Irrigate Your Mind With New Creative Internet Marketing Ideas For Your Web Site

April 16, 2013 By + Leave a Comment

A recent quote I found from well known author, CS Lewis states:

“The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.”

Over the last few years, this is one aspect in Internet Marketing that we can never encourage others enough with.  Learning new skills by reason of actual practice, testing and use, has always been our motto at the Search Engine Academy. You can read a good instructional book and learn some excellent things that way, but when it comes to our own Web sites, some people tend to spend all their time trying to study the work of others, but not too much time coming up with new ideas and  concepts of their own.

Why do you suppose people seem to have trouble coming up with the right content for their own Web sites?

There are at least 2 approaches to consider: Right and Left Brained Thinking

There are people who are left brain thinkers, which tend to be good at analytics, analysis and building something, so long as they have a plan or blue print to go by. They make great builders who know how to “get things done.” Then there are the right brain thinkers, who tend to be highly creative and they continually come up with new concepts and even entirely new ideas. Their greatest gifts are within their creativity or ability to look at the data, but instantly come up with brand new ideas and applications.  Then there are even a few folks that have both left and right side thinking capacity although most of the time, they will tend to be slightly stronger on one side or the other. The main thing to remember is that all of this is very good. All of it works together for your benefit in business because there is a requirement for both skills if you are going to be successful.

So why can it seem to feel so hard to work creatively on your own Web site?

If you have ever felt sometimes that your Web site is (for some reason) much harder to build than for example, working on someone else’s Web site, (then you’re not alone.) We’ve heard this from people over and over again. It’s like your project is nearly just a little bit too close to you at times and so you struggle to come up with the right ideas. It’s not uncommon to sometimes feel like all the fresh ideas have dried up. “It has all been done before and there just is nothing new under the sun.”  -  But don’t you believe it.

For this article, I want to share with you an easy ways to irrigate your mind and foster fresh new ideas without so much stress. Learn how to exercise your “lateral thinking skills.” This is one of the best ways to get your thought processes alive and flowing again. You have probably heard of the phrase “lateral thinking” which for some people is just a buzz word.

What is lateral thinking?

Lateral thinking is a term coined by Edward de Bono in the book New Think: The Use of  Lateral Thinking published in 1967. It primarily refers to solving problems through an indirect and creative approach. ( from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateral_thinking ) Lateral thinking is about reasoning that is not immediately obvious. It is more about ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic or critical thinking.

What is Critical Thinking?
Critical thinking is primarily concerned with judging the true value of statements and seeking errors. (Critical thinking is much like the part of the CS Lewis quote to cut down jungles) But Lateral thinking is more concerned with the movement value of statements and ideas. Lateral thinking is much in line (with the CS Lewis quote to irrigate deserts.)

Keyword forensics research

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do I mean by lateral recall?

This is a term I use to describe recalling your researched information using the lateral thought process.   Let’s take for example keyword research creativity. So many people feel  stuck in a rut when it comes to keyword research. But lateral recall applies specifically to keyword research allowing you to connect ideas that seem to be totally independent but because of the end result of how they are combined, the result delivers a useful working SEO strategy. Most people search the Web  based on the conditions in their lives.

So let’s give you some early examples of user intent in search:

1. Probably one of the earliest examples was when I was researching user behavior around the topic of “baby names, boy baby names, girl baby name, Italian Baby names,  The meaning of baby names etc. It was very obvious that people were searching for actual name suggestions for their child. This resulted in some pretty interesting observations as I recalled an early client actually was interested in selling baby furniture, strollers, baby cribs, etc. The average person would be creating pages optimized for phrases involving strollers, baby cribs etc. But using this early trending, we shifted our focus creating a page with baby name suggestions and ultimately, the truth was that anyone who was thinking of a name for a new  baby on the way, could likely use some baby furniture too. Of course after I wrote an article about this common behavior, there were literally dozens of “baby names” pages being published all over the place. But for that very early SEO client this strategy attracted an average of over 13,000 user sessions a week. Quite a bit of  traffic for back in the year 1998.

2. An Insurance dealer once wanted to optimize for the typical type of verb-age that they thought they must compete for: “Auto Insurance Quotes.” However, I recalled seeing some interesting demand for an acronym “VIN” (which stands for Vehicle Identification Number.) Looking at the data of the time, revealed huge demand for
search phrases like:

  • VIN Ford
  • VIN Jeep
  • VIN Chrysler
  • VIN Chevy
  • Theft of VIN numbers
  • etc…

We ended up creating a total of 18 new articles all written by the Insurance man explaining where these VIN numbers could be located on each vehicle (since they generally are located all in different spots depending on the vehicle.) The 18 articles basically expanded the Insurance Web site’s traffic from about 4,600  user sessions per month, to just under 50,000 per month. What was the connection between insurance and the VIN article. Each article simply had a prompt asking the  question, “Are you Sure You Are Currently Getting the Best Auto Insurance Quotes?” Get a free quote by e-mail from our instant system (Click Here.) Sure enough just 18 pages created enough activity to keep this Insurance office busy with loads of new quotes each week.

A person would use lateral thinking when they want to move from one known idea to  creating brand new ideas. By practicing lateral recall, you can actually do some very creative and original keyword phrase research. It’s my understanding that that little insurance Web site with the 18 page strategy was finally sold for somewhere over 6 digits (not bad for an early investment of  around $2,500 back in the early days.

So how is your Web site doing when it comes to attracting the most correct searching audience(s)?

  • Are you feeling like there are no great windows of opportunity left for keywords?
  • Have you tried different keyword tools only spend endless hours collecting dozens of keywords that are just far too competitive?

