Today’s question is from James and it’s something that most of us can relate to. James has been in Internet Marketing for a while but like many people has lost focus and is looking to get back on track.

Here’s what James wrote…

Thanks for your support/concern John, It is what I really need right now…
 
My main problems are focus, and ranking sites I already have.
 
When it comes to focusing, I am all over the place, I don’t know where to start and what to stick to, and hate deciding which keyword to dedicate my time towards.
 
I love the finding keywords part, and don’t have problems with that, I don’t understand when people say they can’t find any good ones??? There seems to be so many!
 
My problem is picking one to dedicate to, then actually finishing a project out of it, I always get sidetracked somewhere along the line.
 
I also have a hard time promoting my sites, and getting good rankings. I can’t seem to make it work, and have a hard time working out what I should be doing, and how I should be doing it to make it work best.
 
Should I be pointing links to all my posts/pages? How do I go about it? When should I stop?
 
I get frustrated so much, and stressed at times because I still have not got any consistent income being made, and I feel like there Is a very long way to go before I could get to where I need to be.
 
I have come so far in regards to Internet marketing, and learnt too much to just walk away empty handed, so I need to make it work, which is why I have not given up, I can’t even if I try!
 
What do I do? How can I get myself on the rite tracks, and keep moving towards my goals?
 
Your thoughts and suggestions are very much appreciated, I trust you know enough to be able to advise, and respect your opinions on the situatiuon.
 
Look forward to hearing from you.
 
Best Regards
 
James

Hi James,

Thanks for your question.

This seems to be a similar question to Kristies. I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes you can focus on your target keyword and find that your just not getting anywhere. What you will often find though is that you begin to rank for keywords you weren’t initially targetting.

This is where LSI comes into play. When you initially choose your target keyword(s). Go and type it into the Google wonder-wheel. Then make sure that all the other words thrown up also appear in your content, (not the whole phrase but just the seperate words).

It sounds like you already have a few sites made. If any of those are getting traffic then THAT is the best place to start. Check your stats and see how visitors are reaching your site. Where are they coming from and more importantly what keywords are they using to find you. These are the keywords you need to be focussing your efforts on.

Also, look at your competition. Are the first few results in Google TLDs (Top level domains)? If they’re not then it should be easy pickings. If they are then what kind of PR do they have? How many backlinks? Where are those backlinks coming from? Could you get links from the same places?

With regards to where to point your links I generally take 2 stand-points on this. To start with I will distribute around 50% of my links to the homepage and the share the other 50% among my internal pages. BUT…

Once I start receiving traffic I will then point more links to the pages that are already succesful and link to those pages using the keywords that people are using to find them, not just my original target keywords.

So I guess for your first question.

I don’t know where to start and what to stick to, and hate deciding which keyword to dedicate my time towards.

With a new site, start fairly evenly but when you have some statistics to work from these are far better than any tool can provide. If one page on your site takes off then keep promoting it until your reach the stage where you competitors are too tough.

I love the finding keywords part, and don’t have problems with that, I don’t understand when people say they can’t find any good ones??? There seems to be so many!

This is GREAT because keyword research is where most people fall down! If you crack keyword research then you’ve done the hardest part. Also, try and stay AWAY from the everyday niches that everyone targets such as weight-loss, credit, debt, insurance etc. Look around your home and in the industrial sector. These are generally not as well cornered by other marketers and SEOers so it’s much easier to get good rankings.

Now, When you build your site make sure it’s natural. Let’s suppose your site is on dog training.

Don’t have pages like…

• dog training techniques
  beginners dog training
  advanced dog training
  dog training aids.

Branch out a little and go for pages like…

• dog training techniques
  pet food supplies
  Flashing dog collars
  Pedigree advice

Also, make sure you’re targetting Buying Keywords. It’s no good ranking for a phrase that isn’t going to lead the visitor to click on your ad or make a purchase. In the above example “flashing dog collars” is a good buying keyword whereas “pedigree advice” is not.

Try not to get frustrated, and don’t try to spread yourself too thin. Just pick out what’s working and go with it.

When getting your links try and vary them, not just vary the anchor text but also where they are coming from . Get some links from blogs and social properties and especially EzineArticles. I know everyone says this but this can get you a lot of traffic. When writing your author bio try using your website URL instead of just anchor text as this really helps with the click-through rate.

