Devour The Web

Web Statistics for Dummies (part 1: Sales)
 by: Shawn Campbell

Do you understand the numbers that your web site generates? Do you know how many sales your site actually generates? Do you know how you can apply that knowledge to your business and cause it to grow?

I will answer all of the above, and also discuss how to use statistics to enhance your web business through the use of sales, traffic flow, uniques, hits, click-through rates, and many other important business factors. Part 1 focuses on sales and traffic, while part 2 is all about where your traffic is coming from (and how to get more of it!). Part 2 will be discussed in the next issue of our newsletter - so be sure to stay tuned!

Sales

The most obvious statistic for many businesses is sales.

Here are 2 of the most pertinent questions every business needs the answers to:

Sponsored Links

Don’t be scare off when you hear about product creation or the term ‘product’. Basically a product can be almost anything you put together that pass on quality information, and contrary to what you may think, it can be created very easily once you know how.

An important element of a paid product is it must consist of information or resources that are not available elsewhere for free.

This is obvious if you’re the intention of selling it, which is different from using it as a lead generator. I’d like to point out three important elements that will greatly increase your profits in the long run.

1) Use PDF to deliver the information. This is so even for software, simple place the download links in the PDF document. The reason is because PDF is a universal application that can be read by all computer users, plus it’s faster and safer to download for the user.

You can find this free tool at www.the-megapreneur.com

2) Build in viral marketing mechanisms into your PDF. Include your website URLs prominently and strive to build a targeted opt-in list at the same time.

Casual games saw a large-scale shift from a paid or subscription-based model to ad-supported model over the past few years. It’s influenced developers and publishers to change gears away from a try-before-you-buy strategy. Results have paid off for many casual game developers: advertising has brought in more revenue than from online consumer purchases of games. Even in-game advertising networks such as Double Fusion are getting casual, and many publisher sites readily share ad revenues with developers.

What if you’re not as big as MySpace, or Yahoo? How do you bring traffic to the site or gain distribution? That’s the challenge. Legacy Interactive, a developer of casual games titles such as “Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes,” “Zoo Vet,” “The Apprentice,” “Clueless,” “Mean Girls,” and “Pretty in Pink,” evolved over the past few years from selling CD-rom games, to downloads, to experimenting with ads. To monetize its games sites including Legacy Games the company has entered into lead-gen relationships to subsidize games. “Customers are interested in alternatives to plunking down $20 on their credit cards,” said Ariella Lehrer, CEO of Legacy Interactive. They’ve also explored opportunities with PaidGamePlayer and other companies.

Want to see a beautiful site? Head over to Shutterbug Source and check out a well designed Wordpress blog.

Owner: Barbara House (SPL member)
Topic: Photography
URL: http://www.shutterbugsource.com/

Jack’s Review: Great content, excellent layout and navigation, beautiful photos everywhere, really pulls you in. Smacks of quality content right from the start and sets itself apart from the vast majority of sites on the same topic.

Pic:

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Imagine this, if you will.

An old woman, near the end of her life. Shivering in a fleabag apartment without heat in the winter. Walking four miles each way to the food bank, to carry home unmarked cans of mystery meat. Not even a cat to keep her company, because cat food is expensive.

Then one day she dies, and the neighbors find $2.7 million wadded up in her mattress.

It’s a natural human impulse to hold on to what we have. We figure we can handle whatever discomforts we might be facing now, and who knows how bad it could get down the line? So we hoard, saving up our riches for some mythical later time.

What does this have to do with writing?

Everyone who writes faces this at some point. We come up with a powerful idea, something we think will capture a lot of attention. This is the kind of content we know we need to grow our blog and our business.

Guest post by Rick Butts

Since the late 1960’s very bright people have pushed their intellect and creativity to the limits in an attempt to create a machine that could actually think.

