Question: Can a new, often updated blog overtake its older, more established competitor in search engine rankings?

Answer: There are three issues that are at play here:

1) SEO you do

2) SEO your competitors do

3) Search engine algorithm

Given that noone(except the search engine developers) know the exact algorithm, it is not possible to guarantee top search engine placement or to guarantee that one web site will be placed better than another web site. On top of this, Google changes its algorithm on a regular basis, and every time there is a change in the algorithm, there is a corresponding change in web sites’ rankings.

Having said that, fresh content, using linking effectively and good SEO techniques, will help you improve your blog’s standing over time. My Step by Step Search Engine Optimization Special Report will help you better undestand Search Engine Optimization(SEO) and do SEO for your web site and blog.

Biana Babinsky

Biana Babinsky is the online business consultant, expert and author, who helps coaches, consultants, virtual assistants, professional organizers and other solopreneurs use their blogs and web site statistics to market better online. Learn how to get more clients using search engines in her Step by Step Search Engine Optimization Special Report

A business owner recently asked me how to devote time to marketing (and get results from marketing) and still have enough time left to work with existing clients and create products.

Here are my recommendations:

– With your client work, schedule your time and don’t procrastinate. When you have scheduled 2 hours to do client work, spend the 2 hours to do just that. No checking e-mail, no phone calls – just do the work you need to get done. You will be amazed how much you can accomplish in just 2 hours if you stick to your plan.

– When you are marketing, spend some time learning about an online marketing technique, what the implications of using it are, what results to expect, etc. Then, break the techniques into bite-sized chunks you can do, and schedule those chunks. You will be able to accomplish much more when you understand the techniques, and know what results to expect from them.

At https://www.MarketingSalad.com I help members understand online marketing techniques by breaking them into smaller, understandable, step-by-step directions. Learn how to market and get results – join us at https://www.MarketingSalad.com

Here is what one of MarketingSalad.com members says about the step-by-step marketing directions available:

“Biana’s how-to guides have given me simple, step-by-step procedures that are easy to implement. The classes have been amazing. I believe she gives more in a one-hour teleclass than I ever got in other classes on the same subject, combined!”

Join us for just $9.97/month at https://www.MarketingSalad.com

There are quite a few web sites to submit your articles to. However, just submitting articles is not enough; in order to get more web site traffic and clients by publishing articles, you need to make sure that:

– Your articles promote your expertise. If your articles are not reflecting the expertise you want to promote, you will not the results you want from them.

– Your resource box must be powerful. The resource box at the end of the article is what will get people to come to your web site and learn about you. Make sure that your resource box can drive traffic to your web site.

– You submit articles on a regular basis. Article marketing is not a one time event, but a process. By writing articles and submitting them on a regular basis, you will get results.

I taught a class last month, called Article Marketing For Profits, during which I discussed how to use articles to promote your business. Click Here to Get The Audio Recording Of The Class, and to learn nuts and bolts of article marketing.

I have written a bit about MySpace and Marketing – MySpace and Marketing and Product Placement and MySpace.

But MySpace is not for promoting the latest movies and gadgets anymore – now politicians are moving in. According to this article, Political candidates court MySpace voters, many political hopefuls are creating MySpace profiles are are using MySpace to reach potential voters.

The article says that:

“In many ways, these free, user-driven community sites are to this year’s races what blogs were to campaigns two years ago. They are not replacements for traditional staples like TV ads and direct mailings, but they offer the latest venues for campaigns to reach younger voters and mobilize them to volunteer.”

What do you think? Is MySpace going to help get politicians elected?

Biana Babinsky is the online business consultant, expert and author, who helps coaches, consultants, virtual assistants, professional organizers and other solopreneurs use their blogs and web site statistics to market better online. Learn more about her marketing training program at https://www.MarketingSalad.com

Here is a question I was asked a few weeks ago:

Biana, if you could only use three techniques to generate web site traffic, what would they be?

Well, I hope I can use more then just three techniques (because I already use many more), but here are 3 of my favorite ways to generate traffic:

Business Blogging. Start a blog for your business and update it on a regular basis. A business blog is an excellent tool to toot your own horn, let the world know about your new products, and tell your target customers why they should do business with you, rather than your competitor. A business blog is also a great tool for attracting potential customers to your blog and your web site.
Search Engine Optimization (or SEO). SEO is the process of modifying web page content and meta-information to improve the search engine ranking of the page. Successful search engine optimization will greatly increase the number of visitors that come to your web site since over 70% of people who are looking for products and services use search engines to locate them.

Article Writing and Publishing. This is another great way to drive traffic to your web site. When you write and publish your articles, other web site owners pick them up and publish them on their web sites, while giving you a link back to your web site.

Need more clients? You can learn how to use business blogging, search engine optimization, article writing and publishing to get more clients at MarketingSalad.com, the online business coaching community for solopreneurs. Here is what one of MarketingSalad.com members says about her membership:

“I came to Marketing Salad with many, many things on my “to-do” list. Most had been there for at least a couple of years. They were things like writing and submitting articles on the internet, starting a blog, increasing my newsletter list, and on and on. I read articles and listened to classes trying to learn how to accomplish these tasks, but I never took action, it was too overwhelming.

