Jacob S. Paulsen.com

Do you sometimes feel dried up when it comes to finding new things to blog about? I have found that when it comes to writing, sometimes the juices just don’t want to flow. Outside of reading a great book called “Finding Your Flow” back in January I have often found that the following strategies are a good way to drum up some ideas and content.

1. Google Analytics: The first place I look for good insights is in my Google Analytics data. First, I check the content section. Knowing which articles and pages are the most popular will help you understand what topics are of most interest to your current website visitors. Be sure to use a broad date range to shake out any new articles that have found temporary fame. Second, check the search traffic source page to see what keywords and phrases are bringing people to your site. If you have found some search engine luck in a few phrases or words build off of them to solidify your positioning.
2. Suggestion Box: Everyone is anxious to get the word out about their latest product or idea. Often times you can glean some excellent content ideas by allowing your blog visitors to submit their suggestions. I generally do this by setting up a content suggestion page or widget (depending on how much you want to encourage input).
3. Topic Discussion Forums: Whatever your topic and niche is I’m confident that there is a forum/online discussion board somewhere online where people with that interest have conversations. Visit that forum and setup an account. Browse the most recent topics and look for the common questions or unanswered questions that you could answer with a blog post. This has the added benefit of driving traffic to your blog by posting your blog post as an answer to people’s questions.
4. LinkedIn Groups: Same concept as above. LinkedIn groups are very popular and you can almost always find a group specific to your topic. Join and sign up for the daily or weekly email digest. This will show you what topics are most trending and most difficult for people to answer/address.
5. Use Twitter and Facebook to Ask: Since social media is all about conversations, why not start one by asking people what questions or concerns they have about your topic? You will be surprised how much response you get. This is also a great way to ensure that after writing your blog post you have a few people who are very likely to go visit your blog.

What other ideas do you have to keep the blog post ideas flowing?

Are you tired of Google Adwords ppc campaigns? I’m as big a fan of buying ads from Google as the next guy but sometimes you need to try new things. There are some great other sites out there where I think you will find its really easy to target your customers.

I’m not talking about Facebook. Of course you should be buying PPC on Facebook. Its the epitome of targeting but most everyone knows about it these days (which is why it seems to be getting more expensive).

What is the next pay-per-click frontier… I think these are among the options:

1. Goodreads: Goodreads.com is the largest and fastest growing social network built around books, book reviews, and book clubs. Stop to think about your target market. Don’t you think it would be easy to identify and target your potential customers/clients based on what books they probably read? I have found that this is generally the case. You can target by normal demographics but you can also target by book, genre, or author.
2. Twitter: You can buy targeted and promoted tweets and trends directly from Twitter.com. You can also use a 3rd party like SponsoredTweets. Either way it tends to be easy to target users based on what hashtags they use and who they follow. Good chance that everyone who follows ESPN is interested in sports.
3. LinkedIn: The site isn’t new but did you know you can buy ads there? It isn’t as saturated as Facebook and you can still target your audience effectively without a large budget. Just navigate to LinkedIn.com and look for the Advertising link at the bottom of the page.

Where else have you found success with your targeted ppc campaigns?

I wrote an article a few months ago about this great program for generating some extra revenue from Twitter. If you prefer written directions I would go back to that article. Here is a supplementary video:

When I sit down to talk to clients about their internet marketing strategy I’m often surprised how quickly the conversation gets lost in details and lacks clear objectives and goals. After all when you sit down in a meeting you want to have a clear idea of what you plan to discuss and what you want to achieve. Often however, because I’m a professional in the space I forget that the plan inside of my head may not make complete sense to my client when I try to explain it.

That is why I now always talk about the three Cs of Internet Marketing. This gives me a framework around which I can organize my thoughts and in which the clients can better understand the complete strategy and action points. The three Cs are in a certain chronological order and need to be addressed accordingly. Strategies revolve around these three points and always in this order.

Content

Your internet marketing strategy starts with creating content. It doesn’t matter if you are a plumber, blogger, or widget salesperson; you must create online content. Content is IMPORTANT because it sets the stage for everything else you do. Creating content gives you added credibility in your profession. Content gives you informational products to offer to entice people to join your email lists etc. Content gives you something to publish to social media networks on a regular basis. Content gives search engines something to read and index in reference to your website and what you are about.

