What is Anchor Text?

Anchor text is simply the word or words, preferably keywords, which are made clickable and hyperlinked to another page or website. When reading through a webpage you will often see a word, or a set of words that are written in a different color. In most cases these words are blue, but the color will depend on the webpage designer. When you place your mouse over these words you will see a website address or a preview of a different page. If you click on these words, aka anchor text, your browser will redirect you to another page with more relevant information. The page you’re redirected to may be within the website you are already viewing or a completely different website.

Anchor Text for SEO

Links are an important part of any SEO campaign. However, not all links are created equal. With anchor text being a major player in the ranking game, it would stand to reason that backlink anchor text from an authority site be such a highly sought after commodity in the SEO world of backlinks. After all, the most important links you can obtain are from other websites and highly ranked websites will provide the best backlinks. Provided the anchor text is a keyword and not something like “click here.”

Keep in mind that anchor text used in combination with keyword optimization will get you the best return on your anchor text efforts and definitely increase page rank. The reason for this is simple, Google and other search engines, as well as human readers, use anchor text as an indicator of what the linked page will be about. And we all expect that the page to where we’re being led be relevant to the anchor text that led us there.

When Should You Use Anchor Text and How Often?

Anytime you create web content you should include anchor text. Whether you are writing a blog, a post on your social site, an article, or a press release, keyword anchor text is beneficial. Even if the site you are posting on is not highly ranked by search engines you should still include anchors. After all, every site starts out on the low end of search engine results. Links that hold little value now may be very important later.

Cautionary advice, just as you don’t want to over stuff your content with keywords, you don’t want to spam your posts with anchor text. While there are no set rules on how many hyperlinks you should have in a post, if you’re publishing on your own website, you’re the boss so you get to decide. But use your common sense and provide additional relevant information through hyperlink anchor text only when and where it makes sense. If you find you have a ton of additional relevant information, write another article!

If you still have questions about anchor text, feel free to post your questions in the comment section below.

If you prefer to hire out your web management, High Profits Marketing would be honored to help.


Peace & Prosperity,

You can set up your site either through WordPress.com or WordPress.org. The main difference between the two is that WordPress.com sites are officially hosted by WordPress and wordPress.org sites are self hosted. So while you can get a site up and running online for absolutely no cost with WordPress.com, it has limitations as far as features and what you can do with the site. A major limitation and drawback is that the web address will look like this, www.yourdomainname.wordpress.com, which from a professional standpoint, can be considered less credible. While I would not recommend this option for business websites, it can be a good starting point for anyone getting started with a simple personal blog.

While WordPress.org is also free to use, you will need to supply the hosting service and you will need to purchase a domain name. However, you can easily pick up a domain name for less than $10 per year and hosting for as little as $5-$10 per month. I personally use HostGator for my web hosting and NameCheap as my domain registrar, but GoDaddy is another popular service many choose to use. Although these are added costs, the price you’re paying to get your business website up and running with unlimited freedom and flexibility is really inexpensive and in my opinion, worth every cent of the small investment.

Domain registrars and web hosting companies are fairly competitive with features and cost so who you decide to go with will more than likely be a matter of personal preference. However, I would strongly suggest that you consider using a hosting company that offers Cpanel. Cpanel is a back office application that makes the installation of many website features easy and manageable. If the hosting that you choose also offers Fantastico (which it usually will if it also offers Cpanel) then it just got even easier. Fantastico enables you to install WordPress into the root directory of your website with a few simple clicks of the mouse. Just follow the directions once you login to Cpanel and you are ready to go.

Once the WordPress software is ready to be used on your site, you have the option of making your site look more like a regular static website or having it work like a blog, or both. Depending on what your business is, any of these options will work great and help you to generate traffic.

Presenting a professional site is important and WordPress has many features that make this easy. The variety of themes and templates that are available help your business to be unique, while professionally and creatively showing what you and your business are all about. The use of plugins also adds to your web presence and extends the capabilities of your website for both your visitors and the search engines. There are for example, plugins that can make your website more interactive for your visitors, more secure, and even help with tracking statistics and analytics for better web usage.

