Your website traffic generation strategy quite likely contains content. However, if you spend time on your title page or home page, you can pull quality traffic there too. Here’s how to write a keyword rich title page for your website.

1. Make a list of your primary and secondary keywords. These are the keywords people use to find your information. If you don’t know your primary and secondary keywords, spend some time using tools like Google’s AdWords tool, WordTracker, KeywordDiscovery and other keyword research tools to find out what keywords and keyword phrases are used. Also consider installing something like Google Analytics so you know what keywords people are using to find your website.

2. Categorize your pages including your home page or title page. Outline which pages you’ll use your keywords and keyword phrases on and how you’ll incorporate them into your copy. For your title page, you’ll focus on using your primary keywords and keyword phrases, just one or two, and you’ll choose a few secondary keywords to weave into the copy.

3. Write your title page copy. Don’t worry presently about your primary and secondary keywords, simply write the copy or content. However, try to write your copy so that headings and subheadings are a natural part of the structure. These heading components of your copy play an important role with your keywords.

4. Once your copy is written, return to it and look at it objectively. Where can you fit your keywords naturally? Focus on using your primary keywords in your headline, in your first paragraph and also where they fit naturally throughout your copy. Your secondary keywords will also go into the body of your copy.

5. Go back and use your keywords and keyword phrases in your headings and subheadings. Search engine spiders look in these key places for keywords and keyword phrases.

6. Test keyword density. Once you’ve gone back through your title page and placed your primary and secondary keywords in, test it. Use a tool like GoRank’s Keyword Density Analyzer and type in your domain and keyword phrase. It will give you a percentage for specific areas of your page including your copy. Experts recommend a keyword density of no more than 5% (five words per 100). However, don’t get too carried away. Firstly, you want humans to benefit from reading your page and then lastly search engines.

7. Make sure everything is coded accurately. You want to make sure your html code is accurately reflecting your keywords. Double check your title tags, your header tags, your meta tags for the page and your keyword tags. Also, if you have any images, give them a description and an image tag so the search engines don’t completely overlook them.

Writing a keyword rich title page is easy when you follow these steps. While preparing your page for the search engines, remember it is a human that buys your products or services. The major key is to make sure to write your copy so that it is customer focused.

The world of a blogger is often lonely.  For a solopreneur with a blog, it can be a frustrating process.  You pull from the depths of your creativity for ideas for posts, you spend hours crafting them and honing the words to be just right, you post and you sit with the silence that often follows.  Sometimes you have comments or even better, dialogue, in response to your posts.  Usually, you just hope that your blog subscribers are checking, reading and enjoying.  The truth is that it’s almost impossible to know who is reading what you have written.  This is no excuse not to write nor is it a reason to slack off in your quantity or quality.  Because people are reading and you never know who they may be.

This idea came home to us this week when we discovered that this blog had been quoted by a writer for Forbes.com.  Here’s the link to read the article about time management and distractions for solopreneurs, a topic we cover periodically.  The writer, Linda C. Smith, has an impressive list of writing credentials.  She is experienced herself in the entrepreneurial world as she is a writer, a mosaic artist and a distributor of a nutritional product.  I also went and explored one of Linda’s blogs and recommend it as another spot for you to generate ideas and even participate in conversation about your needs as a small business owner.

Please share your comments here about our quote on Forbes.com, Linda’s blog or your own ideas about what it’s like to be an entrepreneurial blogger.

The popularity of blogging is increasing by the minute. Because of this, the need for blogging software is also increasing. Using a software that caters specifically to blogging can simplify the entire process. The task of selecting a software package is overwhelming because there are many different packages available.

The process of choosing the most appropriate blogging software is not as difficult as it may seem. Since you’re a virtual business owner, you spend a great deal of your time online. Do some research and you will find helpful websites that can simplify the software selection process.

These websites can provide you with comparison charts so that you can compare the different software packages.

You can save a lot of time by making use of the comparison charts because they have all the information you’ll need in choosing the right software. However, for the purpose of choosing the appropriate software using the charts, you need to look for other important information such as the methods used for comparing the software, understanding the charts, and some helpful tips in selecting software.

