SEO Hosting Blog

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Placing banner ads on other websites can be a cost-effective way to drive targeted traffic to your website with the goal of increasing your leads and sales. But just like all other forms of advertising, there are some guidelines you need to follow to make sure you get an excellent ROI with your banner advertising.

Here are some tips to consider when buying banner ads.

•    Place ads where your target audience dwells—Let’s say you run an online video game store. You probably wouldn’t want to buy banner advertising on a gardening blog that attracts older women. Instead, you’d want to look at video game websites/blogs, tech websites, and other online sites that attract your target audience. Displaying your ads to a highly targeted audience will get you a higher number of quality clicks.

•    Location, location, location—While it might be cheaper to buy an ad on the footer of a website, you have to ask yourself if it’s really worth it. The most effective banner ads are those placed above the fold. They immediately capture the attention of new website visitors, whereas footer ads seem like an afterthought.
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There are many tools and software available to help you study the performance of your website. But, wouldn’t it be cool to have a visual interpretation of the activity that takes place on your site?

In other words, instead of seeing the data in the form of stats and numbers, wouldn’t it be neat to see a visual representation of the clicks and the hot spots on your site? Being able to study your site in this sense could easily allow you to increase performance. Luckily for you, the technology is available, and it doesn’t cost you a dime to use it.

Checkout CrazyEgg.com. This site allows webmasters and bloggers an easy way to study analytical data in a visual form called a heat map. Simply add a few lines of javascript on your page and instantly you can start tracking data visually. CrazyEgg.com offers this free up to 6,000 visits per month. If you need to track more than 6,000 visits, you can upgrade. (more…)

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I’m assuming most of you already know what podcasting is, but just in case one of you has been living under a rock, podcasting is essentially your own downloadable radio talk show. You can do everything from talking about the hottest industry news to interviewing experts in your field. You can promote your podcast through your blog, website, iTunes, and other places.

A number of businesses have jumped on the podcasting bandwagon, and those who do it well are reaping several benefits. Here are just a few of the biggest podcasting benefits.

1.    Increase your authority—Just like blogging or writing an e-book, podcasting is another way to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. The best way to build your authority is to give your unique insight on relevant industry topics without sounding like a constant advertisement for your services. By providing quality discussions to your listeners, your words will start to carry more weight, and over time, people will begin to trust you.

2.    Connect with a new audience—With the ability to place your podcast on iTunes and other websites, you have an excellent opportunity to reach an entirely new audience. Some of your listeners will be people who would have never found your blog or website. And once you have them listening to your podcast, you can direct them to your website, thus increasing your traffic in the process.
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Creating a USP (unique selling point) for your business is essential to your success. Your USP is what separates you from the competition. It’s the main benefit that customers will enjoy if they do business with you. In short, it’s the thing that hooks customers in, keeping them from going to your competitors.

Unfortunately, a lot of the businesses I provide copy for don’t know what their USP is. It’s one of the first questions I ask them when outlining their copy. More times than not, the answer I get starts with “That’s a hard question to answer. It’s difficult to pinpoint one thing that makes us better than the competition. Hmmm…”  Now, I’m not saying it’s a breeze to come up with a USP, but the simple truth is you better figure one out or else you’ll never gain any ground on your competition.

So, before we talk about how to create a USP for your business, let’s first identify what is NOT a good USP.

Examples of Poor USPs

•    We provide great customer service—Every company says they care about you, the customer. It’s a hollow statement that carries no weight with the consumer.

•   We’re #1 in our industry—Again, every company says they’re the best. It doesn’t provide a tangible benefit for the customer to grab onto.
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If you’ve been around the Internet marketing world for any length of time, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “Content is King.” For one, it’s true. If you look at most of the successful websites, they have at least one thing in common – great content. And true statements (even though they’re sometimes buried in a cloud of garbage) tend to stick around on the Internet. Maybe you already know this, but I want to talk about a very similar phrase that you may not have heard a lot – “Community is Queen.”

If you think about it, the two seem to go hand-in-hand. If you have an active, thriving community, you’re getting free content on your site. This content (the king) attracts even more members to your community (the queen.) It’s like a marriage made in heaven, with both working in tandem to grow your website and increase your revenue. The problem is that if your king isn’t attractive enough or fresh enough, you’ll have trouble attracting a queen to your online realm. You can still grow the kingdom, but it can be more difficult.

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