Increasing site visitors is just the tip of the iceberg. If you really want to have enduring success, then you should think about the ways in which you can develop a loyal following. This means exerting beyond the usual effort and using creative strategies to keep people coming back for more. It is something that takes a lot of patience as results often come slowly but once the project gets traction, things can get busy very quickly. Here are a few tips on how to get there:

Create Addictive Content

     The best way to get people to visit the site again and again is to provide them with fresh, useful, and interesting content on a regular basis. Don’t just copy off of other sites unless you plan on adding something extra like a personal commentary. Make your posts unique and engaging so that readers will look forward to more of what you have to offer and possibly share them with their friends as well. Don’t publish an article just to satisfy a weekly quota as many bloggers do. Aim to make an impact every time. If things are getting stale and falling into a pattern, shake it up and do something you’ve never done before. Don’t be afraid to push the limits or to generate controversy.

     Ensure that every post is well-researched. You can use third-party case studies as basis for articles to give them weight or conduct your own research and publish your results on your blog. The latter is usually more interesting for readers as they get a rare first-hand account. They especially like it when you make yourself accessible to them and answer their questions promptly. Foster this kind of regular interaction to make them feel a strong connection with the blog.

     You can also add infographics every once in a while to spice up the content. This can be time-consuming at first but it gets easier once you get the hang of it. Interviews with influential personalities in the industry can draw a lot of people, as well as reviews of the latest products or books related to the niche. When writing these posts, make them come alive by injecting a little bit of your personality and humor.

Cast a Wide Net

    Launch a promotional blitzkrieg on as many platforms as possible. Try to reach out to your target audience by going to the sites they frequent and leaving a link they can follow. Some of the best things to try are:

     Social Networks — Apart from the usual suspects like Facebook and Twitter, try to promote your blog on sites like Google+, LinkedIn,   Instagram, Pinterest, and other social networks both local and global. Good content can spread like wildfire when they go social thanks to the power of instant sharing.

     Online Bookmarking Sites — Another way to get lots of traffic flowing quickly. Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon, to name a few, are great at creating a snowball of momentum for specific posts. They are known to be so effective as to sometimes cripple servers due to the barrage of traffic.

     Community Boards — Every niche has its own dedicated communities, many of which have their own forum for member interaction. Here they discuss the latest news, answer questions, share stuff, and generally help each other out. A lot of bloggers start out as notable members of these communities wherein co-members lend initial encouragement and support.

     Other Blogs and Directories — Promotion can also come from publishing guest posts on other blogs and submitting articles to popular directories. These increase the chances of getting spotted by other people who may click the links back to your blog if they like what they read.

     Syndication — Lastly, good content can get syndicated on top blogs and newswires. This can be arranged to include a link back to your site. Note that only excellent content can make it through this channel as editors have strict guidelines when picking articles. If you can write flawlessly and produce insightful pieces, then you have a great chance of making it.

Before you can get a loyal following, you must first put everything in order by creating a fantastic site with exceptional content. Then, promote what you have through every platform within your reach to attract a steady audience. Keep on churning out those amazing articles and be prepared for an avalanche of traffic!

     Simply put, the job of a sales page is to capture the reader’s imagination. It should enthrall, captivate, and make the product so irresistible that there is no choice but to make a purchase. Of course, this is easier said than done. The page must be composed in just the right way to pull it off, with polished elements blending together in perfect harmony. Each element has a distinct role and all of them contribute towards the attainment of desired results.

Sharpen Your Hook with the Right Headline

     The title is the biggest draw for any article. It hints at the topic and tempts people to find out more. A good headline provides just enough detail to tease but not to bore. It promises a rewarding experience should the reader click the link and read the article in full. These are truly great expectations for a string of words, but its position at the head of the post demands that these expectations be met. No matter how good an article is, a bad title will cause people to ignore it.

     Think of your readers and the things that tend to catch their interest. A thorough analysis of the intended audience is necessary for fine-tuning so be sure to read up on related research. Compose the title in such a way as to assure them that the article will cater to their needs. This might take a bit of practice so don’t give up if your first attempts lack the punch they need.

