How to make more money online

July 29th, 2010

I like money!

Once you’ve got a shiny, workable, awesome website (assuming you got one from Edge of the Web, of course!), there are things you can do to make even more money out of it.

There are two main forms of online marketing that can help you climb search engine rankings and attract more clicks and customers.

Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing is the most immediate way to get your site noticed and probably the method that brings you most control.

Organic marketing requires more time and effort, but can bring about a far more lasting and productive result.

Pay Per Click

PPC ads usually appear on the right of the main listings when you search. It ranks websites by how much they are willing to pay to appear in the listings for particular keyphrases. The more you are willing to pay for a click, the higher your company will rank.

One of the great things about PPC is that you keep tight control of how much you are paying, and how much benefit you are getting from it.

It also means you can tinker with your keyphrases and how much you spend on each click, so that you can work out what gives you the best return for your money.

Organic

Organic marketing is less immediate than PPC, but is a highly valuable way to optimise your site.

Organic listings in search engines are hard to climb, but are more likely to bring you high volumes of traffic, as most people click on organic listings before the paid for adverts.

The best way of getting your site to rank higher in search engine listings is through inbound links. Links from other websites to yours are very valuable, when search engines find them they know that your site is considered credible by someone else, which is taken into account when they rank you.

However, search engines are not easily fooled. If you go out and buy 100 links from online directories in a week, search engines know you’re just trying to improve your ranking, and won’t play along. The best links to get are from people in similar or related industries, relevant blogs or articles.

Simply turning up on a blog and posting an ad and a link to your site isn’t very helpful (it’ll probably just get you deleted for spamming), but involving yourself in the discussion, and including a link as an explanation or for extra info could be very useful.

The main thing with link building is to ensure you’re getting links from relevant or highly regarded sources. A link from the BBC counts for far more than one from justpayusforalink.com.

Of course, online marketing isn’t a one-or-the-other option, a mixture of both could be the magic blend that lets you make even more money online.

hannah marketing , , , , ,

How to make money online

July 23rd, 2010

Making money is sadly one of the most important things in life. Not because people are inherently greedy and materialistic, but because we enjoy things like food, clothing, and not living in a box.

The internet is still a new opportunity for lots of businesses, even those that have been established for a while, but lots of people still find it difficult to work out how they convert that opportunity into a money-generating operation.

Far too many companies think that the internet isn’t the right place to do business, and simply don’t feel the need to get an online presence, but even if you’re a bricks and mortar firm, a website can help you find new customers and make more money – you just have to choose the right kind of site for what you do.

So what is the main idea behind your site? What do you need it to do?

Inform
An information-based site is usually the best option for a company that’s new to the world wide web. All it needs to do is provide the information about who you are and what you do. It can include anything you think is important; prices, service information, testimonials, but its main purpose is to promote your company.

This kind of site will augment your company’s ability to make money through greater exposure, creating a sense of professionalism (lots of customers have more confidence in a company with an online presence), and by making your business more available – visitors can get in touch whenever they want to, without you needing someone to answer the phones at half-past midnight!

Making money with an information site is also relatively easy to track. You can look at the statistics of people visiting your site and filling out your enquiry form (we provide our clients with an AW Stats package to keep track of these numbers), and it’s usually best to ask people how they found out about you if they call in too, as some people prefer to phone after seeing a site and get more immediate contact.

Sell
A website that sells, or an ecommerce site, is pretty self-explanatory when it comes to making money.

A website is a lot cheaper than a physical store, and it’s also open to a wider range of people for a much longer time. Making your products available for purchase by people all over the world at any time is a lot easier on the net than in person.

Again, you can use your stats package to find out the search terms people are using to find you and how long they stayed – useful information to let you know how your site is performing and how it could be improved.

Whether you’re looking to advertise your company online or directly sell across the net, a website can be a hugely valuable asset to a company.

Next week, I’ll be explaining how to make MORE money from the internet, by using Pay Per Click to manage your online marketing.

hannah marketing , , , , , , ,

Happy birthday Tom!

July 15th, 2010

Mmmm, cake!

