MKLINK Internet Marketing Tips

I’m not really much of a football fanatic but I did follow the England team and saw them losing on Sunday : 4-1 to Germany.

There are lots of arguments and theories about it but one fact is that we didn’t have a great defence.

But WHAT IF we had 50 players whilst Germany just had 11???

Of course that’s against the rules. But Your web marketing isn’t restricted by these rules. And yet MOST PEOPLE just have 1 website.

Insane!

This leaves you very exposed to losing your search engine rankings and if nothing else you’re never going to maximise your visitor traffic this way or ring-fence your competition.

What if you had 10 websites? Or 20? Or 100?

Now the web has it’s own “rules” and there’s stuff you should know so you don’t get penalised for spamming.

Tomorrow(Wednesday 30th June 11am) I’m running a complementary webinar about how to use multiple sites to effecitvely multiply your web business and beat your competition.

So if you HAVEN’T done so already,
Reserve your spot now at:

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/126018105

See you there!

Mike Knight

p.s. If your PC doesn’t have sound enabled, you can dial in as usual.

I’ll be running a weminar next Wednesday about Microsites and how you can use them to uotperform, outsell and outmanoeuvre your competitors. Register now at : https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/126018105

See you there!

mk

The Introduction of Google ‘Caffeine’

What?: Google Caffeine is the name for Google’s new web indexing system which is now in operation.

Why?: The content of the Web is growing in size, variety, and complexity, and Google perceives higher expectations among its users relating to being able to find the latest content, and getting their own contributions published sooner. ‘Caffeine’ has therefore been introduced so that updated, new content can be indexed and shown faster. It is estimated by Google to show 50% ‘fresher’ results than before Caffeine was introduced, and that a larger collection of content can be displayed (in search engine results). Links to new, relevant content e.g. web pages, blog or forum posts, can be found sooner after their publication.

How?: Google indexes web pages differently than before. The previous batch / layered system of indexing meant that there were layers to Google’s index which were updated at different rates. In order to update one of the layers the whole Web would have to be analyzed, which caused a delay between when pages were found by Google, and when they were delivered / displayed in search engine results.

The new ‘Caffeine’ system analyzes the Web in small chunks, and updates the index system globally on a continuous basis, speeding up the time it takes for new content to be displayed in search engine results (if it is relevant to the search query).

A Point to Remember About This Change

It doesn’t affect your web page rankings, or the current guidelines for getting your pages found i.e. Google hasn’t changed its algorithms, it has changed the way it finds and delivers content to Google users in the search engine results.

Want help?

Go to http://www.mklink.com/getstarted/ now…!

mk

Get More tips at http://www.mklink.com/getstarted

Website Feedback Widgets
We all have websites that tell the whole world how good we are.

But do we LISTEN to our prospects & clients?

No! Mostly, we’re too busy SELLING. Or trying to.

As I keep harping on, most people have a website with a terrible conversion rate because their website simply lists what they do (rather than giving the information that clients want) and the only call to action is usually - “call us” or “email us”.

But the challenge with that is that you’ll only EVER get people contacting you
that are ready to either buy online or want a sales pitch.

Typically 1% or 2% max.

That leaves 98% of the potential money on the table.

Everyone else that may be interested in you or your services and products simply won’t contact you until they’re ready - and by that time they’re probably not on your website anymore because it might be months down the line.

(Did I ever mention to you the 8 second rule states that you have 8 seconds or less to engage your visitor? It’s a very good yard stick to work to.)

I call it a “Pay Up” or “Pi** Off” type marketing.It’s rubbish.

It leaves no third option.
Would you walk into a pub, see someone you fancy and ask to marry them?

Of course not - you’d get to know them and find out what they like
and what they want. It requires LISTENING.

And yet I could - modesty aside - walk into a pub, ask 5,000 people to marry me and someone would say “Yes”. Now I’m not good looking, charming or even a ladies man, but there will be a percentage of the population that are :

Depressed.
Lonely.
Drunk.
Think it’s a laugh.
Bigamists.
Mentally disturbed.
Whatever!

