Top Ten Tips to Build a Stronger LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn is synonymous with interpersonal business connections. Looking at my LinkedIn homepage on any day, mostly what I see is "Harry is now connected to Sally," "John is now connected to David" etc. Only a small minority of LinkedIn members are REALLY using the available tools beyond the easy way of starting connections; more businesspeople need to start posting articles they like, expressing opinions, listing upcoming events, asking or answering questions, commenting on someone else's posting, or (gasp!) using one or more of the free LinkedIn apps. So as a fellow contributor to the global personal learning network (PLN) we all share with each other in LinkedIn, I put into written words selections from educational seminars I have been giving in the New York metro area, to evangelize on the "Top Ten Tips to Build a Stronger LinkedIn Profile." 1. Don't just cut and paste sections from your résumé, that backward-looking document. LinkedIn shows your past experience and more: your present efforts and future aspirations. Describe your rich experience and how it contributes to your current and future abilities, in your own words, as you would to someone you just met. Use short blocks of copy with keywords and rich textual images, in easily digestible bites. Why? Your profile is the primary means of branding yourself as a change agent, an authority, an attractive business prospect to someone seeking your services. Who better to add color and depth to your brand than you? OK, recommendations and referrals also do work wonders, but when a prospective client is comparing you to a competitor, you need to make your profile shine in your own personal way. The most important takeaway from my sessions is that you MUST convey in rich, searchable terms (à la SEO) WHY YOU. Not what you do at your company, but what values you distinctly bring to the proverbial table, with your unique perspective and clear reasons why you stand out from the crowd. A lackluster cut-and-paste job from your website or résumé won't differentiate you. Show how you are the sum total of your past experiences, how your present work is shaping you as a valued business partner, and express your future aspirations in a business development context. Articulate the character you possess that will make people WANT to hire and/or refer you for new business. 2. Borrow from the best marketers you know. Draw inspiration from others you respect. Adapt smart wording you see them using to your own personal style and branding. But be sure to light up your LinkedIn profile with your own color. Use present tense, first person ("I" or "my") and the active voice. In your own words, aimed at the LinkedIn audience of over 100 million business professionals, (a very different audience from that of the internet, your blog, FaceBook, or Twitter), tell WHO you really are. Stilted, artificial techno-jargon turns people away. Tell your story, concisely and articulately. Do you have 2 or more businesses like I do? Wrap the descriptions of each business together in a summary paragraph that paints a picture of yourself as a dynamic, active, yet integrated multi-preneur. Your depth and clarity will immediately increase and reflect well on you vs. your drab competitor's flat LinkedIn profile. 3. Write a dynamic personal tagline. That 120-character line of text under your name that LinkedIn calls your Professional Headline is the first impression you make in your profile. It defines you all over LinkedIn. Your professional headline is your brand, make it intriguing; clearly tell others "WHO you really are" not what your title/company is. Craft it carefully and rewrite it as you change, because you will change. If you think a 140-character tweet is challenging, then 120 characters of self-description on your LinkedIn professional headline can be a real ordeal--and that 120-character limit includes spaces! This exercise in self-definition has been exasperatingly healthy for my clients. The professional headline needs to be keyword-rich (again for SEO) yet easy to digest in a quick gulp, especially as attention-deficit as we have all become. You may be a "VP Treasury at XYZ Corporation," but better said for LinkedIn branding purposes: "Seasoned corporate finance professional with 20+ years' experience in global treasury management" (that's 96 characters including spaces; with room for up to 24 more characters to further express WHO you are!). Doesn't the expanded version tell a lot more about that person than their {title} at {company name}? 4. Put your polished elevator pitch to eve n better use. Your self-description, practiced and refined, is the essence of who you are and succinctly positions what you do. Now convert it for use in LinkedIn's Summary section, to attract potential connections. You have but seconds to capture the reader's attention. A terse and intelligent Summary is your second chance to stand out. It complements the WHY YOU aspects you conveyed before and reinforces your areas of expertise, experience, and why you are further worthy of consideration for the business connection. Sparingly, you can insert industry jargon and acronyms here, if needed. Speak to the audience: "here's more about me, now join me as we dig further, and be sure to read my Experience section too." You're on a roll--the reader is following your explanation and expression, once he/she has determined you are worthy of spending the time. 5. Identify your background and show yourself as greater than the sum of the experience you had. The Experience and Specialties fields drive your personal SEO in LinkedIn searches; knit in Google keywords to improve being found in a search. In describing your past