Let me start off by saying that I love Internet Marketing and SEO. I study this stuff everyday and I’ve gotten so good at it that I have been able to dominate some very competitive niches. In the past year I have even been able to sell my services to some high paying corporate clients.

One thing that I have always emphasized is that SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is about offering good content and building solid relationships. Just recently though I have changed my position on this. We have all heard about Black Hat SEO and the threat of being slapped or banned from Google has kept most of us from even considering Black Hat methods but the truth is most people don’t have the first clue of what Black Hat actually means. Nor do they know that most full-time internet marketers actually practice these so-called Black Hat methods with amazing results.

Good vs. Evil

So let’s start off by first defining what Black Hat SEO vs. White Hat SEO actually is and also where the term comes from. Firstly the whole black vs. white thing comes from those old western movies where the bad guys or the villains always wore black cowboy hats and the good guys, the hero’s always wore the white hat, thus black vs. white.

What are Black Hat SEO techniques?

In the beginning Black Hat SEO referred to techniques where marketers would stuff their sites with keywords and not much else. They would also use invisible text in order to pad pages with keywords that the search engines would read but the human visitor could not see. They would also use what is called “doorway pages” that only the search engine crawlers would see but the human visitor would be automatically directed to another page. But that’s old news and those tricks don’t work anymore. Nowadays Black Hat SEO techniques usually refer to the use of software which is specifically designed to trick the search engines.

How does Black Hat SEO work?

Well to explain what it does you first have to understand how a website get’s ranked in the search engines. A powerhouse like Google ranks websites based on two things, relevance and popularity. Google makes their money by attracting people and then advertising to them. So naturally they want people searching for specific keywords to find good relevant content instead of just garbage. This is where the keyword relevance comes in. As for popularity, that’s based upon what other relevant sites mentioned in the form of a backlink. Each backlink is given a value and the more relevant your links name is to the corresponding website and the content that is actually on your sites backlinked page will determine its value. You make it to the top of google by being the most relevant and the most popular for your chosen keyword. Black Hat SEO software tries to cheat this simply by spamming the internet with your backlinks in the form of articles, forum profiles and comment postings just to name a few. This is internet equivalent of graffiti.

Where I stand on this issue…

Whenever a potential client asks me if I use Black Hat SEO methods I’d always say “no, of course not” because I don’t but I know many who do and these guys swear by it.” Because the truth is that Black Hat methods such as using mass social bookmarking, distribution and article spinning software produces results. Creating a quantity of satellite micro blogs to support your “money site” is frowned upon by the search engines but they produce results. Setting up thousands of forum profiles produces results. Spamming blogs comments with your anchor text produces results.

All though all these methods are risky they produce massive results and this is exactly how many Internet Marketers have been able to reach #1 on Google for some very competitive keywords. Sure it’s cheating…but consider would you rather not take the risk and never make it to page one on Google? I believe the best traffic is Free traffic and frankly the only way you’re going to make this happen is if you either devote years to building it up the White Hat way like I did  or start to take some risk.

“But, Andrew what if Google finds out and bans my site?

Well there is always a risk however as long as you’re smart about it you won’t get caught. For example if you just set up a new blog then hire some Odesk outsourcer in India to write and distribute 2000 articles with a backlink to your site, Google is going to take notice and not in a good way. Frankly it is way to suspicious so you have to be smart about it. The Backlinks have to grow gradually in order to stay under the radar and maintain some consistency.

Also consider that this is business and as long as you are monetizing your website and business properly then if you do get shut down you just take your proven system and replicate it again and again and again so that you aren’t relying on just one source of income. Use different hosting services and accounts for your various sites.

If you’re not making a daily income from your site then you’ve got nothing to lose anyways. Google just bans your site you go set up a new one. It’s that simple!

Again let me clarify I do not use Blackhat methods myself nor am I recommending you use these types of methods but that doesn’t mean I would blame anyone else from using them if they were willing to take the risk and I think that if you were to ask those who are in the know they would say, Yes it’s worth it!

Lastly let me share some more nuggets with you, if you are serious about this Internet Marketing thing and growing your business then study it daily, hang out with other people that are into too. One great place that you should be hanging out at is www.warriorforum.com also don’t be afraid to check out from Black Hat SEO forums.

Whether you already have websites or you plan to here is some million dollar advice you need to follow:

1. Do keyword research and start setting up new blogs every month. (it only takes an hour to put an entire WP blog together. Watch step-by-step videos on youtube to help guide you)

2. Install and set-up a weekly backup plug-in for your site. (make sure your site is being fully backed up every week and or emailed to you)

3. If you ever hire an outsource person from odesk, freelancer, guru to do some work for you on your site. Always change the passwords on your host and blog admin after they’ve completed the work (even if they’re honest you don’t know what shared computer they’re using or if they’re email or skype get’s hacked)

4. If you haven’t already signed up on Google+ DO IT THIS WEEKEND and get your google authorship set up. (There is no better way to market yourself than by having your own picture show up in the search listings.) Plus google + is great for your own SEO if your posting your own articles and stuff.

