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assistant who is in tune with their coaching clients and customizes solutions based upon their individual needs and goals 2. differs from a general virtual assistant as they only partner with members of the coaching industry [syn: 
Author Archive
SEO vs. Social Media
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Two of the most important factors for any growing online business are SEO and social media marketing. But is one more important than the other? Should you put more time and energy into one and not the other? Which can make a bigger difference on your bottom line?
Let’s explore some of these questions.
SEO Is More Important for Raw Traffic
SEO will get you more traffic up front than social media will. Though social media is gaining more and more traction every day, they still don’t come close to what a number one ranking can do for your site in terms of raw traffic.
On the other hand, top search rankings are hard to achieve. They can often take months, even years. They take a lot of time investment and often a lot of monetary investment as well.
SEO is a longer-term strategy than social media. You might get more traffic overall than social media, but it takes more effort and has a randomness factor as well. You don’t know if it’ll actually work.
Social Media is More Important for Reputation
On the other hand, social media is free. It’s easy to manage and doesn’t take months before you see results. That said, you won’t see the same kind of traffic that you’d get from a number one ranking search listing.
Social media has a lot of side benefits that go beyond the raw traffic stats. Prominent social media figures build a strong reputation in a space, which often increases their conversion rates because of their reputation. Likewise, they’re more likely to get invited to speaking engagements, where many profitable business deals can be made.
The key to good social media marketing is to provide something your users want, consistently. If that’s a weekly how-to video, then make sure you provide that video every week, without fail.
The Two Are Merging
Most SEO experts agree that search engines are taking many social media factors into account when ranking pages. In other words, instead of just looking at backlinks and PageRank, the search engines now look at your Facebook likes and reposts as well to help determine rankings.
When it comes down to it, the secret to successful SEO and social media are really the same. Provide good content, consistently. It’s what people tend to pass on and it’s what the search engines are looking for.
One may be more or less effective for specific businesses, but if you focus 90% of your efforts on creating a great user experience and 10% on marketing techniques, you’ll have a great chance of succeeding with both.
Is one more important than the other? “Yes,” in the sense that one may work better than the other for your business in the short term. “No,” in the sense that in the long run, they’re more or less the same.
How to Set Up PayPal
Posted by: | CommentsIt almost goes without saying that one of the main reasons you run a business is to make money. If you have a traditional store with a physical location, you can always accept payments from your customers simply by getting yourself a cash register or cash box.
Yet many businesses are exclusively on online. Then you need to figure out a way for your customers to pay for the goods and services you sell. For many businesses, PayPal has been the answer.
PayPal’s “Website Payments Standard” product is what many businesses use. There is no monthly fee associated with the service. It also allows businesses to accept customer payments via credit card.
The service works by providing customers a clickable button or link that takes them to the PayPal website when they are ready to purchase. The customer enters their information on PayPal, and is then returned to the business’s website after the transaction is completed. PayPal provides the shipping and other information to the business to complete the transaction.
Basic PayPal Set-Up
Set-up is relatively simple. Begin the process by signing up for a website payments standard account on PayPal. Provide your business information, including the bank account you want to link to your PayPal account. PayPal then provides you with tools to create the HTML code for the “Buy Now” or “Add to Cart” buttons. You can insert this code on the appropriate page of your website.
For an additional fee, PayPal also allows you to set up subscription services that your customers can buy. For example, a business that provides monthly reports can sell a subscription to customers who are willing to pay a certain price each month. Customers only have to provide their credit card information once.
PayPal also offers a service called “Website Payments Pro.” This provides you with the ability to accept customer payments directly on your website. This service costs $30 a month. It does require that you manage your own credit card data security infrastructure. This can be a daunting task for many small businesses. There are strict laws and regulations that apply. However, high-volume businesses may consider it worth the additional time and expense.
