Internet marketing tips for AmeriPlan USA

2005-08-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

Google's Froogle? Can you get your health, fitness, and wellness products displayed there?

As An AmeriPlan USA representative, the first question you need to ask yourself is: "Where do customers shop?"

Consumers frequent places that are familiar
Consumers frequent places they trust
Consumers frequent places with fair prices
Consumers frequent places that are well advertised
Consumers frequent places they ve shopped at in the past.

So what does a consumer's shopping preferences have to do with the comparison shopping engine called Froogle? Well simply put; many people have been to Google or Froogle before, it's well promoted, and as always it is convenient. People are basically familiar with Google's various search engines and they trust this newer comparison shopping engine because it's backed by Google. While Google's Froogle doesn't establish pricing on any items listed in their comparison shopping engine themself, they do allow shoppers to hunt down good prices and merchants to set whatever pricing they prefer. They've struck the consumer's nail right on its head.

It is obviously an exception to the old expression, "there's no such thing as a free lunch". At Froogle, if you're trying to get into a comparison shopping engine, lunch is on them. It's free,

First some interesting facts and then the various steps (below) for adding your products or services to Froogle's comparison shopping engine.

Google's Foogle...

You can list your products on Froogle for free.
Unlike other online shopping sites, Froogle costs nothing. There's no spending account to set up and maintain. No cost-per-click. No cost, period.

At Froogle you control your product information.
Simply upload a new product feed at any time to ensure Froogle displays the most accurate descriptions and promotions for your products.

Froogle provides store ratings and product reviews.
Google's technology scours the web to identify relevant information about listed stores and products. This information is in the form of review 'snippets' from independent ratings sites.

Froogle is forever free to merchants who wish to participate.
Upload your product info (data feed) and you'll be listed overnight. The entire system is supported by 'Sponsored Links' which are paid advertisements Froogle displays along side the regular Froogle listings.

Quick, tell me... how can Health, Fitness & Wellness products be included in Froogle.

Next are some simple steps toward getting your health, fitness, and wellness products included in Froogle using their data feed system:

Go to the Froogle Merchant Center and sign-in
If you do not have an account, open one and enter the merchant area.
Set-up an FTP account
Set up an FTP account so that later you can upload your 'product or service' feeds in the Froogle system.
Adjust your feed's settings
Your feed will have a filename and other parameters. You must set this up as well.
Upload your feed
After you create a feed according to Froogle's instructions you'll upload it by FTP. Check that your feed name matches the filename you chose above in Step 3.

Are you learning valuable ideas? We recommend you check out our previous blog posts for many other marketing ideas. In fact, why not add our RSS feed to your "Feed Reader" so you don't miss future trainings?

Technorati:
AmeriPlan USA | Froogle | Dan Hollings | wellness | fitness | health
Other recommended blogs:
Kara Vita | Lexxus | Lia Sophia Jewelry

2005-08-23T22:46:00.000-07:00

AmeriPlan USA, A Good Home For Moms?

Source: Direct Sales Association

According to the most recent statistics available from the Direct Sales Association, 79.9% of people in "direct sales" are women. Figure it another way and the guys total a paltry 20.1%. Many of the women in our industry (and site visitors we seek) are current or future moms. It seems natural that a new term has appeared on our horizon known as Mompreneurism.

Books About Mompreneurism Yes, you're reading it right. According to authors Patricia Cobe and Ellen Parlapiano, who trademarked the term "mompreneurs" and were recently featured in Time magazine and various other programs like Good Morning America; their mompreneurs online site and Message Board draws millions of visitors each month.

In reading through the Mompreneurs Online web site you'll find that they've interviewed hundreds of mothers in business at home. Their interviews revealed that these 'Mompreneur' women share certain secrets for internet success. Don't miss the interesting points they offer. For example, below is a sampling of why and how mom-owned businesses are surviving and thriving on the web according to Cobe and Parlapiano:

A Natural Niche. Cyberspace opens up a wealth of business ideas, allowing moms to tap into their talents, skills and passions to create products and services for highly targeted audiences.
Money Smarts. Moms don't overextend their financial resources and are less likely to use outside funding during start-up. So they don't have to worry about venture capitalists pulling the plug on their businesses.
The Control Factor. Moms start home businesses for family flexibility, so they grow their enterprises slowly and steadily to retain control over their work/family time. The 24/7 availability of the Internet lets them work when THEY want to.

