Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Internet Affiliate Marketing
Online business people are looking to affiliate marketing to make a living online. In a way, the internet is still in its infancy and as it becomes more established, many people will be working online. Affiliate marketing is one way to start a business for a number of reasons as it present many rewards.
Starting to earn an income online this way is an accepted choice for many looking for that additional income.
One main reason is that the affiliate does not need to develop a product or service. You do not need to sort out shipping or storage because the manufacturer does all of this. The better affiliate companies have brilliant support with banners, email text and even suggest places where you can promote your affiliate link. It is free to join and you do not even need a website or blog.
All you, the affiliate, have to focus on are ways of advertising the product and earn, what in most cases are very generous commission.
No special skills are required nowadays for anyone, any age, to access the net. You only need internet access and a computer. So working from home doing internet affiliate marketing is very easy even for the online novice.
The internet is worldwide and available to everyone who can get connection to it. For that reason, the whole world is your marketplace. The products you choose to sell will have a website and sales pages. All you are required to do is to attract traffic, and as affiliate marketing is a numbers game, you need to let others know what you are selling to earn that commission.
The result is that affiliate marketing can make you money quickly which will give you the drive to keep on with this form of making money online.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Top 5 Social Networking Sites
In the modern society that we live in, people nowadays want to express themselves and share their interest. They want to stay connected with friend despite the location, meet new friends as well and more. What more better way to do all these than to join the social networking phenomeon.
According to the 2010 Social Networking Websites Review, the top five social networking sites are Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Friendster, and Hi5.
Social networking allows people to keep in touch with their family and friends, reconnect with old friends, meet new ones and create a real life friendship. They can share their interest by joining groups and forums as well. Some social networking can help members find jobs and can even help establish business contacts.
Social networking sites also offer special features like the option to design their profiles that reflects their personality or emotion. Music and video sections are also popular extra features.
Social networking sites are evaluated by the profiles they offer, the security it gives to its members, networking features that their members can use, search option, help and support option for ay queries by the members, and much more.
Facebook is one of the best social networks for finding people. Although Facebook profiles cannot be customized, their platform is very slick and clean. Facebook is focused on interactions. If you are looking for a friend in Dubai, you just might find them through Facebook.
MySpace has been known for being the largest social networking site in the world. It allows its users to customize their profile pages to make it look more colorful and unique. Some members go over the top with music playing immediately after opening a friend's page. MySpace focuses on the music industry. If you ever want to look for a band to find out where their next concert might be, MySpace is the place to find them.
Bebo, which has just been bought by AOL, is a social network that is more popular in UK and Ireland. It focuses on artists and bands. However this network does not stand out from the crowd. Profiles can be customized but nothing like MySpace.
Friendster is another social networking site that focuses on interactions like Facebook. What makes it different from Facebook though is that with Friendster, users can customize their pages and add music or videos too.
Hi5 is a social network that is used more by older generations. When it was first launched, Hi5 spent a lot of time spamming a lot of people into joining which actually worked since there are now millions of users online. Hi5 does not really have a focus yet this social network is still growing in all markets.
If you want to express yourself, share your interests, find a long lost friend, meet new ones and keep in touch with a family member, then join a social network that applies well to you.
According to the 2010 Social Networking Websites Review, the top five social networking sites are Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Friendster, and Hi5.
Social networking allows people to keep in touch with their family and friends, reconnect with old friends, meet new ones and create a real life friendship. They can share their interest by joining groups and forums as well. Some social networking can help members find jobs and can even help establish business contacts.
Social networking sites also offer special features like the option to design their profiles that reflects their personality or emotion. Music and video sections are also popular extra features.
Social networking sites are evaluated by the profiles they offer, the security it gives to its members, networking features that their members can use, search option, help and support option for ay queries by the members, and much more.
Facebook is one of the best social networks for finding people. Although Facebook profiles cannot be customized, their platform is very slick and clean. Facebook is focused on interactions. If you are looking for a friend in Dubai, you just might find them through Facebook.
MySpace has been known for being the largest social networking site in the world. It allows its users to customize their profile pages to make it look more colorful and unique. Some members go over the top with music playing immediately after opening a friend's page. MySpace focuses on the music industry. If you ever want to look for a band to find out where their next concert might be, MySpace is the place to find them.
Bebo, which has just been bought by AOL, is a social network that is more popular in UK and Ireland. It focuses on artists and bands. However this network does not stand out from the crowd. Profiles can be customized but nothing like MySpace.
Friendster is another social networking site that focuses on interactions like Facebook. What makes it different from Facebook though is that with Friendster, users can customize their pages and add music or videos too.
Hi5 is a social network that is used more by older generations. When it was first launched, Hi5 spent a lot of time spamming a lot of people into joining which actually worked since there are now millions of users online. Hi5 does not really have a focus yet this social network is still growing in all markets.
If you want to express yourself, share your interests, find a long lost friend, meet new ones and keep in touch with a family member, then join a social network that applies well to you.
How to Use Social Networking Sites Like Facebook and LinkedIn to Grow Your Business
Social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn are some of the fastest growing communities on the internet, with literally millions of users. Facebook started as more of a personal site, but is rapidly adding more and more features that make it great for business. LinkedIn is the leading professional networking site, and is a great tool for business people. There are many other social networking sites like MySpace, Twitter, etc. but for the purposes of this article I will focus on Facebook and LinkedIn. However, the general principles of how to use such sites to grow your list and business online are the same.
The goal of a site like Facebook is to allow people to connect with one another. This is largely accomplished by becoming friends with others. Literally, if you find someone's profile that you want to be connected to, you just click a button "Add as friend". Conversely, when other people find you and want to be connected to you, you will receive an incoming "Friend request" that you can accept or decline. So, in terms of growing the online audience for your products or services, a site like Facebook is great for finding new prospects, and for being found by new prospects.
