Maximizing Online Profits - On Page Optimization - Above The Fold - Interlinking - Make Old Content Profitable - 60dc
Not making money online?
Every online marketer and writer is on a journey. This journey towards online success and profits often if not always starts off rocky. Its actually a very select few who make it past the rocky start and dont quit due to discouraging returns from their efforts.
Whether you followed bad advice, followed no advice at all or merely have content that outdates the current factors that Search Engines focus on, its near impossible that much of your online portfolio does not contain underperforming work that you have given up on or consider a constant source of of discouragement.
As your online portfolio grow and your knowledge and strategy changes, one should surely go back and revisit that early work and add your new found knowledge to your old attempts.
Underperforming in my eyes, means failure to get a significant portion of traffic that the article could be enjoying and once the traffic arrives, failing to get conversion at a level that justifies your involvement.
Within you will find my examination of how to make your underperforming content work for you and breathe with new life.
Maximizing Online Profit - Make Money Online
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How to: More Traffic - More Conversions
When considering whether a page is underperforming in regards to traffic, one should be aware of what the potential traffic is for the title and content.
What did you aim for? What did you optimize for?
When considering whether a page is underperforming in regards to conversion, one should consider how the intended conversion (adsense event, amazon sale, affiliate offer etc.) is presented.
Where does this "potential conversion" fall within the layout of your page - perhaps it would perform better in a new location? Perhaps the landing page for the offer or product is at fault and you should replace the offer with a similar advertiser for the product?
Where does this exit point appear in the flow of your page, article or hub and where does it lead to?
Online Reader Behavior - Above The Fold
Its a very common and misguided misconception that online readers are "reading" your material, that they are enthralled and persuaded by your amazing copy to perform activities like visiting a sponsor or buying a product.
This evades common sense!
Its a very rare person that will stumble onto a page, read every word and be convinced to pull out their credit card and make a purchase based on the strength of your words.
Online Readers are Scanners!
A smart and effective online writer and marketer will react to the proven realities of their market and will not only provide the required information but will also present it in the appropriate manner.
This should not be a surprise!
After all, your "readers" are actually using a "web browser" and the common terms for perusing the web are "web surfing" and "web browsing"
Heat Maps and Page Layout
What heatmaps should teach you about your text and ad layout
Time and again, user behavior online which is measured via eye tracking and or mouse behavior. One very reliable source that confirm this for you (although, your own behavior should be enough) is The Nielsen Companies Report on Eye Tracking Methodology.
Web site owners can also implement such software to track behavior on their own sites.
Both ad placement and the style in which you present your info should be effected by this info.
The standard eye motion of a scanner falls under the "F" pattern, a quick read of the titles and then a scan of the opening paragraph(s) , if you do not catch your potential "readers" attention within this time - they will leave.
This behavior also relates to search engine returns and shows that the top few positions in a search return are the extent of most readers efforts, if you are not there, you do not exist.
Befuddled: of what this means?
Trial this: The Keyword Academy
Re - Optimize for Keywords in Title
#1 Step to Revamping Underperforming content
Evaluate your title and overall On Page SEO for your target term.
Perhaps, when you began online your keyword research was poor or your on page optimization was lacking.
- Prepare for a Keyword Campaign
- Picking Money Making Keywords - Keyword Tips
- Essential elements of On Page Optimization
Your url is set in stone, but your title and related on page seo can always be tweaked! A simple way to find and evaluate new title options is to simply run the URL through the AdWords Keyword tool!
Excerpts, Summaries,Snippets and Meta-Descriptions
#2 Cultivating your first impression
When you look at a search result in any of the major search engines, it returns a small snippet in addition to your link, it also emboldens any terms that match the query.
Search engines dont grab this info arbitrarily, it is effected by the "meta-description" of your page, and if you own your own site you should take a quick moment to add this data, alternately it will show the first text in your page. A common failure is to open with an image and have photo credits or arbitrary info in the photo caption - this results in the text being picked up and shown in the search results!
Here at Hubpages you can effect what appears by filling out the "custom summary" field.
On old content, you should just search for own page and see what appears? Does it adequately express what contains within and does it include the appropriate keywords?
Included is a return for "Search Engine Optimization" , one of the results has cultivated an interesting and appropriate teaser, that is not the first words on the page, the other has not - which is more enticing and which is the more trustworthy source for Search Engine Optimization information and services?
"Free step-by-step SEO tutorial with tools and advice. Search Engine Optimization services, classroom SEO training, SEO tools, site Assessments, free tips, ..."
Intro Paragraph : Convert Scanners into Readers
#3 Outline your information - Entice your reader
Your visitor has lots of options, let them know right away that they have landed in the right spot. What many see as overly repetitive can actually just be the type of reassurance your scanner needs in order to convert into an actual reader.
Use your keywords and give a reason to continue reading. Print Journalism has been aware of this reader behavior since damn near its inception. Intro to Journalism classes teach you to follow the the 5 "W's and to use an inverted pyramid.
Reassure that your reader is in the right place and then you will be more likely to have an opportunity to create a conversion later in the writing.
Alternately, since many of your scanners just wont become readers - right away , right upfront is a prime location to offer an exit point - this is a prime location for an adsense capsule or a related easily converted offer.
Dont believe the hype - You make money from cPc based advertising by attracting targetted traffic that decides NOT stay to read - an exit, and its related revenue occured because you were not judges to be the resource they were looking for
No relationship between "writing quality" and " cPc advertising" like adsense exists. This doesnt mean you lack quality but keep in mind, once again common sense, your traffic exiting your writing is what creates revenue under that model.
