I am new and need help with marketing online.

[Bsquared]

I was wondering if anyone had any grand ideas about expanding my business. I am doing some advertising online and trying to go through keyword optimization right now but where to turn? If anyone is curious about what I do, let me know and I can tell you all about it. Until then, suggestions are not only welcome but encouraged!

Katie

[Peter T Davis]

Hi Katie, and welcome to the Small Business Forum. What sort of business are you trying to expand? If you're doing keyword optimization, I assume you're focusing on Google. With Google, it can be very difficult or very easy to get the kind of traffic you want. You might want to use tools such as Wordtracker and Overture's keyword suggestion tool to decide which keywords you want to target. If you're going to buy advertising, I recommend buying text ads, and using PPC advertising, in that order. We have several people here who are very accomplished at internet marketing, so please don't be shy about asking questions. Cessna 180

[Bsquared]

Check out this website: http://www.smallbizznet.com

This is our affiliate program that we need to get sales with. We are working with Befree and not getting the best of results. What type of a time frame do you think we should have in order to start seeing sales? The main objective at the moment is to drive sales and they are just not coming. One of the benfits of our program is that we have a call center for folks to call in and speak with a live person. The area I need the most help in is getting SALES. If you know of any help that you could give, that would be outstanding. I am new to Affiliate Marketing although my company is not. I am trying to research getting results on my own. I appreciate your reply and look forward to the next!

Originally Posted by Peter T Davis

Hi Katie, and welcome to the Small Business Forum. What sort of business are you trying to expand? If you're doing keyword optimization, I assume you're focusing on Google. With Google, it can be very difficult or very easy to get the kind of traffic you want. You might want to use tools such as Wordtracker and Overture's keyword suggestion tool to decide which keywords you want to target. If you're going to buy advertising, I recommend buying text ads, and using PPC advertising, in that order. We have several people here who are very accomplished at internet marketing, so please don't be shy about asking questions.

[Daniel]

I´ve written an article on this a while ago.... go to http://www.dmbonline.net/services.htm and read it there. Maybe you pick up some ideas you haven´t thought of before..

[Bsquared]

I checked out your article. Thanks for the great advice. I have now submitted my program to DMOZ.org. I hope they accept it! That was definitely one of the sites that I had not submitted the program to. Any new suggestions are not only welcome but encouraged. I appreciate the help!

Originally Posted by Daniel

I´ve written an article on this a while ago.... go to http://www.dmbonline.net/services.htm and read it there. Maybe you pick up some ideas you haven´t thought of before..

[Daniel]

A very important thing: the title! Cram in a few key-phrases there.

Another thing... link exchange with sites of your site´s nature.

Another another thing.. Optimize the text in the beginning of your page and cram in a few keywords/phrases there too

[Peter T Davis]

Don't get your hopes up with DMOZ. They have a strong prejudice against affilliate sites. There's very little chance you'll get listed.

Your best shot is though getting targetted traffic from the search engines. What are the keywords that a potential customer would use if they were searching for a product that you're providing?

[Bsquared]

We have a company optimizing our site for us right now. Is there really not much else to do other than keyword optimization? I will also try to list my program with any site that will accept it. I will keep my fingers crossed with DMOZ and a few others.

Originally Posted by Peter T Davis

Don't get your hopes up with DMOZ. They have a strong prejudice against affilliate sites. There's very little chance you'll get listed.

Your best shot is though getting targetted traffic from the search engines. What are the keywords that a potential customer would use if they were searching for a product that you're providing?

[Daniel]

Actually I ran across a site making websites and optimizing them. The funny thing was - a normal optimization cost $1500 (the cheapest one was $500 I think, but that included nothing). Back to the $1500 optimization... It included SOME of the stuff I wrote about in my article about keyword optimization, and 2 hours of looking for link exchanges. Also they would give you a report on what ranking you are at on some keywords... (this of course doesn´t cost anything for them, and takes about 5 minutes) aaand so on....

The thing was... They made it look like a big job, when in fact it might take them max one day.

The cheapest one ($500 or $900..can´t remember) didn´t include much. I wouldn´t have the heart to charge more than $100 - $150 for their $1500 work.


...Although I must add... It does take someone who has experience to do this in the beginning - but the easier work can be left out to just about anyone who knows english (talking about link exchanges and keyword optimization follow-up)

[Peter T Davis]

Katie, a lot of things that would be considered 'keyword optimization' by those of us who've worked with search engines for a while is also good practice for marketing your website in general. For example, forming partnership with compatible websites where you at the very least exchange links with each other. It's 'keyword optimization' if you include your keyword as the anchor text. It's also general marketing of your site because you will potentially get traffic from the site who links to you. I don't necessarily think that PPC advertising is the best answer for you, but here's a coupon for $25 at Overture. You can give it a try on their dime.
Also, put a link to your website in your signature at any forum you participate in, it's also a good way to promote yourself. It works best if the forum is on a topic that potential customers are inclined to be interested in discussing.