Everything About Marketing

The Internet Marketing List

2009-02-28T14:08:00.000+07:00

Everythings You Should Be Doing But Probably Aren't

by Ian Lurie

Internet marketing is about lots of little things, not one big one. This list is half-list, half-procedure. If you go down these items in order it might give you a decent internet marketing plan for the next few months. If you have others, post ’em as comments:

If you have a Flash introduction on your web site, delete it. If you don’t agree, try this: Shove your head into a bucket of water. Stay in there, not breathing, for 10 seconds longer than is comfortable. That’s what you’re doing to your customers. Delete it, please.

Check the load speed of every page on your site. If any load in more than 10 seconds, fix it (2-6 seconds is far better). If your developer says they can’t, and it’s not your own network causing the problem, fire them. Here’s a good page load tester.

Check your site for broken links. You can use a tool like Xenu. Fix those links. Do not pass this step until you’re done. If it takes your developer more than a week to do this step, again with the firing thing.

Make sure you have a user-friendly 404 error page, not the generically nasty PAGE NOT FOUND message.

Make sure you have a user-friendly 500 error page, too. A 500 error happens when some bit of database code you wrote late at night decides it’s had enough with this world, and takes your web site with it. That usually leads to something terribly informative like “500 Error Connection Timed Out”. Maybe you can do something better?

Remove all inline javascript to a separate .js include file. That will speed up page load times and may help you with search rankings, too. Plus it appeals to code geeks like me, and we’re all that matter, right?

Set up Google Webmaster Tools, Yahoo! Site Explorer and Live.com Webmaster Tools. You’ll see your site from the search engine’s viewpoint, what folks use to find you, and whether there are any problems that might be hurting you in the search engines.

Set up an XML sitemap, too. Check out Sitemaps.org for an overview.

If you’re running an e-commerce site, hire a really good writer to rewrite all your product descriptions. Those descriptions matter more than you think.

Get analytics set up on your site. You can’t do internet marketing without it. Actually, you can, but you’ll suck at it. I recommend Google Analytics. If your developer says they can’t install anything, well, you know...

In that analytics tool, make sure you can consistently track conversions: Sales, or leads, or whatever else you want folks to do when they see your site.

Get a HackerSafe or ScanAlert logo on your site. While I question their value, the search engines don’t. Nor do customers. That sticker can get you more search engine ‘trustrank’ and improve conversion rates.

Put your full address and phone number on each page of your site, for the same reasons.

Use Wordtracker, Trellian Keyword Discovery or something similar to find the top keywords that folks use to find your products or services.

Now find the top ranking sites for those phrases.

Who links to them? Do a “link:” search on Google, or use linkdiagnosis.com or Yahoo! Site Explorer to build a list. Now go out and get those links!

If two years ago some SEO hack advised you to put 100 links at the bottom of your home page, delete them. They’re not helping you, and they may be hurting you.

If two years ago that same SEO hack advised you to write title tags that read like this - “Wedding stuff and wedding things and weddings stuffs and weddings things with more wedding items and this is your place for weddings” - delete those too and write something that doesn’t sound like Elmer Fudd suffering a mental breakdown.

If you have the same keywords in your keywords tag on every page of your site, search your feelings... Do you really think the search engines are that stupid? Change ’em, or delete the tag altogether. The tag doesn't really help, and duplicating keywords across all pages can flag you as an SEO spammer.

Write a high-quality meta description tag for each page of your site. That may not affect ranking but it’ll get more folks to click on your search listing.

Make sure your site uses correct semantic markup. Your developer had better understand what that means. Don’t make me come over there...

Get your site totally standards compliant according to the W3C code validator.

At the same time, make sure your site isn’t hideously ugly.

With those two items handled, you can now go to all the major XHTML and CSS site directories out there, which list lots of standards-compliant sites, and submit your own web site. If you get in, you get great links from great sites. Do not submit your site to any CSS or XHTML directories until you see a happy green report on the W3C validator. Doing so wastes your time, and the directory owners’. They’re liable to digitally tar and feather you.

Comment on other folks’ blogs. That gets you attention from those bloggers. They may come look at your site, or just drop you a line, or they may do nothing for a while. But you’re building relationships you can use later.

Do a press release a month. Chances are something cool happened. Did you hire someone new? Create a new product? Complete a new project? Win a prize? Brag!

Get someone who can write to create that press release. Bragging doesn’t help if you sound like an idiot.

Learn to use Google Reader. Subscribe to the top internet marketing blogs. Read them a lot. For a hint you can look at the AdAge 150 list.

Go to Google blog search. Search for your own brand name. Then subscribe to that search result in Google Reader (you’ll find a little RSS link on the search results page). That gives you a quick look at what folks are saying about your company.

Do the same thing for your own name.
Then subscribe to who’s linking to you on Technorati, for the same reason.

Go to local directories like Yelp! and make sure you’re listed. Hey, it’s a link, right? Plus it’ll give you one more place to manage your reputation.

Be sure your company information is up to date in Google, Yahoo! and Live’s local search tools.

If you’re a local business, ask your customers to review you on one of the local sites: Either on the search engines or on the other sites. This will boost your ranking in local search results. Beg, plead, bribe. It does require work on their part. And don’t worry if you get a few negative reviews, either.

Start working on Yahoo! Answers. This is an opportunity to make yourself an expert, and get some links at the same time. Spend no more than an hour a week. Read Matt McGee’s excellent article on the subject to learn more.

Invite people to subscribe to your house e-mail list. If you don’t have one, start one. This continues to be one of the most neglected facets of internet marketing.

Make sure there’s an easy way for folks to sign up for that list.
Remove any extra fields from your subscription form. All you need is their e-mail address.

If you require registration during checkout, get rid of it.

If you’re automatically opting folks in to your e-mail list, stop.

When you receive customer requests via e-mail, answer them. Fast.

Remember that house e-mail list I got you to start building? Starting sending out a quality offer to that list, once a month. See how it works. Keep testing different types of subject lines, creative, offers and such. Always strive to beat your last best performance.

Now you’re ready for some real online marketing (yes, all this was a warm up). Create a landing page for the best offer you’ve got. Follow best practices. Read Marketing Sherpa’s Landing Page Handbook for the best information you’ll find.

Create 2-3 headlines for that page.

Write a few different versions of body text for the landing page.

And finally use a couple of different images.

Then use a multivariate testing tool like Google Website Optimizer (if the budget’s tight) or Widemile (if you want the best possible result) to test all those headlines, copy versions and images and find the best ‘recipe’.
Create 2-3 pay-per-click ads on Google Adwords and/or Yahoo!. Point those ads at the landing page. Be sure to use whatever tagging mechanism your analytics software requires, so you’ll know which ad generates which clicks.

Now start that test!

Pick the 3 things you learned from that test, and apply them to the rest of your site. Did one call to action work best? Create a button to put everywhere on the site. One type of photography? Use that, too. You get the idea.

Did conversion rates go up? Cool! Now make sure you’re earning a good return on those PPC ads. Increase your spend and broaden your campaign, always watching out for ROI.

Now you can create landing pages for all those house e-mails you’re sending out. Since you already know which subjects work best, and which kinds of offers, you can start with a good foundation and find the best possible landing page.

Borrow your neighbor’s DVCam. Put it on a tripod. Film yourself talking about one of your products, or explaining how to use one of them. Post it on YouTube and then embed it on your site. No, you’re not Scorcese. But it’s more exposure for you, in another venue.

Are you still using Yahoo! Answers? I hope so. Don’t make me come over there AGAIN.

Create a MySpace page for fans/hobbyists/enthusiasts/students of your product or service. Don’t brand the page that heavily. Focus on the type of product or service. Attract folks who want to know more. Then wow ‘em with your knowledge, and build a circle of friends. Now you can announce offers and such to them, too.

Do the same thing on Facebook.

Find any industry-specific social networks that are relevant to you. It’s easy: Go to Google and search for “‘your product’ social network”. Bet you find some. If you do, join up.

Take all the cool stuff you’ve learned by testing offers, and newsletters, and keywords, and ads, and landing pages, and revamp your site. Then announce your new, improved site to all your customers, and subscribers, and MySpace friends, etc..

Whew! You’re done. Congrats! Now, go back to step 1, and repeat the process. Because you’re never ‘done’.

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Things to Know to Succeed in Affiliate Marketing

2009-02-24T14:04:00.000+07:00

Build your own list simply sending visitors to your affiliate websites through your affiliate URL is not good marketing. Again, having a website is not mandatory, but with the advantages presented, I'm glad I do have one, because it really makes affiliate marketing a lot easier for me. Buy an affiliate marketing e-book that doesn't require you to have had any affiliate marketing experience in the past. Affiliate marketing is quite complex, and it would be impossible on the limited space here to explain all you need to know to succeed in affiliate marketing.

