Domain Names, Website Tactics

How to Create the Perfect Domain Name

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If you are starting a new business, chances are that you are starting a new website as well. Creating the image of your company and your brand online is extremely important, as the Internet is the way that most businesses thrive (or, alternately, fail) in this day and age.

In addition to making sure that the design and web-tools on your new site are effective and easy to use, you also need to consider what your website is going to be called and how people are going to be able to find it online. This name for your website is referred to as a “domain name”.

Domain names are the part of your web address that comes between the “www.” and the suffix that you choose, be it “.com”, “.biz”, “.org”, etc. This is how people are going to remember your website, and come back to it time and time again.

If you choose the wrong one, you may end up shooting yourself (or your company) in the foot, as you will not be able to effectively attract new customers and clients to your website.

But what makes finding the perfect domain name difficult these days is the fact that all of the very simple ones are taken. If you have a used car dealership for example, you are never going to be able to register a name like “cars.com”, or “usedcars.com”, because names like this will either all be taken, or will be extremely expensive to buy. Instead, you must think of something more innovative.

If the name of your car dealership is short and easy to spell, then this would be a great domain to register. But if your dealership is named ‘Kowalcyks Lot’ or ‘Nguyen Cars’, you might not be able to count on the public to find your website if it uses those hard-to-spell names.

So what is the solution in a situation like this? Often, the best thing to do is find a simple combination of words that will stick in the public’s consciousness, and be easy to spell. Try something like deesidecars.com, yournewcar.com, or buyusednow.com.

Depending on how basic the combination is, the domain name might have already been purchased by someone who is “sitting” on it, trying to sell it to prospective buyers. Try to avoid this situation if you can. For example, buyused.com might go for a high price, while you can purchase buyusednow.com at a more reasonable rate.

The one temptation that you want to stay away from is choosing a suffix other than “.co.uk or .com”. The majority of the Internet-using public will assume that any website name ends in these most basic suffix’s, even if they are told and constantly reminded otherwise.

You do not want to lose traffic because everyone assumes that your website is usedcars.com, when it is really usedcars.org.

The final pitfall you want to avoid is altering a spelling in a way that might confuse people who want to come to your website.

If you go with usedcarz.com, with a “z” instead of an “s”, this might be passable, if you mention it in your ads repeatedly, making sure that it is driven into people’s heads that there is a z at the end of the website name.

But it is best to avoid such a situation all together and choose something that is commonly spelled.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

Paid Links, yes or no?

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Should you use paid links to promote your website?

The problem with paid links is that they work. As long as nobody notices that you’re buying links, paid links can have a positive effect on the search engine rankings of your website. However, as soon as Google detects the paid links your website can get in major trouble.

There are several problems with paid links:

A competitor might report your paid links to Google and your website will be penalized.
A competitor might buy links that point to your website, report them to Google and your website will be penalized.
A competitor buys links to a throwaway domain, sees where they appear, drops the links and waits for you to buy them. Then the competitor reports you to Google for buying links.
While paid links can improve your rankings, they are also extremely risky. If you plan to build a lasting business, you should avoid paid links. The potential damage exceeds the benefits by far.

Your website must have backlinks to get high rankings on Google

    Backlinks are very important to get high rankings on Google. That’s why Google works so hard on filtering the wrong kind of links.

    The links that point to your website should be from related websites and they should contain the keywords for which you want to get high rankings. Do not manipulate the links to your website by buying links and do not join automated link systems to increase the number of links to your website.

    If you want lasting results, focus on ethical search engine optimization methods. There are many ways to get good links (related websites, blogs, social bookmark sites, directories, etc.)

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

Website Page Content – Think Quality not Quantity !

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For many years now, the word “content” has been a big buzz word in the world of internet marketing, and traffic generation, in particular. People now understand the role that content plays in a successful SEO strategy.

In theory, the more content you have out there, the more readers you can attract, and the more customers you’ll subsequently receive as they follow the links back to your website.

As a result, many take the step of hiring copywriters to produce web page content, articles, press releases and blog posts for them, in an attempt to dominate their marketplace with relevant, search-engine friendly content – however, this is often anything but reader-friendly!

