The SEO News Blog from Pat Marcello

So, Paul Easton is a very smart SEO, who lives in New Zealand. I met Paul a couple of years ago at a JV Alert Live event, and interviewed him for my teleseminar series. And, I’m on his list. He sends really cool shit and lots of great information. He handles a list as it’s meant to be handled, and I have a great deal of respect for him as a marketer and as an SEO.

Nice guy, too, by the way. Learn more about him at

http://www.DigitalAWOL.com/

Anyway, today, he sent out an email with a bunch of pretty cool tools, but here’s one you may want. It’s kind of like a Roboform for writers, and if you do a LOT of writing, like I do, it’s worth having.

The software is called “Type Pilot,” and it allows you to create phrases that you type over and over again and it just plugs them in for you when you type in a short keyword. So, for example, http://ListBuilding.com I type like, a LOT. So, I entered it, gave it the short phrase “lbc,” and now, when I type that and hit the space, the URL just appears. It’s sweet!

So, don’t say I never gave you anything. And thank my friend Paul. I already love this tool, and can see I’ll be buying it even before the day is done. Go visit his site. It’s totally worth your time.

Technorati Tags: seo, jv alert live, writing, software

Ever have one of THOSE days? Well… I did today. Nothing seemed to have been done right… out of my hands… just a victim of getting others to do things for you and not following up. Who’s court is the ball in ultimately? Mine, of course.

Or, how about those days when you don’t see any sales, no optins, nothing working no matter how hard you try! I get that. Been there…

I have a friend who’s vlog will totally pick you up and set you on the straight road again. Energy and how to channel it is important. But that’s only one aspect of her vlog that I know you’ll enjoy…

http://www.reneevations.com/vlog

Make your day!

What happens in an Internet marketer’s life when he doesn’t know what to do? I mean, what content can you create that will sell like hotcakes? What do people want to learn more about? And how do you find out?

Simple, run a survey or what Alex Mandossian calls an “Ask” campaign.

There are many ways to do this, and it really depends on the kind of survey you want to use to get the information. There are “fill in the blank” surveys and there are voting polls, right?

If you’re creating a new course, then the “fill in the blank” method is usually what works best. “What’s your most burning question about…” whatever it is you’re interested in promoting in your niche. But before you even get to that point, you probably want to take a poll.

MicroPoll is great for this. It’s a free service, and you can run a bunch of polls on your site for nada. You tell it what the topics are and it creates a radio-button widget for you where people can vote for their favorite topic.

Once you know what their favorite topic is, then you run the content survey. You can use services like ASK Database, Survey Monkey, or Survey Gizmo. These are all great for that type of campaign. The last two resources are free, ASK Database is not.

But what if you want to run a campaign that is more social? Then, you want User Voice, which gives you buttons that look much like Digg buttons for your site.

There are also many other ways to do this, and some of them involve installations. But for the simplest way to find out what your audience wants… these resources truly rock!

So, I was on a call today for the ListBuilding Club Ferrari Contest with Shawn Casey and he gave some really fantastic information about joint ventures.

His main point was, don’t just contact people to ask them to do something for you… Do something for them first, which is great advice, of course. And he went on to tell listeners everything about joint venturing like how to approach people, how to know if they will be good partners, how to get information about partners, and how to make joint ventures work well. Killer stuff. But then, who didn’t know that, right?

But then, he asked if I had anything to add, and well… how can you possibly improve on Shawn’s advice, right?

But then, I remembered what Tellman told me a long time ago, and that was that all joint ventures don’t include people with bigger lists mailing out for you, though that’s usually what new marketers think that joint venturing is all about.

The other side of that coin is where you joint venture because you need help. Maybe you aren’t a technical person and need help setting things up. Or, maybe you suck at copywriting, while someone else might be killer. I mean, there are so many reasons why you can partner up with people.

As Shawn mentioned today, a joint venture is where two or more people partner in business to achieve a mutual goal.

Sure, ad exchanges are joint ventures, or holding teleseminars for each other is a joint venture, or finding a business where you can help them to improve sales because of something you do better is a joint venture, too. But bonding with other folks to get your launch done is another cool way to JV. Don’t overlook it.

Did you ever have a day where everything seemed to go wrong? I mean, Mars must have entered my sign around lunchtime and since then… pfffttt!!!

So, I’d better not write anything serious here, or I’ll probably be wrong.

