Internet Marketing Made Simple

This guide explains everything important about using social bookmarks to drive web site traffic. This information can be used to easily create a targeted list. Of course, the guide is especially valuable if you’re looking for free traffic. It’s aimed at entrepreneurs, internet marketers and small businesses.

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Introduction to the Social Bookmarking Traffic Guide

Social bookmarking might seem dull and boring. It might seem like a fad or a craze that will die off. But, when done right, using social bookmarks can dramatically increase high quality web site traffic. If you’re serious about growing an online business, it needs to be a tool in your “traffic secrets” toolbox.

Here’s something to chew on…

If you don’t follow the advice in the Social Bookmarking Traffic Guide you are losing out on cheap and easy traffic. I know that’s a strong statement but by the time you get to the end of this guide, you’ll understand the full power of tagging and bookmarking.

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Getting Started

I want to first make sure you clearly understand social bookmarking. In short, it’s a way for humans to keep track of stuff online. It usually means using “tags” and metadata (which is data about data).

Tags are really nothing more than words or phrases that you use to describe other words. For example, you might use “online marketing” as a tag for The Rhodes Brothers. Or, perhaps you might use something like “tagging” and “traffic” and “bookmarking” for the guide you’re reading right now.

There’s nothing magical about the tags you use. Feel free to use words and phrases that mean something to you. Or, if you’re trying to drive targeted traffic, use keywords that are meaningful in your niche. We’ll cover this in great detail later on; no worries.

Most social bookmarking systems allow you to show or hide bookmarks. So, you can use bookmarks for yourself only or you can expose them to the public.

If you keep bookmarks private they won’t have any impact on web site traffic, although they might be useful to you personally. If you make them public, however, you will enjoy free traffic. The world can find your bookmarks and find you by clicking on your links. I explain this in detail below.

So in large part social bookmarking is an activity where you are categorizing your web sites, domains, articles and blogs. You use social bookmarking to develop a way to stay organized online.

If you want free traffic from your social bookmarks you just expose them. For example, if you have a blog you can use Del.icio.us to bookmark blog entries. In turn, Google will find your bookmarks and your blog. And finally, people will find your bookmarks and your blog in the search results of Google. This is how organic traffic flows from your bookmarking.

Yes, it’s that simple.

At this point you have a basic understanding of social bookmarking. You could leave right now with confidence about how to get started. However, if you really want to know how to get traffic or if you want to avoid serious problems, keep reading.

I’ll also say this: There is a very specific model that I use to drive maximum web site traffic with web 2.0 bookmarks. I promise to reveal this model with you — there is no catch here. I will give you everything you need to succeed with your social bookmarking.

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Social Bookmarking Issues

Social bookmarks are not perfect…

You cannot ONLY use social bookmarks to drive traffic nor can you expect to build a real online business by just using Stumble Upon, Del.icio.us, Reddit and Technorati. You need an entire marketing funnel in place — This is something I explain in detail later.

Before I go on, here’s my list of the top 10 social bookmarking sites. Keep in mind that these sites allow tagging and bookmarking but they aren’t necessarily dedicated to bookmarking. For example, Del.icio.us is very much focused on tagging and bookmarking — that’s its core job. However, Digg is really more of a news aggregation web site but you can tag and bookmark, and therefore drive a lot of traffic.

OK, let’s get back on track. Here’s my list of the top 10 social bookmarking sites:

• Digg
• Del.icio.us
• Stumble Upon
• Reddit
• Propeller
• Sphinn
• Furl.net
• Newsvine
• Technorati
• Slashdot

There’s nothing scientific here. These just happen to be the bookmarking sites that have worked well for me. I have certainly used other sites and other tools. Don’t read too much into this list; caveat emptor.

By the way, I’m guessing that you’re getting worried about something: WORK. In other words, I suspect you’re worried about all the time and effort you’ll need to apply to get killer results.

Don’t worry. I’ve got your back covered. I cover this below…

Another issue is that your site, blog or article often get pushed to the bottom of the stack, or off the page. This is especially true with the social media new sites like Digg and Propeller. Imagine that your new blog entry makes it to the front page of Digg. Although you’ll enjoy insane traffic for a little while, after just a couple of hours your blog entry will drop off the home page.

