Got Web content? If you have, you know that content equals traffic, which equals sales. However, you may not be getting as much out of your content as you could — here are three vital tips which will help.

1. Size Matters: You Need Content to Become Visible

You’ve noticed that more and more businesses are flocking online: they’re following their customers. This means that no matter what industry you’re in, you’ve got more competition than you had last year, and you’ll have more competition again next year.

Does that scare you?

It shouldn’t, because here’s the answer: use content to beat your competition.

On the Web, size matters. A content-rich site with 10,000 pages will get more organic, free traffic than a tiny site with just 50 pages.

Take a moment right now, and check out your competitors. How large are their sites? How many links do they have?

Once you’ve checked them, create a content marketing plan, but test your keywords first.

Here’s how.

2. Use Pay Per Click to Test Keywords

The developers who sell keyword tools on the Web would like you to think that their tools are somehow magical: the keywords they deliver are all you need for success. This is not so. Here’s your best keyword tool: it’s right between your ears.

Before you check any keyword tool, look at your positioning statement for your site, and brainstorm keywords. Ask colleagues, friends and family members to help you to brainstorm too. (You’ll be amazed at the results, I promise you.)

Any keyword tool you use (even Google’s wonderful tool) is historical. It tells you what search query terms were used in the past. However, much of the traffic to your site arrives using unique query terms. By brainstorming regularly, and getting into the mind of your customers, you’ll not only have a bank of keywords which delivers cash, but you’ll also have unique content which will pay dividends for months and years to come.

Then, once you’ve got a bank of keywords, use Pay Per Click (PPC) to test and find your best converting keywords. When you create content using those “best” keywords, your content will work hard for you.

Here’s how to make your content work even harder: use it to build relationships.

3. Content Builds Relationships: Use Email Marketing to Get Return Visits

Focusing on traffic which converts is essential for Web marketing, but your aim is to turn occasional visitors to your site into frequent visitors.

Strategies like email marketing, and social media marketing will bring you return visitors. Use your Web content repurposed, to create reasons for your visitors to keep coming back.

Are you making all the sales you need? Get persuasive copy written by a top copywriter. I (Angela Booth) have been online for a couple of decades, and I’ve been writing copy for longer than that. Persuasion isn’t optional: it’s the difference between a business goldmine and survival. Get persuasive Web copywriting that works.

“Affiliate marketing is a scam!”

I used to think that too, until I found Wealthy Affiliate. Join us: we’re the happiest online marketers you’ll find, and the friendliest too. Turn your hobby into a full-time, exciting career — you get ALL the information, tools (great tools!) and help you need.

So you’ve decided you’d like to work from home and that marketing from the Internet sounds like the ideal job. The next step to making any money on the Internet is to decide what to do. You’d like to start making money as soon as possible and you don’t want to fork out a lot of dough to get started. If this sounds like you then selling affiliate products might be your answer, at least to start.

The pros of selling affiliate products:

You don’t have to have a website, you can buy a domain name and use it to redirect to the product producer’s sales page.

It is easy to get started promoting; you don’t have to take the time to produce a quality product, get testimonials, get the product set up on ClickBank, or write some killer copy.

You don’t have to wear many hats – your job is to promote the product through your affiliate link and that’s it.

Promotional materials may be handed to you by the product producer in the form of blog posts, articles, emails, and keywords you can use.

It doesn’t take a lot of money out of pocket to get started. You can promote it for free by doing article marketing. You can also venture cautiously into using Pay Per Click advertising.

You are not involved with customer support. The product creator is in charge of customer support, answering questions, giving refunds, etc. There’s no big baggage going to bed with you each night because you are not ultimately responsible for the product.

You can tell how well a product is selling on ClickBank by looking at the stats they provide. If the product’s track record doesn’t look good at all, you’ll think twice about selling it and pick something else.

The cons of selling affiliate products:

If you promote someone else’s products, you can only make a certain percentage of the commission whereas if it were your own product, you could make 100%.

You have no control over the affiliate product. It’s not yours to change around, up the price, make the sales page better, etc.

Selling an affiliate product will not help you brand yourself as an expert in your field like your own product can do.

If it’s a product that sells well on ClickBank, you might have lots of serious competition. Other people might know how to promote products better than you. You’ll need to learn the best ways to promote, and each product may require different types of promotions to effectively make sales.

You need to read the terms of service of the merchant’s product to make sure you are following the rules. The TOS are not the same for every product, so be diligent in reviewing them.

As with anything, there are pros and cons of becoming an affiliate marketer. If, after going over everything you decide you want to try it, do some further research on affiliate marketing to arm yourself with all the knowledge you need to be a success.

Are you using email marketing strategies? Your email list can be your best tool for affiliate marketing. Unfortunately, there are challenges. If you’re making mistakes, you’ll feel as if your emails are not getting read.

In fact, if you have a low “open” rate and you wonder why you even bother sending emails. Is the problem you or them? Take a look at these email mistakes and see if you’re making any of them.

1. Hello {!firstname} (the actual name goes here, not the word firstname.)

This never looks good. It means you’re too busy to test or you’re not sure what you’re doing. Always test your emails and send them to yourself first. Check them with an eagle eye and catch errors like the above plus an blatant grammatical errors. Be a professional email marketer.

2. Free, eliminate debt, offer, bonus, discount, won, deal, money, sign up now, guaranteed, work from home…

These are considered spam words or phrases and will likely get your email rerouted to the subscriber’s spam trap by their email provider. Get a list of current spam words with a quick Internet search. Be creative and find other words to say what you want to say that aren’t considered spam.

3. “You Can Make $20,000 in 30 days!!”

Your email subject line has to be believable. With so many emails to open every day, this sort of subject line will help people decide they definitely don’t want to open your email. Your emails need to build your credibility as someone who is trustworthy. Don’t destroy it by using subject lines and content that are unbelievable.

4. Long emails with huge paragraphs.

People are short on time and in a hurry. They don’t want to read long emails with big boring paragraphs. Remember, it’s about them, not you. Make your emails entertaining and short, and get to the point. Chop long paragraphs into small paragraphs to add white space and make it easier to read. If you make your email easier to read, the odds are better that they’ll actually read it and see your call to action.

5. Make every single email a product promotion.

People opted into your list to receive valuable information that you’ve promised to deliver via email. If your emails only contain promotion after promotion, they’ll stop reading your emails. They might not opt out right away, but that’s the next step. Of course you want to promote to your list, but not all the time. Send helpful info, free reports, etc. and they’re more likely to open and read your emails. Remember, people open emails with a “What’s In It For Me?” frame of mind.

Take some time and analyze what you’ve been sending out to your list of subscribers. A list, preferably a big list, can be the bread and butter for an internet marketer. But you have to send quality emails or your emails won’t even be opened, let alone read. Take steps today to make your emails something you’d be happy to receive yourself.

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