It’s Tom’s birthday today!

He reaches the grand old age of *, and is celebrating today with some fishing.

Requests for him to take his laptop with him were denied for reasons I can’t quite understand. Probably something to do with the temptation to just chuck the thing in the water, which I’d imagine would actually speed up the whole fish-catching enterprise.

Although I’m told this isn’t actually the point of fishing. Odd.

Anyway, happy birthday Tom, we hope you and all the family have a lovely day and that you don’t come across a megashark. Unless you happen to reel it in, which would be very impressive!

*removed for legal reasons

hannah random

Glastonbury guide to shopping

July 9th, 2010

"Tie me kangaroo down, sport" - I hope you're singing the British version!

After a couple of weeks off due to Glastonbury (awesome!) and post-Glastonbury lurgy (decidedly NOT awesome), I’m back in the office.

After a couple of trips to a festival – particularly one as massive as Glasto, you start to become more of a discerning customer. Instead of spending most of your time at the big stages watching artists you already know, you become more of a wanderer, taking a listen of various bands before settling down with one you like.

It gives you a much better opportunity to find out who’s overhyped, who needs to bring on a string of guest stars to bulk up a fairly drab set list, who’s an utter legend, and who’s simply a lot of fun*.

Also you get to discover acts you’d never really considered – I returned home to download the entire Gomez and Mystery Jets back catalogues.

So I plan in future to spend a little more time shopping around. Not only is it fun, but you get a lot more for your money!

*for me this was Florence and the Machine, Gorillaz, Pet Shop Boys and Rolf!

hannah random

World Cup Office Sweepstakes

June 17th, 2010

Las Vegas and Warwick have a lot in common. Like the letter 'a'.

We at Edge of the Web are embracing the World Cup by doing what any respecting business would do – try and screw some money out of it!

So we’ve got ourselves a little sweepstakes (which is surprisingly difficult to organise when there are 5 people entering, and 32 teams!).

We’ve all put in a little bit of cash, and now have to rest our hopes on the unpredictable world of football to win us some cake money.

Here’s the draw.

Bhups – England, Algeria, USA, Ghana, Slovakia, Germany

Me – Nigeria, Mexico, Japan, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Netherlands, New Zealand

Mark – Uruguay, Greece, Switzerland, Australia, Chile, Honduras, Paraguay

Sam – Brazil, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, North Korea, Denmark, Cameroon

Tom – Argentina, South Korea, Serbia, France, Portugal

There were also 3 ‘blank’ entries to make up the numbers. Bhups drew one, and Tom managed to get the other two!

From these results, I have concluded the following.

I am resting all my hopes on the mighty Netherlands. Although no-one’s paid me to wear one of those orange dresses yet.

Bhups is slightly screwed by having drawn 3 teams from the same group.

Sam has clearly cheated. Spain, Brazil and Italy?! Come on!

Tom drew two blanks. And France. Enough said.

And Mark? Well, if any of Mark’s teams make it through to the semis I’m going to check the office for signs of satanic ritual.

So, let the tears and recriminations begin!

I love football!

hannah random

Caffeinated copy

June 10th, 2010

What could be better than tea? Tea and biscuits!

My favourite person in the office is always the person who made me tea most recently (currently Mark – cheers Mark!).

A little tea or coffee break gives me a chance to step back from whatever I’m doing, and when I get back to it, I come back with a little extra energy and enthusiasm.

Whilst a caffeine-prompted energy boost might be good for my brain cells, I’m always very careful not to let it seep into my text. Enthusiasm is good, but let it show in the writing – not the formatting.

All that energy will usually make you look pushy, if not outright desperate.

So cut down on the CAPITALISATIONS and EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!!!

Trust me, you’ll look a lot more professional if you use them sparingly – and that way they’ll stand out more and have a better chance of drawing your customer’s eye.

hannah copy writing

Selling a sheep in wolf’s clothing

May 27th, 2010

Who's afraid of the big bad . . . oh who am I kidding?

Cold-calling random people is likely to p*ss off 90 per cent of the people you talk to, whereas identifying people who might genuinely need or want what you’re offering will get you a much better reception.