Some people are worried about this problem, but it’s a false problem. First, you’re getting a gush of traffic in a situation like this. Second, you’ll get residual traffic even after you drop to the next page. Third, other people will link to you as a result and you’ll get residual, off-Digg traffic. Fourth, you’ll get some very powerful backlinks and therefore Google will love you. You’ll be enjoying serious organic traffic.

Another potential problem of social bookmarking is that your tags (or keywords or keyphrases) are terrible. If your keywords are meaningless then no one will care what you have to say. No one will find you through Google.

But, again, this is a false problem. Sure, you can have issues with keywords but let’s face it — you probably know how to find great keywords and niches. I don’t have room to fully explain keyword selection, but it goes like this:

1. Go to Google Keywords and start searching
2. Find keywords that people are using a lot
3. Or, target keywords that make sense for your niche
4. Look on Google’s Traffic Estimator to figure out your competition
5. Choose keywords with plenty of searches and low competition

That’s a pretty bad explanation but you get the point. Use tags that are based on popular keywords that aren’t very well represented by competitors on Google.

Or, just pick really popular keywords. That can work for you as well because it takes less time and energy, but it takes longer to see robust results.

Let’s get back on track…

Another issue is that people don’t spell very well. Many tags are sloppy. They are dirty. There are misspellings all over the place.

Um, so what?

People are people. Using misspellings can actually offer you a competitive advantage. This little secret has made some people on eBay thousands and thousands of dollars. (Think about it; this can mean BIG money.)

Furthermore, you can use BOTH misspelled keywords and properly spelled keywords. You can tag like crazy — tag carpet bombing! Here’s a simple example to make this 100% clear:

• deductible
• deductuble
• deductable
• deductabel

No one can stop you from using all four of these words. Of course I don’t think you should do this all the time. However, if you are tagging and your gut says, “Hey, I’m not sure how to spell this!” — Others will have the same problem. Take advantage of it and enjoy the extra free traffic.

Let’s push forward…

I promised to talk about how to handle all the work associated with social bookmarks. Let’s look at that in the next section.

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Two Secrets of Social Bookmarking

The are two simple ways to eliminate the pain associated with social bookmarking. As I’ve said, it can be labor intensive so you need to decide between these two options:

1. Burn hours and hours of time creating your own bookmarks
2. Use social bookmarking tools or hire (outsource) the work

Obviously you want to use tools or hire smart, affordable people to do work for you. Better still, you want to pick a great tool, master it, then train someone to do the work for you using the best tools available. That’s maximum leverage.

Right now, the best tool is probably Social Marker. It’s a semi-automatic social bookmarking tool. You sign up for access to each of the individual social bookmarking sites (e.g., Digg, Del.icio.us, Furl) then head over to Social Marker and sign up for that too. Then you use Social Marker to semi-automatically update those sites.

If you have issues with Social Marker, no worries. There will always be sites and tools out there for you to use. If you’re really desperate, head over to RentACoder or ScriptLance and have someone develop one for you.

So, I’ve revealed two of the big secrets of social bookmarking. First, you need to find tools that make sense. Second, you need to use outsourcing web sites to get the bookmarking done for you. Or, have tools built for you.

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Revealed! More Secrets of Social Bookmarking

There are several really good reasons to use social bookmarks and tags. You can get very high volumes of traffic in very little time.

You might say, “But that traffic isn’t targeted, John.”

Fortunately, there is something I call Social Traffic Filtering which I’ll tell you about. In essence, the amount of traffic is vitally important as an input factor for your traffic funnel. All traffic funnels require traffic. There is no way around this. I’ll explain why this is so crucial in just a moment.

Although a lot of social media and bookmarking traffic will be useless, the fact remains that a lot of it is legitimate, targeted traffic. There are humans clicking and reading what you’ve written. So, if you’re providing valuable content then people will reward you with repeat visits and they’ll join your lists.

That is HUGE.

Let me say that again…

If you’re providing valuable content then people will reward you with repeat visits and they’ll join your lists. (Your list is the blood of your business.)

It’s your job to qualify these leads. You must be ready for this social traffic and filter these folks using great, high quality content. You need to give them high value; respect their time. Then, you need to filter them out with top notch squeeze pages. Offer them something wonderful and grab their email addresses. If they don’t stay and read, and if they don’t join your list, just move on. Let them go. They’ve been filtered out.

