8 Outdated SEO Techniques You Should Avoid

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The world wide web is an ever changing beast, in constant flux as new things get added and old things get changed.

SEO is no different and internet marketing has to keep up with constant developments coming out of the search engines.

A SERP boosting tactic that worked last week, might well get your site penalised this week.

I’ve compiled a list of the top SEO tactics that you should simply avoid using now!

1. Spammy Guest Blogging

Guest blogging might not be dead, but it has certainly taken a battering. Matt Cutts wrote back in January 2014…

So stick a fork in it: guest blogging is done; it’s just gotten too spammy.

Three months later, one of the larger guest blogging sites, MyGuestBlog.com, was Google slapped. You can now only find it by Googling for myguestblog.com. For every keyword that matters, it’s as if it doesn’t exist.

Publishers using this site also had their rankings drop by simply being associated with guest blogging.

It is obvious then that associating yourself with sites like these will most probably cause you more heartache than it is worth.

All that being said, doing direct guest blogging with a reputable site is still a valid way to gain backlinks and exposure.

2. Over-optimized Anchor Text

Google’s Penguin algorithm has been around for a while now, since 2012, and has had a few updates to it. The core focus of this algorithm change was to target spammy backlinks and penalise the users of them.

This means that highly targeted, keyword stuffed backlinks got slammed.

Google isn’t looking for anchor text to be over optimized, they are looking for natural text. This is because natural text suggests that the site is linking to the content because it is useful and interesting, rather than just a marketing ploy to push a site up the SERP’s.

3. Links: Quantity over Quality

For a long time if your webpage had over 100 links on it, it was considered spammy and would be penalized. This has been the case since at least 2009 when Matt Cutts went public with it on his blog.

Times have changed, for the better in this case. Google no longer has the arbitrary 100 links per page limit.

Instead you can have as many as you like, so long as it is “reasonable”. If Google find that your site is spammy because of the number of links (think hundreds to thousands of links, with little or poor quality content), then they will still take action against you.

Along with that the Page Rank each link gives is reduced by a division of the number of links on the page.

The take away from this is if you are using links to boost SEO then stop it. It won’t help. If you just a have a lot of links alongside quality content, then you have nothing to worry about.

4. Stuffing Keywords in Content, Title, and Meta Tags

This is a really old school way of gaming the search engines and many people still think it’s a viable way of gaining search results. Only problem is, this is one of the biggest offenders that can get your site sandboxed.

The theory is that by adding lots and lots of relevant (and probably irrelevant) keywords to the content and the various meta tags, the search engines would understand that your site was to do with that topic and those keywords.

Years ago it MAY have worked in your favor. These days it doesn’t work at all. In fact, it will get your site penalized for blatantly trying to over optimize your site.

Some SEO advice suggests that there is a specific percentage for keywords in an article – this is called keyword density.

Unfortunately, there is no real hard and fast rule for this, so my best advice is to include the keywords when it is natural to include them and leave it at that.

5. Invisible Text

Using invisible text is virtually the same as keyword stuffing, but instead of the keywords being visible they are normally at the bottom of the page or in the footer and colored to match the background of the page. This is so that the user doesn’t see the spam but search engines do.

As the search engines can see it, they are treating it as content. The problem with this technique is that it will still be considered as keyword stuffing, even if the user experience is improved.

6. Backlink Reliance

This is a situation where the site generally has little or poor quality content and maybe it is SEO optimized, maybe it isn’t. Then the site owner sends backlinks to the site in the thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands.

Now, backlinks are important, there is no doubt about it, but just sending backlinks is a poor way to do SEO.

If a manual reviewer was to look at your site which has 20,000 backlinks but 3 pages of fluff, your site will get penalised. Why? Because it will be obvious that those backlinks have been managed or bought as few people will naturally link to a crap website.

By all means include backlinks in your SEO strategy, just don’t make them the focus of the strategy, and include onsite SEO, quality content, and social media and so on.

7. Article Directories & Article Syndication

There was a time when you could upload an article to an article directory, include some backlinks and get a ton of quality link juice from the site. The articles would, hopefully, be linked to from other sites. Even better they could be downloaded, backlinks included, and added to other peoples sites.

Since Google has been harshly targeting duplicate content, this tactic is simply not worth it. Matt Cutts briefly discusses the issue here and in a roundabout way suggests not using article directories.

On top of that, the directories themselves have taken a hit in previous Google algorithm changes, making backlinks from them less effective.

8. Duplicate Content

Google has stated that in general duplicate content should not be a cause for concern. That is unless it is spammy content and/or is being used to intentionally try to manipulate the sites search results position.

That being said, it is still a good idea to limit the amount of duplicate content, especially if it is internal content.

Having the same content in several places on your own site is likely to incur the wrath of Google.

Depending on the type of content, there are ways to avoid being penalized. You can use the noindex meta tags to help tell the search engine not to look at that page. Or if you have changed your sites pages, you can use a 301 redirect rather than have the duplicate content showing.

The Bottom Line

Internet marketers often try to come up with ways to game search engines, or to find loop holes. For a while these might even work, but search engines like Google are constantly on the look out for techniques like these. As more people in the marketing circles get wind of a technique that works and use it themselves, Google finds out too (they do read the same blogs as us you know!).

The best way you can help your SEO is to follow the guidelines set out by the search engines, and to try not to unnaturally modify your search rankings. If you don’t it will come back to bite you on the ass.

7 Free or Cheap Marketing Automation Software Platforms for You

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Your eyes may dazzle at the mention of marketing automation, but there’s not much to the name. Marketing automation, or MA, is simply the systematic generation and tracking of sales leads (aka, customers), usually through a software platform that allows you to create and run marketing campaigns.

With MA, you can create, categorize and test your emails, for starters. You can also generate and store various landing pages, as well as different versions of those landing pages. Many MA platforms enable mobile marketing as well as e-commerce integration. You may even be able to do ad retargeting, wherein the ad viewer is cookied and then sees your ads later on via his/her browser.

Marketo, Act-ON and Oracle/Eloqua are some better-known MA brands. These top-of-the-line platforms enable medium and large companies to do all kinds of snazzy marketing things like lead generation, email marketing, retargeting, A/B testing, etc. Unfortunately, smaller businesses, individual marketers and bloggers are hardly in the position to afford such platforms, which often run over a thousand bucks a month.

Luckily, there are discount MA platforms that offer many of the services of the “big box” platforms for a fraction of the price. Some of these platforms are completely free. Here are some bargain-priced MA platforms that you may want to consider using:

1. Azuqua

This platform takes a heavy-handed approach with social media marketing, monitoring the various social media platforms for any mention of your business and the exact sentiment (e.g., anger, praise, criticism) being expressed. Such cloud process optimization, as it’s called, is then integrated with the platform’s CRM and can also be routed to different departments within your business (e.g., customer service). The basic monitoring service costs $0 per month and may be all your business needs to use for a very long time.

azuqua

 

2. JumpLead

If you have only 100 visitors/month and up to 500 contacts, JumpLead’s free MA platform allows you to identify website visitors, generate landing pages, optimize content for up to 5 keywords, perform analytics and set up email and social media campaigns for $0/month. The next price increment is only $49/month and gives you 20 keywords to manage plus live chat support.

jumplead

3. Leadsius

This MA system is completely free to use if you limit it to one user and 2,500 contacts or fewer. Within the free version of Leadsius, you can create web forms and landing pages as well as emails and custom email templates. Contacts are stored in a dedicated database. Basic web and email analytics are also included in your free trial. Additionally, you gain access to a community support forum and a rather comprehensive knowledge base.

leadsius

 

4. LeadSquared

This MA system starts at $125/month, which is a bit pricier than the other systems noted here. Luckily, you can “try before you buy” with a 15-day free trial.

