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"Three
Things You MUST Know if You're
Selling Products or Services Online in 2004!"
Happy
new year!
2003
was a big year for me, and for everyone on my team at
The Internet Marketing Center. We finished with a "bang"
by launching the new Version 2004 of our flagship course, The Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on
the Internet... and as the new year begins, we're
working like crazy, developing and testing some really
exciting new strategies and software to help you explode
your profits in 2004!
As
I'm sure you're aware, 2003 was a dramatic year for
everyone involved in Internet marketing. There were
major industry changes in search engine optimization,
Internet marketing software, pay-per-click advertising...
just about everything related to selling products and
services online. And online sales continued to grow...
Here's
one number that made my head spin: According to the
latest eSpending survey, holiday spending in the US
came to a record 15.8 BILLION dollars in 2003! That's
up 37 percent from the same period last year!
With
all this growth and all these changes, it's more important
than ever to stay on top of the latest industry developments.
So as my way of thanking you, our clients and subscribers,
for making 2003 the best year yet for The Internet Marketing
Center, I've put together this special issue on key
trends in Internet marketing for 2004. It examines three
big changes that you absolutely MUST know about if you're
planning to make money online this year!
1. Keep Your Google Listings from Dropping out of Sight!
If
you rely on search engines to drive traffic to your
site -- and especially if you're using search engine
optimization strategies such as link popularity -- then
you've probably already heard about the changes to Google that have been nicknamed "The Florida Dance."
Back
when Google used to update their servers with new web
pages once a month, the monthly changes came to be called
"Google Dances" because site rankings "danced" up and
down the search results pages. Now that Google makes
updates on an ongoing basis, the big "dances" only happen
when Google makes major changes to the way they evaluate
pages. And the latest one has damaged the rankings of
so many web sites that it's been nicknamed "Florida"
after the destructive Florida hurricanes!
So
if you haven't checked your Google listing recently,
you might want to do it now... because even if you've
been ranked well with your Google keywords, your site
might have dropped by hundreds of positions -- literally
overnight!
One
marketer we know told us that her thriving online business
had seen a tenfold increase in sales in 2003... until
the changes in Google dropped her web site listing from
a #9 position to somewhere below #999! Now she's doing
very little business, and she's desperately looking
for a way to bring her listing back up.
Here's
why these changes are occurring: Like all search engines,
Google uses a variety of programs called filters and
algorithms to rank web pages in its search results.
The company is constantly changing and updating its
programs to ensure that listings are "relevant," meaning
that they are actually related to the keywords people
are searching for.
Now,
if search engines don't make these changes regularly,
"search engine spammers" can actually trick search engines
into making unrelated sites appear in the top listings.
(Imagine searching for "affordable gift ideas" and finding
that all the top listings link to gambling and adult
web sites!) But
the newest changes to Google have done more than penalize
"search engine spammers." A lot of online business owners
who have been using ethical, commonly accepted techniques
to improve their search engine rankings are finding
that their Google listings have dropped right out of
sight.
The
new changes have caused headaches for a huge number
of online business owners by penalizing "over-optimized"
web pages -- meaning that if you've spent time and money
trying to push your page to the top of the listings,
you might actually be punished for your hard work with
a diminished ranking.
If
your site listing has dropped in Google, you're probably
scrambling to figure out how you can fix the problem
-- after all, a lower listing practically guarantees
that you're losing money!
So
what should you do?
We've
researched the changes and listened to the industry
buzz, and it looks like the best thing to do now...
is to wait. Google is still fine-tuning this latest
round of changes, so before you start overhauling your
web site, you should wait until the final tweaks to
"Florida" have been made.
Frustrating?
Yes. But if you've been burned by these changes, here
are a few things you CAN do to ensure that potential
customers are still finding your site while the dust
settles:
Make
sure your site offers relevant, high-quality content. Remember, Google's goal in making these
types of changes is to ensure that top positions
go to sites offering valuable resources and information.
Google uses sophisticated software to measure the
"relevance" of your site's content to keywords that
people search for -- so adding well-written content
to your web site is still an effective way to improve
your ranking.
Be
careful not to "over-optimize" your site. In the early days of search engine marketing, people
discovered a number of "loopholes" -- tricks that
sent sites to the top of the search engines even
if they had little or nothing to do with the keywords
being searched for. These tricks include:
Hidden
links and text (i.e., white keywords on a white
background)
"Mirror"
sites (copies of a site that are optimized for
a single search engine)
"Link
farms" (multiple web sites whose sole purpose
is to link to each other)
"Doorway"
pages (pages designed primarily for search engines,
not for users)
Google
can now detect these and many other tricks, and
it penalizes sites that use them by dropping their
ranking dramatically. If you've hired someone to
optimize your ranking, make sure they're not using
any of these outdated methods -- or they may actually
be damaging your chances of getting a top ranking!
