The download information is to the right >>>

The following press release, published on January 31, 2012, provides more information:

First published in 2009, the free glossary of internet marketing terms ‘What the @%!* Does THAT Mean?’ has been downloaded by thousands of IMers who want to stay in the loop with current terminology. Its creator, Kerry Finch, has just released the 2012 edition.

Queensland, Australia (PRWEB) January 31, 2012

Kerry Finch has just released the third, and still free, edition of her popular glossary of internet marketing terms, ‘What the @%!* Does THAT Mean?’. A whole stack of new terms have been collected for the 2012 edition, which will help both newcomers and old hands who want to understand and stay in touch with the semantics of this dynamic industry.

When she first entered the world of internet marketing back in 2007, online writing professional Kerry Finch, encountered the unique terms used by those already active in this nuanced community. Despite having an extensive marketing/public relations background, it became obvious to her that the offline meaning of some terms were very different to their meaning to online communities.

Over the next few years she began to keep a record of those terms, and their meanings, for her own use, but it was as a result of her involvement in a highly regarded internet marketing forum that she created a more formal document.

“Every day there were new people joining the forum, many of whom were complete novices. In the spirit of the forum, I offered my collection of terms to anyone who was interested” said Kerry. “I was overwhelmed by the response, and over the next year spent some time streamlining its format and adding more terms as they emerged.”

From its first simple version, it is now an attractive ebook of over 100 pages, filled with internet marketing terminology – from ‘absolute link’ to ‘Z-index’.

“What the @%!* Does THAT Mean? has always been free, and can be downloaded from either kerryfinchwriting.com or obra.com.au” said Kerry.

Kerry also offers a Resale Rights version of the Glossary – a great giveaway or bonus for other internet marketers. The new version is to be released in early February, and purchasers of the previous version are sent the 2012 Edition automatically.

Download your free copy of ‘What the @%!* Does THAT Mean?’ at http://www.kerryfinchwriting.com

My role as event organizer for James Schramko’s Fast Web Formula 3 internet marketing and online business event has allowed me to connect with people who are working online, who often work ‘under the radar’.  Many have become niche experts in businesses as diverse as video marketing, small business consulting, affiliate marketing and website design – not surprising.  However, what truly amazed me was some of the laser-focused niches in which others are operation – upon which they are building extremely profitable businesses.  Revealing those niches would be uncool – the internet marketing world can be cut-throat at times, and maintaining a competitive advantage is priceless!

“The Best Internet Marketing Event EVER!”

… not my words, but those of one of the participants.  Similar testimonials now appear on facebook, Twitter (#fwf3) and on personal blogs and review sites.  It was, there is not doubt, a great event.

The guest presenters that were invited by James Schramko to share his stage were without doubt the leaders in their fields – from Google Adwords (Mike Rhodes), Affiliate Marketing (Andy Grand) and facebook marketing (Jennifer Sheahan).  Leanne King, the WP Queen, had the audience rethinking the business models that can be created and ‘Profiting From Portals’.

Each speaker went deeper into aspects of James’ new ‘Mafia Plan’ which he unveiled at Fast Web Formula, and which resulted in rapid fire note taking and participants examining ways to restructure and streamline their businesses to secure maximum profits.

Both speakers and participants were impressed at how the event flowed, with a balance of quality content and humor, but which allowed time for between-session networking and close of day socializing.  While there are certainly more experienced ‘event managers’ than me, the internet marketing niche has specific requirements. Here are my top tips that help Fast Web Formula run smoothly:

Handpick your event crew

Your event helpers, always volunteers in our case, want to be there, just to be there.  They are passionate about internet marketing and have skills in that field.  I always give preference to those who have participated in James Schramko’s Silver Circle training.  I am constantly approached by people who want to crew for me, but I have a great core of team players which I supplement with new faces as the need arises.  If a team member does not perform to my expectations, they are not invited back, which brings me to…

Document Crew Expectations and Benefits

I have created a document that outlines what I expect of those who crew for these events. This includes their obligations to:

• me and to James
• our guests – both audience and speakers
• other team members

This is balanced with what James will offer them in return.  Unlike many events, we provide our crew with lunch and invite them to a farewell dinner with our VIP guest speakers: a valuable reward for a job well done.  We ask them not to take notes during the event, but to be ever-vigilant in looking after the needs of our guests.  In return, they are gifted the digital recordings of the event.