If you are feeling like you wish there was a way to quickly tap into the hottest search trends based on real searches and you’d love to have an eye on the world’s searching behavior with a strategic look out for setting your online business totally apart, then there is good news after all. Last month, I made a decision to offer my keyword forensic research skills as a service to business owners. I have been helping clients find the hottest windows of opportunity and giving them reports that contain customized data including:

  • Exact phrases for their niche
  • Monthly search volume for each phrase
  • Competition Numbers based on AllinTitle Syntax (so you can see hot phrases with low competition)
  • A new more mathematically correct KEI3 value (to quickly show you the most stress free phrases)

Plus, I often can read into the behavior and offer you new and original strategies for your niche that you (and other Webmasters may never even think of) because I research all of the data that many folks can be bothered exploring. This aspect is especially helpful to those in very highly competitive niches. With my keyword forensics service, I can usually turn your project around in just 36 hours and provide you with a huge list of phrases based on your niche, which you can simply use to cherry pick the best phrases with the biggest windows of opportunity. If you’d like to order a report from me, or want more information on how to get a free no obligation quote, please visit http://keywordforensics.com/ for the details.

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Internet Marketing – Learning To Recognize And Explore Common User Behavior Search Patterns

April 4, 2013 By + Leave a Comment

Internet Marketing – Learning To Recognize And Explore Common User Behavior Search Patterns
By John Alexander

For years now, I have been fascinated with the concept of how people search for information on the Web. While it’s true that the Web has made searching for information easier, it is still interesting that search methods can vary widely depending on how the individual is thinking plus I still find that the ways they conduct a search still follow a much more limited number of identifiable patterns.

By examining certain factors that cause variables in user search behavior and taking into account those details, you’ll often discover variations to help identify common search behavior patterns and gather a sense of what is most important within the users life that causes them to search the way they do.

What type of behaviors are going on over the Web these days?

It’s most often that a person’s search behavior is influenced by the conditions that they are experiencing in their lives.

When it comes to understanding user behavior, for the purpose of keyword research and SEO, I have learned that too often, the keyword research defaults to logically guessing at what keywords might be used rather than exploring a much wider scope and researching all of the associated data.
What Factors affect user search behavior?

Search behavior is the result of several independent factors and influences that the user brings to the search operation.

1. Search experience – these days people are searching more intelligently:

Users who possess a better understanding of a search engine’s capabilities and options may have more ways
to go about finding fresh information. If you for example know how to use Boolean operators, exact strings,
filtering controls, and have proven strategies for exploiting search, then you have a much richer arsenal
at your disposal for research. But search experience alone, by no means is an absolute requirement for success.

I have seen that users who are short on possessing the technical skills and yet may be rich in there
exploration of even more common terms, that can often get by and find those nuggets of gold too. On the other
hand, there are others who tend to have great difficulty finding information in certain subject matter or an
unfamiliar body of knowledge.

2. What are the most common stumbling blocks that prevent people from discovering useful and
   interesting user search behaviors.

A. Many people tend to want to explore keyword phrases based on the most logical options. They often
will in fact, spend periods of time trying to guess at the phrases that make the “most sense.”
This type of research rarely reveals the trails of gold that exist. Most often the results only
reflect highly competitive terms and often only average search volumes that a huge number of people
seem to be limiting themselves to.

B. Often people are not exploring the data because they assume some of smaller, boring little words
could not possibly have any benefit. This is simply not the case. But the only way to determine
whether a root word may be part of a fuller, revealing, search phrase that is actually being used,
is to follow through the process to completion. I have found many examples where what started as a
random even slightly illogical sorting of data, ends up revealing very powerful and telling phrases.

By this, I am referring to those little phrase clusters, that actually tell a bigger story about the
conditions existing in the users life.

C. Sometimes a business will postpone the keyword research phase (thinking they’ll do it later
on after the Web site is finished being built.) This is putting the cart before the horse
and does not afford the SEO staff the ability to build content to match the timing and the
magnitude of the hottest searches that are happening in the now.

A far smarter approach is to get the keyword research done first so that you can take advantage
of the true search phrases that users are searching with. It’s wisdom to use fair to high
volume keyword phrases that also have lower or moderate competition.

In this fashion, you are publishing each new page with a strategy to attract the most correct
searching audience and in many cases, you’ll achieve much higher organic results within a much
shorter time frame simply because you are not competing with the masses.

3. Considering the users cognitive search style:
• Those with a broader thinking style usually first try to build a wider level of understanding
across several topics that are related in some way.

• The more logical or analytical style thinkers tend to dig right into a specific topic and
research it thoroughly to resolve a related specific problem.

Many people lie somewhere in between either of these extremes and occasionally using either cognitive style but often tending to use more of one than the other.

4. Understanding user search behavior with the end goal:

Search criteria will vary from one query to the next, and may be broadly classified into 3
different category types such as:

• Navigational type searches (which are usually conducted to find a specific location,)
- Looking for a site to convert world time zones
- A site that allows the look up of zip codes
- Etc.

• Informational searches (which are usually conducted to find specific and detailed information,)
- Statistical searches
- Historical information
- Instructional information
- Etc.

•Transactional searches occur (which usually is conducted to transaction related variables,)
- Buying tickets online
- Locating flight costs, travel times on an airline
- Etc.

5. Taking into Account the user’s reference of seeking information:

This can range from exploring information on known items or products, where people know exactly what they need and how to describe it, to much more exploratory searches, where they may only possess a loose concept what they want to find.

