The tricky thing is that all the settings keep getting updated and to redo all the screenshots every few weeks = lots of work. I tried this with the best practice guide, but realised how many options are available!
In my opinion, a high quality campaign starts by picking the right keywords. Without that -- you can get ranked for keywords galore, but if the traffic don't come -- then what?
So why not also include something about keyword research which I can cover in detail.
Cuz I truly think that keywords are still a mystery for folks.
Sure -- you can easily nowadays go grab 800, 1000, 1600 keywords easy.
But getting quality keywords and what to look for in the process -- as well as an approach instead of going out with guns blazing.
Because of that I try to keep it as basic as possible. You won't find any downloadable settings and everyone has to use his brain and hands to accomplish their very own campaign setups.
I just want to give ideas so every user knows what might be possible. If some options get added/change or not isn't important.
To avoid that screenshot issue, maybe if would be easier to do a textual description (much easier to maintain), splitted into each campaign section for example. Videos are nice for a general first overview, but to specifically withdraw information it's not very practical, and i'd say the best is really plain text.
I'll start a bit with the discussion then, regarding OBL and PR, for my tier1 i'm using max 50 and PR2 and then go up 10 OBL for each tier and down 1 PR, but i think i might be a little too conservative on this one, what do you guys recon of this?
I like your initial presentation of the idea...it's very helpful.
Can you split it up to differential between profiles and actual articles/video video posts. It's just that GSA creates so many profiles before you get actual posts/articles...and how this impacts the moneysite? I'm worried all these profiles will be seen as spam and get the moneysite nuked.
Also - what do you mean by "High authority sites first." Are we talking PR3 , 4 , 5, 6? Does the same apply to article sites?
Just want to say big thanks for this post...so many of us will benefit. I just hope we can add the value back..
No, I won't give any platform list you have to click, because such a list will change in the future with more engines added. Its your job to decide which engine you want choose and what not.
If you are worried than don't use that engine on your money site. Simple as that.
However, I have some ideas how to edit the scripts to make profiles as harmless as possible. This will most propably be covered in one of the future posts, but I need to test this first.
With high authority sites I mean the well known sites like scribd, goarticles, wordpress, posterous and so on. Most of them have a PR6+
Manually is the best of course as you can change themes, format your articles and so on but you need to decide how much you want to autmomate or outscource (with other tools/services) your projects.
Sorry for all the questions...but I am trying to work out why Google has been killing our traffic while Yahoo and bing are improving our rankings ever week!
How many of these tier 1's are you creating for a medium to low difficulty keyword? (10, 20, 50, 100?)
You won't get a blueprint "how to do this and that" by me. I just want to give options you could consider when planning a campaign. I mean, you know the DOs and DON'ts and everything else you have to figure out by yourself.
But once the case study starts I will document to everyone how things work out (or not) and what I've done for that particular project.
@Ozz just wanted to say you did a great job. I have been using my own variation which is very similar. I hope more people check out your guide because it will deliver solid results. Cheers!
@GG I start at 10 per day, but after a couple weeks I average between 20 - 30 per day with a new site. Its getting things on the first page in 6-8 weeks. Compared to the way I used to do it pre-penguin, this qualifies as a drip! I try to line up 20 - 30 tier 1's for say 5,000+ exact match. Just as a test, I have also gotten page 1 for 5000+ exacts just using Ozz's strategy without tiers. Go figure. All I know is this that GSA works better than any tool I have ever owned. The diversity of links is killer. @sven is a god. @Ozz is his right hand.
I was sharing this strategy with someone the other day.
I use a BUFFER between my link building and my money site.
So my REAL tier one building is actually my tier 2.
Money Site
Tier 1 Web 2.0 web 2.0 web 2.0 web 2.0 web 2.0 (hand built)
(highly unique content -- will re-write a spun article so it's different FROM EVERY other version -- and it can be up to 8 web 2.0 properties at times -- I vary it up and use constant randomness with different web 2.0 properties).
