07.06.07
Posted in General, Search Engine Optimization at 3:39 pm by Colin McNulty
I got a call today from my car insurance company: eSure. It seems they regularly search the web for references to “eSure” and they picked up my eSure car insurance post yesterday. So the conversation goes something like this (paraphrased):
eSure: Hi, I’m calling from eSure customer services, we’ve seen your post on the internet about us.
Me: !!!!!! Errr, ok. What’s up?
eSure: Well I thought you’d like to know that I’ve listened to the recording of your telephone conversation with our customer service agent (CSA), and I’d just like to apologies to you about what happened.
Me: *thud* <= the sound of me falling off my chair.
eSure: It seems our CSA was inexperienced and I’d like you to know that as a company we are very aware of the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM). However we don’t offer a discount as we already target the safe driver side of the market, which is why our quote was cheaper.
Me: *laughing now*
eSure: You might like to know that as a result of your post, we’ve sent round a company wide communication reminding our staff about the IAM. Is there anything else we can do for you?
Me: Yeah, about that discount…?
eSure: Sorry, we can’t do that.
Tee hee, it was a very unexpected and entertaining conversation. First off, well done to eSure for excellent use of technology (by the way, my company offers this service too, for £95 a month I’ll send you weekly emails with links to websites that have referenced up to 5 words of phrases of your choice, I suggest you chose your company name, products names, brand names etc., however if you mention you came from my blog, I’ll double that to 10 per month, see here for details: Internet Keyword Tracking Service ).
Secondly, well done to eSure for excellent proactive customer service, I really am quite impressed. Of course they didn’t actually give me a discount, but meh, they were the cheapest anyway!
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23.04.07
Posted in General, Home Business Opportunities, Search Engine Optimization at 10:02 am by Colin McNulty
Brad Fallon is a serial entrepreneur who is launching a new site call FreeIQ. The basic premise is that you can uploaded informational videos, eBooks, audio etc of how to do stuff. Other users will rate the videos so you will get peer reviewed content, sorted by category.
Of course being Brad, there’s going to be a money option here too, so there will be premium content that you can buy, but this too will be peer reviewed. In fact, the review system is called “ReviewRank”, hmmm I wonder where that idea came from? Probably the same place the starting page layout design did too. 
Still, if you want to be successful in life, emulating one of the worlds most successful company’s doesn’t seem like a bad approach to take does it.
I’ll be watching FreeIQ to see if it gains the critical mass it will need for success.
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16.04.07
Posted in General, Search Engine Optimization at 10:05 pm by Colin McNulty
I’m trying out a couple of new Word Press plugins. The first is “Permalink Redirect WordPress Plugin” which makes sure that links to posts are properly redirected, and it also sorts out the differences in incoming links between http://colinmcnulty.com/blog/ and http://www.colinmcnulty.com/blog/
The second is WP-Notable, which should add a host of groovy little icons to the bottom of this post, just rip for the clicking. The theory goes that it allows readers to easily submit posts to many different social bookmarking and networking sites.
EDIT - I’ve had to turn off wp-notable as it is mis-behaving. Will try again sometime when I have more time.
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22.03.07
Posted in General, Search Engine Optimization at 3:07 pm by Colin McNulty
There are many reasons to do Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising through internet search engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo, when compared with established advertising systems, but the main one is that almost all established advertising and marketing methods are dumb broadcast methods to consumers who have shown little or no interest in buying your service. I’m thinking of magazine ads, bill board posters, radio ads etc etc. They are all broadcast ads. It is probably fair to say that some are more targeted than others, if you are selling funky car parts, you put adverts in a car modders magazine, but that’s a course technique these days.
Search Google for “beds” and on the right hand side, you’ll see links by websites who are paying Google to have their advert and site shown on the first page of results for people who are searching for beds. This is PPC Advertising and this is why Google now leads the search engines with a multi $Billion turnover.
What about someone searching Yahoo for “What’s the best marketing company in Manchester?” That’s a user that right at that moment in time is interested in learning a very specific thing. If you sell marketing services in Manchester, and expect to offer a service that can help that potential client, you’d better hope that you’re on the first page of Yahoo or which ever Search Engine you prefer. How much is it worth to you to have that user visit your website within three seconds of typing that into the search engine?
