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5 Traffic Hacks: How To Generate Massive Amounts of Traffic to Your Website

6/23/2017

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It's an information age-old conundrum – you have a great website, a cool concept, and amazing content that no one is seeing. You know that people will appreciate it and you know how to monetize it. The only problem is getting the traffic there without breaking the bank.

​The simple fact of the matter is that there really is no way to quickly and easily generate traffic without spending money, but there are ways to enhance your cost-per-click efforts to maximize return on investment and drive lots of traffic to your site. Here are five simple, easy-to-implement hacks that can help get you there.

1. Keep your content fresh
Site traffic isn't about getting one visitor to your site one time. It's about constantly engaging people and getting them to click through again and again with a specific purpose. That purpose almost always involves providing content that people want to see.

Here's the thing, though: if they've seen it before, they aren't going to click to see it again just because you put another ad or email in front of them. Always have something new to say even if the objective is to sell the same product or service over and over again.

2. Email is still king
If you've been growing a healthy email list all along you can leverage it as a powerful advertising platform. This falls in lock step with my previous point: whenever you have something new on your site, broadcast it to your list and do it in a way that piques curiosity. That curiosity will translate into clicks and some of those clicks will lead to conversions.

3. Leverage the power of engagement
Did you know that you can sometimes get further on social media just by being present and actively participate in conversation than you can with paid ads? If people see your brand engaging on Facebook or Twitter, they will want to know more about it. That leads to follows, likes, and page views that you can now leverage for free social media advertising.

Important tip on that front, though: your posts need to be about conversation than conversion. People who engage with you because they like your social presence won't respond well if turn around and go into a sales pitch.

4. Always stay on top of your SEO
Search engine optimization is still a thing but it is a long-term, back end solution. Make sure that your site is fully optimized and that it stays that way. As you build your audience, your SEO rankings will improve.

5. Spend some money on CPC
This is where you pick up the slack left by your efforts to generate free advertising online. Don't just sign up for any old advertising platform, though. Find one that fits well and is unobtrusive with your niche. If you're doing content marketing, you might want to go with Taboola or Content.ad. If you're selling physical products, Google Adwords might be your play, and so on.

Using these five elements together is a formula for success that is sure to increase both your traffic and conversions long-term.
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5 Tips to Boost your Website's SEO Rankings

6/9/2017

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We hear the term SEO quite a lot in Internet marketing but don't often think about it much beyond a few key points. To be honest, when you say “search engine optimization” to many what they hear is “select some good keywords” and little else.

The fact of the matter is that SEO is bigger than just keywords. It encompasses every aspect of your site and your entire site must be fully optimized. Here are 5 tips you can use to get it there. ​

1. Create a good header section and title description
Always be sure that your page Meta Tags are presented in proper order: Page title, description, and keywords. Search engines use the information placed inside those tags to display your title and description in page results.

Be certain that the most important keywords are positioned well. They need to appear within the first 70 characters of the page title and within the first 160 characters of the page description. This will ensure they don't get cut off. Title tags that are around 9 words long are optimal.

2. Organize your page headings
Your page HTML should be edited to contain the appropriate tags. The first heading should be <h1> and should be followed sequentially (<h2>, <h3>, etc.). These tags function as a sort of Table of Contents for your page and keeping the contents organized is good SEO practice.

3. Watch your word count
Never post site articles that are fewer than 250 words long. There are different schools of thought on content length but there are two basic rules to follow, depending on your objectives.

The first rule says to keep your word counts between 250 and 450 to allow for optimal keyword content. While this is easier from a content generation standpoint, it isn't the most effective method. At that rate, your copy will almost always feel “seeded.” Keywords are always more conspicuous in shorter articles.

This leads to the second rule which involves long-form content. Google, in particular, tends to rank sites better when they offer long-form content because longer, well-written articles position your site as an authority in its niche, even if you don't keep up with a 1.5% keyword density.

4. Use text tags wherever you can
The look of your site does help increase SEO but the search engines need to find your content before they can analyze the visuals. For this reason, even if you have great images, you should have alt text descriptions that add to the relevance of the site content. Captions for your images work just as well.

