Thursday, May 31, 2007

3 SEO Tips for Direct Sales

While this could easily turn into another "you need a website" article, it's really about search engine optimization for direct sales reps. It's just important to you (maybe even more so) than it is for others in different industries.

Before you read any further, know you are going to need your own website. There is no way around this, as you can't optimize a rep site. It looks identical to all the rest of the rep sites out there, and search engines hate identical.

1. Check your company terms
It's important you check with your company to make sure you can actually have your own site. It's also important you double check that you can use your company name. Being able to use a heavily searched for company name could be a huge asset if used right.

2. Use keyword phrases
Once you know you can build a site on your own with your company name, you need to come up with a list of keyword phrases. Keep in mind you will only use ONE keyword phrase per page. Each page needs to focus on just one set (a phrase) of keywords. Start here to find out what others are searching for:
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

3. Build incoming links
Write articles, use your signature line on forums, and seek out link exchanges. As long as you have links coming into your site, the search engines WILL index you automatically. Which is something you need to realize about search engines - they will crawl your site as long as you have quality content and links coming into your site. Do not fall for the "submit your site to 100s of search engines" scam. It happens automatically!

For more advanced search engine optimization work on your site, I highly suggest Cricket's SEO class at:
http://www.gnc-web-creations.com/seo-optimization.htm

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive
to help women succeed in direct sales. For additional help with your direct sales business, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com


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Sunday, March 04, 2007

Search Engine Optimization Exposed

How do they Find You?

Search engine optimization is utilizing techniques and methods in order to make your website rank as high as possible on search engine result pages. The higher the ranking, the higher the probability of "getting the click". So, it stands to reason that higher rankings equals more clicks which equals more traffic which eventually equals more business.

There are many aspects you can change on your website or add as well to make your website a little more search engine friendly. A few little examples would be adding titles, meta tags and alt tags. Done in moderation and properly, link exchanging is also a good technique to acquire backlinks. The amount of backlinks you have is another one of the components search engines use to rank sites.

Keep in mind though, a large portion of SEO revolves around properly using keyword phrases about your niche or website theme within your pages. Do not (and I repeat ... DO NOT) mutilate your webpages with keyword phrases. Yes, you want to include your keyword phrases throughout your page for search engines but keep in mind, they are not your customers. You need to find a nice balance between keeping both the search engines and your readers happy. So in other words, if it cannot be read smoothly and make sense ... change it. Would you place an order on a website that looks like it was written by a child?

Don't be afraid to do a little research and reading on how to make your website a little more search engine friendly. There are plenty of articles, ebooks, reports and other information sources of the like available. It might cost you a little money and it'll certainly take some time, but the benefits will come back tenfold over and over again.

Search engine optimization does require a little bit of work but it's really not much more than using a little bit of common sense. Start optimizing your site today so you too can reap the benefits of more traffic. Besides, we're all in business to make money, right?

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Anita DeFrank is the author of Kick Start Your Online Business. The online world is full of possibility. It gives you the power to meet people from all over the world that you could never dream of meeting and better yet, Do Business with these people. Stop wasting time sifting through all the advice that may or may not be useful and learn from her mistakes. Learn more about her book at http://www.mommyshelperonline.com/kickstart.html
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Sunday, February 25, 2007

Content is King - Even In Direct Sales

You've heard it said a hundred times before - content is king. But did you know this applies to those in direct sales too?

When your potential customer lands on your rep site, are they getting all the information they need to buy? Or are they just seeing short descriptions and price information? We've said it before and we'll say it again - all direct sales reps need their own website.

Direct sales companies are only concerned with selling one way - through reps. They aren't concerned about search engine optimization, content, link exchanges, or any other methods of selling online. They pay you because it's YOUR job to drive the traffic to the site and make the contacts.

The only way to sell online (other than starting your own direct sales company), is to offer content. Lots and lots of content. This is what it all comes down to.

Here's just a few things you can use more content for:

- Search Engine Optimization
Search engines crave content. The more words on the page, the higher the rankings for certain terms will be. If this is an area you are concerned with (and you should be!), you absolutely need content.

- Articles
Write your own articles and submit them - you'll be amazed at how much they increase your traffic.

- Product Reviews & Descriptions
Just imagine how many more sales you'll make if you give your buyers more information. Give them details on how you used the product, why you like it, how it worked for you, and what it could do for them. Or better yet, details on how other customers used the product, why they liked it and how it worked for them. They are more likely to buy if they are given more facts and opinions about the product.

Learning to write online is an important skill, but not a hard one to learn. It simply takes practice....which to get practice, you need to write!

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Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive
to help women succeed in direct sales. For additional help with your direct sales business, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com
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Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Why You Need to Use Search Engine Optimization

Selling online is a cut throat business. You have to arm yourself with the proper tools and know-how to make your website a cut above the rest. Everyday more and more people are clambering to optimize their websites and if you let down your guard, you just may get trampled on and be left in the abyss filled with so many other failed websites.

Search Engine Optimization, also known as is SEO, is widely used by many website owners. For quite a few years in the past and many, many years to come, search engines are the most widely used tool internet users use to find the websites they need to go to for a product, service and/or information they're looking for.

Most search engine users only use the top ten search results on the first page. Very seldom do they move onto the next pages. Therefore making it on the first page is a goal for most website owners. Ideally however, being listed in the top three should be the ultimate goal. The higher the rankings, the higher the ratio of the probability of "getting the click". So, it stands to reason that higher rankings equals more clicks which equals more traffic which equals more business.

Now it must also be mentioned that once you grab a hold of that top spot, it's important to keep a hold of it. As I mentioned, each day is a new day for all website owners to make themselves rank higher using SEO. It is extremely important to make your site better everyday.

So, the answer to why you have to use search engine optimization is an easy one. You need SEO to rank high in the search engines so you can make your website an income generating website. With you SEO you can get the benefit fo generating a high traffic volume. As mentioned, more traffic equals more business.

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Anita DeFrank is the author of Kick Start Your Online Business. The online world is full of possibility. It gives you the power to meet people from all over the world that you could never dream of meeting and better yet, Do Business with these people. Stop wasting time sifting through all the advice that may or may not be useful and learn from her mistakes. Learn more about her book at http://www.mommyshelperonline.com/kickstart.html

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