It's possible you think AmeriPlan USA is a perfect spot for moms? Maybe you're hoping to attract mothers in business at home to your site, blog, product or business? Or, maybe you already have lots of moms and a true mompreneurial spirit?

Whatever the case, work at home moms are an important niche and your pay-per-click marketing strategies can target these moms. Moms are both a consumer and a business force to be understood and admired.

Think optimistically that your health-fitness-wellness will be just the thing these mompreneurs are seeking? Now, let's continue (below) with more tips in our series on pay per click strategies for gaining highly targeted traffic. Maybe you can get some moms clicking!

PPC Tips list continued from previous weeks:

If your product or service is something that can be related to a locale, like a city, state or region you may be able to find some ripe tomatoes in phrases like: 'retirement homes in Florida', 'Mississippi flat rate phone service', 'herbal sunscreen for southwestern sun', 'indoor air filters for Los Angeles'.
Discover more keywords by narrowing down to extreme specifics. People can be VERY specific when they search. Use names of months and years like '2004 tax savings', 'May flowers', 'Christmas of 2005' or 'September back to school supplies'.

Let's say you are marketing a broad line of herbal products... why not get a list of all herbs (there may be thousands) and use that list as a keyword list. Maybe your product doesn't contain every herb on the list, but people searching for any ONE herb specifically may be interested in others. Try specific model numbers, makes and designs if your products are sometimes referred to this way: 'Epson stylus CX6400', 'Apple G5', etc.
Add adjectives to your keywords like: big, purple, new, cheap, affordable, soft, aromatic, healthy, etc.

Becoming Relevant to Mompreneurs...

Here's one way you can be compelling and relevant in reaching out to mothers in business at home:

SUPPORT: Create strategies to support this emerging entrepreneurial niche. Provide convenient pathways and remove as many barriers to entry as possible. Almost every industry can tap into the mompreneur market by making their lives and their businesses run more smoothly.

2005-08-17T23:39:00.000-07:00

Quick, tell me... how can Health, Fitness & Wellness products be sold successfully by pay-per-click

AmeriPlan® is the largest discounted fee-for-services program of its type in the country. With a track record of success in providing access to affordable supplemental healthcare that speaks for itself. Yes, AmeriPlan knows their business. 7 out of 10 Americans are uninsured or under-insured and that is the challege for which AmeriPlan has a solution.

As An AmeriPlan USA representative you know your product and you've set your goals. Your web page, site, or blog is up and you're pondering methods to get people.

Can your health-fitness-wellness be sold by pay-per-click or not? This is question number one, right? But equally important, can you orchestrate a search engine campaign that creates more results or profits than cost?

Promising news, the answer is: "YES!"

Tricks of the trade for the successful PPC campaign...

Expand your keywords by asking your spouse, friends, neighbors, relatives, existing customers and strangers to look at your web page and offer their keyword suggestions. In this phase you cannot have too many cooks in the kitchen.
Put your biscuits in the oven and watch'em rise... That is, use web based 'keyword expanders' and research tools to expand your keywords beyond what you can come up with on your own.
Remember, searchers may type in something that describes your product, but more often than not they will be typing in words describing their problem. If your product or service solves, fixes, heals, masks or even distracts them from their problem, you want those keywords on your list.
"In-house" keywords (those used frequently by others in your industry or business) are often the most costly because lazy business owners don't often think beyond their own nose. The result is these limited keywords get bided-up sky high. Customers on the other hand seldom search using "in-house" keywords. Your goal is to find keyword niches popular with customers but less popular with your competition.

2005-08-09T19:42:00.000-07:00

Yahoo Sponsored or Google AdWords? What's Best for AmeriPlan USA.

When comparing the primary pay-per-click search engines, you might be challenged to figure out which is best for you. The top two are Google and Yahoo. It's a good idea to start your advertising effort with a small budget, spreading it out over a few different search engines to experiment and see where your target market may be lurking.

