Sometimes I see people registering these keyword rich domains because there trying to rank them, and I made the same mistake quite honestly when I first started my company on the web and believe me it was the biggest mistake I ever made I almost went under when I mean under I had no traffic and no calls for three straight weeks, your probably asking why?

Well what happen was I registered a domain that was keyword rich, and then I had to 301 redirect it to our brand name domain. The reason for this being is because our domain was ugly, sloppy, and long plus people got confused. People would call me and be like is this Indiana website design company.

I’m thinking to my self no, and then I really started to get frustrated with it and reminded my self just how important branding was so we 301 redirected indianawebsitedesign.net to dewittsmedia.com and relieve was in the air I had a a nice sexy brand name domain that represented our company, but the down fall was horrible we lost all of our rankings for 3 months and then all suddenly it came back up in the search engines, but it took sometime to level out.

When choosing a domain name focus on your brand name domain try to get your keywords in there if you can, but don’t get all caught up on it which granted domain names can have some weight on your ranking ability, but like I said a brand domain name is more important then a keyword rich domain name any day. I mean think about would you want every one else thinking your company name was something else after you have hit your growth spurts and people begin to talk about you?

If anything is more time consuming and complicated its building website rankings strategically through search engines. If any one would know I would know this and any other great SEO (Search Engine Optimization) expert someone that is very well experience can tell you getting traffic to your website takes time speaking your getting it through organic search.

When your building your website stay focused and don’t give up specially on a new domain. On new domains they take a lot of time to build up thats for damn sure excuse my language, but they honestly do. I’ve seen new domains go from no where to number 1 for very competitive keywords, but it took some time and a lot of dedication and when I mean dedication I mean a lot of work, no joke.

That can be another issue out in the web 2.0 space a lot of people think there going to jump on and make a million bucks in a month. I had a prospect call me the other day and I think he would make a great client, but he told me he wanted 25 leads per week, and then said if I could get that many leads per week everything would be changing around here and I’ve had many other people call and ask the same thing and they have a brand spanking new domain.

Which granted someone can get that many extra leads per weak maybe through PPC (Pay Per Click) or paying for traffic somewhere, but if someone is wanting it from organic search it will take time. Sometimes it can take a good year or two to actually get good traffic just to be on the safe side I generally tell someone a good two years unless there willing to pay out some major bucks and we can put our brains into it and work like we never have before, but then again chances are it will take time for them leads to come in heavily.

So if your someone building links and wondering why your not getting no results well relax it takes time. When I say time I mean it takes a lot of your time and dedication you need to give it everything you got and thats no joke, but the outcome is astonishing.

Now if you have a old domain thats dated back to 1998 then your in super good hands a domain age like this can be very easy to rank on certain terms and requires 10 times less work. Don’t take me wrong it still will take some work to get the traffic coming in, but less work.

I had one client that was ranking on very competitive brand name keywords, but his domain was dated back to 1996 and the guy hardly had no links what so ever, but when we would put a link up against his website it would rank for that given keyword like you wouldn’t believe I mean with 10 links it would rank for pratically any long tail and check this out the guy was the largest reseller for Hallmark Ornaments if that gives you any idea on what type of business he was conducing through organic search engines.

Now we’ve also went up against sites that are about 5 years old and they do pretty good, but most generally sites around that 1-2 year age frame just don’t rank that well any more; in other words, like they use to in the old days. In the old days you could throw a site up and build links into it and rank it because the search engines measured things a little differently.

Which granted don’t take me wrong you can get some good traffic with then 1 year or so, but you better plan on working your tail off and getting a bunch of links because like I stated earlier a new domain requires 10 times more work then a old domain I seen it every day I do this for a living.

The whole reason I decided to write this post up is to give you some insight on whats going on and just to remind any one that is trying to make a living through the web or start a online company just give it time and things will start to happen it just takes a lot of work and dedication to build a profitable websites through search engines or blogs. Also be sure to keep in mind older domains rank better then newer domains and if your domain is younger then 2 years then you better work your tail off to get it going because new domains like that are very hard to rank.

Networking on the web is vitally important you can manage a lot of things by networking such as creating more friends that will spread your name for you. I know I have made a lot of friends on the web and they send me clients and talk good about me on the, so its a plus plus by every means. If your wondering how you can meet new friends through the web 2.0 sphere and network with new people its simple take a look below and I’ll get more into details on how you can network with people. (more…)

Link baiting is an art of its self which granted its a lot easier to get a piece promoted if you have a community built up on your website, but there is ways around this it just takes a lot of practice and thats about with anything thats going to make you a lot of money or I should create you a lot of links the thing is about link bait is that its similar to almost any form of viral marketing, but your doing it through the web it might be a little different, but your still creating something unique and one of a kind.

