Negative Keywords: Not a Bad Thing!

Ah, yes. One of my favorite, and most often misinterpreted, tools in Google AdWords. Now . . . this entry does assume you have at least a basic background in Google AdWords, so keep that in mind. If you do know Google AdWords, or have wrestled with them before, this will prove to be a valuable tool.

Negative keywords are words you can add to your campaigns to make Google show your ad less. And, believe it or not, this is a good thing.

Why? Well, you will choose words that will prevent your Ad from showing. For example, by putting in the word "free" as a negative keyword, people who searched for your website keywords, but used the word "free" (for example, "free camping gear"), wouldn't see your website Ad. It just wouldn't come up.

That's the first important step. You wouldn't pay for this person to come upon your site -- they're clearly not a "buyer." They're looking for a free gift, or perhaps free information or a something similar. It's not that it's horrible if they ran across your site. You just don't want them doing it on your dime.

Beyond that, these people are less likely to click on a "sales-pitch" type Ad anyway, so by not showing your Ad to them, you are increasing your CTR (or "Click Through Rate"). A better Click Through Rate will actually lower your cost per click with Google.

Here's how you add negative keywords to your campaign:

• Go to the Keywords section of any given AdGroup.
• Use the "quick add" option for your keywords.
• Type in the minus sign (-), followed by any keywords you want as negative keywords.
• Here are a few negative keywords that are a good idea to use: free, info, information, image, images, pic, picture, wiki.

So, there's a basic overview. If you want to learn more about how a quality coaching company can help your business soar, simply visit www.thriveli.com.

How frequently should I update my site?

Whether you have a blog or a website, you will want to update it semi-frequently. The main reasons for this are that Google and other search engines will declare a website "dead" once it has been unchanged for too long.

There are different schools of thought on exactly how often you should update your site, but research has shown that updating your site once per week in some way helps to increase your search engine ranking.

However, they have also found that updating your website once every three weeks is almost as effective in helping your search engine optimization.

So, what is the best thing to do? Well, opinions differ, but generally speaking, as long as you're making some minor updates about once every three weeks, you should be fine. This can mean adding or removing an image, changing text slightly, or anything similar. Don't change your site too drastically! Remember, you want to be able to keep track of your successes and failures, and know how you're progressing. We'll discuss that more in a future entry.

To learn more about how a quality coaching company can help your business succeed, simply visit www.thriveli.com.

A Rule for Writing Content for Your Website:

Be Brief:

You should always remember to be concise in your writing. It should be clear and easy to understand, and easy to skim. It should not be so long that people dread reading it. If they do, they will just move on to the next website.

• Short sentences help.
• Bulleted lists help.
• Italicized or bold text help.
  

By being brief, you are making what you do say more memorable for visitors, and often more clear for the search engines.

For more on how quality coaching companies can help you build your website, visit www.thriveli.com.

AdWords: Google is Your Friend!

Google is the creator of dozens of useful tools, especially when it comes to the realms of internet marketing. Of these tools, one in particular stands out -- Google AdWords.

In short summary, Google AdWords allows you to get your website "sponsored," and placed in the first few entries on Google. You only pay Google when someone clicks on your Ad (thus, visiting your website), so it's relatively easy to make sure that this form of marketing is profitable.

While this is highly beneficial, you should only consider this service strongly if you are selling a product or service that has a real profit margin. Since you will be paying anywhere from 5 to 50 cents per click, you want to be sure that each "conversion" covers the cost of your marketing, and leaves you with a decent profit for your effort.

For example, if your online business is an affiliate website, and you gain profit only off of the Ads on your site, and you get an average of a dollar per Ad Click on your site, you probably don't want to spend a lot of money to get the clicking traffic to your website.