Tier 2 Article Directories & Web 2.0 are checked in GSA with a DIFFERENT HIGH QUALITY SPUN version of a new article that contains some tips and tricks and then leads visitor to one of the web 2.0 properties above as a call to action.
Tier 3 Blog comments, Image comment, Social bookmark, plus separate RSS Mashup of verified links from Tier 2 on multiple platforms and then submit those various RSS feeds to RSS aggregators via RSSsubmit by Dummy Software.
Tier 4 Guestbook commenting, more blog commenting, plus RSS mashups of verified links from Tier 3 - then submit to RSS feeds.
I do NOT do SEO indexer -- nor do I do any other type of link indexing services.
If you think about it -- a link to an article or some piece of genuine content/comment or otherwise is NOT usually shared by someone (and then found by a search engine) by that person sending out pings to a bunch of engines and then alerting a bunch of WHOIS sources for the spiders (and Gbot) to come along and grab the content.
So while it may take a little longer with the RSS mashups and such -- I have a BUFFER from any of the GSA efforts causing ANY direct damage post penguin and give me the ability to INCREASE my speed of building links to the web 2.0 properties a little bit FASTER than building directly to my own site.
Why not allow my hand-crafted web 2.0 properties become my collateral damage rather than my own site and have to dig myself out of a PENALTY?
Some of the indexing services do RSS mashups -- but why not do them on existing RSS platforms that have better PageRank for Google to say "Yummmmmmmmy!"
That's the general plan -- but it varies and I get a little wickedly random and diverse sometimes -- all the better to leave not even half a boot print for G to trace.
I make diagrams of all the backlinking structures I create to make certain I sprinkle doses of randomness from any existing structures.
Let's not forget about the variance of the anchor text but the main THEME of keyword is pervasive throughout all the levels so that the anchor text from one tier link to another is all related - which means I would also keep the GENERIC ANCHOR TEXT down to 8-10%.
>I do NOT do SEO indexer -- nor do I do any other type of link indexing services.
>If you think about it -- a link to an article or some piece of genuine content/comment or otherwise is NOT usually shared by someone (and then found by a search engine) by that person sending out pings to a bunch of engines and then alerting a bunch of WHOIS sources for the spiders (and Gbot) to come along and grab the content.
Because of that I thought to use the Indexer just to my secondary links to give attention to them, so the spiders can crawl the way up to the money site. The Indexer won't be used to backlinks which are pointing directly to the money site. What do you think?
About RSS: I think that SER is able to grab all created RSS links some day and sent them to RSS sites automatically. As I've worked on a simple submission script to some of those RSS directories already it was not clear to me if those submission needs to be verified or if its possible to verify them easily.
As you are using RSSsubmitter I like to ask how this software handles verification. Does it only send the links and thats it or does it check if those submission are verified and found/indexed in the RSS directories?
@ozz -- that's actually a GOOD idea to use the indexer on tier 3. I just personally think that creating an RSS feed and submitting that is a slightly better WINDOW for an SE spider to follow. However, I can't necessarily speak to what the quality of the places that are being submitted by SEO Indexer -- but last glance, I think I saw Sven saying it was Whois directories, etc.
About RSS: wait -- are you saying that SER is able to grab all VERIFIED URLs and then take those to create an RSS feed on an RSS feed hosting site?
About RSS Submit -- you can download a DEMO version of the software and see for yourself.
Not sure if there is ANY way to verify the submission other than to for GSA SER to analyze the response after submission has proceeded. Submitting an RSS Feed is much like Pinging an engine.
Not sure I ever referred to any type of PR or outbound link requirements at all.
"Do [I] manually find them?"
Yes -- I do -- and usually just use the highest PR sites like Squidoo, Hubpages, Blogger, Tumblr, etc.
These have the highest authority -- and as I build up PageRank on these web 2.0 tier 1 buffer sites after building a diverse and rich Link Portfolio to each one of them, the keyword phrases used in the "anchor text" links that lead to the Money Site will have so much power (because of the backlinking done to them) -- a link from my front line web 2.0 properties will have as much power as 100 higher quality links from GSA -- and quite likely, 1,000 low quality links acquired by GSA.