Before you attempt to compare the different blogging softwares which are available, you must understand certain criteria. You have to understand the minimum requirements for the server, design, post editor and data storage. If you can understand these things, you can compare the different software packages.

There are many different types of blogging platforms, but the preference of many is to install the software on their server. Take some time to talk to your current webhost to learn more about your server’s capabilities. Depending on the software you choose, you may have additional costs for the license requirements of the software.

In comparing the different blogging software packages on the market, it is imperative that you find the best blogging software for your needs and for your business. Be sure to identify your needs, in advance, so that you can choose the appropriate software package.

Do I want to just use the software as a blog?

Do I want to incorporate my website into this software?

Do I just need a simple sales page?

Do I just need a squeeze page?

Once you’ve evaluated the packages, it’s now time to install the software or use the software housed on the blogging server you chose. This is a very important decision so you need to think things out carefully.

As an educated consumer, you shouldn’t forget about versatility and cost. There are free software packages as well as paid packages. You need to choose between the free packages or purchase one that can exactly meet your needs.

The personal preference for Solopreneur.biz is WordPress.org. This software is available free as an open source option. The software is installed on your server and you have complete control over the look and feel of your completed blog and/or website. Additionally because the software is located on your own server you own all of your links. But best of all you have all of the control.

People want good information. If the seekers are looking for something in your niche, you want them to find you. One way to gain new leads is through newsletters.

Wouldn’t it be great to get the information you need delivered right to your inbox? You can, or at least your readers can if you create a newsletter.

Your website contains content that will help draw your target market to you. You use keywords (that you carefully researched), catchy headlines and other tricks to provide interesting tidbits for your readers. Do you have some awesome marketing or technology tips for your target market? Save those for the newsletter.

Benefits of a Newsletter

What makes a newsletter so special? It gives the reader more detailed information than they can find on your website. You can upsell it as exclusively for subscribers. That alone can get your readers to opt-in for it and also tell their friends.

What are the components of a newsletter? It varies, but the more features you add, the more attractive it will be. Here are a few ideas:

• Contest entries
• Preview new products before the general public
• Discount coupons
• Letters from you
• Tips and articles
• Pictures
• New product info

Newsletters are usually delivered monthly on the same date each month. You can set your newsletters up to be delivered through your autoresponder service so your subscribers get them on time.

Newsletters can be created in a couple of different ways. Some people have their entire email be their newsletter. It is a one-page piece that includes links to areas on your website where they can find more information. If it is a contest entry, a link will bring them to the landing page where they can enter and read up on the contest particulars. That page can also link to other offers they may be interested in.

Others post emails that tell you the newest newsletter is available. Subscribers click a link that takes them to a “subscriber only” area of your website. Here they can read and download the newest newsletter. Also let them know that they can access your archive of newsletters that were created before they found your site. Creating timeless content makes these past pieces valuable months or years later.

Want to build your list? Offer newsletters to readers if they subscribe to your site. By including some of the information above, readers can stay connected in such a way that eventually leads to recurrent sales.

If you want people to know what you are up to in your online business, shout it from the rooftop of Google. One way to do this is through the use of press releases to promote your website. Not only does it get the word out about your business, press releases are a great form of search engine optimization.

What is a Press Release?

A press release is basically an announcement. You see them in newspapers and online. In this post we’ll show you how to use the online approach.

When something exciting and new is going on in your business, this is a simple but effective way to let people in on the good news.

These one-page write ups highlight a particular event that is pertinent to your business. When your website is up and running send a short press
release to let others know that you are on the scene. Other reasons to write a press release might include a new product launch, a new website launch or a new partnership you are embarking on.

Tips for Writing a Press Release

Like we said above, press releases are most effective for website promotion when they are kept to one page. Anything longer and you will lose your audience right away. The point is to grab their attention quickly and hold it long enough for them to click and visit your website.

To get all of that said and done in one page takes focus – a targeted approach in your press release writing. There are a few key things to

include in your press release:

• Keyword-rich headline (include the line “For Immediate Release” underneath it)
• Summary of the release (2-3 short sentences)
• The where, when, who, what, how and why for the press release
• Bulleted points (easier to read)
• About your company
• About you
• Your bio

A catching headline let’s others know what is going on. They will become intrigued and have to read more. Headlines with keywords also help your press release to rank high with the search engines which is what you want so that relevant traffic can find it.