5. Keep your content fresh and market It
There is no better way to have consistently good SEO than to keep new, relevant content flowing on your site all the time. Follow that up by leveraging the power of social media advertising and marketing through other channels that offer free advertising online and your rankings will most assuredly improve.

Now, there are lots of more technical solutions for improving SEO but these five are easy to monitor and tweak. If you find your analytics are still lacking after making some adjustments, it might be time to consult with the pros and see where else on your site changes might be necessary.
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5 Ways to Market your Website on a Shoestring Budget

5/26/2017

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Even in the age of social media, the traditional website is still the single most important asset in marketing... provided you can figure out a way to get people to it without breaking the bank.

That is a real sticking point for many marketers: “How do I effectively market my site while still having enough money to invest in other areas of my business?”

It's a real conundrum – you need to get people to the site in order to make money off the site. But it costs money to get people there. So how do you minimize the monetary output while still getting your brand in front of people? Here are five effective ways you can start implementing right now and generate considerable free advertising online.

1. Market to your existing contacts
Social media is a great place to market your website and when you begin by inviting friends you have a better chance of generating some free engagement. Don't be shy: ask people to like and share your content and they will. Some of your friends have bigger lists than you realize and the potential reach is out of this world – especially if you get the attention of a more high-profile contact.

2. Create pages or accounts for your site on social media
Your site should have its own Facebook page and Twitter accounts for social media advertising at a very minimum. If your content is more visual, you might consider working closely with Pinterest and Tumblr as well. Now here's the real trick: you need to then use those accounts and keep content in front of people all the time. Use a good, comprehensive social media scheduler to stay organized and current.

3. Start blogging
The greater influx of fresh content there is on your site, the more it will encourage repeat visitors and the more opportunity you will have to solicit likes and shares on social media. People like it when they see something new and it helps you maintain a reputation for providing fresh, relevant content all the time. There is no easier way to keep up a fresh stream of content than through the consistent use of your blog.

4. Make your site look appealing
The better a first impression you make with your site, the more likely people will be to engage with it and encourage others to do the same. Make sure that you have at least one powerful headline and engaging visual above the fold and keep that real estate as ad-free as possible. If you are using ads like Adsense, make sure they don't dominate the page or detract from the content otherwise you'll watch your bounce rate skyrocket.

5. Form a few strategic partnerships
This is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to gain more exposure for your site and it involves you being a participant in forums, blogs, and social media. Get the attention of the right people and they will, in turn, share your content, offer their endorsements, and motivate people on their lists to follow you. Once that happens, you have an open door to market to a much wider audience.

The key to all of these is persistence. You have to be committed to being visible, personable, and relevant all the time. If you can pull that off you will find that it never costs much to develop quality traffic and meaningful relationships with your site visitors.
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The Perfect Landing Page

5/12/2017

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A landing page is one of the most effective yet overlooked tools for lead generation. Oddly, however, many companies neglect to use them. While a business’s homepage serves as the “front door” for your virtual storefront, studies show that landing pages convert at a much higher rate. In fact, while the average conversion rate for a website is between 1 - 3%, landing pages have a conversion rate between 5 - 15%. 

So what the heck is a landing page anyway?

Landing pages instruct your visitors in no uncertain terms what action you want them to take and why you want them to take it. Homepages, on the other hand, are generally less focused and are more ideal for direct traffic. Landing pages are an ideal solution when you can control how visitors arrive on your site. Most people arriving at your landing page arrive via PPC (Pay-Per-Click) ad campaigns.

While conversion rates for landing pages generally land in the 5 - 15% range, certain techniques and strategies can greatly enhance your conversion rates. Here are some of the best techniques you can use to create the perfect landing page.

1. Refuse to use your homepage as a landing page
While this may seem initially tempting, it’s an ill-conceived idea. Homepages generally have too much copy, which can confuse visitors. Landing pages, on the other hand, are focused on one task and will result in higher conversion rates.

2. All successful landing pages contain the following:

A headline and (optional) sub-headline
A short description of what is being offered
At least one supporting image or short video
Testimonials, logos, or security badges
Most importantly, a form on the landing page itself to capture information. 

