Blog Feed: David Mercer - The online business specialist

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is becoming a standard way of allowing business people to work with the mobile device of their choice wherever they go. BYOD makes it easy to use your own tablet, PDA, smartphone, or whatever, to attend business meetings, functions and events, or simply connect to your corporate network. But knowing which mobile device to purchase can be tricky because it depends not only on what is available, which manufacturers offer the best guarantees or warranties, but also wha [..] > read more

List of must-read SEO and Internet marketing articles for business

Published on 2012-05-24 17:05:34

SEO and Internet marketing are integral parts of any successful online business. Internet startups, entrepreneurs, businesses, as well as bloggers all need to pay heed to SEO and Internet marketing if they are to succeed online. I often come across great SEO and Internet marketing articles through the course of my work, and I thought I would share some of my best SEO & marketing articles as well as some of the best that I have found on the Web. read more > read more

The five stages of launching a successful Internet startup

Published on 2012-05-24 03:43:06

Every Internet startup goes through five distinct stages on the way to making money and succeeding. This article shows you how to identify and guide an Internet startup through each stage and succeed early. Startups can be any type of enterprise ranging from a blog about baking, to an affiliate marketing website, to an eCommerce store. Whatever your startup does, it will go through the same five stages on the way to success. Identifying and understanding each of these stages in your own busines [..] > read more

SEO how to: Using Image SEO to appear higher in Google search results

Published on 2012-05-23 08:25:58

Image SEO is relatively overlooked in the SEO world. The fact is that proper image SEO can drive just as much traffic as properly SEO'd content, sometimes more. SEO tip: Image SEO can help you leapfrog better ranked content and appear higher up in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), because Google gives visual content preferential visibility. This article shows, using some cool webmaster tools search query graphs, how to better select and optimize images, and use them to drive more visitor [..] > read more

The latest Internet marketing techniques & SEO tips using Google analytics' Real-Time

Published on 2012-05-21 05:00:46

Google analytics Real-Time has opened up a host of new SEO tricks and Internet marketing techniques to help businesses and marketers create more flexible and responsive SEO, content, ads, and marketing campaigns. This article explores the analytical features of Real-Time and then provides a list of exciting new marketing and SEO tips & tricks to help you get the most out of your web content, ad campaigns and social media marketing. Features of Google analytics' Real-Time read more > read more

Top 10 small business software products, 2012

Published on 2012-05-19 08:51:06

Looking to buy small business software and tools for your home office? Check out this ultimate list of the top ten most popular small business software packages in 2012. Whether you're looking for the best version of Microsoft office for your home or small business, anti-virus or network security, tax and payroll management software, small business servers to run your office systems, small business accounting, business productivity software tools, or even some great value added software packages [..] > read more

Best SEO tools list: Top SEO software sites ranked by their own SEO performance

Published on 2012-05-18 09:18:50

"Which of the top SEO software companies have the best SEO?" Check out this super cool list of the best SEO tools and software sites ranked by the SEO performance of their domains. See the world's best SEO software services go head to head for rankings in our "top SEO tools table". SEO (Search Engine Optimization) plays a huge role in helping to drive over 50% of global Internet traffic. That's why you should care which SEO software companies "walk the walk". read more > read more

How to test SEO: Top free SEO tools to easily check the SEO of any page

Published on 2012-05-17 03:07:44

"Want to learn SEO like a pro?" "Want to know how to check if a company is any good at SEO before hiring them?" "Tired of being taken for a ride by useless SEO companies that promise the world but deliver nothing?" Now you can fight back. Check out these great free SEO tools you can use to quickly improve your own Search Engine Optimization or test whether your SEO company is 'exaggerating' their SEO skills.. Whether or not you have any technical SEO experience (HTML, JS, CMS, PHP, .htaccess, e [..] > read more

How to use Amazon sales rank tracking to provide real-time Internet marketing insight

Published on 2012-05-15 03:12:02

The Amazon sales rank is an hourly updated measure of the relative sales performance for products sold via Amazon. Tracking Amazon sales ranks can be used as a good indicator of sales performance in real time, as well as for powerful competitive sales analysis. From an Internet marketing perspective, having a real-time record of the changes in an Amazon product's sales is incredibly useful for gathering intelligence on conversion rates and ROI (Return on Investment). read more > read more

Does your company have a skills shortage? How to adapt your corporate recruitment strategy

Published on 2012-05-14 09:42:42

Startups and business experience perennial shortages of highly skilled personnel. Recruitment becomes an expensive ordeal, often with unsatisfactory results. This is largely because companies insist on using hiring strategies are ineffective and outdated. Even companies that use the latest social media platforms for headhunting and recruitment are largely doing the same old thing, just on a shiny new platform. read more > read more