In a conversational manner, lay out the facts for your readers in the body of the press release. You can create a scenario for your readers using a real event from your life such as what prompted you to start the Internet business in the first place. Or, you can link your “big announcement” to some event already big in the news to gain attention.

After you engage them, don’t forget to add your website so they can find out more information about your product, site launch or whatever else you are announcing. Your increased traffic will help you gauge how effective your press release has been.

There are websites that will let you showcase and distribute your press releases for free. You will get all the buzz you can handle if you go this route. Here are a few of the ones to check out:

• PRBuzz.com
• 24-7PressRelease.com
• Free-Press-Release.com
• PR.com
• PRLog.com

Sites like these distribute press releases to news sites, search engines and other relevant places to increase your traffic.

Press releases can get you noticed on the Web. If you know how to write one properly you are even more ahead of the game. Use them to promote all aspects of your website business and watch your business grow.

When content marketing is a large part – or even a small part – of your business marketing strategy, it pays to learn to write articles. With this five-step process you can write educational, value driven, and informative content quickly and easily.

Step 1 – Choose your article topic or keywords and form it into a question. So for example, let’s say your keywords are “inexpensive marketing ideas” and you want to write an article about inexpensive marketing ideas. These keywords formatted as a question might look like this: “What are the most useful inexpensive marketing ideas?” or “What are the top three inexpensive marketing ideas for coaches?”

This is an extremely writer-friendly technique because it’s much easier to answer a question quickly and succinctly. And when you perform your keywords search, you’ll often find the phrases are already formatted as questions.

Step #2 – From that question, add three additional questions that relate to your main topic. For example,

* What is the best way to use social media as an inexpensive marketing tool?
* Where can I find out the best inexpensive marketing ideas for my target market?
* How do I choose the right marketing idea?

Step #3 – Answer each question with a four or five sentence answer. This is where the true writing begins and you’ll find that writing a paragraph, or two, to answer your question is quite easy. The best online content is easy to understand and written conversationally. This question and answer technique facilitates conversational writing. The question and answer format also helps create articles that are easy to read online. Short paragraphs with subheadings are easy to scan and absorb the value quickly.

Step #4 – Write a quick introduction. Once you’ve answered the three main questions in your article, it’s time to go back and write the introduction. Again, this will be a four to five sentence paragraph, only this time you want to introduce the problem you’re addressing in your article and provide a benefit for reading the article. You want to motivate people to continue reading.

Step #5 – Write your conclusion. Your conclusion is merely a re-emphasis of the benefit in your article and a quick summary of your key points.

You’ll also want to include a call to action here, like “Visit my website for more information” and include a hyperlink.

By formulating your article as a series of questions, you’re able to write the answers quickly and provide valuable information to your prospects. It’s a useful technique for just about any article type or subject matter. Give it a try, chances are you can cut your article writing time in half with this simple five-step process.

Blogs are a great way to connect and build relationships with your potential clients. Depending on what you talk about, they can help you reach a completely new audience and they give your audience a way to get to know you and your brand, and to participate in your community. All of these are important for both growing your business and growing your blog following. Often, however, even the biggest blogs make little mistakes. They forget or overlook some important features. Here are seven features to implement on your blog:

Subscribe or RSS feed. There’s nothing more frustrating, as a visitor, than finding a blog you enjoy and not being able to subscribe to it. People are busy, too busy to remember to visit your blog on a daily or weekly basis. Cut them a break, and yourself, and offer an option to subscribe to your blog so each new post is delivered via email, sent to a reader or shows up on their iGoogle page.

Contact/About information. Have you ever visited a blog and thought, “I wonder who this blog belongs to? Where are they? Who are they?” Trust me, readers think this and they want to know. If they can’t find out a bit about you, determine your credibility or make some sort of connection, they’ll move along. Retain your visitors by sharing a bit of information about yourself including a means by which they can contact you.