Gillian Hood-Gabrielson, Fitness and Intuitive Eating Coach, www.healthieroutcomes.com

Click Here to Join MarketingSalad.com, the online business coaching community for solopreneurs

Some of the largest cell phone companies are going to allow ads on their cell phones, according to the WSJ article, Coming Soon to Cellphone Screens — More Ads Than Ever.

And some online companies are getting into the game as well. According to the article,
“…Yahoo Inc. and go2 Directory Systems are set to announce today a deal that will put Yahoo-sponsored listings on the go2 Directory local-search Web site carried by Verizon Wireless, Sprint and Cingular Wireless, a joint venture of AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp. When consumers use go2 Directory to search for local restaurants or movie theaters, Yahoo-sponsored advertisers will show up in their result list.”

What do you think? Are you ready for ads on your cell phone?

Did you know that you can gets lots of customers when networking online? Or that you can waste hours every day on networking, without ever getting a single business inquiry?

Here is an article I wrote, 5 Online Networking Mistakes You Are Making Right Now that will help you identify and correct the online networking mistakes you are making. This will help you get more clients from your online networking efforts.

Don’t forget to subscribe to Free Effective Online Marketing Newsletter to receive future online business articles in your mailbox.

Biana Babinsky

Publishing a newsletter on a regular basis is a great way to build relationships with your potential clients. The more targeted newsletter subscribers you have, the more people are exposed to your expertise and are able to become your clients.

Therefore, as a business owner, you must use different online marketing techniques to continuously grow your newsletter list.

One way to grow your list that many business owners overlook is by using pay-per-click search engines. With pay per click search engines you don’t have to do search engine optimization; rather, you pay for every click that is sent to your web site.

Last week in the forum at MarketingSalad.com I discussed how I use pay-per-click to get newsletter subscribers. Get access to that discussion, and much, much more at MarketingSalad.com

Here is what one of the members said about MarketingSalad.com:

“The forum is packed full of advice, tips and a wealth of information. Anything I want to know about online marketing I can either find the answers there or ask the question myself.

As a result of your advice on Search Engine Optimization I updated my web site and ever since I have been getting a lot of enquiries and even better, taken on several new clients!”

Join now for just $9.97/month at MarketingSalad.com

Every day I get questions from business owners about how to promote a business better online. What makes one web site sell much more then the other. And how to make more money, while spending less time on your online business.

Here are 5 things to focus on to take your business to the next level this year:

– Choose a Good Domain Name. Make your domain name memorable and make it stand out. Think back to domain names you remember and type in in the browser without thinking about them. What makes them memorable?

Then, pick a name that people could associate with your business. Make your domain name stand out among your competition.

– Have a Clear Message on your Web Site. How many times have you come to a web site, and left, because you weren’t sure what the web site was selling?

If you don’t capture your web site visitor’s interest right when they come to your web site, they will go elsewhere.

– Sell Great Products/Services. When you believe in your products, it shows. Make sure you love what you you sell, and make sure your customers know about that. Make your enthusiasm shine through.

– Provide Great Customer Service. When people get good customer service from a business once, they keep coming back to shop at that business again and again.

Keep your customers – provide exceptional customer services to keep the customers coming back.

– Market to your Target Audience. Do you know who your target audience is? When you get targeted customers to your web site, you will convert more visitors into buyers, make more sales and make more money.

There are step-by-step directions in applying all of these techniques to your business in my Complete Step by Step Online Marketing Course. Get the course before your competition does, and get ahead!

I have taught quite a few coaches how to get more clients online. The first step for getting more coaching clients is defining your niche, or your target market.

Once you know who your target market is, you have three goals:

– Driving your target market to your web site

– Getting your target market to subscribe to your newsletter

– Keeping in touch and building relationships with your target market using your newsletter. This step will help you turn your newsletter subscribers into clients.

#2 is straightforward – you need to have a prominent newsletter subscribe box on your web site, and encourage your web site visitors to subscribe to your newsletter. The best way to do that is by offering something at no charge (a report, e-book or e-course) as a bonus to subscribers.

#3 can be accomplished by publishing useful, interesting newsletters on a regular basis.

This leaves us with #1, driving your target market to your web site. How can you accomplish that?

Here are a few different ways to do that:

– Online Networking. Network in groups that your target market participates in and mention your newsletter web address in your signature.

– Search Engine Optimization (or SEO). SEO is the process of modifying web page content and meta-information to improve the search engine ranking of the page. Successful search engine optimization will greatly increase the number of visitors that come to your web site since over 70% of people who are looking for products and services use search engines to locate them. Make sure that your web site is optimized for
search engines, so that your target market can find it.

– Business Blogging. Start a blog for your business and update it on a regular basis. A business blog is an excellent tool to toot your own horn, and let your target market know about your business. My business blog drives
newsletter subscribers and clients to my web site every single day.

Discover how to get clients for your coaching business at MarketingSalad.com, the online business mentoring web site for coaches. Learn more about it at https://www.MarketingSalad.com

Biana Babinsky