Seventh among the Affiliate Marketing Tools for success, buy an affiliate marketing e-book that is easy to follow whether you are new to affiliate marketing or a seasoned affiliate marketer. Remember your task is to pre-sell which involves marketing and promoting your affiliate link to as many people as possible. To be successful, this does involve good marketing practices and a lot of hard work and dedication on the affiliate marketer’s part.

Key Term: Affiliate Marketing is a widespread method of promoting a website, in which an affiliate is rewarded for every visitor; subscriber and/or customer provided through his/her efforts.

However, remember, without action, you cannot blame this affiliate marketing article or any article for that matter. If you don’t have a website you can still take come up with a good affiliate marketing strategy for yourself. Success with Affiliate Internet Marketing Programs Though there is much information to obtain prior to becoming an affiliate; it can definitely pay off in the long run. These affiliate marketing article tips can be the most profitable affiliate internet marketing tips you ever learn and you are actually seeing this exciting method right here put into action within this article.

No doubt affiliate marketing can make you a lot of money, but if you want to be at the top of the food chain and make the kind of riches that the top guns make, you do need your own product. More Guidance” Cutting Through the Information and Finding the Right Program for You” Whether you have already decided on which affiliate network marketing program you are going to use to make money on the internet or you are still looking for more answers to your questions there is place where you can go to receive more help than you will from any actual program out there. It is expected to become the 4th major type of Internet Marketing next to Affiliate Marketing, Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization within the next years. In affiliate marketing, the affiliate is compensated for every visitor, subscriber and/or customer provided through his efforts. Affiliate marketing is an easy way to start a business and make money because you don't have to worry about customer service or product creation. While one can actually gain enormous success in affiliate marketing even without a website, it is a rare instance that "newbie’s" like you can reach the same levels of success. Don’t look at affiliate programs to be any less expensive than other means of online marketing.

Affiliate marketing is not that simple. Truth: Affiliate networks are a powerful solution to the knowledgeable Internet Marketing Merchants. Affiliate marketing programs are best alternatives to those who are sick and tired of their arduous daily work just to climb up the venerated corporate ladder. The PIPS is a service that supplies a complete website setup on your own domain name and hosting account, and promotes affiliate products from the best affiliate programs online, namely SFI, Empowers, Internet Marketing Centre, Internet Marketing Warriors / Host4Profit and Traffic Swarm.

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Using Ebay Is A Great Place To Sell Your Ebook!

2009-02-19T14:01:00.000+07:00

Perhaps you have heard that with your small business web site you could be making money with ebooks but you don't have the first idea where to start because you're not much of a writer. The good news is that there's a way for you to create excellent quality ebooks without ever having to write anything yourself!

You can set up a squeeze page, also referred to as a shy-yes page. These are one page sites that go into great detail about your ebook. These pages are not in favor with the search engines, so you will need to be creative in order to keep people on the page long enough to get them to buy.

Using eBay is a great place to sell your ebook. With more than a half million ebook sold every year, eBay reigns supreme when it comes to getting your name out there. You can add a link back to your blog from your About Me page, for more details visit to www.ebook-marketing-exposed.com where you will again show people how and why they should purchase your ebook.

One of the greatest innovations of the Internet age is the ready availability of top quality freelance writers all over the world who specialize in an astounding array of topics. The fact is that there is more than likely a freelancer out there who is already knowledgeable about your niche who can make your eBook content shine.
Freelance web sites are plentiful and most charge a small fee for helping you find the right freelance writer for your job but the majority of small business owners find this fee more than reasonable for finding the right writer to help them start making money with ebooks on their own web site.

A word of caution when searching for freelance writers; asks for samples of the potential writers' work or for more details visit to www.ebook-creation-toolkit.com read through their portfolio carefully. When you get the potential list down to a handful, ask for references of previous clients and actually contact those references to make sure the writer is who they claim to be and they can deliver on their promises.

Freelance writers don't have to cost a fortune and they can help you in your quest toward making money with ebooks. If you're willing to put in a little time and money, the rewards can be great!

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Blogging as a Marketing Tool

2009-02-28T14:05:00.000+07:00

Business blogging provides a way for companies and readers to meet on common ground and discuss ideas, products and services in the hopes of building an audience that can become customers. A business blog provides a cost-effective alternative to having a website. For small and medium sized business entrepreneurs without the time and the means to set up a website, business blogging offers an inexpensive tool to herald the company’s presence on the powerful Internet.

Business blogs provide SMBs with an avenue to share their expertise and knowledge with a bigger audience. Both online and offline small and medium sized businesses can use blogs to take their products and services to a wider audience increasing web traffic and boosting sales. The fact is business blogging is fast becoming a sustainable marketing strategy for any online marketer. There are numerous ways a business can benefit from a blog.

An effective business blog can help give a human face to a business. Blogs bring a personal dimension to the web. Blogs make business sites more personal. Since blogs are updated by individuals, the “voice” of the blogger will resonate through. This will assure potential customers that there are real people behind the blog engaging them in real conversations. Blogs can be opinionated, informative, at other times infused with humor thus eliciting better response from target audience.

A business blog if used productively can improve customer service. It provides instant customer feedback through comments. It allows one’s audience to comment on a post and create a dialogue with them. A blog can act as a question and answer forum. Customers can post questions and receive instant replies. An effective business blog functions as a central knowledge base of articles, tutorials, product development status, and other relevant product or service information. This is good customer service.

A business blog keeps an archive of older posts organized by date and categorized by topic. This gives the target audience easier access to information. With business blogs, it is also easy to add new information on a regular basis. Frequent updates in the form of fresh new posts mean visitors will have all the reasons to keep coming back thus building loyal readers – best potential clients.

A business blog can increase the chances of prospective clients to visit a company’s website. For a start, visitors to a business blog can be redirected to the company’s main site through links and special offers. Use of relevant keywords and popular links to specific sales pages improve search engine ranking of both the business blog and the main website. Just like the main website, top search result rank equals traffic. With more and more people turning to the all-powerful Internet to search for products and services, it is essential for small businesses to be easily crawled by search engines. Since search engines thrive on new content, the more likely the search engines are going to visit the blog and share it with the world.

Regularly posting valuable content on a business blog builds company credibility and creates sound business reputation. A business blog can help project a company as an expert in a chosen business area. Customers feel more comfortable transacting business with a reputable company.

A business blog can be an avenue to introduce company products or services. Ideally, a blog is not about selling. A blog can be used to mention new products or services and direct visitors to the company’s main website in the process generating more sales. Interestingly, several advertising programs such as Google Adsense allow companies to monetize their business blogs and generate extra revenue.

However, a business blog is not urgent but important for small and medium sized businesses. A business blog alone is not enough to market a company product or service. But it is good investment for startup businesses to have conversations with customers and prospective clients. Business blogging is an effective way to start conversing with visitors interested in ones products or services but it is in no way to be viewed as a stand alone strategy. Yes, business blogging can do wonders. But it is not going to work on its own. A business blog is most effective when it is used in conjunction with other online communication tools such as e-mail, press release, pay per click, company websites, to name a few.

Setting up and maintaining a great business blog that visitors will find useful and relevant is just like having an effective built-in public relations staff that will spread the word about the business.

As a final thought, starting a business blog is easy but transforming it into a marketing tool that drives traffic and sales to a business takes time, dedication and consistency.
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Source: ArticleManiac by Danny Wirken

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Marketing Innovation: How to Improve Marketing ROI

2009-02-23T07:00:00.000+07:00

There are a number of basic marketing fundamentals that everyone needs to know in order to generate attention, interest, desire and action among prospects. But to be successful in today’s competitive environment, you need more than a basic understanding of a traditional AIDA model and the 4 P’s (product, place, price, promotion).

A number of years ago, I discovered a marketing methodology made popular by Michael Gerber. For those of you who have never heard of him, you can still find his books on Amazon or your local bookstore. Mr. Gerber referred to this marketing methodology as the E-myth which was comprised of: innovation, quantification, orchestration, and documentation.

This methodology is the key behind major marketing successes like McDonalds, the Four Seasons, and many other well-known brands. Let me explain his methodology and illustrate how it can be applied to your business to deliver significant ROI.

Innovation
If you do what everyone else is doing, you’ll get the same results – if you’re lucky. Most often, those who excel in any market are the innovators, those who are continually trying new things, creating new methods of doing business, or standing for something unique.

Whether you’re Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, Apple computer, or Tommy Hilfiger, innovation is baked into the sale, marketing, and product development process. To illustrate, let’s take a look at your run-of-the-mill retail clothing store. When you enter the store, what’s the first thing the sales rep says to you? You guessed it, “How can I help you”?

