So this post is to simply test on of my lovely plugins. I’m sure I will delete it soon. But if you clicked on the link, Hi! and feel free to check out the rest of my site before I delete this.

Vic

A majority of the traffic to The Wealth Spa comes in via this “organic” Google traffic, but this was not always true. Here are some tips to make full use of your articles so you don’t waste the benefits of all your hard work.

1. Power Your Website Using WordPress (behind the scenes)

Google loves blogs – it indexes them faster and checks them more often for new information. If you host your articles on a site using blogging software, google will find those articles faster and it is much more likely they will appear when people search for your most important/relevant words (keywords).

But your website doesn’t have to LOOK like a blog to be POWERED by blog software. You don’t need that ugly one-column, ordered by date, unprofessional look — your site can look like a magazine, a corporate site, or whatever you want — and still be a “blog” underneath.

2. Use the Right Permalinks

Sorry to get a bit technical on you — permalinks are permanent website html links that are not those weird coded, computer-generated links with tons of symbols or weird numbers. If you have a blog, the html link of each page will be a weird code (domain.com/?=234) unless you change it to something that a human (and google!) can read. For example, a recent post on my site was thewealthspa.com/rock-star instead of thewealthspa.com/?=301.

I recommend that your permalinks should be simply the title of your article, which works especially great if the title of your article has good keywords (see tip 3). Not only will this help google to find your article and increase it’s relevance in google’s eyes, but it will also make it much easier for human beings to link to you.

3. Write for Long Keyword Phrases

It’s going to be difficult for you to get traffic for using words like “money” or “diet” — too many people are trying to get traffic for those keywords. But if you are writing articles for long or specific search phrases, like “christian financial advisor in St. Louis” or “what’s the difference between a trademark and a copyright” it’s much easier to get the traffic.

How to research keywords is too much to cover here, but once you have thought of some good keyword phrases, use those words in your title and similar or related words especially in the first sentence/paragraph of your article. Another great tip is to use a picture that describes those keywords, and name the photo file with those search terms.

4. Link to Good Resources

Depending upon the topic of your article, there may be a few (3 or less) resources that would be helpful to a reader of your article. These resources may include government documents, a news article on cnn.com, a book on amazon.com, a video posted on youtube, or a recent study on the website of a university. Think of valuable resources you would share with a friend or client who is research the subject of your article.

Don’t over-do this tip, but if you give a few links inside your article to these type of “authority” websites, it can help google to release that your website is also an authority. But make sure to link to specific resources on the same topic (“deep link”) or google will think you are just trying to fool them with useless links.

©2009 Elizabeth Potts Weinstein
www.TheWealthSpa.com

Lynn Rae Designs offers two types of website design services: Standard Sites (static) and WordPress Sites (dynamic). Here’ s a little more detail as to the difference between the two.

Static Sites. A static site is web site that does not make use of server-side scripting or coding to display information. Typical examples of static sites include small business’ web sites that act basically as on-line brochures. [Source: Wikipedia – learn more on the Static Site wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_site ] Static sites are good for those who have some html/coding experience or who have content that will not frequently change.

Lynn Rae Designs utilizes HTML/XHTML compliant code, CSS and tables to design static sites. While there are many different ways to build a website, we have found that simple is best – using standard code, CSS and basic table layouts, you have a site that is supported by most browsers and can be easily maintained by your in house website manager or an outside designer. We organize your file structures on your server so files are easy to find and edit. We include the template files so adding a new page to your site is easy. All design files and templates are stored on your server for future updates and can be easily edited. All sites are Search Engine Optimized and submitted to search engines at launch. We offer website analytics set up and recommend utilizing analytics and marketing software programs (like Hubspot http://www.hubspot.com/ ) to maintain your site and increase traffic.

Dynamic Sites: A dynamic site is a web site that displays information that changes using server-side code, generally with information retrieved from a database. [Source: Wikipedia. Learn more on the Dynamic Site wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_web_page ] Dynamic sites are good for those who have little html/coding experience but who want to change/update their site frequently. Dynamic sites have the capacity to include a huge number of features not normally/easily available on static sites.

Lynn Rae Designs utilized the WordPress CMS for all dynamic sites. We chose WordPress because of its popularity, ease of use and availability of features, themes, plug-ins and support forums.

Dynamic site design begins by choosing a theme to use as the basis for your site design. Once a theme is chosen, we manipulate the theme to custom design your site. We currently have a developer’s license for the Revolution 1 & 2 themes and the Thesis theme. You can choose to begin your project using any of the free themes available online, the Revolution 1 & 2 themes or the Thesis theme. If you would like to use a premium theme not on our developers list, additional licensing fees may occur.

Once the design of the site is completed, we begin customizing the layout and pages to suit your specific needs. Uploading content begins once the layout and structure of the site is complete. To reduce costs, you can choose to upload your content. The WordPress CMS includes WYSIWYG software to help you create the right look for your pages.