experience, job by job, display your unique abilities in your line of work, personal skills and unique interests, values that round out your professional background and show you as a whole person. Use a note of humor, cite an excerpt from your publication, and express your professional passion. Often ignored, the Specialties, Skills, Certifications, Languages, and Publications section, though relatively new, is another place to add to WHO you are. If you published on paper or electronically, show it off here. If you have earned certifications, or can speak a foreign language for business, say so here. I even had a coaching client who asked if her patent was important to mention. "Heck yes," I told her, "it's a further differentiator, showing a unique developed, earned, contributed aspect of your persona." It directly reflects on the experience she will always possess. 6. You must have a good photo. A clear picture of what you look like, a friendly, approachable face, is a basic, yet underutilized, tool to reinforce your brand. Potential business contacts will sometimes telephone you after reviewing your profile; allow them to speak to you while looking at your photo on LinkedIn. Your photo should make it easy for someone to spot you in a coffee shop for an initial meeting. While you don't have to run out and get a professional headshot, a digital picture cropped it so everyone can see what you look like, is fine and can be a pose that shows what you do, such as a public speaker with his hands extended making a point, or an attorney on the phone. No picture with your kids, dog, cat, or raising a glass at a party--not professionally correct. This is also not a place to put your logo. And worst of all is not having a picture at all. Show what you look like--your face is part of your brand. 7. Further show your ideas and voice, different from the crowd. Use the powerful free LinkedIn apps to showcase your voice. Use SlideShare and/or Box.net, the free LinkedIn applications, to provide easy access to your multimedia marketing materials, adding even more depth to your profile with PDFs, white papers, brochures, podcasts, slide decks, and/or video of you speaking or how you perform your services. Add your portfolio of 2- and 3-dimensional art, photos, architectural designs, and interior design work using Creative Portfolio Display, also a free LinkedIn app. While you are exploring these wonderful apps, look at the all the others and determine if they can help further differentiate you from the competitors; Polls, BlogLink, MyTravel, Events, among others. LinkedIn adds more from time to time so check back to see what's newly available. 8. Make your profile 100% complete; get a personalized LinkedIn URL. Look your very best, fully rounding out your LinkedIn profile to tell WHO you really are. You don't do anything 75% complete, do you? Having a 100% complete profile actually boosts your SEO in Google so you rank much higher, if not at the very top, if someone Googles you. To attain 100% profile completion, show your current position, at least 2 past positions, education, profile summary, photo, specialties, and 3 recommendations by others of you. Personalize your LinkedIn URL, instead of using the default URL you were given when you joined LinkedIn. If you have numbers and letters at the end of your LinkedIn profile URL, you need to personalize it. To learn how to do so, go to Learning Center at the bottom of any LinkedIn page, and search for "personalized URL" and then follow the directions. Now use that URL on your business cards, email signature lines, and all marketing materials so the reader can learn about you, in your own words, on LinkedIn. And for you graduating students and other job seekers, place it on your resume too! 9. Answer questions; ask questions. Thoughtful, purposeful answers to questions raised by others add to your street credentials, pointing more eyes at your profile as an expert. Answering questions to help others is not only a good deed, but also establishes you after enough valued responses, as an expert in the field. Not a bad reputation to have! This reinforces your stature, and builds social capital with your network. Don't hesitate to ask an open-ended question of selected individuals on LinkedIn, all your connections, certain of your LinkedIn groups, or the entire general LinkedIn population; tap into your peers' expertise--the results will amaze you. Ask questions to take the pulse of current thinking in your field. If you get a particularly stimulating answer, take the conversation offline and call or meet that person for a valuable connection now and in the future. 10. Recommend and get recommended. LinkedIn makes it really easy to give someone a recommendation or ask someone to recommend you for some specific aspect of your work. Give recommendations, as a thank-you for great work and add an anecdote to tell what character the colleague uniquely demonstrated. Surprise someone with a recommendation for a true gift. Ask clients, colleagues, vendors, partners for recommendations, guiding the writer to comment in his/her own words, on a specific characteristic, such as your dedicated follow-up on a particular problem to ensure its solution, or your special TLC at an especially difficult time. The "Halpert 2%" rule should apply: 98% of your network should like you and 2% of your connections should greatly admire you so much as to recommend you. Too many or too few recommendations can suggest a misconception about you. Finally, beware that recommending someone and having them recommend you back on the same day looks like a mutual admiration society-not very impressive or professional. Wait a week or 2 in between. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6365045

