Build Your Business with Social Media Marketing
By Terri Seymour Copyright �2010
Social media marketing is extremely important to your
business and as this marketing method evolves, so must you
and your business. Social media marketing is marketing
through online communities, social networking sites, blogs,
etc. If you are not already utilizing social sites for your
business, you need to start NOW!
Social networking enables business owners to get extreme
exposure for very little or no cost. You can use social
networking sites to build your reputation, brand your
business and increase your customer base. The marketing
potential of these sites is phenomenal!
Now you can't just register, make your profile and then
never go back. You have to keep your information fresh, add
new content, always be looking for new contacts, etc.
Meeting new people, whether they be potential customers,
business associates, or just people learning the ropes, can
be very beneficial for your business and your reputation.
These sites allow you to make yourself much more accessible
than just having your own site. Whenever possible, use your
business name as your username to help make your business
more recognized.
Social marketing sites can also help you get more links thus
increasing your search engine ranking. People who find your
content and information helpful and useful will link back to
you which will in turn cause your own website to become more
popular.
You can also use your social site pages to gather
information and feedback from people on your products. This
can help you improve your business and improve customer
service.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Can You Say Designing Your Own Website Is A Bad Idea
Can You Say Designing Your Own Website Is A Bad Idea?
If you have ever had a professional website design, you have experienced the sheer joy of letting someone who knows what they are doing, do their job. Yes, you do have to gather information and provide them with insights about your product or services, what colors you like, and what kind of ‘look’ and style you want your website to have. More importantly, you know you can leave all the HTML coding, links and Meta tags to the expert; you can let them do their job, and free up your time to do your own.
On the other hand, if you have tried to design your own website, you will no doubt have experienced the challenge of having to learn something new, and at the same time hope the end result looks professional. What you don’t find out at the beginning when you design your own website is that if it isn’t done properly, not only will you not get any traffic coming to your site, but when they do arrive they may not stay longer than a nanosecond. It really doesn’t take any of us more than a glance to know whether a website is easy to navigate or not, and more importantly whether it’s worth hanging around to find out.
One of the challenges in designing your own website is the over-abundance of complex tools. It doesn’t take a non-professional too long before the website looks like it has been on caffeine for a week. Because there are such a wide variety of design features, many first time uses may try to utilize them all. The end result can be overly bright colors, strange fonts, oddly placed site navigation buttons, and distracting borders around links that may not work correctly.
An experienced website designer doesn’t just know about the code and the behind the scenes activity that must be adhered to if the site is to attract traffic, they also know the details of website design and management. But even when you know the rules, such as keeping it simple, and the eye catching utilization of white space, it’s still very easy to go wrong.
A website professional may make it look easy with their easy to navigate tools, links that work, pages that will download easily and fast, but it really does take specialized knowledge. A professional website designer will most likely take ongoing classes to keep up to date about latest trends and features; some are so well-learned on the subject that they may even teach classes about website design.
But the other problem with designing your own website is that things change, and when they do, they change really fast. Code and protocol that worked yesterday may not work so well today. Yes, they may work as far as the website looks to the outsider, but behind the scenes, where the real work in terms of improving the search engine ranking goes, design is king. And while it may look easy to get stats on your newly designed website, and provide keywords to improve search rank, there is much more to it than that. Google and yahoo look for keywords that match current protocol. It may have worked in the past to just put together a huge stream of keywords, but the latest development in search engine techniques are designed to search out websites that are well designed and have integrity. All in all it pays to find a website designer that has your best needs at heart.
For a web design that converts more of your visitors into customers see what Wildfire Marketing Group can do for you.
If you have ever had a professional website design, you have experienced the sheer joy of letting someone who knows what they are doing, do their job. Yes, you do have to gather information and provide them with insights about your product or services, what colors you like, and what kind of ‘look’ and style you want your website to have. More importantly, you know you can leave all the HTML coding, links and Meta tags to the expert; you can let them do their job, and free up your time to do your own.
On the other hand, if you have tried to design your own website, you will no doubt have experienced the challenge of having to learn something new, and at the same time hope the end result looks professional. What you don’t find out at the beginning when you design your own website is that if it isn’t done properly, not only will you not get any traffic coming to your site, but when they do arrive they may not stay longer than a nanosecond. It really doesn’t take any of us more than a glance to know whether a website is easy to navigate or not, and more importantly whether it’s worth hanging around to find out.
One of the challenges in designing your own website is the over-abundance of complex tools. It doesn’t take a non-professional too long before the website looks like it has been on caffeine for a week. Because there are such a wide variety of design features, many first time uses may try to utilize them all. The end result can be overly bright colors, strange fonts, oddly placed site navigation buttons, and distracting borders around links that may not work correctly.
An experienced website designer doesn’t just know about the code and the behind the scenes activity that must be adhered to if the site is to attract traffic, they also know the details of website design and management. But even when you know the rules, such as keeping it simple, and the eye catching utilization of white space, it’s still very easy to go wrong.
A website professional may make it look easy with their easy to navigate tools, links that work, pages that will download easily and fast, but it really does take specialized knowledge. A professional website designer will most likely take ongoing classes to keep up to date about latest trends and features; some are so well-learned on the subject that they may even teach classes about website design.
But the other problem with designing your own website is that things change, and when they do, they change really fast. Code and protocol that worked yesterday may not work so well today. Yes, they may work as far as the website looks to the outsider, but behind the scenes, where the real work in terms of improving the search engine ranking goes, design is king. And while it may look easy to get stats on your newly designed website, and provide keywords to improve search rank, there is much more to it than that. Google and yahoo look for keywords that match current protocol. It may have worked in the past to just put together a huge stream of keywords, but the latest development in search engine techniques are designed to search out websites that are well designed and have integrity. All in all it pays to find a website designer that has your best needs at heart.
For a web design that converts more of your visitors into customers see what Wildfire Marketing Group can do for you.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
How To Improve Your Writing And Thrive
Improve Your Writing and Thrive
Whether you’re a ClickBank publisher or affiliate, a key component to your success is getting people to take action based purely on the strength of your writing.
For publishers, it’s obvious that your pitch page needs to be able to sell interested visitors on why they really need your product, how it’s going to improve their lives, and why it’s better than any of your competitors’ products. Once you’ve made the sale, your product needs deliver the value you’ve promised, and be easily comprehensible and actionable to people all over the world.
Affiliates need to have an even broader range of writing skills, depending on where and how they’re trying to promote products. If you’re paying for search engine advertisements, you have a very limited amount of space in which to convince searchers to click on your ad, and to explain what they should expect on the landing page. If you write articles, you have to legitimately inform people and entice them to click on your Hoplink. Affiliates have to master a wide variety of writing styles and learn how to use them properly in many different locations.
Since great writing is important and valuable to all of us, I wanted to share a few particularly useful articles from my favorite writing blog, Copyblogger.
Copywriting 101: Brian’s 10-step tutorial has something for everyone, whether you’re writing full articles or just PPC ads.
Do These 3 Common Copywriting Mistakes Keep Your Readers From Buying?: Sonia makes some great points about why solid products sometimes don’t sell as well as you’d expect, and how to remedy that.
The Two Most Important Words in Blogging: Although the title refers to blogging, this post applies equally well to all sales writing.
How to Write Magnetic Headlines: This series of posts about writing headlines can be especially useful to affiliates working with a limited amount of space, like in PPC advertising. It’s also great for publishers who want to grab a visitor’s attention immediately on a pitch page.
Ten Timeless Persuasive Writing Techniques: Great advice for all kinds of copywriting.
And finally, Five Grammatical Errors That Make You Look Dumb: In affiliate marketing, credibility is the key, and even smart people make grammatical mistakes from time to time.
These posts, along with the rest of the useful information available on Copyblogger, will go a long way toward help your affiliate marketing efforts thrive!
Take a look at these related posts:
Whether you’re a ClickBank publisher or affiliate, a key component to your success is getting people to take action based purely on the strength of your writing.
For publishers, it’s obvious that your pitch page needs to be able to sell interested visitors on why they really need your product, how it’s going to improve their lives, and why it’s better than any of your competitors’ products. Once you’ve made the sale, your product needs deliver the value you’ve promised, and be easily comprehensible and actionable to people all over the world.