An example of applying innovation would be to have that same sales representative open with a new greeting, something like, “Hello, is it your first time visiting our store?”. If yes, there’s a perfect opportunity to discuss what makes you unique, how to navigate the store, and so on. If no, the same holds true… “Welcome back. Were you successful in finding what you needed upon your last visit? What can I help you with today?”

Regardless of the actual questions used, the example of innovation in a sales/marketing sense gives you the ability to try something new. This ‘something’ can take a variety of different formats, but most importantly it iis something that can move you towards a greater ROI. Especially if you understand the next step which is quantification.

Quantification
With each innovation, an action is taken – a product sampled, research conducted, a new sales pitch or value proposition delivered. To be truly effective with your marketing you must measure your results.

The most successful marketing programs are always working to improve their return on investment (ROI). The key is to measure each independent element that could possibly influence your result.

Using our example of the retail establishment, you wouldn’t want to ask all of your sales reps to start using a new pitch AND change their dress code. Doing so might dilute your ability to measure the effectiveness of a new sales script. Additionally, you wouldn’t want to change other store elements like the music or store layout at the same time – doing so would make accurate measurement next to impossible.

Now that you’ve tried something new and measured its effectiveness, you’re ready for the third component, orchestration.
Orchestration

After trying something innovative, and measuring the result, you now know what works and what doesn’t. The key is to keep innovating in small ways, continually testing and evaluating the results. Once you have your successes identified, you need to roll them out in a systemic fashion.

All sales and marketing personnel should be utilizing and implementing the latest innovation in all they do. This methodology now becomes your control. Your next innovation is only effective if it produces better results than your control.

Improving your process of orchestration is also extremely important. The faster you implement your innovation across the business – in a consistent fashion, the better your results become. Walmart is a master of this. If there is an innovation in one store, it is quickly shared and implemented with all store managers across the U.S. The result is innovation on a massive scale which has a direct and positive influence on ROI.
Documentation

The top innovators do this last step extremely well. Documentation doesn’t mean creating reams of manuals that are esoteric or difficult to navigate. Rather, documentation is the development of a guide, procedure, or system that allows consistent implementation of the innovations you develop.

As new personnel come into your business, you want to make sure that the innovations and enhancements you’ve made to your sales and marketing practices are fully implemented. The best way to do this is to not expect an employee to memorize a 700 page employee instruction manual. Rather, they should become familiar with your way of doing business - which needs to be documented in a simple, easily understandable format.

You know you’re at a company that does this well when you hear things like, that’s “the Walmart way” or “This is how we do it here”. It’s those companies that create living documentation that is easily understood and implemented that excel.

Conclusion
If you’re trying to enhance your marketing program, or create one from scratch, keep this methodology in mind: innovation, quantification, orchestration, documentation. This process will ensure constant growth and improvement in your marketing results.

Don’t just take my word for it, look at most major brands or category leaders. Under the hood, you’ll find systems for innovation, ways of testing, measuring, implementing, and documenting in a seemingly effortless fashion.***

Author: Michael Fleischner is a Internet marketing expert and the president of MarketingScoop.com. He has more than 12 years of marketing experience and has appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media.

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How To Become A Super Affiliate?

2009-02-19T13:23:00.000+07:00

As the Internet becomes ever more popular and commonplace, more people have also taken the plunge and joined the world of self-employed business owners who are affiliate marketers. Affiliate marketing lets you work for yourself and use your skills and independence to work for you. To be successful in any business, it's not going to happen overnight. You'll still need to both exert effort and take some time to build your affiliate marketing skills up and get your business up and running. However, if you persist, and if you are determined and are willing to put in the hard work necessary, you can become a successful Internet marketer, which can be the perfect career for you.

To become a "super affiliate," listen to the advice of other successful affiliates. They've been where you are and know what they're talking about. One of the first pieces of advice they often give is to say that you should concentrate on a particular niche. Don't try and sell everything under the sun. Instead, concentrate on one product you like and do just that until you figure out the best way to sell it for you. Once you've gotten going and know what you're doing, you can always expand your product line if you want to.

Once you've built up some affiliate products, you'll need to know how to promote these. Utilizing search engines and the Internet is usually the best way to do so. Once you are confident with what you can do, you can also try pay per click advertising as another means to expand your income. However, before you do, you need to make sure that you understand Internet marketing well. Pay per click can eat up your profits if you don't know what you're doing, so save that until you really do know how to be a successful affiliate marketer.

Next, take the time to know your product and to know who your audience is. When you know who your audience is, and when you know what your product is and what it does, you begin to be seen as an expert by those you sell to and you will build up credibility. You'll build trust with those you sell to and they will in turn develop trust in your products. This will mean greater sales for you and a much stronger business overall.

Once you've gotten your feet under you, don't be afraid to diversify. Sign up with more than one merchant and expand as much as you can. If a particular merchant wants you to sign up with him or her alone, don't. If you use several merchants, you'll get much more exposure, and you're also protecting yourself if one particular merchant goes under or does not pay you.

Next, stay on top of trends in the market. Change if you need to. Internet marketing is constantly in flux and changing. If you stay flexible and are willing to change yourself, you can make this type of flexibility work for you instead of against you as well. Remember that what worked well last year might not work well this year.

Finally, keep going and don't give up. Many affiliate marketing schemes do fail, but most often, it's not because of poor ideas or products. It's because people either didn't know what they were doing or gave up before they could know. Take the time to build your business and keep at it. Do something everyday or learn something new to promote your business. If you keep it up, you'll eventually start see success.***

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Developing an Effective Marketing Campaign

2009-02-15T15:25:00.000+07:00

An article by Michael Fleischner

If you're trying to sell a product of service, you need to concern yourself with only four marketing principles. Although these marketing ideas may seem simple, they are incredibly powerful for communicating your message, motivating your prospects, and getting them to take an action.

As a marketing veteran, I can tell you that many people over complicate the process of marketing, and as a result, never see a positive return on their marketing investment. This is not to say that certain aspects of marketing are easy. Many require in-depth knowledge of a specific marketing discipline. However, the four basic principles I describe here are the building blocks of any effective marketing, Internet marketing, or search engine optimization campaign.

1. Know Your Audience. No one can effectively market, communicate, or sell without knowing their audience or what motivates them to buy. Is your potential customer male or female? Young or old? A first time buyer or frequent purchaser? Are they the final decision maker? Do they have preferences for a particular product, service, or delivery method? The more you know about your audience, the more targeted and relevant your marketing can be.

2. Timing is Everything. Even with the most convincing marketing campaign, prospects will have no interest in your product or service if you aren't communicating to them at the right time. Be sure your marketing message is in front of prospects when they're ready to buy. This could be at a particular time of year or perhaps prior to a life event.

3. Finding the Right Offer. In direct marketing, experts say that results are 40% dependant on your list, 40% on the offer, and 20% on your creative. The same is true for internet marketing, search engine marketing, and the like. Test your offers and find the one that out performs all the others. This offer should continually be tested and refined to improve your results.

4. It's all about the Messaging. If you know your audience well enough, you should be able to craft a message that addresses their needs and differentiates your product or service from the competition. Additionally, be sure to stress benefits over features. This will give your audience a reason to read, try, and buy.

The next time you are conducting a marketing campaign, use these effective marketing principles. Knowing your audience, ensuring that you reach them when they're ready to buy, experimenting to find the most productive offer, and communicating to them productively, are essential for any marketing campaign to deliver results.
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About the author:
Michael Fleischner is an Internet marketing expert and the president of MarketingScoop.com, the Internet’s biggest source of marketing information and free marketing resources. He has more than 12 years of marketing experience and has appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media.

Social Media | The Marketing Channel In The 21st Century

2009-02-12T15:47:00.000+07:00

If you are not adapting social media into your marketing strategies, well, what are you waiting for? I still talk to so many people that either don’t understand the potential of a popular social media campaign or think they work in an industry that is not viral. Social marketing is the planning and implementation of programs designed to bring about social awareness using concepts from commercial marketing.

Like commercial marketing, the primary focus is on the consumer--on learning what people want and need rather than trying to persuade them to buy what we happen to be producing. Marketing talks to the consumer, not about the product. You might have heard about the “4 Ps” that traditional marketers often talk about i.e.,

1. Create an enticing "Product"
2. Optimize the "Price" the target audience believes it must pay in the exchange;
3. Make the exchange and its opportunities available in "Places" that reach the audience and fit its lifestyles;
4. "Promote" the exchange opportunity with creativity and through channels and tactics that maximize desired responses;

The third and the fourth P in the twenty-first century need you to focus on Social Marketing, regardless of what product or niche you work with.

What is Facebook?
Facebook is a social networking site designed to connect users. Sites such as MySpace and Friendster are similar, but Facebook is generally considered the leading social networking site among college students. Facebook has been gaining market share, and more significantly a supportive user base. Since their launch in February 2004, they’ve been able to obtain over 8 million users in the U.S. alone and expand worldwide to 7 other English-speaking countries, with more to follow.