Dazzle Your Audience with a Tantalizing Entrance

     Sales pages are similar to news articles in that the opening paragraph needs to grab the reader’s attention. It has to bring about excitement and anticipation so that the reader will buckle down to finish the rest of the article. It also provides a chance to introduce the brand and set the tone for what can be a great business relationship. Make it friendly and use plain English to explain what the product has to offer.

     The first paragraph must foster an air or intrigue. This initial push should keep readers on their toes, eager to get more and more information. Don’t reveal too much at this stage as people might leave before reaching the final sales pitch at the bottom.

Prevent Readers from Wandering by Using Subtitles

     Sales pages tend to be lengthy by design and, while often necessary, it can cause readers to zone out if all they see is one big mass of text. It is therefore necessary to break things down to manageable chunks and place an appropriate subtitle for each section. People who tend to scan a page before reading it will appreciate the visual breaks as well as the information they provide as these enable them to go further along the 
article.

     Make the subtitles enticing so that people will be raring to read all the sections from start to finish. Anticipate that the audience may be thinking at certain points and assure them at each of their questions will be answered through these subtitles. If you are still unsure how to go about it, then put yourself in the shoes of the readers and think about the ways in which your interest can be kept.

Images

     Pictures and illustrations certainly add tremendous visual appeal to any sales page. A long page that is all copy and no image looks a bit dull, whereas one that has a sprinkling of pertinent images is much more attractive. These can also clarify concepts which were discussed in the article and provide readers with detailed views of the product — something that is quite important when you are selling something over the Internet. Additionally, the use of pictures adds credibility to the claims made. They are visual proofs of satisfied customers, before-and-after comparisons, or simply the merchandise itself.

     Creating an effective sales page is a challenging task which could take a while to master. It is important to study the basics before anything else and these four elements are exactly that. If you want to get a decent conversion rate, then you have to polish your headline-writing skills, learn to compose engaging introductions, and find out the types of images that work.

     We previously provided you with four of the most basic sales page elements that are used to grab attention and keep the reader hooked. This time we shift our focus on three vital components that help establish the credibility of the brand and the rapport with the audience. Again, these must all blend together well, complementing each other to promote a coherent message.

Provide a History of the Company and the Product

     People like hearing stories, especially if they are inspirational or interesting. If these are told in an effective manner, then they could be fantastic tools in selling the product. The key is to make the product and the people behind it easily relatable. Make the readers connect emotionally with the brand and they will become loyal followers. This enhances their status from mere customers to extremely beneficial brand evangelists.

     Use the stories to rally support among the readers. Everybody loves a good rag to riches story and tales of overcoming monumental odds on the way to success. They provide inspiration and motivation. They also build trust as the audience will feel like they are in good hands. Give them details that will make them see how much you know about the industry. Tell them your credentials. These will make them listened more attentively to what you have to say. They will also be more likely to purchase the product which you are trying to sell.

     Be very careful about what you say, though. Do not embellish for the sake of making a story more thrilling for the readers. The truth has a way of surfacing and if your lies are found out, your business could be ruined. Reputation is one of the most cherished assets of any company or individual. Take good care of yours and you will have the potential for enduring success.

     Double-check your facts to ensure that the copy is truthful to the best of your knowledge. Write in an engaging manner but have everything rooted in reality so as to maintain credibility.

Provide Irrefutable Proof

     Back up everything you say with proof. With so many products out there, the competition is high and plenty of companies make false claims just to make a sale. People know this and are wary of fakes. Therefore, it would help if you could include laboratory studies and similar sorts of evidence that would erase all doubts from skeptics. These will allow people to lower their guard and shed their fears, increasing their chances of buying from you.

     Aside from boosting sales, these proofs will serve to bolster your reputation in the industry. You will become highly regarded as an expert in your field by both consumers and other industry players because they understand that you went through all the necessary steps to get to where you are right now.