Ways to Profit From Your LinkedIn Account

LinkedIn, the social networking website for professionals, may not be as popular as Facebook or Twitter, but it has its share of loyalists, too. In fact, the website has more than 200 million registered members as of December 2012. Majority of the LinkedIn loyalists are people who aim to advertise their business or services; and those who use the network for connecting with people and businesses that can help them find opportunities for professional and financial growth. As it will be difficult to stand out from among the millions of users, it is important for you to learn how to create an impact and eventually profit from your LinkedIn account. What follows are simple tips that can be used to achieve this goal. What Are Your Objectives? First of all, you need to have a clear definition of your purpose for joining and using LinkedIn. What do you expect to achieve? What are your main objectives? Is your main intention to find people you can hire, or to find earning opportunities for yourself? Are you looking for a job, or are you merely interested in online socializing? Answering these questions will help you determine you goal for joining LinkedIn. Religiously Work on Your Profile The profile that you create is one of the things that can do wonders for you. Be sure to create a profile that highlights your strongest skills. Do not just list down every activity or achievement you have received; work on it! Make sure that your profile is more than just a list of your accomplishments, experiences and background. Aside from the basic details (education and employment), it will also help a lot if you indicate your professional and community affiliations. In addition, you should provide details about what you aim to accomplish with LinkedIn; is it to find probable partners or to form new business collaborations? Or maybe you'd like to find a way to contact business executives, government officials and online employers? Put a photo on your profile. People like it when they can see how or what you look like. Somehow, it makes them feel secure. Be sure to post a professional-looking photo, not one that looks like something you'd post on either Facebook or Twitter. Finally, if you want your profile to be noticed, you need to consistently keep an eye on it. You should regularly check up on and improve it from time-to-time. Do not just create an account, add contacts, and then leave everything. You have to constantly work on your profile so that it will never get dull. Choose Your Contacts Wisely It is important to find as many contacts as you can. If you have friends or business colleagues who are already subscribed to LinkedIn, the social networking website will automatically connect you with them. LinkedIn will suggest for you to add up or connect with people you possibly know. Another way of building contacts is by joining groups. This is one of the most advantageous features of LinkedIn. All that you have to do is find a group that works on your interests and passion! If your main business is concentrated in the healthcare industry, then you should join groups that allow you to interact with doctors or those that focus on a particular health issue. Joining these groups will allow you to receive regular updates and news. There are open groups and there are those that will require the group leader's approval. Finding the right group means contemplating on your goals and doing a little background research. These are just some of the things you can do if you want your LinkedIn account to help you profit. As the social networking scene constantly improves, there will be changes every now and then. Keeping close tabs on LinkedIn's development will help you easily adapt to these changes; and will eventually help you earn and profit. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7609216

Writing Effective LinkedIn Headlines

Many people now understand that LinkedIn is an important social media tool for business. There are many different elements that make up your profile. One of those elements that is critical and often disregarded is the headline. Giving your headline a facelift If you aren't sure how effective your LinkedIn headline is, it is definitely time to examine it closely as soon as possible. If you read your headline and you aren't sure of its potency, it is definitely time to reevaluate. You should never discount how important LinkedIn is for your professional reputation and for your online presence. If all you have is the minimum amount of information that you could possibly have, such as your title and the name of your business, your headline needs a facelift. It is common to see that many people don't know how to write a really effective headline. You would be surprised at how many people have headlines that have been there for a long time and have not changed the entire time. The reason for that is because many people don't realize that you can actually edit your headline. You have the ability to change it any way that you want. If you don't edit your headline, LinkedIn will pull your title and business name from your profile. There is absolutely no reason for you to allow LinkedIn to control your headline. It is yours and you should make it whatever you feel it should be. Even though you have a 120- character maximum for your headline, it has the potential to be very powerful and you can really make it sing if you want to. You have a tremendous opportunity to sell yourself with your headline if you choose to do so. The big question is how to write a headline that really has an impact on anyone who reads it. There are several rules of thumb that you should follow if you want to really make a big splash. Really highlight your expertise, worth or your uniqueness If you are aiming to get people to notice your through your LinkedIn headline, whether you want to be noticed because you are searching for a new job, trying to get your business noticed, etc, the action is the same. You must make your headline tell people what makes you stand out among the crowd and you need to do it clearly, concisely and brilliantly. If you can accomplish that, people will reach out to you and you will be one step ahead. Connect with your target audience It is critical that you think from the perspective of your target audience. It is very important for you to speak directly to your target audience. They need to understand without a doubt that their needs and wants are very important to you. If you can address the concept of WIIFM (What's In It For Me?), you will succeed at winning your target audience over and they will become loyal to you. Never be vague When it comes to your LinkedIn headline, it is critical that you get noticed above your competition. The less vague you manage to be, the more positively your message will be received. You need to communicate exactly what you can do for other people. With your competition being as stiff as it is, you want to be the person who attracts the attention of your prospective clients and who gets them to give you a second (and perhaps even a third) chance. Use powerful and effective keywords Using effective and powerful keywords is an art form that should not be disregarded. If someone is searching for a business that offers what your business offers, you want to be the one chosen for the job. You need to put your best foot forward and leave as little to chance when it comes to getting the person to choose a business that makes them want to spend their money. Be as creative as possible at all times Creativity is generally something that your target audience will remember. If it is interesting to them, it will stay with them for a long time. You need to write headlines that capture the attention of your audience and make them want to continue reading your content, including your headlines. Conclusion If, after you have evaluated your LinkedIn headline, you feel that you could use some serious help, click on "Edit Profile: and start editing. Come up with a headline that pops and that gets other people to notice you in a really big way. If you put your mind to it, you can totally be the one who stands out and who is not very easy to forget. Your headline is so important. Make sure that your headline is very catchy and that the language stops people dead in their tracks. Don't waste an opportunity to really grab people with your creativity. We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a free assessment of your online presence, let's have coffee. Carolyn T. Cohn is the Chief Editor of CompuKol Communications. Mrs. Cohn has a wealth of experience in managing people and projects. She has run several editorial departments for various companies. Mrs. Cohn has 25 years of editorial experience and her expertise covers a wide range of media, such as online editing, editing books, journal articles, abstracts, and promotional and educational materials. Throughout her career, Mrs. Cohn has established and maintained strong relationships with professionals from a wide range of companies. The principle that governs her work is that all words need to be edited. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7497899

