visitor and You Win a FREE iPod” make you want to click on the link? Maybe once to see what the catch is, and there’s always a catch. But once you’ve seen it, it’s not an effective marketing tool.

Come-ons, bogus promises, the hard sell – this stuff works on the lowest common denominator and that’s it. The only people who are going to click on your “Win an iPod” link are six-year-olds who like the blinking lights.

If you want to get noticed, think outside of the box – the computer box. Some very smart guy registered the domain name www.perezhilton, built a celeb-gossip website and is now a regular on the talk show circuit. From unknown to self-appointed celeb commentator in 12 months. That’s thinking outside the box, though there are probably better ways to spend your time than chasing Brangelina around the globe.

If you’ve seen it, we’ve all seen it. Time for a new idea. A national treasure hunt with a big prize, a buried treasure chest or a dream date with Perez. Who knows what the next big thing will be, but it could be yours.

So, the heavy lifting has been done. Play with your toy. It’s not costing much, so try something out of the ordinary – even controversial. Controversy sells. Just ask Perez Hilton.

I CAN WORK IN MY SLIPPERS. HOW COOL IS THAT?

THERE'S NOTHING BETTER THAN WRITING FROM HOME FOR YOUR LIVLIHOOD.

THE FRINGE BENEFITS ARE RIGHT THERE.

GO AHEAD, WORK IN YOUR FUZZY SLIPPERS.

Writing From Home:

Six Tips to Keep You On Track

For most of us, working from home will feel a little…well, weird at first. No boss, no florescent bulbs humming overhead, no cubicle. Strange. But I’ve been doing it since Jimmy Carter was president and over the years I’ve learned how to make working at home a workable solution.

Some tips:

1. When you work at home it doesn’t look like work to others. So you’ll get calls from friends during scheduled work hours and your spouse will ask you to run a few errands around town – something that takes three hours out of your work day.

Your inner circle (family and friends) must respect your work time. You must respect it, too. Caller ID shows you it’s your neighbor – a time-waster if ever there was one. So, don’t take the call.

And ask your spouse to pick up her own dry cleaning. You have a web writing business to run. If you treat your activities as a business, others will come to do so, as well.

2. Create a work schedule. Whether you’re going at this part- or full-time, time is money so you want to allocate it wisely. On the other hand, writing from home provides flex-time so you can manage the school carpool and still get to your desk by 9:30 – plenty of time to crank out a piece for syndication.

A schedule is also good for those of us with ADHD and have the attention span of a gnat. If you schedule four hours to do a press release the next day, you become your own boss. It’s always better to be on your boss’ good side – even when you’re the boss.

3. Create your sanctuary. This is the place you go to work. It’s an easy commute and you can handle a conference call in your fuzzy slippers.

The family should know that when mom or dad is “in the office” no disturbances unless the house is actually engulfed in flames. Then you want to know about it, but otherwise, leave the family problems at your office door for pick-up at the end of the work day.

4. Protect your business. Your business exists on your computer’s hard drive. Content in development, addresses and phone numbers, templates, tools – all stored on that one hard drive. Gulp!

It’s essential to protect your expanding pile of business assets. So…

• Use a separate computer for business. Keep the kids (and spouse) off.

• Use an outboard hard drive to back-up all your work automatically. This way, if the hard drive in your computer heads south, you still have your valuable files for download to your new (and more powerful) system.

• And if you’re really serious (and you should be), consider an off-site storage service – an FTP which stands for File Transfer Protocol. In fact, what you want is an sFTP – a secure FTP service. You simply upload your files to this off-site server. This way, if the house burns down or you find the office underwater during flood season, all of your critical data is stored off site waiting for you when you’re back up and running.

Google ‘secure FTP’ to find the service that suits your budget. (Yes, you’ll pay a few bucks for an sFTP each month but think of how much better you’ll sleep at night.)

5. Get a separate business line. True story. I was the lead on a conference call with 16 content experts all talking at once – and this was a Fortune 500 company – you know, a quality, deep pockets client.

An way, right in the middle of the give-and-take discovery phase, my wife picks up the downstairs phone and presses an auto-dial number without listening to see if the phone was in use. Of course, when she realized her mistake she quickly apologized and hung up but you could feel the palpable silence on the other end of the line.

I brushed it off with an “Okay, where were we…” but let’s just say I looked like a total amateur and the tenor of the conversation took a noticeable turn to the left, as in, we all left in a hurry. (Though I was able to save the account with a follow-up to my contact point who had a good laugh over the matter. Tough to laugh at your own goofs.)

6. Run your business on a shoestring. Sure, if you’re still using dial-up on the old Coleco 64 (anybody remember them?), you’ll want to upgrade to a quality, dependable, new system from a reputable manufacturer. (No recommendations, here.)

But skip the embossed, watermarked stationery. You won’t use it. Who uses snail mail anymore except my electric company? (The bastards!)

Skip the engraved business cards. Buy business card software and high quality biz-card stationery and print as needed. Always a good idea to carry a couple of business cards. You never know when you’ll run into a potential client. (Parties are great for networking, especially after the wine has been flowing for a few hours. Man, that’s one easy contract!)

If you’re working at home you probably don’t need a Blackberry or other PDA. You’re home, already! You aren’t going to need to be texted remotely. You’re right there, or at least you should be.