A good place to start is by viewing the wonderful tutorials and flash overviews offered by Google and Yahoo. Check below for a few examples, you'll find others at Google and Yahoo:

Yahoo Sponsored Search: Flash Introduction
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/rc/srch/tu_srch.php
Learn advantages of Yahoo's PPC program.

Bids, ranks, and costs with Google AdWords
http://services.google.com/tutorial/bpr/bpr.html
Tips to improve your AdWord ranking while managing your campaign funds.

Targeting a Local Market with Google AdWords
http://services.google.com/tutorial/adw_loc_target/adw_loc_target.html
Reach local area prospects by region or locale.

Let's compare how Yahoo and Google handle keyword bidding:

Sponsored ads at Yahoo

Yahoo adjusts your bid to 1 cent over your next lowest competitor. Thus, if you bid $3.00 per click, and the next highest bid is $1.95 per click, you will only pay $1.96 per click.
Yahoo allows you to see who you are bidding against and what they are bidding, so you know exactly where you will rank, and how much you will pay.
Yahoo's maximum bid is $999.99
Yahoo's minimum bid is $0.10

Google Ad Bidding Policy

Believe it or not, Google never reveals what you will pay per click. Thus, if you bid $3.00 per click, you will pay anywhere from $0.05 to $3.00 per click.
Google does not allow you to know how much your competitors are bidding per click.
An advantage with Google is that you will rank higher if your click-through rate (CT rate) is better (a CT rate is the ratio of clicks on your ad to the number of times your ad is shown). Thus, you may have a better rank than your competitor, even if he or she bids more than you (because of your CT rate).
Google's maximum bid is $100.00
Google's minimum bid is $0.05

New Google AdWords keyword status changes: Simplified keyword states and quality-based minimum bids.

UPDATE: Google announced in early August 2005 that they will simplify their keyword status system and introduce quality-based minimum bids, giving us more control to run all keywords we find important.

Google Pulls The "Trigger"

Each keyword will now be assigned a minimum bid that is based on the quality (also called Quality Score) of your keyword in your account. If your keyword or Ad Group's maximum cost-per-click (CPC) meets the minimum bid, your keyword will be active and trigger ads. If it doesn't, your keyword will be inactive and will not trigger ads.

Previosly, keyword statuses were called normal, in trial, on hold, and disabled. Under the new rules, this will be replaced with active (triggering ads) or inactive (not triggering ads). No more slowed or disabled keywords if no do not have a minimum clickthrough rate (CTR) threshold.

Search engine marketing tips:

Pay-per-click advertising tips for the AmeriPlan USA representative continue below:

When cooking-up your keyword phrase list, use an extended "keyword discovery" phase. Your competition, like you, will do basic keyword research. You can only beat them if you take it to the next level, and that won't happen in the first day. Having a large number of targeted keywords in your campaign is a side effect of an extended period of brainstorming, discovery, research, or whatever you want to call it.
Not very wood with gords? There is a hidden target market of quality visitors who type in incorrect spellings of what they are looking for. Site owners often overlook this. In a recent 30 day period on a major search engine at least 108 people where searching for a 'buisness'? Hundreds more were searching for: 'vitiamins', 'vitimans' and even 'vitamens'... You can bid on misspellings and have very little competition on the search results page.
Assume that at least half your keywords will be rotten eggs, that is, no one will ever look for them and end up at your site. Because there is no extra cost to add as many keyword phrases as you can think up, treat them like biscuits and bake-up as many as you can... 100 or more keyword phrases for each destination page you list in any PPC search engine.

2005-08-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

AmeriPlan USA? What's that all about?

Have you ever thought about the public's perception of what you do?

AmeriPlan USA

Do you guess that consumers already know this about AmeriPlan USA?

That's a 'guess-work' element in any search engine marketing campaign; you must decide upfront (as you are preparing your keywords, your ads, and your landing page) what the majority of visitors already 'think' about you and the health-fitness-wellness you offer. If you're not sure, assume they've never heard of you. That's always the safe bet.