5 Incredible Tips on Creating Powerful and Engaging YouTube Videos

It's not too hard to get a person's attention online. But keeping their attention is different. When you post YouTube videos for your business, you can get people to click and start watching without much effort. However, if your videos are not engaging then you won't hold the viewer's attention for long. The longer a person watches your videos, the higher the video ranking will be. This is why it is important for you to create more engaging videos. If you want to boost your average minutes watched metrics, here are tips for creating videos with better engagement and raising your YouTube rank. #1. Forget about "cheating the system" There is no good way to get around the YouTube algorithm and find a fast and easy way to increase your ranking, so stop looking. Algorithms change constantly, so even if you found one to try, it won't work for you for long. Instead, put your focus on researching the most powerful keywords to put in your video titles. Stay consistent with creating new content and you will begin to see lasting results. #2. Get a good idea of your target audience Who, exactly, are you trying to reach with your content? You should have a clear picture in your head of your target audience before you create any type of content. What is their age? What kind of work do they do? Where do they live? What are they looking for that your business can provide? Do your research so that you can answer all of these questions before you begin creating videos for them. #3. Make a plan Like all marketing strategies, you need to have a clearly defined plan if you want things to go smoothly. Before you begin production, you need to: • Create a shot list so you know what needs to be recorded • Make a story board for complex shots • Write out a prop list for each scene • Get additional footage that will help bring your video to life (B-roll) You don't want to just grab a camera and start filming. Doing your pre-production planning will help you stay on track during the process. #4. Be energetic If you give off a lot of energy and passion in your videos, it is more likely that you will be able to hold the viewer's attention. People who speak in monotone throughout the video come off as dull, and people will not continue to watch any longer. Just watch some of the videos on YouTube that have a high ranking and look at the level of energy that comes from the speaker. Speaking in a louder voice and using a lot of body language can help you come across as enthusiastic, motivating and engaging. #5. Write better headlines Even the most engaging videos can be overlooked if you don't give them the right headlines. Spend time researching the most valuable keywords for your business and include them in your video titles and tags. This will make it easier for people who will benefit the most from your videos to find them when they do a search. Use Google's keyword tool to find the best keywords. Look for the ones with at least 10,000 monthly searches and are considered "low competition." Creating engaging videos for YouTube can help boost your ranking and get you noticed by more users daily. What tips do you have for making better video content? Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7703203