What’s great about LeadSquared is that it offers a extremely comprehensive marketing platform. You not only get the usual MA features like lead generation and landing page creation, but specialty items like keyword analysis, API integration, and phone call tracking.

LeadSquared also dedicates significant effort to contact acquisition and analysis, employing individual measurements for contacts gathered from your website, blog, social media pages, chat and webinar sites, plus phone calls and email opens.

leadsquared

5. Nurture

For $95/month and fewer than 1,000 contacts, this platform offers a massive number of MA features including visitor tracking, email campaign management, A/B testing, analytics, automated messaging, real-time sales lead alerts, and landing page creation. The only thing that is not included with the $95/month plan is CRM. If you’re not sure about using Nurture, the company does offer a 30-day free trial of its software.

Nurture

6. Sales AutoPilot

You can have an unlimited trial of this MA system as long as you send fewer than 400 emails per month and maintain one system user. Sales AutoPilot not only offers email marketing, opt-in page creation and A/B testing, it also includes customer relationship management (CRM), e-commerce options, and it can link to a call center. Finally, the system is available as an API, meaning you can work with it from your smartphone or other non Web-based device.

 

sales autopilot

 

 

7. Spokal

Spokal focuses on two big marketing ‘arms,’ namely, social media and content marketing. If you just want to try out the social media marketing (i.e., Twitter) side of this platform, the basic subscription is $19/month. However, for another $30 (or $49/month), you can also test the platform’s content marketing side, which is where Spokal really differentiates itself.

To begin with, Spokal offers a keyword research tool that enables you to generate SEO’ed content and rich media. The platform also performs optimization analysis after your content is generated, offers SEO advice, and scores leads gained through your search marketing efforts.

Spokal

 

Is MA right for you?

If you wish to score additional sales leads, find out what your potential customers are doing and where they are going, and make repeat sales of your products/services, then it’s almost a given that you’ll need some kind of automated software to help you manage your business. Luckily, many MA software platforms are free to use- or almost free.

How to Add Landing Pages to Your WordPress Website or Blog

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If you read my post earlier this week on Landing Pages 101, you already know how important landing pages are to winning sales, increasing email subscribers, etc. You also have a good idea of how to write an effecting landing page. However, how do you go about generating the actual landing page on your WordPress (WP) website or blog?

Traditionally, landing pages were (and still are) generated on their own subdomain within a website. For example, if your website is http://www.mywebsite.com, then your landing page is parked at http://landingpage.website.com. This is done so that a visitor does not simply locate the landing page by visiting the website, but only by clicking on a designated ad, web page or email link.

Landing pages also usually required graphic design skills so that they’d have templates that looked professional and helped maintain consistency across multiple campaigns.

Both of these requirements made landing pages a bit of a challenge for beginner website owners and bloggers. Luckily, if the website or blog is hosted on a WP platform, there are many different WP plugins that can be used to install landing page generators and make the process easier. Here are some of the best free or affordably priced WP landing page plugins:

1. WordPress Landing Pages

This free plugin, created by David Wells and the Inbound Now team, offers a very comprehensive collection of features including unlimited landing pages, conversion rate tracking, A/B and multivariate split testing, email list integration, and contact form generation. When you download the plugin, you are instantly prompted to install two additional and free plugins: WordPress Leads and Calls to Action. These two plugins enable you to better organize and track your leads and create unique call-to-action (CTAs), respectively.

Wordpress landing pages plugin

WordPress Landing Pages also comes with a visual editor, allowing you to make changes to your landing page and see how they appear in real time. A/B and multivariate testing is made easy with multiple WordPress-like page/post tabs that can be filled in and changed at will.

Wordpress A B testing

Finally, WordPress Landing Pages allows you to generate and insert marketing shortcodes; in essence, these are snippets of code that the plugin creates for social sharing buttons, check marks, or other icons. Best of all, you don’t need to do any coding to generate these icons.

The only drawback to WordPress Landing Pages is that integrating it with an existing email list is not free and costs $25-$35 (depending on the actual service).

2. Parallax Gravity

This free WordPress plugin enables you to create landing pages that use parallax sections; in other words, page text sections move while the images and background stay put. You can add as many sections and section materials as you wish and see the changes in real time via the plugin’s VisualEditor. Additional features can be added using shortcodes, including shortcodes from other plugins.

gravityparallax

The two big drawbacks with this free plugin are the inability to set your landing page as the homepage and the lack of an autoresponder. However, because the plugin is very open to incorporating shortcodes, you could probably even create an autoresponder using your own shortcode.

3. WP Lead Plus Free Squeeze Page Creator

This free plugin also offers lots of parallax-enabled page sections, logo and video integration, and font control. It features a VisualEditor, enabling easy changes on-the-fly. And because your pages are created as basic WP pages, you can embed your own background and/or WP template(s).

Additionally, unlike Parallax Gravity, WP Lead Plus offers an autoresponder option as well as the ability to set your landing page as the homepage.

wpleadfree
Being able to use your own website background and/or templates is actually crucial because this plugin doesn’t offer too many of its own templates- at least not in its free version. Another common complaint about this plugin is that it’s not very intuitive, and you need to carefully watch the video tutorials in order to create a decent landing page.

4. InstaBuilder

This fairly inexpensive plugin runs $47 for a single user license and enables you to create landing pages that contain high level graphics, one time offers, delayed pop-up messages with CTAs, Facebook opt-ins, autoresponders, offer timers, and videos. You also gain access to 70 pre-built templates and a huge range of images like buttons, guarantee symbols, boxes, etc. And you can still create your own images using the plugin’s marketing shortcodes.

instabuilder plugin

Instabuilder landing pages can look quite slick, given that you’re able to add videos and pre-built graphics rather easily. Instabuilder pages can also be connected to Facebook using Facebook Connect, enabling users to click on those pages via their Facebook accounts.

instabuilder plugin

Finally, Instabuilder-created pages are instantly formatted to fit on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

5. OptimizePress 2.0

This WordPress plugin, created by James Dyson, helps you not only generate professional-looking landing pages but also secure membership portals, online courses, webinar registration pages, product launch funnels and blogs. The plugin costs a $97 flat fee for three licenses, which is a bit more money than the other plugins described here, but the fee may well be worth it. Here’s an example sales page portion (with the CTA located at the end of a long scroll) that was generated using OptimizePress 2.0:

optimizepress 2.0

OptimizePress 2.0 comes with LiveEditor, meaning that your edits occur in a what-you-see-is-what-you-get format, allowing you to build a page in just minutes and know exactly how it’s going to look in real time. Email integration is included in your $97 fee.

The plugin offers numerous page layouts, with you selecting how many rows and columns you wish for your page to have. Theoretically, because there is no limit on numbers, you could have an infinite amount of rows/columns. There is also a ton of elements you can add into your pages, from buttons and content toggles to audio players and Facebook comments.

Landing pages…they’re the future (of your sales)!

If you are on the fence about buying a WP landing page plugin, try one of the freebies listed above. Even a rudimentary WP landing page plugin can help increase your product/service sales and draw in new customers. As time goes on, you may want to do more with your sales and/or better track your customers- and end up purchasing a paid plugin.

Writing for Revenue Share Sites: Worthwhile or Waste of Time?

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Once upon a time, freelance writers could write for content mills like Yahoo! Contributor Network or Demand Media (stock ticker: DMD) and make as much as $2K/month for keyword and link-stuffed writing bits.

Then, the Google Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird updates penalized these ad-heavy and SEO-centric sites and the parent companies suffered. Many content farms either merged, lost/ousted their CEOs and staff, or went out of business altogether.

DMD stock price

Demand Media stock price: DooMeD?

Enter the revenue share model

As fewer and fewer content mills pay their freelance writers even the pittance $5 or $10 per keyword-stuffed article, a different writing model has emerged. This model, which operates via revenue share, is gradually replacing the practice of paying writers a set amount of money for published content.