With all the backlinking done to the web 2.0 property -- each one should easily reach a PR3 to PR4 in a couple of months -- which would send some pretty powerful link juice flowing through however many (4 to 8) of those types of sites on the front line.
As said in the parentheses to the right on Tier 1 ------> "(hand built)" <-------- meaning that I will hand build these web 2.0's and they should be at least three small articles that give value with tips of some kind.
5 Best Ways to Barbeque Meat
3 Money Saving Ways to Make Awesome BBQ
4 Tools Every BBQ Ninja Should Have At Their Side
These do NOT have to be hugely large articles.
Remember -- THINK CONTEXTUALLY here and the more tightly themed your web 2.0 properties on the front line are.
So if you do like 4 different web 2.0s that you will build links to -- then think of splitting each site up into sections, so that each web 2.0 is like a SUB-SECTION or category at your money site.
In other words, dedicate each web 2.0 to a particular sub-theme of your MAIN THEME.
So if my site were on BBQ -- I could do 4 different web 2.0s on separate sections that I might have on my site:
Web 2.0 #1: Barbecuing Meats that Make People Salivate
Article 1: 5 Tips to Barbecuing A Tri-Tip Roast
Article 2: 10 Secrets to Creating a Kick-Ass Wet Rub for Your Meats
Article 3: 7 BBQ Cooking Tools that Keep Your Food from Falling Apart
All of these articles then have an keyword phrase anchor text link to a CONTINUED discussion on each topic at your MONEY site -- and that section of your money site is already sub-theme and your CONTINUED article/discussion should be in the Barbecuing Meat category/section of your blog or HTML site.
Remember -- that Gbot sees your site in structures or themes and the tighter your site is THEMED up -- the MORE relevant (and thus, more powerful) your links become as they are built to the web 2.0's and those web 2.0 links that point directly at your money site.
Let's also NOT forget the other ways to make sure and fool Google so that it doesn't seem you are favoring just your money site on these front line, buffer web 2.0 sites.
Make certain to have a link out to Wikipedia.org and maybe some other existing HIGH AUTHORITY site related to the theme -- maybe a BBQ related site that has a glossary.
It is COMMON to find web pages that are of high value that don't just go to ONE place and actually site multiple references.
Also -- you want to make sure ALL of your web 2.0 pages directly to a related INTERNAL PAGE - I would never, ever, ever drop someone from an article about a topic and then try to have my HOME page continue the discussion. That's a great way to have people hit the back button and then go find a solution to their nagging problem elsewhere.
Make EVERYTHING as easy as possible for the visitor so they LITERALLY don't have to THINK -- much like, watching TV -- because YOU ARE DIRECTING their experience.
SIDENOTE: Another thing that folks tend to leave off in even the web 2.0 properties, including their OWN sites, is the fact that you can take advantage of Internal Site Linking with Anchor Text.
You notice this on Wikipedia.org -- when you read something -- there is ALWAYS a page that links to another page on Wikipedia.org so you can reference stuff -- with their REFERENCES and RESOURCES below (i.e., links to other high authority sites).
So you are also making use of the same variations of anchor text that may refer from one article on your web 2.0 to another article on that web 2.0 site.
What happens is that over time, not only will your money site be ranking for the keywords used in the anchor text from the web 2.0 sites -- you'll also have the web 2.0 sites ranking for keywords after all the backlinking that is done to each.
So we go on to make...
Web 2.0 #2: BBQ Sauces
Article #1: 5 Easy Steps to Making a chunky style BBQ Sauce
Article #2: 3 Methods of Using Your BBQ Sauce While Cooking
Article #3: 4 Spices Every BBQ Sauce Should Have
Web 2.0 #3: BBQ Tools
Article #1, #2 and #3 tightly themed to BBQ Tools
Web 2.0 #4: BBQ Grills and Smokers
Article #1, #2 and #3 tightly themes to BBQ Grills and Smokers.
Gbot will get its Gspot hit when you give it these contextually related pages.
