Chris Puttock's Blog

The reason I created this site is to share some of my thoughts and experiences about different aspects of Internet Marketing and to help people make a better-informed decision before they buy the latest ‘get rich quick – with one click of a magic button’.

Getting into Internet marketing is not as easy as others might think. It is not just the matter of having your personal computer connected to the Internet and you can now start earning income through Internet marketing. Above all, you need to have an idea about starting your business on the Internet. In other words, you must have done your homework first before taking the plunge of getting into Internet marketing. Remember that this kind of business venture is full of financial risk that can cause you to lose not only your investment but also your determination to continue the business venture.

If you are into Internet marketing, you must not forget the name of the late Corey Rudl. He is one of the famous personalities in the world of Internet marketing, in which he have produced 4 highly-successful business that he started from his parents’ basement area. These 4 Internet-based businesses are generating an average of $6.6 million worth of sales per year, with the help of over 60,000 affiliates. His websites are attracting over 1.8 million visitors every month.

Take note: 1.8 million visitors in each month!

How did he do that? That is the question that will strike on anybody’s mind. Whatever “magic” he applied to his business, certainly it helped him a lot in establishing an Internet marketing empire over the net. And just like other successful Internet marketers out there, he will tell you one piece of advice before you plunge yourself in the world of Internet marketing.

Take the best course and apply what you have learned from it.

There are many neophyte Internet marketers who followed the right track and took the Internet marketing course first before getting into the business action. There was once an Internet marketer who said that he personally learned more about the appropriate marketing strategies from the course than any other textbooks that he read prior to the course. It provided him excellent ideas on how he will set up his website, what stuff will he offer for sale, and others.

Thinking about getting into the best Internet marketing course before getting into the business? Good decision, yet you need to know what can you expect when you take an Internet marketing course. There are many programs (both offline and online) that offers Internet marketing course, but the best course contains the best subjects that will serve as your guide on Internet marketing. Such subjects are as follows:

1.  The course will start by discussing some basics of Internet marketing. Although it will not elaborate the history of the investment, it will include the basic opportunities on how you will be able to earn online without wasting your effort and financial resources.

2.  Next in line is setting up your website. Keep in mind that on Internet marketing, your website will serve as your “shop” where you can sell products of other Internet marketers or promote something that will generate income on your part. The subject will include the appropriate website design templates to be used on a particular business, registering your site in its own domain name, and others.

3.  Along with the course, expect that it will include several strategies on how you will be able to anticipate the moves of your competitors. Internet marketing is a growing market, and competition among Internet marketers is inevitable. Thus, there is a need for you to watch how your competitors move in order to stay alive in your chosen investment.

4.  The course will also include subjects related to website promotion through the use of online classified ads, press releases, newsletters, emails, newsgroups, and others. Keep in mind that your website must be as popular as possible so that you will be able to attract more clients. Promoting your website as your product is very critical on Internet marketing, and it is one of the subjects that would be discussed extensively.

It is natural that you will spend some of your money in taking an Internet marketing course. Keep in mind that in order to succeed, you must have the necessary knowledge and skills that will help you reach your marketing objectives. After all, the money that you will append on taking the course is much better if the return of investment later on is large enough.

Now, are you ready to plunge to the real world or have yourself first some glimpse of what you will expect on Internet marketing? If you are then click here to receive your free 5 part email course.

If you have a business, and want online marketing results that are successful, you will need to be creative and think outside of the box. The Internet is the perfect place for small businesses to establish their marketing campaign.

Using the Internet for advertising is extremely cost-effective because it is so measurable and targeted towards the people you want to reach. Internet marketing allows you to compete with the competition and come out ahead.

An eBook entitled ‘Internet Merketing Secrets Revealed‘ will show you what you need to do to turn your online website into a resource that your customers can trust. You’ll also learn how to get more customers to visit your website. The main goal of this eBook is to teach you which online marketing techniques are the most effective for your business.

Some of the things that you’ll learn include:

How to design your website so that you attract the customers you want.