There’s more. Self-discipline, the importance of deadlines and staying in touch with clients, marketing your services and so on. But, here’s the bottom line – literally and figuratively:

If you’re going to write from home, you have a business. Treat it as such.

Just starting a home based business? It's exciting and frightening, kinda like a rollercoaster ride. Call me. Together, we can smooth out some of the bumps.

Did you write yet today?

Webwordslinger.com

GETTING FROM HERE TO THERE ON SITE

Changing Course:

Updating Site Navigation The Easy Way

Things change. Websites change. Often. And when you’re managing dozens, if not hundreds, of pages of content, the most time-consuming job isn’t developing new blog entries or replying to customer e-mails. It’s changing the site’s navigation – even a little bit. To visit each page of a large site and add a new link to the navigation menu isn’t just time-consuming, in many cases, it’s just not practical. Your site’s navigation may or may not function properly during these changes and your smooth-running e-business is suddenly an HTML mess.

HTML Frames

HTML frames enable you to place all of your navigation data in a single frame. The concept of frames is simple. The browser window – what the visitor sees – is divided into frames. Each frame contains its own HTML page. Using HTML frames, you’d place all of the content in one frame and use a separate frame for all of your navigation code.

You simply update the HTML frame of the navigation page, upload the changed frame to your host server and the change is made across the whole site.

Many coders are reluctant to employ HTML frames for a few reasons. First, they make search engine spiders crazy. Because several frames (HTML pages) appear on a single browser screen, spiders have a tough time determining what each frame is for and their relationship to one another. This can result in a mis-indexed or partially indexed site. The problem can be somewhat mitigated through the use of a site map which directs spiders to site links. This way, spiders don’t have to figure out the purpose of each HTML page (something they aren’t very good at) because the site map provides all of that information to them.

Even so, many site designers don’t employ HTML frames fearing that even a site map won’t rectify the incomplete indexing issue. So, there are other ways to go – especially if your site is really dynamic (changing often) and interactive with visitors.

Server Side Coding

Better web hosts provide a server side system that enables programmers to upload files to the host server that are then executed on the server itself. Using this method to update site navigation, you’d create a separate text file that contained all of your navigation HTML code. Then, you’d direct the server to include the contents of the text file whenever your site is accessed.

The benefit of using server side storage of navigation code is that all code is located in a single file – a real benefit when reprogramming an expansive site . And because all of this code is isolated in a separate text file, you simply open the file, make the code change and close the file. Update the navigation one time, in one place. Easy. Even better, because the navigation code is executed on the server, you won’t have to worry about confusing spiders or visitors. And your site never goes off line.

Use Other Scripts for Navigation Code

PHP, which stands for Hypertext Preprocessor, is open source software (OSS) that has dedicated community support. It’s used to create dynamic site content – content that changes on-the-go. This can include everything from hourly specials to updating site navigation quickly.

The popularity and widespread use of PHP enables PHP navigation to interface with a number of compression formats and Windows API.

ASP is another HTML compatible technology designed to simplify and speed up the process of making changes to dynamic content. ASP stands for Active Server Pages. ASP employs server side scripts that won’t be impacted by various browser configurations employed by site visitors. ASP web pages, identified by the .asp extension, must be delivered through a server that supports ASP on a request from a visitor – a click on the navigation menu, for example.

PHP and ASP solve the problem of changing virtually any aspect of a site, from navigation to the look of the presentation layer. And because ASP is stored and run on the host server, no ASP ever gets passed to the user’s browser. This not only makes changing navigation easy, it also speeds up downloads and speeds up response times to user requests. There are numerous PHP and ASP sites that contain cut-and-paste code that you can use to create a fully dynamic, more interactive website.

Search and Replace Software

This software is low cost and is most useful for sites that are active and sites that contain template-based pages, which is the case for most start-ups. Because a template was used to create the site, the navigation code will always appear in the same location on every site page.

Search and replace software allows site owners to make changes to their sites simply. The change is made once within the software GUI and the software then goes to each page making the same change over and over. A job that would normally take hours, even days, can be done in just minutes.

There are a number of search and replace software packs, each with its own list of features and limitations. Some of the better known are “Search and Replace for Windows” from Funduc Software, Alias Find and Replace from Alias and Wildcard Search and Replace from Wildcard. All of this software searches any text or HTML file and replaces the letter strings you designate with the new letter strings you supply.

For site designers and experienced webmasters, make sure that whichever search and replace software you purchase provides a “confirmation option” that equips you to view each letter string before being replaced. You also want the option to open that particular HTML or text file to hand code the web page itself.

Indeed, things change, particularly on the W3. Using search and replace software simplifies making changes. PHP and ASP can be interfaced with a database to create truly dynamic pages – pages that welcome a visitor by name, for example. And for simple, low cost efficiency, consider the use of HTML frames.

Keep your site fresh and keep you navigation simple and up to date. If your metrics analysis indicates confusion on the part of visitors, e.g. an inordinate number of bounces, use any of these means to update your navigation, improve content accessibility and watch that conversion rate rise.

CONNECTIVITY = WEB SUCCESS

BUILD YOUR OWN

WEBLET

Weblets:

Join Forces. Make Friends. Build Revenue.

You launch your site, Google your URL and discover that the only site ranking lower is the one selling the Hanta virus. (Really bad business decision on the part of the “Virus for Sale” site).