If you're selling iPODs or something very well known, you can approach things much differently. Less time explain 'what' you've got and more time explain 'why' they should buy from you.

If your selling something that might be considered a common commodity (vitamins, shoes, cosmetics, telephone services, etc), then you must differentiate your product from the other seemingly similar products or services that customers will associate you with.

Much of these consumer 'mindset' concerns should be addressed the moment they hit your first web page after clicking your ad; so before you start any traffic generation strategy, think like a customer and look at your landing page.

Search engine marketing strategies:

Without any further delay, I'll continue with my tips this week.

Remember that with PPC campaigns, you are not sending search visitors to a site, you are sending them to a web page (called: a destination or landing page). You must discover keywords and set-up ONE page at a time.
Remember that people search by typing in more than one word:
The 7 most used word phrases in search engines according to OneStat.com:

2 word phrases 32.58%
3 word phrase 25.61%
1 word phrases 19.02%
4 word phrases 12.83%
5 word phrases 5.64%
6 word phrases 2.32%
7 word phrases 0.98%

Start your "keyword discovery" process by visiting the destination page you intend to send your search engine visitors to. Put on the 'reading glasses' of a customer and look at your page through their eyes.
Ask yourself this: "What keywords might a person type in a search box where when they arrived at this destination page, they'd say 'BINGO' this is what I was looking for?" Find these keywords and you've discovered your best keywords.

2005-07-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

I'll never go naked again! Google FadSense Beta... Check this out.

Why go naked when you can get paid to wear clothes. I'm sold. Sign me up. And ship me out two pair of those sneakers. Imagine that?

Check it out now: Google FadSense™

As An AmeriPlan USA representative, you might be wondering why I'm talking about a futuristic contextual AdSense (AdWord) program like FadSense. It's partially because it's funny, but more importantly, it's because I feel the type of advertising we have been discussing here at my "Internet Marketing Tips for AmeriPlan USA" blog, is critical to your future. What I'm hoping to teach you are skills and tips that will not only work for Google today, but for any similar type advertising in the future. Google FadSense, real or not!

Before we continue with this week's tips, let's look at what we must concentrate on:

How to find keywords related to your products and services.
How to determine "tags" that help categorize your content.
How to prepare your marketing campaign from the ground up.
How to track your traffic, results, and advertising ROI (return on investment).
How to write effective ads.
How to manage your advertising budget.
How to create eye catching headlines for your ads.

My Continuing Tips To Help You With AmeriPlan USA...

This week I shall continue with my PPC search engine recommendations. If you have been following (or subscribing by RSS feed) to these tips, you are aware that over the past few weeks we have hammered away with dozens of valuable tips. This week we continue.

Forget stupid characters. We are talking search engine listings (not eBay) so cool the clever punctuation it L@@KS stupid!!!!!!!! Don't make SOME words CAPITALIZED; it looks like you're shouting desperately for business. Respect the people who read your search engine listings.
People are by nature often interested in things like 'saving money', 'making money', 'curing something', 'striking a deal', and getting anything of value that is 'free'... but be careful. The addition of such self-interest phrases in your ad copy may skew your clicks upwards while leaving your sales flat. If you're tempted to try such phrases... test, test, test... while keeping an eye on your bottom-line.
Bluntness works: 'Refinance 4.5%', 'Viagra $39', 'No Interest VISA', etc
These are the type words that appeal to searchers: more information, complimentary, love, youthful, safe, new, benefit, gain, money, happy, glad, proven, guarantee, resource, fast, results, discover, how you, how to, your, yours, you'll, healthy, natural, magic, secret, comfortable, save, proud, secure, solution.

2005-07-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

"For Google, It Took 118 Years But, The Search Is Over..." If Only Bill Gates Could Have Lived Long Enough To Read This Headline. Could it happen?

What started as a play on the word googol, becoming the search engine everybody loved (or envied) and grew to become the "five-and-dime" of pay-per-click search engines, pulled the plug on the last server on this date in Mountain View, California. It's a story of a future time that could be soon, or beyond our horizon.

If anyone back in the late 1800's or early 1900's had been thinking ahead to the future of Woolworth Corp., it's unlikely they would have ever predicted that the famous five-and-dime would be a line item on a "Today in History" script published to millions of readers across this thing we call the internet.

