by Rahimah Sultan

Affiliate marketing is the basis for all other Internet marketing strategies. It originally involved lots of spamming, trademark infringement, false advertising and more. Now it is safer to do business online because of advanced scrutiny of terms and conditions by the merchants. As affiliate marketing opened up more opportunities, it also increased marketing competition.

Affiliate marketing was started on music-oriented websites. They placed a list of music albums on their site and paid others to put those links in their websites when a visitor bought an album through their site.

In affiliate marketing, the publisher incurs all the cost except that of initial setup and development of the program, which is incurred by the merchant.

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by Rahimah Sultan

Article marketing is the practice of posting keyword-focused articles on article sites that then syndicate your content. These sites have a large readership following, and that benefits you as a publisher. Once your article is accepted for publication it can be republished by others. Article marketing for website promotion can get you backlinks which bring people to your site.

For example, say you write an article about using social media as a tool to get people to purchase your product. Others who want to write about the same subject may link to your article and that is more exposure for you. Some article sites allow you to use HTML links in your articles while others let you include a link back to your site only in the resource box. Either way it is a one-way link back to your site. A one-way link is the best kind of link. When anyone uses your article they must name you as the author and keep any links in your article.

Do some keyword research before writing your article to give yourself the best opportunity to be found. Your keywords should be relevant to your article purpose or niche. Use your main keywords or keyword phrase in the title of your article and as the link to be clicked on in the resource box. Make sure your articles contain quality content and are well written and proofed so that you look professional. I hope these tips on Article Marketing for Website Promotion will help you get started with your article marketing.

 
 
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by Rahimah Sultan

In this article Blogger Darren Rowse discusses how to promote your blog without letting the rest of your blogging slide. He shares a particular comment that was in response to an article on how his blogs grew. This is his summary for the article.

There are a couple of things that I think we as bloggers always need to pay attention to – these being publishing regular high quality content on our blogs and looking after the readers we already have (community).

These activities are like a baseline. Take the focus off these at any point and your blog is likely to suffer fairly quickly.

Promoting a blog is something you should also have some baseline activities and rhythm around. For example sharing new content to social media (whether through automation or manually doing it) is good practice.

However I do think there are times where it’s probably well worth having a burst of concerted promotional effort to grow your blog.

Whether it be through guest posting, reaching out to mainstream media, attending/speaking at events or even paying for advertising – a burst of intentional promotional activity for a defined period can have some real benefits.

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Click here for information on blogging, article marketing, and promotion for Your Business.

by Rahimah Sultan

When you visit a website are you curious about who owns or operates it? Do you check it out, especially if it contains something that peaks your interest? What is the first page you look at?

Your ‘About Us’ page is a vital part of any website. It is actually one of the most visited pages of any and every website. If you want to find out about a company, an organization or an individual, you will probably look at this page first. That is why I have included it in my Tips for Promoting Your Website. So, take advantage of this fact when promoting your website.

Personalize Your Page

One of the first impressions you can make on a potential consumer is from your ‘About Us’ page. This is good news for everyone because it is one of the best pages on your website for you to get creative with and truly personalize.

If your business has a particularly interesting, or unusual, back story relating to how it came about, that could be a fun way to make the most of your ‘About Us’ page. You can use fun images or a pleasing color scheme.

One thing to remember when you’re creating a good and effective ‘About Us’ page is to personalize it enough to suit you and your business. Reveal the how, why, and what your business ultimately stands for. Do not overload your consumers with too much information.
Your ‘About Us’ page should not be too long. Explain succinctly what your company does, and what the goal is, but in a fun and relatable manner.

Optimize your website

Be sure you optimize your website for relevant, repeat organic traffic from search engines. Your title, description and meta tags should reflect what your site is about. The description should be a sentence or two describing the content of the webpage. Now use the main words of the description for the keywords meta tag. If you have a blog update it regularly and optimize each post in the same manner so the search engines can find it.

Post actively on forums and blogs

You can participate in forums where your target audience is reachable. Post useful responses to questions, and include a signature with your website on your profile. You could possibly incorporate your own tips for promoting your website in a discussion. Do not spam as you most likely will be banned.

Publish an e-zine

An e-zine is an online magazine like a newsletter. You can publish your own or subscribe to others. You can find many free directories where you can add your digital newsletter and articles. Ezine Articles is one of the top directories.

Social Media Marketing

Use the strength of social media sites – mainly Twitter and Facebook – to reach your marketing objectives.

So, do not ignore the importance of your “About” page. Use it to your advantage.

You can benefit from the free online advertising tips discussed here. There are many no cost resources on the internet to promote your business, and of course you have the option of paid advertising. I’m sure that using these Tips for Promoting Your Website can be beneficial.

by Rahimah Sultan

With everyone focused on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), many overlook the importance of Social Media Optimization (SMO). For business owners and entrepreneurs using social media optimization across social media platforms is crucial to generate results.

Social Media Optimization is the process of making content that is generated for a specific brand easily shareable across several different social media platforms and sites referred to as the social media web.

The focus on SMO is not necessarily to drive larger loads of traffic to your site, but to get your content seen in order to get organic traffic. Social networks are actually driving more traffic to professional websites than Google, the most popular search engine.