Affiliates need to have an even broader range of writing skills, depending on where and how they’re trying to promote products. If you’re paying for search engine advertisements, you have a very limited amount of space in which to convince searchers to click on your ad, and to explain what they should expect on the landing page. If you write articles, you have to legitimately inform people and entice them to click on your Hoplink. Affiliates have to master a wide variety of writing styles and learn how to use them properly in many different locations.
Since great writing is important and valuable to all of us, I wanted to share a few particularly useful articles from my favorite writing blog, Copyblogger.
Copywriting 101: Brian’s 10-step tutorial has something for everyone, whether you’re writing full articles or just PPC ads.
Do These 3 Common Copywriting Mistakes Keep Your Readers From Buying?: Sonia makes some great points about why solid products sometimes don’t sell as well as you’d expect, and how to remedy that.
The Two Most Important Words in Blogging: Although the title refers to blogging, this post applies equally well to all sales writing.
How to Write Magnetic Headlines: This series of posts about writing headlines can be especially useful to affiliates working with a limited amount of space, like in PPC advertising. It’s also great for publishers who want to grab a visitor’s attention immediately on a pitch page.
Ten Timeless Persuasive Writing Techniques: Great advice for all kinds of copywriting.
And finally, Five Grammatical Errors That Make You Look Dumb: In affiliate marketing, credibility is the key, and even smart people make grammatical mistakes from time to time.
These posts, along with the rest of the useful information available on Copyblogger, will go a long way toward help your affiliate marketing efforts thrive!
Take a look at these related posts:
Friday, August 13, 2010
How To Write Ebook That Sells
How to Write Ebooks That Sell-Part II
By Brian Clark
As more people begin to realize that blogging for ad dollars and other free content strategies might not be the best way to make money online, I’m getting more and more questions related to writing and selling ebooks.
Producing any information product is almost entirely an exercise in marketing. Everything from the topic you choose, to how you position it, to the copywriting strategy you use to sell it boils down to figuring out what people are willing and even driven, to pay for.
As far as ebooks go, the first question you have to ask is whether or not the ebook is the format you should be using at all. The humble PDF seems to be the first thing that comes to mind when people consider developing a product, but it’s often the least useful and has the lowest perceived value—at least when you want to charge for it.
Is Writing Ebooks Dead?
While the format is still alive and kicking, the basic ebook is a pretty weak substitute for a real book. It has none of the tangible attributes that make books the portable and convenient information vessels they are, and the only real advantage the ebook has is that it is instantly deliverable.
Plus, for any topic where there is already a “real” book available, you’re most likely going to lose the sale, instantly downloadable or not. People trust Amazon, and whether fair or not, they consider “real” authors to be those who are delivered in ink on dead tree material.
So if your goal is to write a 200-page book, you might just go ahead and try to get a publisher, or even have your work self-published. People who read books tend to love books themselves, so it makes sense to give book lovers what they want… a real book.
Ebooks That Sell Solve Problems
The good news for people interested in making money from ebooks is that the ones that sell best are nowhere near 200 pages. In fact, you can often turn a sweet profit from a document that is only 10, 20 and up to 50 pages long, as long as those pages solve a problem that people will pay to have the solution to.
Contrary to what you might think, it doesn’t matter if the solution to a problem can be found by even simple online research. “Normal” people don’t like to do in-depth research online and are often skeptical of free information sources. Do the work for them and demonstrate that you are a credible person (or partner on the ebook with someone who has the necessary credentials), and as long as the problem is real, you’ll make sales.
There are so many ebooks out there that try to tell you that the key to successful ebook creation is “write what you love” and the money will come. They use that angle because that’s what people want to hear, and it sells a lot of ebooks about ebooks. But that doesn’t make it true.
Desperate Buyers Only
There’s only one ebook that provides clear guidance on how to research, develop and sell these short problem-solving documents, and it’s called Desperate Buyers Only by Alexis Dawes. This no-fluff guide quickly dispenses with the biggest myths about ebooks, and then takes you step-by-step through:
Identifying a potential profitable topic
Researching the viability of developing the document
Discovering buyer hot button issues, and
Understanding how the problem is framed in the mind of the prospect
Alexis then walks you through her five-step variation of the problem-agitation-solution copywriting technique for creating empathy, demonstrating credibility and closing the sale. But it all goes back to the fact that you started with a highly motivated person with a problem, and therefore the “instantly downloadable” aspect of the short ebook becomes a strong selling point.
I once commented on a review of Desperate Buyers Only that this is the ebook about creating ebooks that I would have written had I been inclined, so I have no problem recommending it to you (and using my affiliate link). It not only tells the truth about what it really takes to make money, it reveals several concrete strategies that I’ve used for years to make a great deal of money.
By Brian Clark
As more people begin to realize that blogging for ad dollars and other free content strategies might not be the best way to make money online, I’m getting more and more questions related to writing and selling ebooks.
Producing any information product is almost entirely an exercise in marketing. Everything from the topic you choose, to how you position it, to the copywriting strategy you use to sell it boils down to figuring out what people are willing and even driven, to pay for.
As far as ebooks go, the first question you have to ask is whether or not the ebook is the format you should be using at all. The humble PDF seems to be the first thing that comes to mind when people consider developing a product, but it’s often the least useful and has the lowest perceived value—at least when you want to charge for it.
Is Writing Ebooks Dead?
While the format is still alive and kicking, the basic ebook is a pretty weak substitute for a real book. It has none of the tangible attributes that make books the portable and convenient information vessels they are, and the only real advantage the ebook has is that it is instantly deliverable.
Plus, for any topic where there is already a “real” book available, you’re most likely going to lose the sale, instantly downloadable or not. People trust Amazon, and whether fair or not, they consider “real” authors to be those who are delivered in ink on dead tree material.
So if your goal is to write a 200-page book, you might just go ahead and try to get a publisher, or even have your work self-published. People who read books tend to love books themselves, so it makes sense to give book lovers what they want… a real book.
Ebooks That Sell Solve Problems
The good news for people interested in making money from ebooks is that the ones that sell best are nowhere near 200 pages. In fact, you can often turn a sweet profit from a document that is only 10, 20 and up to 50 pages long, as long as those pages solve a problem that people will pay to have the solution to.
Contrary to what you might think, it doesn’t matter if the solution to a problem can be found by even simple online research. “Normal” people don’t like to do in-depth research online and are often skeptical of free information sources. Do the work for them and demonstrate that you are a credible person (or partner on the ebook with someone who has the necessary credentials), and as long as the problem is real, you’ll make sales.
There are so many ebooks out there that try to tell you that the key to successful ebook creation is “write what you love” and the money will come. They use that angle because that’s what people want to hear, and it sells a lot of ebooks about ebooks. But that doesn’t make it true.
Desperate Buyers Only
There’s only one ebook that provides clear guidance on how to research, develop and sell these short problem-solving documents, and it’s called Desperate Buyers Only by Alexis Dawes. This no-fluff guide quickly dispenses with the biggest myths about ebooks, and then takes you step-by-step through:
Identifying a potential profitable topic
Researching the viability of developing the document
Discovering buyer hot button issues, and
Understanding how the problem is framed in the mind of the prospect
Alexis then walks you through her five-step variation of the problem-agitation-solution copywriting technique for creating empathy, demonstrating credibility and closing the sale. But it all goes back to the fact that you started with a highly motivated person with a problem, and therefore the “instantly downloadable” aspect of the short ebook becomes a strong selling point.
I once commented on a review of Desperate Buyers Only that this is the ebook about creating ebooks that I would have written had I been inclined, so I have no problem recommending it to you (and using my affiliate link). It not only tells the truth about what it really takes to make money, it reveals several concrete strategies that I’ve used for years to make a great deal of money.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Discover How To Write Articles To Make Money
How to Write an Article in 20 Minutes
By Jim Estill
Believe it or not, it only takes me 20 minutes to write a 400-500 word article. This article (which I wrote in 20 minutes) explains some of the tricks I use to accomplish this.
