When I first started Internent Markting everyone told me that “Content is King.” They said all I had to do was add content on a consistant basis and my site would start ranking better than ever. This may have been the case back then but after years of experience in the online world, that is just not true anymore. Content is valuable, and is a must, but it can’t just be any content. Your content needs to be of the highest quality and written with a purpose. Adding words to a page is just not enough anymore. Google’s push to make their search results more user friendly has forced us to take a step back and evaluate what type of content we add to our websites. Ask yourself if your article will help the reader find the answer they are looking for. If it will, then you are headed in the right direction.

To make your article as valuable as possible follow 1 basic rule.

1. Have a purpose. ”See a need, fill a need“.

In the cartoon movie Robots the father always told his son that if he would invent things to fill the need of others, he would never run out of work. If you do the same thing online, you will always make your readers happy.

That being said, you have some gap fillers as well. Every article doesn’t have to be an answer to a question. Some articles need to be average opinion based and some need to be captivating “hope drivers.” Some need an article that gives them hope for a better future and other just like to hear your thoughts. If you write content about your experience and how you made it from point A to point Z, your readers will be on edge waiting for the step by step instructions that will help them achieve the same goals. They think, “if this guy can do it, so can I.”

I know there are a bunch of people that will push back telling me that there is so much more to writing than just this one rule. To those people I say: I totally agree. I am not trying to tell you that it is unimportant to have keyword focused articles, or SEO optimized articles. I think these factors are very important, but looking at the future of Google’s algorithm this is the best and safest way to stay a head of all of the update. Optimization is now (or will be in the near future) just gravy on top.

There is really no replacement for quality content. Whether you are trying to rank organically or just pushing your audience through social media, if you don’t have quality, captivating content, you will not get the audience you desirve.

What are your thoughts on the matter? What has given you the best results?

Circle me on Google +

Workplace Distractions

What are workplace distractions? Workplace distractions are things that keep you from getting to your end goal and completing your daily tasks at work. Each person is different and may be drawn to different diversions, but one common distraction that exists in the online world is learning too much. I know what you are thinking, is it possible to learn too much? The more you learn the more fitting you become to your specific job, right? In theory that is correct, but if you get into a field like Internet Marketing where the information you have access to is never ending, then learning can become more of a curse than a blessing.

When I was introduced to Internet Marketing I was intrigued by how many successful people there were online. I wanted to learn everything about them and what they did to be so successful. I found out pretty quick that each person had a different idea of what Internet Marketing really was. They all said that they had the “best” and “easiest” way to make money online. Instead of following just one way of making money online, I decided to learn about each of their theories. I then put them together to form my own strategy based on the best of each of their successful strategies.

A few months later I found myself with one very unsuccessful website that had no online authority and was earning about $4.00 per month. I had become absorbed in learning everything I could about the online money making world. My hunt for knowledge had become one of my workplace distractions. Instead of putting what I knew into practice by building and promoting a website, I felt like I had to learn everything I could in the beginning so that I didn’t mess up later on. Plain and simple, I was obsessed with learning and it was holding me back.

I love the knowledge that I received through those long months of studying, but something had to change if I was going to start making money online.

Making money online is like having a child. You can read about being a good parent all you want, but until you actually have children and put into action what you have learned, you will never be the best parent you can be.

Knowledge is needed; please don’t misinterpret the meaning of this post. You should always be learning and never stop learning, but if you don’t put actions behind that knowledge, it will do you no good. If you focus on one area more than the other, you will find that the system just doesn’t work.

Continue learning all you can, but don’t let your hunt for knowledge become one of your Workplace Distractions. Study for 30 minutes each day and use the rest of your time to stay focused on your goals and daily tasks.

The Bears Or The Raiders?

What is keyword research? Below is a short video explaining my method of keyword research.

Often times, in our younger years, we are put into situations where we have to make tough decisions. It may be that neither decision will technically hurt us, but by making one decision over another we could be changing the course of our history. I look back on my childhood and can think of one such decision.

When I was in 8^th grade I played for the Bears in little league football. At the beginning of the year the coaches had a mini draft to divide up the teams evenly. I was chosen to play for the bears, a team that I had played for the previous year. I was really excited to get the season started, now that I was one of the big dogs on the team. I felt like I had a little leadership power being that I was bigger and older than a lot of the players on the team. This made me eager to get things rolling.