If you're not sure HOW to break up the themes in your site, I am certain that Google's well admired Open Directory Project at http://www.dmoz.org will reveal the structure that G so much loves. Just go to your topic, and look at the sub-topics -- and this should be a guide -- and if you can MIMIC DMOZ.org -- even better.
This goes for your Money Site to obtain the structure for your site's MAIN TOPIC.
Each page should be an INTRODUCTORY page of that sub-topic that then points to each individual article using the anchor text that you want that page to rank for (I would use 4-5 words in that keyword phrase anchor text).
So you see -- your site flows in thematical order from home page as main topic -- to sub-topic -- to sub-sub-topic -- and sometimes you can even go into sub-sub-sub topic and really get into depth.
Each of your front line Web 2.0's becomes a blog that is one of your SUB-TOPIC themes that begins the process of warming up the visitor to get them over to your MONEY SITE and then take action from there.
SUB-SUB TOPICS: These are on target articles that go into detail about the sub-topic your money site and each of your web 2.0s cover those sub-topics as an BEGINNING conversation.
Because of this tightly-knit theme structure -- your web 2.0's will harness magnificent power in the links pointing at your money site because everything flows directly into a continuing conversation.
The average person just goes about building links to their Money Site's home page -- bombarding that page and leaving the internal pages empty and lonely -- longing for attention. They may have gotten a little smarter and finally understood that they need to vary their anchor text -- but happen to still be pointing TOO MANY links at their home page.
You want these internal pages really being the pages that RANK for the keyword phrases that are hopefully well targeted for highly qualified BUYERS -- not just lookie-lews. In other words, BUYER KEYWORDS are essential.
Targeting the wrong keyword phrases will just get you a lot of traffic -- and you aren't aiming to shoot for some reward on getting the most visitors in your niche. You want the BEST qualified visitors that ARE ready to buy whatever your product, service, affiliate link or Adsense ad you wan them to click on.
Just ask yourself whether you would like 5,000 visitors a day with only 1 sale -- or 50 visitors with 10 sales.
If you target GENERAL KEYWORDS like "bbq cooking" -- then you're going to get MASSIVE TRAFFIC if and when you eventually are allowed to rank for such a popular term -- but you won't be getting a lot of sales as that keyword is more of a "research" keyword.
In fact -- instead of targeting JUST a keyword, I would rather target EXISTING questions people have that would then lead to a natural segway toward a solution that I can offer either through an affiliate link or CPA Offer or an affiliate offer -- or getting them to my WordPress eBay/Amazon Data Feed type site -- whatever.
And you can figure out what QUESTIONS people are typing in by going to the WordTracker Question tool:
In fact - if you think about it -- you can probably uncover all the different site content that would be immensely sticky for a visitor (content that makes visitors stick around and want more) -- through questions that you can uncover from the tool above.
BACK TO THE WEB 2.0's and their content:
They should be COMPLETELY UNIQUE content and CAN be a spun article that you then customize a little more to REALLY separate it from the pack of spun articles you can whip out on Tier 2 (buildings links to your web 2.0s).
Just something that gives value -- perhaps leaves a tip or secret OUT of the list -- and requires the visitor to click over to YOUR site to get the rest of the goodies (tips, secrets, etc.). When they land on your site -- give em the stuff they came looking for -- have a solution that cures the problem and lead them to that page on your site where you do the selling.
On the Web 2.0s on Tier 1 that link to my money site, I only want the highest authority sites for such web 2.0s -- because those will be the best for building up a higher page rank and most favorable in passing the link juice to my site.
All that being said -- this does NOT mean that I do not do any link building DIRECTLY TO MY MONEY SITE.
But you can be darn sure I am going to have way more granular control over blog comment and such since I want to DIRECTLY respond to blog posts that are on DIRECTLY RELATED THEMES to my own site.
As I build up some hand done blog comments, guest posts and such that directly link to my money site -- I will keep these in a spreadsheet as they build up over a week period of time -- and then I can take those HIGH QUALITY links to my site that I personally thought through in blog comments, guest posts, and have some valuable content -- now I have NO problem doing some GSA backlinking to those 1st Tier links to my money site. And then I would layer the links I have GSA build to my high quality hand-written blog comments, guest posts, etc., with another tier to go at least 3 levels deep.
