Free Traffic Secrets 2.0 Videos Are Very Cool

One of my favorite Internet Marketing gurus, John Reese, has just released two free traffic secrets videos. I already use most of the techniques that John reveals in the videos, so I know they work.

Even if you aren’t interested in learning ways to increase your website traffic I still recommend that you check out the videos, because they raise the bar on what can be done with video.

Click here to see for yourself.

What Links Can You Point at Your Web Site?

I mentioned this before, but I’ll remind you of it again. I don’t link trade to get backlinks. Yes, every so often, someone asks to link trade with me, and I put them in my blogroll. But as a matter of course, I don’t actively pursue it. It’s too much work for a type of link search engines don’t respect all that much anymore.

However, I still have to have a linking theory, and it’s not magic or wishful thinking. It’s just that I trade something besides a reciprocal link to get a link pointed at my site. This sort of arrangement holds the potential of giving me more high-quality or targeted backlinks with less work.

So then, what links can you point at your web site that doesn’t require a link trade to get? Here’s a list of the common, and not quite so obvious, things you could do.

• Articles: Put a resource box at the bottom of a good article, then let anyone use it. This is a long-standing ‘trade content for backlinks’ tactic.


• Viral Reports: I’ve written, and put up for distribution, three viral reports as of this posting with links pointing at all sorts of things that are useful to me. Others can take those reports, rebrand them with their affiliate links, then use them as bonuses for their own purposes. In the process, they use their distribution power to put my links in front of people I might not otherwise reach. This is the larger-scale version of the article marketing theory, and another thing that’s been in use for some time.
  


• Videos: Ever heard of YouTube? Know what happens if you produce a video and it goes viral? Any link you happen to display in that video could be seen by millions. Video marketing is becoming a trend in Internet marketing lately, and if you know how to make videos, it’s time to looked into making one that can work for you.
  


• WordPress Templates: Ever programmed one of these from scratch? You could make one for anyone’s use, and include your link in the footer.
  


• Put them in your products: If you sell something to someone, why stop there? If that product is related to some other site you have, why not mention it? Information products are especially useful in this regard, and can include links pointed at affiliate programs or your other sites.
  


• Offline methods: Put your site names on business cards, letterhead, and other offline products if you have offline businesses. If you’re printing them anyway, put that expense to more use by promoting your sites too.
  

Do you have your own favorite backlinking method? Feel free to comment.

Type Your Way to Worthwhile Backlinks

The SEO strategy I intend to use with my new sales letter page is noteworthy in one big way. I have no intention whatsoever to engage in any link trading to build my link popularity. There are no reciprocal linking pages, and I’m not sending out requests every day to other web masters. Frankly, it’s just too much effort for me.

I don’t miss it. I did link trading through an automatic service on my last sites, and it didn’t amount to much of anything. The search engines don’t give reciprocal links all that much weight anymore, and no traffic ever came from more than one or two of them anyway. So the results really weren’t worth the trouble.

This isn’t to say you shouldn’t build links, because I have every intention of doing so, just like you. You still need them just as much today as you ever did. But what you need are one-way links that don’t require you to reciprocate, and are thus worth more in the eyes of a search engine.

If you want these kinds of links, and you do, you’ll have to find something else to trade for them. With affiliate programs, for example, you trade commissions for someone putting a one-way link to your site in front of interested people. But a classical, inexpensive, and worthwhile tactic is to trade content for them.

This is called article marketing, and it’s been around for a while. Blogs, ezines, and web sites are always looking for content, and you could provide it for them. You write an article in your niche, polish it until it’s desirable for someone else to publish, then put it on a free article site or pay an article announcer to mass broadcast it. Your payment is called a resource box, which is a short blurb about you, a one-way link to your site, and a reason why someone might want to visit it.

This will give you those highly desirable one-way links you want. Plus, articles do all sorts of other things on top of that.

• When you write an article relevant to the topic of your site, it helps pre-qualify the traffic going to your site, giving you far more targeted traffic. That helps the bottom line of getting someone to your site, such as conversions, sign-ups, additional RSS syndication, or whatever your desired result happens to be.


• Demonstrating your aptitude by giving away small but useful bits of information in an article helps increase your credibility in your niche.