After the draft was finished, I was approached by the coach and a few players from the Raiders team. They asked me if I would be willing to play for them instead. They had already talked to my coach and had set up a trade option, with the exception that I was ok with it.  The Raiders hadn’t lost a game in many years and the team contained the biggest and the best players in the school. How could I turn this down? I was going to be on a winning team, for the first time in my life, and I was going to be able to hang out with some pretty cool guys.

It took me some time to make my final decision but I ultimately decided to play for “Da Bears.” Let me tell you why I made this decision. If I were to play for Raiders I would be a winner, that was for sure, but how much time would I actually get on the field if I was the little man that just joined the team? It was 8^th grade and all I wanted to do was play. Did I care more about playing or winning? I wanted to play and I was guaranteed to play the whole game if I played for the Bears. So that is what I did.

This decision made a big difference in the upcoming football years. I got the experience needed to boost me a little higher in my football skills. My freshman year in High School I played with my whole grade and not just the Bears or the Raiders. We played 10 games that year and won every single one of them. I did get a lot of playing time too. After our season was over we had the chance to stay on and dress with the varsity if we wanted. 8 of us chose to stay and we ended up taking state that year and I loved every minute of it.

So why am I telling you about my glory days and not keyword research? In my view, keyword research is a lot like my decision in 8^th grade. You can try and take on hard keywords that will make you look cool but if you don’t get traffic (playing time) because the keyword is too difficult to rank for is it really worth it? You need to pick the low hanging fruit when doing your keyword research. You can have a little piece of a big pie or you can have a big piece of a bunch of little pies.

What is keyword research? Keyword research is a way to find topics or keywords to write about that will eventually bring traffic organically to your website. If you get traffic to your website, you can monetize it and turn it into cash. That is the ultimate goal of most websites.

There are a lot of tools out there that will do the research for you but they cost money. When I started Internet Marketing I didn’t have any money so as I explain my method I am assuming that you don’t have any money either.

What is keyword research to you? Please leave your comments with your thoughts and opinions.

Free tools to with your keyword research:

• Google Keywords Tool
• Google search engine
• SEO for Firefox

Let’s be honest, if you own your own business you are always looking for different ways to make it grow, right? The bottom line, in most businesses, is if you get more foot traffic, you get more sales. If this is the case, our local search marketing service may be just what you are looking for. Our team is innovative and does their best to stay up to date on all the new online marketing techniques. Every method is fully tested and proven to be effective before implementation on any third party websites.

Online marketing is the easiest and best way to reach your targeted marketing. In this economy every penny you spend on your business needs to show some sort of ROI, or return on investment or it is not worth spending. There is no more need to plaster the grocery store parking lot with flyers or hand out a million business cards at every conference you attend in hopes that you will get a few sales. Through online marketing, or SEO, you will be able to get more traffic to your website. Our local search marketing services will help you convert that traffic into sales.

Our Local Search Marketing Services include, but are not limited to:

1-       SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

2-       PPC advertising (Pay Per Click)

3-       Maps Optimization

4-       Social Media.

Let our experienced team of professionals give you a free website evaluation with no obligation attached. If you like what you see, we can talk further about extending our business relationship. We also price match. If you are worried about the money being spent, we will make sure that you are paying the lowest cost possible. Give us a call or email us today!

Writing a great Title & Meta description is key to converting your potential website traffic into cash. There are two main benefits that come from having a perfectly written Title & Meta Tag:

1- Human Conversion

Think about it from a user prospective. When you search for something on Google, if the Title & Meta description doesn’t say something captivating that answers your question, do you still click on that link? No, you move on to number two. If you don’t find what you are looking for after looking through the first few results, you rephrase your question and search again. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand how important a good Title & Meta description really is to the value of your website.

2- Search Engine Relevance

Optimizing each page on your site will help the search engines know exactly what keyword you are targeting on those specific pages. When the search engine bots scan your site they start with the Title & Meta description first, then they work their way down through the content. If you have a good, keyword-targeted Title & Meta description, there will be no question as to what that page is about.

10 steps to help you write the perfect Title & Meta Description:

1- Your title should be clear and to the point. It should be attention grabbing to the audience and always have a call to action! If you don’t have a call to action, you cannot expect to see your conversion go up.

2- Every first letter of EVERY word should be capitalized in the title.

