Use the Right Bait – 5 SEO Tips

I went fishing this weekend with a buddy and watched as the sun shone on the river into a pool that looked ripe for fish.  The mild temps and sunshine lulled me into thinking we’d catch at least one sucker – but as the day wore on and the 2 Longtrails were finished, I noticed they just weren’t biting.  It can be like that in search engines, too.  Sometimes, a website just jumps screaming onto page one, and sometimes, it takes time.  Hey, even when all the conditions seem right, it can still take an eternity to show up on the search.  So, how can you help it along?  While you can’t push the river, you can do some things to help get noticed online.

1)  Backlinks:  What can help you here is linking back to your website, either from a complimentary site, or a well-known link.  Facebook works very nicely for backlinking (soon, Google+ will help in this as well…)  If you create a business page on Facebook, put a link back to your website.  In time, this will help give your website legitimacy.

2)  Press Release:  You can announce your business’s new location, new website, anything that would be news-worthy and put your domain name into the story. There are plenty of free services you can use to put out a press release – check out the free tutorial on press releases offered through Got-Clicks.com  I HIGHLY recommend you use a professional writer to write your story - AZ Communications does a great job with writing press releases and getting you noticed.

3)  Viral:  Ask others who do well on Facebook to mention your business’ website on their pages and link back to your site.  Same goes for Twitter, Google+, Pinterest too.  Think about a complimentary business – if you sell cabinets, find an appliance dealer to mention you.  Offer an incentive, perhaps a discount if the dealer mentions you to his customer base.

4)  Show What You Know:  YouTube videos can be snapped in an instant on an IPhone and uploaded to YouTube to show your expertise.  Make sure in the body of the description, you put a link back to your website.

5)  Page Title/Metadescription:  Does your page title have all the keywords your clients will be fishing for?  This is the worm on your hook – it’s gotta be juicy, relevant.  If I’m looking for the catch of the day, there’d better be “rainbow trout” “brook trout” the specific keywords that will trigger a response.  If you just say “Fish” you’ll be competing with the masses and have a very hard time showing up in the search.  Be specific – think like your customer would.  If I want trout, I wouldn’t be fishing in Aruba for him now, would I?

Be patient – every good fisherman knows it takes time to get the fish biting.  Use the right bait, look for the right pools to fish in and soon, those search engine bots will find you and edge you up to the top.

Happy fishing (and clicking…)

If You Do Not Understand My Silence…

A Little Silence Goes a Long Way...

When I was a kid, I had a poster on my closet door with this lush, green forest and a gushing waterfall that had italicized white lettered prose of:

“If you do not understand my silence, you will not understand my words.”

This mantra has been kicking around in my head since Sunday. I produced an entire video library dedicated to showing how to build Serif WebPlus Websites on YouTube in a day.   Lots of work, no downtime equals a very weary (but extremely happy…) internet marketer…  It’ll save me hours of time answering questions from clients on how to do basic steps in WebPlus.  Instead of taking time to do a go-to meeting, set up their site, blah, blah, blah – I can shoot them a quick email to say “here’s how to do it.”  I’m trying to reduce the noise in my world – this is one step in the right direction.  How about you?

We’re all drinking from the proverbial fire hose when it comes to social media marketing –  ’is Google+ effective?’  ’How do you feel about Pinterest?’ ‘Are you wasting money on social media?’ (you are if you’re paying for it, silly…) and on and on and on… The bottom line?  If it feels good and it works, do it.  If you’re contributing to the noise, then as  Bob Newhart would say,  - STOP IT.

This morning in my email, I received my “Pause for Beauty” from Rod MacIver of Heron Dance.  He has this beautiful painting entitled “Gliding II” and the major takeaway for me was this :

Periods of not talking, of not letting new information in, of letting the mind settle, are at the center of a spiritual life.

This realization that life can be lived at different levels, including some that cannot be described in words, offers an entry into wonderful and mysterious perceptions. 

Ahh… a reprieve from the noise.  One of the few publications that come in my email that I actually look forward to receiving.  Do you enjoy the emails you receive?  Are your exchanges in social media meaningful, memorable, mindful or miserable?

