Category Archives: Traffic

A Story Of Two Ranked Videos

By | Published March 2, 2011

I’ve been brainstorming how to get my video on the front page of a google search result. And of course one way to do it is to reverse-engineer videos that have already made it.

If you search google for “Magic Trick” two videos come up before any page results.

Both videos have “Magic Trick” in the title.

Both videos are old: 2007 and 2006.

Both videos have more than 8 million views.

And both videos have thousands of likes and dislikes, and thousands of comments.

That would be hard to beat! So I’ll be going after keywords that are a bit less competitive.

But I also noticed something about these two “Magic Trick” videos that are less obvious. They have hundreds of links pointing to them!

So I’m guessing when Andy Wilson told me that getting videos linked is similar to getting pages linked, he was right. Get links pointing to your videos.

Andy had some more tips for me as well. The first one will help you get to that 8 million views mark :)

1) You can have your video appear as a related video to popular videos in the same category by making sure your tags are the same. This means if you track down youtube copywriting videos with high views you can make sure your video has the same tags, etc and essentially “piggyback” off of them.

And here is Andy’s favorite SEO tool, which you may have heard of.

Market Samurai

There’s the link to the tool. I’ve been with it since the earlier stages of development and the support and team behind the operation are top notch.

There are oodles of training videos and Ed Dale devotes nearly 1/3rd of his 30 day challenge (now called “the challenge”) to using Market Samurai and its applications.

If you’re looking to dabble in SEO you should check it out. It’s pretty easy and straight forward to use. The competition and research modules are worth the whatever price by themselves.

Also posted in Business Tips, Copywriting Tips, Internet Advertising Tips, Ready Spaghetti | View Comments

The March Ready Spaghetti SEO Challenge Begins…

By | Published March 1, 2011

Here we go. The March Ready Spaghetti SEO Challenge starts today.

Our goal is to get at least one video ranked on the first page of any Google search.

It’s not too late for you to join. If you want to stop learning and start earning with us – leave a comment and declare yourself a part of the challenge.

So far, Tom Brownsword and Johnny Walker have both chosen to participate. Andy Wilson is playing hookie and will sit out this challenge for whatever reason.

BUT… Andy did do some poking around for us – even asking questions about ranking videos at John Carlton’s event last weekend. So a big hat tip to Andy and I’ll be posting some of his insights tomorrow.

Ok, first things first.

What’s A Ready Spaghetti Challenge?

It’s DOing rather than learning. And it’s also a way of wading through crappy advice and finding out what really works. Because you can only find that out by doing.

So below you’re going to see my strategy. And you’re also going to see an article that I’ve been studying.

The biggest mistake you could make is taking my plan and that article as gospel. For all I know, they’re crap!

But we do need a plan or model to follow. Throwing darts around in the dark is a bad idea.

It’d be great if we could get Keith Baxter to write up a 5 step plan for us to follow on his blog, but for now all we’ve got is my plan assembled from various sources.

Feel free to add to my plan or critique it in the comments. Here it is:

  • Make 3-5 videos and try to rank them all. Kind of like shooting for the stars and reaching the moon – if 4 fail but one makes it, I’m a winner.
  • Pick a handful of search terms with under 100,000 searches per month. And make sure there’s at least one with video results all ready.
  • Optimize my Youtube video with a keyword in the title, description and tags.
  • Match the videos tags to other popular videos.
  • Comment on Channels that relate to my video, so that I get the link juice back.
  • Get several links pointing to the video, as you would with any other SEO endeavor.

Have anything to add or subtract? Please let me know in the comments.

And here’s an article I found insightful and worthy of further study.

The Key To Top Video Rankings On Youtube And Google

Let’s get started today. How about searching for keywords to target?

Good luck and I’ll be in touch.

Also posted in Ready Spaghetti | View Comments

Ready Spaghetti March Challenge

By | Published February 17, 2011

The other day I sent this email to Andy Wilson, a commenter on this blog.