Eg. Climbing Outdoors: Outdoor Products | Find Your Wilderness Goods

3- Use a maximum of 1 pipe bar ( | ) in your title.

4- Put your main keyword/business name in the title.

5- Title character limit (including spaces) should never exceed 6

6- The Meta Tag, otherwise known as the description tag, should not exceed 160 characters including spaces.

7- The Meta Tag should include the keyword at least once, but preferably twice, as long it reads well and doesn’t sound bad.

8- Make sure that the Title & Meta tags are related. Make your Meta tag as descriptive as possible, based on each individual page.

9- Use good grammatical structure in all Title & Meta tags.

10- Use a good call to action at the end of each Meta tag. Make this call to action different from the Title tag’s call to action.

Eg. call-to-actions are in Red

Title:      Climbing Outdoors: Outdoor Products | Find Your Wilderness Goods

Meta:    Come to climbingoutdoors.com for all your wilderness and outdoor needs. Our website offers the latest on all wilderness goods. Search for climbing updates!

If you have any questions or comments about writing Title & Meta Tag’s feel free to leave a comment below.

There are obviously many ways to make money online, the question is which way is right for you? Since the down turn in the economy one of the most searched phrases on the Internet is “make money online”. Whether you have lost your job, feel you might lose your job, want to change jobs or just want to make a little extra money on the side the Internet could be your tool to success. It gives you the opportunity to work when you want and where you want as long as you have an Internet connection.

You should know that making money online is not an overnight thing. You need to put a lot of upfront work into it and have enough patients to let the search engines to do their work. If you have lost your job and want to keep your stress level down, it is advisable to find another job while building your online career. At least until you have proven yourself and your income using the internet. Once you get the ball rolling things will really start to pick up and have a snowball effect. Although it can take time to get things going, the payoff at the end is well worth it.

This article will explain in abbreviated detail one of the most simple and commonly used methods of making money online. Each step will have it’s own article explaining in more detail what you needs to be done. Let’s get started.

Building A Successful Website

1- Keyword Research

One of the most important parts to making money online is the method used to choose your topic. Just like with everything else in life, the Internet is filled with competition. If you are just starting out, you should be looking for “the low hanging fruit.” You need to find keywords or topics that have a high search volume but low competition. Google has provided us with free tools to help in this endeavor. All you have to do is think of the topic or topics you want to tackle and with a few clicks of the mouse you should be able to get a pretty good idea of whether or not you should move forward or find a new topic.

2- Domain and Hosting

Choosing and purchasing your domain name can affect the way the search engines rank your site. You can go to blogger.com or any of the many free blogging platforms and do essentially the same thing but if you are serious about making money online you will want to purchase your own domain and hosting account.

If you own your own domain you are able to change the permalinks and make them more search engine friendly. You can also add plugin’s and change the back end of your site, if you own it. This can help your site rank better and a lot faster. If you own your own site you can sell it later on like a piece of online real estate. Also, Google will take you more seriously if you own your own site or business verses taking the free route.

3- Site Creation / Configuration

This is not as intimidating as it sounds. Once you have done this a few times it all becomes second nature. With the help of WordPress most everything is already taken care of for you. You don’t have to know any programming to build a successful, good-looking site. There is a little bit of configuring that can and should be done, but other than that it is just a step by step process that just about anyone can do.

4- Content Creation

Creating captivating content is a must. You do not have to have your Masters Degree in writing to succeed in this area but you do need to know what your readers are looking for. If your content helps the reader in any way, you should be good to go.

You will need to understand a little bit about keyword placement but that will be covered later on.

5- Understanding Search Engines

Search Engines are now your new best friend. You need to do everything (moral and ethical) that you can to be on their good side. If you can impress the search engines, your websites will rank well and (as long as you did your keyword research well) you will get a lot of good quality traffic. Good organic traffic is the key to your online success.

6- Stat Counter / Analytics Installation

It is important to have some sort of analytical tracking installed on your website. Using stat counter and Google analytics you will be able get detailed information on the traffic that comes to your site. This will help you fine tune and convert your traffic into money.

7- Installing Google AdSense

One of the simplest ways to make money online is though a program called Google AdSense. In a nutshell, you put these Google ads on your website and when people find your website and click on the ads you get paid. Each click can range from $.05 to $10.00 per click. You should not click on these ads yourself or tell your friends to click on them for you. This is against the Terms Of Service and you could get your Google account banned for life. The trick to making this work is creating a lot of natural organic traffic.

