Congratulations on making it this far. You may have noticed there were a few 'barriers' we put in the way for you to ever get to this page.  It's not merely 'no pain no gain'. At Earthgrid we're looking for the few clients who are willing to do what it takes to succeed. We used to have these pages out in the public view and we found that it simply educated our competition and caused confusion. So, we're only making these pages available to our subscribers, customers and clients.

This magazine is an interactive magazine, meaning that because you are a subscriber you will also be receiving add-on products we highly recommend, invitations to special events and video seminars by E-mail.  You can unsubscribe at any time, however you will also lose the access to our magazine.

The purpose of Insider magazine as the name implies is to give you the Insider knowledge that I've gained over years in being a SEO consultant for celebrities and businesses.  In short, I've always made my clients a lot more money than they invested in my services, but it takes time. How much time depends on a variety of factors.

The magazine is organized into tabs and it is all on one page. Simply click on each tab and read the contents below.  You will see links that will lead you out of the magazine into other destinations. We strongly recommend you press the CTRL or CMD key when visiting these links to open them up in a new window.

Latest Links:

Support.earthgrid.com, - This is the 'users manual' to the compete web site architecture we use at earthgrid.com. Hundreds of pages of information and we're updating it all the time.

Earthgrid Marketing Blog - This is the online Marketing Blog that is used in conjunction with our Blogtalk Radio Show.  You can listen to hours of information about SEO.

Most of the information you will find in these pages is unlike what the other SEO Guru's promise - "a quick top ten listing in the search engines" . Let me tell you - there is no such thing unless you're getting a listing that nobody is searching for but once a month. The Linking tab explains this and gives you the two tools I use personally to analyze whether its worth going after a given key phrase either in PPC or natural SEO.

It will take time and work but the payoff is worth it.

In Your Service,

Viktor Grant

5 Secrets for Winning The Search Engine Game

Are you not showing up where you want to be in search engines?

Search Engine Optimization isn't a mystery or arcane science practiced by a handful of internet search engine gurus.  Yet it does require a basic understanding of how the Internet works.

Here are three major steps you can take with your website to improve your rankings. Interlaced between these steps are the 5 Secrets. We strongly recommend you follow these steps IN ORDER.

Step One

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Build a new web site or modify your existing site in such a manner that it's easy for search engines to find your site, index the site and position you in their directory.

SEO SECRET #1: "never offer a HOME link on your website (or at least don't call it home).

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For example, if your web site sells 'golf clubs', name your home page "golf_clubs.html", set your title tag to "golf clubs" and most importantly, set the links in the footer of your website with the words "golf clubs" rather than "home."

SEO SECRET #2: 

Add a few years to your old domain name.

Step Two.

Determine the search terms or keyword phrases that your target audience is most likely to use to find products or services that you sell. 

Use these tools: Adwords Keyphrase Tool   and  Traffic Estimator Tool

Incorporate these keyword phrases into your web pages in a proper manner.  In other words if you're going after the phrase 'golf clubs', be sure that you 'sprinkle' that phrase throughout the language on your web site and especially your home page.

It is also more important that those words appear not too often and not too far down on the page. You want your key phrase to appear close as possible to the top of the page.

SEO SECRET #3: Have a Beautiful Website That Makes Sense with Keyword-Relevant Language.

In other words, you need not only a natural looking opening page to your website with about 600-800 words on it, ideally, you also need a GOOD LOOKING site. If your site looks 'ugly' , chances are that you won't make it in the top 10.

Step Three.

Persuade websites in similar topic areas to 'endorse you' i.e. offer links to your site, so that search engines know your site is a relevant and important destination.

LINK EXCHANGES WORK. PERIOD.

Let me explain why.  Exchanging links or having a links page is what the Internet was founded upon. Linking in between your pages on your site is one factor, linking TO other sites is another factor, and other sites linking back to you is still another factor.

I can tell you this. Our clients get more repeat business from links they have placed on strategically aligned websites that send them continual business than they do from all the search engines put together.

The reason for this is simple. When you are leaving a site and 'exploring' a site that you already know recommends, you tend to trust that site more than you would from a search engine.

Also, search engines pay a lot of attention to WHO is endorsing you. The more relevant they are, the better.

Finally, news sites, blogs or periodicals, contrary to popular belief, DO NOT improve your ranking. The search engines are smart enough to know that yesterday's news is dead news. They are looking for consistency.

SEO SECRET #4:

Establish yourself as an Aggregator.

You have to understand that the search engines are in the business of selling advertising. If you are a business, from their point of view, you are supposed to be advertising with them and pay-per click.   If you are an aggregator, then you are writing articles about the topic area you are interested in, and you are linking OUT and other people are LINKING IN to you.  You are not directly selling, you are providing information ABOUT what it is you are selling and you are also exchanging links with your competition. You are also advertising your competition if you put advertisting on your website.

Here are my 3 rules about Linking:

SEO

Secret #5: Shock the System.