 3. The evils of navigation
Landing pages are designed for one purpose - to get visitors to take one action. Incorporating navigation into your landing page forces your visitors to scroll, which detracts them from completing the desired result - submitting their contact information. The more visitors can wander around your landing page, the great the chance they will leave your page for good.

4. Don’t overload your landing page
Some business owners load their landing page with images and video, thinking this will make their landing page more appealing and therefore more effective. This is incorrect. Reduce the amount of copy, images, media, and links to only what's necessary, and organize your content in a proper structure so objects are in logical order.  Most importantly, make sure that the call-to-action (CTA) is well defined for your visitor.

5. Use white space to your advantage
This next principle applies to not only landing pages, but web design in general. The proper use of white space (or negative space) can give your landing page a classic, or elegant aesthetic.

White space is often overlooked by inexperienced landing page designers who believe they must splash their page with an array of color. Without a sufficient amount of white space, the text would be unreadable, graphics would lose their edge, and there would be no balance between the elements on a page.
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5 Unforgivable Sins of Web Copy

4/28/2017

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As I traverse the world wide web I find a lot of potentially successful websites that lack a couple of key elements that would significantly increase sales and boost profits.

Many of these websites feature terrific graphics and even fairly solid web copy, but neglect to follow some well-establish web copywriting rules.

Incorporating the following 5 elements into your web copy will result in near immediate gains in leads, sales and ultimately profits.

1. Fail to connect with target audience
The popular notion that simply driving traffic to your website will result in an influx of sales is absolutely, unequivocally false. You can drive endless streams of traffic to your website, but if you fail to connect with your target audience, you’ll leave sales, and ultimately profits on the table. 

The key to connecting with consumers is identifying your ideal customer. What attributes and characteristics define your “perfect” customer? Getting to know your ideal client is paramount to closing the sale.

You must think outside the box. You must go beyond demographics. What makes them tick? You have to be able to tap into their inner-most wants and desires. What are their problems, and how do you plan on solving them? You have to connect with them intimately. How will your service or product benefit them?

2. The lack of a persuasive offer
I have beat this drum before and I will continue to do so. I see many websites simply offering a product or service with an affixed price. Think this will close the sale for you?

Think again. It’s critical that the offer you present is utterly irresistible! You must build value in your prospect’s mind. Even more importantly, you must offer what is referred to as “perceived value.”

Let’s take a closer look at “perceived value.” Even if what you offer costs you next to nothing to produce, your prospect must perceive that they are receiving more than what they are paying for. Loading your offer with a bonus is one of the most effective ways to accomplish that. 

Want proof that bonuses work? Just flip on your television and watch those late night infomercials. That gentleman pitching the latest set of steak knives will usually follow his initial offer with something like this:

“And if you order the all-new Shinago titanium steak knives within the next 20 minutes, we'll throw in a second set of sleek titanium steak knives absolutely FREE!" 

And they do this because the bonus strategy generates MORE SALES. It's a proven time-tested method!

3. Neglecting scarcity
Most visitors to your site who take the time to consider your product or service would like to buy from you. The dilemma is they feel like they can simply come back to your site at any time to purchase your product or service. It simply is not a priority to them. So how do you create that sense of urgency? 

You need to incorporate a sense of scarcity into your offer. There are multiple ways to employ this strategy. Whether it is a limited time sale, summer special or 'while they last' item, there are many ways to create a 'call to action' which motivates buyers to act immediately. 

Phrases such as 'Don't wait another moment, "act now!' or "call today!' may not seem like killer advertising copy, but these phrases resonate in the minds of your audience. This principle has worked for ages and is still used today to generate massive sales and profits. 

4. The absence of proof
With the abundance of offers proliferating the internet, consumers are becoming increasingly hesitant to purchase.

Sure, your website may be professionally designed, offer an array of beneficial products or services, but if you don’t offer some kind of tangible proof, your prospects may question its validity.

You can, of course, inject testimonials and guarantees into your website, which offer immediate credibility. However, elements of proof do not end there. You can include the story behind your product, case studies, statistics and facts and “seals of approval.”  Any relevant elements of proof you can add to your website will go a long way in establishing trust in your service or product.