So what’s a site owner supposed to do to get a little respect? A little attention? And some foot traffic? Easy. Start a weblet.

What’s a Weblet?

There are plenty of site owners in the same boat. No page rank, indifferent recognition by search engines and a site rank over four million. In other words, invisible to potential buyers.

A weblet links together a group of small sites selling to the same demographic but not competing with other weblet members. It’s called parallel marketing and you want to go proactive on this ASAP.

Here’s an example of a weblet:

Site A (you) sell programming services. So, you exchange links with an SEO company, a computer hardware site, a data security site, an FTP site, a web design firm – all businesses targeting the same demographic but not providing competing goods and services.

The benefits of starting a weblet:

• a larger web presence quickly.

• more highly-qualified visitors (which translates into higher per sale ratios).

• consolidation of useful information for visitors.

• lots of reciprocal links.

• self-perpetuating expansion.

• increased traffic = increased sales = increased net profits.

Let’s look at each of these benefits more closely.

A Larger Web Presence Quickly

A weblet is not intended to impress search engine spiders. All of those reciprocal links cancel each other out. But the point of a weblet isn’t to move you up in page rank. A weblet is people-driven. Forget the bots. A weblet drives more traffic by creating a bigger web presence – fast.

Think about it. Your little site, tucked back in the weboonies, won’t see much organic search engine traffic – no matter how much you optimize for search engines. SEO is for search engines. A weblet is for buyers.

By joining or creating a weblet, you cast a wider net over the same demographic. Example:

Site A books cruises.

Site B provides insurance at discount rates for seniors (seniors cruise a lot, FYI)

Site C books adventure travel packages

Site D provides lodging

Site E plane reservations

Straight on down the line. All low-ranking sites. All with zero web presence. But, when linked, the whole, indeed, becomes greater than the sum of the parts. You’ve created (or joined) a useful tool to enhance web buyers’ searches. You’ve created market synergy. Cool.

More Highly-Qualified Visitors

Weblet-driven visitors found your site through a topic-related site. This indicates either more-than-casual interest or a knowledgeable buyer searching the weblet for a number of related goods and services.

The driven visitor, eager to learn more, will ultimately be eager to purchase more. And the knowledgeable buyer (your best customer) knows his or her needs and standards for quality, making the sale and long-term client care easier and less expensive than if that visitor found you via a PPC blue block on Google’s SERPs.

Consolidation of Information

A weblet is a collection of sites that share one thing in common – the same demographic. Whether the web user who enters your weblet is “just looking” or ready to buy, you and your weblet buddies have made it easier for the buyer to meet his/her needs, and for you and other weblet members to make the sale or close the deal.

In other words, weblets work because they make surfing easier for digital buyers with lots of digital dollars to spend.

Lots of Reciprocal Links

Not as good as one-way links into to your site as far as search engine algorithms are calculated, but again, weblets are about buyers not bots. So, you won’t move up much for PR, even with all of this inter-connectivity, though you well score points for having lots of useful links for visitors. You score some points with bots but, again, that’s not the point.

Your little, unconnected site isn’t going to be found by luck. But when you’re linked into 20 or 30 related sites, you have a lot of access points into your online store. That’s a good thing for your bottom line. Bots don’t buy.

Self-Perpetuating Expansion

Once a weblet has been started, it will expand organically as more topic-specific sites want in. This is good and bad. You want lots of related sites all linked together but if a lone taxidermy site suddenly links in you’ve got a problem because the link isn’t useful to your lace collectors’ weblet.

Maintain the role of administrator of the weblet so that you can keep all links on topic. Encourage weblet members to recruit other related sites to join. The more the merrier. And the bigger and more expansive the presence of each, individual site.

Suggestion: Create a simple logo for your weblet that members display on their sites. “Member Coin Collectors Weblet” It’s a badge of membership and a confidence builder, indicating that peer sites give tacit approval of a weblet site, its products and practices.

Increased Revenues

Increased profits.

As a weblet member, you’ll see more weblet-driven traffic – knowledgeable buyers looking for information and the best deal on the web. You’re plugged in to other sites much faster, providing a service to site visitors by providing links to further searches. You build good will and confidence quickly.

And that, in turn, quickly becomes the profitability you’ve been looking for.

Start by making a list of parallel services and products. Google each. Look for lower ranking sites – pages 10 of the SERPs and beyond. Contact these site owners via the contact us page or look up the site’s owner in Whois and get to work spreading the word through your own weblet.

Free and effective. You gotta love that.

Connectivty = web success. Drop me a line and let's get your site hooked into the grid, eh?

Webwordslinger.com

GO HYPER-VIRAL ON LAUNCH DAY

Ummm, no, this is NOT viral marketing, but it could be just plain viral. Wash your hands.

Ready to Launch?

Go Hyper-Viral and Get Noticed NOW!

Viral marketing has been around for thousands of years. It’s nothing more than word of mouth marketing (WOM), but with the advent of the world wide web (W3), viral has taken on a nuanced cachet of subversion – exploiting the system. How cool is that?

Through the centuries, WOM was just that. One person told another who told another about this book or that technology and word spread. It was self-perpetuating. As the band of “in-the-know” individuals expanded, naturally WOM expanded with it.

