Create Buzz for Your Website with a Podcast
December 29th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed
A good podcast creates buzz. When your RSS subscribers constantly get new information that improves their lives, and they receive that information in a variety of formats, they start talking to their friends. Then their friends subscribe to your RSS feed and tell their friends. And so on.
To make cycle work for you, you have to constantly “feed” your subscribers content in print, audio and video formats. The more varied your content formats, the quicker your subscription list will grow.
For example, if you run a fitness blog, you can post a “fit tip of the day” in print format, a weekly workout in video format and a monthly expert interview in audio format. Then every time you post a podcast, your RSS subscribers automatically receive and download the latest post.
Another thing an RSS feed does for you is provide credibility. It implies you offer valuable information worth hearing and watching, and that the information is valuable enough to constantly check back for more.
Plus it provides an additional way for you to establish yourself as an expert.
Keep in mind that although you don’t need a blog to use an RSS feed for your podcast, you will need to have some programming experience or hire a programmer to set it up for you. However, RSS feeds are a standard feature of most blog hosting companies such as Wordpress.
By using a blog, you should also be able to track how many people are subscribed to your RSS feed. And if you want enhanced tracking features, you can subscribe to Feedburner.com, a service large publications like CNN use for their RSS feeds.
One more thing you need to know about RSS feeds is that they allow you to add your podcast to the iTunes store for free.
The iTunes store is a high-traffic site that sells downloads to digital music, television shows, iPod games, music videos, movies and audio books. The store also offers free subscriptions to any podcast in their vast Podcast Directory.
The only restriction is that users need the iTunes program on their computer in order to subscribe to any of the free podcasts. Still, it’s not much of a restriction because Apple offers iTunes, a digital media player that plays audio and video files, as a free download on their website.
The program comes with built-in support for podcasting, thus permitting users to subscribe to podcasts in the iTunes store or by entering the RSS feed URL. Then every time they open their iTunes program, they can listen to or watch the latest podcasts that have been downloaded to their iTunes library for them
Glen Hopkins is an internationally renowned Internet marketer and
the #1 Best Selling Author of, Lucrative List Building.
Glen specializes in helping online business owners build large,
highly profitable opt-in email lists. Get his “Top 10 List Building
Secrets” Report (valued at $97) for free at http://GlenHopkins.name
Technorati Tags: Blog, Competition, Internet Marketing, Podcast, Traffic, Travel Agent Internet Marketing tools, video, Viral Marketing
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How to Create a Viral Blog
December 29th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed
If you’re ready to enter the world of blogging, you have lots of options available to you. One is Blogger.
Blogger is a simple and easy way to get started for free. It’s a service provided by Google and geared toward beginners. This is a good option if you are new to the world of blogging.
Wordpress is also free and extremely flexible. It builds your entire site for you, allows you to use or modify existing designs and lets you create as many categories as you choose. It also integrates RSS (more on this in a moment) into your site automatically.
Another option is Movable Type. This publishing system is the most popular business publishing platform and has many features a system such as Blogger lacks. This is a more professional program and is a paid service.
Typepad is an alternative paid blogging service. They host many of the world’s most popular blogs and are easy to use.
It doesn’t matter which service you choose. The important thing is to pick one and get a blog started as soon as possible. But unless your blog posts contain a combination of certain components, you can not and should not expect it to become a viral blog.
People simply won’t talk about blogs that bore them, so you must give people something to talk about. You do that by keeping these five things in mind when writing your blog posts:
- Candor: be blunt, bold and truthful. Say exactly what you mean without trying to “beat around the bush.” When you’re honest and straightforward, people know exactly what to expect from you. They may not always agree, but they will respect you for your frankness.
- Urgency: be in demand NOW. Create a sense of urgency within your posts by being the first to break a news story within your niche, introduce a new product or interview an expert. Give people a reason to visit your blog immediately.
- Timeliness: be relevant. Keep up with the news of the day in the world, in your area and especially in your niche. Know the current trends and use your posts to enter the conversations people are already having. No one wants to read an outdated blog.
- Concise: be brief and to the point. Your readers don’t have time to scroll through pages and pages of content. They’re in a hurry AND have lots of other sites to choose from. But if you can save them time by getting straight to your point within a few paragraphs, they’ll keep coming to you for information.
- Controversy: be different. Challenge the status quo. Talk about issues others in your niche are afraid to discuss. The best way to generate traffic is to stir people’s emotions, especially when those emotions are anger and fear.
