That’s right! eSource Development has been working on our first training series for several weeks now. Finally, we are ready to announce that

SEO Launch Secrets will hit the market on March 11th, 2010.

What’s in SEO Launch Secrets:

• Over 90 minutes of video instruction
• Comprehensive workbook with all video screen shots
• Downloadable forms and worksheets (.PDF)
• 24/7 access to our Training Videos

And as an added bonus, you will receive $20 off your copy of SEO Launch Secrets by filling out the coupon request here!

This series will teach you how to drive quality traffic to your site by using tried and true Internet marketing methods without resorting to ‘Black Hat’ tactics. Even if you do not have a website or a product, SEO Launch Secrets will show you, step by step, how to get the word out and become a search engine powerhouse site. The videos and workbooks detail everything you need to know to make your online business a success.

Visit our Training page for more information

What you will learn!

The number one mistake most website owners make when trying to improve search engine rankings, preventing them from ever showing up on the first page of Google. This mistake is made by more than 99% of all website owners.

How to boost your rankings by simply changing just one optimization factor. Applying this simple technique is like using steroids to enhance the visibility of your website, drastically improving your Google rankings. This secret revealed to you in this SEO Launch Secrets.

The proper way to develop in-bound links to your website. If you know the importance of link building, but currently do not apply this simple technique to every inbound link, then they are virtually USELESS from Google's perspective.

On-page optimization factors that really matter when you're looking to improve search engine rankings. If you're still hung up on the concept of keyword density, then this method will change your thinking forever!

The most important factor for improving Google rankings. This secret is known by all the top webmasters and is the reason why they're websites are outranking 99.9% of all other websites on the Google search engine.

The difference between on-page optimization and off-page optimization and how you can leverage this knowledge to optimize for Google. Using these techniques in combination are like a 1, 2, punch that can literally skyrocket you to the front of search engine lists.

How to determine the best keywords for generating traffic to your website. See exactly how leading Webmasters find popular keywords with little or no competition, generating tons of traffic quickly and easily.

The best way to find link partners. When searching out link partners, top Webmasters know exactly who to ask. Generating links can be beneficial to your website but only if you're targeting the right websites! This guide shows you a quick and easy way to instantly determine the best link partners for your website.

The secret technique you can apply today that will instantly improve search engine rankings and propel your website towards the first page of Google for selected keywords. This method has a viral effect that continues to work while you sleep!

A powerful 'off-page optimization' method that can generate hundreds of links to your website in less than 48 hours! These links provide the right kind of "votes" that Google looks for when ranking your website - instantly improving search engine rankings.

Plus much more!

I’ve been involved in Internet marketing, to varying degrees, since 1995. Although that sounds like a lot of experience, it pales in comparison to the throngs of true Internet marketing professionals who make their living based on placement, clicks, and keywords. Not to say I don’t know what I’m doing, but as with any profession, there are always tips and tricks that are passed down and learned and subsequently shared with others. In my case, AdWords is something that I have avoided until recently and thought I would share some of the things I found out during my trials and tribulations.

Let’s start with a couple of basic introductions. AdWords is a Google tool that allows advertisers to pick key words or phrases that will trigger their ads to appear. There are many tools that assist with generating effective keywords, and those will be covered in another posting. Once you choose your trigger words and write a small ad or banner, you then place bids on those words and phrases which indicate the maximum amount you are willing to pay a display medium (website, Google search results) per click on that ad. The more popular the word or phrase, the more expensive it is. Your ads are displayed on Google search results and websites that subscribe to Google AdSense placement. “What is that?” you ask. Well, look at the websites you visit, even esourcedevelopment. AdSense ads are a great way for website owners to make a few cents every time someone clicks on the ads displayed on their page. It also fills the page with relevant information which makes your site more professional and attractive to site visitors.

In our example, let’s say we have a product that is a credit card protective sleeves. I know, it’s a BS product, but it will work for purposes of this demonstration. We create a landing page for people to order our product from and have registered the name creditcardprotector.com (if that site really exists, I better get a little some-some on the back-end). Then you must go to google.com/adwords. If you already have a Google ID, like for Google checkout, you can use that. Setting up your account means that you provide a credit card for billing and have access to the keyword placement tools.  After that, we got our product, we got our site page, we got our Google AdWords account, now all we need is visitors!