Examples of telling search phrases:

- “crime rates in New York City” or “crime statistics NYC” (could possibly reflect a user interested in moving to New York)

- “Nikon vs Cannon”   (comparison shopping for digital camera prices and benefits)

- cost of living comparrisons in the US (Someone searching for where it might be more affordable to live.)

- franchise opportunities under 10k  (a business opportunity seeker looking for a lower cost franchise)

- dollarama versus walmart  (Dollar store shoppers trying to price comparrisons on less expensive products.)

- These are only just a few short samples of keywords that reveal search behavioural insights – There are thousands more.

In Summary:

User search behavior varies with technical skills, cognitive styles, search goals, and mode of seeking.

All of these factors will interact in complex ways to influence a user’s actions. The primary thing is that the SEO or business owner cannot select the search behavior that a user will follow
when conducting a search.

However, it is possible to research keyword phrases in a way that helps reveal user search behavior and give you the insights into what your ideal buying audience is actually searching for. With this comes the revelation of the user’s search intent which is still extremely valuable when building useful and engaging content that ties in very hot and in demand topics for the searching audience.

About Keyword Forensics Researcher John Alexander:

John Alexander is Founder and Director of Training for Search Engine Academy since January 2002.
John also offers consulting services and keyword forensics research services to SEO Professionals,
Internet Marketers, Web development professionals and business owners through
Http://KeywordForensics.com

Are you interested in attending an SEO Workshop?

Check out our upcoming SEO training locations and dates here.

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Search Engine Academy – Things to Think About for Promoting Your New Home Based Business

March 15, 2013 By + 2 Comments

Are you thinking about starting your own new home based business?

If you have ever owned a home based business you understand just how
important it is to have a good promotional plan.  After all, you will never
be successful if people do not even know that you exist.  The good thing
is that if you own a home based business there are several ways to promote
it to potential customers all over the world.

The first thing that you will want to do when you are promoting your home
business is to write up a plan; this is often referred to as a marketing plan.
In this plan you will want to outline everything you intend to do as far as
promotion is concerned.  By doing this before you even get started, you will
ensure yourself of having a guide to help you benchmark your progress along
the way and through the different stages of marketing. People sometimes
overlook this step because they think that they can simply promote as they
go along.  This is true, but by having a promotional plan in place you will be
much more successful.

This is especially important if you are planning on requesting financing for
your business launch. Remember, when financing a new business with a bank,
they will want to see not only evidence that you have a well though out plan,
but that you also know it off by heart. You should be well able to answer any
questions they may ask you, such as what will your office hours be, or perhaps
what your customer service policies will be etc.

Starting a new home based business

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the best ways of promoting your home business is through the use of
a website. By having a website, you will be able to promote your business
to people from all over the world. There was a time when this option was
not easily available, but those days have come and gone.  If you want your
home business to be successful, you will need to have a top notch website
that you can rely on.

When we say you need a top notch Web site, we are talking about more than
just something flashy in design. You’ll want your Web site to clearly
communicate all about who you are and what services you provide in a way
that compels visitors to contact you. This is style of sales copy is
referred to as “persuasive copywriting.”

Of course you can learn something about SEO or Search Engine Optimization
to help your pages be found more easily by those searching the Web. You
want your Web site’s message to be clearly written so that as readers land
on your page, they will instantly be able to understand what you do, your
expertise.

Other considerations for your Web site content might include:

  • SEO skills training
  • Genuine customer testimonials using the names of actual clients.
  • Perhaps some of the most “Frequently Asked Questions.”
  • A professionally taken photo of yourself and members of your team.
  • Remember, when putting forth a marketing message or sales letter, it can be
    very beneficial working with a professional writer experienced in how to
    write effective and persuasive Web copy.
  • For more ideas of what to include on your Web site, please see this post.

In addition to promoting your home business with a website, there are other
ways that you can do this online as well. Placing ads in e-zines has been
proven as a successful promotion method. The main advantage of doing this
is that you can reach a target audience that is interested in what you have
to offer.  This is much better than simply placing an ad in a publication
that does not even correspond with your company.

Of course, promoting your home business can also be done in more traditional
ways as well.

Many people feel that direct mail is still a great way to promote their
business.  This can be done by obtaining a mailing list, and then sending out
some well written materials that will intrigue people to contact you.  Even
though this method may seem a bit outdated, it can still be very successful
if done correctly. Then there is great opportunity to build your own list of
permission based subscribers too (also great for keeping in touch with readers
who want your information.

Promoting your home business is the only way that you are going to be able to
grow.  By starting out with a plan you will be able to ensure yourself of
guidance along the way.  Remember, there are hundreds of promotional tactics
available.  Find a few that work for you and stick with them.  You will be
seeing results in no time at all!

Check out this page for a list of Internet Marketing Schools located around the
globe where you can get SEO certification training in a personalized Workshop.

 

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Why Buy the Cow When There’s Free Milk? Why Pay For SEO Training?

February 22, 2013 By + Leave a Comment

"Toy Cow Standing on a Glass of Milk"There’s no denying that there are a ton of really great resources with free information about search engine optimization, social media marketing, content marketing, and PPC as well as any other topic you can think of that is directly or indirectly related to one of these topics.  It’s also interesting to note that the majority of these resources also offer a variety of paid training options and workshops.

So why would anyone in their right mind actually buy the cow or in other words, pay for training when they can get it online and for free?

A good and very fair question.  In some ways it’s not unlike when we get an ache or pain and instead of calling to make an appointment with a doctor we take a few other approaches first.

