Archive for November, 2005
Monday, November 28th, 2005
One of the joys of niche marketing is the luxury of tapping
into a favorite hobby, occupation or expertise and building
a business around it.
If you are expanding an existing off-line business by
setting up a webpage you may find your most valuable
contacts right in your store. Make some brochures or cards
that announce your online presence, or ask customers if
they’d like to sign up for your online newsletter.
Now you can contact your customers about new products,
industry news or specials with no postage costs or time
consuming envelope stuffing.
Invite your subscribers to recommend the site to friends
who are interested in the topic. Even better, have a place
on your website to ‘tell a friend’. Your visitor will enter
their own email address and name as the sender of the
message to avoid spam complaints. Warning – do not start
emailing the invitee unless they sign up personally for
your newsletter.
Niche sites will really benefit from a newsletter. Create a
small free gift, such as a special report or how-to manual
that they will receive with their subscription. By
providing valuable information related to your topic you
will gain the trust of subscribers. By contacting them at
least several times a year – up to once a week if possible
- they will always be reminded of your website when looking
for information or products in your niche.
Create a website that has informative content. Incorporate
the keywords (words or phrases visitors type into their
search engines) into the content to improve your place in
the search engines.
Write articles that will set you up as an ‘industry
expert’. If you don’t feel capable of writing them yourself
you can hire a ghostwriter. End the article with your name,
a comment about your business and a link to your website.
Submit your article to relevant websites or ask if website
owners would like to use your contribution. Be sure they
agree to keep your name and website link intact.
You may find discussion groups that cater to your market.
Involve yourself in their conversations and attach a
signature with your website address if the policies permit.
Do not advertise on these groups, however you may be able
to offer your free item when the situation allows.
Try to determine where your market is. Are they parents?
Retirees? Home owners? Pet lovers? If you are selling art
supplies you may find hobby sites will cater to your
audience. If you sell information for do-it-yourself
projects you should show up in home decorating as well as
financial sites (’Save Money on Home Building Projects!’
for example).
Always look for new opportunities and offer your best, the
rest will follow!
Posted in Advertising | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
Confused? Think words like ?force? ?struggle? and ?demand? are a little extreme when talking about an ?e?? It may just be a letter, and a little one at that, but the impact it?s had on the world has been tremendous?and we?ve only seen the beginning.
When ?e? was added to commerce, many companies blithely ignored the addition and the Internet. Either they didn?t sell products ?suitable? for sale online (how do you download a bulldozer?) or their businesses were wholly local (how do you guarantee hot pizza delivery halfway around the world?). So they thought they were safe. No more. The official online dictionary of Internet terminology, Webopedia, says that services are in fact, one of the most suitable products for e-Commerce.
When ?e? was added to business, it did more than redefine the word. Instead of referring strictly to the ?purchase or sale of commodities?, conducting business online now includes the sale and delivery of services, enhanced customer service, improved communication with clients and vendors and streamlined business operations as a whole. The ?e? in e-Business stands for more than electronic, it also means efficiency.
When ?e? was added to mail, email quickly proved itself to be the ?killer application? that currently brings more than 700 million people online regularly. In less than a year, that number is expected to swell over one billion people worldwide. Clearly more than a fad or frill, email has significantly improved our ability to communicate. It allows businesses to operate more efficiently, reach more customers and respond to them faster than was ever possible before.
When ?e? was added to learning, it sparked a revolution. Once online, and after they have managed their share of the 30 billion emails sent each day, more of those 700 million people stay online to dig for information than any other activity. They access traditional training, or educational materials of many kinds to help them do their jobs, but they also conduct primary or secondary market research online.
Businesses the world over have adopted e-Learning to reduce training costs, improve the timeliness and relevancy of their training material and educate geographically dispersed workforces and sales teams.
“…99.5% of small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) believe having a website is very or somewhat important to their overall business success in the coming year.”
When the ?e? was granted to consumers, the balance of trade power shifted forever. It empowered buyers with?literally?a world full of choices. Individual and commercial buyers have been ?e?-powered with several fast and easy ways to reach them all. Today?s e-powered buyer can order their pepperoni pizza online from the pizza parlor around the corner, then order a customized multi-ton construction vehicle from a manufacturing trade partner?s secure Intranet while they wait for their food to be delivered.
Unfortunately, many of the businesses who stand to gain the most by fully integrating an ?e? of their own haven?t done so. It?s not that they still believe they can get by without?at least?having a website, they know they need one. Surveys by Harris Interactive and other research firms show 99.5% of small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) believe having a website is very or somewhat important to their overall business success in the coming year.
