Phoenix Education

Other sites I have used over the last few years.

In researching and building an online presence, there are many useful sites. I have mentioned places like Canva, Pixabay, Pexels and Fiverr before. Now it is time for some others. Of course I will include Links!!

I had a deal going with Internet Business School to mirror their site and generate business from that. With Covid and all the other stuff I let that go. However I still use their site. Recently I have worked through courses on ‘How to be an Amazon Best Seller’ and ‘WordPress’ courses. All good stuff.

I came across Lion Listings as a potential to start selling some of my PLR, but I think you have to go through ClickFunnels to get there! I’ll let you know how that goes!

And then of course there is the famous JVZoo, where you can source no end of PLR as ebooks or courses. I’ve got a few from there!

I almost forgot the work I am doing on Thinkific to build my own Education site. I have acquired so many Video course on everything from Cold Selling, to Facebook Groups to WordPress. I am uploading and promoting!!!!

Finally I take payments through Stripe. At the moment I am changing the link to my account in Oman as that is tax free!

I’ve lost some things from travelling – Qatar, UAE, China, GranCanaria, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Morocco – but I feel I have gained more!

I will probably spend the summer in Bali working on my next volumes in ‘The adventures of Fairy Hanny’, or ‘The Hunter Flaange’ detective stories. I might even finish ‘St. Neds’ or the four volume trilogy ‘Going to California’. I need a publisher!!!!

Key concept number 4: Two things that determine ranking

There are two things that determine our ranking:

the site or pages themselves (our content, how well it’s optimized, the age of the site, etc.), and our

“Total Backlink Value”. This is a term for the number of backlinks, times the strength of each backlink.

Search engine ranking is largely about backlinks. A backlink is simply a link somewhere else, pointing to our site.

All backlinks are not equal. The ‘value’ of a backlink is determined by where it is (the ‘strength’ of the page it appears on, the position it appears i.e. in website content vs. elsewhere such as a blogroll, etc.), age or ‘freshness’ of the links, the rate at which they are created (“link velocity”), and other factors. One very strong backlink can be worth more than dozens, even hundreds of ‘weak’ backlinks.

Anchor text – the ‘clickable’ text of a link – serves to ‘focus’ it’s value. It doesn’t necessarily increase the value of the backlink, but serves to focus its strength to that specific keyword, rather than dilute its value across the page it points to (we’ll talk more about keywords shortly). As such, we still get value from ‘bare’ backlinks, but if we’re trying to rank for a particular keyword, using that keyword as our anchor text boosts our ‘strength’ for those particular keywords. It also says to Google, “this is what that page is about”.

Google Update Note: Google seems to be giving “partial phrase anchor text” more weight. “Partial phrase” essentially means anchor text that includes only part of, or variations of, the targeted keyword as the clickable text. As a result, we would want to mix in a higher percentage of links using anchor text such as “dog training” and “best training.”

If we were able to total up the value of all our IBL’s (“In-Bound Links”), and all other things were equal – two identical sites – the one with the highest “Total Backlink Value” will rank first, second highest will rank second, etc. Similarly, for a particular search, the one with more relevant anchor text links will rank first since its overall strength is ‘tipped’ in favour of that search term.

Key Concept Number 3: – Page Rank

If you’re new to Internet marketing, “PageRank” or “PR” is something you’ll hear a lot about. While the literal meaning is the original patented web-page-ranking algorithm that was the basis for Google, in IM and webmaster circles, it usually refers to the “toolbar export” number that Google assigns to every page it indexes. The range is 0-10, going from ‘weakest’ to ‘strongest’. There are a lot of misconceptions and misunderstanding surrounding PageRank

First, though we often hear the term used to qualify a site, it is misleading to think of “a PageRank 5 website”. Websites don’t have PageRank, only individual pages/URL’s do. While it is usually the homepage that has the highest PR, it isn’t always the case. When you hear “a PageRank 5 website” this usually means a website with a PR5 homepage. The ‘inner’ pages of that site will almost always have lower, and even no PageRank.