To frame this another way, you cannot expect to make a lot of money online just by getting a ton of social bookmarking traffic. That’s just plain silly. You must plan ahead with a Social Traffic Filtering marketing plan.

I explained the basics above and I’m sure you can see how this selection process can provide you with a good list — maybe not Rock Star great, but that’s fine. These people are solid prospects and as they opt into your email list, your business is growing and growing.

Oh, one more thing. Here’s a big Rhodes Brother’s tip: There’s another level of filtering. Here’s how that plays out…

Once you have folks on your list, your autoresponder series can push and pull them in many different ways. It’s up to you to use the autoresponder to qualify people. I strongly encourage you to provide value and pre-sell. If you start selling immediately, you’ll filter out just about everyone. That’s no good for you and it’s no good for them.

PROVIDE VALUE.

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Traffic Leverage From Social Bookmarking

Here’s a very simple concept with profound implications.

What you need to do is combine several different social bookmarking tools together (i.e., assets and plumbing). If you stack these tools the right way, you will have over-the-top, compounding traffic.

I know this sounds vague. So, once again I’ll break it down using an example to make it crystal clear. Here’s just ONE example, step by step:

1. Post a fantastic blog entry on your niche blog
2. Digg the blog entry (or ask someone for a favor)
3. Go to Twitter and talk about it; gently ask for ReTweets
4. Privately direct message (DM) some trusted Followers; “Please Stumble”

I know this seems simple but let me tell you, this works great. I don’t do it too often because I don’t like to burn people out. It’s a special weapon.

But again –

This is just ONE way to use these various social bookmarking web sites and tools. This kind of activity gives you serious traffic leverage. It’s also another type of marketing funnel that you can tweak and tune over time.

One more thing –

By doing this kind of bookmarking and “backscratching” you can build a powerful affiliate network. It’s also a great way to find and develop JV partners. Remember, this is all very social. It’s about relationships…

Sidebar: Join the Rhodes Brothers Affiliate Program.

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Traffic On Traffic On Traffic

Your web site is not yet flooded with traffic but you’re ahead of 99% of everyone else — You’re in the club.

At this point you must take action…

I strongly recommend that you sign up for Traffic Drill. Like this blog posting, it’s absolutely free.

We’ve put together more material for you about getting traffic to your web site. I give Traffic Drill my highest recommendation. So, if you’re serious about web site traffic read about Traffic Drill.

Cheers,

~ John

The Rhodes Brothers just launched ClickNuke. It is the first and only micro article directory on the planet. There’s nothing else like it.

Curious?

Here’s what you can see on the Click Nuke About page:

ClickNuke is a service that gives you the ability to instantly announce anything to the world. It’s the world’s first micro article directory.

ClickNuke's proprietary system is simple. You are allowed to post up to 500 characters of content for just $1. And, it's easy for you. Enjoy the power of RSS, quick indexing, and dirt cheap publicity.

ClickNuke is brought to you by John S. Rhodes and Matt Rhodes. The Rhodes Brothers are well known internet marketers providing valuable tools, services, and products to entrepreneurs, small businesses, and other internet marketers. They've helped thousands of people drive web traffic, create information products, and make money online.

That sounds good but what can it do for internet marketers? More importantly, is there any proof it works?

Here’s an email sent to us by Doug Hudiburg:

Hey John,

I thought I'd share some search results with you.

Just searched this keyword in Google without "quotes":

Internet Marketing Tip: More AR Items More Profit

The Click Nuke Post is indexed, along with my Twitter post with that phrase, but look at the number 5 results.

For me, it's "Daily Marketing Ace >> Add Follow-up Messages to Increase..."

So, what that says to me is that the link Juice is, indeed, paying off. Google took the link text from my ClickNuke post (http://clicknuke.com/20090130/internetmarketingtipmorearitemsmoreprofit.html) [Emphasis added.]

And ranked my DMA post:
http://www.dailymarketingace.com/tips/internet-marketing-tips/add-follow-up-messages-to-increase-predictable-profit/

For the exact same link text.

Pretty cool!