In addition, social networking sites make it easy for friends of your friends to get connected to you. This means that if your direct network has 200 people, your indirect network, if each of your friends has 200 friends, is 40,000 people! Since these sites recommend friends of friends as possible friends of yours, based on criteria like interests, location, mutual friends, etc. it is very easy to grow your base of friends. In addition, you can see who your friends' friends are and become connected to them that way as well. Your goal, when using a social networking site for business, is to have as many friends as possible that are relevant to your market - either as potential customers or as business partners.
So, when you are setting up your profile on a social networking site, you want to make sure you put your business's blog or website address in a prominent location so that it is as easy as possible for people to jump from your Facebook or LinkedIn profile to your business site if they want to become customers. You can also upload photos of yourself, videos of you explaining things about your business or giving a tour of your location, and any other information that would help people become familiar with your business and put their trust in you. Really, what you are doing when using a social networking site for business is letting people know what you have to offer, what problems you can solve for them, and putting a face (or video) to a name so you can build relationships.
Given the rapid growth of social networking sites, it's a good idea to get your profile reserved and updated today, so that you are positioned to connect and communicate with as many people as possible now and in the future.
Taylor Garland, known as The Make It Happen Guy for online marketing, helps small business owners and entrepreneurs get up and running online quickly, easily and without spending a ton of money... in plain English! In addition to consulting and speaking, he also publishes very clear and easy to follow video tutorials and step-by-step guides to the fundamentals of internet marketing.
The goal of a site like Facebook is to allow people to connect with one another. This is largely accomplished by becoming friends with others. Literally, if you find someone's profile that you want to be connected to, you just click a button "Add as friend". Conversely, when other people find you and want to be connected to you, you will receive an incoming "Friend request" that you can accept or decline. So, in terms of growing the online audience for your products or services, a site like Facebook is great for finding new prospects, and for being found by new prospects.
In addition, social networking sites make it easy for friends of your friends to get connected to you. This means that if your direct network has 200 people, your indirect network, if each of your friends has 200 friends, is 40,000 people! Since these sites recommend friends of friends as possible friends of yours, based on criteria like interests, location, mutual friends, etc. it is very easy to grow your base of friends. In addition, you can see who your friends' friends are and become connected to them that way as well. Your goal, when using a social networking site for business, is to have as many friends as possible that are relevant to your market - either as potential customers or as business partners.
So, when you are setting up your profile on a social networking site, you want to make sure you put your business's blog or website address in a prominent location so that it is as easy as possible for people to jump from your Facebook or LinkedIn profile to your business site if they want to become customers. You can also upload photos of yourself, videos of you explaining things about your business or giving a tour of your location, and any other information that would help people become familiar with your business and put their trust in you. Really, what you are doing when using a social networking site for business is letting people know what you have to offer, what problems you can solve for them, and putting a face (or video) to a name so you can build relationships.
Given the rapid growth of social networking sites, it's a good idea to get your profile reserved and updated today, so that you are positioned to connect and communicate with as many people as possible now and in the future.
Taylor Garland, known as The Make It Happen Guy for online marketing, helps small business owners and entrepreneurs get up and running online quickly, easily and without spending a ton of money... in plain English! In addition to consulting and speaking, he also publishes very clear and easy to follow video tutorials and step-by-step guides to the fundamentals of internet marketing.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
8 Simple Techniques - Search Engine Optimization - How to Get Tons of Free Traffic to Your Site
1. Write great content
Just write some great content naturally in Microsoft Word, don't worry about keywords or anything like that. A good website should have upwords of ten pages each page should have at least 150 words but preferably 400-600.
2. Keywords
Choose some keywords that you want to rank high for. The best way to find out the most searched keywords is the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. Then choose one or two of the keywords for each page and make sure these keywords are used in the page title and the h1,h2 and h3 headings and throughout the page content. Don't overcrowded the page with too high a keyword density and there is no need to start counting the number of keywords in your content just have them wherever it makes sense.
3. Internal links
Internal links are links to different pages in a website. They tell the search engine what the different pages are about as well as helping visitors to navigate around your site. When you are creating internal links you need to use keywords in them, never create internal links that say click here or read on if you linking to a page titled SEO advanced then use that title or the keywords in that page like search engine optimzation.
4. Incoming links
Search engine optimization is now a popularity contest because Google have changed their algarythem(the way they search and rank web pages). They changed this because people were abusing their search engine by packing their websites with keywords or doing link swaps(linking to another person's website and them linking back). Although these are perfectly legal they weren't bringing up the best results for searchers. So now the most important part of SEO is imbound links from other related and well ranked websites. So how do you get these links when it seems they are out of your control. One way is to write articles about topics in your site and publish them to relevant websites or article publishing sites.
Make sure to link back to your website in these articles these links should also contain keywords. Another way is to join some social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter etc and link back to your site, you can also ask your friends on these sites to link to you. Of course the most effective way to gain links is to write great content people will want to recommend but make sure to get these people to link to using keywords. This is key in helping the search engines rank you higher. For example if you search click here in Google, Adobe will come up number one this is because so many people link to Adobe with click here. The best way to get people to link to you using keywords is to ask them in your content or to provide links for them although this will require some coding skills.
5. Create and submit a site map
When you have built your site and are happy with your content you need to create a site map as it helps the search engines crawl through your site. Here's an example of a site map, if you are using Microsoft Web Expression then simply use a template and your site map page will be there for you if you aren't using Web Expression then head over to gsitecrawler to create a free site map. Once you have created your site map then you need to submit it to Google manually you will also need to submit it to the other search engines just search for the search engines webmaster tools.
6. Meta tags and headings
Every page needs it's own title meta tag e.g. The title of the page, lots of keywords the page also needs a keyword tag e.g. meta name="Keywords" content="all the keywords you want the page to rank high for with the most important ones first"> and a meta decripton tag meta name="Description" content="This webs page explains how to rank higher in the search engines"> All pages also need h1,h2 and h3 headings these are the headings in bold on a web page not only do they look good to visiters they are crucially important to the seach engines all headings must contain keywords but remeber they need to be readable to the visiter. H1 headings are the larhest and are found at the top of the page.
