Internet Business Guide » site review

The University Kid — Blog Contest

Marcus Hochstadt — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:40:18 +0000

Remember I gave a free video site review to Fitz Villafuerte worth $700? Jason from theuniversitykid.com asked me whether I would sponsor a prize for his upcoming “Ultimate Blog Contest.” I happily agreed.

Now is the kick off of the contest. What can you win?

Grand prizes worth $2,400+, including a video site review from me, again, worth $700.

So head over to his blog, read the rules, enter the contest, and you may end up winning my video site review, which will surely boost your Internet business. :-)

http://theuniversitykid.com/were-back-with-a-bang-the-ultimate-blog-contest/

—Marcus Hochstadt

Video Site Review

Marcus Hochstadt — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:52:58 +0000

I’ve come to the end of the Video Site Review of readytoberich.blogspot.com.

Fitz, you already got my e-mail with the link to your video package (3 videos – 160MB – 50:19 Min.) Enjoy watching and learning from them. :-)

Now, since I promised to give a short written review on my blog (so others can learn from it too,) let’s go straight to the meat…

When talking about Internet business, working at home, and how to get rich, I love sticking to simplicity and focusing on content. Flashy layouts and blinking banners are distracting. They push visitors away from your MWR (Most Wanted Response.)

You do have a clean layout, using black & white as the basic colors. You do use the color blue occasionally, which is OK since it’s not overly used. So principally, I like your layout.

Very roughly and distilled from the three videos, here are some of the improvements I would implement when your blog would be mine…

Layout

Increase font size of headline slightly – The headline is the most important part of a blog post.
Decrease font size of the post date slightly and move that line below the headline – Right now it seems the post’s date is more important than its headline.
Have the “Comments” link appear more prominent.
Separate posts from each other using horizontal lines (for example)
Avoid long 5-7 sentence paragraphs – A paragraph shall consist of 1-4 sentences max. (on average)
Instead of justifying text, have it left aligned – Studies prove text is easier to read when left aligned.
Have a bigger smile on your face – That you have a photo of yourself on your blog is great! And smiling more deeply and out of your heart can have an infectious and captivating effect to your audience. (I know, need to update my own…)

Keywords & Traffic

Since one of your goals for improvement was to get more traffic from your target audience, I gave you two resources you can use to research and find a bunch of high profit keywords.

The goal is to focus on one keyword per page, distributing the keyword 4-7 times throughout an article. This is also called “Keyword Focused Content Pages.”

With this approach, over time you’ll likely attract lots of traffic from the Search Engines. (SEO can be a science, that’s why I use the word “likely” here since there’s much more to it than high profit keywords alone.)

There are three more strategies to get more traffic from your target audience. One is commenting on blogs in your market or niche, another is posting on forums.

In the second video, I go into more detail of these two, and I give you the URL and a short tutorial for another (the third) method.

Marketing & Money

Get your own domain name! – This is sooo crucial when talking about money and business. Some (or more) folks think one couldn’t afford the $6,95/mo it cost to host an own domain.
When having an own name, the picture it portrays to others is a much better and more professional one. Not to forget that an own domain name, usually, is easier to remember.
Get a unique favicon. Stand out from the browser crowd. Be memorable and remarkable. Right know, your blog has the default blogspot.com favicon.
Less is more – My guess is some of the monetization models you currently use are a waste of valuable virtual real estate. Or in other words, they bring near to zero in return financially (i.e., below $50/mo.)
By removing these, your other revenues usually increase. (Fortunately, your blog isn’t full of banners and distracting “By Me Now” buttons. Yet there may be certain things you may want to remove in order to increase income.)

I go into much more detail in this third video. To summarize…

Drop those that generate no money, keep the best, and have your MWR (Most Wanted Response) above the fold. Be it AdSense, an affiliate program, or the viral marketing stuff (RSS, e-mail, etc), put that up to the top to have it front and center in your visitor’s eye.

What do you others think? Any additional ideas for improvement? Any tips & strategies to squeeze more out of Fitz’ blog?

—Marcus Hochstadt

And The Winner Is…

Marcus Hochstadt — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 17:17:17 +0000

OK guys ‘n girls, the time has come… It’s noon Eastern (2 o’clock here in North-East Brazil.)

Wow, look at this… 24 entries!

It was a VERY tough task to pick a winner, really. There were so many interesting entries, most of which I’d so much love to see improved. Though, only one gets the free site review today.

NOTE: For all others, after thinking through and because I really want to see other site’s improved, please see the special at the end of this post.

Usually, when you get a site review from someone, all they’ll tell you are thinks like “well done” -or- “there’s a typo in the first paragraph” -or- “your site’s loading too slowly; remove the xyz widget on right hand side” -or- “Add X and Y to your site. You’ll see you’ll make lots of money with it.”