WordPress is flexible, easy to install, free to use and is designed for visibility with search engines and your customers. With a growing range of plugins and themes, WordPress makes it easy to build business websites that are interactive, interesting and unique.

Still don’t know where to start? I can help not only build business websites and/or business blogs, but market them so they get indexed by the search engines and found by targeted buying customers.

Peace & Prosperity,

Small Business Websites are becoming a “must have” component to a successful small business internet marketing strategy.  As a small business just getting started, it may seem overwhelming to realize that there are many companies trying to get your hard earned dollars by offering “simple to set up” websites.  Sometimes their offers are tempting, until you realize that any changes you’d like to make or features you’d like to add are always an extra fee.

WordPress to the rescue! WordPress is built on free software that lets you update content yourself, make changes with a few clicks and has a wide variety of professional designs and applications that you can add in a few minutes. While WordPress was originally designed for use as a blogging tool, it has morphed into an incredible Content Management System (CMS) that allows small business owners to create their own professional websites quickly without a lot of technical knowhow.

Let’s take a look at 7 benefits to creating your small business website using WordPress:

1. Save yourself some cash.  Did you know that you can use the WordPress software for free?  What you will need to pay for is hosting, but you can find hosting for around $5-$10 per month.  Many hosting companies also have specials for the first month or discounts for paying for several months up front.  Otherwise, you can build your site using WordPress for free.
2. Easy set-up. No more headaches trying to set up your site.  WordPress is easy to install as many hosting companies have Fantastico.  This software lets you click a button, and WordPress is installed.  Often, the hosting companies also offer tutorials on how to use WordPress, or you can find any number of videos and ‘how-to’ guides to get you through and answer your questions on getting your site to look exactly how you want it to.  No technical wizards needed here!
3. Change the look and feel of your wrodpress website anytime.  There are templates, or themes, that you can use to make your website original and unique.  In fact, there are thousands to choose from and most are free.  You can of course choose to pay for a theme, but it is not required.  Also, if you decide to change your theme, you can do so whenever you’d like.  This adds a lot of flexibility to your site as you can change your theme to suit your growing business.
4. Change what your wordpress website can do with plug-ins.  Plug-ins are software that allow you to do a lot of different things on your website.  There are some that can automatically backup your site, create a sitemap for your visitors to use, help you fight SPAM, allow comments on your posts, and email a message to your visitors asking them to take another look at your site etc.  Oh, and just about all of the plug-ins are free.
5. SEO friendly.  The ball is already rolling for you with SEO.  Search engines love WordPress and are already configured to quickly and easily index WordPress sites.  There are even SEO plug-ins that can help you in getting more search engine attention and helping you in your search engine optimization efforts.
6. Get help when you need it.  With the incredible popularity of WordPress, there are plenty of WordPress experts that have a lot of experience and can help you with just about any problem.  There is a forum at WordPress.org that has great information and is an excellent resource, but you can get help from plenty of other places online as well.  No matter the problem, you won’t be in the dark for long.
7. You maintain control.  One of the most frightening experiences has to be when you realize that someone else is in control of how your business looks or operates.  It can be very frustrating to have to wait and depend on someone else.  With WordPress, you keep control and can add pages, delete pages, move things around, update functionality and can get help or assign someone else to make changes as you see fit.  This can help with peace of mind as much as it can with the growth or flexibility of your business.

WordPress has got to be one of the easiest ways to really create and maintain your small business website and internet presence.  As with anything, there is a bit of learning curve, but with its cost effectiveness and design flexibility, it sure is worth it.

Ask me how I can help you with your WordPress small business website and/or business blog.

Peace & Prosperity,

The best way to get social with your customers and prospective customers is to find out where they’re hanging out on the internet and then join the conversation. Small businesses, or any business for that matter, do not need to be everywhere, just on the key social media sites where there are questions and lively conversations happening in their particular field. Identify where your target audience is online and then give, give, and give even more.

Are they talking on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn? Or are they on other niche community sites?

The point is to do some research and find out where your target audience is, and then go there. I won’t be going into great detail about all the different social media sites that are available because there are way too many. However, I will briefly mention Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin, as they are three commonly used platforms.