Ways to Increase Your YouTube Views

If you look at YouTube as a website where you can upload videos, then you are going nowhere near getting many hits for your videos. With this outlook, you are using the site for personal entertainment regardless of whether or not you are going to create a sensation out of your videos. But if you are looking to monetize your videos, you should be looking at YouTube differently. If you look at YouTube as a social media site, you are on a right perspective to increase YouTube views for your videos. There are several easy steps to increase YouTube views. However, these steps are often taken for granted. Many of those who post on YouTube thinks it is enough to produce a funny video and upload it on the site to make a video go viral. While content is very crucial to make the video more likely to get noticed, there are other ways on how you can increase the chances of getting hits. Do Not Skip the MetaData Creating your video and uploading them is not all the task to get hits in YouTube. You also have to fill up the required meta data including the title heading, description, tags and categories. Fight the temptation of skipping this step. Your patience will pay off because these data help increase the probabilities of your videos getting more views. Your video will not just be an instant hit. Your video will continue getting increased YouTube views even after many months. Meta data does not only increase the chance of getting search on YouTube, but also on other sites such as search engines. Create a Relevant Thumbnail Another step to increase YouTube views is to create a thumbnail for your video. A thumbnail is basically a snapshot that best represents your video. It could be an image, text or a frozen part of your video. You have the choice of creating a thumbnail if you are a partner of YouTube. You can customize the design so you have the option of creating one. If you are not a partner of YouTube, the site will auto-generate three thumbnail options for you to choose from. Make sure your thumbnails look good to easily capture the attention of viewers whether in YouTube of in search engines. Use Annotations to Your Advantage Annotations can also increase YouTube views. They are small texts that are integrated into the video as overlays. Annotations can be information, subscription box or relevant links that will help your audience to remember that you have other videos or that you have products and services that they could purchase to help them with their daily problems. Annotations help generate traffic by increasing the chances of getting your ads clicked or by increasing your Google ranking. Edit Your Video to a Suitable Running Time It is important to include vital and rich content to increase YouTube views. Many people are no longer looking for short and funny videos but have poor content. They would be willing to watch a longer video if they want to learn about vital information to solve their problems. If your video is simply commercial, then there is no need to create a very long one. If your video is procedural and educational, you can edit it to a desirable length of time so that the content will not be sacrificed. Content can increase YouTube views and can help build trust among your potential market. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7690955

Good Squeeze Page

I have been researching to find out what is the minimum essentials which one should be aware of as a must when they plan to start an online business of their own. After spending many months on this topic, I narrowed it down to the following basics: 1. Squeeze Page: Now what is a squeeze page? This is a professional term used by internet marketers to describe their landing page where essentially they want to capture the email of the visitors to their site, before the visitor can access the other pages on their site. They call these visitors as their prospects, since these people have just landed on their site but have not purchased anything as yet. Once they purchase something, they become customers. A good squeeze page should attract the attention immediately and should be able to generate enough curiosity in the prospect to give his his email to the site and be ready to move further on to visit the other pages of the attention grabbing website. He should feel safe and in a non-threatening environment. He should feel confident that his email will not be misused. It makes business sense to offer these prospects something for free, if they submit their email. That means that there should be a visible image of a FREE GIFT, either in the form of an e-Report or e-Book or downloadable video or downloadable audio or something similar, which looks of such a value to him that he cannot resist the offer and immediately submits his email on the squeeze page. A good squeeze page should not clutter too many things on it. It is preferable to have some bullet points of the benefits offered. Ideally it should not be selling any product here. It should be used only to capture the emails to build a list of prospects in a particular profitable niche. 2. Thank You Page: Once the prospect has submitted his email he should be greeted with a thank you page, both as a courtesy to the visitor and also as a first step to develop a relationship with him as a future potential customer in this online business. Sometimes it is even better to duplicate this process by sending him an email message thanking him again. This is also called a 'confirmation page' or 'opt-in' page. Since the prospect has submitted his email to receive the free gift and not just to see 'thank you' page and read it; this thank you page must contain a link to download page to download the gift which was offered on the squeeze page. 3. Download Page: The third most important basic page is the download page. It should have a clickable link to download the free gift to complete the whole process. I found that the above THREE STEPS are the most basic essentials of internet marketing. Together they form the engine of the system. The development of this engine is the very start of affiliate marketing tool. If a beginner understands this and is prepared to go through this process after reading this article, I am sure he will save months of his time and effort to do independent research on it, which I did as a beginner. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7752435

Make Money Fast - How To Make Money Fast With Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a powerful way to make money fast if you apply the correct strategies.

It can take a bit of testing and tweaking before affiliate campaigns are found that will enable you to make money fast. But when you get it working then you can quickly scale it out to the masses.

In this article we will look at a number of ways for how to make money online fast with affiliate marketing, as well as reveal how to fast-track this process with the power of turnkey marketing systems.

1. High Ticket Webinars - People who are able to get 100+ people register on a webinar that promotes a high ticket product are able to make extremely high amounts of money fast.

Many people do not realise this, but you do not need a huge email list in order to get people to register for the webinar of an affiliate product you are promoting. You can simply buy solo ads to drive traffic to the webinar registration pages.

2. Fiverr Gigs - You can make money online fast with Fiverr gigs, although the amount of money might not be that life changing.

