When Is Duplicate Content Okay? When Is It Penalized?

Do you ever wonder what the search engines will consider duplicate content? I've been thinking on it lately because of the pay-per-click work I'm doing for a couple of clients. Their original site pages aren't converting to sales and I want to change some of the page elements and optimize for the top 3.

The site owners are reluctant to change the visual aspect of the page yet that's exactly what needs to happen in order to produce results. My thought is - why can't we create a test page that has basically the same content, but from which we can see what is going to get visitors to purchase or sign-up? While we're doing this, we leave the original page live on their site.

Here's an article that might help clear up some of the fuzzy lines surrounding what is and what isn't duplicate content.

When Is Duplicate Content Okay? When Is It Penalized?

How to Use Google Alerts to Boost Your Business

I've used Google Alerts for several months now. This is an excellent way to keep track of industry trends, hot markets, or keywords for your target market. I'm going to review them and see how much deeper I can dig.

Following is an article by Donna Gunter (http://www.OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com) about how to use Google Alerts in your business and step-by-step instructions for setting up your own.
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Google Alerts are a handy little email notification service provided by Google to let you know when new information in which you might be interested has been posted somewhere online and spidered by the Google searchbot. It's a no-cost way for you to determine what's been written online about both you and your competition, as well as to track any number of other terms that will aid you in your market research efforts. You can also use this system as a way to research market trends or statistics and determine "what's hot" in your target market to give you topic ideas for future articles, blog posts, and product and service offerings.

Here's how to set up and use your Google Alerts account:

1. Brainstorm a list of terms and keywords you want to track. You list should include the following:
 your name
 your company's name
 names of your products or programs
 the name and/or company name of your competitors
 keyword terms pertinent in your industry or to your business
 names of "moves and shakers" in your industry
 names of potential joint venture/strategic alliance partners
Don't worry about brainstorming absolutely everything in this step. Google Alerts makes it simple to add additional alerts as you need them.

2. Create a Google account. You can do so at http://www.google.com/alerts by following the sign in links, which will eventually bring you to a page where you create a new Google account. If you already use Gmail or some other Google service, you should be able to sign in to Google Alerts using that account info.

3. Create your alerts. Sign in to your Google account and begin to create your alerts. Here's how to create the most effective alerts:
 Use quotation marks to surround your term, like "marketing coach". By doing so, Google will alert you to only those pages making reference to this particular term.
 Choose the once-a-day alert which you can then review at the start of each day. Once a week is too seldom, and getting them as they happen will overwhelm you with email.
 Choose the most thorough search option, the Comprehensive option, in which Google searches the news, websites, blogs, and groups.
4. Add additional alerts later. I like to see where the info that I write ends up. Because I write a new article each week and submit it to article banks, I enter the article title as a Google alert to be notified when it's placed on someone's site or blog. I also add other keywords that I think searchers might use to find my site to see if my site is listed when it comes to those terms as well as to see what other sites come up by using those terms.
5. Scan the results. The amount of email that you receive will dramatically increase when you sign up for Google Alerts, so create a filter or rule in your email program to move all the alerts to a special folder for later viewing rather than clogging up your email inbox. Briefly scan the results and more thoroughly read the listings that appear to be most relevant. Because Google Alerts now searches blogs, many of the blog postings noted in your alert will look nonsensical because many bloggers have created blogs of keyword-crammed entries that are completely meaningless for you. Unfortunately, if do much marketing online, it's only a matter of time until your name, company name, or name of an article that you've written appears on someone's keyword-crammed blog.

Google Alerts are the most cost-effective market research you can use to help you grow your business. If you don't have a Google Alerts account, what's stopping you?

Donna Gunter is an Online Business Coach and Online Business Manager who coaches, trains and consults with self-employed business owners to maximize their online presence and get more clients online. Her coaching programs are delivered by means of teleconference calls, email and telephone.
http://www.OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com

Read this article on Donna's site: http://www.onlinebizcoachingcompany.com/newsletters/Apr25,2007.htm

Step by Step Process to create a Viral Marketing Strategy

1. Determine what you're giving away. Will you make a movie, write an ebook, create an ecourse, or have a special piece of software written for you? The key to success in picking your product is to make sure that it solves a big problem experienced by your target market. You may also locate your giveaway by using something that someone else has created that permits you to brand it with your company information. (Get an example below in my resource box).

2. Brand the product. Make sure that your logo, your website URL, and/or your tagline is on the viral marketing piece. You want anyone who downloads this viral marketing product to be able to link back to your website, just as you would want someone to be able to contact your brick-and-mortal store when you provide a promotional giveaway like a pen, coffee cup, mousepad, etc.

3. Set up delivery process. Will visitors be able to download the software directly from your site, or will they have to provide their contact information? The best option is to give it away with no strings attached. However, on the page in which you offer the download, you can offer visitors yet another gift, one that requires their contact info to receive.

4. Give away the rights. If you'd like to really jump start the viral marketing process, give people the rights to give away your viral marketing piece to their own customers.

5. Rebrand the item. If you permit people to rebrand the giveaway with some of their contact info or affiliate links, as well, they will really be motivated to pass along your viral marketing piece.

6. Announce the availability of the item. Write an article or a press release about your viral marketing item. Announce its availability to your contact database or ezine list. Ask your readers or visitors to your blog to announce it to their lists or just simply give it away.

Capturing the power of viral marketing is a simple and cost-effective strategy to drive traffic to your website. If implemented properly, who knows how much fame and fortune this technique could bring you?

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it: Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps self-employed service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. Get your free affiliate link cloaking program at http://www.Affiliate-Link-Cloak.com. It's a perfect example of viral marketing in action! Ask Donna an Internet Marketing question at http://www.AskDonnaGunter.com .

Affiliate Link Cloaking -- Don't Lose Prospects with Failed Affiliate Links!

Affiliate Link Cloaking -- Don't Lose Prospects with Failed Affiliate Links!

If you're in the business of affiliate marketing - here's a free tool from Donna Gunter.

Do you write your own web copy?

Check out some tips from Karon Thackston about writing your web copy with your keywords and keyword phrases inserted naturally.

SiteProNews: Stop the Slaughter of Innocent Copy!