Here's the layout:
MONEY SITE < Manual Blog Comments, Guest Posts (Tier 1) < GSA Backlinks with Spun Articles on web 2.0 and article sites (Tier 2) < GSA Backlinks with lower quality link modules (Tier 3).
As I described above very tediously -- you want to think out the FLOW of things -- and possibly try to keep all the BLOG COMMENTS and high quality hand written stuff to a particular topic -- have a well spun article directly related to that topic that is sent out by GSA.
Again -- this is keeping the LINKS pointing from Tier 2 to Tier 1 still very CONTEXTUALLY RELATED because THAT is where the true power of linking is generated...
(Tier 3) 5 Different Methods of Barbeque on Article Directory Site uses Anchor Text "Different Ways to Barbeque" that points to an internal page on my next tier up (Web 2.0 Property)...
(Tier 2) The 6-Step Method to Making the Juiciest BBQ on the Block uses Anchor Text "how to make juiciest bbq meat" that points to an internal page on my next tier up (Money Site)...
Tier 1) 3 Must Have BBQ Tools that will Make You the Talk of the Block has a high value page of content that discusses how these 3 must have tools will make someone the talk of the neighborhood and obviously having a link to Amazon.com or wherever to purchase the product for an affiliate commission or direct sale.
Obviously -- any links you build to Tier 3 in the Money Site flow above (which would be Tier 2 link building of your front line web 2.0's) do not have to be high quality links at all but mainly ways (conduits) for search engine spiders to follow the links and discover the highest quality stuff -- which, in a way, is a form of NATURAL type indexing measures rather than trying to force feed the engines.
I think I've drilled in the contextual stuff -- rather than having a random piece of content linking to another piece of random content that may not be in the same SUB-TOPIC range -- it just doesn't make sense anyways. Plus, Google won't give it (the links) as much credence as when you keep the tight formation of themed content that naturally falls within the category structure (DMOZ.org style).
+1, Facebook Like, Stumbleupon for the post by @fullspeed!
It looks like I need to do a few changes!
1) What if you have keywords that aren't related that you are targetting? Do you create a new set of web2.0's for them or use the existing ones? E.g. Main topic "Barbeque" and other Main Topic "French Cuisine"
2) If you are creating multiple web2.0's are you doing them on the same account or setting up a new account? e.g. for blogspot, you can create seperate blogs, same with hub pages. Are these done on 1 account or multiple accounts?
3) How do you keep the content updated on so many web2.0's? I use a plugin that allows it to push some of my website blog posts to the web2.0's so that at least there is new content there....
Thanks...just planning the next phase of strategy and want to get it right.
More than just the web 2.0's -- the nuclear power plant underneath all this that is erected from the CONTEXTUAL LINKINGS and keeping everything tightly themed when it's interlinked -- rather than just RANDOMLY doing this stuff (all of which diminishes the power of the structure).
Again -- I think the primary crowd doesn't go NEAR this stuff -- so their campaigns don't get the kind of success they truly deserve.
When Google looks at the structure you've created, it's literally like a hypnosis factor that convinces G there IS a human behind it -- because you've got the synergy of relatedness going on.
Most folks are so giddy just to spray backlinks all over the place, they skip this critical attention to detail -- and in the process, a LOT of traffic is wasted that could be capitalized upon.
1) Why would you have keywords that aren't related to the theme you are targeting for a particular site? Is it another site on French Cuisine? I mean -- let's get it straight that BBQ and French Cuisine do have some distant cousins known as FOOD. However, if you have a set of keywords you would like to focus on that ARE not particular related to the theme set of what you're doing -- all you need to add is 1 web 2.0 site and link that to a Money Site web page that ties in the relatedness of the web 2.0 site.
2) For damage control -- I would definitely use separate accounts. Say for instance you get an account banned for some stupid reason, then you've only lost 1 web 2.0 property instead of ALL of them. Eliminate the potential for collateral damage.