  • Call a friend to see if they have any good advice or remedies (9 times out of 10 the friend isn’t a medical professional)
  • Wait it out – if we ignore it long enough it’ll go away and we can remain blissfully ignorant of the cause
  • Google the symptoms and self diagnose

We also tend to avoid routine checkups and preventative health visits because we don’t ‘feel bad’ and aren’t experiencing any symptoms that would lead us to believe that we are anything but healthy.

We’ve all done it and why? Well, to save time and money of course.  None of us want to part with either of those two things if we don’t have to.  And sometimes it works, the symptoms go away and we feel better or those online instructions for how to diagnose and treat the mystery illness were legitimate. Other times it doesn’t work and in the end we have higher costs and a longer recovery time.

So how does this related to SEO training?  The health of a website, the strength of a company’s search engine marketing strategy, is as important to the success of your business as being in good health is important to your quality of life as a person. Often-times when we try to wait it out, use resources found on Google to self-diagnose , or phone a friend – we get good information that may really be misinformation.

How can good information be misinformation?

  1. Not all industries are the same -  While the general tactics also known as “Best Practices” can be applied to your website and search engine optimization strategy, they may not be the best practices within your competitive landscape.  It’s even possible that in following the generic rules you’re opening the door for your competition to move ahead of you.
  2. Not all websites are the same – Is your goal to sell or to generate leads?  How might the “best practices” vary depending on the goals of the business and the website?
  3. Information becomes quickly outdated – Even if it’s from a trusted resource, the information could easily be outdated.
  4. It doesn’t come with directions – Most of the time even the “how to tips” are so general, that unless you already have a working knowledge of the subject, it’s difficult at best to figure out how to implement the advice.

I’m a huge fan of all of the free information available, I’m also a fan of formal workshops and training.  You may think I’m saying that because I’m an instructor, but my love affair with training started long before becoming part of the Search Engine Academy.  My days of attending and paying for training, especially hands-on workshops are far from over.

Reasons to Embrace (and pay for) SEO Training:

  • It will increase your confidence level and all of the articles you’re reading will make even more sense.
  • It accelerates the learning curve  – what will take months of spare time reading to absorb can be covered in a short period of time.
  • You’ll gain insight into how all of the pieces and parts fit together rather than having to connect the dots through multiple resources.
  • A well done workshop will equip you to either do your own search engine marketing or know what to look for in an SEO or SMM agency.

In my opinion relying on articles and free information alone when it comes to search engine optimization is a little like hiring a CPA that doesn’t keep up with their continuing education units.  My guess is that there are just as many free accounting articles as there are SEO posts, but I wouldn’t want an accountant who only used Google as a resource and I sure as heck wouldn’t want to do my own taxes unless I were properly trained.

The investment in both time and money ensures that any time or money you’re spending toward future or ongoing efforts is paying off.

What are your thoughts about training?

Until next time,

Cheers!

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Internet Marketing For Profit – How You Can Create A Successful EBook

November 29, 2012 By + 2 Comments

Internet Marketing For Profit – How You Can Create A Successful EBook
By John Alexander

Taking a little break from the topic of SEO Training, I was thinking back to 9 years ago when a friend of mine, Michael Campbell, encouraged me to write my first e-book. Never having written one before, I guess I thought to myself, but who would want to read my e-book?

I had just shown Michael some recent keyword research and that’s how it all got started. I took his advice and he provided me with some great insights on everything from how it needed to be written, the language and even the graphics and pricing. My first e-book was created in 2003 and I called it “Wordtracker Magic.”

Basically, it contained my personal methodology of using the tool called Wordtracker, to research user search behavior. How to save literally hundreds of hours of time and quickly tap into pure gold. Last year, I finally took the book off the market, since Wordtracker had changed their metrics.

 

 

 

 

Let’s talk about how you can create a successful e-book of your own.

Your e-book deserves to be seen by everyone in your niche, but unless you have an effective internet marketing strategy no one will ever know about it. The difference between your e-book being great and being successful is your ability to get it in front of the people. Once you have the e-book completed and to your high expectations the battle is only half over.

The rest of your work now is finding how to market it online.

The most important thing that you can do is make sure that your e-book is the best that it can be. Make sure that your ideas are crisp and clear, that it is error free grammatically and everything is spelled correctly.
Also ensure that all illustrations help emphasize the points you are making, and that it is pleasing to the eye.

It is easy for bad illustrations to become a distraction, so make sure they are done well. If you need to, get people to review and critique it for you and you take their advice seriously. The better your product is, the more
excitement will be created around it.

Between 2003 and 2005 that little e-book called “Wordtracker Magic” had earned over $50,000.00 and it sold for just $29.95.

Around the year 2005, I decided to re-write my original book and I added more examples and more methods for instantly finding the hottest phrases in Wordtracker’s keyword tool.  I renamed it “Keyword Forensics 2.0 for SEO” and nearly everyone that had bought the first version, came back to get the second version and it continued to make money every day, whether I was in the office or whether I was away teaching an SEO Workshop somewhere.

A couple of important points here:

1. Wordtracker, the tool had very few instructions back in 2003 and in speaking with others, I had learned that many people were spending hours just trying to find good keywords. I learned that not too many people used my methodology to quickly find search behavior.

When you write your e-book, it needs to be an eye opener. If it is instructional, then whatever strategy you are writing about must really help the reader in some useful way.

Ask yourself:

  • Will your book help save people time?
  • Will it help them make money?
  • Will it help them improve results somehow?
  • Will it help improve their performance in some way?
  • Will it somehow fill in a missing gap in a product?

Give it some thought, because this is crucial to building the readers desire to read it. It must be something truly useful. Strive for excellence and people will strive to get what you offer them.