The real challenge for the business owner who has not yet added the ?e? to their business, or for one who has added an ?e? that isn?t working well, is finding the right e-Solution provider. Clearly the average SMB owner cannot be expected to select the right technology tools to meet their business needs on their own. Practically speaking, unless you?re in the Internet technology business yourself, there?s no need for you to carry those core skills in-house.
Working with a trained and dedicated Internet Consultant who understands not only the technical jargon, but when and how to use these applications can make all the difference to your success. An Internet Consultant will help you uncover the ?e? activities that could have the biggest impact on your business? bottom line. They?re experts at analyzing a business, implementing the right ?e? strategy and maintaining the Internet Solution to achieve measurable results.
That way you can focus on what?s crucial to your business? ongoing success, like attending to your customers? needs and growing your new e-Business.
Posted in Advertising | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
Search Engine Optimization is the art of designing your web pages to be ranked high by search engines for keywords that you target. There are several methods and they vary from Search Engine to Search Engine. One aspect of Search Engine Optimization relays heavily on the Onpage Optimization.
Onpage Optimization deals with the placement of keywords on the page, the header tags, the appearance of the keywords and the use of keywords in the meta and alt tags on the page. Below are some tips on OnPage optimization that I have picked up and used in my own web sites.
Step1: Select a page title that only includes your keywords.
Step 2: Use Header Tags to emphasize the keywords you have selected. Use your number 1 keyword in the {H1} tag and secondary keywords in your {H2} header tags.
Step 3: Write solid content that naturally includes your main and your secondary keywords throughout the text. If possible use your first keyword as near the top of the content and as close to the bottom of the content as possible.
Step 4: Once the content is complete go through and randomly bold, italicize and underline the main and secondary keywords.
Step 5: Be sure to use your keywords in the alt tags of your images.
As a guide you might do a search for you main keyword in Google. View the page and the source code of the page to see what OnPage Optimization that webmaster did to get a top rank.
While OnPage Optimization can be a significant reason why your web site ranks well in the search engine there are several other key factors like, page content, link popularity, site indexing and competition.
Search Engine Optimization is an equal opportunity marketing practice. If you are diligent you can create a flood of prime targeted.
Posted in Search Engine Optimization | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
Since there are so many different uses for autoresponders,
they can be of value to virtually any type of business.
Some choose to use the autoresponders to answer frequently
asked questions about a product or service. Others use them
to provide information about pricing or product
information. Autoresponders are also a nice way to welcome
new members to a website or group as well as thank them
after a visit.
One might ask what would be the advantage of using
autoresponders as opposed to simply listing the information
on the site. An important feature of autoresponders is that
they send you an email notification each time a response is
sent out. This allows you to track the success of your
promotions as well as have the email addresses of potential
customers at your fingertips so that you can easily send
out updated and new information to them.
It is of the utmost importance to choose an effective
autoresponder. An autoresponder should be as personal as
possible and send out follow-ups to potential customers
since it has been proven that persistence pays off. It
could take up to seven contacts before a final sale is
conducted. Generally speaking an advertisement should be
short and to the point. However, in this case, the customer
has asked to see this specific information and therefore an
effective autoresponder should allow you to place as much
text on the page as you desire. The autoresponder that you
choose should provide automatic updates to customers free
of charge.
The autoresponder is one Internet marketing tool that will
not cost you an arm and a leg. You can get free
autoresponders online from several sources. The automatic
responses will be a welcome addition to your marketing
strategy and will help to automatically increase traffic to
your site all while you do nothing. Be sure that the one
you choose includes all the extras that will send you site
to the top and your profits through the roof.
Posted in Autoresponders | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
Many small and large businesses are still trying to
understand the basics of podcasting technology. There are
many articles and white papers that can educate people on
the basics of podcasting 101. If you are looking to educate
yourself more on podcasting for your business you can read
the 6 blogs that are available at http://blog.podblaze.com
So exactly how does marketing with podcasts work? Think of
podcasting as a communication tool for your business. How
do you currently use marketing tools such as: your website,
newsletter and email marketing? You probably use these
mediums to communicate messaging to your target audience.
But there are some problems with trying to market through
these communication channels.
People don’t always get your email due to overly aggressive
Spam filters. They don’t come back and visit your website,
or read your newsletter. People actually have to make an
effort to read your content. If you have a podcast, they
can actually stream the audio and let it play while they
are doing other tasks at their computer. People tend to
multitask in order to be more efficient with the use of
their time. Additionally, most users tend to prefer value
added audio content that is specific to their areas of
interest. Your quality audio podcast content also tends to
have a higher perceived value by your target market.