Let’s face it, we live in an increasingly cynical and skeptical society. You must remove any kind of risk in your customer’s mind.

5. No distinct call to action
This may seem like a painstakingly simple principle, but it’s one that is often neglected. I want you to take a second and think to yourself, “What is it that I want my visitor to do?” Once you have a clear objective established you can focus on the outcome. 

It’s critical that you keep your call to action simple and straightforward. Focus on one point and one point only.  If you want your customer to click on a “buy now” button, instruct them as clearly as possible to do so. A convoluted call to action will confuse your customers and result in a significant reduction in sales. 
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5 Reasons Why Your Small Business Needs a Blog

4/14/2017

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Why does your small business need a business blog you ask?

We created this blog as a way to brand ourselves as professionals in the copywriting community as well as a resource for our clients.

As we sat down and started really thinking about the importance of blogging, we came up with the following list of 5 reasons your business needs a business blog. 

1. Build trust
Trust is built slowly and takes hard work and dedication. Your goal when building trust above all else is to deliver value. People by their very nature are skeptical, and a well-executed blog can break through the fears and inherent distrust of consumers. 

Your audience wants to pull back the curtains and see a face and hear a voice. They want to conduct business with companies who they feel like they can trust and believe in. Your business blog serves as a valuable tool in achieving that.

2. Take control of your brand
A brand is to a business what words are to a human. It’s how we as business owners announce ourselves to the world. The brand elicits emotion and passion when people hear and see a name.

Let me illustrate just how powerful a brand can be. Six years I vividly recall my son sitting in front of the television watching a Skittles commercial. Before the commercial finished my son belted out, “Taste the Rainbow!” He was 4 years old. If brand advertising is that effective on a 4-year-old, imagine the effect it leaves on us as adults. 

Whether you’re branding a business, what you put out on the Internet, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, is a direct representation of your company. Every blog post, every status update, is your legacy and your brand.

3. Nurture and expand relationships
Social media and blogging give your clients an opportunity to communicate with you on their terms.

Relationships in business are everything....as small business owners, it’s all we have!

Look, it’s inevitable that someone else is going to offer a better price or service. What you are in complete control of however is your relationships with your clients.

You can have the BEST relationship with someone. Even top executives make seemingly ludicrous decisions because of relationships.  

Your blog serves as a perfect tool to nurture and build relationships.

4. The search
The importance of an SEO optimized blog can’t be emphasized enough! If you conduct proper keyword research your blog will be found by consumers looking for the exact information you are providing in major search engines like Google.

Google favors fresh and original content that is keyword optimized.

In other words, your blog posts need to have a purpose and you need to conduct careful keyword research. Choosing to neglect proper SEO optimization will result in your potential clients passing you by and conducting business with your competitors.

Use Google Keyword Search to determine the search terms that will drive the most traffic to your blog and use them in your blog posts.

5. Sell, sell and sell!
Let’s be honest. At days end what we’re trying to do is sell more of our product or service. Building trust, nurturing relationships, optimizing our content and broadening our brand recognition all go a long way in completing the sale. 

Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg on this particular subject, but what it comes down to is this: A business blog helps you sell more. It’s really that simple!
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4 Ways Press Releases Can Help Grow Your Business

3/31/2017

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In the modern age of social media marketing and PPC advertising, press releases are often forgotten and sadly underutilized. The truth is press releases are one of the most effective marketing tools available to small businesses. 

So what the heck is a press release anyway? A press release is generally a written communication that announces something newsworthy about your company, product or alerts media about a newsworthy event. While primarily written, press releases can be distributed in audio or video formats as well. 

Small businesses use press releases to inform the masses about a new product or service or to inform the public about a new development to their product or service. 

In addition to informing the media about new products or services, press releases can be used to help shape public opinion or to broaden company awareness. When growing an online business, press releases can give you a competitive edge in getting your name out to the public.