First thing, let’s think up some keywords to use in our AdWords campaign. Don’t get all excited and start throwing out every word that is even remotely associated with your product because you will go broke. Your daily AdWords budget limit will be met immediately with no quality clicks to show for it. “But, gee, Al,” you may be thinking to yourself, “Isn’t the goal to get people to click?” Yes, it is, but we want quality clicks, not quantity. There are 5 basic keywords and variations you want to use:

”PRODUCT NAME”
“PRODUCTNAME”
”PRDUCTNAME COM”
”PRODUCT NAME REVIEW”
”PRODUCT NAME SCAM”

And that’s about it! Using our example product, we might create keyword phrases like:

”credit card protector”
“creditcardprotector”
“creditcardprotector com”
“credit card protector review”
“credit card protector scam”

Notice the quotes around the phrases? They aren’t just for this example, you want to place quotes around all of your keyword phrases. Why? Again, because without them you will go broke. Without the quotes your ad will show (and be clicked on) by any schlep searching for “credit card,” “review,” or “scam.” I can hear it again… “But Al, as long as people are clicking, isn’t that good?” NO. Bad dog. No biscuit. Remember, our goal is quality, not quantity. Some guy looking for a low interest credit card may see your ad and think “What the heck is a card protector,” only to click off your site after seeing what it is and thinking “Oh…OK.” Sure, you may get an occasional sale, but wouldn’t you rather have a click-through from a guy that is actually searching for “credit card protector?”

In part 2, we will actually set up these words in our Google AdWords account and set daily limits and bids for each phrase.

There are times when I tell someone much younger than me about some of the trials and tribulations of early Internet life.  You know… before DSL and cable modems, before Wi-Fi, before DVD’s. Sometimes they look at me like I was making all of it up just to amuse myself.

Let me start with a little background. I have been a Software Engineer for almost 25 years. I have had many titles and worked for all sized companies, from fortune 100 to mom-and-pop. I was around when the Internet ‘happened’. When this weird, wonderful technological gift was bestowed upon humanity. I’m also old enough to know, for a FACT, that Al Gore did NOT invent the Internet. Ah, those glorious days of my youth, watching as computers progressed from 286 to 386 to Pentium… Watching as hard drives fell in price from a $695 10MB drive to a $60 1TB drive. But I digress.

Such was my early involvement with the Internet that I hold the dubious distinction of building and installing the first Internet accessible dial-in server at the University of Phoenix for student communication. Prior to that they had to use a dial in Bulletin Board system called ALEx (Apollo Learning Exchange). I left there in ‘95 to dedicate my efforts to Internet related activities and joined up with a man who wanted to start his own dial-up ISP. It reached it’s limit at about 1000 subscribers and was giving Primenet (our biggest local competitor) a run for their money. So, with that said, I believe I am pretty well qualified to speak on the historical events and their significance / relevance, peppered with a little humor, sarcasm, and embellishment.

Thus was born the thread Hacking it: Old Skool. Here I will chronicle some of the pitfalls, surprises, achievements, and flat out failures of various Internet activities. So gather around the campfire and I, the eSource tribal elder, will mesmerize you with tales passed down from Sysadmin to Sysadmin. These are the tales of the life force we call Internet spoken by those who were there to experience it many moons ago… (cue howling wolf).

This first article deals with early attempts at email blast marketing and how the perpetrators would hide their tracks. Remember that in the early days of the Internet, our email programs were barely GUI. They had none of the features you kids enjoy today like spam filters (at least ones that worked) or embedded HTML. They were TEXT with simple links and limited styling. Pornography was a budding business back then and people were looking for ways to get people to click to their site thinking they were clicking on something else. Hopefully the person who clicked was A) A guy, B) Looking for porn anyway, and C) Too unfamiliar with the early browsers to release themselves from the shackles of the endless redirect!

Knowing their dial-up ISP would delete their account if they got complaints against them sending such material, they looked for ingenious ways to send emails, make them look like they are from someone else, and completely wash their hands of them. One such technique was called “The Gullible Server.”

In those early days, ISP’s were generally small shops that, as a group, looked out for each other and tried to help out as needed. There were many servers that had security holes, either by choice or incompetence, that left the door wide open to those looking to take advantage of their kindness.

