Internet Marketing : Things Every Successful Website Need Part 3

Hello Everyone:

Here is my last installment on what you should have as key elements on your web page. If you have any questions feel free to call me at 508-595-9567.

7. Search Engine Optimized Copy:

At first glance you might not think this is so important, but trust me it is. You want your pages to rank well with the search engines and there are a few steps you can take to ensure this happens.
Each page of your website should be optimized for 2, or at the most 3 keywords/phrases. Weave the keywords into your titles and into the body of each page. You can also include them in your image titles, alt tags; even in the names you give your pages. Look at each page individually and decide what it’s about, then optimize accordingly.

8. Social Media Share Button:

With the popularity of social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace, you’d be foolish not to include an easy way for your content to be shared with others.
You’ll find many free services that will give you the code you need to instantly add a “share button” to your web pages so that visitors can instantly share them with their friends.
To generate your own buttons see:
• AddThis: http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php
• TwitThis: http://www.TwitThis.com

9. Meta Tags:

Some may tell you that meta tags are dead. Don’t listen. Meta tags should be included in your HTML code at the top of every page. Many search engines will read them to pull a description to include in their search results.
Again, each page should be optimized separately and have a unique title, keywords, and description tags.

10. Copyright Notice:

• Sounds simple but forgotten by many. All pages should include a copyright notice. If you don’t want to have to update it manually every year, find a simple JavaScript that will automatically do it for you.

11. Trust Seals/Testimonials:

I grouped these two items together as they both instill trust and confidence in your visitors. Remember, when someone comes to your website, they don’t know who you are and if you’re selling something, they may not feel comfortable giving out their credit card information. To help them feel more “warm and fuzzy”; include trust seals for any organizations you belong to:

Also, if you have testimonials from happy customers, or ezine subscribers, weave them into your site copy. People always love to hear that others have had a happy experience with your products/services. Make sure you get permission first from the testimonial writers before placing them on your website.
So there you have it -my short list of what every site needs to succeed online. Now that you’re armed with this information, get out the magnifying glasses and take a close look at your own website to see what may be missing.

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Until next time, be well.

Jim Gage

Internet Marketing : Things Every Successful Website Need Part 1

So you’ve put together a spectacular website, and you’re ready to go live on the Internet for the whole world to see. Not so fast! In case you didn’t know, there are a few essential requirements that every site needs to include in order to be successful.

That being said, in the next several posts I will go over what I believe are the building blocks of a successful website.

1. Privacy Policy/Disclaimer:

Now, I’m not a Lawyer and don’t claim to be one, but these two documents should be standard issue for every site you have. People want to know how you’re going to use their personal information, and a “privacy policy” does just that.
In today’s litigious society you’ll also need to include a disclaimer/terms of use page. This protects you and spells out to your visitors what they’re agreeing to by using your website. If you don’t know where to start in generating these documents, you’ll find plenty of help online.

--> Google Adsense & other Ad Networks
--> Privacy Policy
--> Free Site Disclaimer

This is not legal advice, and if you need help in this department, consult with a local attorney.

2. Contact Us Information:

I can’t tell you how many sites I’ve been to that fail to include a way to contact the owner. If you can’t include a phone number, at the very least have an email address or a “contact us” form. By providing this information, you’ll make your visitors feel more comfortable knowing there’s a way to reach you should the need arise.

On my next post I will continue my tips on what every website should have.

If you find these posts helpful, why not sign up for our Free Newsletter by Clicking Here , you will be glad you did.

Until next time be well.

Jim Gage

Internet Marketing: More Reasons Most Internet Businesses Fail - Conclusion

Hello All:

Today we will finish up on our topic of 'Why Internet Businesses Fail", specifically reasons 4 & 5.

4. Being a Shopaholic

This goes along with #3 above. Stop paying for every new scheme that comes along because they're promising you instant riches. All that's going to do is drain you of your money.

And then, if you're like so many others, there's a good chance you'll get frustrated and give up on the whole thing, because you don't know who you can trust anymore, and you don't want to take a chance, so your dream of workíng from home is over before it began.

Or, maybe they're not selling you a scam, but in fact have valid programs that many people use successfully in their businesses. That's great, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's right for you right now. It might be something that will be a good investment for your business later on, but you should really concentrate on getting your website up and running first. Otherwise you end up with information overload as described in #1 above.

