Most online businesses appreciate being able to do things themselves …I know I do. It not only saves me money but I learn a few things along the way  

SEO isn't hard; it's just a matter of knowing the key strategies, understanding why they work and putting them into practice.  As soon as you start doing them they'll become second nature to you and pretty soon you'll be doing them without even thinking about it. 

So if you've got a website and want to optimize it without hiring a professional or using expensive tools, here's what you need to do …       

Use Your Best Keywords
This is a pretty important one and you should really take your time to examine your options. For example, each page of your site should be optimized for the best keywords possible.  Start by 'summing up' what the page is really about, then ask yourself what keywords accurately describe the content.  Once you have a good list of about 2 or 3 keyword phrases use a keyword tool like Wordtracker to determine which keywords get the most searches and have the least amount of competing web pages.

Learn to stay away from general words like pets, candy, shoes, computers; instead look for niche long tail keywords like 'women’s red tennis shoes' or 'black licorice candy sticks'.  Long tail phrases like this target several keywords, for example, ‘black licorice candy sticks' includes the keywords, 'black licorice', 'licorice candy' and 'licorice candy sticks'.

Create Search Engine Friendly Content
The search engines have always looked for content however it's more important than ever.  That means you have to focus on creating only good, quality content that is unique and useful. 

You also have to make sure the search engines can read it. Flash content or text embedded in images can't be read by the search engines. You're far better off using anchor text and make use of 'alt' text in your images.   Also use your best keywords that you wish to rank high for in the body of your text, use heading tags correctly and don't try to hide text by blending it into the background of the page.

Ensure Your Content Gets Indexed
Once you create content and upload it to your site or blog, check to see if it has been indexed by the search engines.  This may take a few days, however if you don't get indexed it may be because the site is still fairly new, there may be duplicate content, there may be links generated by JavaScript instead of HTML, it could have poor site architecture or has orphaned pages or various other factors.  If your site isn't getting indexed try writing to Google and asking them. Their responses can sometimes be a little cryptic but sometimes they do provide a few good suggestions. 

Get inbound links
Inbound links are simply your links that appear on other websites. If you have lots of quality sites that display your website's URL the search engines determine this as a vote for your site.  There are lots of ways to get inbound links, all of which are completely free methods.  However those sites that contain your link should be well-established sites that have quality ranking themselves.

Exchanging links with other sites is still an acceptable method but there are much better ways.  Keep in mind that using link farms and buying links are frowned upon with the search engines so avoid them.  Here are the methods that work best:  

• Submit to directories like Yahoo! Bizdirectory.org, DMOZ, Joeant.com and others
• Find blogs that relate to your site’s topic and make constructive comments or ask questions.
• Write articles that contain your website link and submit them to relevant websites and article directories
• Submit a press release that creates a backlink to your site. 

Start participating in social media and bookmarking communities
Social media and bookmarking is pretty new but it's creating quite a buzz and sites using them are experiencing some amazing traffic results. Social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Furl, Digg, Del.icio.us Reddit, and Technorati provide users a way to store their favorite pages and media online plus share it with others.

In addition services like Facebook and Myspace provide services for creating a comprehensive profile that gives you a way to promote your content which in turn helps you create your own personal "buzz" throughout the internet. 

A word of advice, social communities won't do much for you if you are pushing or promoting products.  Social media is based solely on popularity, so if what you are sharing with people isn't interesting, unique and of interest to them you won't generate much interest. 

If you're pretty much on track with all of the above suggestions …and I hope you are, but you need to get on a faster track, then you're probably an excellent candidate for Traffic Secrets 2.0.  It's designed for the user that needs more of a competitive edge by getting the high octane strategies that can sky rocket your traffic.  It's definitely worth a peek.   

You've got nothing to lose except tons of traffic.

There are 5 basic mistakes bloggers make when it comes to increasing revenue and making sales.