Its vital to think Quality, not Quantity to help your business or you could find yourself doing more harm than good.  The truth is, the quality of your copywriting really is a crucial determining factor in whether or not you make sales. And whether or not your website moves upwards in the search engine results.

It’s important to remember one thing: will your potential customers be impressed by it? Will this content make them want to buy YOUR product over your competitors?  Readers need to be compelled to click on your website link to find out more so its imperative your content is top-quality. It must excite and intrigue so that before the prospect has even finished reading it, they’re ready to whip out their credit card and click on the order button!

Content is King!

I’m sure you’ve read that phrase at least a hundred times already, but this brings me to another important point – that of link building, which is a huge part of any search engine optimisation strategy. The bottom line is that internet users will typically only follow good quality content.  They won’t stay on a website, read an article, or indeed, link to it, if the content is poorly written.

You want people to not only click on the link in your article and thus land on your website, but also to link to the article itself, because this will help your site’s rankings. And people will only do this if they value the content they’ve read.

So if you want your website to achieve high rankings in the search engines, you absolutely must provide good quality content that your readers will enjoy, act on, and link to. Need help with this? Websorceress offer both copywriting and proof reading services, just contact us for more details.

eCommerce

Why the Smart Money is on Paypal

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Of all of the titans of the Web industry right now, few have put themselves in as enviable a position as PayPal.

Apple has skyrocketing stock values and two of the hottestselling products ever made. Google and Facebook have more website visitors than most countries have citizens — not to mention all of their personal data. And Amazon has set the bar so high in e-commerce that it controls much of the movement throughout the industry.

The same was true for e-commerce pioneer eBay just a few years back, but its auction marketplace has been gradually fading into the background of the company’s operations. Enter PayPal, the online payments service purchased by eBay in 2002 — and which is rapidly becoming its most lucrative property. In fact, each of the aforementioned companies are either forging new relationships with PayPal or sweating the possibility of competing with it in the future.

In the third quarter of 2010, PayPal accounted for 37 percent of eBay’s overall revenue, compared with 23 percent five years ago. PayPal’s revenues have increased 22 percent in the last year while the revenues from eBay’s retail operations have increased by just 3 percent. With mobile payments on the verge of erupting into a multibillion dollar industry in the next few years, analysts predict that PayPal’s revenues will overtake those from eBay’s marketplace by 2014.

The good news for the rest of the commercial Web is that PayPal is a highly accessible partner for anyone who operates an online business. The company recently announced a handful of new products in the mobile and payments spaces that opportunistic Web professionals should consider:

• PayPal for Digital Goods — a micropayments solution that lets consumers pay for digital goods such as games, music and videos in as little as two clicks, without ever having to leave a publisher’s site. The new solution will be integrated by Facebook to make PayPal the social network’s new digital goods payment method, offering users the fastest, safest and most cost-effective solution for sending and receiving micropayments of under $12. Other companies signed on to use PayPal to monetize the growing opportunity in digital goods include Justin.tv, Ustream, FT.com, Autosport.com, Ooyala, Plimus and Tagged.

• Mobile Express Checkout — A mobile payments system that will initially be available on Apple’s iPhone. Mobile Express Checkout will work across apps and eventually across platforms. Merchant partners such as Starbucks have reported doubledigit sales growth on their mobile stores since adding the feature in beta testing, and PayPal says the product is easy to use for existing merchants who currently use Express Checkout on their Web stores.

• Titanium+Commerce — In partnership with Appcelerator — the makers of the cross-platform mobile development tool, Titanium — Pay- Pal launched this mobile commerce product in the beta development stage at its PayPal X Conference in the fall. It is a developer toolkit that will allow merchants to build cross-platform apps with assorted mobile commerce features that can hook directly into PayPal for payment and processing.

• Mobile Payments Library — A new functionality targeting subscription businesses that will enable preapproved, chain and split mobile payments to be processed through PayPal accounts.