The fact of the matter is that it’s a numbers game but it’s not efficient and yet THIS IS WHAT EVERONE DOES WITH THEIR INTERNET MARKETING ALL THE TIME!!!

Marketing is communication.

Communication is listening.

So Turn your Website into a “Listening Post”.

When someone leaves your site - you’ll NEVER know what they would have
wanted. Unlike like a bricks ‘n mortar shop, when you could ask them! But now we can ask online as well, with some clever software that adds a ‘widget’ to your website and asks people for feedback.

Exit surveys - slightly more intrusive - can achieve this as well.

Essentially you can turn your website and emails into a “listening post”.

There are various companies that offer this service - e.g. Kampyle and
can charge from £30 to £300 per month(ish).

(I built my own basic one - it’s on my homepage. Feel free to ask for details. Nevertheless, it still tracks what people are saying, as well as recording where they came from, which keyphrase they used etc - handy for some quick feedback analytics)

Anyone who uses Ebay knows the value of having a decent feedback score so one of the uses of these widgets - as well as getting a useful insight into what their visitors are thinking, is the ability to build up feedback and also have that feedback displayed on their websites - thus adding social proof i.e. credibility.

The upshot of all this? MKLINK can help you ‘Listen’ better…

Find out what we can do for you today at http://www.mklink.com/getstarted

Speak soon,
Mike Knight - MKLINK.

I was doing some research the other day and looking for a landing page of Chris Cardell because I’ve been on his courses in the past and wanted to check something he might be doing so I could learn from it.

His PPC campaign must have stopped running for a bit because I couldn’t find it. So I typed Chris Cardell straight into Google.

Then Chris Cardell Scam came up as a possible match - so out of curiosity I clicked on it and came across this link http://brianclegg.blogspot.com/2009/12/clever-advertising-or-fraud-you-decide.html

I receive loads of marketing stuff from Chris and the newspaper cutting I thought was excellent. I’ve been trying to find a printer for ages that can do stuff like that.

Yes, if you look very closely you can tell it’s mass produced but then that’s great. Show’s he knows what he’s doing.

What I don’t understand is why people that don’t know what they are doing and have never tried any of his stuff decide that it’s a good idea to slag him off. In fact it annoys me because I teach some of his principles to my clients and with good effect.

Some people are really upset that he’s sent them a newspaper clipping with a post-it note. Get a LIFE!

Chris has had a very positive impact on my career and given that I’ve generated over  £40 million of additional revenue for my clients, I’d say that’s a result.

Now for anyone reading this thinking I have some affiliation with Chris, I don’t. I’ve been on several of his courses and have stopped memberships to others as is my want. I don’t think he even likes me particularly as I contacted some Cardell members in a private members’ forum with  a view to getting some co-operation and possibly business and guess I overstepped the mark a bit.

In the big scheme of things I don’t think he cares too much because he focuses on what works and doesn’t get hung up on what doesn’t and I hugely respect that as I have problems separating the two and take failures and criticism too much to heart.

Anyway, that’s it. Chris’s stuff is good and I’m very grateful for what I’ve learned. Yes, you can learn some of his stuff elsewhere and that’s what I choose do these days but most people - like myself - were unaware of any of this stuff until they’ve been educated.

I recently decided to become qualified as a chartered accountant to demonstrate I’m not a total business moron and you could argue I could have learned it all on my own. But I can assure you having a teacher makes life much easier and business is all about efficiency. People who don’t get that are whingers with no results to back them up.

If you’ve not tried his stuff - don’t slag him off. If you haven’t tried his methods - don’t slag him off. If you don’t know what works and what doesn’t - don’t slag him off. In a nutshell - if you don’t know what you’re talking about (and most people I see slagging him off don’t have a clue), don’t slag him off!

Focus on your OWN game of golf & find out what WORKS.

Mike Knight

I appreciate that this next piece of internet marketing
advice won’t be for everyone.

But it has certainly helped me get where I am and
lots of other online personalities as well.

One of the biggest challenges I face is my personal
time - Or lack of it. Same with you in your business
probably.

So I have to be very efficient with my time.