The Gullible Server involved finding an ISP whose SMTP server had lax security / checking. The email marketer would then create their email with fraudulent or unreliable links and create an email list of recipients. Then the following would occur:

1) The FROM address would be the actual address of the intended recipient

2) The TO address would be a bogus address at the domain server they were spamming through (say Fake_Address@nowhere.com)

3) When the email reached the Gullible Server, it tried to deliver it to the bogus address on their server. It would not be found

4) Trying to be nice, the Gullible Server would send the email back to the FROM address to let them know it was undeliverable

5) The user listed in the FROM address receives the email and the nefarious email scammer’s plan is put in action

6) Some angry users call nowhere.com and complain about receiving offensive unsolicited emails

7) Clueless admin scratches his head trying to find the user Fake_Address@nowhere.com… No luck

If the admin waited more than a couple of days to check the logs and see what user actually sent the email, they were most likely gone or simply did not exist (the logs, not the user). Remember that drive space was at a premium, so keeping long term records on small capacity HD’s was not a priority or a necessity for small, independent ISP’s.

The scam had several variations as different filters and methods were developed for the email servers to combat this sort of thing. For those early hacking pioneers it netted them some benefit and riches. As the popularity of the Internet grew and ISP’s began having to fight and claw to hold on to their customers, the locks got even tighter and eventually this type of email spamming became a thing of the past.

Now, off to bed you little scamps! I’ll regale you with further tales of Internet past some other time! 

How often are you beat about the head and shoulders with some web marketing gimmick? I don’t much care for those pages (called squeeze pages) that trap you on that page, unable to click out of the trap without spawning pop-ups and redirects and slide in windows.

The technique has been around forever and in just about every industry, not just the Internet. There was a car dealership in Phoenix that got in trouble for locking customers in the salesman’s office so they were unable to leave when the salesman went out of the room to talk to the ‘manager’. If you’ve ever bought or read any Internet Marketing get-rich-quick schemes, you know that the focus is to get people to a certain page and keep them there until they buy! Then they make you feel like an idiot for passing up the offer (don’t you want to join the exclusive club that makes thousands a day?).

People nowadays are a little more Internet savvy. They steer clear of the Google ads that are obvious gimmicks and look for sites that truly have what they’re looking for. I never understood that sort of black-hat marketing where you click on something because the search engine told you it was what you searched for only to find it’s something completely different. Do these guys really think that someone searching for “Garden supplies” is going to buy car insurance on a whim from their trap ad?

BTW: A lot of those get-rich-quick Internet Marketing courses that promise overnight wealth simply give you the material to start your own get-rich-quick marketing campaign selling the same course you just bought (or similar).

Anyway, let me get to the point (finally!). There is an unlimited number of ways to get people to visit your site without tricking them or resorting to shady tactics. It just takes one original idea that is popularized by Internet users, not Google ads or pop-ups. People that visit, promote, and frequent those sites generate more real and loyal traffic than any search engine ad placement.

Case in point, shitmydadsays. What is it? It’s a twitter / facebook account written by a young man who lives with his elderly father. When his father speaks pearls of wisdom, he posts them on Twitter (Example: "Son, no one gives a shit about all the things your cell phone does. You didn't invent it, you just bought it. Anybody can do that."). It’s very addictive. We all have relatives that have reached that age where they no longer care about what they say or who hears it, but this guy took it to the next level. The concept is so insanely simple that the genius of it escapes many who are still trying the unfriendly blast and trap methods. The Twitter account has over 1.2 million… that’s right, million, subscribers. The facebook page has almost half a million fans.

Justin does not have any ads for his site other than the facebook ones. However, if he put these ramblings on a website and posted just a few simple relevant ad links, he would make bank! The traffic to that site just to check out the quotes would be phenomenal, and thanks to word of mouth the site would continue to grow like the Twitter / facebook pages have.

Want proof that this is an Internet marketing goldmine? Check out the posers on facebook and other sites that are trying to horn in on this guys popularity. Again, do these people really think that someone is going to buy a diet pill because they landed on a site they thought was shitmydadsays? I think not.