Comments. Some blogs intentionally do not allow comments and while they have their reasons, most people like to be able to leave a comment if they have something to say. If you’re considering not allowing commenting because you want to avoid spam, then check out a few of the spam blockers like Askimet, which is available for WordPress blogs. If you’re avoiding allowing comments because you don’t want to respond to them, consider outsourcing the job and having someone moderate your posts, or just set ten minutes aside at the end of each day to respond. People like the interaction and it draws more readers.

Archives, popular posts, popular comments, tags and other associated identifiers. People search and read blogs differently. Some simply read the most recent post and move on while others search by category or tag. Some people will want to read the most popular posts and others will want to sift through your archives post by post. Provide a number of options for your visitors to search by.

SEO plug-ins. One of the wonderful features about a blog is that it’s welcomed by the search engines due to frequent and easily indexed content. That being said, there are an abundance of quality search engine plug-ins, particularly for WordPress, which make optimizing your posts for the search engines quick and easy.

Social networking and bookmarking features. With Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Reddit, and other social networking and bookmarking sites growing in popularity, it pays to include options on your blog. You can ask people to tweet your posts, post or link to them on Facebook, Digg them and so on. It’ll draw traffic and subscribers.

Google Analytics. You want to know how many people are visiting your blog, where they’re coming from, how many posts they read and how long they stay on your site, right? Google analytics will tell you all that and more. To make good decisions about how to grow your blog, it pays to have the kind of information an analytics tool can provide.

Blogging is extremely popular and useful, and along with this popularity comes a bevy of useful tools. Take advantage of these tools and resources to grow your subscribers, profits and business.

Writing and creating content for your website is perhaps the single most important marketing and business-building strategy available to online business owners. However, in addition to simply creating content, you want to have your articles and content read. Articles that are compelling pull the visitor into your website where they’ll continue to search for more valuable content. They will begin to not only remember your website as a source of good content but also as a reliable business.

Here are five tips to get your articles and blog posts read:

Compelling Headlines

Your headline is the first thing that your visitor or reader will notice. It must grab their attention by appealing to their emotions, making a promise, offering a benefit, inciting controversy, arousing curiosity or stating something newsworthy.

Layout

How you present your content may very well be the next most important factor in getting your article read, right behind your headline. Articles that are heavy with long paragraphs are often skipped. Not because the reader isn’t interested in the content, they’re just not interested enough to spend the time reading the article for value.

In general, people tend to skim when they read online, and an article that is difficult or cumbersome to read won’t be read. Instead, use shorter paragraphs, short sentences and formatting like bold type, bullets or numbers, and subheadings to help your reader make a decision to read your article.

Intro Paragraph

Your intro paragraph is next in line in importance to getting your article read. It should be short and to the point, yet still compelling. Your intro paragraph is used to set the stage for the rest of the article. It’s where you let your potential reader know what you’re going to tell them.

Use Images

Photos, graphics and illustrations come next. For some reason we’re attracted to content with images. Maybe it’s because it breaks up the content or maybe it’s because a few good images can help you tell your story. If you can include relevant images in your content, it will draw the eye of readers.

Compelling Bio

Credentials is the last tip. Sometimes a website visitor does two things: they read the headline and then they scan down to see who wrote the article and if they’re qualified to talk on the subject. This is particularly important if you’re publishing articles on websites, blogs and ezines that are not affiliated with your business website. Create a bio paragraph that puts you in a good light and boosts your credibility and authority.

Getting your content written is half the job, getting it read is the other half. And in addition to these top tips, it is of course essential that you market your content with a variety of marketing and traffic generation strategies.

Linda Dessau of You Talk, I’ll Write shares her knowledge about how to keep track of all your inspirations in this guest post. We all need help with our writing – blogs, newsletters, email and more – Linda is the expert.  Don’t miss signing up for her video – 7 Secrets of Content Marketing Success.

For solopreneurs who have decided to implement a content marketing strategy, there’s nothing more disheartening than writer’s block. After all, content marketing is no quick fix—it requires consistent effort to deliver the high-quality content that you will get you noticed and remembered by the people who will use and refer your services. The pressure is on!