One of the most efficient ways to communicate with
lots of people - at the same time - is via webinar.

Teleseminar  = Seminar  via the phone.
Webinar  = (Tele)seminar via the Web.

If you’ve not been on one before then essentially
it’s a teleseminar which people can access online
and therefore see other media  i.e. images or
powerpoint presentations - that kind of thing.

People can still phone-in to a webinar as well if
they’re on the move.

Now, the neat thing about webinars is that you can
have hundreds of people on them - and it doesn’t
cost a penny - apart from the few dollars a month
license fee.

No travelling, no fuel, no hotel rooms, no hiring
expensive conference facilities, no hassles!

And - with the savings - you can reward prospects,
clients, employees or suppliers for turning up -
or simply save your money.

So let’s say that you own an IT company.

You can run weekly training classes - by webinar
and very cheaply and efficiently ensure your clients
are using your software/hardware properly and to
their best advantage.

Or you could train up a team of sales reps across
the country for your large car dealership franchise.

It’ simple!

Simply email your list what the webinar is about and
how it will benefit them.

For a Law firm - it might be about changes in UK Law
which affects landlords or businesses etc.

For an accountancy practice - it could be details
about new tax updates.

For an exclusive club like university alumni it
could be the year’s speaker engagement.

participants register for the webinar which starts at a
particular time/date. Emails are automatically sent before
the webinar to remind people about access codes and
the URL to visit at the right time.

Then, when you’re presenting the webinar - with 2 to
2000 people on it, you can ask questions, mute people,
unmute people, take polls, show diagrams - play music
- whatever is appropriate for your business!

And finally, you can record the whole thing so that
people that missed it can watch it later or listen
to it as a podcast.

How powerful is that?

Once again, it’s another things that very low cost, easy
to use and hugely undervalued by businesses meaning there’s
opportunities abounding because most people are missing
a trick…

If you’d like some good, straight help with your web marketing
then the best place to start is to take a risk free trial of our
services today at http://www.mklink.com/getstarted/

Speak soon,
Mike Knight - MKLINK.

http://www.vouchercodes.co.uk/

But a wicked site that could save my members’s money…

mk

Another useful site :

http://mashable.com

Get More tips at http://www.mklink.com/getstarted

You Can find out how well your competitors are doing - on EBay!

In fairness, it’s most useful to people that sell stuff online - because
you can literally see how well your competitors are selling.

But…as a business, you BUY stuff don’t you?

Well, if you can see that people selling the stuff you either want to
buy or invest in are struggling then you can expect better prices and service.

After all - it’s simple research.

How do you do it?
Simple - you checkout the lifetime feedback ratings. Even if you don’t
have a specific competitor you wish to check out, you can simply search for
the products that you are looking for and see who the key players are.

The trick is to make sure that you can see the amount of feedback being given about specific product types over a long period.

If you can see that the rate of feedback has dropped then - all things being equal, the ebay seller is simply selling LESS of that item over time.

You can of course measure this against other sellers and see if there is a pattern.

It’s a bit like looking at the growth-rings in a sawn off log - you can see the tree’s rapid growth years and years of slow growth.

Naturally, there are some items that are seasonal and need to be factored in (common sense)
but if you are selling widgets and feel as though you have been struggling recently - or indeed booming then this is a quick and dirty way to see how everyone else is getting on.

The one good thing about Ebay of course is that it’s great for makret research, price testing, consumer feedback etc - simply because it has the sheer volume of traffic.

Far too many people I speak with feel Ebay is for selling junk or that it’s ‘beneath’ them somehow. It’s a big mistake I feel as you can use Ebay a lot to develop your business
- without ever buying or selling anything necessarily.

Would you like more marketing tips and some real, practical help from a company that’s been doing this since 1998 and generated over £40 Million on behalf of it’s clients?

Register today at http://www.mklink.com/getstarted

‘Till next time,

Mike Knight - MKLINK

Boring Stuff!

Checked out http://www.mklink.com/getstarted/ Yet?

Your best marketing that NEVER gets the limelight…

You already know your main areas to improve upon :
Traffic, Conversion, Retention.

