After reading "Top Five Marketing Courses for Magicians" I thought it would be nice to list the "Top Five Web Page Secrets for Magicians"

Here's a Start:
1. Rename your web page names to something more significant so the search engines list them better. Here are some Examples:

• about.htm to AboutDennisMichaelsBirthdayParties.htm
  
• testimonials.html to WhatPeopleSayAboutMagicalBirthdayPartys.htm
  
• contact.htm to New_Jersey_Magician.htm and same page Philadelphia_Area_Magician.htm
  

Naming them something significant instead of the millions of "about.htm" pages.

2. Offer a guarantee. Make sure the reader understands there is no risk in hiring you. The customer wants a perfect event and a guarantee does put them more at ease. Remember for children parties, it's the Mom who does the hiring and the decision many times depends on what she is reading so Content is very important.

3. Make sure you list testimonals, the more the better. If there are ones where she can contact another to hear 1st hand about your show, the better. (Principals/PTA/PTO Leaders will contact other leaders)

4. A you-tube video is a solid seller. They get to see you in action. It better be what you are really doing and not something you no longer do.

5. The index.htm page (Home Page) top half is what they see first so make the pitch there and so powerful they want to scroll down and read the rest.

6. Get away from the 600 width size, most (95%) of all today's computer can read minimum of 800px width. Its more room for you.

Opps that six, What do you suggest?

Dennis

All good stuff there.

Okay, here are a few more:

* Have your website target a specific customer and market. Yes, you can serve multiple markets with a single website, but it's better to not go after Trade Shows AND Birthday Parties on the same one. So... really, the rule should be "have multiple websites for multiple markets."

* Provide a customer-focused, benefit-oriented headline that catches your customer in mid-thought. Use sub-heads that equally compelling AND enable the reader to browse the web copy quickly - you always want to enable a double-readership path.

* Use compelling sales copy that speaks directly to that customer. You exist to solve a problem. Paint an emotionally compelling picture of why you are the best solution for doing so.

* Include a crystal clear and direct "call to action" - make sure they know what their next step should be, whether to email you, call you, or use a web-form... don't make them guess, give them specific direction.

* Before you even write one word of copy, think through who your market is and what phrases they will use to search for you and your services. These are your core keywords and keyword phrases. These are gold. Use them throughout your site - in your domain name, page filenames, headlines, sub-heads, meta-tags, <alt> tags for
images, and sales copy. Don't do this in a gross fashion, be wise and smart in writing prose that makes sense. Using keywords in this fashion will absolutely help you with SEO.

I have a lot more stuff, but here's the most important one:

* Finish what you start. If you don't get your website done, it will never bring you business. Don't be intimidated by the effort. Having something is better than nothing. Get started and get it done. Then make it better over time.

--Jack Turk

Offer and add REAL Value for your guests and visitors…

Give them a killer reason to:
- Stay
- Participate
- Be excited
- Have a great experience at your site
- Initiate the relationship process
- TELL all their friends because you have added so much REAL value!

Our brother Skip has this down big-time!


“Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire."

Find Your Passion… DO Your Purpose… Make It Profitable!

Live “L.O.V.E.” Everyday!
Life Of Vibrant Expression!

I am at your service and in HIS Service,
Deano (Helping You Succeed) in Reno
<><

PS
Grab Your 100% FREE, No Foolin’ Success Event Playback AND Downloadable GIFTS Now?
http://www.EntertainersSuperConference.com

For clarification, "Double reader path" means write for the "scanners", that is the people who focus on the headlines and bold points, and the "readers" who are those who read every word. I believe this is what Jack meant by double-readership

Excellent advise. I spend much more time marketing then I do performing. Its really difficult today when there are so many options flooding our market.

Eww eww can I throw a few more into the mix???

- Write Compelling TITLE TAGS.... If your in google the title tag for the page linked to is the BLUE link.. This is your 1st Call to Action.. the Action you want is the CLICK..


- Get other websites to LINK TO YOU... this is the 1 part of internet marketing that is the most powerful.. in general he who has the most powerful links WINS..

Mike I understand the importance of the links, do you want to explain or shall I.

In considering in-bound links / content / title tags / etc. in regards to SEO, it's important to make sure you understand what Google (and Bing for that matter) is trying to accomplish with its search algorithm.

When you enter a search phrase into the Google search box and click "Submit", that algorithm (i.e., software program) is then charged with the task of finding THE VERY BEST website it can to fit with that specific search phrase.

Google only continues brand loyalty if the search results it produces deliver webpages that their customers are looking for. Happy customers continue to use Google for more searches... again and again and again.

Factors that Google's algorithm considers includes things like:

-- How many high quality and RELEVANT sites link to the site. By relevant, that means that if you are a family show entertainer, you don't want in-bound links from investment brokers or sheet metal factories - they are in-bound links, but what they do isn't relevant to what you do. But top notch, high traffic websites that are related to the search phrase (a.k.a., keyword phrase that you've put on your site)
do give your site plenty of street cred in Google's eyes.