• How to reach your customers through e-mail marketing.
• Why co-branding is important.
• How to choose online partners that are right for you.
• How to create customized content for you website so that your customers visit frequently.
• How to establish yourself as an expert in your specific industry.
• How to use your marketing budget without overspending.

This eBook will give you the latest information in marketing trends so that you make the most of your marketing budget. Before you rush out to purchase ‘Internet Merketing Secrets Revealed‘ I would advise you to sign up for the free 5 part eCourse that will give you an introduction to the topics covered.

Click here to receive your free 5 part email course.

by Harvey Segal

You read that right.

I’ve told Google to push off.

Stop spidering me.

I no longer want my online business to depend on its ever changing whims as to what makes a good or bad ranking.

I don’t want to spend time collecting thousands of backward links then find that they are probably worthless because the anchor text does not contain a suitable keyword, or the site does not have sufficient page rank, or whatever the latest algorithm is.

I don’t want to buy expensive cloaking tools and run the risk of penalization.

I don’t want to be bothered about whether a domain has a static or dynamic IP address or have to use different hosts to make a network of mini-sites.

What’s that you say ? You don’t need fancy tricks – just provide good relevant content.

My answer ?

Nonsense.

I have a huge content site devoted solely to ClickBank, the only one of its kind.

If you wanted to find the most relevant content for a search on the keyword ‘ClickBank’ don’t you think that would be at the top ?

Well Google used to agree with you.

It was ranked number 2, with only ClickBank.com itself at number one.

Today it is ranked … wait for it … number 426.

It is beaten out of sight by sites which have nothing to do with ClickBank but happen to mention that keyword once.

I asked a search engine expert about this and he suggested that it was due to keyword density, in other words too many mentions of the word ClickBank.

Well that has to be the case – the site is after all a ‘Complete Guide to ClickBank’ His advice – try replacing the word ClickBank occasionally e.g. use ‘CB’.

No way.

That was the last straw and became the inspiration for me to develop a revolutionary approach to getting traffic.

It led to me being called ‘The Guru who said goodbye to Google’ in the marketing forums.

And this new approach ?

It uses some of the fundamental pillars of Internet marketing that you already know – techniques which will never become obsolete.

But they are combined together in a new way and with a viral twist that you won’t have seen before.

It includes giving out free information in a certain way and I show you how exactly in my book, The Ultimate SuperTip.

And just to illustrate the principle:  the book is free and you can reproduce this article and change the URL to point to your own rebranded version.

Read the amazing book which took the Internet by storm
The Ultimate SuperTip

Website templates are very affordable and they save you a lot of effort and time when you want to create a new layout for your website. However, a lot of people make mistakes in the process of choosing and using a web template and end up with something that was unlike the image they had in mind. Here are some guidelines to help you avoid those mistakes.

The first obvious mistake you should be aware of is using a template that is very popular. If many people use the same template, your website will not appear unique at all and your credibility as a solid, different website will be tarnished. In other words, you will appear generic just like your next-door neighbours.

To whole point of using a web template is to save time and effort. You just change the title and appropriate details and you’re done. The biggest mistake one makes is to customize the template beyond recognisation. While that may be good in the sense that you’re creating a unique graphic, you’re defying the very purpose of using a web template — saving time and effort.

However, on the opposite side, if a template you purchase is suitable but some changes must be made to suit your site’s theme, then you will have to take some time to make the changes. For example, you can find a very nice template that suits your hobby site except the original designer has put an image of stamps in the header. You can find images of garden plants and spades to replace the stamps for your gardening hobby site. However, do only make the necessary changes and don’t redesign the whole template.

In some circumstances, some people simply make the wrong choice of templates. This is a very subjective issue but you have to be careful in selecting templates to suit your audience. Do not choose templates just because they are pretty, choose them because they serve your purpose.

When choosing an article for your website you need to make sure that it is of a length that is optimal for search engine optimization efforts. Articles that are as short as 200 words or as long as 500 words should fit into this category.

