Google steps further strengthening local search

As most of the industry experts have envisaged search engine’s inclination towards local search. Google has further taken a step in that direction. Google has incorporated a specific tool in the Google Webmaster Central which allows webmasters to specify the geographic location of their website.

This is specifically useful for the sites who want to optimize for local markets. You might have noticed that “page from countryname” option below the search box that lets you choose if you want to search pages from that specific country/region. That’s the local search.

Google traditionally returns country specific results by using :

1. The Top Level Domain (TLD) of website.
Many websites have country specific TLDs like .co.uk for United Kingdom, .in for India, .ca for Canada etc. Google used to and will keep identifying the location by such country specific TLDs.

2. IP Address of host
Another way is knowing the IP of the web host. Location can be easily known with the IP address.

However these methods have certain limitations.

Not all websites have country specific TLDs
Many websites want to rank higher in local market but they have non-country specific TLDs like a .com, .net, .org etc.

Web Host may reside outside the country market
Many of you have experienced this. Your market is abc country and have servers hosted in xyz country. Like, i do not have American specific market for many of my sites, but my servers are mostly in America.

Google needed to find a solution for these problems, and i believe the tool they have come up with, very well addresses the problem.

However, things to note :
1. Google will keep associating a website for geographic location that is associated with the country level TLD, if it has any. Meaning, if you have a .co.uk, Google will consider it for local results for UK only. One cannot change this.

2. You can only specify the location in case you have a non-country specific domain name like a .com. And if you choose not to specify such information, Google will keep associating your site with the geographic location associated with your web host’s IP address.

There's Money In Your Site Stats

Are you missing out on important sales because you are not paying attention to your site statistics? There's a wealth of information here that can boost your sales.

Some years ago, I had a conversation with a friend who had developed a very successful offline business. When I asked him what accounted for his success, the very first thing he said was, "I made it a practise to be in the right place at the right time. And it was never an accident."

He went on to explain that he purposely made an effort to "accidentally" bump into his prospects at lunch, or run into them at social functions. "I often learned were they were, he said, "and I learned when they were receptive. I was always amazed at how few of my competitors bothered with this".

The exact same thing holds true on the internet. Do you know where your prospects are? And do you know when they are most receptive to act on your offer?

The goal is to send your offer when it is most likely to be read and acted upon. You certainly don't want your latest newsletter sitting unopened in someone's inbox, collecting both dust AND more and more email competition.

You want to maximize the possibility that your prospects are at their computers (or soon will be) when you send out your offer or newsletter. But how in the world could you possibly know this?

LOOK AT YOUR TRAFFIC STATS

The truth is, you can't know for sure. But you can put the odds further in your favor by analyzing the traffic history in your site logs.

Do you see a pattern? You will likely find that there are certain days where you consistently get more traffic than others. In other words, your particular prospects may well be more active on certain days and at certain times.

If, for example, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays are weaker in traffic, these sure wouldn't be the best days to send out your newsletter or offers. They would likely end up competing more fiercely for attention because fewer of your prospects are online. This increases the possibility of a "quick scan" or even a "delete" when your prospects get to their fuller mailboxes later.

How about time of day? Are your leads visiting more heavily around lunch (11 am to 2 pm) and dinner (5 pm to 8 pm), for example? Is there a fairly consistent pattern? If so, you certainly don't want to send your offer outside of these key time ranges. Again, to do otherwise would be to unnecessarily increase your mailbox competition.

LOOK AT YOUR SALES STATS TOO

Now, take a look at the days and times of your actual sales. Do you see a pattern here as well? If you do, it can be quite a valuable lesson.

When are your prospects in the buying mood? What days? And what times during the day? Clearly, you want to make contact at their most receptive times.

So, be ready when your prospects are. Be in the right place at the right time, "accidentally on purpose", to increase your response rates. Study your site stats and coordinate those marketing efforts within your control (particularly when you send out your newsletter) to coincide with "peak prospect receptiveness" for your particular business.

Starting an Online Business - Affiliate Programs Make it Easy

If you have been longing to start a business online you may be coming across terms you've never heard before. You may also have found the opportunities available are overwhelming. Where do you begin?

AFFILIATE PROGRAMS - EASY START

Affiliate programs may be the easiest online business to start running. Why?

With any online business you must have a product or service to sell. First you must create this product or service and then you must be able to fill orders.

Selling your own product or service also means creating a website, learning how to write ad copy, setting up a marketing plan, being able to accept payments online and obviously doing the work. If you're selling a physical product then you will need to make or buy the item, package it and pay for shipping costs. If you provide a service than you will likely have to start by doing free jobs to build your credibility and then when you are charging for your service you are still limited by how much work you can actually handle.