• Mobile Location for iOS — A mobile app that uses geo-location technology to help users find businesses that accept PayPal for payments. The participating merchants can send consumers daily deals, coupons and other promotions through their phones. Initially, the app will have support for the iPhone, but Android and Blackberry support is forthcoming.

• T-commerce—The “T” stands for television — that’s right, television commerce. This product is under development, but the idea is to give consumers access to their digital wallets through a Buy button on their TV remote controls so that they can buy product they see on Internet-connected television. Stay tuned. As some of the most influential companies on the Web are realizing, PayPal is a partner worth having right now.

About the Author: Linc Wonham

EMail / POP3 / IMAP Help

POP3 – Delivering E-mail to the Correct User

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If each user has a unique mailbox on the mail server, there is no problem. But if multiple users are accessing a single mailbox with multiple aliases, you will have to use message rules to ensure that each user downloads only the mail sent to their alias. This is because the first user (or the first Outlook Express mail account) that downloads mail will automatically download all mail in the mailbox. This is simply the way POP3 mail works.

For example, Frank Lee signed up with a local ISP, A. Datum Corporation, for an Internet account with one POP3 mailbox with three aliases, thus four e-mail addresses in total. Frank’s e-mail address is frank@adatum.com. His wife Andrea will be using the alias andrea@adatum.com, while son Mark will use mark@adatum.com and daughter Cristina will use cristina@adatum.com.

Let’s begin with ensuring that Cristina receives only e-mail sent to her. Frank, who is the computer administrator, logs on as Cristina and opens her Outlook Express. He then creates a message rule:

1. Click Message Rules on the Tools menu, then click Mail
2. Click New
3. In the Conditions box, check the box labeled where the TO or CC line contains specific words.
4. In the Action box, check Do not Download it from the server.
5. In the Description box, click the blue underlined specific words.
6. Type the e-mail address, e.g. cristina@adatum.com.
7. Click the Add button.
8. Click the Options button.
9. Select where it does not contain.
10. Click OK.
11. In the Name box, type a meaningful name for the rule.
12. Click OK to close the Message Rule dialog.

The Rule Condition Options lets you make a rule inclusive or exclusive.

Mail that is not addressed to Cristina will not be downloaded.

Frank will now have to log on as Mark and create a similar rule to exclude mail not addressed to him, and then as Andrea to exclude mail not addressed to her. The final step is for Frank to create his own rule in his own User account. Frank’s rule however must use a different Condition to ensure that no mail is left on the server. His condition must be:

Where the TO or CC line contains cristina@adatum.com, or mark@adatum.com, or andrea@adatum.com
Do not Download it from the server

Cristina, Mark and Andrea will now receive only mail that has their respective e-mail address in TO or CC. Frank will receive all other e-mail sent to the mailbox. It should be noted that any message sent to Cristina, Mark or Andrea with their e-mail address in the BCC (blind carbon copy) line will not be delivered correctly. It will then be up to Frank to forward such messages to the correct e-mail address.

Social Media

Five ways to Use Facebook to Promote your Site

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Facebook has taken social networking by storm over the past three years, growing to become one of the most used sites on the Internet, both from a new user point of view and a returning visitor rate as well.
Facebook brings together many millions of people who all connect, share information, photos, events and pretty much everything about their lives, whether they mean to or not.

In the same way you can connect to friends, you can also use Facebook as a great way to promote your business or website because the power that Facebook can offer you in terms of exposure is almost second to none when it comes to the potential that this site can offer to you.

Below, we look at our top five ways of utilising Facebook to really promote your business or website.

1. Set Up A Facebook Page

Facebook pages can be an amazing tool if you utilise them correctly. You can start to build up a “fan” base of people who are interested in your product who will like your page and therefore get information instantly when you add any new posts, photos, discussions or events to your page.

This means that not only does your post go onto the people who like your page walls, but then any of their friends could also see this, allowing you to spread the word to thousands more people just by growing your like list.

2. Tell Your Friends, Colleagues, Loved Ones And Anyone Who Will Listen

As mentioned above, its time to tell all of your trusted and not so trusted friends and contacts on Facebook about your page.