Providing value added content is what your business should
be focusing on. Podcasting is only a communication tool,
and your podcast is only as good as the content that you
provide to your audience. Make sure that you produce
relevant content and not just a rambling piece of audio.
Follow the best practices that I wrote about in my last
article.
Most businesses need to be made aware of the increased
online visibility that podcasting can provide. Your podcast
could be in front of 40 million iTunes listeners if you
have made an iTunes compatible RSS podcast feed; multiple
Blog directories or specialized podcast ping directories
such as http://www.freshpodcasts.com or
http://audio.weblogs.com Verify that the major podcast
ping directories receive a ping every time you add a new
show to your podcast RSS feed.
Additionally, the search engines will look at the RSS
podcasting feed and spider the show notes that are tied to
your podcast as well.
Here are 6 of the 7 reasons that your business should be
podcasting and some of the business benefits that you could
derive from a properly executed podcast…
1. Increase your marketing reach and online visibility
2. Improve your sales & conversion rates
3. Regular line of communication with subscribed listeners
4. Value added content increases loyalty
5. Industry news and trends sets you apart from the
competition
6. Interviews with leaders in your particular niche will
establish your business as a respected leader in your niche
or industry.
You can get the 7th reason and learn even more about using
podcasting as a business marketing tool by reading these 6
podcasting business blogs at http://blog.podblaze.com
So don’t wait any longer; start podcasting today and
leverage this audio technology for your business
Posted in RSS | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
Make sure your site is professional and easily navigable if
you want to make money online. If you have a lot of
product, a search feature is a necessity in order for you
to make money online. If you have only one or two products,
you can use a payment method such as PayPal to make money
online. However, if you showcase more product in order to
make money online, you’ll want to open a merchant account
to handle credit card payments. Some merchant accounts will
also offer free features, all helping you to make money
online. To keep from violating credit card rules, make sure
that for Internet sales, you have an Internet account.
Consider paying affiliates to help you make money online.
Affiliates are online “word of mouth” referrals and can
increase the amount of money you make online. They link to
your site from theirs, and all of their traffic becomes
your traffic, increasing the likelihood of making money
online. When it comes to making money online, affiliate
marketing is a no-lose for the merchant, because commission
is paid only on sales.
Consider making money online by selling your product
through an eBay storefront. Bidding on items has become a
hot way to make money online. Having your own storefront
ensures that buyers can find you easily because your
product is in one place. Through your storefront, you can
make reports, track traffic and sales, and receive
advertising through eBay. You can try a storefront for 30
days free, making it an attractive offer to make money
online.
Posted in Affiliate Programs | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
But it doesn’t matter how valuable your content is. It
doesn’t matter if you created the greatest thing since
sliced bread and you’re selling it exclusively from your
website. No one will find you if you don’t reach out. And
how do you reach out? With links.
In the brick and mortar world, a retail business depends on
demand and location. If you put a store selling something
that somebody wants in a high traffic location, you will be
successful. And sometimes it doesn’t matter if your price is
a little bit higher than everyone else’s. Look at
convenience stores that set their prices twice as high as
any grocery store. So they make a profit? You bet they do.
Now if we use this model for an website, location can be
compared to your search engine rankings. The higher you rank
for your chosen keywords, the more people come to your
store. If you provide something that your visitors want,
valuable content, they may buy something or they may just
remember your site and be back for more.
Getting people to link to your site is one way to increase
your ranking with the search engines. But a lot of people go
about this the wrong way. By posting to free for all links
pages, spamming blog comments, or worse. I had a blog that
got about 10 comments a day from people that were just
trying to get a link to their site. The site was a family
photo blog. It was an easy target, but do you think that
anyone looking at a picture of my family wanted to click on
the Cialis website link in the comments?
Well, search engines don’t think so either. Links like this
are being downgraded in many search engines, including
Google. It’s a good thing. And this brings us back to
valuable content.
Valuable content will convince people to link to you. Did
you know that most blogging software can put a “blog this”
link on Internet Explorer’s toolbar? This button puts a link
to your site right from their blog. And once your site gets
into the blogosphere, there’s no telling where is will stop.
Maybe with top rankings for keywords you never optimized
for, but that fit your site perfectly.
Did you know that there are site rating groups like
stumbleupon.com that can send your site to thousands of
people within a week? If people like your content they will
pass it on to other users. You could have 500 people linking
to you by the end of the week.
What about the “Link to Us” page? I know. I thought it was
“old school” too. Until I tried it. It works. Just give your
visitors the code they need to copy and paste to their site.