7. Name your pages
You need to name your pages using keywords e.g. "www.websitename.com/keyword" as opposed to "www.websitename.com/book.html?isbn=9781590592045."
8. Get Indexed
To come up number one on Google you have to be registered on Google or the other search engines. When you are happy with your SEO submit your site to Google in webmaster tools.
Just write some great content naturally in Microsoft Word, don't worry about keywords or anything like that. A good website should have upwords of ten pages each page should have at least 150 words but preferably 400-600.
2. Keywords
Choose some keywords that you want to rank high for. The best way to find out the most searched keywords is the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. Then choose one or two of the keywords for each page and make sure these keywords are used in the page title and the h1,h2 and h3 headings and throughout the page content. Don't overcrowded the page with too high a keyword density and there is no need to start counting the number of keywords in your content just have them wherever it makes sense.
3. Internal links
Internal links are links to different pages in a website. They tell the search engine what the different pages are about as well as helping visitors to navigate around your site. When you are creating internal links you need to use keywords in them, never create internal links that say click here or read on if you linking to a page titled SEO advanced then use that title or the keywords in that page like search engine optimzation.
4. Incoming links
Search engine optimization is now a popularity contest because Google have changed their algarythem(the way they search and rank web pages). They changed this because people were abusing their search engine by packing their websites with keywords or doing link swaps(linking to another person's website and them linking back). Although these are perfectly legal they weren't bringing up the best results for searchers. So now the most important part of SEO is imbound links from other related and well ranked websites. So how do you get these links when it seems they are out of your control. One way is to write articles about topics in your site and publish them to relevant websites or article publishing sites.
Make sure to link back to your website in these articles these links should also contain keywords. Another way is to join some social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter etc and link back to your site, you can also ask your friends on these sites to link to you. Of course the most effective way to gain links is to write great content people will want to recommend but make sure to get these people to link to using keywords. This is key in helping the search engines rank you higher. For example if you search click here in Google, Adobe will come up number one this is because so many people link to Adobe with click here. The best way to get people to link to you using keywords is to ask them in your content or to provide links for them although this will require some coding skills.
5. Create and submit a site map
When you have built your site and are happy with your content you need to create a site map as it helps the search engines crawl through your site. Here's an example of a site map, if you are using Microsoft Web Expression then simply use a template and your site map page will be there for you if you aren't using Web Expression then head over to gsitecrawler to create a free site map. Once you have created your site map then you need to submit it to Google manually you will also need to submit it to the other search engines just search for the search engines webmaster tools.
6. Meta tags and headings
Every page needs it's own title meta tag e.g. The title of the page, lots of keywords the page also needs a keyword tag e.g. meta name="Keywords" content="all the keywords you want the page to rank high for with the most important ones first"> and a meta decripton tag meta name="Description" content="This webs page explains how to rank higher in the search engines"> All pages also need h1,h2 and h3 headings these are the headings in bold on a web page not only do they look good to visiters they are crucially important to the seach engines all headings must contain keywords but remeber they need to be readable to the visiter. H1 headings are the larhest and are found at the top of the page.
7. Name your pages
You need to name your pages using keywords e.g. "www.websitename.com/keyword" as opposed to "www.websitename.com/book.html?isbn=9781590592045."
8. Get Indexed
To come up number one on Google you have to be registered on Google or the other search engines. When you are happy with your SEO submit your site to Google in webmaster tools.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Email Marketing - Three Keys Before You Hit Send
Unfortunately, the first word that pops to mind when many people mention email marketing is 'spam.' The junk mail of the modern era, spam is frequently held up as an abominable combination of inconvenience and social evil, with spam blockers and anti-spam petitions filling the news online and offline. Of course, this means legitimate email marketing campaigns can get lost as weary consumers indiscriminately flag all marketing material as spam just to keep their inboxes clutter free.
How then can a company that has a legitimate, creative idea for an email advertisement series avoid getting caught in the spam trap? There are three key steps good copywriters and marketers can take to set themselves apart and boost their message open rates.
A Cautionary Tale
Important campaigns usually succeed or fail well before they're ever launched - in the planning stages. Consider a recent and already infamous Intel advertisement. The advertisement had athletic sprinters lined up to race, a reasonable attempt to link the company's processors to speedy performance. It failed because these athletes all were African American gentlemen who appeared to be bowing to a tall, smug looking Caucasian businessman. This was a clear breakdown in the planning process. No one asked the fairly obvious question 'What could be wrong with this image?' Intel pulled the advertisement and publicly admitted the mistake, but the image remains as a vivid reminder that cutting corners in the planning phase can bruise your brand.
1. Lay the Groundwork
The lesson here is that simple research, like enlisting a test audience, can mean the difference between hit and miss. The same holds true for email advertising campaigns - research is vital. Just because you can send out 100,000 generic emails within a few minutes of setting up a campaign idea does not in any way mean you should. Strategic planning up front not only can save you time in the long run, it also can secure your results.
2. Know the Audience
Previous articles have referred to the phenomenon of audience-influenced brands. This is particularly true now that the Web has become so extensively accessible. People's opinions can catch public attention almost instantly, and word of mouth can spread across the entire world in a heartbeat. Whether or not you want the audience to control your brand is irrelevant; it can and will happen of its own accord, and you should be prepared for it.
Have you taken the time to really get to know your audience? There are thousands of Internet communities dedicated to every conceivable topic, hobby, interest, or fad and your product very likely falls into one of these. Visit these user forums, find out what people are saying, what needs are not being met, and what the general opinion is. Also, don't just mine for information, but participate in the discussion. Engage and learn how people think and what they want to know about things. This isn't a chore; this is an opportunity that businesses have rarely had in the past, a goldmine of information for any marketer to tap.
3. Kick up the Content
In many cases, businesses fail to treat email as a legitimate medium, although they're eager to take advantage of it. Disregarding outright spam, even some well-intentioned 'campaigns' amount to little more than a poorly organized message presented in a jumble of mismatched colors rather than a serious attempt at focused communication.