I’m taking Rod’s advice to heart – time to walk along the river in blessed silence.

Inserting a PDF Poster onto your WebPlus Website

If you’ve had Got Clicks create a website for you and you want to upload a PDF to announce a special event, showcase a catalog, or show a white paper, check out the 5- minute video below to learn how. 

You’ll need to login to you C-Panel in Midphase to upload the document.  This is a brand new channel for Got Clicks I’ve started on YouTube aimed at educating users of Serif WebPlus.  Please feel free to subscribe & pass it on!

Happy Clicking,

Sarah

Sarah Spencer

Got Clicks?  802-324-3607

The Power of Keywords in a Job Search

Keywords aren’t just for business marketing – if you’re job hunting, check this trick out for advanced search on Google:

Mark Renkert of SmartVt wrote this on the power of keywords in your job search. Have a look:

http://smartvt.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/on-line-applications-the-truth/

Happy Clicking,

Sarah

Pondering Posterous – Saving Time and Learning New Internet Marketing Tactics

I’m in the throes of Ed Dale’s Challenge and I must say, it’s one of the greatest tutorial sets I have ever seen on internet marketing. If you haven’t done it, DO IT.  Now.  Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or just starting, I can’t think of a better tool to get yourself targeted for success.

I’m in the process of playing with Posterous – it takes the headache out of posting to my LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter accounts by easily being able to post to all 3 along with my blogs at once.  I’m writing this little ditty to check out the effectiveness of the tool and to see how a longer blog post coupled with the mini-snippets Twitter and Facebook demand to see if this will be a workable solution for Got Clicks.  Once I hit the “send” button, time will tell.

I LOVE everything I’ve learned in Ed’s Challenge, but I noticed he didn’t flesh out the magic of Facebook and creating landing pages, contest pages and how to get “likes” on your page – which made me really happy because those are the things I love to teach about.  You can get “Facebookin’ for Bucks and 6 other free tutorials right on Got Clicks Free Tutorials.  Just sign up, click and watch.

Happy Clicking!

Sarah

Using YouTube for Business – Show What You Know

I was getting my floors redone on my old farmhouse by a carpenter friend who worked diligently to restore the 1801 fir farm boards into works of art.  I mentioned to him “Geez, Richard, you should put up a video on how to refinish your floors so others can see how you do it.”  He retorted “Well, that would put me outta business, Sarah.” No way, I thought.  You see, I had watched tons of videos on YouTube to research how to refinish the floors to their original 1800s glory and decided after watching, that it was better left to a professional.  I heard about Richard through word of mouth, however, if I had seen him at work, the care he put into the job and how genuinely hilarious he is, the video would’ve had me at hello.

Show What You Know and it can lead to

• More sales in your business,
• Showcase you as the expert in your field
• Give you existing site a boost in the search engines.  Tom Antion – my favorite online marketer, just posted a great video on how to transcribe your YouTube videos to help boost your rankings in the search engines.  This is a perfect compliment to the Intro to YouTube video tutorial I have as a free course in the Got Clicks Online Tutorial library.  If you haven’t explored creating a video channel to “show what you know” it is a GREAT way to market your services online.  Take a look and let me know how this simple trick can give your business the boost you need.

Google + and Facebook: Big Business Trends to Watch in 2012

I just started playing with Jamey and Andre’s website (LittleHousebyAndre.com)  and their Big Commerce cart.  They’ve just started using the Facebook interface where customers can buy direct from Little House by Andre right off their Facebook Page.  It’s the start of Facebook making it easy to integrate business with social and Google+ isn’t far behind.  While I’m an admitted newbie to Google+ and haven’t played with it as much as I should, there are some capabilities that I really like about both.  In order for Google+ to jump into the social media game, they’ll need to become more top-of-mind when it comes to making it easy for me to use it.  I roll over and grab my I-Phone when I want to tweet, facebook or “like” something.  With Google+, I haven’t made that jump – yet.  So let’s take a look at what the trends are and why social media giants like Google+ and Facebook are the big business trends to watch for 2012.