So to summarize, if I were you, I’d take a look at the stats on my sites. I’d pinpoint where my traffic was coming from and which keyword(s) visitors are finding my pages with. Then get some articles written and promote those pages using those keywords. Create free properties on WordPress, Blogger, Wetpaint etc – (EVO II is great for this if it’s in your budget). Make use of your internal links as these carry weight aswell. Lastly, check your content – make sure you get those LSI phrases in (naturally).

Also, take a look at my previous answer to Kristie here:

http://johnreimann.com/onlinebusinesssuccess/seo-ppc-ppv-not-working-why-not/
Hope this helps James,

Here’s to a prosperous 2010!

Regards,
John.

Here’s a question from James Thompson.

Hi John

Started out just under 1 year ago lots of ups and downs and starting again with better information. Got your Adsense Fortress as already had a dozen adsense sites set up and it was very good gave me confirmation on a lot I knew and more new tips. Never heard of Brute force EVO before but looked it up after your E-Mail about it and actually took out the 2 year subscription for it. Mainly I need to automate and outsource so intend using EVO along with getting articles from 99cent articles( grammar is appalling but takes only 15minutes to redo so as to be good enough). Also using Dan McGonagle 3-way link system free for a year for 250 links for 50 sites( gotta try it) http://www.AutomatedLinkBuilding.com  . Can you advise on any other automation tools or outsourcing.

EVO is interesting been running it a lot but to early to gauge results yet do you have any more results about its performance.

Regards

James Thompson

 

Hi James,

 Thanks so much for the Positive feedback on Adsense Fortress and I’m glad you like EVO II (incedentally i’ve noticed that Bing is producing some staggering results with this). I do have some more EVO results, which i’ll try and get up as soon as possible. In case you missed it my last update is here: http://johnreimann.com/productreviews/brute-force-seo-evo-ii-results-are-here/

 I’ve never heard of 99cent articles but if you don’t mind doing a little work afterwards and you’re on a tight budget it sounds just the ticket (As long as you can request they get your keywords in the right places along with you LSI phrases).

 I had a brief look at www.AutomatedLinkbuilding.com and I have to say the price is right. This is where I stand on 3-way links:

Personally I have always been a little sceptical. I have no doubt that Google could spot these a mile off. Search engine algorithms are sophisticated and I’d be a little worried about using this kind of service for other reasons also. Mainly that you have no control over the sites you’re linking to and no way of knowing the quality of the sites that are linking back to you.

BUT, I also know that Jonathan Ledger uses “3-way Links” and he is a guy that I hold in very high esteem. So if it’s cool with him and done in moderation, and coupled with other forms of promotion then you should be O.K.

So for your question. Any other automated tools and/or outsourcing? Well depending what stage you are at with your business this is an absolute must. But don’t buy tools for the sake of it. It’s important that they fit into your business model. For site building (Adsense type sites) you can’t go wrong with Super Apprentice. It’s quick, easy, they have an in-house team of writers who are trained in these types of articles and they also buy back your sites at a garaunteed minimum of 8 x monthly income. If you want to know more then I do have a review site here but it’s a little outdated, www.superapprenticereviewed.com.

Linkvana is also high quality and very automated way of Link-building but it isn’t cheap. If it’s within your budget then you can’t go wrong but for those just starting out it mught be a little pricey.

I guess the best way for me to answer this is to tell you everything I use personally in my own Adsense and affiliate revenue model.

1. Super Apprentice – As mentioned above
2. Linkvana- Also mentioned above
3. EVO II – At  time of writing there are still free trials available
4. Nichebot – Trial for $1.00 here
5. Market Samurai – Try for free here
6. Need-And-Article – See more here

Honestly, I see no reason right now for any more tools. Too many can clutter up your system and more importantly your strategy. Keep things as simple as possible. For those on a tight budget I would not even use all of the above. Probably Just numbers 1, 3, 4, and 6.

 I have recently been trying to automate as much of my own model as possible and I have realized that the most time consuming part of building these sites is doing thorough keyword research. Now whilst there are a number of services that offer keyword research, NONE of them actually go as detailed as I require so here’s what I did.

 I got on the warrior forum and simply emailed some of the people offering keyword research services with my specific needs. Within a week I’d found somebody who was able to help me.