Today, within the ferocious sphere of e-commerce, viral marketing has changed tactics but the premise is still based on word of mouth. Today viral marketing includes:

• blog posts on topics of a site owner’s expertise with a back link to the poster’s site

• uploading product “how-tos,” movie trailers and endorsements to YouTube and other sites that rely on user-generated content

• syndicating articles to other web sites, providing a back link

• creating connectivity within a smaller, niche market (building a weblet; see below)

• posting to Wiki sites to establish authority within a market or commercial sphere

There are other viral tactics. Create a billboard on MySpace and Facebook pointing to your site; sign up as an expert on Yahoo Answers; list services on sites like Craigslist; make your site book-markable by providing visitors the option to ping you at sites like digg and other social book marking sites. Digital technology has changed the tactics of viral, word of mouth advertising, spreading the news globally in just seconds. We’ve come a long way fast.

Hyper-Viral Marketing

Hyper-viral marketing employs new technologies to expand WOM exponentially. It’s taken a few years for the technology to catch up with demand but today, web site owners have a number of tools and tactics at their disposal to simplify and automate the process of building word of mouth webuzz.

When blogs got hot at the turn of the millennium, posting to one blog at a time wasn’t efficient, though site owners who recognized the viral aspects of this marketing tactic did, indeed, take the time to do just that. Cut and paste. Cut and paste. Over and over.

Now, software tools, like Feedburner are available to automate the process of blog posting. Using this tool and others like it makes it simpler to post content on remote sites, to measure readership and placement of syndicated content and blog posts, to maintain metrics on subscriptions to newsletters, podcasts and other interest-generating content.

Google recently purchased Feedburner. As of the day of this writing, this software was feeding 870,764 publishers (site owners like you) with 1,549,103 distinct feeds.

Feedburner is an excellent example of a tool that has been developed to turn viral marketing into hyper-viral marketing – automatically.

Facebook Goes Hyper Viral

Ever since Facebook launched and social sites went viral, online businesses have employed the resources of these sites to create some free biz buzz. It’s easy to create a digital billboard for your business on Facebook, which makes it an ideal viral marketing tool.

The social website has recently gone hyper-viral with the addition of its “People You May Know” feature. This addition increases the utility of Facebook as a viral outlet by enabling users to search for quality contacts by geography, specialty, schools attended and so on. The idea is to create smaller communities within the larger Facebook universe.

For site owners, the addition of this feature to an already valuable viral marketing tool increases the utility of the site. However, your Facebook space may have to be revisited. New content to attract Facebook’s site search bots can easily be added to link up with old business acquaintances, classmates, neighbors and so on. The result? A higher quality of contact within the Facebook/social site model.

Blog Directories

Blogs are a great way to go hyper viral fast, especially if you post provocative, controversial and bleeding edge content. Getting your blog picked up, however, is another matter. You can submit to blogs but there’s no guarantee that the blogmaster is going to give you some space without something in return – a blog bribe in the W3 trade.

Blog directories build credibility and make it much easier to find your posts. To list your blog, visit toprankblog.com for an extensive list of blog directories. Using automated technology and current blog posting software, you can access dozens of weblog directories and list your blog with a few clicks.

As blogs take on a more significant role in reporting news, identifying trends and shaping opinions and buying decisions, their importance as a hyper viral marketing tool increases. That means good content. Buzz-worthy content. Sites like Spike.com provide a lot of provocative content. (Word of caution: Spike contains content that may not be suitable for all users so be forewarned. Some of the stuff on the site is crude, salacious and downright weird, but that’s the whole point of provocative content.)

Schemes, Scams, Disputes and Deceptions

Whenever a new technology is developed, there are schemers, scammers and other neer-do-wells out to subvert the process and take advantage of the unwitting so tread slowly in this new age of hyper-viral marketing. The snake oil salesman is knocking on the door. Make sure you know what you’re paying for, what you’re getting into and what kind of measurable results you can anticipate. Oh, and does it come with any kind of guarantee?

There are blogging services and press release syndicators that “guarantee” that you’ll get posted on 10,000 blogs within 24 hours. You gotta question the editorial judgment involved in posting to appropriate blogs. Your erudite musings on the Chaos Theory may end up on an anarchist site in Columbia. Be careful. These services are automated and the results aren’t always what’s anticipated.

Oh, and are you going to take the time to determine how many blogs really got your post. Any busy blogger has enough filters on the incoming chute to keep mass mailings headed straight for the DELETE FOREVER file. The finality of the deletion is indisputable. It’s gone without so much as a look. But the PR distributor delivered on its promise by delivering your release to 10,000 sites. What’s more difficult to measure is how many opened the PR and how many ran it on their sites or blogs.

Take care when writing a check for services that are amorphous and difficult, if not impossible, to quantify. If you don’t know how success is measured using a distribution service, man, you got the wrong service.

Also, be wary of “hyper-viral” software coming to market. Some early 1.0 editions are buggy, some over-promise and under deliver and some make promises that may not synch up with your site or server side software. For example, there are several software developers selling RSS to blog software. One of the things that has held back the explosive use of RSS on the web is the hassles of aggregating, monitoring and getting the collected feeds before the site visitor in a meaningful, useful way.

These software packages and associated support services make hyperbolic claims of instant wealth and fame by filling blogs with your RSS feeds. Google “RSS to blog” and enjoy the battle of what works, what’s a scam and what’s worth further exploration.

