Lead generation is one model of online marketing that will always be in fashion. Other marketing techniques may come and go, but every business' lifeblood is leads. No matter how well a business takes care of its customers, there will be some attrition. Potential new customers should always be in the pipeline.

Imagine having a constant flow of prospects landing in your email box. You didn't have to man a table at a trade show, make cold calls, or advertise. These leads come to you pre-screened and interested in what you have to offer. They come to you from your friendly online lead generation specialist. 

<h2>How Lead Generation Works</h2>

A lead generation specialist sets up websites designed to capture customer information. The customer completes a form asking for a quote or more information. The lead generation specialist then forwards the customer contact information to the business, who contacts the customer. Everyone wins: the customer gets desired information, the business gets a new customer.

Lead generation can work for almost any business, but most businesses doing this type of marketing are insurance agencies, educational institutions, office suppliers, health providers and furniture stores. Trends show that lead generation will be even more popular in the future, especially for service oriented businesses.

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Lead Generation

The Friday Traffic Report.  OK, full disclosure time: Jack Humphrey is a mentor, good friend of ours, and all around great guy. He is also one of the most brilliant minds in internet marketing. He doesn't just theorize, he has tried out the things he writes about. And he shares if for free. Jack is a partner at the Authority Site Center, the incubator that taught us the right way to build a website.

Mike Filsaime's Podcast  Mike Filsaime knows from experience what it takes to build a million dollar online business. I recently finished The 7 Figure Code, and it has made me think differently about online business. Mike has brought together experts who tell you how to build a real business, not just a shot in the dark website. The code is pricey, but worth every penny. Mike shares some of the code in his podcasts for free.

StevePavlina.com. His post "10 Reasons You Should Never Get A Job" is my inspiration  Brilliant, insightful and slightly disturbing, it is typical of Steve's posts. Steve isn't an internet marketer per se: his blog is about self improvement. But he is making serious dough with his blog, and there are lessons in there for everyone.

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Internet Business

This is great news because now your blog posts, mediacasts (videos and audios), articles and comments are all considered sources for advertising and promoting your business and products. You are now not just strictly relying on PPC, CPC and other advertising methods. There are so many free social networks available for you to network and promote your business, that finding your target audience for your products and services is easier than ever. With the rise of social media, it is now more important than ever to develop and optimize many different types of content to prevail over the SERP's.  Here is a VERY small list of some powerful sources for content distribution and submission:

Digg

Netscape

Stumble

Onlywire

MarkTD

Bumpzee

My suggestion to you is this; sign up with these services and many others, develop a profile, submit your content on a regular basis, comment and vote on others submissions, make friends and be consistent. These are all forms of content distribution and social media. Be sure to keep in mind that on-page SEO remains fundamental, it no longer holds the lion's share of importance for content distribution and optimizatioin.

So, in conclusion if you are not using social media marketing for your website your website will not experience the success that others who ARE using it are experiencing. It is also important to stay as informed about trends and different things on the web, a great resource for me has always been SiteProNews, subscibe to it and enjoy it.

social networks, social media. social media

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Video, Blog Marketing

One way to use this infomation is to use these alerts in order to help provide fresh and relevant content. The way to do this is through social commentary. An example was late last year there were reports about a certain celebrity driving around with her young son on her lap and no seatbelt amongst other things. So I did a post on my parenting site and expressed concerns and opinions. Just remember, proper social edicate dictates that you mention and link to the source of the information and if you quote from any article give proper credit. It is very important that you not just rewrite the article or news but make it your 'own' by providing valuable commentary and opinion. Google will love you for it.

However, where does google get their news from? Can you beat google to the punch and get a jump on them? Its hard, but well worth it if you can. Here is one ideas that many people overlook. 

Each niche is different. For example, do you have a health site? Do you think your readers would be interested in tainted food products etc? Some government sites such as the FDA has email lists you can sign up for to get precisely that information. Would'nt it be great to get the beat on google?

There was recently a recall for "Rainforest Open Top Take-Along Swing". Only 34,000 some pages come up in the search. Normally it would never be a keyword I would target. I signed up to get notified of recalls affecting babies and toddlers. For a while I was number 1 for that term. Guess how many people were searching for information on this term when the news hit?

While some of these strategies may only give you short term traffic, you should be able to convert some of that traffic into regular readers. Part of aspiring to becoming an authority site is being in tune with the needs and wants of your niche, and showing your readers you care by providing them with truely useful information.

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Publishing

For example, my site Crafty Places is # 6 in google for one of my top 10 most searched keywords for my niche, which is crafts, and the keyword is "Michael's Crafts". The only websites listings that are before me for that keyword are Amazon and Michael's Craft stores themselves. This keyword gets 176,000 searches per month and I think I have made a total of 3 posts that are related to Michael's Crafts. That is just one example of the power behind this. Oh, I forgot to mention, I think I got to that position about 5 months after my site was up.

Now for another example in the case of Kevin, my partners site at more4kids.com, his business blog at more4kids.info, drove traffic to his ecommerce site and put him in the #2 position in google for the keyword "personalized children's gifts" within months of going live. So, you have two examples of how this system can work. Either by driving traffic to an existing (static) site or being a powerful blogging platform on its own.

dominate your niche, traffic generation tactics, best blogging platform to use, traffic generation, best blogging platform to use, traffic generation tactics

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Publishing, Blog Marketing

1. Use an attactive title. Make it short and descriptive. If you are going after keywords, make sure that they are in the title, but don't go overboard. You are writing for your readers, not the search engines.
2. Write a brief introduction. Let your readers know what they are about to learn.
3. Number your items. Again, make it easy for your readers to scan your list.
4. Bold or italicize the lead-in to each item. Did I mention you should make it easy for readers?
5. Make it fun or informative. There are a gazillion bloggers out there. Give your readers a reason to pick you out of the crowd.
6. Don't be afraid of outbound links. The golden rule of blogging: You must give to receive. Don't think of other blogs as competitors. If you are writing good, solid content, outbound links will bring you even more traffic. Somewhere down the line, other bloggers will link to you.

