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April 28, 2007
5 Easy Steps for Writing an Article that Gets Top Results
You may not know it, but you have an easy way to bring targeted traffic to your site. You can write articles for publication in ezines that will continue to bring you traffic to your site long after they appear online. Just think of this as an unstoppable traffic generator for your online business.
You do not have to be a Hemingway to be a great article writer. There are some basic rules to follow though. Here are 5 steps to writing a good article that will attract attention and result in more traffic and sales for your business.
ACTION STEP 1 - Create A Hot Title
You must grab the attention of the reader first. People scan everything before they commit to reading it. Let them know what the article is about in a way that makes them want to dig into it for more information. Two classic ways to make a good title are to use a "How to" format, such as, "How To Get A Base Hit 7 Times Out Of Ten", and the "Tips" format, which might go something like this: "5 Super Easy Tips To Relieve Stress".
ACTION STEP 2 - Get Your Reader's Attention With An Interesting Opening Sentence
The next most important part of writing your article is to grab the reader with a powerful first sentence. This will keep them interested and wanting more information. Two of the best ways to hook your reader is to ask a question or to state a fact.
A question should make the reader curious to find out the answer by finishing the article. If you state a fact, you must make it the basis for the rest of your article.
ACTION STEP 3 - Discuss The Main Points In The Body Of The Article
Here is where you provide the content of your article, and the solutions to the problem that you are solving for the reader. Your purpose here is to educate and inform. Address each problem and follow it with the solution. Or if you are giving tips to your reader, you can list each tip in the order that best solves their problem.
ACTION STEP 4 - Summary and Ask Your Reader To Take Action
Always include a brief summary for maximum results. Then tell your reader why it is important for them to take action now. Give a benefit or two as an incentive for them to respond now. This can be a link to your website or newsletter. After all, this was the primary purpose of your article.
ACTION STEP 5 - Include A Powerful Resource Box After Your Article
You absolutely need to make a resource box promoting your website, eBook, eCourse or affiliate program. The resource box gives the reader another way to get more information. This will spur the traffic to your promotion as more people read your article. Create a resource box that tells who you are and what you are offering to the reader. This should take no more than 3-6 lines of text.
These 5 steps will ensure that you have an article that people will want to read and then visit your website. Just use this easy 5-step format and simply fill in the details with your own information. Then distribute your articles to ezine and newsletter publishers in your business niche. The result will be more targeted traffic and increased visibility for your business.
Posted by billenross at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)
April 27, 2007
10 Quick Rules for Better Search Engine Ranking
If you are setting up a website, follow these simple rules to improve search engine rankings of your site. You can also follow these techniques if your website is not ranked high in search engines for certain keywords. Concentrate on the home page of your site and once you learn the techniques, you will be able to apply them to the other pages of your site that will have multiple high ranking pages.
1. Find keywords (or key phrases) relevant to your website. Go to the overture keyword selector tool (type key phrase overture inventory in Google) and check the popularity of the keywords you want to use. Avoid highly popular keywords. Highly popular keywords are very competitive and the least popular keywords are search engine traffic starved.
Select a dozen keywords and key phrases from the middle of the list. This is a very important exercise and you should spend at least a couple of hours, if not more, researching different keywords. While you are researching your keywords, check your competitors by doing a search in a couple of popular search engines like Google, Yahoo, etc., using those keywords. Keep a record of your competitors' urls and other information because you don't want to waste your time doing the same search again in the near future.
2. Use the keywords you selected into the meta tags of your home page. Meta tags are located in the head section of a web page. Go to one of your competitor's website and select View and then Source from your web browser's menu to view the html source of the web page. You will see the meta elements.
The two important meta tags are keywords and description meta tags. Don't leave them blank. You can list your keywords, separated by comma, in the keywords meta tag. Construct a catchy description using your keywords for the description meta tag.
3. Use the keywords in your title tag. The text you use in the title tag appears in the title bar of the web browser. The title tag should be less than 64 characters long. Again, the key is to use a meaningful title using the keywords. Don't just make a laundry list of your keywords for the title tag.
The title tag and your meta description may end up in many search engine listings. So, spend sometime to make these two elements interesting, meaningful, and relevant to your site.
4. Use the keywords in top heading (h1) tags of your page. Use one keyword (or a key phrase) for each h1 tag. Use these h1 tags for the headings of your contents.
5. In the home page content, use bold, using the strong html element, to highlight some of your keywords.
6. Italicize some of the keywords in your page.
7. Use the keywords in alt tags of images. You should always use the alt tag for all images.
8. Encourage others to use the keywords for text anchors when they link back to your site. Better yet, publish your own short link text with keyword anchors, bold and italicized key phrases and give it away for link exchanges.
9. If possible, use the keywords in your domain name. Try different arrangements of the keywords to come up with an available domain name that you can register.
10. If you are using php or asp or any other web programming language for your dynamic website, make your url search engine friendly using url rewrite techniques. Search the phrase url rewrite in Google to know more about url rewrite.
Keep in mind these simple rules every time you want to launch a website. Spending a few days upfront in the preparation of your site will pay off in the long run with better search engine rankings.
Posted by billenross at 08:37 AM | Comments (0)
April 02, 2007
Effective Communication on the Internet
What is communication? In simple terms it can be defined as the process whereby person A sends a message to person B, on whom it has an effect. H. D. Lasswell in 'The Structure and Function of Communication in Society' (1948) suggested this model of communication: " Who says what by what means to whom and with what effect." In practice it is more complicated than that as there is an interaction among all parties involved in the communication, involving negotiation and exchange of meaning. This interaction takes place in a cultural setting that will also have a direct bearing on the communication process.
Structuralists take a different approach, focusing on the relationship of the actual elements that are necessary for meaning to occur. These are first the text (the actual message that has a physical existence of its own, independent of either the originator, sender, or receiver) this may be the written word or could equally be a photograph or video!
The text would be made up of signs or codes, thus gestures and expressions are an important part of the process. Secondly are the 'readers' the people who take the text and within their cultural and social setting form meaning from the text, signs and codes. Finally there is an awareness of an 'external reality' to which both text and people refer. The interaction among these three elements is how meaning is produced.
Communication theory takes all these issues and tries to find a rational explanation of the processes involved and thus the success or failure (or degrees in between) of any message. Some fifty plus years since the early attempts at understanding the communication process, the Internet has opened up a completely new communication medium that is evolving at almost a daily rate.
From originally a text based medium it has evolved to have pictures (graphics) sound and audio, animation, video streaming and video instant messaging. It is so very much part of our lives that it is taken for granted, just like all the communication messages that bombard us, day in, day out as we go about our everyday lives. What must not be forgotten is that the messages that are sent and received are constructed to achieve meaning, a result.
When communicating on the Web, it is important to remember the basics of communication, that a message is being exchanged for meaning and understanding to occur. The sender encodes a message, transmits it (publishes on the Web, sends an email etc.) where upon it is received, decoded at its destination causing an effect. The problem is that because the Web is Worldwide, cultural and social factors (leaving out technological factors) can cause the message to be received in a way not intended by the sender.
The solution to creating effective communication on the Internet is to resist in blanket coverage, trying to create a message that will have the same effect everywhere but rather use targeted communication. This involves the sender in researching the audience, understanding who is receiving the message, and thus when the communication is constructed the text and all its signs and codes relate to the recipient ensuring that the message is received and understood as the sender expected.
The use of video can help with this targeted communication delivery as it can be edited and refined for delivery to many divergent audiences across the Web. The added bonus is that each version helps deliver the visual, specific clues that cultures and societies use to enhance communication.
Posted by billenross at 08:52 PM | Comments (0)