That’s just crap!

Did you ever get your site reviewed? Did the person ask you specific questions up front? Did the person give you exact steps to follow in order to improve your site? No? Well, to me that’s a worthless site review.

What you do need is a detailed review that not only points out minor gripes but the big mistakes leading to year-long failures. What you need are straight to the point solutions instead of finger pointing to the obvious little problems. What you need is a hands-on step-by-step plan on how to get out of the misery you’re currently in, once and for all.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here… ;-)

Again, one winner today, and a 2nd price at the end of this post.

That being said…

The Envelope Please!

The Winner For A Free World Class Site Review Is…

Fitz Villafuerte from readytoberich.blogspot.com

Fitz, I’m going to give you my review on Monday. I’m going to make a short written review publicly available here on my blog, but my actual review goes a BIG step further.

I’m going to record the whole review on VIDEO. Yes, you read that right. You’re going to receive a site review in video format. That way you get the most out of it since most people learn better and much faster with audio and video, and you can watch it over and over and over again.

I’m going to send you the link to the video(s) using the e-mail address you provided in the comments area.

Now to what I mentioned earlier…

Although my time is very limited, I’m open for five more reviews for the time once I’m back from Costa Rica (middle of March.)

Since my individual reviews take at least five hours of my time, I would charge $700 for a comprehensive video site review. As you may know by now, it’s not one of those “short & nice” reviews.

My video site reviews include lots of tips on how to boost your Internet business, which false steps to avoid, what to get rid of on your site, what to change, which tools to use to boost your Internet business, how to expand (or create) your individual pool of high potential and high profit keywords (hence, how to research your market properly,) how to make more money, SEO, and much more…

In other words, it’s like a private consultation with me. :-)

Now to the special

Because there are others I really want to see improved, I’m going to take my time and review the Web site of five more people. For these, the price will be $250 per video review. If you want to boost your Internet business and receive a world class site review (one that even goes beyond this free one,) send $250 to PayPal@Hochstadt.com and we’ll set you up.

You will then receive a more comprehensive questionnaire that you fill out and submit. It will give me a much better idea of your goals, your target market, and the tips and techniques I give you to boost your Internet business and bring it to the next level. Once you’ve filled out the questionnaire and sent it in, you’re going to get the ETA for your personal video site review.

Again, only five. Those that are too late are going to receive a refund immediately.

For now though, Fitz, TALK to you soon. :-)

—Marcus Hochstadt

Hurry!

Marcus Hochstadt — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 01:00:02 +0000

There are currently 22 submissions to the free site review.

I’m going to pick the lucky winner tomorrow at noon 12 P.M. Eastern. Yes, that means there are only 16 hours left!

I haven’t revealed it yet but the monetary value of my comprehensive site review is $700. Yes, it’s not a crap one. It is a world class site review you profit from for years to come.

It will boost your Internet business and bring it to the next level, guaranteed.

It is a site review you have never seen before, ever.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here…

If you thought of submitting or not (shy?), now is the time to write it up and click that send button (unless you want to pay me $700 instead.)

Once you’ve done this, stay tuned…

Again, tomorrow at noon I’m going to open the envelope.

Good luck! :-)

—Marcus Hochstadt

Let Me Review Your Web Site

Marcus Hochstadt — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:13:02 +0000

Do you have a blog or a Web site? (OK, a blog actually is a Web site, isn’t it?)

Would you like to improve it? Would you like to get higher rankings at the Search Engines? Would you like to grow your Internet business? Would you like to make more money online? (Silly question, huh?)

This is your chance… :-)

I’m going to review one Web site, for free.

There are tons of Webmasters making a bunch of mistakes when it comes to putting up a Web site and building a thriving Internet business. Whether they just got started or are on the Net for a couple years already, many of them simply have bad habits.

Usually, I don’t do site reviews. It takes quite some time to give a solid thorough site review, one where the reviewee gains the most rewards.

But I have the time of my life these days. :-)

That said, it’s time I pay forward what I received. Yes, we gonna have a mini-contest, sort of.

Here’s what you wanna do…

Instructions

Post a comment to this entry
Give the URL of the Web site you’d like me to review
One URL per comment. If you want to nominate more than one Web site, submit another comment.
No sales letters
Give the top 1-3 things you want to improve
Give the main goal you have with your Web site
Give your real name (Your artistic name is OK, just not a “keyword name,” if you know what I mean…)

I’m going to pick one lucky winner. I’m going to do my best to post the review on the next day after pickup.

NOTE: Submit your request IMMEDIATELY. Most likely, I will pick a winner sooner rather than later.

Good luck! :-)

—Marcus Hochstadt