 So now I have outsourced my Keyword research, automated my site-building and promotion, I have buyers waiting to buy my sites (in Super Apprentice) so the only thing left to do is hire somebody to run this side of the business which i’m looking to do early to mid next year. Once I reach this stage it will be an almost totally hands-off business that needs almost no intervention. I’ll then be concentrating more on this blog and helping out you guys.

 I have some great ideas in the pipeline for you (we’re talking major software that incorporates most of the above) but don’t yet have the time or the structure in place to implement them effectively.

I hope that helps James and just remember to stay focussed and not get too bogged down with tools. It’s important to automated and outsource as much as possible but please don’t just by stuff unless it really fits in with what you’re trying to achieve.

Thanks again,

John.

I promised to answer your questions so here I am.

As you can see I like to give detailed answers so please be patient, I will get around to your question:

The first question is from Tresa, who wants to know more about getting good quality content for her sites.

My hang up currently is getting articles out faster. I have the means to do keyword research, then a software that can bring up relative content to keyword from 100 or more latest Google articles.

I have tried a cheap spinner but do not like the results as it only replaces a few words. I am slow to go when it is to re write this information myself although I prefer it to have control what sentences and what feeling aspect I want the articles to have so that it is not duplicated content and give something of value.

So my question is- Is there a really good spinner that can rewrite several ways and produce many articles that gives quality? I do not mind to proofread and change a few errors.

Or do you know of a reputable author writing service that is very reasonable that I can send the related content to and then they will write from my searched content and keywords? Which I’m sure I will have to proofread and fix a few errors also. This I’m sure will also cost more for a few articles with same keyword than a good spinner could do.

I think a spinner would allow me more control to oversee the content and cost less than a author writing service. Or should I just buckle down and schedule my rewrites and make it a big part of my business activities?

Do you have some insight to article writing? Thanxs. Tresa.

Hi Tresa,

O.K – Articles. When I first started out building Adsense sites I didn’t really have any money to invest so I too was writing all my articles myself. I’m not by nature a writer unless I’m writing about something I enjoy, and when I’m creating Adsense sites, it’s rare that I get excited about my topic.

Like you, I also invested in many different article spinners and I can categorically say now:

PLEASE DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME!

Yes there are some cheap ones and also some more flashy varieties with all different types of bells and whistles. BUT, in order to get a good quality unique article you have to spend time with them.

On top of this they are not generally optimized for your target keyword so you have to fit that in too. So by the time you’ve re-written your article, and made it SEO optimized for you Keyword(s) you may as well have written a unique article from scratch. By all means use your tools for research purposes but don’t take it any further than this.

There is one tool I use for some types of promotion and you can check this out here: ContentFX, but if you’re on a tight budget then save your money for more worthwhile things.

FAR better, is to use a good quality article writing service and in my opinion they don’t come better than Need-An-Article.net, (This is an affiliate link by the way). There are a number of writers there who are all skilled in various different niches, and I have never had a poor article returned.

Need-An-Article will cost you around $10 per month and then $5.52 (+$0.50 for long-tail keywords) for each article you have written. If you wish, they will also do re-writes for around $3 per article but I don’t use that service. This is FAR cheaper than any other service of similar quality.

If you do choose this or any other article writing service then here are my general specifications when I ask for an article.

First I specify what style of writing I want:

• Technical
  
• Sales orientated
  
• Chatty
  
• etc…

Then I can point the writer to any resources (such as other articles or web-content I have found).

Then I ask for my target keyword to be used in the first and last paragraph and also sprinkled in the main article body, but NOT more than once every 100 words. This keeps the article focussed and optimized but it won’t get penalized for keyword spamming.

Although I proof-read the articles that are returned, it’s very rare that I have to make any amendments.

NOTE: When your trying to rank in the search engines try and work WITH them as oppose to working around them. Although Google may not recognise multiple versions of the same article it’s not what they are looking for, and if they do spot it, you will lose your rankings. A handful of backlinks from good quality sites with good content is far better than a ton of poor quality backlinks from sites containing poor quality (or lots of duplicate) content.

It’s very common when starting out to wnat to find a few short-cuts, to make what seems an impossible task a little easier but in the end it’s far better to just do it right form the start and you won’t be dissapointed.

I hope that helps Tresa and if you (or anybody else) has any comments or would like to know anything else about articles then please use the comments section below.

Thanks!

John.