Yet today, has I opened my RSS News Reader, there it was. I can recall shopping at the five-and-dime as a kid. It was the "best" store in town. Just like Google; the best. Now, its history. Perhaps the best is not good enough?

Larry Page has an interesting vision on being the best... "The perfect search engine, would understand exactly what you mean and give back exactly what you want, never settle for the best."

Today in History...

One of the strange things about Woolworth's announcement that it was closing its doors after 118 years, was that many of the calls to Woolworth's corporate headquarters afterward urging the company to keep the stores open were from people worried about what would become of all the fish sold in the Woolworth's store pet departments. Does anyone know what really happened to those fish on this day in 1997?

Could this happen to Google? Well, yes. If the thought of Bill Gates over throwing Google interests you, read this Fortune Magazine article: Search and Destroy. For now however, it's all fantasy thinking as the titans of search (Google, Yahoo, & Microsoft) battle it out in cyberspace.

Research shows global Web search advertising revenue, which is big business for the Internet giants, will be almost $8 billion in 2005 -- more than 20 times what it was four years ago. (Source: Reuters 2005)

Good news for the AmeriPlan USA representative

The Cost Per Lead using Pay-per-click is Cheap Compared To Other Ads

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know where to spend your advertising dollars... $8.50 for search, $20 for Yellow Pages, $50 for online display ads, $60 for e-mail and $70 for direct mail. Those are the average cost-per-customer numbers based on research by Piper Jaffray.

According to Jeff Saville, "It's a marketer's dream tool because we can monitor it in so many different ways and watch the effectiveness of it." Jeff is a marketing manager with Deckers Outdoor Corp. (Nasdaq:DECK - news)

Are there dangers or flaws in search advertising?

Certain campaigns fail because they are ill-conceived or unsuited to the medium.
According to WebTrends the data suggests that 60 percent of marketers do not measure sales, leads or key actions resulting from campaigns. [This is a dangerous number because that means you are competing with people who don't know what things are truly costing them. You need to be extra analytical when going head to head with this guy.]
An estimated 5 percent to 20 percent of clicks are believed to be fraudulent -- the result of people clicking on ads to drive up advertiser costs or to make a profit for Web site publishers who get a cut of revenue.

Adding all this up, we come to two conclusions: 1) It pays to get good at pay-per-click advertising if you plan to do business online and 2) we may only have 118 years left with Google :-)

PPC Tips:

On the subject of ad copy (the words which will comprise your numerous different listing titles and descriptions) we can sum it up briefly: RELATE your listing to the keyword the searcher has typed, SPARK curiosity in their minds to encourage a visit, be TRUTHFUL, be BRIEF, be CLEAR, don't HYPE, and FILTER out bad clicks.
FILTER OUT BAD CLICKS? Yes, if your product is NOT for certain searchers, be clear upfront before they click. Example: If you bid on the keyword 'herbal shampoo' because your product is an herbal dog shampoo, make sure your ad copy reads: for dogs, pets, or animals. If you only fulfill orders in Canada, state this upfront in your listing ad copy. There is no need to pay for a visitor click if you cannot service a particular customer's needs. Use words to filter out bad clicks.
There are many good resources to help you with ad copy, writing, and knowing what to say about your product. We recommend the eBook by Kim Klaver, "If My Product's So Great, How Come I Can't Sell It". Click here for a complimentary 'Mini-edition' of this eBook.

2005-07-11T15:47:00.000-07:00

An AmeriPlan USA representative 'To-Do' list for pay per click results.

Can you believe that 192 days have passed since the beginning of the year?

Just as 2003 and 2004 marched forward in the blink of an eye, 2005 is rapidly marching on, yet for may web entrepreneurs few visitors are marching over to see what's up. Are they marching to a different drummer or is it that your thoughts about internet marketing are just not keeping the beat?

Are you getting your piece of the pie?
Web sales in the retail sector will climb to over $109.6 billion this 2005.
(Source: Shop.org/Forrester 05/2005)

With 173 days remaining in 2005, imagine how much different your business would be if you could get a marketing plan implemented that dropped dozens of targeted prospects and visitors to your web doorstep each and every week.