5. Fear of Technology

Just because you haven't tried something before doesn't mean that you can't learn to do it. Think about pretty much everything you've ever done, especially the things you're good at. Did you always know how to do that, or did you learn it over time?

I'm guessing that you learned it, and you can learn to do a lot of the work on your website, too. I constantly have to tell the people I meet that it's in their best interest to learn at least a little bit of the technical stuff that comes with having a website.

I'm not saying you have to be a programming expert. In fact, if you need heavy duty programming done, then you should definitely get someone to do it for you. It'll save you a lot of time, for one. But there's no reason why you can't learn some of the basics of HTML so that whenever you need to make a small change to your website (such as the testing we talked about earlier) you won't have to pay someone to do it for you. And you won't have to wait for them to have the time.

It's not as hard as you think. It just takes a little time to learn it.

Conclusion

The most important point I'm trying to convey is that, in order to be successful online, you need to remain focused on one task at a time. Finish that task and move onto the next one. Finish that task and move on. And keep going until you're done.

Stop investing in every fancy new program that comes along. There are no "magic bullets" anyway. Stick to the plan from the beginning, and see it through to the end.

Starting a new website does require a bit of work at the beginning. There's no way around that if you want to succeed. But the great thing about working online is that once you have everything set up, you can put almost all of it on autopilot and bring in money 24 hours a day with a minimum of work.

So get started now, don't be afraid that you can't do it, don't get frustrated, and don't let anything distract you. You could be making very good money in very little time if you do it right.

For more great tips click here .

Internet Marketing: Reasons Most Internet Businesses Fail

Hello All:

The next few posts I would like to go over, what I believe causes most Internet businesses to fail - enjoy.

Here are the most common reasons that most internet businesses fail that I've seen, in no particular order:

1. Information Overload

You've probably already been inundated with emails explaining how some new money making scheme is the hottest thing on the planet and you need to get in now so that you're on the cutting edge of internet marketing.

The problem is that you haven't finished working on the previous hot new thing yet, and as soon as you start this one, yet another hot idea will hit, and so on, and so on.

In every valid email you get, there should be an "unsubscribe" link at the bottom. Start clicking on it and just stick with a few of the people who you know are giving you good information about building your business from start to finish in the right order without any distractions.

And make sure that you see every task through to completion before moving onto the next one. It's the only real way to get anything done.

2. The Curse of Perfection

Speaking of seeing tasks through to completion, also consider that not everything on your website and in your sales process has to be absolutely perfect before you can unleash it on the public.

So many home business owners who are just starting out have a habit of obsessing over every little detail forever before they'll allow themselves to launch their site.

Stop it. It doesn't have to be perfect. That doesn't mean that you don't need to make sure your website is working properly first. It means that you can work on adjusting small details, such as the color scheme, the sales copy, the images, later on. In fact, if you're planning to do any proper testing (and you should be), then you should be constantly working on those items anyway.

So get your website out there, get some traffic, make sure the big things are working right, and then worry about adjusting the small details.

More to come in future posts - don't forget to bookmark my blog.

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Internet Marketing : Squidoo and You

Today we will stay on the theme of FREE ! In my last post I provided a totally free way for you to list things you want to sell for free. Now, what if I could show you another medium to do the exact thing but with much more traffic and unlimited pages you can create - would you be interested? I thought you would be. It's known as Squidoo.com, and it's something I have been using for a number of years to create another avenue of sales for my products and services. Check it out you won't be disappointed.

If you would like help with Squidoo check out our latest training by clicking here

Be well.

Jim Gage

Internet Marketing : Question of the Month

Hello Everyone:

I would like to share with you a question that was submitted to me today, I think everyone can benefit from my answer...

Q: I would love to have a website to sell products from, but I don't have the money to have one created! What can I do besides giving up on my dream?

Bill H., Homestead, Florida

A: Hi Bill,

Don't give up, many people are in your same situation! I suggest that you start a blog and start selling products from there. There are 2 sites are would recommend which will allow you to start a blog for FREE! Yes, I said FREE - they are blogger which I use and Word Press. If you would like some direction on how to configure your blog with all the bells and whistles I have on mine, click here and send me an e-mail.

To your success,

Jim Gage