There are lots and lots of online entrepreneurs looking for tasks to outsource on Fiverr.com. So if you are able to do an in-demand task at a very fast rate then there is a good chance you can get a gig going that gives you excellent hourly wage.

The tasks that involve automated software are good to go for as they can make you $5 with literally the click of a few buttons.

3. YouTube Marketing - Video marketing with YouTube is a good method to use if you are in need of making money fast. This is because there is already a lot of internal traffic on YouTube and the videos rank well in Google. So quick traffic is possible.

Also, when people see you on video talking about a product or service then conversions can be much higher because there is more trust and credibility with a video compared to a generic email or online ad.

4. Big Ticket Commissions - There is nothing better than having those big commission days coming in that rival what many people would expect to earn in a whole month!

When you are promoting big ticket affiliate programs then only one sale is needed to get lots of money quickly coming in, and you don't need to make many sales at all in order to earn an excellent income as an affiliate marketer.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7772079

How to Get Your Website Found Online in 4 Simple Steps

Step 1: Understand the value of SEO

Think about the last time you searched for something on Google - did you look past the first page of search results?

Probably not.

And you should expect prospective customers to act in the same way. They want to find what they're looking for immediately, and that's why it's so crucial to make sure your content ranks highly.

One of the best ways to figure out how you're performing in terms of SEO is to get a marketing grader report which will give you an accurate assessment of your website's performance in relation to search.

An effective SEO strategy will provide a steady stream of organic traffic, which is better quality than search ads as it's more likely to convert (not to mention, it's free).

Getting good quality leads through SEO won't happen overnight - it needs to be a long-term strategy that is part of a comprehensive inbound marketing strategy.

Step 2: Decide on your keywords

Keywords are the lifeblood of your SEO strategy. The first thing you need to do is agree on 25 core keywords which best reflect your products and services, and what your prospects are most likely to type in a search box when looking for what you're offering.

When selecting your keywords, consider the following criteria:

Search volume: There are two types of keywords to target; general keywords (one or two word phrases) have a high search volume but a large pool of competitors. Longtail keywords (phrases with five or more words) have a lower search volume but less competition so you're more likely to rank highly for those words. It's important your SEO strategy has a good mix of both types to cover all bases.

Relevance: Make sure your keywords reflect your offering and the behaviour of prospective customers. Put yourself in the place of your prospects: would you search the terms you are using to get found?

Competition: Assess how fierce the battleground is for your keyword. If you find you are up against mega brands, you may want to choose long-tail keywords in those instances.

Step 3: Optimise your website pages

If you aren't optimising your website content with your selected keywords, you won't get found and your competitors will attract all the business you could have had.

So once you've decided on your keywords, it's important to ensure they're being used

throughout your website content. This way search engines can find these keywords when indexing your website pages. The more effective use of keywords, the higher you'll rank.

Each page can be optimised for three to four keywords, include them in the copy, page title, meta description, header, and image and alt tags. If a page doesn't exist for one of your keywords, consider building a new one.

Once your pages are optimised, ensure you're taking part in onsite link building by including links to these optimised pages elsewhere on your site, through promotion on your homepage, callsto-action and related links at the bottom of other content pieces.

Step 4: Engage in offsite link building

There are huge SEO benefits to offsite link building, which means promoting your content via external sites.

The more genuine links to your website content there are, the more credible your content is deemed to be by search engines, which in turn, helps it to rank more highly.

When you create your next great piece of content, consider the following:

Is there a relevant blogger or journalist who would be interested in linking to this content?

Are there related publications in your industry that might want to reference this content?Can you use this content as a platform for guest blogging on other sites?

Is there another business that would promote your content in exchange for you promoting theirs? (Also known as link trading or reciprocal links

Even a quick mention on a big website can garner a huge number of hits, so keep in mind other external options for back links on other reputable sites.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7751019

Business Success Selling Ebooks

You are broke and would like to use the internet to make some extra money. Some believe that the easiest way is to produce and sell digital downloads.

Digital Downloads

What are digital downloads? The fastest selling products on the internet are digital downloads. Digital downloads can be anything, but the ones most seen are books, music and software. Ebooks are considered by many experts to be the way to start a business career online that can be very lucrative.

Ebooks

Selling ebooks online is a simple and quick way to make extra money using the internet. Ebooks are sold by the millions every day and these books can be about almost anything. Those who are already selling ebooks online will tell you that it isn't hard, time-consuming, or expensive. They will tell you that it is not only profitable, but quite affordable to get started. The way to be successful with digital downloads or ebook downloads is to first learn all you can about what you are doing, as the key to success in any venture is knowledge.