The more people you tell, the more people will start seeing your posts every time you add them, meaning that you can really get some excellent exposure from just a small pool of friends, as long as they have many more friends on their lists.

3. Build Up Your Likes

The more likes you have, the more your business page or general page will get exposure, as the things that you post and promote will start to get spread across many peoples Facebook walls and profiles.

This means its important to really only add good content to your Facebook page, things like adding your blog RSS feed and adding solid articles and noteworthy information.

4. Join Related Groups

On the same line as pages, groups are a great way to find other people who are interested in the same things that you are.

For example, if you enjoy playing Fifa 11, you simply type into your search box “Fifa 11” and then take a look at all the groups and pages. You can then join these groups and join in the discussions which can then lead to you promoting your related product.

Don’t just go storming in and start making loads of posts about what you are offering, as this will simply lead to either being blocked or becoming known as a spammer!

5. Use Facebook Advertising

Although we find the Facebook Advertising slightly more expensive than other cost per click models, the demographics you can place on your advertising is second to none.

For example, if you wanted to appeal to 30 – 50 year olds who live within 20 miles of your postcode and were interested in dancing, Facebook allows you to do this. Because of the data they collect about you as you are using Facebook, they can then really make sure that you can target any advertising very close to your perfect audience, which is not really rivaled elsewhere as of yet.

It is true to say that using Facebook to promote anything is hard work. You have to really work at your page, improve it on a daily basis and keep adding good content to keep not only the people who like your page happy but to also attract new ones.

If you are prepared to do the leg work, there is no doubt that this social networking site can drive extra traffic and sales to any business or website.

Website Tactics

5 Ways to Improve your Website

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When customers don’t stay on your website for long, it’s
hardly surprising you fail to connect with them and build
the trust needed for them to get out their credit cards and
buy from you.

The great news for you is there are tons of quick and easy ways to make your website more appealing to your customers.

Here’s 5 you can apply today.

1. Site Search
When you have more than 20 pages, it’s a good idea to add a
search facility. If you have a site search, make sure it’s
prominent. Usability guidelines tend to prefer the
upper-right corner of the page. Keep the button label
simple and clear – “Search” still works best for most
sites. Don’t unleash your powers of lateral thinking and
swap in a word like “Retrieve”. Keep it simple.

To Do: Just using your search, try to find 3 pages of
content. Is that process “quick, easy and straight-forward?”
Or is it “hit and miss?”

2. Ensure Your Webpages Can Be Skim-read Easily
Few people read word for word online; the vast majority
skim-read to get a sense of the page before they read any
of it in detail. Make it easy for visitors to skim-read
your content. Always use headings and bullets to break up
text.

Think about it. If a heading is not relevant for your
visitor, they can easily skim down to the next heading,
making it straightforward for them to get directly to the
information they need.

Always keep your text in manageable chunks, not an unbroken
wall of words like insurance small print, so it’s easier for
customers to look up what they want right away and with
confidence – which is critical if they are making a buying
decision.

To Do: Give your website a quick review and make sure all
your text is broken up into clear, manageable sections.

3. Keep Your Styles & Colours Consistent
Make sure people know they’re still on your site by being
consistent – confuse them and you’ll lose them. Keep the
look and feel of your website sections consistent and avoid
any radical changes. Visitors can get confused and think
they have left your site accidentally.

Layout, headings, and styles should be consistent site-wide,
and colors should usually have the same meaning.

For example, don’t use red for headers on one page, red for
hyperlinks on another, and red as standard text somewhere
else.

To Do: Ensure all your web pages appear to be part of the
main site and that they are consistent with each other. Are
there any “nasty surprises” depending on the part of the
site you’re in?

4. Use Emphasis (bold, etc.) Sparingly
It’s a fact of human psychology: try to draw attention to
everything and you’ll effectively draw attention to nothing.
We’ve all seen that site, the one with a red, blinking,
underlined “NEW!” next to everything. Don’t be that guy or
gal.

Remember, if your site’s graphic design is counter-intuitive
and doesn’t help visitors get something done quickly, it’s
going to make your site much slower and difficult to work
with.