Key Points for Successful Social Marketing
1. Create an Identity
Choose a title, category and description that are relevant to your product or brand. Enter as much information as possible about your group including contact info, location, and purpose. Every social network with a profile page can be an opportunity to brand yourself or your business. Create a separate profile for your business. If you’re an unknown, use one of your main keywords in the URL. It’s a mass-market tool that facilitates niche relationships.

2. Form a Group and Add Friends
You can create or join groups on Facebook and share information with others. You can form a group for advertising everything from an MLM to Want-to-be-Millionaire internet gurus. After you formed a group, you can text-message other members, send them emails, comment on their profiles or contact them. You’d be surprised at the range of types of groups there are.

3. Apply Marketing Strategies
Welcome new members and send out periodic emails to your group. Don’t spam them with useless information - keep it focused on the topic of your group. Keep the group alive by constantly adding information. Encourage others to do the same. Keeping it fresh and update will encourage others to return. Where ever possible promote your group including references on your web page, in your email footer and in your RSS footer. Treat the people in your group as friends rather than potential customers and your new group will grow and expand - with it will comes the traffic and new customers. You can buy an ad on Facebook. It’s called Facebook Flyers Basic so you can create banner-like advertising on networks. This is a great way to target advertising to a specific demographic. Facebook also has Flyers Pro — a cost-per-click advertising program that’s triggered by keyword searches (like Google Ad Words). The article has more in-depth tips on how to do this and I’d be interested if anyone reading this has tried either advertising method.

At the moment, Facebook is the site that comes closest to fulfilling the promise of social media. In so doing, it raises some bigger questions about how we’re going to be using the Web in the future. The theory is that these networks will create a virtual environment in which like-minded people can find one another. Facebook is getting the temperature just right, and in the process has been able to give social media real social capital. Facebook is a massively successful social networking service that grew to prominence in virtually no time. Its features and tools are highly appealing, and Facebook users are extremely well networked in real life. ***

Source: www.amazines.com

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3 Things All Affiliate Marketers Need To Survive Online

2008-02-12T15:25:00.000+07:00

Every affiliate marketer is always looking for the successful market that gives the biggest paycheck. Sometimes they think it is a magic formula that is readily available for them. Actually, it is more complicated than that. It is just good marketing practices that have been proven over years of hard work and dedication.
There are tactics that have worked before with online marketing and is continuing to work in the online affiliate marketing world of today. With these top three marketing tips, you will be able to able to increase your sales and survive in the affiliate marketing online.

What are these three tactics?

1. Using unique web pages to promote each separate product you are marketing. Do not lump all of it together just to save some money on web hosting. It is best to have a site focusing on each and every product and nothing more.

Always include product reviews on the website so visitors will have an initial understanding on what the product can do to those who buys them. Also include testimonials from users who have already tried the product. Be sure that these customers are more than willing to allow you to use their names and photos on the site of the specific product you are marketing.

You can also write articles highlighting the uses of the product and include them on the website as an additional page. Make the pages attractive compelling and include calls to act on the information. Each headline should attract the readers to try and read more, even contact you. Highlight your special points. This will help your readers to learn what the page is about and will want to find out more.

2. Offer free reports to your readers. If possible position them at the very top side of your page so it they simply cannot be missed. Try to create autoresponder messages that will be mailed to those who input their personal information into your sign up box. According to research, a sale is closed usually on the seventh contact with a prospect.

Only two things can possibly happen with the web page alone: closed sale or the prospect leaving the page and never return again. By placing useful information into their inboxes at certain specified period, you will remind them of the product they thought they want later and will find out that the sale is closed. Be sure that the content is directed toward specific reasons to buy the product. Do not make it sound like a sales pitch.

Focus on important points like how your product can make life and things easier and more enjoyable. Include compelling subject lines in the email. As much as possible, avoid using the word “free” because there are still older spam filters that dumps those kind of contents into the junk before even anyone reading them first. Convince those who signed up for your free reports that they will be missing something big if they do not avail of your products and services.

3. Get the kind of traffic that is targeted to your product. Just think, if the person who visited your website has no interest whatsoever in what you are offering, they will be among those who move on and never come back. Write articles for publication in e-zines and e-reports. This way you can locate publications that is focusing on your target customers and what you have put up might just grab their interest.

Try to write a minimum of 2 articles per week, with at least 300-600 words in length. By continuously writing and maintaining these articles you can generate as many as 100 targeted readers to your site in a day.
Always remember that only 1 out of 100 people are likely to buy your product or get your services. If you can generate as much as 1,000 targeted hits for your website in a day, that means you can made 10 sales based on the average statistic.

The tactics given above does not really sound very difficult to do, if you think about it. It just requires a little time and an action plan on your part.

Try to use these tips for several affiliate marketing programs. You can end maintaining a good source of income and surviving in this business that not all marketers can do.
Besides, think of the huge paychecks you will be receiving…

New Years Resolutions for Email Marketers

2008-12-28T07:07:00.000+07:00

Hard as it is for many of us to believe, 2009 is right around the corner, and we may be thinking of some of those annual New Years resolutions we make and would like to keep.

These resolutions could provide a timely opportunity for our businesses — a kick in the butt to move some ideas sitting on the back burner up to the front where we can act on them.

This year, improving our email marketing campaigns could be one of the best things we can do for businesses, so let’s take a look at a few achievable goals we can work on.

Practical Goals for the New Year

Get Started!
Still sitting on the fence in 2008, procrastinating or waiting for the right time or circumstance to jump into email marketing or start a new campaign?

Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. It doesn’t take much to set up a campaign that clearly benefits the bottom line and the long term legacy of your business.

Hop off the fence and make new (or more) waves for your business in 2009.

Get Serious About Deliverability
We frequently see businesses making simple, preventable mistakes that knock their messages off course on their path to the inbox.

Start the new year with a brief review of email deliverability best practices and help ensure your messages are reaching your subscribers.

Stay on Schedule with Messages
Waiting too long between messages and erratic scheduling are two of the most common ways email marketers lose their subscribers’ attention and interest.

Review your message scheduling from 2008 and make sure it’s on par with what expectations you’ve set for yourself and subscribers moving forward.

Optimize Your Opt-In Forms
Is your email sign up accessible and clearly seen as a useful resources to visitors? Do you have your forms placed prominently on any of the pages visitors may land on?

Carefully review your website and forms and consider making some changes to see a boost in new subscribers.

Target Your Subscribers Better
The more we know about our subscribers, the better we can target them with information they will find valuable and timely.

Consider tactics like tracking clicks and opens, soliciting feedback, and integrating with a web analytics package to gather information. Then, form some conclusions and split test different strategies to see what works best.

My Resolution for this Year
One of the major goals I have for 2009 is to consider better ways to get the free resources we offer out there and used amongst customers and others interested in email marketing.

I’ve resolved to focus on exploring ways to integrate our email and other channels better to maximize the quality and number of touch points we have with people who are interested and could benefit from these resources.

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Mannequins at Christmas

2008-12-23T16:18:00.000+07:00

Mannequins can be one of the most effective marketing tools you invest in this Christmas.

Christmas is the time of year when you really have a chance to make a big impact on your customers. This is also the time that you can make a lasting impression on new customers. Many people only shop at the mall or boutiques during the holiday season. They may never see your store until this time of year, so this is really your chance to draw in some new business.

One way to do it is to create a marketing plan that offers good sales or promotions. To do this, you will need appropriate signage and other means of communicating your event. Mannequins can be especially memorable for customers. Mannequins are often used in window displays.

Therefore, they are the first and last thing that a customer sees when visiting your store. They are eye-catching displays that can draw in customers that would have not stopped in, otherwise. Mannequins even influence the way that people think, feel and spend. Mannequins accurately display your clothing and accessory line to the public. By accurately, we mean that people can see what articles of clothing look like when they are being worn. For flowing fabrics, this can make a big difference. Something may look incredible on, but no one would ever know it unless they saw it on a body. Mannequins or mannequin torso forms can really increase awareness of an article of clothing. Mannequins influence the way that people feel about a certain style.

In retail stores, the newest fashions are often sold. People may need a chance to get used to a new style. Seeing it on a mannequin can help them come to accept what they may have thought was strange before. It can even make them like it if you use the mannequin to create a scene that they can relate to. For example, if you have an outfit that is modern, but appropriate for work, you can show a mannequin wearing it while socializing at the office. You can do the same for sports, school, church, Christmas dinner, whatever the occasion that you believe it would match. Using mannequins to promote new styles and draw in new customers is a successful time-tested practice.