You Gotta Go Hyper But Not Be Hyper

There are hyper viral tools like Feedburner (and lots of other blogger distribution software; Feedburner isn’t the only one) podcast and webcast syndication software (growing quickly), automated PR software, newsletter software and a bunch of other spam to hit the fan as hyper viral goes hyper viral – starting now.

Take your time. Choose which outlets will deliver bang for buck, which can be measured with specificity and analyzed in a useable format, which players want your money and which want to help by providing a truly potent service or software that makes spreading the word about your site easier, more automated, more targeted and even more personalized.

Hey, before you launch that site - your web dream - drop me a line or give me a call. You can get free pixels outta the chute. It's a snap.

Webwordslinger.com

WEBINARS SIMPLIFIED: AHHH, SHOW BIZ.

EXPERTS WILL PAY $100 FOR GOOD INFORMATION FROM AN AUTHORITY.

SIGN UP 100 ATTENDEES AND THAT'S 10K.

RECORD THE WEBINAR AND USE IT AS A WEBCAST ON YOUR SITE TO CREATE CREDS.

Webinars:

“Thank You For Attending”

Webinars have grown increasingly popular in the era of Web 2.0. They’re interactive, easy to set up and deliver a lot of advantages to the webinar host. And a lot of revenue if you’re good at it.

Webinars versus Webcasts

Webcasts are one-way communication. You, the site owner, post a digital video (DV) on your web site or upload it to YouTube and other social sites. You talk. The viewer listens. And unless you have a compelling way about you, watching a webcast is like watching grass grow.

Today, people don’t want online passivity. They don’t want to sit there. They want to interact. Interact with each other via facebook.com, myspace.com and other sites that rely on the user-generated content of those laying claim to a few pixels, and interact with experts who actually have something worthwhile to say.

Webinars are totally interactive. They’re scheduled to start at a specific time, they’re hosted by an expert and “attendees” from around the world interact with the webinar host and with each other.

Webinars are interesting because of this interactivity. As a participant, you’re free to ask the expert questions, ask for clarifications or expansion on a specific topic. You can learn a lot from these on-line classes.

Selling CEUs

They’re called continuing education units or CEUs, and lots of professions require their members to obtain a certain number of CEUs each year – every profession from private investigators in Texas to hearing aid dispensers in Maine. Hundreds of thousands of pros need CEUs. They can get them by attending classes at the local community college or professional association, by writing papers and they can earn CEUs by attending online webinars.

Starting to see the potential here? If you’re an expert in a field that requires members to continue their educations, you have a captive audience. And attending an online seminar is a lot easier than attending classes every Monday night for 16 weeks.

Certain standards have to be met to qualify for CEU recognition. The teacher has to be a professional, the course subject has to be (in some way) relevant to the professionals’ work and the seminars must actually teach, i.e. have an established syllabus or course of study. The standards are high, as they should be, so to qualify for a CEU accredited webinar, you better know what you’re talking about or zippo CEU-seekers are going to sign up.

How To Stage a Webinar Technically

There are two ways to do this thing.

First, if you’re planning on doing a webinar a week and adding to the list of classes and topics available, you’re best off buying webinar software. Here’s a link to some Q & A on what to look for in this system-based software.

However, before you fly off to the Software Shack to pick up a webinar program, try one of the hundreds of online services that specialize in the staging of webinars. These companies provide the software and some hand holding. They aren’t too pricey, either, given the competitive nature of the market. Heck, even Big Blue (IBM) offers on-line conferencing services and that’s all a webinar is – an online conference with nice pictures.

Marketing Your Webinars

If you’re CEU accredited, use Google AdWords to promote your upcoming event. Allow a six-week time window from the date you start promotion until the actual date of the webinar itself. Then, do a little viral marketing.

Respond to blog posts relevant to your upcoming event and mention date, time, URL and cost, if any. Let’s talk about that for a minute.

When you first start staging webinars, no one knows you from Adam. You’re an unknown quantity, yet to prove you’re worth $29.95 to sign up to hear your words of wisdom. So, to start building an audience and establishing credentials as a quality educational or instructional site, offer your first few webinars free. Hey, you can become a star pretty quick if you aren’t a cold fish. And people will pay for righteous information presented in a professional manner.

The exception, here, is CEU-accredited webinars. These demand a certain production standard, knowledge standard and broadcast standard. These webinars may require a cash outlay to the conferencing company, a graphic designer and techie if you think a USB port is where U.S Boats dock. So, you can charge by the CEU. Some webinars are worth 1 CEU. Another can be worth 3 CEUs depending on the credibility of the webinar producer, length and scope of the content.

If the budget can stand it, pay for links from related sites. If there’s an industry association, send its PR department a press release announcing time and place for the webinar, and be sure to include your professional biography and credentials for hosting this gab fest.

Also, if you’re doing webinars regularly, get listed in webinar directories (Google it. There are lots of them.) If you know your stuff and you’re not a stiff – you can have fun interacting with others – then you’ll quickly see the popularity of and attendance at your webinars increase.

Putting Together a Webinar

The software comes from the conference provider. On screen, you’ll have the webinar administrator’s console showing activity of participants, handling emails from participants and tracking levels of participation.

Now, the easiest way to put together one of these online lessons is to buy a decent web cam, write out your key points and interact with participants via the email option. Or, to make connections even easier and quicker, provide a telephone contact that attendees can use to ask questions, make a point or contest a point.

