INL – News

Optimizing your blog for search engine traffic is very important in order to be successful. Traffic from search engines can be slow and develops over time, but once it does, it will grow steadily and bring long-term results. Because SE traffic can take time to cultivate, you should be using other methods such as Adwords, Blogger, Forum or Article Marketing in the beginning to get the ball rolling.

Basic Blog settings for an SEO Friendly blog

Blog SEO

If you used Expert WordPress to install your blog, a good deal of the SEO work has been done for you. You may want to look over the configuration in the settings menu to double check or to tweak it. Here’s a video to show you where and how to do it in WordPress.

Once installed, these videos show how to tweak your blog for your needs. This first video is how to configure the settings area

This next video is how to change the default stuff that WordPress puts into you blog.

Now you may want to change the look of your blog. Expert WP gives you several options with customizing your blog’s theme. Here’s how:

1. Click on Appearance
2. Choose either Expertwp options or Header Options
3. Choose the changes you would like to implement and save.

Don’t worry about messing it up- you can always click on the defaults button and restore it to the original settings. So, go ahead and play around.

You also have some themes in your Welcome Package. All you have to do is upload the zipped file in the “add new themes” section in appearances and install. You can choose to preview or activate the theme. Activating it will make it your present theme for your blog.

The Flexibilty Theme in you Welcome Package has a Whole Lot of options which can be overwhelming when you first see them. It’s a good theme to work with if you really want a unique look to your blog.

This video shows you how to upload/install new themes- no FTP prog needed

Installing plugins is pretty much the same process. Next week we’ll touch on editing themes a bit and start looking for plugins to monetize your blog.

This is Week #1 of INL’s March Madness Blogging Spotlight. We covered ideas for finding a niche, choosing a domain, installing our blogs using Expert WordPress.

We also went through the Welcome Package.

Since class time is limited, here are some videos on Installing and configuring your blog.

Tips on making money with blogs.

Happy blogging

If you would like to host a webinar, there are a few webinar tools you will need to be professional and effective.

The first webinar tool you need for creating your webinar is a webinar set up sheet. On this sheet you need to list:

- your webinar OBJECTIVE (sales, a phone appointment, education?)

- the TITLE of your webinar (This should describe the benefit of your webinar to your viewers.)

- what you plan to COVER on your webinar

- your STORY (This is \”why\” you are qualified to host your webinar.)

- CASE STUDIES (results of how you, or the people you have helped, have solved the \”problem\”)

- EDUCATION (This is when you can give them some of your best tips and tricks for their business.)

- ROAD BLOCKS to success (obstacles that will keep them from solving the problem)

- CALL TO ACTION (This is where you encourage them to act on what you\’ve shown them. Go to your website, buy your product or service, or call for an appointment.)

Another webinar tool is a powerpoint template for your webinar ppt. Creating a webinar ppt is easy if you include these items:

-background graphic – Create or have someone else create an appealing, memorable graphic that communicates the message of your webinar. Use it as the background graphic on your master slide.

- your picture – Also on your master slide, use a professional-looking picture of yourself. Put it in the top left corner. Seeing a picture of your will help people remember you and your voice.

-bullet points that show up when you click your mouse – Go to the \”custom animation\” option and have each line on your presentation appear when you click your mouse in the master slide.

- call to action url – In the master view, add a url at the top so that the \”call to action\” is available on each slide. The call to action should lead to a web site where your audience can take an action (buy button, phone number to call, email option form, etc.)

Finally, to set up your webinar, you\’ll need these tools:

- webinar hosting – A webinar hosting account lets you present your audio and video to hundreds of people at the same time. A few webinar hosting companies include: GoToWebinar, Manexa, Omnovia, Web Ex and Adobe Connect

- registration web page – You can use the registration page given to you by the webinar hosting company or you can create your own (recommended). Remember to use benefit-driven language to entice them to register for your webinar. \”What\’s in it for them?\”

- autoresponder – You want to remind them of the upcoming webinar (even after they register). And you definitely want to follow up with them AFTER the webinar with your call to action.