Instead, revenue share sites emphasize long form, quality content and work with their writers to enhance their journalistic skills. In doing so, revenue share sites are more likely to become populated with lots of “newsworthy” content (i.e., high traffic content) that isn’t penalized by the next Google algorithm update. Some examples of revenue share sites include Examiner and HubPages.

Another case in point is Guardian Liberty Voice (GLV), a citizen journalism site that has been operating for about two years now. GLV’s motto states “boldly inclusive,” and GLV is certainly living up to its claim. Recently, the site announced plans to hire 900 new writers. Yeah, that’s nine hundred. How does a roughly 2-year-old company manage to hire and pay this amazing number of writers?

The answer lies in the term revenue share. GLV doesn’t pay outright for published content but works with writers to help them achieve high page view numbers. This translates to a set pay-per-mille or PPM (i.e., pay rate per thousand views) for the writers and thus their compensation.

The actual help that GLV provides consists of a rigorous training period, or “bootcamp” as it’s called. Writers that pass the bootcamp start earning a given PPM. Writers also can become “Senior Correspondents,” and receive not only a higher revenue share for their own content but also a good share of the revenue generated from “members they assign stories to on their team.”

In turn, GLV receives ad revenue from its advertisers for offering a set cost-per-mille (CPM) to their ads. Because GLV is not a subscription-based online newspaper, its major revenue source is advertising (as is the case even with most subscription-based paper newspapers).

Is Guardian Liberty Voice worth the time?

The following are some of my “nays” to writing for GLV:

It’s not serious journalism

From a journalistic standpoint, the majority of GLV’s citizen-produced content is simply rehashed and/or directly quoted content from secondary sources like Google News, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Chicago Tribune. I used to work for a small town newspaper and the first thing I learned is that you never quote other newspapers as your primary sources. No, you either go interview people or you quote data findings from primary sources like the CDC, NIH, U.S. Census Bureau, etc.

So, it seems to me that GLV’s bootcamp consists largely of “training” citizen journalists to simply keep up with the latest Google Trends and re-report them.

GLV’s popularity may be overstated

There are worthwhile publishing platforms that oftentimes pay only via revenue share; Entrepreneur, Forbes and Inc. come to mind. However, these aforementioned sites draw huge audiences as well as prospective clients.

With GLV, the audience is just not that big. The following Google Trends graphic compares GLV to other citizen journalistic sites like Examiner and revenue share sites like HubPages. I’ve written for both Examiner and HubPages and even during these sites’ popularity peaks, never did I earn more than $50/month for content that generated tens of thousands of views. If such hugely popular sites like Examiner and HubPages barely generate any revenue share, how is a fledgling site like GLV going to buck the (literal) trend?

A comparison of trending interest in GLV, Examiner.com, HubPages and Demand Studios

Pyramid scheme-like recruitment

GLV has been criticized for its business practices in different writers’ forums; namely, Senior Correspondents earn 20% of the income generated through their writer “team.” As a result, these correspondents go on social media sites and attempt to recruit writers to apply for writing jobs with GLV. Fresh recruits are then put through a three week boot camp during which they produce mass amounts of free content.

According to one Reddit comment about GLV, “It kinda looks like they’re using their “classes” as a content farm – they require more than 20 articles per student in the training period.” Also, the application process itself requires that you submit a sample 500-word article to the site. 

Lack of transparency about actual revenue share

The following conversation that Carol Tice had with a GLV writer is quite enlightening (check the comments of the post). In numerous instances, the writer was asked to outline how much money GLV writers earned per article or per hour, and to no avail. To be fair, there was one instance of a rate of $38/hour being named, but no mention of how many articles had been produced to achieve this rate or if the writer was also a GLV senior correspondent.

Should you write for revenue share sites?

Given all these issues and remaining questions about just one revenue share site, here’s my advice to aspiring citizen journalists and writers: 

Start your own blog.

Forget about submitting hundreds of articles somewhere else just to eventually earn a “passive income” of $10 or $20 per month. And I quote the term passive income because, on sites like Examiner and GLV, you need to keep submitting regular content each day or month in order to keep collecting your revenue share.

Given that all revenue share sites are not under your immediate control, you could also eventually lose your hard-won passive income should these sites close shop or change their payout rules. In essence, you’re a digital sharecropper and relying on the stability and goodwill of a third party site to make back your initial investment of writing time.

Sure, having your own blog won’t give you the instantaneous audience of Examiner or GLV. However, even revenue share sites rely on you doing your own article PR to generate more page views. Why should you do all this work for just a fraction of the revenue?

On your own blog, you can eventually work with your own advertisers- and keep 100% of their fees. You can also go ad-free and offer quality products or consulting. In the end, having your own blog means having absolute control over your own product- you- without having someone else line their own pockets with your writing and marketing efforts.

Diamond Engagement Rings: Biggest Scam Ever…or Best Marketing Strategy?

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Diamonds are intrinsically worthless, except for the deep psychological need they fill.

-De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer

Roughly five months ago, your TV, radio and compubox were flooded with ads for those expensive and tiny baubles known as diamond engagement rings. You were told outright that, if you as a man had any kind of girlfriend worth proposing to, it had better happen with at least two months’ salary compressed into a diamond engagement ring…or else.

As a woman, you were told to live in joyous expectation of a (no less than) one carat diamond on your finger come Christmas or New Year’s.

Now, at five months’ post-engagementocalypse, it looks like the male income tax season has finished strong. As the both of you now look forward to married bliss, let me lightly suggest the following:

You may have been scammed.

The most brilliant marketing strategy…ever

Back in the late 1930’s, a regional diamond trading company named De Beers was in trouble. Diamond prices were falling and only the rich opted to purchase those sparkly things. Furthermore, a huge cache of diamonds had been discovered by the company in a South African mine, threatening to devalue the once rare gem.

Desperate to boost diamond sales, Ernest Oppenheimer sent his son Harry to brainstorm about marketing strategy with the newly hired N. W. Ayer & Son ad agency.

The rest is marketing history.

The Ayer agency ran five campaigns. Some of the campaigns, targeted at men, equated buying an engagement diamond as proof of masculinity, accomplishment and financial prowess.

Other ads, targeted at women, associated diamonds with sacred places like cathedrals to link the occasion of marriage with diamonds. Female-targeted ads also featured paintings by famous artists alongside diamond rings, equating the diamond with high culture and refined taste.

In today’s marketing lingo, such strategy is termed establishing brand association.

Ayer’s tactics worked: By 1941, sales of diamonds had increased 55%.

A diamond is forever a scam

There was just one fly in the ointment…what about couples who hit upon hard financial times and wanted to sell back their diamond engagement ring? This was an issue in more ways than one.

To begin with, diamonds are actually not scarce but rather plentiful. However, De Beers is a diamond monopoly and controls the production and release of diamonds. In this way, it sets the price of diamonds. It also operates the Central Selling Organization, which coordinates all diamond marketing efforts.

One message, one price.

Thus, a couple trying to obtain a refund on their ring would be shocked to discover that the diamond’s value is not at all what was originally advertised. In fact, that diamond’s value might be only half of its original purchase price. In some cases, diamonds are refunded at just 1/3 of their original purchase price.

You’re talking about a really lousy investment here.

In light of this sobering reality, the Ayer agency had to somehow stop people from wanting to trade-in or sell back their sham goods. But how?

Enter Frances Gerety, a copywriter for Ayer. One night in 1947, in need of a catchy slogan for an ad, she hurriedly wrote the following line, “A diamond is forever.”

This slogan cleverly exemplified the ideal of marriage alongside the travesty of selling the very symbol of that ideal. And De Beers has been using that slogan ever since.