Slow, awkward sites never, ever, ever, delight your customer
or create a good rapport online.

Visitors will be back at the search engine in seconds if
they find your website “complicated” or “busy”.

To Do: Ensure your website is only highlighting critical
factors you absolutely need your visitors to gaze at or
click on in order to meet your online business goals. Menus,
buy buttons, opt-in boxes and so on.

5. Keep Your Ads & Pop-ups Unobtrusive
Ads are a fact of life, but integrate them nicely into your
site. Don’t try to force ads and pop-ups down peoples’
throats; you’ll end up creating frustration for your
visitors. Also, do people a favor and make your ads clear.
If you blur the line between ads and content too much, your
content may suffer, since many people have developed “banner
blindness” when it comes to surfing, and might overlook some
important content by mistake.

To Do: Double check if your pop-up window is significantly
increasing your opt-in rate. If it isn’t, you could be
annoying present and future customers unnecessarily.

Final Word

Always make sure you view your website through the eyes of
the customer and not through your eyes, the website owner.

Make sure there are no red-flags on your site that are going
to frustrate, confuse or bore customers. Keep everything nice
and simple to make sure your visitors enjoy spending time
(and money) on your site

E-Marketing, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), Social Media

Double Barrelled Web Marketing Tactics

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If you go the SEO route you will have to write web content which will rank high in all the search engines. Plus, if you’re into web marketing, that very same content will have to convert into sales or leads in order for you to make a profit. It’s what I like to call my “Double Barrel Web Tactics” and I have been using these simple tactics to earn a full-time income from the net for over 5 or 6 years.

Not that that’s any kind of feat to brag about since countless individuals are doing the same thing and probably doing a much better job at it. But I have picked up a few tricks over the years which have helped me along the way. One of the most important is writing top ranking web pages which convert into sales.

Create SEO Empowered Webpages

First, in order to get those pages to the top of the search engines, especially Google, I follow some simple SEO rules. They can be summed up as such:

– Concentrate all your content around one central keyword phrase for each web page.

– Include this keyword phrase in the Title, Meta Tags, Headline and in the URL.

– Place this keyword phrase and variations of it throughout the page.

– Have a column of related keyword links on each page.

– Have very simple site construction with all links no more than 3 clicks away from the homepage.

– Build valuable one-way links to this page from keyword related sites around the web.

– Use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube… to promote each page.

Choose Your Keyword Battles Carefully

Furthermore, you must use keyword phrases which are competitive for your site. Picking long-tail keywords which have less traffic but still bring in sales, is one way of doing this. Targeting really competitive keywords is rather pointless unless you have endless funds and resources to build links and/or purchase PPC traffic. The average webmaster is better off choosing keyword phrases where he/she knows they can contend and can rank high in the search engines.

One good site which will tell how much competition your chosen keywords will have is Google’s https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. It will also give you some estimate of the amount of traffic each keyword phrase receives each month. All valuable information to help you pick your keyword battles.

Writing Webpages Which Convert

For me this is the most difficult part of earning an online income – writing web copy which converts into a sale or a lead. Keep in mind, you don’t always have to sell something, many companies will pay you 10s of dollars just to supply them with a lead or potential paying customer. I sometimes find this is much easier to do than making an actual sale.

My marketing online tactics are very basic – I give my visitor a strong incentive or reason to purchase from my site. I find using simple discounts, coupons and free trials to be one of the most effective ways to make a sale or capture a lead for the companies and products I am promoting. Giving those online shoppers or customers 10%, 20%, 50% or more OFF will usually convert well. So too is offering bonuses, discounts, and coupons if they purchase from your links. For leads, offering a Free 30 Day Trial works the best.

But don’t ever forget, visitors who use your site also want information about the products or services they’re buying. Giving them clear unbiased information will go a long way in capturing a lead or sale. Providing customer reviews and feedback is another way to boost your conversions. So too are customer testimonials and video reviews.