Ensure Crew Members Are Easy To Identify

We  provide Fast Web Formula crew with special clothing that distinguishes them from the audience, usually a t-shirt.  We also identify them at the beginning of the event so that participants know who to seek out for assistance, and makes the crew feel special.

Treat Guest Speakers As Honored Guests

I dedicate at least one crew member (depending on the size of the event) to looking after speakers’ needs — who will receive them on arrival, note how they like their coffee, remind them of when their presentation time approaches, ensure their mics are functioning and comfortable.  We know that they appreciate this special service tremendously.

Checklists

The use of checklists is something that James Schramko highlighted in his presentation, as a way to manage both small and large projects.  For FWF3 my checklists include: crew briefing, crew registration, speaker registration, set up, pack down, dinner invitations.

Schmoozing

At internet marketing events, it often happens that both crew and guest presenters remove themselves from participants.  We encourage ours to mingle in the breaks and at end of day drinks.  There is no hierarchy or elitism at our events – everyone is approachable.

The digital recordings of Fast Web Formula 3 are now available, and can be ordered, at www.fastwebformulas.com

Your Personal Online Reputation

Even if you don’t conduct business online, you might be surprised what the search engines return when people enter your name into a search box.

And even if the results returned were actually about the real YOU, and not a porn star or bankrupt with the same name as yours, you might prefer that there was no  mention of you at all online. However, in these days of publishing meeting minutes, golf  results and academic honor rolls online, unless you are a hermit, it is almost impossible NOT to leave an online footprint.

Regardless of your offline reputation, your ‘online reputation’ matters, and the need for online reputation management is a growing one.  This is hardly surprising as more people, just like you, ‘Google’ their own names and find forum comments they wish they’d never made, their very happy faces after having one champers too many,  or a series of customers complaining about their products.

So, if YOU have Googled your name, what do you think the chances are of a potential partner, in-law, employer, college administrator, client or associate doing the same?

Businesses too, need to be aware of how they are perceived online.

Why Businesses Need To Monitor Their Online Footprint

Businesses are increasingly using different online strategies to generate sales, to create product or company awareness, to build contact lists and to build and maintain client relationships.  Blogs, social networking sites and discussion forums are being used to leverage website content.

The problem is that these sites (web 2.0) allow others to make posts and comments as well, and while positive posts about you and your business can be priceless, negative ones can be devastating.

It is becoming second nature for people to search for businesses online, especially prior to committing to a purchase.  Results with negative comments can influence sales and staff morale along with client, banking and associated business relationships.

Because the Internet has made it so easy for anyone to freely share their thoughts about people, businesses, products and services, with little accountability for the reputations tarnished as a result, businesses and individuals need to be vigilant with their online reputation management.

How An Online Reputation Evolves

Content published in articles, news items, blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other Web 2.0 platforms is picked up by the search engines.  They pick up titles, photos and key phrases (such as people’s and product names), index them, and display them with the corresponding links in search results. Where they appear in those search results will depend on many factors.

Without effective online reputation management strategy in place, negative feedback about you or your company can create the wrong impression and inflict serious damage to your name.

Sources of Negative Content

The goodwill attached to company or business names is an acknowledged asset in business. Considered an intangible asset, goodwill depends on reputation, which is, as noted above, vulnerable to attacks from various sources online. Negative Internet content can come from:

• ex partners
• former friends and colleague
• disgruntled former employees
• competitors
• dissatisfied clients or buyers
• news items
• government listings
• past court cases
• confusingly similar names

Businesses and companies are not the only ones who should be concerned about online reputation management, every one of us should be.  Individuals such as consultants, professionals, social figures and celebrities of course need to be particularly vigilant as others may try to hijack their names for nefarious purposes or financial gain.