+1 Button According to Google, “90% of consumers online trust recommendations from people they know.”  Akin to the Facebook “Like” button, this button does some heavy lifting in that it shows on the search which of your friends have “plus 1′d”  something on their search. Here’s how it works:   When you go out to Google and do a search, you’ll notice a “+1″ icon.  Click on it and you instantly give your love to that website on Google.  One of my friends’ sees that I have “plus one’d” a site, they are more likely to go to it if they see I have recommended that site. Facebook doesn’t have the reach that the Google search has at this time, so that +1 capability in and of itself is a powerful SEO tool that you will see businesses soon saying “+1 us on Google.”  Awkward phraseology, but what 5th grade grammar teacher would’ve ever dreamed “fan us on facebook” would’ve taken off, either?

Google Places – Formerly Google Local, Google Places has really taken off as far as ranking in the search engines.  Many of the resorts, restaurants and hotels I’ve worked with have seen their Google Places outranking some of their Yelp postings or even their own website in some cases.  Make certain you keep this updated and for goodness sakes, respond to the comments and ratings sections – even if they’re bad.  Nobody’s perfect and it’s your swift response, your courtesy and your willingness to make it right that will shine through even the most glaring critique.
Google+ Hangout  This is a video chat that goes one better than Facebook in that you can hold a meeting in private or in a group up to 10.  FB doesn’t offer this yet – but w/ the integration of skype into fb, stay tuned for that development.

Google Talk – This is better suited to one-on-one video chat.  Talk also provides voice only and group text chat.  If you’re on the go, you can download “Huddle” onto your smart phone (it only works on Android, but Apple is at work for a version of it.)

Facebook Contest Landing Page - A major drawback for business owners is Google+ doesn’t allow offers, contests and promotions.  Fb does allow for a static ip html page that you can create for a landing page for a contest.  For details on how to build one yourself, sign up for the Facebookin’ for Bucks free tutorial or watch this video here.   to learn how to create your own contest landing page on Facebook. New users to Got Clicks Facebook page get to see my contest landing page, while regular fans see my wall.  (If you’re a regular fan, first of all many thanks, secondly, just click “Get a GOT CLICKS TWEAK” on the left side of Facebook in order to see the contest landing page new fans see.)   It’s been a nice way to promote the Got Clicks Tweak and very easy to implement using an IFrame and Serif WebPlus software.

Search Plus Your World – This was just unveiled last week and I have some very mixed emotions about it.  As a marketer, I feel like the sugar fairies have been released and there will be tons of opportunity to do some phenomenal niche marketing.  As a human being?  I feel like my entire world and privacy are up for sale to slice and dice into neat demographics and psychographics.  CNN’s John D. Sutter wrote this article on the changes – mixing social and personal content to the search engine almost sounds like you would get a cacophony of search results that may make it irrelevant.  Or, it could be that you will no longer be searching for your products, your products will come searching for you.  Very powerful stuff…

So who will win in the end?  I believe making it a habit to visit the page, making it easy and fun will be the keys to the kingdom.  Google + is still an afterthought to me; I’m a die-hard Facebook fan.  Facebook has been very kind to Got Clicks and my loyalty runs deep.  But I’m not adverse to making new friends and new circles. Just don’t have my toaster oven plus one me…

Is it Christmas Yet?

I had the legendary Ann Zuccardy over to the house the other day.  She suffered from a traumatic brain injury which has impaired her ability to write, blog and focus.  For a writer, that’s a terrifying obstacle to face.  She put on a brave face, but I could tell this was a new chapter for her and any time change is forced down our throats, we never really like it, we just begrudgingly accept it as the inevitable, don’t we?   She’s a real class act; accepting this new paradigm with a serenity that infused some much needed creative juices into my own business.  We were talking about writing, marketing and keeping all 8 cylinders firing in business and we got to the management of internet marketing – blogging, newsletters, and social media.  As is the case of the “cobbler has no shoes” scenario,  I have not written in my blog in a dog’s age, don’t even wanna tell you the last time I sent out a newsletter – all the things I beat my clients over the head with, I’m guilty of myself.