You might search engine optimise your website to make sure you have first page rankings for your search term, but it takes time usually measured in months and a reasonable investment in cash (whether that’s to pay someone who knows what they are talking about, or to learn how to do it yourself). This is where paid internet marketing really is most effective, and is not used enough as far as I’m concerned. Your site could be on the first page of Google, MSN and Yahoo the same day for your search term, and all for a relatively low budget. In a week (maybe less) you’d have some idea of the quantity of consumers that are definately searching for that term, browsing your website, and purchasing your product or service. This is real time research into your specific market for a very small budget that it is simply not possible to get any other way.
Lets say that the campaign costs you 20p (or 40 cents if you prefer dollars) per click, and 500 people click your ad making a total spend of £100 ($200). And say your conversion rate is a reasonable one percent, so you’ve got 5 new sales and more importantly 5 new customers that you can now up sell to. All this for £100 spent ($200) or just £20 ($40 each)! How much is your average consumer worth in total? What’s a new customer worth to your business? Isn’t this worth it?
A fundamental thing to comprehend is how the Search Engine ranks the sponsored PPC marketing ads. In essence it’s a real time auction. The highest bidder wins. If you bid 20p and someone else bids 25p, they will rank higher than yours. It is in fact definitely more involved than that: if you have a better quality PPC ads, it’s likely for you to rank higher than the 25p advert because the search engine will give boosts to better performing PPC ads. The point is that if your Pay Per Click expert knows what (s)he’s doing with PPC bid management, it’s probably you will achieve higher rankings (read more traffic) for less money. So your limited online website promotion budget is stretched and you save budget. Conversely, if your AdWords ad campaign is administered by someone who has no idea their job, it will cost you real money.
Some of the tasks an expert Google Advertising Professional should be doing whilst administering your account, and if yours isn’t, we strongly advise you get a review of your online Pay Per Click Advertising campaign today:
Be in it to Win It - The whole point of PPC bid campaigns is to get on the very first page of your Yahoo, search engine, MSN etc fast. However, where there is in excess of eight (typically) even PPC ads can drop off the 1st page. Where there is competition like this, there is absolutely no point doing a PPC marketing campaign if you’re not on the first page, so either boost your Cost Per Click (CPC) settings, or forget it.
Landing Page Optimisation - A common issue is not matching the webpage that people land on when they click your advert, to the words found in your advert; which definitely should be targeted at what the consumer searched for. This just means that when the consumer clicks your Advert, they get to see what they want to. Did you know that internet users are lazy? Would you believe that did you know that half of all internet browsers leave a website in under eight seconds because they don’t find what they expected!
Broad / Phrase / Exact Matching - Google PPC Advertising allow 3 alternative ways to match search terms to your keywords, but many online marketers just go for the default matching option. You could double your traffic from intelligent use of the other options which many careless Google Advertising Professionals do not even bother with.
Split Testing your Ads - This is good PPC technique and simply means having more than one advert and testing which works the best. Here is one example, we had 2 adverts which were the same in every way except the start of the title. One started “Learn to Prevent…” and the other started with “Stop…”. Split testing determined that 5 percent of the people who saw the “Learn to Prevent….” clicked it. BUT 8 percent of the people who saw the “Stop…” advert clicked that one. It will not surprise you to learn that, we dropped the first advert and got a better quality advert which ultimately Google promoted to the top ad position on the page, for the same CPC!
Have Many Ad Groups - The elementary amateur mistake is to group all your keywords together to supply a single advert. This is usually bad. Keywords should be divided into separate groups with advert text that accurately show the keywords searched for.
Tracking for Better Website ROI - This is modern marketing, this is not traditional marketing, so use that to your advantage. The technology exists to monitor every sale and where it comes from. You will learn definitely which advert converts to sales and which do not. Remember, it’s one thing to get significant traffic, it’s another to have lots of sales. What would you prefer to have for PPC internet advertising: an advert that generates one thousand clicks and one percent sales, or one that generates 100 leads and ten% sales? For both you gain the same sales, but the 1st costs you ten times as much in PPC advertising budget.
If you would like to talk to a Google AdWords Qualified Individual about a Pay Per Click review or if you’re interested in outsourcing the whole setup and running of your PPC campaign to a Pay Per Click Management Company, or if you just want to find out how you can get Better Website Return on Investment (ROI), then visit www.Intrinsic-Marketing.co.uk a Pay Per Click and Search Engine Optimization Firm.
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20.03.07
Posted in General, Search Engine Optimization at 10:05 am by Colin McNulty
In a current murder trial, circumstantial evidence is being heaped up against Melanie McGuire by computer forensic specialists who have trawled computers she’s used to determine that she searched Google and MSN for details of how to kill some one. Specifically she researched gun law and drugs and poisons.