• Articles and their attached links are viral. The same article could be posted on a growing number sites or blogs over time, increasing your link popularity without any effort on your part across months or even years.


• If your article is used in an ezine publication, you could see a traffic spike.

For some added incentive to get people to use them, you can put an article or two in your affiliate areas and tell your affiliates they can rebrand the resource boxes with their affiliate links. This is the small-scale version of the viral, rebrandable report theory.

I highly recommend article marketing to anyone who wants to create one-way links, link popularity, and the occasional traffic spike to their web sites. Once you get good at it, you can simply type your way to worthwhile backlinks. It’s a far better method than wasting effort on near-useless reciprocal link trades, or spending money buying traffic from paid sources.

How Not To Ask For A Link Exchange

Last week I got what I considered to be a hilarious request for a blogroll link exchange. In case you want to know how NOT to ask me for a link exchange, here is the email I was sent the other day (name of said person and sites have been removed):

Hi {find name of blogger and put here},

I am writing on behalf of the blog team at xxxxxxx, which runs the popular xxxxxxx Marketing blog.

We are hand picking a few really great blogs to add to our blog roll. If you’re interested in having your blog recommended on xxxxxx blog, please consider adding our blog to yours.

The name of our blog is xxxxxxxx.

Thanks!

I often get requests for links that I think are form letters. However, in this case it was an obvious form letter. I was laughing out loud when I read the line:

“We are hand picking a few really great blogs”

Really??? Hand picking???

If you ever handpick a blog to exchange links with, don’t start your email with:

Hi {find name of blogger and put here},

It kind of gives the impression that you weren’t exactly handpicking my blog.

P.S. My name is George.

SEO Training Program From Aaron Wall

I have been ill all week with the creeping crud, but one thing I did want to mention before the weekend is that Aaron Wall of the SEO Book has changed his business model and is now selling a monthly membership for access to his SEO knowledge.

I was half way through writing a review of the SEO Book when Aaron sent the notice about this change. Given how good Aaron’s book is, I am sure that membership in The SEO Book Training Program will be well worthwhile. I plan on signing up for it and doing a review of it sometime in the next few months. In the meantime, you can click here to go check out The SEO Book Training Program for yourself.

Am I A Sheep In The Googlesphere?

There were some rather interesting posts and developments this week. Most of them were about Google. So instead of my normal “Internet marketing tips from the web” post, this post should be titled “Internet marketing tips from the Googlesphere”.

Hmmm… Did I just create a new term?

I will have to go “Yahoo” it… back in a sec.

Nope, Yahoo shows 999 results for Googlesphere, rats!

Anyway, the biggest news of the week across the blogosphere was that Google is lowering the pagerank of sites that sell text link advertising. I don’t know if this includes buying and selling banner links or not, but it should since banner ads normally don’t use the no-follow tag.

I think that those who made this decision at Google don’t understand how powerful the blogosphere really is, or they expect most bloggers to act like sheep and fully support Google.

Here are some of the many posts I have read this week about paid links causing websites to lose Google page rank:

Official: Selling Paid Links Can Hurt Your PageRank Or Rankings On Google (I read it here first)

Part Three – NoFollow is for Blog Spam…no Paid Text Links, wait…Paid Ads…Aww Heck, Just Stop Linking and Let Calacanis Decide the Rankings

Penalty Confirmed – But I Don’t Sell PageRank

Dancing With The Gevil – Defamed By Google?

Garry Conn and Google

How to Profit from Google’s War on Paid Links

Last, but not least, Aaron Wall pretty much takes the words out of my mouth on this topic:

Google is Becoming Wikipedia Without the Talk Page

So, what am I going to do about this issue?

I haven’t decided yet. On the one hand, I have come up with a plan that could REALLY tick off Google, on the other hand I can be a sheep. Decisions, decisions...

In other news…

Tiny start-up rival to Google?
A new company called Proximic has come up with a very cool new technology. From the sounds of things it might become a great way to monetize your site and be a huge competitor to Google’s Adsense. Microsoft, Yahoo, Google… let the bidding wars begin!