If your blog posts contain at least four of these five components, you are creating the right kind of content that has the power to attract massive traffic to your website.
Glen Hopkins is an internationally renowned Internet marketer and
the #1 Best Selling Author of, Lucrative List Building.
Glen specializes in helping online business owners build large,
highly profitable opt-in email lists. Get his “Top 10 List Building
Secrets” Report (valued at $97) for free at http://GlenHopkins.name
Technorati Tags: Blog, Competition, Internet Marketing, Traffic, Travel Agent Internet Marketing tools, video, Viral Marketing
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Top Ten Reasons You Need a Viral Blog
December 29th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed
Blogs enhance your reputation and attract traffic in ways other types of sites cannot. As an online marketer, you need to know why blogs are important to your business.
One, blogs build rapport with your audience. A blog is a social site people visit expecting to engage in conversation with the blogger. Other sites speak to or at readers, but bloggers speak with and for them.
So don’t try to sound academic or corporate with your posts. Such matter-of-fact or emotionless writing separates you from your audience. It gives the impression that you are different from them, but you want to show you are just like them.
To show you are like them and help develop that important connection, write with passion. Be a real person with real feelings who enjoys engaging in conversation with likeminded people. This creates relationships and attracts people to you.
Two, blogs show your personality. With a blog, you have the opportunity to write the way you talk. If you’re funny, be funny. If you’re sarcastic, be sarcastic. In other words, just be yourself. You still get to be the expert in your niche, but a blog gives you the chance to be the expert with a little personality.
You also have a bio section to showcase your personality. Include fun, quirky, real stuff about you here to show you’re just like your audience. When they can relate to you as a person and not just as an expert, they’re more likely to want to buy from you.
Three, blogs allow interaction with your target market. Not only can you converse with people, you can post questions that readers can respond to in an instant. By asking what problems and frustrations your readers are facing, you can determine what they want.
When you know what your target audiences wants, you can go out and get it for them or create it yourself. Then you can watch your sales skyrocket as you give them exactly what they asked for. And if you are able to fulfill their desires, they’ll keep coming back to you for more.
Four, blogs are rich in content. Search engines love content. They also love sites that are updated regularly. So the more you post, the better chances you have of getting a higher ranking in the search engines.
Five, blogs are easy to Digg. If a Digg user likes your post and thinks others should read it as well, he’ll Digg it. When he submits your post, a summary of it along with a link to your blog will appear on the Digg website.
This is a great place to be considering Digg attracts millions of people each day. And if some of those people also like your story, they’ll Digg it. The more Diggs you get, the higher ranking you get. As your ranking increases, so does the traffic to your blog.
Six, blogs give you a position of power among the press. Thanks to blogging, you no longer have to be an anchor on CNN, CBS, ABC, FOX or NBC to have your voice heard. You also don’t have to write for the NY Times or operate with a huge advertising budget to spread your ideas.
You can create a platform for yourself just by writing and regularly posting to your blog. When you’re a blogger, you become part of the press. As long as you post great content, your ideas have a great chance of spreading.
Seven, blogs enhance your credibility. Credibility is a key selling point in any field. When people believe in a product, they buy it. But when they believe in the person, they become loyal customers for life.
Your blog gives them the opportunity to believe in you, the person behind the product. This is perhaps the single most important factor in growing your business and increasing traffic. Because when you have loyal customers, you have a successful business.
Eight, blogs attract JV partners. The best way to attract great JV partners is to BE a great JV partner. And you can use your blog to help you become a great JV partner.
Some things you can do include posting reviews of affiliate products, posting interviews with possible partners or exchanging links with other sites. Remember, blogs are relationship-building tools. Use yours to build relationships with JV partners as well as your target audience.
Nine, blogs are easy to update. Complex code and fancy web designs are nothing you have to deal with when updating your blog. All you have to do is type and click. Sharing your thoughts with the world couldn’t be any simpler than doing so with a blog.
Ten, blogs are fun! If blogging was boring and useless, millions upon millions of people wouldn’t be using them to communicate every day. So get in on the fun and get others talking about your blog.
When others are talking, your ideas are making a positive difference in people’s lives. And helping people is really what blogs are all about.
Glen Hopkins is an internationally renowned Internet marketer and
the #1 Best Selling Author of, Lucrative List Building.
