How To Create A Link

I have gotten a few emails over the last month from people that do not understand how to make links. In the tool bar of most word processing and publishing programs, is a button with a symbol that looks like two pieces of chain link hooked together. The two links are usually on a round circle. For publishing in blogger the round circle is green.

To create a link, simply highlight the word you want to make the link on and click on that button. A box will pop up. Copy and paste the url of the web page you want linked to in that box and hit enter. You are done. Some programs give you a few more options but it is basically that simple.

Linking on a specific word creates what is called an anchor text link. This not only directs your reader to relevant information, but directs the search engines also. So if you website or blog is mostly about a particular subject, link on the your most important keyword with a link to your main page. This will tell the search engines that the main page is most relevant to that keyword. For example this blog is mostly about blog marketing. I linked to the main url and now I have "link juice" with that word. Sites that end up on the first page of a search tend to have a lot of link juice.

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The Secret Behind Web 2.0 Marketing

A lot of marketing people understand the mechanics of marketing, but many are really missing out on Web 2.0 Marketing. Web 2.0 marketing is the ability to interact with the prospective client on the Internet. To not just lecture or sell, but to present the company in such a way as to make your client feel like they are part of the process. Whatever the venue from news to gossip, the people that use Digg get to feel like they are part of the process. By becoming part of the blogs community, the community grows, the business of the blog grows and makes money.

It is really not much more difficult than that. What amazes me is that I continually come across corporate websites that are nothing more than landing pages. No original content, no ability for the target audience to interact with the company other than a contact us page. Clearly a company with a website like this is not expecting to get business off of the Internet. Vanity websites that stroke the ego, "I am on the Internet." A waste of time and money in my opinion.

Web 2.0 Marketing takes that landing page to the next level. By associating the website with a blog or forum we now have the ability to interact with our customers.

In an attempt to practice what I preach I am opening up all of my blogs to other marketers and writers. The primary subjects of this blog are marketing, social networking and web 2.0. Since my primary methods of social networking are Linkedin and Twitter I am opening this blog up to writers that are connected to me on both social sites.

Due to technical issues I can only let 100 people participate as a writer on this blog. Given that, if you are a writer and would like to publish articles about marketing, social networking and web 2.0 you may become part of this blogs writing community. Simply email me jmichaelwarner(at)yahoo(dot)com, with a sample of your writing. If acceptable I will give you access to start publishing articles on this blog.

Articles submitted must be at least 400 words in length and may have up to three links to whatever you want. No plagiarism. Once we have 100 writers, preference will be given to those that publish an article at least once each week. So if a new person comes aboard, the person that publishes the least will get booted out of the community. Of course whatever you have published, along with the links will remain intact.


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Internal Links

Links and internal links. The more links and internal links the better. The problem most people have is how to get the links. Two things drive traffic on the Internet, quality content and links. Without both, your online business and internet marketing campaign will fail. Building an online business is time consuming. Many people start an online business thinking that everything can be automated. I like to tell people "there is a reason they call it work." Automate what you can, but sooner or later if you want to succeed, work will be involved.

The first type of links you can easily get are internal links. In each article you publish on the internet include anchor text links. I like to study what other people do, not so much what they say. For example if you read an article on how to get links and backlinks, most will spend a lot of time rehashing that you should go to sites and ask for a link. The real score is to get a major site, such as a major university to include a link on their site back to you. Easier said than done. You could spend an enormous amount of time trying this and get no where.

Start out with internal links. In each article you write, make a link to another article or two or three, etc. I like to think of everything I do as spinning a web. The world wide web is just that, a spider web. Nothing linear here! Your main website is the center of the universe, everything else should connect to it in multiple ways. When the search engines "crawl" your site they don't stop when they get to a link. The "spiders" follow the links to see where they go. Even if the coding for your web page tells the spiders not to follow the link, sometimes they do.

As the spiders follow your links, they are indexing your site. The spiders keep track of the quality of your content, the quality of the content you link to and the quality of the content linking back to you. This is what causes your site and individual pages on your site to have different rankings on the web.

I have found it to be very effective to not only include links on various anchor text, but at the end of an article make a "best of" list. Your best of list can be a few articles that you really want people to read. You simply type the title to the article and link back to it. The idea is to simply create as many links as possible so that people reading your article will want to read more of your quality content. Of course, the spiders will also follow.

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Linkedin Connections

I, J. Michael Warner, earn my living as a Professional Blogger and Social Networker. I use sites like Linkedin to build connections, market my business and make money. Since the founding of the Internet there have been many people that get offended by people trying to make money on the Internet. I am a capitalist, no apologies. It is my belief that social networking and sites like Linkedin are going to become very valuable in the next few years for companies that want to increase their presence, market, on the Internet and entrepreneurs that want to make money.

A while back I was talking to a Linkedin connection, Andrew Stephens, a SEO expert out of Cincinnati Ohio. Andrew indicated that he believes Google will be changing the way their search engine operates in the next few years. He believes that in order to get your website ranked on page one, instead of hiring a SEO expert you will need votes. Kind of like Digg. With that in mind, building a powerful network of connections on a site like Linkedin could be not only a good idea, but a great one.

In a previous article I published called "Linkedin" I explained how I got started on Linkedin and started building connections. If you are new to Linkedin and social networking that would be a good place to start.

I believe that in life, you are either the chess player or a chess piece. Google owns their search engine and can do whatever they want. We as business people, can not be mere pawns in the game of Google. To become a Grandmaster in the game of capitalism, we must be a chess player, not a chess piece. We must adapt and overcome Today that means we must become adept at marketing by means of social networking.

How involved in social networking should a business person be? How many social networking sites should one person or business be on? As for the first question I say, budget your time. Set up a specific amount of time to devote to social networking and stick to it. As for the second question, I am on a few social networking sites, but primarily like to work with my Linkedin Connections. If you have a team of individuals within a company that you can have to start social networking, I would split them between different social networking sites. Find social networks that are relevant to your industry and market, and start making connections.

Whether you are dealing with Linkedin connections or connections on another social networking site, I am in favor of doing business. Some people seem to be insulted if you offer a special promotion to them or blatantly ask for their business. My opinion is simple, delete them as a connection. Stop pussy footing around! No one joins a social network like Linkedin with the expectation that they will not be solicited. Now I am not saying that you should spam your connections with an new email offer every day. But let's get serious, you are here to do business. I am sure there are a few people that have no friends and thought they could make a few with Linkedin, but most people are on Linkedin for professional contacts. Professional contacts do business with each other.

Build connections on Linkedin that want to do business. If you end up with 3,000 connections, obviously not everyone will need you, your service or product everyday, but sooner or later they will. Otherwise who needs them? You do not become a Grandmaster in the game of capitalism by moving checkers pieces on a chess board.

Make yourself available to your Linkedin connections. I have had a few people that when I send them an email I get a message from their autoresponder that tells me how to become connected to them. We are already connected! Or at least I am connected with their autoresponder. Autoresponders have their purpose, but doing business has a two way connotation. It is not a one way street. If anyone I am connected to asks me for help, I try to help. I would be embarrassed to ask for someones business if I could not honor the "social" aspect of networking.

It is my belief that building a social network on Linkedin or some of the other social networking sites will not only be a valuable tool, but a necessary one in the next few years. Those that learn, will earn! Live long, prosper and get LINKEDIN!

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