If you're asking "How can I achieve his goal?" Maybe a little internet advertising is in order? Seems that's what a lot of successful online marketers are doing. And of all the methods out there, nothing seems to beat running a really well planned PPC search engine campaign.

Search engine marketing will grow by 33% this year, with growth slowing to 10% annually by 2010, when spending will hit $11.6 billion. (Source: Forrester Research 02/2005)

From New York to L.A. you'll find stories and statistics that prove "it can be done". Yes, online sales are happening. Reports are continuing, sales are up, and the drum beats on.

According to Verisign (05/2005), The $4.4 billion racked up this year by online shoppers is a 24 percent increase over the same period last year. Fuelling the dollars spent was a 31 percent increase in the total number of transactions, up to 54.8 million this year. Monday May 2 was the peak day for online shopping during the Mother's Day period, as $473 million worth from 5.43 million transactions were reported.

But I'm An AmeriPlan USA representative, it must be a waste of time with what I do?

Maybe you are thinking that "some things" sell online but not your health-fitness-wellness. Nothing could be further from the truth. In most cases, it is not the product or service that hinders a sale, it boils down to traffic, strategy and page presentation. Whether you advertise using Google's AdWords, or do pay-per-click at Overture, Yahoo or MSN search, it's the campaign strategy that's important.

Over the past two weeks we started our series of PPC search engine tips. These tips will unquestionanly help your marketing campaign and hopefully put some of the statistics on your side. Ready or not, here they come. This weeks PPC tips to make you rich and famous (well perhaps that's stretching it a bit):

Tips for your PPC campaign:

Sometimes people type in web addresses in those search boxes! So bid on those if the search engine allows it: 'www.website.com', 'website.com', 'http://website.com' and every combination full or partial you think a searcher might actually type.
Match up keywords with words in your ad copy. Even though a 'spa', a 'hot tub', and a 'whirlpool' might mean the same thing in your mind, if a searcher types in 'hot tub' and your listing says: "Relax and save in your new Spa", you will miss out on many interested customers.
Think negative... yes, people search for herbs that can kill, plastic surgery pitfalls, mlm scams and sundry other peculiar things. Invite them to explore your related listing. Do you offer cosmetics or skin car as an alternative to plastic surgery? Is you mlm a beacon of light in a sea of seemingly dubious scams?
Get creative with interest spikes in the news. 'Mad Cow' might be a great keyword for your all vegetarian product line. The 'SARS' outbreak might have generated millions of searches that your 'immunity booster' could have benefited from (just don't make any false claims). And where were all the bra ads when a gazillion people typed in 'Janet Jackson' after the 2004 Super Bowl surprise?

Check back over my last two blog posts for the first and second set in this series of PPC search engine tips.

In addition, I've written a many 'how-to' articles specifically to help get your internet marketing strategy on-track. You might find these internet marketing articles for AmeriPlan USA interesting or helpful.

Check back next week for the next in this series of PPC tips... Until next week, happy PPC campaigning...

Technorati:
AmeriPlan USA | PPC | pay per click | AdWords | marketing | search | retail statistics | marketing statistics | sales statistics

2005-07-04T16:37:00.000-07:00

Trajectory Correction Puts Nasa's Deep Impact Mission On Track. Search Engine Tips Might Correct Your Site Or Blog Trajectory.

After 172 days and 268 million miles of deep space stalking, NASA's Deep Impact successfully struck comet Tempel 1. The cosmic collision between the coffee table-sized impactor and city-sized comet occurred at 1:52 a.m. EDT.

"What a smashing success for the 4th of July!"

And you're wondering, "What in the blogging world is this all about?" Yes, this is a blog about improving your business by better implementing your online marketing campaign for AmeriPlan USA. The bottom line goal is to get quality "hits"... not a hit like Comet Tempel 1, but a hit none-the-less from a targeted visitor.

Why all the comet talk you ask? Well the truth is, I found this news story fascinating (as did thousands of other people would agree) and felt it was rather topical for this July the 4th holiday.