PayPal’s Fees and Charges
PayPal charges a fee for each transaction. The fee is based on the volume of your monthly sales. If your business does a monthly business of 50 transactions for $20 each, PayPal will take $44 of your $1000 as a fee. The fees generally decrease as the dollar value of your business increases. However, each individual transaction triggers a minimum 30 cent fee. If your business does lots of very low price or “microtransactions” online, then PayPal might not be an optimal solution.
PayPal has proven to be the convenient, reliable and reasonably priced service for a significant number of online businesses. It’s convenient for your customers. And it’s a fast and easy way to collect payment.
The Wonderful World of YouTube
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Do you enjoy using the internet as a source of education and entertainment? If you do, there is a good chance that you know what YouTube is. In fact, you may even be an active member of the YouTube community. With so many YouTube members and site visitors, there are many individuals who wonder what exactly it is about YouTube that makes it so popular. If you are one of those individuals, you will want to read on to figure out why.
Perhaps, the greatest reason why YouTube is so popular is because of all that you can do on the website. For instance, if are looking for entertainment, you can choose from an unlimited number of YouTube videos, many of which you are sure to love. If you want to do more than just watch YouTube videos, you can even make your own. YouTube allows all registered member to post an unlimited number of videos on their website. Whether you want to create a video blog, a comedy skit, or an educational video, you can easily do so.
Another one of the many reasons why YouTube is so popular is because it is free to use. Any internet user can simply visit the YouTube website and start viewing videos. Although it is advised that you register for a free YouTube account, this isn’t required to watch YouTube videos. With that in mind, if you would like to rate videos, leave comments or upload your own videos to YouTube, you will need to register for an account. Registering for a YouTube account is free and it only takes a few minutes.
When it comes to uploading videos onto YouTube, it is relatively easy to do. That is another one of the many reasons why YouTube is so popular. Even those with a minimal amount of computer experience can make and share videos. All you really need is a video recording device, such as a cell phone with video recording capabilities, a camcorder, or webcam. Most computers already have movie editing software programs installed, but you only need to use movie editing software if you would like to edit your video before sharing it within the YouTube community. When it comes time to upload your videos, you just need to follow YouTube’s uploading instructions and then your videos should be available for viewing within minutes.
As for watching videos on YouTube, it was stated above that you have an unlimited number of videos to choose from. This is another one of the many reasons why YouTube is such a popular platform. No matter what you like, whether it is romance, comedy, or educational pieces, you should be able to find whatever you are looking for. Popular YouTube videos include video blogs and comedy skits. Finding videos to watch is easy as well. YouTube allows you to browse through all of their videos or you can perform a search to find something in particular.
Create an Outline for Your Info Products
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Creating an outline is an important step when writing an information product. If you just start writing without direction it can be difficult to format everything you want to say into one clear structure.
Here are a few steps to creating your information product outline:
You may want to take a legal pad or notebook and on one page just start jotting down ideas you would like to include in your product as they come to you. Don’t worry too much about structure at this point, you just want to get all your ideas out on paper. Anything you can think off which may be a good fit for your product, write it down.
You can also write questions down such as “who needs this product?” “why this product is necessary”, etc.
Once you’ve written all your thoughts, take a second sheet of paper and create an outline. You want to write things down in the actual order they will appear in the book. Your outline may include some of the following things:
- Introduction
- Copyright page
- Disclaimer page
- Body of the book
- Closing
- Recommended Resources
Now you want to take the body of the book and break that into main sections. For example one section may be called “Getting Started” while another may be called “Marketing your Business”. Of course, it will depend on your subject but this should give you a general structure idea.
Now for each section such as “Getting Started” write down each sub section that corresponds to “Getting Started”. Lets say you’re product is about starting a website design business then under getting started you may include – “Who Needs Web Design Services?” – “How Much Can a Web designer Expect to Earn?” and so on.
By the time you finish going through each section you have a rough outline. Now read through it. Does it all flow nicely? Would some of the information fit better in another section of the book? Did you leave something out or should you add something else? Edit and tweak it a little then leave it for at least 24 hours.
After a nice rest go back to it and look it over again with a fresh and open mind and make any necessary changes. Once you’re happy with your structure it’s time to start writing!
