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I love competition. I compete against just about anyone, at just about anything. For the last few years, competitive webmastering has been my focus. I like to start a site in a small to medium sized niche, and outrank everyone. There are two niches that I hold the top 5 spots for, and it’s exciting. Let me give you a few secrets that you can implement right now to help you outrank your competition.

1. Do what they do.

The first step is to try to get all of the links that your competition has. If they’re linked in Wikipedia, you should try to get linked. If they pay $299 for a Yahoo Directory link you should too. If they put out a little cash for regional web directories like WoW Directory and Ezilon Web Directory, so should you. The point is that in order to beat your competition you need to have everything they do, and more.

2. Grab the easy links they don’t have.

There are generally two sides to the linkbuilding argument. One side says to focus on quality links, the other says to focus on large quantities of links. I agree with both. Since it’s easy to get junk links from sites like Twitter, blog comments, forum profiles, wikis, etc, go get those links! When you’re burnt out with those junk links, move on to the next step. Don’t discount quantity, I have sites that rank #1 with mass junk links.

3. Start getting the difficult links.

For the last couple years I’ve been following viagra SERPs. If you browse the top 20 sites for “buy viagra” you’ll see interesting trends. Right now I see a site that is 6 months old with 4k links, PR 2 ranked #4. Below it is a 2 year old site with 29k links, PR 6 ranked #9. Why does that new site outrank that older better linked site? Link quality. This site went the extra mile to get links.

4. Make the quality links if you can’t find them.

I’ve got burnt out on buying links. Instead, I’ve been making quality websites with the purpose of linking them back to my money site. These sites are generally built on existing WPMU domains (like these). I build links to these blogs and seed them with some generic spun content. Once they start getting some age and trust I link them to my money pages. This enables me to have good old blogs linking to my money pages without paying for those links. It does take extra time, but I can continue using the same blogs for additional projects after I get my #1 rankings.

In order to outrank the competition you have to go above and beyond what they are doing!

Over the last 5 years, Brandon Hopkins owns over 150 content-rich websites. When not building links to his own websites he does linkbuilding for clients as well as Fresno website design. Brandon can also be found blogging (rarely) at Brandon-Hopkins.com as well on about 5 different webmaster forums, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and most other social networking sites.
photo credit: ianmunroe

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This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Outrank Your Competition By Taking One More Step

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Welcome back, Friday! We missed you so! Lots happened while you were gone. Lemme tell you all about it.

Facebook celebrated its sixth birthday by getting a facelift. It hasn’t been rolled out to me yet, though I’m sure Facebook users everywhere are so excited about yet. another. redesign. Yawn…

Now this one’s a little peppier — it made me laugh anyway. You know how geek is the new black? Well the real geeks aren’t so keen on having their culture kidnapped by the mainstream, as explained in 10 “Geeky” Things That Are Not Geeky, So Quit Acting Like They’re Geeky. Sorry guys, but everyone hearts geeks now. You’re popular. Deal with it. [Hipsters need to step off our turf is all we're saying. —Susan]

The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) is conducting its sixth annual State-of-the-Market Survey, and everyone should totally participate. The info gleaned is good for the whole industry — and participation is good for you, too. If you fill out the survey you’ll get the final report free, saving yourself $249! The survey is open until Monday, February 22.

As you may know, February is Black History Month and in the spirit of remembrance (and entertainment) a series of motivational posters pays tribute to the occasion. Here’s the one I’m ordering for the office:

The annual Doodle 4 Google contest is back and this year’s theme is “If I Could Do Anything, I Would…” Young’uns grades K through 12 can enter the competition for a chance to have their artwork on the Google home page. Registration ends March 17!