The content of the email has to be strong. The first line has to provide a good hook, the body has to get the core, essential details out quickly and effectively, and the end has to have a call to action (be it a purchase or a website visit). Take the time to craft a message that shows you respect the reader's intelligence, and put as much thought into the structure of the email as you would any other example of your best writing.
Once these three key elements are in place, consider a test circulation of your campaign before officially kicking it off. There is very little substitute for getting another pair of eyes to look over your hard work. They can spot unfortunate mistakes, call attention to strong points, and help you refine the process before the message is irrevocably out on the Web.
How then can a company that has a legitimate, creative idea for an email advertisement series avoid getting caught in the spam trap? There are three key steps good copywriters and marketers can take to set themselves apart and boost their message open rates.
A Cautionary Tale
Important campaigns usually succeed or fail well before they're ever launched - in the planning stages. Consider a recent and already infamous Intel advertisement. The advertisement had athletic sprinters lined up to race, a reasonable attempt to link the company's processors to speedy performance. It failed because these athletes all were African American gentlemen who appeared to be bowing to a tall, smug looking Caucasian businessman. This was a clear breakdown in the planning process. No one asked the fairly obvious question 'What could be wrong with this image?' Intel pulled the advertisement and publicly admitted the mistake, but the image remains as a vivid reminder that cutting corners in the planning phase can bruise your brand.
1. Lay the Groundwork
The lesson here is that simple research, like enlisting a test audience, can mean the difference between hit and miss. The same holds true for email advertising campaigns - research is vital. Just because you can send out 100,000 generic emails within a few minutes of setting up a campaign idea does not in any way mean you should. Strategic planning up front not only can save you time in the long run, it also can secure your results.
2. Know the Audience
Previous articles have referred to the phenomenon of audience-influenced brands. This is particularly true now that the Web has become so extensively accessible. People's opinions can catch public attention almost instantly, and word of mouth can spread across the entire world in a heartbeat. Whether or not you want the audience to control your brand is irrelevant; it can and will happen of its own accord, and you should be prepared for it.
Have you taken the time to really get to know your audience? There are thousands of Internet communities dedicated to every conceivable topic, hobby, interest, or fad and your product very likely falls into one of these. Visit these user forums, find out what people are saying, what needs are not being met, and what the general opinion is. Also, don't just mine for information, but participate in the discussion. Engage and learn how people think and what they want to know about things. This isn't a chore; this is an opportunity that businesses have rarely had in the past, a goldmine of information for any marketer to tap.
3. Kick up the Content
In many cases, businesses fail to treat email as a legitimate medium, although they're eager to take advantage of it. Disregarding outright spam, even some well-intentioned 'campaigns' amount to little more than a poorly organized message presented in a jumble of mismatched colors rather than a serious attempt at focused communication.
The content of the email has to be strong. The first line has to provide a good hook, the body has to get the core, essential details out quickly and effectively, and the end has to have a call to action (be it a purchase or a website visit). Take the time to craft a message that shows you respect the reader's intelligence, and put as much thought into the structure of the email as you would any other example of your best writing.
Once these three key elements are in place, consider a test circulation of your campaign before officially kicking it off. There is very little substitute for getting another pair of eyes to look over your hard work. They can spot unfortunate mistakes, call attention to strong points, and help you refine the process before the message is irrevocably out on the Web.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Autoresponders and What an Autoresponder Can Do For You
What is an auto responder? It is a program that you use to gather and store peoples information, such as name, address, phone and most important email address. Autoresponder are a place for you to keep you letters or campaigns that contain the information that your potential customers are interested in.
When a new person signs up for your mailing through a sign up page,(this is usually done on your website or blog) they get put in line to receive your mailings. They are automatically set to receive the information they signed up to receive. And if by chance you have something important that you want to send out, you simply go in and type up your letter and blast it to everyone in your mailing list.
Think of an autoresponder as a automatic address book. Autoresponders make sure that everyone wanting the information you provide, gets your emails - without the hassle of you having to manually go through a list of people and send it through your regular mail server and perhaps missing a few potential sales.
Autoresponders enable you to send information and or updates to information, products or services with the click of a mouse.
What can an autoresponder do for you? It can Build your customer base, increase your potential sales (simply by putting a little code on your blog or website that gets people who are interested in what you have to offer to sign up to receive mailings from you)
When people sign up to receive your offer of information they become a potential customer. By them being on your list you have a simple cost effective way of getting a sale that you may not have otherwise gotten. Thus with every sign-up you have a potential sale.
A prime example to help you further understand how an autoresponder helps you and your business:
I recently started a bridal shop. Looking for suppliers I signed up for a few mailings from businesses offering what I was looking for. Now I am their potential customer, I am added to their autoresponder, so they send me emails telling me what is on sale this week, this month or a special promotion item.
I do not have to go to their website everyday to see, because lets face it, I probably wouldn't do it, missing the sale items and them losing a sale. But because I got their mailing I may just buy what is being offered and they are gaining the sale.
Autoresponders are a great source of advertising for you and your business. Picture if you will, the newspaper, you either get it delivered or you stop and buy one. People advertise in them all the time. Well your autoresponder is your edition of a newspaper. You deliver it with accuracy and worth and your customers remain in your mailing list.
Building your mailing list is the most important form of advertising you can have, your autoresponder is your most important tool for your business. Without a list of customers and potential customers your business will more than likely not succeed as quickly as you would like.
So to sum up what an autoresponder can do for you, it will Create your potential list of customers, Easily allows you to send out your advertisements, and Generates Sales.
When a new person signs up for your mailing through a sign up page,(this is usually done on your website or blog) they get put in line to receive your mailings. They are automatically set to receive the information they signed up to receive. And if by chance you have something important that you want to send out, you simply go in and type up your letter and blast it to everyone in your mailing list.
Think of an autoresponder as a automatic address book. Autoresponders make sure that everyone wanting the information you provide, gets your emails - without the hassle of you having to manually go through a list of people and send it through your regular mail server and perhaps missing a few potential sales.