As the webinar administrator, you move things along. Whatever you do, don’t write a paper and read it for an hour. I’m bored just typing about it. You need some sizzle, some visuals, some eye candy to create a professional and engaging webinar.

The easiest tool to develop webinar visuals is Microsoft PowerPoint. If you don’t have it on your system, you can download it from the Microsoft site. This is a totally screen-driven program that’s almost idiot-proof. (Prove me wrong, kids. Prove me wrong.) You type text where prompted to do so.

Add a dash of color or a photograph to give a boring bullet list a little pizzazz. Especially if we’re going to be parked on it for a while. Or, instead, reveal text in the bullet list on cue simply by going to the next Power Point slide in the deck. Without too much of a learning curve, you can put together a Power Point presentation.

Using your webinar administrator’s console, you can cut back and forth between the graphics in your Power Point deck and your talking head via a hi-res webcam. By switching between the two you accomplish a couple of important tasks: (1) you put a face to the voice and the knowledge and the humor and professionalism (at least wear a nice sweater); and (2) it maintains visual interest. An hour-long Power Point presentation is almost as bad as an hour-long talking head. Switch to create interest, especially when answering questions from the crowd.

During the Webinar

You should have a list of talking points and sub-points, not a speech. You should have an agenda. “Today I’m going to talk to you about liability insurance and the private investigator. Let’s begin with blah, blah, blah…”

Encourage discussion and stop often to ask for questions. In some cases, it may take a few minutes for a question to reach the moderator’s console if the email is routed via Zambia so go with the flow. “Oops, okay, we have an email from a dental associate in California regarding that last point.” Stay flexible and nimble. As the moderator you’ll be juggling a lot of balls.

You’ll be teaching, reading emailed questions, moderating group discussions, tracking viewer activities and trying to work in a little humor all at the same time.

You should know, throughout the webinar, where you are on your agenda list and expand or contract your discussion as necessary.

Encourage debate by posing provocative questions. Part of the appeal of these events is the ability to interact with one’s peers so provide that opportunity. Then, sit back and moderate, keeping the discourse on topic.

Testing

CEU webinars require that attendees take and pass a test so if your’s is a CEU-accredited webinar, you need to develop an online post-test administered after the webinar. To earn the CEU credits, each attendee must achieve a certain grade. Hey, for all you know they were watching TV as you were explaining the latest in forensic science so those meeting professional requirements should be tested, and they should pass.

If your webinar isn’t CEU-based, testing is up to you. Frankly, the people who have signed up already know their stuff so testing seems a bit inappropriate. However, to maintain interest, ask the “Question of the Second” or “Insurance Trivia” throughout the lesson. Using Power Point makes creating “test pages” easy and the conferencing software captures attendees scores and even delivers them individually to avoid embarrassment.

Amortize Production Costs

It could cost a few bucks to put together a professional webinar that has high production values, accurate, current information and a dash of entertainment value on the web (sorely missing, btw). And if you only host the webinar once (a spot webinar), those costs are all associated with the one-shot spot. Instead, schedule webinars daily or weekly. Each time you’re able to conduct a revenue-producing webinar, the initial production costs are further amortized. So, that one time production expense pays for itself over and over.

It’s not hard to do, and if you don’t have the time, talent or inclination there are plenty of freelancers who do this stuff every day so outsource all the heavy lifting and save yourself for Saturday mornings when you become the congenial host of “Process Server Weekly, the ONLY weekly webinar for professional process servers.”

Ahh, show biz.

Thinking about producing a webinar? One client generated $15K in an hour and advertised on one web site. People will pay for good info from an authority - you. Drop me a line. Love to hear from you. Let's talk about posting a webinar and webcast - the feature that keeps on giving.

Webwordslinger.com

E-COMMERCE AIN'T FOR EVERYBODY. ARE YOU REALLY READY?

Should You Own an E-Biz?

Maybe You Should Think About This.

You read about the success stories and figure if those two teenagers can make a million on the web, so can you. Sorry, ain’t necessarily so – even if you’ve been in brick-and-mortar retail for a decade or two, the rules are different, the dynamics are different, marketing is different. It’s like comparing apples and applesauce. Sort of the same but not really.

So, here are a few questions to ask yourself before you decide to launch the next Amazon or YouTube. BTW, honesty counts. Don’t fool yourself as you answer, and no, this will not appear on your permanent record.

1. Are you ready to learn a new technology?

Actually a lot of new technologies. For instance, are you wiling to learn how to send out an auto-responder series and what that’s going to cost? Do you know what an auto-responder is??

The commercial web is a vicious, dog-eat-dog marketplace and if you’re going to compete, you’ll have to learn everything from keyword density to content management systems. Are you ready? If so, move on to question number two.

2. Do you have the time to run an online business?

A lot of new site owners picture a site with affiliate links and Google AdWords that magically draws traffic and returns pretty much a nice passive income each month. Ah, if only it worked like that.

But how are you going to get people to your site? They won’t find you on Google or Yahoo. You’ll be listed on page 121 of the search engine results pages so before you see some of that “passive” click-through cash, you have to get traffic to visit your site.

Think you can devote the time to run an online business? You can if you’re retired or a stay-at-home parent, but what if you put in long days at the office? Will you be eager to get to work on your real business – your online business? If your answer is yes, please move on to the next question.