The secret to link baiting is to create something a piece that almost has a personality something thats going to come out and literally grab the user into it. When you grab the user you got them in your control and it can be done very easily, but you have to think of how you can do this.

Tips on Creating the Art of Link Bait

• Videos: If at all possible and its applicable use a viral video. I’ve seen some amazing stuff done with videos I’ve even drawn some major attention through videos.
• Images: Of course use images, use images that are related to your post. Images bring that creativeness look out.
• Creative Writing: Try to use creative writing if at all possible. When you write try to write with creativeness the idea is to attach your audience into your piece.
• The Title: Use a interesting title, try to use something that will guide your audience into reading your piece if you can pursued the mind into your piece your in the game, but keep in mind you got to keep that piece looking like an art of its own.

What drives people into linking to you?

• News: News is always a good thing to release if you have done something interesting or know of something that is interesting and you think its going to create major buzz in the web 2.0 space then write about it just drive people nuts over it.
• Controversy: Create controversy through the web 2.0 space be careful don’t create controversy in the wrong manner I’d have to say I’ve done this a few times, but then again depends on where you create the controversy at I’ve created some major controversy that has created buzz, but it happen on accident and most generally stuff like that does happen on accident, but then again practice and you’ll get it.
• Contrary: Create contrary this could lead to a controversy effect in a way. If you disagree with something, but every one else is agreeing disagree as soon as you disagree your in the game now its up to you to take over from this point on.
• Humor: This can be very effective, but then again depends on what niche your in generally humor hooks happen on You Tube and similar sites to that nature.

How do you promote your link bait?

• PPC (Pay Per Click): You can use pay per click to promote link bait through, it will be costly, but if you have the money go for it and start driving your art down that channel and see what type of results you get.
• Social Network: You can use social networks such as Forums, Digg, Reddit, and etc to promote your link bait. I know I have created major buzz in forums like Digital Point and etc and didn’t even mean to I got one thread locked actually a quite of few of them locked because so many people were replying and at the same time it was making my feed go up, so social networks can be effective of course specially Digg you got to have one hell of a title to get it though.
• News Sites: Do you have something that will catch large news sites attention if so send it to the editors and try to grab there attention. I mean just think of way you can grab there attention. The idea is to get them to write about it with out them even realizing what your doing. Next thing you know you got ever major news sites writing about you and your link bait.

Promoting your link bait should be pretty simple you just got to find out what works for you and work it. I’ve heard people telling me PPC has worked for them on certain occasions, so there numerous ways of promoting it. If you already have a community built up on your site then you got it made because when you have the community already built its a lot easier of getting links and promoting link bait because you already have 1000’s of people seeing your craft.

There is several ways of improving blog post quite honestly, but the ways I find most effective is by giving your blog a personality. Give it something that people will fill connected to for example take your time out below to read the tips I’ve listed.

• Use Images: This is very effective use images in your post try to make them correlate with whatever its setting by for example if your writing a post up on football why not use some images that relate to football, use a image that is most relative to the paragraph beside it what this does is increases the sensors int he mind and makes the individual feel more connected at certain times which granted you don’t have to use images every time, but it sure does help specially with link bait pieces.
• Use Video: If at all possible use video with your blogs, or better yet use some videos on certain days. This is very effective specially after you have your community built up you can use video to keep people hooked I think SEOMOZ has done a great job of this and I notice a lot of other well known industry blogs starting it to.
• Use Excellent grammar and Write with Sparkle: This is something I need to check into more often and thats my grammar I’ll be honest sometimes I get lazy and it gets bad. Which granted I can write very good when I feel like it I’ve read some post I’ve written and I’m thinking damn I wrote that and then I look at some and I’m like oh my did I actually write that I think a lot of people do this to a degree, but the idea when writing to be honest is to write very professional and think creative this will improve your post big time.
• Be honest in your post: When your writing try to be more communicative with the people maybe talk about your self a little, but at the same time talk with your people don’t get to caught up on being so selective over everything I guess you could call it.
• Write with Passion: I think this plays a big role when posting when writing try to write with passion, so in other words write the actual way you feel about things thats what a blog is for which you don’t have to make every post like that, but do a few here and there so you can hook people into them.
• Re-Write Post: Try tor rewrite certain post its ok to write about the same thing, but try to mix things up and think of how your going to improve that next post.
• Link Out As much As Possible: I’ll admit believe it or not this is something else we need to work on, but linking out is great for blogger it gives you a way to connect with other people and to show link love.