Autoresponders enable you to send information and or updates to information, products or services with the click of a mouse.
What can an autoresponder do for you? It can Build your customer base, increase your potential sales (simply by putting a little code on your blog or website that gets people who are interested in what you have to offer to sign up to receive mailings from you)
When people sign up to receive your offer of information they become a potential customer. By them being on your list you have a simple cost effective way of getting a sale that you may not have otherwise gotten. Thus with every sign-up you have a potential sale.
A prime example to help you further understand how an autoresponder helps you and your business:
I recently started a bridal shop. Looking for suppliers I signed up for a few mailings from businesses offering what I was looking for. Now I am their potential customer, I am added to their autoresponder, so they send me emails telling me what is on sale this week, this month or a special promotion item.
I do not have to go to their website everyday to see, because lets face it, I probably wouldn't do it, missing the sale items and them losing a sale. But because I got their mailing I may just buy what is being offered and they are gaining the sale.
Autoresponders are a great source of advertising for you and your business. Picture if you will, the newspaper, you either get it delivered or you stop and buy one. People advertise in them all the time. Well your autoresponder is your edition of a newspaper. You deliver it with accuracy and worth and your customers remain in your mailing list.
Building your mailing list is the most important form of advertising you can have, your autoresponder is your most important tool for your business. Without a list of customers and potential customers your business will more than likely not succeed as quickly as you would like.
So to sum up what an autoresponder can do for you, it will Create your potential list of customers, Easily allows you to send out your advertisements, and Generates Sales.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Media Buyers: Bookmark these sites NOW (demographics + research tools
Media buying can be a tricky game if you don’t know what you are doing. The #1 factor for media buys is demographics. So any offer you are promoting should match the target demographics. This yields higher conversions without having to test so much to figure what is working.
There are some important sites you need to know of when going into media buys and these are what I suggest (Ya, I know these sites are already known, but do you use them the way you are supposed to?):
Google Ad Planner – This site allows you to search sites that have media available for purchase by demographics or by URL. Excellent resource.
Quatcast – Type in any URL into Quantcast and get demographics. You can then look at the affinity sites that Quantcast gives you and look at those demographics. Quantcast is a kick ass demographics research tool. You can then take these demographics and use their planner (or Google’s) and find more sites for the target market you are going after.
Compete – Very similar to Quantcast except they give you keywords. Compete also has a paid version where you can do more in depth analysis
Alexa – Alexa is unique in that it has been around the longest and it may just have “better” and more accurate data than the others. I could be wrong here, so someone correct me if I am.
Now that you have your demographics and target URL’s you want to figure out which Media Agency’s have that demographics. This is probably the more important website of all time when doing media buys and market research. Not many people know about this website and you should. comScore’s services are a bit expensive, but if you got the money, USE IT on this.
comScore - This website IS the all encompassing website for media buys, market intelligence, media planning, tracking, and everything.
Every month they release reports that analyze the whole internet marketing scene. Be sure to watch their Press Releases section at http://comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases
Make sure you download their “comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 U.S. Web Properties for October 2009″ report. They have a new one every month. This thing is amazing. Shows you upcoming trends, what’s hot, and where media is being bought.
Table 2 shows you “Top 10 Gaining Site Categories by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors.” Now who wouldn’t want that?
Below is the one from October. It basically says that eCards is a upcoming trend along with other markets. Get your Christmas campaigns up NOW!
Total Unique Visitors (000)
9-Sep 9-Oct % Change
Total Internet : Total Audience 198,378 198,218 0
e-cards 19,023 21,867 15
Flowers/Gifts/Greetings 26,162 29,953 14
Automotive -Manufacturer 23,150 26,501 14
Business/Finance -Online Trading 10,347 11,383 10
Retail -Apparel 58,135 63,434 9
Career Services & Development -Training and Education 8,971 9,770 9
Technology -News 59,694 65,005 9
Retail -Toys 18,870 20,546 9
Gay/Lesbian 3,699 3,969 7
Business to Business 37,777 40,292 7
Table 4 is what particularly interests me. This is probably the BEST table to use when starting out with media buys. This list is a list of the Top 50 companies that own media on the internet. The table below is a copy of it. Why not start contacting these companies and negotiating deals?
Building relationships with people at these companies will only help you. It’s 90% of how low the rate on your media buy can go. Seriously. Search for them on LinkedIn, FaceBook, etc. IF you have a chance to go to Ad:Tech – GO and meet these people. Become friends with them, tell them what you do, then tell them to hook you up. Simple right?