As business owners, we try to cut corners, budget and nail-bite when end-of-month comes and the mailbox looms large (and empty) – especially this time of the year for Got Clicks.  It happens every year, and every year I panic and every year come January I laugh at how I worried over nothing because business flows back in around mid-January.  Ann mentioned that I should be writing, updating, plotting – all the things I innately know how to do for others, but rarely do for myself.  Isn’t it great when sometimes someone comes along and gives you the gentle nudge you need to get going?

So when fishermen can’t go out to sea, they repair their nets.  So I spent some time tweaking, tuning and touching my site.  I found a bug on the site (actually, Ann found it for me) and thought of some new ways to market Got Clicks to a new audience.  If you have time to do this in between Christmas shopping (yes, I said the “C” word) – do yourself a favor and take the time to really evaluate your business, see where you are, where you want to be and how you’re gonna get there.  There’s nothing like a peer or a professional to objectively take a look at your business and give you ideas on how to tweak it to make it better.  I’d love to do that for your business – nothing like some fresh ideas to make a business idea spark.

I’m offering the Got Clicks Tweak for $20 off if you become a fan of Got Clicks on Facebook.  I’ll look at your website, your Google Analytics (if you don’t have Analytics, I’ll show you what it is and why it’s important.)  We’ll review your present marketing tactics and see what needs a tune-up and what needs to fall by the wayside.  Sound good?  Great!  You can sign up here for your own Tweak. 

While Ann has a hard time with concentration these days, can’t sit and write long newsletters, she sure can brainstorm with the best of ‘em.  So Ann, thanks for the early Christmas present of  lighting a much needed fire under my seat and inspiring me to write.  Can’t wait until Ann’s writing again – if you want snippets of her brilliance, “friend” her on Facebook.  She’s a smart cookie, great writer and an excellent “kick-you-in-the-pants” friend when you need one.  Get better soon, Ann…

I’m Ready to Be Part of the 1% – Are You?

I just posted an article on Facebook about how only 8 of the 400 richest Americans were willing to pay more in taxes.  At first, it irritated me a bit.  But then someone wiser than myself said “The way our government wastes our money, it shocks me more that anyone out there is willing to give them one dime more.”  She makes a valid point…

So, after wading through twitter feeds on “Occupy Wall Street” and “99%”, I decided to start my own movement.  I have decided to be part of the 1% who seem to be able to choose how they spend their tax money.  They have some pull in Washington – they answer to no one save their profit and loss statement.  And I wanna know how to do that.  Because if I learn how to do it, I’ll teach my friends how to do it and pretty soon 99% of us will be the “haves” and only 1% will be the “have-nots”.  I’d be glad to give a hand to the 1%, wouldn’t you?  So while I’m about $350,000 off the mark right now, I’m working my way up to being part of the 1%.  And y’know what?  I’ll teach other people how I did it so that 1% starts to grow.  Pretty soon, we’ll have enough pull that we won’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican – just as long as you have a good idea, you’ve thought it through and it’s looks out for the good of most people.  I have a few obstacles in my way, but this is how I’m gonna get around those:

Education:  Before I make my first $350,000, I’d better educate myself first.  Putting me in a classroom is akin to herding cats;  a college lecture hall is out for me.  If I can’t afford college (and haven’t the patience for it…) I’ll learn a different way. Does that mark me as “stupid” “ADD” “unmotivated”?  I don’t think so… If I wanna learn more about Search Engine Optimization or Social Marketing, I have my own personal library in my laptop that I can get the answer in a split-second to my burning question.  If I want to learn how an Affiliate marketer made $20,000 over a bologna sandwich, I can read his blog.  If I wanna learn how to get my horse into a stock trailer, there are a host of YouTube videos I can watch – we have so many resources at the click of a mouse, it’s astounding, isn’t it?  But there’s nothing like the touch and encouragement of a gifted teacher, is there?  I’ll gladly apprentice to learn from a master.

Get a Team:  My bank called the other day and said they were doing away with the unsecured line of credit.  I asked if I’d done something wrong and they said, “No, just local banks and credit unions can no longer offer these anymore.”  I had 3 weeks to come up with $5,000 to pay it off.  And I did it.  So instead of getting mad at the bank, holding up a sign outside their door (which boy, was I tempted…) I counted my blessings that I was able to come up with that kind of money in 3 weeks – just by dialing for dollars and on the merit of my reputation.  If I can generate that in 3 weeks, it won’t take me long to get to $350,000 now will it?   I found a banker who would have a business conversation with me and moved my money there.  I talked to some business people who liked what I taught and they lined up a whole slew of seminars for me to teach.  I’ve got an attorney who believes in my business and talks me up every chance he gets.  Because you can’t be part of the 1% without some good friends in all the right places.