It just so happens that being "topical" and relating what you do with AmeriPlan USA to news and current events is also a very good marketing strategy. Millions of people are on the web this week searching out stories about all sorts of current events. If you're writing about that event or news item, you can increase the odds that searchers will find you. If what you do (or what you market) is related in some way, then "bingo" you'll attract more targeted traffic.

The increase level of visitors such a campaign can achieve by riding on the comet tail of current events and news stories can be as spectacular as one might imagine. The impact on your business can be equally stellar.

Last week we started our series of PPC search engine tips that can help your campaign for better targeted earthbound visitors. Below are this weeks PPC tips (watch for more next week):

Search engine campaign tips:

When thinking up keywords, use examples of specific things your product is used for: 'clean floors', clean countertops', 'wash floors', 'mop floors', 'polish stove top', 'remove grime', 'shine appliances', 'disinfect bacteria', 'hide furniture flaws' etc.
Explore variations: 'soy milk', 'soymilk', 'soy-milk'
Add plurals: 'protein bar' and 'protein bars'
Use abbreviations and acronyms
Use US and UK spellings
Keyword phrases may be questions: 'how to repair bad credit', 'when should I diet', 'how do I lose weight', 'where are discount cosmetics', etc.

Like what you're reading? Subscribe to my RSS feed.

It happened on the 4th...
1960 - The 50-star flag, to include Hawaii, makes its debut, in Philadelphia.

Deep Impact Kicks Off Fourth Of July With Deep Space Fireworks (Science Daily)
After 172 days and 431 million kilometers (268 million miles) of deep space stalking, Deep Impact successfully reached out and touched comet Tempel 1. The collision between the coffee table-sized impactor and city-sized comet occurred at 1:52 a.m. EDT. Mission scientists expect the project will answer basic questions about the formation of the solar system, by offering a better look at the nature

Eyes to skies for Deep Impact (Bangkok Post)
Chachoengsao _ Students at many schools sat glued to TV sets and logged onto the net to watch the ``deep impact'' created when the Nasa space probe rammed into comet Tempel 1 yesterday.

NASA's Deep Impact Kicks off Fourth of July With Deep Space Fireworks (SpaceRef)
After 172 days and 431 million kilometers (268 million miles) of deep space stalking, Deep Impact successfully reached out and touched comet Tempel 1. The collision between the coffee table-sized impactor and city-sized comet occurred at 1:52 a.m. EDT.

Technorati:
AmeriPlan USA | marketing | search | comet | NASA

2005-06-26T14:46:00.000-07:00

How to get great traffic using "Pay per Click" search engines.

Because pay-per-click ad campaigns are such a great source of targeted traffic, I've scheduled a series of posts over the upcoming weeks I think you'll enjoy. I plan to share what I consider the best tips for running a successful pay-per-click search engine campaign. I consider a 'successful' campaign one that generates blog, site or landing page visitors uniquely targeted to your ad offer and visitors whose clicks don't cost you more money than their results merit.

Unless you have very deep pockets, or you're completely nuts, or you have a solid money-making conversion rate, paying big bucks for clicks that don't pan out is like handing the impoverished street corner beggar your credit card.

Is it possible to launch a PPC ad campaign that drives quality traffic without causing a heart attack? What follows below and over my next several blog posts are my personal campaign tips designed to put your PPC project on a solid road to success.

Pay per click tips for this week:

If your product or service is something that can be related to a locale, like a city, state or region you may be able to find some ripe tomatoes in phrases like: 'retirement homes in Florida', 'Mississippi flat rate phone service', 'herbal sunscreen for southwestern sun', 'indoor air filters for Los Angeles'.
Discover more keywords by narrowing down to extreme specifics. People can be VERY specific when they search. Use names of months and years like '2004 tax savings', 'May flowers', 'Christmas of 2005' or 'September back to school supplies'.

Let's say you are marketing a broad line of herbal products... why not get a list of all herbs (there may be thousands) and use that list as a keyword list. Maybe your product doesn't contain every herb on the list, but people searching for any ONE herb specifically may be interested in others. Try specific model numbers, makes and designs if your products are sometimes referred to this way: 'Epson stylus CX6400', 'Apple G5', etc.
Add adjectives to your keywords like: big, purple, new, cheap, affordable, soft, aromatic, healthy, etc.