5 step Internet marketing & SEO 'how to' for professionals

Published on 2012-05-14 04:09:06

Want to know how to to get more clients via Internet marketing? Professionals in all industries can benefit greatly from implementing quick and easy Internet marketing and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) - you don't even need any technical or Web experience to get started. So long as you put a little bit of effort into your website or blog on a regular basis, you can build a thriving practice - with customers coming to you, rather than you having to pay for advertising to attract them. The ni [..] > read more

10 step assessment: How to hire an SEO consultant or Internet marketing company for your business

Published on 2012-05-12 04:55:40

Are you looking to hire an SEO company? How about social media marketing, or general Internet marketing for your business? Hire the right company using my ten easily verifiable, online indicators of SEO and marketing competence. SEO and marketing are crucial services for any business hoping to get traffic and make money online. This article shows you free tools, tips and tricks to grade the SEO, social, technical, and marketing skills of the people you entrust with the success of your enterprise [..] > read more

The top five SEO services for small business, 2012

Published on 2012-05-11 01:45:37

Check out this list of the top five SEO services and companies for small business in 2012. Also included is an "Honorable mention" section for SEO companies that offer great SEO or SEM products and services, but didn't quite make it into the top five. Regardless of whether you are looking for a complete suite of SEO tools to help monitor and manage your content, to hardcore SEO anlaytics software for business, to top quality SEO advice and consulting, this list of the top five SEO services, 2012 [..] > read more

SEO Blogging tips: How to use Google analytics search data to inspire new content

Published on 2012-05-09 02:59:42

"How do I improve my blog's SEO for long tail keywords?" I've got a blogging tip that is straightforward, and involves using Google's organic search analytical data to find SEO keywords and phrases that people have already searched on. Google already provides a keyword research tool as part of its Adwords advertising service. This can be a great help in finding SEO keyword and phrase variations. But, the best source of SEO keywords and phrases can be found right in your own Google analytics data [..] > read more

Killer SEO tip: How to make the long tail pay

Published on 2012-05-08 03:31:11

Content, like SEO, has a long tail. The long tail, in SEO terms, refers to "all the SEO keywords and phrases (usually longer ones) that tend to send only a small amount of traffic, if any". Likewise, when it comes to content, some articles, blog posts, or marketing material will drive large volumes of qualified traffic, and others won't (i.e. your content long tail). If you're in the mood for being sneaky and getting a lot of SEO juice without having to work too hard, then read on. This articl [..] > read more

Panda & Penguin friendly SEO: A business guide to recovering from Google's algorithm updates

Published on 2012-05-07 05:38:39

Many legitimate business websites and blogs have been hit hard (disappeared from search results) by Google's Panda & Penguin algorithm updates because the SEO companies they hired used spammy SEO techniques or SEO over-optimization. Organic search traffic from Google and other major search engines constitutes around 50% of all Internet traffic. Losing valuable visitors and customers as a result of a penalty arising from webspam SEO techniques can be devastating for any startup, business, blogger [..] > read more

Five money making SEO tips for small business online stores

Published on 2012-05-06 07:53:23

Small businesses operating their own online stores have to use SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to drive traffic, convert visitors into customers and make money online. But, most traditional small businesses don't have the time or resources to implement a sustained SEO campaign, or pay a good SEO company to drive traffic on their behalf. Without a steady flow of qualified traffic (that comes from SEO, social and Internet marketing), operating an eCommerce (online store) site may not be financi [..] > read more

Five awesome tips to extract valuable SEO secrets from Google analytics data

Published on 2012-05-04 03:29:33

Google analytics provides a wealth of valuable SEO data. But are you using it to its full potential to help create better content, drive more traffic and convert it more effectively? It often helps to mine Google analytics data for SEO intelligence with a specific business objective in mind. The analytics and SEO tips covered in this articles are all techniques I use to help me decide what new content to create, and whether or not my content is making an impact. read more > read more

How to create award winning blog content from a small business 'Top mover'

Published on 2012-05-02 04:02:03

Site prebuilder is one of the world's top small business blogs! Recently, Technorati started sending more and more traffic to my business blog. Increased referral traffic from any source is an important indicator that more traffic can potentially be leveraged, or new connections made. In fact, my blog "Strategies for business online" has jumped to number 40 in the global 'Small business blogs' rankings, and is currently number 2 on the list of "Top movers" in that category. read more > read more

How to double your search traffic using SEO, Webmaster tools and Google analytics

Published on 2012-05-01 08:53:32

Content and SEO has helped me increase Google organic search traffic by 100% nearly every three months for the last year and a half - despite Google's Panda and Penguin updates. Fresh content and great SEO are key factors in driving growth in traffic (and revenue), but there's a lot more to it. Organic search traffic still accounts for about half of all Internet traffic volumes, dwarfing social media traffic. This makes SEO an important component in any Internet marketing campaign, but Google's [..] > read more

Drupal SEO: The best how-to, with bonus SEO tips and tricks, for Drupal webmasters