Lastly, I got an email from Google’s Adsense program last night about a new service that lets you make money from YouTube videos. I am very excited about the possibilities for some of my other blogs.

That’s it for now…

Make Big Money Online Winning Contests

Guest post by Matthew Henrickson

In my last post, Create Buzz for your Website with a Contest, I mentioned that you can really drive traffic, build links, or get RSS feed readers for your website with a contest. Its fun, simple, easy and most importantly it works.

Because it works so well, many bloggerss have been hosting contests, and some prizes are really appealing.

To make contests successful they really have to be easy. Bloggers are giving away large sums of money and prizes, and making it easy to win. There isn’t much of a reason NOT to enter when the reward is so high.

Win Money Entering Contests

By spending very little time entering in contests, I have personally won well over 100$ and smaller prizes including a very nice MP3 player.

In most of these contests it does take a little bit of luck, but if you enter a contest everyday, you are bound to win something. Even if it isn’t something you exactly want, you can turn around and give it away on your own blog.

Big Prizes to be Won

Blogs like INVESP are doing huge cash prize giveaways. There is 400$ up for grabs! To win that contest you must subscribe to their RSS feed. Sometime in the month of August, they will post a ‘secret word’ in their RSS feed. When you see the word you email it to contest@invesp.com. One lucky person who sends the secret word to that email will be randomly selected to win. If you win, make sure you are a member of their mybloglog community, so you can receive the full 400$.

Not Every Contest Can Do That

Not everyone can afford to give away 400$, but say you win the contest. You can turn around and re-invest 100$ of that money on your own contest. If you can market the contest right you can expect quite a few linkbacks and RSS Feed Subscribers.

Everyone likes free stuff, especially free money.

Internet Marketing Tips From Around The Web 6/22/2007

I had a very busy week this week. It was my five year old’s birthday this week, I worked on the design of my new money making project, and kept busy with a lot of other things. Anyway, here are some of the articles I read this week that I thought would be of interest to you…

The Things That Get You Successful Won’t Necessarily Keep You That Way
Wendy’s post was very interesting for me, because I have been facing this problem. My problem may be slightly different, because I feel like my online business direction was better BEFORE I started blogging. Wendy asked some good questions and because of Wendy’s post I found out Darren had posted some advice for Wendy:

7 Reflections on Scaling a Blog to a Sustainable Business
Darren makes some good points and I think this post will be very helpful for people in Wendy’s situation.

Because of Darren’s post, I found Desty’s post:
The Perils of Owning a Growing Business
Desty’s answer is REALLY good. It is what Rich Schrefen talked about in his Internet Manifesto series, it is what Alex Mandossian has been talking about for years, and just about every other Internet Marketer/business person will tell you that you need to build systems. It’s something I have known about for a long time, but never implemented. It’s time for me to build some systems….

Better Blog Branding: Is Your Brand Breaking Promises?
Chris’ post came at a great time for me. This blog is taking a slightly new direction, because of all the guest bloggers that have been signing up to write guest posts. Chris’ post reminded me that I don’t want to take it easy because of the guest bloggers. You still expect to hear from me and you will. What the guest blogging will do is allow me to make this an even better resource for you.

Increase Google Rankings, Backlinks And Advertise For Free
My friend Garry Conn has a very creative blog link exchange program going on. Go check it out if you are interested in getting more links to your blog.

Never stop experimenting
This was one of several good posts I read this week by Martin Reed. I came across his blog when I was doing some online searching. He mentioned that you could even try changing your writing style. Changing my writing style is something I think about ALL the time on this blog. I much prefer to write stuff like this, and this. I guess I should go ahead and try to be funny more often on this blog. What’s the worse thing that can happen? Google won’t penalize me for having a bad sense of humor, will they?

Use Blog Directories and RSS Aggregators To Build Links To Your Blog

This is the 4th installment of the blog traffic series...

Once you have chosen the right niche and picked the right domain name for your blog, there are tons of steps you can take next to increase your blog traffic.

I believe that one of the biggest reasons for the instant success of our 2006 Torino Olympics blog was the fact that I submitted it to almost all of the directories and RSS aggregators on Robin Good’s list of RSS directories

Side Note: I mentioned Robin’s list all the way back in my first post on this blog in July of 2005 and it’s still as useful now as it was then. That is a sign of a great blog post!