Here are 4 ways press releases can help you grow your small business or organization:

1. Reach your target audience
Successful marketing is all about reaching your target audience, and that is exactly what well-designed press releases do. By contrast, traditional advertisement distribution will probably not reach Facebook users. By distributing a press release, there are more opportunities to make sure it does reach that massive pool of online readers.

2. Press releases can bring more traffic to your website
SEO friendly press releases aid in bringing increased traffic to your website. Here is an example: If your business targets gift baskets, a press release that incorporates that word will be picked up by search engines such as Google much sooner, allowing for more people to actually read your press release about your newest gift basket assortment.

3. Build your brand
One of the core principles of business success is building your brand. Press releases help build brand recognition. As your business continues to release new products or services the more valuable your press releases become. Submitting press releases gets your name out to different media outlets and customers, continually reminding them of your company.

This is far more effective than a traditional grand opening, which provides just one opportunity to announce your new product line or service. Press releases provide a valuable opportunity to introduce your new business to the masses as well as notifying the public about expansion, special offers, etc. This type of exposure will build your brand identity like few other options. 

4. Harness the power of social media
Utilizing SEO and SMO (social media optimization) friendly press releases, you can fully leverage the power of social media hubs like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Conventional press releases aren’t distributed to users of Facebook and Google. With millions and millions of people on social networks, it’s critical that your press releases utilize SEO and SMO strategies. 
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Convert Prospects Into Customers With An Irresistible Offer!

3/3/2017

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If you want your business to have any chance of succeeding, you must convert prospects into customers. An important part of this conversion is creating an irresistible offer. Your offer must be compelling and exciting. Your readers must find your offer too good to pass up! Let’s take a closer look.

Most prospects who take the time to consider your product or service would like to buy from you. The only problem is, buying your product or service is not a priority to them. Many business owners believe they have to reduce their price to improve their offer. This is not necessarily the case. What you need to do is create a sense of urgency and build value in your offer.

Create a sense of urgency
There are many avenues to take when employing this strategy. Whether it is a limited time sale, summer special or 'while they last' item, there are many ways to create a 'call to action' which motivates buyers to act immediately. Phrases such as 'Don't wait another moment, act now!' or 'Call today!' may not seem like killer advertising copy, these strategies have worked for ages and are still used today to generate massive sales and profits. 

Build value
One of the most effective ways to build value is by adding bonuses. Who doesn't like to receive something for free?! Regardless as to what you offer as a bonus, it must possess a high perceived value to your buyers -  even if it costs you nothing to produce. It's essential that the customer feels like they are receiving more than they paid for and loading your offer with a bonus is one of the most effective ways to accomplish that.

Want proof that bonuses work? Just flip on your television and watch those late night infomercials! That gentleman pitching the latest frying pan will usually follow his initial offer with something like this:

“And if you order the all-new Lean Mean Frying Machine within the next 20 minutes, we'll throw in a set of sleek titanium steak knives absolutely FREE!" 

And they do this because the bonus strategy generates MORE SALES. It's a proven time-tested method!

So why does this technique work so well?  People make buying decisions based on emotion as opposed to logic.  We need to somehow justify the buying decision to ourselves and receiving bonuses accomplishes this!
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Why Hire a Professional Copywriter?

2/17/2017

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This is one of the most frequent questions I get asked by those inquiring about my copywriting services. Here are 5 reasons why you should hire a professional copywriter.

1. Quality
As a professional writer, this how I earn my living. I possess the tools and knowledge to write persuasive copy that sells and captures your audience's attention.

2. Positioning
While you may be a capable writer, creating copy for marketing and sales purposes requires properly being able to position your product so it stands out and motivates your audience to buy. As a copywriter, I know how to do this.

3. Clarity
Being able to write for your target audience is crucial. As a professional copywriter, I take complex and intricate material and make it digestible and easy to understand.

4. Convenience
Your time is valuable and writing can be tedious and time-consuming. Hiring a professional copywriter allows you to focus on more important tasks.

5. Brevity
In today's world, people simply don't have the patience to wade through lines and lines of copy. As a professional copywriter, I'm able to take your main ideas and transform them into succinct and relevant points. Copywriters breath fresh life and focus into your copy.
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    Scott Beckstead is the president and founder of The Peerless Pen

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