SEO Hints and Tips and Free SEO Tools

Do you realize that if you manage your website, SEO tools, and pay-per-click tools, you can literally have as many leads as you want from your website? I assume that a website should convert approximately 5% of the viewers to doers, taking some kind of action that you want them to take. So, all we have to do is make sure the website does convert viewers to doers, and then we make sure we’ve got the right amount of traffic arriving at the website. All quite manageable. Today, we’re mainly talking about how to get the traffic to your website through Search Engine Optimization, SEO.

Here is a list of the best tools I’ve found to do SEO and a quick review of some of the top issues for SEO. Most of these tools are either free, or can be tried for free before buying

Most search engines are looking at your site to find relevant search words. How relevant determines your eventual search engine position.

How do they determine relevancy? Although every search engine has slightly different rules, here are some of the key ideas. Keep in mind, they could change tomorrow. Search engines are continually changing because just as soon as they determine how to find the relevant search words on your site, someone finds a way around their rules. Then search engines change the rules again.

A key word usually has to show up in each of the following areas of your site, with a density that falls within a range that search engine would like to see. They also like to see the words at a certain position in that area, usually at or near the beginning of these areas:

Areas search engines look at:
1) Meta tags (title, description, and keywords) (NOTE: I’m told that most search engines don’t consider meta tags any longer, but I keep seeing my keywords pop up from the meta tags).
2) Body text of the site
3) Headlines
4) Alternate text behind the graphics
5) Links, and link text

How do you choose the right keywords?

Here’s a big warning: Consider what people are looking for, not who you are or what your product is. For me, I would rather be found for “small business help” than for my company name, The Leader’s Perspective. Obviously I want people to find me, if by chance they are looking for me by name, but just think about this:
• Aren’t there more people in the world looking for “small business help” or “business help” than could possibly be looking for my name. Those looking for my company name are those that I have probably met personally and sent them to my site. That’s a small number, in comparison to the number of companies on the internet looking for help that don’t have any idea who I am….yet anyway.

Here are some tools to find the right keywords.
1) http://inventory.overture.com
Enter a keyword, and Overture will return the number of times that keyword was searched for in the last month. It will also show you other variances of that same keyword and the number of searches for each variance.
Use this to brainstorm keywords. (NOTE: I’ve also discovered this is a VERY useful tool to use before sending out any kind of marketing. Find what people are looking for and then make sure those words show up in your marketing, AND in your website.
2) http://www.wordtracker.com
Now, this is an even better tool. This one contains a thesaurus as well, so it will show lots of other ways people have been searching for the keywords you’ve typed in.
This tool also has a way of measuring the RIGHT keyword that is even better than Overture for Search engine optimization.
Overture reports the number of searches last month for that keyword, so you can find the words that have the greatest number of searches.
However, Wordtracker, reports the greatest number of searches for the words with the LEAST competition.
When you are doing SEO it won’t do you any good to go after the words that have been searched for the most if there are millions of competing sites. It’s just not likely that you COULD get a page 1 ranking among millions of sites.
So, Wordtracker helps you find words that have been searched for ENOUGH to give you traffic, but at the same time have the least competition. They provide their own proprietary ranking that finds the best search words that you are likely to get a search engine position for.
Just make sure that the words you end up with from that search actually are words that someone would be looking for to find you.

Hint: I use Overture to find the greatest number of searches and use that for pay-per-clicks, and use Wordtracker to find the right search words for Search engine optimization.

Here are some other useful tools.
Tools that help you Learn Search Engine optimization while guiding you through the process.
Internet Business Promoter will provide not only an analysis of many of the search engine sensitive stats, but will give you almost a step-by-step how to fix your site. Although this has ended up down the list, this is probably the number one greatest tool to learn search engine optimization.
www.axandra.com
Another similar tool is
http://www.wpgsales.com/

Link Popularity
Search engines tend to give websites that have more external links from other websites pointing at them a higher search engine ranking. Here are a couple of free tools to track your link popularity, and to check our competition as well. www.checkyourlinkpopularity.com
http://www.marketleap.com (this one shows a graph if your history)

About the author:
Alan Boyer, CEO of The Leader’s Perspective, LLC is considered one of the world’s leading breakthrough specialists.

With over 35 years of business experience, he has catapulted businesses lightyears ahead in weeks. Some double, some jump 10 times.