Linking is essential to a successful blog. Make sure that the world knows about the great content you have.

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Blog Marketing

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Affiliate Marketing, Monetization

Affiliate Future.co.uk -Affiliate Future.co.uk 
Affiliate Tracker - set up your own independent affiliate program - http://www.idevdirect.com/  
AffiliateShop - http://www.affiliateshop.com/  
Affiliate Window - http://www.affiliatewindow.com/  
assistme.es - The affiliate network for spanish websites - http://www.assistme.es/  
Buy.at - http://www.buy.at/  
Casino Profit Share - http://www.casinoprofitshare.com/  
Chitika Mini Malls http://chitika.com  
ClickBank - http://www.clickbank.com/  
ClickXchange - http://www.clickxchange.com/  
Commission Junction - http://www.cj.com/  
DGM Australia - http://www.dgmaustralia.com/  
FusionQuest - was Freefiliate - http://www.fusionquest.com/  
Income Access - http://www.incomeaccess.com/  
Kowabunga! - http://www.kowabunga.com/  
LeadHound - http://www.leadhound.com/  
LinkShare- http://www.linkshare.com/  
ModernClick - http://www.modernclick.com/  
NCS Credit Cards - http://www.ncsreporting.com/  

OMG UK - http://www.omguk.com/  
http://www.onenetworkdirect.com/  
Paid On Results - http://www.paidonresults.com/  
Share-A-Sale - http://www.shareasale.com/   
Share Results - http://www.shareresults.com/  
Top Niche Partners http://www.topnichepartners.com/
TradeDoubler - http://www.tradedoubler.com/pan/cms  
UK Affiliates.com - http://www.ukaffiliates.com/  
Ultra Affiliate Software - http://www.freefiliate.com/  
WebGains - http://www.webgains.com/  
Zanox - http://www.zanox.com/  
Chitika Mini Malls http://chitika.com  
Directory of Affiliates:
Affiliate Scout - http://www.affiliatescout.com/  - this is a nice directory of affiliates

Other:
http://www.onenetworkdirect.com/

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Monetization, Blog Marketing

With that said, so what is an Authority Site? Is there much of a difference between an authority site and a niche site? Authority sites are built around niches and usually dominate that niche. They are the authority for that niche. However, I see one big distinctive difference between a true niche site and an authority site. An authority site is in the game for the long haul. People that build authority sites are passionate about their sites. The purpose of an authority site is to provide valuable high quality content in their given niche. The information is updated frequently and the articles or posts may include experts in their given field, whereas a typical niche site does not have to be as original and may be mainly populated with PLR and less original articles. An authority site is truely an authority in its niche and receives a lot of repeat traffic and is often cited by others.  People who are building these types of sites are building a true Internet business.

The classic example of an Authority site is About.com, which is a collection of niches, but an authority of each niche. My own authority site in the making is More4kids Parenting, a parenting and family resouce located at www.more4kids.info. Like About.com, it is a collection of niches in the areas of parenting, home schooling, pregnancy, childrens health, babies and child safety that I am very passionate about and plan to dominiate. I try to make the articles not only entertaining, but also very informative. My friend Melissa is developing her site, Craftyplaces, all around Crafts. On my site I have included articles not only from myself, but also from experts such as mothers, psychologists, law enforcement professionals and professional educators. This site more than likely will be the only authority site I will be working on over the next few years as I continue to develop it and dominate my choosen niche and sub-niches. I promise to keep people informed as to how it is development. Right now I receive anywhere from about 800 to 1200 unique visits a day. Not bad when considering the static site I had before at the most only received around 500 visits tops after 3 years of work.

So, what is the diff between an authority site and a niche site? Hopefully the difference is a little clearer now. My difinition centers around the level of seriousness one has towards their site. I see an Authority site as a niche site on steroids aimed at dominating their given niche. People that are looking to develop a true internet business and presence are development authority sites. In the coming months I will continue to write about the tools I use and some of the techniques I have very successfuly used in generating good consistant traffic.

In the meantime, the best place to learn more about how I built my site and learn about the many tools I use at the Authority Site Center ASC is dedicated to helping people develop authority sites such as mine.

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Internet Business, Blog Marketing

Now, sites are well equipped with all the information and resources we need to be well adept in any discipline. Blogs are the stand out in today's web, they are proven to drive traffic with a targeted audience and they allow for interaction and social commentary.

Since the content within our blogs is what is truely important why not make it stand out?

We already do it with ads and rss feed icons, those elements tell us what they are, we should do the same with our content. Just like a road map has a compass so should our content. When I go to a blog or website and all I see is text and nothing else, I typically click off, don't you? When I see a blog or website with text mixed in with graphics or icons I have more reason to stay a while. When you use icons they become your true "go to" resources.

Develop icons for frequently post material - if you have a frequently asked question section, develop an icon so that people know what they are and where to go. You can develop icons for just about anything on your site. "Hot Tips" icons, that draw attention to something you really want people to see. You can also use icons to draw people to the set of tools that you use use. Have a little icon of a toolbox represent where they need to go. The possibilities are endless.

Here are some great sites that I go to for icons and some tutorials for creating my own icons.

Mezzoblue

The Dashboard Spy

Graphic Styles

Icon Packager

I hope you get some good ideas from this post! Remember to be creative and think of the things you like to see on other people's sites.

content development, content development, content development

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Blog Marketing