Rank Property Unique Visitors (000) % Reach
Total Internet : Total Audience 198,218 100
1 AOL Advertising** 180,422 91
2 Yahoo! Network** 174,007 87.8
3 Google Ad Network** 171,881 86.7
4 Tremor Media -Potential Reach 165,310 83.4
5 ValueClick Networks** 163,023 82.2
6 FOX Audience Network** 158,390 79.9
7 Yahoo! Sites 158,251 79.8
8 Specific Media** 157,564 79.5
9 Google 156,620 79
10 Microsoft Media Network US** 155,368 78.4
11 BrightRoll Video Network -Potential Reach 152,694 77
12 24/7 Real Media** 150,133 75.7
13 YuMe Video Network -Potential Reach 141,803 71.5
14 Traffic Marketplace** 140,104 70.7
15 Tribal Fusion** 137,633 69.4
16 AudienceScience (formerly Revenue Science)** 137,157 69.2
17 Collective Network** 134,162 67.7
18 SpotXchange Video Ad Network -Potential Reach 133,903 67.6
19 interCLICK** 132,198 66.7
20 Adconion Media Group** 132,196 66.7
21 Casale Media -MediaNet** 130,305 65.7
22 Advertising.com Video Network -Potential Reach 125,463 63.3
23 Turn, Inc** 125,100 63.1
24 Digital Broadcasting Group (DBG) -Potential Reach 121,453 61.3
25 AdBrite** 119,846 60.5
26 Burst Media** 119,550 60.3
27 CPX Interactive** 104,925 52.9
28 YOUTUBE.COM 100,691 50.8
29 TidalTV -Potential Reach 100,279 50.6
30 AOL Media Network 98,515 49.7
31 FACEBOOK.COM 97,372 49.1
32 Adify** 97,244 49.1
33 MSN 95,181 48
34 ADSDAQ by ContextWeb** 91,901 46.4
35 Undertone Networks** 91,422 46.1
36 Ask Network 88,073 44.4
37 Vibrant Media** 87,813 44.3
38 Pulse 360** 85,781 43.3
39 NNN Total Newspapers: U.S. 80,606 40.7
40 ScanScout Network -Potential Reach 80,388 40.6
41 IB Local Network 79,372 40
42 Centro -Potential Reach 77,975 39.3
43 Monster Career Ad Network (CAN)** 77,906 39.3
44 ITN Digital -Potential Reach 74,576 37.6
45 Kontera** 73,576 37.1
46 Windows Live 73,036 36.8
47 IAC Ad Solutions 68,283 34.4
48 Turner Network + Y! Partnership 67,738 34.2
49 Six Apart Media -Potential Reach 67,098 33.9
50 Bing 65,666 33.1
There are some important sites you need to know of when going into media buys and these are what I suggest (Ya, I know these sites are already known, but do you use them the way you are supposed to?):
Google Ad Planner – This site allows you to search sites that have media available for purchase by demographics or by URL. Excellent resource.
Quatcast – Type in any URL into Quantcast and get demographics. You can then look at the affinity sites that Quantcast gives you and look at those demographics. Quantcast is a kick ass demographics research tool. You can then take these demographics and use their planner (or Google’s) and find more sites for the target market you are going after.
Compete – Very similar to Quantcast except they give you keywords. Compete also has a paid version where you can do more in depth analysis
Alexa – Alexa is unique in that it has been around the longest and it may just have “better” and more accurate data than the others. I could be wrong here, so someone correct me if I am.
Now that you have your demographics and target URL’s you want to figure out which Media Agency’s have that demographics. This is probably the more important website of all time when doing media buys and market research. Not many people know about this website and you should. comScore’s services are a bit expensive, but if you got the money, USE IT on this.
comScore - This website IS the all encompassing website for media buys, market intelligence, media planning, tracking, and everything.
Every month they release reports that analyze the whole internet marketing scene. Be sure to watch their Press Releases section at http://comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases
Make sure you download their “comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 U.S. Web Properties for October 2009″ report. They have a new one every month. This thing is amazing. Shows you upcoming trends, what’s hot, and where media is being bought.
Table 2 shows you “Top 10 Gaining Site Categories by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors.” Now who wouldn’t want that?
Below is the one from October. It basically says that eCards is a upcoming trend along with other markets. Get your Christmas campaigns up NOW!
Total Unique Visitors (000)
9-Sep 9-Oct % Change
Total Internet : Total Audience 198,378 198,218 0
e-cards 19,023 21,867 15
Flowers/Gifts/Greetings 26,162 29,953 14
Automotive -Manufacturer 23,150 26,501 14
Business/Finance -Online Trading 10,347 11,383 10
Retail -Apparel 58,135 63,434 9
Career Services & Development -Training and Education 8,971 9,770 9
Technology -News 59,694 65,005 9
Retail -Toys 18,870 20,546 9
Gay/Lesbian 3,699 3,969 7
Business to Business 37,777 40,292 7
Table 4 is what particularly interests me. This is probably the BEST table to use when starting out with media buys. This list is a list of the Top 50 companies that own media on the internet. The table below is a copy of it. Why not start contacting these companies and negotiating deals?
Building relationships with people at these companies will only help you. It’s 90% of how low the rate on your media buy can go. Seriously. Search for them on LinkedIn, FaceBook, etc. IF you have a chance to go to Ad:Tech – GO and meet these people. Become friends with them, tell them what you do, then tell them to hook you up. Simple right?
Rank Property Unique Visitors (000) % Reach
Total Internet : Total Audience 198,218 100
1 AOL Advertising** 180,422 91
2 Yahoo! Network** 174,007 87.8
3 Google Ad Network** 171,881 86.7
4 Tremor Media -Potential Reach 165,310 83.4
5 ValueClick Networks** 163,023 82.2
6 FOX Audience Network** 158,390 79.9
7 Yahoo! Sites 158,251 79.8
8 Specific Media** 157,564 79.5
9 Google 156,620 79
10 Microsoft Media Network US** 155,368 78.4
11 BrightRoll Video Network -Potential Reach 152,694 77
12 24/7 Real Media** 150,133 75.7
13 YuMe Video Network -Potential Reach 141,803 71.5
14 Traffic Marketplace** 140,104 70.7
15 Tribal Fusion** 137,633 69.4
16 AudienceScience (formerly Revenue Science)** 137,157 69.2
17 Collective Network** 134,162 67.7
18 SpotXchange Video Ad Network -Potential Reach 133,903 67.6
19 interCLICK** 132,198 66.7
20 Adconion Media Group** 132,196 66.7
21 Casale Media -MediaNet** 130,305 65.7
22 Advertising.com Video Network -Potential Reach 125,463 63.3
23 Turn, Inc** 125,100 63.1
24 Digital Broadcasting Group (DBG) -Potential Reach 121,453 61.3
25 AdBrite** 119,846 60.5
26 Burst Media** 119,550 60.3
27 CPX Interactive** 104,925 52.9
28 YOUTUBE.COM 100,691 50.8
29 TidalTV -Potential Reach 100,279 50.6
30 AOL Media Network 98,515 49.7
31 FACEBOOK.COM 97,372 49.1
32 Adify** 97,244 49.1
33 MSN 95,181 48
34 ADSDAQ by ContextWeb** 91,901 46.4
35 Undertone Networks** 91,422 46.1
36 Ask Network 88,073 44.4
37 Vibrant Media** 87,813 44.3
38 Pulse 360** 85,781 43.3
39 NNN Total Newspapers: U.S. 80,606 40.7
40 ScanScout Network -Potential Reach 80,388 40.6
41 IB Local Network 79,372 40
42 Centro -Potential Reach 77,975 39.3
43 Monster Career Ad Network (CAN)** 77,906 39.3
44 ITN Digital -Potential Reach 74,576 37.6
45 Kontera** 73,576 37.1
46 Windows Live 73,036 36.8
47 IAC Ad Solutions 68,283 34.4
48 Turner Network + Y! Partnership 67,738 34.2
49 Six Apart Media -Potential Reach 67,098 33.9
50 Bing 65,666 33.1
This Ruins Most Internet Marketers Today
No one wants to be "sold" to. In fact, advertising for internet marketers is quickly becoming more of a game than a straight forward business activity. With the onset and rapid growth of social media and the blogosphere, online business owners are being forced to either keep up with the Joneses or get out of the game.
