Guide to make money online!

After Google, YouTube is now apparently the most-used search engine in the world. YouTube now allegedly sees more searches than either Yahoo or MSN. I think that’s amazing. And I also think it is an amazing opportunity for those of us who want to increase traffic to our websites.

But does YouTube really represent a realistic option for increasing traffic to your site? Last year I set out to test this very theory because, frankly, I was a little cynical. My own suspicions were that most of these searches were from teenage kids looking for clips of their favourite bands or stupid stunts and I doubted that YouTube could be effectively harnessed for the sake of marketers.

So I created a small number of short (2-5 minute) videos on a topic related to one of my websites and published them to see what happened.

And I must say that the results truly impressed me. People were finding my videos either in YouTube itself - or on Google which tends to rank videos highly - and then watching my videos. Over a few months, thousands of people watched them and a decent number then clicked on the link pointing to my site.

As a result I saw a marked increase in my traffic as a result of this experiment and it really turned me on to the possibilities.

So how difficult is it to harness the power of YouTube? Honestly, the answer is not very, and I’d to tell you exactly how I did it in the hope that you too can benefit from the power of online video.

Making The Video

Nothing flashy is need to make a video to market your website. Personally I used a cheap digital camera and just basically spoke into the lens. For YouTube ensure your videos don’t go over 10 minutes in total length. Personally I pretty much read some of my more popular articles and tips so I was able to reuse much of my existing content rather than having to create plenty of new content.

I literally took an article that was generating traffic and then read it to camera.

Upload The Video

Sign up for a free YouTube account if you haven’t already and you will find how easy it is to upload the video. All you need to do is to locate it on your computer and press the upload button.

Once the video is uploaded the final step is to name it correctly. As you are basically reusing the content of an existing article, use the article title as the title for your video and include a link back to your website in the description.

That really is pretty much all there is too it. I recommend doing a number of these videos as they can be a little hit and miss and the more you have out there the greater the difference will be to your traffic levels.

One final tip is to enable comments on your videos in your YouTube account as I have found a surprising number of people are keen to ask questions about the videos I have uploaded and this can also be a good way to lure people back to my site by explaining that the answer to their questions is at this page or that page on my site.

There are two paths that you can take when it comes to managing your pay-per-click advertising campaign online. You can learn it yourself and make Google’s stock rise higher while you figure out the learning curve, then spend a lot of time keeping it running smoothly. Or, you can hire a professional pay-per-click firm to handle it for you.

I did both.

See, I know the position you’re in right now. I’ve been there. I’ve hired and fired 2 pay-per-click management companies. I was forced to learn on my own and spend tens of thousands of dollars.

My Experiences with Outsourcing My Pay-Per-Click Needs

The first pay-per-click management company that I hired kept raising my budget and jacking up my costs-per-click. Yet, I wasn’t getting any conversions!

So I decided to fire that PPC firm and manage my own pay-per-click campaigns. I studied under the top gurus like Perry Marshall. I bought all the ebooks and coaching programs. And, I spent more than $10,000.00 figuring everything out on my own until I grew a no name business into $50k per month in sales all from pay-per-click advertising.

But, I worked day and night on my pay-per-click campaigns. I spent a ton of time, money and effort on it. I couldn’t handle it anymore so I hired another pay-per-click firm to take over the accounts again. They did a nice job and are still around today, but I saw some holes in their approach.

Now, I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I did. I want to help you choose a pay-per-click management company that’s actually going to help you turn clicks into clients.

Here are 7 Questions You Need to Ask Before You Hire a Pay-Per-Click Management Company:

1. This is going to piss people off: How many accounts does an account manager handle? Just because you have a “dedicated” account manager doesn’t mean he/she isn’t dedicated to 50 other accounts. This is not uncommon in some of the larger pay-per-click firms out there. If they work 40 hours per week that’s less than 1 hour/week they are spending on your account, provided they do nothing but work on accounts every minute of the day.