Twitter is a great place to start to get a feel for how the conversations flow regarding any niche. They have a search feature, search.twitter.com, that will help to pinpoint specific keyword(s) and subjects so that you can track and/or look up your keywords and then enter the conversation on that topic.

Facebook can be a little more involved, as they have profile pages, groups, and fan pages, but it is another great place to create a brand identity and interact with your customers. You can ask questions and get great feedback with both of these social media sites.

LinkedIn, another contender in the social media arena, is considered by many as a professional networking site that is more business oriented. With a great exchange of ideas and lively interaction, it can be an insightful way to get the pulse of a niche or market group.

Of course, there are many, many more options, but the focus is to get in on the conversation regarding your small business product or service and then meet the needs of that conversation. Whether it is sought after information, how-to instructions or better pricing and packaging, join the conversation and provide solutions. Using social media as a tool, small businesses can capitalize on the existing interest or help raise the interest in just about any niche with a little research and some consistent dialog.

Peace & Prosperity,

P.S. Feel free to start a conversation in the comments section below.

It appears that the main reasons small businesses may be reluctant to really dive in with a solid social media marketing plan has to do with time and know how.  Social media can be time consuming to maintain, especially as there are so many different social media sites and communities online.  It could feel like a never ending rollercoaster ride to try and keep up with all of the latest and greatest sites and applications.

Also, with so many social media sites, it can be intimidating to know where to start and how to integrate them into a cohesive marketing campaign.  Small businesses may be in a bind to hire a social media consultant to formulate and carry out an effective social media strategy for money reasons.  They are, after all, small businesses.

Implementing a social media marketing strategy into your overall business marketing plan is not that difficult if approached in the right manner. To start with, the business has to know what it is they hope to achieve by entering the social media arena.  It may be helpful to know that in a recent survey by MarketingSherpa of social network users with more than 500 connections, the top reason that they ‘friended’ or followed a brand or company online was to be first in line to hear about specials and sales.  Other top reasons included, to learn about new products, features or services and to get to know the company.

Knowing this, it would be foolish for small businesses not to include social media in their online marketing plan.  Don’t overlook this obvious but business boosting small business marketing tip: use social media.  However, avoid the temptation of joining every social networking site online.  Start by first formulating a social media marketing plan and then meet your social consumer where they hang out.  Getting to know  how your business can best use the social media tools of your target audience’s choice will not only boost your business but also build relationships – the core to consumer loyalty.

Peace & Prosperity,

Start by smiling.  This is very important in face to face encounters, but just as important over the phone.  Did you know that you can hear a smile?

Next, make sure to use the appropriate respectful greetings and do not use slang or general terms when referring to customers, like “Hey guys.”  In the initial interaction, be proactive and ask how you can help or be of service to them.  Then, actually listen to the response.  Be attentive and take notes if you need to, then repeat back to the customer what you understood they needed before proceeding.  This is a basic, yet effective business communication skill and not used often enough in customer service settings.  However, if your aim is a happy customer, then this technique can resolve many misunderstandings and miscommunications before they even start.

Excellent customer service often calls for patience and an open mind.  While it’s all too easy to judge a customer based on age, appearance, the way they talk or attitude; refrain from making assumptions about the customers. Delivering great customer experiences means that everyone is treated equally and with respect.  This includes keeping your cool when a customer is being sarcastic or rude.

When situations arise where the customer is upset, have your staff take responsibility and apologize.  Remember, it is current situation they are in that is making them upset and not so much you personally. Then empower them to make decisions on their own regarding refunds or free products to give away.  Always take the high road and offer customers more than what they were asking for or expecting.  It does not have to be significantly more, but just showing that they are important with a small gesture can go a long way.

Have systems in place for dealing with the changing marketplace and developments.  This can be done by implementing in house training or utilizing online training for your industry.  It might not be a bad idea to also have yearly training on customer service standards as a reminder for everyone.

Make sure to be consistent in your message to the customer.  Let them know that a happy customer is the aim of the business and then act on it.  It may be helpful to have regular meetings with your staff to see if they have any ideas that can be implemented to increase customer satisfaction.  Often, asking for feedback can really open up the channels of communication and help everyone feel like they are on the same page.

