EzSEO Newsletter # 98
October 23, 2005 by Andy
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EzSEO Newsletter # 98
Andy Williams ez SEO
ez-search-engine-optimization.com
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This week:
1. Do you want your own range of products?
2. Building Affiliate Sites – Miniseries Part X
3. What do I need? – Reader’s question
4. Niche blueprint released
Hi again.
Based on the feedback I have received this week, I am really glad that so many of you liked the search tool I mentioned last week. I have been using it a lot this week, and am continually thinking “wow, that’s cool”. Anyway, I digress.
This week we have part 10 of the miniseries (thanks for all the positive feedback so far). Also, I answer a reader’s question that is a real concern of many just starting out.
There is also a Nicheology competitor that looks really interesting, and still has slots available.
Let’s dive in..
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1. Do you want your own range of products?
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Long term subscribers will know that I am a big supporter of Nicheology. For those who are prepared to work, Nicheology offers you a great oppotunity to build up your own repertoire of products.
Owning your own products is one of the very best ways to make great m0ney on the web, but so few actually travel this route because of the work required. Selling your own products is not only easy and hands-free, it is also one of the best ways to avoid being labelled as a thin affiliate (because you are the merchant).
Now, there is only one downside to Nicheology – they have closed their doors to new members, and are not taking in new members at the moment, so I have been looking at alternatives.
This week I signed up for a new membership site.
This site is is going to cap membership at 500 members, but it was only launched this week, so you still have time to get in if you want to.
I will let you read the sales page for yourself to see what you get, but let me just tell you one reason why I think this site is well worth it.
Health and medical niches are usually big pr0fit makers. Some of these niches have very high per click Adsense values. With health information in such high demand, you should not have any problem selling your own eBook on these topics.
Kim Standerline, who runs the site is a registered nurse. As someone who works in the health industry, she has a lot of insider information. She knows what information people are craving, as she sees it in her day job.
Niche Health Products is recommended for those wishing to create their own products. My only reservation on this recommendation is that you must be prepared to work if you want to succeed. You need to modify and edit the eBooks you are given. Put in your own affiliate links, your own information if you want, and maybe some clip art. However, if you are prepared to put in that effort, the rewards are potentially huge.
Here is what this membership site provides you:
* Two Complete Health Niche Products every month.
* 25 private label articles. These are your articles, put your name on them, basically do whatever you want with them.
* Tightly researched keywords appropriate for that month’s niches.
* Free Hosting for up to 10 web sites including Front Page Extensions (more websites to be included later)
* Some of the best Marketing ebooks on the internet. Authors include names such as Mark Joyner, Rebecca Hagel
* Your very own forum
* An unannounced bonus every month
See that one about the fee web hosting? Yes, I like that too.
The other thing I love is that Kim has done the keyword research with Wordtracker, NOT Overture. This means the data is reliable.
So, bottom line… If you want your own products, but don’t know where to start, This site may be what you need to give you that push. The site is run by a health care professional, so you can be sure that you will receive real gems every month.
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2. Building Affiliate Sites – Miniseries Part X
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If you have been following this course so far, you will have:
a) identified your niche and checked for profitability
b) carried out your keyword research at Wordtracker.
c) sent yourself your keyword research from Wordtracker.
d) selected several phrases to use as main page keywords.
e) selected suitable phrases to be used for article pages.
f) learnt how to theme pages. You should use this information to begin collecting themed keywords for your planned pages.
g) seen how main pages differ from article pages, and understood how these differences dictate how the pages are created.
h) seen how selling differs from pre-selling, and learnt one way to sketch out a blueprint of your pre-selling content.
i) looked at a top selling sales page, and dissected out the various pre-selling techniques highlighted by the “pre-selling blueprint questions”.
If you missed any of these newsletters, you can read them online at my blog:
http://ez-search-engine-optimization.com/blog/
This mini course begins in issue #89 and continues to the latest post in the blog.
Last week we looked in detail at the various pre-selling elements of a top selling web page. That page sold a single product, from a single merchant.
As internet marketers, we often we need to create webpages that sell a product, or range of products, from a choice of several merchants, so how does this differ from what we saw last week?
Let’s use an example.
Suppose your site is about pest control. You may have several main page which detail individual types of pest, and the control measures that solve those problems. One page on flies offering swatters and sprays, another on cockroaches, and one on snails that eat your cabbages.
Let’s consider a page on this site about rodents.
My suggestion here is to count up the number of products being sold on a page, and divide your page into that many sections.
E.g. we have traps, poisons, ultra-sound devices (if you know of a good affiliate program for pets, you could also include a feline solution).
Taking our three solutions:
Traps
Poisons
Ultra-Sound devices
We would need to separate our page into three sections.
Each section would pre-sell a particular product.