It looks like Mexico might be jumping on the Twitter censorship bandwagon. The reason? To reduce crime, of course. You know, because the drug traffickers are using Twitter to communicate quickly. And rather than get hip to the technology, the police want to ban the social networks. Because well-connected, well-funded underground organizations aren’t going to figure out a way around that…

Much more impressive is AT&T’s attitude toward social media:

[2/3/2010 2:00:37 PM] BCI-Paula Allen: AT&T is using Facebook to engage and doing it right — case study

Over on social news site Digg this week, an astute eye might have detected a hack had taken place. But on closer inspection, it looks like the spooky face in the page source code was really a clever advertisement for a soon-to-be-released video game. What will they think of next?

That was just the question I asked myself when I discovered that my cousins to the north have a slightly different way of doing things:

[2/4/2010 3:46:22 PM] BCI-Virginia Nussey: fun fact about canada
[2/4/2010 3:47:19 PM] BCI-Susan Esparza: I knew that about Canada. Also their Mountain Dew doesn’t have caffeine. Why on earth would anyone want to drink noncaffeinated Mountain Dew?

Pshaw! Good question, Susan. Here’s another good question. Who in their right mind doesn’t retrieve these strange, unclaimed airline baggage items! A 300-year-old violin? A Space Shuttle camera? A 40 carat emerald? If you don’t want them, I’ll take them!

Things I learned from Boing Boing this week:

• Jon Stewart took the blogosphere to task for overhyped headlines. Giggle fit commences.
• China thinks pajamas are totally ruining its image.
• I take proper grammar and punctuation very seriously. It can actually be a matter of life and death.
• Twitpics. In space!

Alright, that’s it for me today. Friday, I’m all yours!

Friday Recap: Freakishly Out of Proportion Headline Edition was originally published on BruceClay.com, an SEO services company.

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Friday Recap: Freakishly Out of Proportion Headline Edition

Are you up on all of the SEO changes of the last year? It’s a new year and the SEO industry isn’t one to stand still.

Move ahead of the competition with knowledge of powerful new SEO tactics, and steer clear of penalties by avoiding tactics that violate the search engines’ ever-changing guidelines.

At SEOToolSet® Training, Bruce Clay shares the search engines’ latest guidelines and recommendations as well as findings from Bruce Clay, Inc.’s continuous testing and analysis of new search engine features and ranking factors.

The next SEOToolSet Training course takes place February 15-19 in Simi Valley, CA. Both the standard course and advanced certification course are being offered.

Register for SEOToolSet Training today and be confident of your SEO strategy in the year to come.

Refresh Your SEO Knowledge for the New Year was originally published on BruceClay.com, an SEO services company.

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Refresh Your SEO Knowledge for the New Year

Thanks to everyone who entered this week’s ‘win a book’ competition here on ProBlogger.

It’s been a while since I ran any kind of competition so to have over 1500 entries was a real rush (and quite overwhelming).

I’ve just closed off the competition and randomly drawn the winners. They are:

1. Susan Geene – Yes: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive
2. Chris – Search Engine Optimization: Your Visual Blueprint for effective Internet Marketing
3. Sandra – Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success
4. Stephen – Blog Blazers: 40 Top Bloggers Share their Secrets to Creating a High-Profile High-Traffic and High Profit Blog
5. Randy Hawes – Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What it’s Becoming and Why it Matters
6. Donna – ProBlogger the Book

If you share a name with one of these people check your email to confirm if it was you – I’ve emailed all 6 to get their delivery addresses.

Thanks again everyone – to the 1506 people who didn’t win – better luck next time!

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

Competition Winners – These 6 People Won a Book

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Competition Winners – These 6 People Won a Book

BCIT 3 Blog Nights started at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 25, 2009 and goes non-stop until 8:00 p.m tonight at the BIG Info event. The team has been blogging and twittering for three straight nights to help raise awareness for BCIT.

In addition to the live blogging, 3 Blog Nights has a few contests and promotions happening. There are two $1,000 tuition prizes for BCIT courses and programs and a Flip Mino HD up for grabs. Anyone is allowed to enter. However, the deadline is tonight at 8PM so enter now if you want in.