Make it a great week and be sure to follower me on twitter, G+, facebook, linkedin.

Kindest Regards,

Andrew Skelly

P.S. I’m always sharing cool marketing stuff on facebook and G+ so be sure to join me there.

Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/102281453434030311999/posts

facebook http://www.facebook.com/theandrewskelly

How to Market Your Business

Marketing Yourself

Social networks on the Internet such as YouTube and MySpace play an enormous role on how to market your yourself and your business. You only need to be familiar with how these social networks function which simply means that you should be computer literate for faster communication.  In the YouTube network, you are required to produce a video advertisement for your business that will present to the potential customers of the products and services you are offering.  Comedy videos are among the most viewed videos; hence, if you desire to have a video ad with optimal amount of viewers, it is best that the video must contain hilarious theme.

On the other hand, the duration of the advertisement is also essential in acquiring maximum views. As much as possible, make it brief and concise and it should not last for more than two minutes. Also, the tags are vital. Place all the tags which are related to the video. Another way of promoting on how to market yourself is to tap your business via YouTube. If your YouTube viewers like your presentation, then they will likely share it with their friends.

Aside from the YouTube network, the use of MySpace in marketing your business is also valuable given the fact that MySpace is highly popular to everyone regardless of age. The social network will give you the chance to upload your personal videos. Furthermore, it will allow you to create a profile page and from there you will provide a list of information regarding your kind of business.

Inviting friends and business associates will be an advantage in building good business relationships. Once you have added your friends, they will be able to see your profile and get to know about your business venture. A chain reaction follows in which their buddies will also see your profile and possibly make requests if they happen to like your style on how you market yourself. This is basically how MySpace works when you utilize for business purposes. You look at profiles and add friends which will somehow make your business recognizable by hundreds to millions of users of the social networks.

Although, utilizing the social networks mentioned above is very effective on how to market yourself.  It is significant that you find other means in making your business prosper. An approach that can be helpful is the use of business cards which can be passed on during social events. Apart from that, you can also make use of brochures for your business. All you have to do is subscribe to those networks. Soon you will develop your own networking process where your readers can do the subscriptions.

 

Related Articles:

Marketing Yourself http://www.andrewskelly.com/marketing-yourself

Marketing yourself 101 http://www.andrewskelly.com/marketing-yourself-101

How To Market Yourself
How To Market Your Business

 

 

“Discover the key for how to market your business.”

 

Why do 80% of all new businesses fail within the first 12 months?

It’s because despite the fact that most people pour all their blood sweat and tears into starting a business they fail to do the number one thing required and that is learn how to market a business. Naturally the how part usually depends on what type of business you are in but the fundamental principals of how to market your business are usually the same.

This is about driving key targeted traffic to your store or website in order to make the right offer to the right type of customer.  So exactly how do you do that? Well you start off by defining what the problem your product or service solves and highlighting the solution to those you are targeting. That’s the simple part. The sometimes not so simple part is defining your key market. Who are they, what’s their gender age occupations, what are their desires?

“Naturally, I’m speaking to entrepreneurs and small business owners just like you who want to learn how to market your business…”

Let’s take my niche market as an example, I teach people how to market themselves and their businesses so who am I speaking with? Well naturally, I’m speaking to entrepreneurs and small business owners just like you who want to learn how to market your business but at the route of it they all share one  common goal and that’s too succeed and make more money. So therefore I focus on the problem then offer the solution. I also define the best ways to do that in the market place. This takes some trial and error but let me skip the generic “get business cards printed up” ineffectiveness and just cut to the meat and potatoes of what has worked for me.

Let me start off by saying the biggest mistake they make is by trying to copy what they think other companies are doing. Don’t do that. This is about discovering the right way on how to market YOUR business not anyone else’s. Also keep in mind that there is no such thing as identical successes. Just because Donald Trump tells you in his book how he got rich and successful it doesn’t mean it will work for you. This is because we all posses different skills and attributes and also shortcomings. You need to learn what works for you kind of like your own business sales formula  and that is exactly how we are going to approach this.

In my business free marketing reigns supreme because there are a ton a free resources out there that help me get tons of clients. One of which is using this blog. You’re reading this right, so does this work? Of course and the best part is it didn’t cost me a dime to get you here. So now you are getting a sense of how you can lead your customers to you.  Now think back to how I got you here. This is the first step to learning how to market your business.  The rest can be found in my how to market your business sales training courses.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN: How to advertise, where to advertise, how to drive tons of traffic by reaching the top of the search engines and how to get your phone ringing within just a few hours. Most imortantly…how to close the sale.

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Marketing Yourself
Black Hat SEO vs White Hat SEO
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