Likewise,
if you're using extensive affiliate links to create
"link popularity" for your site, you should be aware
that indiscriminate use of affiliate links can hurt
your ranking under the Florida changes... so be
careful to link to sites with content that is related
to yours.
Consider using paid listings to keep traffic coming
to your site. I know, I know... If you're
still smarting after losing your coveted position
in Google, the last thing you probably want to do
is pay them for advertising! Still, as a short-term
way of recouping your losses until you're able to
get your ranking back up, you just might want to
look into paid advertising.
If you do, be sure to
do your research and calculate how much you can
spend while still making a profit. Pay-per-clicks
can be an effective way to get traffic coming to
your site in just a few hours, but be careful: A
hastily implemented pay-per-click campaign can quickly
get expensive!
Explore other search options. Google isn't
the only search engine! While it's true that most
searchers go to Google first, you can drive fresh
traffic to your site by working on improving your
search results in some of the other engines. For
starters, try looking at AllTheWeb, Teoma, Inktomi, and Dogpile. HotBot is a neat site that lets you search Inktomi,
AllTheWeb, Teoma, and Google, all from a single
location. And there's always MSN and Yahoo!...
Don't
put all your eggs in one basket. Search
engine optimization is just one of many ways to
drive traffic to your web site. If your business
relies too heavily on search engine optimization,
you're putting yourself at the mercy of the search
engine algorithms -- which are constantly changing!
The best way to ensure that your site gets a steady stream
of traffic is to combine a variety of traffic-generating
techniques. Consider adding some of the following
strategies to your plan (or if you're already using
them, try thinking of ways to make them even more
effective!):
Opt-in
e-mail marketing
Pay-per-click advertising
Affiliate
programs
Link
exchanges
2. Are You Wasting Money on Obsolete Online Ad Formats?
As
2004 begins, a lot of people are struggling to predict
the next big trends in online advertising. And it's
no easy feat! Technology is changing, sometimes so quickly
that we can barely keep up... and even though it's easy
to track specific results such as click-throughs for
a single ad, there are so many variables to consider
that it can be difficult to tell if an online ad campaign
is even making a profit!
In
the offline world, trends may come and go, but the formats
stay pretty much the same: print, radio, and TV. But
on the Internet, new technology and software seem to
spawn new ad formats all the time. And although this
rapid-fire development cycle can be rewarding for those
in the know, it has fallen into a predictable pattern.
A catchy new format comes out that gets dynamite results...
within a few years, everyone is using it... and the
ads that were so eye-catching stop getting noticed.
For
example, in the early days of the Internet, people were
excited about banner ads, which got high enough click-through
rates to make them useful for just about anyone. But
in 2004, you'll need a very good banner ad just to break
even with the cost of running it, let alone make a profit.
Think about it: People are so used to seeing banners
across the top of a web page that most of the time,
they hardly even notice them!
If
I've learned one thing about online advertising, it's
that you can't escape this cycle. The only decision
you can make is whether you're going to follow the pack or stay ahead of it.
If
you're buying ad space on other people's web sites...
or devoting space on your own site to ads for your products
or services... or using an opt-in form to collect the
e-mail addresses of potential customers... in short,
if you're asking Internet users to take any sort of
action...
...
You'll only see results if people actually notice your
ads!
That's
why I think you'll be interested in a new ad format
that I've been experiencing a lot of success with. In
fact, it's increased my opt-in subscription rate by
86%, putting me on track to increase my profits
by over $2 million this year!
It's
a hot new advertising technology that generates online
ads with eye-catching motion. These ads can
hover across a web page or float down from the top;
I've personally had incredible results from an ad that
drops to the middle of the page and "bounces" before
coming to rest.
Plus,
you get total control over the position of your ads
-- unlike banners, which always appear in one of a few
basic locations. These ads are generated using javascript
that lets you precisely control the motion and location
of your ads... so your ads can move in any direction
you choose, and come to rest exactly where they'll be
most effective.
If
you're one of the people still using pop-up windows
to drive traffic to your site or collect opt-in addresses,
you simply can't afford to ignore this new
development -- because if you're still using pop-ups,
you're almost certainly losing money!
Now,
it's true that pop-ups were once a really effective
way to get the attention of Internet users. In fact,
we had a lot of success in the past using pop-ups to
collect e-mail addresses and build our opt-in list!
But it looks like the day of the pop-up is over. Too
many sites have used them to "blast" Internet users
with unwanted commercial content, and as a result, most
people feel the same way about pop-ups as they do about
spam: They're fed up!