Elements That Impact Your Online Reputation

Keywords

Words used to identify you, your products, services or your business form the cornerstone of reputation management strategy. Search engines don’t distinguish between proper names and ordinary words when their robots index keywords for use in search results.

Profiles

Social media sites rank well in search engine results pages (SERPs).  Accounts with these sites require names which are used to identify user-generated content that often appears on the top three search results. Web profiles in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Flickr tend to rank highly with Google and are considered a focus in online reputation management.

Search Engine Optimization

Internet users ordinarily view only the top search results and ignore anything beyond the first results page.  An effective SEO strategy is crucial for online reputation management because it has the power to bring positive content to the top of search results, while at the same time bumping unwanted results down to pages beyond where all but the most tenacious searchers venture.

SEO Content

Search engines like Google love fresh content which is why blogs and other Web 2.0 sites rank well even without their account owners knowing SEO techniques.  Creating and regularly distributing articles, videos and press releases  will attract the search engines to your pages.  Incorporating your name/s as h1 headings, page and category names, and keywords will all help to influence the search results in your favor.

Monitoring tools

Knowing what’s being said about you and where those comments can be found online is an important aspect of managing your online reputation.  While you can’t always succeed when asking the authors to delete their comments, you can take counteractive measures such as leaving persuasive comment replies, taking part in forum discussions and addressing specific issues head-on in your own web pages or profiles.

A number of tools are available on the Internet which can help you find links to pages mentioning your name.  Freely available services like Google Alerts set up to send automatic notifications whenever your name, your company name, product name or keyword/phrase is indexed by Google.

Ways To Manage A Negative Online Footprint

• If necessary enlist the help of a specialist reputation management service to remove your personal information from the internet
• Increase the amount of positive content by writing, or having written for you, articles, press releases, blog posts (I can help with this !).
• Create profiles (or have them created for you) at Web 2.0 sites, starting with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. Claim your name and establish your corporate identity on these networks before someone else does, to avoid confusing and potentially damaging content being attributed to you (ask me how!).
• Engage a done-for-you reputation management service.

Could the time perhaps come where parents register their child’s-name-dot-com at the same time as they register their birth?  Perhaps not, but I know of many internet savvy parents who have done just that, because they acknowledge the online reputation management.

It is important also to understand that search engines retain indexed data for a long time – even when a post is deleted or a link is disabled.  Cached content may still be viewed by Internet users who may be your boss, future employer, potential buyers or clients, and friends. Online reputation management, just like SEO, is ongoing, and takes time to yield positive results, making it necessary to manage online reputation even before unwanted comments surface in search results.

I would be happy to assemble an appropriate SEO content program to help boost your, or your company’s name in the search engine results.  Contact me!

So, while I was at it, I decided to ask some recent clients if they would be comfortable in commenting on my work as well. My only request was that I be able to associate their full name or website url or photo to their contribution (which I will explain later). The results were interesting:

• All but 1 of those asked were more than happy to send through their comments
• Some used video as their medium
• Others sent through text versions
• One preferred to not disclose the fact that he outsourced his content writing
• One is very ‘underground’ and did not want his full identity revealed
• Two still have it on their ‘to do’ list
• Two asked if I could write it for them (!)

What are the benefits of adding testimonials?

In the three weeks since I updated my Testimonials page, I have submitted proposals for several large content creation projects – all for new, unreferred clients. In each case, rather than explaining what I do, I pointed them to my website for examples, and to the Testimonials page. Two of these proposals have now converted, and a third is likely to.

I have no doubt that the social proof provided by my current clients played a vital role in securing these major projects – so at this point, I’d like to thank them!

Social Proof – The Nutshell Definition

A simple online search will reveal a multitude of definitions of ‘social proof’, ranging from historical and in-depth psychological explanations through to how marketers are using to influence your buying decisions every day (and make no mistake here they are). But I am a ‘nutshell’ type of person, so here is my take on it.

People use social proof to help them make decisions in ambiguous circumstances. If they are uncertain about how to act, or whether to purchase, they are influenced by the responses and opinions of others in the same situation.

In the case of my Testimonials, prospective clients, perhaps unsure if I am the right writer for them, will no doubt be influenced by comments from the people for whom I have worked in the past.

