Work From Home

Search Engine Optimization is big business. The number of companies out there providing SEO services is quite staggering, and it’s growing every day. Does that mean it’s too difficult to do all by yourself? Not at all. It’s very involved, and it will take a little time and ongoing effort, but it’s not rocket science, and you can even do everything you need to organically Rank #1 in all major search engines by yourself, all for free.

When I opened my SEO Services business in 2004 I only had experience working with my own websites before that point, and I learned VERY quickly one last, very important thing about SEO… It’s personal.

If you pay a big company to Optimize your website for you, as opposed to you learning how and doing the optimization yourself, then you’ll never be able to rank as highly. Another company cannot have the very discreet knowledge of your businesses’ keywords and market that you had to learn the hard way. You can’t just write some keywords down on a list and give it to them, either. You have to be the one continually choosing your website’s keywords and putting them in your site where you see fit. Any other method will either make your site be someone else’s work, not matching your industry, or simply ineffective. (Usually all three.)

The good news is that you taking on the role of SEOer of your own site means that you won’t have to pay a penny for SEO services at all. As my ratings suggest, it’s not a very quick way to bring in traffic, but scoring very highly for your keywords in the Google, Yahoo!, and MSN search engine ranking pages (SERPs) is an incredibly effective way of bringing in traffic. Possibly the best of all ways, because it is the highest possible quality, and if you can dominate enough keywords for your niche, the highest possible quantity as well! People who don’t understand SEO just aren’t aware that it’s all about the Keywords. Choose the right ones, and all the ones, for your niche, and then use them everywhere you can. That’s really all there is to SEO, but there are infinite variations to the process. Let’s hit the major areas by category.

Keyword Selection

Keyword Density

META Tags

Site Flow

SiteMaps

If you’ve been marketing online more than a minute, I’m sure you’ve been bombarded with the phrase “the Money’s in the List.” Well it’s 90% true. It doesn’t end there; you still have to work at it. Keep giving to your list once you sign them up, much like a one-sided relationship.

If you ask any of the subscribers to my own list, I hope that they tell you I’ve been doing just that. So far, I haven’t had any more than one single unsubscribe, and I believe it is because my newsletter offers something for everyone, not just a new Advertisement each week. Anyone can send out a bunch of solo Ads from JV Partners and the affiliate programs that they’re pitching, but I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re interested in building a solid, trusting relationship with your subscriber base.

There are hundreds of places online that harvest email addresses, usually by some sort of co-registration, (where a person doesn’t even know he’s signing up for the second newsletter simultaneously) and will be glad to sell me a whole Solo Ad mailing allotment to that list of 200,000 or more for something like $50. Sure, it sounds like a great deal, but what would it really get me? About 200,000 eMail boxes filled only with Ads that are no longer opened anymore. Why should these people read such eMail? Would you watch a TV channel that ONLY showed Ads?

The only way to make your own list profitable is to offer the same valuable content that you would in a product or informational website. If you are just looking for a quick product launch of one event, I don’t recommend an eZine for you at all. Owning any eZine list that is worth its weight in kilobytes is a long term process that requires plenty of upkeep. In that case, you should Joint Venture with lots of other eZine owners

The rewards are astounding, however. This is the only traffic method in this whole eBook that receives a perfect score. And yes, it is free to build and eMail your list regularly; there are many software email utilities and even auto-responders floating around for free. A good percentage of web host control panels now have them built into your hosting controls.

Naturally the hard part is the time it takes to build up the list. I give it a 5 out of 5 for delivery speed however because once you send out your email to the whole list, you can have thousands or even tens of thousands of people on your website in minutes. Nothing else in the whole IM arena can claim to do that.

Technorati : eZines Marekting

Pulling off a successful Joint Venture can be the very next best thing to having your own highly-targeted eZine list. Of course for it to be free, you’ve got to offer your JV partner some sort of commission, like the full size of your cut or better, for them to send out an Ad to their coveted list. This is sometimes called “OPL” (Other People’s Lists) or “OPT” (Other People’s Traffic.) In fact, this is the most common form of JV structure, a simple commission split in return for a list “Solo Ad” or a recommendation.

There really is no set definition for the term Joint Venture, it simply means that two or more marketers form a temporary collaboration to benefit them both. Creativity can mold modern JVs into almost any shape or appearance. Still, there are a few very well-known strategies for JVs. I already mentioned the most popular one, list sharing, above. The simplest action that could be called a JV is simply a swapping of links between two websites.

Other JV types could involve putting together your products as a package to sell, and any profits and/or Opt-ins generated could be shared between the two.

However, probably the greatest JV strategy that has put a lot of super-affiliates in the limelight is a Review-Affiliate-Testimonial JV, also known as a “RAT.” RATs are great for up-and-coming marketers to get their foot in the affiliate door while building up their name, brand, &/or face recognition. It also offers them the benefit of securing a one-way link back to their main website.

To find a RAT opportunity, all one needs to find is a JV Launch where a marketer is working up to a product launch, drumming up affiliate interest and talking to JVs. If he or she is still working on the Ad Copy for the Sales page, they’ll very likely need Testimonials from others in the field, just like you. (Assuming you have your own industry-related website to link to.)

At this point, the Marketer will send you a ‘tester’ copy for review, assuming that you’ll quickly get back to him or her with a glowing testimonial, including your headshot, quote, and URL to link back to in the testimonial.

Ewen Chia has probably done the most RATs of any online marketer, evidenced by his face appearing on such a large number of sales pages across the web. He seems to be doing pretty well, (he’s arguably the world’s most successful & sought-after super-affiliate) so I suspect that there is a lot to be gained by “RATTing.”

It is also important to note that you’ll likely have some competition while approaching the marketer for a RAT, so in such situations, he or she will either want to treat you all as equal affiliates, or just go with the one or two affiliates who have the biggest list.

So, where do you find Joint Venture partners? Well, there’s a whole bunch of products dedicated to that problem, but there are also some free website forums just for this purpose. Try these sites to get your feet wet, and from inside them you can easily find the rest:

JV Notify Pro, one of the better free communities:
http://www.jvnotifypro.com

Joint Venture Alert - Free membership with instant notification toolbar, and
it offers very helpful tools as well. A great deal!
Joint Venture Network:
http://www.jointventurenetwork.net/community/

The Warrior’s Forum’s JV section:
http://www.warriorforum.com/forum/default.asp?CAT_ID=2

Direct Matches, A powerful, up-and-coming Marketers networking platform:
http://www.directmatches.com

Technorati : Joint Ventures