Entrecard was introduced at the Blog World Expo. Since then, all the big bloggers have used it. Its a great new idea, and I am going to start using it.

At first it was introduced as the new “vcard”, however personally I think it is far from it. It is much more of an advertising platform than a business card. Basically, if you own a blog you put the widget on your blog and other Entrecard users can drop their card. When this happens it shows up in your dashboard of your Entrecard Account.

As you can see, on the right hand side you see the “Inbox” section. Those are all the other bloggers who dropped their card for you on your blog. Every time you drop a card on another person’s blog you earn 1 credit. Credits can then be spent by buying advertising on other blogs. Advertising costs are based on how many people are in line for your widget.  If alot of people want to advertise on your widget, it is going to cost more. In turn, you get more credits.

It is a great idea, and a great system. However I have a feeling it is just going to be alot of spamming going on. People who want to get on JohnChow.com will be dropping their card on every blog possible, as currently his blog is 112 credits/day, and there is a 13 day wait. Either way, its a great extra for networking and bringing some small traffic into your blog. Sign up and try it out!

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Your landing page is extremely important in your campaign. It is the first thing the user’s see when clicking on your ad, banner, or email. If you are a PPC marketer, you must have a decent landing page rather than a redirect. If you don’t, forget about advertising with Adwords! Instead of writing about what you should do with your landing page, here are eight things you shouldn’t do!

1.  Get rid of all that flashy cheesy stuff. Too much flashing with bright neon colors are a major turn off for the consumer. Think of yourself as the consumer, if you saw an ad flashing repeatedly, you would probably get annoyed with it and quickly hit the back button.
2. No music! Most people have a really specific taste in the music they listen to. Who wants to hear stupid elevator music that plays without their consent? No one. Unless you are promoting a band/music group, shy away from music that plays automatically.
3. Never put something on the landing page that is not promised in the offer. Putting “free shipping” on your landing page, when the user has to spend $500 for the shipping to be free is mis-leading. You are loosing trust from the user.
4. Don’t tell people what to do on your landing page, and don’t allow to much introductory text. “Hi, welcome to x.com, click here to and it will bring you here…click here and it will take you there…blah blah blah. Allow the user to explore for themselves.
5. Not showing what your site really does can be deadly. Stay on topic, and don’t use too much industry specific talk that the average internet user would not understand.
6. Not allowing the user to see where they have been on your site. Although it may seem old-school, use colored links that show the user has already clicked there. Without this basic function, the user could suffer from some serious navigational confusion and get lost in your site.
7. Making a homepage link, on the homepage. Never have a link that points to the current page. If the user clicks that link they are wasting time and again become confused.
8. Using generic stock photos is ugly and the consumer will catch on. I’m no graphic artist either, but finding someone to make you a custom photo or banner is simple and cheap. Your landing pages are going to make you tons of money in the future, so it doesn’t hurt to invest a little in their beginning.

There you have it. Eight things you shouldn’t do when creating a landing page. Follow these tips and your CTR should go up.

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Every good website ususally has someone doing a little SEO behind it. It is needed if you want it to be successful, and if you want to rank high in the search engines. So here are three simple SEO tips that you could do with your blog/website.

1. Sponsored reviews are a great way to boost traffic and get on the front page of a popular blog. Although sometimes expensive, worth it. You are getting links, reputation, and traffic. Reveiw me and PayPerPost are two great services out there that you can use, or most successful blogs allow for paid reviews even if they are not using a service. JohnChow.com is especially known for reviews and they come at the high price of $400.00 each!
2. Social bookmarking is another simple and easy way to get backlinks. Best of all it is free. I have wrote about social bookmarking so many times I feel like a broken record but this is such an easy way to bring traffic into your blog/website. Sites like digg.com, bumpzee.com, or sphinn.com are especially good for internet marketers or “make money online” blogs.
3. 301 redirects are search engine friendly ways of redirecting to your new site. 301 stands for moved permanently and can be easily implemented on your old domain. Google may recognize your new domain faster and in a friendly nature.

Three simple SEO tips that can really make a huge difference to any website or blog.

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