Published on 2012-04-30 06:52:18

"How good is Drupal for SEO?" The answer: great Drupal SEO is easy to implement with the right SEO strategy, information and modules. However, Drupal makes it easy to shoot yourself in the proverbial SEO foot at the same time, so you have to be careful. Fundamentally, Drupal is a great SEO friendly platform. With the right information about how and where to tweak Drupal for SEO, you can have a lean, mean SEO machine that outperforms and out-competes your competitors. read more > read more

How to find the best SEO service in the Google Panda & Penguin era

Published on 2012-04-28 08:33:26

Finding the top SEO company to drive quality traffic to your business blog or website, without getting penalized by Google's Panda and Penguin algorithm updates, is vital to the health of your organic search traffic. A previous article of mine entitled "Google's Panda and Penguin updates are great for bloggers, marketers and business", evoked several tales of horror regarding how paid SEO services had ruined legitimate business websites by using webspam and SEO over-optimization techniques. read [..] > read more

Google's Panda and Penguin updates are great for bloggers, marketers and business

Published on 2012-04-27 03:30:57

Google's Panda and Penguin updates mean more traffic for bloggers and quality content producers! In the meantime, SEOs are trying desperately to sidestep the Panda and Penguin updates, and recover their search engine rankings and organic search traffic. Why? Because they aren't creating great, useful, funny, engaging, interesting and valuable content with only the recommended amount of "good practice" SEO. Why? Because creating high quality content requires not only time, effort, creativity and [..] > read more

SEO and social marketing resources to grow your small business quickly

Published on 2012-04-26 01:40:24

Small businesses need to grow quickly, and an effective SEO and social marketing policy can make it happen. The ROI (Return on Investment) for both SEO and social media can be fantastic, but only if done correctly. Many startups, entrepreneurs, and small businesses experience no small amount of frustration following the same advice handed down to them by more successful marketers and bloggers. "Create content. Make it interesting. Traffic and revenue will follow." read more > read more

How best to target new social, marketing, business or blogging connections

Published on 2012-04-25 07:49:12

Building up traffic volumes, getting more readers to your blog, increasing conversions and maximizing ROI (Return on Investment) for marketing or business, all rely on making connections with the influential people in your niche. Getting content shared across the social media networks, or onto news websites and blogs, doesn't happen because you've written a blog post. Millions upon millions of people add blog posts each day. read more > read more

Choose from the best eCommerce & shopping cart business solutions

Published on 2012-04-24 07:00:20

"How do I build an online eCommerce website?" It's easy. Building an online store, integrating eCommerce features into an existing website, or using a third party shopping cart application is now easier than ever. There are plenty of excellent eCommerce software platforms that provide a huge range of features for entrepreneurs and small business. The trick is ensuring that the one you select is going to be a perfect fit for your business requirements now, and as the business grows. read more > read more

Three laws of blogging that get traffic and maximize ROI

Published on 2012-04-23 03:42:51

How well you make money from your blogging, or from getting traffic to your business website from publishing content online, determines whether or not you will succeed. Without the ability to generate a stream of income (a positive ROI), blogging is not really a sustainable business practice. Blogging requires, thought, effort, time, creativity and skill. This is why so many people are prepared to put in a huge amount of effort to find workarounds for Google's Panda updates, instead of simply cr [..] > read more

Anatomy of a blog post: How to get more traffic and social engagement from your content

Published on 2012-04-22 06:50:48

Get more traffic to your blog or website simply by using better content structure, designed to increase social buzz and organic search traffic from SEO - just follow a solid "blog post template". From blog posts to tweets, the way you structure your content and communications plays a crucial role in whether or not you generate social buzz and interest, and, further down the line, organic search traffic. This article lists the structure (a social and SEO template for my content) I use to generate [..] > read more

The top five tips that teach you how to rock social media

Published on 2012-04-18 15:41:02

Getting more traffic and more followers via social media is a critical part of any Internet marketing campaign - regardless of whether you are a blogger, entrepreneur or traditional business. Granted, there might be small differences in the way each of us need to approach social marketing, but fundamentally, we all have a lot in common too. read more > read more

Guest blogging is critical to marketing and business

Published on 2012-04-18 02:51:45

Gaining exposure on high traffic sites with a guest blog post is one of the best ways to get more traffic for your business. Becoming a regular guest blogger will help to earn you more followers, and income. Ultimately, it's a numbers game. The more readers you can reach, the more likely you are to attract new fans, followers and customers. This article is going to talk about why it is important to create guest blogs, how to do it effectively, show how industry professionals are doing it, and di [..] > read more

Talking about other people is the most powerful way to get more traffic

Published on 2012-04-16 05:07:42

"How do I get more traffic?" Every blogger and marketer out there goes to great lengths to bring visitors (drive traffic) to their blog or site using content. But very few people are succeeding, and there are good reasons for this. First of all, the cold hard reality of business and marketing blogging is that there is so much content being created that not everyone will succeed. The vast majority of traffic is sucked up by the big blog, news and social media sites, which leaves a small share of [..] > read more

