by Jonathan Ginsberg
If you have recently searched the Internet to find information about any topic, no doubt you have run across blogs in your search results. The term “blog” is short for “web log” and it refers to an increasingly popular type of web site. However, blogs are different from traditional web sites in many ways.
Firstly, most blogs are not based on a hierarchical structure. Usually there is not a “home” page and you may not see navigation buttons. Instead, blog authors add content in an on-going manner - kind of like one might update a diary or journal - daily, weekly, monthly or periodically. You use various search features on the blog itself to find what you need.
Blogs also differ from standard web sites in that most of the time, you are invited to interact with the blog author and/or other visitors via a comment feature. In the case of popular or controversial blogs, a blog entry may trigger hundreds of comments.
Blog posts and comments can also be exported and republished using a technology called RSS - “real simple syndication.” You can import blog posts into your website using RSS, or you can add a blog’s RSS feed to your personalized home page - such as My Yahoo, My MSN or Personalized Google home page. RSS syndication means that you can subscribe to one or more bloggers, reading their posts without ever re-visting the actual blog.
Search engines like Google and Yahoo tend to return blog posts in search results because blog entries are relevant, current and relatively new. There are also a number of blog specific search engines that have sprung up to service searchers who only want to search blogs. Google and Yahoo both have blog specific search engines and several other engines such as Technorati and Bloglines offer blog only searches.
As is the case with traditional web sites, the information contained in blog posts is not inherently accurate or reliable. You must consider who is writing the blog and his or her purpose for doing so. Blogs are very popular sources of political opinion, but they can also be used to present factual information as well. I am a lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia and I use my blogs to answer questions about possible cases, comment about new developments in the law and to answer frequently asked questions. Because my law blogs are so much easier to update and keep current, I suspect that I have published more content on my blogs than on my traditional web sites. Although I have not yet reached the point where I am prepared to close down my hierarchical web sites, I do know several lawyers whose blogs serve as their only presence on the web.
If you have not yet explored the “blogosphere,” I encourage you to take a look. In my view, blogs are the next logical step in the evolution of the web. And with blogs ideally suited to audio and video, I have no doubt that more and more of the information on the web will be presented in blog form.
About the Author: Jonathan Ginsberg is a practicing Social Security disability and bankruptcy lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia. Jonathan is an active blogger, publishing the the Consumer Bankruptcy blog, the Social Security disability blog and Social Security disability radio.
by Raymond Nesa
Pay per click advertising is surely the quickest way to divert quality traffic to your site. There are a number of benefits to it. You don’t have to spend ages to see traffic to your site. You don’t have to spend astronomical sums on advertising and it can be set up instantly. And now you have one of the biggest and perhaps one of the most efficient PPC programs in the form of Google AdWords. These are the ads that you would find in the right hand column in a Google Search.
It is fairly simple to understand. You would have to prepare a 4-line ad for Google and then have a series of corresponding “keywords” for it. As per your directions, when the keywords are searched for in the search engine, your ads would be displayed. If someone clicks on your ads, you would have to pay some money. Other PPC programs also function in the same way.
There is one more thing. The frequency with which your ads would be displayed and the position of your ads on the page; both would be governed by your budget. It goes without saying that the higher your budget, the more frequent would be the display of your ad. You also get the option of “bid” for the cost of the ad. The more your bid would be the better placed your ad would be on the page. But you would have to be careful when you use this PPC. You would have to choose your keywords well.
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by Michael Fleischner
Let’s begin with defining what an “ezine” is and how it can help you drive tons of traffic to your website and help you sell products and services. An ezine (electronic magazine) is much like a traditional magazine or newsletter. However, it is only delivered via email. People sign up to receive ezines for free or a monthly subscription fee. Most ezines are published weekly, but some are published daily, monthly or bi-monthly.
Generating Traffic with Ezines (Ads)
Classified Ads: the cheapest ads you can buy. Classified ads are limited to two or three lines and placed at the end of the ezine. Unless you place a classified ad in an ezine with 30,000 subscribers or more, your chances of getting a response are very small.
Sponsor Ads: these are more expensive than classified ads, but will give you much better response. Sponsor ads can be placed at the top, middle or bottom of an ezine issue. You can include more text in a sponsor ad so it’s a good way to test your copy before going all out on a solo ad.