Keep in mind that if you run any PPC search engine ad campaign over a few weeks and you get nothing for sales or sign-up results, the culprit is most likely NOT the traffic you're generating from your ad, rather it is your site, your landing page, your product, your service, your price or some factor other than your PPC targeted visitors . The first thing I'd look at (if results are low ) is your landing page. Your landing page must be the 'pearl' in your sea of PPC campaign tools. Anything less and you might as well be shucking oysters.

For additional help with your pay per click ad campaign check out the articles linked in my previous post.

To make certain you don't miss this series of PPC tips, you might consider subscribing to my RSS feed.

Best of Luck with AmeriPlan USA !

2005-06-19T17:02:00.000-07:00

How to make money online. Methods for AVERAGE FOLKS

Wow! I can't believe I'm actually making my first blog entry on the "Internet Marketing Tips Blog for AmeriPlan USA ." Since this is my first post, I'd like to lay the foundation for what one should expect as I blog away on the various topics listed further down the page.

First, why did this all start?

Well, after writing articles, publishing eBooks and training entrepreneurs for umpteen years (or longer) , my supporters, followers, frieds, enemies and even my pooch, "Herbie" have been biting on my tail so long that I've finally decided to invest the time required (each week) posting helpful tips on all this strange and ever changing internet stuff that continues to possess about HALF of my brain.

Now you're thinking...

What the heck will you gain by hanging out at this tips blog?
-and- If 50% of Dan Hollings' brain is the internet, is the rest hollow?

I might can help you on the first item, but even I am a bit foggy on what dominates that other 50% on my brain :-) So let's focus on marketing ideas to help you promote Health-Fitness-Wellness .

I started out not knowing any of this "internet marketing" stuff. Yes, that was over 9 years ago. But today after hiding under the table at several top marketing firms (just kidding) , I've climbed out with a trick or two in hand. On this blog I'll strive to get to the point and offering you hands-on techniques and ideas that are proven to increase customers, prospects, and visitors to your internet sites.

In reality, I have helped internet entrepreneurs, website owners, MLM'ers, bloggers, affiliates, and even big companies over the years to improve their internet strategies. But what I enjoy most is working with the small business entrepreneur. Is that you?

We'll be covering anything and everything, as long as it works. It is likely that you are doing some things wrong or inefficiently and if you are like most, you're spending far more money than you should on 'stuff' that has questionable results.

Even though this particular blog will focus on strategies for AmeriPlan USA and how to market Health-Fitness-Wellness , I may from time-to-time give examples from other industries or areas to demonstrate a strategy or idea. It's your job to apply the concepts to YOUR particular site, blog, product or service.

A sample of the different concepts we will include follow:

Generating leads
Web page ideas (to increase results)
Landing pages
Building an opt-in list
The why and how of newsletters
How to blog effectively
How to create quality content
Profiting from Contextual ads
Search engines and Pay per click
Tags (the keywords of blogs and...)
"Social systems" for networking
XML and RSS feeds (the new feeding frenzy)
Creating Press Releases
and Generating Revenue on the Web

In addition, I've written a few 'how-to' articles specifically to help get your internet marketing strategy on-track. You might find these internet marketing articles for AmeriPlan USA interesting or helpful.

Finally, you may be asking WHY I decided to do a blog specifically for AmeriPlan USA ? The truth is, I run separate blogs for many types of of entrepreneurs. This is only one of my blogs!

Rest assured I am not a recruiter, I'm not active in any 'company', and I do not sell or share names on any of my opt-in lists. I make my living exclusively by helping others make money online. I'm a consultant and internet systems developer. Occasionally I offer classes, sometimes I offer eBooks, and I have web systems that many subscribers use to improve their traffic, content and results online. That's the deal.

Everything thing I write here is free. And I do not plan to hold back. I recommend you subscribe to my XML or RSS feed (look for the Feed Frenzy buttons in upper right).

Until the next post... Happy whatever...