Thanks Andy, that’s a good idea. How about we both make it a goal to get a video on the front page of a Google keyword in March. I really have no concrete idea on how to do it, but I have some guesses. If you get any tips from your SEO guy I’d love to hear ‘em. What keyword do you think you’d go for?

Cheers,
Stephen

Actually I said February, not March. But both Andy and I have decided March is a better idea.

So we’ve decided to go all-Ready-Spaghetti on the search engines. We’re not experts, we’re just going to do it.

Who wants to join the challenge? Want to try to get your video ranked on the first page of Google search results for a keyword?

Then leave a comment. We can all pass ideas back and forth with each other and master SEO ready-spaghetti style.

Looking forward to it!

Also posted in Ready Spaghetti | View Comments

Ready Spaghetti SEO

By | Published February 10, 2011

A while back I talked about the Ready Spaghetti method: take action as a beginner and just see what sticks.

I’ll talk about this more on the blog as we go, so sign up for email updates on the right if you’d like to stay updated. Back to the story…

The example I gave in my first Ready Spaghetti post was using the method to “master” search engine optimization.

The method goes like this. Instead of spending months reading about a topic, just start applying advice and see what sticks. (When Spaghetti is ready, it sticks to the wall when you throw it.)

So I’ve decided to try the method with SEO. I’ve achieved #1 rankings for terms before (like “Internet Copywriter”), but never on purpose. It’s time to change that.

I decided to start small with a search term that has little competition, and hence, next to no search traffic as well.

Playing around with Google’s Wonder Wheel let me find “Personal productivity cheats.” And Google Insights showed me that this term gets next to no traffic.

Good. That means it’ll be easy to hit #1 on my first measured try. It won’t get me traffic, but at least I’ll get to see from experience how Google works.

I did a few things I’d read about to establish links, and it wasn’t long before I was number 1.

Cool, my first intentional #1 ranking. That makes me a zero degree white belt at search engine optimization.

I want to keep working on it, though. If you can offer help or advice, please leave a comment. What should I try next?

And if you could benefit from SEO but haven’t given it a shot, want to try the method with me? Let me know in the comments and we can bounce ideas around.

Also posted in Business Tips, Internet Advertising Tips | View Comments

Behind The Scenes Of A Guru

By | Published January 12, 2011

I recently read a heartfelt post by Grizzly Bears at his new blog.

I keep an ear ready for the Grizz because Jim Sansi has said good things about him. And I say good things about Jim, so that’s good enough for me.

The blog post was called

Careful… You May Become Popular

And the post seems to be a somewhat autobiographical, somewhat confessional story of his time as Internet marketing guru.

He also details HOW to become a guru. To those who have been around a while, the formula is nothing new. But for some, it can be a real eye opener. Take this excerpt for example…

Enter a popular forum that has all the experts in the niche. Zero in on the resident top dog expert – easy to find as they always have something to say on every topic. They have 15,000 posts in the forum – they know everything – because they have 15,000 posts in the forum. You know they never leave the forum and hence – don’t make a dime online – who has the time? You don’t get 15k posts on the forum if you are away working…

So. Swaddle right on up to the expert and calmly say… “you’re full of s#!t”. The expert goes ballistic… huffs, puffs, rants… and waits for the sycophants to come to the rescue. Those would be the experts in training – the people with only 10k posts on the forum. You laugh and leave while dropping a link back to your blog.

And wait…

James Brausch did this beautifully years ago causing ruckus on the Warrior Forum and linking back to posts like “Long Copy Sucks And Other Heresies.” (Google It.

He took a strong position on a hot topic (length of copy) and took no prisoners while making his point, which naturally created controversy.

He grew a following by backing up his position with tales of the scientific method and piles of data. But I’ll get back to the science in a minute.

Completely changing subjects, I was recently in a political argument on Twitter. My opponent put forth that “Empiricism isn’t fringe friendly,” an obvious attempt to swipe at some in the “tea party” movement.

Empiricism being the practice of forming ideas based on experience, evidence and the senses – fairly tangible stuff. And “fringe” being outside the mainstream.

Now, in terms of politics, I think he makes many mistakes in that statement. Including assuming that “fringe” has an inherent negative connotation all by itself.