For BCIT students, 3 Blog Nights has a video competition. Students create videos explaining why they think BCIT is the best school in BC. People then vote on the videos and the entry with the most votes wins a new Macbook Pro. My daughter, Ashley Chow and her team entered the competition with a Why BCIT video. If you haven’t voted for it, please do because it might win you a Macbook Pro.

Below are three videos. The firs one is my visit to 3 Blog Nights. They’ve set up camp at the SE2 building and has been there for the two nights before my visit. The second video is from 3 Blog Nights taking a tour of the BCIT campus in a golf cart. The last video is Ashley’s team entry for the 3 Blog Nights video contest. I think it’s the best video of all the entries and I think you should definitely vote for it.

Deadline for voting is Oct. 26 at 7:00 PM PDT – Go Vote Now!

Discover the SECRETS I’ve Learned to go from zero a month to over $40,000 a month from blogging. Download Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com for FREE!

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Checking Out BCIT 3 Blog Nights

Buying online is a consumer’s paradise, right?

One can compare competing offers ‘til the heart’s content, all with simple clicks of a mouse.

Well, it’s not that great if you happen to sell online.

And what if I told you it’s not really that great for consumers, either?

Sound crazy? Read on.

Preface: Start with a killer product or service

This should go without saying in our age of global competition and reduced barriers to entry. But so often merchants are looking for a magic bullet to widely distribute something that the market simply finds inferior.

The problem is, there are plenty of people out there with exceptional products and services who are losing out to others with lesser offerings and higher prices.

What’s going on with that?

Superior marketing and sales techniques, that’s what. Here are 3 ways to level the playing field (or even tip the scales in your favor).

1. Eliminate competition with artful positioning

Wouldn’t selling online be wonderful without competition? Well, it’s possible, if only to the extent that a certain type of person considers you the absolute only option. Yes, it’s our friend positioning again, and we’ll keep talking about it because it’s so vital to success.

The traditional approach to positioning involves offering a benefit your competition cannot or will not offer, thereby making your offer the only choice for those who value that benefit. It still works too – look at the insane level of customer service that Zappos offers, and you’ll understand why throngs of people wouldn’t dream of buying shoes elsewhere.

For small and micro-businesses, positioning (a/k/a your unique selling proposition) can be as simple as creating a unique bond with enough people to build a thriving business. Whether by creating a hybrid business at the intersection of disciplines, crafting a better metaphor that communicates what people need to hear, or creating an emotional bond and huge trust based on your own personality, modern online positioning has come down to connections that resonate authentically and generate loyalty.

Remember, it’s not about where you rank in a hierarchy against others. It’s about carving out your unique territory and owning it outright.

2. Confront your competitors proactively

Let’s face it, in some markets, positioning alone might not get it done. When you’re selling retail items such as consumer electronics or commodity goods, shoppers are more focused on overall value for the buck.

The most common merchant response to the threat of online comparison shopping is not very effective. “Hey, let’s pretend they’re not there!” is nice as wishful thinking, but let’s be realistic.

You’ll hear time and again that the initial objectives of copy in a call-to-action environment is to 1) attract attention; 2) express benefits; and 3) overcome objections. The fact that your prospect thinks you have legitimate competition is really just an objection to buying from you right now.

Instead of sticking your head in the ground, why not proactively address why your offer is better than the other guy’s? Don’t assume that your prospect “gets” that your offer is superior; “show” her it’s better by doing a head-to-head comparison with charts, checklists, or even an interactive apples-to-apples demonstration.

People examining your offer want you to be the solution to their desire or problem. It’s your job to eliminate the lingering doubt that exists in the form of objections, and like it or not, your competition is one of those objections.

3. Emotional benefits make everyone happy

We tell you over and over (and over) to focus first on benefits rather than features, because people decide to buy based on lightening-fast emotional responses, and justify that decision with logic. But what if it turned out that making purchase decisions via emotion (instead of by overly-rational research and price shopping) actually made us happier?