If
that's not enough to change your mind, consider this:
Companies including Google, Alexa, Netscape, AOL, and
Earthlink have all released their own FREE versions
of pop-up blocking software. And what's more, Microsoft
has announced plans to build a pop-up blocking feature
into its Internet Explorer browser this year. And according
to market researcher OneStat, two out of three web surfers
worldwide use the latest version of Microsoft's browser,
IE 6.0, so if Microsoft introduces pop-up blocking features,
you can expect to see the effectiveness of your pop-up
windows drop dramatically, whether you're using them
to encourage sign-ups, direct traffic to your site,
or generate sales.
In
spite of this, a handful of marketing companies are
scrambling to create software that can "trick" pop-up
blockers so they won't recognize certain pop-up configurations.
Personally, I think these people are fighting a losing
battle. It's time to move on -- right now. Put the newest
technology to work for your business before the rest
of the world learns about it, and you'll be laughing
all the way to the bank!
To
learn more about this revolutionary new advertising
technology, visit:
If
you're using e-mail marketing to promote your business
on the Internet, you know that e-mail is one of the
most affordable, effective ways to convert interested
prospects into customers, and to develop valuable relationships
with your existing customer base. But the e-mail marketing
environment is changing -- and if you're not already
following a few basic rules, your e-mail promotions
could actually wind up costing you money... or worse.
As
you know, spam (i.e., unsolicited commercial e-mail)
has long been one of the biggest problems facing legitimate
e-marketers -- and, for that matter, anyone with an
inbox! And although everyone knows spam is a problem,
we haven't had federal legislation to deal with spammers...
until now.
The
new CAN-SPAM Act (which stands for "Controlling the
Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing")
came into effect on January 1, 2004. It replaces a patchwork
of more than 30 different state laws, and will make
it easier for officials and companies to go after senders
of illegal spam.
Take
a look at the following list of deceptive e-mail marketing
practices. Depending on where you live, they may have
been outlawed or just viewed as unethical in the past...
but now under CAN-SPAM, they're all officially illegal:
Falsifying
headers (the part of an e-mail message that specifies
where it came from)
Using
deceptive subject lines to trick people into opening
messages
"Hijacking"
other peoples' e-mail accounts or computers to send
spam
Creating
e-mail or IP addresses specifically to send spam
Sending
unsolicited e-mail with sexual content
Sending
e-mail to people who have requested to be removed
from your list
Neglecting
to include a physical mailing address in commercial
e-mail messages
Some
people in the e-mail marketing industry are saying that
CAN-SPAM will be difficult to enforce -- but the new
legislation does pack a punch. Serious offenders can
now be fined up to $2 million or sent to jail for up
to five years!
So
if you're currently using e-mail promotions to market
your legitimate business, should you be worried? In
a word: No. The legislation was created primarily to
help prosecutors go after the worst offenders -- spammers
who hijack bandwidth and use deceptive methods to send
millions of offensive, unsolicited e-mails.
Still,
it's more important than ever that you make sure you're
sending responsible, legal e-mail promotions -- not
spam! The best thing to do is to stay informed and design
thoughtful, targeted e-mail marketing campaigns. If
you follow these five guidelines, you'll be on track
to creating promotions that won't get you accused of
sending spam:
Send
e-mail to people who have consented to receive it
from you.
If
you must buy or rent lists, be VERY careful about
who you buy them from -- and about how you contact
the people on those lists.
Use
a subject line that accurately reflects the content
of your e-mail.
Include
a real return e-mail address and a working "unsubscribe"
link in every mailing you send.
If
you're sending "commercial" e-mail (i.e., promotions),
include your company's physical mailing address
in the body of the e-mail.
Make
it your mission to stay educated about e-mail marketing
and spam laws. Laws and definitions are changing, so
it's up to you to stay on top of new developments and
ensure that your e-mail promotions are responsible,
legal... and ultimately, profitable! A good place to
start is at: http://www.spamlaws.com/
4. Final Thoughts
2003
was a year of huge growth and massive opportunity on
the Internet, and 2004 promises to be even better! Each
new year brings exciting developments -- as well as
new pitfalls for businesses that don't keep up with
changing markets, technology, and laws.
So
watch your position in the search engines, make sure
you're using the most effective new marketing tools,
and PLEASE... if you're using e-mail to market your
business, make sure you're sending legal, responsible
promotions.
Keep
a finger on the changing pulse of the Internet, and
you should be on track to make 2004 the best year yet
for your business!
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR: Corey Rudl is the owner of four highly
successful online businesses that attract more than 1.8
million visitors per month and generate over $6.6 million
each year. He is also the author of the #1 best-selling
Internet Marketing course online.
To
Find Out How To Market Your Business
Online CLICK
HERE