Above the Fold - Advertising Layout
#4 Retool your Ad Placement
To the right you will see a heatmap created by the Yieldbuild system. The brightest areas indicate the locations that converted to clikthroughs the best.
This is powerful information and one can use it to begin testing the optimum layout on their own pages and ads.
Something to keep in mind, it may be difficult to optimize for multiple forms of advertising in one page, the prime spots can only be taken by one option. So for example, here at Hubpages certain spots are well known as the best for AdSns layout, that same location is most likley the prime spot for product placement too.
Which source should get priority , consider that, based on your own monetization strategy.
As much as possible get your ads above the fold! This is another print media term, online it refers to the area of the page that appears within the opening view for your visitor.
Where are you sending them?
#5 Examine your intentional exit points to increase conversion
You have performed all this writing , research and designing to attract and control your traffic, all of this would be in vain if your exit landing page is poor.
Perhaps, you have selected a product on Amazon, does it have poor reviews?
Perhaps, you are trying to sell a 3rd party affiliate product, is the site trustworthy in appearance, is it hard to get to the checkout area, is the site intuitive for your least web-savvy viewers?
Evaluate where you are sending traffic if you feel your conversion is not where it should be.
Inspire Loyalty
#6 Offer a way for your visitor to keep tabs on you or support you
You may successfully convert a scanner into a reader but it may not be a buying moment for them. Give an option for them to bookmark or share your content, highlight the opportunity! offer an rss subscription, or links to more of your content. A loyal reader may come back again and become a buyer or perhaps they will "sneeze" your efforts around.
The myth of the organic backlink
#6 Take every opportunity to offer related content to your reader and gain a backlink
Although offpage optimization has not been discussed here, I will briefly add, underperforming content just might need a kick in the pants via some backlinking efforts.
Some votes to get the content lifted into peoples eyes. Often you will see claims about how "aged" and "quality" material will just get natural organic backlinks over time!
Perhaps some readers may social bookmark or share in their social networks, but these are not quality backlinks. Only a webmaster can create a backlink , occasionally perhaps an active forum poster may share your content (if they can find it) ...but otherwise the stranger that creates a natural organic backlink for you must be a webmaster, site owner or article writer.
For many niches and topics you are unlikely to find that your target audience has these capabilities.
I believe this is common sense also.
Reaction? Take the time to be active in a community of people who does have backlinking abilities, be a community member at Hubpages , comment and interact within the blogosphere, be apart of online networks that includes those with the power to "organic backlink" - you dont have to beg and trade, but at least participate with the group that can make one if they like. Plus each comment is a backlink, now aint it!
relatively easy backlink methods:
- Get Traffic To Your site - Basics of backlinks and Promotions
- Get DoFollow Links that you can earn from!
- The Truth about Adsense Revenue Sharing Bookmark Sites
If all else fails, your old indexed content is an opportunity to link out to newer content and provide a quality backlink, as your online portfolio grows and you have more locations to publish at simply making sure to mention and anchor your backlinks to other related sources can be very powerful.
Keep it fresh!
#7 Update - Update - Update!
Search Engine Spiders love fresh and updating content.
Put the milk and cookies out for Santa Spider - offer the ability to comment and inspire them to be made, provide related rss or news content or even manually update your work when new information presents itself or discover a new way to present the info!
On Copywriting
Combine eye behavior and persuasive copywriting techniques in order to create unstoppable online articles.
An important aspect of increasing conversion on your online properties is your copywriting and persuasive writing abilities.
This particular article does not sell anything so is not a valid example, I only hoped to show how to tweak and to suggest ways in which you should try and step into your visitors shoes and look at your content from virgin eyes and a fresh perspective. This particular hub, if I was hoping to earn from the content would have been best presented in 5 or 6 parts of easily digestible material, I dont earn from SEO and web writing articles, so I have no impetus to create 5 or 6 articles!
If you are in fact focused on sales writing and are looking to improve your product conversion rates, then your next step should be into reading about persuasive writing and ad copy.
Unfortunately, as a whole, we humans are still quite predictable, certain styles of writing are amazingly effective
FranK Kern, effective Copywriter suggests the most basic blueprint for effective copywriting is:
1) Tell them what you have
2) Tell them what it will do for them (Sell the "sizzle")
3) Tell them what you want them to do next
ex - ("Click Here To Order Your Copy").
The longer version is the AIDA Method
A= ATTENTION. You must first grab the reader's attention.
with a compelling headline:
I= INTEREST. Sell the benefits not the product. People buy from emotion not from logic.Sell the sizzle, not the steak!
D= DESIRE. Show urgency and scarcity
A= ACTION. Call to action - Buy Now!
Studies show that people want to be told what to do next!
If your tired of seeing all the gurus list their undeserved profits in the forums, you are the better writer, you should be celebrating the earning victories, see the pennies turn to dollars, click here and learn the secrets of controlling your readers via persuasive writing, Do it now!
60dc2 Specific - Tweak Week Outline
This has been an addition to the 60 Day Challenge at Hubpages outline of suggestions. If you find this tutorial helpful or enlightening, feel free to follow along with other informational tools provided.
Hello 60dc'ers - now that the first phase of the 30 in 30 is complete, take this opportunity to revisit, tweak and optimize your past works.
Pay careful attention to:
- On page SEO: particularly image captions
- Amount of tags - at least 10-15 including misspellings and terms from your search history
- Inclusion of RSS capsules
- Interlinking of your related content
- Awkward phrasing, spelling and grammar within your work - particularly the opening paragraphs
- Custom Summaries
- Make sure your links are ANCHORED
- No irrelevant links created by "related links" tool
- Control your exit points - Where can they leave?
Well done! Phase 2 will commence shortly.....
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