Glen specializes in helping online business owners build large,
highly profitable opt-in email lists. Get his “Top 10 List Building
Secrets” Report (valued at $97) for free at http://GlenHopkins.name
Technorati Tags: Blog, Competition, Internet Marketing, Traffic, Travel Agent Internet Marketing tools, video, Viral Marketing
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Triple Your Traffic with One Easy Step
December 29th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed
As you know, word of mouth marketing is all about multiplying your marketing message expenentially, over and over again. In theory, this is done by getting one ‘happy customer’ to tell their friends, who in turn tell their friends, who in turn tell their friends and so on, and so on, and so on.
The problem, however, has always been figuring out a way to actually get this phenomena to happen systematically. You see, in order to have your message passed around in a never-ending, systematic, set-and-forget way, you need to have an actual system. And part of that system has to include ‘buzz curency’.
What’s that, you ask? Buzz curency is the buzz factor that gets people taking about your message and passing it around. There are a number of buzz curencies to choose from. Some include humorous things,unusual things, remarkable things, controversial things and secrets.
But for your message to get passed around, it above all needs to be something that is both entertaining and interesting. Otherwise, the audience who is viewing it will not be inclined to share it with others.
There is a tool that solves this problem. Not only does it provide a systematic, set and forget solution, it also allows you to add that all too often missing piece of the equation (buzz currency).
It’s called Viral Friend Generator Pro. You can find it at http://www.viralfriendgeneratorpro.com
Believe it or not, this product will literally triple the number of visitors you get to your site and triple the number of subscribers you are currently generating.
Now I know this sounds far fetched, but it’s not. I know because I have actually tested this software and it does work! In fact, it works for me every single day and it has increased both my traffic and my subscription rate by almost 300%.
In the past, I would direct my traffic to a specific squeeze page where I captured their information and added them to my autoresponder. Then, I would immediately send them to my thank you page where I would thank them for subscribing. Often times I would also present them with a special, one-time offer.
This is a simple two-step process that works very well. Howvever, at best, this process only brings in one visitor to my site and adds one visitor to my list. It’s a 1:1 ratio.
Now, I have nearly tripled my incomming traffic and the number of subscribers added to my list by adding one simple step to the process. I send traffic to my squeeze page, then redirect them to a tell-a-friend page, which redirects them to my thank you page.
But it’s not the kind of tell-a-friend pages you’ve seen in the past; it’s one created with “Viral Friend Generator Pro.” This, by design, creates the essential ‘buzz currency’ that you must have to give people an incentive to want to tell thier frinds.
So now what I do is send one visitor to my squeeze page. That visitor tells three friends, who in turn visit my site (triples my traffic) and subscribe to my list (triples my subscribers). It’s a 1:3 ratio. But it gets even better.
Each of those three friends tell three friends, who tell three friends and so on, growing my traffic and list exponentially. In therory, this process should continue forever, non-stop.
Which means your list keeps growing without you doing any extra work.
And the number one best traffic source is your list! At every opportunity you should do your utmost to get your web site visitors onto your mailing list. By getting them on your list you gain control.
Studies show that approximately 98% of all traffic that comes to a web site sales page will only stay for a VERY short period of time. Then, they will hit the ‘back’ button and leave forever. Forever. As in, they never come back.
This is because people have a very short attention span — especially on the Internet. They surf from one site to the next and forget about you and your web site seconds after leaving.
Knowing this, if you’re going to send traffic to your sales letter, you better be sure it converts really well. Otherwise all your time, money, and effort spent getting traffic to your site will be flushed down to toilet.
But when you think about it, why should you put everything in the hands of 1) your visitor and 2) your sales copy? Instead, send your traffic to a squeeze page that is proven to convert well and captures your visitors name and email address.
By doing this, you put yourself in control since you no longer have to worry whether that same visitor will come back to your site on their own accord (and they won’t because they forgot about you).
Now you are in a position whereby you can contact your subscriber (your visitor) at will, whenever you want to, over and over again.
Glen Hopkins is an internationally renowned Internet marketer and
the #1 Best Selling Author of, Lucrative List Building.
Glen specializes in helping online business owners build large,
highly profitable opt-in email lists. Get his “Top 10 List Building
Secrets” Report (valued at $97) for free at http://GlenHopkins.name
Technorati Tags: Blog, Competition, Internet Marketing, Traffic, Travel Agent Internet Marketing tools, video, Viral Marketing, Viralfriendgeneratorpro
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How to Get Your Videos Passed Around
December 29th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed
Have you ever watched America’s Funniest Home Videos? There is a reason this show is so popular – it’s funny! People love to watch other people in funny situations. Heck, we even get a kick out of watching animals in humorous situations. How many times have you opened your email inbox to find funny video clips emailed to you by friends?
