My SEO Gal is having it's very first Blog Hop of many To come! I'm so excited that we made the decision to get together and start a blog hop. Our first blog hop will start on October 5,2009. How To Sign Up to Participate in our Blog Hops: All you have to do to enter into the hop is enter your blog name and blog url below in our Mck Linky box located below and your site will show up in the box. Click on the Enter Your Blog Url Here link, then Leave a comment below that says you will be participating. Then add a post to your blog about the hop, you have the option to include a prize and post your rules. Come back and get the code for your blog or copy the code as soon as you enter in your blog's information and add the code to your Blog Hop post. You get the code by Clicking on the link under the Mck Linky box below that says Want to participate in this blog? Get instructions here. You can use this wonderful image designed for our Blog Hop by Jen at by J Bee Designs and place it at the top of your blog post or on the side navigation of your blog so all can see. Make sure to upload the image to your computer first then upload it to your blog.  Here's a great example of a Blog Hop: 1 – What is a blog hop? Hop, hop, hop… that’s right! Imagine a themed blog posting in which many other bloggers are posting the same theme, with a list of participating bloggers links on that post that will allow you to HOP to other blogs and see the exact same theme, however different content. For example: Let’s say this week the theme given to us is “My favorite picture”. Everyone in the blog hop group will post their favorite picture and content and at the end of the blog, will post an HTML code that will have a list of all the blog hoppers. In this case, if I go to my blog, I’ll see a post of my favorite picture, my content and a list of all the participating bloggers. So, I can click on another blogger’s link and see their favorite picture...and then just hop from blog to blog……..
Everyone participating may insert the same HTML code so that we will all have the same blog hop list displayed. That way, the visitor will know which ones they have visited and which ones still remain to be seen…
Now the question is….
2 – Why should I participate? Exposure… !!! This is a creative and new way to increase the exposure of your blog, by receiving traffic from your fellow Blog Hoppers and from the visitors. It’s FUN and addicting. Think of our example. Wouldn’t you want to see what everyone’s favorite picture was? And wouldn’t you want to click on all the links to see what they were? And if you found the blog interesting, with interesting articles, wouldn’t you stop and read? Increase your blog’s traffic AND get more followers by participating in this program. It’s a win, win situation.
3 – I want to participate, but I don’t know HTML….
That’s fine!!! The HTML code (Mr. Linky) will be given to you, and if you have questions as to how to add the code, you can me at the contact link : Contact US and get assistance. Don’t miss out on this great opportunity.
If you have additional questions in regards to this program, please e-mail Contact Me Otherwise…. What do I do after I sign up: 4.- What you would need to do is to create a blog post before this Sunday October 4,2009 and copy the Mck Linky code that you get below into your blog hop post. Your blog post should display the Blog Hop banner above. The post can be about the blog hop. You would mentioned something like We are participating in My SEO Gal's Blog Hop. If you are giving away a prize then you would say something like. "To celebrate the 1st blog hop of many to come I am giving away a prize. Then you would have your rules to win the prize. Let your readers know to visit other blogs in the MckLinky box to enter to win more prizes. blog hops: and leave a separate comment. comment with your blog url. contest rules and when you will be announcing the winner. blog hop and use the image from my blog post in your blog post, make sure to still add the Mck Linky code to your Blog Hop post so people can jump from blog to blog. LET’S GET STARTED!!!!
5. – When the blog hop opens or if you want to add your blog now, you can add your link to the Mck Linky box below and get the HTML link code by clicking on the get your code link located under the Mck Linky entry box. The first week of our blog hop will not have a theme, but the blog hops after this one will have some type of theme that will be announced before the blog hop begins. Our blog hops will last for 7 days to 14 days. The first one will start on October 5 and end on October 21st. Remember to add your link below and don't forget to tweet or retweet about the blog hop by clicking on the little green box located at the bottom right hand side of this post. The blog hop doesn't actually start until October 5, but you can help us promote it by tweeting about the hop, contacting your facebook fans, telling everyone you know that has a blog and invite them to participate. The more blogs that participate the better! To keep up to date on our Blog Hop make sure to follow this blog by clicking on the follow button on the right hand side. So hope to see you while hopping! NOTE: If you want to participate in the blog hop, you MUST put a Mck Linky box on your site right after you add your blog below and you MUST mention the Blog Hop. I will go through the list and remove any links below that do not have the Mck Linky box listed or any blog that does not mention the hop. Carla Phillips My SEO Gal http://myseogal.com Got a Question or need help? Contact My SEO Gal Today for a FREE SEO Quote. |
Join the Social Networking Sites: This is a must. If you haven't gotten around to joining social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter. Now is the time when you should sign up for an account to market your products or services. Social Networking or Bookmarking Sites are great ways to generate traffic and to start a buzz about your business. They are free to use and get tons of traffic each month.