8- Internal Linking / External Linking

Google has a very complex algorithm that they use to rank websites. Have you ever wondered how they choose what sites come up on the first page when you search for something? There are literally millions of results that pop up, so how do they judge each site and decide which ones to put on the first page? Internal and External Linking is a huge key to making this happen. The more good quality links you have pointing back to your website the more relevant your website becomes.

There are some rules that go with external linking so don’t just go and get a million links overnight or you will get yourself into trouble. You have to follow a certain schedule while diversifying each link. This will be explained in more detail in the Internal Linking / External Linking article.

9- Learn to Out Source

Many people think they run their own business when in fact they just employ themselves. There is a big difference between owning your own business and being self-employed. If you are self-employed you usually have to be there (at work) to make money and most of the time you end up working more hours than you ever have before. A dentist or doctor is a good example of being self-employed. They can make a bunch of money doing what they do, but unless they are there working they don’t get paid.

If you own your own business you can make money without having to be there. If you are a dentist and you own your own practice and hire other dentist to work in your office, they can do the work when you are not there and you will still make money.

We live in a free country and the American Dream is to own your own business and live the life the way you want to live. If you can out source your work online you will become a true business owner much faster than doing it all yourself. This is the true key to taking your online income from $100 per month to $30,000 per month.

10- Repeat these steps 100 more times.

Internet marketing is all about being persistent. Most people work really hard for a few months then get discouraged and quite cause they are not making a million bucks yet. Google wants to see if you are serious about your business and not just some spammer trying to make a quick buck.

If you repeat these steps over and over again you will see that some sites take off really fast and will make you some decent money. On the other hand some sites will take a few months to get any traction in the search engines. These sites may take a little longer but they will generate huge revenues, if you stick around long enough to see them.

Think about this… If you create 100 websites and they all average $2 per day you will be making around $6,000 per month? What kind of an impact would an extra 6k make in your life?

The simple fact is, even if it took you 3 years to finish all 100 sites you would still be making an extra $6,000 per month.  If you created another 100 over the next 3 years you would be making $144,000 per year. Is your job going to be paying that kind of money in 6 years? If not, then you should get started today.

If you really focus on Step 9 (out sourcing your work) you could create 100 websites within 12 to18 months without any huge expense each month. You could obviously do it a lot faster than that but that is about the average.

Take it step-by-step, one day at a time and before you know it you will be at the top of your game, owning your own business that generates a decent income without you ever having to clock in again.

Everybody knows that the more traffic your website gets the better chance you will have to making that sale. If you are reading this right now you probably have a site, whether you have a free blog or your own paid for site, and you are looking to make more money using that website, right? Don’t feel bad to ask for help, I have been where you are and I know what it is like to want your site to just magically jump up in the rankings to page one so that the whole world can see what an amazing product or service you are offering. You can have the most amazing product or service and have the best looking website in the world but the fact is that if you are not ranking within the top 3 or 4 in the search engines you will never see the success that you were born to have in the online world!

We here at My Living Business know that it can be hard to survive in this business world without the right kind of marketing. Again, if you are reading this you have come looking for some online marketing advice and I applaud you for that. We will do everything we can to assure that your website is the most successful site in your niche.

Below you will see what is called a heat map. A team of online marketers got together and wanted to know the natural instinct of sales. What I mean by that is they wanted to track what the human eye was attracted to the most (online) they got a few hundred people and set them up with a retinal scanning device and then they gave them a list of a few thousand words and phrases to search in Google. As they did this the machine tracked where their eyes went and what they clicked on.
The picture below will show you the test results (click on the image to make it bigger):

As you can see the websites that is ranked #1 got the most attention without a doubt. Number 2 through 4 got a few as well but not nearly as much as #1. Don’t get me wrong you can still get a lot of traffic just for being on the front page but if you are really trying to dominate your market then your goal need to be #1.

If you have website and are looking to make any money from it you have come to the right place. We can help you get your site ranked on Page 1 and further more if you are hoping to take over your market we will make sure that you get your site to the #1 spot so that you can reap the benefits of you hard work.

Also, if you have not watch the video on the homepage you need watch it right now!!!! Here it is:

Organic SEO is a crucial part of your online interaction. Without proper search engine optimization, you have little to no chance of being found online. Most often, internet users will head to search engines to look for information. Whether there question is about what to feed a turtle or what type of car they should buy they will find their answer on the web.

