Who Else Wants World Class Business Advice From Top Experts For Little or No Cost?

Well I’ll tell you, I certainly do! And why not? There’s plenty of it out there for the taking. As a matter of fact there’s more available these days than ever before in history. Why? Mainly because of the ease of access to both the material as well as those who have authored them… thanks mainly to the maturing of the Internet that is. There are educational and content rich web sites, blogs, podcasts, videos, seminars, teleseminars, and we can go on and on and on here. However, for all of that new technology that exists today, in my opinion, there’s still one medium that stands head and shoulders above the rest… especially when we consider getting the most bang-for-the-buck!

So what am I talking about here? I’m talking about books!

Books are one of the most effective and inexpensive ways of allowing you to climb inside the mind of someone who has been there and done that. Besides providing tremendous insight, they can save you years of struggle.

Personally on average I read about a book a week from either the “self-help”, “business” or “marketing” categories. I share this with you not to impress you in any way but to impress upon you the importance of reading. Does this mean you need to be as voracious a reader as I am? Absolutely not! I read as much as I do for a variety of reasons, one of which is just the fact that it’s one of my favorite hobbies… I do it for fun. It just so happens that my hobby brings with it a whole host of residual benefits for me and my business as well.

Now I am a firm believer that if you were to study maybe just a couple of great books from each of the categories I just mentioned to you a moment ago, and diligently practiced applying the wisdom they so generously shared, you would probably see a significant increase in your success.

Often when I’m working with a client I’ll recommend a book or two that would significantly further their success… some clients willingly take on the challenge by running out, buying the book and devouring it immediately. These are typically the clients that seem to move along their path to success the fastest. Then there are the other clients who kick and scream the whole way… making every excuse in the world why they can’t read what I recommended. Some of the excuses I hear the most are:

“I don’t have time to read.” Come on… isn’t your future worth a measly 15 minutes a day? At that pace, you could still finish about 26 books over the next year.

“But I don’t like to read.” Well then try an audio book and listen instead.

“I can’t afford to buy the books I want.” Well than fortunately for you, in America we have a place called a Library where you can borrow them for free.

Now I have to say my responses here were quite gentle… more gentle than I’d like to be because if you’re serious about taking your business and your life up a notch, there is simply no excuse for not reading.

So in closing, when was the last time you read a book on marketing? How about any business book for that matter? Or better yet how about a book in the self-help genre because if you’re anything like most people, it’s always best to get you out of your own way first; This way, the business and marketing strategies and tactics that you’ve picked up in the other books can stand a chance at succeeding. Ooh… that’s a bit harsh, however it’s said with only the best intentions for you!

Anyhow, let me leave you with a powerful quote from someone that many consider a guru to the stars in business and that’s Jim Rohn… and he once said, “Most homes valued at over $1,000,000 have a library. That should tell us something.”

© 2008 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Want to use this article in your newsletter, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Liked this article? -- Then check out Long Island-based marketing coach and consultant, Dean Mercado’s highly acclaimed marketing blog 'The Motivational Marketer’s Journal' at http://www.MotivationalMarketer.com. Additionally, for even more small business marketing and success tips, sample the latest edition of his FREE marketing tips newsletter the 'Marketing Minute' at http://www.onlinemarketingmuscle.com/marketingminute/ , -- a weekly multimedia e-zine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes.

Dean Mercado, Online Marketing Muscle, success articles, business advice, books, reading, web sites, blogs, podcasts, videos, seminars, teleseminars, self-help, marketing

Secrets of the Internet Marketing Experts Series: 2 Keys to Higher Organic Search Engine Rankings

By Dean Mercado

I believe it’s safe to say that regardless of the type of web site you own, drawing the continual attention and favor of the major search engines is very important to your effectiveness on the Internet.

And since it’s never wise for a businessperson to leave their fate in someone else’s hands, it’s imperative that you continually take strides to improve yours.

Think of the Internet as a treadmill running at high speed, stand still and you will actually move backwards as your competitors who are willing to run, pass you by. To play the search engine marketing game, you need to keep your feet moving forward… not just enough to stay in the same place, but fast enough to keep you competitive by propelling you forward ahead of the pack.

That being said, it’s important to understand the motivation behind how the search engines work. Essentially, search engines are judged by you, the user, by their ability to bring you the best matches to whatever it is you’re searching for online -- their inability to do this effectively not only hurts their bottom line but also hurts the usability of the Internet in general.

So it makes a lot of sense that the search engines would take great care in ensuring they are doing the best job they possibly can to help you find what you’re looking for.

I have to say, they certainly have their work cut out for them though. There are tons of very smart people out there continually looking for and exploiting any and all loopholes in an attempt to slant the playing field in their favor. The search engines have essentially assumed the role of policing this activity in order to give all web sites an equal chance at achieving higher rankings. This is why top search engines like Google change their algorithms constantly -- if someone does manage to find and exploit a loophole, it won’t be available for very long. So unless you’ve got nothing better to do, trying to cheat the system is just not cost effective -- I highly recommend that you stick to the tried and true tactics.

What I’m about to share with you, are what I and many other Internet marketing experts consider the 2 most important keys to organically improving your search engine raking. Now are these the only things that the search engines take into consideration when ranking your site? -- Absolutely not! However, these two appear to be the main ones whose importance hasn’t waned over time. So here goes:

1. Fresh, Unique, Relevant Content

Ahh… how the search engines love this… that’s one reason they are so enamored with blogs… because blog content tends to be unique, focused on a specific topic, and updated frequently.

So whether though the posting of your e-zine issues to your web site, posting one-of-a-kind relevant articles, or hosting a discussion forum, just to name a few different things you can do, get into the rhythm and habit of adding in-demand content regularly – I’d recommend at least weekly.

2. Lots of One-Way, Incoming Links from Other High Ranked Sites

This is essentially social proof to the search engines that your web site is important -- and as we stated earlier, this is exactly what the search engines want -- they want to bring their target market the best matches available on the Internet.

Now for the most part, the more web sites that are linked to you, the better! Want to take it up a notch? Don’t just go for quantity, go for quality as well -- Get linked to by other relevant web sites. Want to take it up another notch? Get linked to by web sites that are ranked higher than you. Want to take it even further, have those web sites linking to you use keywords from your destination page as anchor text to represent your link… cool stuff here!

It also important to note that while one-way inbound links appear to be the best kind… this doesn’t mean not to do reciprocal links with other relevant sites… those are good too… they just may not be weighed as heavily as the one-way inbound ones.

So in closing, I’d like to leave you with the notion that if you want to get the most value out of your web site, it’s imperative that you put into place, and take consistent action on, both content and linking tactics for your web site immediately.

© 2007 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Want to use this article in your newsletter, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Liked this article? -- Then you won’t want to miss Long Island-based marketing consultant, coach, and entrepreneur Dean Mercado’s highly acclaimed marketing blog 'The Motivational Marketer’s Journal'. Additionally, for even more small business marketing and success tips, sample the latest edition of his FREE marketing tips newsletter the 'Marketing Minute', -- a weekly multimedia e-zine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes.

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