Blogging gives me a daily deadline, and I don’t really want to spend more than 20 minutes each day on blogging. Many of my blog entries are actually less than 500 words so take me less time.
Taking up blogging got me to start thinking seriously about writing quickly, and you may be facing a blogging time-crunch as well. So here are my 8 tips for writing an article in 20 minutes or less.
I start with a list of ideas and concepts I want to cover. Usually I write this list in point form. For me, I do this the old fashioned way, with a pen and paper.
I often “incubate” an article for a few days (this does not count in the 20 minutes). What I do is start roughing out some topic ideas then leave it. Because I have thought about it, ideas tend to come to me that I frequently add to my points. Of course I always carry a notebook for ideas.
I often need to reduce the number of ideas that I cover. Sometimes they do not fit with the angle of the article or do not flow with the other ideas. Sometimes I have to give up a point to write a good article.
Never save a good idea. When I know I have many article deadlines to meet, it is tempting to “save” a few good ideas for later. New ideas will always come so always give your best ideas.
Develop tricks to get past writers block. One way I do this is ”warm up” writing. I just sit down and write for 5 minutes. This tends to help subsequent writing to flow. Another way I do this is to go for a walk, cycle or a run (although sometimes I think I might use this to procrastinate a bit too). Another trick I use is to make a game out of the deadline – say I will do it by X o’ clock. Perhaps I am simple but this motivates me.
Come back to it later. My best articles are written partly, revisited a few times, then finished. I spend the same 20 minutes, though only 5-7 minutes per session. Of course if the ideas are flowing well, I do keep writing.
I often write 3-4 articles at the same time. Spending 5 minutes on one, 7 on another etc. When I am really in writing flow, this works well.
One trick is using bullet points or numbered points as in this article. People seem to like this technique and it helps articles flow for me.
So if I can write so quickly, why don’t I write a few articles each day? Apart from the fact that I have a very full time job, writing is the easy part; coming up with the ideas is the tough part.
By Jim Estill
Believe it or not, it only takes me 20 minutes to write a 400-500 word article. This article (which I wrote in 20 minutes) explains some of the tricks I use to accomplish this.
Blogging gives me a daily deadline, and I don’t really want to spend more than 20 minutes each day on blogging. Many of my blog entries are actually less than 500 words so take me less time.
Taking up blogging got me to start thinking seriously about writing quickly, and you may be facing a blogging time-crunch as well. So here are my 8 tips for writing an article in 20 minutes or less.
I start with a list of ideas and concepts I want to cover. Usually I write this list in point form. For me, I do this the old fashioned way, with a pen and paper.
I often “incubate” an article for a few days (this does not count in the 20 minutes). What I do is start roughing out some topic ideas then leave it. Because I have thought about it, ideas tend to come to me that I frequently add to my points. Of course I always carry a notebook for ideas.
I often need to reduce the number of ideas that I cover. Sometimes they do not fit with the angle of the article or do not flow with the other ideas. Sometimes I have to give up a point to write a good article.
Never save a good idea. When I know I have many article deadlines to meet, it is tempting to “save” a few good ideas for later. New ideas will always come so always give your best ideas.
Develop tricks to get past writers block. One way I do this is ”warm up” writing. I just sit down and write for 5 minutes. This tends to help subsequent writing to flow. Another way I do this is to go for a walk, cycle or a run (although sometimes I think I might use this to procrastinate a bit too). Another trick I use is to make a game out of the deadline – say I will do it by X o’ clock. Perhaps I am simple but this motivates me.
Come back to it later. My best articles are written partly, revisited a few times, then finished. I spend the same 20 minutes, though only 5-7 minutes per session. Of course if the ideas are flowing well, I do keep writing.
I often write 3-4 articles at the same time. Spending 5 minutes on one, 7 on another etc. When I am really in writing flow, this works well.
One trick is using bullet points or numbered points as in this article. People seem to like this technique and it helps articles flow for me.
So if I can write so quickly, why don’t I write a few articles each day? Apart from the fact that I have a very full time job, writing is the easy part; coming up with the ideas is the tough part.
Friday, July 23, 2010
How To Open A Clickbank Account In Nigeria
How To Open A Clickbank Account In Nigeria
Don’t Fall A Victim Of This Scream Topic
Welcome to my series of this popular topic “ How To Open A Clickbank Account In Nigeria”
At the end of this write-up, you will sit down and think back the home of your brain and possibly scream hey! Thank God I have not fallen for what I feel will liberate me financially. Thank God I came back to my senses will also be your next speech. And I think you can share your experience with other people too.
If you type “How To Open A Clickbank Account” in Google Search Engine, you will be surprised at the results. But before you conclude on what to do here are some tips for you and other people who will desire the same information.
v Nigerians are not allowed to participate in Clickbank due to some reasons-may be you can provide the answer to this
v Nigerians are good when it comes to opportunity to play 419-I know you are familiar with the term. I hope you have not paid any amount into any bank account, consider yourself lucky. Your mother is very strong
v Nigerians will use your money to buy cars, Landed Properties or anything of their choice to show that they are big guys. Beware!!!
v Do you understand Owo Mugu
Best Solution
Get a friend who can open this account in those accepted countries in His or Her Name and send you the details, So that you can use the medium to make some cool money. Remember to share the profit with your messiah
KNOW THIS
One-way blocked another is just opened right near you.
If “How To Open A Clickbank Account” is a problem for Nigerians there should be a way out.
Everyone says you can do it even with www.paydotcom.com. This platform will soon send Clickbank packing. A new door for all the screams on the “How To Open A Click Bank Account”
Please leave your comment, as this is a great tool for me to get to others like you. I hope you found something you need. Thanks
Don’t Fall A Victim Of This Scream Topic
Welcome to my series of this popular topic “ How To Open A Clickbank Account In Nigeria”
At the end of this write-up, you will sit down and think back the home of your brain and possibly scream hey! Thank God I have not fallen for what I feel will liberate me financially. Thank God I came back to my senses will also be your next speech. And I think you can share your experience with other people too.
If you type “How To Open A Clickbank Account” in Google Search Engine, you will be surprised at the results. But before you conclude on what to do here are some tips for you and other people who will desire the same information.
v Nigerians are not allowed to participate in Clickbank due to some reasons-may be you can provide the answer to this
v Nigerians are good when it comes to opportunity to play 419-I know you are familiar with the term. I hope you have not paid any amount into any bank account, consider yourself lucky. Your mother is very strong
v Nigerians will use your money to buy cars, Landed Properties or anything of their choice to show that they are big guys. Beware!!!
v Do you understand Owo Mugu
Best Solution
Get a friend who can open this account in those accepted countries in His or Her Name and send you the details, So that you can use the medium to make some cool money. Remember to share the profit with your messiah
KNOW THIS
One-way blocked another is just opened right near you.
If “How To Open A Clickbank Account” is a problem for Nigerians there should be a way out.
Everyone says you can do it even with www.paydotcom.com. This platform will soon send Clickbank packing. A new door for all the screams on the “How To Open A Click Bank Account”
Please leave your comment, as this is a great tool for me to get to others like you. I hope you found something you need. Thanks
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The Two Most Important Words In Blogging
The Two Most Important Words in Blogging
By Brian Clark
Imagine… by the end of this post, you will be a more effective blogger, all because you learned two very important words, and the specific reasons why those words are so crucial.
Actually, both words can be found in the preceding sentence, along with hints related to their importance.
Did you catch them?
If not, keep reading, because all will be revealed. The Most Important Word is “You” Did you find the opening sentence compelling? If so, why?
Or the better question is, who was the first sentence focused on? Well, let’s consider this. Have the words “me” or “I” appeared in this post before now?
It’s certainly ironic that a medium often used as a self-absorbed journaling platform would now need to be overwhelmingly focused on the reader in order to be effective. But if you’re blogging for marketing or public relations purposes, your every post should be purposefully aimed at the needs and wants of others.
You only benefit when readers benefit first.
When it comes to writing engaging content, “you” is the most powerful word in the English language, because people are ultimately interested in fulfilling their own needs. It may sound harsh, but the fact is your readers won’t start to actually care about you at all until you’ve repeatedly offered them exceptional value with your blog.