Conclusion
There is several ways of improving your blog post, but the main idea really is to try to give your blog a viral approach, make it creative as possible. Something that will hook your users into reading it whenever your at the store take a look at magazines and pay attention to how they word things along with using images most generally popular magazines always got a hook one way or another the people that study the market of the magazines put a lot of hours of thinking of how there going to hook people into reading them or I should say at least catching there attention in the store, so in other words you can learn a lot from magazines and similar things.

Making money on the web is simple, specially when it comes to millions. The thing is a lot of people give up before they even get there, put it this way if you was to start a small business in your local town chances are it would take 10 times longer to get it going, but with the web you really don’t have to invest money to get started like you would starting a business out on the street.

When starting a local business it can be a complicated task because you need money to rent a building and etc, but with the web you can start a blog or start networking with people from the convenience of your own home (you just need a computer). I don’t know I just find it a lot more easier and less complexed starting a online business Vs a local business which granted you might have to learn a lot more such as in trades on the web maybe programming, online marketing, designing websites and etc, but reguardless nothing can out beat your trades you can develop on the web.

Another great thing about the web is you’ll find your self networking with some of the biggest millionaires out there unlike you would in your local town and plus a lot of well knowns search marketers including my self have blogs and you can learn from these blogs. I mean think about it where can you go to find information in your local town to start a business maybe grab some information off the web or something, but when working on the web you develop techniques that no one could teach you if you ask me to be honest with you.

Now if your thinking how do I make money on the web thats cool I use to wonder the same thing when I first started in this industry, but now I am doing 10 times as much as I use to our company is growing non stop and I see the potential to be huge and I’m only 23 years old which I come from a very business background all my family runs there own business my fathers best friend is a multi millionaire that runs a fortune 500 company well he sold it, but anyways back to what I’m saying if your wanting to make money on the web develop a niche that will work your going to need a seed in your business somewhere to leverage other services into profits.

Get into the community there is nothing else better you could do, joining communities and meeting other people is a hell of a learning experience. If it wasn’t for some of the people I’ve met on the web in the pass year I probably wouldn’t still be in business to be honest, but our growth has went up majory in these pass 6 months were still small, but were growing for the most part and for some odd reason I feel like 2008 is going to blow up.

Another important role would be to subscribe to blogs as many as you can don’t get caught up on the popular blogs which there all great blogs and you will learn a lot from very popular SEO’s, but keep in mind don’t get caught up with everything you read so in other words use your own judgment some things might work better for you then what they will for other people for example someone could be dishing something and saying it don’t work, but the same technique is is making you over 1k plus a day in profit, so use your judgment and focus on what works for you.

The idea behind reading other peoples blogs is creating ideas and watching what goes on out there, but honestly if you ask me marketing is about momentum, leverage, and branding. I mean with momentum you create the channels that your traffic comes through then you leverage it into sales, other services, other areas of your business, and etc.

Branding on the other hand is something you will want to do to create a strong business model, you want to build a strong name in the web space. When you have a very well established brand most generally you can charge what you want because people much whether pay you to take care of things because they know you’ll take care of them and honestly thats another important thing about building a strong brand is to give results to your clients when your giving results to your clients your building there loyalty up.

There is nothing better a business can have then customer loyalty someone that always comes back no matter whats going on, but this is something you have to build with then your inner brand just produce quality services and it will come together and make sure you keep tight communications with your people this will really help.

Why not build a ever lasting brand like I’ve mentioned many times. The benefits of having a strong brand name are ever lasting for many reasons. For example I was just over at v7n.com and someone was worried about hiring a SEO company because they didn’t offer any guarantees which is cool and everything, but if that company had enough brand exposure the individual probably wouldn’t be asking that, but then again that could depends maybe the individual is new to the search marketing industry, but either way having a strong brand has its benefits.

When your out building your brand keep in mind such as things as 200 percent customer satisfaction, when I mean 200 percent your clients should be leaving with a smile on there face, thats what you want. The reason being is because it will lift your brand and give you exposure if you have someone talking highly about your product and referring people you will grow very fast for many reasons 1. you can charge what you want to charge in a manner, 2. People will have trust in your brand because they know of people thats already dealt with you and you’ve gave them results.

Believe it or not I’ve talked to a lot of search marketing companies and not to down talk any one, but I think any SEO guru would know this some SEO companies out there really don’t even give results they might optimized your page content, header tags, and etc then send you on your way and here at DeWitt’s we would never treat a client like that we would much whether be honest with them and tell them there looking at 50k plus for one years of work instead of charging them 5k for onsite optimization that don’t give them results.

When you have brand and people are referring you clients specially bigger players in the industry you know your doing something right.  Some other helpful tips that will help make your brand stick out is things such as listing certifications on your site, testimonials, and similar things to that nature which you don’t have to list that exact stuff, but think of stuff that will make you look like a recognized leader in your field, so in other words take control, be honest, and give results to your consumers.