The last bit of proof that this honest, niche Internet entertainment source is explosively popular is this: They have a book deal and now CBS is in talks to make a show based on this guys postings! I have no idea how they are going to accomplish this because the beauty of the postings is in the colorful language. Congratulations to him and his family. Y’know why, because he did the right way, he built a simple mechanism to get the word out about his dad’s humor without resorting to the dishonest and slimy tactics of Internet marketers.

My point is this… If you want to drive people to your site, give them some actual substance. Drudgereport is a free site that I visit multiple times a day because it lists headlines from dozens of news sources and doesn’t constantly beat me over the head with ‘buy this product now’ BS, pop-ups, or pop-unders. They rely on a few simple ad links that I click on to send a few nickels their way as a thank you for their website’s service. And if you find a site that provides decent content without those tactics, throw ‘em a bone and click their ads just to say ‘Thanks’.

If you’ve been a web developer for more than 5 minutes you know that you can’t create any type of website without getting a user to enter their email address. Sometimes this is done for marketing purposes or to add them to an email list for subscriptions, but whatever the reason the need is there on almost any website to prompt, validate, and record a visitors email address.

An easy way to do this is with a JavaScript chunk of code that will look at the value the user entered and ensure it adheres to certain rules regarding how a standard email address is formatted. This will not validate that the email is a working account at the domain specified (that’s another post), but it will at least catch user input errors they might not be aware of when entering the address in the field.

Test the code out on our email Format Test Page!

Download the ASP and Javascript code used on the test page here: emailFormatExample.zip (2.48 kb)

This file, emailTools.js, contains several functions that take a passed parameter and check the syntax to ensure it is formatted properly.

   1: function checkValidation(emailAddr) {

   2:     var message = 'OK';

   3:     if (stringEmpty(emailAddr)) {

   4:         message = "Error! There is no input value entered.";

   5:     } else if (noAtSign( emailAddr )) {

   6:         message = "Error! The address \"" + emailAddr + "\" does not contain an '@' character.";

   7:     } else if (nothingBeforeAt(emailAddr)) {

   8:         message = "Error! The address \"" + emailAddre;

   9:         message += "\" must contain at least one character before the '@' character";

  10:     } else if (noLeftBracket(emailAddr)) {

  11:         message = "Error! The address \"" + emailAddr;

  12:         message += "\" contains a right square bracket ']',\nbut no corresponding left square bracket '['.";

  13:     } else if (noRightBracket(emailAddr)) {

  14:         message = "Error! The address \"" + emailAddr;

  15:         message += "\" contains a left square bracket '[',\nbut no corresponding right square bracket ']'.";

  16:     } else if (noValidPeriod(emailAddr)) {

  17:         message = "Error! The address \"" + emailAddr + "\" must contain a period ('.') character.";

  18:     } else if (noValidSuffix(emailAddr)) {

  19:         message = "Error! The address \"" + emailAddr;

  20:         message += "\" must contain a two, three or four character suffix.";

  21:     }

  22:     return (message);

  23: }

  24:  

  25: function checkEmailValid (formField) {

  26:     if( checkValidation(formField) == 'OK')

  27:         return true;

  28:     return false;

  29: }

  30:  

  31: function stringEmpty (formField) {

  32:     // CHECK THAT THE STRING IS NOT EMPTY

  33:     if ( formField.length < 1 ) {

  34:         return ( true );

  35:     } else {

  36:         return ( false );

  37:     }

  38: }

  39:  

  40: function noAtSign (formField) {

  41:     // CHECK THAT THERE IS AN '@' CHARACTER IN THE STRING

  42:     if (formField.indexOf ('@', 0) == -1) {

  43:         return ( true )

  44:     } else {

  45:         return ( false );

  46:     }

  47: }

  48:  

  49: function nothingBeforeAt (formField) {

  50:     // CHECK THERE IS AT LEAST ONE CHARACTER BEFORE THE '@' CHARACTER

  51:     if ( formField.indexOf ( '@', 0 ) < 1 ) {

  52:         return ( true )

  53:     } else {

  54:         return ( false );

  55:     }

  56: }

  57:  

  58: function noLeftBracket (formField) {

  59:     // IF EMAIL ADDRESS IN FORM 'user@[255,255,255,0]', THEN CHECK FOR LEFT BRACKET

  60:     if ( formField.indexOf ( '[', 0 ) == -1 && formField.charAt (formField.length - 1) == ']') {