3) Keeping the content updated can be done a number of ways.
a) There is SocialOomph.com that allows you to schedule content.
b) One of the ways I'm building my web 2.0 link wheels that point to my money site, or can point to another web 2.0 link wheel is by using this tool:
I have NOT started using it -- but it supports spinning -- so you can put your spun article in there and have it sent up to your web 2.0 property and it seems to support MANY web 2.0 properties.
This seems a little more favorable doing it by hand.
I believe you can also ADD content to the link wheels on an ongoing basis -- and since it spins -- that's ONE less function you have to do.
I am yet to test it -- but I should have my conclusions later on.
I used to use SocialOomph -- but wanted to find a way to control that stuff from the desktop instead of the service having complete control over my data.
Now this in particular has to do with keywords used in your web 2.0s.
If you look at the structure up above -- each web 2.0 property is essentially focusing on a SET of related keywords. That one web 2.0 property could rank for 4-7 keywords easy -- becuz remember you are going to use VARIATION in your anchor text.
So Web 2.0 #1 is going to have BBQing Meat related keywords -- and #2 will have BBQ Strategies -- and #3 will have stuff about tools.
One web 2.0 property = your main targeted keywords, plus some secondary ones for variety. Remember, you're going to have at least 3 pages on this web 2.0 built out.
If you want -- you can start out with just ONE web 2.0 -- hand build it -- then get your SPIN READY content ready for GSA to send out to article directories and web 2.0 properties promoting that first Web 2.0 property
As the first web 2.0 property is being built and being promoted SLOWLY by GSA -- you can then start the second web 2.0 property, finish it -- and start promoting it with spin ready content through GSA.
So it's all sort of in STAGGERED formation and not being promoted ALL at the same time (think randomness).
Also -- very important -- make sure your URL for the web 2.0 property is a KEYWORD -- and perhaps your TARGET keyword for a SET of keywords that web 2.0 property will contain.
If your target keyword is "bbq meat sauces and rubs" -- then you'll want to make sure you get something like:
bbq-meat-sauces-and-rubs.blogspot.com (ALWAYS separate with hyphens (not the underline character) so search engines can read EACH word in your URL.
The URL of the specific keyword related keywords should also contain KEYWORD PHRASES, such as:
Let me just check I'm fully on board (The devil can be in the details):
Let's say the website is about FOOD.com and let's say we're using blogger as a web2.0 and the keywords we want are "French Cuisine" and "BBQ". Then there are some long tails off each of those terms.
1) So you're saying create 2 blogger web2.0's on SEPERATE accounts (even though it's for the same website....food.com). One for "French Cuisine" and one for "BBQ".
2) On these web2.0's do you use random names and emails and avatars, or do you keep them themed with your site?
THEN
3) Some web.2.0's are more like feeds than micro blogs. Compare Tumblr, to Blogger. On these are you also creating 5 or 6 articles?
4) How many web2.0's are you creating at level1? Given that you need to maintain them.
5) How often do you do an update on the web2.0's? Just with 10 websites, that's probably 50 to 100 web2.0's=almost too much to maintain!
6) In setting up GSA, do you have a project for EACH web2.0 URL, or do you group them together into 1 project?
Before I get to what you're asking -- allow me to touch on something.
It's one of my fave subjects, and if you get THIS wrong, you could be in for the long haul -- so pack your bags for Siberia.
KEYWORD RESEARCH
I'm not going to go into the entirety of all the Commandments to success in keyword research, but I think this is where Ozz's Law of quality before quantity is KEY here.
This is a one chance thing before you get started building your pages and use those words.
And if your pages do NOT bring the traffic you think or you are getting WAY more traffic than you thought but you're not getting any sales -- then it's a good chance that the keyword was not psychologically fitting for the visitor to take action right there.
Choice of keywords is very important because you can't go and undo 1 month a link building on a bad keyword -- right -- point taken!
But -- as I saw what @Ron was saying up above on taking something with 5000+ searches on exact match.
And that is a good number -- but allow me to contrast something.