One thing I’d like to caution everyone on is in checking their sites periodically. I have egg on my face today because a customer bought one of my older products, and my bonuses are no longer working. Great, huh? I just lost the faith of one consumer, which means I will now have lost the faith of 27 other people. (That’s what one bad word of mouth issue can do for you.)

I, of course, offered another killer bonus in place of the one that was defunct, and a full refund, but the woman who bought my ebook will certainly not forget the incident. I’m hoping she’ll remember that I was responsive and offered a remedial solution and not the bad stuff.

But you just don’t know. I don’t blame her one hoot for being pissed off. Heck, I’m pissed off — at me!

So, let me remind those of you who have been online a while and have products out there with bonuses not to forget that sometimes bonuses change and you need to stay current. Update your sales letter and your bonus package as need be.

Because if you don’t…

It could cost you money and credibility. That’s NOT at all what you want. Arghhhhhhhhh!!!

SEO is a huge consideration in everything you do for your business. Using a blog? Obviously, SEO is important. Creating a squeeze page? SEO… Writing a sales letter… SEO… Twitter… SEO. Everything you do online is about you and your keywords.

And yes, even Twitter.

I’m all about blogging and SEO and people are beginning to know that because of all the stuff I have out there in regard to blogging and SEO. As a joke, I bought the domain BlogQueenoftheUniverse.com, which redirects to this blog. It was a joke, and my friends thought it was pretty funny. But…

I actually saw someone refer to me that way on Twitter the other day. How cool is that? I obviously know that I’m NOT the be all and end all of blogging. Nobody is, but becoming a presence and “branding” yourself as one thing or another is a huge part of making yourself successful.

So, who do you want to be? What’s your niche? Are you the “Hunting King?” or how about “The JV Queen,” like Gina Gaudio-Graves? Or the “Niche Prof,” like Ron Capps? Try to position yourself as the expert in whatever field you want to conquer and then, back it up.

If I knew nothing about blogging or SEO, it would be stupid for me to try and be the queen of those fields. People would guffaw, and I’m certain that the people who DO know more than me in those areas most certainly are already.

But I don’t care.

Those aren’t the people I’m trying to impress and help along the way. My target audience are new bloggers and people who are new to SEO and this whole Internet marketing world. To them, I am the Blogging Queen of the Universe because I totally know a LOT! Certainly not everything, but enough that I do seem like an expert to people learning this whole confusing world of IM.

So, who are you? Who’s your target audience and who do you want to be to them? That’s what you should be striving to establish. Learn all you can about your niche topic and then, use the appropriate keywords surrounding that area in everything you do.

You’ll be amazed at how people respond to your expertise. It won’t happen overnight. I’ve been at this 5+ years and only now are people starting to know who I am and what I do, and it’s pretty sweet. I love working with folks, and so coming to them with some credibility is very, very important. I never want to disappoint them — evah.

I was at a conference for Stomper Net where Leslie Rohde was saying that there were Black Hats, White Hats, and Grey Hats when it comes to SEO.  And that’s true. There are definite lines between white and black, but sometimes, the black and even grey areas can pay off in a big way.

But for how long? How long will spammy tactics work?

Only until Google figures out what’s going on and then, slams the hammer down on you.

They’re doing it again. (Check out Jason Lee Miller’s article in Web Pro News today here.) And you know, for once, I’m saying, “You go, Google!”

Really.

I mean, I look at things people do around the Web to try and yank Google’s chain and I can’t really blame the search giant for being pissed off. This time, it’s “gangs” who are using Web 2.0 sites to send tons of bogus links back to their sites, where malware and scareware is showing up. And, the sites are showing at the top of web pages, not with one link, but several of them.

This reminds me of Howie Schwartz. I don’t mean that he has malicious sites. He’s just a marketer trying to make a buck. But his tactics are to use all these Web 2.0 sites to send tons and tons of links to Google so that he’s showing up in the first several spots on a page for his keywords. At first glance, it’s all pretty slick and he’s making a lot of money. So, you’re thinking, Wow! I could do that, right?

But think about this: Google catches on to what you’re doing and guess what? All that work is down the tubes. Not only that, but if Google catches on to who you are, you could find yourself on the Google hit list. Who needs that? I’d hate to be banned from the search results for.ever.

Well, forever is a long time and it’s not really that tough to change spots, but I just can’t see doing a ton of work that eventually doesn’t pay off. I’m in this for the long haul, so to me, getting things done naturally within Google’s guidelines is the way to go. It’s just more efficient, right? I’d rather do the work once, and have it last. If you’re smart, you’ll avoid all the schemes and go for the steady on, too.