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Hitting
the top spot on Google and the other search engines is just about every
marketer’s dream, and it’s hard to do.
Don’t let
anybody tell you otherwise. I’ve done it several
times.
Hitting the top spot comes with a price as well as a reward. A marketer
may be able to write his own ticket with that kind of cache’.
Some wins are more meaningful than others, however. It
doesn’t do
you a heck of a lot of good to reach the top of the charts if
nobody’s looking for what you’re offering. Long
tail
keywords are notorious for granting a marketer bragging rights though
the performer may be playing to an empty house.
The first result was from one of my online
marketing adventures with www.Squidoo.com/BlastoffOnline on
October 26, 2009.
The particular search term that brought me this success is considered a
long tail keyword because
it has 4 words: Blastoff Network Business Launch. While it’s
specific, it’s not exclusive or regional. It covers a lot of
ground. It’s relevant because there are over 13,000 search
results, and my Squidoo lens has managed to rise above all of those
competitors. It’s significant because of the following
factors:
* Timely: Blastoff Network was still in
pre-launch
at the time. All of the information on this lens was kept extremely
fresh.
* Relevant: Once Blastoff Network is
open to the
public this coming week, Pizza Hut and the NFL among others will be
promoting Blastoff with national, even international marketing
campaigns.
* Juicy: As one of the original members
of this
social network, involved on the ground floor, I was able to provide
inside information about the business and at the same time invite the
public to join me.
Getting this lens noticed by Google, Yahoo! and the search
engines was not just some happy accident. As I said in my previous
post, luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity. The
preparation involved in creating and promoting my lens was deliberate,
even calculating, you might say.
In
fact, I used these very same tactics to get my website
MakeChristmasSimple.com to the top spot on Google just a short time
later. Here's a screen shot of that achievement.
If
you’re marketing online, then observing certain tactical
guidelines should bring you formulaic results. Here are a few...
1. Begin with the larger concept in mind. What is
it that
you want to promote? Better yet, what words does your target market use
to locate this particular concept online? You and your prospects have
to speak the same language, so get clear on how they’re
communicating and adjust your lexicon accordingly. As a simplistic
example, if you’re talking about “online
commerce”
but your target audience calls it “Internet
marketing”,
odds are you’re going to be less likely to connect. Align
yourself with your demograhic.
2. Determine your keywords. There are loads of
free
keyword tools available from shareware sights, JV Giveaways, and tons
of other resources. Grab one and do your homework. Find out where the
traffic is, and position yourself in front of it. Keywords are the
handle on your larger concept. Choose the hottest ones, then use them
in everything you touch – your URL, your site’s
title, your
headlines, and every paragraph you write. Also use them in your photo
file names, your alternate text, and every description you write.
3. Keep your content fresh. Do you have a topic
that’s fairly static, or even boring? Don’t be
fooled
– people are making loads of money on mundane items like
socks
and cigars. But rather than using a set-it-and-forget-it strategy, use
a content spinner to create dozens of articles from a single piece of
writing. You supply synonyms, and the software or website creates your
new content. If you’ve got 52 articles that all say the same
thing, that means you can refresh your content every week for a year.
Your readers will always find what they’re expecting to see,
but
the search engines will see your site as evergreen.
4. Promote, promote, promote. Use everything at
your
disposal to promote your site. Never stop. There are loads of free
tools out there – my laptop is bursting at the seems with
them
– and many are excellent. Use every method available to you,
and
track which ones are the most effective. Make incremental changes and
observe the results. I use or have used all of the following methods
for promoting my work: websites, blogs, Squidoo lenses, guest articles,
RSS announcers, blog carnivals, email, classified ads, banner ads,
traffic exchanges, social networks, social bookmarking, article
marketing, business cards, business networks, and plain ol’
word
of mouth. Frankly, I’ve probably left out a few
tactics.
If
you
believe in what you’re doing and you offer real value, there
is
never anything sleazy about telling someone about your good works. If
you make a mistake, odds are people will forget your gaff moments after
you commit it. So go ahead – step out. Take a risk.
Hers’s a final word on my own eCommerce business. I
didn’t get involved in this business with
the
intention of coaching anyone or becoming an Internet guru. My purpose
is
more along the lines of human touch. Yet there’s so much bull
in
this industry, I'm feeling a need to speak out about what I know. I
want to keep it real.
There are few people who understand what it means to live the real
Internet lifestyle – the late nights, the
compromised
social life, the self-determination, the struggles, the rewards
–
let alone those who know what it’s like to hit the No. 1 spot
on
Google. What you’re reading here is better described as an
Internet marketer’s sleepless stirrings, or even a collection
of
confidences, far more than the posturing of some puffed-up guru. Anyone
who has chosen this road of Internet marketing and its many ups and
downs is going to encounter an almost unbearable amount of hype and
gloss. What you'll get from me is the
unvarnished
truth of my meandering path on the Information Highway. Thanks so much
for coming along with me. I’ll see you… at
the top!
~ ECG
Liv@eCommerceGal.com
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