Affiliate marketing practical: CTR, EPM & EPC

Published on 2012-04-14 08:21:22

Affiliate marketing is a great way to earn money (monetize) from your blog or business website's content. This article will discuss techniques, tools, tips and tricks for entrepreneurs, bloggers and content marketers to understand how to drive and convert traffic at the highest rate possible. Affiliate marketing is a numbers game in which you have to continually strive to keep your impressions high, the CTR (Click Thru Rate) high, and the EPM (Earnings per 1000 impressions) and EPC (Earnings Per [..] > read more

The best eCommerce shopping carts, online store builders, and business resources

Published on 2012-04-13 10:15:02

Build an eCommerce website today! The eCommerce industry is worth hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S. alone. eCommerce provides virtually unlimited opportunities to make money for any entrepreneur or business willing to create an online store. With more and more consumers willing to reach for their wallets online, it makes sense that your business or startup should be geared to benefit. And, creating and operating an eCommerce website or online store gets easier all the time. read more > read more

The magic ingredient: What to change about your blog and social in order to succeed

Published on 2012-04-11 06:32:26

If you're blogging regularly, using SEO, sharing content socially, sending out newsletters, marketing, and doing everything right without success, then I've got a magic tip that will turn things around. The largest, and most successful blogs in the world all do one thing very well - they talk about other people, bloggers and businesses. Talking about other people works. It really does. read more > read more

Comparing Return on Investment (ROI) for paid traffic (PPC) vs. blog and organic traffic

Published on 2012-04-09 09:34:45

How do you decide whether blogging or paying for traffic (PPC) brings a greater return on investment (ROI) for your business? There are pros and cons to both methods of driving traffic. Everyone insists that "content is king" and that a blog is essential for all startups, entrepreneurs and businesses. PPC ads require a cash outlay, making them risky for cash-strapped small business and entrepreneurs. But is that the end of the story? read more > read more

Return on Investment (ROI) calculator for blog and business content

Published on 2012-04-09 04:39:47

How does the money you earn from blogging, social media, content and other web activities compare to the cost of your labor, advertising, and other operating expenses. Here's a simple online calculator that let's you determine your blog, brand or business website's Return on Investment (ROI). I've also included a list of the top books, products and services that can help you minimize your costs and increase revenue from sale, affiliate marketing and advertising, to help you make as much money as [..] > read more

Content revenue calculator for bloggers and businesses

Published on 2012-04-08 11:47:08

How much money can a blog post earn? Here's a simple and quick revenue calculator that lets you calculate your content's Return on Investment (ROI) in U.S. dollars, per week. I also list some of the top ways to generate money from your content and will help you to earn even more. In addition, I've included a list of the best books on how to make money from blogging and online content. It's important to realize that any blog or web based revenue calculation must take into account a number of fac [..] > read more

Five ways to make more money using analytics

Published on 2012-04-03 02:05:08

Using analytics (Google or otherwise) to open up the sales funnel, increase conversions and make more money from your blog or website content is crucial to sustainability. This article will demonstrate some quick and easy ways to use analytics to improve your advertising, affiliate marketing and conversions strategy. Regardless of whether your particular website offers products or services, is supported by ads, or uses affiliate links to drive revenue, the analytical strategies used to increase [..] > read more

Five reasons why Drupal is great for business

Published on 2012-04-02 01:52:22

Drupal is an excellent tool for building and operating a wide range of client facing websites and corporate intranet sites. It has powerful features built into the core, and comes with a massive array of modules that extend its formidable default functionality. I recently spent some time in Canada, and was invited to talk to the people at Disney's Club Penguin about the advantages and uses of Drupal. One of the things that struck me, during the meeting, was how advanced Drupal was in comparison [..] > read more

Five star reviews for "Internet marketing with WordPress"

Published on 2012-04-02 00:19:18

Internet Marketing with WordPress has maintained an average of five out of five stars on Amazon. This is a fantastic achievement for a book that is in itself an experiment in online marketing. I wrote Internet Marketing with WordPress to provide bloggers with a short, concise, practical and powerful way to drive traffic and convert it efficiently using the readers' own subject passion and blogging skills. The idea was to make sure that all WordPress bloggers derived the same benefits from their [..] > read more

Save time and money ordering office supplies and business equipment with a sourcing specialist

Published on 2012-03-28 03:21:37

Save time and money by getting a free quote from a business and office sourcing specialist. Order insanely discounted office supplies, business hardware, custom printing, branding, gadgets, telecommunications, software, furniture, accessories and services from the biggest brands, all from a single source. Normally, small businesses use preferred suppliers to meet their operational requirements. Stationary and ink from supplier X, new computers from supplier Y, office furniture from supplier Z. [..] > read more