What if I told you that I can find a keyword at around 3000+ searches done on exact match each and every month -- but this keyword sold TWICE as much products/services/Adsense/CPA than the keyword that I choose with 5000 searches -- would you still be stubborn and stay with the 5,000 because you want more traffic?
I mean -- it's obvious that you (and for that fact ANYONE) would want to know that keyword that will make you TWICE as much money with 2000 less searches on it.
I don't know anyone who would.
So -- would I prioritize or emphasize my criteria based on the TYPE OF KEYWORD it is -- or the MONTHLY SEARCH COUNT?
To me -- it's simple.
This is BIG -- you understand this -- and you've got it made and can hone in directly on the conversation going on inside someone's head.
Yeah -- you got it.
You have the SAME conversation going on inside your head about this ONLINE THANG. :P
And that voice is loud and ever present -- but no one else hears it but you.
Well -- if someone can actually TAP INTO that existing conversation you have with yourself in the private of your skull -- then there is a ROADMAP in there for you to be sold. And I'm talking by selling you with enough desire -- that you actually are jumping in your chair to get a hold of the product/service/whatever it is.
We'll get to the roadmap to someone's mind in a second and discuss how to draw it out on paper on in a text file. But first THE BIG THING:
==========================================
BIG IDEA...
Must fit BOTH requirements:
1) When the keyword phrase you choose to build some SEO
around FITS that conversation in your Ideal Prospect's head;
AND
2) You can create content that would naturally address
a BIG PROBLEM associated with that keyword phrase...
Then you've got a natural way to bring up whatever you're
selling without sound like you're trying to sell them.
The ideal prospect is ripe for clicking contextual ads
-- because it's just SLIGHTLY different than the
regular text (blue with underine for the hyperlink)
but those Adwords/Bing Ads leaves them curious as to
what's in that window that will solve their problem.
This is why Google can basically buy a planet.
IF you can enter that conversation in that person's
mind as if you were reading their mind -- that is the
BASIC FOUNDATION to build trust in someone doing
business with you.
Before ANYONE will do business with you -- they must
trust you.
==========================================
Obviously -- there are other elements to build trust and get someone to take action, but the keyword phrase will dictate whether someone is going to pass on through or take a profitable action on your site.
I explain what I mean -- because it's ALL in...
=================================
THE KEYWORD BUYING CYCLE
=================================
Everybody has a cycle that leads them up to buying something through someone's word of mouth or review on a website through search engine traffic.
There are THREE basic cycles people go through...
1) BEGINNING - The research phase of educating themselves about the product. They almost completely unknowledgable about the product, service, book or whatever they are searching for.
This cycle -- the person is typing in things like bluetooth headsets, or stereo bluetooth headset and doesn't really know WHAT brands or types of headsets are available -- so the search begins!
It's a matter of getting through a number of websites until two hours later they are more familiar with the topic then before using the Big G.
2) INTERMEDIATE - Starting to get educated about stuff -- and reading reviews -- has about 2-4 hours into
At this phase of the cycle -- the person is typing in stuff like "Plantronic voyager S572a review" and reading what people think about the headset and/or what their personal experience is.
I personally like to go read the Amazon reviews -- to find some real depth to a product/service/whatever.
3) END -- this person knows EXACTLY what they want -- and after conducting all their searches -- not bookmarking even one of the previous sites -- he/she goes to Google.com and types the exact Bluetooth stereo headset he/she wanted. And that keyword phrase type was:
KEYWORD PHRASE: Platntronics Voyager S527a bluetooth stereo headset for iphone
As soon as they find what they need in the first two pages of Google results -- IF THAT -- they are poised to buy from that person on the spot and whip out their credit. But get this...
Every other site that visitor went to before that site they made their purchase from LOST THE SALE $$$$$$$.
One person can be proud that they got 10000 unique visitors a month with only 20 sales while the other person is content (for the moment) that they got 2,500 highly targeted unique visitors directly off of long tail keyword phrases and made 200 sales.
