Affiliate Marketing Training Blog

The Overture search term tool was bought out by Yahoo! in 2003 and is now referred to as Yahoo Marketing Solutions. Overture was one of the first pay-for-placement companies out there. Basically this is what pay-per-click evolved from.

The reason the Overture search term tool is no longer with us is the fact that when the Internet changed the way they did things, Overture did not keep up with those changes and if not for Yahoo!, Overture would have gone by way of the dinosaur.

Yahoo has revamped the entire Overture system and made it so much better. Now, not only can you find keywords to use for your SEO but you can also place ads and manage when and where those ads get seen.

As with all pay-per-click ads you only pay when your ad gets clicked on and not for every time it is shown. Pay-per-click is still a very effective way to drive traffic to your website. The more people you attract to your website the more possible it is to convert them into paying customers.

The secret to attracting potential paying customers to your site is to use specifically targeted keywords. You do this by first, figuring out who you audience will be and that is determined basically, by the product you are selling or the service you are offering.

Build the ad you post on to the search engine around your specifically targeted keyword. Use it in the title and make the title intriguing so they want to click through to your website to check out what you are offering them.

To get started doing all of this you must sign up at “searchmarketing.yahoo.com”. Make sure you have your PPC budget all worked out and available to start using. Yahoo will give you a $25 credit just for signing up.

You will be directed to choose the US and Canada or other areas of the world. If you choose other countries make sure you take into consideration the language barrier. Now you will be directed to search for keywords.

The best way to search for keywords is to think about what words your customers would use when they search for your product or service. Then click the box that will direct you to a list of related keywords then price them out.

The pricing area is where you will tell Yahoo what your spending limit is. Once you give Yahoo your budget the tool will estimate a maximum bid amount so you get the maximum number of clicks for the keywords you are using. The tool will also estimate the number of impressions and clicks you can expect at that bid amount.

If you want to optimize your Overture search for keywords that are relevant to your product or service. You can use any one of the free keyword search tools available to you like Inventory Overture or you can go to Google and use theirs. Nichebot is the other main keyword search tool you can use to get your keywords.

Overture ads are the ones you see on the top or left side of the results page when you do a search on the Yahoo! search engine. Getting your Overture search optimized will make sure that your ad is placed on the results page where those people will see it. Overture is pay-per-click just like those on the top or right side of the Google search results pages.

If you want to get noticed and get traffic to your site you must make sure your ad performs well for you. This is called optimization and it may take some time and energy on your part but if you find a great keyword, write a great ad, and do the testing on that ad and keyword for two weeks you will be able to track how it does and if you need to make some changes or not.

Your best bet is to find a number of keywords and then pick two and test them one after the other keeping track of how they perform then introduce another and test that one agaiinst the better of the first two. Here is where the time aspect comes in. If you do not have the time to do this yourself then hire someone like an SEO expert to do it for you. They may even have some other suggestions for you regarding optimization as well.

After you find good keywords then you need to write your ad. The headline of your ad is what your potential customers see first so try to make it interesting. Be creative, the headline is the underlined part of the ad that your potential customers will click on so they can get to your website. You need to write a headline that stands out from the crowd so you get the most click throughs to your website and hopefully the most sales.

Make sure that the keyword you chose is used in the ad you write. One keyword per ad is the best way to go so you can do that testing we talked about earlier. Each ad should be run for two weeks. Track the results of each ad you place and make note which one works the best for you then stick with that keyword.

Never stop looking for keywords to use in your ads. You may have found a good one that get a decent amount of traffic but you just never know when you might find one that will break the bank. You can only make sales if you get traffic to your website. Writing an interesting ad with a great keyword will get you the traffic you need.

Optimizing your Overture search will help get traffic to your site and if you keep track of how those keywords work then you will see which keyword gets you more click throughs and turns those click throughs into conversions. Conversions are the people who go to your site and buy what you are selling.

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Link Building Tools-Just A Few You Might Want To Use

Getting inbound links to your site is one of the most important aspects of effective SEO (search engine optimization) practice. Link building tools can make your life a lot easier when you’re trying to structure your site to make it favorable in the eyes of the search engines. Each tool offers different value but here are a few that can help you out.

Analysis tools can tell you how many links point to a specific page or domain and/or which anchor text is being used significantly or even too much. These types of tools can give you a quick, superficial look at the status of websites but you’ll need some others to peform a more in-depth analysis.