In other words, if you aren't on Twitter, Facebook, vigorously updating your blog and commenting on a variety of others' blogs, you have the potential of quickly getting lost in the shuffle. The trick is to "sell" without "selling" these days. Confused yet?
Don't be. Banner ads, ezines and newsletters are still an important part of your internet marketing business and at this point, remain lucrative vehicles for you to increase your customer list and revenue stream. However, the new advertising approach through social media and blogging is one that takes some additional thought, practice and for lack of a better word, cleverness.
That's right. You want to be clever. You want to take the anti-advertising approach when utilizing social media to promote your business so that you can invite people to join in on the conversation about your business and what you are doing, rather than simply advertise your latest offering or best deal.
It's a delicate balance. For example, a tweet that says, "Go to my website for a great deal on an eBook that will help make you successful!" will turn followers into haters almost instantly. But rework your strategy and you will not only gain followers, but possibly even turn them into customers. Consider something more like "Great eBook on how to gain success. Really enjoyed it!" Be sure to include a link to the product and you have now just informed your followers about the quality of your product by giving a testimonial and "helping" them by sharing it!
You will also have to be complimentary and interactive with your friends and followers. Be sure to show an interest in what they are tweeting about, what they are doing according to their status updates and what they have to say in their blog. As an internet marketer, you can appreciate how busy they are and will want to show them that they are valued as well. This is also a great way to take your anti-advertising internet marketing approach to the next level. Leaving comments or re-tweeting is a great way to gain additional exposure. Just make sure what you are commenting on or sending out is relevant and will reach those who may also be interested in your online business.
It's a game of give and take. It's all about taking an approach that is less formal and more about appealing to others' sense of community as opposed to filling a void they might have by offering your service and or product.
Remember, there is still room for more traditional online advertising of in internet marketing, but social media is a new and exciting way to try a new approach and grow your online business like never before.
In other words, if you aren't on Twitter, Facebook, vigorously updating your blog and commenting on a variety of others' blogs, you have the potential of quickly getting lost in the shuffle. The trick is to "sell" without "selling" these days. Confused yet?
Don't be. Banner ads, ezines and newsletters are still an important part of your internet marketing business and at this point, remain lucrative vehicles for you to increase your customer list and revenue stream. However, the new advertising approach through social media and blogging is one that takes some additional thought, practice and for lack of a better word, cleverness.
That's right. You want to be clever. You want to take the anti-advertising approach when utilizing social media to promote your business so that you can invite people to join in on the conversation about your business and what you are doing, rather than simply advertise your latest offering or best deal.
It's a delicate balance. For example, a tweet that says, "Go to my website for a great deal on an eBook that will help make you successful!" will turn followers into haters almost instantly. But rework your strategy and you will not only gain followers, but possibly even turn them into customers. Consider something more like "Great eBook on how to gain success. Really enjoyed it!" Be sure to include a link to the product and you have now just informed your followers about the quality of your product by giving a testimonial and "helping" them by sharing it!
You will also have to be complimentary and interactive with your friends and followers. Be sure to show an interest in what they are tweeting about, what they are doing according to their status updates and what they have to say in their blog. As an internet marketer, you can appreciate how busy they are and will want to show them that they are valued as well. This is also a great way to take your anti-advertising internet marketing approach to the next level. Leaving comments or re-tweeting is a great way to gain additional exposure. Just make sure what you are commenting on or sending out is relevant and will reach those who may also be interested in your online business.
It's a game of give and take. It's all about taking an approach that is less formal and more about appealing to others' sense of community as opposed to filling a void they might have by offering your service and or product.
Remember, there is still room for more traditional online advertising of in internet marketing, but social media is a new and exciting way to try a new approach and grow your online business like never before.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Make Money Working Online - In Simple Terms
If you want to make money working online there are a lot of ways to make it happen. I wouldn't recommend trying to get a job filling out surveys or clicking on ads because those never pan out. You could try to get an actual job that allows you to work from home but those are few and far between.
If you really want to make money working online then I would get yourself a website with products to sell and start promoting it! That's really the only way to make it happen because you will be in complete control of your paycheck and your future.
Now you are probably wondering how you are going to get a website with products and you have no idea where to even begin promoting it. That's okay, you are like most people and just don't know where to start. If that sounds right then you are in luck. There is this wonderful little thing called Google and Google can teach you everything that you need to know to get started. That's right, I'm talking about research.
You need to research building or buying websites, you need to research products to sell and you need to research marketing. There are actually a lot of programs on the Internet that have already done the research for you. These programs have put together everything that you need to know into a fancy little eBook and these eBooks can really be your best friend when you are trying to find out how to make money working online.
When you are looking for a program to use make sure you don't believe any of the programs that promise that you will make a million dollars this year or thousands of dollars overnight, those are lies. Only trust the programs that tell you that you can make a comfortable living in a realistic amount of time. You should also look into a program that offers you a website or at least tells you how to build or buy one.