Herd It Through The Grapevine – For Creedence

Few of us would not have been influenced by social proof in some way. It may be:

• deciding whether to watch a movie with 5 stars or 3
• opting to view a ‘most watched video’
• to purchase or consider based on a ‘feedback’ or ‘rating’
• to ‘follow’ someone on social media sites because they already have lots of fans (so they MUST have something worthwhile to say)
• to ‘follow’ people that many of our peers are following
• making a buying decision based on a personal recommendation

Marketing research reinforces this by telling us that 74% of consumers trust peer recommendations, while only 14% trust advertisements.

So, in an increasingly competitive online business environment, it is hardly surprising that creating a group of loyal followers is one of the most powerful strategies being employed by successful marketers. However, it is not something that can be achieved overnight – the most valuable followers are ‘Influencers’ (those who will actively spread the word to their peers or their ‘herd’) and are those with whom the marketer has taken the time to build a trusting relationship.

The Influencers are the people who will:

• add to the hype of your new product launches (they could of course have a vested interest – see below)
• they are those who will take to the stage to confirm how you, the speaker, have helped them
• they will post (or give you a thumbs up) on Facebook or Twitter or Blogs about their positive experiences with your product or service
• they will bookmark your posts
• they will provide genuine testimonials.

They are real people in a virtual space that is being increasingly populated by automatic posting services and fictitious profiles.

Because I write for several high level marketers, I have become quite attuned to how social proof, and the herd mentality, has evolved from nought and is now used to create interest and demand. When implemented well it is akin to an art form.

Affiliate Marketing and Social Proof

In the last 10 years or so, online businesses have realized the profitability of creating products that are downloaded digitally. Increasingly, consumers are preferring to have information products – reports, ebooks, training courses etc – delivered in this way. Instant gratification is the name of the game – they pay immediately online and expect delivery in the same way.

Because they only need to create a product once and have an automatic payment and fulfillment process in place, the creators of digital products often have no further cost of goods sold (COGS).

So many decide to sacrifice some of their profit by incentivising others to promote products on their behalf by offering affiliates commissions. Affiliate marketing can be lucrative for affiliates, and some have created very profitable businesses from this business model e.g. Andy Grand.

However, products that are created by big name marketers, or which have a high ticket value, could have thousands of affiliates promoting them – particularly at launch time. And competition can be fierce.

Social Proof shows its value here in several ways.

Firstly, an army of affiliates promoting a product will yield impressive results from the search engines when people attempt to research said product. Of course, few of the results will have anything negative to say about the product, though many will use the strategy of alluding to a false negative e.g. “it is NOT a get rich scheme, so if that is what you want, it is not for you….”.

The greater the potential affiliate income, the more affiliates there will be, and consequently the collective investment in product promotion using often innovative traffic grabbing strategies. Lots of search engine results with positive feedback for a product is great social proof for the merchant.

Secondly, the big name marketers, with substantial client lists and lots of ‘followers’, can, and do, support each other, often with larger than normal or tiered affiliate commissions, or cross-list-promotion offers. The marketers who value their lists, however, are very careful about recommendations, and will often continue to look after their followers by insisting on special pricing or bonuses for them (while, of course, collecting affiliate income).

Social Proof Begins At Home

Too often I see sales pages with testimonials of dubious origin (e.g. Mr K, London, England with a stock photo) – don’t be tempted to use these, they just look shonky and do nothing for your credibility. And, while we’re at it, avoid buying from sites that use them!

If you don’t have previous customers, offer to to provide a free product to a prospect in return for quotable feedback or opinion. This is particularly effective in the pre-launch phase because the feedback could be priceless!

Video testimonials are very powerful, so be sure to include them wherever possible. Having real people deliver real endorsements can be a real deal maker – and they don’t have to be professional videos. In fact, its better if they aren’t. A recording from a handheld device uploaded to YouTube works a treat.

If there are some key elements you would like mentioned, when you request feedback, be bold and ask for them to be included (e.g. fast delivery, accuracy, support).

