This SEO Stuff Works

Hello,

Proof, if proof were needed, that SEO really works was the page one listing I got for this blog, thanks to the previous post. Within hours, if you'd Googled 'Lucid SEO', you'd have seen RoyEveritt.com at number five.

I've always said that blogs are by far the easiest sites to optimise, and when you pay some more informed attention to key words and related words and phrases, it's even easier. Of course, I wouldn't have done so well if I hadn't paid attention to David Congreave's report, Lucid SEO on Trial.

Google loves Blogger blogs, and it loves fresh, readable and relevant comment. As long as you can string some reasonably intelligent sentences between the keywords, it's got to be the easiest way to grab a front page place!

Roy

PS. The labels help, too, so always have the keywords in there as well.

Proving SEO is Easy...

...When You Know How!

Hello again,

Recently, I've been asked by a few people to help them get more traffic to their websites, and I've come up with a few tailor-made recommendations for how we can do this.

Most people want quick results and don't have the time to do much work themselves, so I often recommend buying targeted traffic, using PPC. What I tend NOT to recommend is spending too much time on Search Engine Optimisation, because it's not usually so quick and it's something of a 'black art'.

David Congreave would beg to differ, I think, and he's convinced me that SEO is something we should always consider for every website we have a hand in.

To prove his point, David has published a free report 'Lucid SEO on Trial', detailing his campaign to win the SEO ranking contest for the recent Focus Marketing Seminar in London. And win it he did, handsomely, despite being banned by Google almost as soon as he'd started!

The report gives you a very good overview of how Mr Congreave's Lucid SEO system works, and it's worth grabbing, just for that. Plus, he nails a few misconceptions about optimisation (and he helped me modify my recommendations) with this well-written report.

I met David again at the Focus Seminar, and he was looking pretty pleased with himself, as well he might - he even beat the official Focus Marketing Seminars website on almost every major search engine - including Google.

Oh, here's Lucid SEO itself: http://www.lucid-seo.com/?rid=1713

Congratulations, David Congreave and Lucid SEO, and congratulations to you if you take a few of David's optimisation tips and transform your website's rankings.

Roy

So Much to Choose From...

... and so little time!

Hello again,

I'm going to assume, for the sake of argument, that we each have just one lifetime.

I'll also take it as read that you're having as much trouble cramming everything into yours as I am squeezing it all into mine.

And that you'd like your life to be fulfilled and successful, financially secure and interesting. Well, that about sums up my ambitions, anyway.

But there is so much to do, so much to read and listen to and watch, so much to learn and just a finite amount of time. We have to make choices. Specifically, we have to make decisions about what will move us towards our goals and what will just distract us.

So I'm pleased to be able to point you towards a nifty little decision-making tool that could save you hour upon hour of wasted time and effort and speed you towards your goals, whatever they may be. It's free, takes just moments to apply and fills one side of a piece of paper when you print it out.

It's been created by David Congreave (Lucid SEO, The Nettle, Networking Nightmares...), and you'll find it on his website, right here: http://www.thenettle.com/HypeProtector/

Hype Protector, eh? Cool name.

David knows a thing or two about making wise choices. He's made plenty already, although I'm not the only one who's told him he could have chosen to charge for this!

Meanwhile, do you ever get the impression that the Internet has been hijacked? Well now you can take the Internet back, right here.

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS Talking of avoiding hype - if you don't want to be buried under the hype for (whisper it) MI.7, you need to sign up for Roy Everitt dotcom. That way you can get in first, ahead of the rush, and be profiting from the furore that's bond to ensue when (shhh...) MI.7 is opened to the general public. Just visit the sign up box top right on this page and you'll be first to hear.

PPS Did I mention the Hype Protector is free? Well it is. Go here: http://www.thenettle.com/HypeProtector/

Beware the Joint Venture

Hello again...

but hold on - aren't I the one who's been telling you for months that joint ventures are the fastest way to grow a list, build your business and transform your earning ability?

Yep. So maybe I should plead guilty right now to deceiving you all along?

Yes and no.

Joint ventures are a brilliant way to build your business. That means they're also a brilliant way for everyone else to build their business, too. And there are joint ventures and joint ventures...