The best business web hosting services, 2012

Published on 2012-03-27 03:45:41

Check out the latest top web hosting services for business. I've included a range of services that cater for everything from a small blog all the way up to an enterprise level eCommerce site. I'll talk about how to choose the right web hosting service for you and your business at the end of this article. It's also important to note that I have included a few companies that aren't necessarily dedicated website hosting services. For example, some companies offer eCommerce web software that is ho [..] > read more

The best small business web hosting services, 2012

Published on 2012-03-27 03:45:41

The 5 best small business web design companies

Published on 2012-03-26 00:58:41

Check out the web design services that everyone is using these days - almost all of them offer a free trial. High quality web design is crucial for startups, entrepreneurs, affiliate marketers and small business. Not only does the look and feel of a website's design impact on how customers view a service or product, but it can also affect conversion rates and sales. Website design is one of those disciplines that requires both art and science. Art, because aesthetic appeal is very important, and [..] > read more

Five money-saving products and services for the modern small business and office

Published on 2012-03-24 06:25:25

Check out these five absolutely brilliant office and business money savers. Perfect for small businesses, startups and entrepreneurs who need to lower their costs and maximize efficiency. This list covers a range of products and services that are useful to all business ventures - since almost all businesses have very similar basic needs, such as communications, marketing, sales and administration. read more > read more

Social influence trumps SEO on leading blogging and marketing sites

Published on 2012-02-26 06:01:05

See how social influence is vastly more important than SEO to leading bloggers and marketers. Gain insight into how popular bloggers became successful through their blogs and social marketing efforts. While it is always important to focus on improving your own site's SEO and social media influence, one of the best ways to improve is to learn from the people who have already succeeded. This article will analyze and compare a range of SEO metrics against the social influence of a number of well k [..] > read more

Improve your SEO and compare the SEO of five leading SEO sites

Published on 2012-02-24 08:00:49

This article will show you how to increase your site's performance and speed related SEO, and compare the SEO of five other major SEO sites. Taken from the Yahoo Developer Network: YSlow analyzes web page performance by examining all the components on the page, including components dynamically created by using JavaScript. It measures the page's performance and offers suggestions for improvement. read more > read more

How to properly calculate social media ROI

Published on 2012-02-17 06:11:04

The problem much of the world is having with social media is how to gauge its value. Everyone knows there is value to be had, but measuring it is proving to be tricky. CFOs are tearing their hair out and driving CMOs crazy with demands of financially quantifiable returns. The truth of the matter is that social does not quantify in a straightforward manner. Businesses must adapt. The answer, for me, is that social engagement, reach and more ethereal social quantifiers like trust and authority (co [..] > read more

Seriously! Stop throwing money at SEO

Published on 2012-02-16 03:11:32

If your website or blog is not completely dreadful, then any money you spend on SEO is wasted. SEO, as an industry, is the result of poor website development in the formative stages of the Internet. If search engines couldn't index a blog or site properly, then that site was at a disadvantage. Since search was the only game in town, "SEO experts" popped up overnight to meet a demand. The demand was created by businesses looking to attract... well, more business... from the Internet. SEO was a p [..] > read more

Content: Where's the return on investment?

Published on 2012-02-15 23:58:03

SEO has a lot to answer for. Primarily, the fact that the Internet is awash with redundant, duplicate, plagiarized and otherwise useless content. A result of individuals and organizations trying to increase their online visibility and organic search traffic. Everyone has been told that "content is king", but almost without exception, the wrong reasons have been cited. It is worth investing time and effort in creating content, but probably not for the reasons you think. If you have spent hours c [..] > read more

Infographic: New York Times Bestseller book sales analysis

Published on 2012-02-15 03:54:20

It's the ultimate honor for a book to be included in the New York Times bestseller lists. Authors and publishers gain prestige, recognition and... more sales. But why do some books get chosen over others? I wanted to see how closely the NY Times bestseller lists matches popular opinion. Are the books selected for inclusion into the NY Times bestseller lists chosen because they are actually bestsellers, or are they bestsellers because they are chosen? read more > read more

InfoGraphic: Dummies author earning nearly $6000 a week off one title

Published on 2012-02-08 05:12:34

The "Dummies" brand is ubiquitous. I don't think there's anyone who hasn't heard of some topic or another that doesn't have a matching dummies title. But how well do these books really sell? I decided to track the sales of five leading dummies titles to get a feel for the type of sales these books were making over the typical week. The results may surprise you - earnings for some Dummies books show they're not all that stupid ;) It turns out that, on average, their sales figures are modest but n [..] > read more

The #1 rule for eCommerce conversions explained

Published on 2011-07-05 10:15:33

I generally don't like to speak in absolutes - especially when it comes down to starting and operating a successful online business. there's a lot that goes into a successful business and many different aspects of the site, the marketing, operations, > read more