What is Affiliate Marketing?
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Affiliate marketing basically means selling other people’s products for a commission online. Affiliate marketing is similar to offline sales where sales people earn a commission for selling a product; the difference is that all selling is conducted online.
As an affiliate marketer you will research and find products to promote on your website. Each time you make a sale through your affiliate link you will earn a portion of that sale. The commissions can vary from as low as 7% to a generous 50%.
The sales are tracked through your unique affiliate ID which is assigned to you at the time you sign up for a specific affiliate program. Your unique affiliate ID is tracked and each time a sale is made through your link it is recorded. A good affiliate program will give you plenty of tools for promoting their products as well as a comprehensive member’s area where you can track your affiliate sales and commissions.
Affiliate marketing is a good way to get started online. You can be set up and ready to go within a few days and there is no need to spend any time creating your own products or purchasing inventory. You are simply promoting other people’s products, which means the vendor is actually responsible for order fulfilment, customer service and anything else related to the sale – you simply refer the sale to them and get paid for doing so.
For example if you have a love of cooking, you can create a website around cooking related topics and include tips, recipes, and reviews of all your favorite cooking gadgets. You can then find affiliate programs online and promote some of those products on your website. You can find programs by doing a search under your chosen topic such as “cooking” and adding the words “affiliate program” to that term.
You can also find affiliate programs at places like CJ.com.
Although affiliate marketing is an easy way to get started online, there is a little more to it than just throwing up a few links and banners and waiting for the affiliate check to arrive. A good affiliate marketer knows it takes time and effort to make sales.
A good way to do this is by providing quality information on your website and only linking to affiliate products where appropriate. Another good tip is to review the products you promote so that you can accurately describe all the features – good and bad. Your customers will appreciate honest feedback and will be more likely to buy from you if you give them good quality information and honest reviews.
Why Super Affiliates ROCK!
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Have you ever wondered what super affiliates do differently? How do they earn such high commissions? What tools and marketing tactics do they use that you can use as well? While there may be a number of things a super affiliate does successfully, chances are they’re also a super reviewer.
The Amazing Power of Reviews
A review is more than a valuable piece of content you can publish on your website, blog, or article directory. A review is perhaps one of the best ways to pre-sell a product or a service. If you sell products, you know that the best way to earn commissions is to pre-sell your information products.
Reviews get the job done because they offer unbiased information. They highlight the pros and cons of a product or service, summarize the benefits and then tell a reader where they can buy the product or service.
However, a super affiliate takes their reviews a bit further.
A Super Review is:
Benefit focused – It highlights what problem the product solves and stresses the benefits. It answers the question the reader really wants to know: “What’s in it for me?”
Personal – It shares examples or tells a story about how the reviewer benefited from the product or service. This turns the review almost into an endorsement. Personal experience is very persuasive.
Unbiased – It provides an honest look at both the pros and the cons of the product or service. If a review doesn’t list any flaws, then the reader is going to be suspicious and not trust the opinion of the reviewer. Nothing’s perfect.
Factual – It provides the raw data too. People make buying decisions based on their emotions. This is why it’s so important to stress the benefits and what problem the product or service solves. However, they reinforce their buying decision based on facts. These facts include price, features, and even where the product can be purchased.
Purposeful – It includes a call to action. While you may have a few links to the sales page throughout the review, a super review always ends with a call to action. For example, “Visit LINK to learn more now.”
To make more commissions and become a super affiliate, take steps to write reviews. Incorporate these ideas and steps to become a super reviewer and watch your profits soar.
Link Building Mistakes
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Link building is an important aspect of a successful search engine optimization (SEO) campaign. The more quality links you have coming into your site, the better. It the sites linking to you are quality sites and contain your keywords, even better. However, on the path to the number one spot on the page rankings, many business owners make a few common link building mistakes.
Limiting the sites you target for backlinks – Yes, high page ranking websites and pages are lucrative opportunities. However, don’t neglect the smaller businesses either. Focus on getting a wide variety of links from relevant websites.