Be prepared for Peak Seasons
You must be prepared for peak seasons. The holiday shopping season is already here!!! Do you have your holiday items on your site? Do you have your holiday newsletters and sales lined up. If not, don't start running around, pulling out every strand of your hair off your head. Simply sit down and write out your plans for this holiday shopping frenzy. What new products or services are you going to offer. Are they holiday themed products or are they gifts for people or pets even? Have a service that you offer to other businesses? Create a holiday package just for your customers. Offer a discount or an incentive. Research seasonal keywords that people are already using for the type of products or services you have to offer.Unique items or services : Make sure that you have unique items or services offered on your site. Take a look at your competitors site and see what they are offering and what they aren't offering. Try to find products being offered by manufacturers in your niche that your competitors do not have yet. Don't forget about the “Small Business Owners”! Small business manufacturers have the most unique products and are looking for retailers to help distribute their products. Contact them to see if you can get a sole contact with them to sell their products online. If you do land a contract, make sure to state it in your products description. You can use words like “Exclusive” “Only Available” or Available Online Only. If your product is online available online then a buyer who is interested will be more inclined to make a purchase.
Get on top of your SEO: If you haven't done so yet, make sure to put SEO on your calender before the month is over. You really don't want to be left out in the cold or finding yourself closing shop the first of the year due to no sales. Take some time to research your keywords in your niche. If you don't take the time to properly optimize your site, just remember this big tip: YOUR COMPETITION WILL!
Reward referrals
As you may know, some businesses thrive from referrals. I have found that one of the best ways to get referrals is by having others help you find customers for you. You can do this by offering a rewards program or a referral program. You can either give out free merchandise, give a discount off of their future purchases, or offer a percentage of your sales. It all depends on your the type of business you have and what you can give away. Now be realistic. Don't offer a 50% cash incentive if you can not afford to pay the incentive. If you send out a newsletter, include a section in your newsletter where your customers can tell a friend or you can set up a form on your site that will allow your customers to enter in the names of their friends. When you get a new customer from the referral, make sure to send the person a personalized thank you note along with their reward.Send out a newsletter: Have a sign up form on your site and give a discount for those who sign up. Make sure the discount is automatic. You can do this by doing a custom thank you page and include the coupon code in the thank you message. It's important to keep your customers up to date on sales, contest, and new products. Keep your newsletter simple and straight to the point. Your newsletter can be themed based where you send out information that is geared toward one specific type of product or service. Make sure to get permission from everyone you send out a newsletter too and make sure to give them an option to unsubscribe from your newsletter. You don't want to take the risk of getting to many spam marks or you will not be able to send out newsletters because your email address will be marked as a SPAM address.
Sponsor a Giveaway or Do a Giveaway:
Sponsoring a contest or doing one yourself is an excellent way to advertise your site. This is also a great way to collect email addresses, mailing addresses and any other information you would like to use to in the future. I have done plenty of contest advertising for clients and they ended up with over new leads over a period of a month. You can also participate in blog contest events. There are tons of blogs out here that offer Blog Hopping events. Make a note of all of the events and make sure you include your site or blog in the hopping event. You can gain a lot of exposure to your contest and website.
Start a Blog
I should have posted this tip before the giveaway tip?! If you don't have a blog make sure to add that to your To Do List. A blog is another great way to bring traffic to your sites. More and more searchers are looking to see if a website has a blog when they visit sites. A blog is a good way for them to get to know more about the company they want to purchase a product or service from. You can keep your customers informed about any sales, new products or upcoming events you are having. Be as natural as possible with your post. Don't sound like a robot when you are promoting your advertising. Make your post as friendly and as engaging as possible.Groups and Forums
Join groups and forums that are related to the type of products you have to offer. Many forums will allow you to post your url in your signature. Be very cautious when using this as a method of advertising. Forum members do not like when a business gets on a forum and starts to post links to their site with no other communication. This is known as SPAM and most hate it, so stay away from it. If you join any forums or groups on Yahoo, Google or MSN. Make sure you are there to learn or contribute. Respond to questions that you are familiar with, especially those that pertain to your niche. Become an authority figure on the topic and people will start to respect you and even look for your comments.
Team up with like minded businesses or people:
Find people online and offline who are within the same niche as you or who have a passion for the type of products or services you have to offer. If you sell pet products, team up with pet lovers or groomers. If you sell baby products, team up with new mothers, play groups or day cares in your area. If you are in the website designing niche, team up with hosting companies, SEO'ers, or other website designers. You can offer discounts to anyone you team up with for your products or services. Establish life long relationships and watch your business grow!
If you have read through these 10 tips and are thinking that all of them sound great but you just don't have the time right now. Times are hard right now for a lot of people and they just aren't shopping the way they were a year ago. Although money might be tight right now for a lot of consumers the need for making money is continuous. Try setting aside two to three hours each week to start focusing on advertising your business. When you actually take the time to market your business, and start to see a change in new orders, then believe me, you will be glad you did!
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