The net widens

De Beers originally targeted the U.S. market with its excess diamonds because, even before the propaganda took hold, Americans already correlated the diamond with romance and love. However, now that the American market was saturated with these flashy gee-gaws, it was time to look elsewhere for consumers.

That place was Japan.

For this effort, De Beers contracted the J. Walter Thompson ad agency, which already had established offices in Europe and Asia.

Instead of equating the diamond engagement ring with romance and love, the Thompson agency portrayed it as something that is part of the yuinohin, or betrothal gift given from the groom to the bride’s family. Because the gift is for an entire family, Thompson emphasized that it should be three or even four months’ worth a groom’s salary.

When Thompson began using this particular strategy in 1968, diamonds were given at only 5% of Japanese engagements. By 1981, diamonds were being presented at a whopping 66%.

Germany was also a successful target, once the agency learned that some Germans liked to have their wedding bands studded with diamonds.

What this means for you

Marketing is a fascinating science that can be used to generate billions of dollars in revenue, and even from product that is inherently worth very little. Here are four “take-home” lessons from the diamond marketing industry that you can insert into your own campaigns:

1. Create a need

Steve Jobs famously said, “Customers don’t know what they want until we have shown them.” You need to convince your buyers that they haven’t lived, or succeeded, or experienced until they’ve purchased product X. And also, that their life, or success, or experience gets even better with product add-on Y. 

2. Create an illusion of scarcity

There’s a reason why TV and radio commercials usually end with the quip “Supplies are limited” or “We can’t keep our inventory in stock.” People (just like cheetahs and fish) chase after what may soon become unavailable. It’s a simple law of the wild.

3. Hike up the price

One of my favorite marketing sayings is, “Unless you’re Wal-Mart, you can’t win on price.” You simply cannot create enough cheap inventory to compete on price in most cases. Furthermore, even if you could, there is a point where market saturation will occur and you’ll be out of luck.

In most cases, consumers will happily assume an item is of better quality if its price is higher. This example is clearly seen when consumers taste-test more and less expensive wines that are actually derived from the same stock wine.

4. Provide quality information

“An educated consumer is our best customer,” said Sy Syms. Selling expensive items becomes much easier when you back the purchase with a lot of credible information. Thus, there’s good reason why diamond stores emphasize “the 4 C’s” of diamond buying and even encourage buyers to look at the diamonds through 10X loupe magnifiers.

In some cases, you may even get the consumer to purchase a more expensive item once you assuage his/her insecurity about making the wrong decision based on insufficient information.

So, is a diamond forever?

Unfortunately, the chemists say no: Check out this video of Nobel-Prize winner Sir Harry Kroto watching his wife’s engagement diamond get burned to a crisp by Dr. Peter Wothers of The Royal Institution of Great Britain. That’s one expensive flame!

Beware of Resume Scams When Looking for Work

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If I told you that I’d critique and revise your resume for just $1, would you believe me?

OneBuckResume

This is precisely what the resume writing service, OneBuckResume, promises. When you hover your mouse over the site’s Resume Builder tab, there’s even the grammatically incorrect promise “Use the patented $1 resume builder, and we’ll complete your resume in less than 5 minutes”. However, when you scroll through the site’s Terms & Conditions (T&C’s) box, it says the following:

Resume Distribution: By clicking the checkbox below, you signify your acceptance of seven days of free resume  distribution services. IF YOU CONTINUE USING THE RESUME DISTRIBUTION SERVICE, YOUR CREDIT CARD WILL BE CHARGED $5.88 ONCE EVERY THIRTY DAYS THEREAFTER, UNLESS CANCELLED.

There is no way to not click the checkbox, since it signifies that you agree to abide by the site’s T&C’s. There is also no defined way to cancel the $5.88/month charge except by submitting support tickets through the site; no contact phone number or email is provided. Also, because the extra $5.88 monthly charge is posted on the company’s site, this disclosure allows it to make the “Didn’t you read the T&C’s?” rebuttal.

However, as several Ripoff Report testimonials attest, the site also posts fake job postings on Craigslist and asks job applicants to use OneBuckResume to properly format their resumes prior to sending them off to the hiring company. Unsuspecting job applicants pay the $1 fee and send their resumes to the provided email- only to have those emails bounce back to them as unrecognized. After 7 days, the mysterious $5.88 monthly charges begin.

TheLadders

Another resume site, TheLadders, was sued in district court on March 13, 2013 for not only posting fake, unauthorized and/or misleading $100K job opportunities but for also not delivering on its resume writing service promise. TheLadders, as noted by Barbara Ward (the Plaintiff),

 …promised a free “expert resume critique” for its premium members. However, TheLadders did not actually review resumes that were submitted by its premium members. Instead…TheLadders sent its members a form letter that failed to provide any resume criticism responsive to members’ individual resumes. The sole purpose of the form letter was to up-sell members into useless paid resume re-writing services…

Resume scams abound because, in this crappy economy, it’s very easy to take advantage of people who are scrambling to find work. The scammers often play on people’s fears, telling them that their resumes lack important “action items” that will prevent them from being hired.

Even when professionally written resumes are submitted to these scam sites,  they are ripped up and cited as needing extensive work. Of course, a scam site will naturally rip up any resume, even its own generated resume, in order to make a quick buck. And the bucks, in this case, aren’t just $30 or $40; in the case of TheLadders, members who sent their resumes to be re-written were charged about $700!

Where can you find legitimate resume writing services?

Hardcore resume writers are often certified members of the National Résumé Writers’ Association (NRWA) and/or the Professional Association of Résumé Writers & Career Coaches (PARW/CC). These writers don’t hide behind a resume writing site (although they may be employed by it); typically, you’ll find writer profiles and work examples on the site’s “About Me/Us” page. The better resume writers will be industry-specific and have some kind of education or experience in their chosen focus (e.g., law).

Beware of online forms

Granted, with almost everyone being online now, you are bound to have some online forms to fill out when you start working with a resume writing service. However, the writer working on your resume should contact you personally to obtain additional information from you. This typically includes several phone interviews spanning a total of 3-5 hours for a top-notch resume site. Local agencies may also schedule you for an in-person session with the writer.

Even a budget resume writer should speak with you personally for at least half an hour. Beware of resume sites that are online only and where you cannot reach anyone over the phone. Typically, this indicates that the writers (if any) are being paid slave wages by the site and have limited English language speaking/writing skills.

While working with a “resume mill” does not exclude you from obtaining a meaningful resume, it will probably require that you do significant editing and formatting of your own document (this issue has been reported for the resume mill e-resume.net, which pays its writers Taco Bell wages for resumes worth $155). This negates much of the reasoning behind hiring a resume writer in the first place.

Don’t forget to use Google

Google knows all, as I like to say. Before you consider working with any resume site, do a quick online search of that site with the word “scam” plugged into your search query. If you find testimonial after testimonial from dissatisfied customers or even records of a lawsuit, steer clear of that agency.

Questions to ask before you pay any money

Even “good” resume writing sites can be riddled with issues. Before you hire any resume service to take on your resume, be sure to ask the following questions of the writer:

1. What are all the steps of this process and associated fees? Alternately: What do you charge per hour and what does that cover?

2. What advantages do you personally offer when compared with other resume writers?

3. Can I speak with your previous clients and/or see their “before and after” resumes? If a writer cannot provide either, find another writer/service.

4. What guarantees do you offer (e.g., limitless revisions, money back if not satisfied)?

Other things to keep in mind

As the potential client, you should expect a free evaluation of your resume before you plunk down any money. Once you become an actual client, however, up-front payment is required from most resume writing sites. Expect the entire resume critiquing to writing to revision process to take anywhere from two weeks to even over a month; good results don’t happen overnight (or in “less than 5 minutes”).

