PPC Advertising Revenue – Earn Money from Your SEO Traffic
Check out Chango – it’s a search-targeted ad network that I use to help increase revenue from my search traffic. They show highly targeted ads to traffic coming from Google, Yahoo! or Bing, and the keywords my visitors use to find my site actually trigger the ad content.
In today’s net-savvy world it has become common for any business to have a website which they use mostly for advertising their products and services. With the advent of search engines it has become even easier for the customers to search for the stuff online. For a website to be successful its link should land in the first three pages which the search engine brings and the rank of the page should be high which means many visitors come to the site. This can be achieved by applying search engine optimization or popularly known as SEO. This is a marketing strategy which increases the quality and quantity of traffic flow to a particular website via search engines.
SEO not only affects the search engine results, but also image search, video search and industry specific vertical search engines. It determines how a search algorithm functions and searches what is popular with people. When a website link is submitted to a search engine, a spider crawls through a page to gather links which lead to other pages and stores those pages on the server of the search engine. The information collected from these pages is sent to the indexer, whose job is to extract information from those pages such as the keywords and their weights, the location of the page and other links that are stored for the spider to crawl in future.
In the beginning, the search engine optimizer algorithms were dependant on the keywords, Meta tags, and index files provided by the Webmaster. Meta tags provided information about a particular page, but using them for indexing the pages didn’t prove to be successful as some Webmasters added irrelevant Meta tags to increase the number of hits and earn huge ad revenue. They even changed the HTML of the web pages to achieve a good rank for the page. But this was a case of abuse as it fetched irrelevant pages.
Search engines then began utilizing complex ranking algorithm, which were difficult for the webmasters to manipulate so as to provide web surfers with genuine results. The rank of the web page was calculated mathematically by functions using strength and quantity of the inbound links. The higher the rank of the page the more chances it had to be viewed by a person. Later algorithms were developed which considered various other on-page factors such as rank and off-page factors such as hyperlink. Since the webmasters couldn’t manipulate the page rank, they began exchanging, selling and buying links, which lead to link spamming and even creation of numerous sites dedicated for this purpose.
Algorithms became more complex by every passing day and top search engines kept their algorithms a secret. As the cost of SEO increased, advertisers were roped in to pay for it, which finally resulted in high quality web pages. Although investing in SEO is very fruitful, but at the same time is risky because with out any prior notice the algorithms being used are bound to change and the search engine will stop directing visitors to the page. Many consultants are available in the market that provides SEO services. They manipulate the HTML source code of the web site like menus, shopping carts and sometimes even the content of the website to draw more traffic. Search engines like Yahoo has algorithms that extract pages not according to the page rank but according to the cost per click or set fee, that is if a advertiser desires that the page containing his ad be displayed, he is expected to pay money for it. This is a point of controversy, as only the big businesses will be able to increase the number of hits of their page but not the small business who might be having a better quality page.
Google Ad Words explores ads which have words typed in the search box by the surfer. The Million Dollar Homepage started the concept of Pixel advertising, which is a graphical kind of advertising. Depending on the pixels, the space is sold to the advertiser. Keyword advertising involves advertisers who buy URLs of a site and place their ads at that location. Thus SEO is a market in its own which is yielding great results for businesses on Internet.
It doesn’t matter whether you sell physical or digital products, as an effective marketer you need to be able to convince a potential buyer that your product will meet their expectations and ultimately help them achieve their goals.
Creating compelling and accurate product descriptions is how you will achieve this task and hopefully move your viewer from a casual shopper to making an actual purchase.
So let’s take a closer look at the things that will give your potential customers the product descriptions that appeal to their senses, emotions and their expectations, but will also give you the edge for making the sale.
Use Descriptive Words and Phrases
Help your visitors learn about your product features and benefits by drawing them a compelling mental picture of your product.
It makes sense to use descriptive words and phrases but using words like better, nice, great and good won’t provide much descriptive value. You’ll have to be more specific. Describing a mystery as being ‘A really good thriller’ won’t captivate like describing it as ‘An exhilarating shocker that had me mesmerized’.
What Makes Your Product Unique?
Think about what really makes your product different from other similar products. For example, if you are promoting a diet program you might use words like ‘great tasting food’, ‘easy plans to stick to’, fast weight loss’ but what actually sets you apart from the competition? It might be easy online access, money back guarantee, personal support, etc. Whatever it is, use it to help your potential customer understand why they should make the decision to buy from you.
Put Yourself in Your Buyers Frame of Mind
Try reversing the roles and putting yourself in the place of your buyer for a minute. Now that you’re the buyer, what would you want from this product?
For example if you’re writing a product description for a weight loss program, it’s important to state the obvious benefits but if it were me I’d be wondering if I could eat chocolate cake once in awhile or how long will it take to get results and what eating tips it provides for eating out.