Use mannequins this Christmas to attract new customers to your store. Make an eye catching window display that will make people want to enter. Boost your sales of new clothing lines and accessories while generating year-round interest in your store with mannequins.***

Image Credit: www.slstoredisplays.com

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How to Write a Kick-Butt E-zine Ad That Gets Attention and Action

2008-12-21T15:07:00.000+07:00

By ALEXANDRIA BROWN

One of the best places to advertise online is in ezines and e-mail newsletters. Why? Ezine ads are very affordable compared with many other types of advertising. That also makes it an inexpensive way to test headlines and offers. But most important, it's a great way to reach the exact target market you want.

For example, my own ezine, "Highlights on Marketing & Success", is read by over 36,000 small business owners and solo-preneurs. So if that's a market you're trying to reach, that could be a great match. If your target market is stay-at-home moms, you should search for ezines with that type of readership.

To find ezines that fit your particular needs, I recommend searching the Directory of Ezines.

Once you find where you'd like to advertise, it's time to write a kick-butt ad!

Remember that a successful ezine ad needs to do THREE things:

Get people's attention. You can do this with an exciting headline. All caps is OK for this.
Promise something people will WANT and can GET right now. Instead of advertising your service or business, advertise a lead-generator like a free report, how-to articles, or of course your own ezine!

Tell them what to do next. This is the "call to action". Direct them to a web page for more information. Even better if you give a sense of urgency -- a reason to act now.

Most ezine ads vary between 25 and 50 words, so write one of this length, including your URL, and keep working it until it's GREAT!
Here Are Some Examples of Ads I've Used Myself:

Sample Ad 1: HERE'S HOW TO BLAST OFF YOUR SALES, FAST! Learn how to publish a simple ezine that will boost your business, make you famous, and grow a massive mailing list you can market to over and over. This FREE report tells you how at www.BoostBizEzine.com

Sample Ad 2: HOW TO PUBLISH AN EZINE THAT MAKES YOU MONEY My FREE Special Report will tell you how! Learn how to publish a simple ezine that will boost your business, make you famous, and grow a massive mailing list you can market to over and over. Go to www.BoostBizEzine.com

Sample Ad 3: THE MARKETING SECRET NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT It will boost your business, make you famous, grow a massive mailing list you can market to over and over, and it's easy and FREE! What is it? See www.BoostBizEzine.com

Run Your Ad in MULTIPLE Subsequent Issues of One Ezine

Running your ad just once will NOT give you a good sense of whether it's working. Place ads in at least 3 subsequent issues of one ezine to see how you do. Repeated placement has been proven to increase response rates. The Direct Marketing Association says that most people won't even respond to an ad until it's been seen 9 times!

A smart publisher will offer discounts for multiple ads. We do this especially to encourage beginner advertisers to run more than one ad, because they won't be able to gauge response if they just run one.

Use a Tracking Link in Your Ad

You will be WASTING YOUR MONEY unless you track your ad results using a link tracker. You cannot just keep an eye on your sales the day your ad runs and determine how that ad performed.

You need to use a tracking link in your ad, which will simply tell you how many people clicked on it. A good tracking system that's integrated with your shopping cart will also tell you which sales you had came from that certain ad, and it's really easy. (I recommend QueenCart.com.)

For example, say you run an ad but you get no sales from it. Unless you use a tracking link, you won't know if your ad stinks, or your website stinks!

If you use a tracking link, you'll know where the problem is. If you got hundreds of clicks on your ad, but only a few sales at your site, then you know the problem is your website. If you got very few clicks on the ad, then you know you need to write a better ad.

See how valuable that is?

Tracking links can be long and ugly, but people don't have to see them if you advertise in ezines like this one that are published in HTML.

Test, Test, Test!

"You'll never learn what works best, unless you TEST!" Make changes in your ad copy from time to time and see how things go. See which ads pull the best responses and which ezines get you more subscribers.

Don't mean to sound like a broken record, but I can't emphasize enough how important a good, simple tracking system is for doing this!

Don't Be Afraid to Ask Questions

If you have any questions about running your ad, the publisher should be there for you. We ourselves work with a lot of beginners, so we even offer a Free "Tip Sheet" to help new advertisers get started. Why? A good publisher knows that if they can help you get good results, you'll advertise again!

About the author:
Alexandria Brown is CEO of Alexandria Brown International Inc., a multimillion dollar company devoted to empowering women around the world with the tools to live the freedom-based lives of their dreams.

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Video As A Marketing Tool

2008-12-17T13:57:00.001+07:00

Have you realized that videos can influence people a lot? They tend to pay more attention on videos rather on reading materials. That's why in internet marketing, videos are used a lot to encourage more people to buy a product. Testimonials on videos can help the viewers encourage to try for themselves also the product. Videos entice more people with the use of both visual and audio appeal that make what it showcase more realistic.

Video marketing is now all over the internet, and every marketer takes advantage of the effectiveness of videos in their businesses. Using videos for marketing is less expensive than to other forms of traditional media or forms of advertisements. Messages are delivered faster and easier to the audience plus it can capture more people's interest because videos can give you more colorful and creative ideas. There are a lot of sites which you can upload your videos. Whatever message you want to partake to your audience, it can reach as much people as possible.

Most companies and business use videos as their marketing strategy. Theses videos are uploaded in the internet. Through these videos, it will help demonstrate how the product works and it will showcase that indeed this product can solve a problem and thus influence people's buying decisions. Video marketing can also bring you a targeted customers. When you label your videos, use the right keywords that would identify your videos and that the content of your videos will deliver to the right person.

So when you upload a video, make sure you have a valuable content. Videos can help you establish the name of your company and it can be used to enhance the consumer's experience by educating the audience about the product or service. It delivers the message to its highest level through the visual imagery, music and the spoken words. It's a maximum exposure for your business.

Have you ever used video marketing? It can educate more people yet cost-effective. The results are amazing. In promoting your videos, add as many friends to your accounts as you can. Make catchy videos. Maximize the use of videos, encourage more people for a minimal investment and make a fruitful business.***

Source: Amazines

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Five Ways to Keep Customers Buying More Despite a Recession

2008-12-08T16:33:00.000+07:00

Down, but not out.

That's how you should think of today's economy. True, people are spending less, but they're still spending. People and companies are simply choosier about where and how to spend so they can get through the down times strongly and safely. By understanding and catering to customer psychology in the following five ways, you can ensure coming out of the downturn a winner.

1. Pursue a more receptive, ready-to-buy audience. This might mean targeting more upscale prospects than you have been, reexamining the zip codes to which you mail promotions or going after clients in industries less affected by the economic downturn, such as IT, energy, education and health care. For your company, the relevant indicator might be the availability of time rather than money. For example, when the economy slows down, people might have more time for scrapbooking projects, do-it-yourself home improvement or finishing a book manuscript.

2. Look for leverage. If you work with a group rather than individuals, you can earn more in the same amount of time even while each customer pays less. An ingenious implementation of this is a program called "Fitness by Phone" in which personal trainers keep clients motivated for their workouts by telephone rather than in person. Note also that neither the trainers nor the clients have to travel to work together this way - a relevant factor when gas prices are high.

3. Follow up automatically. Autoresponder technology from companies like Aweber.com, Getresponse.com and some shopping carts enables you to create a sequence of timed messages that gets triggered by a request, purchase or signup. Put this sequence in place once, and it tirelessly continues educating or selling for you from then on. Some shrewd entrepreneur is soon going to enable the same kind of automatic triggering for postcards and other mailed pieces. In the meantime, postcard and lettershop vendors like PostcardBuilder.com let you design a piece online, then upload your database for sending on a specific date. Be smart and get followup systems working for you now.

4. Collect testimonials. Here's something else to take care of if you're not already doing it: Tell service clients and those who've purchased your products that you're looking for success stories. How have they benefited from your offerings? Ask permission to use a concise, juicy version of their comments on postcards, on your web site and in sales presentations. If you've been collecting written testimonials, maybe it's time to step up to audio and video ones. Testimonials that describe specific results help persuade on-the-fence prospects.

5. Become timely. Refer to the current situation in your marketing. Explicitly relate your expertise and what you do day after day to what's most on people's minds. Let's say you run a day care center. These days, you provide a refuge for children from their parents' worries. Or you sell home heating fuel. Explain how you're working hard to help families keep their homes warm this winter.

Creativity, resourcefulness and a can-do attitude pull you ahead of all the gloom-and-doomers. Make a deliberate effort to hang around with optimists. Then get to work!

Note:
This article is excerpted from Marcia Yudkin report, "33 Keys to Thriving During a Recession," available as a free download from www.yudkin.com

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Using the Right Tools and Personal Growth For Success

2008-12-05T16:20:00.001+07:00

Many people are on the lookout for how to become a millionaire but they never get the proper resources or tools. 6M Profit Methods provides the best tools to put you in motion for total success. Three things can forge you into the success you have always dreamed about. These three things include personal growth, proper methods, and perseverance.