Finally, be sure to keep your receipt; resume writing services are viewed as a legitimate employment-seeking activity through the eyes of the IRS and are tax-deductible.

 

Is Social Media Marketing a Waste of Time?

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I don’t know why everyone keeps complaining about being broke- all you have to do is get involved in social media marketing. Cameron Hughes explains how to make piles of money as a social media consultant in this brilliant and inspiring “TED” talk.

Unfortunately, many businesses just haven’t seen the light when it comes to social media. In fact, some businesses and websites are moving away from certain social media platforms altogether. For example, Jeff Gibbard explained why Social Media Today decided to stop wasting time on Facebook. Then there was the rather well-publicized example of GM pulling their advertising dollars from Facebook in 2012.

It’s little wonder that companies are pulling away from social media considering that it’s not the easiest thing to make a profit there. In fact, back in 2012, an IBM study noted that social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube contributed almost zilch (OK, it was actually 0.34%) to Black Friday sales. Twitter accounted for 0% of Black Friday sales revenue.

What’s the problem?

For businesses or bloggers trying to do social media marketing via Facebook, the difficulty lies in the fact that Facebook Page updates reach only a small percentage of their intended audience. Increasing reach requires obtaining either lots of Likes and Shares on the part of the audience members or purchasing promoted posts.

Naturally, most Facebook Page owners balk at paying money to promote to an audience that they helped build in the first place. However, in defense of Facebook and other platforms, no one said that marketing was free. In fact, it could be argued that the whole problem started when every small business and its brother jumped on the social media bandwagon because it was the “hip” thing to do, or because social media was erroneously believed to equal free marketing/advertising.

Drives to get 1 million Likes or 10,000 tweets work well…and then fizzle as businesses or bloggers wonder what to do with all these new followers. Ironically, unfollows often occur when the same entities now post or tweet a promotion to their “fans”. Meanwhile, those followers that stay do little to boost product sales or business revenues. So, what’s the point of it all?

A goal without a plan is just a “Like”

Before you start asking everyone to Like you for a free Squishee(tm) or post more cute photos of your cat, ask yourself, what goals are you trying to achieve with social media marketing? There can be quite a number of goals, including the following:

  • Brand awareness
  • Website traffic
  • Product sales
  • Customer information
  • Upsells/cross-sells
  • Product reviews/testimonials
  • Customer engagement
  • Influencers

Let’s say you pick two or three of the above goals, which is really the most that you can hope to accomplish in a single campaign. Will driving Likes/Shares/retweets/comments accomplish your goals? If yes, that’s great! But if not, then you need to step back and look at how exactly you’ll accomplish what you wish to see, as well as how you’ll measure your progress.

Harvest while you can

As wonderful as social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest are, they do not belong to you. In fact, you are actually a digital sharecropper. And just like any sharecropper, your fortunes are intimately tied to the whims of your landlord. Should your landlord choose to close the social media platform tomorrow, the online audience you worked so hard to build is gone.

This is why, given every opportunity, you need to “harvest” your audience members by finding out their contact information and other particulars and getting them onto your own platform (i.e., your website). Typically, this goal is accomplished through email subscription signups or opt-in forms. Once you have such information at hand, you can move towards fulfilling your other goals like increasing sales or obtaining customer testimonials.

Get everyone involved

Social media can be a big driver of conversions if used correctly as a kind of portal to your more permanent fixtures, including your sales pages and website. For example, if people are complaining about the never-ending cold weather on Twitter, you might create a special code or coupon that enables them to purchase hot cocoa at 20% off on your website.

There’s also no reason why your subscribers can’t be part of the sales conversation or even help decide the outcome of your campaigns. For example, having your customers provide feedback on something you’re working on, such as your website update or a new affiliate product, makes them feel more involved (and invested) with you. Such engaged consumers are more likely to travel to your website and convert.

Leverage your efforts

You can multiply your social media efforts at increasing brand awareness and/or customer engagement by tapping top influencers who already know and understand your products or brand. In most cases, these influencers will consist of top commentors or other bloggers that have large followings. Influencers can also consist of those individuals who are able to build up excitement around the product or promotion.

Twitter parties, Facebook giveaways, Pinterest postathons, etc. all exist to raise awareness and even create a little hype around a particular product. Use these tools judiciously to get customers to go back to your website and complete some action there- or better yet, sign up for your newsletter.

Social media…a waste of time?

With social media, it’s not so much how much work you put into it but rather, how much forethought. If you have no set goals in mind and no idea of how to measure your efforts, yeah, you won’t see much result from all your Likes or tweets or Pins.

But if you set out with the intention of driving more traffic to your website or growing your email list by some percentage, then social media can help you accomplish that. Like any other marketing tool, social media just needs to be used properly to achieve your intended results.

Now go and Like this post. Or Google Plus it. Or tweet it.

Double Down and Win! My Review of Social Dieting Site DietBet

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Do you have a few pounds to lose? Do you want to make money online while losing that weight?

Then welcome to DietBet, a social dieting site where you bet on your own weight loss and get paid to lose weight. If you have the necessary willpower, you make money…if you slack off, you lose your bet.

How DietBet works

Dietbet runs two types of weight loss bets on its site: a 30-day challenge where you lose 4% of your body weight, and a longer 6-month challenge where you lose 10% of your body weight. Official weigh-ins and weigh-outs occur with the participant standing on a digital scale in front of a full-length mirror and taking photos of himself/herself on the scale as well as the scale itself.

A unique word is generated for each contestant; that word needs to be written on an index card and placed next to the scale during the weigh-ins and weigh-outs. I myself had words like “carrot” “bat” and “caraway” assigned to me.

Participants must wear “airport security attire” and have nothing on their person except for the camera. The same type of clothing is expected to be worn at weigh-out. Oh, and participants can be audited and/or disqualified if there is any suspicion of cheating.

I double down on myself with DietBet

From January 13th to February 9th, I became one of 1,784 participants in the 30-day ShayLoss: MommyLoss Edition dietbet. I paid $30 to bet that I’d lose 4% of my body weight (or 5.8 lbs.). So, I had to go from being 146.2 lbs. to 140.4 lbs.

I then learned that I could participate in up to three dietbets simultaneously. So, to make things interesting (and win more money), I also placed a $25 bet on the 30-day Bikini Body Mommy Challenge that was occurring from January 14th to February 10th. This dietbet had a total of 1,329 participants.

I now had $55 in…and it was time to take my weigh-in photos. Luckily, I only had to do one weigh-in thanks to my contests being so close to one another. After I finished inputting my pictures, I received the following email:

dietbet review

DietBet took only about 5 minutes to verify my weigh-in weight, and then I was ready to rock and roll.

Initial weight loss success- and stagnation

Initially, feeling like all eyes were on me, I lost two pounds within a week and proudly logged my weight deficit; unofficial weigh-ins during the contest are encouraged and consist of you sliding back your weight numbers on the “scale” below:

dietbet weight scale

However, over the course of the next few weeks, I lagged. I had “only” 3.8 lbs. to lose, after all, so why rush? My weight loss pretty much stopped until I realized that the last week of my dual dietbets was upon me.

Swinging into high gear, I put myself on a near fruit fast and ran several miles every other night. My efforts paid off; within a few days, I had already shed another two pounds. I proudly posted my renewed weight loss on the online forums associated with each of my dietbets.

However, the contest’s conclusion was drawing nigh. Would I be able to shed the last bit of weight before the official weigh-outs started? Check out my final tally:

dietbet weigh-out

I achieved my DietBet goal!

One day later, I completed my weigh-out for the other DietBet. At this point in time, my body was in burn mode, so I ended up being another .6 lbs. lighter during my second shoot. As a result, I achieved both of my dietbets. Great!