--
Doug Hudiburg
http://www.DailyMarketingAce.com
http://twitter.com/dhudiburg

Then Doug followed up with this quick note…

Also, my Daily Marketing Ace posts usually index pretty fast, but today I posted again and used Click Nuke again, and the post was indexed by Google in about 30 minutes. I don't really have a good baseline to compare to, but intuitively, I think that's about 23 hours faster than normal. [Emphasis added.]

I know this might be a big confusing so I’ll put it another way and I’ll simplify. Customers are telling us that ClickNuke is getting them indexed faster and it’s helping them in the SERPs.

Pretty cool, right?

~ John S. Rhodes of “The Rhodes Brothers”

p.s. Definitely visit and use ClickNuke. It’s a “no brainer” investment.

Some people are saying that user generated content (UGC) isn’t profitable. For example, Adam Cohen recently posted a link on Twitter to an article on eMarketer that includes comments like this:

“Unfortunately, if things stay as they are, this frenzy of content generation and attention is not likely to produce commensurate rewards for marketers or site publishers.”

There are other quotes that are similar. There’s this idea floating around that since big companies aren’t making a killing that it’s not possible to make money with user generated content. Part of this thinking is the result of this wrong thinking:

“The prevailing wisdom used to be that user-generated content would attract advertising volume commensurate with its audience.”

But this thinking is just plain wrong. Let’s poke at both issues: (1) Only big companies matter and (2) advertising is the only way to make money with UGC.

It’s kind of silly to think that UGC only concerns BigCo’s and monster companies. It’s like only they care about making money. Or only Fortune 500 companies have skin in the game. That’s complete hogwash. Small and medium sized companies utilize UGC all the time, and many know how to make money with it. I’ll explain this more below; stick with me.

It’s also naive to think that the smartest way to make money with UGC is via advertisements. This is like saying that the only way to make money with magazines is with full color advertisements. What about classified ads? What about subscriptions? What about inserts? There are always multiple channels of revenue to utilize.

So, now I’ll spill the beans. What’s one really smart way to make money with UGC? Well, I’ll first give you this secret tip: If you can get traffic to a web site, you can make money. It’s all about traffic. If an online marketer knows that a site is getting traffic, money can flow. This is almost an absolute truth when it comes to “hungry markets” and “hungry niches” but it’s also true even with niches that don’t seem to have much hunger.

Here’s what I’ve done on several sites where we have user generated content (e.g., blogs). I simply provide a visitor with an opportunity to watch a free video or download a free report, then I capture their email address. From there, the real magic happens. I learn what my subscribers want, find or build a product, then sell it to them.

Here’s something to drill into your mind: The profit margins on this activity are insane. You can make a killing online if you can get users to generate content for you, which in turn drives traffic, which in turn gives you the opportunity to capture emails, which in turn gives you a list, which in turn allows you to build a relationship, which in turn allows you to provide something of value in return for payment.

That is just one way that you make money with content supplied by other people. There are many other models. If you’re interested to learn more about this “way of thinking” I encourage you to take a look at the 10x Method. It’ll help you understand how to find more excellent business models liek the one I’ve just clearly laid out for you.

~ John S. Rhodes of “The Rhodes Brothers”

p.s. Like this stuff? Follow me on Twitter.

Guest Article By Cori Padgett

Finding a ghostwriter can be tough sometimes, especially if you have never hired one before and have no idea what to look for. You’ll probably get a ton of well meaning advice on places to look, and what you should pay for one, what’s too much, what’s not enough, and the list goes on!

A lot of people when first starting to outsource work have a fear of the unknown, and it stops them from taking a leap. But outsourcing can be so critical to your success and peace of mind once your business really starts to take off. Especially if you aren’t much of a writer yourself, or simply don’t like to write, outsourcing to a ghostwriter can be a huge weight off of your shoulders.

So How To Find A Quality Ghostwriter?

When asking this question, folks may send you at first to places like GetAFreelancer.com or Guru.com where you can hire freelancers to do whatever work you are requiring. These can be great places to find services at cheap prices, and is great for finding people to help with administrative tasks. Occasionally you can find good writers there as well, I am definitely not knocking them.

However, when you are looking for a writer you should be looking for someone who has built up a good reputation, and can show you examples of top quality work. You may not always find that on a lot of the freelance sites.

The best way to find a good ghostwriter is through word of mouth or referrals. You can bet that if you find a writer through word of mouth, it is because they have proven themselves and their clients are very happy, and spreading the word.