Here's an important tip for you while you are looking, don't believe anything that tells you that you don't need a website to make money working online because you surely do. Once you have your website and products and marketing plan in place, you really can make money working online in no time!
If you really want to make money working online then I would get yourself a website with products to sell and start promoting it! That's really the only way to make it happen because you will be in complete control of your paycheck and your future.
Now you are probably wondering how you are going to get a website with products and you have no idea where to even begin promoting it. That's okay, you are like most people and just don't know where to start. If that sounds right then you are in luck. There is this wonderful little thing called Google and Google can teach you everything that you need to know to get started. That's right, I'm talking about research.
You need to research building or buying websites, you need to research products to sell and you need to research marketing. There are actually a lot of programs on the Internet that have already done the research for you. These programs have put together everything that you need to know into a fancy little eBook and these eBooks can really be your best friend when you are trying to find out how to make money working online.
When you are looking for a program to use make sure you don't believe any of the programs that promise that you will make a million dollars this year or thousands of dollars overnight, those are lies. Only trust the programs that tell you that you can make a comfortable living in a realistic amount of time. You should also look into a program that offers you a website or at least tells you how to build or buy one.
Here's an important tip for you while you are looking, don't believe anything that tells you that you don't need a website to make money working online because you surely do. Once you have your website and products and marketing plan in place, you really can make money working online in no time!
Website Traffic - How to Generate an Endless Stream of Eager Buyers to Your Site
A site is nothing without website traffic it is the life giving force to your business online. Getting it is often something the new internet marketers seem to have a problem with. This is sometimes the miss guided notion that if you build it they will come attitude that a lot of people have been led to believe.
The real truth is that you will need to drive website traffic to your site to succeed online in whatever business you decide to do. This article will reveal 3 secrets to getting traffic to your site in an endless stream.
The first step to getting website traffic is by using keyword rich pages of content on your site. Keywords are a very important part of getting the right kind of traffic to your site. It is an area that you will need to spend the most of your time researching. If you don't target the right keywords your website will be the internet equivalent of a ghost town and your profits will never show.
You need an informative and interesting website. Designing your website is done with both the search engines and your human visitors in mind. Your site does not need to be a work of art to get website traffic, but it does need to be SEO optimized and filled with enough useful stuff to get people to want to come back.
The third thing you need to do is get back links as well as secondary traffic to your site. I find that the best possible way to get that is through article marketing. Submitting your articles to the article directories will benefit you in more than one way. It builds your credibility by revealing you as an expert in your field as well as drives website traffic to your site through your links in the bio of your articles. Plus it builds much needed back links to your site from the directories as well as from the site of webmasters who pick up your content for their websites which helps fuel your rise in the search engines.
The real truth is that you will need to drive website traffic to your site to succeed online in whatever business you decide to do. This article will reveal 3 secrets to getting traffic to your site in an endless stream.
The first step to getting website traffic is by using keyword rich pages of content on your site. Keywords are a very important part of getting the right kind of traffic to your site. It is an area that you will need to spend the most of your time researching. If you don't target the right keywords your website will be the internet equivalent of a ghost town and your profits will never show.
You need an informative and interesting website. Designing your website is done with both the search engines and your human visitors in mind. Your site does not need to be a work of art to get website traffic, but it does need to be SEO optimized and filled with enough useful stuff to get people to want to come back.
The third thing you need to do is get back links as well as secondary traffic to your site. I find that the best possible way to get that is through article marketing. Submitting your articles to the article directories will benefit you in more than one way. It builds your credibility by revealing you as an expert in your field as well as drives website traffic to your site through your links in the bio of your articles. Plus it builds much needed back links to your site from the directories as well as from the site of webmasters who pick up your content for their websites which helps fuel your rise in the search engines.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Brilliant Blogging For Business
If you want a quick and easy way to increase your online presence and interact with your customers then a blog is definitely the medium for you.
However, with only 250 words or so, how can you best make your point, and your mark?
Identifying your target demographic will greatly affect the tone of voice you adopt within your blogs. For instance, consultancy businesses may wish to take an advice-led approach to display their expertise. Whatever your choice, make sure you have a voice that is an authentic representative of you; there is no point writing in a 'male' voice if your business is a home cosmetics service.
After defining your style, take a look at your substance. Blogs must contain certain key words to get noticed, but without becoming an obvious sales platform. They are a great opportunity to show off a wider knowledge to your customers, informing, helping and sparking debate. For example, if you run a catering business, you may wish to highlight seasonal ingredients, provide handy hints for the kitchen or ask if the environmental concern over food miles has had an effect on shopping habits.
Finally don't be afraid to express an opinion and start a debate; blogs are designed to be interactive. You should present a balanced argument though; it lends your blog credence and inspires thoughtful and considered responses. A recent study of 1,500 SMEs found that blogging increased website traffic by an average of 55%. What's more, the typical company that blogs has 97% more inbound links and a whopping 434% more indexed pages than the average company which does not blog. It's definitely worth your while!
However, with only 250 words or so, how can you best make your point, and your mark?
Identifying your target demographic will greatly affect the tone of voice you adopt within your blogs. For instance, consultancy businesses may wish to take an advice-led approach to display their expertise. Whatever your choice, make sure you have a voice that is an authentic representative of you; there is no point writing in a 'male' voice if your business is a home cosmetics service.
After defining your style, take a look at your substance. Blogs must contain certain key words to get noticed, but without becoming an obvious sales platform. They are a great opportunity to show off a wider knowledge to your customers, informing, helping and sparking debate. For example, if you run a catering business, you may wish to highlight seasonal ingredients, provide handy hints for the kitchen or ask if the environmental concern over food miles has had an effect on shopping habits.
Finally don't be afraid to express an opinion and start a debate; blogs are designed to be interactive. You should present a balanced argument though; it lends your blog credence and inspires thoughtful and considered responses. A recent study of 1,500 SMEs found that blogging increased website traffic by an average of 55%. What's more, the typical company that blogs has 97% more inbound links and a whopping 434% more indexed pages than the average company which does not blog. It's definitely worth your while!
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