I received the following email just a few minutes after each of my weigh-outs:

dietbet winner

I patiently awaited my bet payouts, which were not announced until after the contests closed and every winner had had a chance to input his or her winning photographs. My final DietBet winnings were then posted as follows:

DietBet payoutsDietBet review

In the end, I made a grand total of $81.86 on my two initial bets of $55, which gave me $26.86 in bet winnings or a 48.8% return on my investment. That’s not bad, especially considering that my stock investments don’t do as well!

My overall DietBet experience

I found the DietBet site to be really on top of verifying weigh-ins and weigh-outs; it literally took only minutes for an email to be sent to me stating that I was “good to go” following photo submission. Also, the site is well put together and you can usually find the answer to your question on its growing FAQs or via user comments.

You can also set up your own betting group on DietBet and specify whatever bet amount you want- and if you get at least eight participants, your own betting fee is refunded. This is nice because one of the things I wished for with DietBet is that its bets were a bit higher. After all, if I’m going to make the same effort to lose weight, I’d rather have $100 or even $500 on the line versus just $25. However, I also noticed that the larger the initial bet required to join a bet, the fewer the number of participants.

I was a bit surprised to find out that DietBet’s fees run as high as 25% for the lower-range bets under $100; that seems a bit steep to me. However, site fees go as low as 10% if participants are plunking down $500 or more. I never saw any bet run that high, however- the highest bet that I noted was set at $150 and had just over 10 participants.

Dietbet also offers 6-month-long 10% weight loss bets. Initially, my plan was to join one of these bets after finishing my 30-day dietbet; however, as I read more about these 6 month bets, I found out that they actually consist of six 30-day long bets where you re-bet a prescribed $25 or $30 or whatever fee amount each month. Plus, you have to lose about 2% of your body weight each month or forfeit that month’s bet. The last month’s bet, incidentally, consists of simply maintaining your weight loss.

To me, the 6-month plan seemed a bit too rigorous; I know that, when it comes to weight loss, most people lose much more weight at the start of their diets than later on. Thus, you could really encounter an issue with your 6-month dietbet if you lose 10 lbs. one month and then only 5 lbs. the next month, then 2.5 lbs the next, etc.

The only real advantage I could see in doing a 6-month dietbet is that there are random prize drawings each month for the winners. However, you can’t really win free stuff unless you buy tokens (which are $20/each). In a large pool of participants, you’re not very likely to win anyway.

Triple down and win?

As I was tabulating my results for this post, I happened to see that another dietbet was about to start and that the fee was $50. So, I decided to participate. Immediately afterwards, I found a simultaneous dietbet about to begin with a $25 buy-in. So, I bought in. And then yesterday, I found a third dietbet about to start with a $100 fee to participate. I thought about it- and also enrolled in that dietbet. So, as of today, I will be on three simultaneous dietbets. We’ll see if I make even more money this time around.

Update as of March 20, 2014:

Having successfully finished my three dietbets, I just wanted to show off my winnings:

dietbet

The monetary amounts of these bets, moving from top to bottom, were $100, $25 and $50. As you can see, my payout ratios were actually better for the smaller bets versus the larger ones; for example, I made a nearly 43% return on my $25 bet versus just over 18% on my $100 one.  I guess people are less inclined to let $100 go! Anyway, I’m off to blow my winnings on fish fry.

Make Money Online by Reviewing Websites and Mobile Apps

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You can make money online many different ways if you like to surf the Web. One of these ways includes usability testing, or reviewing websites and mobile apps.

What exactly is usability testing?

In a nutshell, usability testing is the user-based reviewing of websites, videos, advertisements, static images, interfaces, prototypes and mobile apps. Users such as yourself open up a website or app and are asked to register online, go shopping for a product or service, conduct a search, compare/contrast a site with that of a competitor, answer questions about site use/feel, etc.

Basically, it’s the equivalent of your web designer buddy standing behind you while you peruse his newly designed website or app and tell him what you think of his creation.

Of course, because you’re working from home and the marketers or web developers aren’t coming to your house or apartment, your actions and facial responses are recorded by a microphone and often by a webcam. Some usability testing sites have you download special software that tracks your keystrokes and where you go online (only during the usability testing process, of course).

Generally speaking, most usability tests pay $10 per accepted test. You might receive several tests within a single week, so you could earn hundreds of dollars per month if you really keep tabs on the usability testing site(s) and register with more than one. Even better, some usability testing sites offer longer and better paying tests and even a chance to join online forums; from what I’ve heard, some of those online forums pay up to $150.

Here are four usability testing sites that you may wish to sign up for:

TryMyUI

You apply to this site by sending in a mock review (with video) of an example website. Once you are accepted, the site sends you usability tests about twice per week based on your demographics. If you successfully complete the usability tests and they are accepted by TryMyUI, you are paid $10 via Paypal. In general, these tests take about 10-15 minutes to complete, so at least in theory, you could be earning $40/hour. Or, just about enough money to go out for a pizza at the end of the week.

What’s great about TryMyUI is that this company does not require that you use a webcam, just a microphone. There also is no software to download and store on your computer. What’s not so great about TryMyUI is that you need to submit a rather lengthy application (compared with other usability testing sites) prior to getting accepted.

Userfeel

This site requires you to download its software and use it while reviewing a mock website as part of your application. Once you are approved, you can earn $10 for each successfully completed website or app review. You will need a microphone as well as a reasonably fast computer to perform user tests; a good example of what exactly you’ll be doing is provided on this Userfeel example video.

Currently, the issue with Userfeel is that the site is booked and so is accepting no new testers. A few weeks back, this site was open to new testers. I’d recommend checking back every other week or so to find out if a vacancy exists.

Userlytics 

This usability testing site does not require its applicants to submit an application; you simply register on the site and wait for your invitation (which for me, happened in the space of five seconds). Once you log in, you can view any open tests that you qualify for as well as your completed tests (and their respective status). Userlytics requires that you be equipped with a webcam and microphone as well as a decent operating system (Windows 7/XP/Vista or MacOS Leopard 10.6 or newer) before you can participate in its tests.

Userlytics usability tests are timed and required to be finished in the space of 10 minutes. Once you finish the test and answer a few follow-up questions from the client, you are prompted to submit your report. Userlytics pays $10 per accepted test and payments are sent via Paypal.

What’s great about Userlytics is that you can quickly sign up to the site by simply providing your name and email. Userlytics also works with some major corporations and brand names that you’ll probably recognize. But just remember that, because you’ll be on webcam during the test, working from home au naturel may not be advisable.

UserTesting

This site has you download its screen-capturing software and perform a five minute website review as part of your application process. If all goes well, you’re accepted and can now perform website and mobile site reviews for $10 and $15, respectively. Payment is made via Paypal. Just like with the other mentioned usability testing sites, you will need a microphone for your computer.

While this site has received some good employee reviews (as noted on Glassdoor) and may even be expanding, it does appear that independent contractors are complaining about the lack of steady work. If UserTesting gains more clients and space in 2014, that story might change.

Don’t quit your (work-at-home) day job…

Keep in mind that most usability testing gigs are emailed out on a first-come-first-get basis. So, if you’re not checking your email throughout the course of the day, you might lose out on usability tests that apply to your demographic. Overall, usability testing is not something that will make you rich, but it will enable you to save up for a nice vacation or that mega-screen TV you’ve been craving. Or, in my case, more sashimi dinners.

7 Websites that pay $50 or More for Guest Blog Posts

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Writing content for others can be discouraging in terms of appreciation (i.e., pay). You pour your heart and soul into a 500-word article for Yahoo! Voices, let’s say, and make a measly $4.50 for your efforts. Or you keep finding the following type of insane job offer:

I need efficient writers to write articles for me
I have plenty of work for only dedicated writers
Articles are simple; 300, 500, 750 and 1000 words
I will pay $1 for 300 word articles, $2 for 500 word article, $3.50 for 750 word article and $5 for 1000 word article (emphasis mine)
No milestones please, so if your bid has milestone I will not select you
Bid for $50 and I will be paying after submission of 5 articles, meaning that if you manage 5 articles within 24 hours then you get paid.
Waiting for bids. Thank you.