Generating leads on the web today is easier then every if you ask me the reason being is because so many people are searching now days. I mean the market zone is pratically held by Google, Yahoo, MSN and other major search engines which of course Big Daddy Google has gotten them all beat on market share of course.

If your someone on the web trying to generate more leads there is things you should keep in mind. If you take a look below I listed some fine points you must take into consideration.

1. Design and Usability: Make sure your website has a unique design don’t use something thats pre-built, use a customized design that will fit into your market place. When your customizing something your leading your direction so in other words your rilling your consumers in the way they need to be rilled in and giving them what they want at the same time, so the effects of this would be considered a positive market being built up.
2. Landing pages: Make sure your landing pages are designed for users, also don’t get too carried away with forms that people have to fill out alls you need is maybe there phone number, description, and e-mail adders. I mean what else do you need just try to keep it simple and don’t go to far out on them.
3. Brand Awareness: Try to create landing pages built around your brand. For example if you have a popular brand or your brand has been successful in a lot of areas through out the web or in general markets make sure you list this through out your content zones of your website.
4. Think About your Market and Your User:  When your getting a website built, or your building a website define your markets and define your users. This would almost fall back under the category of structuring your company for your certain market place. Just try to keep market and users into mind when designing for a lead generation page.

Conclusion
There is several factors to keep in mind, but the main idea is to design your website for your vertical market. You need to define who you are or I should say what your brand is about such as characteristics and motive of your brand. See the idea behind it is almost like bringing something alive, but your bringing a name alive into a market zone so its almost like a real living organ that will fit into a certain market.

There is several ways of making money online and the best thing the internet can be used for is 24/7 income. Some people define there every day living of working hard, and some people define there working as putting a bunch of effort into something for a long time before they actually start getting paid and maybe even longer so they can create passive incomes.

Generally when someone creates a passive income they work very hard to create that channel, but the results can be astonishing. I mean think of it wouldn’t you like to make money to do nothing, I mean who wouldn’t. The thing is a lot of people really don’t have the desire or won’t put the effort into creating a passive income model and it can be done very easily.

I was actually explaining today to someone in my family about a passive income VS working every day hourly and I don’t think they really understood where I was coming from, but yet they want a better paying job, but its like they don’t understand you have to work really hard before you start to get results and then once you start getting results you can leverage it into a more of passive income business model.

When I stated the internet is great for a passive income, the reason being is because a lot of things online is already being generated some how or another take for example affiliate marketing this can be a very powerful way to make money online and a lot of people have been successful at it, but if you really focus in a lot of these people that are into the affiliate game have put years of time into what they do to get wealthy or to make a great living, so in other words it don’t happen over night just keep your focus and keep moving forward and focus on what works for you, and this is the same thing I do

I notice a lot of websites don’t have blogs, but to be honest I think there excellent thing to have on every website. You can build buzz around your brand and tailor your readers into your products. There is just so many positives about having them plus it creates buzz through news sites which can result in more media through places such as TV news, magazines, and etc speaking your good enough, anyways read on I’ll give you some reasons why you should have a blog installed.

1. Link Bait Creation: Building a strong blog can create link bait specially with viral content. The idea behind link bait is to focus on high quality linkable content your not going to get links off every single post you make, but practice makes perfect. The idea is to promote an image that people will like and link to, kind of hard to explain I’m sure if you practice you’ll get the hang of it.
2. Building Buzz: You can use blogs to build buzz around your products or brand. Building buzz with blogs creates major shake in the web 2.0 sphere. When you build buzz around your brand it gives your brand more of a spark instead of generic looking brand that has no awareness.
3. Leverage makes Sales: Once you have a blog built up you can leverage it around your products. Theres even tons of sites like John Chow, Shoe Money, and etc that use blogs to make affiliate conversions through monetization of ads. John Chow is more into this then Shoe from what I know (in the blogsphere anyways).
4. Networking and Connections: Blogs are great for networking you can build major friendship with other major news sites or even just the general blog population.
5. Brand Awareness: Blogs can build your brand, building a strong blog will get your brand name promoted more through social networks then not having one.
6. Build Popularity: Blogs will build popularity whether it being your name or your brand name which I have mentioned, but if you want popularity in the web 2.0 space use a blog and leverage your self with it. The results can leave you astonished in a good way.
7. Promote and Shows your Skills: You can use blogs to show and promote your skills. You can basically brand your skills all you want and what you’ve done and this will result in even more buzz.

Conclusion
There is numerous things blogs are great for and would take me all night to list every single thing in depth. The web 2.0 space has sparked with blogs to be honest seems like every one and there brother has a blog of some type, and its a excellent way for companies to connect with there consumers through the web, so give it a show and if you don’t have a blog install one and start writing.