2. Can I peek in and have access to my Google & Yahoo accounts? There’s a new breed of PPC management that keeps everything secret. They are basically buying a click for $1.00 then charging you an undisclosed markup on the click. That’s why their setup & management fees are low. They’re making money on marking up your clicks.

3. What constitutes an improvement? You need to put in your order with the pay-per-click firm just like you would order a steak medium rare with a side of truffle fries to a waiter. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and don’t be afraid to speak up. For example: I want to increase sales while keeping my cost-per-sale under $50.

4. Do you track phone calls? If you are doing any part of the business offline then your pay-per-click management company should offer a way to track where your calls are coming from. Tracking calls back to specific keywords helps eliminate waste and will reveal high response terms you’ll want to dominate.

5. What are your prices? Now, don’t be cheap. There is no such thing as a Mercedes Benz for Honda prices. I’ll admit some people don’t need the Mercedes, but if you are spending $2,000/month or more, chances are you at least need a certified, pre-owned BMW.

6. What is your experience? I’m all for giving the new guy a try. I was the new guy at one point. Nothing, I repeat nothing can replace experience. Experience comes from long hours of hard work. There are no magic formulas. Good solid basics and some creativity will always win in the end.

7. Will you involve me in the project? No one knows your business as well as you. Get specific on how often you’ll meet to review the results and plan next steps. A good pay-per-click firm will welcome your input. It is invaluable.

Now, it’s up to you. But, if you fail to ask the above questions, then you’re risking hiring and firing new pay-per-click management companies when things go south or spending tens of thousands of dollars learning how to do it yourself like I did. Learn from my pay-per-click outsourcing experiences.

Pay-Per-Click Expert Paul Rakovich grew a no-named business selling Tony Robbins CDs to doing $50,000.00 per month in sales with PPC advertising. Today, he manages PPC campaigns for plastic surgeons, dermatologists, clothing companies, dentists, lawyers, Internet marketers, a famous copywriter and more! Now get his FREE 5 PPC Fixes That Could Save You Thousands at http://www.clicksandclients.com & learn how to turn your clicks into paying clients.

Alright, so I've been walking you through how to set up your very own customized article marketing strategy which you can use to guide and motivate yourself throughout the year.

The first two steps were setting you up to be able to measure and track your progress.

In Step 1, you established a baseline for your website and set up a spreadsheet where you'll do monthly tracking of certain stats.

In Step 2 you figured out who your top competitors were and you entered your baseline information for them.

In Step 3, we get down to business–here is where you organize your article marketing campaign.

I've noticed that the #1 reason why some people give up or don't see success or simply say "I don't have time to do this" is that they haven't planned their marketing activities out very well.

When you own a business, whether it is an internet business or a traditional business that has a website, you need to take your marketing activities seriously. No matter what type of business you have, if you are able to position your site at the top Google, you will receive more targeted traffic to your website, and traffic translates into more business for you!

Many people use Article Marketing as their primary marketing tool, and in order to see the results you're looking for, you need to take an organized approach. If you do not, you will likely quit in a month or two be back at square one.

So, let's do some pre-thinking on this, and I will tell you exactly what I did as I was launching my most recent article marketing campaign.

1) Set a goal as to how many articles you'll submit each month–something between 1 and 8 articles.

I know some top article marketers who submit just one article a month and see excellent results, but you'll see better results faster if you lean towards the upper end of that range, especially if you're just getting started. You might give yourself some time to get used to writing articles on a regular basis and start off slow–perhaps Month One submit 3 articles, Month Two submit 4, and then gradually work up until you're submitting 7 or 8 a month.

2) Determine which days you'll write and what time–put it on your calendar.

For myself this is imperative to success–if I tell myself that I need to write 5 articles before the end of the month and I don't set any specific times/dates for doing so, before I know it the end of the month will be on top of me, and I'll be up against the wall. Not many people like the feeling of being in a tight deadline, and I like to do my articles at a leisurely pace so that I have time left to edit them and be sure they're of the quality that I like.