The Internet is the best tool and you can use it to your advantage. Don't settle for a job you don't enjoy getting up for and driving to everyday. You can have the freedom in your job and with your finances when you use the tools through http://www.MillionaireDesire.com. There is no reason to limit yourself anymore.

It isn't common for personal growth to be included in methods of success on the Internet. Most likely this is why over 90% of online businesses fail every year. Your personal growth is an important factor to how to become a millionaire. You must know how you can combine your growth with the right, proven methods.

The internet is filled with gurus who claim to know how to become a millionaire. Scott Enterprises has proven to provide the easiest ways you can forge ahead into a six figure income with simple methods. The plans are laid out through easy steps. You don't have to be an Internet expert to learn how you can create several streams of income online. These tools are proven because many people right now are enjoying their six figure status because they took the steps necessary by using the 6M Profit Methods.

Perseverance is what it is all about. Your attitude will make or break your business. You must be dedicated and committed to do everything the program through http://www.MillionaireDesire.com says you should. Follow through with your business and be entirely dedicated. The best part about it is that the steps provided are so easy to do that you won't find it frustrating or lose interest.

Working toward the financial freedom you have always longed for is what Scott Enterprises has made it so easy to do. You don't have to be limited anymore by the potential you are capable of achieving. Success is not limited. You put the limits on your success. It is all about changing your mindset. Believing is the key to your success. Don't sit around anymore and think about your bills and debts. You attract the things your mind is focused on. Learn how to focus on the six figures and how to begin making it today.

An Internet Business with the proper methods is exactly what you need to achieve the status you have always wanted. The 6M Profit Methods gives you all of the tools and resources you need in order to know how to become a millionaire. People give up because they often seek out the wrong methods. When you learn how to combine your personal growth with the right methods you will learn amazing success. This will forge you into the status you have always dreamed of and an income potential with no limit.***

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Engage on Social Media

2008-11-29T13:09:00.000+07:00

A lot of companies have a presence in the blogosphere, on Twitter, Facebook, or one of the other social media sites. This is a step in the right direction and any site that does have such a presence should be rewarded for it. However, when companies treat their social presence as just another marketing channel, they often miss the point and lose out on a possible opportunity to engage customers.

I won’t reference companies that do it poorly, but I will reference a company that does it well. Comcast has a very strong presence on Twitter. The person behind their presence on Twitter is one guy, Frank Eliason. I’ve exchanged emails with Frank before and he is a personable guy. Even though he is usually “strictly business” on the company’s Twitter account, Frank is by no means a robot and will interact with customers and be personable at least several times a day. Zappos has a pretty sophisticated Twitter site and has also embraced the medium well.

As someone who has worked with companies developing a presence on Twitter and other social media sites, I will say that some of the questions you’ll end up seeing are odd. However, there is nothing wrong with that. Tell customers about some weird things that your company does or about the way the CEO of the company does this or that. It lets customers see a different side of your company.

The companies that just use Twitter to post links to blog posts, promotions, etc. are missing the point. Twitter is a place to get to know your customers better and to interact with them in a different way.

You absolutely want to use it to reserve customer service issues and let customers know about updates and promotions, but you also want to take advantage of it to let customers know that there are people behind your marketing department and that your company has a personality. There aren’t that many places to do that in the corporate world and a presence on a site like Twitter or on your corporate blog is a perfect place to do that.***

Source: Service Untitled

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Effective Online Marketing in a Recession

2008-11-26T16:17:00.002+07:00

The Chinese curse, "may you live in interesting times," must have been coined in a business climate similar today's. The credit crunch and its reverberations are being widely felt, nowhere more so than in smaller organizations that have fewer marketing resources than the big boys.

Marketers need help to navigate these tricky economic waters while staying focused on profitable expansion rather than contraction. If you can grow, even in these times, you will emerge on the other side of the economic crisis ahead of the competition.

Creativity, combined with on-demand marketing tools, will help. When budgets are tight is the best time to try new and less-costly techniques leveraging Web 2.0 technologies.

What Is the Right Marketing Mix?

Web 2.0 technologies offer new ways for you to reach your audience for little to no cost. Customers have become inoculated to tired methods like email and even pay-per-click. Waiting for them to visit your Web site is simply insufficient to drive growth. Instead, the new generation of marketing tools includes things like social communities, Web site syndication tools, gadgets, and RSS feeds because they are online ("on-demand"), scaling to any size of audience. The best part is that most Web 2.0 technologies are easy to use and are, often, free.

So which Web 2.0 marketing tools can best help you promote your Web site, content, and applications? Remember that before using any of these you must first work out what specific strategic marketing goals you are trying to achieve. Then, see how some, or all of these options, can work together to achieve your goals.

Social networking platforms are extremely popular now. Create a page on Facebook or MySpace for your company or product. Or you can create your own social network at Ning. Populate your page with gadgets and fresh content. Start a group or a fan page so prospective and current customers can stay in touch.

Web site syndication tools put your Web site on the move. For example, if you put the best elements of your Web site on a community toolbar that sits in the browser, then your company goes everywhere on the Internet that your customer does.

Any content or application can be made into a gadget/widget, which is a simple distribution mechanism because it can be hosted on any Web site, and is easy to install into a browser, social-networking site, personalized start page, or toolbar. Check out Widgetbox, where you can easily make your own widgets.

Syndicate your blog or your Web site with an RSS Feed. Don't wait for people to come to read it. Make it available as an RSS feed, which will be sent to them whenever you update the blog. Most blog tools include an RSS creation tool. These feeds can also be hosted on social community page, community toolbar, and personalized start pages.

There are also some great sharing tools, like ShareThis, which can make it easy for you to syndicate product announcements, press releases, blog updates, media coverage—any content you want—to your various networks simultaneously. It's a better delivery mechanism than simple email because it delivers your content to myriad places, like email lists, your Facebook page, etc. with only a few clicks. Moreover, it can track and measure the entire life of the information.

Analyze It: Is It Working?

The most successful Web 2.0 marketers establish measurable goals and then consistently track the results. Set your specific campaign objectives and establish performance goals for each deployment method.

These goals should be aligned to business needs: for example, conversions to membership or purchase; increased site traffic if you are ad revenue based; and conversions from social networks to your Web site.

Gadgets/widgets can help you measure return traffic to your site and repeat purchases. A tell-a-friend or sharing tool can help you capture the power of your word-of-mouth campaigns and measure conversions from social media.

Most importantly, and unlike email analytics, all these tools and their analytics provide instant feedback so that you can react in real time to campaigns that are working (and those that are not).

Optimize It: Make Adjustments Where Needed

Use your analytics to determine what is working best, and then invest there. Tweaking your program based on analysis should allow you to quickly see results. Success begets success. For example, when you update new content on your Web site and your customers are immediately drawn to it time and time again, you want to be able to syndicate this positive experience with other users.

In some cases, the results will surprise you, but trust the data. Just as importantly, if it doesn't work, stop wasting your time. Ignore emotional attachments to popular campaigns if they don't prove their worth.

Anecdotal feedback from prospective and current customers is just as important. Give your visitors and community ample opportunity to provide feedback about your site, campaigns, and products, and make adjustments accordingly. For example, online surveys are easy to deploy and can centralize the results for comparison.

Web 2.0 technologies are easy to adjust and refresh so that you can react more quickly and tweak your campaigns on the fly.

In Perspective

Waiting for the larger economic picture to improve is not going to make the path ahead any easier. Proceeding with targeted and cost-effective marketing campaigns could mean the difference between success and failure during the downturn. It is worth noting that 16 of the 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average started in downturns. Will your business be number 17?

Article by Adam Boyden, President of Conduit, a leading provider of Web site syndication solutions for Web publishers.***

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10 Marketing Lessons from Barack Obama

2008-11-14T13:24:00.000+07:00

I wanted to make a few observations about why Obama was elected to be the 44th President of the United States.

This is a marketing blog, not a political blog. These are not political observations, but thoughts about marketing. It doesn't matter who I supported or voted for or who you supported or voted for us all to learn from Obama's victory.

1. Social media and the new rules of marketing are essential. The other campaigns seemed to be fighting using the playbooks of past campaigns. Hillary Clinton was relying on what worked to elect Bill Clinton. John McCain was relying on what worked to elect George W. Bush. Obama realized that to become president, he had to deliver information to people online as a primary tool, not an afterthought. In my opinion, Barack Obama is the most successful "new marketer" in history.

2. Embrace citizen journalists. My friend Steve Garfield is a well-known videoblogger. He's got tens of thousands of followers. During the primaries, Garfield attended several rallies held by various candidates. When he asked to go to the media section at a Hillary Clinton rally in Boston he was tuned away (because he was "not a real journalist") and had to cover it from the back of the crowd. However, Obama's campaign immediately brought him up to the media section where he was placed with print reporters from the major dailies and TV crews from the networks. The Obama campaign understood that citizen journalists have immense power.