3. Do you have the financial resources to grow an e-business to profitability?

The web is the last bastion for the do-it-yourself entrepreneur. However, there are expenses involved in launching and overseeing a cyberstore. There are web hosting costs, marketing costs (marketing should account for 60% of your initial capital outlay), the cost of inventory, shipping and so on.

You can get started on a shoestring and maintain a website for less than $7.00 a month – and that’s with a web host that offers a full bag of tools and a lot of other freebies (like free domain registration). But once you’ve launched, you have to market and, if you want traction quickly, you’re going to have to spend money to make money, just as you would in any start-up business.

4. Do you have access to support?

‘Cause you’re going to need it, unless you’re already a “behind-the-curtain” online commerce veteran. Sources for support?

Your kid probably knows more about computer security than you do. Your spouse may have a penchant for writing great sales copy. Your neighbor is a techno-whiz. There’s also tons (yes, tons) of information on the web – all free. Hey, reading this isn’t costing you a penny.

If you try to go it alone you may be overwhelmed by the learning curve. While you’re learning about keyword generators you’ll also be learning about content architecture, site navigation, product placement, affiliate programs and on and on.

The point is, you can learn all this stuff quickly – it’s not rocket science – but, at least in the start up phase, put together a list of sources that can support the effort. And don’t forget tech support.

You want access to U.S.-based tech support from your web host (when your server is down you’re out of business), the manufacturers of your business system, whether a single computer in the spare room or an ever-expanding network of work stations, and, of course, you want access to tech support or vendor support from the companies that produce the products you sell.

5. Do you like working with others?

You may be working alone at home but as an e-biz owner you are anything but alone. If you do it right you’ll be contacting wholesalers, drop shippers, customers, tech support personal and on and on.

An online business quickly becomes a part of your social network. You’ll make lots of e-friends and you’ll never be alone – even when you’re alone taking care of baby #2. Scared yet? No? Good for you. We’re almost to the finish line.

6. Do you have patience?

No matter how good you are, no matter how much of an SEO/SEM expert you are, success is almost always an evolutionary process with each new generation or iteration producing better and better results.

That means that you spend a lot of time on webmaster sites and designer blogs learning the minutia that’s now become such an important aspect of your site’s success. If you expect to turn a profit within the first week or two, it’s not going to happen. However, if

you can hang in there and overcome setbacks (all part of the game), your chances for success increase significantly.

7. Are you self-motivated?

When the alarm clock goes off and you’re faced with commuter traffic, you’re motivated – motivated to get to your desk at work on time. Working for someone else provides external motivation. You show up at work on time every day because you have to.

Not so when you run your own business. Sleep ‘til noon. Go see a movie or watch your stories on TV. If you aren’t motivated to get up, grab some coffee and log on in your PJs, you may have trouble getting down to business everyday.

The successful web entrepreneur can’t sleep. Her mind is racing and she’s at the computer at 3:00 AM – and loving it. You’re going to need that level of commitment, that drive and motivation to be one of the web success stories. No matter how many “How to Make a Million Bucks on the Web” books you read, you still need “the right stuff” to pull it off.

You have to be motivated to work long hours, to study new trends in web design (more interactivity, please) and to sit there over another cup of highly caffeinated coffee analyzing your sites metrics.

And you know what? You’re going to love every second of it. Go for it and may success greet you on Digital Boulevard.

A Cash Flow Timetable

There are lots of ways to monetize a site. The easiest for start-ups (that’s who we’re talking to today) is by signing up for affiliate programs that pay you for referrals (checkout www.cj.com) from your site and Google AdWords, a program in which you pay for placement of those little blue links on all of those billions of web pages. Talk about a cash cow! No wonder Google shares keep going up, closing today at $714.19.

Back to reality. Your cash flow timetable will be determined by the success of your marketing efforts. No marketing efforts, no success. There’s just too much competition no matter what you’re selling. So marketing is just part of the deal and always will be.

And again, to market your site is going to take dollars or euros or rupees. The more you can spend each month on marketing (without betting the farm on your site’s success) the better. There are numerous ad placement programs and pay-for-play sites that’ll be happy to link into you. (Important note of caution, here. As far as search engines are concerned, you’re known by the company you keep. If you have 200 low-ranking junk links hooked into your site it doesn’t do a thing to improve the site’s quality in the eyes of search engine spiders.) Go for quality links from the start.

90 days. There’s a number for you. IF you launch, locked and loaded with AdWords ready to fire and affiliate programs set up, AND you aggressively market your site (check out this blog for lots of good advice on site promotion), you could expect to start seeing revenues within 90 days. But again, that assumes you’ve got your drop shipper plugged into your CMS, your navigation accessible to all (even those with poor eyesight and zero computer skills), your AdWords account is set up and funded and you’re looking like a business ready to hit the ground running.

90 days if you do everything right. However, mistakes will be made (you are human, aren’t you?) and glitches will gum up the works so assume a maximum of 180 days before real revenue flows just to be overly cautious (and not run out of $$$ before you even launch).

Do this. You can. And even if you don’t hit a home run, a double that brings in an extra $300 a month isn’t bad. In fact, it sounds pretty good.

For starters.

Thinking about start an e-business? Got one that's not performing to expectations. NP. Drop me a line. Let's drive some traffic, eh?