Make it easier for them and they’ll link to you.
Linking membership sites are great also, especially when you
get hundreds of requests for link exchanges because of the
caliber of your content.
Yes, things are changing with search engines. But if you
have been providing the type of content that people look
for, you have nothing to worry about.
——————————
About the author:
http://www.stephanmiller.com
Posted in Linking and Publicity | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
1. One thing that appeals to everyone is ?free.? If it is free people will take it. Think of the samples of cheese given away at grocery stores. Do you really want a small piece of cheese? Of course not! But you take it simply because it is free and someone is nice enough to offer it to you. The same principle applies with information or services offered from your website. You can send out free newsletters or offer a free trail period. One popular thing that is being given away now are free credit reports or free PC scans. These freebies are what we in the marketing field like to call teasers. After running the free credit report or PC scan we alert the customer if there is something found on their credit record or PC and then offer to show them what it is or repair the problem for a price.
This can be an effective way to get information to your potential customers, create sales or to generate traffic to your site.
2. Your website contains information about a service or product that you are very knowledgeable about. You can use this knowledge to generate traffic to your site by writing articles in your area of expertise and having them published in an ezine or an article information site. The most effective way to use these articles is to write them for free and ask in return that the publisher allow you to include a byline. A byline is a very short summary of the author, their credentials and their website. Your byline is a way that readers will come to know you as an expert on the topic and will in turn come to trust your site as a source of credible information.
3. Some search engines will allow a website to purchase their ranking. This is an excellent Internet marketing technique in that it is effective and inexpensive. In the pay-per-click programs, website are only billed for those who actually visit the page, unlike banner ads which may be seen by millions but only used by a few. When using the pay-per-click program you are asked to choose keywords and when those are entered your site will appear and if the surfer chooses to view your site, you are billed for that click. Many pay-per-click programs will offer other benefits as well, such as updated lists of commonly used keywords.
4. You should remember that others are in the same boat as you. You can choose to network with those who have similar marketing ideas. When networking you will be able to share links and refer customers to each other. You should always be very cautious when choosing a networking partner as everything that you recommend is a reflection of yourself or your product and therefore, you should be certain that your networking partner is a reputable source of information.
5. Simply because your website is online, doesn?t mean that all your advertising should be. Advertise in newspapers, TV, the radio or you can even send out a press release to get your information to thousands of people all over the country.
Posted in Pay Per Click / Paid Placement | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
But if you knew what I do, you?d realize that there are tools provided by the search engine that help you learn more about your traffic, and may even help drive visitors to your site.
Here are five ways that Google provides free traffic assistance.
#1 – Google will Help Your Pages Get Discovered with Google Sitemaps https://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login
Google Sitemaps is a program that gives you the opportunity to present your site?s pages to Google in XML or text.
Google will then come by and spider the pages, getting you indexed faster.
Take note that this doesn?t necessarily mean that your pages will be listed for your favorite keywords, only that discovery will take place a lot faster than with manual submission. Google Sitemaps will also give you some basic site stats if you verify your site, such as the top keywords for discovery, errors it found when crawling, and the types of documents at your site.
If you find compiling your sitemap for Google in the correct format difficult, try the SOFTplus GSiteCrawler Google Sitemap generator. It?s my favorite Sitemap generator, free and easy to use.
#2 – Google Will Talk To You and Your Webmaster In His or Her Native Tongue or Plain English with the Webmaster Section http://www.google.com/webmasters/
The Google Information Page for Webmasters should be your first stop when you want to know more about anything that has to do with your site and its relationship to Google and any of its many flavors of search such as Froogle.
Particularly for new site owners or operators, checking this page first has saved many from needless anxiety.
Most of the basic information is in straightforward language, with links to details for geeks like me.
#3 – Google will Tell You What It Knows with Web Page Information
If you type info:yoursite.com into Google, Google will tell show you a page that has your link at the top of the page, with a short description, and the following phrase ?Google can show you the following information for this URL?.
This special page compiles several queries about your site including pages that contain your URL (all the pages Google knows of that are linked to you).
#4 – Google will Help You Analyze Your Traffic with Google Analytics http://www.google.com/analytics/
After a recent purchase of Urchin Stats, a free online version has been made available, and re-branded as Google Analytics. This cookie-based invisible visitor tracker can give you information that go a bit beyond standard stats such as bounce rates, visitor loyalty, keyword discovery results for a single day, click paths through your site, and page views per visit.