Not using keywords, anchor text, in your backlinks – Keywords are your bread and butter. Not only do they help motivate actual clicks, they help the search engines index properly. And they boost your search engine ranking, which is of course the ultimate goal. Skip using anchor text like <Click Here> or <Download Now>. Use your keywords!
Too many links on a page – Too many links on the page confuses not only the website visitor but also the search engines. It divides the power of your links and minimizes their effectiveness. Instead, choose your links wisely. Choose the ones that seem to carry the most weight.
Counting on social media to provide links – Social media links are not considered quality links. And most networking sites nofollow external links. (A nofollow is when a webmaster tells the search engines to essentially not pay any attention to links.) However, don’t neglect social media as a tool to generate awareness for your content and your website.
Placing backlinks only to your homepage – One rule of thumb is to identify key strategic pages and work to increase backlinks to those pages. Your landing page likely already receives an abundance of links.
There are of course other mistakes which it shouldn’t be necessary to mention. However, just to make sure we’re all on the same page and striving for success, these mistakes include linking to link farms or link exchanges. They also include avoiding any black hat or spammy behaviors. And no cloaking.
Link building is about creating great content, building relationships online with your associates, prospects and customers. It’s about planning and creating a strategy. The old “throw spaghetti to the way to see what sticks” approach won’t get you where you want to go. Avoid these mistakes, create a link-building plan, and regularly assess your success.
Copywriting Tips to Get You Moving and Shaking
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Copywriting is the one skill which all online business owners should learn. As an online marketer you communicate through words – if those words aren’t effectively conveying your message, then you’re in for a long and bumpy ride.
Here are a few copywriting tips to help you get started:
Know your Target Market – Good copywriters know exactly who they’re writing for before starting. They speak directly to ONE person and keep that same person in mind at all times. If you try to reach too many people with your copy you’ll end up missing your target altogether and not reaching anyone at all. Before starting, know exactly who you’re writing your copy for and stick to it.
Headlines that Intrigue – Use clear headlines throughout your copy to guide the reader. Your main headline should be in bold and large letters to grab the reader’s attention. It is often the headline which can either make or break your copy. Use a benefit-focused headline, which explains in powerful detail how you can help solve the customer’s problem. Then use sub-headlines throughout the copy to keep the reader intrigued so they will keep reading.
Don’t use Big Words – Online writing is different to the writing you did in English class. Throw out the text book and forget all those rules your teacher taught you. Online writing is casual and needs to convey emotion and a clear purpose. You need to speak to the person as though you’re sitting down with them and chatting over a coffee… stay away from big words and long adjectives or risk boring (and losing) your prospects!
Be Persuasive – If you love your product that’s great but it’s also a bit biased. Your customers want to hear from other unbiased people who have used your product. Include customer testimonials but not just any testimonial will do, the more information you can include the better. Try to include the person’s full name, city, state, website URL and if possible a picture of that person. The more information your testimonial includes the more persuasive and believable.
It’s not all about you! – In fact, it’s not about you at all. Effective copywriting is concerned with the needs of the customer. The writer doesn’t really matter… Of course, you may need to add a little personal information about yourself in order to gain trust and to explain why your customer should trust you, but even in this case it’s all about what you can do for them. Go through your copy, does it contain a lot of “I’s” then it’s time for a serious re-write. Go back and change most of those “I’s” to “You’s”. Your writing should always be about the customer.
Don’t forget the call – The call to action that is. You must guide your visitors and tell them what you expect them to do. If you want them to click over and purchase your weight loss product, say so, and say so in a clear way which promotes all the benefits of your products “Click here to learn how you can lose those last 10 pounds and keep it off for good” . Be precise in your wording and always include a clear call to action.
How to Get Writing Ideas for Your Blog
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Starting a blog is easy – keeping a blog interesting and fresh is a whole other matter. While many marketers have no trouble beginning a blog, the sheer number of abandoned blogs around the ‘net speaks to the fact that many marketers don’t know what to do to keep a blog going. According to blogging experts, the key to keeping a blog going is to post frequently. This means that you’re going to need a ever present stream of content coming into your blog.