Regardless of whether you are selling your expertise, a product or service (your own or as an affiliate), buyers will purchase from you if they feel they can trust you. Having third party endorsements – genuine testimonials – helps to build their confidence. So don’t be bashful or lazy (as was the case with my failure to update!), ask – and if you deserve it, you will receive.

Offer A Testimonial

Finally, if you have received excellent service that deserves recognition, why not do what my client did – be proactive and provide a testimonial. Don’t offer – just do it!

Dave was a complete novice when our paths crossed, but his tenacity and will to succeed has driven him to learn about things that were WAY outside of his comfort zone.  Dave races rally cars, and he makes parts for them – and he is also an internet marketer.

I asked Dave if he would share his story on a Skype interview, and when he agreed, we decided to be way too clever and video record the call as well, and split the screen so you could see us both!  Some of the sound is a bid dodgy in parts, but I’m sure you will agree that Dave has climbed a very steep learning curve, with the support of our forum members and his learnings from FastWebFormula.

I think Dave proves that complete novices are able to learn the skills needed to become an internet marketer.

>> Learn more here about 2011 FastWebFormula3

Because getting traffic and improving rankings is my business’ raison d’etre, this topic is close to my heart.  All of the different types of writing services that I offer my wonderful clients are included in this product, in a structured, systematic way that has real, demonstrated, proven results. I was privileged to be given a sneak preview of Traffic Grab, and am truly amazed at the amount of knowledge James is sharing for such a modest price (under $100).

You see, over the last 5 years this hugely successful Australian, James Schramko has amassed an amazing amount of knowledge on how to get traffic to websites. He has used his strategies, tactics and tools (some of which he developed himself) to create a profitable online empire.  It is for this reason that I unreservedly recommend this course to my clients and readers.

Traffic Grab

For over three months now, James Schramko has been assembling all of this information into a system – James loves systems. The result is the just-released Traffic Grab, a very comprehensive yet easy to understand course for getting targeted traffic to your website.

Amazingly, the first three modules are free – James’ way of demonstrating that this course is a no BS, thoroughly researched, and valuable product. He does not want to be grouped with those internet marketers who just rehash old material and label it as their own.

His methods are proven to work.

These first modules show, in video format:

• The right way to research ‘buying’ keywords and keyphrases: you want buying traffic, not just lookers!
• What type of content brings in those buyers
• How to assemble your site in a way that will convert visitors to loyal customers

Once you have absorbed this preliminary information, the next three modules (the paid modules) encompass:

• Massive traffic action
• Profiting from target traffic
• Leverage initial profit to make even more

Nine Hours Of Video

Don’t be mistaken though – the material here is not to be learned in one sitting. James Schramko has compiled 9 hours of video into this course. It has 24 traffic steps, his ‘spaghetti bowl’ mindmap (I recommend having this enlarged and printed to plan-size, laminate it and put it on your wall). It is a visual representation of all of the steps in Traffic Grab.

In the videos, James covers each section from scratch – ideal for beginners and for the more experienced marketers (who are probably doing it wrong!!). His methods for building a quality list of buyers are something every online business needs to grasp and master.

Importantly though, in Traffic Grab, James demonstrates how, once sales are made, you can leverage those sales to scale up for more profits.

Not Theory

Throughout his online career, James has been an advocate of Proof. We all know marketers who espouse theories that are often not their own and try to create an air of authority around themselves.

James, however, provides real case studies that demonstrate the results he has achieved using the various strategies that he outlines in TrafficGrab. He stresses that this is a System, and one that can be replicated by anyone prepared to Implement.

James Schramko’s Traffic Grab is well priced – half of it is free! – but when combined with an impressive Traffic Grab Bonus from his premium content writer, me (!), it is impossible to ignore.

>> Learn about my bonus, and how you can get more traffic to your website now.

Preferential Treatment? The Huffington Puff

On one hand, a ‘news’ site, the Huffington Post, which auto-publishes stories pulled from various news sites, managed to outrank its original news sources. This latest development appears to contradict Google’s intention to weed out content farms supposedly in favor of high quality content.

Google’s search algorithm reportedly includes a classifier that distinguishes high quality sites from the “content farms”, a term that has no strict definition and which Google simply defines as sites with “low quality” or “shallow” content.