-- Lots of relevant content to the search phrase... and even better if that content is unique and refreshed regularly with new relevant content - hence the popularity and usefulness of Blogging software like Wordpress. And by content I mean words, pictures, videos, audio, etc.

-- Tags used properly inside the underlying HTML framework.

And so on. Again, whatever you can do to make sure your site matches as closely as you can imagine to what Google would consider the ultimate, absolutely perfect site to display when entering that search phrase, that's the kind of stuff you need on your site and those are the kinds of sites you want linking to your site.

--Jack Turk

Well said Jack...

and just to point out how big a deal this is...

I have seen websites that say nothing more than comming soon

with 5k backlinks (links from other websites) ranking #1 for a search result

ALL links count, but like Jack is saying above.. Relevant links are KING

you can build out properties that generate links using web2.0 and so on
This is so important I spend a LARGE portion of the classes I teach on how to get MORE links

So since we are on the subject of links....

Besides physically asking for links(directory submissions, paid links, reciprocal, etc.) and article marketing what other way is there now? It seems that guest blogging, video, social bookmarking, and some other methods are "no follow" or have less and less weight. So what is the best way to get the best backlinks, preferably with the ability to use anchor text? Is article marketing king? It's just so dang time consuming, I'm a magician not a writer! Lol

I find that my link in signatures at the bottom of forums means more than just a link to the web site.

Do a search on your name, on your titles of your web page and see what it bring up.

Most of them are no follow, look at the code:)

Umm yeah.. things are changing a lot right now..
550 changes to Google this year (split testing is getting OLD)

What I am seeing (and I have over 100 sites that we use to do nothing but test) is as follows

-NoFollow only partialy WORKS - Google and Yahoo follow the 1st link and pass weight to a given DOMAIN (Not URL) even if it is NOFollow

-No extra benefit from social bookmarking more than 20 times (different sites)
Social Bookmarked 50 URL's with 20 sites and 20 different sites with over 1k EACH such a small difference I will never do more than 20-- not worth the work

- Article Marketing is GREAT as long as your also getting syndication from your articles... Setup Alerts to see if your articles are showing up on other sites.. WHEN they do check to make sure the Author Box is intact (if not email and ask for it to be placed there with a link) and EMAIL the site to offer unique content

and ummm AUTOMATE this stuff
BIG time

I do article submissions and such
Example
you send me the article
we spin it to 60% unique
submit it to 90 websites with your backlinks
Ping each article
Social bookmark each article 8 to 20 times (I have 50 social bookmarking sites I submit to)
Ping the social bookmarks (30 sites we ping)
submit each article to RSS feeds (12 feeds)

and span the submission over a week time frame to let them get indexed at different times.

In some of the markets I hit if it's not automated (as in submissions) you just cant keep up...

Hi Mike,

Have I told you lately...that I love you? Lol

You are a wealth of information on this subject!

So you said that even with no follow the first link has weight? The domain but not the URL? I guess I don't understand. Does anchor text even matter if it is no follow then?

I want to talk to you a bit more about some other things but since you don't have PM what is the best way to get in touch with you? Can you pm me your email addy?

Nothing major, just a few questions and possibly some work for you?

Thanks Mike, really appreciate your posts here...

Hart,
Sent ya a PM with my # and email

OK so here is how we currently see it working (and google is always changing so who knows after the dust settles)

say you goto a website and comment but all the the links are nofollow

so you enter your website (and they make your name a link to your website) and then you put a link in your comment with anchor text

the link in the comment is then the 2nd LINK it will pass no weight

the NAME is now the link and the anchor text passing weight

also google got wise on PR sculpting (the art of building and passing page rank) and now uses every outbound link in the math involved..

How it used to be

PR comming in = 5
all links on page nofollow
page PR = 5

NOW
pr comming in = 5

5 divided by all links on page (lets say there are 5)
the links with nofollow still are part of the math so it lowers the weight passed but the nofollows only pass weight to the 1st link to any domain

a link to
yourdomain.com
and
yourdomain.com/yourservices.html

are both to your domain
so place links and anchor text with some thought

Hopefully this thread is more than a focus on search engines.

Dennis,
Thanks... I chase to many rabbits, and get side tracked easy

Another thing that I find HUGE "ON" the site is to have some form of signup for a mailing list/ newsletter / ebook on party tips and so on

because by building the list you can build a relationship with a potential client BEFORE they need you and then become the logical choice

I know my name comes up and websites in the Café signature but what I worry about is exposure because of this.

This article has few tips not mentioned to add to the list:

http://magicgizmo.com/home/Business-Side......ans.html

This has been an interesting topic to follow - don't forget length of time too - Google weights sites with 1, 2, 5, 10 years . . . if you have access to site results over these periods of time, analyze your SEO position at these intervals . . . especially 5 years for some reason sites seem to be blessed with a little more SEO weight . . .