Ultimate checklist for Internet startups & online businesses

Published on 2011-07-04 11:21:32

Unlike traditional businesses, which often have structure imposed on them by the financial entities that finance it, starting a business online often requires nothing more than an idea and a website or blog. You don't have to write a business plan be > read more

Using keyword rich names to capture first page search results

Published on 2011-07-01 08:19:16

Organic search traffic is one of the most important sources of traffic in any business. Social media can have a greater or lesser effect, but for long term consistent traffic, nothing beats getting your blog, site or business to the top of the SERPs > read more

"What is marketing?" and why you should be answering the same question

Published on 2011-06-29 09:59:33

This is not yet another article that answers the question "What is marketing?". Instead, it tells you how to use Internet marketing, along with some SEO keyword research, to cleverly drive targeted traffic for your blog, startup, business or eCommerc > read more

How good SEO content can have pleasant, unexpected financial results

Published on 2011-06-28 10:15:04

I've always been a staunch proponent of inbound marketing - in particular, I think creating genuinely useful, highly-relevant, SEO enhanced content can, in the long run, benefit pretty much any type of online endeavor you can imagine. I also need to > read more

Internet marketing for online store (eCommerce) owners

Published on 2011-06-27 06:52:21

Many eCommerce site or online store owners tend to shy away from creating content in order to market their website online. After all, the accepted wisdom for converting customers as efficiently as possible is to show products clearly and attractively > read more

SEO and marketing shortcomings of hosted WordPress blogs

Published on 2011-06-22 10:01:36

Let me begin by saying that I really like WordPress. It's not my intention to discourage people from using it as their web platform of choice in any way. My intention is to make people aware that using a hosted WordPress.com blog comes with some fair > read more

SEO blogging tips for business

Published on 2011-06-21 09:08:45

Businesses, especially small businesses and small business owners, often find it difficult to keep blogging over the kind of timeline necessary for a good blog to start driving decent traffic to a site. Often, the problem centers around finding the b > read more

Separate individual business offerings for increased ROI

Published on 2011-06-20 09:31:04

Businesses (both large and small) often have multiple offerings. These may be related or completely distinct depending on the nature of the products and services offered. For example, a content producer may also offer standalone design services since > read more

SEO & Internet marketing: Defining & refining your offering

Published on 2011-06-17 09:13:43

In an earlier article entitled "Awesome SEO tip for effective Internet marketing", I discussed the SEO importance of selecting a business tagline that was not only both relevant and meaningful to humans, but also contributed to the site's SEO profile > read more

Easy 8-step Internet marketing

Published on 2011-06-15 10:11:16

Internet market is crucial to any online business or startup. Without the life-blood of regular traffic bringing existing and new customers, readers and fans to a site or blog, revenue and profits will suffer. In order to ensure a positive growth in > read more

How to implement responsive Internet marketing

Published on 2011-06-14 09:21:33

Many people tend to view Internet marketing as a project. We talk about marketing campaigns, which by definition, have a start, and, at some point, an end. In fact, Internet marketing is an ongoing cycle. The parts of the Internet marketing process t > read more

Confidence in small business Internet marketing

Published on 2011-06-13 08:17:15

Entrepreneurs and small businesses often struggle to work out the best way to begin an effective Internet marketing campaign for their business. The answer isn't immediately straightforward because as any good online marketer will tell you, the marke > read more

Is browser compatibility killing your online business?

Published on 2011-06-01 08:47:57

Currently the world's browser share of the market is divided into 3 main players. Internet Explorer has around 40% of the market and is steadily decreasing in popularity. FireFox has around 30% of the market and remains steady. Chrome has around 20% > read more

Lowering your online business costs

Published on 2011-05-31 05:38:03

There is almost no way to achieve 100% efficiency in business, practically speaking. The upside to this is that there is always "room for improvement". If you find that your business is chewing up time, effort and resources on things that aren't dire > read more

Debunking some common SEO myths

Published on 2011-05-30 09:13:22

There's a lot of confusion about what should and shouldn't be done to improve a blog or site's SEO. For any good piece of advice, it's likely that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of web pages that will advise something slightly different, drast > read more

SEO power pages

Published on 2011-05-27 08:51:53

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is an important topic. Currently, Google monthly search engine traffic, worldwide, runs at around 7.5 million for the term "SEO", and there's a host of related terms such as "search optimization" and "search engine > read more

Comparing major social and media sites

Published on 2011-05-26 10:14:13

Generating buzz and hype around content you create is an important aspect of internet marketing. Social media can help to build traffic, increase reach, build authority and credibility and ultimately, lead to more revenue. Provided you provide infor > read more

How to hire quality developers, Internet marketers & SEO experts

Published on 2011-05-24 09:00:12

There's a been a lot of talk recently about the propensity for bloggers, marketers, business owners and everyone else, buying into the hype about this or that. Currently, the "big thing" is social media, and businesses are forking out big bucks to fo > read more