Collaboration

With no physical product to manufacture and then ship to a customer, more than half of the process for online sales is already eliminated. If you are an expert in any field, then you are almost there and if you're not, find someone who is. For example, you know someone who takes beautiful photographs and has a lot of recipes that are original and easy to prepare. This is the person to collaborate with to develop and sell an ebook on "Easy to Prepare Recipes".

Subject to Write About

Ebooks can be written on just about anything and every busy homemaker is looking for new, easy meals to prepare for the family on the go. The ebook would be a marketer's dream. And once it is created, the real hard work is already done. All that you need to do is build a one-page website and market the hottest and newest cookbook on the market. They will be able to download it as soon as they pay for it and can have a new dish for supper tonight. All that is left to do is transfer the cost of the book from their PayPal account into your PayPal account and then they are able to download the product they just bought.

What Others Want to Know

Now of course, this is the simplified version of how to get started, but it is not far from the truth. An ebook is really just something that others want to learn more about. How to lose weight, what is diabetes and how to cure it the natural way, quick and simple cooking for the busy mothers on the go and the subjects to write about just go on and on.

Marketing

Setting up a one or two page website to market and sell your ebook is easy to do, as there are many software products that you can buy to help you do this. You don't have to be a programmer or a genius with computers to build a website.

Ladder of Business Success

Once all of this is in place, there is really nothing more to do. You are one-step up on the ladder that leads to business success. If this one ebook does well, you only need to duplicate what you did for more digital ebooks; if it doesn't do well, then your plan needs to be tweaked and then tried again.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7768326

How To Write High Quality Articles That Attract Attention

Writing can be a hobby, an interest, or an occupation. Many people are capable of writing quality articles but have no idea where to begin or are not confident with their fluency in the language. That’s what this article is about; how to write high quality articles that attract attention. Do you believe that you can be a quality writer? Do you want to be a quality writer?

If you look at writing in a technical viewpoint, yes, it can be difficult but that is only when it comes to the rules of language and grammar, which you can learn quickly. Many people have stated that they are excellent speakers but that does not necessarily hold true for writing. A person can be good at speaking but not at writing, and vice versa. Everyone is capable of becoming a writer given they are willing to learn the process of writing an article step by step.

Is there a process to writing quality articles? Is there a specific structure? Where do you begin? How do you end? Is there a specific style of writing that is required? Basically, the question is how to write high quality articles that attract attention.

Here are some tips:

1. Audience: Think about the audience that will be reading your article. If you were in their shoes, would you read what you are writing? Keep in mind that you want your audience to read your article all the way through to the end.

2. Brainstorming and Research: Think about the topic you will write and the information you want to put in the article. This will help you create a flow of the article and narrow down the research that you will be doing to gather all the data that will be put into your article.

3. Title: Create a title that is interesting and thought provoking so as to get the attention of the readers. At the same time, the title also has to relay what kind of information the readers will be getting out of the article. As a reader yourself, would you actually read an article whose title is very technical and boring?

4. Introduction: The introduction is there to inform the readers what they will be learning as they read the article. Keep the introduction short but concise and simple enough to understand. There is no need to use complicated words because then you will be narrowing down your audience. The same goes for the rest of the article.

5. Body: This is where you will put all the information that you have gathered in your research. Remember to write it as if you were explaining it in your own words because this makes the article more relatable and easy to understand. The content of your article should also be entertaining and at the same time educational. In the body, there are many ways to write, but if the article is for the internet, you can use bullets or numbering. By doing this, you make the information more concise and easier for the audience to read, and at the same time, giving yourself structure and you will know what will come next, creating a good flow to your writing and to the readers. Also, remember to take a pause in between your paragraphs. When paragraphs are lengthy with little white space, readers tend to lose interest in the article.

6. Conclusion: Recap the information that you have given in the entire article briefly. This is where you explain to the readers the main points of your article and the importance of the information you shared with them. When you end your article, you can also give them a few words or questions to make them think about the article and what they have learned from it and maybe how they can use this information to solve a problem or improve a situation.

7. Proofreading: When you are done writing your article, you will learn, as a writer, that proofreading is essential in the process. You should go back and read the entire article again to ensure that there are no errors with your grammar, punctuation, or sentence construction. If there are areas in your article that you feel don’t make sense or are out of place, then you can edit them or omit them. When going through the proofreading process, you can make sure for yourself that the article that you will be posting is at its best.

As you are learning how to write high quality articles that attract attention, you will also learn that you will not be able to grasp all of it overnight. It will take time and errors along the way before you become an expert at it. The most important thing about writing is that there is always room to improve. As a writer, you will have an audience, and these readers will be able to give you feedback with regards to your writing because as readers, they are now the judges or critics of your work. Their feedback can be very helpful to you as a writer.