…So let's get to it.  Blogger Tips – The 5 biggest mistakes bloggers make:    
 
Mistake #1 - Not posting on a regular, consistent Basis
You need to post and post often. If you don't you are depriving your blog of fresh, unique content.  The thing about adding content is that the search engines are constantly looking for it.  You want to 'train the search engines' so to speak to come to expect that your blog will have regular content.  Adding a piece of content every day or every other day helps ensure they make regular visits.  If the search engines can expect to find new content, they will look for it.  So update your blog on a regular and consistent basis.  Making tons of posts one week and not posting the next will mean lost readers. 

Mistake #2 – Neglecting to find Captivating & Useful Information
Adding regular content makes the search engines happy but now you need to make your visitors happy. That means you Now that you need to create content that your visitors will enjoy and find useful.  If you have high quality information on your blog, people will bookmark it, pass the information on and visit on a regular basis, increasing your traffic.

You can make your blog unique and attractive by adding interesting images or graphics.  Try asking thought provoking questions and solicit ideas. Try running contests or conduct surveys.  Ask for opinions on controversial subjects and be sure to make comments of your own when visitors add their comments. 

Mistake  #3 – Not finding the Best Keywords in Categories & Content
You must find the best keywords and use them both in your content as well as your categories.  The best and most efficient way to do this is to use a keyword tool like Wordtracker.  A good keyword tool will give you the advantage over your competitors by not only finding the best keywords people use to find your content but you'll be able to dig deeper and find the keywords and key phrases that others won't typically find.   

Use your best keywords in your category headings as well.  This can dramatically increase the visibility of your blog on search engines.

Mistake #4 – Failure to Increase Earning Potential
Learn to add content that discretely identifies your products or the products you promote.  This is effectively done by providing product reviews and/or including product keywords in your blog content. If sales are slow, try adding Google Adsense ads.  If you use WordPress there are Adsense plug-ins that make adding these ads super easy.  

Mistake #5 – Being afraid to voice your opinion
This is what makes your blog interesting, it's what gets attention, and it’s what prompts others to say what they think.  Don't always think you need to go with crowd.  Take a stance, explain why you feel the way you do and get it out there.  But don't do it on someone else's blog by responding with comments, do it on your blog.  You can reference someone else's blog but get the controversy going on your blog.

No matter what your online business is, you're going to be an internet marketer in some form or fashion and from time to time you're going to need help with things like building and optimizing your site, developing an opt-in list, blogging, getting traffic, promoting etc.

We're not all born just knowing this stuff. There will be some things you figure out easily and others you'll need help with.  Short of listening to all the gurus and signing up for a bunch of newsletters and membership sites your best resource will be the internet marketing discussion forums.   

Internet Marketing forums are really the best way to get genuine, candid feedback from other marketers in all levels of expertise and business types.  It's also a great way to solicit hiring free-lancers, kick off joint ventures and post articles.  Forums are always the first place I go when I need help, ideas or just some experienced feedback.

Below are forums I visit regularly that I like and get the most help from.  Also you can use them to get exposure by posting all your articles in the forums that accept them. 

Primarily I use them if you need help or have specific questions, but you'll also find that they will give you lots of good exposure if you can help others with their questions or make constructive comments, however, don't spam the forums with useless information and comments that don't help or aren't relevant.  The entries will just get deleted and you won't be doing much for your reputation, more importantly you could get banned.  

You don't have to spend a lot of time on forums but do take an hour or so a week to look around, you'll get tons of good information and ideas, make a few constructive comments and maybe you'll make a friend or two. 

Most forums will require you to register, but that's a small price to pay for the down to earth, candid information you'll have access to.  Most forums also offer services such as private messages, user groups that you can participate in a host of other benefits.

Here are my favorites:

Top Internet Marketing Forum – Very popular
http://warriorforum.com/forum/ 

Friendly internet marketing & home business forum
Internet Marketing Forum at Homenotion (that's us!)