Page load time - the online business killer

Published on 2011-05-24 05:31:02

Page load time is one of the many factors that determine where in the SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages) Google places your site. What is your average page load time? If you don't know, then the chances are you are losing customers and revenue witho > read more

Increase revenue with interactive content

Published on 2011-05-23 05:53:38

Entrepreneurs, bloggers, internet marketers and businesses tend to forget that content (in particular, blog posts) doesn't have to be passive. We tend to think of content as a way to build up our online profile, build PageRank and authority, help wit > read more

Awesome SEO tip for effective Internet marketing

Published on 2011-05-20 10:40:42

Entrepreneurs, small business owners and startups can all make a powerful contribution to their website's SEO (Search engine optimization) with one easy, but ingenious, change to their business' brand. You don't even have to be an SEO expert to imple > read more

Master Internet marketing

Published on 2011-05-20 08:25:30

Internet marketing is a multi-faceted discipline that is becoming more and more important as time goes by. Every year the online economy grows, and businesses that don't compete online are missing out on a real opportunity to grow and prosper. The pr > read more

Topical business blogging and the LinkedIn IPO

Published on 2011-05-19 11:27:51

The Internet is currently "stripping a bolt" over the massive surge in investor interest in the LinkedIn IPO. Rightly, so too. LinkedIn is one of the few Internet and social IPOs that have a sound business model, with strong revenue to back it up. Su > read more

Build authority to corner the market

Published on 2011-05-19 05:54:54

Potential customers want to know that they are dealing with someone who knows what they are doing. It doesn't matter if you are selling ball bearings, eurofighters or cup cakes. The Internet allows people to quickly find any number of businesses cate > read more

Bloggeting: Something every business person should know

Published on 2011-05-18 15:48:58

One of the greatest business playing field levellers is the ability for small business to compete on the global stage with anyone and everyone. What's more, in order to outcompete even the largest websites, all you need to do is create content that i > read more

How to boost sales with blog post targeting

Published on 2011-05-18 10:46:34

Every blogger and business that blogs (which should be every business) needs to regularly add fresh new SEO enhanced content to their site in order to attract new visitors and convert them into followers, fans and customers. The concept of creating > read more

Streamline your small business with effective decision making

Published on 2011-05-17 09:31:23

I get to speak to a lot of small business owners - often when something has gone wrong and they need it fixed. Therein lies the problem. As business owners, we have the tendency to choose a path and go with it until it becomes all to apparent that it > read more

Case study: Business success requires creativity, flexibility and marketing

Published on 2011-05-17 06:05:25

It's always exciting when you are presented with a seemingly insurmountable problem that threatens your business, only to have it turned into a new opportunity for success. We're going to explore a real life example of this and use it to highlight o > read more

Drive traffic with effective blogging

Published on 2011-05-16 16:30:15

The most effective bloggers, the ones who get paid by businesses to write their content, drive traffic, and the ones who people listen to aren't necessarily the best writers. In fact, more often than not they aren't even the most knowledgable about > read more

Leveraging expert knowledge can hold the key to small business success

Published on 2011-05-16 11:34:46

Building a startup is a multi-disciplinary challenge that can stretch even the most competent people to the limit. Often, taking on the burden of learning a host of non-core business functions such as development, hosting, IT, SEO and Internet market > read more

Internet marketing strategy for startups

Published on 2011-05-13 08:07:36

I recently did an online consultation for a client who wanted to learn more about internet marketing and how to apply it in the real world. It occured to me that you might find it useful to glance over the main points of this internet marketing consu > read more

Real life transcript of an Internet marketing consult for a small business

Published on 2011-05-12 10:44:19

I recently did a one hour consultation with Stephen Conroy, the owner of cong IT in New York. Stephen had requested a meeting to give him a feel for what he should be doing in order to market his new business. We chatted on Skype and at the end of th > read more

Beat the small business blues

Published on 2011-05-12 07:48:08

One of the toughest things about starting a new small or medium sized business, especially an online startup, is that it can be disheartening to go days, weeks or months without any action - conversions or new customers. This can serously affect cash > read more

Build instant trust and confidence to increase conversions

Published on 2011-05-11 11:54:08

Ever walked down the street and seen one restaurant (let's call it McA) packed to the brim and the next one completely empty? Ever wonder if it is a result of McA being utterly and completely superior to its neighbour? The chances are, it's not! More > read more

Small business publicity: Writing '300 retweets' articles

Published on 2011-05-11 10:02:16

If "retweet" sounds like something Elmer Fudd would say while hunting wabbit, then it's probably a good idea you fix your eyeballes on this article. Garnering online publicity for small businesses can be a laborious task, and, one that often seems to > read more

Turn sales into marketing into more sales

Published on 2011-05-10 11:04:45

Sitting across the table from the director of a large publishing house (an old friend) a few weeks ago, I had a marketing and sales epiphany. It was one of those "out with the old, in with the new" moments for both of us. The issue at hand was how t > read more