When they see that you aren't and you've done everything right, and you actually are doing a really big launch (because lots of other websites OTHER THAN YOU say so), they will make a note of it.  You need a lot of people writing articles about you. Do it all at once.  Then keep it up!  Over the next 90 days, keep adding links and keep growing, whatever it takes.  When you finally reach the top 10, you'll stay there.

If You Already Have An Eathgrid Site You're 80% of the Way There

With your Earthgrid Site here are 6 actions steps you can take today:

1. In Your Earthgrid Site, simply log in, hover on the Control Panel and choose Site Properties.
   
2. Under Site Title put in your target key-phrase. Every page in your site will begin with this phrase, you may want to include your business name AFTER your key phrase.  For example:  Golf Clubs and Golf Equipment - American Golf Retailers
   
3. Now go to your 'Home' Page. Hover on Control Panel and choose Page Properties. Change the name from 'Home' to another Key Phrase i.e.  'Online Golf Shop"
   
4. Click on Special features, change the name of the HTML page to something like 'golf_clubs.html' - Unlike other CMS web site systems, Earthgrid sites allow your 'home' page to be any phrase you choose, you must use underscores in between words, because rules of the internet prohibit spaces in page names.
   
5. In the Footer area of your site put a link to your now new 'Online Golf Shop' page, i.e. your new home page. This makes sure that EVERY PAGE in your site links back to your target key phrase.
   
6. Publish Your Site. Everything else will update automatically.
   

Recommended Tools You Can Use for SEO

Earthgrid.net Link Manager - create an earthgrid.net account in our "Social Network for Entrepreneurs."

After you have registered, you will be prompted to create another web site.  We strongly recommend you do this and use this new site for your SEO aggregator marketing (not your regular site). Finish making this site and then go to http://www.earthgrid.net and log back in.

Why? because you can link back and forth with relevant key phrases between your sites. The HTML code for the link exchange code appears on the Marketing Tab , Link Exchange button.  By having more than one Earthgrid site, you can optimize your linking campaigns and focus each site on an aspect of your business. It is a lot more cost-effective than pay-per click ads and you never know - you may land a phrase that can bring you 10-20 visitors per day!

That is why we price our sites at $1/day - each site should eventually bring you more than 1 new visitor per day, which is what you would be paying for per click-thru from any of the other search engines.  Now if each new site brings you 2-3 visitors per day, you've broken through! Create another site and repeat the process. Then eventually link all your sites together in a wheel. That's how you build a network.

Search Engine Simulator - Here is a handy free tool to see how your website appears to search engines

SEO Elite - This software and e-course combination gives you a big head start in developing your own SEO campaign. You'll save time and money by using this handy piece of software to target your key phrases.  - learn more

Keyword Elite - Know exactly what the "money keywords" are. The keywords that BUYERS are searching for! Use these keywords to increase your sales. Nothing else will show you these.

Link Popularity or Link Building refers to the number of incoming links pointing to your site. Building link popularity is one of the most important and critical aspects of any effective natural search campaign.  Search engines consider your web site to be important if more links point to your site using the keywords you wish to rank for.  Search engines view a static link to your website as a "vote" of popularity for your website thus increasing your overall natural rankings in the search engine results.

When link building is done effectively, and through the proper strategies, it is successful and is a vital component of off-page SEO success - leading to improved natural and organic rank within the search engines.    While Google is, indeed, the leading search engine, estimated to hold 80 percent of all traffic, Yahoo and MSN do account for most of the other 20 percent in Internet searches.  For this reason, we do develop campaigns that attack all three search engines effectively.

Because 80% of all internet searchers fail to look beyond page one and two of their natural and organic search results, and fail to click on PPC ads, it is important to develop an online marketing campaign that will drive your site to the top of the organic and natural search results for those keywords currently associated and indexed for your website.  In terms of web search, the top 3 PPC results tend to get about 3-5% of the clicks while the top 5-6 natural listings will get about 28% of the clicks when a given query is made by a user.  In fact, studies have shown that 80% of Internet searchers will not, and do not, connect to websites that aren’t on the first page of their search results. 

Also, organic rankings are far more affordable than pay-per-click. For example:  The keyword "Critical Care" is estimated at a cost of $1.40 per click.  There is an estimated 40 clicks per day on that term.  The monthly total for that ONE keyword would be $1,680 per month vs. organically targeting over 15 keywords for less than $1000/mo.

To achieve optimal traffic, it is important to develop a link building campaign that targets keywords that are highly searched on the internet, and then push your site to the top of the organic and natural search results for those same keywords.  As your traffic increases, your opportunity for generating revenue will increase at which point you may want to consider adding the additional keywords to your marketing campaign.

