The Idea

Celebrities and news events are not only popular topics, they are also popular "keywords" in major search engines. Thousands upon thousands of users everyday search engines to find latest info. The idea is to build mini sites that target this market.

We call these "pop surfer" sites.

It sounds a bit far fetched at first, but with a little strategy, these "pop surfers" can help sell our products - NO MATTER WHAT WE SELL, or at least generate a decent amount of qualified traffic.

To get an idea of type of traffic, have a look at these sites:

Lycos top 50

Wordtracker

Google Zeitgeist

Look at terms in these lists. I'm sure you recognize most of them, as they are an indication of what and who is "happening" right now. Also, keep in mind these sites (Yahoo, Google, Lycos, etc.) are among most visited sites on net.

The "Pop Surfer" Mini Site

The first step is to develop a "pop surfer" mini site (or sites - more better). It doesn't have to be greatest or prettiest site ever created. Don't put as much work into it as you would your primary site. The key to these sites is to get popular names and terms on page so search engines can find and spider them.

When developing your "pop surfer" page, keep in mind that you want a page that will 1) get into search engines, and 2) grab pop surfers' attention while they are searching for their favorite artist, news story, etc. Here are two such sites we put together.

Site 1 Site 2

The Strategy

After we have our "pop surfer" mini site(s) built and listed in engines, how do we use it get customers to our businesses?

There are two models that we will call Indirect model and Direct model. Each approach has it's own advantages and uses. In one model we "indirectly" target "pop surfers", and in other model we "directly" target them.

The Indirect Model

This model gives us most qualified visitors. In this model, we utilize power of traffic "exchanges". After we start getting our share of "pop surfer" traffic, we use exposure ratio from these "exchanges" to drive qualified, targeted visitors to our primary business site.

This works because exchanges allow us to target our visitors. When signing up for an exchange you are usually asked what category you want exposure in. They often give you a list with such categories as Health and fitness or Business Opportunities. This gives us control over where we want our primary sites' information viewed.

Some exchanges have a 1:1 ratio where one exposure on your page is worth one exposure on someone else's page. Others use different ratios such as 2:1 which gives two exposures on your page for one exposure on someone else's.

There are several types of exchanges. The more popular ones are:

1.Before you do anything else, ask yourself not what you want to say, but what you want to achieve with text. Be honest with yourself and don’t be overly ambitious. Once you’ve clearly identified your objective keep it in mind throughout writing exercise. You’ll find that keeps you on track far more effectively – what you want to achieve should define what you say.

2.Forget modesty. As an experienced salesperson would say, “if you don’t think you’re good, why hell should I?” Equally of course you don’t want to exaggerate your strengths – that can lead to problems when you’re eventually called upon to deliver! But be realistic about what you can do and don’t be afraid to describe it in a positive light.

3.A useful way to achieve tip #2 is to step outside of yourself and regard yourself as a product or better still, as a brand. For purposes of this exercise you are not Mary Doe person. You are writing about Mary Doe brand. It’s not as difficult as it sounds; write in third person to start with, if you find that more comfortable. Imagine you’re a colleague writing about you.

4.Bear in mind that whoever reads this text probably won’t care much about you; they’ll only care about what you can do for them. Structure everything with that in mind. If you need to include factual/statistical information (educational details, qualifications, etc.) then make sure you put it in a box so it’s visually separated from main text.