At the very beginning you must map out an internet marketing content strategy. Use these questions as a guideline to help you define your content strategy:

• What are you going to write about? It should be related to your industry/products/services. It should have a wide audience. It should be generic enough that you can create endless amounts of content moving forward.
• Where will you need to publish the content? Your blog is an absolute must but you may need unique content for newsletters or info products to giveaway.
• How often do you need to produce content? Consistency is key so decide in the beginning how often you can commit to publishing new content.

Community

The second C is all about getting visitors to your site and followers in your social media and email lists. One time visitors to your website are an important part of your community plan but ultimately they will come as a bi-product of your focus on content and building the other communities we will discuss.

You should really be focusing on getting more people to join your email list, Facebook Page, Twitter Profile, YouTube Channel, and any other social profiles you focus on. Just creating content and sending it out to the world is not enough to believe that people will just start to find and follow you in these different mediums. Here are some pointers to consider as part of your community internet marketing strategy:

• Putting a widget (like the one over there on the right) on your website that quickly allows visitors to find your social media profiles is a good idea but don’t think it will be enough all by itself.
• Building a Twitter following is as easy as being able to target your audience and then follow them, and give them ample reason to follow you back. Here is a larger overview of the software and strategy I recommend. Here are other Twitter tutorials.
• Building a Facebook following is more difficult that Twitter because you cannot solicit users and ask them to “like” your page. You need to use your other communities (offline and online) to drive people to like your page, and this will go much more smoothly if you give people an incentive to “like” you there. Do product and service giveaways and contests. Produce unique (valuable) content that can be found exclusively on your Facebook page.
• Building your email database is as simple as giving people a compelling reason to join your list. Offer a Free Report, a Free Preview/Trial, Free Training or Video Tutorials, or an E-Book.  The more compelling the offer the more likely people are to give you their information.

Commerce

This tends to be the easiest part of the strategy for most of my clients. Most of us already know how we want to make money on our website. The bigger problem tends to be in getting enough eyeballs to look at what we are doing and offering. In case you don’t know fully how you can profit from your website and it’s content read this guide that explains how websites make money.

Commerce boils down to providing products that are targeted for your audience. This doesn’t mean you have to produce or sell the products yourself. Many website publishers generate their revenue in affiliate marketing opportunities.

I hope the three Cs of internet marketing serve you as a road-map the same way they have served me and the many advertisers and small businesses that I work with around the country!

If you recently started a blog or have a website you may be looking for creative ways to generate revenue. As I considered all the various ways to make money online I was able to boil it down to just three generic methods. As you review the concepts and some of the specific examples, consider how you can execute all these opportunities to maximize your own websites and blogs.

1. Sold Content. Every website provides some level of content to its visitors. This may include video, text, images, etc. Anyone who sells a product and believes that your website visitors are among their target market, may consider paying you to introduce that product. Here are some of the more common types of content that you can sell from your website.
1. Reviews. In some cases this may involve your client submitting exact copy for you to publish or they may rely on you to write a high quality review based on your true experience with their product. Generally this means you will receive a complimentary product above and beyond the investment you secure to produce the review.
2. Email Blasts. If you have an email list of your website visitors you can sell email blasts to that list. Generally these are priced by the number of sends and clients will be interested in your average delivery rate, open ratios, and ctr.
3. Social Media Mentions. More and more often advertisers are willing to pay for your social media endorsement or mention. Awhile back I reviewed SponsoredTweets, but there are many different ad networks and direct advertisers who are interested in this type of publicity.
2. Sold Advertising. These are the traditional advertising options you notice on other websites.
1. Banners. Banners offer advertisers a great way to brand their business while driving web traffic. Generally advertising buy a number of impressions, clicks, or actions.
2. Rich Media. This could include various video integration options, or other media above and beyond traditional banners. The benefits tend to be similar to banner advertising but offer more opportunities for engaging with customers and getting out a message.
3. In Text Links. In text links are gaining in popularity. Advertisers can select existing text on a page or post of your site and pay you to hyperlink that text string to their site. They may also pay you to add a new text link in a page, post, or in your footer. Advertisers like in text links because they don’t tend to annoy web visitors as much, they drive direct traffic, and they help in search engine optimization efforts. Generally these are sold at a fixed price per time period or by the click.
3. Sold Products
1. E-Commerce. This is relatively straight forward. If you have a product you can sell it online. The quickest product to turn a profit on is an information product. It requires no production since buyers download it and thus your profit margin is higher. You can also become a retailer for a wholesale product. Many wholesalers will even drop ship the product directly to your buyer. This makes you the perfect middle man, just taking your margin and processing the sale.

I’m sure that I’ve missed an angle or idea that you may be able to implement. Hopefully this gives you a generic outline that will spark some new ideas to make money from your websites!