Luckily, there are websites out there that do take you seriously by paying good money for your guest blog posts. I’ve listed at least 7 websites that pay $50 or more for your writing. Keep in mind that all of these sites require high quality, novel content that is 500+ words in length and provides value to its readers. Some sites will edit or ask that you edit your content, while others might require an attached photo.

1. The Motley Fool Blog Network

Started at 1:58 PM in November 2011, The Motley Fool Blog Network lets the individual investor discuss stock, ETF and index investment ideas and receive critical feedback in the form of member comments. Furthermore, each syndicated (i.e, posted to Yahoo! Finance, MSN Money, Daily Finance) blog post is paid $50. If your 10 most recent blog posts average 2,500 page views or higher and the staff views your content as top-notch, your compensation goes up to $100/post. The best bloggers may even be offered a writing contract by The Motley Fool. To see an example of my own work, please click here for Fool blog posts by halina23.

2. The Krazy Coupon Lady

Heather Wheeler and Joanie Demer (who have also been featured on TLC’s Extreme Couponing) of The Krazy Coupon Lady accept guest posts on personal finance, saving money, finding coupon deals, etc. and pay $50 for each accepted post. I worked with the KCL team a month ago and was paid $50 by Paypal within 3 days of article acceptance. The site is rather busy, however, so my article has yet to be published.

3. Freelance Switch

If you’re a freelancer and wish to share your advice on the freelance life, helpful resources, ways to make your job easier, employer reviews, etc., then you’ve come to the right place. Freelance Switch will pay you $50 for your content the month after it is accepted on the site. You may also republish your submitted content to your own blog and to offline publications like magazines or books.

4. One Spoon At A Time

Paul Wolfe, the webmaster of OneSpoonAtATime, started paying $50 for guest blog posts back in September of last year. He explains why he pays this amount of money in a post entitled Guest Posts Wanted – $50 Per Post! Paul looks for unique content relating to online businesses- starting and marketing the business, streamlining workload, attracting customers, using unusual sales tactics, etc. He prefers content pitches and asks that the guest blogger actively follow and reply to comments. Incidentally, Paul’s explanation of why he’s paying $50 per guest post provides a link to a writer’s blog that’s also paying $50 per post: MakeALivingWriting.com.

5. Writers Weekly

Do you earn a high income from freelance writing, self-publishing, ghost writing, etc.? Share your tips on writing success with the ezine Writers Weekly and you could receive $60 for your guest blog post. The site asks for query emails first along with examples of your published content.

6. TheTechLabs and Pxl Eyes

Are you so adept at 3D rendition software and applications that others often look to you for help? The Tech Labs is requesting in-depth tutorials on programs such as Adobe Flash, Flex and Air and ActionScript 3. If your tutorial is published, you receive $50-$75. Pxl Eyes is requesting tutorials on all kinds of drawing and 3D rendition programs like Photoshop, Coreldraw and AutoCAD. Payment for an accepted PxlEyes tutorial can be up to $200.

7. The Change Agent

Teachers and students involved in social justice adult education can submit their content to The Change Agent which pays $50 upon acceptance. Additionally, students can submit articles, stories, essays, illustrations and activities to The Change Agent paper and be paid $50 upon content acceptance.

Bonus!

8. Leaving Work Behind

As of March 3, 2014, Tom Ewer has opened up his blog, Leaving Work Behind, to $50 guest posts (upon acceptance). If you’ve recently launched a new business or are simply trying to, Tom wants to hear about it.

Honorable Mentions:

The following sites do not pay $50 per guest blog post, but the writing standards for them are a bit more open and relaxed:

1. Social Moms

Social Moms accepts queries on the subjects of saving money, working at home, health and parenting. I was recently approved to write about MSG as well as super couponing for this site. The compensation is 5,000 points per published post, which equates to $25. You can request payout at 8,000 points via Paypal (i.e., $40) or at 10,000 points via Amazon gift card (i.e., $50).

2. Spark People

This fitness and nutrition website accepts content related to health, weight loss, personal wellness and motivation and pays from $25-$75 per accepted post. Articles submitted to Spark People are expected to be between 800 and 1,800 words in length. Full-time freelance writing gigs may be offered to top-notch writers. Additional writing and freelance writer opportunities can be found at Spark People Writers Guidelines.

3. Rock Solid Finance

If you have some great ideas on making and/or saving money as an entrepreneur, pitch these ideas to David Worrell at RockSolidFinance.com. If your article is accepted, David will pay you $25 or give your website/business up to 2 backlinks- the choice is yours. Be sure to read his guest blog post instructions first, though.

SEO is dead. SEO is not dead. Is SEO…undead?

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Has SEO become the undead?

Ever since Google’s Hummingbird update back in late 2013, many bloggers have announced that SEO is dead (627,000 according to my search query). They’ve also pointed to ensuing announcements from Google, such as Matt Cutts’ declaration that link building is done, as further proof that there is no more need for SEO-building strategies.

In fact, SEO has become a dirty word of sorts, so dirty that SEOMoz recently changed its URL to just Moz.com.

“Build awesome content,” is the mantra of these SEO naysayers…but awesome content for whom? What’s the point of creating and publishing awesome content that no one can find?

In another and much smaller camp are the “SEO is not dead” proponents, who emphasize that SEO has simply changed, not disappeared. Members of this camp publish “helpful hints” lists on how to be compliant with the new SEO, such as by inserting rel=”nofollow” tags on guest post and press release links. Or removing all self-promotional content and ads.

“Keep a low profile and let Google find you,” is their quip.

However, any blogger who writes a killer guest post on Copyblogger or Tech Crunch is not going to be satisfied with simply being mentioned by name. It would be the equivalent of quoting a great source and writing, “Yeah, this person wrote the following stuff somewhere…” Nope, that’s not even proper journalistic form.

Nevertheless, the debate over SEO continues, as evidenced from Google itself:

Google SEO is dead

So, what’s a webmaster, blogger or affiliate marketer to do?

Nothing.

Reports of SEO being dead have been greatly exaggerated- many times.

That’s right. Apparently, the “SEO is dead” card has been played for a long time. Even before the age of Google, Richard Hoy of Tenagra said that “search engines are a dead-end technology.” Then Google came on the scene, and with every search algorithm update it made, the same “SEO is dead” outcry was sounded.

Historically, this has happened during every one of the following updates:

  • 2003, Florida. This update countered keyword stuffing and caused many sites to lose top ranking. It led to many business websites virtually disappearing overnight. Webmasters figured SEO was over.
  • 2004, Austin. Invisible keyword-stuffed sites were penalized and disappeared from the SERP. Again, another major outcry against Google erupted and the end of SEO was declared.
  • 2005, Jagger. Spam linking was derailed, resulting in many link-heavy sites losing position. Entire websites were now dead, as far as their SEO was concerned.
  • 2007, Universal Search. Rich media was integrated into the SERPs, causing some position #1 sites to move to position #2 while larger rich media files populated the results pages. Images and videos, not content, had won the SEO battle, apparently.
  • 2010, May Day. Changes were made to long-tail keyword ranks, effectively lowering the positions of niche websites that stuffed longer search terms. Many affiliate marketers considered their SEO efforts to have been in vain.
  • 2010, Social Triggers. Social media activity was added to the ranking algorithm, leading to many pundits denouncing the need for SEO.
  • 2011, Panda. This update took a swipe at content farms and lowered their rank. Again, SEO, viewed solely as the practice of keyword-stuffing, was noted as being dead.
  • 2012, Penguin. Google’s numerous Penguin updates penalized link farms, paid link and over-advertised websites. Linking for SEO was declared dead, as was pretty much any SEO effort.