But once they do start to care about you, look out… because wonderful things can start happening. Things like viral buzz and customer evangelism.
The same substantive content will be more effective with the focus shifted toward the reader. One of the easiest ways to do that is to maximize the use of “you”, while minimizing or eliminating “I” and “me”.
Every time you finish writing a blog post, check the focus. How many times do you and its derivations appear? What about I and me? Got the count? Good. Now, adjust accordingly. Try it, and you’ll be amazed at the results. The Other Word is “Because”
One of the most important characteristics of compelling, persuasive content is specificity. The more specific you are, the more credible your points, arguments or sales pitch.
There are many ways to be specific in your writing. One of the best is simply giving a reason why. And the most effective transition word when giving a “reason why” is because.
The power of because has actually been documented by social psychologist Ellen Langer, as told by our old friend Robert Cialdini from the Blog Triggers series. Langer performed an experiment where she asked to cut in line to use a copy machine. She tested three different ways of asking, and recorded the results: Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine? 60% said OK. Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush? 94% said OK.
It appears that giving the “reason why” of because I’m in a rush boosted the effectiveness of the request immensely.
But here’s the kicker:
Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies? 93% said OK.
The trigger word “because” is so powerful that it didn’t really seem to matter that the “reason why” provided was something you might expect to hear from a four year old child.
Be specific in your assertions, and always give a reason why, especially when you want people to take some form of action.
Not because I said so, but rather because it will work wonders for you.
By Brian Clark
Imagine… by the end of this post, you will be a more effective blogger, all because you learned two very important words, and the specific reasons why those words are so crucial.
Actually, both words can be found in the preceding sentence, along with hints related to their importance.
Did you catch them?
If not, keep reading, because all will be revealed. The Most Important Word is “You” Did you find the opening sentence compelling? If so, why?
Or the better question is, who was the first sentence focused on? Well, let’s consider this. Have the words “me” or “I” appeared in this post before now?
It’s certainly ironic that a medium often used as a self-absorbed journaling platform would now need to be overwhelmingly focused on the reader in order to be effective. But if you’re blogging for marketing or public relations purposes, your every post should be purposefully aimed at the needs and wants of others.
You only benefit when readers benefit first.
When it comes to writing engaging content, “you” is the most powerful word in the English language, because people are ultimately interested in fulfilling their own needs. It may sound harsh, but the fact is your readers won’t start to actually care about you at all until you’ve repeatedly offered them exceptional value with your blog.
But once they do start to care about you, look out… because wonderful things can start happening. Things like viral buzz and customer evangelism.
The same substantive content will be more effective with the focus shifted toward the reader. One of the easiest ways to do that is to maximize the use of “you”, while minimizing or eliminating “I” and “me”.
Every time you finish writing a blog post, check the focus. How many times do you and its derivations appear? What about I and me? Got the count? Good. Now, adjust accordingly. Try it, and you’ll be amazed at the results. The Other Word is “Because”
One of the most important characteristics of compelling, persuasive content is specificity. The more specific you are, the more credible your points, arguments or sales pitch.
There are many ways to be specific in your writing. One of the best is simply giving a reason why. And the most effective transition word when giving a “reason why” is because.
The power of because has actually been documented by social psychologist Ellen Langer, as told by our old friend Robert Cialdini from the Blog Triggers series. Langer performed an experiment where she asked to cut in line to use a copy machine. She tested three different ways of asking, and recorded the results: Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine? 60% said OK. Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush? 94% said OK.
It appears that giving the “reason why” of because I’m in a rush boosted the effectiveness of the request immensely.
But here’s the kicker:
Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies? 93% said OK.
The trigger word “because” is so powerful that it didn’t really seem to matter that the “reason why” provided was something you might expect to hear from a four year old child.
Be specific in your assertions, and always give a reason why, especially when you want people to take some form of action.
Not because I said so, but rather because it will work wonders for you.
The First Rule Of Copyblogging
The First Rule of Copyblogger
By Sonia Simone
Are you guilty of spamducation?
Spamducation is a white paper, special report, video, podcast or manifesto that claims to solve a pressing reader problem, but is in fact a thinly disguised ad. Jon Stribling describes them as “compelling headlines and disappointing content written by amateurs or second-rate copywriters.”
The content is too often a lame version of work done by a real expert. (You know someone who cared enough about the topic to actually learn a lot about it.)
It’s no secret I’m a huge fan of content marketing. This means I’m a huge opponent of badly done content marketing.
Sloppy, junky, selfish content just gives the legitimate folks a bad name.
The first rule of Copyblogger is you do not publish content that sucks.
Why do we hammer you every week with techniques to make your writing sharper, crisper, more effective, and more magnetic?
To let you create content that’s as strong and alive as it can possibly be. Sure there are tools that will let you hack, mash, smash, and mangle someone else’s content into a word soup that Google thinks is original. Google won’t help you if no one wants to read what you’ve got to say. The second rule of Copyblogger is you do NOT publish content that sucks.
There are plenty of “push-button” systems out there that claim to teach you how to succeed wildly with content marketing and social media.
How to build a six-figure business on Twitter without having anything to actually say.
How to spend 45 seconds a day on Facebook and churn out killer profits.
How to turn YouTube or Digg or Squidoo into an effortless cash machine.
And some of those systems probably work, at least to some degree. If you have content that doesn’t suck. So what makes for content that doesn’t suck? Great content comes from craft, care, and attention, not talent. It comes from obsessively focusing on what your reader wants. What’s bugging her? What problem is she having a hard time solving? What does she want more than anything? What’s she dreaming about? What wakes her up at 3 in the morning? What makes her feel like a beautiful and unique snowflake?
It comes from studying proven techniques, trying them out, and watching what works best for you and your readers. Most people are afraid to improve their writing because it looks like work. And I’ll tell you the secret the scam gurus never will. It is work.
It’s work the same way that sailing is work. Or learning to play a ruthlessly good game of poker. Or mountain biking. Or cooking your way through every recipe in Julia Child. Or beating your best score in Rock Band.
Good copy and content writers don’t pore over our favorite writing references just to gain an advantage in our marketing. (Although that’s nice.)
We do it because it’s fun. We do it because we’re obsessed. We do it because it’s a fantastic game. We do it because we love to watch the human mind at work. We do it because we can. We do it because it’s an awesome high when it works.
Don’t let learning copywriting intimidate you. And don’t create content that sucks because you think it’s too hard to make something worth reading.
Instead, get intimidatingly good. You can, you know.
By Sonia Simone
Are you guilty of spamducation?
Spamducation is a white paper, special report, video, podcast or manifesto that claims to solve a pressing reader problem, but is in fact a thinly disguised ad. Jon Stribling describes them as “compelling headlines and disappointing content written by amateurs or second-rate copywriters.”
The content is too often a lame version of work done by a real expert. (You know someone who cared enough about the topic to actually learn a lot about it.)
It’s no secret I’m a huge fan of content marketing. This means I’m a huge opponent of badly done content marketing.
Sloppy, junky, selfish content just gives the legitimate folks a bad name.
The first rule of Copyblogger is you do not publish content that sucks.
Why do we hammer you every week with techniques to make your writing sharper, crisper, more effective, and more magnetic?
To let you create content that’s as strong and alive as it can possibly be. Sure there are tools that will let you hack, mash, smash, and mangle someone else’s content into a word soup that Google thinks is original. Google won’t help you if no one wants to read what you’ve got to say. The second rule of Copyblogger is you do NOT publish content that sucks.
There are plenty of “push-button” systems out there that claim to teach you how to succeed wildly with content marketing and social media.
How to build a six-figure business on Twitter without having anything to actually say.
How to spend 45 seconds a day on Facebook and churn out killer profits.
How to turn YouTube or Digg or Squidoo into an effortless cash machine.
And some of those systems probably work, at least to some degree. If you have content that doesn’t suck. So what makes for content that doesn’t suck? Great content comes from craft, care, and attention, not talent. It comes from obsessively focusing on what your reader wants. What’s bugging her? What problem is she having a hard time solving? What does she want more than anything? What’s she dreaming about? What wakes her up at 3 in the morning? What makes her feel like a beautiful and unique snowflake?