  61:         return ( true )

  62:     } else {

  63:         return ( false );

  64:     }

  65: }

  66:  

  67: function noRightBracket (formField) {

  68:     // IF EMAIL ADDRESS IN FORM 'user@[255,255,255,0]', THEN CHECK FOR RIGHT BRACKET

  69:     if (formField.indexOf ( '[', 0 ) > -1 && formField.charAt (formField.length - 1) != ']') {

  70:         return ( true );

  71:     } else {

  72:         return ( false );

  73:     }

  74: }

  75:  

  76: function noValidPeriod (formField) {

  77:     // IF EMAIL ADDRESS IN FORM 'user@[255,255,255,0]', THEN WE ARE NOT INTERESTED

  78:     if (formField.indexOf ( '@', 0 ) > 1 && formField.charAt (formField.length - 1 ) == ']')

  79:         return ( false );

  80:  

  81:     // CHECK THAT THERE IS AT LEAST ONE PERIOD IN THE STRING

  82:     if (formField.indexOf ( '.', 0 ) == -1)

  83:         return ( true );

  84:  

  85:     return ( false );

  86: }

  87:  

  88: function noValidSuffix(formField) {

  89:     // IF EMAIL ADDRESS IN FORM 'user@[255,255,255,0]', THEN WE ARE NOT INTERESTED

  90:     if (formField.indexOf('@', 0) > 1 && formField.charAt(formField.length - 1) == ']') {

  91:         return ( false );

  92:     }

  93:  

  94:     // CHECK THAT THERE IS A TWO OR THREE CHARACTER SUFFIX AFTER THE LAST PERIOD

  95:     var len = formField.length;

  96:     var pos = formField.lastIndexOf ( '.', len - 1 ) + 1;

  97:     if ( ( len - pos ) < 2 || ( len - pos ) > 4 ) {

  98:         return ( true );

  99:     } else {

 100:         return ( false );

 101:     }

 102: }

Create a file called emailTools.js ( or download the sample .ZIP file above ) and place it in your sites root directory.

In your .ASPX file, include a reference to the script file by adding the following line of code, preferably toward the bottom with other parts of your scripts.

   1: <script type="text/javascript" src="emailTools.js"></script>

Next, add the textbox control to your page that will hold the email address the user enters

   1: <asp:TextBox ID="emailaddr" runat="server" MaxLength="50" Style="vertical-align: middle"

   2:     TabIndex="1" Width="300px" CausesValidation="True"></asp:TextBox>

After the textbox control code that will contain the email address the visitor enters, you need to add a custom validator. Place it on the form so that if the user enters an address that is invalid, the message shows up on top of or below the email address textbox. This way the user can easily see the text when it pops up and make the necessary corrections. The first validator simply reminds the user that they need to enter an email address in order to continue. The second custom validator is what checks to see if the address is formatted correctly.

   1: <asp:RequiredFieldValidator ID="rfvFullname" runat="server" ControlToValidate="emailaddr"

   2:     ErrorMessage="Please enter your email address" Font-Bold="True" Font-Size="12pt" />

   3: <asp:CustomValidator ID="cvEmail" runat="server" Font-Bold="True" Font-Size="12pt"

   4:     ClientValidationFunction="checkEmailAddr" ControlToValidate="emailaddr" ErrorMessage="Email address is not formatted properly. Please correct." />

Change the ControlToValidate value to the name of your email address textbox control on the form.

Place a button on your form for the user to press when they are done.

   1: <asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" Text="Click to continue" OnClick="OnAddEmail" />

Notice how the button has an OnClick variable that tells it to run our C# code block called OnAddEmail() and not our validation script? That's because the control will never fire the OnClick event until the validation specified in the CustomValidator and RequiredFieldValidator occurs and everything checks out. In our code behind, we have two functions. One to take care of the PageLoad and set our previous page variable, the second is the actual OnAddEmail function that records the users email and returns them to the page that sent them here. I have placed the code within the ASPX file and not in a separate file, but you can do it either way.