Recent psychological resaerch indicates just that. The study focused on using proven methods to impede logical decision-making, thereby forcing people to go with emotional, intuitive choices instead.

The results?

Those who used primarily emotion rather than primarily logic made more consistent choices. And consistency is one of the hallmarks of a “rational actor.” In other words, the “emotional” people made more “rational” choices than those who focused on rationality!

What does that mean? From the study:

For the consumers, contrary to lay perceptions, attending to one’s emotional responses may prove to be very valuable in understanding one’s preferences. It is possible consumers would be much happier with choices based more on their emotional reaction. For example, if one buys a house and relies on very cognitive attributes such as resale value, one may not be as happy actually living in it, as opposed to a person who attends to his or her emotional reaction to the house prior to purchasing it.

Jonah Lehrer, author of How We Decide, thinks that online price shopping might actually make us unhappy. He notes that the study speculates that the Internet leads consumers to engage in more rational deliberation, which in turn produces an outcome that contradicts our assumptions about the “online shopping paradise.”

Remember, when introduced to an emotional benefit in an offer, neurology shows that our brains react as if we were already experiencing the actual benefit. In essence, employing emotional benefits not only begins the customer satisfaction experience before the sale, this latest research indicates that initial satisfaction maintains after the sale.

Isn’t bonding with prospects and customers better for everyone?

It’s amazing how many of the initial assumptions sparked by the Internet continue to be dead wrong. E-commerce was supposed to benefit the consumer by providing limitless options, and yet the counterintuitive paradox of choice shows that too many options make us anxious and unhappy.

Instead, we now have an entire movement devoted to voluntary simple living. We don’t necessarily want more choice; we want something that does what we need it to do when we desire a solution.

In an ultra-competitive environment, a quality product or service is an indisputable market obligation (and I’d say an ethical obligation as well). But given how we actually operate as human beings in the face of overwhelming choice, isn’t a communication approach that bonds emotionally with our prospective customers also a market obligation? Perhaps even an ethical one?

What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and co-founder of DIY Themes, creator of the innovative Thesis Theme for WordPress. Get more from Brian on Twitter.

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Three Ways to Make Your Competitors Irrelevant

Ashley Chow and her marketing team at BCIT decided to enter the school’s 3blog Nights video competition. Students from all over the campus were invited to submit videos explaining/promoting why they think BCIT is the best school in BC. People can then vote for their favorite video and the one with the most votes will win a nice prize. In this case, the winner gets a new 13″ aluminum uni-body Macbook Pro.

Vote for Ashley’s Team and You Might Win a Mackbook Pro!

Here’s the deal. Ashley’s team is made up of six members. It’s pretty hard to divide one Macbook Pro among six students. If they win, they plan to sell the laptop and divide up the cash (staving students always need cash). I plan to buy the laptop off them and give it away to one of you. Before I can do that, Ashley and her team needs to win this competition. This is where you and your vote comes in. Watch their video and then go vote for it. It just might win you a brand new Macbook Pro!

Deadline for voting is Oct. 26 at 7:00 PM PDT – Go Vote Now!

Discover the SECRETS I’ve Learned to go from zero a month to over $40,000 a month from blogging. Download Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com for FREE!

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Vote for Ashley Chow and You Might Win a Macbook Pro

This is another guest post from Robby G at Shite I Like.com where he gives expert dating advice for both men and women, amongst other advice.

I’ve only recently realized the benefits of good Karma. Greed and blogging doesn’t go well together at all. Right off the bat I wanted to say that if you’re thinking of starting a blog strictly for money and your heart isn’t in the blog topic, you will not only fail but you will lose all that time you’ll spend creating the blog and writing content that will be extremely difficult to produce just because it’s not something you believe in but just something you think has a high monetary rate of return. There are two ways to looking at blogging: 1. Every other blogger is your competition, or 2. Every other blog out there is an opportunity.

