Common Reasons a Website is Unsuccessful

Published February 10th, 2008 in Marketing - 36 Comments

If you are planning or building a new website, you are obviously hoping for some type of success. Of course, success can mean any number of things, and each website’s success should be determined by the needs and desires of its owners and creators. Some websites exist strictly to provide information to visitors. Others aim to sell products. Some exist solely to provide information about the services of a business. As you can see, there is no one equation for success online, but there are a number of common causes for failure with a website. Here is a look at ten possible things that can keep you from achieving anything significant with a website.

Increase Your Impact Online by Duplicating Your Success

Published January 9th, 2008 in Marketing - 12 Comments

One of the great advantages of internet marketing and blogging is that what you learn through one project or website can be applied to others. The lessons that you are learning through your experience today can not only help you to build a successful website or blog, but they can help you to save time and increase productivity and success on future projects.

On top of the lessons that you learn, other things are transferable as well. The network of friends and contacts that you have developed and the social media profiles that you have built can also be extremely beneficial when you launch a new site. Additionally, if your websites cover similar subject matter you may even be able to refer visitors to your other sites to create larger audiences.

Researching a Niche: Tools & Techniques

Published December 11th, 2007 in Marketing - 23 Comments

When looking to start a new website or blog, choosing a niche is one of the most important decisions you will make, and it may require some time and research. Fortunately, there are a number of tools and websites available that can help with the research. Throughout this article we’ll look at several of the most helpful resources to help you on your way, and we’ll also go over some items that can influence your decision to proceed in a particular niche or to keep searching for a better one.

Some niches are ultra-competitive and others have little to no real competition. Of course, those that are competitive tend to have the largest audiences, which means higher traffic (and most likely income) potential. Niches with less competition may not have the same potential, but they tend to be more realistic, and in many cases the traffic and subscribers will be more valuable.

Make Your Website Linkable

Published December 4th, 2007 in Marketing - 29 Comments

One of the most important aspects of marketing and promoting a website or blog is attracting inbound links. A great deal of effort goes into creating link bait and sometimes into directory submissions and requesting links from others. But before these link building attempts can truly be successful, your site or blog will need to be ready. Here are some tips to making your website more linkable:

CONTENT

Of course, the most important aspect of drawing links is the content. Typically when others link to you they are doing so because there is something on their site that they consider to be useful, interesting, funny, or entertaining. Link baiting focuses primarily on the content, and rightfully so. Without good content it will be hard to draw links regardless of the other factors involved.

My Experience With StumbleUpon Paid Ads

Published October 28th, 2007 in Marketing - 30 Comments

StumbleUpon is known by most website owners and bloggers as one of the best sources of free traffic available. However, SU also offers paid traffic and it’s advertising program is a lot different than other alternatives. With StumbleUpon you can pay $0.05 per visitor and you can choose to target visitors that have selected certain [...]

30 Keyword Tools to Use for Your Website

Published August 2nd, 2007 in Marketing, SEO - 77 Comments

Part of having a successful website or blog is targeting the right keywords and phrases. This sounds like it would be an easy task, but with endless possible combinations of words and phrases it can be quite difficult to find keywords that will generate traffic from search engines without putting you in competition with too [...]

Targeting Local Customers with Your Website

Published July 22nd, 2007 in Marketing - 7 Comments

One of the major advantages of marketing online is that it allows you the opportunity to reach a global audience. Some businesses however are in greater need of having a website that will attract more local customers. There are methods that can help your business to have a greater impact and visibility locally. The first [...]

Executing a Consistent Blog Monetization Strategy

Published June 22nd, 2007 in Blogging, Design, Marketing - 5 Comments

What is your strategy for monetizing your blog? More importantly, how are you going about accomplishing this? Money can be made with blogs either directly or indirectly. Some common methods of making money directly include: Selling products AdSense/PPC ads Selling links Affiliate products Paid posts/reviews Donations These methods involve either a blog visitor or an [...]

10 Proven Methods for Getting More RSS Subscribers

Published June 21st, 2007 in Blogging, Marketing - 14 Comments

1. Place RSS icon and subscription option in a prominent place. Readers of your blog should see the RSS icon and the subscription details as soon as they enter your site. Most blogs will place the subscription link at the top of the sidebar, so that it’s visible without the reader scrolling down the page. [...]

Why Your Business Needs a Blog

Published June 15th, 2007 in Blogging, Marketing - 1 Comment

By now most businesses have a website and at least appreciate the fact that it can benefit their business in some way. Most businesses, however, see their website as a way to sell more products or simply as a glorified yellow pages ad. Millions of internet users around the world use blogs to communicate online, [...]