Mila Sidman's Internet Based Moms
http://www.internetbasedmoms.com/bb/

Im for newbies Internet Marketing forum
http://www.im4newbies.com/forum/portal.php

Clickbank Success Forum – Good one for clickbank users
http://www.clickbanksuccessforum.com/

Allan Gardyne's Associate Programs Forum
http://www.associateprograms.com/discus/index.php

Lynn Terry's Self Starter's Weekly Tips – One of my favorites
http://www.selfstartersweeklytips.com/forum/

Internet Marketing Forums.net
http://www.internetmarketingforums.net/

E-Wealth Affiliate Marketing Forum
http://www.ewealth.com/

Digital Point – Lots of good information here
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/

HowToCorp – The 'How To' Marketing Forum
http://www.howtocorphelp.com/forum/

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It took me a long time to actually begin using ezine advertising for my business but once I begain cranking out ezine ads I soon came to realize that ezines are actually one of the most effective and affordable forms of website advertising for promoting your products and services and encouraging traffic to your web site.  
 
The number of ezines published on the net has exploded from several hundred in 1996 to literally thousands of publications today that cover a range of topics so they're a pretty good form of advertising for any online business.

You can find ezines that sell ads for as little as $8 an ad, however solo ads generally pull the best resonse. Top sponsor ads on the other hand allow you between 5 and 8 lines of copy and are included in regular ezine issues near the very beginning of the newsletter.

Here's a breakdown of the ezine advertising options…  

Classified Ads
Most classified ads are the cheapest type of ezine ad. Classified ads are usually about 2-3 lines and are typically placed at the end of the ezine.  For classified ads be sure your ad is in an ezine that has at least 30,000 subscribers or more otherwise your may get little response.

Sponsor Ads
These are the next most expensive ads, but they yield a much better response. Sponsor ads can be placed at the top, middle or bottom of an ezine issue and will allow more text in your ad.  Sponsor ads are a great way to test your ad before placing it as a solo ad.

Solo Ads
These are the best of all ezine ads because they will be sent exclusively to everyone on the mailing list and they get full attention of the subscribers, that's because a solo ad is sent just as it says, 'solo'.  There are no articles or other ads included.

A Solo ad is more expensive but you'll enjoy about a 20%-30% response rate.

So how do you find a good ezine to advertise in?

If I find an ezine that looks good, I simply subscribe to it.  This gives me the best feel for how the ezine works.  If I as a subscriber, like the publication, chances are others will too.

Here are the things I look for after subscribing:

1. First of all find an ezine that is targeted to your specific products.  Selling advertising for your pet care supplied in a fashion magazine is not likely to bring you much interest.

2. Once you find an ezine that relates to what you are selling check to see if the ezine has a website and if it offers opt-in subscriptions?  A publication that has a separate website is a good indication that the publication is a legitimate business and that they are serious about what they do. 

Look to see that they also have a clear opt-in form on the site.  After you subscribe to the ezine, be sure they send you an email that confirms your subscription.  This indicates that their readership is highly targeted and interested.

2.  Does the ezine accept all three levels of advertising, classified ads, Sponsor ads and Solo ads?
 
3. Check for an article archive and for how often they publish.  This shows you how long the publisher has been in business but it also shows how often the publications are published.    If you begin receiving ads on a daily basis, that's a good sign that viewers may be desensitized to this ezine and its messages. A weekly or bi-weekly publication is preferred.

4. How large is their subscriber base?  This is important primarily if you'll be doing classified ads for which you'll want a reader base of about 30,000 or more.  In general a good customer base should be at least a 1000 or more.

5. Test the publisher by asking questions.  Their response will indicate how helpful they are and how interested they are in your business.

Now let’s write your ad…

1. Create a captivating headline
Write a headline that gets attention and at the same time draws the reader into the body.  If you can think about who your customer is it will help a lot in determining what benefits appeal to them and why they would want to purchase.