2. Make sure your sales letter is well written and that it spells out all the benefits in the book. I was fortunate to have the very skilled help of Michael Campbell to watch over my shoulder. He actually helped write the original sales letter and that’s where I learned a lot about how people think when they are reading a Web page.

Once everything is published online, you can let your subscribers know that you have a new e-book. But also use word of mouth to spread the word about your e-book. It would be best to supply your customers with a form that they can recommend it to their friends and associates.

If it becomes hot enough, remember to put a “buy now” link right at the top of the sales letter so people can buy right away if they’re hearing good things.

Another marketing strategy that is going to be incredibly helpful is providing short articles full of good information to e-zines.

The internet is full of these type of sites and used by a wide range of people to seek out this kind of information. What this can accomplish is you make yourself known on a wider audience as an authority or expert on the subject you are dealing with. This will only help you, though, if you provide a link to your site or your e-book.

Don’t let them know everything that you know. Leave them with only part of the answers or snippets of information that you want them to know and that to get the rest of it they are going to have to pay for it. If you do this part right, they are going to buy.

A key strategy is to create a group of customers who will keep coming back and buying what you offer in the future. Offer free incentives for them to buy your e-books like an e-zine, newsletter, or even an e-book that you have written earlier or one that you have rights to.

The benefits of the e-zine or newsletter is that you are seen as a constantly good source of information and you stay on their radar. When you have your next e-book, you will have your first group of customers ready to go.

These ideas are only the tip of the iceberg but enough to get you going. If you have something excellent to offer people on the internet with your e-book, then have a marketing strategy that will bring it the attention it deserves.

 

 

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SEO Training and Internet Marketing – Achieving Your Full Potential

November 19, 2012 By + Leave a Comment

How do you achieve your fullest potential in Internet Marketing
on the Web? First take a look at this SEO Workshop from last
week (over in Asia:)

SEO Master Trainer, Fabian Lim with his Nov. Workshop

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fabian just completed his 5 Day hands-on SEO Workshop last
week with his largest group of SEO student graduates ever!

Asia Search Engine Academy with Fabian Lim

 

 

 
Student Graduates in November’s Asia Search Engine
 Academy pictured here with Master Instructor Fabian Lim

I predict that many of the students in this photo will be the
“success stories” of tomorrow. Why do I say that? It’s
simple. It’s because I am used to seeing lives transformed
all the time as graduates apply their skills to projects. and
discover a new SEO within themselves.  Why do I emphasize
the success ratio of this class compared to others?

1. Fabian Lim is an excellent Master instructor

2.but even more influential than that, if you could see all of the
photos of these students that I’ve seen, you’d notice something
in their faces. They all appear to have an intense desire to upgrade
their skills. If this class is any measure of Asian community, they
are all hungry to learn. I don’t see this everywhere always.

There is a principle that might be called “the Law of Attraction”
that can help you build momentum and realize a much fuller
potential on both a professional and personal level. This guiding
principle is best defined as “like attracts like” or to put it another
way, positive energy attracts other positive energy and the same
applies to negative energy too.

Knowing this is quite important, but it’s even more important to
realize a way of applying it to your life. For example, if you are in
debt and only think about trying to get out of debt, then it probably
won’t happen. The reason why it won’t occur is that you are still,
ultimately, focusing on the debt itself.

A better way to do it is to focus on having plenty of success. Doing
this will bring about ways to realize more wealth into your life, and
the debt will often just take care of itself.

You are always attracting things into your life. Always. Everything in
your life is the result of your thoughts, beliefs, and habits. Please note
that it isn’t the result of other people, circumstances, or the environment.
Sadly, our culture is quick to place blame, and that can make taking
complete responsibility a scary prospect for quite a few people.

Of course, we have probably all had opportunity to meet people who tend
to be negative or have a difficult time believing in their vision long
enough to ever see anything positive manifest in their life. In these cases,
there is invariably the old excuse of their trouble being blamed on someone
else’s behavior, or perhaps how life has somehow just been unfair. Whatever
the excuse, rarely will these individuals actively take any responsibility.

If someone is going through a difficult period in a relationship or
perhaps their marriage is in trouble, it has always amazed me that some
people will look to friends who have been divorced once or twice to take
their advice on how to save the relationship. It’s always wisdom to seek
counsel of course, but would you not be smarter to go to someone who has
demonstrated a measure of success?

Isn’t the same true for SEO, Internet Marketing and Social Media skills?

You want counsel from someone who can demonstrate a batting average
for success, right? So don’t listen to the voice of your fears, if you expect
to gain any helpful insight or guidance.

Don’t let that fear stop you from moving forward. You need to take
responsibility, but that also means you get to take some credit when
your actions open the gateway for good things to happen to you.

It’s good when you are building your online business to really let a
positive vision materialize before you. If you focus on others rather
than constantly be self-absorbed, remember that law of attraction…
you’ll find that others (most often who are like minded) will be
attracted towards you too. People who have learned how to build other
people up through positive mentoring, will often find new friends in
their life that seem to be positioned there in reciprocating relationships
too.

One of the early lessons I learned while building the Search Engine
Academy network of Associate trainers was this…I discovered that
one of the prime traits to watch for in partners, was to find people
that “care about other people.”

One might naturally think that the first criteria would to find those
that have the technical skills. But what I learned was that I could
teach technical skills to nearly anyone, so long as they were teachable.

However, you cannot teach someone to care about other people. Either you
care about people or you don’t, so I decided to make my benchmark to find
associate SEO trainers who are “others focused,” to know for certain that
they would also care about their students and graduates in a genuine and
ongoing way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is nothing wrong with having money, but it should not be the most
driving force. It nearly seems the byproduct of human nature that the
wealthier some people get, the more greedy they become.