Though other blogs, particularly that write about a topic similar to yours, are your competition, they are also your ticket to success. Now allow me to explain.

Opportunity in the Blogosphere

Think about this, if you were the only person on earth with a blog and no one would have caught on to this wonderful innovation then your blog would quickly die because there wouldn’t be enough demand for blogs, blogging, or bloggers. Since there is a blogosphere and people are enjoying each others’ blogs, that means that there is room for you to grow and create a leading blog in your niche. But what if there are already tens or hundreds of blogs writing about the same topic as you are? Well, use that in your advantage. I’ve noticed over the years that mostbloggers are quite good people (nevertheless I have run into one or two a**holes) and they don’t mind to share their knowledge, their friendship, and most importantly their love for blogging. There is opportunity in your competition because if you are a good-hearted individual and aren’t greedy about attracting all the traffic to yourself, there is room for you to grow. Now what are the ways to attract Brownie Points with Karma? There is a list of ways that you may think do not help your blog, but in fact they eventually attract much more people to come to your blog overtime than you would have if you did not take part in them. Here’s the list:

• Provide useful comments on other blogs: By doing this I did not only get lots of traffic from people clicking on my link, but I also received emails from the authors of the posts asking me if I could broaden my comment into a full post and submit it to them as a guest article. This doesn’t happen for every comment, but there’s that chance people will really want you to share your knowledge as a guest post without you even asking for it.
• Link to other blogs in your posts:Linking to other blogs may seem like a sure way to lose readers because they will simply jump ship and start reading your competitor’s posts. But that’s a mistake many bloggers have in mind. By providing readers with relevant links, they see that you know what you’re talking about and you want to help your readers with the most informative links.
• Blogroll: I personally do not have a blogroll on my blog, but what I do have is a post with my favourite blogs that I follow daily. Since only recently I have been getting out there and making lots of friends in the blogging community, I have decided to create a full-blown blogroll linking to the blogs of my friends, which is in the works. I do not ask anything in return from the blogs I link to, because I leave it all to Karma, and more often than not the people I link to end up linking back to me.
• Attract guest posts: Guest posting attracts you links and new traffic, but when you allow other bloggers to guest post, you attract bloggers, sometimes a link from their blog, and again a wave of good Karma. When someone guest posts on your blog they right away feel a certain companionship with you and that can last for a very long time. From simply allowing and attracting guest posts, you open yourself to an opportunity of new friends and new openings for yourself to maybe one day create a certain campaign with that friend that will attract a much wider audience than your current one. If you think you have ideas for a guest post relevant to my blog topic, feel free to contact me.
• Get expert opinions: If you’re not too sure about something, go ahead and ask an expert. People love to be praised and a great way to do that is to ask an expert what they would do in a certain situation. For example, my blog is based on giving dating advice, so if I was to be stumped on a reader’s dating question, I would ask a fellow expert on their opinion and I would throw in some of my ideas to complete the most perfect advice I could possibly provide for my reader. This way I am showing my reader that I care about their issue and want to provide them with the most help I can, and it also allows me to get in touch with interesting people who may eventually want to conduct some sort of business later on, seeing that I cared enough to reach out to them for their expert advice.
• Interview and help promote others:Interviewing others gives your readers fresh new content. It also gives the person being interviewed exposure of their product or website. And what about you, the blogger? Well, it gives you the opportunity to grow. After interviewing an expert in my field, I did not only get to give my readers new content, but I also received an advertising offer from the person. It builds your credentials, authority, and broadens your circle of friends.
• Fill your ad-space. Once in a while when you don’t have advertisers waiting to fill up the empty space-ad you have on your blog, contact someone that may be interested and give it out for free for a month or so. This is an act of goodness, plus it gives more exposure to your advertising services, and maybe some day that person you gave away an ad-space for free to will help you out some way or even pay for some ad-space in the future.