With the ability to analyze your traffic, you can help learn where the holes in your site are, and how to keep them on your site for longer periods of time, as well as better ways to steer a visit towards a specific action, such as a subscription. Results come in flavors for the executive and the search marketer alike.
There?s currently a waiting list to use Google Analytics due to popular demand.
#5 – Google Will Advise On Getting the Most from Your Traffic with Conversion University http://www.google.com/analytics/conversionuniversity.html
Google Analytics also has two content sections that are available to all, called Conversion University. While the articles are decidedly slanted towards AdWords users, a prudent read yields many clues that can be applied to preparing for visitors who arrive through organic search discovery. One reference area is called ?Driving Traffic?, the other ?Converting Visitors.?
At the end of the day, the process by which your site gets ranked in Google search engine results is a computation of a complex algorithm, which means Google – the search engine
– really isn?t capable of being your best friend or your worst enemy.
Meanwhile, Google – the company – also provides access to resources that will help give your site a fighting chance.
Posted in Linking and Publicity | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2005
Discover how using the right keywords in articles and
having Google Adsense ads on your content site is now one
of the most profitable ways of internet advertising.
Are you using this internet marketing strategy?
If not, you may be leaving thousands of dollars of extra
profits on the table by not utilizing this strategy.
This is one of the many reasons writing original quality
content articles is now the latest marketing buzz.
The two basics that you can combine to really power a
successful website. Content and links.
You already know that right?
Are you writing articles and submitting them using such
services as SubmitYourArticle?
Many internet marketing pro’s have been writing articles
for many years.
They already know the value of original quality content and
using keywords will drive targeted traffic to their
websites from the search engines such as Google.
So why don’t all internet marketing business owners write
and submit articles for their internet marketing strategy?
The simple answer is that it takes time to write articles,
submit them and get targeted traffic to their websites.
Another reason, is that writing articles reminds us of
school research papers, essays and reports that are a deep
negative anchor in the subconscious mind.
Did you enjoy writing when you were in school?
If your answer is yes, you have an advantage over the 95%
of internet marketing business owners that want to make
money online with a work at home opportunity.
Imagine how much opportunity there is for you because of
knowing this simple fact.
The other 5% are taking advantage of this internet
marketing strategy and internet advertising, by using
Google Adsense ads to make money online on the front and
backend writing articles.
Why do you think marketing sites want fresh, quality,
original keyword rich content?
The website owner can have an article with keywords that
relate to their website content. This helps their websites
page rank when indexed by the search engines. Which in
turn, gets more Google Adsense ads to show above, below and
or next to the article on their website with targeted
traffic.
Think about this for a moment. Imagine taking advantage of
a work at home opportunity, marketing from both sides of
the sales coin with 3 simple steps.
3 Simple Steps To Success With Content And Keywords
1.) You write quality original content, keyword/phrase rich
articles, with links to your website in the resource box.
2.) You build a website or web page with targeted
keyword/phrase rich original content for the targeted
traffic that originates from your articles.
3.) You have Google Adsense ads that are targeted to your
keyword/phrase rich original content site when visitors
looking for more information arrive.
If you did not get all that, you may want to read it again.
A Win-Win Situation For Everyone Involved.
The person looking for quality content and information.
The person writing the original content articles.
The person with the quality original content rich website.
And Yes, Google Adsense and their advertisers are getting
targeted traffic and sales, but so is everyone else.
Internet marketing business owners who incorporate Google
Adsense with writing articles, can make money online if
done properly with this internet marketing strategy.
An Overview Of Google Adsense And Writing
Articles.
There are 3 keys to internet marketing success writing
articles and using Google Adsense ads.
1.) Keyword Research. Find popular subjects and
keywords/phrases, using a keyword selector and suggestion
tool by Overture and 7Search.
2.) Writing Articles. Write original content with keywords
from your research.
3.) Quality Content Site. Build a quality content site
incorporated with Google Adsense ads that target the
subject and keywords of your article and website.
There are many marketing business ideas.
Starting an internet marketing business can be very
rewarding and at the same time challenging.
It’s best to take the time to research and develop an
internet marketing strategy.
You can find all the tools, information and resources
online by doing a Google search on any subject such as
Google Adsense.
Internet marketing opportunities are wide open for you.
Writing articles and using Google Adsense for your internet
marketing strategy is one way to get a piece of the action.
Are you going to take advantage of the greatest internet
marketing strategy online today to make money online with
Google Adsense and writing articles?
Just get started. Do whatever it takes to write something.
For building long term success, there’s very little you can
do that will give you near the same results online today.
Posted in Pay Per Click / Paid Placement | No Comments »