So those are the essential webinar tools. Give them careful thought, set them up, and you will likely see HUGE results.

Stephen Beck is an expert at showing individuals and small businesses how to increase their sales using webinars! He welcomesyou to an amazing FREE weekly webinar to discover webinar tools to set up your webinar! Hurry, these fill up fast! Lock in your spot here: http://www.WildlyWealthyWebinars.com.

Tactics to Upselling

Cross selling and upselling to the existing customers can be difficult if you want to trade more as well as make more cash ”

Customers who had already purchased from you, however, who trust in and notice value in whatever you do and who are in a purchasing mood are fine prospects for cross selling and upselling. There are many possibilities that the customers will purchase more if you make them aware of it.

You should know what you have that you could cross sell and upsell ”

Having a full knowledge regarding what you could upsell is important. Upselling the irrelevant or wrong services or products would only alienate your customers. Cross selling and upselling the right kind of stuff at the correct time is considered to be your duty. There have likely been times where you have purchased something only to get it to your house and then realized that you could have bought the more expensive one which had more features and matched up better with your preference. If only the salesman had informed you or showed it to you.

Ensure that you (the salesperson) ask ”

Perhaps the greatest block to upselling is that the salesperson doesnt ask. It might be that they are scared or intimidated. Maybe salespeople feel cheesy. Perhaps they might think that they have no right to ask. Maybe they are worried that the client will refuse.

The biggest factor which stops or prohibits upselling is that most of the salespeople do not ask and stay quiet when it comes to upselling.

Try to keep upselling simple ”

About eighty percent of selling is showing up and having the right kind of attitude and playing the game.

Salespeople need to ask for the higher end sales as theyre so experienced, but not forget to follow through on sales basics.

Website content is more than just words on an html page. Content is comprised of all the elements users see and interact with when visiting your website. This includes more than simply words on a web page. Quality content includes words on a page as well as pictures, images, audio, and video. Content may also include RSS feeds, tag clouds and other elements like social media and forums.

The development of rich, engaging content is paramount to attracting and keeping website visitors. Whether you are using professionally written content or are simply allowing your website visitor to comment or provide reviews on a given topic, engaging content is important.

There are many benefits to writing and designing powerful content. This is especially true when focusing on the value of search engine optimized content, images, and other on-page factors. The outcome of good optimization is a steady flow of targeted website visitors.

Make sure that your content not only allows for search engines to easily index your site but that it also engages website visitors. Optimized content is worthless if it does not provide a good user experience. Once you attract users to your website, make sure that your content provides value. As website browsers engage your content, consider how they might move through the purchase decision process. Is you content directing them to where you want them to go or providing adequate opportunity to convert them in a variety of ways? Good content encourages your website audience to navigate beyond your home page and through your website.

As you build relationships through quality content, the likelihood of website visitors becoming customers increases significantly. In addition, these customers will be interested in referring others to your site to share something they value. These referrals are essential for building website traffic and growing your customer base. Think about your website as a viral marketing tool that can make or break your business.

When you have quality content, you are building links to your website naturally. As others find valuable information, they will link to your content and make references to share their findings with others. This inbound linking is incredibly valuable when it comes to search engine rankings. The more links to your site, the higher your search results placement will be. Keep delivering quality content and watch your rankings improve.

When websites continue to focus on engaging content, they will find that they receive more links from third party websites and higher search engine rankings. This produces a significant increase in website traffic over a sustained period of time. Once you have the right amount of traffic, your opportunity for increased sales can grow significantly. Make the investment in quality content and reap the rewards.

Successful online businesses produce quality content on a daily basis. This is one of the reasons why they are successful. Not only does quality content engage your browsers, but it creates an environment that people want to visit often. Add the benefit of improved rankings and you can see why good content is so important.

The next time you add content to your website in the form of an article, image, or other elements, do not underestimate the need for quality. It takes very little to generate quality content and it always pays huge dividends.