One of my favourite tools to help with writer’s block is the idea catcher. An idea catcher is—literally—a place to catch your ideas as you think of them, so that even if you don’t have time to develop them in that moment, they’re not lost. When you’re sitting at your computer, an idea catcher might be a file, an online journal or mind mapping program, or a “draft” post saved in your blogging account.

When you’re away from your desk, carry a small notebook or audio recorder with you at all times, and have somewhere to store your notes, such as a folder or an “idea inbox” on your desk.

Key benefits of the idea catcher include:

• Awareness. You’ll start noticing ideas more when you have a mechanism in place for capturing them (result: more creativity)
• Choice. With a pile of ideas to choose from at any time, you can select the one that has the most juice for you in that moment (result: higher quality articles)
• Abundance. Ideas tend to multiply, with one idea sparking another, so that even if you don’t develop them all, you will have thought of more topics than you would have otherwise (result: you have more fun, get better results, and stick with it)

Aside from always having an idea catcher at the ready (and I mean always—I even have a waterproof pencil and notepad in my shower) here are three other things you can do to generate more ideas every day:

1. Feed your mind with information—not just about your area of expertise, but whatever interests you. You’ll be amazed at the connections you can make and the articles that can come out of it.
2. Get out and experience more from life. Try new things, meet interesting people, travel and support the arts. You will have more to offer and share when you get home.
3. Fuel your body for creativity by getting enough sleep, rest and water. When you are rested your brain functions at a higher level and tasks flow more easily. Drinking water will hydrate your body and your mind, essential for creative work, but just being near flowing water can also inspire creativity.

Once you have multiple idea catchers in place and implement these feeding techniques, your writing will take on a new rhythm and sense of ease. Leave the struggle behind and start filling your idea catcher—you’ll be thankful for those gems the next time you’re staring at a blank screen.

Linda Dessau is the founder of You Talk, I’ll Write and the Idea Generator blog. She ghostwrites and edits content for newsletters, blogs and social media. Her clients are coaches and others who want to build trust, relationships and credibility while growing a service-based business. Feeding your idea catcher every day is only one of her 7 Secrets of Content Marketing Success—you can discover them all when you sign up for the free video.

As an entrepreneur, your systems are the processes and procedures by which everything in your business runs. When your systems work, everything runs smoothly, or as smoothly as possible when running a business.

Systems are essentially a step-by-step process written out for each aspect of your business. They help you stay on track, they make you more efficient, they streamline your business and they help you see where you can improve and where your business is excelling. When your systems work, everything runs smoothly. When they don’t work…well you get the picture.

Some potential systems include:

• Customer service

• Marketing

• Sales

• Product creation

• Product development

• Purchasing

• Production

• Producing an ezine

• Billing

• Invoicing

• Outsourcing

Systems are particularly useful when you’re outsourcing a task to a virtual assistant. If you’ve done the processes in advance, then, you’ll have everything written down from the very first to the very last step, and your virtual assistant will know how you like your business handled.

Creating your systems

The first step to creating systems is to realize what processes your business uses. Simply make a list of the processes you go through on a daily or weekly basis. Once you have your list, it’s time to actually create your systems. They’re created initially by simply writing down the steps to accomplish a task. As new processes are added to your business, you’ll simply create a new system for that process. For example, if you add on an affiliate program then you’ll have several new system like a payment system, a communication system, a recruiting system and so on.

Once your systems are created, the processes can be fine-tuned by using several steps. Firstly, you may want to simply evaluate the process you’ve written to see if it works and if there are any loopholes or steps you’ve missed. Secondly, you may want to include goals and measurements to determine whether the system is a success.

For example, if you have a customer service system and your goal is to have 100% customer satisfaction, and you end up losing 20% of your customers due to an inadequate customer service policy, then you know the system needs to be tweaked.

Storing your systems

Because you are a business owner, you are probably on your computer at least 50% of the working day, and more than likely you’re on it almost 100% of the working day. This means it makes sense to organize your systems on your computer. A simple file with the date and the name of the system will make them easy to access. You’ll also want to organize your goals and how you’re going to measure the goals.

Systems are a business owner’s best friend. They’ll help keep you on track and running smoothly today, tomorrow and for years to come.