I know which person YOU want to be. ;-)
So question is -- would you rather position for a keyword in Phase 1 of the Keyword Buying Cycle that gets you 3000 visitors -- but only 5 sales -- or would you rather go after a keyword that brings a measly 100 visitors a month -- but makes 15 sales (300% more money) -- which keyword would you choose?
Fact is -- these more specific keywords CAN be competitive -- but a LOT of time they are not and very easy to hop up by slapping up a page and doing some mild GSA promotion on it.
While some folks look at COUNT and COMPETITION or whatever else they fixate upon, to me, it's a matter of whether the keyword phrase fits the psychology to produce the kind of result I want.
Does that keyword fit into the conversation going on inside that person's mind... that bugging, nagging problem they are using the search engine for to get an answer and thus, a solution???
And I'll tell you this from the beginning -- if you want to effectively sell ANYTHING online and have a skill that the government can't even take away from you -- that is the ability to get between your prospects head, know what they are concerned about and EMPATHIZE with their current condition.
Before I ever even get into keywords -- I want to know who this person is (getting a picture inside my mind's eye) and what and how they are clicking and buying whatever -- and this means for those people that do Adsense, too.
As I form the picture of this Ideal Prospect, I can use this in various ways.
In essence, someone who is prime to click on Adsense is probably YOUNG -- doesn't really know the significance of the ads from the organic listings -- and is very CLICK HAPPY.
So right away -- since I know that THAT is my primary audience -- I am going to have ALIVE and vivrant colors and stealthily blend my site text with the Adsense in both color (or vice versa) and the 5-7 words leading up to the Adsense Block... (ask me later about the language leading up to adsense block -- it's another topic and don't want to lose the essence)
If my audience are hippy type of people -- I'm going to have a mellow and psychadelic theme of colors and pictures.
Make a welcome environment -- it's like giving the visitor a message as you get ready to assure them they are making the right decision with this "XYZ" solution and lead them to the land of glory.
And then as I begin to hone in who this particular page will apply to -- I've now got my picture in my mind of that mother of 2 who has been married for 5-10 years and is wanting to start cooking French Cuisine for the dinner parties she has with her husband.
So I know I'm not going to speak very LOOSE -- but I will still show my personality as I would talk to that person IN PERSON.
It's much like this -- VERY conversational -- but not as loose.
I will have a FRILLY type website theme like this:
As I have that vision in my mind -- I now am IN the state of mind to begin looking for keywords.
And as I look at keywords, I ask myself as I look at each one --
"What phase of the buying cycle is this person who types this keyword?!"
And now you know whether you need to focus on that keyword.
Look -- I'm not saying it's NOT worth ranking for the shorter, more popular, and higher searched keywords.
But let me be the first to say that there is no sunshine or huge award handed to you for getting ALL THAT TRAFFIC.
A forget about a very high conversion rate for sales.
You see -- the ultimate magic happens anyways after you build a BUNCH of long-tail keyword driven pages on an ongoing basis like, say 6 months -- you end up RANKING anyways for those SHORTER keyword phrases that are contained in your long tail pages.
When you build up BREADTH/THICKNESS/DEPTH of content on the topic of your site -- Google is very anxious to award those type of sites as an "AUTHORITY" for that niche.
And that is what EVERYONE should strive to do.
So how exactly are you now going to approach picking your keywords and what you put into GSA SER?
Comments
@Ozz just wanted to say you did a great job. I have been using my own variation which is very similar. I hope more people check out your guide because it will deliver solid results. Cheers!
@GG I start at 10 per day, but after a couple weeks I average between 20 - 30 per day with a new site. Its getting things on the first page in 6-8 weeks. Compared to the way I used to do it pre-penguin, this qualifies as a drip! I try to line up 20 - 30 tier 1's for say 5,000+ exact match. Just as a test, I have also gotten page 1 for 5000+ exacts just using Ozz's strategy without tiers. Go figure. All I know is this that GSA works better than any tool I have ever owned. The diversity of links is killer. @sven is a god. @Ozz is his right hand.
So we go on to make...
This goes for your Money Site to obtain the structure for your site's MAIN TOPIC.