Learn from this. Humor is the number one way to get your video passed around. So if you can, add a little humor to your videos.
If you can’t be funny, consider being shocking. Shocking videos and stories are what quickly become ‘remarkable’. We can’t wait to tell all our friends about these things. “Oh my God! Jeff, did you hear about…”
Secrets are also a fabulous way to peak someone’s curiosity. People also love to share secrets. So add some secrecy to your videos whenever possible.
Secrecy also can dramatically increase the amount of traffic your website gets if you use it right. Here’s the ‘secret’…
The job of your video is to tease your viewers just enough that they become overwhelmed with curiosity. As soon as you have their curiosity, end your video!
That’s right — end it. Then, tell them where to go to see the rest of it or get the answer to their now burning question. Tell them to visit your web site!
All you need to do is add your URL at the end of the video along with a strong reason for the viewer to come to your web site. I recommend that you use an easy to remember and spell domain name to help increase successful visits.
On your web site you could include more videos, related content, Adsence ads, and (my personal favourite) an opt-in form to collect their email address.
Viral Video Marketing is the next phase in interactive word-of-mouth marketing that has the potential to drive tons of targeted traffic to your website(s). Remember to keep your videos short and original by showing off your personality in order to help increase the pass-along ‘buzz’ factor.
In short, here are five ways to make your video ‘buzzworthy.’
- Adding Some Humor
- Making it Unusual
- Sharing a ‘Secret’
- Being Remarkable
- Being Controverial
bove all, be orginal!
Glen Hopkins is an internationally renowned Internet marketer and
the #1 Best Selling Author of, Lucrative List Building.
Glen specializes in helping online business owners build large,
highly profitable opt-in email lists. Get his “Top 10 List Building
Secrets” Report (valued at $97) for free at http://GlenHopkins.name
Technorati Tags: Blog, Competition, Internet Marketing, Traffic, Travel Agent Internet Marketing tools, video, Viral Marketing
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Five Effective Ways to Generate Traffic
December 29th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed
Driving traffic to your can be exciting. On the other hand, it can also be depressing if that traffic doesn’t convert. Then you’re left with a website, lots of products and no money. But if you follow the variety of tactics outlined in this article, you’ll experience the excitement of watching your business explode and the joy of seeing your bank account grow.
• Read books in your niche and review them on Amazon. Include your profile on your Amazon home page, making sure to provide a link to your site. With this method, you get to learn and generate free traffic at the same time!
• Since the average customer needs to be exposed to marketing message seven times before making a buying decision, you need to design your site to keep people coming back to you until they’re ready to buy. To keep them coming back, add new content to your site on a consistent basis and remind prospects on your list to visit your site often. Set up a forum, host a contest or find other ways to make your site interactive and engaging.
• Working alone can be great, but being independent does have its downside. You can counter the effects of loneliness by forming a MasterMind team of likeminded people to collaborate with and grow your business. Seek diversity in your MasterMind team. Choose about 5-8 people to meet with on a consistent basis, and recruit people who have different strengths and weaknesses.
• Eliminate your competition by turning them into JV partners. But only enter into joint ventures with people in your niche whom you can trust. If you question their motives, don’t do business with them. Just be sure to establish a clear customer path for your business. Your customers should never hit a dead end; always give them a choice to branch out onto another path. Then look for real estate within your partners’ systems to market your products on.
• Integrate your marketing with your partners to establish consistent traffic and cash flow. Also, encourage your partners to create front end products so you can focus on promoting your back end products to their customers.
Integration marketing is perhaps the most powerful of the tips mentioned here. When you do integrate your marketing with Joint Venture partners, you want to keep that partnership alive and thriving. So at least once a month, send your partners a letter thanking them for promoting your products. In that letter, show them how much money they made as a result of integrating your marketing with theirs.
That simple monthly reminder will keep them running your ads, keep traffic coming to your site and keep money flowing into your bank accounts.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Glen Hopkins is Best Selling Author, Information Marketer, Speaker, And Consultant. Glen specializes in teaching struggling entrepreneurs how to turn their small Online businesses into thriving money machines using specific systems that will allow you to work less and earn more. Get his List Building Report and Web Traffic CD (valued at $97) for FREE at http://GlenHopkins.name
Technorati Tags: Blog, Competition, Internet Marketing, Traffic, Travel Agent Internet Marketing tools
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