I think this step is crucial for blogs that are “one time” event blogs like our 2006 winter olympic blog was. On the other hand, if your blog isn’t a one time event blog then this step can still help you to get extra traffic to your blog.

Submitting your blog to these directories helps the Search Engines find links to your blog. Not only that, but many people use the RSS feed aggregators to find recent news. If your blog posts are being added to tons of RSS feed aggregators, then your blog is more likely to be found. Especially if you add it to Technorati.

Additionally, having your posts listed in various RSS feed aggregators will help with the Search Engine optimization of your blog. I don’t want to go into all the reasons that RSS aggregators help your blog’s SEO, but I will say that one reason is because it helps your blog avoid the dreaded Google Sandbox.

If you don’t want to submit your blog to all of the directories and RSS aggregators on Robin’s list, then I suggest that at a very minimum you submit your blog to Technorati. In my mind, Technorati is the most important feed aggregator.

Note: In addition to being the 4th post in my blog traffic series, this is an entry into Fit For Freedom’s group writing project (link building tips).

Do-Follow Plug-in - Your Comments Now Pass Page Rank To You

I have been wanting to do this for a while now, because I despise the no-follow tag. It was a ridiculous creation, destined to be abused. That is why I am SO glad that I just activated the Do-Follow Wordpress plug-in.

The do-follow plug-in removes the no-follow attribute from all of the links in your blog’s comments. Not only does this make me happy, but it should encourage you to comment more on this blog. The links you provide in the comments “count” to the Search Engines.

Either way, it’s a win-win plug-in in my eyes…

Internet Marketing Tips From The Web 5/11/2007

Here is some of the reading I did this week. I also really enjoyed many of the top 5 posts in Darren’s group writing project…

The Paid Link Blog Meme
Excellent counter to Google’s position on paid links. Found via Andy Beard. The truth of the matter is that the Search Engines have to come up with a revolutionary way to rank sites. The current methods won’t be acceptable five years from now.

Indirect Profits, Business and Corporate Blogs
Chris Garret’s series has been really good reading all week. If you haven’t kept up, then start with the article above and work your way through the series.

Long Overdue Praise For PayPerPost
John Reese wrote an excellent post on PayPerPost on his new blog. My favorite part was when John says:

IT’S NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS WHAT SOMEONE ELSE CHOOSES TO PUT ON THEIR BLOG!

So true…

My Top 7 Blog Monetization Methods
It was good to see Yaro’s top monetization methods listed out like this.

Update on Me
Interesting update on Amanda’s blogging income. I haven’t tried any of the review systems, but Amanda’s post makes me think that I could make a fairly decent amount of money doing paid website reviews.

Internet Marketing Tips From The Web 5/4/2007 Take 2

I mentioned earlier that I read a lot of good articles this week. Well, I read so many good articles this week, that I decided to post a second group of articles for your reading enjoyment…

How to Make Money with a Video Blog: An Introduction and Guide
I haven’t read the guide that Maki talks about yet, but I can tell you from experience that this is an excellent way to make money with blogs. Like I said in the comments, “...I have been considering turning some of the blogs that I don’t have time for, into mostly video posts. I also tend to get more links to the posts with videos. I highly recommend testing this out. I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the results.”

Copy Is Not About Selling, It’s About Serving
Excellent post by Michel Fortin on the future of copywriting.

Should You Build a Blog or an EMail Newsletter List?
I totally agree with Chris’ conclusion in this post.

Interview with Search Engine Guide’s Jennifer Laycock
Excellent interview with some solid SEO advice.

Stay Away from In-Text Advertising
I removed Kontera ads from this blog, but I am continuing them on my other blogs for now. I might discuss this more later. Come join in on the argument (errr… discussion).

Clicking Adsense Ads
Interesting discussion on clicking Adsense ads. Do you click on them or ignore them?

Unique Content – Where to Find Topics and Ideas
Good post by Gayla on places to find topics to write about. I currently use all of them.

There were other good articles that I read this week, but between part 1 and 2 you should have plenty to read…

Next Page »