Other false status symbols include things like the desire for power, the
fascination with entertainment. None of these things are really bad or wrong,
but what is needed today is a sense of balance. You can find that right balance
by keeping faith in God at the head of your business and the head of your home
and by caring for the people who are brought your way. Everything else will seem
to fall into place with everything you’ll ever need and more waiting for you as you
follow your vision.

Do you help to get your Internet Marketing skills up to speed  as quick as possible?
Are you hungry for the freshest SEO and Social Media insights?

We have a Search Engine Academy at all of these locations plus one new school now
in Dallas Texas and one in Pennsylvania.

 

Learn about in-person, hands-on SEO workshop with one of our expert trainers!
Filed Under: Content Marketing, Misc, Rant, SEO, Workshops Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Search Engine Academy Rolls Out Brand New SEO Training Modules Globally #SEO

November 5, 2012 By + Leave a Comment

For November, we are pleased to announce our newest and freshest upgrades to the SEO Mastery Workshop
live training program around the the globe. I thought it might be appropriate to give you a first hand look
at many of the newest subjects to be included at all of local the Search Engine Academy Workshops.

Here is a quick overview of the entire 5-Day SEO Workshop:

Day 1 – Basic SEO Essentials

  • What is Search Engine Optimization
  • How Search Engines Work
  • Organic Versus Paid Search
  • Anatomy of a Search Results Page
  • Why Apply SEO to Your Web site
  • How to implement SEO
  • The Benefits of Doing SEO
  • Examining a Stress Free System of doing SEO
  • Google Trends
  • Making Your Content Effective
  • The New World of Web Content
  • Google Panda and SEO
  • Google Webmaster Tools
  • Questions and Answers

Day 2 – Basic SEO Essentials

  • Linking Strategies Through External and Internal Linking
  • Key Concepts – Authority, Relevancy and Pagerank
  • A Comparison of Various Links
  • Links and Google Penguin
  • External Linking Strategies
  • Types of Links
  • Understanding Link Diversity
  • Authority Site Links
  • Getting EDU Links
  • Building links externally to you
  • SEO Strategy for Cleaning Up Links
  • Tips for Finding Links
  • Try a Link Discovery Tool
  • Tips for Finding Links
  • The Power of Internal Links
  • Internal Linking Strategies
  • HTML Sitemaps
  • XML Site Maps
  • Directory Style Sitemaps
  • No Follow Attribute
  • Absolute Versus Relative Links
  • How to Stay Out of Trouble with the Search Engines
  • Disavowing Links
  • Getting the Most Out of Your Blog
  • Blogging and SEO
  • Optimizing Your Blog Posts
  • WordPress and SEO
  • Tips For Increasing Your Chances For Popular Posts
  • Understanding the Value of Trackbacks
  • How to set up and use Trackbacks
  • Blog Resources
  • Blog Search Engines
  • Student Website Reviews
  • Questions and Answers

All New Search Engine Academy Training Announced
Day 3 – Advanced SEO Workshop

Advanced Keyword Research
Keyword Forensic Analysis
Other Advanced Keyword Research Tips
Semantic Search
Resource Links
Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Understanding How To Take Advantage of Themes

 

 

  • Information Architecture
  • What is IA
  • Why Do IA
  • 4 I/A Categories
  • Labeling Systems
  • Global Navigation System
  • Local Navigation Systems
  • Contextual Navigation Links
  • Supplemental Navigation Systems
  • Site Search
  • Examples of Well Developed IA
  • Local SEO
  • Google’s Venice Update
  • Major Data Providers – Who powers whom?
  • How to Submit to Top Data Providers
  • About Universal Business Listing
  • Rating Local Search Factors
  • Business Listing Quality Guidelines
  • More Google Quality Guidelines
  • Google Local
  • Google Local – Photos, Videos and More
  • Video SEO
  • Optimizing Your Videos
  • Video SEO
  • Keywords for Video
  • Create a Video Sitemap
  • Video Distribution
  • Mobile Search and SEO
  • Mobile SEO Strategies
  • Duplicate Content Issues
  • Crawler and Indexing Issues
  • Student Website Reviews
  • Questions and Answers

Advanced Day 4 – Google Day – A Day Dedicated To All Things Google

  • Paid Search
  • Planning Your Paid Search Campaigns
  • Google Adwords
  • Google Display Ads
  • Personalization of Search
  • Google Plus
  • Google Authorship
  • Google Analytics Advanced for SEA
  • Google Webmaster Tools
  • Google Panda and Penguin Rollouts
  • Measuring What’s Important KPI’s
  • Advanced Google Analytics
  • Student Website Reviews
  • Questions and Answers

Day 5 – The Final Day of Advanced SEO

  • Competitive Intelligence for SEO
  • Why do CI for SEO?
  • More Reasons for CI
  • How to Do Competitive Intelligence Analysis for SEO
  • Off page Factors
  • How to Analyze What You Collect
  • Social Media and SEO
  • Social Media Platforms
  • Social Media Guidelines
  • Social Media and SEO
  • Measure Social Media Reach
  • Schema.org and SEO
  • Schema.org and Google
  • Schema.or Resources
  • 5 Schema.org Applications
  • Site Technical Issues
  • Diagnosing Problems
  • URL Canonicalization
  • 301 redirects
  • Crawler and Indexing issues
  • Source code Validation
  • Persuasive Copywriting for the Web
  • Anatomy of A Sales Letter
  • Components for Building Sales Copy by component
  • Examples by Category
  • Student Worksheets and Examples
  • The Power of Article Writing
  • Life After Google Panda Update
  • Guidance on Writing Quality Articles
  • Easy Ways To Find Markets For Your Articles
  • Creative Commons
  • Press Releases and SEO
  • Tips for Press Releases
  • 9 Reasons to Optimize Your Press Releases
  • Tips for Professional SEOs
  • New Customers the smartest Way
  • Build A Genuine Reputation Right Now
  • How To Convert Prospects to Clients by Establishing Credibility
  • Steps for Building Powerful Proposals
  • Building and Defining Your Business in the SEO Industry
  • Questions and Answers
  • Certification Exam

Where are the next SEO Mastery Workshops being conducted?