It comes from studying proven techniques, trying them out, and watching what works best for you and your readers. Most people are afraid to improve their writing because it looks like work. And I’ll tell you the secret the scam gurus never will. It is work.
It’s work the same way that sailing is work. Or learning to play a ruthlessly good game of poker. Or mountain biking. Or cooking your way through every recipe in Julia Child. Or beating your best score in Rock Band.
Good copy and content writers don’t pore over our favorite writing references just to gain an advantage in our marketing. (Although that’s nice.)
We do it because it’s fun. We do it because we’re obsessed. We do it because it’s a fantastic game. We do it because we love to watch the human mind at work. We do it because we can. We do it because it’s an awesome high when it works.
Don’t let learning copywriting intimidate you. And don’t create content that sucks because you think it’s too hard to make something worth reading.
Instead, get intimidatingly good. You can, you know.
Why You Need To Build A Blog For Your Business
WHY YOU NEED TO BUILD A BLOG FOR YOUR BUSINESS?
As an entrepreneur, you must always be on the watch out for external factors that can make or break your business, and one of such external factors is trend. Trend, like the waves of an ocean is powerful enough to crush anything that opposes it. So the best way to use trend to your advantage is to flow with it; not against.
Building business blogs seems to be the trend on the rise but before you jump on the bandwagon and start your own blog, you need to understand what a blog entails. Otherwise, you will begin writing and then lose interest. If you stop blogging, then everything you have done up to that point will worthless.
Before deciding if you should join the blog train, you need to determine how a blog will actually benefit your business? You need to know why people start blogs in the first place. You also need to know how to find the right topic that will be of interest to your customers and you will need to determine the right tools that will help you become an efficient, successful blogger.
Now i am going to site some instances that can help you decide if your business needs a blog.
1. If your business is situated in an industry where up to date information is highly essential and important to your customers. An industry such as the money or stock market, then you will need a blog for your business.
2. If you sell back end products such as computer parts, mobile devices, information products and so on. You need a blog for your business.
3. If your business operates in an industry where price changes frequently. An example of such is the oil and gas industry. Then you need to build a blog for your business.
4. If your business sells seasonal products such as gift items, umbrellas sweat coats and so on. Then you need a business blog.
5. If you business offer after sales service to customers; an example is a car dealership business. You are going to need a business blog.
6. If you are in a business where your clients need to be notified or reminded of upcoming events. An example is an educational business or institution; you definitely need to build a blog.
7. Does your business occasionally run special offers for customers? Take for instance, a convenience or departmental store. If your business falls in this category, you need a business blog.
8. Do you run a business where you need to develop a one on one relationship with your clients? For instance, a consultancy outfit, then you will need a blog.
9. Do you operated in an industry where consistent innovation is the norm? Maybe you sell cell phones and hand held devices such as palm pilots. If yes, you definitely need a blog.
10. Do you operate in an industry where constant upgrade is essential? An example is the Software industry. Then you need to build a blog.
In fact, every business regardless of the industry of its operation needs a blog. But before deciding if you should build a blog for your business, you should ask yourself a few questions.
Do you really have something to say? Can you devote time to update your blog regularly? Can you provide quality information that would be relevant and important to your clients and potential customers? Will you be committed to attracting new visitors to your blog?
One of the most important of these questions is whether you will have the time to update your business blog regularly. You should be able to add something to your blog at least every day, with a minimum of five times a week. Most of the blogs that show up in search engines actually have multiple posts a day.
In conclusion, i think it is necessary that every business should build and maintain a blog. If the Fortune’s 500 companies are making use of blogs, why shouldn’t you? Building a business blog is quite challenging so i will advice you answer the questions above before deciding if you will need to build a blog for your business or not.
As an entrepreneur, you must always be on the watch out for external factors that can make or break your business, and one of such external factors is trend. Trend, like the waves of an ocean is powerful enough to crush anything that opposes it. So the best way to use trend to your advantage is to flow with it; not against.
Building business blogs seems to be the trend on the rise but before you jump on the bandwagon and start your own blog, you need to understand what a blog entails. Otherwise, you will begin writing and then lose interest. If you stop blogging, then everything you have done up to that point will worthless.
Before deciding if you should join the blog train, you need to determine how a blog will actually benefit your business? You need to know why people start blogs in the first place. You also need to know how to find the right topic that will be of interest to your customers and you will need to determine the right tools that will help you become an efficient, successful blogger.
Now i am going to site some instances that can help you decide if your business needs a blog.
1. If your business is situated in an industry where up to date information is highly essential and important to your customers. An industry such as the money or stock market, then you will need a blog for your business.
2. If you sell back end products such as computer parts, mobile devices, information products and so on. You need a blog for your business.
3. If your business operates in an industry where price changes frequently. An example of such is the oil and gas industry. Then you need to build a blog for your business.
4. If your business sells seasonal products such as gift items, umbrellas sweat coats and so on. Then you need a business blog.
5. If you business offer after sales service to customers; an example is a car dealership business. You are going to need a business blog.
6. If you are in a business where your clients need to be notified or reminded of upcoming events. An example is an educational business or institution; you definitely need to build a blog.
7. Does your business occasionally run special offers for customers? Take for instance, a convenience or departmental store. If your business falls in this category, you need a business blog.
8. Do you run a business where you need to develop a one on one relationship with your clients? For instance, a consultancy outfit, then you will need a blog.
9. Do you operated in an industry where consistent innovation is the norm? Maybe you sell cell phones and hand held devices such as palm pilots. If yes, you definitely need a blog.
10. Do you operate in an industry where constant upgrade is essential? An example is the Software industry. Then you need to build a blog.
In fact, every business regardless of the industry of its operation needs a blog. But before deciding if you should build a blog for your business, you should ask yourself a few questions.
Do you really have something to say? Can you devote time to update your blog regularly? Can you provide quality information that would be relevant and important to your clients and potential customers? Will you be committed to attracting new visitors to your blog?
One of the most important of these questions is whether you will have the time to update your business blog regularly. You should be able to add something to your blog at least every day, with a minimum of five times a week. Most of the blogs that show up in search engines actually have multiple posts a day.
In conclusion, i think it is necessary that every business should build and maintain a blog. If the Fortune’s 500 companies are making use of blogs, why shouldn’t you? Building a business blog is quite challenging so i will advice you answer the questions above before deciding if you will need to build a blog for your business or not.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Affiliate Maketing Business Using Paid Advertising
Affiliate Marketing Business Using Paid Advertising
PPC is one of the four basic kinds of Search Engines. Paid advertising is also one of the most cost-effective ways of targeted web advertising. As per Forbes magazine, PPC or Pay per click marketing, provides to 2 billion dollars annually and is also expected to expand to around 8 billion dollars by the year 2008.
Let’s take a quick look at exactly how PPC Search Engines operate.
These types of engines create listings and rate them primarily based on a bid amount the website operator is willing to pay out for each click from that search engine. Advertisers bid against each other in order to receive a better position for a unique keyword or phrase.
The highest bidder for a certain keyword or phrase is going to then have the site rated as number 1 in the PPC Search Engines followed by the second and third highest bidder, up to the final number which has placed a bid on the exact same key phrase or keyword phrase. Your own advertisements then will certainly appear prominently on the search engine results pages based on the dollar amount bid you will agree to pay per click.
How do you make money through using Pay-per-click into your affiliate marketing business?
The majority of affiliate programs only pay out as soon as a sale is produced or a lead provided after a visitor has clicked through your web page. Your earnings will not always end up being the same as they will be dependent on the web site written content and the targeted traffic marketplace.
The reason why you should incorporate Pay per click into your affiliate marketing program is that earnings are less difficult to make than in any other kind of affiliate program not utilizing PPC. This way, you will be generating revenue based off the clicks that your visitor will make on the actual advertiser’s website. In contrast to many programs, you are not compensated per sale or action.
PPC can be very advantageous to your website. With PPC Search Engines incorporated into your affiliate program, you will be able to profit from the visitor’s who are not interested in your products or services. The same ones who leave your site and never come back.