But as a whole and completely removed from just politics, I think that statement is also completely backwards.

Relying on experience and evidence IS outside the mainstream. Empiricism IS fringe.

Too many people get their knowledge from “hearsay” that actually taking the time to get answers backed by data can be controversial.

So back to the discussion of becoming a guru.

If you want to gain a following and make some bucks while hopefully providing value, add some empiricism to your business and share your controversial results.

Do it hard, with no apology for your findings. No apology in your words or tone.

Have the discussion in an appropriate socialized setting, and your following grows.

The End.

Cheers,
Stephen Dean

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My #1 Tip For Instantly Boosting Conversion Rates

By | Published November 3, 2010

Want my #1 tip for instantly boosting conversion rates?

I gave it to Ryan Healy a couple of years back, and I’ll give it to you in just a moment.

I was reminded of the #1 conversion boosting tip when I read this on Terry Dean’s blog…

“Any experienced marketer can tell you that it’s not the copy that’s most important on your site. It’s not even the offer, although that is as close as it comes to winning.”

What is the most important piece of your sales page? Terry Dean and I both agree…

…the VISITOR is the most important part of your site when it comes to conversion.

If you want more sales, you need to make sure your visitors are HUNGRY for what you’re selling.

Terry brought up the “hungry crowd” concept made famous by Gary Halbert. It’s the idea that your best advantage over competitors isn’t an amazing product, price or offer… it’s a crowd that’s HUNGRY for what you’ve got.

That brings us to my #1 tip for instantly boosting conversion rates. Ryan Healy asked me the question in an interview and I responded:

9. What’s your #1 tip for instantly boosting conversion rates?

This probably isn’t what you’re looking for. But it’s the first thing that came to mind: Find a higher quality traffic source.

If your copy is converting at 3% from traffic on Adwords, you’re likely to get higher than a 10% conversion from an endorsed mailing. So it’s important to seek out those partnerships when you see that sales are coming in.

If you want to get more sales, find a better traffic source! (You may want to check out another blog post, “How Traffic Sources Affect Conversion” to do that.)

That’s my #1 tip for instantly boosting conversion rates.

Also posted in Business Tips, Copywriting Tips, Internet Advertising Tips | View Comments

Buy My Business

By | Published October 5, 2010

I hope I don’t regret this. It’s spring fall cleaning time and your chance to catch a bargain.

Over the last few months I’ve been busy writing copy and writing software. The software is taking my business in a slightly new direction. So I want to shed a few parts of my business that no longer apply.

Time to put them on the auction block. If you’d like to purchase any of these properties from me, leave me a comment and we can discuss payment and transfer.

For Sale:

WebVideoCopy.com (Domain Name Only)

I purchased this domain with great foresight many years ago but never put it to use… and don’t plan to. Now it could be a hot property for the person ready to take it over. I’ll accept $500 or best offer, as long as it stays above my private reserve price.

Leave a comment to discuss purchase of WebVideoCopy.com

StephensBlog.com (Domain Name and Blog Posts)

This site has over 2,200 inbound links and ranks well for many keywords. It currently is #3 for “Internet copywriting” and #1 for “Internet copywriter.” I’ll transfer the domain name and blog content in a database. I also reserve the rights to the blog content.

The site has been dormant for quite some time and gets about 800 uniques a month. When I posted regularly we reached 2,500 uniques per month often. I’ll accept $1,500 or best offer, as long as it stays above my private reserve price.

Leave a comment to discuss purchase of StephensBlog.com

EasySplitTest.com (Domain Name and Software Rights)

With zero effort this site ranks #5 for “Free Split Test” and #1 for “Easy Split Test.” The domain is a few years old and consistently trickles in new leads. The squeeze page converts quite high, around 50% last time I tracked it. You get the domain, squeeze page, shared rights to the software (shared with me), and all the help files that go along with it. I’ll accept $750 or best offer, as long as it stays above my private reserve price.

Leave a comment to discuss purchase of EasySplitTest.com

In the case that I may have extremely undervalued one of these properties, I reserve the right to change my offering price.