Your Next Steps

In order to start your link popularity campaign we will need the following from you:

1.  Your Destination URL - where do you want traffic to show up at on your website?
2.  Your Target Key Phrases - before using our service, research the popularity of your key phrase using:

Adwords Keyphrase Tool   and 

Traffic Estimator Tool

Seven Savory Ingredients to Converting Web Visitors Into Profits

What is it that you want a web site visitor to do when they come to your web site?  Internet Marketing Experts have said that it takes on average SEVEN interactions with you or your website, before people will BUY from you.  How will you start an electronic conversation with your web site visitors? We recommend using a series of forms, auto-responders and engaging email information announcements:

Request For Information Form : a simple form that requests important information you need to determine if your potential customer is suited for what you have to offer

Autoresponder: the form instantly sends them an e-mail back. When your potential customer opens and reads your email, that is your second interaction with your potential customer

The Article Page : at the end of the email put a link BACK to a different page on your website, not normally accessible from the home page. When they click on this link they are now interacting with you a third time.  Have this page go to an article and then to the details form. This article should include free and beneficial info for your visitors. 

Details Form : When they fill out this form it will ask them a lot of details and lead them to another page that thanks them for their time and tells them to check their e-mail for more information.

Second Autoresponder E-mail : You create a 'New Mailing' list and Database that contains another autoresponder e-mail that informs them a bit more. It includes a link to your sales page.  Tip: NEVER put sales copy in an e-mail. 

Sales Page : they click on the e-mail link and visit your sales page which informs people about your products or services.

Purchase Page   - this is the 7th interaction with your site visitor. They can purchase your product.

Using these seven interactions, you have tracking system to measure exactly where in the enrollment process your site visitors are at in every stage of the sales process.  By understanding that the majority of your web site visitors will NOT BUY from you initially, you can use this model as a way to dramatically increase your profits per visitor.

Mini-sites Don’t Mean Mini-income!

Set up quick and easy mini-sites to sell single products in hot niches, and watch your passive income explode.

Mini-sites are quick and easy to set up…and profitable. Don’t let the name fool you. These small, highly focused sites are the key to exploiting targeted niches for maximum return.

Most aspiring online marketers start out dreaming of dollar signs. They usually spend large amounts of money on tools (software, how-to ebooks, etc.) Then they get to work and find out the promise of overnight success isn’t so easy. You certainly can achieve success quickly, but to do it, you have to focus like a laser beam on business models that make sense…and make money.

That’s why mini-sites need to be a tool in your toolbox. In this report, I’ll hand you everything you need to know to start using mini-sites in your business, even if you’re just starting out. In fact, mini-sites are especially helpful if you are just starting out!

What’s A Mini-Site?

A mini-site is just a small site that sells (most typically) a single product. That product can be anything from a very short PDF report to a high-ticket service. The product really doesn’t matter. What counts is the business model.

A mini-site is quite possibly the simplest online business model there is, for several reasons:

·         It’s easy to set up (I’ll show you how)

·         It doesn’t require much technical expertise at all (you can hire somebody to help for cheap)

·         Because it’s easy and simple, it’s possible to set up a mini-site in a few days at most

Many people hear the term mini-site and think these sites have to be rinky-dink. Not at all! I’ll show you a case study later that proves the point.

5 Keys To Mini-Site Success

There’s absolutely nothing mysterious about how to be successful with mini-sites. The keys to success are the same ones you’ll need for almost any marketing effort, whether online or offline. That’s one of the great reasons mini-sites are a good starting point for many new marketers—learn what you need to learn here, and you’ll set yourself up for future wins.

The first key to mini-site success is finding a 'hungry market.' Copywriting legend Gary Halbert used that phrase to describe a market that’s almost 'desperate for what you want to sell'. Think about a restaurant that opens up right in the middle of a busy business district. They’ll be swamped with customers because…they sell what those people are hungry for!

In mini-site terms, this means you need to find a niche that has a need for information you can deliver. That information can take several different forms, but it’s pretty easy to think about an ebook, so let’s stick with that example. So, find a market hungry for an ebook you can give them.

The second key is to have a targeted product. That means having a product that’s exactly something people in your market want. The closer you can get to what they want right now, the more successful you’ll be. Imagine a crowd that desperately wants to find out how to cut their home electric expenses…and you give them a guide telling them how to slash their costs by 80% or more. They’ll beat your door down, if you keep the next key in mind.

The third key is to have an attractive price point for your product. This is completely driven by your market. If you charge $1,000 for your ebook, that might be in line with what the market will bear, or it might be outrageous. Only a little research into what people in your market are paying for things will help you know. Beyond that, you’ll have to experiment with prices to see what sells.

The fourth key is to have compelling sales copy to sell your product. Remember, when people buy an information product online, they don’t get to see it or touch it. The only thing that’s going to sell the information you’re offering is your sales copy. It has to press the emotional hot buttons that will compel somebody to take out his wallet and give you money.

The fifth key is to make payment quick and easy. This means you absolutely must accept credit cards. That’s how most people buy online (and with PayPal, which you should accept as well). If you don’t accept credit cards, you’ll lose sales.