You will not merely get commissions not only from those who are just searching the internet and locating the products and services that they wanted but you will be in a position to develop your site’s recognition as a valuable resource. The visitors who have identified what they wanted from your site are likely to come back again and review what you are offering more carefully. Then they will eventually come back to search the web for various other products.
This particular type of affiliate plan is also a simple method if you want to generate some more additional revenues. For example, when a website visitor on your website performs a search in the Pay-per-click Search Engine and clicks on the advertiser bid listings, the advertisers’ account will then be deducted because of that click. Together with this, you will be compensated 30% to 80% of the advertisers’ bid amount.
PPC is not just a source of making easy profits; it can also help you promote your own website. Many of the programs enable the commissions received to be spent for advertising with them immediately and with no minimum earning requirement. This is actually one of the more effective methods to exchange your raw visitors for targeted viewers who have more tendencies to buy your products and services.
Exactly what will happen when you incorporate Pay per click marketing into your affiliate plan?
PPC usually has ready-to-use affiliate tools that can be easily integrated into your web site. The most typical resources are search boxes, banners, text hyperlinks and a few 404-error pages. Most search engines utilize custom solutions and can provide you with a white-label affiliate program. This enables you, by using only a few lines of code, to assimilate remotely-hosted co-branded search engine capability into your website.
The key benefits: Not only much more money generated but also some additional money on the side.
You also have a lifetime of commissions once you have introduced a few website owner friends to the engine.
Think about it. Where can you obtain all these benefits while already generating some income for your website? Knowing some of the more helpful tools you can use for your affiliate program is not a waste of time. They are instead a means of earning while you are already earning.
Best of all you will know more about how you can use Pay per click search engines into your affiliate program and not miss an opportunity to make more money on your website.
There are numerous resources and articles on Pay Per Click Advertising at this site
HomeBiz Know How. We have thousands of articles and resources on Home Business and Internet Marketing. Visit the Uber Article Directory to get a totally unique version of this article for reprint.
PPC is one of the four basic kinds of Search Engines. Paid advertising is also one of the most cost-effective ways of targeted web advertising. As per Forbes magazine, PPC or Pay per click marketing, provides to 2 billion dollars annually and is also expected to expand to around 8 billion dollars by the year 2008.
Let’s take a quick look at exactly how PPC Search Engines operate.
These types of engines create listings and rate them primarily based on a bid amount the website operator is willing to pay out for each click from that search engine. Advertisers bid against each other in order to receive a better position for a unique keyword or phrase.
The highest bidder for a certain keyword or phrase is going to then have the site rated as number 1 in the PPC Search Engines followed by the second and third highest bidder, up to the final number which has placed a bid on the exact same key phrase or keyword phrase. Your own advertisements then will certainly appear prominently on the search engine results pages based on the dollar amount bid you will agree to pay per click.
How do you make money through using Pay-per-click into your affiliate marketing business?
The majority of affiliate programs only pay out as soon as a sale is produced or a lead provided after a visitor has clicked through your web page. Your earnings will not always end up being the same as they will be dependent on the web site written content and the targeted traffic marketplace.
The reason why you should incorporate Pay per click into your affiliate marketing program is that earnings are less difficult to make than in any other kind of affiliate program not utilizing PPC. This way, you will be generating revenue based off the clicks that your visitor will make on the actual advertiser’s website. In contrast to many programs, you are not compensated per sale or action.
PPC can be very advantageous to your website. With PPC Search Engines incorporated into your affiliate program, you will be able to profit from the visitor’s who are not interested in your products or services. The same ones who leave your site and never come back.
You will not merely get commissions not only from those who are just searching the internet and locating the products and services that they wanted but you will be in a position to develop your site’s recognition as a valuable resource. The visitors who have identified what they wanted from your site are likely to come back again and review what you are offering more carefully. Then they will eventually come back to search the web for various other products.
This particular type of affiliate plan is also a simple method if you want to generate some more additional revenues. For example, when a website visitor on your website performs a search in the Pay-per-click Search Engine and clicks on the advertiser bid listings, the advertisers’ account will then be deducted because of that click. Together with this, you will be compensated 30% to 80% of the advertisers’ bid amount.
PPC is not just a source of making easy profits; it can also help you promote your own website. Many of the programs enable the commissions received to be spent for advertising with them immediately and with no minimum earning requirement. This is actually one of the more effective methods to exchange your raw visitors for targeted viewers who have more tendencies to buy your products and services.
Exactly what will happen when you incorporate Pay per click marketing into your affiliate plan?
PPC usually has ready-to-use affiliate tools that can be easily integrated into your web site. The most typical resources are search boxes, banners, text hyperlinks and a few 404-error pages. Most search engines utilize custom solutions and can provide you with a white-label affiliate program. This enables you, by using only a few lines of code, to assimilate remotely-hosted co-branded search engine capability into your website.
The key benefits: Not only much more money generated but also some additional money on the side.
You also have a lifetime of commissions once you have introduced a few website owner friends to the engine.
Think about it. Where can you obtain all these benefits while already generating some income for your website? Knowing some of the more helpful tools you can use for your affiliate program is not a waste of time. They are instead a means of earning while you are already earning.
Best of all you will know more about how you can use Pay per click search engines into your affiliate program and not miss an opportunity to make more money on your website.
There are numerous resources and articles on Pay Per Click Advertising at this site
HomeBiz Know How. We have thousands of articles and resources on Home Business and Internet Marketing. Visit the Uber Article Directory to get a totally unique version of this article for reprint.
Online Marketing Strategies For Beginners
Online Marketing Strategies For Beginners
How To Promote Your Business On The Internet
Today marks the beginning of a series on internet marketing strategies. This series is going to be strictly for those who are interested in marketing their small business on the internet. But before i kick off, i want to make the beginners feel at home with this series.
So today, i will be dealing with internet marketing strategies for beginners. Now what is internet marketing? Internet marketing is simply the art and science of finding and keeping customers using the internet as a medium.
Internet marketing for beginners is somewhat of an oxymoron. This is because while in theory the concepts behind internet marketing might be quite simple, executing effective internet marketing strategies can be extremely difficult. This can even be tough for those who are quite experienced in the world of Internet marketing, not to talk of the newcomers.
With this in mind, this article will attempt to explain the concept of Internet marketing for beginners and will outline some basic strategies which can help a business owner to launch his own Internet marketing campaign. We will cover concepts such as creating a website, placing banner ads, sending out e-newsletters, orchestrating an email marketing campaign and optimizing your website for search engines.
Now why do you need to market your business on the internet?
You see the internet is a huge network of computers linked together in a world wide web and behind each computer is al least a potential customer. The internet connects nothing less than 3 billion individuals across the globe. That makes it a really huge market place.
Now how does this affect your business?
Take a moment to reflect on the answer to these questions. What if your business competitor is marketing on the internet and you are not? That means his business will have access to 3 billion potential customers. What will be the difference between both of you? This article will answer these questions and examine some subtle ways you can begin marketing your small business on the Internet.
One of the most basic strategies to marketing your business on the internet marketing is to create a website. If you don’t have a website or have a poorly designed website you should consider creating or re-designing a website to adequately market your products. If you do not have experience in web design, there are a number of software packages which make it simple for those with no design experience to create a functional website. However, hiring a web designer is worthwhile because he can work to create a website which is attractive, functional and suitable to your products and series. He can also help you include more advanced features on your website.
Having a live website means there is the potential for curious internet users to access your website. You may not be actively marketing your website but you may still find that your website generates interest in your products despite the lack of promotional endeavors; this is a form of passive marketing.
Below are Basic Overview Of Internet Marketing Strategies You Can Apply When Marketing Your Business On the Internet. I will be ripping each of them open as we go further in this Internet marketing series:
Banner Ads:
Banner ads are another popular option for advertising/marketing your business on the Internet. Banner ads are advertisements which typically appear along the top of a website but it may also include smaller ads in other locations. Banner ads typically include graphics and text which entice Internet users to click on the advertisement. Once a user clicks on the ad, they are directed to your website. This type of advertising can be very effective when care is taken to place the advertisements on high traffic websites which attract an audience who may have an interest in your products.