"Reach bait" blogging for unbeatable publicity

Published on 2011-05-09 07:46:09

In the article entitled "Viral content using reach bait" I introduced the concept of "reach baiting" and compared it to link baiting. In a nutshell, reach baiting and link baiting are more or less the same thing, but with one crucial difference. Whe > read more

How to avoid a high bounce rate on your blog

Published on 2011-05-09 06:25:16

The term "bounce" refers to a visit which results in no further clicks on that site. In other words, the visitor came, saw and bounced. Depending on the type of page you have created, this can be an ok thing or it can be terrible. Generally speaking, > read more

Small business must think local to go global

Published on 2011-05-06 06:36:20

The temptation for entrepreneurs to assume that once a startup or small business is online, the world is waiting to become customers can be quite overwhelming. The problem is that, despite the Internet opening up huge potential markets all over the > read more

Get paid up to $6000 a month to market your blog

Published on 2011-05-05 09:39:17

An online startup or small business needs a few things in order to start driving traffic and building up a base of customers - namely, "good content" and "reach". Ultimately, this means that you must generate new and engaging content for your busines > read more

How I convert traffic into sales at 4.15%

Published on 2011-05-04 08:14:54

You'll often hear people talking about the "marketing funnel". It's a way of depicting the number of visitors coming into a site (the top of the funnel) and where they are lost before finally making a sale (the bottom of the funnel). Your job as a b > read more

How to get your first 1000 online customers

Published on 2011-05-03 11:31:29

The first time I started an online business I spent the vast majority of my time actually creating the service. I spent countless hours tweaking the interface, upgrading minor flaws and generally fussing around ensuring that every little thing was pe > read more

How to get blog posts to the top of search results: Part I

Published on 2011-05-03 05:43:14

There are plenty of things that almost all succesful bloggers will advise you to do in order to rise to the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). More than likely you are bored to tears with being told to blog regularly, be useful, be engaging > read more

Customer-centric blogging to kickstart sales

Published on 2011-05-02 06:43:58

One of the easiest things in the world to do is to sit down and start blogging without lending much thought to the audience. But writing for the sake of writing can be a real time burglar - and the time burglar never goes anywhere without his henchma > read more

Great ways to gain publicity for your blog

Published on 2011-04-29 07:22:04

Writing great content isn't the only aspect to building a popular blog. That content has to be seen by an ever expanding group of people so that it can pick up new followers and grow in popularity. While great content is the lynchpin on which the po > read more

6 important websites for Internet marketers

Published on 2011-04-28 12:05:20

I've found that a lot of marketing comes down to "understanding". Understanding what you want to achieve, understanding how best to achieve it, and understanding the effect your efforts have on the market. There are a handful of sites that enhance yo > read more

5 tips on repeat business marketing for SMEs

Published on 2011-04-27 14:27:25

Most small businesses treat their websites like business cards. This is an egregious waste of potential. Instead of viewing a website as something you "have" to have, start using it to drive growth. Traditional small business generally has to rely o > read more

How black holes relate to Internet marketing

Published on 2011-04-25 12:26:28

Modern Internet marketing techniques try to focus on making websites popular by becoming the center of their own community - in the same way that a black hole forms the center of its own galactic community of planets and stars. This advances on the > read more

Link bait article writing competition

Published on 2011-04-21 10:35:42

Siteprebuilder is holding a competition to see, once and for all, who has the skilz dat kilz when it comes to building traffic and who writes like a plain jane. Want to hone your social marketing skills? Show off your deadly SEO ninja assasin abilit > read more

Buggy Technorati is practically useless

Published on 2011-04-21 06:43:00

Under normal circumstances my modus operandi would be to encourage everyone to claim their blog on technorati in order to help increase reach and the chances that blog posts go viral. However, I guess it's also important to have cautionary tales like > read more

Write exciting, popular & viral content in 4 easy steps

Published on 2011-04-20 10:28:24

Writing blogs or articles that generate thousands of visits are easy to do, if you're prepared to put a bit of thought into what you write and how you write it. If you've ever had the feeling that your blog is falling on deaf ears then read this art > read more

Stars wars characters discuss blogging

Published on 2011-04-19 17:16:45

Let me guess, you thought the star wars characters weren't bloggers, right? Wrong. They had to blog. I mean they had space ships and light sabers, surely they had an Internet connection? So Luke, Obi Wan, Jabba, C3PO, Yoda, Han Solo and Chewbacca are > read more

Test your Internet marketing and online business skills

Published on 2011-04-19 11:40:10

Find out whether you are an Internet guru or online chump Everyone out there is trying hard to succeed. Some people are working hard, but not smart. Some aren't working hard or smart. A handful of people are working hard and smart and these are the g > read more

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Blog Feed: David Mercer - The online business specialist

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