Just recently, it seems that every other email I get is promoting the idea of joint ventures. Most of them, not surprisingly perhaps, are promoting the idea of joint ventures with the sender of the email. Of course, they're trying to sell me something and there's nothing wrong with that. But what they suggest is not a joint venture at all. It's an affiliate scheme, pure and simple.

Not that there's anything wrong with afffiliate schemes, either. Ask Ewan Chia. But I do think that promoting one thing as something else is wrong.

In a recent email to David Congreave I used the term 'interested affiliate'. I think that's a more accurate name for the kind of joint venture offer that really amounts to 'sell my product for a commission and I may promote something of yours later'. In other words, the affiliate partners have a vested interest in the success of the whole promotion, since it builds a bigger list they may be able to tap into later. But it's not a joint venture, which entails a far more specific relationship and a more tangible return.

To me, a joint venture is where both (or all) parties bring something roughly equal to the table and share the rewards accordingly.

But if you're suddenly bombarded with 'exclusive' or 'limited' joint venture offers from people whom you know wouldn't know you from Adam or Eve, just ask yourself, as always, 'What's in it for me?'

As for me - I usually just press 'delete'.

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

Why Rivals Should be Allies

...and that applies to public speaking as much as anything

Hello again.

As a public speaker, especially an inexperienced and nervous one, you're quite likely to feel anxious and defensive about your position or status. Don't worry - that's quite natural and normal. If you had no nerves you'd have no adrenalin and probably no energy to perform.

Still, away from the stage you need to be more clear-headed about things.

One of the great things about business (that I wouldn't have believed before I gave up the 'day job' a year ago) is the level of cooperation you get between people who could just as easily be rivals. It's the quickest way to grow a business, bar an unfeasibly large cash injection, so it makes sense all round. Often, though, people cooperate and help each other despite having little to gain. I suppose that's because most people are, basically, nice.

So it was good to read a newsletter from David Congreave today, celebrating that fact. David created Lucid SEO, The Nettle and Networking Nightmares, so he knows a thing or two about success and cooperation.

As a public speaker you might well feel all alone and pretty vulnerable up there on the stage. Actually, there's no need if you're prepared to share the limelight, the kudos, the profits and the stress with a 'rival' who operates in the same niche as you.

Think about it, and think about the value your audience gets if they get two experts' views and ideas, two voices to make things more varied and two people essentially reinforcing the principles you're trying to espouse. It makes sense to me.

You'll be marketing to two lists, as well. And that never hurts...

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

Be Ahead of the Crowd

Stick With Me!

Hello, once again.

One of the major benefits of networking to the extent Jacqui and I do, especially now we're well past the 'novice' stage, is that we often get asked to help in the launch of a new product. Because, to do that, we usually have to see a pre-launch edition of whatever we're helping to launch. So we're among the first people to see the new product.

Which is an advantage in itself, because it means we can put new products into action as soon as they're released, while everyone else is still finding out about them.

It also means I can give you advance notice of the really interesting stuff, so you're ready to grab it and get in ahead of the main wave the moment it goes on sale.

Now, a few days ago I told you about David Congreave and his new product, Lucid SEO. I met David at Coventry (actually, the hotel was in Meriden), and was immediately impressed. Another whom I met there was Alex Jeffreys, who is also very definitely going places.

Alex has been in business online for almost exactly a year and had an excellent first twelve months with his first product, 'Easy Profit Auctions'. To mark that anniversary, Alex's second product will be launched very soon. Putting into place everything he's learned in his first year (including not trying to launch a product at Thanksgiving!), Alex is confident this launch is going to be even more successful than his first, and his next twelve months will be even more lucrative than the last twelve.

Not surprisingly, Alex is determined to get everything spot-on for the big day, to the extent that he hasn't even released the name of his new product. But I can tell you it's an information product designed to help anyone who reads it and takes the lessons on board, wildly successful in Internet marketing.

As soon as Alex is ready for 'proper' pre-launch, as opposed to 'pre' pre-launch, I'll be able to tell you more. Meanwhile, I get to see it first, and I can tell you it's good!

Roy Everitt, Writing For Results

PS. Getting advance copies of great new products is just one benefit of mixing with the successful and the up-and-coming. But as incidental benefits go, it's not bad. And if you're not networking, it's something else you're missing out on!