One trick I use in trying to cover as many bases for my readers as possible is think about the who, what, where, when and how of a product. What is the product about? How does the product work? How does it help accomplish a goal? Who is it designed for? Why would I use it over another product?
Write down all your answers and then craft them into a product description that convinces your reader of its value.
Use the Seven Deadly Sins
Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride might be sins but they also strike up emotion. Now think about what emotions your product strikes up.
For example, when I think of anti-aging skin cream I think about how much younger I will look, how my friends will be envious or how I will look more attractive. Notice how I’ve just covered envy and pride.
Help your reader connect with the emotions that are felt when thinking about your product. This is how you will effectively set the stage for putting your potential buyer in a buying mode.
Describe the Best, Most Appealing Features
Features are the actual characteristics or aspects of a product. If you are selling diamond necklaces the features will be the quality of the diamond, chain, clasp, etc. So when describing these features use compelling descriptive words.
For example, “Sparkling white diamond necklace with a glimmering 18k white gold cable chain”. Help them feel the features and appreciate its value.
Use different descriptions for different products
You might be selling ten necklaces but each necklace needs its own product description that describes the subtle uniqueness of each.
Don’t use cookie cutter product descriptions. It won’t help potential buyers understand the differences and make decisions accordingly. Generic across the board descriptions won’t impress a buyer.
Meet your customer’s expectations
Always understand your customer’s needs and expectations before setting out to make the sale.
Chances are your product meets the expectations customers have but if you don’t know exactly what those expectations are you’re not likely to mention in an impressive way. First understand your customer’s expectations and then be sure you describe your products as meeting those expectations.
Next time you sit down to write a product description do more than just describe its features and benefits, also learn to put yourself in your customer’s shoes, strike up emotion and meet expectations. The more your product description can connect with your potential customer the more sales you’re likely to make.
Liz McGee, author and marketing specialist, offers free tips and help for those that want to make money online, not lose it. Join Liz’s free newsletter, blog & discussion forum where you can find out how to start an internet business
MySpace is an online community where users have the opportunity to create websites where others can view personal information about them and contact them. However, savvy Internet marketers have found MySpace can also be used to advertise products or service or for the purpose of self promotion. Care should be taken to review the terms of use on MySpace to ensure none of your actions are in violation of these terms but otherwise users can advertise either directly or indirectly on their MySpace website.
Why Advertising on MySpace is Effective
Advertising on MySpace can be effective as long as it is done correctly and not in a way that is viewed as spam. The effectiveness of MySpace stems from amount of users who are currently using MySpace. This includes both members who place comments as well as nonmembers who only look at other websites. With so many daily visitors it is likely there will be visitors who are interested in the products or services you are offering on your MySpace website.
Another reason why MySpace is such an effective advertising tool is there are no fees associated with using your MySpace profile to create links to your ecommerce website or to provide more information about the products and services you offer. The best way to effectively advertise on MySpace is to follow the same guidelines that would normally be followed by advertisers in online locations. This includes knowing who your target audience is and how to effectively appeal to them. This is important because a marketing campaign which does not follow these simple rules will not likely be effective.
In addition to advertising within a MySpace website there are also opportunities to advertise in the form of banner advertisements on MySpace. MySpace is able to not charge a fee to members because they generate their income through paid advertisements. Contact MySpace administrators directly to learn more about these advertising opportunities.
Selling Products on MySpace
MySpace can be also be used to advertise products or services. This can be done either subtly or blatantly. Those who are active participants on MySpace and invest time in meeting others and making friends are more likely to benefit from selling products or services through a MySpace account. This is because most people who use MySpace are not exactly looking for information about products or services so they are unlikely to seek out this information.
However, if they have online friends who are using their MySpace account to promote a product or service they may see the advertisements and find the products or services interesting. In this case they may visit a link to an ecommerce website and consider making a purchase. However, care should be taken when advertising online. Links to your ecommerce website on your own profile are acceptable but placing comments with the same link on other members’ websites will likely be considered spam by both the other members and the MySpace administrators.
Using MySpace for Self Promotion
In addition to selling products and services, MySpace websites can also be used for the purpose of self promotion. Models, actors and actresses, bands and other performers are all realizing the potential for self promotion which exists on MySpace. Members of the community can include everything which may be useful to those who wish to hire them in the future. For example, models can include professional photos while bands can have their music playing on the website for visitors to enjoy. With so many people visiting MySpace on a daily basis, it can be easy for members of the community to create quite a following for themselves.
Those on MySpace should also be aware that industry executives are now dedicating staff members to comb MySpace to try to find new talent on MySpace. In fact more than one major recording company has admitted to having interns spend hours each day on MySpace looking for exciting new artists.