Another tactic I use is picking keywords which have a high probability of commercial intent and which are more likely to bring in revenue. Just finding those customers and visitors who are in the right mind-set to buy is the key. Targeting certain keywords such as best deals, discounts, coupons… and targeting certain niche markets such as wedding gifts, corporate gifts, holiday gifts… have done very well for me. People are actually searching for a special gift and are ready to purchase.

One handy tool for determining the online commercial intention of your keywords is Microsoft’s Adcenter Labs. It will give you a good starting point for choosing which keywords and niche markets you should target with your web pages.

Marketing online is not some mysterious formula, it is merely a double barrel process of keeping all your SEO ranking factors in order and targeting customers when they’re ready to purchase. You build up your rankings with quality one-way links while offering the resulting traffic valuable information and a good solid reason to purchase from your web site or page. Using special deals, discounts, and coupons will go a long way in boosting your conversion rates. So too, will targeting certain keywords which have great online commercial intention or potential, such as the gift niche markets. Try this simple Dual marketing tactic and watch both your traffic and sales grow.

About The Author
Opinions expressed are solely those of the author who is a full time search engine marketer who operates numerous niche sites, as well as two sites on Intérnet Marketing: www.marketingtoolguide.com and www.bizwaremagic.com

Titus Hoskins Copyright 2010. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

SEO – The Basics (we all need to know!)

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Most people know that being listed on Google’s first result page will bring them a lot of targeted visitors and that they will get a lot of sales through that listing.

Unfortunately, some people don’t know how SEO (search engine optimization) works and what they can expect. Some webmasters still expect that their website will be listed on Google’s first result page after submitting the site to Google. That might have worked eight years ago but it does not work today.

1. SEO takes time

You cannot optimize your website today and expect results tomorrow or next week. Search engine optimization takes time. Search engines have to find your new optimized pages, they have to find the new links to your website, they have to update the index, etc.

2. You must change your web pages

If you want to get high rankings for certain keywords, then these keywords must appear on your web pages. It is possible to get high rankings for a keyword that is not listed on your website if lots of other websites link to your website with that keyword. That’s the exception, though.

In general, the keywords for which you want to be found must appear on your web pages and they must appear in the right elements on your web pages. For that reason, you have to change the HTML code of your web pages to make it as easy as possible for search engine spiders to parse your site.

3. You need links and you need the right links

Good backlinks are the key to high rankings on Google. Automatically created backlinks usually won’t help your rankings and they even might get you banned from Google’s index.

As a general rule, the easier it is to get a link, the less is its influence on the position of your website on Google. The links to your website should be from related websites and they should contain your keywords in the link text.

The more attractive your website is, the easier it will be to get good links. Your website should offer linkworthy content that other people can talk about.

4. It’s crucial to choose the right keywords

If you optimize the website of a rock band than you might think that it would be cool if their site was found for the keyword “mp3?. That might be cool but it does not make sense.

People searching for “mp3? can be interested in anything: mp3 players, mp3 decoders, the latest Justin Bieber song, general information about the file format, etc. If these people come to your rock band website, they won’t find the information they are looking for.

Optimize your website for keywords that attract the right kind of people. For example “unsigned rock band” or “rock band london”.

5. You must be realistic

Getting on the first result page for a highly competitive keyword such as “mp3? is possible but your competitors will be old and established websites with a lot of backlinks. It is very difficult to outrank these pages.

If you have a website with just a few pages and your competitors have large websites with forums, communities, blogs, etc. then you must improve your website if you want to compete. Search engines want to show the best sites on the result pages.

If you absolutely want to get high rankings for a term such as “mp3?, start with less competitive keywords and then proceed to the more competitive terms. Search engines must trust your website before they give you high rankings for very competitive keywords.

6. You must set the right goals

Search engine optimization is not about getting a high Google PageRank (the green bar in Google’s toolbar). It is about getting high listings for the right keywords so that the right people will come to your website. The goal of search engine optimization is to increase your sales.

You don’t have to be listed for any possible keyword even if they are related to your business. You have to be listed for keywords that will bring buyers to your site. It usually takes some time to find the best keywords for your website. Running PPC ads and tracking their conversions will help you to find the best keywords.