He helps companies worldwide reach further than they EVER thought possible….FASTER

http://www.leaders-perspective.com

mailto:AlanBoyer@leaders-perspective.com

How I Generated More Revenues Without Having a Sale!

How I Generated More Revenue Without Having a Sale!

You want more revenue and you want it fast. The marketing experts tell you to “create a compelling offer.
” You immediately think “Sale.”

You wonder how big the sale should be. How much can I afford to give away before the sale starts costing
me money? How will I word the sale materials so customers don’t take advantage of me? The worries start
and you realize you have a huge task to pull off this sale and generate real revenue.

Unfortunately, in our crowded market place, a compelling offer has become synonymous with a “sale.
” There are other, better alternatives to motivate customers to buy from you.

This article will show you six options that will accomplish your goal of getting more revenues. These
options will build a stronger relationship with your customers that the sale will not accomplish.

The Limitations of the “Sale”

The fundamental problem with most sales is that they are good for the business but not necessarily good
for the customer.

A sale usually starts with a business problem you want your customers to solve for you. You need more cash.
You have excess inventory. You need to meet sales quotas. You want to get ready for new merchandise.
Your sale is asking the customer to solve your business problem.

There will always be customers who don’t mind being used. Their agenda coincides with your agenda.
Quid pro quo.

When you create your offering around something they really value, however, they look on your offering
differently. It becomes more than just a customer transaction. It is the start or the continuation of
a relationship that will result in sales now and in the future. The customer’s primary concern is always
how the product or service benefits them and makes their life better.

Six Alternative Offerings
Convenience

Structure your offering around customer convenience and you have a motivation that does not require sales
or discounts. At my daughter’s school recently, the uniform company came to the school to sell uniforms.
The parent’s alternative was to drive 30 miles into the city to purchase the uniforms at the company’s store.
Parents were lined up forty deep to purchase the uniforms at regular prices. This store made convenience
a motivator for the parents to shop.

Enhance Your Expertise

If your customers are buying your expertise, by enhancing that know-how you give them additional motivation
to buy your product or service. Suppose you were in the copywriting business. You announce to your customers
that you had just completed a copywriting campaign that generated thousands of dollars for a particular
business. Customers now see doing business with you as even more desirable. No discounts; no sales!

Self-Esteem and Praise from Others

Those who market golf equipment say the main motivation for customer purchases is praise from others.
“Great shot, Bob. You’re really driving the ball well!” If your product or service involves these types
of motivations, repackage your offering to foster self-esteem and praise from others. It has more power
than a sale!

Tapping into Social Issues (Idealism)

I recently worked with an acupuncture clinic. This form of Chinese medicine can heal many ailments
and injuries. We chose to focus their acupuncture marketing on the treatments on athletic injuries
because of the current scandals involving the use of harmful drugs and steroids. We presented their
offering as a safe and natural alternative to more harmful drugs. By presenting an ideal alternative to
a current social issue, no sale or discount was required. You can appeal to your customer’s idealism.

Popularity

People want to be part of the “in-group.” They want acceptance. By repackaging your offering to emphasize
the popularity of your product or service, you give people another motive for wanting to buy from your business.

Scarcity

Scarcity is another motive that drives customers. It can be expressed in limited product or service quantities;
limited editions; selective lines of products; preferred customer programs; limited time; or taking advantage
of opportunities. There is some greed in all of us. If we feel we are going to lose out, we get very motivated.

Conclusion

This article has shown you six alternatives to generate more revenue that don’t involve a sale. When you
need a compelling offer, start with the motivations that drive your customers to buy from you and then
emphasize these motivations. You will find these motives are just as effective as a sale. They will also
help you build a better relationship with your customers because you’re doing it for them!

If you want to learn more about how to repackage your offerings and other successful marketing tools,
go to www.successfulmarketingtools.com. If you want a free follow up report on how to create new offers,
send me an email at the following address: al@successfulmarketingtools.com . Put in the subject line,
“Free Report on Offerings”. I will send you a free report.


Copyright Al Hanzal, 2005. All Rights Reserved


By Al Hanzal
About the author:
Small business owners have been using Al Hanzal's innovative marketing tools to bring more customers
to their businesses. For more marketing tools go to www.successfulmarketingtools.com

Strategy and Tips for a Successful Logo Design

Visual processing is the most important way for gathering information for all human beings. A good
design or graphics work is remembered for ages and that is what drives the multinational companies
to spend millions of dollars on developing their logo and other branding material. They would go to
any extent to create a solid visual impact and leave a permanent impression on their customer’s mind.