If you get to the point where your page is selling more than 3 or 4 types of products, I would consider splitting the page so that each page is more tightly themed around the solutions being offered.
Now, the way I would go about creating the page on rodents is simple:
1. Take one section at a time.
2. Answer the “pre-sell blueprint questions” on that section.
3. Based on your answers, create a paragraph or two of pre-sell for that type of product.
4. List merchants where the product can be found online.
This section should include some reasons why the merchant is one you recommend, and also a short description of how to find the product, if it is not immediately obvious, from the landing page you are sending your visitors to..
5. Move onto the next type of product and repeat.
What you will end up with is three “mini-pages” of information.
All that remains is to assemble the page.
Your have two basic choices here.
1. Create three distinct sections, where each section ends in your merchant recommendations.
or
2. Create three distinct sections that pre-sell alternatives, and then include a single section at the end of the page where you mention the merchants that the three types of products.
Usually, a merchant that sells mouse traps, will also sell poisons and or ultra-sound devices. If you find that your merchant list for each of the three sections are duplicated, then I would go with the second model. That way you are not duplicating information down the page.
Your page would end up as three main sections, offering alternatives (and you could include advantages/disadvantages of each method), followed by a final list of merchants you recommend, together with why you recommend them, and how to find the products.
If you find that each type of product has its own distinct merchants, I would go with model #1. Include three distinct sections, where your pre-sell for the product type is immediately followed by the merchant list.
Whether you choose model #1 or model #2, each of the three main sections would start with a headline that makes your visitor want to read that section (and offers some idea of what the product is e.g. “Silent electronic devices can rid your home of furry pests”).
The headline would be followed by your carefully crafted pre-sell.
It is often wise when building a page around several solutions to a problem, to have some discussion about the advantages/disadvantages of each type of product.
This can be included in your pre-sell, but particularly if you are using model #2, I would also include a reminder at the end, just before you mention your recommended merchants.
Let’s build a map of what the two types of pages would look like (it would be so much easier if I could include diagrams in this newsletter).
Model #1
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Opening Headline on the page (H1 header tag).
This header outlines the problem, and tells the reader that there are solutions. e.g. “Why put up with a mouse in your house, when there are quick, easy and humane solutions”.
You should then have an opening paragraph that starts building that mental picture in your reader. The picture in this case, is life without mice.
Because of the main headline, I would actually swap the order of my solutions to include the ultra-sound devices first (= more humane).
Solution #1
- Pre-sell ultra-sound devices
- advantages and disadvantages of them – build that mental picture.
- Call to action. Tell your visitor to order, and where from. Include reasons why you recommend each merchant.
Solution #2
- Pre-sell traps
- advantages and disadvantages of them – build that mental picture.
- Call to action. Tell your visitor to order, and where from. Include reasons why you recommend each merchant.
Solution #3
- Pre-sell poisons
- advantages and disadvantages of them – build that mental picture.
- Call to action. Tell your visitor to order, and where from. Include reasons why you recommend each merchant.
Finish with a closing paragraph, again building the mental image in the mind of your visitor. Perhaps you could highlight the hygiene reasons why they must get rid of the mice from their house.
This could include mention of little feet walking over the bread board, or worse still, leaving urine and faeces on your plates, cutlery and work surfaces.
Do you see how that would build a picture based on fear?
Create mental images that work on the emotional level.
Finally, issue another call to action. Tell them to order one of the products you have reviewed above, so that their lives can be rodent-free.
Model #2
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Opening Headline on the page (H1 header tag).
This header outlines the problem, and tells the reader that there are solutions. e.g. “The mice in your house carry disease. Why put your family at risk when there are solutions?”.
You should then have an opening paragraph that starts building that mental picture in your reader. The picture in this case, is life without mice.
This is where the page begins to differ:
Solution #1
- Pre-sell ultra-sound devices
- advantages and disadvantages of them – build that mental picture.
Solution #2
- Pre-sell traps
- advantages and disadvantages of them – build that mental picture.
Solution #3
- Pre-sell poisons
- advantages and disadvantages of them – build that mental picture.
Final headline that will introduce your merchants. e.g. “Are you ready to flush the furries from your life?”.
Follow this with a short paragraph, again building the mental image in the mind of your visitors. Create mental images that work on the emotional level as described above.
Finally, issue another call to action. Tell them to order one of the products you have reviewed above, so that their lives can be rodent-free, and list your recommended merchants, together with why you recommend them, and how to find the products when they get to the site (if necessary).
These two models can be used for any product or range of products you want to pre-sell.
If you are only selling one product, modify the model slightly. e.g. You would be following model #2, and would only have one (longer) section.
Finally, before we leave the subject of pre-selling, let me just remind you of a few points.