See a complete list of Search Engine Academy Locations and dates here.

 

 

 

 

Learn about in-person, hands-on SEO workshop with one of our expert trainers!
Filed Under: 301 Redirects, Adwords, Content Marketing, Duplicate Content, Events, Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, Insights for Search, Link Building, Local Search, Mobile Marketing, News, Pay Per Click, PR Web, Press Releases, SEO Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Importance of Finding SEO Pricing to Fit Your Budget

October 19, 2012 By + 2 Comments

Most people understand that their primary role as an online entrepreneur is to drive as much quality traffic to their website as they can get.  There are many ways to do that and most people will use several methods to get the best result. Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of those methods.

But before you dive in and hire an SEO company to do your SEO for you, you will want to check out SEO pricing. There are companies online that specialize in doing all the SEO your website needs. The prices for such services will vary depending on several variables.

For one thing, the number of keywords you will be targeting in your SEO campaign will likely be a factor. The more keywords you want to target, the higher the cost will be.

Another aspect is considering your competitive landscape. The more competitive the keywords you use, the higher the cost will be too. SEO isn’t a “set it and forget it” method or an apply it once. Good SEO will take ongoing attention to detail. That’s why the more competitive keywords will cost more, they will take more time and attention.

Most SEO companies will sell their services in packages. Usually they will be divided up something like: 1 – 10 keywords, or 11 – 50 keywords, etc. The package you choose will be based mostly on your budget.

Another important element to website SEO is back links. Many times companies will set their pricing structure on the number of back links they are creating.  Back links will gain more importance, and cost more, if the link comes from a highly ranked site relative to your industry.

The truth is for most new, and smaller Internet marketers, SEO campaigns are out of bounds from a financial point of view. But that doesn’t have to mean that you can’t still benefit from search engine optimization.

There are many places online where you can learn to do simple SEO techniques that will allow you to benefit from optimization. You can use these methods for your website, your blog posts and your articles.

Increase Your SEO Expertise.

If you do decide that you have enough of a budget to hire a company to do SEO for you, then you need to carefully check them out. Find out what they will offer, how much it will cost and how much time and attention you can expect to get from them.

It’s also a good idea to find out what other people have to say about the company and their services. This can be a fairly big investment and you want to make sure that you hire a company that knows what they are doing, and can really help you get the results you want.

You also want to make sure that there are no surprises, that you know exactly what you will get and how much it will cost. Having a written contract in place is very important too. That way there can be no misunderstanding; both parties know what is expected of each other and how much it will cost.

When it comes to SEO pricing remember that cost is only half the issue. You want to make sure that you get the service and results that you are really looking for.

One last thing to keep in mind. These days, more and more business owners are investing in building their SEO skills and knowledge. After all, once you’ve been trained and have a good SEO comfort level, there will never be anyone more focused on building your business Web presence than you, the business owner.

For corporate SEO training conducted in-house, feel free to ask any one of our SEO Master Trainers for a free quote on what it would cost you to have a full  SEO workshop conducted in-house for your team.

Learn about in-person, hands-on SEO workshop with one of our expert trainers!
Filed Under: Link Building, Misc, SEO, SEO Blogging, Video for SEO Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Internet Marketing – How You Can Find An Authentic Niche Market By Being Original

September 28, 2012 By + 1 Comment

Let’s start with a definition of niche …

1. A recess in a wall, as for holding a statue.
2. A cranny, hollow, or crevice, as in a rock.
3. A situation or activity specially suited to a person’s abilities or character.

Finding a niche is important whether Internet Marketing
or real world marketing:

I think I always knew that choosing the right niche market, was considered
essential to business success, yet for me, as for many professionals, choosing
a niche felt something like the “kiss of death” in a way. When we dig in our
heels against choosing a niche,  we are probably responding to the first two
definitions above.

After all, who wants to do business in a hole in a wall or in a tiny, rocky
place, right? 

If you believe that defining your niche market means choosing a hard,
cramped, and confining space, it’s no wonder we resist.

People who bring their heart and soul to their work will resist niche
marketing that tells them they must restrict the ways in which they
offer value added service to the world.

But the good news is that choosing your niche market will do exactly
the opposite: it will free you to be the biggest, most authentic, and
most complete offer possible.

Consider the third definition of niche.

When you look at niche in this light, you will see that your perfect niche
market is that location or domain in which you are most readily accessible
to the people who are most likely to benefit from (and thus value) the offer
that you are and in which you are simultaneously most free to exercise
your brilliance.

Your niche market is the place where you have a natural competitive
advantage because you occupy the right place in the right ecosystem.

A good niche market is one in which:

  • You are highly visible and easily accessible to the people
    who are most likely to benefit from your work, including
    prospective clients and customers, prospective collaborators
    and partners, and others with whom value-adding activities
    are most likely to be mutually beneficial.
  • You can employ the widest range of your talents, skills,
    and training (your offer) using unique and original concepts
    that separate you from even those who are in that same niche.