The first task that an organic SEO campaign would undertake is to look at the website that is to be optimized. Whether it is a basic HTML site or something extremely complex, keywords must be targeted and goals need to be set. This task may involve a, organic SEO consultant specialist which happen to have here at My Living Business.

The second task involves me, the organic SEO specialist, helping your website through the SEO process. This could include the creation of content for your site or content to be linked to your site from a third party site. This content could be articles, videos, or any number of other unique pieces that will help you to become more popular in the search engines. The more back links that a site has from high ranked websites, the higher ranking the site will have in the search engine rankings. This will enable your site to bring in the most traffic possible.

The third task involves active internet marketing. A site that is optimized once, may work for some time, but it will not be ready to face the internet forever. Sites that are subjects of an organic SEO marketing campaign are going to require maintenance rather frequently. While SEO campaigns are great, it is important to understand that long term outlook of your site. Combining organic SEO campaigns and active internet marketing can take a website to the top of its niche!

Good SEO is one of the key elements you need to master if you are looking to succeed in marketing and advertising on the internet. All the websites that exist on the internet rely on good SEO in order to appear on the first page on the large search engines such as Google, Yahoo, or Bing.

The key to achieving good SEO is building great backlinks. The problem is that most people don’t know what a good backlink is. A backlinks are when website puts a link on their page pointing back to your website. This shows that your website has some sort of significance on the web as there are numerous websites linking to your site. However, your good SEO experience may be terrible if you do not get the right kind of backlinks the first time.

When you are trying to get quality backlinks, you want to make sure that the page you have your link on is relevant to the topic on your site. If the page is not relevant at all, the search engines could come to the conclusion that you are involved in spamming. If this is the case you could be penalized by all of the search engines and you site might be taken out of the ranking for good. You are supposed to naturally get links pointing to your website rather than trying to buy or spam them.

If the search engines determine that you are trying to “cheat” your way and get quality backlinks for the sole purpose of achieving a high rank, they will instantly unleash the consequences on your website. This is the reason you need to be careful when you build links.

If you do not feel confident about link building, we here at MyLivingBusiness.com can either offer you coaching advise on what to do and what not to do or we can do the link building for you. We will provide you with the good SEO you have been looking for. Our backlink service is a proven system and continues to be a strong safe way to promote your website. We can help you increase backlinks to your site with quality targeted keywords which can bring your website the max amount of visitors per month.

Shoot us an email or contact us for a quote on your personal site. We will give you a good review of what you have and what we believe we think you need to increase your monthly traffic. More traffic equals more sales for you and your business so don’t hesitate to get your free quote today.

Top Internet Marketing is something that you hear about on a regular basis. However you might ask, exactly what is internet marketing? Who has the top internet marketing websites? Is targeted traffic really going to help my business thrive? Does effective link building matter? And so on. Well first, internet marketing is different from your brick and mortar marketing in several ways. You can get to clients with lightening quick speed online. You don’t need stamps, mailers or the post office involved when you find the top internet marketing practices. You’ll want to start with a company that truly understands your business and who or what your targeted demographics will be. If you don’t have marketers that listen you should move on. Your hired company should know about effective link building and best marketing practices and stand heads and shoulders above the competition.

One important thing to look for on your marketing company of choice website is an easy to read top internet marketing guide. Your marketer should not only be able to share knowledge but should want to share with you effective ways of finding and hitting your target. That’s where a targeted traffic machine comes into place. Check to see that your marketing company has a knowledge base that explains how different marketing tactics can work for you. Many companies claim to have the top internet marketing ideas, but can they back it up with powerful references? Have they helped sites to show high rankings on many of the worldwide search engines like: Google, Yahoo and BING? If so you may want to check them out further.

We believe our site has the top internet marketing out there and can back this claim up with the experience you need. We are certain to help you with your business goals and will listen to what’s most important to you. Contact us today to find out about how internet marketing can work to turn interest into sales for your company or venture. We have a friendly staff that will help you from start to finish to reach your targeted market. Remember the internet has propelled us all into the future and the future of internet marketing starts here. When you contact us, please ask us about how we implement the old and new rules for marketing online. Our company has fast and friendly staff members who are most importantly experienced in marketing. We look forward to hearing from you!