I write on my calendar exactly which days are writing days, and I do my writing first thing in the work day. Some people say morning is best as that's when our minds tend to be clearest, but some of us don't start working until the afternoon or evening–whenever is the start of your workday, try to do your writing then. It feels good to have that accomplishment behind you, and I like writing when my mind is fresh rather than at the end of the day when it's mush.

You'll want to make this calendar as visible as possible to remind yourself–I even have a special dry erase board calendar specifically devoted to my writing schedule. It sits on the wall beside my desk, and every day when I sit down to work, there it is staring me in the face. After I write the article I mark that day off on the board. It's very motivating to see the writing days being checked off.

3) Start brainstorming article ideas–remember, these are article topics that are on the topic of your website. You don't have to make your brain hurt by trying to think of article topics that have your keywords in them–let's keep this simple. Just start thinking of topics that your target readers would find valuable and that are also on the same topic as your website.

This is a brainstorming list, so there's no commitment here. Just start writing down as many ideas as you can think of, and get your creative juices flowing. When I'm jotting down ideas, I usually end up jotting down titles. You'll find that when you start writing down ideas, the ideas will start to flow. Write down as many as you can and keep them in list form. This is a list that you can use all month long and depending on how many ideas you brainstormed, perhaps for several months.

By creating a list of article topics, you're making it so much easier on yourself come your writing days–you won't have to sit down and try to think up a topic and then write. All you have to do is sit down, look at your article list, pick a topic that appeals to you, and then write. Believe me, working like this is a million times easier than taking it day by day, article by article.

And that's it for this step–pretty easy, eh?

Easy, but indispensable–I caution you, do not skip this step.The stuff you're doing in this step will keep your whole article marketing campaign on track, even when you don't feel like writing and even when you don't think you have time. A little prep now can set you on the right path for the rest of the year.

The nature of internet marketing is that it is a convenient medium which allows the sale or purchase of a product. It is growing faster than any other media. What it refers to is the markeing of a product or services by means of the Internet.

It is a way to distribute information to a global audience, faster and cheaper and it is interactive which means that it provides and receives instaneous responses, something unique in marketing.

There are many different business models for internet marketing and what they all have in common is that they all benefit from SEO, or Search Engine optimsation which can greatly enhance and influence their success or failure. SEO can also be referred to as an online marketing campaign.

There are many advantages to internet marketing, one is the cost. Internet Marketing is relatively inexpensive when you compare it to the costs of reaching a large audience the old fashioned way. This is a definate advantage for smaller companies who work on limited budgets.

Another advantage is that it possible to reach a wide audience quickly and bring in results just as quickly. Internet marketing also supports mediums where measureable statistics can be gained, easily and inexpensively. In fact all aspects of Internet marketing can be tracked and tested, the advantage of this is that a marketer can determine which of their offerings is more appealing and change accordingly.

Internet marketing allows the tracking of competitors on a realtime basis which would otherwise rely on word or mouth, or by means of quarterly publications. However, the overall effectiveness of any internet marketing does depend on the business goals being used.

Limitations and security
There are some limitations to internet marketing though. One is actually the technology it uses which requires a customer or marketer understands how to use it. Another is low speed internet connections which does result in delays in the delivery of the information being advertised. Some buyers feel that they still want to touch and feel the product before they buy, but this can be addressed by offers of return policies and pick up services. Some marketing executives are finding it difficult to convince senior management of the advantages of Search Engine Optimization and internet marketing.

Security issues regarding information are also important and many customers are still hesitant when it comes to buying over the internet because they may not trust their private information being kept confidential, or worse, having it stolen by unscrupulous scammers.

With the advent of encruption, it is possible, if not mandatory, for a company to guarantee privacy and security to their customers. And if a customer decides to ‘opt out’ of their subscription services, their details are no longer held on the company’s database.