Second, “PageRank” is an indicator, it doesn’t “do” anything. Based mostly on IBL’s (In-Bound Links), it’s a relative measure of the overall ‘strength’ of that page. Unfortunately, for our purposes – the purpose of ranking – it is a poor measure. The main reason is that it is a ‘cumulative’ measure, and as such, doesn’t tell us much a page’s strength in relation to individual keywords or phrases. In some ways, it’s like a ‘rating’ – we get our ‘rating’ by virtue of our IBL’s, the ‘rating’ itself doesn’t give us anything.

This is why we sometimes see pages with lower PR ranking above pages with higher PR – the higher-ranking page is stronger for that particular search. This is also why it’s important to think of ‘competition’ as only those pages on Page 1 where we’re trying to get.

When I look at who is occupying Page 1 for a keyword I’m trying to rank for, their PR is only a small factor in determining how hard it will be. This is because a page may have an overall high PR, but not be either well-optimized, or ‘strong’ for the keyword I’m targeting.

Key Concept Number 2: – “Ranking is ONLY in relation to the search being done.”

First, realise that a given page will rank in different positions for different searches. If I have a site with a page about “bee sting cures”, I may have achieved a good Page 1 rank for a search on “bee sting cures”, while that same page may not even be in the top one hundred for a search on “bumble bees”.

Same page, different ranking. Where I rank depends on the search being done.

Second, understand that there are no set rankings. When you do a search, Google takes all the pages it deems appropriate for that search, orders them by relevance and ‘strength’, then presents the results at that time . That same search may yield different results the next day. Ranking is determined when asearch is done.

In other words, THERE IS NO ‘RANKING ORDER’ UNTIL A SEARCH IS BEING DONE. This is why rankings change. New pages are constantly being added (‘indexed’)– and deleted (‘de-indexed’) – and their values are constantly being updated. A particular search on one day might have certain pages ranking higher than others, while the same search a few days later may have different pages, or the same pages but with different ‘values’ and therefore in a different order.

It is a mis- statement to say, “My site finally reached the first page in Google.” First, it must be in relation to a search, so “My site finally reached the first page in Google for the phrase “Paralegal Training” would be more accurate.

Again, it isn’t the site that has a ranking position, but a specific page. And so, my site on Paralegal Certification might have a page devoted to “Paralegal Training,” and that page might rank on Page 1 for that phrase, but it is that specific page, not the site itself.

All of this means that if we are trying to rank for a particular keyword or phrase, we have to be ‘relevant’ and ‘strong’ for that phrase. We do this by optimizing our page for the keywords we want to rank for (on-page factors), and boost our ‘strength’ by increasing our “Total Backlink Value” for those keywords (when we rank for keywords without specifically targeting them, it’s through a combination of ‘brute force’ and weak/low competition, meaning the overall ‘strength’ of our page happens to be high enough to outrank other pages).

Key Concept Number 1: “Websites don’t rank, only pages – URL’s – do.

When we talk about terms like

“ranking,”

“Page 1”,

“SERPs” (Search Engine Results page),

we have to understand a very important concept. Websites – as an entity – don’t rank, only pages, or individual URL’s do.

Search engines are huge databases containing billions of ‘records’. Each ‘record’ is a web page. A search is a ‘query’ of the database that returns the ‘records’ or pages that qualify as an answer to that query.

In many cases, it is the homepage that shows up as the ‘answer’ for a search, but that is simply the home page itself that is ranking, not the overall site.

This does not mean that pages are evaluated independently of the whole site, but that what ends up being ranked is the page, not the site.

There is more to life than meets the eye.

Sunday thoughts from Daily Motivation. I will continue this week with more links to sites I use and more thoughts on growing Traffic.

“Within the familiarity of daily routines, it’s easy to assume that nothing is changing.

But with every slight shift in your thought patterns and in the way you interpret your experiences, you contribute to an unfolding transformation that is shaping the beautiful gifts meant for you.

Your current experiences are only a small part of a much larger story.

These seemingly ordinary moments hold potential that you often only recognize in hindsight.