Sending out e-newsletters:
Sending out e-newsletters is also a part of the numerous effective Internet marketing strategies we have. E-newsletters are essentially emails which may contain a variety of information including informative articles, useful quizzes, relevant advertising or any other information which is deemed worthwhile for the recipients of the e-newsletter. The importance of these newsletters is that they can be used as marketing tools which are not viewed by the recipients as an advertisement. One way to do this is to incorporate links or other soft sale approaches into the copy of the e-newsletters. However, care should be taken to keep these references minimal so the e-newsletter is not viewed as spam.
Email marketing campaigns:
Email marketing campaigns can be another successful aspect of an Internet marketing campaign. Email marketing essentially involves sending out emails to a group of individuals who may be interested in your products and services. Care should be taken in sending out these emails to avoid sending emails which are unsolicited and will be viewed as spam. One way to do this is to only send out the emails to users who have requested inclusion on an email mailing list. Another way to do this is to provide value in the emails as opposed to just including advertisements. This can be done by offering relevant advice in your emails and other useful information which may be of interest to the recipients of the email.
Participating in Discussion Boards or Forums:
Savvy small business owners realize the importance of participation in industry related message boards/forums to create an interest in their products and services, establish themselves as knowledgeable about the industry and offer a link to their own website even if it is in the signature line of their posts. However, even business owners who do not realize this may already be inadvertently enjoying the benefits of Internet marketing which result from message board participation just by doing something they enjoy and may be doing as a form of leisure activity.
Search Engine Optimization:
Finally, optimizing your website for search engines is a critical aspect of an Internet marketing campaign. Search engines rank websites according to quality and relevance for particular search terms. Many Internet users appreciate the effort by search engines and use these search engines to find the best websites on a particular subject.
This means the Internet users are likely to only visit websites which rank well with search engines. Therefore if your website is not high ranking, you are not likely to generate a great deal of traffic from Internet users who use search engines to find relevant websites. Top ranking websites are likely to obtain the most traffic from search engines and all websites falling on the first page of the search engine results will likely enjoy some degree of success in improving their traffic.
At this stage, i believe the word ‘beginner’ has been removed from your neck. I officially welcome you to the world of internet marketing. Till i come your way again, fasten your seat belt and prepare for the accelerated growth of your business.
How To Promote Your Business On The Internet
Today marks the beginning of a series on internet marketing strategies. This series is going to be strictly for those who are interested in marketing their small business on the internet. But before i kick off, i want to make the beginners feel at home with this series.
So today, i will be dealing with internet marketing strategies for beginners. Now what is internet marketing? Internet marketing is simply the art and science of finding and keeping customers using the internet as a medium.
Internet marketing for beginners is somewhat of an oxymoron. This is because while in theory the concepts behind internet marketing might be quite simple, executing effective internet marketing strategies can be extremely difficult. This can even be tough for those who are quite experienced in the world of Internet marketing, not to talk of the newcomers.
With this in mind, this article will attempt to explain the concept of Internet marketing for beginners and will outline some basic strategies which can help a business owner to launch his own Internet marketing campaign. We will cover concepts such as creating a website, placing banner ads, sending out e-newsletters, orchestrating an email marketing campaign and optimizing your website for search engines.
Now why do you need to market your business on the internet?
You see the internet is a huge network of computers linked together in a world wide web and behind each computer is al least a potential customer. The internet connects nothing less than 3 billion individuals across the globe. That makes it a really huge market place.
Now how does this affect your business?
Take a moment to reflect on the answer to these questions. What if your business competitor is marketing on the internet and you are not? That means his business will have access to 3 billion potential customers. What will be the difference between both of you? This article will answer these questions and examine some subtle ways you can begin marketing your small business on the Internet.
One of the most basic strategies to marketing your business on the internet marketing is to create a website. If you don’t have a website or have a poorly designed website you should consider creating or re-designing a website to adequately market your products. If you do not have experience in web design, there are a number of software packages which make it simple for those with no design experience to create a functional website. However, hiring a web designer is worthwhile because he can work to create a website which is attractive, functional and suitable to your products and series. He can also help you include more advanced features on your website.
Having a live website means there is the potential for curious internet users to access your website. You may not be actively marketing your website but you may still find that your website generates interest in your products despite the lack of promotional endeavors; this is a form of passive marketing.
Below are Basic Overview Of Internet Marketing Strategies You Can Apply When Marketing Your Business On the Internet. I will be ripping each of them open as we go further in this Internet marketing series:
Banner Ads:
Banner ads are another popular option for advertising/marketing your business on the Internet. Banner ads are advertisements which typically appear along the top of a website but it may also include smaller ads in other locations. Banner ads typically include graphics and text which entice Internet users to click on the advertisement. Once a user clicks on the ad, they are directed to your website. This type of advertising can be very effective when care is taken to place the advertisements on high traffic websites which attract an audience who may have an interest in your products.
Sending out e-newsletters:
Sending out e-newsletters is also a part of the numerous effective Internet marketing strategies we have. E-newsletters are essentially emails which may contain a variety of information including informative articles, useful quizzes, relevant advertising or any other information which is deemed worthwhile for the recipients of the e-newsletter. The importance of these newsletters is that they can be used as marketing tools which are not viewed by the recipients as an advertisement. One way to do this is to incorporate links or other soft sale approaches into the copy of the e-newsletters. However, care should be taken to keep these references minimal so the e-newsletter is not viewed as spam.
Email marketing campaigns:
Email marketing campaigns can be another successful aspect of an Internet marketing campaign. Email marketing essentially involves sending out emails to a group of individuals who may be interested in your products and services. Care should be taken in sending out these emails to avoid sending emails which are unsolicited and will be viewed as spam. One way to do this is to only send out the emails to users who have requested inclusion on an email mailing list. Another way to do this is to provide value in the emails as opposed to just including advertisements. This can be done by offering relevant advice in your emails and other useful information which may be of interest to the recipients of the email.
Participating in Discussion Boards or Forums:
Savvy small business owners realize the importance of participation in industry related message boards/forums to create an interest in their products and services, establish themselves as knowledgeable about the industry and offer a link to their own website even if it is in the signature line of their posts. However, even business owners who do not realize this may already be inadvertently enjoying the benefits of Internet marketing which result from message board participation just by doing something they enjoy and may be doing as a form of leisure activity.
Search Engine Optimization:
Finally, optimizing your website for search engines is a critical aspect of an Internet marketing campaign. Search engines rank websites according to quality and relevance for particular search terms. Many Internet users appreciate the effort by search engines and use these search engines to find the best websites on a particular subject.
This means the Internet users are likely to only visit websites which rank well with search engines. Therefore if your website is not high ranking, you are not likely to generate a great deal of traffic from Internet users who use search engines to find relevant websites. Top ranking websites are likely to obtain the most traffic from search engines and all websites falling on the first page of the search engine results will likely enjoy some degree of success in improving their traffic.
At this stage, i believe the word ‘beginner’ has been removed from your neck. I officially welcome you to the world of internet marketing. Till i come your way again, fasten your seat belt and prepare for the accelerated growth of your business.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
You Don’t Have To Be A Genius To Master Internet Marketing
You Don’t Have to be a Genius to
Master Internet Marketing
And yet you’re not about to fall for the “get rich quick”
hype of most Internet marketing “gurus.”
There’s no delicate way to put this. If you’re tuned in to social media, you’re just … well … smarter than most people looking to market online.
You’re not interested in lame “get rich quick” schemes. You’re not trying to build a business with no work, no time, and no sense. You’re not chasing after that magical silver bullet that will solve all your problems.
Mainly, you’d just like some solid, smart advice on online business that actually works.
In other words, you don’t have to be Einstein to “get” this stuff. But you’d have to be an idiot to believe some of the stuff peddled by traditional Internet marketing “gurus” (many of whom have never done what they’re advising you to do).
Copyblogger has been delivering advice that actually works for four years now, and now we’d like to take it up a notch.
Oh, and one more thing: we’ll be doing that for free.
Introducing Internet Marketing for Smart People
We’ve been kicking around the idea of a focused email newsletter for a long time, but waited until we had something that reflects the high standards we always try to set for the site. Here’s what we came up with:
A systematic, simple way to give you a good grasp of the power of effective online marketing.