SearchStatus is a group of features offered in a single Firefox plugin. It can provide you with useful information, such as Google Toolbar PageRank, page- and domain links through the Yahoo SiteExplorer, WhoIs information, Googles cache of the page youre visiting, an on-page link report and Archive.org. Another very useful trick that SearchStatus offors is the option to highlight all nofollow links which can definitely come in handy when you’re building links.

Another of the useful link building tools is LinkDiagnosis. This exists as a web based tool and a Firefox plugin. This one is similar to the Yahoo SiteExplorer except it attempts to filter out all low quality links, offers you a list of common anchor texts, and tries to show you a list with the most visited and popular pages of the domain youre investigating. One great feature of LinkDiagnosis is that you can download the data it provides you as a csv file. . .extremely useful. Keep in mind when using this tool that an analysis of a larger site will take more time. A small site may only take a few seconds but a more content/page filled site could take up to 30 minutes.

If you need even more detailed data, you might want to look for tools that demonstrate link building efforts, structures and/or a history of the site. This kind of information can be helpful when you are trying to optimize your own website or that of a competitor.

SEOmozs Linkscape and MajesticSEO attempt to create the most complete index possible of the web for SEO purposes. Linkscape is considered more user-friendly while Majestic gets you a wider range of data which can also be downloaded.

Xenus Link Sleuth is another excellent tool for on-site analysis. It acts as a search engine crawler and checks websites for broken links and displays a continuously updated list of URLs, which you can sort by different criteria. Link Sleuth is a good way to get a look at your own website and to evaluate your internal link structure as well. And you can run reports on websites that you’re considering getting links from to see what holes they may have in their site that you could possibly fill.

There are many link building tools to choose from. Hopefully these can get you started on the right foot.

Writing articles every couple of weeks or so is a great idea for your online business but it can sometimes be hard to find good subject matter for your article. You write article after article and finally you just seem to draw a blank on what to write about. I am sure that has happened to all of us at one time or another.

When it happens to me there are a few things that I can do to find fresh ideas. These tips will work for you as well. Below are some good places to find interesting and fresh article content.

*Blogs – Blogs are a great place to find ideas for your article as many different things are discussed on blogs. People share their opinions, ideas, experiences and questions.

*Message Boards – Message boards are a good source of information as well. Follow the discussions and see what things people are interested in and need to know more about. I have written many articles from information I read on the boards.

*Email Discussion Groups – Again, get involved in the discussions. Find out what information people are looking for. Not only can you get ideas for your articles, but you can learn a lot as well and make some new contacts. Just go to Yahoo and do a search for the appropriate type of group for your business.

*Internet News Sites – Keeping up with Internet marketing news is very important for your business. Not only for writing articles but for keeping abreast of new developments, ideas, technology, etc. Research and write your articles to keep your readers informed as well.

*Read through your email – Take note of what people are asking you about and what they are most concerned with. Keep a file on hand and record all questions that can be used to create a powerful article.

*Subscribe to ezines – Ezines can be a goldmine of information and ideas. They allow you to keep up to date on the latest products, programs, biz opps, etc. Some of this information can make great articles.

*Do a survey – Write a two or three question survey and send it out to associates or discussion group members or better yet, your subscribers. Give your readers the information and news they are looking for.

For example: What questions do you have about Internet marketing? What resources do you need that you cannot find? Questions like this could give you some innovative article ideas.

*Read other articles – By reading other articles, you can come up with an unusual twist or angle for an overused idea. It sometimes helps to get different views and insights on the same old idea. NOTE: Never copy information or content from an article, ezine, or website.

*What would YOU like to know more about – Pick a topic you need to learn about, do some research and turn it into a resourceful article. This is a great way to learn while promoting your online business.

Always keep an open mind and eye out for article ideas. After awhile you will begin to se ideas automatically all over the net. Keep a notebook handy and when you think of an idea write it down in your notebook. I tend to think of ideas while lying awake in the middle of the night. I learned right away that if I don’t write them down, they are totally gone by morning.

And remember, people want and need basic, straight forward, helpful information. They do not want or need college words, fancy storylines or over-dramatized articles.

Also, do not be afraid to give your articles a little personality, humor and best of all, heart. Write as if you were talking to the reader and doing your best to help them.

Articles are one of the most powerful marketing methods online. Don’t let a little doubt stop you from making this big step towards success!