Archive for October, 2008

Google: Big Brother or Cash Cow?

Monday, October 27th, 2008

When I first started my main website many years ago, little did I know the major role Google would play in its success. Keep in mind, Google has only been around the web since 1998. In the beginning, few realized the small search engine created by Stanford students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, would become a multi-billion dollar company controlling almost all areas of the web.

Google seems destined to dominate the web (aka Shades of Big Brother) for years to come… keeping a close eye on all our Internet activity with large databases tracking our every (abiet aggregate) move. Since privacy has become an antiqued and obsolete word in our ever increasing public world, this can be very disconcerting. And it is not just the web, Google is branching out in so many directions, it will play a major role in our daily lives off-line as well as online.

Regardless of whether you love or hate Google, you must not ignore the importance it will play in the success of your website or sites. As a webmaster you must take full advantage of what Google offers or face an uphill battle. As an online marketer it would be just as unwise not to explore all avenues of this gentle giant.

Years ago, I joined the Google Adsense program where webmasters place the targeted Adsense advertising code on their webpages in order to receive a small share of the advertising revenue. It changed forever how I viewed Google.

As a struggling webmaster and marketer, I have to admit, receiving those Monthly commission checks from Google was a Godsend. They still are. Acquiring a high PageRank and receiving all that free targeted Google traffic is an even greater Godsend. It has put my sites in the black and keeps them producing revenue, month after month.

Google presents a legitimate way of monetising your site or sites. It gives you a monthly cash flow that covers your hosting fees and provides you with a monthly income from your sites. It can be a great starting point for anyone wishing to earn an online income. Google must be explored and utilized to give you this monthly income.

Regular readers will know I like to keep things simple, as simple as possible.

So lets put to one side the very complicated and risky endeavor of using Google Adwords advertising to bring targeted traffic to your site for this usually takes some training and skill to get right. In other words, you have to know exactly what you’re doing or you may lose a lot of money. However, if you want to learn more about this advanced Google profit system, the best resource is still Chris Carpenter’s Google Cash.

But for now, lets keep things real simple. I always take the simplest route where possible.

Google Cash File

I keep a very popular page on my site called Google Cash File — it explains my simple methods of working Google to bring in a monthly income. Just simple steps you can take to earn money from Google. You can find the link to this Google page in the Resource Box below. Granted, you can spend money on info products and software but you don’t have to, I started with all free information and worked my way up. As I earned more income, I invested some of it in good software like Brad Callen’s Keyword Elite… but again, you can use all free programs and resources to earn money from Google.

Here are four revenue sources from Google that I use:

Google Adsense I use Google Adsense code on all my webpages… visitors click on these targeted Adsense ads and I earn a small percentage of the ad revenue.

I also earn by marketing three Google Referral Products through the Adsense program:

Adsense Referral I get $100 for each referral I make to Google, as long as that referral joins Adsense and earns at least $100.

Google Firefox Bar I earn $1 for each referral that downloads the Firefox Browser and then uses the Google Search Bar. Might not sound like much, but this quickly adds up.

Adwords Referral Google will pay me $20 for each Adwords referral that spends $100 on Adwords advertising within 90 days. Another good revenue stream.

If you have a popular site and promote these three Google referral products along with the Adsense code, you will be surprised at how much extra income you can earn each month. Granted, Google is no way as generous as most of my other affiliate programs I promote with my sites but Google is an Easy Sell! People trust Google, people respect Google, but more importantly — people like using anything Google. This factor simply means more money for you if you take full advantage of Google’s referral products.

In the resource box below you will find a link to a page where I have listed all the techniques and methods I use to put Google products on my pages to earn that monthly income. Again, these are very simple steps you can take to make Google pay you each month… so what’s keeping you from turning that Big Brother into a wealthy Uncle (aka Cash Cow) who sends you a generous allowance each month. It doesn’t get any easier than this.

Everyone is profiting for Google, find out how you can too! Click here: Google Cash File Copyright © 2006 Titus Hoskins. Get a Free Desktop Calendar & Planner. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

Catchy Titles Have Higher Click Through Rates

Monday, October 27th, 2008

Click Me, Pick Me!

Having a well positioned website in search engines is one thing, actually being clicked another. Sometimes it is the smallest thing can differentiate your pages when people are skimming through search results and “get the click” despite the position on the page. You should clearly identify your websites’ value proposition and unique benefit to the viewer (within 3 seconds from eye contact) in order to maximize reader response an encourage an intuitive click trigger in the viewer as a result of heightened curiosity.

Your title tag is your headline, use it wisely and you can achieve higher click through rates and conversion on your pages. With just a bit of thoughtful planning, you can get the click regardless of positioning on the page if you can identify the impulse of the searcher and facilitate it with your message. Establishing and keeping the interest of the visitor is the key. The more engaging your content, the higher the response.

Think of it like this, if someone took the time to actually write a thoughtful, concise and informative title, the intuitive assumption is, the content residing on that page is truly unique and above par. Write a great hook (like a catchy headline) to trigger reader response and your pages can virtually get flooded with traffic or links. Likewise, if your content is well written, informative and engaging then you can anticipate increases in sales and conversion. The bottom line is, you get one shot (for that search), donâ??t blow it.

Your title should say it all.

Letâ??s talk about the title tag, although the first instinct is to try to fit all possible variations of your keywords with plural form and acronyms as well, another strategy suggests that your title should be a snapshot of what to expect when the reader engages your page. This lessens the feeling of getting baited or duped into a page, when the content is wishy washy. Sure, people are trigger happy on the mouse button, but even more agile in clicking the back button.

In looking at the grand scheme of things for your SEO, Top 10 Positions are great, but sometimes you have to realize that people type in the strangest queries in search engines, and believe it or not, even in Google they donâ??t always find what theyâ??re looking for on the first page. Contrary to popular belief, people actually drill deeper into search engines looking for more meaningful content, and titles play a major role in this phenomenon.

Call it curiosity, boredom, or whatever you like, but by using this as part of your SEO strategy, you can blanket the top 10, top 20 and top 30 results with variations on a theme to increase your online exposure.

Blogs, for example, have a tendency to rise easily in search engines, if your site has any authority, combined with link building, you could easily research a term using a keyword discovery tool, write a blog about it (using a compelling yet keyword rich title) publish and socially bookmark it to preserve itâ??s longevity. In addition you could employ article marketing to hit the search engines from another angle, or add a new page to your website (with strong internal links) as the Trifecta to extend your coverage of the top 30 even further.

If you truly analyze your stats and see just how much traffic arrives from the long tail or unintentional optimization of keywords that exist on your pages, then this positioning tactic is a worthwhile pursuit. If you are receiving 85% of your traffic for instance, from long tail searches, then the natural solution would be a healthy combination of creative copy writing for the titles and introductions (since they are what show up in the title and description area in search engines). Top 10 is great, but top 20 can be equally as lucrative to target your optimization.

Jeffrey L. Smith is an seasoned search engine optimization strategist and founder of Seo Design Solutions Seo Web Design Company in Chicago.

Since 1995, Jeffrey is constantly developing new and exciting internet marketing solutions for businesses and brings fresh optimization methods and strategies for companies seeking long-tail organic search engine optimization.