An easy-to-navigate tutorial approach to the “Copyblogger method” of creating a profitable online business or marketing your offline business online.
An organized reference guide to the “best of the best” that’s appeared on Copyblogger over the years.
The four pillars of online marketing success
Thinking through what this would look like, we found four themes that kept coming up.
So we created an introduction to the newsletter that works through these four themes, systematically introducing you to the most important concepts we think every online marketer must know about. It’s a 20-part course in Internet marketing that prepares you for the more in-depth newsletter content that follows (still all free).
These are the cornerstones of how to build a business with the Copyblogger model, using everything we’ve learned over the years. Ready?
Pillar 1: Relationships
Creating strong relationships with an audience is critical to everything we do here. Rather than constantly hunting down new customers, we’d much rather create a valued environment that benefits our existing readers and customers and keeps pulling them back. We don’t advertise in the traditional sense; instead, our readers do a great job of “spreading the word” for us.
It’s about having consummate respect, always, for your audience and your market.
It’s about focusing almost obsessively on their needs, over and above your own (and getting what you want, almost magically, in the process).
It’s about making a commitment to creating a quality experience for your readers and subscribers.
Pillar 2: Direct response copywriting
We certainly stay abreast of the latest social media trends (and sometimes create them), but underlying everything we do here is solid copywriting techniques.
Starting with a killer headline and moving strategically through the copy to a stirring call to action, traditional copywriting technique works amazingly well in social media.
“Old-fashioned” copywriting advice can make all the difference between a business or blog that limps along and one that truly thrives.
We’ll show you precisely what we mean in the initial issues of the newsletter.
Pillar 3: Content marketing
What’s the backbone of the Copyblogger formula?
Deliver great content.
Then keep delivering great content, but in a strategic and focused way.
Every once in awhile, make a great offer that benefits the reader and involves the exchange of cash money.
Of course, we’ll give you some more specifics on how to do that once you’re on board.
Pillar 4: Have something worth selling
Everyone is selling something. It might be a product, a service, a download, an idea, or a worthy cause.
Whatever you’re selling, it’s got to be worth the price. (And never forget that reader attention is a valuable commodity that’s in strictly limited supply.)
Whether you’re asking for dollars, euros, yen, or valuable time and attention, you’ve got to deliver something that towers above your asking price.
Bringing it all together
Each of these four pillars enhances the others. Together, they’re much stronger than they would be if any of the pillars were missing.
Internet Marketing for Smart People is a free 20-part course and ongoing newsletter that’s delivered via email. Each week you’ll get a new lesson on one of the four pillars.
You’ll get lots of pointers to archived Copyblogger content, but with a new frame that will help you “connect the dots” and start putting this advice to work in your own business. It’s much like the approach Brian took with Authority Rules, but ongoing and ever-evolving as the Internet marketing space changes (which is fast).
To make it work even better, we’ll also be including “behind the scenes” lessons that show you how we put our own marketing systems and launches together, and the role each piece plays.
What you need to do next
Enter your email address here to sign up for the Internet Marketing for Smart People newsletter:
Email Address:
It’s very important to us that everyone receiving Internet Marketing for Smart People truly wants the newsletter, so we’ll need you to confirm that you want to receive it by clicking a link in an email you’ll receive after signing up.
So check your inbox (and put us on your white list… we’re not spammy at all, but thanks to some less-than-ethical internet marketers, our topic is often viewed that way by the major email services).
And of course we’re never going to rent, sell, or otherwise share the information we collect. That would pretty much be a violation of everything we stand for.
Master Internet Marketing
And yet you’re not about to fall for the “get rich quick”
hype of most Internet marketing “gurus.”
There’s no delicate way to put this. If you’re tuned in to social media, you’re just … well … smarter than most people looking to market online.
You’re not interested in lame “get rich quick” schemes. You’re not trying to build a business with no work, no time, and no sense. You’re not chasing after that magical silver bullet that will solve all your problems.
Mainly, you’d just like some solid, smart advice on online business that actually works.
In other words, you don’t have to be Einstein to “get” this stuff. But you’d have to be an idiot to believe some of the stuff peddled by traditional Internet marketing “gurus” (many of whom have never done what they’re advising you to do).
Copyblogger has been delivering advice that actually works for four years now, and now we’d like to take it up a notch.
Oh, and one more thing: we’ll be doing that for free.
Introducing Internet Marketing for Smart People
We’ve been kicking around the idea of a focused email newsletter for a long time, but waited until we had something that reflects the high standards we always try to set for the site. Here’s what we came up with:
A systematic, simple way to give you a good grasp of the power of effective online marketing.
An easy-to-navigate tutorial approach to the “Copyblogger method” of creating a profitable online business or marketing your offline business online.
An organized reference guide to the “best of the best” that’s appeared on Copyblogger over the years.
The four pillars of online marketing success
Thinking through what this would look like, we found four themes that kept coming up.
So we created an introduction to the newsletter that works through these four themes, systematically introducing you to the most important concepts we think every online marketer must know about. It’s a 20-part course in Internet marketing that prepares you for the more in-depth newsletter content that follows (still all free).
These are the cornerstones of how to build a business with the Copyblogger model, using everything we’ve learned over the years. Ready?
Pillar 1: Relationships
Creating strong relationships with an audience is critical to everything we do here. Rather than constantly hunting down new customers, we’d much rather create a valued environment that benefits our existing readers and customers and keeps pulling them back. We don’t advertise in the traditional sense; instead, our readers do a great job of “spreading the word” for us.
It’s about having consummate respect, always, for your audience and your market.
It’s about focusing almost obsessively on their needs, over and above your own (and getting what you want, almost magically, in the process).
It’s about making a commitment to creating a quality experience for your readers and subscribers.
Pillar 2: Direct response copywriting
We certainly stay abreast of the latest social media trends (and sometimes create them), but underlying everything we do here is solid copywriting techniques.
Starting with a killer headline and moving strategically through the copy to a stirring call to action, traditional copywriting technique works amazingly well in social media.
“Old-fashioned” copywriting advice can make all the difference between a business or blog that limps along and one that truly thrives.
We’ll show you precisely what we mean in the initial issues of the newsletter.
Pillar 3: Content marketing
What’s the backbone of the Copyblogger formula?
Deliver great content.
Then keep delivering great content, but in a strategic and focused way.
Every once in awhile, make a great offer that benefits the reader and involves the exchange of cash money.
Of course, we’ll give you some more specifics on how to do that once you’re on board.
Pillar 4: Have something worth selling
Everyone is selling something. It might be a product, a service, a download, an idea, or a worthy cause.
Whatever you’re selling, it’s got to be worth the price. (And never forget that reader attention is a valuable commodity that’s in strictly limited supply.)
Whether you’re asking for dollars, euros, yen, or valuable time and attention, you’ve got to deliver something that towers above your asking price.
Bringing it all together
Each of these four pillars enhances the others. Together, they’re much stronger than they would be if any of the pillars were missing.
Internet Marketing for Smart People is a free 20-part course and ongoing newsletter that’s delivered via email. Each week you’ll get a new lesson on one of the four pillars.
You’ll get lots of pointers to archived Copyblogger content, but with a new frame that will help you “connect the dots” and start putting this advice to work in your own business. It’s much like the approach Brian took with Authority Rules, but ongoing and ever-evolving as the Internet marketing space changes (which is fast).
To make it work even better, we’ll also be including “behind the scenes” lessons that show you how we put our own marketing systems and launches together, and the role each piece plays.
What you need to do next
Enter your email address here to sign up for the Internet Marketing for Smart People newsletter:
Email Address:
It’s very important to us that everyone receiving Internet Marketing for Smart People truly wants the newsletter, so we’ll need you to confirm that you want to receive it by clicking a link in an email you’ll receive after signing up.
So check your inbox (and put us on your white list… we’re not spammy at all, but thanks to some less-than-ethical internet marketers, our topic is often viewed that way by the major email services).
And of course we’re never going to rent, sell, or otherwise share the information we collect. That would pretty much be a violation of everything we stand for.
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