You may be intimidated by the thought of having to come up with lots of topic ideas. Finding topics for your blog posts are easy if you use the following ideas.
1. Captions
Your blog should be timely and there’s no better way to attract attention on your blog than to tap into some ongoing news. No matter what your niche is you can find news stories and breaking information that will help fuel timely blog posts. Look for captions, or headlines, to stay on top of thing. Sign up for Google Alerts (it’s free) and set up alerts on important words in your niche. This way you’ll be able to see the news in your niche and blog about current topics.
2. Comments
The comments section in your blog can be a great source of writing inspiration. Let’s say you have a post on your marketing blog about keyword research. Within the comments section, a few people start asking about how to use keywords in articles for article marketing. Voila! You have your next blog post. Look through your comments section to identify topics that you can write about or questions you can answer in the form of a blog post.
3. Companions
Are there some websites or other resources that your niche needs to know about? Write a few resource list posts. Resource lists posts are very easy to write and they provide maximum value to your readers because they can get the information that they need easily. When you can’t think of anything else to write about you can pull together a helpful list for your readers.
4. Community
Keep your finger on the pulse of your niche. Watch other blogs in your niche and see what they are writing about. You can take a different angle on the same topic, or cover an area of the topic that the original author missed. If you disagree with the author, feel free to go ahead and express you opinion on your blog. Other bloggers can be a great source of information so be sure to get involved in the community.
5. Collection
Start collecting a list of quick tips you’d like to share with your niche. These can be inspired by your personal experience with the niche, from other blog posts you’ve read or from other products in your niche. When you find yourself stuck for blog post ideas, you can write a quick tips post.
These tips just scratch the surface of where you can find ideas for blog posts to populate your blog. Start keeping a notepad file with blog post ideas and you’ll never be at a loss for material.
Wikipedia vs Google Knol
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Which site is better: Wikipedia or Google Knol? Both have their advocates, and there are good and bad things about each. Google Knol is much newer than Wikipedia, as it’s only been around for two years.
What is Google Knol? It is a site that has articles by people on many different subjects. In other words, it’s very similar to Wikipedia. Many believe it’s really Google’s answer to Wikipedia.
However, while there are similarities, the sites are actually quite different. Here are the five main differences:
#1) Making changes
Anybody can make changes to a page on Wikipedia. This isn’t the case with Knol. The person who wrote the page can choose to only allow certain people to change it, or none at all. This can’t be done with Wikipedia.
#2) Number of articles on a topic
Wikipedia has just one article per topic, whereas Google Knol has many. Anybody can create a Knol on a topic, even if there already is one. Because of this, it is very similar to Squidoo or Hubpages.
Wikipedia also allows anybody to contribute. However, they can only change the existing page on the topic, and they can’t write a new one.
#3) Advertising
Wikipedia doesn’t allow any sort of advertising on the site. If anything you write seems like it’s promoting a particular product, you can no longer contribute.
On the other hand, Google Knol does allow advertising. They state in their terms of agreement that the users can promote their own products or services.
Why would they allow this?
One reason is that many users will put Google Adsense on their Knol page. This in turn will increase Google’s profits.
#4) Votes and comments
All the articles on Google Knol can be voted on, so the best ones will rise to the top. So even though there might be twenty-five pages on a particular topic, people will generally trust the one with the most votes.
This is a quick and easy way to tell which information you can trust. Also, comments can be left on Knol. This isn’t the case with Wikipedia.
#5) Use for other sites
Anybody can take an article from Wikipedia and use it on their own site. This is because everything on the site is part of the public domain. However, with a Knol the writer can specify whether they want to allow this or not.
The bottom line is, Google Knol and Wikipedia are very different. Both provide reliable sources of information, using different methods. Neither one is better than the other. Just experiment with both sites, and see which you prefer.