1. Work on creating a mental image in your pre-sell.
2. Make that mental image work on the emotional level (reducing pain, removing an inconvenience, allowing you to spend more time with your family or take a dream holiday).
3. Pre-selling is about getting your visitor in the right frame of mind to purchase.
Don’t do the hard sell by selling features. Pre-sell by selling the benefits.
Here is the difference:
Hard Sell = List all the features and tell them they have to buy it.
Pre-sell = Describing the benefits in terms of how life can be better..
e.g. Suppose you are selling an exercise machine that has the following statement on the merchants web site:
Medical tests at Washington University involving 100 users, show that Miracle Fat Buster can burn 25 calories a minute.
This is a feature.
Don’t use that feature like this:
“Buy Miracle Fat Buster because medical tests have shown it can burn 25 calories a minute.”
This is a hard-sell statement based on a feature, This is the sort of statement best left on your merchant’s site. After all, you found that feature on the merchant site, and so will your visitor when they click through on your affiliate link.
For pre-selling, turn that feature into a benefit:
“The only downside of Miracle Fat Buster is that you may need to buy a smaller swim suite. In only a few minutes a day, that tight little number from last year could end up being too big!”
This is using the feature (burn calories fast) to pre-sell the item, by turning the feature into part of that mental picture (smaller healthier body, smaller clothes).
It all comes back to Q3 of our original “pre-sell blueprint questions”. Painting a picture of life without the problem.
I think we have looked enough at pre-sell, so next week, we will look at a blueprint for creating articles that provide value added to the internet. The type of article a Google representative could look at and think “Hmmm. This site is offering great information”.
If you are following along with this mini-series as you build your own site, try to complete the main pages of your site. Look at the feature lists on your merchants site, and turn those features into benefits. Use the list of benefits to build a vivid mental image of what life could be like if you used that product.
You may not get as far as selecting merchants for each page, but we will cover that in a couple of weeks time (including things to look out for).
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3. What do I need? – Reader’s question
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I got an e-mail this week that really highlights the problems faced by those just starting out – information/product overload. With a lot of the big marketers constantly pushing the latest product down your inbox, it is often difficult to decide what you need, and what you don’t.
Here is the email I received.
“Hello Dr.Andy.
My name is John XXXXXX and I am starting from scratch, as I?m new to all this. I am getting bogged down with all this SEO software. I will be launching a website shortly and would like to maintain it. I have seen many software companies on the net this week as I have been surfing all week (See attached zip File ) as to the amount of book marks I?ve looked at.
I need your expert advise please.
Is this the case; as in say a recent model mobile phone, which has a camera, mp3 player, light, video, email etc etc. If I want to take good pictures, I buy a camera. If I want to listen to music and have good functionality, I buy a Ipod. Etc etc. Do you see my point? Is it still better to buy separate pieces of software rather than just a complete package.
I?ve been looking at several items of software, ie
Complete Packages
Webposition4 Platinum (Been out a while it seems, some new stuff, but the best of the bunch? )
WebCEO (Seems this won some awards recently and in their comparison chart has more to offer than webposition?)
Trafficseeker (says this is the biggest selling SEO in the world. Is it the best of this bunch?)
SEO Elite (Not sure, is it better than the rest?)
IBP8 (Not sure also)
Then separate pieces,ie
keywords Analyser
Optilink
ARELIS
Assoctrac
(Looked at wordtracker) seems the best but don?t like the idea of monthly fee, keywords analyzer cant be far off).
As you can see. I?m in a mess. Information overload. Just look at my bookmarks in 4 days!
Please tell me, seeing as you are in the know, whats the best out there out of all that lot, and what in the first list of 5 SEO softwares is the no1? Is there anything one does really well that the other doesn?t?
And as to the separate pieces, is that the best way to go?
Hope you can help me with your expert advise
Many Thanks
John”
Sound familiar?
What tools do you really need to get started.
Rather than tell you why I would not buy Webposition Gold, or Web CEO, or IBP8, let me just tell you what you do not need.
You do not need software that tells you how to optimize a web page. On-page optimization is not very important any more. Sure, you need to have your pages themed, and keywords inserted in the page title, body text etc, but you do not need software to tell you how to do that.
We will be covering the basics of on-page optimization in the mini-series running in this newsletter, and that is all you need to know. Any software that says it analyzes the top 10 results in Google, and tells you exactly where to put keywords is a big fat waste of money. You see, for any competitive phrase, the reasons those pages are at the top of Google have almost nothing to do with where keywords are inserted on the web page. It is all about off-page factors (again, this is something we will cover in the mini-series).
Want an example?
Sure.
Search Google for: keyword identification
How much competition does this phrase have? It’s quite competitive, I am sure you will agree.
OK, visit the nichebot.com homepage (currently #1 here in Spain).