Initially, it seemed to target the formerly high-ranking article directories that publish hundreds of user-contributed articles daily, and collect advertising revenue in return. But as days passed, a major flaw in the algorithm appeared to demote sites containing original content while upgrading the rankings of their copycats.

Conspiracy? OneWorld

On the other hand, a news aggregator site, OneWorldScam, is raising objections over the Google algorithm change (most would agree this a futile exercise), suggesting that it could be a part of a concerted effort to silence anti-establishment voices such as theirs. (Even the casual observer would see that this site gathers news items primarily to expose the plan to create a “New World Order” with a “one world government”.)

Will Google Deal With The (G)Arbitrage Claims?

While the site admittedly republishes news items from other sources, it does so for purposes of providing insight and comment, not to rank well for search words as ordinary content farms do.

The problem obviously lies in Google’s criteria for determining low from high quality, which remain arbitrary and vague as it maintains source code secrecy to avoid being gamed. Instead of cleaning out web garbage, Google’s algorithm has promoted (G)arbitrage.

Google admits that its algorithm update is not perfect and that it is being constantly refined to approximate ‘near perfect’. In the meantime, legitimate websites that have been severely affected by the modification may just have to lay the facts before Google or bring it to their attention for manual white-listing just as it did with Cult of Mac, a popular Apple-focused blog.

Have the Google changes affected your sites or posts?

Article directories were a huge force to reckon with in SEO due to the number of backlinks generated from their network of publishers that depend on them for regular content. Backlinks, or the links from other sites to specific web pages, are an important factor in search algorithms because these are largely out of a website owner’s control and are perceived to be clear indicators of content quality and relevance.

Google officials acknowledge that approximately 12% of Google’s search results were affected by the changes amid rumors that some article directories were blacklisted for being content farms. Content farms refer to the sites that churn out hundreds of articles and videos daily, most of which are deemed of low quality for being copies, irrelevant or shallow. Typically mass produced, these articles often outranked authoritative sites in Google search results pages.

While Google did not identify the targeted article directories, sites such as eHow, Ezine, Associated Content and Demand Media have reportedly experienced decline in search rankings. The algorithm modification, however, has some collateral damage as websites with original content but which were frequently copied by other websites experienced drastic falls in site traffic and revenues. In this aspect, Google admits that no algorithm can ever be 100% accurate in weeding out content rubbish and will continue to refine its formula to approximate 100% accuracy.

Survey of immediate effects of Google changes

Most of the major article directories were the hardest hit by the algorithm changes. In particular, Ezine, which ironically enforces one of the strictest editorial rules for publishing, reportedly experienced a 30% decline in site traffic just within a few days from Google’s implementation.

Other directories such as buzzle.com, hubpages.com, and squidoo.com also suffered traffic reduction. SubmitYourArticle.com discloses a 2.5% decline in its average daily traffic but is quick to add that the overall impact of the Google modifications is negligible as it cites already declining figures even months before the implementation.

Content quality directly affects the quality of its backlinks which have a bearing on Google search results. Thus, SYA believes that the steady decline in article directory search rankings is a consequence of the overpopulation in article directories where article spinners habitually tweak content without adding real value to them. And this trend will continue and may even lead to the demise of some article directories unless real changes in submission rules are effected immediately.

Solutions to the Google Content Farms Purge

High quality content: Fresh, original and useful content remains king in SEO. The genuine SEO content experts have always maintained that there is no magic pill for generating massive flows of Internet traffic. The problem and its solution boils down to the quality of content being published which involves time, effort and reader value.

Comprehensive SEO strategy: Search algorithms still value backlinks but instead of relying heavily on a handful of article distribution networks for these, websites must implement several techniques including direct publication in blogs, social proof, document sharing, and press releases.

The future of article directories are still unclear but industry observers believe that the ones which strive to provide real value to readers will survive the latest Google algorithm shift. In the meantime, blacklisted directories may still obtain some traffic from sources other than Google although it’s uncertain how they will fare in the long term.

>> Premium Content enquiry?  Contact Kerry Finch