Webwordslinger.com

On The Web, Your Web Host Is Your Partner. Choose Wisely.

Want to Work At Home?

Start Looking for A Web Host

We could all use a little more “walking around” money, but most of us are overworked and underpaid or, we’re stay-at-home parents who can’t go to a daily job. So, the only way people like us can ensure that our income matches our outgo is to get a work-at-home job.

Let’s Start With What Doesn’t Work

Anything you see in the newspaper or the back of magazines on making $$$ while working at home is most likely a scam. You’ll have to buy some kind of “kit” required to do the job and you’ll never hear from the goons who scammed you. If anyone is recruiting you to work at home for them, run for the hills.

What Does Work?

Your energy, enthusiasm and your need for more cash each month can lead to a profitable business – an on-line business. Don’t know anything about the world wide web? That’s not a problem. Today, anyone can own a web business without taking out a second mortgage on the house.

The Benefits Of An Own On-line Business

Low start-up costs

Really, you can have a nice, professional-looking web site up and running on-line for less than $100. True. The web hosting industry is highly-competitive so web hosts (they’re the ones that hook up your store to the web) have to provide a lot of services for a little money. So start looking for the right web host – a host that delivers enough digital space for your enterprise, the tools needed to build a site (it’s all done with templates, just pick and click) and run a site. Go with a web host that offers low monthly fees but packs a wallop with a trunk full of freebies.

Passive Income

If you already have a job, or you’re chasing after the kids all afternoon, you don’t have hours a day to tend to another business. No problem. Once you get your site set up, whether you’re selling products or services, you can automate the entire transaction process from purchase to shipping to customer satisfaction.

Now, don’t think you can just open a little cyber storefront and it’ll generate enough for you to move to the Riviera. If only it were that easy. You will have to spend some time taking care of business but you can minimize that level of participation. What’s even better? You can work when it’s convenient. Put the kids down for a nap and you’ve got an hour to process some orders or handle customer queries. Someone’s got to do it, but there are pop-in software modules that’ll take care of everything from building a great looking storefront, to processing and tracking orders, to shipping and handling, to customer queries.

So, you do have to spend some time running that on-line business but you pick when and how often.

Right Place. Right Time.

The world wide web is the fastest growing medium ever. Faster than newspaper, radio or even TV, which changed our lives in profound ways. The W3 is growing in importance to commerce at a truly phenomenal rate.

That means you’re entering the fastest growing market in the history of the world. Billions are being spent by on-line advertisers who now recognize that the interaction with our computers is much more engaging (addictive) than channel surfing for something – anything – to watch passively.

The web delivers interactivity, billions of pages of indexed text in search engines and the almost irresistible urge to communicate and interact with the rest of the world.

Risk Versus Reward

Always a crucial consideration when starting up a business. How much risk are you taking in order to reap the reward, i.e. the big payoff? In the case of an on-line business, your downside risk is limited to $100 if you do all of the work yourself – and these days you don’t have to know anything about web design to build and run a website.

You can earn a few extra bucks each month to make life a little easier or you could become the next youtube.com, which was sold to Google for $1.6 billion and it had only been on-line for two years!

Okay, it’s not likely that your idea for an on-line business will sell for a billion bucks, but it is likely to deliver some extra earnings - whether it’s a hundred dollars or a couple of thousand – each and every month.

It’s Not Brain Surgery

That’s a fact. There are a lot of dim bulbs on the web who are working at home, naming their own hours and making a living, or at least supplementing the family income.

Start by coming up with the right idea for you. It should be something about which you’re passionate, something you love because you’re going to spend a lot of time working to build your home-based, web-based business.

Next, find the right web host. Shop around. A lot. You can even get free web hosting as long as you’re willing to display the web host’s paid advertising on your “free” site. Not a good way to go.

Find a web host that doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg for a monthly subscription (less than $10 a month is good). Some excellent web hosts cost even less than that. Finally, look at the tool box the web host offers. Does it have everything you need to build and run your on-line business? It should, and you should be able to get all of this for less than you spend at a fast food place for a family dinner.

Build It and They Will Come

There’s software today that does everything but suck up the dust bunnies behind your computer. Site builder software. Merchant account software (so you can accept credit cards). Checkout software with built-in security. Software to measure your site’s performance, start your own blog, advertise and market your web site. There are dozens and dozens of software packs that make it easy to build and run an on-line business. Your kids could administer the site. (Well, maybe not the four-year-old but who knows?)

Here’s the key distinction between work-at-home jobs: if they’re coming after you, you’re about to be scammed. If you’re working to build an at-home business and you started it all on your own, you have to consider the world wide web for its risk versus reward equation.

No, it’s not easy but nothing worth having ever is. You will have to work at it. Pay attention to it and oversee daily functions – on your schedule. And that’s what makes the difference. It’s your business and you receive the benefit of your hard work and solid marketing instincts.

You can do this. For pocket change, just to test the waters. And if you start growing and becoming more profitable, you can gradually build your on-line presence from a small storefront for your hand-made ceramics to “Sue’s Ceramics Barn, Best Prices on the Web.”

Hey, it could happen. The simple fact is, you’ll never know unless you try.

Need some advice on building a web-based biz. NP. Drop me a line. I specialize in start-ups and guerrilla marketing.

Webwordslinger.com