3. Clearly and simply articulate what you want people to believe. From the beginning, Obama was about "change." The word "change" was everywhere in his campaign, so much that the entire world knew what Obama stood for. I asked a group of 300 people in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia what was the one word they think of when I say Barack Obama and all in the room said "CHANGE". Amazing. Quick: What do the following candidates stand for? John McCain, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, or any others. Hard to say isn't it?

4. People don't care about products and services, instead they care about themselves and about solving their problems. Obama understood that his job was to solve the problems facing voters. He also knew that voters were buying into solutions, not just an individual. Did you notice in speeches how often Obama referred to his audience compared to how often he referred to himself? How about the other candidates in the primaries? How about John McCain? The other candidates talked about themselves a hell of a lot more than Obama did. Obama was the most Tuned In candidate.

5. Don't obsess over the competition. Did you notice that Obama rarely talked about his competition? Once in a while he would, but mainly he talked about the problems facing voters. McCain talked a lot about Obama. Interestingly, Clinton and McCain both tried to associate themselves with the "change" word (the competition's word) but both failed because people already associated it with Obama.

6. Put your fans first. Obama had many ways to make an inclusive campaign and alert fans about developments first. I found out on Twitter that Joe Biden was to be Obama's running mate. Amazing. Obama told his fans first BEFORE mainstream media. (Of course, smart reporters were following his Twitter feed).

7. People don't like tele-marketing. Do you like getting phone calls at dinnertime? McCain supporters seem to think so as they unleashed a barrage of so called robo-calls, which seemed to have backfired.

8. Negativity doesn't sell. Obama’s theme of hope and the idea that life can be better with change was uplifting to many people. The other campaigns of fear didn’t work this time around.

9. When someone becomes a customer, they want to talk about it. Obama tapped over 3 million donors who provided $640 million to the campaign. The majority contributed small amounts online. Once someone donates money, they have a vested interest in the candidate. So lots of small donors are better than a few fat cats.

10. Take time for your family. (Okay maybe this isn’t really a marketing observation). Obama took time to be with his wife and daughters when he could have done another rally somewhere. He took several days at the end of the race to spend time with his ailing grandmother. While he was pulled away from "work" I think people respected his devotion to family.

Anyone have any other observations?

Marketers can learn a great deal from political campaigns. I encourage you to take a look at these ten lessons and apply them to your business.

Source: David Meerman Scott, Bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR.

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The Marketing Tactics

2008-11-10T13:50:00.000+07:00

Some of the simplest marketing tactics often produce the most profitable results. Here are some examples that have proven highly effective for any business.

Focus on Your Best Prospects
Imagine how profitable your business would be if more of your new customers were like the best customers you have now. Here's how you can make that happen...

Take some time to analyze your current customers to determine what key traits they share - and why those traits make them ideal customers for you. Then revise your sales message to appeal specifically to them.

This will increase both the number of new sales you get and the profitability of each new customer.

Pile on the Benefits
Customers usually buy something to save time or to save money. Offer them an opportunity to do both and you will boost your sales. But offer them multiple opportunities to do both and you will cause your sales to soar dramatically.

For example, structure your sales message to stress both the time saving and money saving benefits of your product or service. Then include a discount price offer if they buy before a certain deadline (more money saved). Finally, figure out how you can deliver all or some of what they are buying immediately (more time saved).

Tip: If you cannot deliver all or part of your product immediately, add something to the purchase that you can deliver immediately. It can be as simple as a series of
helpful tips related to your product posted on your web site ...but available only to new customers.

Make Buying Easy
Make it easy for potential customers to buy from you and more will buy. Look for ways you can make your buying process easier - and faster.

For example, design your selling procedure so prospects do not have to make unnecessary decisions. Every decision they have to make interrupts the buying process ...and diverts their attention away from completing the sale.

Tip: Don't ask for unnecessary information during the ordering process. Instead, follow up after the sale with a personalized "thank you" message - and include a brief request for the information.

Follow Up - Again and Again
Selling is not a one step process. Most people do not buy something the first time the see or hear about it. You can salvage many of these potential customers with an effective follow up system.

Your follow up can be as simple as contacting these prospects periodically with a new offer. Or, better yet, follow up periodically with some useful information ...and
don't charge them for it. You'll build a supportive relationship that gains their trust - and eventually the sale.

Tip: Make sure you have a way to get the email addresses of visitors to your web site. You need it to follow up with them. For example, offer them a complimentary special report or other useful information ...delivered only by email.

Each of these 4 dynamic marketing tactics provides a simple way for you to boost your sales and profits quickly. They are simple to use, highly effective and require very little if any new expense.***

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How To Choose the Right Ezines For Your Ads

2008-11-07T11:55:00.000+07:00

By Michael Southon

Do you feel bewildered when you begin an Ezine Advertising campaign?

I do.

Take 'The Free Directory of Ezines', for example. There are over 800 Ezines in the Directory that accept paid ads. How do you decide which Ezines to place your ad in?

There are several factors that narrow down the choice for me.

First, I look at the subscriber numbers. If an Ezine has less than 400 subscribers, I move on.

Then I look at the Publication Dates. I prefer to advertise in Ezines that are published weekly, or
even more frequently; I don't want to wait a month my ad to appear.

Then I look at the number of ads that appear in each issue. If an Ezine has more than 15 ads per
issue, I give it a miss; I want my ad to be seen.

Then I look at the payment method; if the Ezine doesn't accept online payment with the major
credit cards, I move on.

Then I look at the Ad Rates - on a 'blind date' like this, the most I'm prepared to pay for an
Ezine ad is about $20.

Finally, I look at when the Ezine was last updated. If the Ezine listing is more than 6
months old, the ad rates have probably gone up, or maybe the Ezine itself has folded up.

These are all factors that you can use to narrow down your search for the right Ezine for your
Ads. But it's still a 'stab in the dark'.

There's another technique, however, for choosing the right Ezines for your ads. Basically, you
want Ezines that will give you a high response-rate to your ad. The following technique will tell you this with pinpoint accuracy. I used this strategy a couple of months ago and it produced excellent results.

First of all, I signed up for a 'Pro' account with ROIBOT, an 'Ad Tracking' service. It costs $17 per month, but you'll get that back easily from a successful ad campaign. You can find out more about ROIBOT at: http://www.roibot.com/

In the 'Manage Your Campaign' area of ROIBOT, I generated 50 traceable URLs for my ads.

Then I went to my own eBook, 'EzyAds', and subscribed to 50 Ezines that give a free ad to new subscribers. I submitted an identical 25-word ad to each of those 50 Ezines. Each of those ads contained a unique URL generated by ROIBOT.

I then sat back and waited. My 50 ads were published during the following month, some the
very next day, others 2 or 3 weeks later. Once or twice a week I went to the ROIBOT website and checked how many clicks I had got from those traceable URLs.

The results were very interesting. Of the 50 Ezines that I placed free ads in, 15 produced an
outstanding response. At the end of the month I purchased paid ads in 10 of those 15 Ezines. And I continue to get a high response rate from those 10 paid ads.
------------------------------------------------------------
About the author:
Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3 years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this simple technique to build a successful online business.
Click here to find out more...

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How To Get Your Subscribers Begging For More

2008-11-04T12:42:00.000+07:00

Just as an experiment, a friend of mine subscribe to ten different opt-in e-mail marketing lists to see which ones are effective. Many websites and online businesses have resorted to sending promotional materials to people who have subscribed to them in an effort to boost their sales or traffic. Opt-in email marketing sends newsletters, catalogs updates and many more promotional materials to website visitors who have agreed to be updated whether monthly, weekly or semiannually.

Through e-mail, an internet user that is on the list will receive their updates through email. If a promotional material piques their interest they will go to the site to learn more or to purchase outright. For the website operators or owners, this is a chance to remind their list of their existence and parlor their wares. With the numerous sites in the internet that offers the same products or services in one way or the other, the competition can get pretty tight and it is easy to be forgotten.

Back to my experimenting friend, he tried to find out which opt-in marketing strategies grabbed a person into begging for more. Some would send in very simple fashion, some would very outlandish while there are some that would just lie in between. The differences could easily be noticed and some have gotten the idea of an effective opt-in marketing strategy. He dubbed them effective because he felt like he just couldn’t wait to go their site and learn more, the more persuasive ones even got him halfway to reaching for his wallet and to his credit card before he realized this was only for an experiment.

Many companies and site present their promotional materials in a wide variety of concepts. Each has their own distinctive style and designs, but more than the outline and the presentation, the content and the articles are what keeps the attention of your potential customer locked on to your opt-in marketing medium. Creativity is the key here.

From talking to many satisfied opt-in list subscribers and forums, I have learned of what is essential in opt-in marketing and what makes the subscribers begging for more instead of lining up to unsubscribe.