Another security concern is that a consumer will actually receive the goods they have purchased, these fears can only be relieved by brand building and gaining a good reputation in the market place. As well as this online payment merchants provide back end buyer protection sytems which protect the clients credit card details in cyberspace.

Page Rank is all about authority, the more authority a website receives, the higher the page rank goes, that is the general theory.

Don’t be deceived, high listings in the SERP’s are not about how big your page rank is, as the saying goes it is not the size but what you do with it that counts.

I can give examples of site that are PR 1 but rank #1 for some very generic terms within Google, however the theory and process of SEO is such you build them both together, like a well tuned operation it is not all about what is done in the shop front but usually the stock room that runs the engine.

These are my five top tips for building page rank:

1. Integrate a blog into your website, using wordpress you can integrate a simple blog into your website, wordpress also has a ping list, as soon as you post blogs the web is effectively notified of your blog, be controversial, create interest and just like the viral effect people will post your blogs creating natural links back to your site.
2. Press Releases, use someone like pressreleasepoint for a small fee distribute to about 60 PR engines, it is cheap to do, if you have not written releases before read up about writing styles, this is not a “process” and the purpose is to create real interest about what you have to say, if you hit the right note, it will get published and again create natural links back to your site, as well as build your brand.
3. Social media distribution, when you have good content, don’t sit on it, get it out and about, submit into social network sites, if your article takes off, the rewards will be there for you to see, and if not, there is no harm as if you are consistent and your content is good, you will build your own following which will create links and improve your longer tail of search.
4. Use methods such as commentating on other peoples blogs, and where they allow you to, pingback a link to your website, also use Yahoo! Answers, you can give people feedback and again create some natural back linking.
5. All the above are not quick methods, they are methods used to build the authority of your topic “website” and build your web based authority off page back to your website which is what will have an effect on a search engines perception of your site.

Thanks to technology, SEO tactics used to position a website evolve but fundamentals stay the same.

There are three aspects of Search Engine Optimization which are considered major and are important for optimisation. In a nutshell they are Keywords, Links and Graphics and if you make use of these three aspects correctly you be rewarded with high rankings.

Keyword Aspect
Firstly you must ensure that your keywords are relevant to your content. They should be in phrases that are used most commonly in a search. This may entail some research, but you will end up with keywords that searcher actually use.

Make sure that all your titles on all your pages start with your keywords and your content is filled with them. Fill your content with any other related information too. Optimise your Meta tags with your keywords and make sure that they are included in your filenames.

Linking Aspect
It should be evident how important external links are for SEO, so make sure they are listed in the Open Directory Project, or DMOZ. DMOZ provides most of the popular search engines with their results.

As well as listing your site the DMOZ, list it in human edited online directories too and make sure that your site has a sitemap which support text links. It is wise to avoid linking with just anyone, rather link with sites that have the same or better ranking than you do and make sure that your links are complimentary to your product or service.

Graphic aspects
Creating SEO can be hard and not a little confusing. A lot of web designers will tell you that you need a lot of eye catching features on your site, fancy fonts, animated sections and lots of beautiful graphics. SEO experts will tell that this it is not necessary to go overboard, and in fact may even work against you.

When you insert graphics in your web pages, use Cascading Style Sheets which separates the content, or keywords, from the code. The result will be that search engine robots are able to ignore formatting code and will find your keywords immediately instead of being slowed down by bad or unnecessary code.

It is very important to accompany your graphics or photographs with descriptive keyword rich alternative attributes. This is helpful for humans viewing your site and will aid in attracting repeat traffic. A simple thing such as putting a caption below a photograph will please the search engine robot, but beware of using fonts which are considered too ‘graphic’, use standard fonts instead.

When a search engine robot finds weird stuff such as flash animation or fonts, it cannot translate it into text and will instead see all the text on your page as a blank space. You actually don’t need flash animation if your content and product is good and by overloading their use can actually tell your customers that you are don’t have a lot of experience in designing and selling on the internet.