Pushing your website marketing towards popular keywords, regardless of their relevance is just as likely to p*ss people off. They might not be able to say anything colourful and hang up on you, but they’re not likely to call you in the first place – and that’s the point of marketing to begin with.

On the net, relevance is the most significant factor.

If you’re trying to sell sheep, don’t dress them up as wolves. If someone types “wolf” into a search engine, clicks on your site and finds a small fluffy lamb, they aren’t going to hang around and buy one.

Stay specific to the things you do and provide. There can be hundreds of different keywords that actually work for your company, and relevant marketing to a smaller audience is always going to be more successful than just pushing your marketing towards any popular terms, whether that’s wolves or XFactor.

There’s no point having lots of visitors if they’re all looking for something you don’t have.

If you’ve got sheep – sell sheep!

hannah marketing

Election day marketing

May 6th, 2010

It's all about YOU!

Ever put together a campaign, pouring time, effort and money into it, being enthused and excited, only to get to launch day and discover that your customers weren’t nearly as excited as you were?

A month ago that was how the General Election was looking, like an exercise more for the politicians than the electorate, and there were expectations of a historically low turnout.

But now here we are on May 6th, and facing a totally different election.

And the difference is because the voters feel like they are really involved now. The television debates were an opportunity for the leaders to actually connect with the public, and for the public to feel like they had a connection and a place in the political landscape.

Getting your audience involved is a lot harder when you’re talking at them, and not with them. That’s why making a sale face to face can be easier than sending a leaflet, and why the debates were more effective than releasing editorials in the papers.

Being a person instead of an institution is hugely beneficial, but how can you achieve that on a website?

Step one is to speak to your customer and not at them – identify what they really want to know, and tell them about it.

Step two is to use those opportunities to drop in why you provide that service better – how you’re cheaper, faster, better qualified, better quality.

Step three is to make their choices clear – make your ‘buy now’ button, your contact page and your list of services really easy to find and easy to read.

In the end it’s up to the visitor to make up their own mind, but sometimes a little involvement is all they need.

hannah copy writing, marketing

Changing perspective on your business

April 23rd, 2010

Everything looks different from an alternative angle

Nothing in this life is certain, except death and taxes (unless you live in California).

When you look at your company, you already know why you’re the best. You know about your unique selling point, you know why people should choose you.

But when a visitor comes to your website, they come there without any of that knowledge. You need to make it clear to them from the outset, not just what you offer – but why it will work for them.

You have to take on their perspective of your business before you can convert them to yours.

hannah copy writing, random

An election guide to writing

April 15th, 2010

No - vote for ME!

How many people ever actually read the election manifesto of a political party?

Other than other politicians and political commentators/analysts, I’d guess fairly few.

I’m saying this as someone who is passionate about politics; I’ve tried and failed on many occasions to get through a manifesto, and I know I’m not alone.

Reading a manifesto for a party is a lot like a reading website for a company. You want to know who these people are, what they do, and how that helps you.

It needs to open with a brief introduction that explains why the things you offer are right for me, next you need to go into detail about these services, products or policies and reinforce why they help me.

You also need a place where people can find out more about you, what you’ve done in the past, where you aim to go in the future or any other important facts about your company, party or movement.

Simple, really.

Of course, for politicians, knowing that very few people will ever read their work can be a bonus. They write manifestos for the professionals, knowing that the public will only read the actual policies – you know, the bits they actually WANT to know, without having to wade through the extraneous information.

Maybe if they just cut out the blurb and focussed on the voters, more people would be interested enough to read the manifestos in the first place. . . .

. . . .

.  . . . On an interesting side note, reading the introduction to the three big parties’ manifestos showed up a difference in language that I’m always banging on about.

I mean of course, “we” versus “you”.

And here’s how the big 3 scored in their introductions:

Labour Conservative Liberal Democrat
We 14 19 1
You 0 4 13
I 1 0 2

Meaningless from a political point of view, naturally, but always of interest to this copy writer!

hannah copy writing, random

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