Solo Ads: these are the king of all ezine ads because your offer is sent exclusively to everyone on the mailing list and gets the full attention of the subscribers. No articles or other content is included. Solo ads can be expensive, but they can increase your response by as much a 100% over sponsor ads. You can usually expect a 10% response rate from a good solo ad. In other words, if you purchase a solo ad for $100 in an ezine with 10,000 subscribers, you should expect about 1,000 highly targeted visitors.
Note: Solo ads can be purchased for as little as $10. You will usually get a better response from a $10 solo ad sent to 500 subscribers than you will from a $10 classified ad sent to 5,000.
Here’s your step-by-step guide to successful ezine advertising.
Step One: Subscribe to 3 or More Ezines
Subscribe to ezines that offer top sponsor and solo ads within your budget. Subscribing to ezines before you place your ads will allow you to determine the quality of the list and potential profitability of your campaign before you spend any money. You can also make sure your ad goes out.
You can find a wide variety of ezines in these directories: http://topezineads.com http://www.directoryofezines.com
Step Two: Contact the Advertisers
The surest way to maximize your results from any ezine is to ask people who have already advertised. Take a few minutes to contact one or more people who have placed ads similar to the one you want to place. Tell them you’re new to ezine advertising and are afraid of losing money. Most people will be glad to help you out. And if they had a bad experience, they’ll definitely let you know.
In addition, if you see the same ad running multiple times, that’s a good indication that it was profitable. Smart marketers will run the same ad at least three times if the first one was successful.
Step Three: Contact the Ezine Publisher Contact the publisher to find out if anyone has else has purchased an ad within the last month for the same product you want to promote. This is critical because you don’t want to advertise the same product to people who may have already purchased. Here are some additional questions to ask (if they are not stated on the website):
• Can I personalize the subject line?
• Can I personalize the message?
• If yes, what are the personalization codes?
• How often to you publish?
• When is your next opening?
• What is the maximum word count?
Step Four: Set Up an Ad Tracker
You will want to create a tracking campaign for each ezine that you advertise in. The system will create a link for you to use and it will track your visitors and commissions just like your regular affiliate link.
Never pay for adverting unless you can track the response. You need to know how many visitors and sales you get for each ad you place so you can determine whether or not you want to run another ad in a particular ezine.
This information is critical for determining how well each ad campaign does and how well you’re converting visitors into sales. Sometimes you just need to tweak your ad copy and run the ad again for better results.
If you get good results the first time, run your ad again in a week or two. Not everyone will buy the first time around. And many who were “on the fence” the first time they saw your ad, may purchase the second time around.
Step Five: Write Your Ad
Most affiliate programs provide pre-written ads for you to use. While that is convenient, you’ll get much better results if you don’t repurpose them word for word. Make them unique and follow some of these suggestions:
• Add a personal endorsement. With all the hype online, people are more likely to read and click on something that you personally recommend.
• Use a testimonial from the sale letter for the product you are promoting. That’s an easy way to get content for a good solo ad.
• Use other people’s ads. One of the bests ways to come up with ideas for good ads is to read ezines. Look for ads that catch your eye. Modify them to fit the product you’re promoting and add your own personal touch.
Step Six: Place Your Order
This is the easy part. You simply fill out a form with your ad copy and credit card information. After you process the order you will receive a confirmation telling you when the ad will run. And since you are already subscribed to the ezine, you can verify it yourself. Don’t rely on them to send you a “courtesy copy.”
Step Seven: Put Half Your Profits Back Into Advertising
Once you start generating sales from your ezine ads (this is why you need to track them accurately), take half of your profit and use that to purchase more ezine space. This ensures profitable growth and proper allocation of your marketing spend.
Ezine marketing and advertising is the same as any other online marketing vehicle. The key is to start small, test, evaluate the results, and channel your marketing to those ezines that produce a positive return. Once you’re up and running, continue to tweak your ad to see if you can increase response rates.
About the Author: Michael Fleischner is an Internet marketing expert with more than 12 years of marketing experience. He has appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. For your copy of the free SEO report visit MarketingScoop.com.