1 - Traffic is vanity. (It’s the expensive bit - usually)
2 - Conversion is sanity. (Where you cover marketing costs)
3 - Retention is profitability.(Where you actually make MONEY)

Of course, the goal with your web marketing is to get to step 3, as fast as possible.

Yet most people stop at step 1 - hence their costs are high but their returns are low.

A FEW people optimise their marketing and get to step 2.

…but then they forget to do the “boring stuff”…

That’s things like sending their prospects & clients emails, personalised cards, follow up calls.

Or surveying their clients about what they actually WANT.

Or asking clients for referrals, testimonials or feedback.

Or sending regular news, tips & helpful stuff.

You know the “stuff” I mean!

It ain’t rocket science and it ain’t hard.

Yet when was the last time you got a birthday card from your accountant?

Or when was the last time your lawyer called you up and asked if you were HAPPY with their service?

Or when was the last time your IT company sent you a box of chocolates for using their computers or referring someone to them?

When was the last time YOU did any of this stuff???

This low-cost form of marketing really does mean the difference between struggling for business and getting loads of business.

Well, don’t worry about it any more because you can now automate most of this “boring” but essential marketing and get the profits you deserve !!!

MKLINK now offer loyalty marketing as a service to all our clients.

In a nutshell, by doing your “chores” for you, they will actually get done!

The difference between success and failure very often isn’t complicated - it’s simply getting round to doing the stuff that you know you should be doing anyway: regularly, efficiently and not giving up on it.

So now you can dramatically improve your conversion and retention rates, thereby increasing not only profits & customer loyalty but also your testimonials, referrals, order values and goodwill simply by getting us to do the follow-up marketing so that you can concentrate on the more interesting parts of your business!

Want more details? If you’re NOT yet an existing client then we’ll need to have an introductory consultation and to do that,
register now at : http://www.mklink.com/getstarted

’till next time,

Mike Knight. MKLINK Internet Marketing Tips

Some Copy Writing Tips

Checked out http://www.mklink.com/getstarted/ Yet?

Some Quick Things to Note About Copywriting.
For some reason, people seem to take on a completely different personality when writing copy for their websites or company literature.

I’ve already explained the need for writing about the prospect and talking in terms of benefits, rather than writing the typical corporate self-obsessed boring rubbish.

But here, I’d like to make a quick point about readability.

The purpose of writing great copy is selling, not passing an english exam.

OK, so if you’re tendering for the MOD to supply nuclear submarines then perhaps you might want to have a more formal style than normal.

But if you’re selling washing machines or trying to get people to pick up the phone and book an appointment for your double glazing company then your copywriting style needs to be a lot more relaxed and friendly.

Like mine for example.

The good news, is that there are tools available to help you with how “readable” your copy is.

In fact Microsoft Word - probably the most ubiquitous word processing application around, has a handy tool built right into it.

Go into tools/options/spelling & grammar or (options - depending which version you have) and checkout the readability statistics function.

I have been told by a copywriting colleague of mine that you should aim to make the copy readable by a grade level 8 (I think that means about a 14 year old).

You need to keep to 1 idea per sentence. Try and keep sentences relatively short (15 words per sentence is about right).

You also need to aim to have the “Reading Ease” over 60.

In general, your copy needs to pass the “bar stool test”.

i.e. if you were sat next to someone in a pub and they wouldn’t immediately understand what you were saying without any difficulty then there is something wrong with your copy.

The usual problem is that people try and show off and use unnecessary words which just alienates people.

For example, why do people use the word “utilise” instead of “use” ?
Pomposity costs you money!

A quick note by the way on a slightly different tack (legibility rather than readability) , use a “sans-serif” font online - such as Arial or Verdana and a “serif” font for print - such as Times New Roman.

I say this because the default font on many wysiwyg editors is Times New Roman but the screen resolution online isn’t as good as print and therefore the twirly bits(called serifs!) can become blurred.

Want some more help with your web marketing?

Register at http://www.mklink.com/getstarted

’till next time,

Mike Knight. MKLINK Internet Marketing Tips