The Importance of Tags

When I first started blogging, I had no clue what the term "tag" meant. Each time I posted an entry, I just ignored that step and published my posts. During that time, I received very little traffic at my blog.

One day I finally decided to figure out what a tag was and why I should include them in my posts. Basically, tags (sometimes called labels or keywords) are another way to optimize your search engine rankings. If you write a blog post about how to make homemade peanut butter, you might include "homemade peanut butter" as one of the tags. When someone types "homemade peanut butter" into a search engine, your blog could very well pop up at the top of the list!

It's a good idea to include several tags with each and every post you write. I advise that you include at least 3, but no more than 6. The more tags you have, the more traffic you'll generate. If you have too many tags, it'll be considered spam by the search engines.

Now for a little story. Last week, I received an interesting comment over at my sewing blog. This person found my blog through an Internet search and was very interested in one of the handmade items that I sell. After some e-mails and sewing, I made a sale. There you go. The power of tags. Use them, and use them wisely!

Squidoo Part 2

Last week, I wrote a little bit about the power of Squidoo. It's a fantastic site. Just sign up and begin creating a webpage with unique content about something you're interested in. For me, that's Internet marketing (and sewing!--I'll be creating a lens for that soon). Anyways, a Squidoo page (or "lens") is a great way to promote your online business.

In the world of Internet marketing, it's all about getting your business webpage link out there! The more places you can promote it, the higher up your search engine ranking will be.

Like I mentioned before, the trick to being successful with Squidoo is to create more than one lens. Also, designate a main lens that you want to put most of your time and effort into. It's essential to update all of your lenses, but especially your main one. Create and update! That's the key to making Squidoo work for you.

Note that you become an "expert" on a certain topic when you create a Squidoo lens. Be sure to focus your lenses around one or two topics. You can't be an "expert" on everything!

Yesterday I spent some time updating my main lens. After doing so, the number of views my lens received tripled in just 24 hours. There's a lot to be said about updating the lens. Keep with it, and you'll begin driving an insane amount of traffic from your Squidoo lens to your business website in very little time.

Under the Weather

I'm not feeling so well today. For the past few weeks, I've experienced very minor cold symptoms. Now it seems I finally have a full-fledged cold. No worries, though. I don't have to call in sick and worry about pissing off my boss--I am the boss!

Last week I wrote a short blog post about "freedom". Now I'm experiencing it. Since I'm working from home, I was able to sleep in this morning. I needed it! Now I'm jamming out a blog post and updating my Squidoo lens for My Internet Business.

I feel a nap coming on, so I think I'll wrap this one up quickly. Hope the cold hasn't visited you this season!

Article Marketing

I love to write! It's one of my greatest passions and gifts. Recently, I learned that article marketing is an outstanding way to promote an online business. I'm positively thrilled! I can combine one of my passions with "work" (My Internet Business) and sit back as my main business website climbs up in the search rankings.


Today I finished and submitted by second article to Ezine articles. (Psst... If you're looking for a way to promote your business, be sure to sign up for this fanastic site and get writing!). My first submission is about to go live, and now there's another submission right behind it. This is a great way to market online. Write articles, and write frequently.

The best thing is that you can write about the things that are most meaningful to you. Did you finish reading a great book? Write and submit a review! Do you have some advice for novice Internet marketers? Write and submit an article! Out of all the ways to market online, article marketing is one of my favorites. Try it out for yourself, and watch the traffic flood in!

Flexibility

I consider myself a very fortunate person. Due to this, I give back to my community each year through donations. It's one way to help those who are struggling through hard times.

Now that my son attends preschool, I am becoming a more active volunteer in my community. This holiday season, I'm volunteering 15 hours each week at a gift wrap station. The proceeds benefit a local nonprofit that provides emergency and long-term shelter to abused and neglected children. It's a very reqarding experience. I fully intend to actively volunteer in my community throughout 2009.

One reason I can do so is because of the flexibility that working from home offers. I can set my own schedule and get done everything that needs doing. As long as I devote a solid 2-3 hours each day towards Internet marketing for My Internet Business, I can fit in fun and rewarding activities throughout the rest of the day.

Squidoo

Squidoo is a fantastic Internet marketing tool. If you were to do an Internet search using Google, it's quite likely that someone's Squidoo page would show up within the first 3 pages of the search. If the great name isn't enough, then perhaps the sheer power of this site (in terms of high search engine rankings) will astound you!

I started up my own Squidoo lens yesterday. ("Lens" is their term for "page". Cute, huh?) This website is a cinch to use. Complete the basic sign-up process, write up a short introduction, then add some content to your lens. The trick to Squidoo is that you need to continually update your lens to keep it fresh and driving traffic to your business website. You'll want to designate a flagship lens. Yes, flagship. In order to take full advantage of Squidoo, you will need an entire fleet of related lenses that all link back to your main lens and to your My Internet Business capture page.

I'll write more about my tips and experiences with Squidoo in the future. For now, though, start up your flagship lens and get going on this opportunity!

Video Marketing

Ultimately, the goal of running a web-based business is to drive lots of traffic to your website. The more traffic heading your way, the more sales you'll make! There are a lot of different things you can do to increase your traffic, as well as increase your search engine ranking.

One way that I am currently exploring is video marketing. Now, I'm a fairly shy person. For weeks, I adamantly refused to create a video promoting My Internet Business. I figured it'd be good enough to just focus on the other aspects of Internet marketing, like blogging and article writing.

Well, I've wised up recently. Video marketing is phenominally powerful! It's the best way to connect with your target market. Since so much business is done over the Internet, if can often feel like you're interacting with a machine and not a live person. Well, video marketing solves that issue. With a short video, you can reach out to your target market and say, "Hey! I'm a real person, and not much different than you! You, too, can be successful with a web-based business!" People will be far more likely to do business with someone if they can see them first.

I'll be making my first video this evening. By mid-week, I hope to have it edited and live on the Internet. Surprisingly, I'm not feeling nervous about it at all! I'm so excited and can't wait to get this show on the road!