SiteSell Blog

Never Trick the Search Engines

Business Tips

Building an e-business is not a game. It is not about creating tons of little splogs, based on the content of others, that you care nothing about.

It is not about tricking Google by creating elaborate fake link networks to try to make money online by pushing enough of those splogs into rankings that will earn you a few bucks for a while until Google clamps down. (Case in point... see how Google shut down a splogging gang's "site build it scam" scheme recently.)

It is not about any trick designed to fool Google.

NO manipulation designed to cause engines to rank pages higher than they deserve to be ranked has ever survived.

NEVER take advice that involves tricking the Search Engines. You can't afford to waste your valuable time on tricks, nor your hard-earned dollars on tools that promote destined-to-fail strategies. Work with Search Engines. http://bit.ly/9W0R4l

WordPress or SBI!?

How To Build an E-Business

Are you a blogger, or a business owner? It pretty much comes down to that distinction when you're deciding how to work on the Web.

You can use WordPress, the best way to blog about the latest news, or your opinions about a topic. On the other hand, you can build an e-business around a niche that you love and want to share with the world.

If your niche isn't news-related, and you're not a pundit whose words are pounced on as soon as they're published, a blog isn't for you, which means WordPress isn't for you.

WordPress just can't build a web-based business with its "out of the box" set of tools. Sure, you could install several plugins, and buy hundreds or thousands of dollars' worth of keyword research and other tools. But even they can't overcome a few WordPress hurdles...

Affiliate Marketing - Get Your "Most Wanted Response"

Affiliate Marketing

A sale via any "affiliate program" is really a two-step process. It requires the delivery of two "Most Wanted Responses," yours and your merchant's.

As an affiliate, what is your Most Wanted Response ("MWR")? No, it's not to get the sale. That's the second step and it's also your merchant's MWR. Your MWR is to "get the open-to-buy click" (i.e., your visitor clicks through to your merchant with an open-to-buy mindset).

Writing to PREsell does not require genetic talent. It's not a "gift." Writing to PREsell is a skill you can acquire. Make Your Content PREsell! (MYCPS!), the only book of its kind on the Net, shows you exactly how to do it. Learn how to...

How Social Media Fits Into Your E-Business

Ken's Blog

It's strange how sometimes ideas seem to float out there in the "ideasphere." I was thinking the other day about how Facebook might be good for "SBIers" (SBI! owners) since many businesses seem to be moving to Facebook as their #1 way to reach customers. And that's a distraction away from maintaining their websites.

Yesterday, along comes this article that talks to that thought...

http://bit.ly/9Xy07R

It mentions how "Kraft Foods' Oreo is the number 3 brand page on Facebook, with a fan base of over 10.1 million growing at a rate of 71,000 new fans each a day." (Please tell me that there are not really 10 million people who actively interact with an Oreo cookie Facebook page. What is the world coming to?)

The article goes on to say...

Google Sees Blogs and Websites Differently

How To Build an E-Business

Does Google consider all platforms (ex., WordPress-created blogs, news, etc.) as "just sites"? Not at all. There would not be a blogsearch.google.com or news.google.com, if that was the case.

Google recognizes the difference between news, blogs, images, theme-based content sites, local sites and so on. Google has specialized search tools for them because their very nature is different.

But here's the kicker. Folks don't use these tools very much. They just want to search at Google. So Google came up with "universal search." Now...

Overdelivering Is Much Smarter Than Overcharging

E-Business Tips

Yes, you could market more aggressively and over-charge for your product (judging from the Get Rich Quick guys out there!) or you could charge more for each and every module. But...

Isn't it smarter, more honorable, and a whole heck of a lot more rewarding (in every sense of the word) to OVERdeliver to your customers? Think about it. It makes it hard for competitors when you just keep piling on the goodies!

Affiliate Marketing With Search It!'s Help

Affiliate Marketing

Your visitors may not respond to your primary "Most Wanted Response," but they may be attracted to one of your secondary offerings if you diversify.

The key is to never be dependent on any one income source -- "all your eggs in one basket" is a high-risk strategy. By diversifying, you increase your revenue, stabilize your business, and take charge of your own business destiny.

With monetizing in mind, let's look first at the affiliate marketing model, assuming that this will be your primary model...

Affiliate Marketing Using Datafeeds, Part 2

Affiliate Marketing

We discussed in Part I (http://bit.ly/aZSThX) how datafeeds can be a huge time saver for your affiliate marketing business, what types of datafeeds exist and how to "keep it real."

Let's now look into customizing your product pages, when to use a datafeed and how to avoid paying a hefty Cost per Click (CPC), if you plan to advertise with Google AdWords.

Customize Your Product Pages

Don't just take the datafeed code and add it to your page. Customize it wherever possible, making it more relevant to your target audience's needs or desires. Or add a review for your visitors, followed by the product information. Why?...

A (Priority) Published Author? Why Not?

Ken's Blog

I read this terrific article a few days ago...

http://bit.ly/amauCj

One of the questions in this interview was...

"There have been some anecdotes about people doing that on Amazon — that they self-publish a book and it ends up selling, then they get picked up by a publisher. Do you see that sort of thing increasing?"

The article talks about "priority" and "low-priority" authors. If you are not a priority, you will do a better job marketing your own book.

Since you have a well-trafficked site, with folks who follow you on your zine, RSS feed and/or niche-twittering, you really should (assuming you write a good book that people want and like) be able to create your own success, which serves as a great test market for large publishers.

Once you have the priority attention of large publishers, hire a good agent. Next step?...

Affiliate Marketing Using Datafeeds, Part 1

Article Marketing

Datafeeds are a huge time saver for your affiliate marketing business. To promote products from affiliate merchants, you need to display enough information about each product to entice your visitors to click to the merchant and make a purchase. This information includes the manufacturer, model, price and a photo of each product you list. Affiliate datafeeds allow you to include this information without having to copy and paste for each individual product.

Most datafeeds are fully automated. Depending upon your affiliate merchants, you may encounter three possible formats -- automated with javascript, automated with an RSS feed, or a manual feed...