Check out forums, and see who people may be talking about or recommending. Message boards are good too. Just ask around and see who people point you to. If your shoved in the direction of a certain writer fairly regularly, it’s probably a good bet they are well qualified to write for you.

Found A Potential Ghostwriter – Now What?

So you have found a possible writer, and aren’t sure where to go next. The first thing you will want to do is contact them, obviously. Request a quote based on the project you are looking to have written. Also request samples from them. A good writer will always have samples of past work they can provide to you as proof of their quality.

However, be careful, some writers are unscrupulous and will send you bogus work as their samples, and then when actually asked to write your stuff, it comes back as crap! The best way to avoid this is to not only ask for samples already written, but also ask them to write a short sample article on the topic of your choice. Unless they are already an extremely well known writer whose work speaks for itself, they shouldn’t have a problem doing this for you.

Also check out their website. If they are serious about their work, then they will have a website up regarding their services. Check out the site, see if it has samples available, if it looks professional, and if they have a photo available introducing themselves.

If you decide you like this ghostwriter, and their style meshes well with what you are trying to accomplish, you will then want to draw up a simple ghostwriters agreement with them, just so you both have a record of the terms of agreement. That’s simply good business, so don’t be worried about asking them to do so. If they are unwilling find another writer!

How Much Is Too Much?

Once you have found your writer, and requested their quote, how much is too much? That can only be determined by you. Some folks will say that only expensive writers are quality writers, and all the cheap ones write in broken English. Others take the opposing stance and won’t pay for a writer that charges more than 6 bucks an article.

It all depends on you and what you are comfortable with. In my experience, expensive doesn’t always mean better, but neither do want to shell out money for a cheap writer who doesn’t deliver. Sometimes, when paying a higher price you may be paying not only for quality writing, but also for excellent customer service and timely work. Yes it’s nice to be able to cut costs and save some money, but hiring your ghostwriter may not be the ideal place to cut corners.

Consider the fact that perception plays a huge role in how people judge you or your product. It only makes sense to invest in a quality ghostwriter that is going to represent you or your product in the absolute best light possible.

To Recap…

Do your due diligence. Ask around, get referrals, find a writer with a great reputation. Request samples and quotes, as well as a ghost writer agreement. Don’t mistake expensive for better, but don’t think cheap is always going to cut it! And finally, go with your gut. If you don’t feel comfortable handing that person your money to complete a job for you, then don’t. Keep looking until you find a ghostwriter that is the perfect fit for YOU.

If you liked this article, and are still struggling to find a quality ghostwriter you can trust, feel free to drop by www.writesyntax.com from Cori and request a quote.

I’ve been asked Why build a list? about 100 times. It’s a question that is asked by people new to internet marketing and it deserves a simple answer.

The very short and simple answer is that a list means you’ve got traffic and customers. At a minimum, you have potential traffic and potential customers.

Consider this. If I have a list of 5,000 people interested in pet products then I have list of 5,000 who might buy something from me if I send them an email.

Once someone is on your list you can send them messages. You can build a relationship. You can build trust. You can establish a rapport with hundreds or thousands of people.

All businesses need these relationships to ensure long term success. But, online businesses need even more love and attention. They need more tools for building trust. There is great skepticism online and having a list can save you.

Let me give you another perspective. This is very real; very tangible.

Just 2 days ago I bought the rights to a great video series on getting top ranking in Google for less than 1 hour of work; One Hour Google. (Highly recommended, by the way.)

I spent no more than two hours getting the videos set up. I made some quick changes to the graphics and content. I also set up a payment link and some other things. This was very easy for me to do. (If you’re curious about all that magic don’t miss PLR Exploitation. I explain all of this in great detail.)

In any event, I set up everything quickly but then I had to take the next action:

DRIVING TRAFFIC

Now, most people would use pay-per-click (PPC), article marketing, blogging, and other techniques. That makes a lot of sense. These techniques are not “fly by night” — they are legitimate. They work.

But, I decided to be a little bit lazy. What I did was craft a quick note. I added that note to my autoresponder. Thousands of people are now learning about One Hour Google. I provided a little background about it and pointed my list in the right direction.

Now you know the power of list building. It’s something that you must do if you want to succeed in the long term. Get going right now. You’ll be glad you did.