Belief:  I fully believe I’ll make it to the $350,000 goal.  Why?  Because I love what I do – so I have nothing to lose.  I don’t stare out a cubicle window wishing I was somewhere else.  I don’t work with negative people.  I seek out those wiser than myself and learn from them.  I remember a story Napoleon Hill relayed about his time with Andrew Carnegie.  Mr. Carnegie wanted Napoleon to “pass him at the grandstand” and learn how to be successful in his own right. That’s what I wanna do.

So I’m tacking up – my horse is ready and I’ll see you in the grandstand.

Making Money after Irene…

I picked blueberries with a very close friend a coupla weeks ago -  right across the street from a house I used to own that I sold in 5 days on craigslist.  Got the price I wanted which was great, but I really didn’t want to sell it – I HAD to sell it for personal reasons and it still leaves me with mixed feelings when I see it sitting like a Vermont postcard across from the berry farm.

My friend and I started talking about business and how tight things are now and with Hurricane Irene devastating Vermont, we both wondered what would happen to our state, our economy and namely, our businesses.  I’ll bet you’ve been wondering the same thing – whether you’re in Vermont or California – what the heck’s going on, right?

I came home and started wondering how I could not only help my own business, but how could I help my friend?  How can I help my clients?  How can I help my family?  And then the subject of you came up and I wondered: how can I help you?  You’re reading this because you’re either a friend of mine and have seen my wild ride over the past 10 years (yes, I will be writing a book someday…) or you’re a client and have experienced my work first-hand.  At any rate, you know I’m of sound character, I love business and I’m very good at what I do – building affordable websites and doing internet marketing.

So this evening, I sat down and made some blueberry pancakes and started thinking about sales goals and how I wanted to achieve them.  How could I get a sales force that BELIEVES in what I do, would have NO PROBLEM telling others about what I do and would happily RECOMMEND me to friends, colleagues and others to HELP THEM build online businesses sensibly and affordably?   After smothering my pancakes in my other friend’s authentic maple syrup – it hit me.  This is how I can help Got Clicks and how I can HELP YOU…

I pay 20% commissions already to anyone who refers a paying client to me.  I’ve done this for about 4 years now, but I never publicized it or made a big deal out of it.  So I started thinking… geez, if someone refers a client to me who buys the Got Clicks Platinum package, that would mean $400 in their pocket!  That’s pretty good money for just passing along information to a friend.  So that’s exactly what I’m doing right now – I’m passing along some information to you as my friend, my colleague, my family member, my former co-worker, my client.  Refer a paying client my way and I will pay you 20% commission 30 days after their payment.  Use the money for whatever you wish – donate it to the many victims of the flooding, use it to improve your own business.  And if you are a business directly affected by the flooding, please tell me personally and I will see to it that I give you a 20% discount off your website purchase.

Why 30 days?

Because I have a 30-day money back guarantee on all my products and services.  I want to make certain clients are happy with the service and the website produced by Got Clicks.  Once the client is happy, 30 days has passed, you get your 20% cut – up to $400 per client you send my way.  Pretty cool, eh?

Just send your friends to this page http://gotclicks.biz/questionaire.html  and have them fill it out.  There’s a place they can put in your name and your email address (that’s important so I can let you know when your check’s ready…)  so I know where it came from and it asks questions I’ll need to know so I can gauge what they need for a website.  If they purchase the site, I’ll have the dated invoice and the date they sent the check.  30 days from the time I cash the check, I’ll be sending your payment to you – it could be $400! And that’s just for one person; imagine if you found more people?  Now how cool is that?  If this all makes sense to you, go ahead and paste the link on your Facebook, in your newsletter, on your forehead – I don’t really care as long as the word gets out.

I’ve “Got Clicks” – do you?  I sure hope so!

Happy Clicking,

Sarah