Also, lead by example and treat staff as the internal customer that they are.  If they feel that their contributions are recognized and appreciated, they are then motivated to provide that same appreciation and attention to the customer. Excellent customer service really relies on the basics being delivered in a sincere and consistent manner.

Peace & Prosperity,

P.S.  Feel free to share any customer service experiences you may have had, good or bad, in the comments section below.

photo credit: doo3

General Keywords

Broad or general keywords are rather generic and large in scope, covering a large base in topic.  While a broad keyword has more overall searches, going after the most searched keywords can prove to be more difficult to achieve a high ranking for because they also have more competition.  An example of a broad keyword would be “dog.”

Long Tail Keywords

Long tail keywords are named ‘long’ because they are made up of several words.  This helps them to be more focused and specific.  As fewer sites target and try to rank for longer keyword phrases, there is less competition and it can be easier to get good results in the search engines. An example of a long-tail keyword phrase is “best dog training guide.”

Choosing Between General Keywords and Long Tail Keywords

In order to optimize your results, it is best to use both types of keywords in your copywriting and content for your site.  However, there may be times where you are not able to use both at the same time and you’ll need to select one over the other.  More often, you will decide to use only one for a specific purpose.

A good example of what we are talking about is when you are ready to register a domain name or a web 2.0 property.  Just about all of the simple, general keywords are taken and it may not be possible to find a URL containing your first word choice.  In such cases, you will need to dig a little deeper and select a long tail keyword phrase that is appropriate.

Then there will be times when you’ll want to get to the top of the SERP rankings quickly and will therefore select long tail keyword phrases on purpose, regardless of whether it is for a web 2.0 property or for your own domain.  The reasoning behind this is as follows: even though long tail keyword phrases may get fewer searches individually, they are often the most searched keywords before a buying decision.  In other words, long tail keywords attract a targeted audience; people who know more specifically what they are looking for.  This can help you to dominate a niche where your competitors are only focused on the more general keywords.

Using our examples from before, someone who enters “dog” into the search engines is either just browsing for a variety of general information on dogs, or will eventually drill down and get more specific when they see the massive number of returned results.

In our other example, someone who types in “best dog training guide” is looking for specific information on training dogs.  To get even more specific, you might want to add a particular breed and/or a particular type of dog training.

Since it’s harder to get in the viewers mind when using broad or general keywords, it’s imperative that you spend time doing keyword research and use long tail keywords.

Peace & Prosperity,

P.S. Confused about keyword selection, let High Profits Marketing do the job for you. Whether you do it yourself or outsource it, make sure your using keywords in your SEO strategy!

photo credit: ajkohn2001

By spending time doing keyword research, you’ll discover the terms your prospective customers enter in the search engines to find what they are looking for or better yet, what you have to offer.  Once you have these golden nuggets of information, waste no time cashing in on them. Include the relevant keywords and phrases on your site, in your copy, and in your content.

Be forewarned, site owners at one time used to stuff their sites and content with keywords in an attempt to trick the search engines into giving them a higher ranking.  When the search engines realized they were being duped, they quickly changed the rules and let it be known that they were not going to put up with any unethical marketing.  So if you don’t want to take the risk of getting penalized by the search engines, I’d strongly advise you play by their rules.  Honesty is always the best policy and should be applied when trying to get ranked with the search engines as well.

So now that you have your keywords, how do you use them and where do you place them?  For awhile, everyone was saying to use them in the Meta tags in the HTML.  While you shouldn’t discount this tactic, it doesn’t seem to hold as much weight as it used to.

Keyword placement is not a constant and has a lot to do with the type of page you are building. For Web 2.0 properties such as Squidoo, Hub Pages or Google’s Knol, it is suggested that the keywords be in URL you pick, in the titles, subtitles, written content and in any tagging space that they allow you to fill in.

When creating a blog post for your blog, the keyword should be in the URL as well.  However, this will only work if your blog template is set up in such a way so that the permalink structure for individual blog posts can be changed.  Look in the settings to see if you can change the permalink for your particular blog post or not.