Even if search engine optimization is not your goal, it is still a good idea to keep your articles at this length for your reader’s sake. They are likely to not finish your page if it is any longer. This could leave them with only half of the information you wanted them to have, or even leave them with the impression that your site is too’wordy’.

Most Internet readers do not read a website page as they would a book, so the shorter the better. Even if this means splitting one long idea into 4 or 5 pages. Be sure to label them so that the reader can pick and choose which part they want to read, or so they know what is coming up next to help them determine if they want to continue reading.

Every affiliate marketer will always be looking for the successful market that gives the biggest pay check. Sometimes they think it is a magic formula that is readily available for them. Actually, it is more complicated than that. It is really a question of using good marketing practices that have been proven over years of hard work and dedication.

There are tactics that have worked before with online marketing and continue to work in the online affiliate marketing world of today. With these top three marketing tips, you will be able to able to increase your sales and survive in  affiliate marketing online.

What are these three tactics?

1. Using unique web pages to promote each separate product you are marketing. Do not lump them all together just to save some money on web hosting. It is best to have a site focused exclusively on each and every product and nothing more.

Always include product reviews on the website so that your visitors will have an initial understanding on what the product can do for those who buy. Also include testimonials from users who have already tried the product. Be sure that these customers are more than willing to allow you to use their names and photos on the site of the specific product you are marketing.

You can also write articles highlighting the uses of the product and include them on the website as an additional page. Make the pages attractive and compelling, and include calls to act on the information. Each headline should attract the readers to try and read more, even contact you. Highlight your special points. This will help your readers to learn what the page is about and will want to find out more.

2. Offer free reports to your readers. If possible position them at the very top side of your page so they simply cannot be missed. Try to create auto-responder messages that will be mailed to those who input their personal information into your sign up box. According to research, a sale is closed usually on the seventh contact with a prospect.

Only two things can possibly happen with the web page alone: closed sale or the prospect leaving the page and never return again. By placing useful information into their inboxes at certain specified periods, you will remind them of the product they thought they wanted later, then you will find out that the sale has been closed. Be sure that the content is directed toward specific reasons to buy the product. Do not make it sound like a sales pitch.

Focus on important points like how your product can make life and things easier and more enjoyable. Include compelling subject lines in the email. As much as possible, avoid using the word “free” because there are still older spam filters that dumps those kind of content into the junk before even anyone reads them first. Convince those who signed up for your free reports that they will be missing something big if they do not avail themselves of your products and services.

3. Get the kind of traffic that is targeted to your product. Just think, if the person who visited your website has no interest whatsoever in what you are offering, they will be among those who move on and never come back. Write articles for publication in e-zines and e-reports. This way you can locate publications that are focusing on your target customers and what you have put up might just grab their interest.

Try to write a minimum of 2 articles per week, with at least 300-600 words in length. By continuously writing and maintaining these articles you can generate as many as 100 targeted readers to your site in a day.

Always remember that only 1 out of 100 people are likely to buy your product or get your services. If you can generate as much as 1,000 targeted hits for your website in a day that means you can made 10 sales based on the average statistic.

The tactics given above do not really sound very difficult to do, if you think about it. It just requires a little time and an action plan on your part.

Try to use these tips for several affiliate marketing programs. You can end up maintaining a good source of income and surviving in this business, something that not all marketers can do.

Some webmasters try to use articles from free content directories to get visitors to their site and make some money. This is mostly important for those who have just begun working as an affiliate for several companies and do not yet have any funding, yet need to built small niche websites to visitors to their site so that they can begin making revenue.

Although this can sometimes be the only option for those who are running on a non-existent budget, it is not a way that will effectively build your website or revenue. There are a few potential reasons why this may be detrimental to your business building efforts.

Problem 1 – Search Engines

Search engines will only look down upon your site if it has the exact same duplicated content than other sites. The more sites that share your content, the less it will help you achieve good search engine rankings.

Good search engine rankings are essential in getting visitors to your site so that they have a chance to click on your affiliate links. If you cannot even get visitors, then you will never make any revenue. Working on the search engine optimization of your site so that you will eventually be high enough in the results to get customers, should be priority one.