However, in e-commerce sites, Google AdWords provides an amazing marketing tool for your company. With appropriate keyword research and Ad writing, you may end up paying as little as a few cents per click. Since "target conversion rate" for an online business should be around 3%, that means that for every 33 clicks, you should have a sale. Imagine, for example, that you're paying 10 cents per click for traffic that is already searching for your product. With a 3% conversion rate, that means you're only paying $3.30 per sale. Depending on your profit margin, this may be an incredible boost in overall sales and profit.

AdWords requires a lot of research and a fair amount of maitenance to run effectively. To find out how a coaching company can help you in setting up an effective Google AdWords Campaign, help you market your website, and help you increase profit in your small online business, visit www.thriveli.com.

Business Blogs

Since you're here, on our blog, I think I can assume that you know something about what a blog is. However, for those who just happen to have stumbled across this Blog, allow me to go back to basics.

The word "blog" is a shortening of "Web Log," and thanks to Blogger, terms like "blogging" and "bloggers" have become more a part of our cultural phenomena over the last few years. This is because it's now very easy to set up a blog.

And "blogging?" Well, blogging can be anything. If I tell the world my grandma is sick on a blog, that's blogging. If I talk about my new girlfriend, that's blogging. If I talk about my political beliefs, that's blogging. If I talk about religion, that's blogging. If I talk about how vanilla is the best ice cream, that's blogging.

And most importantly, if I talk about my company, my products, and my company's quality, that's most definitely blogging! This is where blogs come in as a part of your business. Is it mandatory to have a blog for your online business? No, not mandatory. But it does help you with the search engines.

The more people link to your website, the more popular that site will become. The more relevant the pages that links are on happen to be, the more powerful that link will be. So by creating a blog, you can link to your website through a highly, highly relevant website. In short, you will start to get a better page rank, your search engine ranking and SEO will improve, and you may generate some independent leads through your blog.

So what should you include in the blog to make it most effective? Should you have just one, or multiple? How much does it really impact your ranking? How can you make sure your blog is visible?

Even after explaining a lot of the details, there are always going to be more questions. To find out more about how a coaching company can help answer your questions, and introduce you to many more ways to market your website, simply visit www.thriveli.com.

The "Buying Mood"

Though many people searching the web are interested in buying a product immediately, certainly not all people are. They may be looking to see how much a product costs, they may be comparing online products, or they may simply be daydreaming. "Wouldn't it be nice if I could buy this."

So, what can you do to turn these browsers and daydreamers into buyers on your online business? Well, there are dozens of tactics, but pretty much all of them full under the category of "setting the buying mood." Creating an atmosphere that encourages buying your product, providing incentives, and more, can help set this buying mood.

Here are just a couple of quick tips to help you in creating that atmosphere for your clients:

• Use emotion evoking images. If you're selling baby products, then you should definitely have some happy, laughing, smiling babies. If you're selling television sets, you should have a family or couple gathered around the TV, perfectly happy and content. Most people want to purchase these items because they have a specific fantasy of what the product is going to do for them. Help build that fantasy through emotion evoking images.
  
  
• Provide clearly visible incentives. And make sure you're providing something! Even if you have the same products at the same final prices, your competitor who has a visible "20% Off!" sale is going to close more than you do. Sales are a great way to do this. With many products, free shipping is another excellent way. Free gifts, buy one get one half off, and many other possible incentives will serve to increase your overall profit.
  
  
• Make sure navigation is clear and simple. Nothing discourages customers more than not being able to find the product they want on your site. If you have images of a product on your home page, make sure that image links directly to that specific product. Make sure all your categories are clearly visible on your site, immediately. People should never struggle to find what they're looking for, because if they do, they're likely to move on to the next website.
  

These are just a few of the things you can do to to increase your number of buyers by turning the casual browsers into your clients. When it comes to e-commerce, your conversion rate (the percentage of people that come to your website who actually purchase your product) can vastly alter your profit. Remember, the difference between a 2% and a 3% conversion rate could mean the difference between $50,000 and $75,000 a year.

To learn more about how a coaching company can help you build your website in a way that increases your conversion rate, and helps set that buying mood, simply visit www.thriveli.com.