While designing your logo and providing the necessary details to your designer you need to always keep
in mind what you want your customers to feel about your company when the see your logo. A logo design
can actually be a compressed story for your business and tell your customers about the nature and attitude
of your business.

“Logo Design” Begins at Home
Yes, your home is the place where you take the first step of your logo design process. Look at the
different bottles and pouches you are using everyday in the kitchen, look at the logos they have, look
at the logos on your electronic equipments, check the logo on the bag that you got from the shopping mall
yesterday. Everyday we come across 1000s of logos but we remember just a few, if we look around, we can
find different types of logos around us. Also, visit the local supermarket to check the logos on the array
of products they have. It is always better to check out the logos of your competitors who are in the
same industry. While doing this, you are sure to find some logos that stand out from the others and this
is going to help you conceptualize your logo design.

Once you have made up your mind on how you want your logo to be, its time you write them down clearly
demarcated into small objective points which can work as instructions for your logo designer.

One thing you should be careful, while going through different logos of other companies you must not be
so influenced by any of them so that your logo becomes a replica or modified version of another logo that
you saw. A good design often affects our sub conscious mind and we unknowingly duplicate certain parts of it.
It is extremely important that your logo design is unique. A unique logo design increases the likelihood for
getting a trademark protection. It is advisable that you take the assistance of a trademark lawyer for your
trademark search and to ensure that you do not run into the risk of infringing some other companies trademark
symbol or logo.

Using ClipArt

If you area small local business or a mom-n-pop shop you might not be that keen in investing towards a logo
and establishing your brand (though I sincerely believe that’s very wrong). In such situation, you can try
using some high quality royalty free clip art combining it with a suitable typeface to put your company name.
ou can also use more than one clip arts to create the total graphics for your logo.

However, you should keep in mind that clip arts would never give you the effect of a custom logo and they can
be easily duplicated or stolen. Even if you are modifying a clip art, it is almost impossible to get a trademark
on that. In future, once your business grows to the level when you need to have trademarked logo you will have
to get a total new logo (may be something closer to the one you have) and start with your branding efforts once
again to establish that new logo.

To avoid all this problems it is advisable that you get a unique custom logo and it is not always that you
need to spend a lot on your logos. There are companies on the web that offers custom logo design
(http://www.customlogoart.com ) at reasonable price.

Some More Logo Design Tips

1) Keep it simple: Remember, simplicity is the key. Most of the great logos are absolutely simple and it
is always easier for us to remember and recognize a simple design than to identify a complicated artwork.
If you want to have some complex illustration for your logo, try to minimize the number of lines and make it
as simple as possible keeping in mind that the viewer should be able to understand what has been drawn.

2) Typography: You should be careful while deciding on the typeface that you intend to use for your logo.
Choosing the correct typeface can make a lot of difference. For example, a finance company depicting strength
and stability would like to use some bold, thick font. Also, the letters can be twisted to create simple yet
nice logos. Some ideal examples of logo that contains only letters are “SONY” and Dell - remember the twisted
“e”?

3) Always Use Vector Graphics: Always ask your designer to provide you the logo as vector graphics. The
advantage is, vector graphics can be resized without any loss of details and image quality. You can resize
it as per your requirement. In addition, vector graphics take lesser memory capacity in your computer.

4) Choice of Color: You should be careful while deciding on your logo colors. It is advisable to restrict
yourself to RGB or CMYK colors so that your logo looks equally good in print as it looks on web. Also, ensure
that your logo looks good in black and white as well, mind it, you will also have to use your logo on while
faxing any of your marketing material or corporate documents.

Finally, it is always better if you are employing any specialized logo design firm to create your logo design
than doing it yourself. It is their profession so they would know it much better than you do and neither is
logo design always very costly. Definitely, there are companies that charge you $500 for a logo, however
there are also companies that offers equally good services with very much affordable pricing
(http://www.mycorporatelogo.com ). It is just a matter of locating that designer and you can be on your way
to having a wonderful custom logo design.

By Ray Smith
About the author:
Ray Smith is a marketing Expert with years of experience in different industries and specialized knowledge
on branding and Internet marketing.
http://www.mycorporatelogo.com