Trust that even if you cannot see it yet, something meaningful is already in motion.

Your miracles are already on their way.“

Ranking Position and Traffic Volume

In nearly all searches – though there are some exceptions – the #1 top listing gets the greatest percentage of clicks. How much? As much as half, or 50% – sometimes more. Positions #2 and #3 generally split the next 25%. In other words, the Top 3 listings will get 75% of the traffic! The remaining 7 listings will get most of the rest, in decreasing percentages.

In other words, the majority of people will click on one of the first search results listed. Further, depending on screen resolution, all 10 of those Page 1 results may not be visible without scrolling, further lessening the chances for those lower listings.

This means that if we aren’t able to reach say the Top 5, we don’t even have a shot at most of the traffic.

Getting top search engine listings is both an ‘art’ and a ‘science’, however it is far more ‘science’ than ‘art’ – which is a good thing, if you understand the ‘science’!

So, just how do rankings work?

Perhaps the most valuable thing you can get out of these blog posts is a strong and accurate understanding of how search engines and rankings actually work. When you have that foundation, it becomes simply a matter of ‘going through the motions’ to get your pages ranked well, funneling qualified traffic to your targets.

We will begin our discussion of search engine traffic by going over some critical ideas and concepts. For some of you, this may mean “un-learning” some bad information, and correcting a lot of mis-information.

I’m going to touch on four ‘Key Concepts’ in the next posts!!!

Search Engine Optimisation – SEO

What: Search engine traffic comes from having your pages, articles, etc., showing up when someone does a search.

Why: It’s the ‘mother-lode’ of free traffic; search engines – in particular Google – can deliver huge numbers of qualified visitors.

How: Getting your pages, articles, etc., ranked on Page 1 for various search terms by having strong content, and enough “Total Backlink Value” – backlinks – to outrank other pages for your targeted search terms / keywords.

Pro’s: Very targeted, potential for huge volume.

Con’s: Can take a long time, requires considerable upfront and ongoing effort.

Search engines provide the ‘mother lode’ of free traffic. And while we don’t want to discount Yahoo and Bing, the overwhelming volume of search engine traffic comes from Google, so that is where we are going to focus.

We get search engine traffic by ranking, or being listed, for various searches. Someone types in a search, and clicks on one of the results. Our job is to show up as close to the top of Page 1 as we can, for the searches that are relevant to us.

Traffic again

Internet Marketing Traffic

The phrase “internet marketing” has become a catch-all term that usually means “making money online” (although it now includes the realm of “offline marketing” as well). There are many different ways to make money online, but for the most part they tend to fall into just a few ‘business models’, each of which might have many variations.

Some of the more common business models are affiliate marketing, Adsense and other contextual advertising programs, eCommerce or direct sales, and offline marketing. How we go about it will depend both on the business model, and our particular focus, or strategy.

Affiliate marketing might be our business model, while creating ‘review sites’ would be out strategy. Similarly, Adsense might be our business model, and creating informational niche sites our strategy. Whatever we choose, we’re going to need traffic, and we’re going to need to convert that traffic into revenue. Different approaches might work better or worse with different traffic sources and tactics.

Traffic Terms

Before we launch into the ‘meat’ of these articles, I want to clarify some terms and ideas, so that we’re on the same page.

When we talk about traffic of course we’re talking about visitors. How we get these visitors, or more accurately how they get to us, divides them into three basic types: search, referral, and direct.

Search refers to search engine listings, visitors who do a search, and click on our URL in the search results. Search accounts for the biggest “pool” of available traffic. It is also sometimes referred to as ‘organic’ or ‘natural’ traffic;

Referral traffic means anyone who clicks on our link somewhere other than search results. This can be from a blog comment, an article we publish, the link in our Youtube video description, etc. Although no single referral traffic source equals the volume of search traffic, the combined potential of referral traffic is actually considerably larger; in other words, if you count the total number of clicks on search results versus the total number of clicks everywhere else, there are far more clicks ‘everywhere else’.

Direct traffic refers to those visitors who typed in our website address directly.