Klout recently published a list of the top 10 most influential retailers this holiday season. Consider that in order to be influential these retailers must engage customers in conversation. I imagine that this is a significant customer service channel for most of these businesses but its also a revenue generator. They ask customers what is left on their Christmas gift list and offer coupon codes and specials.

Top Ten Retailers:

1. Amazon.com: Klout score of 82
2. Victoria’s Secret: Klout score of 75
3. jcpenney: Klout score of 75
4. Sports Authority: Klout score of 74
5. Walgreens: Klout score of 73
6. HSN: Klout score of 72
7. ThinkGeek: Klout score of 72
8. BestBuy: Klout score of 72
9. Target: Klout score of 72
10. Macys: Klout score of 71

Source: http://corp.klout.com/blog/2011/12/the-10-most-influential-retailers/

Google has launched www.howtogomo.com to help users understand the key components in launching a mobile website. There are a lot of helpful resources you can read to help you understand why and how you can go mobile. My favorite feature is the mobile simulator. Unless you develop smartphone apps, most of us have never had access to a system that allows us to see what any given website looks like on a smartphone. Because this is a Google website, you will see how your site appears on Android but generally speaking you can assume that the site would load in the same format etc on iPhones and other smartphones.

When I first visited the site I was in Firefox (not generally my browser of choice) and none of the links were working for me. I switched to Chrome and the site took off! I went right to the “Test Your Site” link or “GoMoMeter” as it is being called. I input my site jacobspaulsen.com and waited while it generated a demo image of how my site appears. After answering a few questions about the site it gave me a score and some interesting data about loading speed.

I downloaded the full report and it had some advice on how to design a mobile site. Very little of the information seemed to be specific to my site but the content was good just the same.

HowToGoMo.com also features a directory of industry reputable mobile designers to help companies and individuals build and design a high quality mobile site. For agencies there is some good information about how you can direct your clients.

This is a strong step for Google to emphasize the importance of the upcoming mobile changes we are going to see in the next several years. M-Commerce is the future and small businesses everyone need to get on the bandwagon!

In my series of Internet Basics videos by Google I wanted to introduce the topic of Google Webmaster Tools and Google XML sitemaps.

When you first build a site you need to submit it to Google so that it can be indexed. Google can more easily index your site if you have a sitemap. Since the recording of this video several years ago, Google has created a robust and helpful dashboard of tools called Google Webmaster Tools. Check it out.

I have always enjoyed the consumer experience that Apture brought to the visitors on my websites. You have probably had some engagement with Apture without ever noticing it. Apture was a system designed to give sure users more information about keywords or links in a popup window. This served to help the user get the information they need quickly and it kept them on the page longer or in some cases kept them on the site when they might have left otherwise.

Now, I have received an email from Apture informing me that they have been aquired by Google. Here is a copy of the email.

Hi there,

We’re writing to let you know that Apture has been acquired by Google.

Since day one, we’ve been working on getting the Apture experience into as much of the web as possible. While we’re proud of having helped thousands of publishers enhance their websites, we think now is the best time to expand our efforts by joining Google’s Chrome team to help build the next generation user experience directly into the web.

On December 20 we will discontinue Apture’s product and services. When this happens, users will no longer be able to highlight and search terms with Apture on your web pages. Your website will continue to work as normal even after our service is suspended; however, you are free to remove the Apture script code from your site as well.

We want to thank you personally for your support and positive feedback over the years, and we hope you’ll stay tuned for some amazing new Chrome experiences coming your way.

You can view the announcement here on our homepage, or check the FAQ below.

Sincerely,

The Apture Team

FAQ:

When Apture’s service is discontinued, will that break my website or cause problems for users?

Nope, your pages will continue to load normally, but users will no longer be able to highlight and look up terms using Apture.

What will happen to data Apture has collected from my websites?

All data from your website has been deleted.

What will happen to Apture AutoEnhance links and Hotspots after Apture’s service is discontinued?

After December 20th, Apture Hotspots will no longer appear on your website and all AutoEnhance links will appear as regular links.

I find myself more often than not using my website as a resource to answer questions for my clients. 90% of the time when a client asks me something about internet marketing, I can find the answer in an article I’ve already written and just send them the link. For this reason, I’m going to publish a few articles in the next few days that contain the most common “straight from Google” tutorial videos.

This video entitled “How Search Works” reviews search engine basics. Matt Cutts, who is featured in the video has become a bit of a Google celebrity. He is my favorite person on Google Plus