You can then take the feedback and use it to improve and create your own unique writing style. It is also good to remember, though, that every reader has their own preferences and writing styles that they particularly like or dislike. If you believe, as the writer, that the particular writing style demanded from you is one that you are not familiar or comfortable with, that is in your discretion as to whether you want to learn it or find a different approach that is more appealing.

These are merely tips to help you learn the basic process of writing a quality article. Using these tips, you will also be able to work faster and have direction throughout the processes of writing quality articles. No matter how advanced the writing style or the article, these fundamental elements of writing will always be there. So, continue exploring the endless possibilities of your writing and remember that practice makes perfect.

http://goarticles.com/article/How-To-Write-High-Quality-Articles-That-Attract-Attention/7599662/

Secrets on How to Use Pinterest for List Building

Tip #1 - Benefit from Your Existing Social Connections

Incorporating your current Facebook, MySpace and Twitter accounts to your Pinterest will speedily and conveniently gain you a lot more Pinterest supporters. Performing this and properly setting the authorizations will cause any item you pin to be broadcasted to your followers or friends in the incorporated networking sites. Assuming that you have built strong positive relationships with peers in the other sites, a lot of them will almost automatically support your Pinterest profile.

Tip #2 - Make it Simple to Pin Your Content

You can incorporate Pinterest control buttons into your product pages and other parts of your website to easily gain new Pinterest followers. Because Pinterest is quite new, these buttons can quickly catch the attention of many individuals, who will be encouraged to follow your Pinterest profile and actively interact with your new web page.

Tip #3 - Build Forums to Support Your Posts

You can develop a Pinterest panel that focuses on an aspect of your content. For example, if your web page is about dog training tips and you wish to recommend certain advices; you can establish a Pinterest panel that connects the post with visual illustrations in your Pinterest page. Performing this will make your content much more engaging and will compel online visitors to become loyal to you.

Tip #4 - Pin Regularly

Like other public press web pages, you must be able to pin not too little and not too many articles. Too few articles will make visitors view your profile with very little or no value at all. Too many updates will irritate or frustrate your followers. It is recommended that you must post five to thirty new pins daily.

Tip #5 - Enhance Your Board Labeling Structure

Label your Pinterest panels accordingly and make the names as exciting and as engaging but as easily comprehensible as possible. Appropriate labels are beneficial in acquiring new and maintaining current Pinterest supporters. Your witty panel brands must therefore be straightforward in telling what your boards contain.

Tip #6 - Personally Curate Your Own Pins

If you merely repin content elaborately made by others, you will fail in motivating your Pinterest customers to remain faithful to you. You must therefore strive to generate your own content based on existing effective articles. You can also rely on resources that you're strongly acquainted with but barely known by the Pinterest community.

Tip #7 - Follow Pinterest Users

Like other major social networking sites, following other Pinterest users will increase your chances of having your eloquent and intelligent articles read by many future subscribers. This desirable effect is easier to achieve if you follow power customers. Identify the Pinterest users who are most diligent in posting articles and who have the largest armies of supporters. Follow such users and repin some of their written masterpieces. Some of them will be kind enough to return the favor and this will make you attractive to members of their massive networks.

Tip #8 - Perform a Pin Exchange

Because it's improper to excessively pin your own content, you can negotiate a partnership with other online marketers in your niche and perform a pin exchange. This exchange permits your articles to get endorsed through Pinterest without implying your direct involvement. This approach will strengthen your reputation among the community members and therefore increase your future revenues.

Tip #9 - Utilize More Boards

It's quite obvious that if you present several boards on a wide range of interests and topics, you will be rewarding yourself with high chances of attracting long-term subscribers. It will also be very beneficial for you to develop boards that are based purely on your personal interests.

Tip #10 - Pin Newsworthy Content

You must be viewed as a respected "thought leader" in your niche. You can achieve this desirable status by developing hooks for fresh topics in your niche. You can also develop boards that purely cater to the new fields of interest in your market.

Tip #12 - Compose Retrievable Captions

Pinterest customers look for new interesting pins using interesting keywords. If your pin does not possess those popular and attractive keywords, you will lose the chance to encounter many potential customers. Your pin saying or caption must therefore contain the right keywords aside from being excitingly informative. Keep in mind that you must avoid unnecessary keywords and outdated generic sayings.

Tip #13 - Only Use Exceptional Photos

Pinterest is primarily about picture sharing and you must therefore ensure that you will only pin high quality photos. This exceptional quality must reflect both on how visually attractive the actual pictures are and how interesting are the themes portrayed by the photos.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7667785