   1: <script runat="server">

   2:     public static string sPrevPage = "";

   3:     protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

   4:     {

   5:         // Save the originating page so we can send the user back whe done

   6:         if (!IsPostBack)

   7:         {

   8:             if (Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_referer"] != null)

   9:                 sPrevPage = Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_referer"].ToString();

  10:             else

  11:                 sPrevPage = "~/Default.aspx";

  12:         }

  13:     }

  14:  

  15:     protected void OnAddEmail(object sender, EventArgs e)

  16:     {

  17:         // Use this function to write the email address to a file

  18:         try

  19:         {

  20:             string sFilePath = Request.MapPath("~/emails/") + "visitor.log";

  21:             using (System.IO.StreamWriter sw = new System.IO.StreamWriter(sFilePath, true))

  22:             {

  23:                 sw.WriteLine(emailaddr.Text);

  24:             }

  25:         }

  26:         catch { }

  27:         Response.Redirect(sPrevPage);

  28:     }

  29: </script>

Now comes the fun part… Insert the code at the bottom of the ASPX file to call the function(s) in our emailtools.js file that will tell us whether or not the email address is at least formatted OK.

   1: <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

   2:     var alreadyChecked = false;

   3:     function checkEmailAddr(sender, args) {

   4:         var retVal = checkEmailValid(document.getElementById('<%=emailaddr.ClientID%>').value);

   5:         if (retVal == true && alreadyChecked == false) {

   6:             alert("Your address appears valid. You will now be taken back to the previous page...");

   7:             alreadyChecked = true;

   8:         }

   9:         args.IsValid = retVal;

  10:     }

  11: </script>

Now, when the user presses Enter or the submit button, the validation scripts fire. If they fail, they warn the user and lets them fix the errors on the form. Once a valid email is supplied, the name is recorded in the Visitors.log file, and they are returned to the previous screen or you can change the code to take them to a “Thank you” type page.

You may be wondering about the variable alreadyChecked. It is needed because the checkEmailAddr function actually fires twice when the user enters a valid email address… Once for the validation and again for the form submission. This variable ensures our textbox message only gets displayed once.

I hope this example helps and / or makes sense enough to help you with validating some of the user input.

One of the cornerstones of Internet marketing is email marketing. Hence, it is vital for Internet marketers to be acquainted with what works for email promotions and study email marketing practices. Mastery of email has made many marketers rich online. Here are 5 email promotional rules that never fail:

1. Use A Lead Capture Page

A lead capture page, also known as a squeeze page, is a simple page with the single aim of getting email subscribers. It usually has an attention-grabbing headline, interest-building bullet points and of course, the subscription form. Generally, the more concise the page, the higher the opt-in rates (the percentage of people who reach your page and subscribe to your list) will be. Also, requiring fewer forms to be filled will result in higher conversions. Often, just the name and the email of the subscriber will suffice.

2. Pre-Sell To Your Subscribers

If you want people to come to your page and opt in to your mailing list, you need to give them an incentive to do so - such as a free report or a free video. Your gift should contain valuable information that will help subscribers and pre-sell them to your product offer. If you give subscribers great information up front, they are more likely to see the value in buying your product.

3. Personalize Your Emails

Many autoresponder services give you the option of personalizing your emails with the subscriber's first name, in either the subject line and body copy or both of them. I suggest you use it. It has been proven to increase email opens and click through rates. Of course, you may not be able to use them on all occasions, especially if you use a long subject line, where additional personalization might make the subject too long. But use it whenever you can.

4. Have A Mix Of Content And Promotional Emails

Too much free content and your subscribers will become spoiled and think they won't need to buy your products. On the other hand, too many promotions and your subscribers will think they are just merely on the list to be sold to. A balance is best. For every promotional email, send out at least one or two content emails to your list. For instance, you can send two emails per week, one a promotion and the other to your new blog post.

5. Send An Email At Least Once A Week

If you don't want your subscribers to forget you, you need to send an email to your list at least once every week. The bare minimum is once every two weeks. Any longer than that, and your subscribers may forget you and even why and how they are on your list, which may lead to a high spam complaint count. Sending an email every other day or even every day can be a consideration too, as long as you keep your emails interesting. If your emails are boring, you risk becoming a 'commodity' because your emails come in too often. Keep them hooked to your emails!