These are just some of the ways you can use to help other bloggers and get good Karma. It all usually comes back to help you out somehow or someway. As long as you find ways to share the love and don’t feel the need to be greedy, good things will always come your way.

Do you have any ideas for ways to share the love and still reap the benefits? Leave your thoughts in the comment section. Cheers!

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

Don’t Be a Greedy Blogger

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Don’t Be a Greedy Blogger

Think it’s the lack of advanced techniques that’s been holding you back?

Think your blog isn’t finding readers because you don’t have the coolest plugins? Or that your sales page doesn’t convert because you couldn’t afford the 1,999 Secrets of Ninja Marketing Masters product that got released last month?

Think the secret to successful marketing and running a profitable online business is some piece of Jedi mastery that you would need to study for years to learn?

Not even close.

Most businesses (online and off) just get the basics wrong.

So here’s what works. Get these right and you’ll be ahead of 98% of your competition.

And if you’re just getting started, you’re in luck, because you don’t have a lot of bad habits to unlearn.

Describe benefits, not features

I know you’re rolling your eyes. This gets covered on the first page of Marketing for Blithering Idiots, but we don’t do it.

We get wrapped up in what we do, and we forget to translate that into what our customers get out of it.

The insanely simple and direct way to handle this is just to put a bulleted list on your sales page (or About page or Hire Us page, wherever it’s relevant) under the title:

Here’s What [My Product] Will Do For You

List out the seven most important wonderful things that your customer will experience as a result of doing business with you. Make sure this list can be seen “above the fold” on the screen — in other words, without the viewer needing to scroll.

Make them a nice mix of logical and emotional benefits.

Benefits are the little black dress of marketing: always appropriate. Try tucking them into your headlines, or writing entire blog posts around key benefits.

Don’t forget that testimonials and case studies are a great way to show benefits rather than just telling people about them.

Make your advertising too valuable to throw away

I got this from copywriting legend Gary Bencivenga, and it’s even more applicable today than it was when he used it. Since he made millions of dollars as one of the most successful copywriters in history, I pay special attention to what he has to say.

Advertising is, almost by definition, junk. Direct mail, infomercials, billboards — we see these as garbage, even though they do sometimes influence us to buy.

Bencivenga instead positioned his direct mail advertising as valuable content. He perfected the art of the “magalog” — a commercial mail piece that looks like a magazine. His magalogs contained valuable stock tips, health information, or expert financial advice.

Many of the products Bencivenga promoted were early versions of information products — specifically, books and newsletters. He didn’t pull the “B” material from those books and newsletters to give away in his marketing. He found the very best tips, the juiciest and most beneficial advice, and sent it to prospects for free.

Sound familiar?

(What can I say, I only steal from the best.)

Bencivenga’s technique works perfectly with content and email marketing. The more genuine value you create in your marketing materials (which includes your blog, your Twitter stream, and your forum posts), the tighter relationship you build with your customers.

Address objections

It’s hard to keep your cool when you create a business. You put so much work and care into it, the idea that anyone doesn’t love it as much as you do can be hard to fathom.

You need to get over this.

Most people who see your marketing messages won’t buy from you. But many of those would buy from you, if not for some unanswered question in their minds.

Objections are all the reasons prospects think your product might not be for them.

Objections boil down to fear — fear of feeling dumb, fear of making a mistake, fear of wasting money. Give your copy enough time to address those fears and overcome them.

And one super-secret technique

OK, this one really is a ninja trick. Check out this Copyblogger post on the sneaky, ultra-advanced sales technique that most marketers miss.

But shhhh, don’t tell anyone. Otherwise any newbie could do it.

About the Author: Sonia Simone is Senior Editor of Copyblogger and the founder of Remarkable Communication.

See the rest here: 
The Complete Newbie’s Guide to Marketing