     Apart from constantly showing what you have to offer, consider telling your readers what they risk losing on if they ignore your product today. This may be a promotional sale or a missed opportunity. Make it clear to them that the only logical conclusion is to purchase the product now to enjoy its benefits immediately. Thus, once they reach the end of the page, they will have no qualms about clicking the “Buy Now” button and completing the transaction.

Provide a Video that Connects with the Audience

     Videos are incredibly powerful as they engage people better than most other media. Make a short video that summarizes the highlights of the page. Introduce the company, the product, and yourself if possible. There is nothing quite like seeing a face behind a product to humanize everything and take things to a more personal level. People trust other people, not objects. They will trust the product if they feel that they can trust you.

    Be sure to have a professional supervising the production of the video. If you have some background in editing and camerawork, then it may be fine to go DIY. However, nothing beats the polished look of a professionally produced and edited video clip. It simply adds an air of sophistication to the sales page and allows you to target large businesses aside from individual customers.

     Standard templates abound promising instant success to those who are trying to build their own sales page. Take these with a grain of salt. There is no magic formula for success as each case is different from the next. Sites that promise the moon and the stars are likely in it just to win your dollars and nothing else as any competent online marketer will know that things don’t come quite that easy.

     Sales pages can indeed be broken down into individual components but completing each section is never straightforward. As we have seen in our two previous articles, each element has its own unique character and purpose. These must be studied diligently in order to create an effective sales page. To round up our series, we look at five more components which should complete a well-crafted ideal.

An Eye-catching Design

     Traditional sales pages were composed of a long copy with a smattering of images. These can still work but the design can use a bit of a touch-up. It is best to retain the simplicity, though, as the primary focus should remain on the copy. Ensure that the layout is clean and that there are no unnecessary elements floating around and distracting the reader. Remember that they must consume the page from start to finish so any distraction must be eliminated.

     The page design must be cohesive. Each element must complement the other to create a harmonious look. Consistency is desired, with a logical flow from the introduction to the final sales pitch. Do not mix too many colors or large images together as they could skew the layout and make the page seem sloppy. Aim for an elegant and professional look that would make a favorable first impression. After all, you might not get another chance.

A Compelling Offer

     After introducing the company and telling the story behind the product, it is time to make an offer they can’t refuse. List down the product specifications to remind the readers what they will be getting. Then, enumerate the distinct advantages that can be gained by using the product as opposed to its competitors. Emphasize its value to potential owners.

A Guarantee that Erases All Doubts

     If the product is a new to the market, then it would be understandable that people would be hesitant to take a chance on it. For all they know, it may not work as intended or it could induce unwanted side effects. Sometimes people are simply not satisfied with the product’s performance. Banish their hesitation by providing a guarantee that reduces the risks on their part. One popular form of this is the 30-day money-back guarantee. Another is a limited lifetime warranty. Just make certain that the scope and limitations are clear to the readers to prevent problems in the future.

An Urgent Call to Action

     Near the end of the page is where your powers of persuasion are most required. Here, readers who have gotten to know your company and your product will be asked to make an immediate purchase. Entice them with discounts if they buy now instead of later. That moment is the golden opportunity to create a sale. If people choose to delay their purchase, then the probability of the sale plummets with time. In some cases, readers will instead be asked to download an e-book or subscribe to a newsletter. The latter have higher conversion rates since they are typically free of charge, though they still call for a powerful call to action to get good response.

A Last Hurrah

     After the call to action has been made, a bit of follow-up or “last hurrah” can be written in a postscript. This short section is there to motivate doubters to go ahead and take the chance. It must be filled with positive language including a summary of the product benefits, the guarantees, and the advantages of buying right away. All essential details are reiterated for that final push towards immediate action. Do not forget to include this section as it has been found to boost sales dramatically.

     Effective sales pages often go through periodic evaluations for fine-tuning. In online marketing, learning simply never stops and the content must change to reflect a better understanding of related strategies and technologies.

     Matt Cutts is back to answer questions regarding search engine optimization and related topics. In this video, he responds to a query by Linda from New Jersey. She wrote in to ask whether cross linking 3 of her websites would have any adverse side effects.