Learn more about CMS platforms: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_management_system

Even for someone with no experience with CMS, WordPress is an easy learn, and support/training is available quickly through many sites on the web. Check out wordpress.org for more details on the WordPress CMS: http://codex.wordpress.org/Working_with_WordPress

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Our project turnaround varies by project, but with quick feedback and participation from our clients, some full websites can be launched in as little as 1 week.

The cost for a full website design, static or dynamic, varies based on the complexity of the project. Request a custom quote for your project by filling out our online website questionnaire.

Ready? Sign Up Now!

Here’s some articles from a past issue of Gears so you can see what awesome information you will be getting:

March 2009 – Sales Pages:

Are You Writing in Your Own Voice?

One recommendation you may have heard is to “model” other sales pages – check out the sales page of a great marketer (especially someone whom you’ve bought from, or who targets the same audience) and copy not the words, but the overall format of the page: where to tell the story, where to add graphics/audio/videos, how to add testimonials, how to describe the “investment” price, and how to format the signup box. But if you just model that other person’s sales page, you must lose the one factor that will convert your leads into customers — your voice.

My first sales pages were very similar to Ali Brown’s high-coverting, proven sales pages for her products and seminars (most of which I’ve bought!). Of course, the graphics and words were all mine, but the rhythm was hers. It did not “feel” like my blog, my eZine, or my radio show. There was nothing wrong with the formatting, or graphics, or layout of the page … but it felt very different than my other communications with my prospects and clients. It did not feel like me.

A few years later, after studying copywriting (and reading a zillion sales letters), when I sat down to write the sales letter for The Money Tree System I did not review or model anyone else’s letter. I just wrote a letter that was very similar to what I would say to someone with the problem that’s solved by my product. Since I knew the “parts” of a sales letter, nothing got let out … and I could always go and add any missing “parts” (testimonials, addressing objections) after the fact.

So as you are sitting down to write your next sales letter, I recommend to first just write a letter you would write to someone who has the problem that’s solved by your product or service — as if you are writing your “story” just to that one person, representative of your target audience. You can always add in headers, testimonials, graphics, and the fancy stuff after the fact … but start with your story and your voice.

~Elizabeth Potts Weinstein, JD
www.TheWealthSpa.com

Stylin’ Sales Page Tips:

Think Outside The Box! I mean that literally as most sales pages are set up as a long box of content, centered on the browser screen. There are things you can do outside of that box to boost your visibility. First off, make the background around your box of content pleasing to the eye – you can choose a background color that makes your content “pop” or add a graphic (such as you logo) watermarked on the background. Repetition of your brand is always good. Don’t make the mistake of having your background color be too bold – an obnoxious bright red may make people uneasy and leave the site.

Adding your site navigation menu along the bottom of the page can help increase your traffic as well – if someone is leery about signing up for your offer they may want to investigate who you are a bit more, and adding your site navigation gives them a way to see who you are and what you do.

Add bookmarking links above the content. I recently had a client ask me to add bookmarking links to her page – an idea I had not thought of before! After a bit of research, I found that adding links to diggit, reddit, twitter, facebook (the list goes on) is a very easy way to give people the option to spread the word about your product or offer. Most bookmarking sites have the link code available on their site so all you have to do is copy and paste it into your code!

Say “no!” to clipart! Be mindful of the graphics you add to your sales page. The days of Power Point stick figures are over. With all of the stock photography and stock graphics sites out there, you can add very professional looking images to your sales page with little to no cost to you. People can tell the difference between clipart from Word and professionally designed graphics. In addition to content-driven graphics, if you are selling (or offering for free) an eBook or Audio program, having a 3D graphic custom made to fit that product helps the visitor visualize what they are going to get by signing up.

Personalize! Adding your image, signature or video to the sales page helps the visitor feel connected to you and helps to build the relationship. Show your visitors the results you got from your system or product by adding pictures of you enjoying the benefits (like an image of your vacation house or you having a great time doing something resulting from using this product)

Match their investment to yours. This is especially true for sales pages where you are selling a product (rather then building a list and offering a freebie) – if you have a basic, content rich sales page with little customization, no graphics and no personalization you can give the impression to your visitors that this product is not worth your own time and money!! If it looks like you only spent 15 minutes creating your sales page, there is a good chance people will not be willing to invest hundreds of $$ to your product.

Be mindful of your content. You may have spent hours developing great copy to sell your product, but if you do not format the content correctly, chances are no one will have the patience to read through all of it. Use an easy to read font (like Veranda or Tahoma), don’t let your paragraphs go too long (break up paragraphs into 2-3 sentence statements), use headers and subheaders, & bullet points.

Is your current sales page set up to perform? Get a free sales page analysis by emailing victoria@lynnraedesigns.com and submitting your sales page. We will review your design and content and let you know what areas you can work on to improve your conversion rates!

~Victoria Potts Keale
www.LynnRaeDesigns.com