THE MAGIC OF AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

Affiliate programs are a great way to get started in an online business. In fact there are even some 'Super Affiliates' who are making fabulous incomes from affiliate programs. So, what ARE affiliate programs?

Affiliate programs allow you to sell another company's service or product and make a commission on every sale or lead. You do not even need to build a website or handle the transaction. Your job is to drive traffic (customers) to your affiliate link.

An affiliate link is a special URL code that will identify customers coming to the company's site from your advertising. It will likely be the website address with a code attached to the end.

Some affiliate programs also have tiers. That means if someone who is interested in SELLING the product comes through your link and signs up you will also get a small percentage of THEIR earnings.

HOW DO I CHOOSE A PROGRAM?

You should research the popularity of some of your interests. Try to determine if people are buying that product or service online. There are many sources for finding that information including free ones such as the Overture keyword tool.

When you have found an area that is popular then type the subject along with 'affiliate program' into your search engine and see which programs have services or products for that area. You can also use an affiliate program directory.

When you have found a program that looks interesting you should read the terms of the program. Make sure that payouts are not based on a high commission earning or you may never see your money. Also try to choose programs with high commission rates. Often you will find ebooks and downloadable software has the highest rates as there is no physical product to make or ship. If you are satisfied with the terms then you need to sign up - usually a simple process.

START MARKETING

The reason affiliate programs are so great for beginners is that you only need to focus on marketing - not making - your product.

Many affiliate programs have information on how to market and give you tools such as banners, product feeds and more. You can also look for other information on marketing including writing articles, creating pay-per-click campaigns, commenting in online forums etc. As you gain experience marketing you will make adjustments to your selling and start creating a wonderful income!

Affiliate Networks Explained – Webmasters Get Paid Today!

An affiliate network is exactly what it sounds like, a network of affiliate programs. Affiliate networks work by having merchant’s signup and submit there commission offer which can come in the form of pay per sale, pay per lead or pay per click. Therefore other webmasters pay you to display there link or banner on your website. Once choosing the affiliate program that best fits your website tracking is then accomplished by having each affiliate given its own unique affiliate link. This affiliate link tracks when visitors to your website click to the merchant’s website. All you have to do is place this link or banner on your website in some prime real estate so it gets some attention.

Three different types of programs exist, the first of the three being pay per sale. Pay per sale can be a flat rate fee or a percentage of the total sale. I personally prefer a flat rate per sale so I know how much to expect from each sale. The second type of program is pay per lead or action. This program pays out when a visitor clicks on your link affiliate link and then performs some type of action on the merchant’s website. The action ranges from signing up for a newsletter to submitting a form. The merchant chooses what action the visitor must take for you to earn commission. I highly suggest starting with a pay per lead program if you are new to affiliate programs and networks. The last type of program is a pay per click. Payouts range from $0.01 to $4.50 per click and payouts vary by website subject. I would not suggest signing up for any pay per click program paying anything less than $0.25

You may be asking yourself how affiliate networks are at all different from affiliate programs. Well the answer is simple, affiliate networks are simply a collection of affiliate programs compiled in a user friendly fashion so you have the flexibility to find programs and change which programs to promote simply by replacing a link.

Many benefits are associated with affiliate networks including the variety of programs to choose from. With the advanced search tool that many networks offer you can filter affiliate programs in the network related to your website by selecting a similar category or searching for a particular keyword. You can also narrow these searches by choosing only programs that are pay per click, within the United States, newly added, etc...

While not all affiliate networks offer multiple payment methods many do. This is another great benefit of working with an affiliate network in opposition to an affiliate program. I personally do not like waiting for a check to be mailed out every month which is the payment method of most affiliate programs. Instead affiliate networks often offer additional payment methods like Paypal or direct deposit.

Running a profitable ad campaign is another tough obstacle to overcome. I suggest if you are new to affiliate networks to signup for one that offers pay per lead programs and choose a program that fits your website. If you notice your affiliate campaign is not performing as well as expected this could be the cause of multiple reasons. The most common error would be choosing an affiliate program that has a high payout yet does not relate to your website content. Please I cannot stress this enough, when choosing an affiliate program from your network choose the one that best fits your website content. Even if the payout is less more of your visitors will convert to sales, leads, and clicks so in the long run it is the more logical choice.

On occasion you will find an affiliate program that fits the content of your website perfectly yet still does not perform. The solution is more of a trial an error than anything else. You need to try multiple affiliate programs to see which one results in the highest payout by percentage. This is why affiliate networks are so superior, they offer the flexibility to test different programs effortlessly and choose which one best fits your personal needs.

Finding an affiliate network has been made easy, our affiliate network list displays the program types available, payment methods, amount of programs in the network, and if the program is two tier or not. The link for our website is in the article signature, so start earning money with your website today!