     Since PageRank is largely determined by the quality and quantity of inbound links, it is tempting for those who own several sites to cross-link among their web properties to boost their rankings. Matt says that this is fine if each of these are somewhat related. For instance, if all of them sell clothes but one caters to men, another to women, and the last to children.

     However, if the sites have nothing to do with each other then there might be some problems. Visitors and competitors might find it odd when a site about insurance links out to a blog about fashion accessories, which in turn links to a mobile review site. For a small number of cross-links, the practice might not be very detrimental, but when the figure escalates into the dozens or even the hundreds, then cross linking starts becoming unhealthy. Rather than attracting more visitors, people will probably be turned off after seeing so many irrelevant links on the page.

     Google has been publishing a lot of posts which highlight the importance of page load times. In a nutshell, those which load extremely fast have a higher chance of getting a good Page Rank. Lumenbeing from Los Angeles wants to clarify whether this signifies a shift in priority from relevancy towards speed.

     Matt Cutts reiterates that relevance is still the main consideration for Page Rank. It is simply the most sensible determinant in providing searchers useful results and the company sticks to this philosophy. In fact, over 200 markers are in place to detect relevancy among indexed pages. When all these markers are equal, however, then the loading speed comes into play. If two pages are of the same relevance in relation to a query, the speed can become the tie breaker. Whichever loads faster will get the privilege of being listed at the top of the SERP.

     Google has noted that some websites invest heavily on infrastructure in order to provide a faster and more reliable service to their users. The company felt that it was only fitting to reward these efforts with better rankings, provided that all other conditions are met.

     Jacob from Denmark posted an interesting question regarding Google’s spiders. He wanted to know exactly how many of these things are currently deployed all over the Web, crawling site after site. Matt Cutts clarifies what the concept of a search engine spider actually means and how this translates to the real world.

     Essentially, spiders are abstract computer concepts. They do not exist in real life in the sense of tangible things that traverse the World Wide Web. Rather, what Google does is that it sets up banks of machines in data centers and programs them to make HTTP requests to acquire web pages. This all happens in high speed and even a small number of machines can accomplish a lot when working in parallel. The company does its best to cover each portion of the Web every few days to get the freshest contents.

     While Google does not give out specific numbers, Matt hints that it is a fairly small group of machines that do the job (“more than 25, less than a thousand”). The real challenge is in sorting through all of the content, organizing them, and finding out which ones are truly reputable.

          Brett from Michigan wants to clarify two things regarding “dofollow” links. The first is whether having them on a blog will create any negative implications in terms of SEO. The second is whether leaving comments on a dofollow blog will do more harm than good.

          According to Matt Cutts, dofollow links can potentially have unwanted side effects on a site. Spammers seek out blogs which have them for link-building purposes, and this means that the administrators should guard the comments section vigilantly. If they do not, then the spam comments will accumulate quite quickly and turn off visitors. Sites thaaat don’t check the quality of their outbound links can get a bad reputation. Regular pruning is advised.

          As for leaving comments on a dofollow blog, the answer is a little more complicated. Google is careful about penalizing this type of activity since anyone can link to a site without the owner’s knowledge. Yet while there might not be any penalties involved, there is also very little to gain from link-building in this manner. The large number of spammers trying to plunder link juice from dofollow blogs means that everyone comes away with only a few drops for the effort.

Google Analytics is often used by webmasters to track their site’s page views, visitor locations, average time spent, keywords used, bounce rate, and many other statistics. Being a Google engineer, Matt Cutts is always asked whether these data come into play when Google computes for search rankings. He finally puts the matter to rest in this video.

A participant in a global webmaster conference inquired as to whether Matt and his webspam team use Google Analytics data. He said that they do not and that he can promise that they will never go to the Analytics team to ask for this type of information. When he was asked the same question yet again in another conference, he began to doubt. He said that while he cannot be certain about how other teams operate, no one uses Analytics data for search-related tasks in his sphere of influence.

When he came back from the event, he sent an email to a senior member of the search department, asking the burning question to get a definitive answer from this knowledgeable source. Sure enough, Matt got a short reply that simply said, “No.”