One way to effectively spread branded content across the social web without requiring users to visit your website is the use of widgets and badges. Badges count as backlinks, which can improve Search Engine rankings. Another optimization strategy is the social sign-in strategy which eliminates the need for filling out a long form.

Click here to read Russell D. Armstrong’s Step Up Your Promotion With Social Media Optimization

by Rahimah Sultan

You must use good website promotion techniques to get your site noticed. This article covers a few tips on web site promotion for home business owners.

Website promotion is an ongoing process for attracting visitors to your website. It includes techniques such as web content development, search engine optimization and search engine submission.

Content

High quality unique content is one of the most effective ways to improve your online presence. Without good content your website could go unseen. Good content gives you lead generation, increased traffic and search engine rankings. Be sure your search engine optimization (SEO) is done correctly. If you are just starting a home business this might be new to you. Just do some research or get someone to help you. There are plenty of resources available.

Search Engine Submission

Submit your website directly to major internet service providers, such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, and others. Major search engines will eventually find your website if you do not submit it to them, but many webmasters believe it speeds up the process. Most of your traffic will probably come from search engine clicks so you want to make sure you list your site with the popular search engines. It will take a few days for your site to begin showing up in searches.

Connections

Submitting your website to other high ranking sites and blogs will help you gain back links (Read Article) to your website. Google and other search engines measure and rank your website by the importance and quality of other websites linking to you. Be very careful where you place your links. Be sure these links are not associated with spammy directories or link farms. These types of sites can have a detrimental effect on your rankings.

Website Promotion

Promote your website as many ways as possible. Here are a few:

Use a blog to gain followers and get useful information and feedback from potential customers.
Advertise on internet message boards, discussion forums and online communities.
Put your URL on everything connected with your business: letterhead, business cards, flyers, etc.
Build business partnerships with businesses offering complementary products.
Write ezines about your business, products and services.
Use social media.
Join Google +.
Use images and videos.

Start with the basics and as you become more knowledgeable and comfortable with the various processes, include more strategies. Your success online depends on your ability to attract visitors to your website. These tips on web site promotion for home business owners will help.

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by Rahimah Sultan

While doing some online research I came across an article on backlinks. The author, Lee Joseph LaCasse, discusses how to build backlinks when surfing. He details how to research a product you want to buy, by using the Firefox browser that has a page rank add-on, and then leave a comment on that site. You can then determine the page rank before leaving a comment which points back to your blog. Make sure what you say is relevant to the actual article. Most of the time the webmaster will approve it because that is a possible sale.

You can also get another link by leaving an anchor text embedded in your comment. Building back links this way accomplishes two things at one time. If you do this weekly your number of backlinks will quickly increase. The author also suggests a way to get backlinks without doing a Google search.

As you know, backlinks to your blog can get you higher rankings in the search engines which means there are more eyeballs on your site and more prospective buyers for your products and services.

You can read how to build backlinks by surfing, for more details.

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by Rahimah Sultan

Picking a domain name should be easy, right?



If you’re thinking of just using your business name, you should think again. A good bit of thought should be given to selecting a domain name. Picking a domain name is like getting married. You’re going to have to live with it until the end. I am suggesting four things to consider when choosing a domain name.

People that use your site will come to know it by the domain name. Repeat visitors will often just type in the domain name to get to the site. For example, do you search for “Amazon” when you want to buy a book or do you simply type in amazon.com? If Amazon were to change its domain name to Shop, there would be a lot of confusion. The same goes for your domain name. Once you pick it stick with it.

Domain Name Choices

Even if the obvious choice is your business name that might not be the best. There are four significant issues to consider.

1) Unwise Choice

Is there something about your business name that makes using it as a domain an unwise choice? This situation typically arises… More

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by Rahimah Sultan

Most of us know that to entice visitors to our web site we need to offer a freebie of some kind for Increasing Website Opt-ins. Not only should we offer this, but it should be something of value. It needs to be a solution to the problem that the visitor was searching for on line. This opt-in freebie is the one thing the visitor has to have in order to move forward.

Web site visitors will not treat your site like a brick and mortar business, looking around to see what you have. They are searching for a particular product or service. You have to direct their attention to certain parts of your site and make it easy for them to navigate.

You have to really understand your visitor who leaves clues as to what they were really looking for, based on how they arrived there. You may need to use survey software to find out why they’re visiting but not buying. Ask them questions like who they are and what kind of information they’re looking for.

Click here to read Colin Martin’s article: Increase Your Website Opt-Ins With Freebies That Really Matter To Your Visitor

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by Rahimah Sultan

Hey, I found this great new marketing tool. Well, it’s new to me. The program is called AdKreator!

Adkreator is an easy to use yet very powerful do-it-yourself banner/ad creating service. It is 100% web based so there is no software to download. It’s so easy to use even the most design clumsy users can be creating professional designs without a nervous breakdown.

There is video training on how to use the system.

You can host your creations on the site or download them to your computer and upload them later to your own website.

Their template catalog contains hundreds of templates for banner ads, peel away ads, splash pages, website headers and so much more. You can design your own templates and save them to edit later. Then you can completely change the color, text or whatever of your saved template.

You can create your own professional squeeze pages with your text, photo, video and autoresponder code for building your list.

Currently, it is free to join AdKreator and test out their design system. Free members can save one design.

There is also an affiliate program.

I use this program and I think it’s wonderful!