Back in 2009, Matt Cutts was even asked if SEO would still exist come 2014. Cutts’ in-depth reply noted that SEO should be just one of a webmaster’s tools, not the end-all and be-all of website operation and improvement. In line with this advice, I’ve compiled a list of SEO strategies that webmasters should consider implementing when setting up or improving their websites:

1. Use Google’s Keyword Planner to get keyword ideas.

Google’s newly introduced Keyword Planner Tool enables webmasters to brainstorm for keyword and ad group ideas. Incidentally, you will need to create an AdWords account to access this tool. Once in this tool, simply describe what your website or blog post is all about.

keyword planner

After you’ve added your text, the tool will display a list of keyword ideas. You should go after those keywords that have low to medium level search volume traffic. In most cases, these keywords will be the long-tail keywords.

seo is dead

These long-tail keywords can be inserted into your website meta tags and/or blog post titles and content.

2. Generate link-worthy and link-containing content.

Create an infographic or SlideShare program that incorporates useful statistics or information about your website and its subject matter. Piktochart and Visual.ly are two sites that enable the creation of free infographics. Make sure that the infographic or Slideshare file links back to your website by using an embed code generator, such as this one that’s available through WordPress:

embedcode

Incidentally, you can create embed codes for your amazing blog posts too.

3. Continue to guest post.

No matter what the SEO rumor mill says, continue to seek out and pitch your guest blog post ideas to top blogs and websites. In your author section, jazz up your description by mentioning a particular benefit that your readers will gain if they visit your website; for example, you might state, “10 Ways You Can Exploit Google’s Hummingbird Update” and link that title back to a blog post or page on your website. This sure beats the usual author descriptor, such as, “Bob is a blogger at IHateSEO.com…”

4. Don’t forget about social media.

Pick one or two social media platforms and take advantage of their syndication properties to publicize your latest article, blog post or graphic. Engage in discussions through sites like LinkedIn or Facebook and, if the conversation warrants it, mention and link to your content.

Redirecting your followers or fans to your own website not only increases your social media mentions, a critical factor in what is now termed social SEO, it also enables you to obtain visitor information (i.e., emails) and increase your subscriber base in exchange for offering some free item like an infographic.

The continuing SEO evolution and you

SEO is an evolving beast and, while you should stay up-to-date on its changing nature, you also shouldn’t let its metamorphoses keep you up at night (assuming you’re not engaging in black hat SEO). If you’re publishing quality content, staying active on social media, and adding value to other websites, then SEO is just one facet of your overall strategy to gain traffic and conversions.

The bottom line here: Don’t sweat the SEO stuff.

How LinkedIn Can Help You Find Your Work-at-Home Job

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If you think that LinkedIn is the sole province of disgruntled employees trying to polish up their resumes and escape to another mind-numbing job, think again.

LinkedIn has been a massively successful venture since its launch in 2003- just check out this company’s history and stats. The site currently boasts over 93 million members in the USA (that’s one out of three Americans) and 277 million worldwide. It even offers its own blog.

Using  LinkedIn’s ad tool to find “likely suspect” freelancers and others that may work-at-home, I located nearly 6.6 million members in North America under the category of Entrepreneurship. ContactLabs’ research on LinkedIn‘s job function stats found at least 11% of all North American LinkedIn members identifying themselves with Entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the category of Entrepreneurship was #1 worldwide, coming in at 10.8%.

Freelancers and those who work-from-home are definitely logging into LinkedIn. And there’s a reason.

LinkedIn is a business network that just happens to be social

Like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, LinkedIn is a social network. However, that’s where the similarities end. LinkedIn is actually a professional business network that just happens to be a social platform too. A good chunk of LinkedIn members are managers, VPs and company presidents. Many more are business owners. These individuals are not looking to show off their latest selfie or play Fish Wrangler. No, they’re looking to hire, network and learn.

How can you make these head honchos notice you when you’re swimming in a sea of 277 million other LinkedInners?

Optimize your profile.

I don’t care what the pundits are saying about SEO being dead. You need to keyword optimize your profile so that , if potential clients are trying to hire an independent contractor, they can actually find you using either the LinkedIn search tool or Google itself.

Be sure to prominently feature the exact type of work you’re trying to do. For example, if you’re looking to work at home as a freelance dog walker, be sure to sprinkle those words throughout your profile at least 2-3 times. I’d also advise actually placing that title behind your profile name, as in “Sally Sue |Freelance Dog Walker|.”

Present yourself as a business

Don’t you just hate it when you meet someone new and all she does is talk about herself and her “exciting” life? Yeah, clients and employers aren’t too fond of self-absorbed freelancers either. When describing your services, don’t make your entire profile into “I did this, and then this, and this too.”

Nobody cares what you did or do. What everyone wants to know is what you can do for them. So, position yourself like the business you are and actually offer something of value to the consumer. For example, state how your freelance dog walking “keeps your furry friends happy and healthy until you return.”

Get those recommendations

Those first few clients (or ahem, volunteers) you engage with and help out can be pure gold for your work-at-home business- if you know how to position them. In exchange for offering your services gratis or at a reduced rate, ask your clients to review you on LinkedIn. Don’t worry too much about getting a bad review either- you have to approve your review anyway. And a dissatisfied client will typically not agree to give you a recommendation. But you need those stellar reviews to prop you up, much like trustworthy businesses rely on customer testimonials and reviews to prop up their brands.

Don’t be a snoozer.

Sign up to a few LinkedIn groups that are in your area of expertise and actively engage in their discussions or start new ones. Become a impassioned advocate of your particular business outlook, or at the very least offer useful and actionable advice. The goal here is to look like an expert who’s not afraid to dole out professional advice, even for free (because there’s more where that came from). Above all, don’t just sign up to LinkedIn’s groups and disappear or make lame comments like “Yeah” and “Ditto,” because that’s just a waste of everyone’s time- including yours.

Don’t be a user.

What’s worse than being a snoozer? Why, it’s being a user or, specifically, an abuser. If you think that publishing your latest blog posts, product promotions, press releases, etc. will garner customers to your doorstep, you are sadly mistaken. There is a major outcry against LinkedIn spam right now, and certain discussion groups become veritable mobs when someone decides that this group is a good place to promote the latest Goji Berry Blast! MLM business or newfangled way to lose weight using this one weird trick. Seriously, don’t do it.

Don’t be a whiner.

When you send a cover letter out, you (hopefully) don’t whine about how you need the money, or no one wants to hire you, or (sob sob) this-and-that. So why is it that when some members go on LinkedIn, they feel a need to complain how they’ve been jobless for the last 10 years or how “stupid employer X” let them go for no good reason?

LinkedIn is your public cover letter and resume. And if you don’t keep it as professional as possible, employers and clients will steer far away from you. So even if you are one utility bill away from an empty bank account, smile and offer a helping hand to that colleague in your LinkedIn dog walking discussion group. You never know what might happen…or what kind of work will land in your lap as a result.

Don’t be a beggar.

Immediately after you connect with your dream client, don’t spook him by asking, “Hey, you got a job for me?” Make small talk, send him a link to something relevant in his work field, or just hang out and see what he’s trying to accomplish on LinkedIn. Above all, don’t appear needy.

Of course, if the client is listing an job through LinkedIn, definitely apply for it and even mention whom you know at this business. Casual name-dropping is what social networking is all about.

And finally…

Have some fun. Remember that you, unlike millions of your mindless drone ex-colleagues or soon-to-be ex-colleagues, have the option of working from home. That means extra time to play with your kids. That means sleeping in on a snowy Monday morning. That means taking your own dog for a walk in the middle of a warm spring afternoon- just because you can.