2. Outline the benefits of your offer in the body.  Emotionally connect to the reader with benefits that appeal to their wants and needs. 

3. Create a call to action Tell the reader what to do next.  Things like 'click here' or 'take a look now'.  This step is even more effective if you create a sense of urgency — give them a reason to act immediately.

4.  Keep it short
Most ezine ads vary between 25 and 50 words, including your URL. This means that you have limited space to create maximum impact.

5. Test & Tweak
Create 5-10 variations of your ad. Test different headlines, bodies and different calls to action. This will help you see which ads get the best results.  When you know you've got a winning ad it will continue to work for you over and over.

6. Run ads multiple times
Running an ad once won't give you enough information about how effective it is.  The more the ad appears, the greater the likelihood that the ezine reader will take notice. Over time, you will begin to see which versions of your ad are more effective.

Writing ezine ads takes time so don't expect to crank out perfection right out of the shoot.  Remember to get into the head of your readers, figure out what it is they 'really' want in terms of making their life easier, getting it done faster, saving them money, making them look better, etc.  Then attach a sense of urgency to it. 

Writing an effective ad whether in an ezine, magazine or on your own website, writing copy that sells gives you a huge sales advantage over the competition. 

For a great reference I really liked the 'Copywriter's handbook' by Robert Bly.  Definitely a good read and it has everything you'll need for writing competitive ads that get the clicks.  

I've used Google Adsense ads for a few years now and they bring me in a steady paycheck each and every month.  However, if you use Adsense you may have noticed that your monthly income has declined a bit.

Now there are several theories for that, in fact Jason Lee Miller over at Webpronews has a few ideas that are definitely plausible but in my opinion, it's probably due to a combination of factors.

The bottom line is that whatever the reason, it's probably not a good idea to rely on Google Adsense as your sole source of income.  We all know Google likes to change things and what seems like a goldmine one month may turn into a lump of coal the next.

But I'm still a fan if Google Adsense and I use the ads on many of my websites because I can get a fair amount of income from them, however it helps to know that there are websites and website topics that can make it harder to make money with Google Adsense while others do very well.      

For example, political sites or blogs can generate tons of traffic but political ads don't generally pay very much.  Also it's hard to get the right ads to serve your site.  Political blogs generally take a political side or point of view and getting the right ads to complement your site's viewpoint is difficult at best. During election season there may be more advertising competition however typically they don't generate very high bids. 

The same is true for religious sites; again it's hard to serve ads that correctly relate to your sites beliefs or views and the ads don't pay well.

Celebrity or gossip sites don't do well either, you would think so since there are so many of them, but even though they can bring in high traffic they don't bring in a lot of high product value. You can associate celebrities with movie tickets, DVD's or concert tickets and try to promote those types of items on your site but as far as advertisers go, most aren't shelling out the big advertising bucks.

Other sites that tank when it comes to Google Adsense are gambling and adult content sites. Google doesn't allow advertising on sexually explicit sites and they are not fond of gambling either.  Not sure about drug sites but Google doesn't allow them for Adwords so they may not allow the Adsense ads either.

Now where Adsense does seem to do well is with Skincare.  I have a skin care site that covers several topics of skin care. The section of the site that gets the most traffic is the anti-aging skincare.  The products sold on that site bring me about 23% of the revenue while 77% comes from the Google Adsense ads.   Kind of sad for the products but the Adsense does very well.

Another top adsense earner are the tech blogs.  Most tech advertisers pay top advertising dollars, so it doesn't surprise me that tech sites do pretty well.  If you own an internet marketing website you may also notice your Adsense Ads do quite well.

I'm sure there are other sites that do pretty well with Google Adsense and I'm sure there are some that don't.

Leave a comment below and let us know about your Adsense experiences 
 
Try this Free PDF guide on how to use Adsense for making the most money on a consistent basis.