There are many blogs that will assign a blog post a number such as this: http://www.yourblogname.com/?p=123. In this case, you will need to select a custom structure and enter this code: /%postname%.html – this will make your blog post URL appear with the title of the post, where your keywords will be, like this: http://www.yourblogname.com/title-of-blog-post.

There are tremendous benefits to using keywords in all of your content.  Focus on using your keyword in the first paragraph and if possible, within the first sentence.  By doing this, Google will bold your keyword as an exact match if that keyword or phrase is being searched.

While there is some debate over the optimal percentage for keyword density, recommendations usually range between 2% and 10%. To keep it simple, write for both your human visitors and the search engine spiders; but make sure your content reads smoothly, makes sense, and still contains enough keywords to get the ranking you desire.

Peace & Prosperity,

P.S. Confused about keyword research, let High Profits Marketing do the job for you. Whether you do it yourself or outsource it, make sure your using keywords in your SEO strategy!

photo credit: parushing

Additional key social media usage highlights reported by SBSI:

• 75% surveyed have a company page on a social networking site
• 61% use social media for identifying and attracting new customers
• 57% have built a network through a site like LinkedIn
• 45% expect social media to be profitable in the next twelve months

So if you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur who has yet to take advantage of the social media technologies available to you on the internet . . . it’s time you reconsidered.  For the purpose of business growth and profits, it’s no longer a question of “Should I be using social media?” but rather . . . “How can I best use social media to serve my customers and target audience?”

When considering which social media platform(s) to use, bear in mind that it’s all about your customers.  Forget about what you like best or where you’re the most comfortable.  And don’t think you have to have a presence on every social media platform available. To get the most from your social media marketing efforts, you need to determine what your customers are open to and meet them where they’re at.

If for example, you create a twitter account, and your customers are all on Facebook, the return on your social media marketing efforts will not be as productive as they could be.  Since not everyone uses social media in the same way, it’s important to first find out how YOUR audience uses social media and then develop social media marketing strategies specific to your target market.

So how does your business use social media?


Peace & Prosperity,

P.S. If you’re at all confused about how to leverage the power of social media, let High Profits Marketing do the job for you. Whether you do it yourself or outsource it, just do it!

Effective Business Communication: Why Is It  So Important?

Businesses communicate to find out customer needs and to show that they are listening and have the answer to those needs.  It is as simple as that…in theory.  The truth is that effective business communication requires a certain skill set to determine the customer needs and then deliver on that information.

The basic skill set requires a genuine concern for the customer and their request or issue.  Smile and speak clearly with an upbeat tone.  Be sure to offer help and act as if you are happy to be helping them.  If more information is needed, be polite and ask using ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you, ‘never make demands.

Good Listening Skills Payoff

Listening well may be the true difference between successful communication and unsuccessful communication.  A business needs to make sure that it is truly listening to the customer needs and desires and not just paying attention to what they think the customer wants.  Use echoing whenever possible by listening to the customer and then repeating back to them what you heard as their request or issue.  Take notes and make sure that you are knowledgeable about the company’s operations and the ways in which you can help the customers.  This will allow you to not only deal with the situation or request at hand, but anticipate other needs or wants that may be related.

An upset customer is the most difficult to really talk to.  Most times it is best to be patient and allow them to vent first.  Really, what they are wanting is to be heard and to have their feelings validated.  This is not personal, although the customer may use personal language.  When a customer is angry, this is the time to really try and understand the details of the situation by listening carefully.  Be cautious with your timing on using the echoing technique in these situations, as that may aggravate the customer even more.

Always apologize and let the customer know that you care and are here to help.  It does not matter if there was no mistake made by you or your company, the customer needs to know that you care and are listening.  Once you really understand the situation, you are then in a position to help and either explain what is going to happen next or make it right on the spot.  You can validate their feelings and express sympathy by letting them know that you understand how frustrating the situation is and that you are sorry they are having these problems.

Try to come from where the customer is in any situation and you will succeed.  Often, using good listening skills is a sure way to understand the customer and get to the bottom of their wants and desires.  Once understanding has taken place, you can either explain the situation or take the necessary actions to satisfy the customer.

Practicing and utilizing effective business communication requires some patience and a genuine concern for finding out what the customer needs.

Peace & Prosperity,

photo credit: lidge_34