October, 2007

In today’s world people want there answers and they want them right now. It is much easier for an individual to go to a search engine, find a site, browse through the products and order then it is to look in a phone book to see who is around town. By using the internet, we have more information at our fingertips them ever before. I am sure people can come up with hundreds of reasons as to why they should be online, but I will just point out a few important ones.

1. Affordable – Getting a website online does not cost a fortune, a few thousand dollars to have a nice site done is not that bad. Now imagine if you were needing a storefront location, you would spend even more money just to move in to the building. With a website you are online and ready with a click of a button. You can find plenty of great tips on this site that will cost you close to nothing to start advertising your website today.
2. Quick Answers - This goes back to what I said before about people wanting there answers right now. If someone is looking for “bed comforters”, they would rather look at different selections in the comfort of there own home. There is no need to run out to the stores and see what they can buy. You have your website online, they can now browse right then and there without having to go anywhere.
3. Always Open – Your website never closes, there are not website hours to follow. People can browse your website any time of the day or night, without having to go anywhere.
4. World Wide – Having a website on the internet means you are now showing your product or service to the rest of the world. Maybe you are selling your products from a flea market booth, or you do have a small storefront and are looking for more ways to sell your products. This is another main reason as to why you need to have a website, you are giving yourself the opportunity to show the rest of the world what products or services you have to offer.
5. YOU SHOULD – I am not sure how else to say it, but everyone expects you to have a website if you are selling something. This goes back to #2 and people wanting quick answers. If they see your name on a flyer, or in a small paper ad, chances are they will want to go to your website before they even pick up the phone and call you. Your business name is Bobs Custom Comforters, so my first guess would be to try and go to bobscustomcomforters.com or .net. This is why it is essential to have your own website on the internet with today’s demand from both business and consumers. If you need custom website design or affordable website hosting then Lighthouse Technologies can help you.

Keep in mind that simply by just having a website on the internet will not ensure you overnight success. That has been a common misconception by many first time website owners. They think by putting there website online, the traffic will automatically start to flow in and they will make more money. You need to market your website effectively on the internet, not just in your print ads. There are a lot of different ways to market your site, however I use the word effectively because there are a lot of marketing services out there that are nothing more then a scam or will produce no results for you. Some of the services such as monthly search engine submissions, some banner impression programs, auto surf traffic sites, buying so called “targeted traffic”, link exchange services, etc. I will cover some of these services this week over at SEMSpot.com so you can read up a little more as to why to avoid these types of services. We understand that not everyone has deep pockets for there marketing budget, so we try our best to warn you of services that will waste your money.

This guest post was made by Steve Seeley who authors SEMSpot – Search Engine Marketing Spot

This is a guest post by Ne0�

Well I was asked if I wanted to do a guest post for PoorSEM and since I don’t like writing I gave it a second thought. But after hearing how much it paid I had to agree! (LOL it’s free – sort of…read on)

So since the site is about doing SEM w/o a lot of money I figured I’d touch on a few things that used to work and what is working now.

Back in the glory days of lame algorithm’s all you needed was a few keywords in your title tag and 50k of them in your meta keywords tag. Since that doesn’t work anymore… maybe we should find some Search Engine Marketing that does work.

First things first, I tell all my clients that On-Site Optimization is about 10% of the battle – 89% is Off-site Optimization and the last 1% is just plain dumb luck! So you have little to nothing to spend on your sites SEM campaign. Where to start?

In the not too distant past submitting your site to a list of free directories was a good way to build some IBL’s (In Bound Links) Now, not so much… That being said, the shift is heading towards SMO Social Media Optimization. Remember that Content is King and linking is Queen.

So what if your not a great writer? DO A PODCAST! I don’t like writing, I don’t use proper punctuation… and a lot of times after I write something up I’m really not happy with it. However I can speak and I like to do our podcast which does bring in lots of traffic!

So here’s a quick checklist most are free:

*Tell everyone you know about your site and ASK for links.

*Offer to write articles for your competitors w/ a link back to the author.

*Submit your site to some free directories (not such a big deal now but it all helps a little bit – be sure NOT TO submit to link farms)

*Participate in a forum that niche specific (if you sell blue widgets – type in “blue widgets forum” in Google) sign up be a productive member of that community and you will prosper from time spent!

*Start a blog and start answering your most common questions (kind of like a FAQ – but it’s a running conversation w/ your clients / patron’s)

*Add AdSense to your site to bulk up your budget for your SEM campaign (most people don’t like doing this but, HEY, we all have to start somewhere right?)

*Spend wisely – often times buying an ebook that promises to increase your traffic 4,000% isn’t worth the paper it’s not written on!

*Buy links – yes I said it… find your vertical partners – do a whois search and contact the webmaster… work something out… you may not have to buy a link, maybe rake leaves for them for a link

*Go to your local organizations, speak on your subject matter (then ask for a LINK)

*Write regular articles – if you can’t write well, this is where you use your budget wisely… find a good writer – pay them to write for you – OR…

*Ask people to do guest posts on your blog (for a link – this is my payoff for this article)

*Post up in Craigslist – test those results in your analytics package.

*Depending on your budget – do some PPC when your starting out.

*Get some link bait and run a StumbleUpon campaign at .05 a visit.

There’s lots of things that you can do to bolster your traffic and conversions – not all of the above will work for every site. The most important aspect to this entire process is COMMON SENSE! My Dad always said “Common Sense isn’t that common” Your either born with it or you weren’t -
so if you fit into the second category… hire someone that fits into the first

Hope that wasn’t too boring and for lots of other GREAT ideas… be sure to check out SEO 101 on Webmaster Radio.fm

Guest post by David Brown / AKA NeO