Keep your promotional materials light, creative and original. Many people are stressed out as it is. Getting a stuffy business proposal rather than a light hearted e-mail may just agitate them more. A warm friendly smile or banter is always more welcome than a serious business meeting or proposal. While you do want your customers to take you and your products and services seriously, you also want to show them that you know how to have fun.

Splash some color in your emails as well as provide some photos and articles that can be related to you but show good news or good light hearted images as well. Provide a newsletter or promotional materials that will keep them in a light mood. Make your materials eye catching and grabbing that they wont be able to take their eyes of them. Pique their interests.

Have good content and article, even if it means investing in an experienced and professional copy writer to write them for you. An effective copy writer should be able to build trust between you and your customers. They should be able to establish your credibility in what they write. It must be informative but not too stuffy. Let go of the professional jargons and “talk“to your recipients.

A good article and content should be able to outline the benefits of your product and services and why they need what you are offering. But do not look to be overeager and too persuasive. It should be able to entertain as well as lead them to buying from you.

Your promotional materials should be clear. Don’t leave people guessing. You should lead them to you and not vice versa. Explain to them what they need to do in a manner that won’t be confusing. Try to anticipate also what your target client needs. Do your research and information gathering, many sites will be able to help you with that.

Provide clear and crisp images of what you are offering. If the people know what you have for them, they are more likely to beg for more. For example, if you are selling a car, provide them photos but only enough to encourage them to go to your site for more.

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Using Chat Rooms in Viral Marketing

2008-11-02T12:37:00.000+07:00

Spamming chat rooms or instant messaging systems with undifferentiated marketing messages is certainly not a very good idea. But if they are used the right way, these channels can be great to communicate with the market - especially to establish a dialogue with customers.

Have you ever been to a chat room and posted a message. If you have then you may learn some free web-advertising secrets on how to market your products and service in chat rooms. Chat rooms are usually broken into categories. You will need to find the right chat room where your targeted audience would gather. If there isn’t one, them you may need to create one.

It will be of no use to create one that is obviously for the sole purpose of selling your product or service. Rather, it needs to attract people who would be interested in your product or service. For example: If you sell garden products, your chat room should be on the subject of gardening and not the brand name of the products you sell.

Another way to use a chat room to promote your business is to include a chat room on your web site. Host a free online seminar in your own chat room about a subject of your expertise. Use your chat room to meet with your current customers and answer any questions or address and problems they may have. Regularly schedule free events in your chat room and be certain that your customers are made aware of when they will occur.

For example, you might have an expert in the field available to answer questions on a certain day and between certain hours. You might, also, host other people’s chat rooms as an expert yourself. You, of course, could charge for this but it might be wise to do it free to gain publicity.

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Getting Great Deals on eBay

2008-10-30T13:14:00.000+07:00

By: Lorraine Venner

I love getting a deal. I try to smell them out from miles away. I love frequent garage sales, flea markets, closeouts, and more -- but found that I could much better by simply buying through online auctions - if I shop carefully.

Getting a deal out of EBay auctions is an art. Buying from auctions can be a costly proposition or a very economical option depending on your tactics. Buy wisely by learning from my (sometimes costly) experiences.

1. Is the Seller Trustworthy?
Both EBay and Yahoo auctions have seller ratings. Read these and their associated reviews. If the seller has a great rating from buying and a poor one from selling, you probably don't want to buy from them. Look at both praises and complaints as they may or may not apply to what you are bidding on.

2. Read the Description Throughly
It is very easy to read what you want to see in an Ebay auction rather than what is actually written there. Read both what is in the Ebay description and what is NOT in the description. Often your mind will want to fill in details with what is your dream interpretation. You need to re-read the description until you find out whether what you are searching for and what the seller is selling match.

* Used or New?
Is the item you are buying used or new? If it doesn't say new, you are most likely buying something that is used.

* Real or Fake
Is the item you are interested in "real" gold, sterling silver or pearls? For example, a description saying: "gold necklace for sale" does NOT say 14 kt gold or 18kt gold. That most likely means a gold COLORED necklace which may or may not have actual gold metal. This also applies to pearls as many call plastic fake pearls simply "pearls".

If the seller is selling beads, those beads could be plastic, glass, stone, scrap metal, crystal, chips, wood, clay, gemstone or some other material.

* Item Details
Does the EBay description really say how much you are getting, how long the item is, and quality of the item? Selling by the pound can be a great deal - or a horrible deal.

* Beware of Hidden Costs
Look at shipping and handling costs. I've seen many penny auctions that have $13 or more shipping. Some auctions even have handling fees.

* How Fast Will it Ship?

I've been seeing a fair amount of auctions that note that the product will ship in 2 months or that shipping time is 2 months. If you are buying for a particular holiday, be sure that you will get the item in time.

3. Is it a Bargain For You?
Many times an EBay auction will say that the items are "worth $XXX". In many cases, that price is inflated. Often you can find similar items much cheaper tah "$XXX" at normal stores. (However, the auction price may still be cheaper than you can by elsewhere - it really helps to know how much you usually pay for items!) If you are only interested in some of the items in an auction, adjust your bid to reflect how much you are willing to pay for just those items unless you plan to sell the rest as that is how much you would pay for it elsewhere.

4. Auction Fever
Compare prices on the net at the same time to avoid overpaying. Know that usually you can get the item later elsewhere. Wise buyers know to walk away when the price is higher than the item is worth to them.

Source: All About eBay

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Building Your List with Paid eZine Advertising

2008-10-29T11:52:00.000+07:00

Some Internet Marketers can get clueless when it comes to unleashing the full potential of paid eZine advertising. One of the most common dilemmas is that whether should the Internet Marketer advertise the product or service he is selling directly to the subscribers of the eZine he is paying advertising for?

This can be a wise method, but with ifs and buts. For one, the advertisement must be compelling and attention grabbing. Secondly, there is no telling if the eZine’s subscribers constantly practice a buying habit until you put some money to find out.

Investing even a small sum of money can be risky to a number of Internet Marketers who are on tight budgets. But in spite of the risk factors, eZine advertising can still be rewarding, if done right.

Thus the solution: the marketer would be wiser if he or she uses eZine advertising to build his or her mailing list. It makes sense, anyway. Since some eZines display more than one sponsored advertisement, you can grab the subscriber’s attention by giving a free or risk-free product or offer through your ad.

When the subscriber clicks on your ad, he or she can opt into your mailing list in exchange for the free offer, which can be a free report or even a trial service.

While you are not making a hard sell through your advertisement just yet, building your list by getting other eZine’s subscribers subscribed to your eZine allows you to follow up with them in the future, as and when you have new offers.***

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ONLINE MARKETING DEGREE

2008-10-27T21:00:00.000+07:00

Online Marketing Degree generally refers to the degrees that are offered in the internet through advertisements and well-presented by different courses that are being offered by the colleges and universities throughout the globe. It most likely want to prepare individuals in undertaking and managing the process of developing consumer audiences and moving products from producers to consumers by the use of the internet.

A more easy way to determine whether you're making the right decision in improving and pursuing your career as student is to continue studying and taking one of the major courses that the college or university offers. Online Marketing Degree includes instruction in buyer behavior and dynamics, principle of marketing research, demand analysis, cost-volume and profit relationships, pricing theory, marketing campaign and strategic planning, market segments, advertising methods, sales operations and management, consumer relations, retailing, and applications to specific products and markets.

Many colleges and universities have come up with the idea of advertising their different online courses because through this, a more practical, faster and easier way of advertising through the web can be seen and noticed. They will no longer have to make certain advertisements through television and radios just around their country but through online marketing service. The degrees that they offer will be seen by anyone from anywhere around the globe by the use of the internet. An effective way of advertising without the high costing.

A slight example on the online marketing degree is the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration – Marketing (B.S.B.A./MKT.) which puts working professionals on a clear path to lifelong learning and success. Maximizing their career opportunities, making important contributions to the profession, reaching the potential—that define success.

Through a program that combines academic theory with practical application, and includes courses in Ethical Leadership and in Social Responsibility, the students will gain knowledge and experience in areas vital to business and society. This concentration will help the students develop insights into an organization’s marketing effort by learning not only the traditional disciplines of alternate marketing channels, sales management, advertising and research, but also emerging marketing approaches related to consumer motivation, global customer management, customer relationship management, and marketing on the Internet.

Another example of an online marketing degree is the Master of Business Administration in Marketing (M.B.A./MKT.), it provides students with the ability to examine the relationship between marketing and corporate strategy and the tools necessary for developing and implementing strong marketing tactics throughout the companies in which they work. Through a hands-on curriculum including case analyses, this specialization lays the practical groundwork necessary for students interested in strengthening or furthering their career as a marketing professional or decision maker.

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