IBM’s Big Blue may have beaten Russia’s Kasparov in chess along the way - but as we find ourselves in the sunset months of the first decade of the 21st century computers are still computational devices based on math. They are incapable of reason despite incredible leaps in software and processor speed.

The closest source we’ve had to an “answer giver” has been Google.

Even with Google you have to finesse your “question” in the form of search syntax and it helps to know those advanced commands (which look like complicated physics formulas) to BEGIN the search to find what you are really looking for.

Of course, what you are really looking for needs to exist, and in a search friendly format - and have enough on-page factors to identify itself and plenty of inbound links. When was the last time you actually spent time on a web page that was 11 pages deep in Google search results?

But, wait!

Am I alone as I survey that vast wilderness outside,

Sat at home every day fettered by my own foolish pride,

I may believe I can conceive stunning cunning plans,

Yet I perceive the web I weave is lacking vital strands,

It may transpire my destiny is to conquer virtual space,

But I must wire the best of me to another spidery face,

For although knowing everything about business and site,

To grow means throwing other experts in to get it right,

So even this experienced spider who spins webs so fine,

Needs for bliss a guider to show the whole world online,

His creation, born bred and reared , now standing serene,

Will evoke elation and be revered if it can only be seen,

There’s no point in Picasso no mike in Michelangelo,

If the joints a no go and the sound man doesn’t show,

So that treasure you’re concealing from total global view,

Measures up and has meaning with others helping you,

We all have inborn talent and also inborn failings,

So often scorn a balance, chained to our own railings,

How To Improve Page Relevancy…
 by: Manish Patel

You need to do enough exercise to keep your site properly indexed with search engine.i am providing some tricks that can help you in improving page relevancy.as perhaps you know that only Google page rank is not important for search engine ranking-Page relevancy also important.if you can do some exercise than you can improve your traffic.

1. Your Web pages with content should be interested in reading.

As content is king for search engines content in your site should be both unique and interesting.this can improve your impression.

2. Content should be highly focused with keyword phrases. rather than phrases that are too general and competitive

Specially when there is more competition.

3. Optimize your Web pages for at least three to five keywords at a time

You should optimize your page for minimum three keywords-for three keywords your page should be highly relevant.for that you need to choose better keywords,choosing keywords is not a game of guessing.it is one science.Write your site’s content using the keywords for which users search, and you’ll literally be speaking the same language as your visitors.

Hyperboles abound in Internet Marketing. Myth has its own area code. Hype has its own country. And BS, its own universe.

Anyone desiring to enter this perilous terrain should proceed with caution. Wearing a full body hype-resistant armor is strongly recommended. If that’s not available, growing a second layer of thick skin is advisable.

For the beginning marketer, novice webmaster or the Internet hobbyist who just wants to earn a little extra income, all the hype can be a little overwhelming. All the rhetoric may prove totally mind boggling. Deadly even.

Who to believe? What to believe?

It’s a virtual mine field and you only have your cursor for a guide. It can be down right scary if you’re not prudent with your checkbook or your morals you can be misled, swindled, and beguiled before you even turn on your computer.

Separating fact from fiction requires a considerable skill, usually reserved for the judgments of Solomon.

Where to begin? Where to start?

Finding quality traffic though effective website promotions is the number one area all website owners deal with on a daily basis. There are many advantages to linking your website to others around the world. There are marketing companies that have various ideas on how to increase your exposure. One of these ideas is to increase exposure to your site by having over 750,000 incoming links from websites around the world. The sign up process can be accomplished in as little as five minutes. I have found most website owners are extremely knowledgeable about their product but lack the knowledge to properly market.

The biggest concern website owners have is this marketing program going to cause me to receive thousands and thousands of spam mail by linking to other sites? I was amazed to find that there are programs available that will not increase spam email to you. I found the following benefits for website owner’s who link their wesbsite to others around the world:

Your website will get you at least 750,000 plus links on the internet!

The link popularity tool is very important for search engine rankings and positioning.