Importance of targeting your niche market

There’s a paradox in naming your niche market.  When you give people a
category to put your products or services in, it is easier for them to get a
handle on what you do (and also to remember it.)

It’s also much easier for them to appreciate how you differ from other
professionals in that category. In other words, by putting yourself in a
category, you can also make yourself stand out because you distinguish
yourself from others in that category.

This is best referred to as your unique selling proposition (USP) or as
some migh call it, a unique selling point.

 

A personal example in summary:

Over 10 years ago, when I first started teaching SEO skills to small groups
of business owners, I had a vision to create a form of event, unlike any of
the other more common SEO seminars or conferences. There were plenty
of good SEO type conferences around, so how would I creat my USP?

Most conferences are big events with dozens of speakers. Great for the big
money type of event and great for networking too. Plus they’re a lot of fun.
But I decided that I wanted to do small groups and do them more in the
form of a hands-on SEO Workshop, where each student would get
individualized attention to detail, plus actual drilling and hands-on
practice.

Many big conferences offered upsells and add on services that aim to
extract even more money out of the attendees for things like cioaching or
mentoring.

But for our Search Engine Academy Workshops, we chose to include the
complete 6 Month Mentoring program for ongoing support at no extra
cost. There are lots of other things we did  differently too, like we do daily
evaluations to benchmark each students progress day by day, instead of

only doing one evaluation after the event is over. We also made it a priority
to ensure we answer every student’s question while they are in the SEO
Workshop.

So you can see that with all of these USP type things in mind we started
the very first SEO Mastery Workshop back in January 2002 in San Antonio,
Texas. Today we have a  network of SEO trainers and school locations located
all over the globe, helping ordinary business owners to understand SEO, Social
Medial and a wide variety of high performance Internet marketing topics to
boost the success of their online business and enable them to compete.

Always consider your own USP carefully and build out your business in an
original way so that you separate yourself from the crowd in whatever niche
that you choose.

 

 

 

 

 

Learn about in-person, hands-on SEO workshop with one of our expert trainers!
Filed Under: Insights for Search, Local Search, SEO, SEO Blogging, Video for SEO Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Who Benefits From SEO Training? With SEA, you do!

September 14, 2012 By + 1 Comment

There are four types of people who benefit mostly from SEO training, and in this article I’ll explain who they are and why SEO training is vital for their function.

It seemed like only yesterday when “being online” was a choice for businesses – nowdays, it is a necessity.  Think about your own habits if you’re looking for a plumber, planning a holiday or anything in between.  Where do you do your research or find the phone number of your local tradesman?  Online!  And how many search engines can claim they are also a verb?  Google it!

Oh no! What have I done?

Oh no! What have I done?

And when I’m talking with people, I’ll often hear remarks that make me cringe, like –

  • My next door neighbour’s 15 year old loves computers, so he’s building our site
  • Our site went live and I found an awesome tool to submit it to 1000 search engines
  • We don’t need SEO because we rank at #1 for our business name

The fact is, you don’t know what you don’t know.  The structure of your website, how it’s built, is vital.  Incorrect linking, misuse of code, lack of keyword and competitor research – these and more, could have a paralysing effect on your success.

Submitting your site to 1000’s of “search engines” literally means you’re associating with link farms and spammy sites.  In fact, when we launch sites, we don’t submit anything anywhere!  And generally we’re indexed (listed) on Google within a few days.

As for being #1 for your business name – what’s the value?  Anyone who already knows your name is going to find you anyway.  It’s the potential customer who doesn’t know of your product or service that is the driving force of new business.

So with my rant over, here’s my list of those who will benefit from understanding the current techniques necessary for online success and sustainable growth.

The DIY website owner/manager

Are you the DIY type who loves to roll up your sleeves and get in amongst the necessary techniques which determine the difference between “just being online” and “online super-stardom”?  Gone are the days when you could build a solid website with a great SEO foundation and have potential customers flock to your pages.  Putting in the hard yards is necessary, but the rewards of online success can be extraordinary for your business.

The Manager

Do you have a team of copywriters, link builders and analysts to support?  Do you understand that your copywriter is also your link builder?  Or that your programmer’s decision to build a funky database driven site with variable URL parameters will impede the crawlability of search engines?  Or knowing how to link offline promotions with online conversion results to your boss – he will think you’re the best thing since sliced bread.

The Outsourcer

This is perhaps the most vital area where you “must know” the current techniques, and more importantly, the processes that are against search engine guidelines and could be the cause of your online demise.  It’s vital that you know the right questions to ask your outsourced SEO team, and be aware of the answers that should cause you to run in the opposite direction.  Being aware that a guaranteed ranking is completely out of anyone’s control, should send alarm bells ringing if offered.

Link building is an often outsourced portion of your Internet marketing plan, yet very few link builders understand the 80/20 rule, or even care.

The Career Change

With SEO services in high demand, there is excellent opportunity to build yourself a great reputation within the field and have a job that provides an admirable work/life balance.  Everyone I come in contact with who is in the Internet marketing industry loves their job – how many people can honestly say that they ‘love’ their job?  And the most remarkable thing about that is that you could be one of them- pretty cool, huh?

So what are you waiting for?  Pick up the phone and have a chat with one of our expert SEO trainers – we are located  internationally in the USA, Canada, Australia, Asia, the UAE and Europe.  You’ll soon understand that we have a passion for helping you achieve online success!

Learn about in-person, hands-on SEO workshop with one of our expert trainers!
Filed Under: SEO Tagged With: , , , ,
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