Go and have a look at the source of the page.
How many times is “keyword identification” found on the page?
How many times is the word identification found on the page?
OK, so how is some software analyzing the top 10 results in Google going to be able to tell you where to put your keyword phrases?
So, we have decided we don’t need software to tell us how to optimize on-page factors. What do we need?
#1 You need a web editor to create your web site. If you have one you like, then use it. If you know some HTML, I recommend either Frontpage or Dreamweaver.
If you don’t own a web editor, and know nothing about HTML or SEO, then SEO Website Builder is a good alternative:
Not only does this tool help you create a site with both on-page optimization, and site-wide optimization, it also provides a comprehensive manual outlining the steps you need to take while building your site, and then how to work on your off-page optimization. There is the added bonus of a very active forum, where you can get answers, meet hundreds of other users, and make friends while you build your empire.
#2 You need a keyword research tool that provides reliable data. For me, the choice is either Wordtracker, or.. Hmmm, there is no choice, it’s just Wordtracker.
See earlier sections of the mini-series to see why.
There is a free trial, which is very useful for initial research, but the full blown Wordtracker is the way to go when you have narrowed down your niche. You can hire it for the day, so no excuses.
#3 A tool for manipulating the Wordtracker data. If you know how to use a spreadsheet, then Excel or another spreadsheet program will help. However, more and more professionals are turning to Keyword Results Analyzer (KRA)because of the extra features it provides, and the ease with which you can find primary and secondary phrases to build themed pages.
That is my must-have tool list for getting your site built. However, now the work really begins. You need to work on the off-page factors. And that is where my fourth tool comes in.
#4 SEO Elite. This multi-purpose tool will help you carry out all of the tasks required when working on off-page factors.
This tool is a solid investment in your business, and one that is used by many professional SEOs around the world. With frequent updates, and new features being added regularly, SEO Elite really is a highly recommended tool.
#5 Autoresponder/newsletter script.
This is something you may or may not need at this stage. Autoresponders are invaluable in following up with your prospects, and exposing them repeatedly to your offerings.
Many web hosts include unlimited autoresponders, and even a newsletter feature in the hosting plan, so this is something you can save on to begin with. However, do read my caution about sending a newsletter from your own domain back in issue #95 (entitled “1. Spam Complaints – A Must Read for Ezine Publishers”). It may persuade you to get a third party to handle this for you.
I use Aweber for this purpose.
That’s it. That is the essential tool list.
Web Editor
Wordtracker
Spreadsheet or KRA
And later..
SEO Elite
Autoresponder/Newsletter tool.
Obviously you can leave SEO Elite to a later date when you have your site up and running. Even try to carry out the required off-page optimization by hand, and see how long it takes. Only then can you appreciate what SEO Elite can do for you.
Now, there are other pieces of software I could recommend (and software I use on a weekly or even daily basis), but these are all extras, and non-essential tools.
The above is my desert island wish list (together with an electrical point to plug my laptop into).
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4. Niche blueprint released
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On October 19th, I released a new niche blueprint.
This niche blueprint is an unusual one, in that very few affiliates have a site offering these products, despite the fact that there are a lot of affiliate programs for this niche.
The total niche has over 3000 phrases, of which 923 have been chosen as potentially good for writing articles. However, to make things easier still, I have included a Bonus Keyword List text file, where I have picked out over 150 phrases that would make great titles for articles. These 150+ phrases will add real content to your site, and help you avoid the “thin” affiliate trap.
Out of the entire 3000 keywords, over 600 of them having 1 or 0 competing pages in Google. How difficult would that be to rank #1 in Google for those terms?
965 of the phrases in this Blueprint have 10 or fewer competing pages in Google, 1321 with less than 100 competing pages, and 2216 of the phrases in this niche have fewer than 1000 competing pages in Google.
This Niche Blueprint can be used to create one large niche site, or several smaller, more focused sites. The choice is yours, and examples are given in the appropriate sections.
If you are interested in purchasing it, visit the Niche Blueprint homepage.
and click the link in the top right border to October #2.
You are automatically redirected to the download page after purchase so do not close your browser.
As always, only 100 will be sold.
Well, that’s it for another issue. If you want to read the recent issues of this newsletter, you can read them online at my blog:
http://ez-search-engine-optimization.com/blog/index.php
For older newsletters, you will need to visit the old marketing newsletter archives.
Have a great week!
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If you enjoyed this newsletter, please recommend it to your friends. Also if you have any tips of your own, questions or comments, please send then to me at webmaster@ez-search-engine-optimization.com. Any tips or questions & answers I print in this newsletter will also be put up on the web version of the newsletter with a link to your site
if you want it. That’s extra free traffic for your site as well as an incoming link to your site.
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