McGuire allegedly murdered her husband with a gun and then dismembered his body, placing parts of his body in 3 suitcases found in the Chesapeake Bay back in 2004. Evidence from the computers has revealed that they were used to search for:
- “How To Commit Murder.”
- “instant poisons“
- “undetectable poisons“
- “fatal digoxin doses“
- gun laws in New Jersey and Pennsylvania
So, when you’re planning to murder your spouse, be careful what you search for!
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19.03.07
Posted in General, Home Business Opportunities, Search Engine Optimization at 9:03 pm by Colin McNulty
It’s part of my job to understand more about Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation (or Optimization if you prefer) than you do! So some of what I do is write articles and publish them. I’ve recently been publishing versions of this article, so it seemed appropriate to publish it here too.
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Marketing as an Affiliate (or Affiliate Marketing if you prefer) is a very trendy and modern working from home based business that’s increasing in popularity with every passing day. Affiliate marketers promote internet merchandise that is not their own. The Internet business you are helping will pay you a commission for each time a visitor clicks from your website to theirs, (this is called Pay Per Click); each time somebody hands over their details through your site, (Pay Per Lead); or for each purchase made through you, (Pay Per Sale). This can be great for both the Internet business and the affiliate marketer: the Internet business does not pay until it sees sales, and the marketer can earn substantial commissions.
Remember, it is quite possible to fail at Marketing as an Affiliate. If you’re contemplating getting into the online marketing game, here are some basic tips to guide you:
Ask questions. Do not be coy about asking comprehensive questions of affiliate sellers. Be picky if they can not deal with your questions to your satisfaction. Do they pay per sale, per lead, etc? How do they monitor your sales? Do they have marketing tools to help you getting started? Ask for the Internet business’s conversion rate? What are the setup costs? Is it possible to monitor your sales on their website.
Pick some goods you are willing to stand behind. If you are not completely satisfied about the merchandise you’ve picked to advertise, do not try to fake it. Potential customers won’t be prepared to buy your what you’re selling if you do not approve it entirely, and you won’t do this if you in fact do not truthfully believe in it. So shop around. Definitely think about purchasing sample services from a variety of sites. Email the Internet business, explain that you are planning to becoming an affiliate of there’s, and that you would like to try their services out. Most Internet businesses would be glad to supply you with a free sample.
Write online articles. To spread the word about your web page, it would be of benefit to give the impression of being a recognised authority in your field. Publish articles about topics in your market place that your browsers might be searching for, and publish them to article online publications. Be sure you include a link back to your web page so it will add to your link count and make your web page more tempting to search engines.
Build a site search engines like. The success of your site depends on traffic. Search engines like websites that are full of accurate subject matter, have a great deal websites pointing to them, and that enjoy a reasonable quantity of visitors already. The information on the web page is especially important. You’ll need at least one article for each high volume keyword phrase that is germane to the web page. Take care however, do not just throw content together specifically for the search engines, or your browsers won’t stick around to click on your monetized affiliate links. Be careful to include search terms, but create for visitors predominantly.
Implement autoresponders. When a browser emails your web page, you should have an autoresponder sequence created to email them a discount code, a coupon, a list of FAQs, money off advice, anything that will get them returning to your web page.
Pre sell. This is a very important success factor to managing a successful Marketing as an Affiliate web page. The key as an affiliate marketer must be not to peddle hard sell sales letters for your affiliate service. The Internet business you are marketing will have a salesletter like that on their web page, which the potential customer will read after clicking the link from your web page. As an alternative, make a web page that is directed to the interests of readers who you think intend procure the service. Include informative articles, podcasts, videos etc. Consider creating a piece suggesting the service you are marketing, but do not concentrate the full web page on it. As an alternative, try to make it a cool destination for readers who you think are likely to click through and purchase it.
Store email addresses. A good method for this is to provide sign ups for an online email updates. Don’t record email addresses that browsers have not supplied you with express authorisation to use. This is definitely spam and could ruin your reputation online. Consider also offering incentives in trade for email addresses, e.g. discounts, give aways etc.
Marketing as an Affiliate can be an incredibly pleasing and productive home based business. But it is absolutely not for people who want an easy life. The best affiliate marketing business is a full time role, certainly to start with anyway. Although if you go along with these simple tips, it will be likely to be worth your trouble.
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The Top Home Business Opportunity site in the UK lists and peer reviews all kinds of affiliate marketing systems so you will know the scams before you join one. For example check out the twenty plus reviews of Cash on Demand by Andrew Reynolds
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