Also posted in Copywriting Heads Up, Housekeeping | View Comments

New Way To Rise In The Search Engines?

By | Published September 21, 2010

Apparently I found a new way to rise in the search engine rankings. And it’s probably the easiest method I’ve ever used.

Step away from your blog for 3-4 months and let Google do it’s thing.

For the term “Copywriting” I’ve gone from about 450 to about 90 since I’ve let the blog sit.

That’s a 360 spot jump. So is this the lesson? Should you stop posting to your blog for 3-4 months.

Of course not, but I think there is a good lesson here.

First of all, I’m guessing the reason I fell so far (to 450) in the first place is that Google had discovered duplicate content from this blog and stephensblog.com, where I used to post.

So I deleted all duplicate content… and I think that hurt me even more. Now content Google HADNT yet discovered was duplicate content was simply disappearing from my site.

So I think Google was dropping my domain in the rankings until I stopped making changes and the site was properly indexed again.

The lesson there is… be CAREFUL on editing your site content.

Google’s job is to lead visitors to good content. And if Google finds they’re sending visitors to deleted pages, my guess is they’re going to take that seriously and punish your domain for a while.

If you’re going to reorganize your site, you should edit established pages instead of deleting them off your server all together.

Also posted in Business Tips, Copywriting Tips, Internet Advertising Tips | View Comments

Climbing Up The Search Engines

By | Published February 26, 2010

One purpose of buying the domain “CopywritingDean.com” was that it’d be easier to rank in the top 10 for the term “Copywriting.”

I’d reached the 2nd page of Google results for “copywriting” with Stephensblog.com, but I wanted to leave that domain for a number of reasons I won’t go into here.

Well a month or so ago when I checked the ranking of “CopywritingDean.com” for the term “copywriting,” I was shocked to find myself ranked 450th. YIKES. So I started making some changes.

Fixing a mistake

A major mistake when switching domains was copying the posts from StephensBlog.com over to CopywritingDean.com. We’ve all heard about the duplicate content penalty… well l got it.

After I went through and deleted a few dozen posts from CopywritingDean.com that were also on StephensBlog.com, I jumped from #450 to #119.

Still a long way to go, but that’s a start.

Sticking with what works

At Stephensblog.com I was able to jump from about #75 to mid twenties by having posts submitted to Blog Carnivals.

You can do this yourself here: http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit.php

Just look for blog carnivals that fit your blogs topic, and submit individual blog posts to the carnival.

I’ve found software that automates the process for you before, but it seems to have stopped working. I assume the site doesn’t want you to submit via software, so now I just do it by hand. It doesn’t take too long and it’s a mindless activity, so I just do it while chatting on the phone to the GF.

Blog Friends

I’m also on the lookout for people who want to trade links in their blog rolls. I have 164 pages listed in google from CopywritingDean.com and each one will have a link to your page if you’ll put my blog in your blogroll.

Of course, if you don’t care for my blog then there’s no reason for you to add me to your sidebar. But if you do enjoy my blog, adding me to your blogroll has an extra benefit.

Just leave a comment to this post letting me know that you added me and I’ll make sure to add you to my sidebar. (Assuming your site isn’t objectional… you know, like illegal stuff and the like.)

Also posted in Business Tips, Internet Advertising Tips | View Comments

Secrets To A Champagne Product Launch

By | Published February 12, 2010

If you want to start a successful online business, here’s what you need to do…

Create A Product
3 Quick Ways To Judge Your New Product Idea

Create A Squeeze Page
Should You Use A Squeeze Page?
7 Steps To A Successful Squeeze Page
Ballooning Squeeze Page Conversions With Winning Audio Scripts

Send Traffic To The Squeeze Page
Clixsense – Penny Traffic That Converts
A VERY Telling Conversion Story On Twitter

Send Subscribers To An Awesome Sales Letter On Launch Day

Stephen Dean’s Copywriting Services

Also posted in Copywriting Resources, Product Creation, Squeeze Pages | View Comments

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