For the most part, we will focus on search and referral traffic.

“Targeted” or “Qualified” vs. “Untargeted” or “Unqualified” Traffic: While this may be obvious, I want to touch on the whole ‘targeted’ vs ‘untargeted’ idea. “Targeted” or “Qualified” traffic refers to visitors who have an interest in what our site or page is about. It does NOT mean they will necessarily buy or ‘convert’ on our site. While ‘qualified’ visitors are generally what we’re targeting, there are times where that isn’t always the case, and sometimes it is intentional.

There are a number of traffic sources that can send ‘unqualified’ traffic to us, and in some cases that works – if your ‘offer’ or other conversion means is extremely compelling, and/or widely applicable.

Specifically, “traffic exchanges” of various types operate under the idea that virtually any traffic is worth getting if our offer or conversion is attractive enough. While we talk mainly about getting ‘qualified’ traffic, we will touch on some of these other ‘unqualified’ traffic sources further on. After all, if we can get enough ‘unqualified’ visitors easily and ‘cheaply’ enough, it can be worth doing.

“Targets”: We will often use the term “target” or “target site”, not to be confused with “targeted traffic”. What we are referring to is the “target” that we ultimately want to send our traffic to. In many cases, this will be our own website, but not always. For instance, we may want to use some of the tactics presented here for ‘direct linking’, or sending traffic directly to an offer. In other cases, our “target” might be a Web 2.0 platform such as a free Blogger blog.

Bounce Rate: The time a visitor spends on each page of your site. This is often stated as thresholds, such as ‘under 30 seconds’, ‘over 1 minute’, etc. Knowing your Bounce Rate can help determine what and where you might need to make changes. In some business models, a high bounce rate may be preferable – for instance, if we are using Adsense, we don’t necessarily want visitors to get so caught up in our site that they don’t click on an ad. In other cases, a high Bounce Rate might indicate insufficient or inadequate content that isn’t holding a visitors attention long enough for you to promote your product or affiliate offer.

Traffic Ideas

I am following a course on How to be an Amazon Bestseller. Part of the course focuses on generating traffic to get sales so I decided to look back into my notes and PLR products to teach me more about generating traffic.

I found lots!

The basis of internet marketing is identifying a particular niche, product, area of interest, or need that you want to pursue, having a way to monetize it, getting traffic there, and then converting that traffic.

How much traffic we get, how well we convert that traffic, and how much each ‘conversion’ generates will dictate how much revenue and profits we make.

Over the past few years of building my business, I’ve distilled this ‘flow’ into a simple formula or exercise that I go through for any project I’m considering:

E – I – A – C

E – Evaluate my end goal. Am I trying to sell a product or promote an affiliate offer? Am I trying to attract visitors to click on an ad? Is there a viable market with enough traffic potential? Is it too competitive to pursue? What is the end result I’m after? From here I can now…

I – Identify what the best platform is: a website or blog, a video, an article, Web 2.0 sites etc. This is where I’m going to send traffic. It will also dictate what kind of content I need. Once I’ve decided what I’m trying to accomplish and where I’m going to send traffic, the next step is to…

A – Acquire the traffic, funnel it to my target. In most cases, this translates simply into getting good rankings for our target site & keywords. In other cases, it might mean targeting video sites like Youtube, Social Media sites like Facebook, etc. Once we’ve acquired the traffic, then we have to…

C – Convert it. This will be the ‘business model,’ how we make money: Adsense, affiliate offers, CPA, opt-ins, etc.

By taking the time to go through and answer these questions, you’ll have a much clearer idea of how to proceed.

One of the biggest ’causes’ for failure in online business comes down to a lack of clear direction – understanding what you’re trying to accomplish, and then figuring out the steps needed to get there.

The E-I-A-C “framework” will also help you avoid another of the most common pitfalls: distraction.

By this I mean trying one product, method, or tactic, not seeing huge success right away, then being ‘distracted’ by the next ‘big thing’. While there are plenty of bad products, courses, and tactics out there, the reality is that even the ‘good’ ones require some structure and discipline.