Problem 2 – Getting visitors to click

Although getting your site high on search engine result pages and acquiring site visitors is hard work, unfortunately this is only half of the battle. You must also be able to convince those visitors to click on your affiliate links. If your visitors see the same content they have seen on a multitude of other sites, they will be less likely to click on your links. This is because most people want to buy things that are recommended by people that they trust or whom they feel are an expert on the subject.

If your content is just duplicated from other sites, you will be exposed as someone who does not really know what they are talking about and therefore will not look heavily on your product recommendations. This will reduce the number of website visitors who will be willing to click through.

Problem 3 – Author Bylines

Most free content is only given to you if you agree to place the authors byline under the article (you can get into trouble if you try to use it without following the stipulated rules). This poses a problem because most author bylines include links. When a reader gets done reading a really intriguing article, there is a strong possibility that they will click on the author’s byline link rather than your affiliate links. This is the entire reason why these authors offer free content to begin with, so that they may get their name and links out there to the public. Using this type of content may mean shooting yourself in the foot and losing possible profitable website visitors.

Once you put these three problems together, you are looking at a serious decline in revenue simply because you used free website content from article directories. Although it may be the only option for some, if you have the funds to buy your own original content, then you should go this route. If you don’t have the finds, however, you may be better off writing your own content and then hiring professional services once you have made a profit to work with.

When it comes to your website, extra attention should be paid to every minute detail to make sure it performs optimally to serve its purpose. Here are seven important rules of thumb to observe to make sure your website performs well.

1) Do not use splash pages

Splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very beautiful image with words like “welcome” or “click here to enter”. In fact, they are just that – pretty vases with no real purpose. Do not let your visitors have a reason to click on the “back” button! Give them the value of your site up front without the splash page.

2) Do not use excessive banner advertisements

Even the least net savvy people have trained themselves to ignore banner advertisements so you will be wasting valuable website real estate. Instead, provide more valueable content and weave relevant affiliate links into your content, and let your visitors feel that they want to buy instead of being pushed to buy.

3) Have a simple and clear navigation

You have to provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. Stay away from complicated Flash based menus or multi-tiered dropdown menus. If your visitors don’t know how to navigate, they will leave your site.

4) Have a clear indication of where the user is

When visitors are deeply engrossed in browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at that moment. That way, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily. Don’t confuse your visitors because confusion means “abandon ship”!

5) Avoid using audio on your site

If your visitor is going to stay a long time at your site, reading your content, you will want to make sure they’re not annoyed by some audio looping on and on on your website. If you insist on adding audio, make sure they have some control over it – volume or muting controls would work fine.

Your website is where your business resides – it’s like the headquarter of an offline company. Hence, it is important to practise good design principles to make sure your site reaches out to the maximum number of visitors and sells to as many people as possible.

Make sure you have clear directions on the navigation of your website. The navigation menu should be uncluttered and concise so that visitors know how to navigate around your website without confusion.

Reduce the number of images on your website. They make your site load very slowly and more often than not they are very unnecessary. If you think any image is essential on your site, make sure you optimize them using image editing programs so that they have a minimum file size.

Keep your text paragraphs at a reasonable length. If a paragraph is too long, you should split it into seperate paragraphs so that the text blocks will not be too big. This is important because a block of text that is too large will deter visitors from reading your content.

Make sure your website complies to web standards at www.w3.org and make sure they are cross-browser compatible. If your website looks great in Internet Explorer but breaks horribly in Firefox and Opera, you will lose out on a lot of prospective visitors.

Avoid using scripting languages on your site unless it is absolutely necessary. Use scripting languages to handle or manipulate data, not to create visual effects on your website. Heavy scripts will slow down the loading time of your site and even crash some browsers. Also, scripts are not supported across all browsers, so some visitors might miss important information because of that.

Use CSS to style your page content because they save a lot of work by styling all elements on your website in one go.